This past June, I was fortunate enough to be invited to help staff the 5th Annual Bonaire Dive Festival. While there was a significant ecological element to the festival, as you would expect from an event sponsored by the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) and Rodale's Scuba Diving, there was also a strong emphasis on underwater photography. After all, what better way to celebrate what's worth preserving than by capturing and sharing its beauty through photography?

To that end, Sea & Sea and Kodak collaborated to provide complimentary film and loaner amphibious cameras, strobes and even high-end housings. Images taken during the week could be submitted for a photo contest, the winners taking home significant dive travel and underwater photo gear for prizes.

The contest rules were fairly broad: capture the essence of Bonaire on Kodak Elite Chrome 100 ISO slide film. The categories included:

• Sport: Images taken with point-and-shoot cameras, with loaner Sea & Sea MX-10 and YS-40A strobes available.

• Open: Advanced underwater imaging from any sort of submersible camera system, including loaner Sea & Sea Motormarine II-EX and YS-60 strobes, or Sea & Sea housings for Nikon N90S, N80 or F100 cameras.

• Land: Any terrestrial photograph from Bonaire.

• Staff: Images submitted by local dive and hotel staff, captured on Kodak Ektachrome VS slide film.

The results illustrate the talent and vision of the photographers, and also the wealth of inspiration that lies beneath the sea on the island of Bonaire. Here is a portfolio of Bonaire beauty, and a little bit about where and how the shots were taken.

Sport Category

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| Photo by Julien Fuerst|
3rd Place

Julien Fuerst, lizardfish, MX-10 with YS-40A strobe and close-up lens.

At the dive site Karpata, Julien found a lizardfish nestled amid the finger corals. He used the close-up lens to get close, maximizing color and resolution for this environmental portrait.

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| Photo by Ken Mettler|
2nd Place

Ken Mettler, blue-striped grunt, MX-10 with YS-40A strobe.

Diving the reef slope at Mi Dushi on Klein Bonaire, Ken spotted this solitary grunt hiding beneath a lovely gorgonian.

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| Photo by Christine Spaulding|
1st Place

Christine Spaulding, schooling smallmouth grunts, MX-10 with YS-40A strobe.

Diving beneath the Salt Pier, Christine used a stealthy approach and considerable control of her exhaust bubbles to get close enough to this school of grunts to record impressive detail.

Open Category

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| Photo by Judy Silverstein|
3rd Place

Judy Silverstein, yellowhead jawfish, Nikon N90S in Sea & Sea housing, YS-120 strobe.

Judy used the macro telephoto capability of the 105mm Micro-Nikkor to record the natural posture of an incredibly shy fish.

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| Photo by William Miller|
2nd Place

William Miller, parrotfish at night with mucous cocoon, Nikon N90S in Sea & Sea housing with YS-120 strobe.

William enjoyed the convenience of the 24-hour dive possibilities on Bonaire to facilitate his night diving and underwater photography.

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| Photo by Andrew Snowhite|
1st Place

Andrew Snowhite, roughhead blennies in brain coral, Nikon N90S in Nexus housing with Nikon SB-105 strobes.

Working along the house reef off Captain Don's Habitat, Andrew spotted a territorial dispute between a pair of blennies. Racking his 105mm-macro lens out to its greatest magnification, he moved ever closer until this unique tableau in miniature popped into focus on his ground glass.

Land Category

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| Photo by Mike Janssen|
1st Place

Mike Janssen, iguana, MX-10 and Kodak 100 slide film.

From the Salt Pans and windsurfing activities of Lac Bay at the southern end of the island, to the unspoiled arid wilderness of Washington-Slagbaii National Park to the north, Bonaire is an island of rich topside photographic potential.

Staff Category

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| Photo by Jeroen Kleijn|
5th Place

Jeroen Kleijn, Sand Dollar Dive and Photo, Nikonos V with 1:1 extension tube.

Diving off Bari Reef, the house reef at Sand Dollar, Jeroen spotted this carefully camouflaged frogfish and used his macro kit to record its bizarre coloration and shape.

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| Photo by Roger Haug|
4th Place

Roger Haug, Captain Don's Habitat, Sea & Sea Motormarine II-EX with YS-90 strobe.

Diving off Habitat's house reef, Roger was able to capture not only the intricate detail and texture of this lobster, but also the rich background colors of this photographically productive ecosystem.

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| Photo by Carol Bradovchak|
3rd Place

Carol Bradovchak, Buddy Dive, Nikonos V with 20mm lens and SB-105 strobe.

Carol found the Salt Pier to be a site of wonderful inspiration, providing a brilliant sponge- encrusted background for her environmental portrait of a French angelfish.

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| Photo by Tim Peters|
2nd Place

Tim Peters, Sand Dollar Dive and Photo, Nikonos V with 15mm lens.

One of the challenges of diving Bonaire is that because the reef creatures are so fascinating and abundant, it's hard to train your eye to look beyond the reef and into the blue water. By so doing, however, you'll have excellent opportunities for pelagic sightings, as occurred with Tim and this lovely green sea turtle.

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| Photo by Sipke Stapert|
1st Place

Sipke Stapert, Sand Dollar Dive and Photo, Nikonos RS with 50mm lens.

Intending to sample the incredible marine life diversity of the Town Pier, Sipke was instead captivated by this small blenny he encountered in only four feet of water as he approached the site from the shore.

Bonaire Dive Festival

The results of this year's photo competition graphically demonstrate not only the expertise of the contestants, but also the wealth of photo opportunities that defines the Bonaire dive experience.