el buzo

A couple of questions if you don't mind. 1. Did you stay in one spot for 3 days or did you move around to different anchorages? 2. Also, by the 3rd day, were some folks sitting out their cage rotations? 3. How many different sharks did you see? Were the same ones hanging around for the whole trip? Here you have 1- We anchored very close to shore , almost the same spot as last year and we didn´t move in 3 days. The Solmar V was there when we arrived ( aprox. 100-150 mts. far from us ) and we share the island for 2 days . Then at the end of second day Solmar leave and early in the morning of third day the Horizon arrived . Last year we spent the whole time without any other boat. By october you will have more boats, so you will share the sharks . It will be interesting to know how this will work. Maybe you will have more sharks maybe not . 2- First day everybody is hyper , by the second day some people skips some turns mainly if they are not photographers , third day only the hardcores doesn´t skip some turns. I was able to spend a lot of time inside the cage. 3- Last year we made a count and i remember that we saw around 14 different individuals . This time we didn´t make a count but i think that we saw at least 10 different ones including the smaller one ever ( as per Scott - the shark expert ) a beautiful 6 footer without any scars. Most of the sharks are in the 12-14 ft. range and sometimes you can have several sharks circling the boat at the same time . You will see that they have different moods and when you have a player around , be ready with your camera. Regards El buzo PD. I posted 1 pic from last year . I will post more as soon i arrange my new computer , including my experience with the magic filter.

THREE MORE TIPS BRING 2 TOWELS . ONE FOR YOUR CAMERA AND YOURSELF ON DECK AND ANOTHER INSIDE FOR AFTER THE SHOWER. WHEN INSIDE THE CAGE CLEAN OUT THE MICROBUBBLES FROM YOUR DOME . A DOME SHADE IS VERY USEFUL TO AVOID TO SCRACHT YOUR DOME . NO MATTER WHO CAREFUL YOU ARE , IT IS A SURE THING THAT YOU WILL BANG YOUR DOME AGAINST CAGE´S BAR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF TIMES . HAVE A NICE TRIP EL BUZO

YES YOU WILL NEED ANKLE WEIGHTS BUT THEY WILL PROVIDE IT , SO NO NEED TO TAKE YOURS. ACTUALLY I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY COMPUTER BUT HERE I HAVE ONE PIC FROM LAST YEAR . THAT WAS ON FILM WITH A NIKONOS V . SALUDOS EL BUZO

I returned from Guadalupe trip last week . I went on The Searcher, for the second time. We had great vis and 2 days full of action, third day was slow . Vis was aprox. 120 ft ( you can see the anchor line from the cage) most of the time and water 70-72 F. Tips that works for me: Pack light , you will not need many clothes . A wind breaker is good for late afternoon and night. Use sun protection . Spend most of the time outside , most of the time you will have interesting oportunities for surface shots and make editions or arrangements of your pics at night. Take 2 camera bodies with you . That way you can have a backup if something happens and also you don't have to take your camera out of your housing for surface shots. Don't leave your second camera inside becasue you will have problems with condensation . Best thing is to have it ready to use inside a dry case around the deck. Regarding lenses i found that most useful are the 12-24 mm and 18-70 mm for u/w and 80-400 mm + 18-70 mm for surface ( i'm nikon user ) Bring plenty of batteries ,memory cards and chargers , mark everything with your name to avoid confusion with the equipment. Also spares for your u/w equipment. Be sure to try your equipment befor the trip and don't leave any part behind. I think that a dry suit is too much hassle i was great with 7 mm and 3-5 mm vest/hood and i am from the caribbean. Stobe , useful when the sharks are very close to the cage , but most of the time sharks are around 6-10 ft far from the cage , at that range strobe is only good for backscatter ( it's crystal clear water but you will have chumming and bubbles around ) . A fast reciclyng strobe is mandatory , the wider beam the better and must be compact and very close to the housing ( cage can be very tight if you have 3 other photographers with you ) . Good luck El buzo

YES THAT IS THEIR WEB PAGE THE ISSUE WITH THE CAVE DIVING ARTICLE IS THE #13 , WITH A POLAR BEAR AND CUBS AT THE COVER. YOU CAN FIND SOME FURTHER INFO ABOUT THE CAVES AT THE WEB PAGE THAT I SENT YOU GOOD LUCK EL BUZO

Why digital graphic designers insist in to putting fishes from the Pacific inside caribbean pics. In this picture you can see several blue powder tangs ( acanthurus leucosternon ) in an obviously caribbean reef. As travelling and consumer diver , I avoid the places that use false information to promote themselves. Not in this particular case but dive resorts an operators. El buzo

Alex , congratulations! Excellent results. Pls. put me in the waiting list for the magic filter. El buzo

Don: Thanks for your repply . I have the old ones that use batteries. I will talk to Ikelite to see if i have a chance to work with the new ones using strobes 200 and 400. El buzo

Anynone had experience with Ikelite remote sensor? I found the sensors very unreliable and prone to stop function very easy. I have 4 and i had faced a lot of problems using them for multiple strobe inside caves . I don't know if the source of problems are the batteries that dies too fast or the cables that are too delicate . Usually we tried them before starting the dive but once we placed inside the cave they stop working. I had sent it to Ikelite several times but they start to malfunction after the first use and since i live outside EU is very time consuming and expensive for me to send it to repair. Did Ikelite made any improvement or upgrade in this &*^%$#!!* devices ? Any comment will be appreciated El buzo

Alex : No , it´s my buddy that was firing the strobes all over the room . I was behind the camera/tripod . El buzo Jean : Thanks for your suggestion. We knew each other at Dema Miami on 2003, i was together with you and Mauricio in your booth . Glad to hear from you . Pls. say hola to Norma Jose Alejandro a.k.a El buzo

James That is exactly my idea and that is why i want to make it with digital . Attached you will find the only pic aceptable from 2 prior long sessions ( i deleted some partially gosht imaging ) Saludos

Mark Well it sound too much complicated for me . My problem is that i only have basic knowledge about photoshop ( i am new to digital and i will just take a photoshop course starting next week ). But also the photo that i want to make is in a total dark room deep inside a cave , the only way to do it is putting the shutter in bulb . I am not able to determinate the exact time of exposure because the room is quite large and it takes several strobe shots to exposure the area that i want . I did it on film and it took me around 2 minutes , but is very difficult because my friend ( lightning assistance ) needs to move all around the cave in the dark knowing were the camara is located in order to avoid ghosting images of himself. Who said that u/w photography is easy !! Anyway thanks for your input. Saludos El buzo

Very nice pics excellent use of your fisheye ! Those sepias are such a beautiful creatures. If you have the chance again , try a very slow shutter speed , the water in the background will turn more green and bright and your sepias will pop up . Keep going Saludos El buzo

Thanks Leslie I saw some pics on the web of the Pseudopontonides principis and the body looks the same . Seems that they are capable of making dramatic changes in coloration. I remember that this particular one was almost fluorescent . El buzo

I took this 2:1 pic during a night dive at Turks & Caicos 90 ft. deep. Which specimen of shrimp is this ? El buzo