Taking Fish Photos - Expanding the Hobby IX

An article by George J. Reclos

This is exactly what we saw today (end of July 2002)  when we got to the sea. Of course, we decided to give it a try and thought that by going 30 meters off shore things could be better. However, this kind of waves stir the sandy bottom and lower visibility to a mere 50 cm ! On top of that, swimming against them is a very tiresome business. It takes more than 10 minutes to get 30 meters off shore - carrying all the equipment.

After fighting with the waves for about half an hour, it was evident that these conditions would not allow us to take any pictures (and of course collect anything). In fact, we even tried to get to the bottom but the extremely low visibility made this very dangerous since we couldn't see the rocks until it was almost too late. Already tired, we decided that the only wise thing to do was to turn around and get out of the water, which was by itself quite a task.

So yes, this was one of the very few days that MCH was literally "grounded". You can see the lead weights, the huge hand net (more than 50 cm), the swimming suit and of course the frustration. A perfect, warm summer day just ruined. June 28, 2002, photos by John and George Reclos.