C&C Here's some from Bonaire

I don't remember the depth, vis was around 50ft. They were all taken during the day, some with strobe some with manual white balance (I don't remember which. sorry, I'm dumb). I think the last two have to be color corrected. I think they're too blue.
Spotted moray and cleaner

Scorpion fish

Trumpet hitching a ride

Turtle

Love the Pics. Great Composition, especially the turtle. I love turtles!!! The sea around Bonaire and Curacao is a magical place. I can't wait to go back. Did you use any external lighting on the blue shots?

I just got back from bonaire about 3 weeks ago. Those pics were great but make me want to be back so badly. It is such a great place.

The bottom two shots are either a) beyond the reach of your light or b) you had your flash off. Either way both could be improved by using your strobe. You don't say what camera/strobe you are using so not sure if you have an external strobe.

Looks to me, unless you were zoomed in a lot, that the turtle was close enough to benefit from even a reasonably powered internal flash.

I see one easy thing re composition - you need to give your guys a tad more room on the left side so their noses don't bump the edge of the frame and so it looks like they "have somewhere to go".

The first shot with the eel and the cleaner is great. You've got nice depth of field, great eye contact, a nice composition and good colours. I would maybe do a little sharpening and tweaking to make it pop a bit more, but it's a great capture

The scorpion has great colour - you're the perfect distance in this shot for the light. Their eyes can be tough - what works one day doesn't always seem to work the next day, not sure why Good subject for shooting more than one frame and altering your angle just a bit to get the eyes to glow instead of having that weird thing happen. Next time you find one, get lower, too

Great capture on the cod/trumpetfish - love those behaviour shots!

The turtle looks like maybe you've done some PP on it as you've got glowing red spots. I'd undo those and leave him mono-chromatic...or go black and white maybe. Not sure how well you can pull colours out from the original, but you're going to have to stay away from the auto features to make it work, I think.

Thanks guys. Alcina, I appreciate your comments. I will rework the turtle. About the strobe. Yes, I do have an external strobe but I have a lot of problems aiming it. When I get on my home computer, I can show you some examples of shots I totally messed up. Sometimes I just got frustrated with it and turned it off and relied on the internal strobe.
Not sure how to tweak the eel and cleaner.
Someone else mentioned the eyes on the scorpion but I didn't know what he meant. I do have a couple of different angles, but not big enough to make a difference. That was really as low as I could get on that shot because of the coral around me.
And I agree Cheddarchick, Bonaire is truly magical and I can't wait to return.

Ellen,

Wow! I really like the Eel pic. I like the others, too. One day, I'm going to Bonaire, too.

Dennis,
When I first got certified way back in '83, my Instructor would talk about Bonaire and his eyes would get all dreamy. It took me more than 20 years to finally get there and see for myself. It is well worth the money and travel hassles to get there.

The eel looks the best out of the 4 pictures. Besides what Alcina suggested on the sharpening, if you have an opportunity to shoot that type of shot again, try and get a better background, or try to reduce the light on the background and make the subject pop out a bit more. It will add depth to the shot. Its possible that you might have been able to come at the eel from the other side and gotten a better background or from under it a bit more. Hard to say without being there, but the background will help set the subject off.

I think the scorpion fish has good color and those are always tough to get on a good background, but what you can do is change how your light hits the subject. Instead of direct lighting (which probably gave you the glowing eyes, just like the red eye you get on land with direct light) try casting shadows with the light and create texture and shadows. This also helps to get natural eyes and will give it more interest.

The last two shots, either your strobe off, you tried to zoom in on the subject instead of just getting closer, or your strobe was aimed off in nowhere zone. Maybe a combination of everything. I know it is hard to aim a strobe without a focus light or spotting light of some kind (my YS-90's don't have anything to help either) so you have to get used to presetting your strobes, then you move in for the shot (checking the strobe as you move in to make sure it really will hit where you think. Generally for close shots, it is pretty easy to aim and at least get SOME light on the subject so you can review the picture and make adjustments. To take the turle shot though, you should be within 2' or as close as you can but not more than 3' with your camera (if you have zoom) all the way zoomed out. Fill the frame with the tutle zoomed out and you should be close enough. If you zoom in, it may only be for a very small amount to help compose it better. With my 10.5mm lense or even the 12-24mm lense I use, I would get as close as even 1' if the tutle would let me.

Hard to help much with settings since you didn't post what you were using or the camera. Basically, get close, get indirect lighting, frame a nice background (if possible), and get to eye level or lower if possible (don't shoot down on the subject) like the scorpion fish and unlike the trumpet hitchiker.