OP
louisianadiver
Contributor
Thanks for the kind words, everybody! It looks like some are curious about how these shots were made. Have a look at Dolphin Swim and Swim With Dolphin in the Wild. The boat leaves Riviera Beach on Sat. evening, clears customs at West End, Bahamas on Sunday, and goes north on the Little Bahama Bank. The boat cruises until dolphins are spotted, and they usually come right to the boat. The boat stops, a staffer enters the water with a scooter, and everybody jumps in. The dolphins are generally interested in the scooter, but they're also interested in any freedivers. The dolphins are not trained or fed, and photo opportunities are based solely on the dolphins' curiosity. Diving stops at 6pm on Thursday, and the boat is back at Riviera Beach Friday morning.
This is a snorkel trip, and I found it to be physically taxing. Long swims are involved with periodic repeated (frantic!) freedives to 15-30 feet to get level with or beneath the dolphins. Sometimes they come to you; sometimes they don't. We cruised until 7pm one day before we saw any dolphins. But you will get opportunities if you keep at it.
The dolphins are nocturnal, and the boat takes a few hours off in the middle of the day to allow the dolphins to sleep or rest. We made one dive on the Sugar Wreck (my favorite 15' dive in the Bahamas) during one of our lunch stops. Here's a shot from that dive:
This boat also offers shark diving in the spring. Ken (parabolic) and I were on a trip last spring and had some intensely good times.
All shots posted were taken with a Tokina 12-24 (+2 diopter) on a D300, ap priority at f8, ISO 400. I found myself stopping down late in the evenings to keep shutter speeds at 1/200 or above. Forget about using the zoom--there's no time for that. I shot everything at 12mm. The Sugar Wreck shot was taken with a D80, twin 125's, and a 10.5 fisheye.
Clay
This is a snorkel trip, and I found it to be physically taxing. Long swims are involved with periodic repeated (frantic!) freedives to 15-30 feet to get level with or beneath the dolphins. Sometimes they come to you; sometimes they don't. We cruised until 7pm one day before we saw any dolphins. But you will get opportunities if you keep at it.
The dolphins are nocturnal, and the boat takes a few hours off in the middle of the day to allow the dolphins to sleep or rest. We made one dive on the Sugar Wreck (my favorite 15' dive in the Bahamas) during one of our lunch stops. Here's a shot from that dive:
This boat also offers shark diving in the spring. Ken (parabolic) and I were on a trip last spring and had some intensely good times.
All shots posted were taken with a Tokina 12-24 (+2 diopter) on a D300, ap priority at f8, ISO 400. I found myself stopping down late in the evenings to keep shutter speeds at 1/200 or above. Forget about using the zoom--there's no time for that. I shot everything at 12mm. The Sugar Wreck shot was taken with a D80, twin 125's, and a 10.5 fisheye.
Clay
