Welcome to our monthly newsletter designed to keep you informed of the goings on in the wonderful world of Digital Imaging and Dive Travel. We hope you find this of interest and if you have a topic you would like us to cover in future newsletters, please let us know.
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Joe's Underwater Imaging Instruction |
Back from Lembeh
How often do you get say that a trip was far better than you expected? This one was. The Kasawari-Lembeh Resort is first-class, by far the most luxurious in the area. They didn’t miss an amenity. And the service and ease of diving was like being on a liveaboard. That shouldn’t have surprised me because the owners of the Kasawari were the owners of the Aqua One, my favorite liveaboard. We dove three dives a day, sometimes a night dive, too, long, leisurely dives, escorted by the best divemasters I’ve ever met. The sites were never more than 10 to 15 minutes away. Most were a gentle slope to a maximum depth of 78 feet. Dive times averaged 75 minutes. Can’t beat that. Oh yes, we dove 5 to a boat and had a crew of five. Three divemasters worked as a team, with two taking two or three of us to see the critters, and one scouting. They actually asked us before every dive what we wanted to see. So when the scout found it, he came and got us. These guys had magic eyes. We thank Kung, Nus, Ali, Dede, Wilson, Nonsix and the entire staff, and last but not least, the chef!
Click here to see more images from Indonesia in our Photo Album.
La Paz : Time to Sign Up – Time is Running Out!!!
Our first six-day trip is October 3rd to Oct 8th . The second is October 10tj to Oct 15th . The time is near. If you haven’t reserved your spot for an amazing adventure with whale sharks and sea lions, mantas and barracuda, jacks and jawfish, do it now! La Paz in October is hot, dry and wonderful with 85° water, clear, calm seas. Baja’s Sea of Cortez is what Jacques Cousteau called “the world’s greatest aquarium.” We call it Paradise. And it’s just a two-hour flight from home!.
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October 10-15, 2007
Includes Package does not include airfare and airport
transfers.
We have spots open for the October 3 – 8 trip. Airfare and transfers are included. $1489. Without airfare and transfers $1089. For details, click here Or call 949-448-0499. Or e-mail: orca2@cox.net. Be sure to see some pix from our 2006 trip here and here. |
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Whale Shark ID Product
Go to La Paz, snorkel with whale sharks, have the experience of a lifetime, and be a “citizen scientist” to boot! The morning of the day we have the whale shark spotter plane, I will brief you on how to get the shot. Then you can contribute your whale shark images to the Ecocean Whale Shark Photo-Identification Library, an online database found by Brad Norman to track, study and protect whale sharks. To learn more about the project and how to submit images, go to www.ecocean.org.
Bloopers That Keep You from Getting the Shot
I would have liked to call this Photo Tips for Dummy Divers, but I don’t want to offend so I’ll call it More Sure Ways to Get the Shot.
With a title like that you probably think I’m going to get technical on you. Nope. This is basic stuff. I wrote 10 Sure Ways to Get the Shot in last month’s newsletter. If you missed it, go to our July Newsletter. That was before my group went to Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. It was a virtual candy store for underwater photographers, with oddball little critters I had yet to see in my 55 years of diving. Everyone got great shots. And everyone, yours truly included, missed getting shots because of a faux pas or two.
You can’t get any pictures if…
…they won’t let you into the country.
There’s been a lot of press lately about the long delays in passport processing, resulting in the U.S. government relaxing its rules. As of June 8th, U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or countries in the Caribbean who have applied for but not yet received passports, can re-enter the U.S. by air. This does not exempt U.S. citizens from meeting the requirements to enter other countries., some of which do require a passport. For complete info, go to http://travel.state.gov/travel/
Last month we went to Indonesia and learned another lesson: make sure your passport has enough blank pages! Cara’s passport had space for stamps but did not have a full blank page for the Indonesian Visa. Upon arrival in Manado, she was taken into a small windowless room by two customs officers and told that she would not be permitted to stay in the country. They were sending her back to Singapore. Yikes!!! An hour later the problem was solved with a $100 “waiver fee.” It was close. And scary. I was terrified of what she would do to me if I left her there. Turned out we weren’t the only ones to get the treatment. We met two other Americans who experienced the same on entering Indonesia.
…you forget to put a memory stick in your camera.
Do I really need to explain this?
. . . your system fails the pre-dive leak test and you’re not there to see it.
I always stress the importance of the pre-dive leak test. You know, that’s when you place your assembled system in the rinse tank at the dive shop before you go aboard the boat. If you see bubbles, it means water is displacing air. If you see bubbles from the seal of your housing or from your battery compartment or from the bulkhead connector on your strobe, you have a leak. The sooner you get the system out of the water, the more apt you are to dry it, save it, and use it later.
The service was so terrific at Kasawari that we never had to carry our systems from the camera work station to the fresh water tank. There was always a divemaster there to carry it for us. That was a good thing. But you best be with him when he places it in the water. Because it’s your test not his. It’s your responsibility to check your camera system, not his. One of us, who should have known better, was busy putting on his wetsuit when the divemaster placed his system into the fresh water tank. The divemaster walked away to perform another task. When the diver looked in the tank, he saw water rising within the housing! The moral to the story: always perform the leak test yourself! Note of caution: Escaping bubbles from around O-ring sealing areas are a sign that there is a leak. Get the housing out of the water immediately. Remove batteries, flash card, etc., and dry the system. Once completely dry, perform a system check to determine if the system is in working. Soaked cameras usually die. Insure your underwater systems with DAN/DEPP flood/loss insurance. We do.
. . . you can’t leave the safety of the john.
John couldn’t be far from his, so he stayed behind while we took pictures. I’ve mentioned this before (see Things that Ruin a Dive Trip, March 2007) I have some more to add. It’s not just the water. Kasawari is a first-class resort. I had no qualms about eating or drinking anything they served. But still, we can have digestive problems because our systems are not accustomed to some of the foods prepared in other countries. Our friend Dr. Drew introduced us to Dannon Activa, a probotic yogurt with bifidus regularis that is purported to help regulate your digestive system. If you eat this for two weeks before your trip (no worry, it comes in a variety of .delicious flavors) your intestinal tract will be much better prepared for the onslaught of foreign foods and spices.
Next, pack prepared. Pepto-Bismol, Immodium, and Cipro (by prescription only).
Lastly, use restraint and common sense. Select carefully. Don’t eat the mysterious sausages for breakfast. Eat only eggs and toast. Feeling queasy at lunch? Pass on the seafood stew and go with white rice and broiled chicken. You get the idea.
. . . your mask is fogged and you can’t see.
Mask fogging may be an annoying fuzzy spot on the lens or a major frustration when the lens completely clouds up and you can’t see the subject much less the LCD on your camera. When this happens, forget about taking pictures.
Mask fogging is caused by humid air meeting a cooler surface. The air inside the mask is warmed by your face; the water cools the glass surface. Fogging is caused by a difference in temperature between the inside of your mask and outside. Protect your mask from extremes of temperature till you get into the water. Do not set it upon your forehead. Do not put it on too early, waiting for your turn to jump. Should it fog a little during the dive, break the seal by pulling the top of the skirt away from your face. The rush of cold water should clear it.
A new mask is manufactured with an invisible chemical residue on the glass which makes it apt to fog. The residue must be removed by scrubbing the glass with a nonabrasive cleaning agent like toothpaste. (Warning! Do not do this to masks treated with a fog retardant.) Chemicals may continue to leach from the mask for some time, so repeat the procedure as necessary. Before each dive use an anti-fogging solution. In the old days before commercial products came on the market, we spit in our masks. You don’t see much of that anymore. Our dive boat came equipped with a bottle of no-tears baby shampoo, which worked well for all but Carolyn. She was miserable till Terry gave her his bottle of Sea Gold. She blessed him and got back to taking pictures.
. . . your camera lens is fogged and it can’t see.
It’s the same phenomenon. Cold air trapped inside your camera from your air conditioned room meets warm outside air and the lens fogs. If the lens is fogged, the lens can’t focus and the shutter won’t trigger. Solution: keep the temperature comfortable but not cold in your room. First thing in the morning, open the door and let the warmer outside air gradually warm up your room. Evan likes to sleep in a cold room; his solution is to wrap his camera in towels and put it in the bathroom overnight with the window open and the door to the bedroom closed.
I covered the subject of condensation in greater detail in the May 2006 edition of this newsletter. Click here. www.joeliburdi.com/News-05-01-06htm
. . . you don’t turn on flash mode in your camera.
If you’re diving in 100 foot visibility with sun overhead, you can shoot ambient light pictures at shallow depths and silhouettes. No strobe needed. But we were diving the muck capital of the world. Vis was limited, the sand black, the critters small, and artificial light was absolutely necessary to get a shot. Therefore, your strobe must work. It must have ample battery power to complete the dive. And even more important, it must be activated. In the case of point-and-shoot cameras, the external strobe is triggered by the camera’s built-in flash. The camera must be set to the flash mode. One of us forgot to do that. She was certain her strobe was broken. No, only another oversight that cost her images from a great dive.
. . . if you’re too cold to dive.
I do send out info on the dive destination and mention expected water temp and recommended dive attire. But you have to read it! Average temp was about 78°, not cold but cool enough to warrant no less than a 3mm wetsuit with polartec or neoprene vest. Some of us wore hoods. One poor sole brought only a skin and his hands shook so badly his pictures were out of focus! And that was on the first and second dives. He sat out the third dive. We pooled extra gear and got him outfitted so he could dive comfortably. The moral of this story is, read the literature, and do some research on your own so you pack the appropriate suit for your destination. And always take along a 3mm vest and thin hood on all your dive vacations.
Feedback on DEPP
Cara, Evan, and I have our scuba and underwater imaging equipment insured with DEPP (Divers Equipment Protection Plan). We have had the opportunity to use it. The nameless diver whose system flooded in the rinse tank filed his claim online on August 7th and received this response from Sandy Hall on August 8th:
Joe, Sorry to hear of your flood. I should have the approval on the claim by Friday and be able to order and have shipped the new equipment by Monday.
Here is what Steve Conley had to say about his experienced with DEPP:
Joe, I wanted to let you know that I just received great timely service from DEPP and SEA & SEA's service center in Salinas. My YS-110 strobe flooded about 10 days ago in Catalina. When I checked it out, both the battery compartment and the cable connection were dry. Then I realized that the place where the cable connects was loose. That is where the water got in from. They replaced the strobe with a new one under warranty and got it to me within 5 days of when I sent it in. DEPP handled the coordination. I am very pleased with their service and that they paid attention that I was leaving this Wednesday for Cozumel.
You can access DEPP from my Great Links page.
Back to Palau, February 2008
We were there in February 2007. It was awesome! Amazing! Exceptional! So good that the group asked me to take them back! I promise another custom-tailored trip like no other in Palau..
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Palau
Micronesia
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New on Joe Buy
For Sale: Fuji FinePix S2 Pro digital camera with Sea & Sea DXS2Pro housing. Used on two trips only. Excellent condition. At $1100, a real steal! Stateside inquiries only. Call Joe at 949-448-0599 or email: orca2@cox.net
Mark Your Calendar!
Make your plans now! Maldives Aggressor October 2008
Next Month
• If you’re old enough for AARP, you’re just the right age for SCUBA
• Dos and Don’t’s of Memory Cards
• First Aid Kit and First Aid Tips for Travelers
• Sneak Peak at the Maldives
Underwater Exposures
11 Lantana • Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
phone 949.448.0499 • fax 949.448.0499
email: orca2@cox.net
Copyright Underwater Exposures, Inc. 2007
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