Deep scenery

I'm running late for my painting plein air with the Palletteers group, but here are some sceneries from around 80 feet, 27m, deep.
.

 

This is how the Drop Off looks from the side, a steep hill.  Here on St Croix, this goes to several thousand feet deep.  Actually, there's a deep sea trench that's nearly three miles deep just northwest of St. Croix.  It's  between here and Vieques, fifty miles to the north west.

 

.Little fishes, and some Jacks down there.  A reddish Rope Sponge, and some bushy looking Gorgonian soft corals.  And behind that, an old Purple Tube Sponge that has changed little in the twenty years that I've been diving here.

Ak, two fish running away from me.  I sure wish spear fishing wasn't legal here!  Too few fish, and they all run away from me.  That tiny Blue Chromis might be good to eat!  One third of a bite!

Funny Wire corals.  Yes, animals!  And a rope sponge of some kind.
.

 

.One Yellowtail Snapper.  Ought to be a school of fifty!  They're quite tasty with garlic butter.  Cardboard would be tasty with enough garlic butter.

This vertical coral formation is the side of the Spur, discussed in the previous post.  Some places, like Grand Turk, and Cayman Islands have true Walls, that are totally verticle.  A lot of people can't handle diving along a wall that's on one side, and the DEEP blue sea on the other.  It is creepy to think the hugest sea monster in the world could swim right up to you and eat you, but that doesn't happen, ever.

An old rope sponge, living in the sand.  There must be a rock just at the surface of the sand.  See how the sponge was growing up, then at some point, maybe a past hurricane, was turned on his side, and he's growing upwards again.  Everything, well, except the sand, in this photo is a sponge.

OK, off to paint land things in quick acrylics.  I usually try to paint the ladies painting, rather than just the scenery.  I'll rearrange my cluttered studio, push this computer to the side, and get started painting again.  I'm very restless and I think it's because I'm not practising my craft.  This computer is in the center of the room, and sure dominates!

OK, all for this morning, see ya later!  Thanks for stopping by!