Copyright: Jurgen Brauer, Augusta, Georgia, USA

1. My daughter, Anne, and I took a week-long scuba diving trip to Curacao, an island located just north off Venezuela. We rented a pick-up truck at the airport and drove to Westpunt (Westpoint), in the extreme northwest of the island. That's where the best diving is. Fortunately, it is also the least populated part of the island; there are no tourist resorts, in fact hardly any tourists at all. The nearest gas station was a half-hour drive away; the grocery store even further. The view from our apartment (below) was onto a small fishing harbor (Playa Piscado).

2. The main dive station was a couple of minutes of driving away (All West Diving). Hereunder, a view from the water onto nearby houses along the cliff shoreline. Every so often the cliffs are interspersed with marvelous white sand beaches. Entry to and exit from the water is simple: put on your scuba gear and walk in (or out).

3. Here, a bit further south and on a sunnier day, is an example. To the right one can still see the sand beach, to the left there is a limestone cave. This particular site is called Playa Grandi.

4. To get to places, one throws tanks and scuba equipment in the back of the rental truck and follows the road map through wild country (below).

5. Dirt roads (below) mean fewer tourists - and more pristine dive sites.

6. A semi-independent Dutch colony, the island is still speckled with so-called Landhuis (land houses and estates), some in good shape, others in disuse and disrepair (below).

7. The countryside is so wild that it is literally impossible to walk anywhere. It is completely overgrown with brush and huge cacti. Anne is about 5'5", so this cactus "tree" (below) must be on the order of 10 feet high or so.

8. Now to the diving. In Playa Piscado, the fishing harbor where we stayed, there was a fair amount of old trash on the ocean bottom (below) and the coral were badly damaged. It appears that in the past the boats simply threw anchor and damaged the coral. Today, however, a number of permanent mooring buoys have been set to which boats can hook up so that no further anchor damage will occur.

9. All around the Caribbean, one finds man-made objects placed in the water. Below: a sculpture of a human fist. Personally, I am no friend of this; I much prefer to leave nature alone.

10. At another (touristy) site, called Porto Mari, we ran into these cement structures (below) at the top shelf of the reef in perhaps 15 feet of water. An email from Peter Reijmer of Curacao in November 2004 solved the puzzle of what these structures were for. They are "reefballs," meant to function as an artificial reef by attracting coral and fish settlement. These reefball apparently have been placed only recently as we noticed virtually no corals yet. For more information, see this site.

11. Speaking of tourists: fortunately, Curacao is rarely visited by sharks, or else this couple would be perfect shark bait!

12. As to the ocean critters, we saw plenty of the usual fare. A Scorpionfish close-up (below). Lying perfectly still, this fish is camouflaged to look like a coral head. Unsuspecting fish are caught when the Scorpionfish rapidly opens its mouth, which creates suction the prey cannot escape. The fish also sports a poisonous spine in its dorsal fin. No wonder it lies so still and lets divers approach. These fish have nothing much to fear.

13. This scorpion fish (below) we caught on a night dive right in-shore on a vast sandy spot. This is very unusual as the fish usually hides right alongside a coral head, not unprotected in the sand. (On another night dive, we later saw a sharptail eel in just about the same spot. Again, this is unusual as the eel generally ferrets out prey in among the coral.)

14. The scorpion fish lies perfectly still; even an experienced diver may not always see them. This can be a problem. For instance, when I saw this cute balloonfish (below) and approached for a close-up photograph, I moved right over a scorpion fish that I noticed only because it suddenly moved and swam a few feet off. I must have been within an inch of it, and yet I didn't see it. The eye color of the balloonfish, by the way, is not electronically enhanced. The camera (and you) see exactly what I saw. The fish, incidentally, is not puffed up, which means it let me approach without it being scared.

15. Other critters include of course the coral. Below, a patch of cup coral at night, feeding with extended white-tipped polyps.

16. A white-tipped Giant Anemone, also at night, is pictured below.

17. I like to photograph anemones feeding at night (below). The tentacles are extended, and when the light shines on them, they begin to curl up to protect the mouth in the center.

18. Giant Anemone's come in a variety of body and tentacle colors. Below: a pink-tipped Giant Anemone.

19. This, I think, is a colony of either Christmas Tree or Algae Hydroids. They produce a sting to the unprotected diver. As always in diving: best to keep one's hands away from things.

20. We discovered these creatures on the return from a night dive at Playa Piscado, right next to a particular mooring buoy which served as our standard descent place. We have no idea what these critters are.

21. We do know that this creature (below) is a Sea Urchin (don't know which sub-species).

22. On this dive trip, for the first time I took black & white as well as color photographs. B&W photography enhances the focus on structure and texture. Below: a brain coral.

23. The difference between color and B&W photography is well illustrated in the next two pictures (below), taken off the Playa Jeremi dive site in about 40-50 feet of water.

24. Some underwater creatures are huge. Below is a picture of Anne diving around a massive Sea Plume. Some blocks of free-standing coral were 10 feet high and perhaps 5-6 feet across, populated by dozens of other species.

25. Another example of B&W photography. We dove this site, the south side of Playa Lagun, from 11am-12n, with full sun overhead. This is in only 10-15 feet of water.

26. On the same dive, we swam in a veritable private aquarium (below). When we returned to this site a few days later, we stayed underwater for 72 minutes just enjoying the sights.

27. Your photographer inside a "cloud" of fish: one of the best feelings I know. Unlike land animals, sea animals are generally unafraid of humans and permit close encounters.

28. An Ocean Surgeonfish (below). Usually a pale, whitish blue in color, I took the opportunity to catch this fellow in B&W. The dark horizontal spot at the base of the tail fin is a spine. When flexed, the scapel-like spine extends and can inflict painful injuries (hence the name, Surgeonfish).

29. A member of the surgeonfish family is the Blue Tang. I was not lucky enough to catch one on camera, but - luckier - I caught a Blue Tang Juvenile (I am pretty sure that's what it is). Many fish go through dramatic color transformation in their life's journey from juvenile to intermediate to adult stages.

30. A Juvenile French Angelfish (below), characterized by the black body and the bright yellow vertical stripes.

31. The same species, in B&W. The adults are fairly easy to photograph. Although they are wary of approaching divers, patience will usually pay off. The juveniles, in contrast, swim madly back and forth, making it very tough to properly focus the camera.

32. The Playa Lagun dive site also sported a small wreck (below, with Trumpetfish). There was almost no coral growth on the wreck, so I assume that the wreck is pretty recent.

33. Another view of the wreck. It is pretty beat up.

34. Underneath the wreck, a Spotted Drum (below). Usually shy and hiding out in coral rock crevisses, this one let me approach reasonably closely.

35. A close-up shot of the Spotted Drum. The face has a very docile expression, almost like a house cat.

36. A Peacock Flounder (below), in B&W. These fish are very observant. Their eyes (the black slit in the center of the photograph) seem to rotate 360 degrees! It's eery to swim around them, having their eyes follow you.

37. The Stove Pipe Sponge (below) tends to grow very large and cannot be photographed without a wide-angle lens. These two "pipes" extend horizontally from the sloping reef into the ocean.

38. Another view of a Stove Pipe Sponge, this time with a Trumpetfish alongside (below). These fish always orient their body so as to blend in with the surroundings in which they are hiding. Usually shy, they move away from approaching divers. I find the best time to photograph them up close is at night when they are trying to sleep. (Take one snap-shot, and let them sleep.)

39. Speaking of sleeping: fish do sleep. Below: a slumbering Parrotfish.

40. On this trip we saw large numbers of Leaf Lettuce Sea Slugs, the one below photographed at night.

41. The Great Barracuda (below) we did not see often. In my experience, they tend to keep their distance from divers and move off when approached. A camera with a zoom function can generate "close-up" pictures like this one.

42. The Rock Beauty (adult). Usually shy, and on the move, I find them hard to photograph.

43. Below a pair of Whitespotted Filefish (orange phase).

44. The Smooth Trunkfish (below) is always fun to watch. Usually unafraid, they let the quiet diver approach and observe. Easy to recognize because of their triangular shape, their cute, round snout is used to blow on a piece of coral or sand to uncover food sources.

45. A Threespot Damselfish (a yellow-gold crescent around the eyes distinguishes it from the Coca Damselfish). These are fun to watch, too. These Damselfish are very territorial and unafraid. When approached, they will lunge at, nip at, and chase after much larger creatures (such as hawsbill turtles and divers - I am speaking from experience). But a patient diver on occassion finds that a Damselfish can also exhibit curiosity and can be photographed up close.

46. A frontal shot of the Threespot Damselfish (below).

47. On a night dive, we noticed this Red Reef Hermit crab (below). Note the green eyes on the pale eye stalks and the bright red body.

48. While resting after a dive, I found this Hermit crab scurrying about on land. Hardly the size of Anne's fingernail, it was agile and always on the move. (We released it unharmed of course.)

49. No diving without a collection of eels. Below a Green Moray eel. We saw several of those, one perhaps 5-6 feet in length. Not threatening, one can usually approach them fairly closely.

50. A Spotted Moray eel (below). They allow close approaches also and do not seem to mind divers at all. During the day, they tend to stay in crevices; at night, we observed several moving about to feed.

51. An unusual perspective of a Caribbean Spiny Lobster. When approached from the front, they observe the diver warily and move their body and antenna to face the diver, and they will rapidly retreat to a hideout. This one we caught out in the open, climbing up (and then down) a coral boulder. To catch the structure and colors better, I decided to take a photograph from the back and flank.

52. Below: a Sculpted Slipper Lobster. We had attempted to photograph feeding Orange Cup Coral when we noticed the lobster sort of shifting beneath us. Notice that the color of the carapace is virtually indistinguisable from the coral rubble next to it. As on land, so in the sea: at night, one can see and observe a completely different set of creatures. That's the attraction of night diving.

53. Ah, the joy of flying! Here, Anne took a shot of me being "weightless" in 30 or 40 feet of water in 82-degree F water. Note the strength of the sun, casting a clear shadow.

54. After dumping some air, I settle down to contemplate what I believe is Blade Fire Coral, populated by a pair of Damselfish and a clutch of I-don't-know-what fishes.

55. Another view (below).

56. Below: the I-don't-know-what fishes in B&W and ...

57. ... in color

58. Water filters out colors, and if you want to take color photographs, you need to bring your own lights, even on day dives. But here we were shooting mostly in B&W, and it occurred to me to take a picture of one of the lights (below). If you didn't know better, you might think this was shot in the desert, and the levitated strap might have startled you.

59. On the north side of the Playa Jeremi dive site is a big boulder. When we got there, we noticed that someone had put up a ladder against it (below). If you swim out straight west (270 degrees) into the ocean, you will find a very nice, tranquil reef at about 40 feet depth.

60. Daughter Anne, on the next few shots, in B&W.

61. After all the diving, some relaxation. (Note the school of fish in the background.)

62. "I don't know the way home!" ...

63. ... "Where are we?" (Seriously, with nearly 150 dives, Anne is an experienced and cautious diver and good underwater navigator.)

64. A silhouette shot of Anne.

65. Anne also enjoyed careening across the landscape with our rental truck. She was especially fond of the manual transmission.

The end.