Forth of July 2008 is one I will never forget!
Diving out of Islamorada was great but I was glad to be back on Molasses Reef. Visibility was fantastic and we had many sea life sightings. We saw more Spotted Eagle Rays and several sharks including a Black Tip Reef shark.



We also saw a couple nurse sharks and I was lucky enough to get close enough at the right angle for some good photos.


I used up a lot of air chasing all those eagle rays and sharks so I hung out under the boat while the others were chasing a turtle. I was able to get a nice photo of a Nassau Grouper and a Queen Angelfish.


It looks like this one got part of its tail bit off.

We dove out of Islamorada on Thursday, July 3rd and spent the day at Hens and Chickens reef. It’s a shallow reef with some great coral profiles and lots of sea life. I was able to get a nice close-up of these barracuda near the surface.

The big treat was another close encounter with a green sea turtle.



We had been seeing several large Tarpon crusing the area but I was having a hard time getting a good photo. I managed to get this shot just before the battery in my camera died.

Today was my first dive trip out of Islamorada, which is about 20 miles south of Key Largo. Doing more dives down there was one of my goals for this trip. It looks like I will be diving down there Thursday and Friday as well. Most of these sites are outside the marine sanctuary and don’t have as many divers visiting.
We visited two patch reefs this morning named Patch A and Grumpys. Patch A was a great environment for Nurse Sharks with many overhangs form them to hide under.



I also got this really good shot of a Gray Angelfish. For some reason, getting a good side profile of Anglefish has been difficult so I was really happy to get this one.


I was also lucky enough to have a close encounter with a large Southern Stingray.
The dive site named Grumpies had many nooks and crannies, which made it a great place to find lobster.

This also explains why Nurse Sharks also can be found in the area. I was photographing a Nurse Shark in its “den” when it swam away. The den area was littered with the remains of several lobsters, telling me that Nurse Sharks like lobster as much as we do.


I also got a shot of this Balloonfish from an interesting angle.

Monday turned out to be a great day for shark sightings. I saw a total of four sharks, but only got photos of three and pretty good photos of two. Both these sharks were at Molasses Reef.


In addition to sharks I saw two turtles and more Spotted Eagle Rays.



I learned that I was seeing more Eagle Rays during this trip because there are more around in the spring and summer than winter when I made my previous trips to Key Largo.
I also got a few photos of Rainbow Reef staff members.

Whitney let me user her new SeaLife DSC800 to take a picture of her and Cherry. Excellent camera! I would love to upgrade and buy one.

This is a shot of Whitney taking a photo of a sea turtle.

Jesus was my divemaster three years ago when I fist came down to Key Largo. He know the reef extreamly well and can usualy find some marine life to photograph. He was the divemaster for the afternoon dive.

Chris was the divemaster for the morning trip. The current was strong and we use up our air faster than normal, but we had some good marine life sightings.

I came down to Key Largo to get experience with my new dive computer and take photographs. Once again I have been divng with Rainbow Reef Dive Center.
I hear the seas are usually calm this time if the year, we have had 2 to 4 foot waves so far. The sun and waves have been making the boating a little rough but the diving has been fantastic. I have been lucky enough to get some great photographs.
On Friday we made a visit to Pillar Coral Ridge. This is one of the last places in the Florida Keys where Pillar Coral can be found. Like other coral, environmental pressues have been taking its toll on the Pillar Coral.


I can’t believe how lucky I have been to see many Spotted Eagle Rays and a Sea Turtle.

Saturday I had one come within three feet of me. It was so amazing!

I was also extreamly lucky to get a close up shot of a Green Sea Turtle. I have been trying for three years to get turtle photos like these.

I recently spent a long weekend at our vacation home in Bristol, Maine, where I got some fantastic photographs while kayaking. I rented one of the used boats for sale at Mid-coast Kayak with the intention of buying it if I liked it. I knew it was the perfect boat for me at a place like the Johns River.

As I said, I was luckly enough to get some fantactic close up photos of a seal in the Johns River.

Monday morning was perfect with sunshine, blue sky and the water like glass.

The seals were out sunning and playing and the lobster men were busy working their traps.

The lobster men had a crappy morning when they later got hung up on some rocks as the tide was going out. They had to wait another hour and a half for the tide to hit the low point and another two hours for it to get high enough to lift the boat.

It’s encouraging to know I will have a kayak that I really like when I go back at the end of July.

I went to Nubble Light for my last dive of the season. The visibility was great (for New England) and we saw lots of sea life including the striped bass pictured above. It was not a big fish for a striper, but it came close enough for some good photos.

We saw several flounder during the two dives. I lost count of the Lobster. This one (below) got a little pissed off and pinched the wide-angle lens of my camera.

Towards the end of our swim, my dive buddy Mark pointed out an Anemone in a crevice between two enormous rocks. The light was not great and it was a difficult shot but I had to try. I think I need a strobe to do justice to an Anemone photo in New England. So far I have only seen them in deeper water where ambient light is low.