Catalina on the Pacific Dream

Matt, Greg and I went out to catalina on the Pacific Dream on September 17, 2000. First stop was near Blue Cavern Point for two dives, second stop was just a little bit farther south, Sea Fan Grotto. Greg and I were helping out with the Deep dive for an advanced class, then we had the rest of the day to play. Matt tagged along on the deep dive. We were supposed to go down the anchor line to 70 feet, then follow the bottom to 90-100. Turns out the anchor was not in 70, more like 150(!!!!!), so the dive was very boring with a whole class hanging on the anchor line at 100 feet.

The rest of the day was much more fun! I was trying out my newly acquired Nikonos V camera. On the first dive with it, I noticed the light meter battery was dead as I was about to jump in the water, so just switched to manual, and used it like I have been with the old camera. The water was not very clear, about 20 feet visibility, so I was using my 2:1 Macro extension tube. After the dive, I changed the battery, so the second half ot the roll was shot in automatic TTL mode with the strobe. You can see the difference in the two Sea cucumber pictures!

The last dive, at sea fan grotto, was a major frustration... the grotto is a small (7 feet wide, 3 foot tall, 10 foot deep) sea cave, about 15 feet underwater. It leads to a small chamber with more tunnels (more like large cracks) leading back out to the sea, and one to the surface. The ceiling is covered with sea fans hanging down (hence the name!), and also has numerous little pockets of air from previous divers that move and sparkle like pools of mercury. With the light pouring down in the back, it is a truly beautiful sight! And I am screaming, looking down at the fact that I still have my macro lens, so could only take a picture of about a 2 inch chunk!!!! Oh well. There is always next time. The macro shots of the kelpfish and the horn shark did come out great anyway...

The shot of the Eel was a lucky one... he did not want to come out of his cave to play with the camera, so I had to lay it down in the opening, and wait for him to get curious enough to get close. Took several minutes! The Goby was another hard shot, they are very timid, and the camera has a wire framer to show were the image will be in focus, that needs to be placed around the subject... it took many tries!

	Pacific Comet Star		Sea cucumber (in manual)
	Pale anemone		Sea cucumber (in TTL mode)
	kelpfish		Kelpfish
	kelpfish		Kelpfish
	Horn Shark		Horn Shark
	Catalina Goby		California Moray Eel
	Island Kelpfish		Island Kelpfish
	Painted Greenling		Island Kelpfish
	Girabaldi		Calico Bass

Last updated: Fri Oct 27 10:48:55 PDT 2000