What are some of the most beautiful sights you saw while diving?

[urbaneve71]

it was my check out weekend an on sunday we were actually certd divers. Capetian dives off to tie the boat down and he says there was manta ray and a 400lb jew fish. so everyone took off that way. Me, i took off the other way chasing a flounder and about 15ft away from was a 13ft bull shark -- she simply circled me 3 times and went about her business. She never bothered me in anyway nor made advances and thus began my love of sharkdiving.

 

[soggybadger]

The wife in tight figure hugging rubber. Gorgeous.

 

[kimbalabala]

Any time there is a huge bait ball is wondrous ...

 

[Iralub]

Ooh, this thread is making me look forward to my next dive vacation. Ok most awesome moments include:
- first ow dive and realising that I can do this! (Much contrary to my expectations)
- drifting above a 1000m drop, with gorgeous wall to one side and sharks to the other (osprey, gbr)
- school of hammerheads (fiji)
- gorgeous Manta flying by (similians)
- cuttlefish which was masquerading as a rock changing colours and going for a swim (Thailand)
- sharks, lots of them (varying places)
- octopus, moving around and changing colours a metre from me (gbr)
- sunset dives (is there anything more relaxing)
- huge schools of fish (several places, but Richelieu Rock is what immediately comes to mind)

 

[outofofficebrb]

Costa Rica....Bat Islands off the Coast of the Guanacaste region. We headed out from Playa Ocotal (near Playa del Coco). No bull sharks that day......but 20 foot wide pacific giant manta rays! Breathtaking and unforgettable!

School of hammerhead in Cocos Island(Costa Rica) and thresher shark in Malapascua(Philippines).
The Napantau Sanctury(Southern Leyte, Philippines) for coral.
The deep wall along Tubattaha Reef(Philippines).
The "Cabbage Coral" in Ulong Channel(Palau).

Cocos Island is on my bucket list!

Off the coast of Puako, north of Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, there are several Honu cleaning stations. The Honu (Green Turtles) float while mostly yellow tangs go to work on cleaning their shells. It's not that rare and happens in many places, but I was lucky enough to see it several times in person and I was blown away. I could have spent the whole dive just watching it. They don't seem to mind observers, as long as you don't get too close. View attachment 369221

Beautiful photo and what a sight to see! Any tips for someone trying to start underwater photography? I have the land based photography down in manual mode. Not sure what equipment to start with. Any suggestions? What are you using?

1) The smile on my wife's face after some dives;
2) some cute girls on the boat in bikinis.

Thanks for the laugh! The first is very sweet........I wonder if my significant other would respond that way.

So many!

- curious Minke whales at the GBR
- hammerheads in the Galapagos
- countless turtles at Turtle City, Bonaire
- the joy of a sea lion pup playing with his own reflection in your fisheye lens

Galapagos is also on my bucket list!

Diving with a dolphin off Cayman Brac and 21 dolphins off the Big Island of Hawaii

Diving with Minke whales and giant Cod on the GBR


The sea life and soft coral off New Britain and in the Red Sea off Egypt



Diving with Mantas off the Big Island of Hawaii

Diving in Canyons off Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac


Diving off the Florida Keys


The Big turtles off Maui


The small life off Bonaire


The variety off from Aruba

Diving off from Papua New Guinea


Diving off South Africa

Stunning photos and what a sight to see! Any tips for someone trying to start underwater photography? I have the land based photography down in manual mode. Not sure what equipment to start with. Any suggestions for camera and/or lights? What are you using? Thanks!

 

[caymaniac]

Stunning photos and what a sight to see! Any tips for someone trying to start underwater photography? I have the land based photography down in manual mode. Not sure what equipment to start with. Any suggestions for camera and/or lights? What are you using? Thanks!

I have used a number of different cameras, everything from a point and shoot to film based in a Ikelite housing/dome port and flat port with one strobe to most recently a housed Nikon in a Ikelite housing dome port with dual strobes....which by the way did a good job when the strobes worked which was about 50% of the time.
A rule to remember is nearly all photos will be within touching distance of the subject, so get close with a wide angle lens and if you have on a flat port get close. And there is photoshop too for the deleting of the pesky particles reflecting off your strobe.

Point-n shoot =



Film with one strobe /lens wide angle close focus 28=



...with flat port and 90mm =

Digital with dualstobe / 17-80 lens/ strobe=

 

[outofofficebrb]

@caymaniac Your photos are so inspiring! I'm inclined to get an older version of my current land based camera that I have been recently favoring and then getting a housing for that, some lights, a wide angle and macro attachment, plus some filters. The said camera would probably be purchased used off ebay (Sony RX100...we currently have a mark 4 but maybe a mark 3 on ebay). It has a nice fast lens to it and I'm really comfortable with it on land in manual mode. Do you have any suggestions on brands that you like for attachments, filters or lights?

Thanks.

 

[caymaniac]

@caymaniac Your photos are so inspiring! I'm inclined to get an older version of my current land based camera that I have been recently favoring and then getting a housing for that, some lights, a wide angle and macro attachment, plus some filters. The said camera would probably be purchased used off ebay (Sony RX100...we currently have a mark 4 but maybe a mark 3 on ebay). It has a nice fast lens to it and I'm really comfortable with it on land in manual mode. Do you have any suggestions on brands that you like for attachments, filters or lights?

Thanks.

If you can find a housing for a camera you are comfortable with please do so. My favorite lens has been a close focus Sigma 28 on the film camera (hemispherical)using a dome port. Two strobes are better than one but one will work for starters. I never used any filters. A fast lens is a good idea. I again reiterate you must get close to your subject. For instance I've had eels too close to focus even with a dome port....they were up against the port. Here's a shot of some sharks, they were three to four feet at most away from me:


While taking photos there have been several times I had to use my setup to ward off sharks and hit them away from me. They like to get close, very close, so close you can study the ampullae.