I spent most of the last three months shooting with a Nikon 8-15mm Fisheye lens courtesy of Ikelite, who so kindly let me borrow it to see how it shoots behind both of their dome ports (the 8inch and the compact 8inch dome). It was excellent (and added to my Christmas wish-list) and it did well with both ports. I took it to Bikini Atoll, Roatan, and Tiger Beach.

We knew it would be great behind the large 8inch but we wondered if the compact port would cause the edges to pull a little. I didn’t find that to happen and actually prefered the compact dome inside wrecks (in Bikini Atoll) where I was swimming through tight spaces and unable to back up or get further away from my subject. The small port let me get closer (and the lens focused even when almost touching the subject.)

Ikelite posted some of the results here:

Compact 8inch Dome Images

Large 8inch Dome Images

Bikini Atoll was a place I had dreamed about for years. Having visited and lived in the Marshall Islands and a love for wreck diving, it inevitably crossed my mind continuously over the years. There used to be a land operation that I almost went to the first time I visited Kwaj, but we decided it was too expensive (I was a grad student budget)…it was $1200 for the week. Needless to say, I’ve regretted not spending that money for years.

Since the land operation shut down, only a few boats have been occasionally making the trips. But this summer Master Liveaboards started running regular trips from Ebeye or Majuro to Bikini. Obviously, I had to go, and I was lucky enough to do an assignment for DivePhotoGuide.

Click here for the Article

I’ll admit, reducing the trip into the word limit for DPG was more than a little difficult. I feel like I could have written pages upon pages. The history of the Nuclear Fleet and how these ships ended up at the bottom of the ocean takes entire books to explain. As does the plight of the Bikini people and how the tests changed their lives and their atoll forever (not for the better). And then there is the actual diving. The wrecks are deep, they are remote, and help is far, far away. But descending on the Saratoga for the first time felt like I was visiting a place I never quite thought I’d get to.

There’s a lot more I want to write about the trip and I hope to for some other outlets. But for now, check out the DPG story. It was most certainly a trip of a lifetime and an amazing adventure for me.