Hi Mark,
You are in for a photographic treat, Dominica is definetly my fav photo location in the Caribbean! The diving is great, the steep topography you see above the surface continues below as well, so you'll find lots of pinnacles, walls, swimthrus etc The fish are by Caribbean standards plentiful, you'll see everything you see at other destinations but you'll se MORE of them... If you really want to swim with the Sperm Whales (but remeber these are wild toothy whales...Moby Dick was a sperm whale...) there is at least one way of doing it; you can charter the large catamaran for a day from Anchorage (the dive center just next to Castle Comfort) and get into the water with the whales. At least, this was possible last year, haven't been there this year. If you just go on their whalewatching safari you can NOT get into the water with the whales, but you get a good op to shoot whales at the surface. You'll need a 300mm, a way to steady camera on boat deck (tripod not practical, monopod better). Sightings of dolphins are quite common from the dive boats. The southern divespots are just minutes boatride from where you will be staying. My favorite site was called "Danglebens pinnacles". This place was teeming with life, larhe seahorses, eels, rays, turtles etc etc the topography here was also really interesting, and it seemed that anywhere you turned your head there was another "must shoot" subject.
Don't miss doing a nightdive at the shallow site called"champagne" where gases seep thru the ocean floor to to form bubbles just like champagne. On the night I dove here we saw abunch of feasting reef squid and more octopus and eel than I could shake my housing at.
For above water shooting, this is just paradise! 365 rivers, a gazillion of waterfalls, lush rainforest, parrots and an abundance of flowers. I highly recommend spending at least one or a few nights in trafalgar valley at the Papillote wilderness retreat. Someone told me this was the garden of eden, but they are wrong... at least for a photographer, this is better! For shooting above surface, you will need to be able to protect your camera both from frequent heavy showers, from wading thru rivers, and from bumping and scratching due to the inevitavle climbs over slippery rocks and muddy paths. So a good backpack, ziplockbags and rubber bands (or some other fancier rain protection gear) and wide rain poncho is important to bring. Also, to get to the good shooting spots, you'll need to wade thru or across a lot of rivers. For this purpose you'll need footwear that is comfortable and don't fall apart in water and that are comfortable even when they have been submerged. Sandals type TEVA are better than hiking boots or sneakers in my experience.
Hope to see your images after the trip! Have a good one!
). I contemplated housing my D2X for awhile, but since I only take 1-2 dive trips a year, I thought it might be better to wait and get a D200 housing setup. Whether this will ultimately make economic sense - I am not sure! <_< But I have a feeling there will be no D200 housings available before then. It will just feel a bit funny since I haven't shot film in 2 years!
