As some of you might have noticed (because I keep talking about it, perchance? ) I was recently in Hawaii.  While we were there, we had the chance to do some diving on the Big Island (specifically, off the Kona coast).

Since I sometimes post pictures from my dive trips, I wanted to share some of these too:


This one is a large manta ray - probably about a 14-foot wingspan (large but not huge for a manta).  I really like this picture.  My wife has wanted to see manta rays for YEARS, and now she's finally seen a bunch of them.  (Now she wants to see a whale shark )


Juvenile white-mouth moray eel.  There were a LOT of moray eels off the Kona coast (and my wife is amazing at finding them - once after a dive we heard several other divers talking about the one moray they had seen. On the same dive my wife had found eight of them!! )


OCTOPUS !!  I love those guys - and you'd often see them on dives.  Sometimes more than one.  I particularly like this shot, because once you get close they tend to climb into/under rocks and coral, or squirt some ink and fly away.


w00t!  We finally saw wild dolphin!  We were on a dive, looking for a frogfish on a particular coral-head, and I turned around to a diver behind me to point it out to him, and saw these guys cruising by over his shoulder.  Veteran divers from the area said they often HEAR the dolphins, but almost never see them.  (Maybe they said that just to make the tourist feel better, but it was cool either way).


Undulated moray eel - this guy was probably about three to four feet long.  Look - he's smiling for the camera!


A look at some of the coral.  The diving in Hawaii is pretty neat, because it's not huge coral formations, but coral growing in old lava formations and tubes.


Banded coral shrimp.  Also saw a number of these guys (as well as a bunch of nudribranch - but those are pretty boring pictures ).  I'm pretty happy with the picture, because I don't have a macro lens or attachment, so this is a good close-up shot.


This isn't a great picture, but this is a dragon moray eel, and since it's such a cool fish (is it a fish, really?) I wanted to include it.  They're not easy to find, and tend to hide, so I'm still reasonably satisfied with this shot.


A look out from inside one of the many caves/lava tubes on the Kona coast.  


A Moorish Idol.  These little bastards seem to KNOW when you are trying to take a picture of them, and always swim away.  I finally got a decent pic.


A very large and annoyed moray eel.  Annoyed because the banded coral shrimp was cleaning his mouth when I found him, but by the time I got the camera ready and set up, the shrimp was scuttling away (as you can see in the pic).  Hopefully after I left, the eel got his cleaning done.


A look up inside one of the lava tubes, showing a "skylight" hole, with waves breaking.  I really like the lighting in this shot, and the surgeon-fish swimming right on the edge of the light.


There ya go - some underwater pictures for those of you that enjoy sea life, diving, or amateur photography.

Pretty cool, Hawaii was so much better to snorkel in than Puerto Vallarta.

(I know I still need to get certified SCUBA.)

I saw a big Manta in Hawaii, awe inspiring and scary at the same time.

Which one is you again?

AWESOME pics!  Just great!  Thanks for sharing.  I now know what to do for a future vacation.

i like this one

Awesome pics, sir.

Diving is WAY cool.

Wow!!!  Thanks for the pics DK!  

I didn't know Mantas got that big.  I have very limited knowledge of ocean creatures.

Very cool!!

...and again...congrats!  

Quoted: Woooooow, DK.  Really wonderful pics!  I can't believe you got that close to the Morays...So what kind of camera did you use?

How does being run into (hit in the back of the head) by a 12-foot manta ray sound to you?   Happened to me on a night dive the same day that picture was taken.   During the night dive, the mantas come REALLY close, because they want to get close to the dive lights and scoop up the plankton attracted to the lights.

I use a VERY simple camera set-up.  A regular run-of-the-mill Sony Cybershop digital camera (DSC-P93) which was about $300 when I got it over a year ago, and a cheap underwater housing manufactured by Sony (about $150).  

This trip I also used a new external strobe (made by SeaLife) but it started malfunctioning on the fourth day of diving, so I stopped using it.

Nice man!  I went diving off of Kona last year in May.  Didn't get to see as much of the wild life as you... no dolphins, no rays, only a couple eels...

.. but diving was just UBER fun!  


I was in Hawaii for two weeks, and waited until the second week to dive... stupid me.  The divemaster I hired to get my certification was cool as hell.  Said he'd have taken me to some good areas, and on a couple night dives if I were staying another week.  And he would have done it for cheap.  

I'm gonna have to go back some day.

Wicked cool     I so dig manta rays !  

Although...... I think I'll pass on being broadsided by one in the bean, hahaha

Wish I could learn to dive.  Thanks for the neat pics.

Quoted: Wish I could learn to dive.

YOu can.  What's holding you back?

Great pics, Im glad you folks enjoyed your time here. If you were impressed by the sealife and amazing reefs of Hawaii. I recommend The Great Barrier Reef or some of the southern Polynesian islands for a 2nd honeymoon

Quoted: Nice man!  I went diving off of Kona last year in May.  Didn't get to see as much of the wild life as you... no dolphins, no rays, only a couple eels... .. but diving was just UBER fun!   I was in Hawaii for two weeks, and waited until the second week to dive... stupid me.  The divemaster I hired to get my certification was cool as hell.  Said he'd have taken me to some good areas, and on a couple night dives if I were staying another week.  And he would have done it for cheap.   I'm gonna have to go back some day.

Diving rocks!!  The wife and I absolutely love it.  

The more experienced we I have gotten, the more stuff we find.  Generally, we've found that as we become better and more experienced divers, we tend to SLOW DOWN a lot.  Once you have better bouancy control, you can relax and just take your time - and then it becomes a lot easier to find stuff and notice things.

But some people are definitely better than others.  As I mentioned above, my wife is really good at finding stuff, and sometimes finds things that I overlook.  Here is an example:


It is called a "Peacock Flounder" and is a flatfish that lays on the bottom and is camoflaged to blend in really well.  I have no idea how she found it - maybe she noticed the fin or the two eyes sticking up.

Here's another thing I found, only because I'd seen it before:

It's is a very small juvenile Rockmover Wrasse (called a Dragon Wrasse in Hawaii).  It is probably a little less than an inch long, and tends to drift with the current/surge, trying to look like a piece of seaweed.  They're really hard to find, and will hide under rocks if they notice you.  However, I'd seen one in Australia, so I always look closely at floating pieces of seaweed about that size.  (btw - the adults look nothing like that - once they're bigger than about an inch they start to turn into a boring grey fish without spines)

Quoted: Great pics, Im glad you folks enjoyed your time here.

We loved it!!

We also loved "Killer Tacos" just south of Honokohau harbor.  Best burritos I have ever had in my LIFE!  Holy smokes that place was good!  

If you were impressed by the sealife and amazing reefs of Hawaii. I recommend The Great Barrier Reef or some of the southern Polynesian islands for a 2nd honeymoon

We liked the diving a lot, but I'd agree with you.  It's not as good as Fiji or the GBR or the Coral Sea.  The diversity of species reminded us a lot of Fiji, but there was far less abundance (numbers) of fish than we'd expected.  I expect its the result of all the people living on the coast, and the proximity of the reefs to the shore.  It's a shame - but we still thought it was awesome!

Quoted: Quoted: Woooooow, DK.  Really wonderful pics!  I can't believe you got that close to the Morays...So what kind of camera did you use? How does being run into (hit in the back of the head) by a 12-foot manta ray sound to you?   Happened to me on a night dive the same day that picture was taken.   During the night dive, the mantas come REALLY close, because they want to get close to the dive lights and scoop up the plankton attracted to the lights. I use a VERY simple camera set-up.  A regular run-of-the-mill Sony Cybershop digital camera (DSC-P93) which was about $300 when I got it over a year ago, and a cheap underwater housing manufactured by Sony (about $150).   This trip I also used a new external strobe (made by SeaLife) but it started malfunctioning on the fourth day of diving, so I stopped using it.

DK I'm interested in hearing more about your U/W digital experiences. I use an old Nikonos IV with a SB-101 strobe, but would like to go digital. How deep have you taken pics with the Sony using the built in flash, and does the reduction in ambiant light cause any issues? Any auto-focus problems with the digital?

Awesome pics!  Thanks so much for sharing...of course, now I'm jealous.

Wow thats cool.

Looks like a hell of a trip. Great pics.

Quoted: Quoted: I use a VERY simple camera set-up.  A regular run-of-the-mill Sony Cybershop digital camera (DSC-P93) which was about $300 when I got it over a year ago, and a cheap underwater housing manufactured by Sony (about $150).   This trip I also used a new external strobe (made by SeaLife) but it started malfunctioning on the fourth day of diving, so I stopped using it. DK I'm interested in hearing more about your U/W digital experiences. I use an old Nikonos IV with a SB-101 strobe, but would like to go digital. How deep have you taken pics with the Sony using the built in flash, and does the reduction in ambiant light cause any issues? Any auto-focus problems with the digital?

I really, really love the convenience of digital, so I would definitely recommend it - even if I am just a relatively new amateur at it myself.

I've used the camera in the housing at down to 90ish feet.  I believe the Sony housing I've got is rated to 150, but looking back over my dive log, the deepest I've ever taken it is 96 feet.  I was pretty happy with the internal flash, which provides a good amount of light for close-ups, even at depth.

Obviously as you know, an external strobe (that I recently got - and have used for 6 days of diving - 14 dives) is much better, but I've still taken some good pictures with the built-in flash at reasonable depth.  Here are a few examples, taken at about 60-80 feet (in West Palm, Florida).









However, while decent pictures are POSSIBLE with the internal flash, I've found that the external strobe definitely helps.  Sometimes the pictures with the internal flash can get a washed-out greenish-blue color to them.  

Luckily, as digital files, it's relatively easy to use software like Photoshop to help to correct color in UW photographs, so that can really help to compensate - and another one of the things I really like about digital.

But, obviously the BEST thing is the ability to just take an ass-load of pictures.  For instance, the picture of the dragon moray at the top of the page - I took four shots, because I wasn't sure that the auto-focus on the camera was focusing INSIDE the crack he was hiding in, but instead focusing on the sides of the coral.  Luckily, with the display on the back of the camera, it shows me where the auto-focus is sampling, so I could just try again until it got it right.  However, that is one of the VERY FEW times I have ever had the slightest issue with autofocus underwater, and 99% of the time I just ignore it, and the autofocus works fine (but I figured that shot might be tricky, so I was extra careful).

Ultimately, the ease of taking a lot of shots makes this kind of photogrpahy much easier.  I used to do a lot of 35mm nature photography, and digital is so liberating in being able to waste "film".  I shoot about 80 pictures on a two-dive trip, and then switch memory cards, or upload the images to my laptop, and then wipe the card for the next dives.

DANG IT!! WHAT AM I DOING HERE!!!! Im a Cayman plebe

Quoted: I really, really love the convenience of digital, so I would definitely recommend it - even if I am just a relatively new amateur at it myself. I've used the camera in the housing at down to 90ish feet.  I believe the Sony housing I've got is rated to 150, but looking back over my dive log, the deepest I've ever taken it is 96 feet.  I was pretty happy with the internal flash, which provides a good amount of light for close-ups, even at depth. Obviously as you know, an external strobe (that I recently got - and have used for 6 days of diving - 14 dives) is much better, but I've still taken some good pictures with the built-in flash at reasonable depth.  Here are a few examples, taken at about 60-80 feet (in West Palm, Florida). However, while decent pictures are POSSIBLE with the internal flash, I've found that the external strobe definitely helps.  Sometimes the pictures with the internal flash can get a washed-out greenish-blue color to them.   Luckily, as digital files, it's relatively easy to use software like Photoshop to help to correct color in UW photographs, so that can really help to compensate - and another one of the things I really like about digital. But, obviously the BEST thing is the ability to just take an ass-load of pictures.  For instance, the picture of the dragon moray at the top of the page - I took four shots, because I wasn't sure that the auto-focus on the camera was focusing INSIDE the crack he was hiding in, but instead focusing on the sides of the coral.  Luckily, with the display on the back of the camera, it shows me where the auto-focus is sampling, so I could just try again until it got it right.  However, that is one of the VERY FEW times I have ever had the slightest issue with autofocus underwater, and 99% of the time I just ignore it, and the autofocus works fine (but I figured that shot might be tricky, so I was extra careful). Ultimately, the ease of taking a lot of shots makes this kind of photogrpahy much easier.  I used to do a lot of 35mm nature photography, and digital is so liberating in being able to waste "film".  I shoot about 80 pictures on a two-dive trip, and then switch memory cards, or upload the images to my laptop, and then wipe the card for the next dives.

Thanks DK, you answered a lot of my concerns about digital. Great pics, I'm definately gonna have to look into it.

The pics with the internal flash were a lot better than I expected them to be. I can see another benefit to using the internal over external flash in stirred up water- reducing backscatter from suspended particles, I lost a lot of great pics that way .

I see Jaques, Bloat and Gill, but where's Nemo?

Nice pics.

Great pictures, Thanks for sharing.

Many years ago I was into diving, but unfortunately the northeast is not a great place to dive, freezing cold and can't see your hand 12" in front of your face.

Ah huh.  I can google PICs from National Geo and post them too.

If only Hawaii was uninhabited.

btt for the day

"When you're swimmin' in the deep and an eel bites your cheek, that's a moray............"

Quoted: "When you're swimmin' in the deep and an eel bites your cheek, that's a moray............"

Wow. Thanks for sharing.

Man, I haven't gone SCUBA diving for so long now...  

Quoted: "When you're swimmin' in the deep and an eel bites your cheek, that's a moray............"

That's genuinely clever!  

Great shots DK-Prof.  You are better at this than you let on.  Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Quoted: Man, I haven't gone SCUBA diving for so long now...

And you live in FLORIDA !!!!

Shame on you!  

Awsome ! Thanks.

Absolutely beautiful DK!

Quoted: Quoted: Woooooow, DK.  Really wonderful pics!  I can't believe you got that close to the Morays...So what kind of camera did you use? How does being run into (hit in the back of the head) by a 12-foot manta ray sound to you?   Happened to me on a night dive the same day that picture was taken.   During the night dive, the mantas come REALLY close, because they want to get close to the dive lights and scoop up the plankton attracted to the lights. I use a VERY simple camera set-up.  A regular run-of-the-mill Sony Cybershop digital camera (DSC-P93) which was about $300 when I got it over a year ago, and a cheap underwater housing manufactured by Sony (about $150).   This trip I also used a new external strobe (made by SeaLife) but it started malfunctioning on the fourth day of diving, so I stopped using it.

That is amazing quality from that set up

Yikes! A class 3 assault fish!

Great pics man,they look professional.