Sunday was the first day of diving for us, as we got in too late on Saturday to pick up our weights. Our first dive was off the dock at Buddy Dive. Generally, we’ve headed northwards here, as the current tends to flow southerly, but this morning we headed out to the south, because we’d seen signs of a bait ball on the surface that way.
![Stovepipe Sponges](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3782-768x1024.jpg)
![Blackbar Soldierfish](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3786-1024x768.jpg)
![Grouper and Sponge](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3790-768x1024.jpg)
![Stoplight Parrotfish](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3793-1024x768.jpg)
![White Spotted Filefish](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3808-1024x768.jpg)
![Convoluted Barrel Sponge](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3813-768x1024.jpg)
![Pillar Coral](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3814-768x1024.jpg)
![Creole Wrasses](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3815-1024x768.jpg)
![Southern Stingray](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3817-1024x768.jpg)
After lunch and grocery shopping, we headed out for the afternoon’s dives. The first dive was at Salt Pier, a big long conveyor belt ending in a terminal used to transfer evaporated salt to ships. The terminal stands on a bunch of pilings. For most of the dive, rather than using my strobe, I was using a red filter over the camera lens to correct the blue cast of underwater light. For these pictures, it mostly worked – I was able to shoot by existing light, which gives the pictures a depth you can’t get with a strobe, and the color was mostly OK – not as good as with the strobe, but acceptable.
![Ralph inspecting a sponge](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3831-768x1024.jpg)
![Foureye Butterflyfish and sponges](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3848-768x1024.jpg)
![Fish around Salt Pier](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3852-768x1024.jpg)
![Mahogany Snappers at Salt Pier](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3853-1024x768.jpg)
![Mahogany Snappers at Salt Pier](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3854-1024x768.jpg)
![](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3856-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3864-768x1024.jpg)
![Sergeant Major (strobe)](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3869-768x1024.jpg)
![Sergeant Major (strobe)](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3870-768x1024.jpg)
![Discarded ladder under the pier](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3874-768x1024.jpg)
![Ralph swimming between pilings](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3882-768x1024.jpg)
![Basket Sponge on a Piling](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3885-768x1024.jpg)
![Looking up a Piling](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3886-768x1024.jpg)
![Scrawled Filefish](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3889-1024x768.jpg)
![](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3902-768x1024.jpg)
![Striped Butterflyfish](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3911-1024x768.jpg)
![Backlit Banded Butterflyfish](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3914-768x1024.jpg)
Because I was using a filter rather than the strobe, I decided to try shooting a little video as well (use the Play button to make it start):
The last dive of the day was at Aquarius, another shore dive just to the north of Salt Pier. Again, these pictures were shot with the red filter.
![Larry and Jean Wasko](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3923-1024x768.jpg)
![Blue Tang](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3931-1024x768.jpg)
![Coral Head](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3938-768x1024.jpg)
![Queen Parrotfish (terminal phase)](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3940-1024x768.jpg)
![Creole Wrasses](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3943-1024x768.jpg)
![Basket Sponge](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3946-768x1024.jpg)
![Ralph](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3948-1024x768.jpg)
![Underwater Landscape](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3954-1024x768.jpg)
![Sharptail Eel](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3965-1024x768.jpg)
![Squid](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3985-1024x768.jpg)
![Blue Striped Grunt in a coral outcropping near shore](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3991-1024x768.jpg)
![Salt Pier in the Distance](https://tedohara.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/IMG_3995-1024x768.jpg)