Bonaire - April 2011

Well it has certainly been a while since last taking a scuba oriented vacation.  In 2008 we went to Bonaire, but unfortunately I had a cracked underwater housing and thus no photographs were possible.  That condition of course was rectified prior to this trip.

Once again Bonaire proved to be a relaxing place to be.  The weather was warm and dry with occasional clouds providing relief from the sun.  At first glance not much had changed on the island in the three years since our last visit.  But as we drove around during the week it did appear that there had been more development - more home building - especially in the northern part of town along the leeward side of the island.  The roads were in a little better shape as well.  Most noticeably is the fact that the official currency became the US dollar.  That is convenient!  Most things are still expensive - especially eating at a restaurant.

We stayed at the Den Laman condominiums and used Bonaire Dive and Adventure (BDA) as our dive operator.  The condo's are wonderful (the "Grouper" room was our home) and the staff at BDA were most helpful.  They gave very good directions to finding the frog fish and seahorses they were aware of - good enough for us to find them!!  Do be aware that if you are diving Nitrox and plan anything late afternoon or especially night dives, you'll need to set your tanks aside early in the afternoon.  Not a problem - but you will need to plan ahead just in case.

The biggest change we found on the island was actually below the surface.  The reefs in 2008 were nothing short of vibrant with lush soft corals and teaming with life.  On this trip at first glance things still looked good, but in taking a closer look the soft corals appeared to be mostly damaged.  The tube sponges were either broken or appeared to be mostly damaged.  The hard coral was still healthy but there appeared to be more sand spread around.  We only spotted one octopus, very limited lobsters, no green moray eels and limited numbers of other eel species.  We never saw a ray of any kind.  On our previous trip these under water species were all seen.  Although out of the hurricane belt, it appears that the island has seen some very strong storms in recent months that have taken a toll on the reef and its inhabitants. 

Another underwater observation was the infiltration of lionfish.  In 2008 we didn't see any, although I'm sure they were there.  This trip we saw several on every dive at every site.  Bonaire is losing the battle against the lionfish and will need to get very aggressive if they intend to get ahead of this growing problem.

Here's a link to the photos from the trip - both above and below the surface.

Cheers,

Monty

Underwater Explorations

Underwater Exp...

Caribbean Sea

By Monty Chandler

Book Preview

My new book "Underwater Explorations" is now available! A little over a year in the making it features photographs from St. Vincent, Belize, Curacao and Cozumel. Not your ordinary fish book, Underwater Explorations, contains photos of unique items such as West Indian Sea Eggs, Conch eyes, Neck Crabs and scenic coral landscape.

This book tells people in pictures why you love to dive! A certain conversation starter for your home or office.

Cheers,

Monty

Underwater Explorations

Underwater Exp...

Caribbean Sea

By Monty Chandler

Book Preview

Reinvent The Wheel?

I've recently been confronted with some challenging questions from new acquaintenances. They have involved some really good people asking some really good questions of me to which I have really not had very good answers. The questions - very tactfully put - have revolved around when, if, or why, I haven't made it easier and more transparent for people to buy prints of my images if they want to. Or even to buy the image so they can make their own prints if they want to, under appropriate license of course.

My approach to this has been that I like to deal with the folks that buy a print to ensure they are satisfied with the result. Kind of the personal touch if you will. Turns out some folks don't see it that way. What I've been told is that the touchy feely stuff is really good during the time of taking the photos, but once taken, processed and posted, my new friends point out that selecting and printing is a commodity process that they feel more comfortable doing without needing to deal with anyone else.

I have to admit that I was uneasy, but I listened. What's more I think I understand and get it! So, what I've been researching is various ways to make the business end of purchasing as transparent as possible. That's where the title of this entry came from. I found that I could reinvent the wheel by setting up my own web-based store and merchant processing account - or - I could use some existing services. I'll be honest, I didn't like most of the 3rd party providers I looked into.

That's when I ran into a site called Smugmug. I know the name is corny, but the service is superior to anything I have seen to date. Not only do they support a professionally outsourced printing agency, but they support the online acquisition of the digital image along with personal and business use licensing, as well as a variety of gift products that go very well with photographic images.

So the short story is that I have bought into Smugmug and have begun loading images up to the site. It'll take some time to get my portfolios up there, but I wanted to let folks know that I've started this process and would love for people to visit the site and provide me with their feedback.

I'll be building the Underwater galleries in the next several days.

I hope that you find this a pleasing method to view my images as well as find it a viable option to acquire any prints or products you find desireable.

Here's the link! http://montychandler.smugmug.com/

Cheers,

Monty

Bonaire Diving

Well I finally got a chance to go to Bonaire in June 2008. Although high on the list of most divers, it had taken years for me to decide to go to Bonaire. No particular reason for this delay other than there were many other destinations that took my fancy, or had been easier for me to get to.

I'll state early on that I unfortunately got no underwater images from this trip due to a crack in my Ikelite underwater housing for the Canon 20D camera I shoot with. Of course I did not discover this crack until I went into the water for my first dive - and performed my routine check of the housing for leakage prior to descending. Good news was that my camera and lens did not get wet - bad news, no underwater photos. Hopefully Ikelite will stand by their product and repair/replace the housing. More on that in another post with the results of their actions.

I selected the Divi Resort as our hotel for the week for a couple of reasons. First I had heard good things from fellow divers on the scubaboards about Divi and second is that for my first trip to Bonaire I wanted to be close to the center of town - walking distance. I also thought that a resort might have more services for a first time visitor to the island. I won't go into a lot of detail about Divi, but I was not all that impressed with the place. My expectations are never high when going to dive resorts, but generally the staff are at least friendly. Not here. They seem to take for granted their guests and are just short of rude. Ambivelant to your presence might be a good description. The only two exception this this were the dive master at the dive shop - I forget his name - and the lady who runs the photography shop (she was friendly). Other than that, you are just short of a bother. Next trip I'll either rent an apartment or give Buddy Dive a try.

As far as the diving went, I must say that it is all that has been described. Just wonderful! From Divi I noticed that their three boats which were active seemed to be full each day. I really don't know why. I rented a pickup truck and did shore diving each day during my stay. The boats go to the exact same spots as the shore divers. If there is a boat at the site, just take your time gearing up and they'll be done which will just about guarantee that you won't see anyone else underwater at the site. The boats hook up to the buoy that you will swim out to and use for your entry/exit navigation. I had heard that the swim outs might be long, but I did not find this to be the case at all. In fact the reefs were very, very close to shore.

Bonaire proved to be one of the easiest places to dive that I have ever been to - short of the swimming pool where I check out gear after servicing. The water was very warm ( a skin works well), the water was crystal clear, there was no current or surge, and navigation is a breeze. You should pay attention to your depth as the above positive description of the diving environment can lead to some deception about your depth. A lot of the diving is wall diving. On the south side the walls tend to slope more gradually with many sites having a double reef. On the northern part of the island the walls tend to be steeper with the bottom being well beyond recreational depths (read blue water). The marine life was abundant. Schools and schools of beautiful tropical fish, very healthy coral and sponge formations, a multitude of macro life, several species of eels, and rays, and a few turtles as well.

Some of my favorite sites found on this trip were:

South end sites:

• Alice in Wonderland


• Hilma Hooker - A huge wreck laying on its starboard side in 28 meters of water in the sand between a double reef.


• The Lake - A beautiful series of sand bottoms between a double reef with mushroom looking coral formations. We dove this site a couple of times. First time we went south and reached the Hilma Hooker stern before making our turn. Second dive we did the outer reef again to the south. Probably my favorite dive site of the trip.


• Tori's Reef

North End sites:

• Andrea II


• Karpata - This one is close to the end of the road, beyond where the road becomes a one-way. You'll need to take the dirt road over the hill to get back and I suggest ensuring you have a truck for the ride.


• 1000 Steps - Not really 1000 steps. Another lovely dive site.


• The Cliffs
  

While I did mange to hit a few restaraunts during the week only one place stood out as being really good in my mind. That was Pasa Bon Pizza. I did find that eating in Bonaire is quite expensive - about double what I find similar quality restaraunts cost in most parts of the US. Also, be prepared to spend as much for a coke as a beer.

I look forward to returning to Bonaire - with a functional underwater housing! The photo opportunities are plentiful and the diving is spectacular. One of the best I have seen in my travels around the world.

I did take a short drive out to the south end with a camera on our first day. A few photos can be seen at this link. Just click on Bonaire - June 2008.

I never took anything to the dive site that wasn't going underwater with me (except my tee-shirt and a rag towel) and I left the truck unlocked and the windows rolled down.

Cheers,

Monty Chandler

Boynton Beach, FL

Trip Photos

Am I in the Caribbean?? Well, no I guess not - but it sure seems like it. In fact I'm about a mile off the beaches of Boynton Beach Florida diving with Splashdown Divers.

With our next Caribbean trip scheduled for June to Bonaire, we decided to take a drive down to Florida and dive the reefs we had heard about around West Palm Beach. Based purely on feedback that the reefs were a little shallower on the southern end, we decided on Boynton Beach. The scuba boards had positive things to say about Splashdown Divers, so we booked our two days of diving with them.

The scubaboard contributors were spot on - once again. Splashdown Divers run a smooth, professional operation. It is fair to say that the boat feels crowded if it's booked full (which over Memorial Day weekend it was). Turns out this really isn't an issue - let me explain. You set up your gear while the boat is at the dock. You get ready while the boat is at the dock. There's about a 10-15 minute boat ride out to the reef. The diving is drift diving and you go in groups of about 4-5 people. You float a dive flag for each group so the boat captain knows where you are and you do your own dive. They ask that you keep the dive to an hour maximum so the groups can be picked up in a timely manner - this also limits the distance separation between the groups. As the dive depths were in the 15-18 meter range, an hour was about the right time. If a couple of you need to surface a little earlier than the rest of the group - no problem, just follow the line up to the flag. I highly recommend that you have a safety sausage with you because if you get separated from the person holding the flag, you'll want a way to insure that the boat captain sees you when you surface and there's a bit of chop in the water! (Not to mention the fishing boats) So other than the few minutes you're on the boat there really isn't much of a crowd. I found the diving to be very relaxing. Another observation is that Splashdown appears to have a significant local business. This translated into experienced divers who knew the boats routine. I didn't see the usual caribbean "tourist diver".

What truly surprised me was the health of the reef and the abundance of marine life. When I look at my photo's I see the same types of life that I see from my Caribbean trips. The reef was amazingly healthy with brilliantly colored sponges, sea plumes/rods and healthy coral formations. There were schools of diverse fish life. There was also abundant macro-life. Everything from Jawfish to Slender Filefish to cleaner shrimp to tobaccofish. Many of the species often seen throughout the caribbean destinations were plentiful.

We also saw a 300 pound loggerhead turtle taking a snooze (a first for me) and we saw a 12 foot Sawfish resting in the sand next to the reef (also a first for me)!!! Since I was shooting with a 100mm macro lens this trip the photo's of these two are limited - but they exist. Proof of the Sawfish was a must!! I took two and had to stitch them together - just to get a headshot! What a sight..

We'll definitely be back to this area to do some more diving. Next trip we'll probably go towards Jupiter to see the northern part of the reef - but no doubt we'll also be back to Boynton Beach and we'll dive with Splashdown Divers again.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Feel free to give me a shout if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Monty Chandler

Roatan Diving - April 2008

Another visit to Cocoview Dive Resort in Roatan Honduras has been completed. As in the past, I had a marvelous time. Thanks to Liz and her staff for a lovely stay and feeding me all too well! Also a special thanks to Patty at Dockside divers. One of the most pleasant ladies you will ever meet!

Our week was spent with Rueben as boat captain and Jesse as our Dive Master. Jesse is amazing at finding the critters and leading a dive. Our boat had a very experienced group of divers with a lot of photographers. Experienced is the key as everyone got their shots in a slow paced and courteous manner.

The underwater photos can be seen via this link. Lush coral, beautiful sponges, a few fish and macro life were all found again on this trip. I tried to limit the number of photos, but found it difficult to do. Neck crabs, Jawfish with eggs and Seahorses are some of my favorites.

On one dive, we saw one of the most unusual creatures I have ever seen. I did not get a photo as it was quick and hid under the coral about as fast as it had appeared. One of the other photographers did get a photo, although I have not seen it. The creature is called "The Thing" (Eunice roussaei). Hopefully I will one day see another as it was beautiful.

Enjoy the photos.

Cheers,

Monty Chandler

Belize - Dec 8-15 2007

Belize Underwater Photo's
Underwater Gallery

I did not know what to expect as I headed down to Belize for a week of diving. I had heard that it was home to the largest reef system in our hemisphere, but that was about it. Due to its proximity to Honduras I guess I thought in the back of my mind that it would be very similar to the diving in Curacao or Roatan. With that in mind I had really settled on my macro setup featuring a 100mm macro lens with a single strobe to focus on the little stuff. I was happy with that as the little stuff is fun and challenging to photograph. As is usual when you try to guess at what will be below the surface, I was wrong.

Getting to Belize from Charlotte was very easy. There's a direct flight which takes a little less than three hours. It doesn't get much easier than that - which is very important due to the amount of "stuff" I have to carry. One checked bag has my dive gear and my clothes (not many clothes needed when your going to spend a week on a live-aboard dive boat), another checked bag (pelican case actually) for the underwater housing, strobes, strobe batteries, and a 50mm macro lens port and a third checked bag for the remaining 100mm macro lens port, 8" dome port for the wide angle lens, various rings for zoom attachments and my nitrox analyzer. A direct flight and checking these three bags allows me to only carry my camera bag/backpack with cameras, lens, laptop, external disk drive, and various other digital gadgets needed for a week on a boat.

The week was to be spent with Nekton Cruises, one of three primary live-aboard dive operations running out of Belize City. Flying in on Saturday and arriving around noon, a Nekton representative meets you at the airport (a relatively small place where immigration, baggage and customs are all contained in an area not much larger than most high school gymnasiums), gathers your luggage and yourself and transports you to a local hotel (The Princess hotel). I found that this is done for a couple of reasons. You need to go somewhere to spend the next 6 hours until it's time to go to the boat and they need you to go somewhere safe for you to spend this time. So Nekton has entered into agreements with the taxi service to meet and great its arriving passengers and with the hotel to hold their passengers over for these 6 hours. Belize City was a major dissapointment for me. We took a stroll out of the hotel and wandered for several blocks through the surrounding neighborhoods and streets. That probably was not the brightest thing that I had done on this trip. Not that anyone said or did anything - because they did not - but we (my brother-in-law and I) were sitting ducks and stand-out targets of opportunity if there ever was such a thing. Belize was once British Honduras, but since independance it does not look like the local government has done much investing in the infrastructure. We did enjoy our over-priced food and drinks at the hotel during our wait, decided not to see a movie in the hotel theatre and avoided the hotel casino. At 6:30 PM the transportation guys showed up, gathered the guests and took us to a small local grocery store on our way to the marina where the boat awaited. The store stop is for those guests that want pick up some alchohol or soft drinks for the week as they are not provided on the boat. I bought a 2 litre bottle of diet coke, which must have been laced with gold given what I paid for it.

Saturday night we arrived at the boat and were met by the crew. They welcomed us warmly and told us which room we had been assigned and were shown where it was. The crew had already placed our luggage in our rooms so I proceeded to unpack and settle in. Of course the first thing after settling in is the briefings by the captain and the crew. An overview of what will happen during the week, a talk about the boat in general, its safety features and location of all the gear needed in the event of an emergency, and introductions by all of the crew members and the captain. It was immediately obvious that this crew enjoyed what they did and viewed themselves as a team who were there to help you in any way they could. The captain was a soft spoken fella who came across as friendly, professional and knowledgable about the reefs, quays, and the boat. After all the formalities were over and the boat left the dock and headed to sea, most folks headed off to bed as they had been traveling since the early morning hours of the day.

On a live-aboard the daily agenda is as follows. Breakfast at 6:30, morning dive site briefing at 8am, pool open from 8:30 to 11:45, lunch at noon while the boat moves to the afternoon dive site, 1pm is the afternoon dite site briefing, pool open from 1:30 to 5:45, dinner at 6pm, night dive briefing at 8pm followed by the night dive. This is the schedule for Sunday through Friday (no afternoon diving on Friday due to flights on Saturday and Friday has a dawn dive if you care to wake up before even the chickens have). This translates into eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat dive, eat, dive, sleep. Do this 5 days in a row!!

Diving on these reefs in Belize was fantastic. The health of the reefs, the abundance of life, the variety of fish, coral, sponges, rays, shellfish, octopus, squid, etc was unlike most diving I've experienced in the Caribbean. Most of the dive profiles allowed for a crusie along a wall at whatever depth you choose (watch your gauges as the bottom is not visible) followed by a return swim to the boat at the top of the wall - with nitrox filled steel 95 tanks this translates into minimum 1 hour dives. What stands out is the abundance of healthy coral, sponges and marine life at all depths of these profiles. Not only the abundance, but the size of the coral and sponges. Most diving in the Caribbean has nice coral, but the size of these in Belize stands out. Barrel sponges larger than yourself, sea plumes that look like small trees, huge brain coral formations and a diversity of coral and sponges found in dense configurations that are consistent throughout your dive - not found in little patches, but the entire wall.

The clarity of the water - as evidenced in the wide angle photographs - also stood out on most days and most sites. There was little to no current all week. Only one site that we visited had any appreciable surge in the shallows. I later learned that there was a late season tropical storm that had passed a few hundred miles from us during the week. I did remember hearing the captain talk to one of the guests about it but he dismissed it as being nowhere near us - which it wasn't. The water temp was a refreshing 27c - about equal to the surface temperature - with no thermo-climes recorded on any of my dives. I wore a 3/2 wetsuit all week and was very comfortable.

I should mention the food since it is a staple in the daily agenda! :-) Arminda is the cook and she is a wonderful ;pca; Belizian lady who takes personal pleasure in your enjoyment of her food. If you need anything just tell her and she will do everything she can to accomodate you. There's a reason she has been with this boat for 7 years. Her breakfasts varied every morning, a snack was prepared every morning and afternoon, a hot lunch was available every day and a tasty filling dinner was promptly served at 6 each evening. It always amazes me that so many people can be fed such good food on a live-aboard dive boat. Remember, this is not a cruise ship, it's a dive boat with a fairly small galley for cooking. The Nekton Pilots dining area/salon was spacious enough for the guests to spreasd out, eat and discuss the previous dives and experiences. On this trip, the guests shared their passions and experiences of the day as the crew also joined in on the conversations. I enjoyed that.

On several evenings one of the crew members would hold a discussion on topics of interest after dinner and prior to the night dive. These included a fish ID forum, a talk about turtles, and a guest photo sharing on Friday evening.

The week went by too fast, but after 23 dives (I skipped 3 dives during the week) I was ready to call it a week and head home (of course now I'm ready to go back!). Friday evening was spent docked at the marina. After dinner and the photo show I packed up all my gear and prepared to head back home. Saturdays transport to the airport and subsequent flight back home were as uneventful as the trip down to Belize - all a good thing.

All in all I had a wonderful week of diving and fellowship with other divers. After completing my review of the pictures I had taken - all 930 of them - I had trouble getting it paired down to just 100 to put on the website, although I did get it down to 113. I was particularly pleased with the wide-angle photo's of the coral formations. The clarity of the water allowed for these to be taken without the use of strobes.

Feel free to have a look through the Underwater gallery or specifically the Belize '07 gallery and share your comments or questions with me. I always enjoy discussing diving and underwater photography!

Cheers.

Monty

http://www.montychandler.com/