Tag: island

  • Curaçao: Claws, Jaws, and Cephalopods

    Curaçao: Claws, Jaws, and Cephalopods

    Just some crustaceans, eels, and mollusks we encountered on our recent scuba diving trip to Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles: Banded coral shrimp…   The batwing coral crab…   The red reef hermit crab…   The white speckled hermit crab…   Banded clinging crabs… which I think are just ADORABLE…   Spotted cleaner shrimp…   The perennially-grumpy…

  • Catalina Dive Sites: Two Harbors

    Catalina Dive Sites: Two Harbors

    The diving at Catalina Island is some of the best in Southern California–even when it’s not so great, like it was last weekend. I did four dives over two days, and found Catalina has been suffering from the same low-visibility problems as San Diego. I still had a great time! The Catalina dive sites I…

  • Scuba Diving Fiji’s Viti Levu!

    Scuba Diving Fiji’s Viti Levu!

    Fiji is home to some of the world’s best dive sites. When the currents pick up, the soft corals “bloom” into a breathtakingly colorful display, earning the islands the title of “the soft coral capital of the world.” A direct flight away from Los Angeles, Viti Levu, the biggest Fijian island, is one of the…

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: David Tucker Wreck and the Hollywood Bowl

      Our last dive day in Nassau brought sunny, tropical weather once again. However, the ocean had not yet recovered from the storm, and strong currents, coupled with compromised visibility, made diving a little bit difficult. The David Tucker was donated by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force to become an artificial reef. It sits in…

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Shark Diving

    Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Shark Diving

    My favorite dive from our entire trip was the Caribbean reef shark feed. It was the perfect Valentine’s Day gift from my husband! We dove with Stuart Cove’s, a dive operator known both for Bahamas shark diving and the underwater production of many major Hollywood films, such as Flipper, Jaws: The Revenge, Into the Blue,…

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: More Tropical Fish (and other critters)

    Diving Nassau, Bahamas: More Tropical Fish (and other critters)

      Barracuda hunt primarily by sight, and are therefore sometimes attracted to shiny objects, as they might resemble the scales of prey fish.  I’ve sometimes had barracuda follow my camera around, presumably because they were interested in the flashes of light from my strobes. This was not one such fish. It wanted nothing to do…

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Tropical Fish

    Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Tropical Fish

      Just a few of the tropical fish we saw in the Bahamas…   Gray Angelfish:   Trumpetfish:   Pufferfish:     Parrotfish:   Please check out my entire Nassau underwater photo gallery here.

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Sea Turtle

    Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Sea Turtle

      If I had to characterize the diving in the Bahamas with one word, it would be… “big.” It seems like everything underwater there is big. Unlike, say, Curacao, where the vast majority of sea life is tiny and to be found within the crevices of the coral reef, the marine life of the Bahamas…

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Southern Stingray

    Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Southern Stingray

      On our descent into the Sea Viking/Mike’s Reef site in New Providence, Mat spotted this huge southern stingray, about 3-4′ across. I got right in its face with my fisheye lens.   Feeling the need for a sense of scale, I motioned for him to come over into the frame…   … but apparently…

  • Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Wrecks of the Willaurie and Anthony Bell

    Diving Nassau, Bahamas: Wrecks of the Willaurie and Anthony Bell

    Anthony Bell Wreck The Anthony Bell is an old 90′ Bahamian tugboat. She was scuttled by Stuart Cove’s to create an artificial reef. Prior to sinking, Anthony Bell was meticulously stripped to make the wreck safer for divers.   Rusting metal still poses a hazard, however, as do some of the inhabitants of the artificial reef, such…