August 8 and 9th - Monterey Shootout 2014

All images taken with Nikon D200 in Aquatica A200 housing, Nikon micro 105mm f/2.8G AF-S VR (157mm on my D200's cropped sensor), two diffused Ikelite SS200 set at 1/2 power, f/22, 1/250second

Note: I was out of the water for five years. In early June, Linda R. asked if I would like to dive the Monterey Shootout in August.

We did some scouting/prep dives for the shootout:

July 14th -shore diving- Point Lobos (2 dives; both of my strobes' battery packs were hosed) - 7 shots taken
July 27th -whaler diving- Shale Island in Monterey Bay (dive day scrubbed. My dry suit's exhaust valve broke off) - no shots taken
July 28th got Drysuit exhaust valve replaced
July 29th -shore diving- Point Lobos (2 dives; only one of my strobes was working, the other strobe's battery pack had a dead cell) -39 shots taken
had my bad battery pack rebuilt with sub-C NiMH cells, cleaned all my sync cord contacts and the D200's hot shoe
August 3rd -whaler diving- Shale Island and Bullpen (both strobes working, most of my shooting method dialed in) - 16 shots taken (lack of subjects)

During the shootout:

August 8th -shore diving- Point Lobos (2 dives) - 69 shots taken (most had lots of backscatter, some the subject moved when I took the shot, or I got moved by surge and framing was wrong)
August 9th -whaler diving- Shale Island and Near Aquarium - 17 shots taken (I just couldn't find subjects to shoot at Shale Island; Near Aquarium was a pretty boring dive, not enough structure or subjects)