First underwater pictures

Eight months ago, when here on the island, I discovered a small stash of underwater cameras once used by students. And then I promptly forgot them.

My recent experiences, primarily the snorkeling on Ball Reef, has whetted my appetite for underwater photography. Unfortunately, I can not afford one of those camera rigs that cost more than all my motorcycles together. But I wanted to be able to give you an idea what I was seeing underwater. Yesterday, the discovery of those cameras was transferred from the poor functioning short term memory to long term. Suddenly I remembered the cameras and I was off in search of a camera that matched my budget - free.

Testing, testing.  Okay all looks good.   Now charge the battery.   Doe-dio-doe; are we there yet?   I had to go find another project to keep me away from that camera.  Finally the battery had enough charge to allow me to test it. Now turn the power on and...    It WORKED!! Well above water anyway.

Time to wet test the camera.  Grab my snorkel gear and the camera and head to the boathouse. Gear on and into the water.     IT STILL WORKED!!!  I have a functioning UW camera.

I have told you of things around the boat house. Fish, garbage, lobsters and even the kitchen sink. Here is a bit of evidence though not great pictures. I will get better ones but I was anxious to try the camera.

To the right are a few transplanted corals. These were harvested from a construction project in Key West I believe. They are literally epoxied to that cement block.

Then there is the debris that has collected for years.  I am not sure who the previous users of the island might have been but they sure did not have much interest in the environment.

Okay. So this is not marine life. But Inja is a regular at the boat house.

And, as I have said previously, there are plenty of lobsters in the area of the boat house. These guys were not happy having me in there with them.  They were displaying Ninja moves with their antennae.

I chose a poor time to test the camera. The tide was flowing through quite fast and the sediment was causing poor visibility (hereafter referred to as "vis"). That explains the green tint to everything. You will see a difference in picture color depending on the tide and sun position and cloud cover.

These pictures will hopefully be just the start of what you get to see from our wonderful underwater world.

cz, 1904 10/5/2014