Older Photos - Underwater

Another love of mine is scuba diving.  Since qualifying as an advanced open water diver about 5 years ago, it has become a very large factor when planning holidays... can I dive there?  Unfortunately I can't afford the £1000+ it costs to get a scuba case for my Nikon, so I make do with a Panasonic Lumix which isn't as high resolution as I'd like but still takes nice photos.

The following photos were all taken whilst diving Sipadan in Borneo.  After diving there, it's clear to see why it's rated as one of the top places to dive in the world.

This next photo is of a Frogfish, which was waiting for it's photo to be taken at the bottom of the anchor line.  It looks so odd and stays so still that it would have been easy to miss it.

Finally, a tiny Tube-worm Blenny peeking out of it's home.

These next photos were taken while holidaying in Barbados last year.  The first is a view to the surface through the wreck of the Bajan Queen, one of the Carlisle Bay Marine Park wrecks.

The highlight of the diving in Barbados has to have been diving the wreck of the SS Stavronikita.  The wreck itself is down at 30m, at the shallowest point, and, as it begins to appears from the gloom, you get a sense of how big she is.  Well preserved and with lots of marine life, including huge deep sea fans and a couple of Hawksbill Turtles, it's definitely a dive worth doing.

This was at the bow of the Stavronikita, showing the anchoring chain.

As well as wrecks, there are the turtles.  Barbados is home to, and the nesting sites of, Green, Hawksbill and Leatherback Turtles.  I saw mainly Hawksbill whilst diving and we were also lucky enough to see one come onto our hotel's beach to nest.

And finally, a major part of the reef's cleaning team, the Banded Boxer Shrimp.