Cali Trip Pictures with my A620

[huskychemist]

I finally got around to posting some more pictures here. I have learned a bunch with your feedback/comments, and a few have said I should keep posting...so what the heck. I know I enjoy looking at other folks' pictures...so I keep posting my own, hoping others will keep posting theirs. I have quite a few pictures here...so if you don't like seeing pictures, this may not be the post for you. Thanks!

My dive buddy and I made a trip from Puget Sound down to California a few weeks ago.

Six dives:
La Jolla Shores - 1 dive
Catalina Shark Dive with Dive Aquatica (No pics yet...only video, and I haven't edited it yet)
Point Lobos - 2 dives
Monterey Breakwater - 2 dives, one of them a night dive

Overall, this was a fantastic trip. I love Puget Sound, but each dive in Cali offered things I don't usually experience locally. La Jolla offered some bat rays. (Too elusive for pics, though.) The shark dive offered blues and makos. Unfortunately, we had to stay in the cage due to too many makos. Point Lobos. Wow. What a fantastic place. Our first dive was to the Cannery Point Wall. Our second dive was to the middle reef, and some playing around in the kelp. At the breakwater in Monterey, we did a day-time dive, swam out a ways then dropped, and swam along the sandy bottom to our turn-around pressure, then went up to 30 fsw and followed the rocks of the breakwater back. Quite a cool dive profile. (Three habitats on one dive... sandy bottom, rocky shores, and kelp forest.) Then we came back in the evening for a night dive. Cool to see the differences.

So here are some pictures...

This crab was at La Jolla shores. It had two appendages in the back that seemed adapted for swimming. Very cool to watch. We also spotted a blue-banded goby, but my picture for that wasn't all that great. Only a few of my pictures turned out on this dive, though...

This is one of my favorite pictures. I had no clue if it would turn out...but it comes close to the cool feeling of diving in the kelp. I thought I'd be freaked out by it...but I wasn't. (Although I'm sure there are some areas that have much thicker kelp, which might have been worse for me...)

Large anemones everywhere on the Cannery Point Wall. Very beautiful. I could have posted 10 pictures of various anemones, but chose one of my better pics...

A rockfish tucked in a crack between some rocks. The profusion of life at Point Lobos was astonishing. If you haven't ever dove there...you need to. I don't proclaim to have a lot of dive experience (certified in September, 85 dives), but I have been to the caribbean for a handful of dives... Point Lobos is right up there in terms of a diversity and quantity of life. And the visibility, once we got out of the cove, was great...50 feet or so. Far beyond what I'm used to in Puget Sound.

Now for the breakwater pictures...

A nudibranch and some eggs. Not one of my best pictures, but I love nudies as a critter to spot and photograph.

These were all over...very cool.

Another nudibranch.

This was the first time I'd spotted an orange sea cucumber with more than just it's feeding tentacles out...I could actually see the body as well.

The tube-dwelling anemones were all over the sandy bottom next to the breakwater.

And a small octo in the sandy bottom. We saw quite a few of these on our night dive...

Thanks. If you want to see more pictures from this trip, I have these and other pictures posted on my webpage. Here's a link to my galleries.

Have a great day.

Lowell

 

[aic007]

nice shots,

are you using a strobe or internal flash?

I took my A620 to Cozumel and used the internal with the diffuser on the Ikelite and pics are mostly blue. Some pics have colors in the corals and fish but nothing like the shots you took. Will post pics in a new thread when I get a chance.

 

[alcina]

Looks like a fantastic trip!

I know you didn't ask...but a tiny hint: you might be a teensy bit too close for some of the shots (like the nudi) and the camera can't give you a crisp focus. Maybe try to move back just a smidge...even try moving back just a bit and using your zoom to fill the frame a little.

Love them so far!

 

[Jim Ernst]

I finally got around to posting some more pictures here. I have learned a bunch with your feedback/comments, and a few have said I should keep posting...so what the heck. I know I enjoy looking at other folks' pictures...so I keep posting my own, hoping others will keep posting theirs. I have quite a few pictures here...so if you don't like seeing pictures, this may not be the post for you. Thanks!

My dive buddy and I made a trip from Puget Sound down to California a few weeks ago.

Six dives:
La Jolla Shores - 1 dive
Catalina Shark Dive with Dive Aquatica (No pics yet...only video, and I haven't edited it yet)
Point Lobos - 2 dives
Monterey Breakwater - 2 dives, one of them a night dive

Overall, this was a fantastic trip. I love Puget Sound, but each dive in Cali offered things I don't usually experience locally. La Jolla offered some bat rays. (Too elusive for pics, though.) The shark dive offered blues and makos. Unfortunately, we had to stay in the cage due to too many makos. Point Lobos. Wow. What a fantastic place. Our first dive was to the Cannery Point Wall. Our second dive was to the middle reef, and some playing around in the kelp. At the breakwater in Monterey, we did a day-time dive, swam out a ways then dropped, and swam along the sandy bottom to our turn-around pressure, then went up to 30 fsw and followed the rocks of the breakwater back. Quite a cool dive profile. (Three habitats on one dive... sandy bottom, rocky shores, and kelp forest.) Then we came back in the evening for a night dive. Cool to see the differences.

So here are some pictures...

This crab was at La Jolla shores. It had two appendages in the back that seemed adapted for swimming. Very cool to watch. We also spotted a blue-banded goby, but my picture for that wasn't all that great. Only a few of my pictures turned out on this dive, though...

This is one of my favorite pictures. I had no clue if it would turn out...but it comes close to the cool feeling of diving in the kelp. I thought I'd be freaked out by it...but I wasn't. (Although I'm sure there are some areas that have much thicker kelp, which might have been worse for me...)

Large anemones everywhere on the Cannery Point Wall. Very beautiful. I could have posted 10 pictures of various anemones, but chose one of my better pics...

A rockfish tucked in a crack between some rocks. The profusion of life at Point Lobos was astonishing. If you haven't ever dove there...you need to. I don't proclaim to have a lot of dive experience (certified in September, 85 dives), but I have been to the caribbean for a handful of dives... Point Lobos is right up there in terms of a diversity and quantity of life. And the visibility, once we got out of the cove, was great...50 feet or so. Far beyond what I'm used to in Puget Sound.

Now for the breakwater pictures...

A nudibranch and some eggs. Not one of my best pictures, but I love nudies as a critter to spot and photograph.

These were all over...very cool.

Another nudibranch.

This was the first time I'd spotted an orange sea cucumber with more than just it's feeding tentacles out...I could actually see the body as well.

The tube-dwelling anemones were all over the sandy bottom next to the breakwater.

And a small octo in the sandy bottom. We saw quite a few of these on our night dive...

Thanks. If you want to see more pictures from this trip, I have these and other pictures posted on my webpage. Here's a link to my galleries.

Have a great day.

Lowell

lowell, your pictures are real nice, great job and keep up the great work, i am glad you enjoyed our monterey dives, i have most of my diving career in the waters of monterey and still dive there almost every othere weekend! i also had the pleasure of diving in the puget sound, thanks so much to kirsten (scubak) she took me to see everything i was wanting to see up there, sunrise,hoodsport, well the list goes on and on!!! she is probley the very best dm guide i have ever met!! and a great friend!!! i see you got to see the octos of breakwater!!! when was this taken??? i was down there not to long ago and the octos were everywhere, and that is only the second time i have seen them sooo thick in three years. again very nice pix and keep on shooting and posting!!!

 

[huskychemist]

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.

See if I can get to each question/comment:

Alc007: Internal flash with the Canon Housing...no strobe yet, but it's on my wish list. Using automatic settings still, with the "Underwater" setting. I think the Underwater setting helps deal with the blue issue a bit...Are you using that setting? One of the tips I've been given on this board is to use the Manual White Balance. I still feel like my pictures can get better on automatic before I start doing that...but I'm heading that direction some day... I found the light to be much better in Monterrey and Point Lobos than Puget Sound where I normally dive, and visibility was outstanding at Point Lobos. And I'd love to see your pictures from Cozumel. I'm hoping to get a day of diving in over Winter Break on a cruise. (Belize also...woohoo!)

Alcina,
Thanks as always for the comments. And I don't mind the feedback. While I still need to improve, my picture-taking has gotten significantly better, in part due to feedback from many of you on ScubaBoard.

Jim,
Thanks also for your comments. I haven't met ScubaK personally, but interact with her a bit on NorthwestDiver.com. We've been meaning to dive together at some point, but just haven't found a time that worked for both of us. I'm out of the water for a month (PRK), but hope to get a dive with her then... And Monterey is beautiful! The breakwater is a great dive. We were there on July 10th, and the octos were plentiful. My dive buddy spotted a fairly large octo on the rocks of the breakwater, but my picture of that didn't turn out very well...not sure if it was a red or not. Then on our return to the shore, we spent some time along the sand, as the pointer we got was to look for octos in the sand. I even spotted one diving into a hole in the bottom. Kind of cool. I am hoping to make it back to Monterey Bay again next summer. There are sooo many dives that just sound great. And I'd love to dive Point Lobos again. I was completely blown away by the dives there. Wow!


Thanks again everybody. Happy diving.

Lowell

 

[aic007]

Husky,

Here is a link to the pics on flickr,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85584539@N00/sets/72157594219662631/

The first dive was 85ft @ Santa Rosa Wall and it was pretty decent drift dive so didn't have time to sit and set up shots like I would have wanted to. Used internal with diffuser and underwater setting on camera. Shots are decent except that they are mostly blue.

 

[kg555]

Husky,

We are planning to go for a night dive in monterey breakwater this Sunday. What is a good time to get in the water for a night dive?

Thank you

 

[huskychemist]

Husky,

Here is a link to the pics on flickr,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85584539@N00/sets/72157594219662631/

The first dive was 85ft @ Santa Rosa Wall and it was pretty decent drift dive so didn't have time to sit and set up shots like I would have wanted to. Used internal with diffuser and underwater setting on camera. Shots are decent except that they are mostly blue.

Thanks for the link. I went and checked them out. Some interesting shots. Was that a "tourist" submarine near the end? Yes, you are right, they are definitely more blue than my shots. I have two thoughts: 1. Your dive to 85 is deeper than my divers were. Our deepest depth was maybe 55 feet. So even with good visibility, the reds, oranges, etc. will be filtered out by the water at the deeper depths. 2. My shots are more of the "macro" variety, where I'm getting pretty close to my subjust, thus my flash has more of an impact on bringing back the colors. In the wide angle shots, I don't think the internal with diffuser is powerful enough to eliminate the lack of color.

I still consider myself a newbie, so that's why I offer these as "thoughts" not answers...but something to think about.

Thanks.

Lowell

 

[huskychemist]

Husky,

We are planning to go for a night dive in monterey breakwater this Sunday. What is a good time to get in the water for a night dive?

Thank you

Well, to give you some background, our daytime dive was around 2:00 PM...July 11th, I think. Not an overly hot day, but fairly sunny. For our night dive, we came back to the parking lot around 8:15ish and started getting gear on. We entered the water with only a little bit of light left, then started our surface swim out to the bend in the breakwater. By the time we dropped, it was essentially dark. We headed out along the bottom to our turnaround pressure, then went up the rock pile to about 30 fsw and headed back along the breakwater, looking in the crevices, etc. (Knowing we wanted to browse, we turned around with quite a bit of gas, so we didn't have to hightail it back and miss stuff.) We ended up hitting the sand and doing a safety stop at about the right time, so we headed out into the sand for the underwater swim back to shore... That's where we saw all of the octos except one.

So, the time will be a bit earlier now...but I would say swim out so you're dropping as it gets dark.

Have fun, and post pics if you're taking your camera!

Thanks.

Lowell

 

[pterantula]

I would love to see Breakwater @ night, but I need to get a group together somehow... I've been looking around the NorCal Divers section but don't see any specific immediate ways to do something like that...
I got some really cool shots of a huge crab my last time out (7/29), using my little Canon Powershot S410 (since the housing for my Nikon SLR wasn't ready yet; still cleaning up the fotos). Would love to meet some octos......

Cool pix man!