Scuba diving

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:09 PM

Anyone else do it? Want to share stories? I'm going to put up a bunch of pics and vids to peek your interest, if you've never done it before....take a look, and you should try it!!

Hmm i can't figure out how to put text next to the photos. Anyway, here I am holding a giant sea cucumber.
Then a tiny slug (nudibranch)
Then a picture of a sleeping parrot fish. These fish secrete a sticky cocoon from beneath their scales to seal their scent from the moray eels, etc.

A nice harem of sleeping pipefish

Then a type of clown fish peeking out of an anemone

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:17 PM

Here I am swimming with a potato cod...or big spotted sea bass, depending on who you talk to. I also have a video of me petting him, he swims underneith me, and comes in for more scratching on the other side. He even tilts on his side so I can reach him better. It was so awesome!

My husband is seen here, next to a giant clam.

Another coral fish/clown fish.

An underwater photo of a minke whale...it was SO close! This is the only photo we got where you could tell what it is though.

lastly, yes, that is a white tipped shark, and it is a shark feed! They took a giant green trash can, filled it with tuna heads, and the feed began.

BTW all of this was from a live-aboard boat called the Taka II for five days, at the great barrier reef!

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:19 PM

Next up, a HUGE moray eel!

Then my husband's head next to the cod *lol*

A lion fish.

Then an amazing TWO foot long cuttlefish.I Loooved him! He changed colors right before my eyes.

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:20 PM

More cuttlefish.

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:24 PM

Some videos. My hubby takes all the videos, since my camera sucks with them, though I think i took the shark feed video.

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:27 PM

Our recent trip to Puerto Vallarta.

A sea horse! it was way bigger than i thought they would be. As big as the palm and fingers of my hand!

An upside down eel. So cute lol

One of the divemasters holding a porcupine puffer...poor thing!! I did it later, too *lmao*

bushsnake · 11-20-11, 08:28 PM

right on! awesome stuff

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:29 PM

me and a puffer...poor thing, i'm so mean!

Sting ray, red rock fish, and i think a box puffer.

Oh, and goofy eel face.

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:36 PM

Okay, the most amazing experience ever. I've wanted to see a seahorse, a cuttlefish, etc....but the sea turtle was the thing I wanted the most! This one was over a hundred years, at least, due to his size. It WAS a male, i got a good look *lol* and he was bigger than ME. He was sooo amazing. He was asleep, and we did wake him up...but he was fine. He just blinked and blinked and then turned slowly in a circle...then swam off.
While he was doing that though, i had sunk to the bottom, and crept close enough to touch his fins, as he turned. He felt like soft suede. His head was so big, and his eyes so beautiful! I LOVED him. It was an AMAZING experience. We actually saw three turtles on our trip, but each time my camera was messing up. This was the best I could do. But -I- know how amazing he was

Anyway, sea turtle, Red nudibranch (we usually see bright yellow of this sort in So. Cal) The rock in the middle of no-where we dove one day..the surge and current and waves were STRONG. We dove in one end and floated along (called drift diving) looking at the rock...bommie they call them in Australia (right shaun?) and I poked at the critters. The boat picked us up FAR from where we started.

Okay and the green horrible photo, is of my finger and a jawfish we found. He was SO CUTE. From my other vids you can see we have a greensided (red headed) jawfish in our tank. We had NO idea that some of them could get this big...he was adorable!!!

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:41 PM

Puerto videos. We REALLY need to invest in some better equipment. Diving itself is kind of expensive when you start buying your own gear though. Which we have...so now we're broke when it comes to upgrading *lol* Oh well, you get the idea!

BTW the eels there were mostly snowflake eels, kind of like the one we have in our fish tank...they were ridiculously tame and used to people feeding them, obviously *lol*

OH i loved that jawfish. My husband saw him first, and like freaked out laughing underwater because he turned and there was just this giant silly face staring at him. He looked like a muppet! Like someone had a big sock-pupped with googly eyes poking it out of a hole. Squeeeee!!!

infernalis · 11-20-11, 08:45 PM

Jelous..... Great shots. Thanks for posting.

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:52 PM

Here are some I've taken here in southern California. This was right when I was starting to get the hang of underwater photography...and right before I had all these issues with my stupid camera.

Anyway, a red octopus, next to market squid eggs.
A purple spanish shawl nudibranch
blue spotted starfish
a red anemone (we get bright green ones on the beach)
and a pile of brittle stars

jaleely · 11-20-11, 08:53 PM

Okay I'm done now *lol* I really love it. It's amazing to see all these things you've only ever seen on TV, you know? I hope i've piqued someone's interest. Sports Chalet does a free introductory scuba lesson in their pool!

stephanbakir · 11-20-11, 08:56 PM

Stunning photos and video. I WISH I could scubadive, but I can't because of a surgery I had when I went deaf (Had a major ear infection that went bad on a trip) When the air bubbles pass my hear it sounds like an explosion and hurts really bad...

That being said, I'm a freediver and can reach about 25 feet comfortably without air

Best times ever were when I found a sleeping shark under a rock (bottomfeeder type shark, duno what kind) and it looked like a rock, so I told Miles that I saw lobster under the rock and needed him to lift it, he grabbed it and went for a half second ride almost 10 feet.

My cousin and I were diving and found a pod of dolphin, we were turning over large corals looking for crab, lobster and octopus and all of these starfish were walkin around under it, the sleeping fish also took off and got ravaged by the dolphin, did that all day and the pod never left us

we played with em for an hour and went home.

alessia55 · 11-20-11, 09:05 PM

I am terrified of scuba diving. Literally. My whole family is certified. When I went in for my first lesson in scuba diving in a pool, I had a full blown panic attack and had to get out of the water. I just don't like the feeling of being completely submerged, or of being near or in deep water. I don't like the feeling

So when my family goes scuba diving, I wait at the surface with my snorkel mask and all, and they grab the sting rays and whatnots and bring them to the surface for me lol!!

Those are some really fantastic animals you get to see though. I'm really jealous in that sense. You're really lucky. It's a whole different world down there, hm? Great pictures. Thanks for sharing!!