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who are all these people!

Hmmm
First visit
That was 2004, we stayed S of town and commuted 2-3 times daily into town. Great memories

The question. for your first trip, when in town, stay clse to front street and use common sense. The rest is not dangerous but you need to develop the same "common sense" you have at home. That takes a few days

Enjoy!

Wow Wes & Jill - incredible pictures! What kind of camera did you use for the underwater pics?

The camera is an older digital Sealife Reefmaster. It is a regular digital camera used in the ReefMaster waterproof housing with a Digital Pro external flash. The Camera is not really anything special. It's all about the housing.

Their new stuff smokes my old camera/housing. Beware!!! we learned on our last dive at Half Moon Wall that Barracudas are attracted by the strobe. I had a 4 footer charge and then stop about 2 feet away from me. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to push the shutter release and take the photo. The raw photo shows only the head and gills, and teeth (of course) Then he turned and swam right beside me for a few yards while checking me out. http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2084350790054893450ypozRL

We'll be back in November!

I've had some wonderful experiences swimming with barracudas.
If you approach them at a 45 degree angle you can get very close before paralleling off to swim beside them. I make and keep eye contact and there is something very spiritual about this connection.
By holding my camera steady, in position, through out I can get some good footage.
The sea creatures are just as alive and interesting as any land critter.
The key is to never have the animal feel trapped. I've had times where a barracuda has followed me throughout the dive.

Harriette, I've had many experiences swimming with Barracudas also. Eye contact is very important I believe. One time in the Dry Tortugas we ran into a pack of about 35-40 of them. Smaller ones about 2 - 2 1/2' long but they seemed very menacing in a pack. There were 4 or 5 of us and eventually they moved aside and let us through.

Another time I was going to do some work under a boat for a guy at anchor and that morning he had cleaned fish (unknown to me) on deck and threw the remains over the side. I made several attempts to work under the boat but this 4 or 5' would not back off and I had to leave. He had staked out his territory and that was that.

My opinion of them changed last trip when I found out how delicious barracuda is. Never was afraid of them because it never seemed they were threatening, but always seemed to catch them when I was fishing for other species. Now I'm glad when I catch a 2-3 foot one.

One word=TASTY

skip, I never ate them because in the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean they eat reef fish that are poison to people on some reefs. We were never sure so we stayed away. You have to have local knowledge. I would gladly try them if I was assured they where safe to eat.

I used to catch a lot of them when dragging a lure behind my sailboat in shallow water. They put up a good fight but we sent them back. The tuna, dorato, kingfish and wahoo stayed for dinner.

I agree with skippy and dabunk: delicious! I've eaten them out of many oceans with no problem ever.