Capturing the Moment

Scuba Diving in Reunion Island: Underwater Photography   Still a secret to most Americans, the hidden gem of Reunion Island lies off the east coast of Africa in the warm Indian Ocean. Tropical coral reefs surround the island, attaching to the old and recent lava flows from the shield volcanoes that make up this island. The island is also known for surf, so keeping an eyes on the size of the swell is a must if you are planning a dive vacation there. Stingray and Lion fish under a ledge in Reunion     Reunion Island stays a bit under the radar while the Seychelles claim much of the diving fame in this part of the world, but uncrowded reefs followed by delicious French pastries can be a real treat for those adventurous enough to make the long journey. We chose Reunion after looking into different diving options leaving from South Africa including Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar. It turns out the 4hr plane ticket to Reunion was cheaper tha...

The visibility at five graves, aka. five caves in Makena had been incredible the last few days so Heidi and I jumped at our first opportunity to grab scuba tanks and kick this new year off right. This is such a great place for green sea turtle sighting but this dive turned out to be much much more. We also usually spot very small nudibranchs here, but on this dive I brought my big lens, a 10-22mm super wide angle in hopes of some bigger creatures. We were in luck! I found this octopus staring out at me from on top of the reef. It was one of the biggest octos I have seen here. After a few pictures of it under a ledge it took off in a cloud of ink. That is when Heidi realized that this octopus was missing some of its arms. Different wounds can be seen on the head and mantle of the octo as well. Their main natural predators are moray eels but this guy was so big that I think he must have had a run in with a hunter of the human kind. People love to eat octopus out here in Hawaii....

 Searching the walls and ceilings of overhangs and caves is a must at this scuba site known locally as 5 caves or 5 graves, or turtle town after the abundant reptile residents. While most scuba divers are watching for turtles and other mega fauna Heidi and I were on our typical hunt for smaller creatures like nudibranchs. 5 Caves is a stellar nudibranch dive, day or night. We get the usual suspects here of phyllidia, white margin, and fuchsia flatworms, but if you looks very hard the dedicated nudibranch diver can be in for a real treat. Today it was that and more!  After seeing a big octo on the kick out to the reef Heidi got the sightings started with a Tom Smith's nudibranch. As I was taking this picture of it I noticed just to the right a gold lace nudibranch almost perfectly blending in. That is usually the way of nudibranch spotting. Once you stop and really look at an area you will find more and more. Heidi also found another gold lace on the sand, two yellow noume...