Underwater Fish Photography

Black Triggerfish

I learned to snorkel for the first time 20 years ago, when we made our first trip to Hawaii. Kealakekua Bay is where Captain James Cook was first welcomed to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, and where he was killed in 1779. The British put up a monument to him there. This morning, we didn't have any sun and the water felt pretty cold.

Black Triggerfish and Yellow Tang

Among tourists, however, this harbor is renowned as one of the best places to go snorkeling. The waters are calm and protected and huge varieties of fish swim with no fear of those funny looking things floating on the top of the water.

Today I learned some valuable lessons about trying to photograph fish. The first thing to consider is getting a camera that will safely go into the water without frying its electronics. The second issue is finding a strap to put on it so it won't sink to the bottom when dropped. Yesterday, we snorkeled some at a terrific nearby beach, and I only dropped the stretchable strap that held the key to our locker with all our stuff in it. Luckily, Dick was able to go down in the shallow water to retrieve it. Our waterproof camera didn't have a place on it to fasten a strap at all, so we couldn't use it. They make watertight plastic bags to put your cell phone in, but that seemed like too much of a risk to me. "How about a GoPro?" the woman at the snorkel company asked. "We rent them, and the photos are taken digitally, so you take home the memory card and bring back the camera." It comes with a strap and takes movies as well as stills. The thing is remembering to turn it off when you are done with a shot. Otherwise you get these odd looking combinations of air and water.

Blue photos

The other thing to remember is that water changes the light. It removes the red and yellow part of the light, leaving only the blue, so everything looks blue for the most part. These corals were quite colorful, and the fish were outstandingly bright, but they all fade together. When we got home, I looked it up, and if you really want good underwater photos, you have to use a flash. Well, I'm not sure if that's worth the bother or not.

Sea Cave

We rode in a Zodiac type boat today, with inflated sides and 2 giant motors in the back. We went really fast, leaping from one wave to the next, or falling hard into oceanic potholes. Ugh! But our crew took us along the shore explaining some of the lava formations to be found there, and stories related to them. By the time we reached Te Fiti, my camera didn't work any more, but she looked just like she did in the movie Moana. Pixar got ideas for Finding Nemo here as well as Moana.

After returning to the condo, I spent most of the afternoon throwing away blue photos and movies I took in the morning. I'll try to put some of them together sometime, but here is one that turned out pretty well. The room still won't stop moving up and down, so I'm going to bed soon. Up early in the morning to go birding with a local birder!