Turks and Caicos (Jasons Folly) + Instagram & Flickr

Hello everyone, sorry for not posting recently it has been a very busy time.  I have a lot of great news so read to the bottom!

Story of Jasons Folly: The story goes a man and his girlfriend rented a private boat with Dive Provo in Turks and Caicos.  The man decided he was going to purpose to his GF at the bottom.  He hid the ring in a plastic bag and put it in his BCD pocket.  He had a underwater photographer with them on the trip (was designed to get the moment she saw the ring) however when he got to the sandy bottom the ring was GONE! instead of the moment she said yes the photographer captured the moment the man realized he lost the 7k ring.



Summary:  This dive site actually started right at our halfway point from boat cove.  We descended to a sandy bottom filled with Garden Eels.  The site offered a lot of overhangs and cracks in the wall for fish and creatures to hide.  We headed to the right and there was a lot of life on the wall,  not as steep of a section but lots of coral everywhere.  Mooring line pretty much is right on the wall so makes a easy descent and ascent point.

As far as what I saw, there wasn't anything really different however I was able to get close to a pregnant reef shark, lots of sting rays. The most amazing thing about this dive has to be what accompanied us the entire time.  Throughout the dive you could hear the humpback whales talking to each other.  It was a beautiful sound hearing them communicate to each other.  Humpback whales can be heard from up to 50 miles away.


I created a Flickr and a Instagram for everyone the share and view their underwater photos.  Currently it has started with a bang with lots of followers.  I have to thank the original two flickr members Pacificcoast101 and Skeptic14 for uploading photos.

Follow the Instagram at worldwidescubaphotos
Flickr group worldwidescubaphotos

You can email photos to worldwidescubaphotos@gmail.com and I will post and tag any user! This is a account to share your photos with a growing audience ! Our Flickr account is a great place to upload photos and share as well.

Turks and Caicos (Boat Cove)

Summary: Sandy bottom, longer distance to the wall. Steepest section of the wall to date with plenty of overhangs for creatures to hide in.  Turn around point is a sandy patch so guidance and distance are very simple.

Things I saw: Nassau Grouper, Lobsters, Trumpet fish, Lion Fish, lots of small tangs and grunts, Angel fish and Parrot Fish, 100s of garden eels (turnaround point).

Shutter 1/400 F#2.8 ISO 100 

This was the first dive with my friend David. He was certified a couple days before and so we wanted to do one day of diving actually together.  This dive I stayed shallower to monitor his depth and air consumption. My computer read 87 feet but because of air consumption we were only 40 minutes. As well my starting PSI was 2750 instead of 3000.  We did stay at depth for longer than I had planned for since the overhangs were really cool and a lot of marine action and beautifu
l colours on the coral. If diving this site I would recommend a majority of your diving at the 70 foot mark and perhaps diving below the overhangs when required.  We saw a lot of the standard fish,  at the turn around point I noticed slightly in the distance a bunch of garden eels in the distance. I signalled my buddy over to quickly investigate since this is the first time he has seen an eel.  There were easily hundreds of these eels in this sandy patch between coral.

Coral formation, 1/400 F# 5.6 ISO 100 

Nassau Grouper just before turn around point hiding under coral formation.
Shutter 1/400, F# 4, ISO 125

Lion Fish, Shutter 1/400 F# 4 ISO 150 (probably should have used 100) 

Capturing a photo of these fish are very tough, this is one of my better ones and sadly its not that good.
The colours behind/around the fish are poor but the colour of the fish is very accurate (at least the fish turned out okay!)
Shutter 1/250 F#5.6 ISO 200

Blue tang and stoplight parrot fish
Shutter 1/400, F#4, ISO 125

Turks and Caicos (Rock Garden)

Summary: Rock Garden is directly next to Rock Garden Interlude.  The dive sites are extremely similar to each other.  At the beginning I found the coral to be less impressive than the other dive sites, it was mostly single limestone rock formations with a little soft coral.  The Wall: The wall had plenty of overhangs, cracks and hideaways for small creatures.  Turn around/60ft range: The coral at the turnaround point was much more impressive than the start of the dive.  Lots more coral, hard coral, soft coral and the reef looked a lot more alive.  I would recommend staying on top of the wall and slowly weave between the coral formations.  Dive site is in West Caicos. 

My Log book reads:  Less coral life at the beginning but greatly improved as the dive went on.  1 sting ray, reef shark at the turn around, everyone is certified after this dive, giant crab in the coral, plenty of parrot fish, trumpet fish.  

Conclusion: Great dive site.  With the wall starting at 60 feet it is slightly deeper than Rock Garden Interlude and deeper than most dive sites however the coral formations on the wall and at the halfway mark were spectacular!  If I had the option between Rock Garden and Rock Garden Interlude I would ask the captain to go to Rock Garden Interlude but both are good sites. 

Sting Ray getting defensive show me his tail.
While he swam around these fish followed at checked the sand after him.

Roughly 12 minutes into the dive, at around 78 feet.  The wall on the left leads to darkness!

The variety in colours on one coral formation is breathtaking 

Reef shark at the turn around 

At the turnaround point, lots of coral everywhere.  Beautiful reef fish everywhere!

Gear

Hello everyone, I have had some people ask me about what gear I am using, why I chose it etc.  So before I get more into the dive sites and my experiences I figured I would be better answering those questions.

Camera: I am using a Sony RX100M2. I chose this camera due to the large sensor size of 1inch as well it being 20mp compared to the other camera I was deciding against (Canon G16 only 14mp).  Although I use a Canon Rebel T3 above water and love Canon products everything was steering me towards the Sony.  The Sony has a focus length of 20cm underwater which is surprisingly poor compared to the Canon G16(2cm).  However with the use of underwater Diopeters I can reduce that focal length to 5cm, which for me is as close as I need.  It also came down to cost, I was lucky enough after christmas to find someone selling a brand new one for $400.  I quickly called the person and purchased the camera and I was thrilled!

Housing: I ordered my housing from a Canadian website called Mozaik Underwater Cameras.  They have online retail shops in Vancouver and in the North Western United States.  I purchased the Ikelite RX100m2 housing with a spare o-ring on sale.  The price was only 500$ as it was on sale.  Compared to an aluminium housing I was able to save about $500-600 and the quality of Ikelite is on par with all the other major manufactures.  I also liked the clear housing, this allows me the chance to see inside the housing and spot any leaks.  The housing is built very solid, I was surprised on the weight of the unit as well as the size.  If I were to choose a housing all over again I wouldn't change my purchase, Ikelite answered my emails quickly as well even comments on their youtube channel.

Strobe: Again I used Mozaik to purchase my strobe.  This actually became a little bit of an ordeal.  I ordered the YS-03 strobe and kit.  This included a single arm, single tray, fibre optic cable and the strobe itself.  The price and quality of Sea and Sea were the main reasons I chose this strobe.  The YS-03 is their entry level strobe but with a guide number of 20, it will make a great slave light in the future.  The YS-03 is a TTL only strobe so the flash "power" is set automatically by the camera lens.  This allows me to focus solely on setting up the shot and adjust the camera settings. The first YS-03 arrived and I put brand new batteries into the strobe took 3 shots and then what I called the christmas lights (red/green) flashing came on.  In the owners manual this was not discussed so I took to the web and found that it meant a leak! I was perplexed because I hadn't even put it in water.  Well I took off the back cap and saw that it exploded the batteries! I emailed Mozaik the next morning and informed them of the issue.  They were amazing during the process and even though I had a trip in a month they paid for my strobe to be shipped next day to them (60$) and they returned it to Sea and Sea. I am unsure if Sea and Sea sent me back my original strobe fixed or if it was a replacement but in 3 weeks I had my new strobe!

Dive Light: I purchased a I-Torch 5pro from Float and Flag in Burlington Ontario.  This would be my local dive shop and I went into the shop to purchase a light and my friend offered to cover some of the cost as a birthday present.  I wanted a large beam incase I film video, and it makes a great fill light.  I-torch is a Canadian company so if you are Canadian give them a look as I've been very pleased with my light so far.

Wide Angle Lens: I purchased the Meikon wide angle lens on Amazon.  This lens adds back the 33% that is lost in the water.  It was a spur of the moment purchase but I have noticed a large difference between the lens on and off and for the price it allows me to have options regarding my photography. The glass quality is very good for the price and anyone looking at getting into a wide angle photography (but on a budget) should consider their lens.

Entire Kit:  My entire kit as far as quality underwater cameras goes is actually very compact.  I have a 27 inch by 9 inch by 11 inch  metal (foam insert case) I use to store everything and it all fits no problems.

Although heavy above water you can't even notice the weight underwater. At one point I was tossing my camera to my brother and he could toss it back.  You want your kit to be negatively buoyant otherwise it can cause you to be awkwardly trimmed.

Future:  I hope in the future to purchase a YS-01 or YS-02 strobe so I can have manual control over the power and I will use the YS-03 as a slave light.  I also want to get a +10 diopeter to be able to take clear macro photos.

Customer Service Note: Mozaik was great dealing with my issue and I would recommend them to anyone looking at purchasing any underwater photography gear in Canada.  They have great prices and are available to email about any questions you may have.  They steered me away from higher priced items and guided me towards this kit here which is perfect for my use right now!


*Photo below is without the wide angle lens*

Turks and Caicos (Rock Garden Interlude)

The second day of diving was at Rock Garden and Rock Garden Interlude.  My log book reads "steepest drop off yet, giant crab hidden in the coral, 2 barracuda and a porcupine fish"  Rock Garden was my deepest dive to date at 106 feet, and it was 55 minutes long.  Rock Garden had the steepest

drop off out of the 2 previous dives.  This photo was taken from our turn around point.  The coral descends into the oblivion.  This photo is the defining shot of Turks and Caicos diving (right) (F 6.3, 1/125, ISO 200).  Easily accessible with the top of the wall at 50 feet a diver can descend easily to 100 while easily seeing the surface the visibility is that great! There are plenty of beautiful overhangs on this dive site as well.  My brother Jeff is pictured here (below) with a large sponge.  To put this sponge into perspective my brother is about 2-3 feet behind it and he is about 5-7.  The bright red sponge was a wonder to see.  Hanging onto the side of the between the clear water in one direction and the unforgiving blue on the other. (F2.2, 1/200, ISO 200)

 Continuing the dive we spotted a crab in another one of the coral over hangs.  This crab started clamping at me trying to protect his home that he thought I was trying to take from him.  Although this crab is little compared to us it wasn't the least bit scared of me (F3.5, 1/100, ISO 100). This crab was probably the largest crab I have ever seen.  The clawed arms were at least 7 inches in length and the body looked a good 5-6 inches in diameter.









After turning the dive there wasn't much marine action until returning closer to the ascent point.  Here I saw a small barracuda that was the least bit terrified of me and allowed me to approach slowly.

 Although this dive wasn't as eventful as previous, this site offered breath taking wall views and the comfortability to dive deep.  The overhangs as well as the contours of the wall gave a diver a very easy dive at such depths protecting themselves from currents.  Again I used Dive Provo for this dive and they were professional and friendly.

Like always if anyone wants a HD copy of the photos please email or comment! 

Turks and Caicos (French Connection)

French Connection is a dive site located in French Cay Turks and Caicos.  The boat ride from Provo is about 1 hour 20 minutes however the waves were large today so it took extra time.  This was our second dive site, slightly shallower compared to Tons of Grunts.  Unfortunately my flash was accidentally turned off partway through the dive so the photos didn't turn out as nicely as I desired.  My logbook book reads "6 large lobsters in 6 different hard coral overhangs, neatly in a row spaced apart by roughly 5 feet, 1 Hawksbill turtle laying on the coral at the edge of the wall watching as the divers swim around him, 2 cowfish and 1 stingray to end the dive".  This dive site was unique with the amount of variety I saw in fish and creatures.

The first marine animal we encountered was this turtle lounging about.  His shell facing towards the blue water, it was like he was watching us as well as looking at the life occurring on top of the wall.  He wedged himself around tall coral pillars so I had to make sure that I kept my distance to ensure I didn't break any of the coral.  Luckily for me at this point the flash was working! 

At this point we decided that since there was no current either way that the guide suggested the left side would be the better side.  As we swam along the edge of the wall I dropped down to 80 feet to take some photos of my brother Jeff.  While I was doing that he pointed to me to shine my dive/video light into the coral as he spotted a lobster! It was really neat seeing a lobster in person (red lobster doesn't count), he moved his forward antennas protecting his home.  Since he wedged himself to the back of the coral it was a strange angle to get a photo of him/her. At this point in the dive my strobe was not working, however I was so focused on the fish and marine life I didn't notice.  This photo of the lobster was taken at F-stop 6.3, Shutter speed 1/40 and ISO 400. I hope everyone has seen the T.V. Everybody Loves Raymond ?! As cool as one lobster was when you moved a few feet down there was another one and then another one and another one.  It was exactly like the T.V. show they all lived down the street from each other.  

After turning our dive we followed up the wall to a depth of 55 feet.  Compared to the first dive at Tons of Grunts there was a large amount of coral and life happening at the top.  It was here where I swam away from the wall and found a cute little Cow fish hiding under a rock overhang.  Sadly again my strobe was off so it was a challenge to capture a quality photo.  This photo was taken at F stop 5, Shutter 1/160 and ISO 400.  When taking photos underwater I never like to go above ISO 400 and I prefer to be as close to 100 as possible. After spending some time hanging around this Cow fish I got signalled from my brother to continue the dive.  There were some beautiful coral formations. I actually realized at this point that the strobe was not firing! I took a selfie of myself and wondered why is there no light.  I realized my finger must have turned off the strobe by accident when I was adjusting my grip.  I turned it back on and took one more (photo below).   

We continued back to the boat marker, and I came across this beautiful rock with soft corals, hard corals, and tons of little marine life on it.  I was lucky at this point to have the strobe working.  This photo (below) was settings F stop 5.6, Shutter 1/160 and ISO 125.  Unfortunately the quality cannot be expressed through this blog.  

 Like always if you want to get a HD copy please comment or email !

Turks and Caicos (Dive Spot: Tons of Grunts)

Hello everyone, I just got back from a week long stay in Turks and Caicos and was lucky enough to get 3 days of diving with Dive Provo.  I used Caicos Adventures for my certification last year but this year the people I was diving with wanted to see how other companies on the island operated (as this is a yearly destination for my family).  Dive Provo was a great experience and I highly recommend them for any divers in the Turks and Caicos.  Very friendly and approachable people who have years of experience on the island as well as diving.  My mother, brothers fiancée and my friend were getting certified while my brother and I have been certified for years we were able to be on the same boat and experience their reactions while doing the surface interval.  It was really something hearing the excitement and passion from everyone after explaining for the past year why they should be certified!.  The certification process through Dive Provo was impressively in-depth including 4 hours of pool time the day before and a maximum of 4 students per group unless previously discussed.

Our first dive site of the day was called Tons of Grunts.  Located in French Cay this is the furthest dive destination for the 2 tank dives.  On this day the surface waves were large and the boat being a small 16 person dive boat made for a interest transportation experience.  After setting up my gear my brother and I went over each others gear before jumping into the water.  Even on the boat you could see down to the top of the wall at 62 feet.  We jumped into the water and I was handed my camera by the dive master.  We decided not to use the provided dive master instead we would buddy ourselves but stay within distance of the dive master for spotting purposes but we wanted the freedom to dive our own plan.  Upon reaching the sandy bottom at 45 feet we started making our way towards the wall. We were instantly greeted by the local trumpet fish (above), these long skinny fish have always peaked my interest due to the colours and hunting habits.  Unfortunately I was unable to capture a photo that does these animals justice as they loved swimming below me using me to help conceal them for hunting.

When we finally reached the wall about about 30 meters of swimming we took note of where the Dive Master put the boat flag (marking where to end the dive) and headed right (into the current). The wall was about 60 degrees in angle and dropping from 45 feet to 6000 feet!.  Although we didn't go to 6000 feet we did decide to go slightly deeper than the dive master and capped our dive at a max depth of 96 feet.  Looking up at the wall face really puts into perspective the intensity of nature and how unique this planet and oceans really are.  My brother was able to point out a crab in a tube sponge coral at the 70 foot mark.  This crab made his home inside the sponge, which made a great protective area from reef sharks and other predators.

 Our turn around point was at 25 minutes.  As dives here are maxed at 60 minutes due to the surface interval and with the little coral life that was located on our ascent point we decided to go slightly further than the group and once we arrived back at the marker make our way to the ascent line.  I was able to capture the black and white photo of a diver shallowing his dive after making his turn back

along the wall.  The way coral grows and excels on this angle and along the line of the deep blue really is a fascinating thought.

On our way back we wanted to focus on the initial drop point of the wall, we noticed that there was a lot of fish activity and wanted to explore and see what we could find.  This is when a small cow fish went right by my left side and started zig zagging through coral and rocks.  These fish at first glance might remind you of a puffer fish, although related these fish have a unique look to them.  At the top of their heads there are two little spikes.  These fish come in multiple different colours and patterns.  I quickly tried to capture a photo of this blue and green with black spots, however he was darting and whizzing all over this coral patch. The cowfish is a beautiful animal and the juveniles are a hit list for me to see and capture on camera.

Dive Info: 96 feet for 48 minutes

Stay tuned for the remaining 5 dive sites !

*If anyone wants to see the large/HD copies of these photos please leave a comment or contact my email*

Steve's Bommie (Australia)

In November 2015 I travelled the east coast of Australia capping it off with two live aboard trips of the Great Barrier Reef including one to the Ribbon Reefs aboard Taka.  Steve's Bommie is a very well known dive site in diving for the amount of life that lives on this column.

I was lucky enough that this trips itinary allowed me the opportunity to dive it not only once but twice.  The first dive there was only 5 people on the entire Bommie due to currents the zodiac delivered our dive group to 2 different dive locations.


 Upon first decent my dive buddy and I descended to the top of the Bommie using the guide line, and from there descended to a depth of 27 meters.  Our dive plan was to circle around the bommie slowing ascending as we go.  The amount of life that lived off of this one column was something I've never experienced before.  My eyes didn't know what to focus on, there was to much life.  Even months later I can recall this dive perfectly.  We started going around counter clockwise. Instantly we noticed the size of the sea fans and the colours were specular.  These Sea Fans (above) were located 25 meters down, and were almost 4 feet wide each. On this same dive I saw some beautiful black and red Nudibranch.  These little colourful creatures are slugs and for those of you that don't know Nudibranch's they can are both genders, as well they are very very slow moving.  After finding another Nudibranch they determine if they are compatible, if they are they mate and if not they one of them usually gets killed.

There are thousands of different types in the world varying in colour drastically.  Nudibranch's are one of my favourite animals for their colours as well as the amazing photography they allow since they are usually not moving.  Away from the walls you could see hundreds of fish schooling.  When you look up towards the sun and all you see is fish is truly an amazing experience and something I can picture every time I close my eyes. Another highlight for this dive site is that the top of the bommie where the guide line is located is at a depth of 3-5 meters, making a perfect safety stop.  The life on top of the bommie does not disappoint.  The guide line is located right next to an amazing anemone.  The clown fish living in this anemone were so curious they would swim almost right into your mask trying to defend their territory.

On the second dive we had a off duty staff member join our dive group.  Upon descending to a depth of 24 meters, we decided the best course of action would be to dive the left side with making our way around to the far side at a depth of 9 meters and end our dive at the top of the bommie like previously. Here is where we say a scorpion fish hidden into the wall, as well as a clam.  Further up the wall we saw a beautiful yellow white and black dotted Nudibranch.  As well as clear cleaner shrimp that we were unable to photograph. At the end of the dive we saw a peacock Mantis Shrimp as well as the clown fish. 

My dive buddy on this trip inspired me to forget about the GoPro and step into the life of underwater photography.  These are his photos but I felt they were to good not to share.  Although I only met him for 4 days we became friends spending countless hours in the water together and at the end of the night looking at and sharing our videos and photos of the days dives.

Hello everyone, my name is Trevor McLay.  I live in Burlington Ontario Canada and since March 2015 I have been a certified scuba diver.  So far in my past experience I've been lucky enough to dive some very beautiful places all over the east coast of Australia and Turks and Caicos. As well as my local dive spots in Lake Muskoka.  I have been contemplating creating one of these blogs to start communicating my diving experiences as well as to share my photos.  I will be using a GoPro as well as a Sony RX100M2 with a YS-03 strobe and a Itorch Pro5.  My 2016 plan involves a lot of diving as I will be travelling to Turks and Caicos again this March as well as this summer I want to further explore the depths of Lake Muskoka, and lastly upon graduation I hope to travel to Bonaire or Indonesia.  Diving to me is a very personal endeavour, I love the underwater photography aspect as well as seeing things that only a diver can see and experience.  I love all underwater creatures (besides snakes) but I will be mainly focusing on macro critters, and coral with my travel photos and videos.  In Lake Muskoka I plan on finding and photographing multiple wrecks as well as engines and boat parts.  Lake Muskoka was known for its wooden boat building as well as logging in the early 1900's. These boats are a piece of history that has been lost and with help from friends and my camera I hope to capture and share one of my passions with you.