I've been fascinated by these things for years. They grow in colonies, and they're often crammed together so tightly that when you look down at them, they look like candies in a box. When you get close, and they aren't so thick, you can see that the disk grows on the end of a long stalk, like a parasol. I'd been working on them the whole trip, and I made this picture on my last dive.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/32, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Popcorn shrimp on adhesive anemone, South Save-a-Tack Passage, Namena Island.

Popcorn shrimp and adhesive anemones have something going, and it's a good thing, because they look great together. The pink opening is the anemone's mouth.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

I wrote in my dive book that there was a huge white christmas tree worm on this dive. I admit that this doesn't look much like a white worm. The red must not have been visible in natural (pretty bluish, since this worm was at 50 feet) light. This was a tame worm, too. Normally you get one shot at these, unless you're willing to wait a few minutes for them to venture out again. This one stayed out for six or seven exposures.

Nikon F4, 200mm f/4D Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

E6 is a magical dive site. There's an overhung canyon that looks like a cathedral. The walls are covered with fans, and the floor is beginning to fill in with soft coral (the old growth was wiped out in a storm a while back). The outside is a set of near-vertical walls, covered thickly with hard corals. The place is so alive it's hard to find a dead place to hold on while you take a picture. I made this one on a night dive.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Everybody else was excited about the shark feed, but I was torn. On the previous dive at the same site, I'd gone through a whole roll of film on a garden eel, ooching ever closer until I was almost to 1:1. Unfortunately, I was also almost to the end of the roll. Now I wanted to go back and not use much film until I was almost on top of the eel. The 200mm is the right lens for the eel, but it's not much good for sharks. There was a fair current running. Did I dare take two cameras? I did, and some kind soul offered to take one down for me (she said she really got down fast!), so it wasn't hard at all. I stayed through the shark feed, left the Nikonos with the 15mm lens on the sand, grabbed the F4 with the 200, and settled down for a little tete-a-tete with the eel. He was just as cooperative this time.

Nikon F4, 200mm f/4D Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

You can tell by the discoloration that these things aren't doing the fan much good, but they're pretty at night.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

The white line isn't a reflection; it's his spinal column!

Nikon F4, 200mm f/4D Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

He stands out pretty well here, but these little crabs are hard to spot. They stay fairly deep in the cauliflower coral, and have the same knobby appearance. Betty spotted this one as I was engrossed in a tridacna. It's not often you get two keepers within a minute of each other.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

These guys are usually frustratingly fast, closing the minute you even think about taking their picture. I gave up trying a long time ago. Then I started using the 200, and on this trip I returned to the oysters. They're still too quick for me almost all the time (I want a rebreather!) but this one let me get fairly close. I tried once and was too far away, but I saw that this wasn't the fastest oyster on the planet. I took a lap around the bommie and tried again. Bingo. I took another lap, but it clamped shut when I came around the corner. Even an oyster can learn.

Nikon F4, 200mm f/4D Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

You can't see it very well at screen resolution, but on the print you can see very clearly that this shrimp is full of eggs.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

What incredible animals! The bottom isn't exactly thick with them, but you'll see more than one if you spend a week on a dive boat in Fiji. My biggest problem with this one was that he wanted to look straight at me, and the sight of the two beady eyes on either side of his gullet was striking, but not particularly esthetic, or representative of the way most people would see him. I waited until he was distracted from me by another diver.

Nikon F4, 200mm f/4D Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Looks like he's about to say something.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

I don't comb the bottom for tridacnas any more, but I still like it when I find a really iridescent one. The 200 let me shoot across him without letting my shadow fall on his light sensors, so he stayed open.

Nikon F4, 200 mm f/4 Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Why do I love to make pictures of these little fish? They have such great expressions. This one looks a little wistful. There's another reason: they don't run away whe you try to take their picture. They don't mug for the camera, either.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

The biggest lizardfish I've ever seen. Must have been a foot long.

Nikon F4, 200mm f/4D Auto Micro Nikkor, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Wakaya isn't known for its underwater scenery, but for all the exotic animals there. On this dive, I was in the wrong place for the blue ribbon eels, the Hellfire anemone was nowhere to be found, and I missed the rockmover wrasses, but there's always mushroom coral. At 2:1, I thought it looked like mountain ridges trailing away in the haze.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Nikonos III, 15mm f/2.8 Nikkor, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/8, 1/60, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Looking into the setting sun, in about 12 feet of water.

Nikonos III, 15mm f/2.8 Nikkor, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/8, 1/60, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Nikonos III, 15mm f/2.8 Nikkor, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/5.6, 1/30, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Clownfish in nearly-closed anemone, Kansas bommie, North Save-a-Tack Passage, Namena Island.

Nikon F4, 105mm f/2.8 Auto Micro Nikkor, TC-14A teleconverter, PK-27, PK-14 tubes, Aquatica Housing, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/22, Kodak Royal Gold 100.

Mt. Mutiny is an isolated bommie, big enough so that swimming around it is a project. Siphonogorgia soft corals like shade, and they like it on the south side of Mt. Mutiny.

Nikonos III, 15mm f/2.8 Nikkor, 2 Ikelite 200 strobes, f/5.6, 1/30, Kodak Royal Gold 100.