What's your "thing?"

[Desertlifter]

This may not be the best forum (subforum?) - more seasoned members please feel to roast me and send me to a more appropriate home for this. Or mods relocate if possible.

Anyway, I'm curious about what people are interested in underwater - other than the obvious. Sharks and rays, honu and the usual are easy, as are geological formations and wrecks. Here in the PNW it is GPOs, lumpsuckers, nudis, wolf eels and our golden bull the six gilled shark.

My first holy **** moment was a giant manta, and mantas and skates still fascinate me. But when I dive in Puget Sound and my buddies immediately drop to the bottom for the usual, I'm pumping the brakes and hanging out less than 20' down. Why? Bioluminescent jellies. They are everywhere and if you slow down a bit, cool as hell, IMO.

Yours?

 

[Tracy]

I like wrecks. Big steel ones with halls and tunnels for days.

 

[ATJ]

Syngnathids: seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses, seadragons. We have around 20 different species here in Sydney so I get to see quite a few on (almost) all dives.

 

[Guille G]

I always seem to be the only one excited to see hermit crabs. Not sure why, but I love seeing those guys - especially if I catch them walking. I'm sure other divers always think I'm a weirdo, pointing at suspicious shells hehe

 

[Marie13]

Wrecks - old wooden schooners, particularly. The steel ones are nice, but the schooners are my favorite. Great Lakes wrecks, the real thing, not faux wrecks.

 

[TMHeimer]

Many know I'm the resident SB shell collector (the debates on this are way in the annals of SB). The first question my OW classroom instructor asked us was why we were we interested in scuba and you know my response.
Over the years I developed some other interests, including doing 4 seasons as a DM assisting with OW courses (one of which was run by my original OW instructor). Also poke spearing flounders (they seem to me to be fairly stupid...), and in one spot collecting scallops to eat (of course, put the really good shells here in the collection). I even did a little picture taking (I won't call myself in any way an uw photog) when on my one tropical trip (Panama)-- nothing worthwhile to photo here in Nova Scotia-- I don't care who disagrees on that--rocks, sand, seaweed, kelp, lobsters.....whoop de do).
But.... it's always about the shells. Last Summer I found an empty Colus Whelk (really good shell for this Northern locale) in a really disgusting silty mud bottom. It stunk for weeks. Was the highlight of 2021.

 

[OTF]

I'm mostly in it for the underwater fight scenes.

 

[Esprise Me]

Ooooh, tough question. I love sharks and sea lions, wrecks and oil rigs, jellies and nudis. But I also really, really love kelp. In a thick kelp forest, I always take a minute at least to roll over on my back and just gaze up at the sunlight filtering through.

 

[Ulfhedinn]

Wrecks of all types and sheepshead fish (Archosargus probatocephalus)

 

[Blackcrusader]

I always seem to be the only one excited to see hermit crabs. Not sure why, but I love seeing those guys - especially if I catch them walking. I'm sure other divers always think I'm a weirdo, pointing at suspicious shells hehe

I like to take photos and video of them. I love all the critters in the ocean but my favourites are crabs, mantis shrimp, octopus and nudis. However in the last decade one of the main reasons I go diving is to get my head away from by business. Sometimes it takes a few days on vacation for me to wake up and not immediately think of my business as it operates 24 hours a day.

I dive to relax and when diving I am not thinking about much at all really. I hum to music I like and generally go slow and look at the marine critters or fans or sponges etc. I just love being in the water on a dive.