Underwater Bequia February 2008 [ Gallery Index ]     

Bequia is a small island in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the Southern Caribbean, just North of Trinidad & Tobago.

These pictures were taken between Feb. 22 and March 2nd, 2008 at various dive sites around the island. I used a Canon S1 IS digital camera with a Canon underwater housing and a simple external flash unit. The images are large (1200px wide) but will scale down to fit on your screen if necessary (this may reduce image quality).

I've tried to identify most of the species in the pictures using the Reef Identification guides by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach, which are excellent. I probably still got some things wrong, and some of the coral and sponges are too difficult to identify specifically.

Click a thumbnail to view or click here to start a slideshow
Arrow Crab
Arrow Crab
(01-Feb-08)
Azure Vase sponge
Azure Vase sponge
(01-Feb-08)
Banded Coral Shrimp
Banded Coral Shrimp
(01-Feb-08)
Bearded Fireworm
Bearded Fireworm
(01-Feb-08)
Bearded Fireworm
Bearded Fireworm
(01-Feb-08)
Bearded Fireworm
Bearded Fireworm
(01-Feb-08)
An encrusted Branching Vase sponge
An encrusted Branching Vase sponge
(01-Feb-08)
Caribbean Spiny Lobster
Caribbean Spiny Lobster
(01-Feb-08)
Channel Clinging Crab (King Crab)
Channel Clinging Crab (King Crab)
(01-Feb-08)
Coral and sponge cluster
Coral and sponge cluster
(01-Feb-08)
Coral and Azure Sponge
Coral and Azure Sponge
(01-Feb-08)
Coral surface detail
Coral surface detail
(01-Feb-08)
Chrstmas tree worms
Chrstmas tree worms
(01-Feb-08)
Diver over reef
Diver over reef
(01-Feb-08)
An encrusted Queen Conch shell
An encrusted Queen Conch shell
(01-Feb-08)
Fairy Basslet
Fairy Basslet
(01-Feb-08)
Banded Coral Shrimp and a Red Reef Hermit Crab
Banded Coral Shrimp and a Red Reef Hermit Crab
(01-Feb-08)
Flamingo Tongue snail
Flamingo Tongue snail
(01-Feb-08)
George taking pictures
George taking pictures
(01-Feb-08)
Golden Crinoid feather star
Golden Crinoid feather star
(01-Feb-08)
Bearded Fireworm on a colorful wall
Bearded Fireworm on a colorful wall
(01-Feb-08)
Golden Zoanthid on Green Finger Sponge
Golden Zoanthid on Green Finger Sponge
(01-Feb-08)
Hitchhiking Anemone on crab
Hitchhiking Anemone on crab
(01-Feb-08)
Leopard Flatworm
Leopard Flatworm
(01-Feb-08)
Longlure Frogfish
Longlure Frogfish
(01-Feb-08)
Longsnout Seahorse
Longsnout Seahorse
(01-Feb-08)
Long-spined Urchin and large Arrow Crab.
Long-spined Urchin and large Arrow Crab.
(01-Feb-08)
Can you find the Spotted Moray Eel?
Magnificent Feather Duster with eel
(01-Feb-08)
Multi-organism cluster with urchin
Multi-organism cluster with urchin
(01-Feb-08)
Orange Lumpy Encrusting Sponge
Orange Lumpy Encrusting Sponge
(01-Feb-08)
Parrot fish peeking out
Parrot fish peeking out
(01-Feb-08)
The parts that looks like white wood shavings are the anemone tentacles.  The tiny shrimp stay within its protection and wait for bigger fish to arrive for a cleaning.
Pederson Cleaner Shrimp and Corkscrew Anemone
(01-Feb-08)
This is a type of puffer fish, notice the spikes that are laying down but stick out when puffed up.
Porcupinefish
(01-Feb-08)
Reef Butterflyfish juvenile
Reef Butterflyfish juvenile
(01-Feb-08)
Reef ridge perspective
Reef ridge perspective
(01-Feb-08)
Can you find the fish?  Not really sure what kind of fish that is, but this was the closest match I found.
Reef Scorpionfish (?) hiding in coral
(01-Feb-08)
Rock Beauty angelfish
Rock Beauty angelfish
(01-Feb-08)
Blue lips of the Rock Beauty
Blue lips of the Rock Beauty
(01-Feb-08)
Sand Diver (lizardfish)
Sand Diver (lizardfish)
(01-Feb-08)
Scorpion Fish
Scorpion Fish
(01-Feb-08)
This is like a car wash for fish. A bigger fish will swim up and the little Gobys will dart out and start cleaning it.
Sharknose Cleaner Goby on Star coral
(01-Feb-08)
This 5+ foot eel had a close encounter with an octopus soon after this shot was taken.
Sharptail Eel
(01-Feb-08)
Ship hull with hole
Ship hull with hole
(01-Feb-08)
Hull of a sunken ship
Hull of a sunken ship
(01-Feb-08)
Sunken ship bow
Sunken ship bow
(01-Feb-08)
Split-crown Feather Duster
Split-crown Feather Duster
(01-Feb-08)
Chrstmas tree worms
Chrstmas tree worms
(01-Feb-08)
Sponge and coral cluster
Sponge and coral cluster
(01-Feb-08)
Spotted Moray Eel
Spotted Moray Eel
(01-Feb-08)
Chrstmas tree worms
Chrstmas tree worms
(01-Feb-08)
Spotted Spiny Lobster
Spotted Spiny Lobster
(01-Feb-08)
Spotted Moray head
Spotted Moray head
(01-Feb-08)
Stoplight Parrotfish sleeping at night
Stoplight Parrotfish sleeping at night
(01-Feb-08)
Sponge cluster
Sponge cluster
(01-Feb-08)
At night some of the fish get so docile that you can pet them!
Spotted Trunkfish at night
(01-Feb-08)
Trumpetfish
Trumpetfish
(01-Feb-08)
Chrstmas tree worms
Chrstmas tree worms
(01-Feb-08)
Hawskbill Turtle
Hawskbill Turtle
(01-Feb-08)
Hawskbill Turtle
Hawskbill Turtle
(01-Feb-08)
Spotted Scorpionfish
Spotted Scorpionfish
(01-Feb-08)
Chrstmas tree worms
Chrstmas tree worms
(01-Feb-08)
Spotted Moray hiding
Spotted Moray hiding
(01-Feb-08)
© Maxim Paperno