Crazy amounts of Scuba and Skin Dive Pics from Cuba!

[rstar]

How was Colby's wedding Steve?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by rstar

How was Colby's wedding Steve?

Very nice! Colby seemed to enjoy the fact he did 2 dives before the ceremony (same day).

[Ephraim]

Where abouts did you go diving? I was down there a couple weeks ago, saw some cool stuff but no where near the diversity you saw! Heading down to Varadero later this year

[Ephraim]

Also i love the picture of the dead tree with the tillandsia. They look like they are so heavy the tree in bending from them.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

Where abouts did you go diving? I was down there a couple weeks ago, saw some cool stuff but no where near the diversity you saw! Heading down to Varadero later this year

We stayed at Playa Pesquero which is 18km from Guardalavca outside of Holguin. The dive shop was a short walk from the beach and all the spots we went diving and snorkeling were in very close proximity, no more than 5 min on the boat. The good stuff like the scolys were deeper at around 60-70 feet. The lionfish were mostly in the shallows right off the beach, not too far from swimmers, most of the locals didn't even know they were there.

[untamed]

Please correct me if I'm wrong...but the lionfish aren't supposed to be there right? Aren't they an introduced species to the Caribbean?

[untamed]

Awesome pics btw...what camera equipment are you using?

[Pan]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Porchipine Puffer


Fying Gurnard


Green Morray Eel

Not the best pic, I got pretty close but didn`t get much time with it as someones tank was leaking

I think you should have "pet" the moray instead of the puffy

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by untamed

Please correct me if I'm wrong...but the lionfish aren't supposed to be there right? Aren't they an introduced species to the Caribbean?

You are correct the lionfish are native to Indo=Pacific and were some how introduced into the Caribbean. I remember reading about it and heard of other divers seeing 1 or 2 but I figured I would be very lucky to see one. However there are tonnes of these guys, either they are missing a natural predator or something about the new environment increases breading. You could look under almost any rock and find some, often up to six under a single boulder. Cuba is already over fished and there are very little fish compared to other areas I've been, I don't think these lions are going to be a good thing.

Originally Posted by untamed

Awesome pics btw...what camera equipment are you using?

Thanks. I used a Canon G9 and Canon underwater case. No strobes/flash, I set the camera's aperture to the max setting of 2.8 so it brought in as much light as possible and I always got the fastest shot. Very happy with the camera, but you sure use a lot more air trying to figure it out underwater

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Pan

I think you should have "pet" the moray instead of the puffy

No thanks I was nervous enough trying to get a picture, it was big.
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