Gradually, we came out of our hibernation to embrace the winds and get back in the water. It was even difficult to take a panoramic picture of the lagoon with the wind blowing my iPad around.
Gretchen had the inspired idea to use the shallow waters surrounding the anchorage as a perfect setting for testing the speed of our underwater cameras in a kiting photo session.
Having an aversion to manuals, I did not RTFM for my Panasonic Lumix TS5, yet still was able to experiment my way to getting pretty decent action sequences.
After a few misstarts, I finally discovered a “burst” mode that takes multiple pictures per second and most importantly, an “auto-focus tracking” mode that keeps a fast moving target in focus.
COOL ~ gotta try that with fish sometime too.
You can see why waterproof cameras were needed!
Frank launched himself skyward & flew straight overhead for a full solar eclipse ~ as you can see he gets waaaay up there!
Next, it was Gretchen’s turn for a few flips and then she was endlessly entertained by spraying her photographers.
A few days later, the seas calmed just enough to enjoy an energetic snorkel with Jaime (Kookaburra), Maria & Cathy (Joana) and other friends. The waves were still pretty active, making visibility a bit low with lots of sealife and debris floating in the water.
This didn’t necessarily impact close-up photos….
I spotted some cool critters enjoying the currents in the cut, including an orangesided goby & some funky box crab with blue fore-legs!
As a bonus, through the silt I had a front row spot to watch Maria spear an ocean triggerfish!! These tasty fish sometimes follow swimmers in the water just along side. I spotted “Bob” when he joined the group and then watched Maria dive and turn to check him out.
She’s an excellent shot and brought home dinner (once again) for her and Cathy on Joana!
As the days grew even calmer, everyone was back to their normal routine enjoying the scenery, sailing, reefs and catching dinner. Mark nabbed a triggerfish as well and then came home with our best meal yet, hogfish!
