Underwater Photography

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My last full day in Thailand was probably one of the best of my whole trip. Combining an old hobby, photograph, with a new hobby, scuba diving, was a great experience. I was nervous at first since I had just gotten certified, but with my fantastic instructor Tara who talked me through everything we were going to do, it turned out to be the best dive yet. We started in the Lagoon taking pictures of Porky the puffer fish, eels, barracuda and a great big thriving table coral community. The visibility was the best yet, such a great day to dive! Our second dive was off another island that has an underwater cave perfect for silhouette photography. Unfortunately around the head of the island the current was strong so we just hung out on the side. I found out that underwater things lose color the deeper you go so things may look brown when you are down 30-40 feet, but when you take a picture with a flash you can see their real colors which are often vibrant oranges and reds. I couldn't have been happier swimming around taking photos. Because of the current all of the divers surfaced where we descended from, not where the boat was. So we had to spend a while drifting on the surface until the boat came and found us. Let me tell you, underwater Im totally comfortable, most animals down there could kill or seriously hurt me but they aren't aggressive, but above water I was constantly sticking my mask in the water to check out what was around me! Remember that awful movie Open Water? This was eerily similar! Thankfully our boat came and I got to go back and review my pics which turned out fantastic! Just another great day in the water!

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