Some pics from Canada ... eh?

[NWGratefulDiver]

I finally got a chance to get my Tokina 10-17 wet ... had to travel 250 miles up to Sechelt Inlet along the sunshine coast of British Columbia to find the vis for it, though.

Being mostly into macro photography, I can tell this is going to take some getting used to. I was surprised at how long I had to wait between when I pressed the shutter and when the camera would take the picture ... I thought DSLR's were more or less instantaneous, but I often had a 3-4 second delay. Perhaps I need a stronger focus light for our dark water. Also, on some dives I found out that TTL would severely overexpose the subject ... and so I switched back to manual control of the strobes.

Anyway, I ended up tossing about 90% of my pictures ... keeping only about 20 shots from 9 dives. Here's a few that I liked ...

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/SeaPens-3.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/SeaPen-1.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/RichSponge1.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/RichAnemones2.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/CloudSponge4.jpg

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/CloudSponge3.jpg

Overall, I like this setup ... although it's going to take me some time to figure out how to use it properly in PNW conditions ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[fisheyeview]

Great pictures. It is nice seeing cold water images as I will never dive cold. ;-D

[Gilligan]

Great pictures. It is nice seeing cold water images as I will never dive cold. ;-D

Ditto.

[alcina]

Sweet! Glad you finally got the new toy under the sea :)

Nice work with your model and the colourful bits - although it looks cold, at least it is also pretty!!

[cerich]

awesome pics!

[Dr Dog]

They are great eh

real beauts

It is so dark around you, this will be my first year diving cold water, i have only dove in FLA and MEX.

[ivakdiver]

Wonderful photos! Brings back memories of trip to the Queen Charlotte's a number of years ago.

[cardzard]

Thanks for sharing, Great pics

[Tigerman]

Very nice pics Bob :D


Great pictures. It is nice seeing cold water images as I will never dive cold. ;-D
Ask and though shall receive..
Granted its not Canada it may be a bit offtopic, but here you go Cold water - - ScubaBoard Gallery (http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=5716)

[NWGratefulDiver]

Sweet! Glad you finally got the new toy under the sea :)

Nice work with your model and the colourful bits - although it looks cold, at least it is also pretty!!

It wasn't that cold ... about 48 degrees F. Last time I was up there it was quite a bit cooler than that.

Now for some pics of a different sort. We did a wall at a place called Captain's Island. As we were descending ... at about 80 fsw ... I spotted a rope tightly stretched across the face of a wall that was covered in literally hundreds of the most beautiful cloud sponges ... the last two pictures above were taken on that wall just prior to finding this rope. Following it down I realized it was a commercial shrimper's line, with literally dozens of large traps attached. The idiot had strung it across the wall ... in water far too shallow for the prawns he was looking for. The line caught on the cloud sponges and literally scythed a wide swath of wall clean of hundreds of sponges!

Here's a pic of the line, cutting through a sponge ...

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/ShrimpTrap.jpg

... and here's the aftermath ... a sponge that had probably grown peacefully on that wall for a century or more ... reduced to about six inches of stubble ...

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m257/NWGratefulDiver/British%20Columbia/Choppedsponge.jpg

I dunno what upset me worse ... the damage, or the knowledge that the guy who did it just doesn't care. I was seriously tempted to cut the line to prevent further damage, but didn't want to risk it coming back to haunt the dive operation ... shrimpers have been known to shoot at people who mess with their gear ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)