Too delicious to live!!!

This lobster and moray eel – photographed off of the coast of Puerto Aventuras, Mexico – are coming out of their holes in order to get a good look at me. Photographing sea animals is tough on scuba because, in order to get a good shot, you have to control your buoyancy, quiet your breathing and work quickly to make the appropriate camera settings. This lobster was shot in a moderate drift current, so I had to swim slowly up-current while taking the photograph.

It’s important to breathe right when you are shooting like this. Breaths should be long, slow and deep – like the breathing that is taught in Mind, Body and Spirit Scuba – so as to minimize the harsh sounds of bubbles to the photo subject. Fish and lobsters are notorious for popping back into their holes when divers come around. MBS Breathing relaxes them and allows for better photos.

Swimming very gently and purposefully is also important. If I had been thrashing around or kicking inefficiently, it would have spooked these guys and I would have only gotten shots of empty holes.

Both shots were taking while diving with the excellent dive operation Pro Dive Mexico at the Sunscape Puerto Aventuras Hotel in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico. They have my highest recommendation as a top notch, professional dive operation and a future of home of the PADI MBS Scuba Specialty. Stay tuned to this weblog for an announcement of their first annual underwater photo contest to be held in early August, 2005.

www. prodivemex.com