hey, it's late ;(

but...







trip report later ;)

unedited...(unlike some of the pics;))...the smilies are coming out as "-" or "p" or something...oh well...

Getting there…

I guess the ordeal switching airports in new york city wasn’t the biggest hassle – we got to san juan a little late (I dislike that airport to start with) but they had closed the familiar check point for gate 1A (1-7 closes at 5:00pm where one uses gates 7-18 to get to 1-7) and I couldn’t really get anyone to tell me to go thru the other check point – they did hold the plane a few minutes…

Anyway, on the taxi ride between airports in new york (sharing a taxi is better than the shuttle – both time and money wise) the cab driver (from somewhere in the Caribbean) was goofing on some folks who had managed to get arrested for protesting the war – he was goofing on the fact that the arrested were in a paddy wagon, on cell phones to the radio station…this guy could hardly speak English but seemed to completely “get” the situation…

Well, good ole American eagle…they always get me to Bonaire (even if it takes ALL day)...

There…

Marion (from Coco Palm/Garden/Casa Oleandar) picked me up at the airport in my truck rental (a Nissan this time;)) I was put in one of the newer apartments across from the office, a set of apartments kinda connected in pentagonal “petal” formation or something – looks like it might be nice for a larger group traveling together – economical too;)

Friday…

First day, no dinner the night before and no breakfast – I’m off to a little of a bad start – anyway off to photo tour divers to start my EAN course (Emile) – saw the video – lots of new info plus they make you go back and do all that RDP stuff that your air computer has been doing for you…and then you realize the wheel doesn’t give RTN’s…anyway I guess they thought the video was torture enough – they let me go dive (air) – pick up the class on Saturday…anyway, I dove the lake and then north belnam, TONS of fish, file fish (both white spotted and blue scrawled), trunkfish, many Creole wrasse that I knew because of a previous Bonaire talk fish id….my pictures were terrible – nothing but blue below 60’ and I also forgot to remove the red filter when flashing so I got some red ones too L (don’t go diving on an empty stomach)

Well, I did finally meet Bas – Bas was raving about an East Coast dive he had made in the morning – currents and 6’ waves – well, you know I’m probably gonna take Bas up on a guided dive to the east;)

Dinner was a self prepared, charcoal grilled rib eye steak, ear of sweet corn, and some broccoli with ranch dressing (food from cultimart, tin foil from the warehouse, charcoal from that other store across the street from the warehouse – I hit them all;))…and guess what? NO cheerios;)

Well, it’s been hot with less breeze than normal, the water temp is fine and the vis pretty decent…oh, and you can’t imagine how cute I look sitting out on my patio, in my “Nerds” pajama bottoms, having French roast and typing this report…no pic J

Saturday…
A better day, started off with breakfast, alpha-bits (no cheerios), dove andrea ii and oil slick, more wrasse, couldn’t find the seahorse after being told exactly where it was. Took the wriiten exam for the EAN – missed 4 questions (out of 50) – well, that’s over;)…locked myself out of my pickup truck, Marion came to my rescue;)…grilled chicken breast, corn and broccoli for dinner– I may not actually hit a restaurant…did a night dive at north belnem – not much going on – my pictures from today were still pretty bad…water temp is still nice, vis? At andrea I could clearly see the boat (and hear it) at 71’…cruise ship in port, saw who I believe was Dara at an art booth – I believe someone looks like they have picked up a Bonaire glow;)

Sunday…

Did my two nitrox dives at the hooker, 100’ for 20 minutes, twice with a 90 minute surface interval – that was the plan – yep, I may have stayed down a little longer but I did take nice long 15’ rest stops;)

Reviewing pics, looks like this camera works a lot better in low/no light situations, however those subjects shot in that light tend to be stationary so it’s hard to really say…I need LOTS more work…leftovers tonite and a night dive I guess (belnem – it’s just real easy;))

Bas says I need to look at air consumption as a function of buoyancy control. I told him I still was using too much air. I told him I used extra weight to descend and I wondered if my BC was really fully compensating. Bas said if I was swimming extra to control buoyancy then that could account for the air use. He told me to go out and spend a small portion of my dive feeling out this situation a bit – indeed go determine if the BC really is compensating fully.

I also talked to Bas about an east coast dive, maybe Tuesday morning, I could have talked him out of it though (taking me;))

Oh well, let’s get ready tp go swim in the dark;))

Late note – current at north belnem – geez, it was strong enough I was actually maintaining position while lightly kicking – good for pictures;) – however, the current can adversely affect buoyancy, at one point I underwent a pretty rapid 30’ ascent – I guess current is probably not the ideal situation for night diving (attacking minnows (after my dangling dive light) were the initial distraction) ;)

Also, this night framing feature of the camera is nice, but one can’t see the hologram patterns if a dive light is turned on, making it hard to frame the subject and get a good focus, oh but when it does work – best pictures of the trip;)

Oh, saw a couple of small jelly fish like critters, a small one like from the webcam (with the spots) and then one that was about six inches long, about and inch wide, and swam like a piece of ribbon?

Monday

Probably head up north today. Some extra groceries from sand dollar…then probably karpata for a two tank dive;)

On the way up stopped at Michael’s internet café thing. Michael volunteered his cell phone for a call home to mom – that was really a biggie – thank you Michael J
My pictures at karpata were lame, was told of the dirt road shortcut back to town(not much of a shortcut) but a pretty nice drive nevertheless

Tuesday

East coast dive with Bas and some couple from Maryland (check names later). We dove the south end because a morning rainstorm left the northern areas a bit suspect (mucky trail/roads – whatever). We did two dives, some moderate waves/surf – I guess pretty much “intro” dives for the east coast – nice stuff, turtles, stingrays, sea fans and large barrel sponges

Later it was Gibi’s…met jake, kitty and marc, mark from Milwaukee, a guy named paul with wreck of a Russian auto (purchased on the island) – I think I’ll just pay the weekly rental if I get to stay down for 6 weeks ;)

Wednesday

Hail Atlantis J

Double tank dive at atlantis (by the tire) – wow, call it karpata south – great site…wait til I post my last three pics (I didn’t see too much of three good ones in a row on this trip) L

Michael (Gaynor) again came thru in a pinch – this time to dump some pics to a CD (for Bas, who wanted the pics but doesn’t have the bandwidth to download them from some web) – anyway, a nice copy of the images to CD and an automated slide show to boot – for about $10 including the CD and the CD sleeve

Ok, so I dived 15 times, in general went too deep (80-90’) used air too fast (35 min) …well, refills are cheap J got my nitrox cert…I’ll be back J

Late humor – check out this diver pic (the heck with nitrox ;)

Another late note…I told some guy at an airport that I would not resort to “doctoring” up any of my pics…I lied…the ones that have too much blue are significantly corrected by the “auto equalization” function in Corel Draw, Version 9 – one click correction;) …this is really not cheating, digital is cheating in the first place and this sort of editing just makes up for what the algorithm missed in the first place…I just doubled the number of “keepers” I had simply by using this auto equalization…

well...no telling how bad all that was - maybe I"LL read it someday;)

(NOT)

;)

after ean...eanxxx ;)



;)

Hey, Bob! You had a great trip from the details of your report. You did not get Happy Faces as it appears you were using the "semicolon" ; instead of the "colon" : with your bracket. It goes like this..... and there should be a happy face in this note....note..."should be" is the key word here. Michael is such a sweetheart, isn't he? He always comes thru in a pinch and is a very generous and warm person. Just love him to pieces. We'd love to see more photos if you have the inclination to post them, OK? Thanks again. Ayo. Carole

a couple of "art" shots...

lots of other nice pics from others starting to show up...competition is getting pretty stiff ;)

a "digital" creole wrasse...

a reef shot from atlantis...

bob, great report and pics...we missed you on the cams though...we were looking!

Bob, the reef shot from Atlantis almost looks as tho it is a forest above sea level...if we didn't know better. Says a lot for the composition of your shot and the clear waters of Bonaire. Beautiful pics. Thanks. Carole

PS I kinda like your ;) looks as tho you could have some salt water in one eye or a grain of sand causing your eye to tear, or something along those lines! LOL. cb

equalized turtles ;)

bird shot at full zoom (digital and optical)



ID?

Great Trip report! I love the photos.

hooker eel at near 100'...

(equalized)

Is that an Oriole, Bob? Beautiful turtles and bird and eel....great stuff. Enjoying your pics thoroughly or ;)! Carole

hi carol,

it would be an oriole if it was here but i don't know what it's called on bonaire???

i had frequent fly overs by the lora (lori) whatever parrotts - some of the most intensly colored ones yet...no pics

but just goes to show there is no shortage of photographic material on bonaire ;)

yard work day...

any new garden plans?



;)

file...

well...there were a LOT of wrasse ;)

Yardwork? We're expecting up to six inches of snow tomorrow (Northern NJ) according the the weather bulletin I just received! ENUFF! This is the winter that wouldn't leave....Carole

PS Thanks for the additional pics, Bob...helps us make it thru the weather bulletins...LOL. cb

threw together a small screen saver(7 slides, demo version limitation) ...from Acme Corp...who else;)

http://65.24.34.74/reef3.exe

(requires bandwidth, boredom;))

Great trip report Bob, I'm envious of the photo of the oriole ...we saw them too but they were too fast for my eye hand co-ordination... altho, I did get this..... this guy reminds me of a mad professor
{}

Try again (I'm new at this) ...... and it's late....

cheryl,

your bird is prettier than my bird;)

I wouldn't say that , your underwater photos are stunning and your screen saver is awesome!! We had another dumping on snow last night and although we've only been back from Bonaire ~2 weeks, it seems like it never happened!!!

ruffled???



;)

feathers???



grin...

ok cheryl,

we need a lora, an iguana, a donkey, and a hummingbird, and i think we would have covered it all...

oh, and some cactus ;)

Bob, The reef shots are great!!!!!

ok Bob, your wish is my command!! I think??

try again......

and I could not resist the Red Baron on the south shore ...lol!!

nice pics;)

i once had a pic of "red" that i got off a rock at karpata - no longer in my possesion ;) (same with deal with some lora pics)

we can always steal a lora pic from elsewhere;)

maybe i should just drag along a "floater" next time, to get the land shots;)

(actually, i think i know where to steal a hummingbird pic too;))

Perhaps we can 'borrow' Jake's photos of the Lora... they were fabulous and I was envious!! We saw and heard them, but could not get a photo .. would this do??



Did not see any hummers while we were in Bonaire but did see this heron..... watched him catch a fish too!!

more sponges...

(mom and dad?)



spongebob

The Oriole looking bird is Troupial. Beautiful song too!

found a copy of photoshop...

pretty much looks like "auto levels" from photoshop does the same thing as "auto equalize" in corel photopaint...whatever;)

Bob here is the picture with alittle of the green taken out..with photoshop

hey shirley,

i think i am gonna like photoshop...

i've started to have luck dealing with the blues...the greens are looking a lot more difficult to deal with...

thanks,

The oriole like bird is a Troupial, they make a sound like that, trooopial

Oops, I see Philip got there first. We always try to put out sugar water for the bananaquits and hummingbirds

homework tonite - attempt to "fix" one of these shots...



i used corel photo paint...some color balance, equalization and contrast adjustment...



ok...good for a "B" anyway ;)

can't really "fix" my previous shot of the spanish hogfish...but did observe a possible cause for the "ruffling"...there is a baby hogfish in the shot as well as all those banditos;)

oh yeah...lot's of trouble with THIS one too...

(what a b.... ;) )

trying to make it look better than one good shot per twenty-five ;)

a lonely plain ol' stingray...i bet he really doesn't like all the attention the eagle rays get...i guess "crows" are not eagles ;) (or something)

bas imitating a file fish...



he's pretty good ;)

(what's up dude?)

Very nice picture show, everyone! Thanks for the shot and the editing and the education. Lots of fun. Carole (Shutterbug)
PS Here is a barracuda hanging around the Calabas Reef at the Divi....just sort of hovers around you checking you out all the time.

And then we have Bas' barracuda....I don't think it was the same one, but one never knows......Carole

PS It was absolutely fabulous, too!

hey carol,

i won't tell any of my 'cuda friends that you ate one of them;)



you know, i think these barracuda must have english dentists

Am really enjoying the photos and learning new terminology (ruffled?)...... this thread could on and on........what talent!!
The barracuda looks like he could swim away any moment!!
Thanks for sharing. Cheryl

june 12th can't wait your pictures are very good what kind of camera did you use flash ect..

hi michael,

thank you ;)

sony f707 in an ikelite housing...i have an external strobe, ds-125 but it was not used in many of my "keepers"...takes a little more experience i guess...

anyway, i shot in automatic mode, used a red filter in most of these shots and then "equalized" the shots with software...would seem to be a good beginner's approach...the shutter delay was really about the only issue under these circumstances...

having seen some other results, i'm afraid i would look at a canon or an olympus digital if i was looking again...

june 12??? be here before you know it;)

enjoy and good luck with some pics!

for those looking to generate easy web thumbnails for their picture folders, check out Ulead's Photo-Explorer version 8 (much better than 6.0)...gives camera settings with thumbnails...

http://65.24.34.74 (my samples)

the march 2003 folder was done with the above...the other folders with the previous version...

great digital camera accessory ;)

more digital magic...and even a little DOF this time;)

Boy, lots of these big boys all over the place, eh Bob? We'd (I'd) better stop advertising they taste delicious!

I picked up a Canon S40 and the housing to go with it last year before we left for Bonaire. Would you believe neither the camera nor the housing manuals give any instructions or helpful hints on how to shoot digital with their equipment under water? Only "above" sealevel hints and instructions. I guess I will have to write directly to Canon for more details on settings, exposures, etc. I am a snorkeler so I don't really have to worry about lighting too much, but I would love to know whether to use "auto" or manual, etc. The camera is capable of doing sooooo many things, but I need some help with it under water yet. I hope to be able to shoot all kinds of shots under water this coming May. After all, that's why I bought the darn thing! I already have Nikon 35m's and a FujiFinepix 6800 Zoom digital for the "land" shots....I want to be able to learn how to use the Canon and the housing with the fishies..LOL. Love the pics you are sharing with us, Bob. Carole (Shutterbug)

the good, the bad, and the ugly with flash (all in one pic;)) :



compare foreground to background - you can see the color restoration...however overexposure of light background and other light surfaces is present...oh well...

Hi Bob

I've really been enjoying your pics, which are brilliant. I've tried a few times - with a Sea & Sea MX-10 for example - but the results are not good. Any hints on equipment appreciated.

The main problem I have is not touching anything that's alive whilst taking the pics. I always get the feeling that I need to hold on to something to steady myself, particularly for close up shots, or at least to steady my fins on something. How do you take such good pics without touching anything?

TIA