Never have a camera when you really need it

[Lopaka]

Went out for a couple quick afternoon dives with IDH yesterday. Second dive at Angler's Reef, my wife spotted a beautiful little purple-red Leaf Scorpionfish posing on a rock. She thought it was a frogfish, but Hoover's book straightened that out later. Little guy was not at all spooked by us hovering around. He was perfect, hardly any of the spots on him you see in books. The camera angle would have been great for my first sighting of one of these guys, and of course, did not bother with camera.........

 

[drbill]

This is why I never dive without my video camera. I also consider diving with my camera as insurance... since I'm certain I will never see a great white shark in our waters as long as I am carrying it!

 

[Paco II]

This is a big reason I just purchased the Reefmaster Mini. Small enough that you can easily stash it in a BC pocket, ready when necessary. Granted, no strobe in that example, but sometimes having anything is better than nothing.

 

[OceanObsessed]

I have almost always carried a Nikonos with me on boats even when I was not diving. I did not carry it on one offshore fishing trip and we encountered two giant Mola Mola (ocean sunfish) about 15 miles offshore hanging out on the surface in crystal clear water. I could have gotten some fantastic pictures had I had it with me.

I swore that I would never forget it again. I carried it for years on almost every boat trip after that.

Years later I was out on the ocean with my buddy on his Sunfish sailboat like the one in my avatar. A pod of about 4 or 5 dolphin (porpoise) surrounded us and cruised right up against the boat playing along side the boat. They would cruise on their sides and make eye contact with us. We were reaching out and touching them... they seemed to enjoy the interaction. They stayed with us for about 2 minutes. Of course, I forgot the camera.

Then, years later, I went on a boat fishing & freediving with some friends. We encountered a 20-25 foot whaleshark on the surface. We were able to get in the water with it and it swam around us and was very curious. Of course, none of us on the boat remembered to bring a camera. It was Onespeed's boat... he is my witness . We did, however, remember to bring the Black & Decker cordless blender for at sea rum runners

Next time I want to see something exciting... all I have to do is leave it at home

 

[bvmjethead]

Worse still is to have your camera and miss the shot due to shutter lag!

 

[Lopaka]

Worse still is to have your camera and miss the shot due to shutter lag!

Oh, I have plenty of shots of the fish's tail departing the frame. I cannot get a shot of a moving critter, unless it is a nudibranch or something.

This little guy was just so still, was like he was posing.

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Very cool find Lopaka. When I was diving Airport with Adjuster-JD we found 3 Leaf Scorpionfish on one rock... One was blackish, one green, and the other white... I think we had a Devil Scorpionfish right in the middle too... A good dive!

Sean

 

[MeiLing]

This is why I never dive without my video camera. I also consider diving with my camera as insurance... since I'm certain I will never see a great white shark in oiur waters as long as I am carrying it!

Don't they always say that you never see the one that gets ya? A friend of mine and his girlfriend had an encounter with a Tiger shark and white tip on a night dive. White tip menaced them all the way in. GF never saw the tiger shark and she was closest!

 

[drbill]

Don't they always say that you never see the one that gets ya? A friend of mine and his girlfriend had an encounter with a Tiger shark and white tip on a night dive. White tip menaced them all the way in. GF never saw the tiger shark and she was closest!

GWS's are said to usually attack from below and behind. When I'm diving, I'm hugging the bottom to film stuff on the substrate. Of course I did recently miss a 14' shark (GWS? Mako?) that the artist Wyland said swam past the two of us while we were filming giant sea bass off Catalina. See, the other reason I'll never see a GWS here is that I have my eye to the viewfinder all the time!

 

[Lopaka]

We did, however, remember to bring the Black & Decker cordless blender for at sea rum runners

Well, you had your priorities straight! Never forget the critical stuff.