Marvin's Anguilla Freediving

These pictures were taken with an Ikelite Auquashot underwater camera case that uses disposable Fuji (or Kodak) 35mm flash cameras. It does a very good job for what it is. The water in Anguilla was not as clear as what we found in Bonaire. Nevertheless, we were pleased with how well most of the pictures came out. The photographs were then scanned and compressed for this web page.

These 'harvested' conch shells were found in about 30 feet of water where they must have been thrown over board after the meat was removed. I saw many dozen of them in this one area.

You can find conch soup and conch salad available at various restaurants on the island. We didn't have any on this trip - so we have a reason to go back.

These were taken off Shaddick, or Lover's, Point, just down the beach from The Ferryboat Inn. Several live conches were also seen, but when they are right side up they are not as 'visual' as these upside-down shells.

The fans were nothing like the ones you can see in Bonaire, but they were impressive, still.

This was taken at Shoal Bay East about a quarter mile offshore and about 40 feet deep.

This fan is about 5 feet tall.

Here we have a nice gorgonian (about 4' tall) and a small brain coral at Shoal Bay East.

This was probably about 50 feet deep.

A rock (or coral?) outcrop that was covered with both soft and hard coral. About 30 feet deep.

At first I thought these were lobster or crab traps -- they are really fish traps. They could be found in water from 30 to 70 feet deep. This one was one of the ones about 70 feet deep. The rope tether runs up to a marker buoy (usually a large Clorox jug.) It's about 6x4x2 feet in dimension. They were made from tree branch frames and chicken wire -- very nice craftsmanship. There is a 'funnel' of chicken wire in the "V" that let fish in. And, I guess, they are too dumb to then get back out.

Excuses... Excuses... On what was perhaps the best dive of the trip I was unable to use my camera. The flash had been left on from the previous day, and the battery was dead. It was on this dive, in Little Bay, that I dove on star fish, lobster, sting ray, octopus, and squid. But, I have no pictures to prove it!