i needed a break from scanning film - so time to scribble out a trip report;)

GETTING THERE:

flew AA/AE once again, out thru chicago and back thru boston, once again no problems with flights or luggage. TSA in San Juan apparently removed my "ride the bonaire rodeo" pin i got for diving with larry from my carryon - they didn't say anything - just stole it;) also my bug spray leaked all over my clothes so bugs really were not a problem...anyway, the checked bags came in at 90lbs and AA let me slide;)

ACCOMODATIONS:

stayed at Coco Palm Gardens/Casa Oleandar once again. Marion and Brigitte are simply the best. just a case of a couple of talented people who really enjoy there work and the product really reflects that. I stayed in a large two room apartment (Pelikan Room) and a nice pickup truck was provided. Marion and Brigitte hosts a couple of happy hours/buffets during the week in the office/pool garden area and these get togethers are a lot of fun as well as a good value. i will be including lots of pics of the place when i get to that point;)

DINING:

well, i did have barracuda - at a place near the dive-inn (forget the name) - the fish was wonderful

also had a pig-out at old inn (lots of food), also tried a bongo burger and fries (yummy) and basically just ate a lot of snacks, cooked very little myself...made a couple of great grilled cheese sandwiches;)

so anyway, the basics were taken care of so i could get down to the business at hand - checking out my new camera;)

DIVING:

dove with Photo Tours/Yellow Submarine (i have been a regular customer at Photo Tours). Bas was on vacation so i got to know Eddie a bit. Eddie and Bas complement each other well and i suspect that extends to the two dive shops as well - Photo Tours and Yellow Sub combined make for a better product;)

So Eddie took me out on a Windjammer dive, we did air and a nitrox stage - i was so excited and did get to feel a little "narc'd" - great time was the dive and i did get a couple of marginal pics (used the wrong lens - more on that later)

also went out with Larry from Larry's Wide Side Diving for a dive at Blue Hole and some other east coast site - what a ride! Larry refers to a ride on his boat as a rodeo ride (though the ride was very nice, comfortable) - the Velvet Underground's "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" seemed like it was about Larry...well, maybe;)

anyway, my camera battery died during the blue hole dive - film cameras do not work right on low battery blue hole was a great site, full of tarpon, kind of shaped like an arena, a little bit reduced vis and some motion (surge) but totally a great dive.

like to add that the reef off of Yellow Sub is ideal for night dives. also like to reveal an unmarked site, a little north of margate bay, in between a couple of traffic signs (one triangle and one round) and marked by a small concrete slab with "373" stamped in it and a couple of boulders leaning against each other on the shore - then start the dive to the south - intense soft coral/sponge reef

anyway, i only managed 19 dives this trip (28 last time) but all dives were good.

finally, the camera;)

i took a Nikon F100 with a Nikon 105mm macro and a Tokina 17mm manual focus wide angle in an Ikelite housing with the associated lens ports and my Ikelite DS-125 strobe. well,

the macro did a pretty good job. focus (holding focus) was a problem. the macro switches to manual focus if desired however the housing controls for switching to manual focus and then controlling the focus are a little sloppy - need to work on that some. and i probably needed to get even closer in but for the first trip - not bad at all...

the wide angle just really did not work out. could not see well enough to focus underwater, focus on a superwide is not a big deal but i noted i can focus out of water just not under. then the Equinox 72mm CC bluewater filter was extremely weak so that did not help those pics much and finally the strobe had a hard time trying to cover the wide frame - so i just went out and bought a 20mm Nikkor AF and think i will order a URPRO filter and try all of the above again;)

on the focus Ikelite claims that while underwater, the dome port sets up a virtual focus point at 12" that would be the focus point for any target, regardless of distance from camera - i really did not investigate this completely - jury is out on that one - but if so an easy answer to manual focus;)

the pictures themselves are good, great color, a little less sharpness than the digitals i have shot but that is just a matter of getting used to the equipment. none of the pics will need corrected by photoshop though i intend to use photoshop to generate "constrained" image webpages (limit the longer dimension to 800)

i have been scanning in the negs at 4000dpi (1.5" X 1.0") creating essentially 24 megapixel files - those will be made available as well...currently i am at 122 pics - going for 200 for this report's gallery;)

misc:

weather in jan is nicer than in august;) a little rain my first weekend but not bad.

gonna recommend knee socks for dining out - look funny but so does the person scrathing his legs all nite;)

used chat-n-browse for cell phone rental, brought back a handful of cigars from Littman's...

well - no doubt about what my favorite place on earth is

i gotta get back to scanning...

later,

Great report!! Glad you had a nice trip and can't wait to see the pics!

Nice write up Bob! Can't wait until your scanning is completed and we can enjoy your pics, too.

I guess you'll just have to book that next trip right away to work out the quirks and master that new camera, eh?! I like that reasoning, myself. Carole

a start to pics:

http://24.93.113.215:81/bonjan05web/index.htm

http://24.93.113.215/bonjan05web/index.htm

land shots and cleanup yet to come...

;)

Where was your pin taken from?**(see below) The checked in bags? Boy...the TSA is really not doing what they say they would do...our bags were checked going down by the TSA last May and they placed their cards in each bag notifying us that they had inspected them and that they had "resecured" them, too.....WRONG! The bags were never relocked with the plastic tabs...the luggage was open for all to explore prior to reaching our hands at the airport baggage claim area in Bonaire. I was soooo ticked off! I was going to write to them but never did get around to it.

Sounds like the TSA does whatever the hell it wants to and nothing gets done...I guess I should still send them a letter...did you notify anyone of your "theft"...they'd probably tell you they didn't do it, etc. Oh well. Frustrating.

Glad you had fun on your trip, tho! Ayo. Carole

Oopsss.. **I just re-read your note...it was in your carryon bag. Still, they should have let you know they were removing it. Nasty. I realize they have a job to perform and there are millions of bags and people they have to deal with, but....cb

SB Great trip report...thanks for the link to the pics..the two filefish were awesome!

trying to get an updated web thumnail set generated with a lot of ther topside shots - those shots are really good...

so if photoshop elements doesn't choke;)

later,

now that i've had some time to review the pics;)

The Macro:

Focusing the Nikon 105mm was problematic topside and wasn't any less so underwater - used with the Nikon F100 in both single and continuous servo AF, a lot of seeking occurs, i used only single area focusing (vs dynamic) but just got the feeling the lens would never just lock in on a fish in any available AF mode/Focus area...so manual focus needed to be employed - the Ikelite housing/port controls to handle manual focus of the lens were a bit sloppy but could be used and did on occassion yield a good shot. need to work on manual focus and also shoot in other exposure modes other than program.

the macro and the strobe (Ikelite DS-125) worked well together when i could manage a focus;) really, i could see myself sleeping all day and shooting all night with that setup;)

did not really use the color filter (Nikon 52mm CC filter) much but i think it was like medium strength and could be used with the strobe.

The Wide Angle:

It was a 17mm manual Tokina lens (kind of a cheap one). Never really ever got comfortable with the focus underwater but i could have worked on that a bit more than i did. And i shot all shots at a fixed aperature (F3.5) in "A" exposure mode (no way to change without a special aperature gear - probably another "fun" Ikelite control;))

The lens was a bit wide for the Ikelite lens port (5503) - so i had to shoot without the lens port shade - i think i got more bubbles on the lens port because of that...the manual focus sleeve works great but hey, if you can't really make out the viewfinder

The Equinox Bluewater filter was way to weak - even used topside only a bit of warming occurs
SO most of the wide angle filtered shots ended up scanned in in black and white;)

When used with the flash the pics were ok when i was close enough for the strobe to cover the frame.

wide angle flash at night may not be a good idea;)

I am adding (have added) a Nikon 20mm AF wide angle to help out on the next trip;)

I used 800 speed film, i wonder if that was a bit of a problem. Did seem to get more "stuff" in the shots. I scanned the negs in at a high resolution and did end up using photoshop for some limited contrast adjustment.

So, three things:

1. manual focus that macro!
2. stronger color filters
3. AF, Auto/Aperature Wide angle lens

and possibly dual strobes;)

whatever,

the pics are pretty decent - you should look;)

great report and pictures Bob.
Tx for posting

hey,

i just actually used that adobe photoshop underwater correction thing (macro) on some old digital pics:

\image(angel}

(taken at hilma hooker)

maybe i'll take the digital with me next time as well;)

oops;

Could you be more specific as to the actual program, full photoshop, elements, etc, bob?

I could be wrong (it's been known to happen! ) but I think he's referring to a recorded "Action" that's available for download on one of the Photoshop sites. As far as I know, it only works with Photoshop (not Elemnets or the other flavors).

yeah,

underwater.atn (do a google for a download)

need photoshop 6.0 or later...

the action file (macro) does some pretty strange stuff;)



later,

well, one more (for oldtimes;))



(baby beach, with Bas - Nov 2003)

(underwater correction macro applied)

Nice couple of addl. posts bob! More are always welcome!

Although you were not completely satisfied, I think you posted great pics.
They're crisp, have wonderful colors and show a lot of depth.
I hope there are more.

thanks bob,

i do have thumbnail pages with somewhat constrained pics (easier download) for a few bonaire trips:

http://24.93.113.215
http://24.93.113.215:81

the first three sets (dec, march, w/Bas) had no correction applied and are not that good;) the june set includes some corrected pics from the first three sets and corrected june pics, the nov and jan sets are corrected to death;)

the jan set is film (not corrected;))

i'm learning a lot anyway,

someone let me know if i need to make these sets with even more constrained image sizes...i can do that pretty easy (photoshop - any flavor;))

thanks again,