Darling it's Better Down Where it's Wetter...Take it From Me!

I am BACK from vacation and ready to tell everyone all about it! Definitely up there as one of the best ever, especially because of our new found favorite hobby...snorkeling. (Can you call it a hobby when you live in New England and can only do it once or twice a year??)

In addition to my Sony, I brought a waterproof camera I recently purchased just for this trip. It's nothing particularly special - $50, not named brand (in fact, it's this camera here) but after a couple of days it became clear to me that it was a necessity for the trip and I was right to buy it! J and I discovered the joys and wonders of snorkeling, especially when you have a coral reef right outside your house. Every day (and sometimes multiple times a day) we went out and peered at all the interesting fish..and every day I took pictures. 

The blue fish in this picture are Blue Tangs...better known as Dory from Finding Nemo. 

I'm not going to post the information on the photos since this was basically point and shoot action, just under water. 

Another Dory

There were a couple important aspects to getting good underwater photos (of fish, in particular), especially when you have such a basic camera. 1. You had to go out at the right time of day to get clear shots. The pictures where it's cloudy underwater were times of day when the sun wasn't directly hitting the bottom of the sea floor where we were swimming. The clearer pictures had more light. 2. Fish move fast! And a point and shoot like I had doesn't give different shutter speed options. So it was really important to hold the camera steady...not really easy when you're also trying to stay afloat! 3. The best shots were the ones where I was hovering above the coral. The fish would forget about me, come swimming out, and I was primed to snap them in all their glory! 

Juvenile Blue Tang (yes, the primarily bright blue fish actually starts out bright yellow...and look at that crazy googly eye!) 

Banded Butterflyfish...definitely spent a lot of time trying to get a good shot of one of these guys but I wasn't entirely successful. 

Bluestriped Grunt...there were a TON of these and the French Grunt. They had no problem posing for me. Apparently I am not intimidating to the Grunt. 

More Grunts and a gray-colored fish from the Tang family

 You're probably wondering how I know the names of these fish. Yes, I was so into the snorkeling and fish photography that I purchased a laminated guide to the Caribbean fish which was helpful in identifying the fish I saw.

French Grunt. The easiest way to spot the difference between this and the Bluestriped Grunt (which, obviously, has blue stripes in addition to the yellow) is that the Bluestriped has black on his tail, which the French Grunt does not. 

Green Moray Eel. Yes, the dude who took us snorkeling at the Coral Gardens was poking this thing with a stick. 

Stingrays! At Stingray City! 

J's favorite fish - the Spanish Hogfish

Spotfin Butterflyfish (see the similar shape to the Banded Butterflyfish?)

Various Thunderball fish

Not a great photo but the best one I have of the Stoplight Parrotfish, a pretty awesome looking fish ALTHOUGH HE'S NO SPOTTED TRUNKFISH (don't worry, that bad boy is coming...)

Thunderball, thunderball

YES LOOK AT THIS FISH

SERIOUSLY LOOK AS THIS CRAZY LOOKING FISH! I stalked him for awhile. Freaking nutso looking fish. May I present...the Smooth Trunkfish??

TURTLE!!

THIS badboy is a Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish (another fish that looks wildly different from its adult self)

Don't worry...there are more Grand Cayman pictures coming your way!

In other fun news, just spent several hours having our e-session (e for elopement instead of engagement!) with Krista and Coco from Krista Photography. So excited to see how they come out! My mouth is still a little sore from all the smiling but it was a lot of fun :)