The girls head out on the Humboldt to the HMCS Yukon to do a night dive to celebrate the 10 years since the ship became a reef. They had a ceremony of their own and placed a new American flag on the wreck to commemorate the day! A light boat was there to help light up the Yukon for the divers and everyone geared up with lots of glow sticks, bracelets, and necklaces for the underwater party!

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10% off your next SCUBA or snorkeling gear equipment purchase. Use coupon code: Scuba Diver Girls

Choosing the right Dive Center is one of the most important decisions you will make when starting your diving adventure. With three professional training centers, Scubaland has the largest training staff and course schedule in the Austin area. Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or even professional level diver you will find all the courses you need, and as you learn you will enjoy our heated, indoor training pool and top of the line rental gear.

See for yourself what scuba diving is all about! Try a Discover Scuba Diving experience.  Have you ever wondered what it’s like to breathe underwater. If you want to find out but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into a certification course, Discover Scuba Diving will let you try scuba to see if you like it. Scubaland is a PADI 5 Star dive center that offers a discovery program either in our heated pool.

Scubaland stocks the best brands in the scuba industry. We stand behind the brands that we sell. Come in and see for yourself that we have the best selection of equipment in Austin. Scubaland will match a competitors price!! Just Ask!! Scubaland Adventures wants your business. We offer a winning combination of low prices, great service and quality products. However – if you find a product that we sell at a lower price elsewhere (including the internet), we will match that price. Just bring us the ad or let us know where you have found a lower price.

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The girls take part in the underwater games! There is freestyle swimming, crab races, kelpball, and surge control!!! It is never ending fun…

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Spend $100 on Silver Ocean and Zen related Jewelry and receive a $20 value necklace with your order when mentioning Scuba Diver Girl! AND sign up for any Miss Scuba Trip and get free Miss Scuba Apparel.

Miss Scuba was designed to bring women together from all over the world who share enthusiasm about diving, travel and adventure. Miss Scuba is more than a group of women that travel the world together to explore the most exotic places and best dive sites.

Miss Scuba is more than a fantastic resource where women share incredible adventures and helpful tips about travel, hot new products and exciting destinations.

What Miss Scuba is, is a culture of its own; an expression of free will, untamed souls, a rebellion against mediocrity and the yearning for finding adventure and excitement in life. From all of our girls in over 20 countries and on every continent; We are Miss Scuba. We are regular, but extraordinary girls, just like you…

Miss Scuba, the thriving, pioneer site for female divers is proud to release the first edition of the Miss Gogh Jewelry Collection. The debut collection features fine industrial, sterling silver adornments in various ocean themes: both mythical and real. Hand-crafted by the both gifted artisan and youngest female PADI Course Director in the world, Miss Gogh celebrates the natural and empowers the individual.

The artist’s extensive diving experience melded with studies at the prestigious Budapest Art Institute spawned a beautiful complementation of natural tranquility and style with subtle European flavor. Each hand-crafted piece reflects the artist’s sense of mystery and individuality, and beckons the free spirit in every self-made women.

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Hello Conservation Friends!
My Name is Abbey Nichols-Callaway, better known as just ‘Abbey’. I am a fine artist who paints marine life with a  special passion for sea turtles. Having been surrounded by Floridian wildlife since birth, I’ve grown into an avid spectator of both flora and fauna native to the area. One of my most favorite past times was going to the beach at night to watch for sea turtles nesting and little hatching making the journey to the sea for their first swim.
In the last few years I have taken my art work to the next level with efforts to use proceeds from my art towards funding conservation efforts for marine life organizations. You can view one of my sea turtle paintings that I donated to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) at my website www.AbbeyArt.com. The LMC hosted their annual fund raiser/auction to the public and was able to sell my sea turtle painting for $500. This money went back to funding their mission to help saving sea turtles. I have two paintings up for sale on my online art store. I do commissions for people as well. If you are interested in having an original sea turtle painting of your own, I would be glad to paint them! Any of my Sea Turtle Art that sells, I will be taking 20% from the earnings made on each piece of art to donate to the National Save The Sea Turtle Foundation supporting their mission for sea turtles.
My recent marine life artwork has taken on a new style of mixed media that has become the focal point of my portfolio. The artwork I create is a mixture of modeling paste, acrylic paint, and watercolor painting. The secret behind my effort is the precise handling of the materials and the visual effects created, which give my art a realistic yet abstract appearance. I have been working with imagery of marine wild life, primarily various species of fish and sea turtles. I tend to make my sea creatures animated but use realistic details to capture specific species of which the work is based. My finished work exhibits lifelike, fluid motion due to the optical illusion created by the abstract colors and textured canvas. This personified approach results in unique pieces that represent my passion and respect for all aquatic life.
Thank you for reading!
Sincerely,
Abbey Nichols-Callaway
Fine Artist and Designer
ArtByAbbey@yahoo.com
www.AbbeyArt.com

http://twitter.com/AbbeyART

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Abbey-ART-Gallery/349347575445

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Mention you are a SDG fan and get 10% off all courses up to and including PADI Divemaster and any PADI Specialties. Also 5% off any non training dives, either by boat or shore dives. The same 5% discount for PADI IDC’s and any Instructor level course (Specialties, MSDT, IDC Staff, EFRI and so on).

We have discovered many new dive locations, and killer baja diving sites! Cousteau is quoted as saying that the Sea of Cortes [is the] “The aquarium of the world”. We have been lucky to find some amazing dive locations that back up those lofty claims. As we are a PADI 5 Star IDC Facility #21073, we can offer all levels of courses, from Open Water Diver to Divemaster, through to Instructor Development Courses.

I have only ever had two professions. A professional soldier wearing a British Army uniform for 18 years, and a PADI Instructor since 1991. I have lived, worked and dived in the Mediterranean, (Gozo, Malta, Cyprus and Gibraltar) the Red Sea taking in (north to south) Israel, Jordan, Egypt, the Sudan, Eritrea, the Yemen and out into the Indian Ocean to the Seychelles and up to Kenya and Tanzania. The Far East living, working etc in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and Sipadan. The east and west coasts of the US, but not too much there. Belize, Honduras (Gjuanaja and Roatan) and Jamaica by way of Oslo, Norway where I lived for eight years and owned a DC there teaching out of Oslo. It is much warmer where I now teach and own a DC here in Mulege, BCS which is just 610 miles south of TJ.

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California is a critical feeding ground for endangered leatherback sea turtles, who are known to gorge on 100-200 pounds of jellyfish a day!  Sadly, these turtles are exposed to preventable plastic waste in these critical foraging waters off our coast.

Each year, more and more sea turtles become entangled in floating debris or mistake plastic litter for food and suffer the effects of malnutrition, intestinal blockage, and exposure to toxic chemicals in the plastic such as bisphenol-A (BPA).

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project needs your help today to reduce future plastic waste into sea turtle habitat by supporting each of the three bills moving through the California legislature.

Read more on each bill below. Photo (C) Doug Perrine / Seapics.com

Click, Send, and Share All Three Actions to Reduce Plastics

Your help is needed to save California’s sea turtles from the growing threat of plastics, and to ensure California sets a strong example for the rest of the nation. Please take action and complete all the steps below,

1) Click here to support AB 2138 “Plastic Ocean Pollution Reduction.”

2) Click here to support AB 1998 “Ban Plastic Carryout Bags.”

3) Click here to support AB 925 “Plastic Bottle Caps.”

4) Click here to make a donation to the Sea Turtle Restoration Project to support our Bag the Plastics campaigns!

As a marine biologist, toxicologist, and volunteer with California’s Coastal Cleanup for over 15 years, I understand the importance of this issue and hope you will share this email with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Sincerely,

Chris Pincetich

Campaigner & Marine Biologist

Sea Turtle Restoration Project

AB 2138 (Chesbro) – Plastic Ocean Pollution Reduction, Recycling and Composting Act

AB 2138 would prohibit food providers from distributing single-use food packaging and bags unless they are accepted for either recycling or composting in at least 75% of households in a jurisdiction and are recovered at rate of at least 25%. This policy will make the fast food sector financially responsible to:

• Switch to packaging that is compatible with the recycling and/or composting services available in the communities they serve.
• Work with local governments and recyclers to increase processing and market capacity for recyclable and compostable packaging alternatives.
• Work with consumers to ensure that their packaging is recycled or composted.

Single-use food packaging litter kills endangered sea turtles that become entangled or mistake it for food. Single-use packaging is a primary source of urban litter and oceanic litter pollution, according to storm drain and beach cleanup studies. Polystyrene, plastic bags and other non-recyclable packaging have a high propensity to be littered because they are light and aerodynamic and are consumed away from home. Up to 80% of ocean pollution is litter from urban runoff, and non-recyclable single-use food packaging is a primary component of urban litter.

AB 1998 (Brownley) – Carryout Bags

AB 1998 will reduce dangerous plastic bag litter pollution by banning plastic bags at large retail outlets. Plastic bags are a primary component of urban litter pollution. And urban litter pollution is the primary component of marine litter pollution. Plastic already outweighs plankton in the North Pacific Gyre. Plastic pollution costs California families hundreds of dollars annually in hidden litter clean-up costs. Current retailer practices result in the distribution of approximately 19 billion plastic carryout bags annually.

AB 925 (Saldaña) – Plastic Bottle Caps
Requires plastic bottle caps be attached to the plastic container and be recyclable. As more than half of all single use beverages in plastic containers being consumed outside of the home, these plastic bottle caps can easily become part of the litter and waste stream. Beach clean-up studies find that plastic bottle caps are among most littered items. AB 925 proposes to address this problem by requiring that the bottle caps remain connected to the bottle, more than 60% of which are currently recycled, thereby significantly reducing the waste, litter and threat to wildlife posed by discarded bottle caps.

Source for above information: Californians Against Waste.

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In the world of adventure and dive travel Tonga is one of those destinations that has yet to be discovered by the mainstream. While the diving is very good this remote destination is one of the only places in the world where the government issues a set number of permits allowing people to snorkel with Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales.

An independent kingdom, Tonga is comprised of 176 coral and volcanic islands, thirty-six of which are inhabited. The islands are divided into three major groups.  Nuku’alofa, the capital, is located on the main island of Tongatapu and is the most developed of the islands. The Ha’apai group is in the center,  and contains numerous flat, low lying islands. The Vavau’ island group is home to most of the tourism.  The islands feature tall hills, volcanoes, jungle, sandy beaches, and safe anchorages for boats.

As planes fly, Tonga is about an 90 minute flight from Fiji.  On the atlas  the islands are on the eastern edge of the Indo-Australian Plate, not far the Tonga Trench. This is a long oceanic valley reaching depths over 5 miles deep.

Whales

Each year, Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales leave their feeding grounds in Antarctica and swim to the tropical waters of Tonga to mate and give birth. They like the shallow protected waters between the islands to nurse and the deeper water for mating.

Wisely, the Tongan government has realized the value of Humpback whales in terms of eco-tourism and the money it brings into local communities in the form of charter fees, souvenirs, restaurants, hotels,  taxis, and taxes.  The fact that the whales come each year and are a resource for tourism out ways the value of selling a whale for its meat. The money generated flows through the islands and affects a lot of Tongan families rather than making one family rich which is what would happen by selling the fishing rights.

Most of the whale watching is done in the Vavau’ island group. The islands  have volcanoes and hills which provide shelter from wind and waves. The Ha’apai group is made up of a group of flat low lying islands.  In perfect conditions it’s idyllic, but when there are storms there is nowhere to hide and it can get nasty. Currently there are two land based operators offering whale watching and swimming tours. Very little whale watching is done from Tongatapu.

For the last 14 years or so a Fiji based live-aboard called the Naia has spent 2 months of the season offering trips in Ha’apai.  Due to some recent issues regarding the permit process the Naia has decided not to offer trips to Tonga in 2010.   At this time the owners are confidant the problems with the permit process will be fixed and trips will resume in 2011.

In order to keep the whales as a natural resource, rules and guidelines have been established. For example, in Vavau’ only 13 whale swim licenses are issued. Each permit holder is allowed two boats.  So, in theory there can be as many as 26 boats. In practice however, there are about 15-18 boats out on the water. Not every company has two boats, and some boats might be down for maintenance or waiting for parts to arrive.

The regulations also make it clear that there can only be 4 swimmers plus a guide in the water at any time.  Swimmers must float together with the guide and are prohibited from free diving on mother and calfs. It is not legal to scuba dive with the whales.  Whales must be given a 90 minute break between the time one boat finishes and another boat boat starts. This is to keep other boats from lining up and starting to swim just as soon as one boat falls off.  Encounters are limited to 90 minutes with the clock starting just as soon as the first group of swimmers gets in the water.

There are many kinds of behavior going on while the whales are in Tonga. Participants will likely encounter single males singing, heat runs which is when the males are fighting for dominance and the right to mate, calm periods when the mother whale is resting and nursing, and active periods when the mother is teaching baby how to breach and slap their flukes on the surface.

Swimming with whales is unlike any other experience on earth. Besides being a surreal it is quite humbling.  Literally your floating next to a leviathan that could crush you easily but instead is gentle and curious. When a whale swims by and looks at you there is an instant connection thatwill change your life and make you an advocate for preserving and protecting these magnificent mammals.

Types of operators

There are two types of charters for swimming with whales.  Open or share boats, and private charters.

Open boats are affordable and cost between $150-200 US per person per day. These boats take around 8-10 people, and are perfect for visitors planning a week vacation and want to enjoy a few days whale watching,  scuba diving, sailing, relaxing, or exploring the island. These tourists are going for the novelty and experience and satisfied with a few glimpses of  whales underwater, as well as seeing breaches, spy hops, and tail slaps from the boat.

Avid underwater photographers might get frustrated coming so far to get to Tonga then having to wait for a turn in the water. For that reason it might be worth the added cost of going on a private charter dedicated to whale photography.

Private charters are for small groups whose expectations are higher than regular tourists and are perfect for scientists, naturalists, and nature photographers. In many cases the group size is smaller so there are no rotations. So, everyone is able to go on every drop. In cases where rotations are needed, participants are advised when to be dry in order to shoot topside and when its time to be in your mask and snorkel ready to get wet.

Captains that work with photography groups understand why its important  to keep the boat on the sunny side of the whales, as well as recognize behavior that indicates if the whales are on the move or if they want to interact with people. If a group of whales are sighted but not right for swimming the captain will keep looking for cooperative whales.

In comparison, a captain of a open boat might elect to put his swimmers in the water with whales he knows are on the move just to be sure all of the rotations of people get at least one chance in the water.   As you can see each captain has different motivation.

Private charter fees are based on a day rate plus fuel consumption. Some charters are organized by marine naturalists and professional photographers and their expenses are usually covered by the participants.  The added costs are well worth it as the professional can share tips and techniques that can really make a difference and save you from making costly mistakes.  Depending upon the size of boat and number of engines those considering a private boat can expect to use anywhere from 100 to 500 liters of fuel a day.  At $1.80 US/liter, this can really add up. With these costs in mind participants can expect to pay 2-3 times that of going on a share boat.

Typical Day

The daily plan is to spend 7-8 hours a day in the boat keeping your eyes on the horizon looking for blows of air, and breaches on the horizon. In marine and nature photography there is an old saying hurry up and wait. This is definitely true when it comes to whales.  Mother nature takes her time to deliver cooperative whales, good visibility, and nice weather.  For those that really want a good experience plan on 8-10 days on the water.  Remember, patience is a virtue.

Once whales are sighted, experienced captains and guides will observe and recognize behavior patterns and know when when its time to get in the water and when its best to keep looking for cooperative whales.

When it is time to swim, it is very important to be as quiet as possible when entering the water. Whales do not like a lot of noise coming from the surface and their reaction is to simply disappear.  As each boat is configured differently the crew will explain entry techniques that enable participants to get into the water while creating as little noise as possible.

Big fin kicks that break the surface and create a bubble wake are bad and can also end encounters. Depending upon style of fin used it might be wise to swim side-ways in order to keep the fin tips underwater.  Large fins made popular by skin divers are not needed as they are designed for ascending and descending not for floating at the surface. They are also big and cumbersome on the boat.

When in the water always stay together in a group and if swimming travel in a parallel course to the whales.  Never swim strait towards the  whale.  Do not separate and approach whales from opposite sides as this causes stress for the mother whale and is the fastest way to end an encounter.  Imagine how you would feel if an animal came at you at full speed and you did not know its intentions. Keep in mind that when the mother is relaxed the calf is free to explore its world and check out us humans.  This is when wonderful encounters take place and lifelong memories are made.

In the event a swimmer loses position during an encounter and is separated from the group, or finds themselves on the far side of the whale, its best to avoid the urge to swim fast to catch up.  Chances are the whale turned, the current picked up, or the swimmer simply got lost in the moment.  Should this happen its best to fall off and wait for boat pick up. If appropriate the captain will drop you close to the others.

There have been cases where whales and people have come in contact. Most of the time it’s because the baby is curious..  Swimmers and photographers need to pay close attention at all times and do everything possible to stay out of the whales way.

There are several companies in Tonga offering whale swim trips as well as professional photographer led expeditions. Try doing a search on google for whale photography expeditions. Another good source of information is http://www.vavau.to/activities3.html

Logistics and Details

Just getting to Tonga can be an adventure and is most likely a major part of the reason the Friendly Isles have not yet become popular. From LA it takes 10 hours to get to Fiji. Depending upon airline and routing, a layover in Nadi Fiji, or Tongatapu, Tonga is required. Keep in mind in Tonga, domestic flights do not operate on Sundays. In most cases the international date line will be crossed and a day will be lost.  The good news is you get a day back upon return.

The distance to Tonga from LA,  is 5167 miles and from Hawaii is 2,965 miles. Air New Zealand offers flights to Tonga arriving at Fua’amotu Airport (TBU).  Air Pacific offers flights from LA and Honolulu. Continental also offers flights to Tonga.  This is one of those destinations that the effort it takes to research and book flights on your own is not worth it.  Using a travel agent that has done business in the Pacific and knows the airlines will save hours of strife and frustration.

Flights don’t always operate as advertised. For this reason trip insurance is strongly suggested.  Be prepared to pay excess baggage fees, and to have your carry on  weighed on all domestic Tonga flights.
  Cathams Air is currently the only domestic airline although there is a unconfirmed rumor a new airline may start sometime in the 2010 season. www.airchathams.com

If a layover is required in Fiji, The Tanoa International Hotel, is convenient, clean, and includes airport pick up and drop off service. www.tanoa-international-fiji.com/Fj If hungry take a taxi to the Chicken Bite restaurant, about a five minute drive. The menu features pizza, fried chicken, and some of the best curry anywhere. They also sell cakes and tasty desserts.

Those with an extended layover in Tongatapu can get a day room and rest at the Fuaamotu Lodge. Located a five minute drive this is a great alternative to getting a taxi and driving to town which is 30 minutes away.   The place is not fancy but its a perfect place to unwind after a long flight. The food is good and portions are big. Expect to eat tapioca or sweet potato, a local green vegetable and chicken. This is a great way to spend 6 hours.  Right across the street is a small street side store that sells cold beer and snacks.  In 2008, the cost was $50TOP, about $25US and included transportation to and from the airport.  www.fuaamotulodge.com.

The other choice is to get a taxi and go to town (30 minute drive) for lunch and then a island tour.   Be advised most of the drivers in charge by the person. No need to make a reservation in advance, once you get outside of the customs door several taxi drivers will meet you.  The price wont vary much so ask the drivers if their cars have A/C or windows that go all the way down. The waterfront is a good Italian place and has a hotel upstairs making it very convenient for overnight layovers. www.waterfront-lodge.com

In Vavau’, there are several choices for accommodations including bed and breakfast style, backpackers, home stay, and hotels in Neiafu, and a number of resorts on the outer islands.

The Puataukanave is in the center of town.  It has clean rooms, great views, and internet. The Hilltop Hotel is another good option. The paradise Hotel burned down in 2008 and has not been rebuilt.  For more information on accommodations check out www.vavau.to

The rainy season lasts from December to April.   The most extreme months are from January to March when temperatures can be be 101 degrees with 100% humidity. Thunderstorms can occur in December and February. The Vavau’ group, gets the most rain and the Ha’apai islands, the most wind.

In Tongan life, family and religion are of utmost importance. As Christians the people do not work on Sundays. Expect everything except a few restaurants, and resorts  to be closed. This includes airports, markets, and banks.

Scuba Diving

In regard to scuba diving, Vavau’ offers some excellent drift dives along walls and drop offs where you will see occasional white tip reef, black tip, and Grey reef sharks, soft & hard corals, and a myriad of fish.  The macro life is good with lots of nudibranchs, crabs, shrimps, and small fish.  There is a large wreck of a copra steamer right in Neiafu Harbor. The ship has become home to a school of resident bat fish and a Woebegone shark.  On most dives there is also a school of fusiliers being chased by a large number of Jacks making for great photo and video opportunities.

The most frequently used dive sites are within a 20 minute boat ride from the harbor and feature gorgonian fans, soft corals and hard coral gardens. Topography includes grottos, cracks, caves, arches, patch reefs, ledges, and crevices.  The reefs are healthy and feature a variety of hard corals. Visibility often exceeds 100 feet.

These are a few of the most popular dives.

Sea Fans – 3 lush caverns await you on this dive as well as a healthy hard coral reef between the caverns. The middle cavern is lined with yellow gorgonian sea fans that stretch for 40ft. As you cruise along the reef, white tip reef sharks, blue fin trevally and a myriad of reef fish await you. Nudibranchs galore inside the caverns as well as on the reef.

North Shore – a wall dive lush with soft corals starts you dive, look down into the blue abyss as you cruse along the wall before ending up in a lush hard coral garden with snappers, anemone fish, and napoleon wrasse. Spend the rest of your time in and amongst large brain corals, cruising for lion fish, leaf fish and nudibranchs

Caddyshack – named after a miniature golf course, the twists and turns will take you through soft coral swim through’s, anemone fish, dragonets and white tip reef sharks are often seen here. For the macro divers, the soft corals are home to many creatures including scorpion fish, nudibranchs and much more.

Pinnacles – underwater sea mounts await you for this exciting dive, if the current is strong we hook into the reef to wonder at the abundance of fish. Schooling barracuda will cruise by you, as will wahoo and tuna’s. Finish the dive cruising through the blue to shallower pinnacles with soft corals and sea fans.

There are just a handful of scuba diving operators around Tonga. A two tank dive with all equipment will cost about $110US per day.  Prices vary per operator.  There is no decompression chamber in Tonga. The closest is in Fiji Everyone going to Tonga should have DAN insurance in case evacuation is needed for  a medical or dive related issue.

Diving is year round in Tonga.  In the month of January the temperature is about 99 degrees with 99 % humidity but with it often comes smooth seas, clear water, and perfect conditions for dive operators to travel to remote sites and to do blue water dives on Fab buoys and sea mounts hoping to see Tuna, Mahi Mahi, sharks, and possibly a whale shark.

When diving the fads and sea mount the idea is to maintain a depth of about 20 feet and just hang out and see what swims by. Good weather lso makes it possible to dive at Late the Volcano located 38 miles off shore. This area features soft corals, black sand bottom and is fantastic.  During the boat ride out participants should keep their eyes on the horizon looking  for whale sharks, or Sperm Whales.

Dive Vavau is the only company offering blue water adventures at this time. This company has two boats. One is a fast zodiac with two huge engines, and the other is a spacious dive boat with one large inboard.  Dolphin Diving has plans to purchase a new boat with two engines and once done will start offering tours.

Dive Operators

Dive Vava’u Phone (676) 70-492
E-mail info@divevavau.com Website: www.divevavau.com

Dolphin Pacific Diving www.dolphinpacificdiving.com Phone (676) 70 292 
E-mail divedpd@kalianetvav.to VHF 71 “Dolphin Dive”
 PO Box 131, Neiafu

Riki Tiki Tours Phone (676) 70975
 Email : rikitikitonga@yahoo.com

Beluga Diving Ltd Fungamisi,
Neiafu 
Vava’u. 
Kingdom of Tonga 
phone/fax + 676 70327 
VHF Ch 09, 
www.belugadivingvavau.com Phone and Fax (676) 70 327 
or (676) 71 115 
E-mail beluga@kalianet.to

Whale Photography tips

When photographing large animals in the blue, strobes are not used. They create drag and are not powerful enough to light up a sharks, school of dolphins, or whales. So the best thing to do is work with Ambient light. When possible keep the sun behind you and allow it to illuminate the subject.

Using a fast shutter speed helps problems like image blur from ruining portraits and  can  help overall image composition by freezing rays of sunlight that dance in the water column, adding a sense of drama and dimension to the scene.

Speeds like 250^th and  320^th work well. On days when the sky is dark and overcast turn up the ISO from 100 or 200 to  400 or 800.  Todays cameras make it possible to set the ISO much higher than ever thought possible without noise issues.

Select shutter priority.  This lets the camera select the f-stop.  In blue water work there is not a big issue with depth of field so let the camera does what it wants, as long as it freezes the motion.

Set the focus to single,  and the drive to continuous high.   Shoot short bursts at a time and try to avoid filling the cache.  Even though high shutter speeds will minimize camera shake swimming and moving in the water has an effect.  Shooting in bursts provides an opportunity to create a crisp image as the first and last image might be soft as a result of motion, but the frames in the middle are sharp.   Short bursts are written to the card in less time than a sustained burst.

As for lenses the widest the better.  Any of these will do the job. Cannon 15 mm, Nikon 10.5 mm &16 mm fish eye, and Tokina 10 -17.

Douglas J Hoffman

www.douglasjhoffman.com

dhimages@maui.net

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Mention you are a Scuba Diver Girls Fan and get 5% off our gear packages and 10% of any order over $75.00

Adventure Sports is Western Colorado’s diving leader offering the finest in scuba and snorkeling gear as well as being a full service SSI & PADI dive center located in beautiful Grand Junction, Colorado. Adventure Sports is owned by Donna Sloan-Adams aka Watergirl who is a Master Instructor and together with her staff offer training programs for Scuba Rangers up to Assistant instructors. Donna and her staff aim to satisfy all levels of divers with quality gear, quality instruction and quality service.

At Adventure Sports you will find a large selection of diving gear just for the ladies. From the Aqualung Diva (still have some in stock at a nice discounted price) to the wide selection of women’s wetsuits you will find a part of the store just for you. Stocking most sizes in Aqualung and Pinnacle wet suits and soon to be offering swim wear designed to hold up to the water environment.

With 2 Master technicians on staff, Adventure Sports offers a fully stocked service department. This ensures that your service is done with factory parts and to factory standards on most brands of regulators and BCD’s. If you just need air fills, they have you covered there as well.

Looking for ways to off gas? How about a float on the Colorado River in one of their river tubes or kayaks? Maybe an afternoon of fishing with one of the canoes up on the Grand Mesa is what you are looking for?

And don’t forget to give Diver the pup a belly rub!

Adventure Sports on Scuba Diver Girls Directory

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Bravo to PADI for coming up with the concept of providing scuba training online. Recently I took the Online UW Photography class offered by PADI. The course was jammed packed with material and took about 5 hours. I was pleased to see this type of class finally made it to my PC and the reasons are plenty!

First, it is very difficult to find time to take in classroom scuba classes with my busy schedule. So having the luxury of picking and choosing when I took the class and how much content I went through for each session was such a bonus! Second, it was great to move at my own pace! Normally when you sit in a class there is always that one student who just might not get the concepts, and then that slows the entire class down. Not to mention makes it quite boring. The third reason online classes are useful is because you are able to start and stop the session anywhere or replay parts of the session that you need more time with. Also, you can move more quickly through things that maybe you already know! This was especially useful with the UW Photography class because you want to stop and play with your camera to help solidify the concepts and there were things I already knew so I could breeze right through that. Another thing about photography is most of the time there are varying degrees of experience even in a beginner course, therefore, the online course levels the playing field by giving all the instructional information needed for any level UW photographer to learn!

This class gave me all the concepts and understanding of what it takes to shoot a good picture or video underwater. At the end I understood all the functions that are needed to be modified in different situations eg. light, dark, murky, close up, far away. I was also left feeling confident on how to care for my camera while in use or in between diving. In addition, I was even informed on PC techniques for making the pics more appealing once they have been downloaded to my computer!

In addition to the camera specific instruction, the class went through many tips to improve your technique! By the time I finished the class, I already had a great idea of some things that I would change while shooting video underwater…but even more importantly, I learned that there were many things I was already doing right! That made me feel great!

The tests at the end of each section properly tested your knowledge, they were not too easy or too hard. The other benefit of the test was that they reinforced the main points of each section so you walked away feeling good about retaining the knowledge.

Most importantly the online class gave you a great jump start to the in water portion of the training! PADI Scuba Instructor Scuba Diver Girl Stephanie and I went out to complete that portion and she was so happy to find that I had learned all the important concepts already AND that I had familiarized myself with those concepts on my specific camera. She felt that made her job easier and made our class time a lot more fun! I had a list of questions from the online portion and specifically about my Sea Life camera and my Bigblue lights. Stephanie went over everything including photographic principles and camera handling techniques to be sure I understood all the concepts brought up in the class. She went over all the steps we would be doing in the water from planning out the shots to techniques for taking the pics and finally discussed problems or hazards we may encounter. Then we went diving and had a blast! I had a whole new eye and focus on things! The techniques I had learned came in handy and my picture and video taking took on a whole new style! When we were finished, she reviewed all the care and maintenance of my equipment. I left there feeling completely confident with everything from camera maintenance to taking pics to principles and lingo of UW photography!

So get started today for only $120! Follow this link to better UW Photos!!!

PADI provided this class to Scuba Diver Girls for the purposes of evaluation.

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