Loreto Diving 2

Finally finished going through the rest of my diving photos from Loreto. (Now I just have to work through the La Paz ones before I start taking more at Cabo Pulmo!) We had a great six days of diving, including some nice long (over 80 minute) dives. It was nice when our dive master, Rafael, was also taking photographs because then we had plenty of time to poke around. Often, especially with bigger groups, there isn't much time for photography.

One of the highlights was a huge school of Mexican barracuda.



At one point our dive master signalled and I looked over to see a turtle disappearing into the distance. I was behind the rest of the group so there wasn't much point trying to chase it. But when I looked around there were two more turtles close to me. One of them swam right by me. The rest of the group missed them since they were focused on the other one in the distance.



We saw lots of moray eels, both green and jewel. Shelley also saw a zebra. Usually all you see is the head poking out of a hole in the rocks. Sometimes all you'd see was a slice of green moray through a gap in the rocks and it was a challenge to figure out where the head and the rest of it was.  Occasionally you'd see one out swimming in the open. We saw one huge green moray that was by far the largest I've seen.



I took more photos of the territorial giant damselfish. This one has the grey head of a breeding male.



and the cute big eyed porcupinefish



I love the small details of underwater life. Like the christmas tree and feather duster worms





and the coral and sea stars





(One advantage of higher resolution cameras like the Sony RX100m2 I'm using (20mp), is that you can crop small parts of an image and get good detail. Which is a good thing, because my underwater photography skills aren't up to capturing these kinds of closeups otherwise!)

For more photos, see all 53 as a slideshow or overview

Around Loreto 2

Another batch of miscellaneous photos from our time in Loreto. The first few are from a short nature walk on Coronado Island. Nice to find flowers, butterflies, lizards, and spiders on a "desert" island.



It's always a challenge to catch flitting butterflies and fast moving lizards but these ones cooperated briefly.





Nice to have supper overlooking the ocean and watch the sunset.



I always like it when there are house geckos around. We had a bunch of them living on the ceiling just outside our door. They would hide inside the light fixtures during the day and if you walked by, but if you moved slowly you could catch them out on the ceiling. It was funny to see their feet sticking out from under the light fixtures. Amazing how they can hold on to the ceiling so effortlessly. (And amazing how well modern cameras can handle low light, night time shots like this.)



As well as the sea birds, there are a variety of other birds around Loreto. I didn't see as many this trip as other times, but we still saw hummingbirds, hooded orioles, and gila woodpeckers.



In the past there were large groups of resident dolphins around Loreto, but sadly we hear they are much less common the last few years. We only saw a handful, and only from a distance.



Like the blue-footed boobies, Sally Lightfoot crabs are found in Baja as well as Galapagos. They are quite skittish, but there are lots around so I got plenty of photos. I love their bright colors against the dark rock, but I did convert one almost silhouette to black and white.





And, of course, I love all the bougainvillea everywhere! (Shelley in the background.)



For more photos, see all 34 as a slideshow or overview

Loreto Sea Lions

One of the fun spots to scuba dive or snorkel at Loreto is the spot where the sea lions hang out on Coronado island. Sometimes they are more curious or playful (especially the young ones) and they come to hang out with you. This time they seemed to be bored with humans. They would look down from the surface at us and then go back to whatever they were doing. A couple came zooming by but that was the extent of it. Still it's fun to see them in the wild and to be in the water with them.









See all 15 photos as a slideshow or overview

Loreto Diving

We're scuba diving for six days in Loreto. This is our fifth trip here over the last ten years, obviously we like it! One of the main reasons we come back is Rafael Murillo at Dolphin Dive. He is a Loreto local and is both very knowledgeable about the sea life, and also very friendly and fun. He has been the manager of Dolphin Dive and the main dive master since we have been coming here. We were happy to find out that he and and a partner have taken over ownership. The first time I came here to dive I was newly certified with only about 10 dives. Rafael did a great job of looking after a bumbling newbie and we've been coming back ever since. With about 200 dives now, I hope we're not quite as much trouble!



I still struggle with underwater photography. It's a challenge with the visibility, lack of light, shy fish, everything moving, and trying to operate the camera inside a bulky housing with an awkward external flash. I'm happy if I get the subject in the frame and it's half decently exposed, and more or less sharp. Worrying about nice light and backgrounds and artistic composition is still beyond me. Part of the problem, of course, is that we only dive once or twice a year, whereas I take photos above land all the time. I have to learn from Rafael who takes great underwater photographs.

The sea stars are one of the easiest subjects - they are common, colorful, and don't move! They actually have quite interesting details if you get closeup shots.





These little boxfish are quite common, but also somewhat shy.



The christmas tree worms are also common but they are hard to photograph close up because if you disturb them they contract and disappear. (A pair of "christmas trees" is a single worm.) As I recall, the movie Avatar had some vegetation that was a lot like these.



It's hard to capture the feeling of being surrounded by schools of fish. The Sergeant Majors are one of the most common.



Here's a closer look at a few of them.



Here are some straightforward "id" shots of different fish.









The scorpionfish are well camouflaged, but you don't want to step on one since they have poisonous spines. The eyes are easiest to spot in this photo.



I wonder if this boxfish realizes that the scorpionfish is an ambush predator?



These giant damselfish are quite territorial and will chase away other fish, and even attempt to chase away divers (generally unsuccessfully!) They clear a patch of rock (like the one behind this one) to lay their eggs on.



The porcupinefish are funny looking with their big eyes. They are another shy fish and will swim away as soon as you get your camera ready. Presumably their eyes are so big for night vision.



Now that Shelley is diving with her GoPro, we both get absorbed by our photography and we enjoy the long slow dives (like when Rafael brings his camera) that give us lots of time to look at things.



See all 43 photos as a slideshow or overview

Around Loreto

I am accumulating a pile of underwater photos but until I get through them, here are a few shots from above the water.  I always enjoy watching the brown pelicans hanging around the marina. Unlike our white pelicans, these guys dive from the air into the water to catch fish. It's more like they crash into the water, but occasionally they seem to catch something. Of course, it's easier to photograph them sleeping.



Despite their ungainly appearance, they are graceful fliers.



There are also blue-footed boobies around. We saw these in Galapogos as well.



And osprey.



And egrets, also catching fish.



And, of course, beautiful views of the ocean.



See all 21 photos as a slideshow or overview

Flying to Loreto

From Santa Barbara we headed to Loreto, about halfway down the Baja peninsula. We've driven down Baja, and taken the bus, but this time we took the easy way and flew from Los Angeles. The terrain you fly over is rocky mountainous desert. I had the usual murky porthole, but I still took lots of photos. The color was washed out so I converted the to black and white. None of them are very sharp, but it was the abstract patterns that interested me.



Despite being desert, this land is shaped by water. Very few of these "rivers" had any sign of water in them.





I'm not sure if this is one of them, but there are also some volcanic peaks in Baja.



Around Loreto the countryside was quite green due to some recent rain. It's always surprising how the desert can turn green after rain. We flew past the familiar malecón and marina on our way to land.



See all 9 photos as a slideshow or overview