scubag

Very tragic news indeed, My heart goes out to Steve's family and close friends. Every time I watched him dangle a Mamba or Cobra from it's tail I thought about how lucky he was to still be alive. If you stare death in the face as many times as he did then surely he must have thought that someday death would take notice and stare back. But never had I thought that a ray would get him, as someone who has spent countless dives with big rays throughout my 30+ years as a diver and dive instructor I guess it just shows how we can easily underestimate the size, power and motivations of the creatures we love so dearly and spend out lives trying to be with. Peace be with you Steve, Doug

So obviously the diving and environmental groups out there are not doing enough to educate dumb-ass fisherman who feel like going out for the day to kill an un-edible species like the hammerhead. Why kill it if you have no intention of eating it. I spent 3 1/2 weeks in Galapagos this past March diving with Hammerheads, by the time I get there again they may be all but gone. So sad. Doug

Great Shots Eric, Hopefully I'll fit one of your 2007-2008 trips into our diving schedule. I've only seen one Oceanic White-tip in the Coral Sea, I was snorkeling between dives and it scared the hell out of me, it being "curious" and all. Again, nice images. Doug

Just returned from 3 1/2 weeks in Galapagos including 5 days at Wolf and Darwin. I was the only diver on Sky Dancer not using a reef hook in extremely strong currents. Can't say it wouldn't have come in handy, but I prefered to use the large boulders available to hide from the current. Definately built up my right fore arm from holding the camera one handed though. And by the way, my Carter SMB saved my rear several time waiting for the Zodiac in 8 foot seas. Doug

Hi everyone Canon 20d shooter here... Canon EF-S 10-22 USM Zoom Canon EF-S 17-85 USM IS Zoom Canon EF 75-300 USM IS Zoom (obviously not for u/w) Doug

Congratulations Kasey, Still trying to track down a copy of Fathoms, if it's anything like your calendar It'll be great. Hope to see you in the VI booth next dema. Doug

Hi Marjo, We'll be Peter Hughes Sky Dancer March 16-26, at the Silberstein Hotel in Puerto Ayora March 16-April1, and on Lindblad's Polaris April 1-8. Sailing to the islands sounds like such a great adventure, I hope you have a great time. Yes I remember you from Dema, but I thought Ed drank all the Rum. Dan and Gale McDaid from Scuba Shak were in Galapagos last year on Lammer Law I think, said it was phenominal. Best Wishes and good sailing, Doug

I sent both our malfunctioning Atom 1's ( see earlier post) back to Oceanic, they replaced the wrist units with new computers. Thank you Oceanic for great service. I'm off to Galapagos in 2 days to give them a good break in. Allways carry a back up. Doug

Tim, I compared my 867Mhz Powerbook G4 (with 1.25 GB Ram) to the new Intel core duo 2.0 Ghz MacBook Pro (with 1 GB Ram) at my local apple store using both Photoshop Elements and CS2. The MacBook was faster all the way around, although my 12" 3 year old Powerbook is a bit out of date. They had lots in stock, I might just have to save my pennies for one. A very impressive machine. Doug

Hey Marjo, Congratulations, I'll also be in the Galapagos March 16 - April 8. Yeh there's always extra dive gear available on St Croix, but a 7mm suit that fits? How lucky can you be. Best Wishes Doug Kaufman (formerly of St Croix & St Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures)

Nevermind, I ID'd him as a Spinecheek. Thanks for your help. Doug

Great Video, For all the glamour of traveling portrayed on tv, little time is spent showing what a hard lifestyle it is for those pilots and flight attendents who deal with long flights, bad weather and disgruntled travelers on a daily basis. I'd much rather be sitting in a first class seat than in a pilot's seat. Doug

Claude, Beautiful web site, and great images. Doug

We were at Wakatobi this past Dec 2-10, vis was good, no rain until the day we flew out. Doug

Looks to me more like some type of Lizard Fish, very common in both the Caribbean and Pacific, but he is covered with sand. Doug

Great shots everyone. Here's my 2005 favorite, I followed this guy around for nearly 20 minutes, he had his head in and out of holes in the reef and I couldn't see his whole body until he finally came up for air.

We'll be in Singapore, Bali and Wakatobi to do a bit of shopping and diving till December 15th, not quite Christmas but close enough for me. Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it that is) Doug

Here's another link: http://www.underwaterphotography.com/artic...ikonosStory.asp Doug

The company web site is http://www.ram-mount.com Doug

You probably won't see much performance difference in the Ultra II vs Extreme III cards on a D70. I prefer to not have to open my housing between dives on a boat to change cards. I would much rather wait until I am back in my room and can control the environment around me ie no dripping wetsuit sleeves or other divers bumping about me. I shoot with a 6GB microdrive with several 2GB Sandisk Ultra II cards as backup for my Canon 20d. Doug

My primary lens u/w is the Canon 10-22. 90% of what I shoot is wide angle, and this is a very sharp lens. Doug

Hi William, I've had similar problems with one of my Atoms (version 1) and a battery change seamed to fix the problem with the exception that my dive screen now says LEU instead of SEA to indicate I'm in dive mode. I'll see how it works in Indosnesia in 2 weeks before sending it back to Oceanic. Good thing I have backup. Doug

Hi Linda, Very impressive gallery. I'll be at Wakatobi starting Dec 2, I can only hope to see as many critters as you had in your portfolio. What are the wide angle subjects like there, is there any reason to shoot something other than macro? Doug

Ahh... very nice work Eric. Did the sharks come around only at a specific feeding time or were they around all the time. And how shy were they with out food? I havent been in Tahiti since 1984, we saw sharks but not in those numbers. Doug

I for one am looking forward to getting Aperature. I love photoshop, but it doesn't solve my problems managing 50,000 images now on multiple hard drives and backup dvds. My next purchase though will be to upgrade my 5 year old desktop to an modern system, my 12" powerbook is also 2 years old and run Aperature it won't. As far as Adobe is concerned, Apple should buy them lock stock and barrel, just as they did with Video software companies before Final Cut Pro was released. Doug