by Lazaro Ruda

May 10-15th, 2003

The idea of spending four glorious days in the crystal-clear waters of the Bahamas quenched my thoughts at work as I waited anxiously for that day to arrive. With much anticipation, I awoke at 5:00 in the morning on May 10th and with all my bags packed, I headed north via the Turnpike in route to Jim Abernethy’s Scuba Adventures dive shop in Palm Beach, Florida.

With the Bahamas trip not set to leave until late in the evening, I arrived at the dock in time for an early morning Palm Beach dive. Onboard, I was thrilled to find Jim Abernethy sharing with a few other divers some of the video he had just recently taken of a Leatherback turtle nesting during the day (very rare occurrence) off of Palm Beach. Hearing him talk with so much vivacity about his week long (very) late-night adventures off the beaches of Palm Beach in search of these rare and beautiful creatures added to the incredible imagery he had recorded.

Known for its abundance of marine life, the waters off Palm Beach form the mixing bowl of the Gulf Stream. With colorful corals adorning the sea floor and a wealth of animal-life, diving along many of the reefs in Palm Beach you are sure to find a wide array of marine life comparable to, if not exceeding, many exotic destinations along the Caribbean.

Throughout the two early morning dives I came across many species of fish, corals and turtles.

Along the way I enjoyed the vivid conversations of Jim Abernethy’s great adventures on land, air and sea. It isn’t often that I really get the chance to meet someone whose zest for adventure and passion for the ocean exceeds that of Jim Abernethy. Living vicariously through his stories, I always feel as if I too am experiencing that rare moment.

Spending the early morning diving these beautiful waters initiated what was sure to be an exhilarating week. Back at port, I had a great time hanging around with Jim as he finished the last “to-do” on the list for the day. Shortly there after, I had the chance to meet Mike Oelrich, David Haas, Jimmy “Dah Fish” Trosch, Anthony “Tony” Ciresi, Ron & Jonie Bowers, Ruth Kyle, Lisa Putnam, Sue Vary, Mike Mitch and a few others that would be joining me on the 4-day trip to the Bahamas.

With half of my equipment still wet from the morning dive, I boarded the Abernethy’s liveaboard ship, Shear Water and began to store the week’s worth of clothing, photography, video and scuba equipment onboard this fine vessel. Onboard I met the crew of the boat – Capt./Fisherman Extraordinaire Kurt Dix, Shipmate/Engineer/Jack-of-all-Trades Dave Millard, Chef/Dolphin Wrangler Frank Ryan and last but certainly not least – Dolphin Girl/Dive Model/Photographer Extraordinaire/All around great person Anna Abernethy. This group of people welcomed me onboard their boat with big smiles and great expectations of the trip ahead.

With the evening closely approaching and our trip’s departure shortly at hand, Anna graciously offered to bring us some very delicious food from a local restaurant. This gave us time to meet each other – twelve passengers and four crew members. Finally sitting down to chat with Mike Oelrich and Dave Haas whom I know from some of the underwater digital photography forums on the Internet was an extra treat. Right away we began conversing about our passion for underwater photography and all the photo techno terms known to man were discussed. With big smiles and exciting conversations running throughout, the first thing that was apparent to me was that this group of people was going to make an already exciting trip a lot more pleasurable.

That night we stayed up late conversing with each other while we prepared our dive, photography and video equipment for an exciting day of diving the next morning. Many of us slept as the Shear Water made its smooth trip across the Gulf Stream.

Day 2

We awoke the next morning waiting to clear customs in the Bahamas before we could set out on our diving adventures. With a hearty breakfast prepared by Chef Frank, the essence of a great vacation was well on its way. Shortly after clearing customs we arrived at our first dive spot, Tora Tora Ramora. Budding up with fellow digital photographer diver, Mike Oelrich, it wasn’t long before we were suited up and jumping into the warm tropical waters of the Bahamas. Averaging in the 50-60ft. range, this colorful reef was decorated in a rainbow of colors typical of Bahamian reefs. The first things to catch my eye were the colorful Fairy Basslets (a.k.a. Royal Grammas) that adorn just about every section of the reef and the colorful coral landscapes that were too stunning to simply pass by.

Searching around a bit, I found some type of marine life lurking in every corner of the reef.

Doing this shallow, easy dive allowed us to prep our gear and sharpen our scuba skills for the 4-day’s worth of diving. Back up on the boat awaited plenty of food and drinks to overindulge our increasing appetite.

Much like the first dive, our second dive on Cool World was decorated in colorful corals and teaming with a variety of marine life. Half way through the dive I came upon this beautiful vase sponge and as I slowly approached it while eyeing it for a wide-angle photograph; I noticed perched on his coral like a king on his throne was this tiny Blenny.

As the day progressed so began the joyful experience of diving off a liveaboard boat – dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat.. Of course, there was enough surface time in between dives to share our dive stories with each other, have plenty of laughs, and offload some of the photos on our cameras. The day had just begun and the excitement in the air was rising faster than the temperature at noon in south Florida.

With the afternoon sun descending beautiful rays of light onto the ocean bottom, I spent most of the next dive at Delaney’s reef entranced by this majestic sight. Viewing the rays of light play along the surface of the corals or watch as a beam of light traveled through crevices in the reef, I tried to capture the scene as best as I could with my camera.

With over an hour of bottom time, I came up from my safety stop elated by the day’s diving so far but most of all with some excitement about our next destination.

Out at Little Bahama Bank we found ourselves cruising at slow speed over the crystal-clear water. Nicknamed as “God’s Swimming People” by myself, this vast sandy area is approximately 20-30ft. deep and is the playground of my most favorite animal in the world – the spotted Dolphin. Before I even had time to sit at the bow of the boat in search of these lovely creatures I heard the words that made my heart race faster than a Formula 1 race car – “Dolphins on the bow!” As I raced to the bow to catch my first glimpse of these incredible hydrobats (water version of acrobats?) the smile on my face and the happiness in my heart grew comparable to that of a small child during Christmas.

With part of my body hanging outside the boat’s bow, I could see them swimming alongside the bow wake. With the bow now crowded with people, we cheered them on as they would leap out of the water alongside the bow or would turn upside down and show us their beautiful white under-belly. Every once in a while they would turn on their side and look at us. It was easy to tell that not only were they having fun but showing off a little too. Meanwhile, the boat is steaming full speed ahead and the dolphins looked as they were barely swimming to keep up with the boat.

After a few minutes of watching them ride the bow of the boat, the captain began to drive in circles enticing the dolphins to stay for a few minutes while we quickly put on our mask, fins and snorkel. Anna prepared her underwater scooter and with much excitement I quickly put on my snorkeling equipment (playtime with dolphin = no camera). As soon as the boat came to a stop, Anna dived in the water and the rest of us weren't far behind. Entering the water, I quickly freedived to the bottom and as I cleared through the bubble screen created by the prop of the boat, they suddenly appeared before me – my playful and loving aquatic friends. Suddenly the dolphins and us were swimming and splashing about like a group of children at a pool party.

The smile on my face required me to clear my mask over and over again. I was excited! I was thrilled! I quenched every little amount of energy and breath to keep up with them. I’d dive down to the bottom and stir the sand in hopes of getting them to do the same. As I dived, I would twirl and right away some of them would begin to twirl around me. Full of energy they would come in close enough that I felt as if I could reach out and touch them but I did not. Instead I tucked my arms in and conserved as much energy as possible as the dolphins would group up around me and we swam together. Meanwhile, I too was showing off to them and would do everything I could physically do to grab their attention – flipping, breaching out of the water, swimming as fast as I could, stirring the bottom, making noises, laughing. At times I spun so much I would get dizzy and lose my orientation. It was fun though!

Then it happened! I looked at one of the dolphins and it was playing with a small piece of Sargasso seaweed. Could this be what I had read about in my books? The dolphin mouthed the seaweed a little as if to get a better grip and then with a twist, tossed it onto its side while moving forward. The seaweed caught on its pectoral fin (flipper) and the game began. “Let’s play keep away from the humans,” they were probably joking amongst each other. This was apparent by the fact that they would slow down or stop so as to let you get at almost reaching distance from the seaweed and then ZOOOOOM! Off they went chanting “You missed me.. You missed me.. Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah..”

Every once in a while the seaweed would accidentally slip off their pectoral fin and someone in the (human) group would swim as fast as possible towards it. As we swam with the seaweed in our hands the dolphins followed closely and as soon as we’d drop it everyone rushed to grab it – the dolphins usually being the ones to win.

This game went on for some time and from the moment I jumped in the water with these wonderful creatures I felt transformed into a little boy – playful and full of joy. It was apparent that we were all feeling this way as I occasionally saw the smiles under the many masks of my fellow diving friends.

We continued to play and swim with the dolphins for quite some time not realizing how much energy we were expending up until the dolphins left and we struggled to swim back to the boat and return to our gravity-hindered environment. This little amount of time I spent in the water with these wonderful creatures renewed a longing I had been wishing to experience since my last visit with them last year. Whether I spent one minute or one whole day with the dolphins, all it took to satisfy my heart was one look into their beautiful eyes, a smirk from their eternal smile and to hear them click, crackle and whistle as if to say, “Welcome back!” I really missed them and I couldn’t have been happier to see my friends once again.

Back up on the boat everyone wore a smile. Excitement filled the air and we all shared our own dolphin experiences with each other with much delight. For me, I could have gone home happy at that moment for what I would be taking home with me was something that could not be captured in a photograph.

Luckily, the trip was far from over. There was still much more diving and excitement to be had and with twilight approaching, the Shear Water set way to one of the most beautiful, shallow water wrecks/reefs I have ever seen – the Sugar Wreck. A feeling of excitement and uneasiness came about because this was the site where I was hopeful to find a critter I have been in search of for over two years – an Orangeball Corallimorph. This seldom seen Cnidarian is a true photographer’s delight. Appearing much like an anemone, this small creature has translucent tentacles on which hang small orange ball-like tips. Seeing my first Orangeball Corallimorph in Jim Church’s, Essential Guide to Composition book I couldn’t help fall in love with its out-of-this-world look and two years later I was still in search of my first Orangeball Corallimorph.

The moment was upon me for this was the place to find them. After speaking with Jim Abernethy before my trip, he gave me some advice as to where I could likely find them. Coming out only at night, I took advantage of the twilight dive to explore the wreck in search of the red/orange base of the Orangeball Corallimorph. What I didn’t expect was to be bombarded with so much color, fish and behavior. With twilight at hand, hundreds (if not thousands) of fish congregated on the remains of this shipwreck to spawn, find shelter and prey upon other critters. The pressure was on to comb the wreck in search of this elusive creature but I couldn’t help myself to stop many times to observe and photograph all the action and beauty around me.

As I swam along, I spotted in one corner of the wreck what looked like a closed-up Orangeball Corallimorph. Without the experience of having observed one before, I was hopeful that this little clump on the side of the wreck was the beautiful creature I was in search of. I made a mental note of the location so that I could easily find it in the dark when I would return once more for my opportunity to finally capture one on (digital) film.

Returning to the boat I had a wonderful dinner and after a few minutes, my nervousness and excitement were at full-throttle as I entered the dark waters. Moving along the remains of this wreck, I retraced my mental notes on the location where I had seen what looked like the base of an Orangeball Corallimorph and with a new set of batteries on my camera and the pen light attached to my camera housing blaring out its thin ray of light I made my way closer and closer to my final destination.

As I descended closer to the bottom and slowly turned to my right, I used my small pen light to scan the area. THERE IT WAS! In full bloom. My moment of truth had arrived – my opportunity to photograph this creature that was very special to me was about to take place. Right away I remembered what Jim had mentioned and what I had read – this critter does not like light and will quickly retract if exposed to it including that of a strobe light.

My pulse raced and I did my best to collect my thoughts together. I thought to myself, “Don’t mess this one up, Laz! You’ll have one, maybe two chances if you’re lucky to get it right.” Right away I swam away from the Orangeball Corallimorph and shot a couple of practice shots of another coral in hopes of dialing the exposure just right. I adjusted the strobes positions and made some tweaks to the exposure settings. After two or three shots I told myself, “Here goes everything!”

I slowly and quietly approached the Orangeball Corallimorph while I allowed the slightest amount of light from my flash light to filter in between my fingers that were covering the intense beam from shining directly upon it. Quickly I reached for the shutter button and as the camera’s auto focus system slowly focused, in that split second, time almost stood still. I mumbled in my head, “Come on! Come on! Focus!” I recited the fastest prayer to the underwater photography Gods for a good photo and watched through the LCD as the Orangeball Corallimorph slowly began to close.

FLASH! The camera locked the focus and off went my strobe lights. I tried for a second photograph but the Orangeball Corallimorph had already almost completely closed. I moved back and as the drops of sweat slid down my forehead, I waited anxiously for the quick review of the photo to appear on my digital camera (thank God I wasn’t shooting film).

One look at the LCD and it was apparent..

I got the shot!

“WOOOHOOOO!” I screamed through my regulator. Doing my little ‘I got the shot’ dance, my mission was finally over. I could finally put to rest this two year crave. That night I had to clear my mask every few minutes from flooding it because of the big smile on my face. I was a happy camper – I still am.

With plenty of air and time left, I continued to dive around the wreck exploring every nook and cranny. What an amazing place!

As I returned to the boat, I was greeted by Anna with a huge smile and a question – “Did you find it?” To which I answered, “No…” as a big smile slowly grew on my face and I couldn’t help but keep the excitement to myself any longer… “YES!! I GOT IT!” I said to her with oodles of joy. I showed it to her on the LCD of my camera and she made me feel twice as nice by congratulating me on the photograph. I suggested that the wreck should be called Crayola Reef for only a box of a million Crayola crayons can match what was down there. That night I slept on cloud nine with thoughts of dolphins and orangeball corallimorphs floating through my mind.

Day 3 - Click Here

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