Undersea Photo collection by Don barnett

Some of the better images can be purchased as 8x10 prints, framed or unframed.
Click here to see the gallery of photos available

If interested please email a request to: uw-photo@donbarnett.com
unframed images sell for $95. Cost for framing varies.

++++++++++Palau & Truk Lagoon Photos:+++++++++++

New!! Wreckage of theNippo Maru, Truk Lagoon

A two man tank missing the gun barrel but otherwise in fairly good condition sets upon the deck of this wreck. Lifeboat davitts and the helm are also photographed. Some of the images are severely freckeled due to problems with the developing chemicals.

Wreckage of Japanese bomber, Eten Island in Truk Lagoon

A fairly well intact "Betty Bomber " shot down just after getting off the ground on the now abandoned WWII Japanese airstrip on Eten Island. Now a nice artifact that doesn't pomise to be around much longer as the aluminum gets thinner and boats damage it in the fairly shallow water

landscapes, Peliliu's war artifacts, The Fujikawa Maru

This is a combination of some of the land shots from Palau as well as shots from the Fujikawa Maru in Truk. The Fujikawa Maru, a japanese freighter containing mostly aircraft and artillery. The bottom of the hold ( hold #2 ) containing the airplanes ( zero fighters ) is at about 90 feet as is the engine room . The boat is about 400' long and sports two huge guns on bow and stern (british made) you'll see the photo of the bow gun encrusted wth corals.

Jellyfish Lake, Palau

Jellyfish lake is a wonderful and spooky place. It is a brackish (mix of salt and fresh water) inland body of water with an extremely deep bottom in the hundreds of feet deep. The water below 50 feet or so is uninhabitable because of high toxin levels created by bacteria. The temperature is about 90 degrees at the surface and gets hotter the deeper you go. We hiked in with our snorkeling gear and swam out toward the center of the lake where the jellyfish congregate in the sunlight. I swam down to about 35 feet and it was intensly hot, maybe 110 degrees, and very dark because of medium low visibility. These jellyfish have no stinging abilities. sometimes they were so dense they would be bouncing off your body and we had to be careful not to damage their soft bodies.

Peliliu Express, Palau

You saw previously on the Palauan island of Peliliu the artifacts in the museum and the tanks and guns on land, now see what it looks like underwater in the same place. This location is known for it's ripping current (thus the 'express' in the name) but we hit it on a pretty calm day. These are in black and white again and there is a pretty nice shot of a reef calm also known as "killer clam" , hardly , and a pregnant whitetip reefshark and some giant bumphead parrotfish (rare) in the background. They are at the very end.

Shark Shoal, Truk, Outer reef

Truk Lagoon is known for its Shipwrecks but the outer reef is pretty cool too. It doesn't boast the visibility of Palau but there are plenty of sharks and dog toothed snappers to get your attention. The guides baited in some at a reef called Shark Shoal at a depth of about 70 feet.

The wreck of the Shinkoku Maru, Truk Lagoon

The Shinkoku Maru is a Japanese naval tanker. It is huge. At 500 feet long it took us 3 dives just to get an idea of what the ship had to offer. Lots of fish life and coral on this boat. To give an idea of scale, the engine heads in the engine room photos are over 4 feet across.

The wreck of the Heian Maru, Truk Lagoon

Ths boat was full of torpedos and armament including huge projectiles for battleship guns that are aguably the largest ever made. Our guide located a skull of a japanese soldier. I would have been happy to let it rest but I figure the locals earned the right to disturb whatever they will. I however was just there to make photographic record. The Heian rests on is side in 110 feet of water and was ravaged by fire before sinking. It was a submarine tender and therefore had lots of sub parts on board including periscopes and of course torpedos.

Coming next ---- Mantas of Molokini Crater and more Truk Lagoon photos

++++++++++++++Local Diving+++++++++++++++


San Juan Islands, Washington Coast (pacific northwest)

When I first got My Nikonos V underwater 35mm camera I made the mistake of taking it out before replacing "all" the O' rings. The end result was a lot of wet film, but the images were interesting and kind of beautiful.

Point Lobos, Cannery wall, Monterey California

My first sucessful roll of film throught my new Nikonos V!! Fortunately we saw no white sharks on this trip.I had great sucess with a high speed black and white slide film by agfa called "scala"

Wreck of the Harrison, Lake Couer D'Alene, Idaho

What do you dive in Idaho??? How bout a steamship wreck over a hundred years old

Plumose Anemones, Puget Sound , Washington

Like clouds, on stems, these large transluscent white anemones can live to 100 years old if undisturbed. This is the beginning to a series of studies I'll be doing on these beauties, and the occaisional other critter I can't refuse to shoot.