First Dive of the Year
Small anemone crab
Edit: Some browsers might have issues with the photo enlarge and the video on the same page. For now, just scroll down the page when looking at the enlarged photos if you have them layered strangely. I am too tired at this point to deal with it, but will look at it another day.
I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, but I have been laying low – taking a break from diving. I have been preparing for next spring, selling off most of my photo equipment, and saving up for a new, more professional rig. I am going with the Nikon D90 (yes, I switched teams), with an Ikelite case with 8″ dome and sigma 8-16 mm wide angle lens. My goal is around May to have everything in my possession.
I just got my case the other day, but have to save up a bit more to be able to afford the rest. Well either that, or actually sell my old equipment… I put it up on Ebay last week, but no bites yet.
I had a nice outing today, even though the current was high, and the conditions weren’t ideal. The weather was great. We have had an exceptionally nice winter over here, and it has been a great pleasure to get outdoors – even in January.
I think that my break from diving is a good thing. I have been doing a lot more photo work topside of late, and trying to improve my fundamentals, as well as my post-processing technique. I think it has made a huge difference in my photo work, and I hope we will see the results next summer.
Anyways, I took a short vid of an octopus that I harassed (seen below). Check it out, and enjoy the photos!
Dive 4-10-2011 Busy, Busy, Busy
Probably my favorite shot of the year so far.
Well, not much to report, except I haven’t been in front of the computer much lately. Well, except for work, which has been very, very busy. I’ve been putting in a lot of hours the last few weeks, and while this week has been relatively quiet, I have a feeling that the next three will be pretty reckless. It’s good to be busy though.
Add to that the fact the the weather has been beautiful… Well the old computer starts to seem awfully unattractive in my off hours. When I do have down time, I find myself watching an episode or two of MASH. What a great show. I’ve been watching it for a while now, and I have been pleased to find flashes of absolute brilliance written into it. For example, in season 4, episode 18, Hawkeye launches into a wonderful monologue where he picks up a hunk of garlic, a tea cup, and a stone. He begins to juggle. He says:
“I give you the human person, thumb and fingers, flexing madly, straining to keep aloft the leaden realities of life; ignorance, death, and madness. Thus we create for ourselves the illusion that we have power, that are in control, that we are…. loved.”
He stops juggling as he catches the garlic. Later as he leaves, the family at whose house he is staying offers him the three items he was juggling as a gift. He takes the garlic and hands it back to the woman and he says pensively “the love, I leave with you”, and steps out the door.
Tiny, tiny shrimp on the tip of my glove.
Anyways, on to the photos. I caught a shot of a new nudibranch this week, which I was very excited about. I also got a really great shot of a diver swimming to the surface, probably my favorite shot of the year so far. The most fun shot of the week award goes to the macro shot of a tiny, almost microscopic shrimp on the very tip of my glove. It was swimming past me, and looked like a self-propelled particle in the water. I reached out to touch it having no idea what it was), and it climbed on to my glove, quickly making itself at home.
I named him Fred. Fred was kind enough to model for me, and I saw him safely on his way before getting back into the boat.
Well, that’s it for this week. As always, enjoy the photos!
12-19-2010 Last Dive Of The Year
Nudibranch
Well, I dove my last dive of the year today, closing the book on an excellent season. My photo work certainly grew by leaps and bounds this last year, and I fully expect next year to be full of growth as well.
I’ll be heading to England over the Christmas holiday, and definitely won’t hit the water until at least the weekend after New Year’s. I guess there is a lot of snow up in England just now, but I am still hopeful it will be a good little vacation. I know everyone says the food isn’t that great up there, but I am looking forward to trying the beef Wellington! Ha.
Anyways, I didn’t take many shots, and there is nothing spectacular in this week’s set, but there is one pretty nice shot of two nudibranch feeding. I’ve never seen two specimens that close before, and it was at least something cool. I didn’t get any time to really shoot them, because it was just at the end of the outing. I had to take a couple of quick shots then roll out. Enjoy, and have a Merry X-mas, a Happy Hanukkah, a Super Kwanzaa, a Bo-Delicious Boxing Day and a Happy New Year!
Weekend Shots, TF1, Oeuf Au Plat, Wide Angle Issues, and More…
TF1 Cameraman shooting the CIPA this weekend
Well, this is going to be my last post for a bit. I might pop on to link to the CIPA TV appearance if it gets online, but no photos for a few weeks since I will be “state-side” until mid-sept.
TV appearance you ask? There was a news crew that came out for one of the major French TV stations (TF1) on Saturday to film the CIPA (my diving club). I assume there were mostly there to catch Guillaume, but they were shooting the whole club, so I think I’ve got a good shot to make my French national TV debut in the near future. I have no idea when the piece is going to air, but I will post it when I get it.
Other than that, the weekend was a good mix of awesomeness and frustration. I had a great couple of outings this weekend, with lots of stuff to shoot, but I had some issues with my new replacement Fantasea BigEye G Series lens that made me miss a lot of shots. I chipped my old one (which I NEVER had a single issue with), and I had to pony up to get it replaced since I found it an incredible tool. To make a long story short, my new one came, and it seems to have either some errant moisture inside it, or some sort of subtle chemical stain on the inside of the glass that likes to ruin photos. It is not fogging that I am having a problem with. Moderate fogging I could probably deal with; it is a definite defect that really sucks. I have reached out to Fantasea technical support to get it resolved, and I will keep you all posted as to how it goes. [Update: I posted an email to support, and they responded within a few hours on a Sunday, which is a good sign. They asked for a receipt, and a photo of the defect, which I promptly supplied.]
“Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish
Last but not least, after having seen my first “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon at least seven that I counted earlier today. When it rains it pours I guess. As of a few weeks ago, I had never seen one, but now I’ve seen at least eight in the last few weeks. I wasn’t too pleased with my shots from last time, and while not perfect, I am quite a bit happier with the ones I got today.
Enjoy, and I’ll be back with more shots in late Sept.
Weekend 8-1-2010 Critter Shots
Méduse œuf au plat, or egg jellyfish
Here is the second batch of shots from last weekend. There are a few shots of macro critters, plus a “Méduse œuf au plat”, or egg jellyfish. It was the first one I had ever seen in person, and even thought it was a very small one, I am happy to have seen it. The mini crabs are the exact same ones I shot the week before. I just wasn’t thrilled with the results, so I went back and tried a few new techniques for getting them shot better. I think I succeeded, but I’ll let you be the judge.
Jellyfish Invasion (Seriously)
Rainbow Tail Jellyfish
Last weekend I mentioned that there were a lot of hermit crabs out, and kind of cried wolf on the invasion part, but this weekend the REAL invasion started with beaucoup jellyfish arriving near Cap D’Ail. I probably saw several hundred just this afternoon; more than I’ve ever seen in one day.
Needless to say, there weren’t a ton of people in the water. Fortunately for me, I like jellyfish (when they are not stinging me). I jumped right in and got some really fun shots. I actually got a shot of rainbow colors in the tail of one jellyfish. Very, very cool.
Also, I went on my first scuba dive of 2010 this weekend. There are a few shots from that mixed in (not many). Among those shots were a chapon (a variety of scorpionfish), some soft coral, a crenilabre (the very colorful tropical-looking fish) that I have never seen, and a nudibranch that is very particular to this area, called a “doris dalmatien” (dalmation is dalmation in french). It’s got black spots just like the dog, hence the name.
Photos From Cap de Nice May 23, 2010
The highlight of the day: a tiny crab macro shot
Today was almost ideal shooting conditions, the water was as calm as I had ever seen it, and the sun was out full force. The only thing not completely perfect was the visibility, which was better than it has been of late, but still not ideal for panoramic shots.
The best part is that I FINALLY got to really use my stacked Inon Macro lenses when I found an absolutely tiny crab, no bigger than 50mm across. I was able to get my lenses right up next to him for a super shot. I am glad I even saw him. I am always on the lookout for stuff like that, but tiny little things like that are just hard to find. Scroll down for the pics.
RSS readers click here for the gallery.
Odds and Ends From Last Summer’s Adventures in Nice, France
I was playing around the other night, and I ended up throwing together a video compilation of odds and ends from various adventures in and out and near the Mediterranean last summer. It’s about 5 mins long, and I thought it was kind of fun. There is nothing spectacular, but you can see some free diving clips, and some of the local flora and fauna in and out of the water. Plus, toward the end, you can see some birds dive-bombing for fish in the sea. That was a pretty amazing spectacle. Enjoy!
Photo Gallery is Updated
Underwater Photo Gallery
I recently updated the photo gallery, and just wanted to get it out there that all my top shots are going to be found here: http://www.azur-diving.com/photo-gallery-2/. I will be updating it regularly with new entries, and I will post updates when I add a bunch of new ones.
Species Lists Coming Along
I have been working HARD the last week on my site. I currently have about 20 marine species listed, named and documented, and I have another 15 teed up and ready to go. After that, I have a ton more species that I haven’t even started yet (and a bunch more that I don’t have photos for), so stay tuned, there is a lot more content on the way.
Cabot, a species that will be coming soon in my marine animal list.
You can see the first entry here: http://www.azur-diving.com/cote-d’azur-marine-life-–-fish/
Back From Thailand, Back to “Real Life”
The diving in Koh Tao was excellent. So was the snorkeling!
Well, if you look carefully, the title of the site has changed to “Snorkeling and diving savoir faire for Nice/Côte d’Azur”. That’s because we are now certified recreational divers!
Since we’ve been back, we’ve joined a local diving club, and will be going on our third dive in Nice on Saturday. I can’t wait. I now spend my whole week waiting for the weekend to go diving.
Anyways, the trip was wonderful. We went to Koh Tao, which means “Turtle Island” in Thai. The people there was great, the diving there was great, and it was very inexpensive to get our licenses. One of our instructors mentioned that Koh Tao is the second cheapest place in the world to get PADI certified (I think he said Honduras was cheaper). Indeed, it was half the price it would have been to do it here in Nice. Plus, the whole open water learning process was done in the sea, and never in a pool. On our very first dive in shallow water, we saw a reef shark and a great barracuda. All in the first 4 minutes!
New Heaven Dive School in Koh Tao
We got certified at the New Heaven dive school on Koh Tao, and it was a wonderful experience. The crew there were all incredibly hard workers, were incredibly safety conscious, and did it all while looking totally laid back! I have to send my thanks out to Abel, Jean Nicolas, Andy, and all the other staff for the great and educational time we had there. You can check out their website here: http://www.newheavendiveschool.com/
We got certified there in 3 days, and did a total of 6 dives while on the island. We saw so much while we were there; the aforementioned sharks and barracuda, eels, stingrays, yellow boxfish, porcupine fish, titan triggerfish, a banded sea snake, and so much more. I have uploaded a bunch of underwater photos to show off some of the stuff we saw. Check them out here: http://www.azur-diving.com/Thailand-Marine-Pics/.
I really want to go back. The whole trip was just surreal, and the Thai people were amazing. Before I bounce out for this article, I a throwing in a link to a video I made with snippets from snorkeling and diving. You can see Titan trigger fish, a white-eyed moray eel, a couple reef sharks, a white banded sea snake, porcupine fish, and lots more. Video is below, direct link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqOfLWM-BDA
Site Updates, Dolphins, Criminal Jellyfish, and So Forth.
Jellyfish (or Meduse in French) taken while skin diving in St. Jean Cap-Ferrat. This is the culprit of the alleged assault.
I’ve been a busy boy since my first post. I got my new site tweaked and (almost) ready to go. There are a lot of things beyond setting up the site I had to take care of, setting up website tracking analytics, converting my WordPress feed to a Feedburner feed for easier syndication, setting up and configuring my flickr feed (which I still need to format and finish), and getting my ads rolling. I am about done. Of course I want to fix up my picture pages, and make a few tweaks here and there, but things are generally in place. Google already picked me up (which is awesome in less than a week), I come up third for the search term “snorkeling in cote d’azur“ I should be getting more content up in the next week. I’ve got a lot of ideas for articles and content, but I can only write one at a time. Some of my ideas include: An interactive map of the area with lists of spots to go to with GPS locations, and loads of pictures with marine life identifications. I would like to write articles on; Snorkeling basics, Skin Diving, Underwater Photography Basics, Snorkeling equipment, what to know about the Mediterranean Sea, getting around and more…
Speaking of content, I mentioned in my first post that I had been stung by my first jellyfish. Well, I have included a photo of the perpetrator, and if any of you should see him (he fled the scene), I want to know because justice needs to be served!
Another thing that I forgot to mention regarding my trip to St. Jean Cap-Ferrat last week, was that just before we arrived, less than 30 minutes before, I guess a group of dolphins passed, which is a none-too-common occurrence around here. I guess we missed the boat on that one.
Missing the Boat, Dolphins passed us by
That’s it for today. I’ll have more later this week.
