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1887, she ran aground Jon Bunker is a (very) amateur in thick fog. This is the photographer, BDMLR MMM, BSAC perfect conclusion to the OWI with Jurassic Divers, Portland. dive (in my opinion) and Based in Bridport, Dorset, he gets a you’ll often find sea toads great deal of enjoyment out of diving clinging to the surface of Weymouth, Portland, Lyme Bay and the huge propellor like everywhere between there and his some kind of crabby 2001 native Cornwall. You can read his Space Odyssey. More or related blog at: less of the prop shaft is www.jonunderwater.co.uk exposed given the shifting shingle, but sometimes you can make out a bit of keel poking through. Whilst you’ll probably be ready to exit by this point -especially with that climb up the beach in mind- if the current is drifting south a little you might want to let it carry you just a bit further to the Nor boiler, also in 9m or so, standing vertical on the seabed. You can make out the numerous pipes within and you’ll find some ancient looking ballan wrasse parked in there wondering just what you’re about. Count yourself fortunate if you manage two out those three, but of course if you end up the 250m or so south on the landing craft (LCT (A) 2454) you’ll know you definitely got your tides wrong! Good luck, and do let me know if you spot any of those Triggers. Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 51

Focus On Competition Results DECEMBER 2021 and spent the day photographing SPLIT IMAGE mostly compass and moon jellyfish. Congratulations to Arthur Kingdon This shot was taken towards the end who came first. There were a total of of the afternoon using the sun through 25 entries. Paul Colley judged the the water behind me and off to one competition. side to light the Jellyfish. I chose to place our boat in the background The top six: with people looking down into the water jelly spotting to give the jellyfish 1. Arthur Kingdon some context and connect what was 2. Sandra Stalker happening on the surface with what 3. Martin Broen was happening below. 4. Andy Deitsch 5. Diana Fernie 3rd Martin Broen 6. Kirsty Andrews “Inverted Reality” A shot taken inside a pitch-black cave chamber with an 1st Arthur Kingdon air dome, where the roots of trees of The details: A silky shark at sunset. the jungle above are coming down Photographed in Jardines de la Reina, through the cave to the water, do a marine reserve some 50 miles off contrast with the silt in the bottom the coast of Cuba. Equipment used of the water portion that looks like was a Nikon D7000 in an Aquatica clouds. Giving the surreal feeling that housing with a 9\" glass dome, a the diver has a forest sitting on top Tokina 10-17mm and twin Inon Z240 on top of him and the sky below. Shot strobes. in a Sony a7RIII, at ISO 6400, 1/8 second at f14 2nd Sandra Stalker This image was taken on a lovely calm summers day in August 2021. We were out on our boat for the day with some underwater photographer friends and were particularly looking for Jellies as there were lots in. We anchored at Worbarrow bay in Dorset 52 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

Focus On - Split Image. Above: 1st place Arthur Kingdon. Below left: 2nd Sandra Stalker. Below: 3rd Cathy Holmes Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 53

JANUARY 2022 some of the surprisingly complex FOCUS ON - MACRO relationships between cleanerfish and Congratulations to Pedro Vieyra who their clients. So when I came across a came first. There were a total of 45 group of Cardinal fish at a cleaning entries. Martyn Guess judged the station I spent some time observing competition. their behaviour and captured this moment when one was inviting a The top six: rather large wrasse relative to itself to 1. Pedro Vieyra clean inside it's mouth! 2. Keith Lyall 3. Ryan Stalker 2nd Keith Lyall 4. Shannon Moran When shooting macro I search for 5. Pete Bullen habitats and then look for critters 6. Mike Clark to photograph. I found this pair of coleman shrimp after searching 1st Pedro Vieyra numerous fire urchins whilst on a The picture was taken during an shallow (3-5 metres) dive in Ambon, Alex Mustard workshop in Ambon, Indonesia. in November 2017. I had just read \"What a Fish Knows\" by Jonathan I took a number of shots but this Balcombe in which he describes top down view against the red of 54 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

Focus On -Macro . Left: 1st place Pedro Vieyra. Above: 2nd Keith Lyall. Below: 3rd Ryan Stalker Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 55

the urchin was my most pleasing Camera: Sony A7R IV in a nauticam composition. The image is uncropped housing with minor clarity adjustment. Lens: Sony 90mm macro Camera: Nikon D300 with 105mm Strobes: 2 off Inon S2000 macro + Non Z240 strobe Settings: 1/320 sec at f16, ISO 200. Settings: F5.6, 1/250, ISO 200. 3rd Ryan Stalker FEBRUARY 2022 This image was taken in Kimmeridge FOCUS ON - BOKEH Bay, Dorset last year and was the Congratulations to Nur Tucker who second outing with my new camera came first. There were 39 entries and setup. the competition was judged by Nick More. I had been experimenting using a copper pan scourer in the background The top six: of the images. I was placing this near 1. Nur Tucker the shrimps and watching them have 2. Taner Atilgan a good poke and investigation of the 3. Catherine Holmes scourer. Once they were bored they 4. Cathy Lewis moved away allowing me to get this 5. Dan Shipp shot. 6. Leena Roy 56 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

Focus On - Bokeh . Left: 1st place Nur Tucker. Above: 2nd Taner Atigan. Below: 3rd Catherine Holmes Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 57

1st Nur Tucker to turn it off, as any unwanted light I wanted to try a new technique from the focus light or the second in photographing anthias so I strobe could ruin the picture due to the experimented with an image overlay. high aperture (F3.2). The first idea in my mind was not using a transparent This image is made of two photos subject like the ghost pipefish, but I combined in-camera. The first one is was very happy with the result as the a portrait shot of anthias taken with a tail, stars and the x-ray effect worked 105mm lens, with wide aperture. well together. Then I took a shot without the strobes 3rd Catherine Holmes while shining a yellow colour weefine Golden Roughhead blenny found on snoot torch inwards towards the the shallow Sunset reef, at the east lens. This created a lovely bokeh end of Grand Cayman. background. These tiny blennies make their home I then combined them in-camera for in the holes of dead coral blocks. an image overlay. I used a very wide aperture with I tried many times with different fish shallow depth of field to create the and different bokeh shots, I was magical soft cloudy surround framing pleased with this one. the face of the fish. 2nd Taner Atilgans My Retra HSS strobes coped with the The shot was taken in Manado, high shutter speed, and combined with Indonesia in 2019. I was into bokeh low ISO I was able to control the light. shapes back then and I wanted to use Settings 1/640 f5.6 ISO 64 them while backlighting an object. Nikon D500 ,105 mm macro lens. On that trip, I decided to spend one of the night dives with this technique since high aperture was required . During the land trials, I noticed that I would need a more complex set-up than I had imagined: a custom fibre optic snoot, bokeh shapes in front of the lens, colour filter on the strobe, a strong focus light which has auto off function and another snooted strobe aimed towards the focus light in order 58 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

MARCH 2022 I wanted to further the mirror theme so FOCUS ON - THEME PORTFOLIO I used a nice gilded mirror and also Congratulations to Nur Tucker who a flexible safety mirror. I made the red came first. There were 26 entries and costume and the head piece myself. I the competition was judged by Mark knew exactly what I wanted to do - a Drayton. confusion on the eye of the viewers, where the reflections were coming The top six: from. “Mirror Mirror in my Hand” was shot when I was actually doing 1. Nur Tucker a meter reading while my model was 2. Stuart Gibson waiting to dip into the water. I loved 3. Pete Bullen the reflections and pressed the shutter. 4. Leena Roy There is no post processing in these 5. Catherine Holmes images apart from the white balance 6. Keith Lyall adjustment on the Alice shot. 1st Nur Tucker Red shots were taken with a Sigma This was the result of two years of 17-70 lens, Subal Housing, Nikon work for me. I am very lucky to have D500, Alice Through the Looking access to an outdoor pool in Turkey Glass is taken with a Tokina 10- where I spend my summers. These 17mm. shots were all taken with balanced light (a combination of ambient light, 2nd Stuart Gibson strobes and some slaves). The title of my portfolio is ’Safe Space’, combining a modern term It all emerged from an idea to work with the well-known fact that clown on the Alice in Wonderland theme. I fish use the safety of the anemone’s had thought about the choreography, tentacles to protect themselves. costumes and the materials for months. Taking shots in a pool may All three shots were taken with a sound easy and controlled but the Nikon D300s with macro lenses in a reality is far from it. For these kinds Subal housing with Inon Strobes of shoots, one may need several assistants but I was on my own. I was Image 1 responsible for the set design, lighting, This was taken off the coast of costume, hair and make up. I was Djibouti. We were on a whale shark even in charge of the refreshments photography trip but on one of the and snacks. Wind and materials days I fancied a change and did some create a challenge to keep things in macro reef work. This shot is snooted place. Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 59

Focus On - Theme Portfolio. 1st place Nur Tucker. Opposite: 2nd Stuart Gibson. Following page: 3rd place, Pete Bullen 60 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

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using a fibre optic snoot and was quite I shoot Olympus M43 cameras and tricky to get. I like the discreet light these shots were all taken using the snoots produce and the light here was 8mm Panasonic fisheye. especially subtle. I was so committed to this shot that I ignored a whale Image 1 shark going past, much to the surprise The stairs in black and white. of the dive guide. I love B&W as a medium for wrecks and this was shot at 1/30th, f3.5 Image 2 ISO500 using an old Olympus EM5. This was taken in the lovely waters I actually braced the camera on the of Raja Ampat in Indonesia. The floor and against the door frame to anenome was balled up as they often give it stability. I find that I can shoot do at certain times of the day. The faster shutter speeds now that I've clownfish was using the remaining upgraded. This is an ambient light tentacles as protection as they swayed shot. about in the current Image 2 Image 3 My wife in the engine room. Shot in Komodo on a shallow wall drift It can be a little tight in here and it's dive. Again, the balled-up anemone easy to disturb particles which can still offering a level of protection spoil the shot; in fact my left strobe for the clownfish. I was particularly was pulled in closer than I wanted due pleased with this shot as I’d had to to space constraints. Oly EM1ii with surface shortly after dropping in to 8mm panasonic and 2 x Inon S2000 make my way back to a rocky part of strobes. the shore and open my housing to fix a focusing issue. A risky task but it Image 3 paid off with a series of these shots. Under the stairs. Trying to do things differently maybe 3rd Pete Bullen not be for the purist but when you I'm lucky enough to live in Malta and dive a wreck like this so often it's fun the Karwela is one of my local and to try different things. This is a 7 shot regular dives. Over the years it has HDR composite edited in post using changed a lot and I try to find angles Photomatix pro, again EM1ii with that are less obvious since everyone 8mm and 2 x mini video lights. who dives here has photographed it. I also try to photograph it without other divers which, in high season, that can be a challenge but timing entry is key. 62 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS BSoUP in focus • 51

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APRIL 2022 the iconic shape to come my way and FOCUS ON - block the sunball. AVAILABLE LIGHT Congratulations to Laura Storm who 2nd Andy Deitsch came first. There were 27 entries and Image 2 This image was captured at the competition was judged by David Ginnie Springs in north Florida, USA. Alpert. The spring has crystal clear water and is famous for its cave diving. I am not The top six: a cave diver but enjoy exploring the cavern zone. This image was taken in 1. Laura Storm a crevice. I descended hoping that 2. Andy Deitsch there would be a nice view looking 3. Paul Pettitt back up. As it so happened there 4. Leena Roy was and my dive buddy was nice 5. Sandra Stalker enough to ditch his camera and make 6. Alex Gibson several passes back and forth over the opening so I could get this shot. Ist Laura Storm Darkened Skies Image 1 Nauticam Housing, Nikon D850 I captured this silhouette during an 1/100th, f/20, ISO 640 epic Tiger Beach trip in 2019. The with a Sigma 15mm lens. shark action was magnificent - the best I've seen there - with Bull Sharks 3rd Paul Pettitt and Great Hammerheads in amongst Image 2 Stalk Jellyfish on Bootlace the melee. The flipside to being in weed, Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset shallow water around shark feeds can be the amount of sand and particles 2m water June 2021 stirred up everywhere. So I made a Tokina 10-17 Nikon D500 decision to shoot 'natural light' most of the time and focus on the techniques and opportunities that brought, moving away from the chaos and finding a quieter space. This beautiful Hammerhead had been following a particular circuit, skimming the seabed and then heading up, close towards the surface. So I found the best vantage point, with the mid- morning sun on the rise and waited for 64 • FOCUS ON COMPETITIONS

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St Lucia, a macro haven by Wendy Biscette Spring / Summer 2022 Many may or may have not heard about the island of St. Lucia. For those who have not, St. Lucia is an island state in the Caribbean Sea and is the second larg- est of the Windward Island group, or the Lesser Antilles. This hidden gem has for a long time been known for its lush tropical forests and beauty above water. However, St. Lucia is also an amazing diving destination. With the Caribbean Sea BSoUP in focus •6677

being on the west coast of the island, and Pike blennies. the diving is unique, with over 30 dive sites to explore. Other types of fish found include the Long-lure frogfish and various sea- Getting to St. Lucia is easy - depend- horses, all of which come in a variety ing on where you are coming from; of colours, a well as several different England and certain states in the USA, pipefish species. Though not on every have dive, these creatures are not as rare as you might think and you can some- direct flights to St. Lucia from where times find all three in one dive. you can either transfer by helicopter to the smaller local airport, which is Aside from these beauties, you will in the heart of all the resorts on the also find numerous juvenile fishes like island, or by taxi which will take any- spotted drum. For crustaceans, one of thing up to an hour. my favourites to look for on a dive is the colourful Gaudy clown crab with So, I hear you ask, what is so unique its beautiful pattern of bright reds and about St. Lucia? Well, apart from oranges on its back. One fun fact to amazing scenic reefs with occasional note is you will not see any two crabs rays, turtles, squid and other “big” with the same pattern of colours. To life, St. Lucia also has a lot of macro find these amazing crabs, knowing and super macro life to offer that their food source is key, as they live any photographer would love, from on what they eat and can be found on nudibranchs, to crustaceans and tiny many sites on the island. Photograph- fishes. ing it on its food source will also give you a nice solid colour background. You will find blennies on every dive in St. Lucia. So many, in fact, that all you Coral shrimps are also to be found on need to do is choose the backgrounds whip corals along wall dives, which you would like to photograph them are amazing. With the sea always as a on. From colorful patterned coral background, it is easy to get black or heads, to beautiful solid-coloured blue as their backdrops. sponges. Many are not so shy so you would not need long to get your We also have on offer an array of camera ready. nudibranchs, sea slugs and sea hares, the most common being the lettuce A few of the most common bennies to sea slug, found on almost all reefs. encounter on any dive are the Spiny Nudibranchs, however, take a little head blenny, Sailfin blenny, Secretary more effort to find; there are plenty, blenny, Red banner blenny, Glass fin ranging in size from a grain of rice or 68 • BSoUP in focus

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fish incubating its eggs in its mouth! An interesting creature that you don’t often come across is the Bumble bee shrimp. This small striped black and yellowish-gold shrimps can be found on two types of sea cucumbers which con- veniently provide very attractive background opportunities. even smaller, to about 3cms. Last but not least, there are the ribbon worms You will also come across snails such which you would as Finger Print Cyphomas and Flamin- mostly see feasting. go Tongues. These are related to the One species, Tubula- cowrie and photograph well, whether nus rhabdotus, has a it’s against a sea fan or a sea plum. particular penchant for feather duster worms. Another highlight of these waters is More difficult to find the yellow-head jawfish and the dusky but very rewarding are jawfish. Whether it is just feeding, or flatworms such as the cleaning its burrow, these fishes make Leopard flatworm. for a great spectacle. If you are lucky, you might be able to see a male jaw- St. Lucia is a haven for all levels of photographer, ranging from beginners to professional. With an eagle-eyed guide and your camera in hand, I guarantee you will have an amazing photography experience on our beau- tiful island. 72 • BSoUP in focus

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Mike Maloney 13th December 1935 to 24th March 2022 Mike was actually the first member of Holborn I ever met. I was looking for a dive club and decided to check Holborn out. As I was entering the Oasis, I held the door open for a sprightly man, with a rather suspicious curly perm, carrying a 12L cylinder on his shoulder, so I knew I was in the right place. What I didn’t know was that I had just met the man who would influence my diving and personal life for the next 30 years, as he did so many others. Mike’s life can probably be People say that first impressions best summed up by the are important. My first impression words read out to those who of Mike that day was that he was attended his funeral, by long-time a ‘good man’. And in all the time friend Nic. I knew him there was nothing he ever did that caused me to change Nic is a member of Holborn 0130 that opinion. BSAC and, proud to say, a friend of Mike Maloney’s for the last 30 years. Like so many things in life, you don’t realise how much they mean to you until they are gone; but at least we have the memories and I, like every other club member who knew him, have so many great ones. “I’ve been asked to say a few words I remember one of my very first dives about Mike on behalf of the club he with the club in the Farne Islands loved so much. (one of Mike’s favourite dive sites) 74 • BSoUP in focus

under the watchful eyes of Mike and Jan, when I was just a tadpole. This means I have Mike’s signature in my logbook, a fact that pleases me no end. Or the fact that he would call me, pretty much every day during the dive season, to talk about some club-related matter or other (usually the boat). So much so in fact, that my then girlfriend nicknamed him my ‘London Dad’. In truth though, he was every club member’s ‘London Dad’. Or the fact that no sooner had you put the phone down he would ring again… ‘Ere! And another thing…’ Or that he would still call me up, Mike at Fort Bovisand, Plymouth circa right to the very end, when he saw 1970 - note twin hose something diving-related on TV asking me to advertise it to the When news that Mike had passed branch (he never could quite get the spread, we were inundated with hang of Facebook). messages of sorrow and support. Or that he and Jan always brought Lots of words appeared time and sandwiches and snacks to feed us time again; genuine, charismatic, when people volunteered to work on gentleman, kind, legend, the boat. inspirational, lovely, friendly, character, enthusiastic, welcoming, Or the fact that he asked Prince pioneering. Charles why he had stopped diving and would he like to join Holborn. Others described Mike as; the heart and soul of the club; oBSnoeUPininmfoacnuys,•53 Or the fact that he was always many million, a fixture, a pillar supportive when things got tough. of the club; not only the Clubs’ President, but also its soul and memory keeper. Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 75

Some wondered; how would the RIB uttered. He loved the Underwater ever get in the water without Mike? World, as he always used to Others found it hard to imagine the described it. club without him, and yet others found it hard to think of a world Probably the rest of the club without him. membership combined couldn’t match the 5,000 or so dives Mike Perhaps my favourite though, was had done (all of them logged) or the this: “without him (and you guys), incredible destinations across the I’d never have had the chance to fall world, from Sipadan to Selsey Bill, in love with diving. His legacy is that he and Jan have travelled to. Mike thousands of us now dive, friends of would dive in a puddle (and no, I’m friends will have caught the bug, all not talking about Wraysbury). because of what he started. So sad that he won’t be blowing bubbles Other than Jan, I think I would be with us again.” right in saying that there was nothing he loved more than diving. To say that scuba diving, and the club, was Mike’s passion, must be Bovisand, Plymouth, circa 1998 the greatest understatement ever with the club boat 76 • BSoUP in focus

And boats of course. He continued to attend when we went to zoom meetings because of The boat trailer…not so much. lockdown, although as he chose to always sit in front of a window And of course, his favourite tipple… all we saw was a rather menacing duck oil. silhouette! A member of the club for more than Mike loved people who loved diving. 60 years, Mike was there at almost Your background didn’t matter, the very beginning. who you were, or where you came from didn’t matter… if you loved Just think about that for a moment; to dive, Mike had all the time in 60 years. Imagine being so invested the (underwater) world for you. He in something, anything, for so long. wanted others to experience the I think there is another word we can thing that brought him so much joy. add to that list… commitment. His love of boats is, of course, Mike attended almost every Dive legendary. It all started when he was and Main Committee meeting for a young boy and would cycle down decades, helping to guide and to Dungeness Point to watch the shape the club over that time. ships go by. When the club bought Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 77

its first inflatable and engine, Mike was ‘over the moon’. He looked after it (and us) ever since. Mike loved nothing more than to tinker with the club boat, decked out in his red overalls. Jan would often talk about how a nice drive out into the countryside on a weekend would strangely end in them passing close by the yard where the boat was kept, in which case; ‘well, we might as well pop in since we’re passing’. And then there was the underwater photography. If Mike couldn’t convince everyone to dive, then he’d show them what they were missing. A member of BSOUP for many decades, we know he will be sadly missed by all the great friends he made there as well. As sad as it is to see Mike go, at least we do so knowing that his was a life well-lived. For a start, he had Jan. It’s hard to imagine a better buddy to spend your life with. In the last few weeks Above: Mike and Jan at Club Med, Sardinia 1966 Left: Boxing Day swim for charity in the Serpentine Boxing Day, had to break ice to enter water, circa 1990 Right: In the Red Sea, circa 2012 78 • BSoUP in focus

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and months I have, frankly, been He did have a tendency to never humbled by Jan’s strength. He was a throw anything away, as Jan will lucky man. testify to now that she is able to go into ‘Mike’s room’ and has found Mike always truly appreciated the dive committee minutes dating time and effort put in by others, and back to the 1960s. always made sure they knew it. One of his greatest joys was to present But to be honest, even when Mike the Stanley Thomas award to a club was mad at something, or someone, member each year. And one of and was cursing them, it always the few things that ever made him seemed kind of gentle. angry was if he believed that a club member was not being recognised He was just a ‘good man’. for the time and effort they were putting in. Some people have said that Mike Maloney really represented Holborn Excited by new developments in 0130 BSAC. But I don’t believe that’s diving, Mike was always eager to quite true. Mike, in my opinion, learn. He embraced technology, represented all that was good about although it didn’t always embrace Holborn. him back. One time, after he complained that he never got He is, truly irreplaceable. A big fish any calls on his mobile phone, in a small pond, I’m just grateful it we discovered it had been on call was our pond. divert… for two years. Be sad for sure, now he is gone, but And he was a regular at the annual please, be very, very happy that you boat handling sessions on the GPS, knew him. not quite sure if he ever got it, but he always tried. ‘Evenin’ Mike’ When reading about the sort of things to include in a eulogy, one site suggested you should ‘keep it real and not be afraid to mention their less good points’. But try as I might, I really couldn’t Right: Mike in Sipadan, circa think of much. 1997 80 • BSoUP in focus

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Bonaire revisited by Joss Woolf in Peurto Rico and Cuba. African Nearly always the first thing non- slaves were also brought to Bonaire diving friends ask when I tell to work in the production of salt and them I’ve just been to Bonaire brazilwood. Their accommodation, is “Oh, where’s that”? And then you small huts little larger than dog have to explain that it is one of the kennels are well preserved and can Dutch Antilles; the ABC islands of still be seen today at Salt Pier. It is Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, perched a shuddering thought to realise that just 50 miles above Venezuela at the people actually lived in these huts until very southern end of the Caribbean. as recently as 1850. I’d often heard other divers talk about it “it’s always windy, a few lazy goats Salt was particularly useful as a means and donkeys, some pink flamingos of preserving fish and because of its and something about a Salt Pier”, importance in the hugely successful Although I had visited Curacao Dutch herring industry, ships from fourteen years earlier, where they the Dutch West India Company often make that funny blue coloured liqueur visited Bonaire to buy it. In fact, out of bitter oranges, I’d never really salt was so important to the Dutch felt a compulsion to go to Bonaire. that in 1634 they seized control of both Bonaire and Curacao from the However, when the opportunity arose Spanish and, apart from a rather brief in 2016 with some lovely old BSoUP and unfortunate period under English friends, I leapt at the chance and I control in the early part of the 19th remember researching about it at the century, it has remained with the Dutch time: ever since. Slavery continued until its abolition in 1863 but the culture today I love the way they say it was is a clear mixture of American Indian “discovered” by Spanish explorers and African with a little bit of Dutch in 1499, when in fact it had already thrown in. been occupied by American Indians for almost three thousand years. This Significant changes have taken place isolated and peaceful community soon over the last hundred years; although fell victim to Spanish slavers; some salt production is still very important, were shipped off to Spain while others tourism is now the single most were sent to work as slave labour Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 83

important industry on the island. In You can literally take a tank, any time 1962, at the age of 37, a man called of day, 24 hours a day, all by yourself, Captain Don Stewart turned up in a and come back whenever you like. sailing boat from California. His boat needed repairs and he had no option You soon learn that this is “Diving but to stick around for a while until the Freedom” and it really couldn’t be work was done. Already a diver, he easier. For house-reef diving, you liked what he saw under the sea and take your tank, set it up and stroll decided to stay, opening the island’s down the jetty (carefully avoiding the first Dive shop and initiating what was giant iguanas that patrol the hotel’s to become one of the island’s most grounds) where you can either jump successful economies – diving tourism. straight in or make your way down the This proved to be such a valuable steps into the water. From there, you resource that Bonaire became a follow a rope which leads you to the Marine Park in 1979 – the first of its house-reef and beyond. It’s so simple kind in the Caribbean - and no fishing – all you have to do is decide whether or anchoring of boats is allowed up to turn right or left once you get to the to a depth of 200 feet from the shore. reef, use up half your air and come It soon became known as Bonaire - back again. Divers Paradise. Many other countries have since followed the idea. Alternatively, which is what most people seem to do, you book yourself So, it seemed only fitting that we a truck, collect your tanks for the day should stay at Captain Don’s Habitat and drive yourself to one of the 100 in 2016; a beach-side development of or so dive sites dotted around the villas and apartments perfectly suited island. for the diving community. I visited again in March this year for Now, one of the coolest things about two weeks; first week at the Buddy Bonaire is that when you turn up for Dive Resort, which is immediately next your “orientation” for the very first door to Captain Don’s and for my time, fully expecting that you are going second week, I transferred to Captain to have to do a try-dive in front of Don’s with a different set of friends. It somebody and, my worst nightmare, was interesting to compare the two. actually take your mask off underwater to prove you can still do it. Well, At the Buddy Dive Resort, we were actually you do your try-dive all by shown to our apartment on the first yourself, take an extra weight or two to and second floor with no lift and no see if you need it and then, off you go. help with our heavy dive bags. We 84 • BSoUP in focus

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Spring / Summer 2022 quickly realised we were also going to have to carry our heavy cameras up and down those steps each day. On the other hand, the rooms were large and comfortable enough for the three of us and it was just as well we had already planned to eat out all of the time, as the kitchen was poorly equipped. On the plus side, diving by truck is a very slick operation. You pick up your vehicle, approach the drive- thru building close-by to collect your dive gear and tanks for the day, which are easily stowed in the open compartment at the back of your truck, and off you go. You drive to your designated dive site and park on the beach. There are no jetties. Access to the water is ONLY from the beach. And if only they were smooth sandy beaches…… but no; for an underwater photographer it is a logistical nightmare. You have to clamber over boulders and dead coral heads – at your peril! It necessarily became a team effort simply to get into the water. One person would enter the water with no dive gear and then you would pass him all the cameras. Then you can get in and put your fins on and take the cameras so that he can get ready. Once you are in, however, it is an excellent place to be. So, what is there to see? Well, it is the tail end of the Caribbean let’s BBSSooUUPP iinn ffooccuuss ••8877

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not forget, which is famous for barrel of the house-reef. With the opportunity sponges, trumpet fish, whip corals, for frequent visits, they soon get used French Angelfish and the occasional to you and become curious and tarpon. Bonaire does not disappoint. willing subjects. All of the above and more… but the thing about Bonaire is, the fact that it Trumpetfish are everywhere; they has been designated a Marine Park hang around vertically, horizontally, for more than forty years, means that individually or in pairs, motionless, the fish are simply not afraid. There and when flustered, they try to hide in may be only a relatively few species soft coral mimicking the angle of the around, when compared, say, to the fronds. lush biodiversity of Indonesia, but those that are there are in abundance On the house reef at Captain Don’s, and make very accessible subjects. (also accessible from Buddy Dive Resort), there is a lovely little wreck just I have always loved the slightly to the left of the rope as you go down, sheepish behaviour of French and at only 12m is accessible by all. Angelfish with their fantastic livery of It is full of life. dappled grey with bright yellow make- up. Here they are in twos, threes and In particular, the sergeant majors have even fours and in the shallow waters made good use of the smooth flat Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 89

surfaces of the wreck for laying their enough to send the sergeant majors purple patches of eggs, vigorously scurrying which gives the signal to defended by a single fish, sometimes other reef fish to dive in and devour thrusting itself right at you if you get the eggs. As a new diver, years ago, it too close. Any diver familiar with them will know that your mere presence is took me a while to realise that this was happening the first time around as a 90 • BSoUP in focus

feeding frenzy took place. In fact, this is Secretary Blenny heaven. Now, put your macro eyes on and I found one small boulder, like a two- you will discover on many of the foot cube in size, that was completely surrounding boulders that make up covered with tiny heads poking out. the reef, the fabulously wonky-eyed Now, you know how you kind of take Secretary Blenny. these species’ names for granted, and Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 91

perhaps wouldn’t even question why Parking up on the beach by the Salt it is called this or that? I sent some of Pier, very carefully, you enter the water my images to a non-diving friend and from the beach and make your way she asked why the name? It got me out to any of the seven clusters of thinking so I looked it up. Turns out pylons which support the pier. The that it was named after Mary George, water is quite shallow once you get to the Secretary of Dr. James Bohlke who the pylons; not more than 12-15m so was a great authority on blennies. And you need to agree with your buddies it also turns out that it isn’t a secretary in advance what time you will meet up blenny at all but a spinyhead blenny again as it is possible to do very long, but the differences are so small that solitary dives here. they are impossible to spot with the naked eye. Each group of pylons hosts a different selection of fish. One or two are a During the day we would often see haven to great shoals of snapper or tarpon on the reef, usually on their surgeonfish but each of them has own but occasionally there might be their own individual appeal. You will more. This beautiful, large, silver fish find octopus, squads of squid, French looks close-up as if it is made from Angelfish, trumpet fish, single large polished stainless steel segments. In barracuda, lime green moray eels to the early evening, attracted by the name a few. lights, you can see them from the restaurant, hunting in the shallow I was lucky enough to go back several water of the lagoon below. times over the entire two weeks but on my last day, disappointment – a But for me – and no doubt for most cargo ship had moored there. We other people - the high-light of this learned later that three stow-aways diving destination has to be the Salt now claiming asylum had been Pier. I’d missed it the first time around clinging to the rudder for nine days as there was a large cargo vessel on their journey from Dominica. They moored up to it for days and this had backpacks with food and water means that you are not allowed to dive and it was only because the ship was there. unladen that the rudder sat so high out of the water. How easy it might About a twenty-minute drive from the have been to fall in and on to the hotel, you pass the open salt pans of propellor. They were lucky to be alive. evaporating sea-water which fringe the coast leading up to and beyond the A nearby food van advertises lionfish Salt Pier. Some of them are pink. burgers for lunch and our hotel would 92 • BSoUP in focus

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cook your own lionfish for you for world had just been released from $12 if you managed to catch one. covid detention and Bonaire was now We only saw one or two whilst diving completely full. More than once we so either there aren’t very many or retreated back to our hotel for chicken they’ve all been eaten. sate by the sea at Blennies restaurant and wondered why we had bothered Drive a little further on and you realise to look elsewhere. just how spartan and undeveloped this island still is. There are no tall trees; For my second week, I was joining just scrubland, cacti and flamingos three friends who had booked a villa and it’s hot and dusty and windy. But at the hotel next door, Captain Don’s. it is the same wind that also enables The bungalow I’d stayed in 6 years the daring and highly skilled kite- before had been demolished, along surfers to perform their acrobatic with all the others in that quarter manoevres above the water, a little and a huge rebuilding programme further on. of multi-storey apartments was now underway. On our non-diving day at the end of the first week, we circumnavigated the I preferred our villa to the apartment; island, determined to find somewhere the facilities were much better, local to eat. We found a Haitian everything was on the ground floor shasck (restaurant would be too grand and we had an enormous outside a description) where we sat around patio and drying area. a large wooden cable reel and ate delicious curried goat with black rice Diving on the house-reef was as and peas. simple as it had been before but the truck-diving scenario was not as easy Eating out in the island’s capital, as at Buddy. First, you had to find Kralendijk is expensive and, not your vehicle and then back it up as surprisingly, rather limited since close as you could to the dive centre. everything has to be imported. Then you had to carry your tanks One night we opted for sushi and, some distance, together with all your at US$85 per head, I would have dive gear and weights. There was expected rather more than three kinds also the need to carry your camera of sushi. from the villa. All heavy stuff. Makes you realise just how spoilt we are It was not easy to find restaurants that when it comes to liveaboards! were not fully booked. This could well have been because the whole The in-house restaurant, Rum Runners, 96 • BSoUP in focus

overlooking the sea at Captain Don’s local cuisine. I resent paying through was first class with a great bar. I’d the nose for their generally failed have been happy to eat there every attempts at gourmet food! night. However, after a thoroughly wonderful Turned out that one of other great fortnight having managed not to break restaurants in Bonaire was just next a leg on any of the challenging beach door, in the Buddy Dive Resort – dives, I came away with a fresh batch Ingridients – with the emphasis on of images, have bonded for life with Ingrid. It had been where we’d eaten both sets of diving buddies with whom breakfast every morning without I drank lots of gin and consumed realising what it morphed into at many tubes of pringles and cannot sunset. wait to go back. My big gripe with all these smart restaurants is that, given the limited ingredients at their disposal, they still try to reproduce what they think Europeans and Americans want to eat when really, they should stick to more Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 97

Life after bleaching by Dr Diane Gan changes the mix of fish species as the specialists that feed exclusively on corals diminish in numbers for obvious reasons and those that feed on seaweed increase, with consequences for bio-diversity. We have all heard about Coral reefs provide a very special coral reef bleaching events. habitat for all kinds of critters There have been some and baby fish, as well as the very bad incidents in 2016 and adult fish resident on the reef. As 2017, which particularly affected photographers we all love to take the Great Barrier Reef, where half pictures of the shrimps and crabs the corals were damaged. But have that hide in the nooks and crannies, you ever wondered what happens as well as the colourful fish that eat to those reefs afterwards? Not all coral and clean the algae that could the corals that bleach die, which is smother them: emperor angel fish, good news. But some species are surgeon fish, trigger fish, damsel better at recolonising damaged reefs fish and parrot fish, to name but a so that where they do recover, the few. It should be said that all of this balance of species of coral and fish is not necessarily beneficial to the is fundamentally changed. reef, as some species can create areas of significant scarring and A study in the Seychelles found that damage on the coral, and one of half the reefs bounced back quickly. these is the Humphead Parrot fish. It But what happened to the rest? They is even suggested by Rogers (2021) were taken over by macroalgae or that culling coralliverous predators sea weeds. This does not give the such as the crown of thorns can help corals any chance to recover. It also corals to recover faster [1]. There are around 140 species of coralliverous fish, which either feed exclusively on coral or include coral in their diet. Some feed only on 98 • BSoUP in focus

a particular species of coral, and tropical reef systems. coral bleaching can devastate these specialist feeders. This could result So, the bottom line is, are coral reefs in the dominance of the generalist doomed? The answer from recent species, and the disappearance of studies undertaken on coral reefs some specialised feeders. appears to be not necessarily. [4]. What these new coral reefs will look Another significant impact of global like in the future is uncertain at this warming is found in the temperate time but they are unlikely to be the kelp forests. Warmer water has the same as the ones we currently know impact of killing the kelp. They are and love. also being eaten by herbivorous species which are displaced from the tropics [2]. It has been noted that coral reefs are extending into areas where the water is cooler and, in some cases, replacing kelp [3]. However, this study found that not all coral larvae can reach these new habitats, which again impacts on the potential biodiversity that is currently found in References: 1. Rogers, J.G.D., Plagányi, É.E. Culling corallivores improves short-term coral recovery under bleaching scenarios. Nat Commun 13, 2520 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30213-x 2. Fernandez, S., The long view: Studying kelp forests and coral reefs to understand and predict the effects of climate change, Phy.Org, Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, published 15th June 2021, https:// phys.org/news/2021-06-view-kelp-forests-coral-reefs.html 3. Anon, Coral reefs shifting away from equator, new study finds, University of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, July 2019, https://fish. uw.edu/2019/07/coral-reefs-shifting-away-from-equator-new-study-finds/ 4. Bennett, P., Great Barrier Reef at Risk of More Mass Bleaching, EcoWatch, published Jan 31, 2022, https://www.ecowatch.com/great-barrier-reef- bleaching.html Spring / Summer 2022 BSoUP in focus • 99