Back From Another Diving Trip

[Laurie S.]

I just spent two weeks in French Polynesia diving at five islands and having the time of my life. The internet was so slow and bad on the ship that I could only lurk and not post. I played with a few critters underwater:

We did 18 dives, 2 of which were night dives, and had an absolute blast doing it. At one point, we were diving with about 40 sharks and loving it.

 

[blu67]

Beautiful shots Laurie! :thu

 

[Laurie S.]

Thanks! I took about 1,500 photos, mostly underwater, and I'm just starting to go through them to process them. It will take some time.

 

[Flysure1]

Neat pics--thanks for sharing.

 

[Kats66Pny]

Sounds like fun! But sharks? No thanks... I've seen Jaws too many times. LOL

 

[Laurie S.]

They never bothered us. These species feed at night at about 200 feet deep. The biggest danger is being knocked over by one of the big ones. I got a picture of a 12-foot-long lemon shark as it was coming straight toward me. I held my ground until it was about 2 feet from me and then snapped the picture. I thought it was going to veer away but it didn't and I did a quick backwards retreat stumbling over the corals. LOL My dive buddy said he was laughing so hard underwater when it happened. But, I got the photo!

 

[JeffTepper]

Laurie:

Spectacular photos!!!!!! Glad to see you are having such a good time.

Regards, Jeff

 

[Laurie S.]

Thanks Jeff! Yes, I am having a blast doing this. It's so special underwater and when you get to mingle with beautiful creatures like those in my photos, it can bring tears to your eyes. I was a little wary of the sharks at first, but quickly got comfortable with them. My main goal was to see manta rays, and that happened one day. I'll post a picture of those later today. They are magnificent creatures. I was so happy to see them that I wanted to do a back flip, but we had to stay very still so the mantas wouldn't be scared off.

 

[KBMWRS]

Great pics...I want to see more.

The colors in the one with the fish sticking his head out of the coral is amazing.
Sharks? you're nuts.....Unlike owls...sharks CAN eat you. :wth

 

[70 StangMan]

It's a bird.......it's a plane........it's a frickin' flying turtle !!!

 

[garner67]

Awesome photos. Looks and sounds like you had an amazing trip!

Man, I'm waaaay overdue for a diving trip. Thanks for sharing.

 

[monkeystash]

Those photos are amazing, WOW!