Anemone Fish!

How many of you saw Nemo? Yep - you got it....these are Nemo and his cousin's. They come in a variety of colours and sizes and you never ever get tired of watching them and taking pictures of them. The anemone's also come in a variety of colors both on the outside and on the tips. The prettiest one I ever saw was pink tipped and very delicate. Unfortunately, I over shot the colour so you won't see it here.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

Indonesia Diving - Some other great shots

Here are a few others that we entered into the weekly contest.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 8, 2010 - Day 11 - The last dives and a party

The end of a dive trip is always a sad affair, even though you are almost nearly on the last ability of your ears to take any more punishment from the constant equalisation. John's ears had failed two days before and Cheri's were quickly following suit! But, Cheri wouldn't have traded the last two dives for anything. They were at Roma and another great site; two very beautiful sites that were loaded with both fish and healthy corals. Cheri shot and shot, blinding the fish and fogging her housing from all the heat from the flashes.

That night was celebrated Thomas' 40 something birthday! He and Marius were the life of the party as we had drinks on the jetty bar at Wakatobi followed by dinner. It was one heck of a party that won't soon be forgotten by any who were in attendance or nearby!

After dinner it was back for one last night on our beloved Pelagian with the gentle rocking of the waves!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 6, 2010 - More Walls

We were really enjoying the wall diving. Unfortunately, John's ears got the better of him and this was his last day of diving. :-((.

It's surely not as much fun to dive without your buddy. Luckily, the boat is well prepared to have you dive with the dive master if your buddy is out of action. On this day, Cheri actually did a private dive with Ketut as both Romy & Keith as well as John stayed out of the 'pool'.

Some more great images and movies were shot!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 5, 2010 - Back to the Walls!

After two days of muck diving, we were more than ready to head back to the beautiful walls that we had come so far to dive upon. These walls were incredibly healthy and filled with all kinds of coral - both hard and soft as well as many types of animals. There could have been more fish, but there were some. This day Cheri experimented with wide angle and got some great results!

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 4, 2010 - Night - MAGIC!

Well - one of the fish we have always wanted to shoot and have yet to have the opportunity is the Mandarin Goby. It is a magnificent fish that is often quite shy and very hard to find. Hence - 15 years of diving with no sightings.

This particular night we dove a place called Magic Pier - and boy is it! There is a colony of Mandarin fish and each night at dusk they mate! All one needs to do to see them is be at the right spot at the right time. We were there! It was one of the most exciting night dives we've ever been on.

Once the mating was over, there were lots of other great things to see too.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 4, 2010 - Day - More Muck Diving

This day we were treated to some species we had only dreamed of seeing...robust ghost pipefish, ornate ghost pipefish, popcorn shrimp and more. We spent our 3 day dives further exploring the muck dive sites.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 3, 2010 - Muck Diving

We motored from about midnight last night until 5.30 am this morning where we awoke in a bay. It was time to start muck diving! You'd think we were crazy flying half way around the world to dive on dirt and trash - but no! It's an amazing place filled with all kinds of cool, little critters. On the first dive, John shot some amazing video and images of lion fish. There was a pair, maybe mates, who were hanging together and he got some unbelievable shots! Cheri shot a little goofy octopus and a leaf fish amongst other cool things! Off in the distance was an eagle ray! John shot a great lion fish and a blue sea star!

Today was a 4 dive day....

Dives 1 - 3 were amazing and we were both getting pretty good with our cameras. Dive 4 was the night dive. Yes - we get into zodiacs (like Navy seals use to transport themselves) and motor off into the pitch dark. On the count of 3 it's over the side and descent into the murky darkness. Usually you are immediately filled with a sense of awe because night diving is so very different from day diving. A whole new set of creatures emerge from their hiding places. It's like a giant treasure hunt!

Unfortunately, this night dive was a failure - very murky and lots of current. Sometimes that's the way it is at night - so we'll try again another night.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 2, 2010 - Amazing Canon Cameras

There we were in London one day thinking about what to replace our trusty Olympus 5060's with, as they had died on our last Cozumel trip. We had taken those 8 mega pixel cameras and housed them with Ikelite plexiglass boxes and bought nice DS-125 strobes to go with them. We'd used them for several years until finally the button that takes the pictures had gone belly up.

Now, you all know what crazy photographers we are. I was all set to house my Canon 7D, but was dreading the cost of doing so; cost from purchasing the equipment and cost of carrying all the weight. You see, it would require a huge housing, two dome ports and more arms to connect the strobes. With all the airline weight restrictions, we might even have to ship it down under; a thing I was loath to do.

SO...we walked by this dive shop and saw the most incredible video playing. We wandered in and asked about the video and were told about this marvelous little point and shoot camera that the owners had used to shoot the video. They even had a book of pictures that were incredible. After a lot of discussion we decided to lighten our loads and buy this new system...although Cheri still had reservations, John was all in!

So - we bought: Canon IXUS 100 IS (in the US - 785), Canon WP-DC31 housing, an Inon S2000 strobe, a Nocturnal Lights SLX 800i lighting system (big flashlight) for the video, Inon adapter for additional lens including the wide angle (UWL 105AD) and the macro lens as well as some arms to connect it all up.

So with great trepidation we splashed in and tried out the new toys. The first dive was a bit rough and the pictures were so so. As we learned the system, we began to get spectacular results from tiny macro to wide angle and everything in between! Hopefully soon, you can check them out at www.cherylawarren.com/index.htm.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John

June 2, 2010 - Diving at Last!

Well - the long awaited day finally arrived. Wake up at 6 am...toast if you like and then into your gear and onto the zodiacs! Once you arrive at the dive site, you finish suiting up...fins, mask, regulator, weight belt....1...2...3...roll over backwards and splash!

As you descend into the deep the magic begins! You are surrounded by the sea and all the critters who call it home. This first day was full of wall dives with large gorgonian fans, anemone fish, soft and hard coral and little fishes! We dove 3 times and elected to skip the night dive.

Today was the first time we used our new cameras, housings, strobes (flashes), and nitrox computers; it was a big learning day!

The first dive produced alot of crummy pictures, with some flashes of brilliance, as we were getting used to the equipment and getting the settings correct. The second and third dives yielded better images and videos. So far the cameras are performing pretty well and offering a lot of flexibility for shots from macro to wide angle all on the same dive.

Enjoy!
Cheri & John