Some from Belize

Hi all,

I had a great time in Belize. Hurricane Wilma forced us to leave, but that was only one day before planned, so no harm done. Here are some of the photos I like:

Excellent catch with the Hamlets

Karl

Beautiful pics Luiz. Lovely Hamlets and WA shot.

Great Hamlets photo!

Nice Hamlets - but you should have gone after the Belize Blue!

I like the too gobies - the pair makes it stand out from the normal shots you see. I find them all a little contrasty on my Mac - and I guess they might look even more so on a PC?

Alex

Thanks for the comments everyone. Alex, I was after the Belize blue (and some other odd colors that are there), I saw some of the strange colors (but not spawning), but never saw the Belize blue...

About the contrast issue, except for auto-levels and slight cropping, I didn't do any PP on these, but the problem was that I edited them in my wife's 1.5ghz 12'' PowerBook (my 15'' 800mhz is way too slow for D2x files). The screen on her 12'' seems to be a lot less contrasty then the 15'', so I guess I didn't notice this, but now that you mention they do look contrasty on my 15''.

I know what you are saying. I have a 12" Powerbook too. Apparently the new generation has a better screen - but mine has to do another couple of years yet.

Alex

Ok all, I finally had time to put the whole gallery online. Here is the link:

http://www.luizrocha.com/Belize/

Comments are welcome!

I enjoyed that

Karl

Very cool Luiz - you've got a lot of great stuff there.

Excellent shots of that Sciaenid Jack Knife (is that what it is?)

Where did you stay? Looks a bit like Caye Caulker on the topside shots?

Thanks.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Anthony, the sciaenid fish is a juvenile spotted drum (Equetus punctatus), it is very similar to the jackknife, but a different species. I stayed at the Smithsonian research station at Carrie Bow Caye. It is south of Belize City, a 40 minute boat ride from Dangriga. The closest well known place is South Water Caye, which is about half a mile north. There is a nice but relatively rustic hotel at South Water Caye, not much tourists, kind of the "undiscovered" place, when I arrived there Bill Gates had just left South Water . It is an awesome spot, the dropoff is only 200m from the island! Too bad I also had research to do and didn't dedicate as much time to photography as I wanted.

Luiz

[snip]I arrived there Bill Gates had just left South Water

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Geez - you sure move in the salubrious circles mate!

And thanks for the explanation on the spotted drum.

WOW great shoots as usual;-)

The hamlets photo is fantastic!

I was in Belize 6 years ago but I didn't dive at that time.

I have to return there as soon as possible it seems a very intersting place underwater.