Claudette will roll in with a report. She has much better words than I do.
I'll just say this: Excellent diving, connected with some old friends, met some new ones, great hang, steller grub, beautiful area. You people rolled it out for 'dette and I, and we will never forget this trip. Kind, giving, sweet, funny, genuine... the Monterey crew are all of these.
After about 15,000 images with my Nikon D70 rig, these were the first dives with my new Nikon D200 rig. The shutter release was out of alignment, and Nikon / Ike moved the focus button I've been using. When I got home, I took some bolt cutters, a file, a pair of huge wire cutters and some other heavy machinery to the housing to make the mods I needed - its working great now (can I come back in the fall, please, to shoot some more??!!)
Combine the combative, unfamiliar rig with the poor viz and the photo opportunities were very few. I will say that scootering with a big cam rig was quite a bit different than expected. Tougher than expected as my rig is configured for kick diving, so I usually hold it. So trying to hold steady the huge rig with my light in my left hand while water is blasting past me made for some interesting light signals (sorry Kev and JD... :11doh: ) I need to build a way to sling it back when I'm motoring to streamline things and free up my left hand. Easier than expected as the X is very well behaved when you're not diving it - so clipping off the scoot and kicking around the sites and shooting is a breeze. This feature makes this scooter very attractive to me.
Anyway - Here are some shots and descriptions. All taken on my third trip to the barge that weekend (Sunday AM) with Kev, Jonathan and HBLeftHerHeartInMontereyGurl. Probably the worst viz of the trip, but surely one of the most fun dives. Great nav, gents!
Enjoy.
---
Ken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GeekSpeak
All shots taken with Nikon D200, Ikelite D200 housing with Nikon 60mm lens and two Ikelite DS-125 strobes. Settings to full Manual, range from 1/80th to 1/40th of a second, f18 to f22. These Nudis were so huge that they essentially filled the frame of a 60mm lens. Something no SoCal Nudi can do!
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A GIANT Sea Lemon on the far East corner of the barge. These are very common in SoCal, and are usually the largest Nudis we see. This one was enormous probably 6 or 7 long end to end.
Dendrodoris Fulva (I think...) Shot on the barge. Another big Nudi in the 5range. These look just like the little 1 Doriopsilla Albonpunctatas (`tatas) we have all over down here.
Doriana Albolineata (White-lined Doria) Kevin found this from his speeding scooter as we were navigating the deep Metridium Fields. He stopped the parade and I was able to snap a few shots.
Post-coital Trophia Catalinea (Clown Nudi.) These two were have Nudi Nookie on the platform. I took 4 shots of these guys in various stages of the deed. In this shot, Nudi number two is rolling over and looking for his lighter and cigarettes. Shot on the North side of the Barge. There were actually about 5 or 6 of these giant Clown Nudis on the Barge each time 'chica and I went out there. These two were about 5 inches long. In SoCal, a large one is maybe an inch long. You guys grow 'em big up here.
Blue-Ring Top Snail we see these very rarely in SoCal, and surely not this big. The Barge was covered with them! We saw a ton of these, but this was the only one I found fully out of his shell. I composed this with a Bat Star behind it to offer a brighter background than the brown, rotting wood of the Barge. A nice full size image can be found here
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.
If you get the Red X Of Death instead of the image, simply right click and select "Show Picture." If that doesn't work, hit F5 to reload the page, and try again. PBase and SB don't always play nice nice together...
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.
.
.
I'll just say this: Excellent diving, connected with some old friends, met some new ones, great hang, steller grub, beautiful area. You people rolled it out for 'dette and I, and we will never forget this trip. Kind, giving, sweet, funny, genuine... the Monterey crew are all of these.
After about 15,000 images with my Nikon D70 rig, these were the first dives with my new Nikon D200 rig. The shutter release was out of alignment, and Nikon / Ike moved the focus button I've been using. When I got home, I took some bolt cutters, a file, a pair of huge wire cutters and some other heavy machinery to the housing to make the mods I needed - its working great now (can I come back in the fall, please, to shoot some more??!!)
Combine the combative, unfamiliar rig with the poor viz and the photo opportunities were very few. I will say that scootering with a big cam rig was quite a bit different than expected. Tougher than expected as my rig is configured for kick diving, so I usually hold it. So trying to hold steady the huge rig with my light in my left hand while water is blasting past me made for some interesting light signals (sorry Kev and JD... :11doh: ) I need to build a way to sling it back when I'm motoring to streamline things and free up my left hand. Easier than expected as the X is very well behaved when you're not diving it - so clipping off the scoot and kicking around the sites and shooting is a breeze. This feature makes this scooter very attractive to me.
Anyway - Here are some shots and descriptions. All taken on my third trip to the barge that weekend (Sunday AM) with Kev, Jonathan and HBLeftHerHeartInMontereyGurl. Probably the worst viz of the trip, but surely one of the most fun dives. Great nav, gents!
Enjoy.
---
Ken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GeekSpeak
All shots taken with Nikon D200, Ikelite D200 housing with Nikon 60mm lens and two Ikelite DS-125 strobes. Settings to full Manual, range from 1/80th to 1/40th of a second, f18 to f22. These Nudis were so huge that they essentially filled the frame of a 60mm lens. Something no SoCal Nudi can do!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
.
.
A GIANT Sea Lemon on the far East corner of the barge. These are very common in SoCal, and are usually the largest Nudis we see. This one was enormous probably 6 or 7 long end to end.
Dendrodoris Fulva (I think...) Shot on the barge. Another big Nudi in the 5range. These look just like the little 1 Doriopsilla Albonpunctatas (`tatas) we have all over down here.
Doriana Albolineata (White-lined Doria) Kevin found this from his speeding scooter as we were navigating the deep Metridium Fields. He stopped the parade and I was able to snap a few shots.
Post-coital Trophia Catalinea (Clown Nudi.) These two were have Nudi Nookie on the platform. I took 4 shots of these guys in various stages of the deed. In this shot, Nudi number two is rolling over and looking for his lighter and cigarettes. Shot on the North side of the Barge. There were actually about 5 or 6 of these giant Clown Nudis on the Barge each time 'chica and I went out there. These two were about 5 inches long. In SoCal, a large one is maybe an inch long. You guys grow 'em big up here.
Blue-Ring Top Snail we see these very rarely in SoCal, and surely not this big. The Barge was covered with them! We saw a ton of these, but this was the only one I found fully out of his shell. I composed this with a Bat Star behind it to offer a brighter background than the brown, rotting wood of the Barge. A nice full size image can be found here
.
.
.
.
.
.
If you get the Red X Of Death instead of the image, simply right click and select "Show Picture." If that doesn't work, hit F5 to reload the page, and try again. PBase and SB don't always play nice nice together...
.
.
.
.
