All of a sudden I had time for 3 subsequent dives to take my camera. It was a busy day shooting and editing!
And I’m trying to shoot a variety of things, but some things you don’t always see, and other things are just too beautiful to let pass.
The lion fish are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic. I guess I’ll keep on shooting those.

And then there are the less common ones. Frog fish… Got a moray eel, an extremely cute juvenile harlequin sweetlips, a few different pufferfish, and a few beautiful sea urchins.
The sea urchins really were something different. The colors are stunning (and unedited!). It was almost like being in a club with a big (neon) light show. The colors are radiating, pulsing almost!
You’re missing out on a beautiful world if you only live above water.
I guess the powers that be put all the colors in the ocean, out of the reach of human destructive hands as much as possible…

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/32, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

Another day of diving…

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

It’s not all fluffy, furry creatures here.
This little critter was posting outside my door when I came back from dinner last night.
It was the size of a thumb, from the knuckle up. Really cute!

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/11, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

I think I’m just tapping into the top layer of the wildlife in this place, but so far what I’ve seen it’s mostly the furry, fluffy stuff. In a variety of sizes. Mostly big…

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/4, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/4.5, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/4.8, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

When you’re in a country where the rainy season has just started, chances are good you’ll find yourself sitting on the open patio (or if you’re in luck, somewhere outside without any cover ) watching the rain come down.
Over here it’s like the sound of static noise on the radio. But during and after you could get some nice pictures…

D800, ISO6400, 1/2000 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm, burst series

D800, ISO6400, 1/8000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm

D800, ISO6400, 1/2000 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm

And of course, it may happen so, that in this kind of weather (or any kind of weather, for that matter) other *little* critters may come out to have a look as well…

D800, ISO100, 1/320 sec @ f/4, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

D800, ISO100, 1/320 sec @ f/5, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

Another day in the water. This time with camera again.

The cool things: a (quite small) school of Jackfish. I remember last December, when we were diving in Bohol (without camera ) and we actually got to dive INTO a much larger school of Jackfish, and they started circling around us. That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.
There were just “a few” in this school, but it was still really nice.
A good handful of scorpionfish (I’m getting better in spotting them ), a barracuda, a Sweetlips (Rubberlips) and a lot of other small stuff.
The scary thing: a titan triggerfish. A big one, too. Imagine I shot that picture with a 90mm macro, and it’s still that big (probably just over half a meter). And it looked like it was in a bad mood (did you see the teeth?). When they come after you and grab a hold of you, they’ll bite through your wetsuit.

But really… I can’t say anything else but every dive is an awesome experience.
I’ve got it bad… Real bad… I could do this every day for the rest of my Life

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

… I’m slightly messed up with the days. Day 6 is actually not today. Today is already Day 9, but I lost track of time. Also, internet mostly doesn’t work. Checking FB and stuff goes, but the other day I downloaded a file of about 150kb and it took me over 20 minutes. Back home I don’t even see the download bar with those kind of files, but here I just have to make do.
Uploading pictures therefor also takes forever, so everything you see here is slightly lagging compared to real time.
But I’m sure you don’t mind.

So day 6… or actually, it’s NIGHT 6.
It was a looooong night. I went to “sleep” around 0:45, hovered in semi-consciousness for about 2 hours and then woke up, pretty much wide awake.
My friend here (see below), was sitting -literally- on the other side of the wall (little, thin bamboo wall) and provided me with a beautiful concert that lasted the whole night, every 20 minutes or so.

D800, ISO100, 1/320 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, on-camera flash

It’s a beauty, isn’t it? But having that next to your head and hearing this the whole night:

So what do you do then?
I just got up and stood outside watching it get light, while listening to the cacophony of sounds. Crickets, tokays, birds, dogs howling, roosters yelling, birds whistling, the waves crashing on the beach in the background… Not bad, really. And I almost collided with a couple of bats a few times (or rather, they with me).
And when it did get light in the end, there were some cute birds sitting nearby.

D800, ISO1600, 1/1000 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm

… after several days of trying to get online… The WiFi in this wilderness here is wobbly, hence the silence.
Phone network I haven’t had since I got to the island.
But… day 4 was the day I took my camera down. I went through my air in a breeze, which I guess is understandable. But I got some nice pictures. And I missed about 1.000.

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/500 sec @ f/2.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/500 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/500 sec @ f/3.8, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/500 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/500 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.2, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/1000 sec @ f/3.5, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

D800 (in Ikelight underwater housing), 1/500 sec @ f/3, Tamron 90mm, Ikelight DS161 strobe

Last year we desperately wanted to see them. Maybe not as desperately as the Lights, but still… we didn’t see any: sea eagles. They are huge. And gracious.
This year we saw a good number of them, but always too far away to get a decent picture.
We got some, but they’re not spectacular. A bit closer than most of them we saw, but still pretty far away. Considering this was shot with a 300mm + TC2.
(in any case: this is a “wild” one. This is not one of those staged pictures where they put fish out and you just wait for it to come flying to you ).

D800, ISO400, 1/1000 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 300mm + TC2

D800, ISO400, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 300mm + TC2

There’s plenty of other wildlife. Small(er) birds, reindeer, of course. But I’ve got enough pictures of reindeer. We could’ve gone and set up camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere and hope to see an arctic fox or owl, or something like that… But … not this time

At the visitor’s center near the entrance of the Rocky Mountains National Park we had inquired about a good hiking trail, and the lovely lady at the desk advised us to hike up to Lulu City. Lulu City used to be a very active mining town at the end of the 19th century, and there were supposedly a lot of old things left there from back in those days. Old huts, old tools, coal carriages, etc. etc. At least that’s what we understood (but we must’ve misunderstood).
We took the hike up and somewhere half way I spotted a grey bird disappearing into the trees. Strangely, we hadn’t seen many birds during our stay, so we upped the pass and went for the trees where I saw the bird go in. We set our gear down, looked around for the bird, which, we figured, had continued its trip, and took a gulp of water in the mean time. We almost choked in our water when all of a sudden the bird came flying directly at us. No joke, we had to duck otherwise it would’ve been a collision. The bird, a grey jay, settled contently on a branch in the tree behind us. So close we could touch it (we were tempted, but we didn’t).

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm

So this was shot with a 50mm prime. It was THAT close
Another one of those awesome experiences! The little rascal seemed to be really curious. It didn’t seem scared at all and it let us take pictures for 5 minutes easily, sitting like this, sitting like that, hopping onto another branch and posing some more. I’m not quite sure if these birds are regularly fed by hikers. Maybe that’s why it seemed so tame. Or then… (I’ll go with this:) my Buddy Wayne and I send out such friendly vibes that the animals just feel comfortable around us (Ssssh! Let me have this thought, don’t spoil it!).

Eventually it took off, and so did we. We packed up our gear again, and continued to Lulu City, where we eventually arrived.

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 70-200mm

I don’t know if we completely missed the whole thing, but this sign was the only thing left we could find that indicated any activity or any sign of previous life in this location. There was absolutely nothing else here but this sign, trees, a lot of snow, and the baby Colorado River. But hold on…
There were… birds? No kidding!
And… was that the same bird as the one we photographed awhile ago?
We continued to the baby Colorado River where we set down our gear again for a break and to freshen up. Dragging a bag with about 15kgs of camera gear for 1,5 hours hiking through the snow uphill and downhill and more uphill gets you warm and sweaty. As I was about to get down and take some water to splash in my face, the little fellow almost hit me again, and went to sit right in front of me on a log, taking a sip as well.

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 70-200mm

(had the big lens on, it was too close to focus properly)

And there, in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, I got a crazy idea. These birds had been flying around so close, had seemed so unafraid…
I stood up, spread my arms wide, and waited.
And not for long.
It appeared that there wasn’t only one bird, but there were three. And all three took turns in landing on my hand, nibbling a bit on my fingers (one of them actually really bit my thumb!! ), and then taking off again. And that went on for about 10 minutes or so. My Buddy Wayne stood there, camera a-ready, and shooting pictures, as much in awe as I was (no food involved here, so yeah, I really think Wayne and I sent out such friendly vibes that the birds just felt really comfortable ). (Sssssh!! Don’t spoil it!! ).
So Wayne was supposed to send me a couple of those pictures he shot of me with the birds, but he hasn’t gotten around to doing that. Will add them later, once he has.

And after that little play we took a few portraits still, and then we head back to “camp”.
Even if “Lulu City” wasn’t really worth the hike, this little get-together with our Jay-friends made it absolutely worth the time.

All D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 70-200mm