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Reef Pics... Grand Cayman Islands!

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concept3

I just got back on Friday from vaca. Went to Grand Cayman. I still got a TON of photos to sort through and a handful of reef videos taken with my trusty underwater olympus hand held camera.

For now, here are a few teaser photos of where we went.... more to come in the next few days... first have to finally unpack, lol.



Day 2: Drove towards West Bay, to the turtle farm at Boatswains beach, Tortuga Rum cake factory and the Cayman Turtle farm

Botswains-beach.jpg


Botswains-by-the-turtle-farm.jpg



Urchins at the waste outlet from the Turtle farm
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Yep, it's fenced in
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The farm
Turtle-farm-boatswains.jpg


Turtles at 6-8 yrs old
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Day 3: Drove towards Rum point, went to the pirate caves, passed the reefs at East end, took a few shots of awesome fish feeding at the end of a pier with a few huge tarpon...

EAST END, taken outside the caves
East-end.jpg


Pier at Rum point
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Rum-point-puffer.jpg




Day 4: Went to Stingray City via Catamaran, swam with the Rays, and then snorkeled the surrounding reefs...

About 5-7 lb parrot fish I caught munching on Coral heads.
stingray-city-reef-1.jpg


stingray-city-reef-2.jpg


stingray-city-reef-3.jpg


I was in the middle of this school when they passed by...
stingray-city-reef.jpg
 
C

concept3

Things I learned swimming in the reefs:

The reefs had algae, mostly calcareous though

The corals are mostly brown (due to light being filtered by the seawater)

The gorgonians and filter feeders are more colorful

There are fish EVERYWHERE!

Very shallow, in some cases are exposed to the elements at low tide

There is not much sand within the rocky structures, definitely has sand on the outer reefs

Carribean reefs are comprised mainly of Brain type coral heads, not a lot of "sticks" (I couldn't find softies?)

A LOT of wide open spaces and crevices amongst the rocks

A TREMENDOUS amount of water movement!
 
mikem

mikem

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Thanks for sharing Merve.
I seen some sticks and a finger leather in the video.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

I know you said Oympus but what camera are you using?  Is it with a housing or specific underwater camera?  Thanks for the pics
 
C

concept3

The camera was an Olympus C770W I think. It's capable of 10m depth. It goes for around 250-300 these days, as my camera is a year old. It doesn't take the greatest pics above water (most of the pics out of water were from my D200), but it does a fabulous job underwater.
 
C

concept3

I was trying to catch this guy for almost 5 minutes:
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Didn't see this guy as I was swimming around until the last minute:
b16.jpg



Better pics of the school:
b15.jpg

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Wrasses:
b11.jpg
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

hey merv -that blue fish with spots, what lighting is that under? I'd like to know what actinic bulbs you are using.

;)
:)
:D

LOL!

amazing pics.
 
C

concept3

it was under 5500K, UVA/UVB rating of 9.

Duration of lighting is 13 hours with a gradual ramp of 5-35% intensity between 7am and 10am, 35%-90% by noon, 100% between noon and 2pm, and then recessing to 0% by 8pm. No actinic supplementation


:)

I hope that helps :)
 
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