After seeing photographs done underwater I became interested in trying it myself. My first attempts were while snorkeling in King’s Bay, Crystal River, Florida, a spot famous for meeting Manatees up close and personal. On my first dive I was lucky and got this shot.

Course, that was just the beginning, and several hundred dollars later I have enrolled in an Open Water Diving Course and hope to get my certification done by the end of next week.

What I like about the course I picked is that all of the open water dives will be done at Weeki Wachee Springs and what a great experience that will be.

My instructor says I should meet more Manatees during my open water dives, so here is hoping that I can find some really great shots in one of the most beautiful springs in the world.

Now, let me digress for a moment. What camera did I buy and why? And what underwater housing? Well, after considering many options I decided to purchase the Canon Powershot G9, principally because the camera will record RAW files and frankly from the sample photographs I had seen done with the camera, it promised very high resolution photographs of high quality, especially when shooting at ISO 80. Yes, I would like to shoot at higher ISOs but there just aren’t point and shoot cameras around that can do much better than the G9. Cost was a consideration, along with available underwater housings. I choose the Canon underwater housing made for the camera. And I have not been disappointed. The entire unit is just the right size and the large display is absolutely essential when trying to frame a shot underwater. Plus, I like Canon products and own both the 1Ds Mark II and the Canon Rebel XTi. I have been stunned at the quality of photographs that can be made with the XTi. What a surprise for a camera that many consider a consumer-grade device. Wrong! The images are simply stunning.

So, with the Canon Powershot G9 and the Canon WP-DC21 I am set. Now, the real challenge begins. And that has to do with my pending trip to the Galapagos Islands in January. There I hope to capture shots underwater of Sea Lions and gosh knows what else.