Islandbound

I use a single DS51 with a G7 and have no complaints. If I had two I would use two but the DS51 is a nice and light strobe with a small profile that makes the Ikelite housing easy to tote around and to even hook onto a belt while swimming without too much drag through the water.

Trying to decide what to do about replacing my waterlogged DS51 if it cant be replaced with a YS110 to match the other YS110 I have. I see that Ikelite has a dual cord to trigger the strobes in manual mode and this would be fine for me. So far the YS 110 I have has not flooded itself but I was just wondering if anyone else has had any long term experience with this strobe and the "twist-lock" sealing method of the battery compartment.

The video is not in its original format because I tried to "reduce" it so that it wouldnt be such a large download to view. As a result it lost a great deal of its resolution unfortunately. The eel video is with the diffusor off the light. The center hotspot is pretty easy to see. The snake video is with the diffusor on the light and although the center is a little brighter than the outside edge its not bad at all. The video was shot last night at about 930pm so there is no other light than what was with me. My two young kids were with me so a flashlight beam may be visible some times. Eel Video Without Diffusor - Single Nocturnal SLX light Sea Snake Video With Diffusor - Single Nocturnal SLX The videos are short because I am not trying to show my lack of video skills but just to share what I think is a very nice light that is doing great double duty as a video light, camera light and dive light.

Thanks for the link Cerianthus, I called and talked to someone at Ikelite and was told to ship the strobe in for them to look at. Hopefully it is a repairable issue and I can get the strobe back quickly. Carlos, I was using NiMH batteries at the time. The failure occurred after almost two hours in the water and I hadnt had time to do a freshwater equipment wash. When Ikelite looks at the strobe I hope they will be able to isolate what happened to cause the flooding. During setup I had been careful to inspect the oring for debris and to ensure the battery door was snugly attached. It would be nice to know what went wrong to ensure if I can that I will avoid the same problem in the future.

This is one from this past May but also near the location of the other two. I am not sure these are all the same species but I think they are.

Is this fish a S. Verrucosa or a S. Diabolus? I have trouble telling them apart underwater (above too apparently). This is another one I found in July nearby (much larger too).

My DS 51 flooded today! Whats worse is I know it was tight. I did an entire pre-dive equip check on both strobes, camera case etc and even managed to shoot almost 50 photos with the strobe working. When I was making my way out of the water I found that there was some brown rustlike stains around where the battery "hatch" is and when I took it off the batteries were all messed up. I dont know what to do, the strobe is not even 3 months old and up to now has been a great strobe. Any ideas?

I am looking for some guidance to help me think through whether or not its ok to salvage memorabilia found in the sand and reef. I would not take a bell or a wheel or porthole from a warship or diving spot but what about things found in the sand nowhere near to anything? Is taking something lost in time by a person ok to keep if I find it? What about uninhabited shells? Just trying to work out what I should do as I see things in the ocean. Thanks!

This is a crop first of all. I couldnt get close to this fish as he constantly would swim into the limestone reef if I got more than 4 or 5 feet from him. When I swam up for air or moved far enough away he would come out and perch again on is little coral. The fish is almost 5 inches long or so and as you can see, very colorful! I looked through my little fish guide and cannot find what it is.

Sorry for the bad photo but at about a quarter of inch in size and clear it was really hard to get the camera to stop hunting and focus. I think it looks like a barnacle or some type of filter feeder but dont know what type.

So... a pleurobranch is NOT a nudibranch, its a sea slug?

I dont think its a nudi because the "rhinopores" dont look right to me. Found it yesterday about 4 or 5 meters down.

Sweesin, is that standard port WITH an Inon lens producing the dark corners?

Thanks for the reply. I did a search for G. Javanicus and took a look at about 8 pictures or so on the web. What struck me as odd was that no two pictures looked alike? I finally found one that resembles the Eel I saw (the green headed one) at http://www.envirosea.com/gallery/v/reeffis...moray3.jpg.html that looks similar. I see alot of eels and am looking for a good ID source, do you have a printed source that is a reliable guide?

I think Leslie is listed under the scientific books as "Creatura regina"!

Admittedly I am not even an amateur animal lover but the newest of neophytes so please forgive me if this is a stupid question. Are these two eels related? Do eels change thier appearance when growing into adulthood? The skin has a similar pattern but everything else was different. The yellow colored one is barely over an inch wide and was hiding pretty well, the larger one was sticking 3 feet out of a reef wall and couldnt back up to save his life (although he tried and tried and tried). Small eel - no idea what kind it is Big Eel

I always see these white arms spread out but have never seen where they came from. This fellow set up his home right out in the middle of a reef and for the first time I could see his hole/home. Any idea what kind he is?

Could it have been not eating but sweeping the coral looking for food? In the time I spent watching, it also lifted the entire front half of its body off of the seafloor and swayed back and forth. Made for a great picture of my wife who swam on the other side of it from me for a photo.

I am going through some pictures from last month and am having trouble getting and ID on this. Do all cucumbers have filter feeding tentacles? This guy is about 4 feet long and was about 25 feet down. It was also eating, with some gusto, the coral to the left.

It was the vignetting (sp?) I was worried about. The first time I used the lens it seemed to me that there were some "softer" edges on some of the sides of pictures but I couldnt be sure that they werent just fine silt or a salinity differential.

Hi Rob! I also take pictures (or try to) tankless! Its definately a challenge sometimes but the folks here at Wetpixel have been an enormous help. Post some pics when you get a chance.

Arent these cuttlefish?

OK, over 35 views and NOBODY has any fun with thier camera!

I hadnt thought of that! When I was pushing it on at home prior to going out I saw the port (Ikelite) move a little and was worried that the seal would be broken even if only momentarily. Thanks!

The squid is one in which I did turn the strobe away from direct illumination. I was trying to catch the color changing that was happening and at first the glossy skin kept reflecting too much light. Later in the evening we found another one swimming in the dark which was a bit bigger (same species?) who had an altogether different color pattern...