Live from Bonaire

[Clay Coleman]

We arrived this morning (5:30am) in Bonaire. Napped, ate, bought some groceries, and made a long dive this afternoon. Nothing extraordinary, but a few nice pics, which I'll post later. -Clay

[sorvju-f]

We arrived this morning (5:30am) in Bonaire. Napped, ate, bought some groceries, and made a long dive this afternoon. Nothing extraordinary, but a few nice pics, which I'll post later. -Clay

Clay...nice to have one more online reporting going on.

Hope you get good shots!

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

Sharon found 2 frogfish on the reef in front of the inn. I still haven't downloaded pix from the camera, but I'll get some up when I do. The diving couldn't be easier or more relaxing--warm water, no current, no boat, no schedule. -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Cool Clay! Thanks for reporting in. Make sure to give us a play-by-play with pictures of the place and what you're doing. We are diving vicariously through you right now.

Jonathan

[Kelly]

I was in Bonaire at the beginning of March. I'd go back again in a heartbeat, the shore diving is fantastic!

Clay, you can say hi to all your friends on a live webcam at the dive sight called "Something Special". The webcam is at about 45 - 50 ft down. If you follow the top of the wall to the right of the entry, you'll easily see the cables which lead down to the webcam. it took us about 10 minutes. When we were there we posted the time that we planned on being there, with a contingent time, and our friends got to see us diving! Some took screen shots as well. There was a bit of current but easily managed with all our camera gear.

The live feed can be found at www.breathebonaire.com. let us know if you're going there, and we can log in and see you!

Enjoy the diving!

[Clay Coleman]

Done for the day. Nothing extraordinary to report, but nice, easy diving in a relaxing and peaceful location. Here are a few from today pretty much straight from the camera:

http://http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gifwhttp://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gifww.uwphotochat.com/forums/http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gifimages/attach/jpg.gif

[Clay Coleman]

Whew! Got a few up. The Internet connection here is spotty at best.
Kelly: Where is the site with the web cam? What is it close to?

I could throw a rock from my room and hit every subject I've taken so far. -Clay

[Jonathan Bird]

Cool mouth open shot! Keep 'em coming!

How you digging that D300 Clay?

[Kelly]

Whew! Got a few up. The Internet connection here is spotty at best.
Kelly: Where is the site with the web cam? What is it close to?

I could throw a rock from my room and hit every subject I've taken so far. -Clay

Nice pics Clay. I missed every frog fish in Bonaire! :mad:

OK, we stayed at Buddy Dive, so it was not far, from Buddy Dive if you head towards town, pass the traffic circle (there's only 1) and about 1/2 km on the left you'll see a small restaurant (sorry I forget the name of it, but it is unmistakably French). Opposite to that, is a small "side road" on the right hand side, you want to drive down that. It's very short to the water. At the end hang a right, and go to the end (again very short distance). Park outside an apartment building and the entry is right there. It's the only sandy entry we found the whole week.

As with most of the dive sites, there is a sandy shelf and then it drops off to a wall. At this one, if you stay on the shelf going right, so that you're heading in front of the apartments (about 15 - 20' depth) you'll cross the cable line and you can just follow it down to 45/50' where the webcam is. It was literally less than 10 minutes. We went to find it first, then did a 2nd dive and posted our time to destination.

Have fun, post more pics! .... and let us know if/when you're going to the webcam! :D

[Kelly]

For everyone else, in case I miss it (friggin work!) you can change the webcam refresh rate to 2 seconds at the bottom of the page on the webcam site. It's defaulted to 15 seconds.

www.breathebonaire.com

:)

[Clay Coleman]

Kelly: We'll look into the webcam. We've seen Buddy Dive boats on the Small Wall buoy right in front of the Durgon every day. I'm sure they're looking at the frogfish.

Jonathan: The D300 is great and I'm digging it mightily. I've been shooting all 60mm so far, camera on manual, shutter 1/200, f18, strobes on TTL and let it eat. Exposures have been accurate. We'll get to some wrecks later this week with wide angle, and the reef out front has some wa possibilities. It's windy and surgy, so backscatter will be a problem at less than 50' or so.

I've neglected to mention that we're at the Black Durgon Inn, which is about a mile north of Capt. Don's. I'll take some shots this afternoon and let y'all see what this place looks like. Only 2 divers here other than Sharon and me. It would be a good place for a JB video class except there's no restaurant and most of the subject matter is macro. Still, it's great to have a place like this to yourself.

Here's another shot. Goldentail morays are often seen here in reverse coloration--yellow with black markings. However, I don't remember ever seeing one this pale.

[scubagirl]

Nice pelican photo, Clay!

The underwater webcam is at the site called Something Special. Swim north along the top of the reef and you'll find the cable leading down to the cam at around 30ft.

[Clay Coleman]

Here are a few shots of the Black Durgon Inn. The first is a view of the rooms from the ocean, second is our room (with me in the mirror like an idiot), third is a shot from the end of the dive pier, and fourth is a view of the pavilion. You'll notice that nobody is in any of the pictures.

[Clay Coleman]

And finally, one more frogfish from today. Shortly after this shot was taken, a boat arrived and 11 divers descended upon us like a flock of geese skidding on ice. -Clay

[Kelly]

Hey Clay, did that cost extra to get the entire resort to yourself? :p ;)

Nice frog fish. Gotta like being able to find him again, where you left him. We were told in March that the hurricanes caused them to go deeper out of the turbulent waters. Bonaire is the first place I noticed and shot Red Lipped Blennies. They were everywhere! So cute...

Keep the pics coming so we can live vicariously, like Jonathan said... :D

[tarczy]

Clay-

Love that eel shot with its mouth open!

Wish I was there enjoying all the diving and sunshine. So jealous!

[scubagirl]

Nice frogfish, Clay!

BDI still looks like it did back in 2007 when I stayed there. It's nice and quiet. I had the place nearly to myself for the first 4 days I was there, and there were no other divers staying there.

[Clay Coleman]

Thanks for the kudos. Getting good frogfish pix will not be an issue this week! I spent this morning trying to get "lure shots", but, alas, another dive boat arrived and the place got mucked up in a hurry. I won't put anymore frogfish pix up. I had planned to go wide angle at Small Wall this afternoon, but I ran into an old friend (Murphyn) at Buddy Dive during lunch and he said there might be a seahorse out front as well. So, Sharon has a challenge. If it's there, she'll find it.

[Kelly]

Clay, are you shooting TTL for everything? I've never used it, always set mine to 1/8 power (2 x DS125's) down south, and played with speed (max 1/250) and aperture for exposure. You have nice results with TTL :o

[Clay Coleman]

Kelly: TTL works great for macro, and your strobes will work in TTL no matter how your camera is set. Since most macro doesn't involve any ambient light (the small scene is lit entirely by the strobes), the shutter speed will not affect exposure. I set my camera on manual and set my aperture at f18 or so (the ap can be varied for different depths of field). I set the shutter speed to 1/200 to avoid any possibility of "ghosting" due to motion blur. Take a few shots and check the histograms. If you use an Ike housing, you can fine-tune the strobe exposure with the diddle knob on the back. However, I've been shooting everything at '0' with my D300, and exposures have been accurate. It's point and shoot. -Clay

[Kelly]

Thanks Clay, I'm anxious to try it! Darn, I'm going to have to book a trip now....:o !! I've been happy with my pics, but am looking for something more or different with them, hard to put my finger on it....

[Jonathan Bird]

The BDI looks nice Clay! Maybe that's where we'll do the next video course. I like that it's not a zoo, like some other places in Bonaire.

One piece of friendly photo advice (and take it with what you paid for it...) don't fall into the trap of shooting everything at f/18.

1. Lenses are not as sharp when stopped down that far. (Sharpness peaks around f/8 in most lenses).

2. That much depth of field is not always needed, and in many cases actually detracts from the image. Shallow depth of field can be used to draw the viewer to the right part of the image and can help make the rest of the image become valuable negative space.

3. Ambient light is often nice.

Read this article (http://www.jonathanbird.net/photo_tip1.htm) I did on it.

Here is an image shot at something like f/6.3 (I forget exactly) that shows the effect of getting some ambient light on the subject and limiting the depth of field.

Jonathan

http://www.jonathanbird.net/jpegs17/jbird_uwa0118.jpg

[Kelly]

Nice article Jonathan, thanks for posting it.

Its kinda funny, because I've often thought that I get too much ambient light in my macro shots, and would try to compensate with a faster shutter (as opposed to a stopped down aperture). Of course when the camera is hooked up to the strobes, the max allowable speed on the D200 is 1/250. I'm gonna do some experimenting next time I'm out, with both TTL, and depth of field.

These are my shots from Bonaire. Feel free to offer any criticism.

http://dis-divers.smugmug.com/gallery/7578165_XMtfv#489883247_KHzVX

(Clay, forgive me this one thread hijack :o ?.... and more pics please :D )

[Andrew]

Great trip report Clay, keep the pics coming (frogfish as well!) Jonathan great link to your article and a very good read, will have to put more practice in when the UK water warms up a bit!

Andrew

[Clay Coleman]

Wide angle this morning at Small Wall. I haven't seen the images on a big screen. We'll probably do more macro here this afternoon and tonight and head for some deeper wrecks in the morning when nitrogen is not an issue. I'll try to post some of the wide angle the next time I dump the camera. -Clay

[scubagirl]

Very good points, Jonathan. I've tried to apply the one about using a shallower depth of field for better effect in my photos after reading about it in one of my books on UW photography, and from some of the feedback I've received, I've succeeded! It's a good reminder, as some photography 'pros' I've met in dive shops in the Caribbean preach about always going for maximum depth of field.

[scubagirl]

Is the big anchor still there, straight out from the dock, Clay?

[Jonathan Bird]

Its kinda funny, because I've often thought that I get too much ambient light in my macro shots, and would try to compensate with a faster shutter (as opposed to a stopped down aperture). Of course when the camera is hooked up to the strobes, the max allowable speed on the D200 is 1/250. I'm gonna do some experimenting next time I'm out, with both TTL, and depth of field.


Kelly, this is a problem a lot of compact camera shooters have to deal with too--compacts tend to want to auto-select a high "film speed" based on the ambient light. But SLR shooters have to deal with the fact that many of the digital SLRs now have 200 ASA equivalent film speeds, when in the old days they were shooting 50 ASA Velvia. That's 2 stops more sensitive and makes it easier to get ambient light...sometimes too easy. Of course you are right, in that case, a faster shutter speed drops the ambient light without affecting the strobe exposure because the strobe is much faster than the shutter. But you do reach a top end with the synch speed and after that you are forced to use the aperture. It's hard to imagine this being an issue, but in bright, shallow water it can be. Shooting Tiger sharks in 20 feet of water, broad daylight, bright reflective sand bottom--I found that I was often shooting at 1/250 (top synch speed on the D300) and f/11 just to balance the natural light. Hard to get a lot of oomph out of the strobes at f/11 beyond about 3 feet for shooting wide!

Wide angle this morning at Small Wall. I haven't seen the images on a big screen. -Clay

Cool, post 'em. What lens ya using?

VIt's a good reminder, as some photography 'pros' I've met in dive shops in the Caribbean preach about always going for maximum depth of field.

Especially the ones that cut their teeth on a Nikonos and have been trained to use depth of field to compensate for the error in estimating subject distance. Underwater photographers can stand to learn a lot from the other photography disciplines--portraits, landscape, etc.

One thing that my article doesn't mention (because it's too old!) is that with the smaller sensors, you get more depth of field than you would with a full frame sensor or film camera. So when you shoot at f/16 on a cropped sensor digital camera, your depth of field is more equivalent to f/22. So if you shoot at f/22...it's just too damn much for many subjects, and the lens is not as sharp.

However, that being said, when you are shooting the really tiny stuff, like pygmy seahorses, the depth of field is so shallow, you really might need all you can get, and f/22 is the best option!

I'm just advocating thinking about what you are trying to accomplish and selecting the best aperture (and shutter speed, etc.) to achieve it...don't just "set it and forget it."

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

I'm way behind with the pics, but I'll post a few non-froggies from earlier in the week. The third pic is a little cryptic teardrop crab all dressed up (Sharon finds stuff like this, and they're always deep in a crack). The parrotfish was shot during the day in shallow water. I agree that one shouldn't "set and forget", but small ap and fast shutter can really isolate subjects like this from an ugly background.

[Clay Coleman]

BTW, nice set of images, Kelly!

Jonathan: I shot the 12-24. There's nothing big enough here to shoot the fisheye. I'll take the 12-24 to the wreck tomorrow because I've seen cornetfish there in the past and I'd like to get one if they're there.

[Kelly]

Thanks Clay for your comments on my pics.

I love that parrot fish, that's amazing! I don't subscribe to "set and forget" either, but I haven't been able to produce a shot like that during the day. I'm going to try the TTL with small aperture, just to play. :cool:

Keep 'em coming! :)

[Jonathan Bird]

Love the parrotfish!

[Clay Coleman]

Kelly: Thanks. The point is that there is no "magic" setting for anything, so experiment (although TTL for macro is close to magic!). Here are a couple from today, one wide angle of Sharon and one macro of a fileclam:

[Clay Coleman]

Is the big anchor still there, straight out from the dock, Clay?
Yes, it is. That's where the seahorse is rumored to be. We looked for it (the seahorse) for an entire dive to no avail. -Clay

[scubagirl]

Nice colours in that photo of Sharon, Clay! I like the bright orange and the darker blue background.

[Jonathan Bird]

Aren't there like 3 zillion seahorses on the pier?

[Clay Coleman]

I like for the water to be a bit dark in wide angle (this laptop monitor is hard to judge--maybe it's too dark). Do you notice anything strange about that photo?

Jonathan: I've heard that the Town Pier is a classic CF, and I've never been there. I've also heard that Hurricane Omar did some damage to the pier, and that many of the pilings were scraped to assess the damage. However, I haven't substantiated that rumor.

We dove a wreck at Eden Beach this morning. Man, I really don't get the attraction of loading a truck, gearing up, walking in sand in full gear and camera, and then having to somehow get in and out of the water with all that stuff. Anyway, I think I got some nice shots of Sharon. I'll try to post some later.

[sorvju-f]

I like for the water to be a bit dark in wide angle (this laptop monitor is hard to judge--maybe it's too dark). Do you notice anything strange about that photo?

Jonathan: I've heard that the Town Pier is a classic CF, and I've never been there. I've also heard that Hurricane Omar did some damage to the pier, and that many of the pilings were scraped to assess the damage. However, I haven't substantiated that rumor.

We dove a wreck at Eden Beach this morning. Man, I really don't get the attraction of loading a truck, gearing up, walking in sand in full gear and camera, and then having to somehow get in and out of the water with all that stuff. Anyway, I think I got some nice shots of Sharon. I'll try to post some later.

Hi Clay!

I can see happy D-300 owner there:D ( little bit jealous here ).

I had one night dive round this pier 3 years ago and I feel that it was best dive I had in Bonaire...I have always loved night dives. I dunno situation after this hurricane, but there was great colours and lot of macro stuff.

Great to follow this online reporting with amazing pics...thanks Clay!

Jukka

[scubagirl]

Do you notice anything strange about that photo?

You mean that it's lighter on the right side? Did you change the angle of the photo?

I don't think the blue is too dark. It looks good in WA shots.

[Clay Coleman]

You mean that it's lighter on the right side? Did you change the angle of the photo?

You got it! The photo was originally taken as a horizontal. Sharon came in a bit high and ended up head-down when I motioned her to descend a little. When I downloaded the pic, the computer showed the NEF file as a verticle, and damned if I didn't like it better that way.

We're done diving, as we fly out early Sat. morning and neither of us feel like a night dive. Interesting dive late this afternoon going into dusk. We found a harlequin pipefish near the end of the dive. I hope those pix are sharp! I'll dump them tonight.

[Clay Coleman]

Hey Jukka! The D300 has been a champ; couldn't be happier with it.

[Clay Coleman]

A couple more from our last day of diving. I think the pipefish is a harlequin rather than a banded. I'll look it up tomorrow. I was excited to get it either way. Are we GEEKS or what?

[sorvju-f]

A couple more from our last day of diving. I think the pipefish is a harlequin rather than a banded. I'll look it up tomorrow. I was excited to get it either way. Are we GEEKS or what?

I have ever seen that kind of pipefish.

Octo with background is also impressive.

Jukka

[Kelly]

Very nice Clay, that is a harlequin pipefish, nice find! Enjoy the day on the island today! :)

[Clay Coleman]

Well, that's it, Bonaire fans! Packed up and ready to go. Man, a week goes by quickly here. I'll go through the pix next week and post anything that looks interesting. -Clay

[sorvju-f]

Well, that's it, Bonaire fans! Packed up and ready to go. Man, a week goes by quickly here. I'll go through the pix next week and post anything that looks interesting. -Clay

Thanks Clay for great online reporting.

When somebody have power to do this kind of reporting it is like we all can make little trip to the destination.

Have a safe trip back home.

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Nice octo, and pipefish! Sorry I missed the last pics--I was in BC freezing.

Now I am thankfully off to Cayman for the last shoot of season 2. Looking forward to pics here when I get back. (What's the hold up Clay?)

Jonathan

[Clay Coleman]

I put some shots on my website--most of them were already posted on location. They are now edited on the monitor that most closely approximates my printer, and they may appear light or faded on some LCD monitors. Anyway, here are some links:

http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id227.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id222.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id232.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id234.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id241.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id279.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id386.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id93.htm
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id130.htm

[Kelly]

Finally.....! :D

Very nice, Clay! Thanks for posting, I'm pumped to try TTL now, next time I'm down south. :)

[Jonathan Bird]

Cool shots Clay! I like the Crytic Teardrop Crab!

[scubagirl]

Nice shots, Clay! I like the goldentail moray.

[Salty]

They look Incredible.... even on my Laptop LCD.... If they look good here then they'll look good anywhere .

Salty

[Clay Coleman]

We're back at the Black Durgon. We arrived in Bonaire at 5am and didn't get to the inn until almost 9. Pretty beat, but I made one dive this afternoon and saw my first Bonairian lionfish. I've heard they're plentiful here now, and this is about as far south as you can go in the Caribbean. I'll put up pics when I dump the camera, maybe tomorrow. My ace spotter, Sharon, has sinusitis and can't dive yet. So my subjects will be large and obvious until her ears clear up.

[Jonathan Bird]

My ace spotter, Sharon, has sinusitis and can't dive yet. So my subjects will be large and obvious until her ears clear up.

LOL! "Large and obvious"!! :)

[sorvju-f]

We're back at the Black Durgon. We arrived in Bonaire at 5am and didn't get to the inn until almost 9. Pretty beat, but I made one dive this afternoon and saw my first Bonairian lionfish. I've heard they're plentiful here now, and this is about as far south as you can go in the Caribbean. I'll put up pics when I dump the camera, maybe tomorrow. My ace spotter, Sharon, has sinusitis and can't dive yet. So my subjects will be large and obvious until her ears clear up.

Clay, great to hear that soon we get some great shots!

Hearing about bait balls in WPB and lion fishes in Caribbean area...what next?

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

Ok. Sharon cleared up enough to make one dive this afternoon, so hopefully better stuff to come. She immediately spotted a basket star (closed) that I might shoot wide angle one night, and she found a little viper moray too far into a hole to get a pic. Anyway, here's a bit of what I've come across.

[sorvju-f]

Ok. Sharon cleared up enough to make one dive this afternoon, so hopefully better stuff to come. She immediately spotted a basket star (closed) that I might shoot wide angle one night, and she found a little viper moray too far into a hole to get a pic. Anyway, here's a bit of what I've come across.

Great pictures again Clay.

Are the lionfishes all the same species ( mean looking the same than in your picture )?

Good to hear at Sharon is recovering.

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

The lionfish are different sizes, but I think the small ones are juvies. Here are a few from today.

[Clay Coleman]

We'll finish diving tomorrow. It's been a great and relaxing week. Definitely lots of lionfish in Bonaire--we've seen them every dive, I think. Here are a few more before I sign off.

[sorvju-f]

We'll finish diving tomorrow. It's been a great and relaxing week. Definitely lots of lionfish in Bonaire--we've seen them every dive, I think. Here are a few more before I sign off.

It looks like Sharon has been well educated o be UW-model. Do you have some signals how to behave or does it happen automatically?

Great pictures again.

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

Hi Jukka! No signals other than pointing to a backdrop for Sharon, and she dutifully stops what she's doing and strikes a pose. I wanted to experiment with the fisheye this trip, so I shot lots of photos of her. I got what I hope to be an interesting shot of an angelfish inside an elephant ear sponge this morning. I'll put it up tonight when we're finished diving.

[Clay Coleman]

Last shot:

[sorvju-f]

Last shot:

Red and orange are powerfull colors UW.

I hope you enjoyed the trip.

Are you still using D-300?
Which lenses?

Jukka

[Clay Coleman]

I'm still liking the D300 and I only used 2 lenses this trip--a 60mm Nikkor for the macro stuff and a 10.5 Nikkor fisheye for the shots of Sharon. I definitely could have come with half the stuff I packed, but you never know what will be there to shoot. I used a Sigma 150-500mm for the wildlife around the island. Here are a few more:

[dascubanut]

Beautiful colors on both angelfish shots, Clay. Love the cuda shot too.
I need to get my wife to learn to model for me, every time I try to get her in a shot, she looks like a deer in the headlights.

Doug

[scubagirl]

Hi Clay,

Nice wildlife shots! How do you like the Sigma lens?

I'm in agreement with you on the lenses; my last 3 tropical trips all I used underwater was my 60mm and my 10-17 fisheye. It was really all I needed, though occasionally I was wishing for my 100mm macro.

[Clay Coleman]

@ Doug: Thanks! Sharon is sort of a natural model. I just point to something and she swims over. She has a good feel for how close she has to be for a really wide lens.

@ Natalie: The 60mm is great for the Nikon DX chip. I can shoot anything from an angelfish portrait to a pygmy seahorse with it. I think the Sigma 150-500 is a great $1k lens. It's not terrifically sharp, but the image stabilization is really good. I routinely shoot 500mm handheld from a drifting boat with good results (camera on continuous focus with a fast shutter speed). We have a shanty camp in the Louisiana swamp (see http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id406.htm ) where we spend 2 days a week, and I use the lens a LOT. The lens is treated roughly as well and I've never had a problem with it. Here are some recent shots with it, both handheld (I've never used a tripod with it), both from a drifting boat:
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/152ed3bd0.jpg
http://claycoleman.tripod.com/14f3bdd30.jpg

[Jonathan Bird]

Clay, as always your images are outstanding! Love the Angelfish against the orange sponge...whew that'll wake you up!! :eek: :)

[Jonathan Bird]

How did you get that Parrot to pose like that?

[Clay Coleman]

Thanks, Jonathan! Rooms at the Durgon are on a little bluff (see shots on page 2 of this thread from 2 years ago). The parrots (Caribbean parakeets, actually) make LOTS of noise when they come in, and they often land in the trees near eye-level right in front of the rooms. So I'd go out with the long lens whenever I heard them. The weird thing is, as loud as they are and as colorful as they seem, they're really hard to see when they land in the trees. You can stare at the tree trying to locate them for several minutes before you realize that one is right in front of you! I was glad to get a few shots of them this trip.

[Jonathan Bird]

Dude, that eagle shot is great, and I can't believe it was handheld!

[Clay Coleman]

Thanks again! The eagle encounter was this past January, and it was the first time an eagle allowed us to get so close. The big raptors seem to be tolerating us better after a couple of years of drifting on them. The osprey at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id608.htm let me park the boat directly under its tree on two occasions. Don't get me talking about the Lower Grand or The Shack In The Mud or I'll use up all your bandwidth! We're still finding new places. In fact, we discovered a promising new area day before yesterday. Take a look at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id625.htm Disneyworld could never match a kayak ride through flooded cypress.

Back to the appropriate subject of the Sigma 150-500mm lens: I use the OS1 optical stabilization, and it really locks down. Handheld shots with it are really not a problem.

[Jonathan Bird]

Take a look at http://claycoleman.tripod.com/id625.htm Disneyworld could never match a kayak ride through flooded cypress.

When I look at that picture, I imagine being carried away by the mosquitos! Cool looking spot though! Viz looks terrible! ;)

[Clay Coleman]

The mozzies aren't a problem at all except for dawn and dusk, and even then they're not too bad--nothing like the beach at Holbox in the morning! The viz is like chocolate pudding. The real meanies, and by far the scariest things in the swamp, are big, black wasps that make paper nests the size of footballs in the trees. They're the first priority whenever we're close to the bank, and we carry cans of streaming wasp spray in the boat at all times. We won't be kayaking around in the trees when the weather gets hot because of the risk of blundering into them when they're active. So when are you coming down?