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i've heard much about that pier. those are awesome pics.

nice. Jim, did you use a focus light?

nice tack sharp photos! yah, you have a new camera, but it's the photographer who got the sharp images.

the fourth and last shots are beautiful!

James - thanks for sharing your insider info. I think you're spot on about US currency valuation as a major factor to oil prices. Most Americans are misinformed. The fed's probably pumped over 2 trillion bailing out the major financial institutions in the last 12 months. Thats before probably another 2 trillion in the next 12 months and before the full bailout of Lehman, Citigroup, Merrill, Freddie, and Fannie. Many OPEC countries are now selling oil based on Euro. They're not dumb, I would't accept dollars either. Currency issues will get worse and probably never correct in our lifetimes. There's some misinformation about hydrogen fuel and other alternatives. There's been massive progress on using bacteria to product hydrogen. It's considered so viable that hundreds of millions are being invested right now. The other hot area that VCs are investing big money is in using bioengineering and algae to product both petrol grade fuel and diesel with algae. Had we had the will, for the 3-5 trillion that we will spend on bush boy's wars, we could have easily installed solar on every house in the US plus build out an entire array of windpower across the country plus probably rebuild every school in the country. So it's a bunch of shit that we didn't have the money nor the technolgy. In the end diving will probably become prohibitive to many and certainly I think dive businesses riding on the margins will have a difficult time staying profitable and in business.

this is a great topic. I accidentally found the ideal solution for myself and I will be using it every chance I get. I carry a Tenba ProDigital backpack. The backpack comes with a carrying strap which is useless on the backpack. Yah but.... when clipped to strobe arms, it's perfect. It has a semisoft handle in the middle that is quite useful for deckhands to lift the camera out of your hands, and it functions as a nonslip shoulder pad when slinging it over the shoulder. The clips are industrial and very easy to clip on and off even underwater. I'm on business travel now. when I get back, I'll publish some pics and contact the vendor to see if they can sell the strap as a stand-alone accessory. this is a must have!

When I was in the Bahamas, a volunteer team from the US were there to "remove" and study the lionfish. After "removal", these guys brought the fish back to their hotel rooms for disection and parasite analysis. Yah, kind of a weird group... They're looking at using parasites as one vector to eradicate the lionfish. This reminds me of what happened in Hawaii with mongooses.

This is a must see video. It's hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all, It's been 5 months since my last dive trip as well as posting to this forum. I just got back from the Bahamas diving with Stuart Cove's. The shark diving was really nice. You get two dives. The first dive is to scout out the feeding site and followed by a short wall dive with many reef sharks within camera distance. The second dive is the feeding. The water is relatively clean for a feeding because they use large chunk bait rather than buckets of fish grind. After a while, lots of particles are kicked up by the sharks, fish, and the human audience. Link to Shark Gallery Here One note about the lionfish in Providence Island, Bahamas. The lionfish has totally infested and populated the dive sites and wrecks. I saw at least 100 in 10 dives. Who knows how many there really are outside of the dive sites. This is very concerning... comments/questions welcomed. -- will

Fiji in April. I like the cute pilot fish. Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100) Aperture: f/7.1 Focal Length: 16 mm ISO Speed: 100

Steve - I think having a habit of shooting 36 shots per dive is a healthy discipline. For me, I almost always come back from a dive thinking I shot more than I actually did. Very wierd. I usually come back from a dive with about 70 frames, of which 20 are exposure setting shots. Like DrSteve, as I go on more trips and get more experience, I tend to shoot less. If I get one satisfying shot per dive, I consider that a success. I usually keep about 3 images per dive, everything else gets deleted. A lot of photographers I know will fire off several shots to get sharper images or to adjust focus points. For great macro, I'm not sure there is really any other way. If I'm testing new equipment or new techiques, 150 shots is easy on a shallow dive. If I'm shooting supermacro, often times I'm lucky to get 20 shots off in a dive. If I'm shooting wide angle I like to shoot between 5-10 shots per subject to adjust lighting. On drift dives I tend to shoot less.

Hi James, I left a message with the boat operator. If they have room I may drive down and check out the pups with you and Sarah. I hate the drive but this sounds cool. -- will

I'm not sure about the configuration of the D2X. However this might help. Try removing the battery and place some fresh desicant packs in the battery compartment. I have a similar problem with one of my 20D after leaving it out in a humid room for 2 days. The desicant trick has helped saved a trip. My cameras now live in a camera bag or the housing. Good luck! I hope you get your camera back in working shape.

Travel and safety are personal issues. Since this is most likely a vacation for you/you wife do what makes you enjoy the vacation. If you go to Sulawasi, most likely a local Indionesian will pick you up and deliver you to the resort in comfort and safety. I personally think 99% of the terrorists warnings, especially reported by CNN, MSNBC, Foxnews, and the State Department are full of shit to scare Americans into supporting dumbass policies. Yes I remember 9/11 as well as the scare to buy duct tape, the fake mobile weapons labs, the fake terrorists who were going to bring down a NY bridge with a torch, and all the other nonsense. Let's grow up and ignore some of this fake scare tactic stuff.

A few from Grand Cayman. The reefs here are really beat up. The hightlight of the trip was visiting Kathy Church's gallery. Very cool. She signed a copy of her book for me while I was there. Grand Cayman Gallery