Snorkelling in the US and British Virgin Islands!

[Diana]

Here are some pics from our US and British Virgin Islands trip, we went for 10 days and were in the water almost every day! Enjoy!

Oh, and before you ask, the camera is a waterproof Olympus 720 SW digi. Its good to about 10 feet, and shockproof too!

Raf and an elkhorn coral:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin03.jpg

Longspine urchins
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin01.jpg

Atlantic Blue Tangs and Grunts
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin02.jpg

Sponge growth
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin04.jpg

Brain Coral
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin05.jpg

Gorgonian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin06.jpg

Macro shot of a coral
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin07.jpg

Snorkelling in the mangroves, it was quite an experience!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin08.jpg

Hawksbill turtle
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin09.jpg

Fry hiding in a Longspine Urchin
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin10.jpg

School of tangs
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin11.jpg

Large (LARGE!) Grey Angel
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin12.jpg

Grunts and gorgonian
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin13.jpg



Cheers
-Diana and Raf

PS- it was absolutely beautiful!

[Diana]

Oops some more!

Macro shot of Christmas Tree worm and Maze coral
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin14.jpg

Parrotfish
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin15.jpg

Holy Sergeant Majors!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin16.jpg

Shallow reef: Brain corals
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin17.jpg

Me!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin18.jpg

Boxfish and gorgonians
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/virgin19.jpg

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Stunning! I'm so jealous!!

[Veng68]

Very Nice........ now it makes me want to get the Olympus 1020 SW :D

Cheers,
Vic [veng68]

[Delphinus]

Wow, great pictures, great gorgonians. Two threads in one night with photos of wild gorgs, it's like Christmas for me! :lol: Only thing that would make it better is .. um .. TAKE ME WITH YOU NEXT TIME!!!! :lol: Sigh, looking out my window just now ... it's just not the same. Can someone remind me why I live in Calgary??? :cry:

Anyhow, stunning photos, thanks for sharing.

[cprowler]

Outstanding shots Diana! I just love it down there, no need for an expensive reeftank just go snorkeling and diving every day. :mrgreen:

[Chin_Lee]

Diana
Great photos!
Do you recommend that camera for average joe citizen taking underwater photos? (how many shots did you have to take before getting those nice photos?)

Which islands did you visit?

Can you see what kind of fry were living in the urchin?

[Tom R]

Great pictures Diana.

Certainly looks like you had a great holiday.

So answer me this. Why do we live in Vancouver when we could live here?

Do you think doing this every day (365) would get boring?

Tom R

[Diana]

Diana
Great photos!
Do you recommend that camera for average joe citizen taking underwater photos? (how many shots did you have to take before getting those nice photos?)

Which islands did you visit?

Can you see what kind of fry were living in the urchin?

Chin, yeah its for the joe citizen! Its just perfect. We can take the cam to the beach, take above water pics, and then jump in the water with it and not have to think twice. Its a small, compact camera. And the pics turn out great! You have to get used to holding it steady in the waves, but it has a little flash that really helps bring out the colors of corals and fish. It has 3 underwater modes, one of them a macro. Raf takes most of the underwater pics. I think the biggest pain is just aiming at your subject with a mask on, but once you get hang of it its great. Then you can instantly view your pic right there underwater to see if its worth keeping. :D It helps too that the visibility down there was AMAZING.

We went to St. Thomas, St. John, Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Jost van Dyke. The trip to the BVI's was just a day trip, but we got to do some snorkelling. :D

No idea what fry they were. So small! They looked kinda like little clownfish fry, but really could have been anything. There were little groups of them all over the reef.


Tom, Raf and I have "the plan" of moving somewhere tropical. We are just not cold weather people! Especially if global warming is going to rob us of our few months of nice weather here. Its probebly going to be Hawaii for 6 months of the year. Ah well, we can dream at least! ;)

Thanks guys
Cheers
-Diana

[Lance]

Thanks for the wonderful pics. Looks like a great way to spend a holiday.

[S.D]

Hi Diana,

Great pictures, thank you so much for sharing them with us. It looks like you had a fabulous time!

What a great way to spend a holiday!

Sarina

P.S.... LOVE the parrot fish and the turtle!!!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Beautiful Pics! I actually used snorkelled in the mangroves near my house in Florida quite often and agree, it is quite an experience. These pics kind of make me miss living down there, until I remember how much better the quality of living is here in Canada. That's compared to the actual US though, not the US or british Virgin Islands :mrgreen: I would move there is a heartbeat if there was actually work for me!

[dsaundry]

Great pic's Diana...Looks like you and Raf had a ball...Here I am stuck with my head looking at a carburator....:lol:

[danny zubot]

Thank you soooo much for sharing. Those are very nice pics.

[Snappy]

Spectacular pictures Diana! Thanks for sharing.

[Raf]

Not sure if you guys want to see more pics, but here are some more anyway... :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu10.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu22.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu20.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu21.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu19.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu18.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu17.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu16.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu15.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu14.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu13.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu12.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu11.jpg

[Raf]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu9.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Raf_MM/viu1.jpg

sorry for the image overload...

[Reefhawk1]

Beautiful pictures!