A couple photos from Catalina last weekend

Last weekend, I dove in the Marine Park at Casino Point and on the boat King Neptune run by ScubaLuv. This year my goals were to get good shots of the eponymous Catalina Blue Banded Goby as well as a juvenile Garibaldi. Here are my best efforts.

I like the blue-banded gobi image. Blue-banded gobies are super-small and quite skittish, so it is pretty impressive that you were able to get a shot that even shows its teeth!!! I need to get out to Casino Point again soon....haven't been out there since 2007.

Steve, I really like the BB Goby shot. What lens were you using? 100mm? No way you could get that close with a 60. Maybe??

Is the bb Garabladi form the bottom of the stairs? I think I recognize him! :-)

I'd say you nailed them both

Well a great job on two very skittish fish. I think I got within about 3 meters of a juve before he darted underneath the kelp bed. The Gobys are everywhere and are a beautiful fish but again very skittish despite seeing lots of divers.

Steve, I really like the BB Goby shot. What lens were you using? 100mm? No way you could get that close with a 60. Maybe??

 

Is the bb Garabladi form the bottom of the stairs? I think I recognize him! :-)

I was using the 100mm lens. They are very skittish, but if you are patient you CAN get close to them. You just have to sit still and let them accommodate to your presense. I actually got some images with the 100 and macromate lens at a distance of about 5 inches. Unfortunately I was TOO close and even though I shot f/18 the depth of field was too shallow to get the whole face in focus. When I tried to stop down more, he skittered away. Oh well, I guess I have to go back.

There were a lot of juvenile Garibaldi in the marine park, but this fellow as taken at a site called "Red Rock Quarry." I was looking to see if I could find any really small juveniles, but they all seemed to be around 4 inches across.