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The phenomenal underwater and travel photography of Lia Barrett now has a new home on the web at http://www.liabarrettphotography.com.

Lia and I go back a few years when I was a scuba diving instructor at Coconut Tree Divers on the island of Roatan, Honduras. When I first met her, she was helping film the hilariously disastrous Roatan Movie— the making which was infinitely funnier than the final result. We later collaborated on photo shoots for a few web projects around the island.

Lia probably holds the world record for most time spent inside a homemade submarine (not including Karl Stanley and Barry, of course). For theses images, she was crouched for hours in a tiny spherical dome. She had to keep her lens close to the mere five inches of convex glass separating her thousands of pounds of crushing pressure— but not too close or the cold condensation dripping from the ceiling would fry her camera. She had to wait— and wait— and wait until the right deep sea creature swam by, then try to snap off quality shots with both the submarine and the creature in motion. The results are nothing short of incredible.

Lia has since explored the seas and land of Asia and the South Pacific. She is currently in Australia.

Dive No.: 1999
Dive Site: Hawaii Loa, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 45ft/13m
Total Time: 36 mins

Air: 200bar – 120 bar
Mix: EANx36
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 40ft/12m
Water: 73F/23C
Exposure: rash guard, 5mm full wet suit (busted zipper), 3mm shorty, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

Autumn had just arrived in Oahu after a long series of flights from Haiti. I had been roped into working the morning charter. Nothing like a 5am start time to say “aloha!”

Conditions were choppy as a fierce tradewinde pressed down on Koko Marina. The air was Hawaiian cold (65F/18C) and the water wasn’t much warmer (73F/23C). We dropped anchor and explored the crater rims of Hawaii Loa. There was a nice diversity of schooling fish above the small coral heads, but, aside from a few small eels, there weren’t any stand-out creatures. Visibility was down and the surge was quite noticeable in the shallows.

Dive No.: 2000
Dive Site: Turtles, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 40ft/12m
Total Time: 42 mins

Air: 200bar – 120 bar
Mix: EANx36
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 80ft/24m
Water: 73F/23C
Exposure: rash guard, 5mm full wet suit (busted zipper), 3mm shorty, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

2000 dives. That’s a lot.

I thanked the dive group for joining me on this milestone dive. I was particularly glad that Autumn was enduring the cold whipping wind and coming along. The longer we lingered on the surface, the stronger the wind gusts blew. It was a bit of a fight to get down the mooring line.

The bottom was stirred up by a thermocline of 70F/21C water, reducing the sandy sections to near silt-out. Above the reef, however, the visibility extended a good 60ft/18m. Cornetfish whipped vertically above the thermocline, using the angle of the early morning sunlight to hunt for prey blinded by the turbidity. A few small moray eels slithered between coral heads. A lonely porcupinefish fluttered against the current.

One of the most infuriating moments of being a Divemaster is when you spot sometime truly unique and tiny but cannot manage to show it to the group. In this case, it was a bright yellow juvenile longlure frogfish. About the size of a marble, I spotted this bizarre creature hopping along the rocky bottom. Unfortunately, the surge took the frogfish away before I could share it with anyone.

Dive No.: 1997
Dive Site: Koko Craters, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 35ft/11m
Total Time: 38 mins

Air: 200bar – 130 bar
Mix: EANx36
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 80ft/24m
Water: 73F/23C
Exposure: rash guard, 5mm full wet suit (busted zipper), 3mm shorty, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

Took a group of college-aged girls out on a turtle-finding expedition around Koko Craters in celebration of one girl’s 21st birthday. The turtles didn’t disappoint, as over half a dozen of the beautiful Hawaiian reptiles glided past us towards the wrasse cleaning stations. Several other turtles were sighted snuggled under the crater rim.

Dive No.: 1997
Dive Site: Koko Craters, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 35ft/11m
Total Time: 43 mins

Air: 200bar – 120 bar
Mix: EANx36
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 80ft/24m
Water: 73F/23C
Exposure: rash guard, 5mm full wet suit (busted zipper), 3mm shorty, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

They loved the turtles so much that we decided to do a second drop on Koko Craters, this time heading for the far crater. Once again, the turtles hung out with us in the gentle current. We also spotted an orange frogfish and a few small eels in the crevices.

Dive No.: 1996
Dive Site: China Walls, Oahu, Hawaii
Max Depth: 51ft/15m
Total Time: 45 mins

Air: 200bar – 130 bar
Mix: EANx36
Tank: 80cu
Weight: 8lbs

Visibility: 130ft/40m
Water: 75F/24C
Exposure: rash guard, 5mm full wet suit (busted zipper), 3mm shorty, 3mm skull cap

Comments:

Easily one of the top ten diving experiences in my life—and I have nearly 2000 dives!

The gentle current from the previous dive had picked up quite a bit. As descended down the gradual slope of the urchin-covered volcanic stone wall, it was evident that we were in for one heck of a ride.

A trio of chill turtles was the first to greet us. They hung with the group for a while, cruising with us as we flew past giant boulders covered in coral splotches, each serving as micro-ecosystems for a host of small fish. The cautious eyes of moray eels and an octopus peered out from between the boulders. Odd-shaped variation of sea urchins lined to stone bottom, interrupted briefly by colorful undulation of divided flatworms. A bulbous frogfish the size of a grapefruit sat carefully concealed between the clumps of coral.

As we continued along the wave-beaten east Oahu walls, the turtles continued to dive bomb the group. I counted eight of everyone’s favorite reptile. Hawaii’s myriad endemic fish were abundant and active. Floating in the steady current, it was like watching a slideshow of “Best of Oahu.”

There are those rare times in a diver’s life when you encounter something so fantastic for the first time that you know—instantly!—that you will never, ever forget that moment. I have been working on an article for my blog called “The Top 10 Of My 2000” in which I describe the ten most mind-blowing moments of my scuba diving career: diving a World War II submarine; doing a no-lights, no-moon night dive; a deep encounter with a hammerhead shark; seeing my first manta ray; finding megalodon shark fossils in low-viz; surviving the most insane drift dive of my life; exploring a sunken oil rig; being stuck inside a wreck with a sand tiger shark; and The Moment when I fell in love with diving.

Well, the next moment on this dive officially made the list.

As we begin heading towards blue water for the safety stop and boat pick-up, I noticed part of the group intensely huddled around a shallow overhang. As I swam towards my divers, they suddenly scurried away. A strange shape slinked out from beneath the ledge, smoothly swimming with slow strokes of its flippers. It was unmistakable what I was seeing: the six-foot silhouette of a Hawaiian monk seal.

I gave out a huge shout in my regulator. I couldn’t believe my luck. An extremely endangered species, there are estimated to be only 150 Hawaiian monk seals left in the Hawaiian islands—and one of them was swimming with me!

The shouts of excitement were the first thing I heard when the group broke the surface. What an amazing dive!!