Uh oh, I've been underwater again. VERY image heavy!
Uh oh, I've been underwater again. VERY image heavy!
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Fezant Pluckah

Original Poster:

1,711 posts

241 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Well, I’ve just returned from a week in the Red Sea, so I thought I’d try and clog up the internet with some more pictures!

I went on a boat called Typhoon with a couple of friends, Colon & Sally. We flew into Charm el Shiite and did a “Wrecks & Reefs” trip down to Sha’ab Abu Nuhas, Gubal Island and then back up to Ras Mohammed and the Straits of Tiran. I won’t bore you with the intricate details of the trip, but here are a few shots I took.

The piccies were taken in RAW/Basic format on a Nikon D70 in a Sea & Sea DX D70 housing plus strobes. The close-up photos were taken with a Nikon 60mm macro lens, and nearly all the wide angle shots with a Nikon 12-24mm. A couple or three were taken with a Nikon 18-70mm lens. The above water shots were taken with a little Sony point & squirt. I’ve done some mild tweakery in Photoshop on the basic images, not the RAW images, so quality is not perfect, but it does mean they shouldn’t take TOO long to load!

Enjoy!

Whirlwind (she’s the sister ship of Typhoon, so almost identical. I never got the opportunity to get in the RIB and take some pictures of Typhoon.)


The wreck of some old tub on Jackson Reef in the Straits of Tiran.


4 happy chappies (or chappesses) sitting on the mooring line


Colon & Sally descending the mooring line


Goatfish in the Dunraven


BSA motorcycle on the Thistelgorm


Trucks on the Thistlegorm


Locomotive water tender on the Thistlegorm


Diver, seafan and propeller of the Kingston


Bow of the Carnatic


Divers in the Carnatic


Stern of the Carnatic (or could be the Chrisola K, I really can’t remember!)


Bow of the Giannis D (or could be the Chrisola K, I really can’t remember!)


Stern section of the Giannis D


Bridge superstructure of the Giannis D


Wreck of the Giannis D


Colon and school of glassfish in the engine room of the Giannis D


Soft corals and fusiliers on the Dunraven


Bogs on the Yolanda at Ras Mohammed


A scalloped hammerhead shark at Jackson Reef. Sorry, it’s the best I could do. I was at 150ft, Colon was at 180ft, they were unobliging and too far away from me to get a decent shot. Just thought I’d stick it in to show that a couple of miles from all the tourist peasants in Sharm there are still a few big fish about.


Soft coral detail


Moray eel


Goby in its burrow


Blue spotted stingray


Enema fish


Lionfish on the Thistelgorm


Some little fishywishy on a fan coral


Eyes of a crocodilefish


Stonefish


Octopus


Sleeping parrotfish


Masked butterflyfish


A chromodoris nudibranch, or as the dive guides called it, a pyjama wart slug


2 mating Risbecia nudibranchs


Bommie covered in soft corals, Ras Ghazlani


And another


And another


Fire coral and anthias


Whip coral


Soft corals and anthias


Divers and sot corals


Colon and soft corals


Colon and sea fan


Colon and sea fan


Anthias at the top of the reef











Edited by Fezant Pluckah on Monday 24th August 11:15

BertB

1,105 posts

255 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Wow! just simply Wow!

clapclap

NDA

25,652 posts

255 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all

Fantastic shots.

I don't know anything about diving (not sure I'd like to do it), but why do the divers hold their hands together in front of them?

Fezant Pluckah

Original Poster:

1,711 posts

241 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
NDA said:
Fantastic shots.

I don't know anything about diving (not sure I'd like to do it), but why do the divers hold their hands together in front of them?
Some people do, some people don't. It's just the way people dive.

Edited by Fezant Pluckah on Monday 24th August 09:29

NDA

25,652 posts

255 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Ah, OK. I thought it might be some kind of safety thing.

Simpo Two

92,860 posts

295 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Fezant Pluckah said:
The piccies were taken... on a Nikon D70 in a Sea & Sea DX D70 housing plus strobes. The close-up photos were taken with a Nikon 60mm macro lens
My old kit is indeed having a great holiday with its new owner!


*Fletch*

290 posts

213 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Simply amazing.


How did you change lenses safely?!

Fezant Pluckah

Original Poster:

1,711 posts

241 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
Fezant Pluckah said:
The piccies were taken... on a Nikon D70 in a Sea & Sea DX D70 housing plus strobes. The close-up photos were taken with a Nikon 60mm macro lens
My old kit is indeed having a great holiday with its new owner!
It is indeed Simpo! smile

ETA there was one of your pubes on the mirror. But I hoovered it off.

*Fletch* said:
Simply amazing.


How did you change lenses safely?!
Errr, you don't. You choose a lens and stick it on the camera in the housing and are stuck with it for the dive.

Edited by Fezant Pluckah on Monday 24th August 10:18

Silver940

3,967 posts

257 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
bow Amazing pics. Would love to dive like that!

sjg

7,680 posts

295 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Great stuff. I did a similar trip the year before last, and hope to get back there later this year.

NDA said:
I don't know anything about diving (not sure I'd like to do it), but why do the divers hold their hands together in front of them?
Personal preference as said, but as most people use dive computers (the blue wrist-mounted thing on the diver in most shots) which gives you depth, no-deco time, etc by keeping your arms in a relaxed position forward lets you check the computer just by flicking your eyes down.

It's also encouraged by a lot of instructors, just to stop people flapping their arms about to (attempt to) control their position in the water - everything should be done by your legs and the fins.

nick_bbb

5,501 posts

265 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Excellent set, enjoyed looking at those biggrin

Davel

8,982 posts

288 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Brilliant photos!


CarMac

669 posts

244 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
What an amazing set of pictures. Well done. I love looking at pictures of things underwater but, as I'm afraid of the sea, I don't think I'll ever be trying it myself.

Favs for me are the pink coral (so delicate looking), moray eel (how did you get so close? I thought they were quite vicious things?), stingray (lovely colours), lionfish (so majestic) and the parrotfish. smile

Fezant Pluckah

Original Poster:

1,711 posts

241 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
CarMac said:
moray eel (how did you get so close?
Well, actually, they don't in general live up to their reputation! You can get surprisingly close to them, and they'll then back into their hole if they feel you are too close. Also, it was taken with a macro lens, and it was quite a big moray, so I wasn't THAT close wink

Starfighter

5,348 posts

208 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Very good and inspiring me to get some underwater kit - I'm booked for 2 weeks in Egypt in December and would love top get some shots. I'm limited to 18m though!

Ross1988

1,234 posts

213 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Fantastic Photos! I went in july, i did the diving but i never got to see anything like this...

Will have to go again i suppose.

For those interested in the wrecks, the one with the military trucks was bombed zee Germans and the Wreck on the reef was supposedly a drunk Russian captain running aground. Not sure how true that is but its quite amusing anyhow.


Simpo Two

92,860 posts

295 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
CarMac said:
moray eel (how did you get so close? I thought they were quite vicious things?)
The camera was found in his severed hand...

CVP

2,799 posts

305 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
Super stuff, the soft coral detail shot is simply beautiful. Love the shot of the bogs, that's just not what you expect to see ont he sea floor

Chris

Fezant Pluckah

Original Poster:

1,711 posts

241 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
CVP said:
Love the shot of the bogs, that's just not what you expect to see ont he sea floor
I've got bath tubs as well if you want them?

NDA

25,652 posts

255 months

Monday 24th August 2009
quotequote all
sjg said:
Great stuff. I did a similar trip the year before last, and hope to get back there later this year.

NDA said:
I don't know anything about diving (not sure I'd like to do it), but why do the divers hold their hands together in front of them?
Personal preference as said, but as most people use dive computers (the blue wrist-mounted thing on the diver in most shots) which gives you depth, no-deco time, etc by keeping your arms in a relaxed position forward lets you check the computer just by flicking your eyes down.

It's also encouraged by a lot of instructors, just to stop people flapping their arms about to (attempt to) control their position in the water - everything should be done by your legs and the fins.
Thanks for the explanation - makes sense.