Once again this year we went diving in Grand Cayman for Linda's spring break. We dived even more than we usually do when we are down there. I think we may have soaked up all the water in the Caribbean. We thought after diving off the coast of Little Cayman last year, we would find the reefs near Grand Cayman to be inadequate, but we weren't disappointed in the least.

This year we have a new camera that we're both getting used to, so we have more shots of coral (i.e. non-moving things) than fish. We also have a lot of blurry fish pictures we aren't showing you! We often grab the camera from each other under water, so crediting some of the photos to one or the other of us is dicey. (We've done the best we can below.)

If you're using a dial-up connection, these photos may be slow to load.

We dived at one site called Big House that had lots of elkhorn coral. I'm not so sure that it looks so much like elk horns as it does like arms spread wide open to welcome the sunlight filtering down through the absolutely clear water.
Photo by Robin.

This is a close-up of the surface of the elkhorn coral above. It's made up of thousands of tiny yellow nubby things.
Photo by Robin.

Some of the elkhorn formations were quite large. This one was almost as long and wider across than I am. You can see a few divers from our group and their bubbles in the background.
Photo by Linda.

This is a fish called a black durgon. It is not completely black, as you might think when you first meet it. When you get close enough, you can see that it has brilliant blue and green markings.
Photo by Linda.

Underwater photography is often more dependent on lighting than land-based photography is. We were lucky to be diving on a few very sunny afternoons.

Photo by Robin.

This dive site (I think it was Big House again) had a lot of trenches that made for nice pictures. They also provided great hiding places for camera-shy fish.
Photo by Linda.
 

Our new digital camera is a little more sensitive to movement than cameras we've used in the past. In order to shoot small or medium-sized fish, we had to be very still. This is harder than it sounds when every breath causes you -- and the camera -- to rise a little in the water. This little fish is a foureye butterflyfish. I feel like I know him (her?) well, because I spent many minutes in front of his nest trying to be still enough to get a good picture.
Photo by Robin.

Foureye butterflyfish often come in pairs. When I've seen pairs of them, I rarely see the two more than 18 inches apart or so.
Photo by Robin.

We saw several angelfish on our dives this time. This is a grey angelfish that swam along with us until we whipped out the camera.
Photo by Linda.

Linda snapped this picture before it made its exit.
Photo by Linda.

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