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Trip Reports: Not yet a report, but some photos...
Bonaire Talk: Trip Reports: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2005: Archives - 2002-09-26 to 2003-03-31: Not yet a report, but some photos...
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 12:09 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I had the camera (Sony DSC-P1) most of the time this trip.

We had some problems with the housing that we hadn't seen before - after being down for a bit, the housing would fog up. We came to the conclusion that there was a bit of extra lens defogger or perhaps just moisture from humidity in a crevice somewhere that wouldn't be obvious in the heat of day, but would condense when it had been in the cooler water.

Before we figured out what was happening I lost some really good photos, though at least one came out looking quite "arty".

Here are a couple:

One of the "arty" ones: tangs

A trunkfish and a surprise: trunkfish plus

After the flash went off while taking the trunkfish (and in the short delay, he gave me his butt) the upper right corner moved, so I was lucky enough to get this:

octopus

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 12:23 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

A few more, not as good as that octopus...

drum

juvie drum

trumpet

cowfish

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fiona Rattray on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 12:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great octo/art shots Susan! Cameras and housings, love 'em, wrestle with 'em. Thanks for the pre-trip report.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 12:48 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I should mention too, the octopus above and the next one, was taken at dusk in front of Captain Don's Reef, on the Cliff side.

The following day we went on a night dive, and didn't bring the camera. Coming back, I found a mating pair of octopi in about 15 feet of water. I settled down to watch, and soon there were about 15 other divers all around, too - poor things probably wanted their privacy!

A couple more:

Another of that octopus - not as well focussed:
octo2

An urchin urchin


An eel being cleaned cleaned

Another eel: eel

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 1:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks, Fiona!

Isn't it the truth? The only frogfish we saw was also in the housing's artsie phase. Needless to say, the photos were pretty much a wash.

Here's a lobster, seen at "Something Special", I think - you can't tell by the photo, but he was huge, with 3 foot long feelers.

lobster

Also at "Something Special", I happened to be looking down and noticed some coral rubble that seemed a bit more mobile than usual. I went down to look, and saw it was a hermit crab doing it's best to leave the area. There was something keeping it from going, and looking back at me. I gave Geoffrey the camera for this encounter:

crab and octopus

geoffrey and octopus

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 1:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Finally, sitting at City Cafe after checking our luggage in, we saw this entry in the "why use the real thing when plastic will do?" category:

fakedonkey

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 1:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks for the shots, Susan. I just love "artsy" stuff when the camera screws up but the "mind" can still see fascinating and beautiful things. Nicely done! CArole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Snorkelguy {Scott} on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 1:35 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Nice stuff, thanks for sharing! I really like the trumpetfish.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mary pequinot on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 3:36 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy P on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 6:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Susan

Very nice composition on the pics. I shoot the DSC-P3 in the Sony MPK-P5 housing. I experience the same "fogging" problem. I believe it is directly related to the heat the camera generates when taking shots in rapid succession. I've tried the defog that came with the housing without much success (seems I mostly just blur up the inside of the lens) I'm thinking about trying a small moisture absorbing pack inside the housing, like the kind that is in some OTC meds bottles. There isn't much room in there so it WILL have to be a tiny pack.

If it works I'll post the results.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 7:09 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Randy,

Please let me know how it goes - we were thinking along the same lines.

The funny thing is, we've had this camera and housing (the housing is the Sony MPK-P1) for 3 dive vacations to Bonaire now, and it's only on this trip that it started happening. Weird.

What you say makes sense though - I have a tendency to take multiple shots in rapid succession; while my husband, who cut his teeth on film underwater photography and is therefore a bit more circumspect about taking photos, tends to take one photo and move on. Since I had the camera for most of the dives this time, it could well be simply a matter of who's using it and how.

Meanwhile, here are a couple more:

flounder

trunkfish

rockbeauty

tarpon

frenchangels

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fiona Rattray on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 10:04 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hey, Susan, keep 'em coming! The tentacle/hermit carb sequence is great!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 12:17 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan,

So who 'won', the hermit or the octo? Intervention??

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Igor van Riel on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 4:01 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Awesome pictures Susan!
Thanks for sharing them with us. We saw the plastic-donkey touring around when we were there. We even saw two couples taking a ride.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By clint harsch on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 1:25 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

One thing I have found that REALLY helps with the fogging is to lower the relative humidity in the case. If you are using a camera/housing, load the film and leave the camera/housing infront of the AC or even in the fridge to cool it down before you seal them. If using a self contained camera like a Nikonos or a MMII cool the film and camera before sealing. And always load in the AC. And those humidity packets do a good job especially if you seal your camera a couple hours before you dive. Somebody also posted on the diving forum that the BEST anti fog is dish soap! Kinda makes sense and sure is alot cheaper than 500psi.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cecil Berry on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 3:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great shots, Susan. Don't you just love those tiny Sony's.

With my P5 I've only had fogging problem one time (that with the very cold water I dive in) and that was when I used that sticking defog solution that came with the case. Never again. I've had very good luck by cleaning the inside of the case very carefully and always sealing the case up where it's warm and dry. A little tougher in the tropics, but when I was in the Keys I always sealed the case in the air conditioned room. No problems with fogging.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole Baker on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 6:45 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Beautiful shots again, Susan. I just realized the carriage had a "fake" donkey in the front...duh! Very clever! Carole

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 7:20 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks, everyone!

I think part of the fogging problem was that this was the first time we've stayed in a cottage at Habitat. The other rooms we've stayed in had AC in all the rooms - this one only had AC in the bedrooms. We were opening the housing in the kitchen area, where there was apparently some humidity. Oh well - live and learn!

We now have stayed in all the room types at Habitat, and we really like the cottages. They're not as luxurious as the Villa Suites, but quite comfy.

We do love the tiny Sony though, and I'm quite thrilled with the results.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan Feldman on Tuesday, December 17, 2002 - 9:13 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Glen, I just realized I didn't answer your question. I'm not sure - the last we noticed the octopus had a good hold, but he may have escaped after Geoffrey distracted it. Then when Geoffrey pulled his hand away, the octopus seemed a bit effronted and got shy. Geoffrey tried to coax him out again, but no joy.

It's funny - it seems that on every Bonaire vacation there's some species that we see so much of and that we're not used to seeing that often, that it almost gets to be routine. Scorpionfish one time; Queen Angelfish another; this time it was octopus - they seemed to be around every corner!

Some things we saw and were camera-less: dolphins (off Klein when the boat was taking us to Rockpile), the mating octopi, and the giant moray (I could have just barely touched fingertips had I been giving him a hug - yeah, right! - he had a prodigious girth!) that sometimes lives under La Machaca.

Work interferes with my posting any more at the moment - resizing is a bit of a chore.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Denise Kacavas on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 1:29 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan, great pics and comments - thanks for all!!! Denise

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Niki Harris on Wednesday, December 18, 2002 - 6:20 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Susan, I am loving this show. Next time, please let it be me who can't turn around without seeing octopi!!! Yeah! :-)

 


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