There is something so surreal and tranquil about diving.
Jacque Cousteau put it well when he said, "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever."
The feel of the salty water on the skin, the muffled underwater sounds, the rhythmic sound of your own breathing, the minutae that you can observe if you just take the time to take it slow. We don't dive as often as we would like, but every time we go, we see something fascinating and if nothing else, get a new perspective. Laying on our backs looking up at the ripples on the surface there is nothing like it for serenity.
One of the things we love when hiking is not knowing what we may see around the bend or the top of the mountain. We try to dive that way too, sometimes exploring unknown bumps on navigational charts, just to see what's there. And even if it proves to be nothing much, sometimes I will just float and pick through the sand for shells, or look at a coral encrusted rock and poise upside down to look under ledges, look at the feather dusters, wrasse and coral banded shrimp or arrow crabs.
My friend, Tina Cranford took these photos during a dive we did a month or two back at Dog Rocks off of St. John. She took these underwater photos with her amazing Olympus Tuff Cameras which is good to 50 feet. (Same Camera that my friend Michele from the Octopus photo a couple weeks back uses) I am always so impressed with the clarify and quality of the pictures. They are really great cameras above and below water.
So I hope you enjoy this little bit of underwater scenery today.
Thanks Tina for letting me share these. :)
 |
| What is funny about this picture is she took it of these Coral Banded Shrimps and then realized there was a Spotted Eel directly behind it. |
 |
| A Lionfish, an invasive species for the Caribbean. |
 |
| Lots of baby lobsters. |
 |
Terry on a lobster mission. |
