Tag: Diving
Our Hawaiian Blue Corner
Another fun video from Mark, diving the harbor at Honokohau…
Paradise Pinnacle
Mark is at is again, publishing a couple fun videos of diving the Kona Coast. As I have been off island for a couple weeks I have not been diving, watching the vids has reminded me all too vividly of that! Need to get some bottom time!
The Sola Photo 800 Dive Light
Once you descend below a few feet underwater photographs begin to be all greens and blue. The reason is that water absorbs the red light, leaving a very skewed color balance in the images. Thus bringing a light source with you becomes important to allow the underwater world to be seen in vivid color.
Enter the Sola Photo 800 by Light and Motion… The Sola offers a nice flood with an even field of illumination for video. Several of my dive buddies use Sola lights, Thus I have had a chance to check out the lights firsthand before putting down a few hundred dollars. I was particularly noting the build quality and the control setup, both are excellent. With dozens of dives on the lights they still work well. Perhaps I should consider one of these little units?
There are several models available, but it is the photo version I was looking at. The light provides 800 lumens of white in an evenly illuminated, large field. The photo version also offers a red mode for framing and focusing that purportedly does not change the behavior of the subject. Deep red light is not seen by many marine critters as there is little to no red light at depth to be seen.
A coincidence of decent sales on the Sola lights occurring on my birthday resulted in a package appearing on my lanai. I ordered light with both the hand grip mount and with a ball mount that will allow attachment to my camera rigs.
Preventing Fogging in a GoPro Camera
Fogging is a real problem with GoPro cameras, particularly in diving where humidity is so often an issue. Closing the camera in a damp tropical environment, then submerging the camera in cooler water to dive a tropical reef is a sure recipe to fog the inside of the optical window.
There is plenty of room in my other camera cases for desiccant packs. I keep a good pile of desiccant on hand in nice little packets just perfect for loading into the camera cases. I put the used packs in my toaster oven for an hour at 150°F to bake the moisture out and reuse the packs over and over again. Simply store in a tightly sealed, airtight container for use.
Diving on Sunday
Dennis likes to go out on Sundays… I go when and where the boat goes, no complaints! Any day on the water is a good one.
I also had a new toy along, a Sola Photo 800 dive light. I am really interested in improving my underwater video, thus looking forward to using this new light.
Reaching the dive site we encountered a problem… No mooring to be found. We had the correct coordinates, but multiple passes with everyone on the bow failed to spot the ball. Thus we dropped Mark in the water to take a look, he spotted the cable lying on the bottom, the mooring ball was gone. Off we headed for another dive site.
We ended up diving Carpenter’s instead. Not a bad choice, this is a nice area with a lot of topography to explore. Large coral pinnacles reach from depths of 40′ to near the surface, with a few canyons and shallow caves to add to the terrain.
I can not say I found anything unusual or new. Just a nice dive with lots of fish. It appears to be a good recruitment year, a lot of juvenile fish about. This included several dragon wrasse to chase through the coral rubble with the camera. I love how they swim, somehow going in the direction they desire without appearing to move. Seeming to just drift like the piece debris they attempt to mimic as camouflage.
Despite the shallow dive site we dove the nitrox anyway, the tanks were rented and needed to be returned full or empty. No nitrogen lethargy after these dives! Everyone was ready to go for more, nitrox really does keep you from feeling the after effects of the dive.
Trying not to take it for granted just how good we have it here on the island. As we cruise back to harbor we are enjoying the sunlight on the bow and talking about life. The conversation turns to just how miserable life can be in much of the world. We look about and make a point to notice… Life is good here.
Dwarf Moray and Sponge
Further Adventures of the Aqua Safari
Mark has put together another great video of our diving adventures aboard the Aqua Safari. Yes, we have this much fun…
A Long Dive
Photography can be a tedious pursuit, even more so underwater where conditions can be very challenging. This leads to a regular issue in mixed dive parties. The photographers go slow, really slow. The other divers are ready to cover some ground. This occasionally means that the guys leave me behind.