St. Kitts

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Everyone,
I have been assigned by a dive magazine to shoot a story on St. Kitts in January. Last time I was there (more than 10 years ago) I was less than impressed with the diving, but I think that was more a function of a lousy dive operation. Anyone have any suggestions on the best sites or any other suggestions for that matter?

Thanks!

Jonathan

[hart]

Hi Jonathan,

I was diving in St. Kitts last December from a liveaboard (Caribbean Explorer II). Because of the size of the vessel they are limited to dive sites with appropriate moorings. Overall the diving was good. Seahorses, frogfish and the regular Caribbean marine life in the Leeward islands. There is the occasional damage to the reef from the local fishermen setting their traps indiscriminately on the reef.

If you’re still interested in details let me know.


Caution: The following is unsubstantiated:
Possibly of interest to you is that I heard from staff on board that the local fishermen want the reefs protected. The theory being that the fishing on the edge of the protected areas will be better than what they have now. However, the local government is not interested.
(End of caution)

hart

[Jonathan Bird]

Thanks for the info. I'll follow up on the unsubstantiated story.

Well, I arrived on St. Kitts tonight....no luggage thanks to the huge storm in Boston. I must have very bad luck with the Boston to San Juan flight. Whenever I take that flight, stuff just goes wrong.

We had a big storm predicted for this morning and most flights in and out of Boston were cancelled in advance. But when I got up at 3 AM to go to the airport, American claimed the plane was still flying and there was no snow on the ground. Since I was scheduled on the very very early 6:30 AM San Juan flight, I was pretty sure we would get out before the snow.

To make a long story short, it started snowing shortly thereafter. Between several rounds of de-icing the plane and runway closures for plowing, we finally left at noon (5-1/2 hours sitting on the runway...ugh!) Of course, I missed my flight from San Juan to St. Kitts well before we even took off from Boston, but to my incredible surprise, there was actually a second flight to St. Kitts today at 8 PM. Astonishingly, I just arrived here at 11 PM. Man, it has been a long day (I could have almost made it to Guam!) I was so sure I was going to be spending my expense allowance on beers in San Juan this evening....;-D

Unfortunately, they had to take 6,000 pounds in luggage off the plane in order to bring the plane to a lower weight for takeoff in the slushy conditions on the runaway so.....I didn't get my luggage. We have amended my itinerary to do topside tomorrow (I hand carried the cameras, of course) so we will pick up the diving on Weds, assuming everything shows up tomorrow. They seem confident.

More to come. Sure is nice and balmy here. :D

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Thanks for the info. I'll follow up on the unsubstantiated story.

Well, I arrived on St. Kitts tonight....no luggage thanks to the huge storm in Boston. I must have very bad luck with the Boston to San Juan flight. Whenever I take that flight, stuff just goes wrong.

We had a big storm predicted for this morning and most flights in and out of Boston were cancelled in advance. But when I got up at 3 AM to go to the airport, American claimed the plane was still flying and there was no snow on the ground. Since I was scheduled on the very very early 6:30 AM San Juan flight, I was pretty sure we would get out before the snow.

To make a long story short, it started snowing shortly thereafter. Between several rounds of de-icing the plane and runway closures for plowing, we finally left at noon (5-1/2 hours sitting on the runway...ugh!) Of course, I missed my flight from San Juan to St. Kitts well before we even took off from Boston, but to my incredible surprise, there was actually a second flight to St. Kitts today at 8 PM. Astonishingly, I just arrived here at 11 PM. Man, it has been a long day (I could have almost made it to Guam!) I was so sure I was going to be spending my expense allowance on beers in San Juan this evening....;-D

Unfortunately, they had to take 6,000 pounds in luggage off the plane in order to bring the plane to a lower weight for takeoff in the slushy conditions on the runaway so.....I didn't get my luggage. We have amended my itinerary to do topside tomorrow (I hand carried the cameras, of course) so we will pick up the diving on Weds, assuming everything shows up tomorrow. They seem confident.

More to come. Sure is nice and balmy here. :D

Jonathan

Sounds like mini-story of Marks recent trip to Lempeh and Raja...be carefull with the housing;)

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Sounds like mini-story of Marks recent trip to Lempeh and Raja...be carefull with the housing;)


I'll keep an eye on the push-button retaining clips!!;) Assuming the housing gets here!! (The American website says the bags are going to be delivered to St. Kitts today.)

If I have time, I will do a little Blog on this trip. The tourism board has me pretty busy with a full itinerary though!

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

The tourism board has me pretty busy with a full itinerary though!

Jonathan

Try not to gain too much weight, Jonathan! -Clay

[Ken Hawk]

If I have time, I will do a little Blog on this trip. The tourism board has me pretty busy with a full itinerary though!

Jonathan

Make time ;)
Looking forward to it :D
Ken

[Jonathan Bird]

Try not to gain too much weight, Jonathan! -Clay

You aren't kidding man!! First thing they did this morning was pick me up for lunch. They are coming to get me for dinner in an hour. I am not complaining, I like being wined and dined, but I actually am trying to watch my caloric intake!!

The good news is that the luggage arrived this afternoon just as it was supposed to. It all worked out fine....with no diving to be done this morning I was able to sleep in a little. I was awake for 21 hours yesterday, so I needed it.

I shot topside today, and I start diving in the morning. Updates to follow!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Here's a couple topside shots to give you a flavor for the place.

The first is a shot from Brimstone Hill Fortress (an impressively restored fort) show Statia in the background.

The other is a shot from an unknown spot showing some nice new houses with Nevis in the background.


Jonathan

[Daniel]

Very picturesque. Were these shots taken with your new D300?

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[Jonathan Bird]

Yes, those are from the D300, which honestly feels and functions the same as the D200, so I don't really even notice the difference. (A good thing.....I don't have to re-learn how to use the camera or where the buttons are). The D300's 200 ASA standard sensitivity makes working with a polarizer in low light easier though compared with the 100 ASA of the D200..

One thing that I noticed...if you look really carefully at the top corners on those images, you will see that there is a tiny amount of vignetting caused by the skylight filter that I use to protect the optics on the 18-200 VR. It didn't do that with the D200! So the sensor in the D300 is either a tiny bit physically bigger than the the one on the D200, or mounted slightly differently. Weird. When I get a chance, I'm going to try that lens/filter on the other D300 and see if it does it. Looks like I need to buy a low-profile skylight filter. But it's weird because the 18mm (28 mm equivalent) is just not wide enough that you normally have issues with filters on them. Incidentally, it doesn't do it with my polarizer, which ironically is a tad thinner.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Well, today I finally got to dive. I didn't know where we were going, so I set up for macro. Can't go wrong--you can shoot macro anywhere.

Not a lot of big fish here, but nice reefs and good macro. On the second dive of the day we went to a spot where they "sometimes" see a seahorse. The divemaster told us where to look and we spread out (me, the divemaster and three other divers). After about 10 minutes the other divers got bored and left. I kept looking and found the damn thing only about a minute after they were gone and I had no idea where they went. (I never find stuff! So that was cool!) So I shot for a while, and wouldn't you know it, the little guy was really cooperative and didn't keep turning away from me like seahorses always do. Score one nice subject.

Then I did my best impression of Doubilet with some slow-sync of the fishies swimming this way and that.

On the last dive we went to a nice "muck" site at the edge of the reef in 25 feet, which was really cool. I didn't find anything Earth shattering, but it was enjoyable. It reminded me of Lembeh (the sand, not the critters) and I wished there were a few mimic octopus around!

Of course you are going to ask....where are the pics? I just haven't had time to render them, because today was insane and I have to go to bed. I'll post more tomorrow. Today I had to swap hotels between dives and ate my lunch in the van, and had a bunch of people I had to meet plus dinner with a tourism person, so it was crazy. Tomorrow will be a little more mellow I hope.

Shooting a whole feature in 3 dive days is a little stressful actually!!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Here's some macro.

[Jonathan Bird]

Today I did wrecks. Lots of fun. Not the greatest viz in the world and a lot of scuz, because the wrecks are shallow and near shore. But they are pretty. The last one is feeding the fish. OK, maybe it's not the most environmentally PC, but they do it and it's pretty cool.

These were shot with my new Tokina 10-17, which I love. I will put some updates into that thread too.

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Here's some macro.

I love the speedy fish. I know how difficult they are to get. Did you try something new ( shutter/apperature/curtain )?

I want to get this year one seahorse pic straight forward and camera pointed clearly up-wards + blue surface back-ground:rolleyes:

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

Today I did wrecks. Lots of fun. Not the greatest viz in the world and a lot of scuz, because the wrecks are shallow and near shore. But they are pretty. The last one is feeding the fish. OK, maybe it's not the most environmentally PC, but they do it and it's pretty cool.

These were shot with my new Tokina 10-17, which I love. I will put some updates into that thread too.

Jonathan

I feel B&W is most powerfull!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

I want to get this year one seahorse pic straight forward and camera pointed clearly up-wards + blue surface back-ground:rolleyes:


GOOD LUCK!!! You may need a clothes pin. ;)

I love the speedy fish. I know how difficult they are to get. Did you try something new ( shutter/apperature/curtain )?


The blurry pic is rear curtain synch at about 1/8 second shutter speed. The strobe freezes the action while the ambient light and slow shutter blurs things. I like how it implies motion. The photo editor at Sport Diver just told me she doesn't like this kind of shot. D'OH!!!:o

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

The blurry pic is rear curtain synch at about 1/8 second shutter speed. The strobe freezes the action while the ambient light and slow shutter blurs things. I like how it implies motion. The photo editor at Sport Diver just told me she doesn't like this kind of shot. D'OH!!!:o

Jonathan

mmm...she must be just half pro:D

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

Nice, Jonathan, especially the seahorse and the b/w wreck. What port body are you using for the Tokina fisheye? While I'm at it, what port body were you using for the Nikon 10.5?

Since nobody asked me, I'll add that I'm not crazy about rear curtain/blur shots either. -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Clay,
I wasn't crazy about motion blur shots at first either, but they grew on me. The challenge these days is to create images that are unique. Lets face it, every fish in the Caribbean has been photographed a zillion times and all the fish pics kinda blur together and look the same. Even all the wonderful jawfish pics we have all posted all kinda look the same. Sometimes a little blur is enough to make people take a second look.

I am using the shortest port body for the Tokina, same one as Ikelite makes for the 10.5. Part # 5510.10. It is the perfect length for the 10.5 and the 16 fisheye, but too short I think for the Tokina, although the results are certainly pretty good with it. The 5510.16 is too long. My eyeball measurement is that the Tokina needs one about halfway in between, a 5510.13 if you will.

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

I wasn't crazy about motion blur shots at first either, but they grew on me. The challenge these days is to create images that are unique. Lets face it, every fish in the Caribbean has been photographed a zillion times and all the fish pics kinda blur together and look the same. Even all the wonderful jawfish pics we have all posted all kinda look the same. Sometimes a little blur is enough to make people take a second look.

Jonathan

I feel that to make UW-art , it is a must to try new ways...even sometimes you are loosing lot of time and capacity of memory to do that!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

I forgot to post a follow up on the marine park issue. St. Kitts currently does not have a marine park, however every single tourism board official I spoke with (and it was quite a few...at least 6 different people at different times) all agreed that they need one and they are planning one. They all seemed very concerned about how to manage it and how to convince the fishermen to accept it. They seemed concerned that the fishermen would not like the idea and vote them out of office. (Hanging onto power is a big deal no matter where you go!) If passed, they didn't know how to patrol and enforce it, or how to pay for that.

I suggested they take a few lessons from the other islands with marine parks. Charge the divers a small fee for a permit, and therefore allow diving in the marine parks. Use the fee to pay for a marine enforcement officer and possibly some subsidies for the fishermen. The best person to hire for the enforcement job would be a fisherman who would like to change jobs and who really believes in the effectiveness of the parks. Marine Parks are usually so good at bringing back the fish life (even outside the park) that it usually only takes a few years for the rest of the fishermen to see the results and get "on board" with the concept.

I don't think that divers should bear the brunt of the expense, just because we like to look at the pretty fishies. In the long term, marine protected areas are as good for the fishermen as for the divers, so so government should allocate some funds too, and maybe even put a tax on seafood to pay for it.

On a related subject, one of the tourism people made reference to the fact that they get most of their fruits and vegetables from Dominica because there are not many people on St. Kitts interested in farming anymore. She also made a comment about how "primitive" and undeveloped Dominica was and I took the opportunity to point out that they have well-established Marine protected areas on Dominica!

Jonathan