We are kind of regulars for Bonaire, visited the island many times during the last ten years. Our last visit was during the Xmas-Holidays. We stayed at Lagoen Hill, and as usual enjoyed every minute of it. Smooth arrangements re car rental and shorediving were included in our deal. Had some good christmas and New Years Eve dinners at It Rains Fishes, which is by far our favourite restaurant on the island.

After many years of taking u/w pictures on slidefilm using a Sea & Sea camera, I switched to digital. So this was the maiden trip for my Oly 5060 with INON flash and PT020 housing, including two macro rings. Already after one dive I was completely addicted to the digital experience, and I sold my old hardware as soon as we returned home.

We did six dives with Larry's on the Wild Side, which was not so wild in the first days because of the absence of any winds. So that's why Larry was able to take us all the way up to the Spelonk area, where I found this anchor:



and we encountered a group of at least 15 lobster, of which I could only picture two or three in one shot ...



We really loved the round trip through the Blue Hole which Larry delivered us twice. Here's the scene when entering the Blue Hole through the area with all the sea fans:



One of the inhabitants of the Blue Hole, seems he could use cold sore treatment:



Also cruising the Blue Hole: this fine creature and 15 of his friends



We did soe drift dives with Larry, and saw eagle rays, always one of the best animals to meet under water, so gracious and stylish:



The Inon Flash proved too small for catching the eagle ray, passing me at 4 meters distance. Next time I will have to quickly adjust diaphragm (I used f8 out there) or try something else ... anyone having ideas how to do this?

I was very thrilled with these encounters:
At Karpata:



At Salt Pier:



And the little creatures everywhere:







Already looking forward to our next trip. We might try to visit the Capeverdian Islands before that, however. Word goes around that especially the drift diving over there is really something special.

Wonderful photos! Love that close-up of the eel!

Wonderful!!! Love the shrimp~~!!

Wim, wonderful photos! Thanks for sharing

Awesome Pics!!! I love the tarpon!!! Thanks for sharing and glad you had yet another great trip!

Thanks for posting your wonderful photos! Looking forward to more if you're up to posting them!

everybody has their favorites :-) I really like the shot of the arrow crabs ! thank you for sharing

Thanks for posting such wonderful photos and trip report. I really liked the eel and scorpionfish! I haven't come across that particular eel yet, but will look for it now!

Concerning the Eel: we did not know the species, never saw one of these before. We kind of played with it when he/she moved over the reef between La Dania's Leap and Karpata. A very friendly and curious animal. Made no point of my camera, even tried to help making a nice picture once or twice.
Larry told us the name: Sharp Tailed Eel.

Hi Wim,

Nice pictures

To go quickly to another aperature setting you could set it up on a mode. A search on this site for the olympus 5050 will soon come up with links on suggestions for mode settings.

Best of luck

Dave

WHATS THE WEATHER LIKE AT CHRISTMAS. iS THERE MUCH RAIN THAT TIME OF YEAR

Yes that is the sharptailed snake eel. We saw about 4 in Bonaire. Never saw them before this. We had fun watching them.

Lovely pictures. Incredible resolution. (Relative to mine.)

I read that Bonaire has some sort of parade/celebration on New Year's Day. Is this true? Did you partake?

Some quick processing of your thrilling ray picture. You might not like the processing artifacts.

Good morning David - I really like what you did to my ray-shot! All of a sudden a lot of details show up, until now hardly visible. How did you do that?

By "processing artifacts" you mean the effect that the picture now starts looking a bit like a painting? I don't mind - I even appreciate it!

How about me sending two more pictures (rays) to you directly, containing more kB meaning even better results? Of course we'll publish your work before and after in this directory or maybe the picture & photography section ?...

Wim

Re the party on New Year's Day: there was a party at 00.00 hour on jan 1st at City Cafe downtown Kralendijk, in the building right across the street to be exact. Lots of fireworks launched from the streetcrossing, lots of music and dancing in the open building. We were there, like many many others. I liked it a lot, it was like carnaval. Party was spoiled a bit by the heavy rain that fell some moments.

Wim,

Please let me duck out of the picture processing service. I just wanted to give you an idea of what is possible with some post-processing. The program I use is Paint Shop Pro 7, not the most popular program and not the latest version, but I'm used to it and I even paid for it. It does take some time and effort to enhance a photo, but not a lot of skill if I can do it. Time and effort will be in short supply for me this next week as we prepare to go to Bonaire next Saturday.

Very perceptive of you to notice a painterly quality to my version. After I adjusted contrast and saturation to bring out the ray image, this also brought out some funny blocky information in the sea background and on the ray's rear underbody. (These would probably be less noticeable using a higher resolution original, as you thought.) I smoothed out the blocky areas where there otherwise wasn't much detailed information, and this is probably what you're reacting to. I was careful to preserve the ray's outline and the spotted upperbody without modification.

Paint Shop Pro is available for trial download. I would urge you to download it or another similar program and try your own hand at the picture rescue operation. Most programs have some "automatic" image fix tools, so you don't have to start with manipulating basic parameters.

Good luck!

And, of course, the rest of your photos need no enhancement; they were splendid!

David

Thanks David, and please do dedicate your time to preparations for your Bonaire trip next week - I would do the same!
I'll follow your advice, and build up my own experience with Paint Shop Pro.
Hope you have a splendid time on Bonaire!
all the best,
Wim