Thursday, November 11, 2010

Dixie Greenwood, Frequent Bonaire Diver, Shoots Winning Image for 2011 PADI Diving Society Cards

Dixie Greenwood, a frequent Bonaire diver and a PADI Master Instructor, recently had an image of hers, taken in Bonaire, chosen for the 2011 PADI Diving Society cards.  More than 3300 PADI instructors, divers, and Facebook fans voted for her winning image of a white-spotted eagle ray.

The winning image was taken at the southern leeward dive site called Invisibles, in about 15 feet/5 meters of water in May of this year.  Dixie used a Nikon D70s digital SLR camera, a Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens, SUBAL housing, and Sea&Sea YS-110 strobe.  Eagle rays can be sighted at the southern dive sites, but usually very early in the morning, and this dive was no exception.  Dixie entered the water about 7:00 AM, specifically trying to catch sight of one, and was still getting accustomed to her new fisheye lens. 

When she entered the water, she was ecstatic that two eagle rays were already hunting in the shallows, but the rays circled away from Dixie and her dive buddy.  So they immediately stopped and positioned themselves in the sand to observe the rays, when the larger ray suddenly turned and headed directly toward them, hunting in the sand as he swam.  Moving slowly, Dixie was able to shoot her winning image, along with a few more, from about three feet/one meter in front of the ray, before he turned and swam away.

Dixie is soon on her way back to Bonaire for two more weeks of diving and underwater photography, and we hope that she is just as successful with getting new images as she was in May.  Congratulations, Dixie!

To learn more about Dixie, click here.  (Source:  PADI, image courtesy of Dixie Greenwood)