Isla Mujeres lightning

I was lucky enough to see two awesome lighting storms during my time in Isla Mujeres. The first storm started right after dark and I was walking back home from a long session of snorkeling. I knew there was a storm coming just by the way the air felt. Suddenly huge winds picked up and the air temp plummeted in a matter of seconds. Next thing I know, I look up and see a full on "Tornadic waterspout" that was about 300 feet tall from the water! It's like a tornado over the water... very cool. Greg got to see it too, but we rushed back home to get the girls and show them from the roof, and it had vanished. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera either. :(

But here are a few other photos I shot-

Thunderheads forming at sunset:

When it got dark this cloud over the ocean was striking about once every 5 seconds-

Big bolt of lighting striking the eastern side of Isla Mujeres-

Underwater images from Isla Mujeres, Mexico

I've been having such a fun time in the warm Caribbean waters with my underwater housing from Del Mar Housings. I have a custom housing for the Canon 5D but I've been talking with Erik a bit about getting a new housing for the 5D Mark2... so we'll see!

These are all images from the past couple days. It's so fun to swim around out there and just shoot whatever you happen to see!

I realized I could use the 100mm macro lens in my 16-35mm port, so I gave that a try. Super hard to focus on stuff, so images were mostly all crap... but good to know I have that option. This Barracuda was hangin around for a bit so I got a couple shots of him. During one dive I actually had about 200 Barracuda circling around me (no camera)! I could barely see through them! After some research I found out they hang around snorkelers because they think we're out there hunting, so they want to feed on the scraps of what we kill, haha. Sorry Barracudas... I'm just pokin around taking photos.

These little stingrays are everywhere. I pet lots of them and they seem harmless... although Bethany seems to think they can still sting?

See the Barracudas?

Surge in the water looks really cool with ripply sandy bottoms.

This is the largest Morey Eel I've ever seen. I never saw his entire body but I think he was approx 8 feet long. He's shy but I managed to get a couple shots of him.

Another Barracuda-

Starfish and curious onlooking fish-

Cool arches. I love the way things look underwater!

A couple times I swam out to the very end of Isla Mujeres, which is the Easternmost point in all of Mexico. There are two bodies of water that meet and it creates an insane tip current that shoots off the tip of the island, with big waves and turbulence. I hung out in the midst of it all for a bit. :)
It took every ounce of strength and energy to be in control of where it was taking me. The only way I could shoot this photo was by diving down 20 feet and grabbing onto a rock, so the 15mph current didn't take me out. This is a wave passing overhead. I love experiencing the sheer force water can dish out... I'm sure any extreme kayaker or surfer would agree.

More fun with the waves hitting the rocks, then draining out and creating large waterfalls before the next wave comes in.

Round two of photos from Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Here are more photos from Isla Mujeres. We're still having an awesome time! Tomorrow we're leaving for Playa Del Carmen and checking into a resort for the wedding we're photographing on Saturday.

Random people selling random things:

Chicken heart soup? Bethany ate it! (not the heart, but the soup)

Seagull eating a fish-

Misc beach photos-

Natalie and Bethany relaaaaxing-

Greg showing us his backflip skills-

Beautiful sunset-

Boats-

Another nice sunset!

Sunrise at the eastern most point in all of Mexico-

Next photos coming soon will be lightning storms and underwater images!

Iguana attack!

The title is pretty misleading, because I am actually the one who attacked the iguana. I'm weird because seeing cool reptiles is never enough. I always have to try and catch them to have them in my own two hands. It's just so much better that way! Here is an old post when I caught a baby alligator.

Here in Isla Mujeres there are iguana's everywhere ranging from teeny to giant. After a bit of trickery I had a nice medium sized iguana in my hands. So fun to see them up close. :)

Turns out they have pretty sharp claws, and they like to bite. He never got a bite of me, but his claws did get me pretty well. But it's all good, I deserved it... and they'll heal quickly. As I always say and Bethany makes fun of me... BATTLEWOUNDS!!! haha

Snapshots:
First I was feeding them mango and papaya peels leftover from breakfast. They loved it!

New friend-

He didn't like the camera all up in his face, as you can see!

BATTLEWOUNDS! haha