My camera-free trip to Cozumel went very well. All of the new dive equipment performed as expected and a last minute switch to a different boat operation proved to be a good decision. I’m always appreciative of a captain that allows seventy-five minute bottom times and prepares his own guacamole. Swimming around the reefs and not worrying about taking pictures, rinsing the housing, having a deckhand stretch a sync cord or some moron scrubbing defog into the camera bucket was very liberating for me.
As expected, a few instances arose when I wished I had my camera. Cruising along Ramon’s Mountains I came across a large nurse shark underneath a tiny shelf with the current flowing over the top. The best part of the encounter was the shark’s position – facing the sun in about forty-five feet of water, its body curved and the tail perked up. I’ve yet to capture the perfect nurse shark image and this would have definitely been “the shot.” The other opportunity was in the sandy grotto area near Tunich and Yucab. I encountered a mid-sized turtle inside a swim through snacking on the coral hanging from the ceiling. The picture would have been a great wide angle image with the sun peeking through the holes in the coral.
As I look forward to my other diving adventures in the coming months I’ve been very tempted to upgrade my camera system. My eight megapixel point & shoot camera was top of line equipment in its class five years ago. Now, however, the thoughts of a larger screen, different lenses to boost my macro capabilities, non-existent shutter lag and a fat fish-eye lens are compelling me to spend big ducats on new gear. My evenings are filled studying a few different set-ups.
Also, I flooded my favorite flashlight in Cozumel - the skinny UK LED. I always had the UK strapped to my camera tray and it acted as both my primary light and focusing beam on night dives. The flashlight still works, but the beam seems weaker to me. So I’m considering adding one of the new Light & Motion Sola lights to my camera system. These lights are compact, unbelievably bright, completely sealed and have multiple illumination settings. The best feature on the photography model is a red beam. Instead of trolling the reef with a creature-terrorizing white light, you can stealthily swim along using an easy-on-the-eyes red light. I still need to determine if the camera can focus on a subject in the red beam mode, though. The only drawback is the cost. . . we’ll see.
