Skips Stubbs in the Sea of Cortez (2011)
From Skip:
I and five friends had an 8-day diving charter out of La Paz in the Sea of Cortez in early October. We had no “set your hair on fire” moments, but great weather, fabulous food and company for sharing, and good sea conditions. The largest waves we saw were 6-10 inches! We visited all of our usual places, and found a couple very good new ones (see photos), and went back to Las Animas for the first time in several years. We didn’t see much there, but had nice clear water to appreciate the beautiful setting. All in all, a very pleasant and relaxing trip. The water was unusually warm this year 84-87 degrees F everywhere, so the visibility was a little off, but we never got chilled on dives, no matter how long. I still remember this one sunset…
Click on the image for more great underwater photos!
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Italy 2011
From Skip:
We flew from Paris to Florence on May 9, picked up a rental car (EuropeCar) and headed out to the small hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany. These photos are from about 18 days there and include the following towns we stayed in or visited: Cortona, Spoleto, Bevagna, Gubbio, Assisi, Porto Santo Stefano (Monte Argentario), Orvieto, Pitigliano, Savona, and Lucca. We mostly stayed in small hotels and B&Bs and in agritourismo hotels (small hotels on working farms). We had fabulous meals but had done considerable research on places to eat before leaving. However, several times we asked hotel staff to recommend local places with ”typical food” and these usually turned out to be excellent.
Click the photo for more great images!
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Paris 2011
From Skip:
We stayed in Paris for four days sandwiching out 18 days in Italy. The main downside to this strategy is that you have to go to the Charles de Gaulle airport and back an extra time (At $90 per trip for a taxi). As we stayed on isle St. Louis we often found ourselves around Cathedral Notre Dame and took lots of photos, as you can see. On weekends there were numerous, and usually quite good, street entertainers, from musicians to circus acts, and one Russian 8 piece band (3 accordians!) near Rue des Rosiers that was off the charts. What a great city!
Click the photo for more great images!
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Backyard Wilderness
From Skip: I jokingly suggested to Phil that I should do a blog entry titled ”Skip Stubbs in the wilds of his backyard” based on my rejected photos for this year’s nature’s best backyards contest. He said “sure, we could do that.” So here we go. All photos were taken with a Canon 180 macro, some with extension tubes, but mostly not. Click the image to see many more!
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Skip Stubbs at Bosque Del Apache NWR 2010
I spent a few days with my good friend Skip Stubbs at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. We photographed cranes and geese and enjoyed the surroundings at this bird refuge along the Rio Grande river an hour south of Albuquerque. Click the big image to see a selection of Skip’s photos from the trip:
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Annette Patterson in the Sea of Cortez
Annette Patterson was with Skip in the Sea of Cortez recently and she shot a super group of images. Just more great photography to make me jealous I was not on the trip! Click to see more…
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Skip Stubbs in the Sea of Cortez (2010)
Once again my friend Skip Stubbs has been diving in the Sea of Cortez with his pals. It seems like that’s all he does! This time he was shooting underwater panoramas (in addition to his usual video) Yes, the same multiple-image stitched panoramas that all of us are shooting these days, only he made his underwater. Click to see more!
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Click the image above to see some of the stills that Skip captured in the Sea of Cortez this year! You can also see a sampling of Skip’s past trips.
Skip Stubbs at Guadalupe Island 2010
My good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs recently returned another trip to Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Skip shot some nice still photographs in addition to his usual video footage. They make me long to be back down at the island again. Skip comments:
After an unfortunate 4 year hiatus, we got back to my favorite place for 7 more days of exploration of the underwater scenery and creatures around this fantastic island on the San Diego dive boat Horizon. We had a very nice group of folks from California, Washington state and Illinois, including the three top officers of Alacosta divers, the oldest dive club in the bay area, but we missed having Phil along. We had good looks at bottlenose, tuna, and the ever present wonderful Guadalupe furseals during our diving.
I spent most of my time concentrating on video, but did manage a few acceptable still photographs while underwater. This was the first time I took my topside camera and I really had a great time attempting to capture topside images. It was great to get back and see all my furred and other friends, and we plan to return in July next year. Can’t wait.
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Skip’s images from the July 2010 Guadalupe Island diving trip are here.
Skip Stubbs in the Sea of Cortez (2009)
My friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs was doing a little diving in the Sea of Cortez with a group of long-time diving friends. Skip shoots primarily video, but on his trips he always takes some time out to shoot a few still photos with his Canon G10. I particularly like his sea lion shot with a school of herring and the island of Los Islotes visible in the background, so that’s the first you see below! Yes, click on it…
From Skip: I have just returned from a week in the Sea of Cortez diving with a small group of friends off a private yacht owned by a good friend of ours. Our trip was interrupted by Hurricane Rick so we spent a day in port at La Paz rather than going up to Las Animas, but we still had a great trip, even though limited to the near diving sites. The temperatures reflected el Nino effects with the water at 84 degrees, and not as clear blue as it should have been in late October. However, the reefs showed large schools of fish (various grunts, sergeant majors, Mexican goatfish, and bigeye scad), and much better numbers of leopard grouper and yellow snappers than in recent years, thanks in part to the efforts of Sea Watch and the vigilance program. We were happy to see that buoys have been placed at Los Islotes to keep small boats from approaching the main sea lion rookery. Finally!
I hope to return again next year!
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Click the image above to see some of the stills that Skip captured in the Sea of Cortez this year! You can also see a sampling of Skip’s past trips.
Guadalupe Island Diving Trip, July 2010 — Not Another Shark Trip
I’m very happy to announce that our annual Guadalupe Island diving trip is on for July 2010! Skip Stubbs is once again personally leading this special trip to dive remote and unique Isla Guadalupe using the San Diego-based dive boat Horizon as our home-away-from-home. At present this trip is by invitation only (i.e., the entire boat is reserved and Skip is determining who the participants will be). If you are seriously interested in joining us, please get in touch with Skip (or me if you prefer) to discuss it. We have put together a lengthy flyer describing the trip, with links to many photos and lots of information about the island itself. Please read through the PDF brochure first, especially if you do not know anything about Guadalupe Island. You can print out if you wish (it will open in a new window):
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| Guadalupe Island Diving Trip |
Note: this is not a shark diving trip. This is an open water SCUBA and freediving trip designed to offer our guests opportunities to appreciate the unique inhabitants and explore the underwater scenery of Guadalupe Island. This is the only open-water diving trip to Guadalupe Island, this year (or probably ever), that we know of. The dates are July 21-29, 9 calendar days with 7 fulls days of diving and two travel days.
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| Cortez chubb. Image ID: 01020 Species: Cortez chubb, Kyphosus elegans Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico  View this Image in Google Earth! |
Keywords: Guadalupe Island, Mexico, Isla Guadalupe, scuba diving, free diving, dive boat Horizon, Baja California, San Diego.
Ile de la Cite, Paris, France
A last piece of eye candy from Skip and Bonnie’s evening wanderings in the City of Lights. To see more great shots of Paris from their trip, click here.
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Paris, Isle de la Cite and the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral |
Cassis, France
Another of Skip’s nighttime views of southern France, this time of Cassis. To see more of Skip and Bonnie’s photographs from Provence, click here.
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The harborfront restaurants of the small fishing town of Cassis, near |
Aigue Mortes, France
Today is the first of three guest entries from our good friend Skip Stubbs, who just returned from an extended trip to Paris and Provence. Here is a nighttime view of Aigue Mortes. To see more of Skip’s shots from Provence, click here.
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The ancient city walls of the medieval city of Aigue Mortes in the Camargue region of France |
Skip Stubbs at Bosque del Apache
Skip recently spent several days with Bob and Rosie photographing sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) and snow geese (Chen caerulescens) at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. I had hoped to join them but my schedule just did not allow for it. He got some super shots, I’m pretty envious, way to go Skip! Here are two that I thought were especially nice:
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Click the images above to see more of the photos that Skip scored. I have to get out there next year.
Kayaking in Thailand
More from Skip:
Before our 12 day Ocean Rover diving trip a few of us did a custom 8-day kayaking, jungle hiking trip with Paddle Asia to Khao Sok National Park (remarkably biting insect free!) and to Phang Nga Bay. The former is a vast 165 square kilometers lake created in the jungle about 25 years ago by damming a river. We stayed at the floating bungalows seen in the photos. Dave Williams, who founded Paddle Asia, was our guide and naturalist. This was a fabulous trip and we recommend it to anyone interested in wildlife viewing, especially birds, or adventurous sightseeing. Also included are photos from the island on which we stayed at Phang Nga Bay.
During our trip we saw five species of monkeys, monitor lizards, geckos, frogs, toads, and uncountable species of birds, including great hornbills, white-bellied sea eagles, serpent eagles, and thanks to Dave, no other people during our kayak trips.
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Click the image above to see some shots of the kayak trip!
Skip Stubbs in Thailand (2007)
This just in from my good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs, who has just returned from another of his excellent dive expeditions, this time to Thailand:
We are just back from 12 great days on the Ocean Rover out of Phuket Thailand. This liveaboard diving vessel is in my opinion, hands down, the best in the world and is owned and was designed by Jeroen Deknatel of FantaSea Divers. We had a custom trip with 6 days diving in Myanmar (Burma) sandwiched between three days on each side in Thailand. The diving was quite good, with beautiful colorful reefs with abundant fish and other life, lots of strange small critters and occasional larger animals such as mantas, zebra sharks, and whale sharks..
Timing is everything. We all witnessed mating and egglaying by reef squid and cuttlefish, and even mating octopi at various sites! Must have been the season for cephalopods. There were numerous sightings of such rare creatures as harlequin shrimp, ornate ghost pipefish, seahorses, bumblebee shrimp, frogfish, sea snakes, and mantis shrimp. Of course, I only saw mantis shrimp and sea snakes myself. There were beautiful soft corals, especially in Myanmar, and many species of nudibranchs and mollusks. Some people reported seeing over 60 nudibranchs on a single dive at 3 islets.
This boat and destination can be highly recommended for a dive trip, especially considering all of the other possible sights to see in Thailand and SE Asia.
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Click the image above to see some of the stills that Skip captured on his trip!
Skip Stubbs at Mag Bay
My good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs, just returned from another great dive trip, this one dedicated to bluewater freediving offshore of Magdalena Bay (Baja California), in search of marlin, mahi mahi and other pelagics alongside Terry Maas, Derek Stavenger, Bob Jackson, Mike McGettigan and Nils Larsen. While Skip was primarily shooting underwater video, he did shoot a few neat still photos which you should check out. (Note: the shot of Skip holding a camera was taken by Terry, all other images were taken by Skip.) Wow, that water is blue, I wish I was there…
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Skip Stubbs in the Sea of Cortez (2006)
This just in from my good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs, who has just returned from another of his excellent dive expeditions, this time in Mexico’s wonderful Sea of Cortez and Cabo Pulmo.
For the past 7 years I have organized October diving trips to the Sea of Cortez departing from La Paz. It is a spectacular area to see and diving is still great despite the impact of destructive fishing practices. Seawatch’s website has a wealth of information about the fishing and its impacts in the Sea of Cortez.
One can still occasionally see whale sharks, mantas, mobulas, dolphins, and schools of cownose rays, and even killer whales are seen there. Our trip was highlighted by >2.5 hours of tolerant pilot whales near Las Animas. The sunsets are among the most beautiful anywhere I have been, even without a marguerita in hand.
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Click the image above to see some of the stills that Skip captured in the Sea of Cortez this year!
Skip Stubbs at Cabo Pulmo (2006)
This just in from my good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs, who has just returned from another of his excellent dive expeditions, this time visiting Mexico’s wonderful Sea of Cortez and Cabo Pulmo
Since 2001 we have also visited Cabo Pulmo national marine park, on the east cape of Baja at Cabo Pulmo, and stayed at Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort for land-based diving.
The park has been well protected since 1999 and it shows. Large schools of leopard grouper, huge gulf grouper, and large schools of beautifully colored reef fish, including porkfish, burrito grunts, and yellow snappers as seen in the photos. The diving is quite different from further north in the gulf, with many species not seen elsewhere. I highly recommend a visit for a few days or a week to enjoy the great place.
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Click the image above to see some of the stills that Skip captured in Cabo Pulmo this year!
Skip Stubbs at Guadalupe Island
My good friend and diving partner Skip Stubbs recently returned from his annual July visit to Guadalupe Island, Mexico. As usual, the focus of the trip was diving, spearfishing and comraderie. For those of you who do not know Skip, let it be said that he is a skilled marine videographer with a lengthy list of broadcast credits. Recently, in addition to his hours in the water shooting video freediving and on tanks, Skip has been shooting still photographs using a point-and-shoot mounted on the top of his video housing — with impressive results. It is amazing what great images a skilled diver can make with a modern point-and-shoot digital camera and good light. Impressive shots!
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Skip’s images from the July 2006 Guadalupe Island diving and spearfishing trip are here.
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Updated: February 7, 2012
