Aboard the Utila Agressor 7th April

Hi guys,

I am extremely excited as I on the 7th April I will finally go on my first liveaboard and will have the chance to try my UW photo rig in clear waters. By the way, anyone joining? That would be great

I will be taking with me:

- Canon 350D

- EF-S 10-22mm (and Glass Dome Port)

- EF-S 60mm

- TTL Converter

- 2x S&S YS-110

I tried my wide-lens first time last week and most of the pictures were very disappointing as they were very dark. I also noticed that the strobes put some flare on the sides (I guess I should have put them even more to the back than I did). I used ISO 100 so I dont know if I should have used higher ISOs. I tried relatively slow shutter speed (1/60) and I tried several appertures (from 3.5 to 8). the only good pictures I got were silhouettes but for the rest I could only capture subjects very close to me.

I hope this does not happen in clear water with lots of light (which is not the case in the Netherlands) but still I want to be sure I dont screw it up when I have the chance.

What kind of settings should I use for whale sharks? I understand that you should / cannot not use strobes with whale sharks. Also, I guess with plankton this would not give very good results. Also, what about the magic filters? I am interested in these ones but I do not know how can I put them in the lens of the camera.

I hope to hear from you guys.

Thanks!!!

Cheers

Nuno

The whale shark thing is a ZOO!

When I was there there would be up to 4 boats trying to get into position next to the whale shark. The boat does not come to a complete stop when you jump in. Doing this with a housed camera is a little un nerving.

The big problem is that it is a free dive. The whale shark is spooked and quickly nose dives down. When you come up, be careful. I almost got run over by another boat. This can be very dangerous.

As to the settings. I used TTL using Aperture priority using a 10.5mm lens. It was very difficult to get close to the animal due to the number of boats and humans jumping into the water.

Utila has alot of dead reef. Treat it as a muck dive and look for cryptic tear drop crabs. They are located inside the sponges that are the greenish grey color. There are thousands of these. Also lots of neck crabs.

Good luck

The whale shark thing is a ZOO!

 

When I was there there would be up to 4 boats trying to get into position next to the whale shark. The boat does not come to a complete stop when you jump in. Doing this with a housed camera is a little un nerving.

 

The big problem is that it is a free dive. The whale shark is spooked and quickly nose dives down. When you come up, be careful. I almost got run over by another boat. This can be very dangerous.

 

As to the settings. I used TTL using Aperture priority using a 10.5mm lens. It was very difficult to get close to the animal due to the number of boats and humans jumping into the water.

 

Utila has alot of dead reef. Treat it as a muck dive and look for cryptic tear drop crabs. They are located inside the sponges that are the greenish grey color. There are thousands of these. Also lots of neck crabs.

 

Good luck

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your reply. I have been checking and it seems that in the Aggressor you hardly see whale sharks. I went to check several captain logs and almost never whale shark seeing.

Dead reef is a major turn off. I hope it is very much worth the trip because I am really looking forward to it

Cheers

Nuno

big mistake in my last post, no flash, not ttl.

The reef (corals) were in terrible shape. Looked like an algae bloom from too much nitrates combined with the hurricanes. Honduras has huge farms and I am sure the run off does not help things.

However, bring a macro lens. Lots of critters if you go slow. Treat the dives as a muck dive and you will get great shots. I have never seen so many cryptic tear drop crabs in my life.

For the whale sharks, if you really want to get a shot. Hire a small private boat to take you during lunch.

The day boats all come in for lunch and the small boat can get much closer to the whale shark without spooking him. This combined with only 4 snorklers, you will have a much better chance of getting the up close shot from the angle you want. I wish I did this as I never got closer than about 20 feet and the shark was diving at a rapid rate when 20-30 people from 3-4 boats jumped in.

big mistake in my last post, no flash, not ttl.

The reef (corals) were in terrible shape. Looked like an algae bloom from too much nitrates combined with the hurricanes. Honduras has huge farms and I am sure the run off does not help things.

 

However, bring a macro lens. Lots of critters if you go slow. Treat the dives as a muck dive and you will get great shots. I have never seen so many cryptic tear drop crabs in my life.

 

For the whale sharks, if you really want to get a shot. Hire a small private boat to take you during lunch.

 

The day boats all come in for lunch and the small boat can get much closer to the whale shark without spooking him. This combined with only 4 snorklers, you will have a much better chance of getting the up close shot from the angle you want. I wish I did this as I never got closer than about 20 feet and the shark was diving at a rapid rate when 20-30 people from 3-4 boats jumped in.

Hi Rick,

The news you are giving me are not that great. I wish I heard about this before and I would have gone somewhere else.

I will take your tips in consideration while there.

Cheers,

Nuno

Nuno,

I was in Utila for six weeks in Feb/March of '04, and snorkeled with whale sharks 7-8 times while earning my DM certification at the Cross Creek Dive Center. (Also saw one whale shark while diving on the north side, but I gathered it's pretty rare to see them while on a dive.) I think Rick has a good suggestion about trying to hire a small boat or ride along with a local artisinal fisherman to get near some whale sharks--I plan on doing this if I ever go back to Utila to do a magazine story on whale sharks--but the "zoo" experience will not necessarily be that unpleasant if you do end up getting on one of the Utila dive boats. I suggest that when you get in the water near a shark you immediately dive down and stay down, because most swimmers will stay at the surface and you may be able to have a private moment with the sharks if you can hold your breath for a while and keep up with them.

You might also get to get in the water with some rough-toothed dolphins, so be on the lookout on the rides out to and in from the dive sites, and be ready to jump in with your camera at a moment's notice. If everyone on a boat does his part to look for sharks and dolphins, the odds of an encounter go way up. Also check out the clumps of sargassum for sargassum frogfish (Histrio histrio) and ask to dive at Black Hills, which is a big cleaning station (morays, groupers, spadefish, etc.).

Anyhow, have fun, and post your whale shark pics if you get any.

Dan

Nuno,

I was in Utila for six weeks in Feb/March of '04, and snorkeled with whale sharks 7-8 times while earning my DM certification at the Cross Creek Dive Center. (Also saw one whale shark while diving on the north side, but I gathered it's pretty rare to see them while on a dive.) I think Rick has a good suggestion about trying to hire a small boat or ride along with a local artisinal fisherman to get near some whale sharks--I plan on doing this if I ever go back to Utila to do a magazine story on whale sharks--but the "zoo" experience will not necessarily be that unpleasant if you do end up getting on one of the Utila dive boats. I suggest that when you get in the water near a shark you immediately dive down and stay down, because most swimmers will stay at the surface and you may be able to have a private moment with the sharks if you can hold your breath for a while and keep up with them.

You might also get to get in the water with some rough-toothed dolphins, so be on the lookout on the rides out to and in from the dive sites, and be ready to jump in with your camera at a moment's notice. If everyone on a boat does his part to look for sharks and dolphins, the odds of an encounter go way up. Also check out the clumps of sargassum for sargassum frogfish (Histrio histrio) and ask to dive at Black Hills, which is a big cleaning station (morays, groupers, spadefish, etc.).

Anyhow, have fun, and post your whale shark pics if you get any.

Dan

Thanks for your reply. I will be on board of the Agressor Utila for the whole so I think I will not have all that flexibility to look for the whale sharks because I will not stay after the liveaboard. I guess I will have to be really lucky to get to see the whale sharks.

I will also take the Back Hills in my mind. I believe the Utila Agressor normally goes there but I will try to make sure we do so

Regards,

Nuno