million dollar magic

Here are a couple of images from my first try with a Magic Filter,

at Million Dollar Point in Vanuatu.

The visibility was mediocre but the sun was fairly strong.

Canon 10-22 mm lens at 10 mm. These images have not been post-processed at all.

depth = 15 metres

1/100 sec f/8 ISO 400

depth = 10 metres

1/125 sec f/9 ISO 400

Great stuff, i am sure Alex will be pleased you were happy with the results.

On another note, i have always wanted to go to Vanuatu. How are the reefs? I am not a huge wreck fan but the Coolidge is all you ever hear about. Reef life? Fish life? Soft corals? Pelagics?

Thanks

Mike

Vanuatu is well worth a trip. Wonderful friendly people, lush green tropical jungle, great weather, interesting history, WW II relics, caves, freshwater pools.

All I can tell you about is the reefs in the neighbourhood of the Coolidge, near Luganville on the island of Espiritu Santo.

The reefs are nothing special. Large variety of coral species but the visibility is often poor. This is in a tidal channel with rainwater runoff. Plenty of food for corals and anemones, but not great for photography. There are too many storms to allow big gorgonians to grow (this also applies to the Coolidge except in sheltered corners).

Million Dollar Point is a fantastic photographic opportunity. There are hundreds of large vehicles and a few wrecked boats all piled up on a slope from 9 to 40 metres. Wide-angle paradise.

I didn't see any pelagics at all. There is reputed to be a single whitetip reef shark on the Coolidge.

Mike,

I was in there for a couple of weeks in May last year, thought were a few magic dive spots in Vanuatu - in particular around Aore, which is opposite Luganville in Santo. There was one spot that the local operator dismissed as just some fans which were, no exageration, 8 - 10 ft high. Also on that site gorgeous long sea whips. The reefs are not as lush as the Solomons, but there are good critters ... we found some frog fish off the Aore wharf that were worth the trip. Also nudis, mantis shrimps, crabs, shrimp gobies, anenomes & anenome fish critter-wise. Nice big black coral trees, basket stars, plane wreckage on the wide angle.

Not the best diving I've done (Russell Islands) but damn nice. Aore was a nice low key place to stay too. BTW I only did three dives on the Coolidge out of more than 20.

cheers

Leander

I forgot to mention the dumpling squid, pipehorse, lionfish under the jetty at the resort

Thanks for the info Lndr, much appreciated.

Soo, Million Dollar Point is one of those areas where the Americans just dumped all their stuff in the sea? Cool! Has got to be some amazing old relics in there. There is rumour of one of those here in Ulithi Atoll but no one has found it!