West Palm Beach

[jdandvalerie]

Here are some more shots from my last 8 dives or so. Conditions have been fair from a vis standpoint, but there are plenty of photo ops:

Hawksbill


Got lucky with this one...took about 10 shots to get the metering close. I was about to leave when the angel came into the frame. Only reason why this worked was timing: Sun just came up, large outcropping of this sponge over the reef so even at depth (80') I was able to get the sponge and angel above the sun. Missed the exposure on the sunburst...maybe next time.


Loggerhead


Macro shot at the Blue Heron Bridge


Probably a mating wound, though I doubt her partner is the shark beneath her. Wound was pretty fresh as these sharks heal quickly.


Green turtle showing off his shell


Helps when your buddy blows no bubbles with skittish Caribbean Reef Squid

 

[drrich2]

Very nice. Loved that first shot especially.

Richard.

 

[Nemrod]

Nice work. The second shot is a little weird, cannot put my finger on it but I think it is my favorite.

N

 

[jdandvalerie]

Thanks guys! My personal favorite is that first shot as well, though the second was more difficult. We have turtles galore on the reefs here right now and I never get tired of taking photos of them.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Nice turtle and sea horse there. Looks like pretty good visibility and good photography skills.

 

[jdandvalerie]

Thanks noob. The vis has been very variable here lately and these shots are over a few separate days of diving. We are close to the Gulfstream so from one day to the next you can go from a rare low 20' to a rare high 100+. Average is 40. I will never complain about year round diving less than 30 minutes from home

 

[TSandM]

I've looked at the three photos a dozen times now. How on earth do you tell those turtles apart?

 

[jdandvalerie]

I've looked at the three photos a dozen times now. How on earth do you tell those turtles apart?

LOL. It would be easier to tell them apart if you saw them all frequently on dives, then the differences become more apparent...like anything else, the more you see them the easier it is.

From a practical standpoint, the Hawksbill is generally the smallest (the shell is about 2 feet in diameter) and has an overall darker black markings. The beak (like a hawk) is fairly pronounced, though due to the 2nd turtle's 'overbite' in the images, they look similar.

The Loggerhead is generally double or more the size of the hawksbill. Filling the frame of an image skews the perspective when looking at them together, but if I had both of them in the same frame, the Hawksbill would look like a baby next to the Loggerhead. The Loggerhead is lighter in coloring and its head is absolutely massive compared to the other two. Loggerhead shells are often riddled with barnacles as they don't maintain their shells like greens do.

Greens are the largest of the 3 but in our area for some reason they are most commonly seen similar in size to the Hawksbill. Perhaps as they get older they venture elsewhere. The Green's shell is one giveaway. They maintain their shells meticulously...scratching against hard coral to clean their shells daily. If you look at the full size image, you can actually see the abrasion lines on its shell. Green turtle heads are also comically smaller in proportion to their bodies especially as they get older. The shape of their head is much rounder than the other two. I think of the movie "Beetlejuice" because it seems as though their heads have been shrunk. As they age, the Green turtle lives up to its name and takes on a more green coloring than what you see in the image.

A few dives down here in summer and you'd tell them apart instantly .