ISSUE
N° 7
SEPT 2015
ALIENS FROM THE DEEP
Experience Black Water diving
PORTFOLIO Isabella Maffei
PHOTO CLINIC AT AQUA DIVE by Henry Jager
15° CMAS UWP World Championship
MONTHLY CONTEST Cedric Penti wins “School & Shoals”
CAVE DIVING Can it be safe and fun ? (part one)
LIVING ON A DREAM by Matteo Visconti
ICON HD BLACK EDITION
Dear Scubashooters, Summer is shading into fall in the northern emisphere and as autumn is approaching UW photographers worldwide are already browsing their photo libraries to select the shots that might allow them to win one of the many competitions that are taking place worldwide in this period of the year. The “Festival mondial de l’image sous-marine” of Marseille, the Underwater Photo contest “Abissi” City of Venice, the Ocean-Art contest of our friends of Uwphotographyguide.com and last but not latest on the timeline our first Scubashooters.net yearly contest . We managed to build up some experience in organizing this kind of events thanks to our monthly contest; we just closed the 18th edition of it and about to start the 19th. We felt we were ready for something bigger and new on the scene of UW photography and by the end of september we will be launching our own platform for online contest, here on our flagship website www. scubashooters.net. We have been able to line up an impressive array of quality prizes from sponsors worldwide, ranging from full board and dive packages vacations in luxury resorts to UW photo gear and Diving equipment gear. In the next issue of our magazine we will give you, fellow readers, more detailed information about all of this. In the mean time I wish you are also preparing to join the competition selecting your best shots and you will help us spreading the voice among your friends about this amazing event. So stay tuned for more fun ! Marino Palla Owner & Founder Scubashooters Network
CENTER OF iNTElligENCE. EDGE OF PERFORMANCE. • New display lay-out for maximum readability • Night mode option • Underwater menu allows to configure certain settings during the dive • Decompression dive planner Be intelligent. Take the edge of performance.
mares.com
Cover image “Maelstrom” By: Isabella Maffei
C O N T E N T S 3
EDITORIAL Words: Marino Palla
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PHOTO CLINIC AT AQUA DIVE Zamboanguita, Philippines Words and Pictures: Henry Jeger and his students
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THE CMC HAS ARRIVED The finest macro accessory lens for compact and mirrorless
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LIVING ON A DREAM Words and Pictures: Matteo Visconti
PORTFOLIO Isabella Maffei
15th CMAS UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CAVE DIVING. Can It Be Safe And Fun? (part 1) Words and Pictures: Christian Llewellyn 17째 MONTHLY CONTEST: School and shoals
BEHIND THE SHOT: Cedric Penti
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND Road to technical diving (part 4)
ALIENS FROM THE DEEP Experience black water diving Words and Pictures: Suzan Meldonian
Editor: FABIO STRAZZI Verein Scubashooters, 8952 Schlieren - Switzerland
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OCEANICWORLDWIDE.COM/EU
We’ve turned conformity on its side... again. A daringly unique design and proof that innovative thinking results in superior solutions.
I N N O VAT I O N F I R S T
TRAVELS
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PHOTO CLINIC AT AQUA DIVE ZAMBOANGUITA, PHILIPPINES
WORDS and PICTURES
Henry Jager and his students (Yen, Meryl, Chae, Suria and Benjamin)
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You know the place were muck diving and wide-angle, frogfish and turtle, barracudas and mimic octopus meet? It’s Zamboanguita, a fantastic place to perform a Photo Clinic, Aqua Dive and the semi professional underwater photographer Henry Jager teamed up with Scubashooters to perform their first Photo Clinic in June 2015. It’s a cosy, relaxed place were we met: the perfect location to focus on diving and photography. AcquaDive Acqua Dive is a stunning boutique resort located nearby Dumaguete in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental Philippines. It’s located perfectly for diving at Apo Island or the dark volcano sand cost of Dauin. The owners lead their resort with love to the details and a high service level. They have created a familiar ambience, which makes everybody comfortable staying here and relaxing. The resort offers great facility for photographers. Not only the rooms are spacious, but they offer camera tables and loading stations just in the lobby. The pool is located just a few steps beside the villa, as the diving centre with huge fresh water sinks for the cameras is, too. Diving the coast of Dauin Just in front of the resort we find the world famous muck diving along the coast of Dauin. It is a frogfish paradise, but not only. The house reef is breeding place for many species. It is also the habitat for mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, bobtail squid and Coleman shrimps, just to name a few. But not to forget: The seahorses. There were so many around, every student had 1-4 private seahorse models available.
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Just 5 boat minutes to the south there’s a complete different situation. Fans, Coral blocks, sweet lips and… the barracudas! 100-200 big barracudas are circling around quite often. Diving Apo Island It takes us only a 20 minutes boat drive to the famous Apo Island. Beautiful corals, turtles, sea snakes an more are awaiting us there. It’s a fantastic place to exercise wide-angle photography. The Photo Clinic The 4 day clinic was separated into two parts. After the underwater exercising part, we met in the evening for a theory and photo discussion part. Each student brought a few pictures of the day and we discussed possible improvements. An incredible thunderstorm came after a 2 months dry period and gifted us the opportunity to learn dealing with backscatter the hard way. With great enthusiasm and effort we learned to position our flashes to avoid lighting of the particles in front of the lens. Everybody did a fantastic job and in no time, shooting wide angle with 4-5m visibility had become fun! Prepared like this, the trip to Apo Island was a full success. With a better visibility than we experienced at the coast, it was a real pleasure to exercise Close Focus Wide Angle photography. Separating subjects from the background was the second major topic in this clinic: Creating black background shots, separating with a bokeh background or with a nice blue water composition. Again, we trained it the hard way. Well-camouflaged subjects on the dark volcano sand of Acqua Dives house reef taught us well. Thank you, students We had great fun and a lot of success together. We had fruitful, exciting discussions and everybody has made huge progress during the four days! Reason enough to publish a small portfolio of the week from each student.
16 SURIA My short bio of my motivation to take pictures underwater is 1) it is fun to take pictures underwater. 2) it is great to be able to share the pictures with others. 3) it is very satisfying to see good underwater pictures. ABOUT THE CLINIC I like the clinic because it was very clear and was done in an entertaining way. I like it also because it was conducted at Acqua Dive where I like to stay and relax.
YEN There is so much mystery underwater and I wish to capture the beauty of it. My favourite is macro photography and favourite subject is nudibranch. I am always amazed at the variety of critters and fascinated by how a tiny critter can have so much colour and texture. ABOUT THE CLINIC I love that it is a small group for the workshop. A small group enables a more personal, intimate and in-depth learning experience.
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MERYL Motivation to take underwater pictures: I started taking pictures to keep me occupied while diving and to have something to show friends and family the wonderful things that can be seen underwater. It also made me curious about the marine animals I’m photographing and that led me to read about them. It makes me happy to open people’s awareness of the strange and wonderful life underneath our oceans. ABOUT THE CLINIC What I liked most about the clinic: I usually dive with people not into into underwater photography, so being in a group of like minded people, I could take my time practicing and not worry with being left behind because everybody was staying put and taking pictures! A big help was the theory section, it took out a lot of the guesswork I had to rely on before.
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CHAE “What I liked the most at the clinic was our evening session showing our photos and discussing about how it could be improved and getting the tips from Henry. It was really helpful sharing the ideas and opinions from other participants as well.�
BENJAMIN My motivation to take pictures under water is the combination of my two favourite hobbies: Diving and photography. I love to see high quality underwater pictures made by pros and challenge myself to bring an equal quality back from my dives. ABOUT THE CLINIC I very appreciated the Photo Clinic because of the individual coaching and the fast progress I was able to make. We had a relaxed ambience and a great comradeship together among various nationalities. The group size was just perfect. Big enough to have inspiring discussions and small enough to get individual teaching.
THE FINEST MACRO ACCESSORY LENS FOR COMPACT AND MIRRORLESS
Nauticam is pleased to officially unveil the second installment of a growing family of optical products, CMC-1. The CMC is an extremely powerful super macro accessory lens optimized for use with both fixed lens compact and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. SMALLER, LIGHTER, STRONGER While the Nauticam Super Macro Converter (SMC) design inspired the development of the Compact Macro Converter, the new lens is actually more powerful. The CMC provides more magnification than SMC with all compatible compact camera systems for which it was designed. As expected, the CMC provides more magnification than any compact camera tested can achieve on its own, and does so with improved working distance. This combination makes CMC ideal for tiny, skittish subjects. Using the popular RX100 Mk III as an example, CMC-1 results in a magnification of 2.3X the smallest subject the camera is capable of photographing with no accessory lens (34.5mm v 80mm), and it does so with 1.4X the working distance (56mm v 80mm). Results with the new Canon G7X are even more stunning, providing 3.0X magnification at approximately 2.4X the working distance. To achieve the same image sizes with sealed magnifying lenses +15 Diopter or stronger would be required, but no +15 Diopter lens can match the overall image quality of CMC-1. All while maintaining the smallest size and weight possible; a real plus for photographers in and out of the water.
BREAKTHROUGH LENS DESIGN Prior to the development of the Nauticam accessory macro conversion lenses, achieving “super macro” underwater meant using tools that were designed for in air use. These tools simply do not take into account the physics of shooting in water. Thanks to Edward Lai, Managing Director of Nauticam, the CMC takes a radically different approach: hundreds of engineering hours utilizing computer software to model a lens that complements an entire system - camera, lens, port, air, and water – as a whole. This accounts for the critical air-water interfaces in a conversion lens design to achieve the best image quality possible. The improvements are stunning, measurable and a new standard in underwater macro imaging has been established with the Macro Converter family. UNCOMPROMISED OPTICAL QUALITY The Compact Macro Converter is constructed from lenses precision crafted of specially formulated low dispersion optical grade glass, ground to the most demanding standards. This means greater sharpness and contrast on every shot and extraordinary resolution rivaling a macro lens used in air. Broadband anti-refective coatings effectively reduce common optical issues such as chromatic aberrations, coma, spherical aberration, and field deformation associated with underwater macro photography using traditional magnifying lenses. This means superior light transmission, accurate color and no distortion and vignetting in the most demanding situations. These exceptional optics are assembled in a rugged hard anodized aluminum housing, and nitrogen purged during assembly to eliminate fogging.
STUNNING MAGNIFICATION The CMC is compatible with a variety of camera systems, but the most impressive increase in magnification comes when paired with the Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens for Micro Four Thirds Systems. This combination achieves a 2:1 reproduction ratio. This translates into an image 8.5mm X 6.3mm, and one of the most powerful macro imaging systems available in the market today.
REVIEW
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30 OPTIMIZED FOR AUTOFOCUS By utilizing a specially developed algorithm in the optimization process, the CMC renders superior image quality over the full focusing range of the camera lens. This, combined with the high brightness and contrast of the image, allows the autofocus system of the camera to work well - often better than less powerful close focus lenses. Just as important are the out-of-focus (Bokeh) portions of the image that exhibit the same creamy smooth quality that photographers appreciate when shooting macro in air - all without color fringing common to traditional magnifying lenses. AVOIDING DIFFRACTION Due to the overall superior optical performance and precision focus of the CMC it is possible to shoot larger apertures with excellent image quality. This avoids reaching the diffraction limit of high resolution sensors, and allows selective focus effects with narrow depth of field in super macro images. ALSO COMPATIBLE WITH NIKON AF-S 60MM MACRO While designed with compact cameras in mind, compatibility with larger formats has proven to be possible in some cases. Nikon AF-S 60mm Macro (not compatible with the earlier SMC-1) provides 1.5:1 Reproduction Ratio when with combined CMC-1. Image quality is excellent, even when used with full frame systems. This combination is extremely versatile, covering fish portraits, 1:1 macro, and now 1.5:1 super macro on the same dive! Mounting, and Using the CMC The Compact Macro Converter ships with the common 67mm threaded lens mount. CMC-1 is has a protruding rear lens element, designed to place the accessory optic as close to the camera lens port as is possible, providing the best overall image quality when used with flip lens adapters. A flush mount adapter ring is used when attaching CMC-1 directly to an underwater housing, and is included with the lens. Flip lens holders, available to suit most Nauticam housings and lens ports, provide the fastest and most convenient lens mount possible. The lens is always threaded in place, and available to be “flipped” down as needed.
www.nauticam.com
Seaside Resort in Mabini, Batangas, Philippines next to the famous Anilao Pier. 6 AC rooms with attached bathrooms and 5 fan rooms with shared bathrooms.
“My home away from home”
“Diver’s dream home”
“A place not to be missed. A person u ought to know...” https://www.facebook.com/anilaophotohotel Watsapp: +6016 246 0606 To call: +63918 5955 554
2 WAY (OPTICAL OR ELECTRICAL) CONNECTION COMPATIBLE HIGH PERFORMANCE, MULTIFUNCTIONAL AND HIGH-END STROBE
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L I V I N G O N A D R EAM WORDS and PICTURES
Matteo Visconti
TRAVELS
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38 We have chosen Maldives to celebrate a special event, what a better choice than a live on board around all these beautiful islands? Sachika LOB has been our home for one week, we are still missing the delicious food and it’s said from italian gourmet ;)
we are going to dive between school of sweetlips and platax, swimming among colorful reef with big gorgonians soft and hard corals in any dives.
Maldives are really such a paradise on Earth, we were surrounded by blue crystal water, small islands with white beaches and coconut palms, 26 atolls for almost 1200 islands.
A must dive in maldives is well know as “the pass”. The diving in the pass are made normally with the incoming current in the atoll. Usually we jump from the boat on one of the two sides of the channel. Therefore once it reached the wall you will swim for a short time against the current to reach the edge of the channel (the pass). Once reached the reef we hook there and we wait the large pelagic fishes pass by as black tips reef sharks, tuna, barracuda, eagle ray, jackfish, napoleon wrasse and many more.
Every divers know the unlucky story of Maldives, in 1998 they were hit by the devastating effects of El Niño, the water inside the atolls reached temperatures of 4-5 degrees above average, causing coral bleaching and subsequent death of more than 90% of Acropora. On 26th december 2004 another catastrophe hit maldives, a tsunami, caused by Indian Ocean earthquake, sadly, damaged again a lot of reef corals. Even today the Maldivian reefs have not fully recovered and indeed many are still completely bare, however, some islands have recovered very well and many species of branching corals are back to show off an amazing variety of colors. One of these atolls fortunately well preserved and regenerated is definitely Ari atoll and here
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Manta rays are, by far, one of the famous attractions for divers who visit the Maldives. It’s really no wonder that so many scuba divers and snorkelers from all over the globe head here in order to experience encounters with these majestic creatures. In fact, the Maldives is one of the only places in the world where you’re almost guaranteed a chance to see these animals during your dive trip. Looking for one of their, so called, “cleaning stations”, the Manta rays there, allows smaller fishes to consume the algae and parasites that they have collected on their bodies and within their gills. But just when the sun went down, we have made our most amazing experience here in Maldives diving with them while feeding of krill attracted by the lights of our boat and our torches dancing and flying on our heads. Another legendary night dive site is Maaya thilla, from the minute we jumped in the water, we have been surrounded by a very food orgy. A lot of predators as white tips sharks, marble rays, jackfishes at night are much more active than during the day and in feeding feenzy they hunt the small fishes sleeping among the corals.
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Nowadays the Maldives are still one of the most beautiful paradises on Earth, one of the few places on our world where you can see a luxuriant biodiversity, although over the years I have noticed a sadly decline due human’s pollution and wild and unregulated fishing but recently the President of the Republic of Maldives has announced that the state will become the first country to be a marine reserve— making the Maldives the single largest marine reserve in the world.
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Fotosub Shop offers to its customers only the best underwater photography equipment since 2009. ALL THE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL BRANDS such as Nauticam, Inon, Sea & Sea, Reefnet, ULCS, GATES, Retra, etc. are available. Via Milano 15 - 00065 Fiano Romano (RM) Tel. 3939517299
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Liveaboard Trip Tiger Beach 2015 Bahamas
Come join us on Tiger Beach for the Tiger Shark Diving adventure of a lifetime. These unique sail liveaboard trips are being run exclusively for shark enthusiasts and photographers. Tiger Beach in the Bahamas offers the opportunity to dive with tiger sharks, lemon sharks, nurse sharks, caribbean reef sharks and great hammerheads on an exlusive liveaboard expedition. We are taking out small groups, so space is limited to a maximum of 6 people.
Location: Tiger Beach,
Itinerary:
(Grand Bahama) Bahamas
Dates: Nov 15 - Nov 21 2015 Nov 27 - Dec 02 2015 Price $ 3100 per person sharing
Included: 7 nights accommodation aboard a Catamaran sail yacht with 4 ensuite cabins 5 days Diving with sharks ,all meals ,soft drinks.tanks,weight
Day 1: Arrival in Freeport, (morning, mid day, and afternoon flight options) Grand Bahama, meeting place Old Bahama Bay Resort and Marina, night one spent in harbour. Day 2: Diving Tiger Beach Day 3: Diving Tiger Beach Day 4: Diving Tiger Beach, Day 5: Diving Tiger Beach Day 6: Diving Tiger Beach AM, sail back to Bahama Bay Resort and Marina, spend final night in port.
NOT Included:
Day 7: Fly out from Freeport. (morning
Airport and Island Transfers Crew tips Airfare Alchoolic drinks
flights are the best options to ensure better flight connection possibilities)
Fo
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act t n co s l i a det
@me.com h s u r blue : y a d us to
PORTFOLIO
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PORTFOLIO
Isabella Maffei
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Born in Varese (Italy) in 1973, where she still lives, Isabella always liked to swim and she made her first dive with mask and snorkel when she was 16 years old. A true passion for the ocean drove her to become a scuba instructor and manage her dive center, “Deep Avenue” , in Mendrisio, in the Italian side of Switzerland. She started to take underwater photos to her scuba diving students as first tangible results of a new adventure. However, this initial business approach developed soon into a true deep genuine passion. “UW photography is a form of communication, an universal visual language which meet my ambition to tell without a word the amazing beauty of nature. As the sea has its own laws, as well photography, which includes theory and practice together. I had to study and dive to put in practice what I was dreaming in my soul. Sometimes I found myself disappointed but I never gave up, always thinking that I have still a lot to learn to develop my skills “.
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Isabella is already working with a number of magazines combining her passion of photography to writing. She got a number of international awards very much deserved because of her very personal way to use the light for depicting the environment. My way to take underwater photography is my way to communicate using an universal visual language; it comes from my strong ambition to tell, to describe without words the marine underwater perfection. I fancy the idea to shoot dynamic pictures in order to draw the observer inside the image; I love it so much and I cannot consider anymore a picture as a static, bidimensional image‌ In such trend, I want to develop my future experimentation. I do know is hard, in photography nothing can be improvised and rules, for a perfect canonic composition, must be respected. However with no challenges there is not gain.
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Anytime I dive, my Nikon camera is with me, as an added part of my body… My love for the underwater diving builds up however I do not look anymore the Neptune’s Garden through my mask but my camera’ shutter. I started with a simple digital camera ,insistively shooting pictures of everything was around me … in the time my passion, I guess I can call it in this way, grown together a new perception of the underwater environment … I was feeling as a writer with no words … I was desperately in the need of a magic wand to help me to get my ideas true, to carve a moment in an image passing in front of me… necessity brought me to move to a DSLR.
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To observe the World trough a lens was a way to increase my sensitivity towards the environment. I was even feeling more deep inside it. A digital image is not just a number of pixels, but a powerful way of communication which may be more effective of words. Besides this, to collect unique images of the Marine World may help to monitorize the environment and to contribute to save it, providing to all the spectators (not only the scuba divers) positive feelings and environmental responsiveness. The emotion arose by a photo can be very devasting; it doesn’t matter if comes from a dyeing turtle cought in an abandoned net or from a beautiful landscape of an intact blooming coral barrier. The sent message is always the same: the importance to preserve and protect the underwater World.
“To write by light� is like to weave a plot of an amazing never ending story where we are all embroiled.
Haybols Scuba Hub is a homey, comfortably furnished, bed & breakfast inn that offers scuba diving courses, rentals and services. Bauan-Mabini RoadAnilao, Batangas, Philippines +63 917 856 6887
www.facebook.com/HaybolsScubaHub
Package A (3Days / 2Nights) $380 per person Airport transfers Welcome drink Fully carpeted Air conditioned room (twin share) Hot & Cold shower Full board meals 6 Boat dives Tanks, Weights & Weight belt Dive master services
Package B (4Days / 3Nights) $425 per person Airport transfers Welcome drink Fully carpeted Air conditioned room (twin share) Hot & Cold shower Full board meals 8 Boat dives Tanks, Weights & Weight belt Dive master services
Package C (5Days / 4Nights) $530 per person Airport transfers Welcome drink Fully carpeted Air conditioned room (twin share) Hot & Cold shower Full board meals 10 Boat dives Tanks, Weights & Weight belt Dive master services
** All packages for minimum of four (4) persons Dive gears available for rent Exclusive of Dive pass @ $5 per person per day
EVOLUTIONARY EDUCATION
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ALIENS FROM THE DEEP:
EXPERIENCE BLACK WATER DIVING
WORDS and PICTURES
Suzan Meldonian
70 Welcome to my little world. There’s a new diving craze in town. This is for Macro enthusiasts, for those of you who are constantly seeking the wild, the unusual, the unique, and the never before seen creatures. If you ever find yourself bored with all the ridiculously amazing creatures we continue to find in the ocean already . . . hands down, this is it. Black Water Diving. Oh no, this is no normal night dive. This is not diving in the dark without lights. This is diving over 400 foot deep chasms (57+ meters), drifting in the top of the epipelagic zone “in” the Gulf Stream Current, late at night, with lots of lights … camera … Action! As we submerge, the water is ink black. So black, you cannot see your own hands in front of your face. On the surface we set our marker. An enormous white glowing ball illuminates the ocean water surface. Hanging straight down into the depths, cylumes of various colors mark off every ten feet, so we can easily gauge our depth by sight. Swimming to the ball, I feel the current drafting my body towards the ball. I feel heavy pressure against my leg. Something long, heavily weighted. I turn expecting it to be another diver who has backed in to me. But there is no one nearby. I look down and cannot see a thing. Whatever it is, it comes back and brushes my leg again, going in the other direction. It’s at least 2 meters long. I still can’t see a thing. Praying that my foot is still there, we begin turning on our focus lights and it hits me again, then bolts away with an audible kerplunk! We dive down towards the colored glow sticks/cylumes. It takes a few minutes to adjust your vision. At first it appears to be snowing, and of course everyone’s first thoughts take hold. “ . . . Oh man! Look at all this backscatter!” Everyone cringes dreading the hours of Photoshop editing to clean up any lucky shots. Then something whizzes by. “Whoa, what was that?” The music theme from the cartoon, the Jetson’s plays in my head. Then something else is doing whirligigs. And as our eyes adjust, suddenly the Gates of Oz have just opened up. The three-ring circus of wild-ass creatures begins. Everything is moving, and almost everything is alive. From the size of a pin head to the size of your hand. It is so bizarre. It’s like being in a black and white Alien film –with an occasional splash of color, spectacular formations, all alive and well and living within this nightly vertical migration that occurs, every blinking night!! All the while, we are coasting along at a couple of knots per hour, which is hardly noticeable … We have traveled up to five miles in an hour. What are we seeing? Well every single dive has presented different creatures de jour. And there seems to be different concentrations of like-critters in certain
areas. One night, everyone saw larval mantis shrimps. Another night there was an entire collection of various syphonophores and larval jellyfish. The prize shot is the glass eel I am told. Having no idea what to look for, I figure with a name like that, I should know it when I see it. Finally have seen one, got some shotsbut not “the” shot, so you will have to wait for that one. Last week we were pelted by hundreds, perhaps thousands of tiny tiny juvenile squid. So many it was impossible to take a photograph due to their speed and agility. Then some larger fish perhaps the size of baseballs were dive bombing the squid. There was so much activity, it was just much more interesting to stare at the show. At times like this, I wish I could video my mind’s eye. The money shots are the larval stages of –well- of anything! Your job- get it in focus! Perfect buoyancy is definitely key. Controlled breathing helps too, because you
72 can’t blow bubbles heavily or you blast all your subjects to smithereens. Your whisper is their category 6 typhoon. It is definitely one of the most challenging types of underwater macro photography one can encounter. Especially since most the cool stuff is translucentso your strobes just shoot through the animals and into the blackness. I swear the light stunts just a foot away from me and darkness just eats it. Boom. Gone. Just like that. Hence focus on what’s right in front of you, and don’t lose it. Keep it in your sights until you get your shot. After a while, we no longer notice the white snowy flecks of particulate matter raining down everywhere, but we now can see subjects with specific movement or a flick of color. This is the planktonic world of the beginning. Yes, the beginning of life in the ocean, blooming and doing cartoon animations before our very eyes. Translucent subjects opening and closing, then dangling nearly motionless, then splaying into spectacular formations. This of course has been one of my favorite creatures so far, a siphonophore. One soon realizes that you must keep your eyes affixed on your subject, be trigger ready, and of course, wait for it. What do you need to do this? Well I suggest starting with a 60mm comparible lens, and you absolutely must have a strong focus light or two. A 105mm takes too long to nail the focus. Also, realize that light travels through translucence- so you need to ramp up the light just in order to get a focus lock. Should you shoot at 800 ISO? Nah. Not necessary. Perhaps 200-400 ISO depending on your camera. You do need a DSLR or a camera that can focus and shoot quickly. Things are buzzing about and hardly stay still long enough to get the focus to land. As I said, it’s very challenging, but well worth it once you get the hang of it. It’s all about where your
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strobes are pointing- and I’ve been experimenting using wide angle arrangements but on a macro set up. It works wonderfully. For focus lights, I’ve used a Sola 500, plus my latest addition is a second focus light- a Fix Neo Mini with 1000 lumen. Woo- love this light! Many uw photographers have asked me if the creatures shy away from the lights or do you need a red filter. In my mind I hear a Mickey Mouse voice saying, “mmm Don’t go into the light!” And as I hear the melody from, “here comes George Jetson…” I flick on the red light filter- and I can’t take it. It is too difficult to distinguish the live creatures from the particulate matter raining because now everything that was white is pink. Most larval critters seem to be incoherent that there is any light, while some of the more advanced larval stages of creatures that resemble somewhat familiar marine life are definitely attracted to the light. Like night worms, if there are too many- of course you will have to turn off the lights to thin the herd or be consumed by aliens of the deep. And for Pete’s sake, who knows what half this stuff is, I know I certainly don’t want it in my hair! I recommend doing this with a reputable boat captain, a trusty boat, you need deep water below you, and an excellent dive crew. I am fortunate to live in South Florida with great diving opportunities just a stone’s throw away. For Black Water diving here in West Palm Beach, Florida, I recommend diving with Pura Vida Divers out of Riviera Beach on their boat, the Sirena. Awesome people, and they have this down to a science. I know I can’t get enough of it. Check them out on Facebook if you are going to be in town. https://www.facebook.com/Pura.Vida. Divers?fref=ts
We are located exactly 74 km far from Trieste, near the small town of Kantrida, which is about 5 to 6 km before downtown Rijeka. Our Diving Centre is right under the swimming pools area, directly in front of the open beach. On one side, we are overlooked by Mount Major (Ucka) and on the other, we face the beautiful islands of Krk and Cherso: in brief, we are right inside the Kvarnaro Gulf. Our flagship is wreck diving by boat: three wrecks situated at different depths, each one no farther than maximum 20 minutes boat ride. And there’s more! Our shore dives directly from our Center’s beach offer an easy and colorful training ground for any kind of diving courses. Finally yet importantly, our diamond tip dedicated to macro photography lovers: a wide variety of critters to increase the pleasure of diving.
From our beach, with our boat... ...come with us and enjoy your dive!
www.diving-marcopolo.com
Association Neapolis organizes the second edition of the international photo contest “NEAPOLIS International Underwater Photocontest”, under the patronage of the Tourism and Culture Department of the City of Naples. A photographic exhibition of the competition winning works will be set up from 30 October to 10 November inside the Casina Pompeiana halls.
sections (Macro, Wide angle and Biological) and Other Seas. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF WORKS Monday, September 21, 2015 H 24.00 local time Jury: President: Enzo Troisi Members: David Salvatori, Guido Villani, Pasquale Vassallo Among all pictures made in the Mediterranean, the jury will select the worthiest photo as the “MEDITERRANEAN BEST OF THE SHOW 2015”, whose author will receive a prize of € 500.00. Info: www.neapolis-photocontest.it info@neapolis-photocontest.it
The competition aims to raise awareness among a wider public of the excellent results achieved by underwater photographers, with the purpose of raising the profile of the important contribution offered by this activity to the culture, promotion and protection of the sea. The competition is open to all underwater photographers, divided into two groups: NOVICES and ADVANCED Novices will present a portfolio consisting in three free topic images; Advanced will compete in two categories: Mediterranean, divided into three
15TH CMAS
CATEGORIES AND GOLDEN MEDALS WINNERS
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
CLOSE-UP WITH A THEME (LOBSTER)
From the 21st of May until the 25th of May the 15th CMAS Underwater Photography World Championship has been held in The Netherlands. It was a very successful event with 100 participants from 20 countries.
WIDE ANGLE WITH A MODEL
The winner of the event was Damir Zurub from Croatia, who was excited about his golden medal. “This is my dream,” says Damir after the awards ceremony on the beach. This WC was not an easy organisation, because of the tide in the Oosterschelde and the driving time between the competition zones. “You can dive only four times a day in the Oosterschelde, so the participants had to wake up early sometimes,” says Desmond from the organisation. “Otherwise it wasn’t possible to dive in the Oosterschelde. But everything went well, especially because of all the volunteers who have helped to make this event possible. We had more than 130 volunteers, they did a great job. We couldn’t organise this event without them.” Also the weather was quite good during the event. “On Saturday, the first official competition day - we had some light rain in the morning and it was quite cold. On Sunday the weather was perfect, with lots of sunshine and no wind - which is an exception in Zeeland,” says Desmond.
Marco Heesbeen from the Netherlands Damir Zurub from Croatia Rui Bernardo from Portugal Margit Sablowski from Germany Stephane Regnier from France Damir Zurub from Croatia
CLOSE-UP WITHOUT A THEME FISH
WIDE ANGLE WITHOUT A MODEL OVERALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
CLOSE-UP WITH A THEME (LOBSTER) 1st
2nd
Marco Heesbeen (NL)
3rd
The judging and closing ceremony where held on Monday 25th of May. “It is the best organisation I have had since I start in 1992 as the President of the Visual Commission of the CMAS,” says Juergen Warnecke.
Damir Zurub (CRO)
Danja Klink (ZWI)
FESTIVAL & CONTEST
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CLOSE-UP WITHOUT A THEME
Stephane Sandon - (FRA)
2nd
3rd
Rui Bernardo - (POR)
Luc Rooman - (BE)
3rd
Danja Klink - (NL)
Stephane Regnier (FRA)
Margit Sablowski (DEU) 2nd
WIDE ANGLE WITHOUT A MODEL - THE WINNERS
Damir Zurub - (CRO)
2nd
onna Bergstrom (SWE)
3rd
1st
Grega Verc (SVN)
2nd
FISH
WIDE ANGLE WITH A MODEL - THE WINNERS
1st
1st
3rd
José Antonio Garcia Garcia (SPA) Damir Zurub (CRO)
Athila Bertoncini (BRA)
“You come as a guest but leave as a friend”
With our friendly, personal and professional approach come and enjoy warm Bedouin hospitality in a relaxed setting with stunning views of Tiran island. Sharks Bay Umbi is a picturesque bay with everything on site – its own private jetty, dive centre, boats, restaurant, Bedouin cafe and 3 types of accommodation -
making it the perfect resort for your next holiday. Unique in the area, Sharks Bay Umbi manages to retain a friendly village feel whilst still being only ten minutes from the bright lights of Sharm El Sheikh. Sharm residents describe the bay as having the feel of how Sharm used to be before the arrival of large scale tourism.
Accommodation Sharks Bay Umbi offers traditional Bedouin style and hospitality alongside modern facilities. We have three types of accommodation to fit every budget: Bedouin Village Rooms, Beach Cabins and View Huts. Contacts info@sharksbay.com www.sharksbay.com
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Accommodation (bed and breakfast) Daily diving Liveaboards PADI and SSI courses Free Nitrox to qualified divers - Free airport transfers for hotel guests Discounts apply for all bookings made before the end of 2015 - T&Cs apply To redeem this special offer please quote ‘CLICK2015B’ at the time of booking
Underwater Photography Expedition
Tim & Beth will be in the water engaging in one-on-one mentoring, helping with strobe positioning, camera settings and teaching beginning to advanced techniques. Learn valuable information about composition, lighting, camera gear and image editing using LIGHTROOM & PHOTOSHOP. All cameras and level of photographers are welcome, those with “Point & Shoot” to “DSLR”
To make a reservation contact Amy Garrow at:
www.softlitestudios.com tdneumann@softlitesstudios.com www.facebook.com/TimothyDNeumann 1-614-312-0655
www.bethwatsonimages.com bethwatsonimages@gmail.com www.facebook.com/bethbwatson 1-573-247-0462
Pakel’s Bali Villas
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www.bintangdivers.com Address:Jalan I ketut Natih, Amed, abang, karangasem, Bali 80852- indonesia Tel +62 851 0866 2000
Jalan Amed, Abang, Bali, Indonesia
TRAVELS
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Cave Diving. Can It Be Safe And Fun? (Part one)
WORDS and PICTURES: Christian Llewellyn Dispelling misconceptions revolving cave diving not being a viable and safe dive choice for the average recreational diver. Are there recreational cave diving sites available in Mexico? Christian Llewellyn discusses diving some of these cave systems from a resent trip to the Yucatan peninsula.
I can still remember my first happy trip to Mexico and the joy of receiving my first temporary certification diving card. Finally I was ready to explore underwater and really push my boundaries. That was until my diving instructor asked me if “ I Would like to go Cenote diving at the weekend?” My initial thought was that cave diving was dangerous, and not really a great pursuit for a novice diver. However once I entered the gateways to the Yucatn’s underworld I had no regrets with my choice. Underneath the Yucatn Penisula run three of the longest water systems in the world. Controlling the location of human settlement in this area for thousands of years. The Mayan people could only access this precious water through sacred entrances called
“Cenotes” This was a path into the underworld, and was filled with their gods and spirits. They are formed through the Combination of subterranean cave ceilings collapsing and the gradual erosion of the limestone bed. Which has created a magical world with caverns, tunnels and mystery. For divers news and information on cave diving has sometimes revolved tragic stories of cave systems taking lives, or terrible hazards that were encountered by untrained divers. Creating for some a belief that professional cave divers should only undertake this endeavour and that an average diver should stay away at their own peril. Of course you should never dive passed your experience level and never enter a new environment without the correct training. Such cave training is available throughout the Yucatan to the highest levels, but if you simply want a glimpse at this magical world do not worry. As there are safe and visually stunning cenotes to dive around the Playa Del Carmen area for any average diver who has good buoyancy skills and a bit of confidence. On my recent return visit to Mexico I had the pleasure of following guides from “Phantom Divers,” who are based in central Playa Del Carmen (If you want easy access to all the dive sites on this peninsula then chose Playa Del Carmen as your base) Phantom Divers have a charismatic team of enthusiastic divers full of local knowledge. They can offer you numerous cenotes based upon your level of experience. I wanted to check out
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96 the entry-level dives and was advised to choose two sites. The first would be Chac Mool. Then for a more advanced dive to a sinkhole called Muyai-Ha. Chac Mool: Dive site one. On arriving to Chac mool I was impressed to see well organised kitting areas, with purpose built tables, on site toilets, a cafÊ and a large seating area. Gone were the days when there was only the jungle and the cenotes. Detailed maps of all the caves were in place for well-organised dive briefings explaining all necessary safety procedures. This covered everything you would need for a safe and pleasurable dive. Including: • The route through the cave system, following the line and staying within the light zone. • Enforcing good air consumption management skills by using onethird of air going in, one-third of your air to exit and leave one-third as a reserve.
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• Torch use and giving signals. • Equipment check. • Your positioning and style of fin kick best suited for cave diving. • Good buoyancy skills (As not to hurt any of the fragile topography underwater). • Focus points and entry/exit procedures. Instantaneously as you descend into this ethereal world and look back at the light hitting the surface. You can understand why the Mayans believed that these pools and caves were truly spiritual. You observe breath-taking silhouettes of divers effortlessly floating through the clear water, with light shards dancing in the background. The maximum depth on the dive was no more than 40ft – 12m and following the guideline you will have an excellent dive profile with easy access to the light zone at any time. You are able to see all the stalactites, stalagmites and the stunning visual panoramas. Then at around 30ft – 9m you descend through a metre layer of what seems to be like jelly, but it is actually where the deeper saltwater meets the fresh water. A weird sensation for the senses, as visibility is definitely an issue if you stay at this level. However once though it the crystal clear water reappears. Of course everyone is safety conscious here, and there underwater signs showing the forbidden tunnels leading you further into the cave system and the perils of entering them without the correct gear and training.
17° MONTHLY CONTEST: “SCHOOL AND SHOALS”
FIRST PLACE
CEDRIC PENTI “Juvenile bigeyes”
MONTHLY CONTEST
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FOURTH PLACE FREDERIQUE LEGRAND “Bigeye jacks”
SECOND PLACE KISANG LEE “School of jack returns”
FIFTH PLACE RAFFAELE LIVORNESE “Glassfishes”
SIXTH PLACE MATTEO VISCONTI “The face” THIRD PLACE NUSWANTO LOBBU “School of sardines and red snappers”
We d
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Sheikh Coast Diving Center is inside the Domina Coral Bay Resort in Sharm el Sheikh since 1994 and is considered the most comfortable Diving Center in Sharm El Sheikh thanks to the private harbor which is only few meters from the diving center from which our boats depart every day for fantastic excursions to discover the most beautiful coral reefs of the Red Sea including the atolls of Tiran and the Ras Mohammed marine park avoiding waiting times at the main port of Sharm and bus transfers.
ivat e Mar
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Sheikh Coast Staff undertakes to always give all its guests courtesy, friendship, honesty, competence and professionalism. Sheikhcoast Diving Center offers courses at all levels, from beginners to professionals, all specialties and this year became one of the most sought for technical diving as well as the reference point for divers with disabilities.
w it h Pr
Higiene - Cleanliness - Environmental Integrity efficiency and high quality of services - Adequate training in a professional and funny enviroment
Ce nt er
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MCH-6 SR HP PORTABLE COMPRESSOR DRIVEN BY CHARGIN RATE FILLING TIME CYLINDER 10 L 0-200 bar WORKING PRESSURE NET POWER DIMENSIONS DRY WEIGHT NOISE POWER LEVEL FILTRATION INTERSTAGE COOLER AND AFTERCOOLER
SUBARU PETROL ENGINE 100 L/min - 6 m3/h 20 min 200 - 225 - 300 - 330 bar 6,5 HP HEIGHT 35 cm, WIDTH 78 cm DEPTH 32 cm 37 Kg 100,5 dB (LWA) ACTIVATED CARBON AND MOLECULAR SIEVE CARTRIDGE STAINLESS STEEL
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via dei Colli Storici 177 25010 San Martino della Battaglia Brescia - ITALY Tel: +39.030.99.103.01 +39.030.99.102.97 Fax: +39.030.99.10.283 www.aerotecnicacoltri.it
FOLLOW ME
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Behind the shot:
CEDRIC PENTI About the shot : Juvenile Bigeyes – Reunion Island, Le Cap Lahoussaye, 18/04/2014 technical information : taken with Nikon D90 in Nauticam AD90 – 2x Z240 strobes – Tokina 10-17 iso 125 – 1/80 - f14 Le Cap Lahoussaye is a favourite dive site among local underwater photographers. First, it is an easily accessible shallow shore dive. It also offers a variety of landscapes, with a flat seabead, coral boulders, sandy areas, caves and even a little steep wall. Logically there is always something to see and to sho-
ot there, from nudibranchs to turtles. This massive school of juvenile bigeyes stayed there for a few weeks in 2014, so we went diving in it, trying to get as close as possible and with the best angle and approach as we could. I like this shot beacause the fish give a whirlpool-like rotating impression, and because we can see the texture of the surface on top of them.
Abyss: City of Venice 2015 The International Competition of Underwater Photography “Abyss-City of Venice” is now in its eighth edition and also this time will be hosted by the Natural History Museum of Venice. During the previous seven editions around 300 underwater photographers from around the world joined the contest (United States, Indonesia, France, England, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Turkey, Norway, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and other countries) presenting more than 2,500 photographs and more than 25,000 visitors appreciated the exhibition of the winning photos. As every year, some categories will be dedicated to the museum that will use the images for purposes of research and enrichment of his archive. The competition of Venice opens the winter season of the competitions of underwater photography in Italy and many of the winning photos in Venice have subse-
quently been awarded in many of the most important competition in the world and that means that the work of the jurors has always been of the highest professional level . Abyss-City of Venice has been honored three times with the Top Award at dell’EUDI Show in Milan and Bologna in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Media partners of the event are Scubaportal, the most important National Portal of diving, Scubashooters, first international portal of underwater photography in Italy, and the magazien Lagunamare, and it is sponsored by the City of Venice, the Veneto Region and the Foundation of the Civic Museums. The winning images of previous editions were often exhibited at fairs and events related to diving or to the sea as the European Diving Show, Genoa Boat Show, America’s Cup. The competition is organized by the cultural association Abyss-UnderWaterPhotoVenice, Argo Group of Archeological Research and Sub San Marco . Registrations will begin in June and the deadline for delivery of the images
will be on September 20. Also this year there will be rich rewards offered by manufacturers of diving equipment and the most famous glass factories of Murano. For further information contact info@underwaterphoto-venice.it.
Our ACTION CAM BRACKET is made of AISI 316 stainless steel (3 mm thick and with black Delrin inserts). It consists of two laser-cut plates and a pair of folding handles with blocking mechanism. The coupling of the two plates is via a M8 dowel acting as a guide. In the rear part the handle has an additional 1/4 UNC thread for extra applications (eg. Gorilla POD or similar), an extendible guide plate and a small base for bi-adhesive connections. An anodized aluminum stick simplifies macro recording allowing to force the minimum recording distance from the subject. The handles terminate with preanodized 6026 aluminum alloy SML-pearl-grey spheres (Ø 25 mm), thus allowing for the maximum flexibility for lights and additional parts to be connected to the base. The system can be offered with Lock-line terminations instead. Our products are all MITQ (MADE IN ITALY TOTAL QUALITY) and allow an OPTIMAL BUOYANCY during video and photography. Our LIGHT ARMS are made with a preanodized 6060 aluminum alloy blue tube (Ø22 mm) and have two preanodized 6026 aluminum alloy SML-pearl-grey spheres (Ø 25 mm) at the ends (9 different lengths are available). Our BLOCKING SYSTEM (CLAMP) is composed by two preanodized aluminium alloy 6026 pearl grey SML butterfly clamps, a button-head stainless steel screw and an aluminum alloy 6026 anodized blue wing nut. Thanks to the clutches mounted inside the clamps, tightening is smooth for adjustments but at the same time sturdy and rigid for operation.
Our SCUBA VIDEO LIGHT Led C-95, electronically realized in cooperation with Elbatech Srl, is made by an 6026 SML pearl-grey anodized aluminum alloy body (Ø 60 mm) (milled from full aluminum bar), with a ring-bezel rear cover in black Delrin (Ø 70 mm) and with a 8-mm thick front polycarbonate glass. Its weight out of the water is 750 g, in the water 270 g. LIGHT FEATURES: - High intensity LED diode: CREE LED array CXA1304, 900 lumen, 5000°K - Viewing Angle: from 85° to 140° - CRI: 90 to 95 - Battery: Li-Ion rechargeable battery pack, 14.8V 2000 mAh (dedicated battery charger IMAX B6AC included) - Burn Time: 120 minutes @ 100% - Hydrostatic test: 120 minutes @ 9 bar - Electronics: custom-made power-led driver (Elbatech Srl, Marciana (LI), Italy) Our scuba light model 170/30 N is offered a beautiful blue briefcase containing: - 1 scuba led video light model C-95 - 1 battery charger IMAX B6AC - 1 black Delrin dedicated holder terminating with an anodized aluminium SML pearl-grey sphere (Ø 25 mm) About MECHANICS please refer to SML-SUB www.sml-sub.it e-mail: info@sml-sub.it About ELECTRONICS please refer to ELBATECH srl www.elbatech.com e-mail: info@elbatech.com
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TECH DIVE
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BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND Road to technical diving (part 4)
122 It’s October 2012, 05:00 a.m. As quietly as possible I try to get out of my bed without waking my (then) pregnant wife. As all fathers know: waking up a pregnant woman is a very unwise thing to do, so I do my utmost best not to make too much noise. Happy that I made it out of the danger-zone I pick up pace and: WHAM! My left toe hits the blunt side of an open door in the dark. I am never at my best in the morning, but the surprise of the sudden pain in my sweet pinkie toe totally wakes me up. The monologue towards our dear Lord takes care of the sleeping wife… But it gets me a nice cup of coffee and a goodbye kiss. On my way I am! At 08:45 I arrived in a village near the German border. From here, my passenger Rob Vierwind accompanies me. Rob is in his final part of his ‘Tec one instructor’training and joins me on the 750 mile drive to Krnica Croatia. He has brought about half a dive shop with him: D-12’s, D-18’s, 80- and 40 cuft stages and scooters. The spacious bus that I borrowed from my company comes in very handy. The “Sopar bus” will proof to be the preferred transportation for Team Pitch Blue in the years to come. Rob will teach our T1 course, but in turn will be assessed by Ron Baars who is in the final stage of his training :’course director technical diving’. Ron in turn will be examined by overlord Cees den Toom who has to give the final verdict on the whole mess (you still with me?). On the one hand a great opportunity and a unique thing to have so much knowledge and skills in one training session, on the other hand, it is a test for three divers in front of three instructors of which two are getting assed themselves. Talkin’ about setting the bar high….. Sixteen hours later we arrive at Krnica. We did it in one go and we have the first choice of the apartments. I am sleeping before I hit the pillow. The next morning somewhere around eight o’clock I come back to life, awakened by barking dogs. What the h… Dogs? Where am I? The pulsating pinkie toe quickly reminds me of where I am. My fellow students Jeroen and Peter are already having tea and coffee. The day starts right at 8:00 with the 101 about reeling. That’s a good thing, because we can do that in front of the apartments. None of us really has experience with the reel and this shows once again that something as ordinary as the line of a reel is a potential source of many mistakes. Every piece of equipment that you have no experience with, can potentially be a big problem. This is all still above the water. Fortunately divers visit this place regularly. The locals are used to it and do not look at us weirdly when three grown men armoured with diving masks, and dive lights walk around like morons in touch contact and trying to successfully put out a line in the backyard. A curious hobby that technical diving ... After about two hours everyone (thinks) their reel technique is at the desired level and whist enjoying a delicious salami sandwich we get the program for the next week. In short: at the end of the T1 course we need to be able to safely plan and execute dives with an average depth of 150 feet and with up to 30 minutes of decompression. We make use of standardized gas blends. At these depths the preferred breathing gas is 21/35 (a mixture of 21% oxygen and 35% helium) and the decompression is done from 21 meters at 50% nitrox at a max ppO2 of 1.6.
We need to be able to knock out a solid dive plan with deco strategy and gas planning on a piece of A5-paper. Okay. That makes sense. The approach of the practical part is different. Normally, you learn the few tricks that you must master at the end of the course to the satisfaction of the instructor. Easy does it. During this training we encounter various simulated problem scenarios that we have to solve as a team. These dives are with a so-called ceiling: we cannot directly go up to the surface because of the decompression obligation, so we have to be comfortable with our knowledge and expertise / underwater skills. All problem solving must be done underwater whilst maintaining awareness on a solid platform at the desired depth. Valves and connections “spontaneously” leak and buddies are out of gas just when you try to shoot a
124 buoy and both your hands (and your mind) are busy. Masks need to be taken off whenever Rob desires and all kinds of diving attributes lights, reels (and even stage bottles) will get nicked without you even noticing. Of course, the moment you need them and the specific item is not there, we need to take the desired actions. In short, nearly all possible diving problems that can occur are reviewed during the next ten days. Your underwater brain, which oddly enough does not works as well under- as it does above water, will be continuously tested and the learning curve is steep. The course is roughly divided into two chunks: the first part is packed with skills, drills, procedures and failures. It is ultra-intensive. Three and sometimes four dives a day and in between and during the evening theory lessons. After that homework for the next day. When I drove off my wife told me to have a nice vacation. Even now I am having difficulties trying to explain to her that it wasn’t a vacation… It was hard, hard work! Also it was made very clear from the start: under-perform in the first part would mean: back to the drawing board and end of story. Then no deco dives would be made. It’s was bit of a shock, but also fully understandable ... If we get through the first part than part two comes into sight: where we can actually go wreck diving. During these dives, we must show that we have understood the theory and that we can make independent dives as a team. In order to fully boost the morale we are told that a “C” is considered insufficient. It is either good (“B”) or not. Just enough does not exist. As stated before: Rob will do all instruction and diving support. Rob is being judged by Ron, but during the scenario dives these two are also “partners in crime” with regard to failures and stealing our equipment. So there are two instructors,
three students. That is more than enough to make our life miserable. Cees de Toom should be disregarded completely. He just hovers above us like a giant underwater spider. The man has exceptional trim and buoyancy, barely moves - but sees everything and the final decision on whether someone has been successful or not will be made by him. It’s time to dive! We drive to the port of Krnica where Maurizio Grbac’s shop: Knrica-dive awaits us all. It’s a strange sensation to see Cees den Toom (at least 6ft 7”) having to look up at the Croatian giant. The man did not have baby milk, but pure Dianabol in his baby bottle. Unbelievable, what a colossal creature. The shop itself is slightly small, but well-stocked. It’s cool to be in a shop that specializes in technical diving. And wow, what a nice stuff. Because we go out on a boat and do two dives a day, we need quite some equipment and tanks on the boat. There are six men on the boat. It is therefore 12 double sets and 12 x alu80 cuft stages. They proudly lay on the floor waiting to be analysed and loaded. For me it is an awesome sight: it starts now. On the boat Rob lets us know what the first team formation will be: No. one is team captain, no. two is deco-captain and no. three will shoot the buoy. The next dive number one will be two, two will be three , etc. In this way everyone will have to perform all tasks and there will be no dodging of responsibilities. Staying in the comfort zone and conveniently performing a task that you can do well is out of the question. We will rotate responsibilities each dive so that everyone is forced to learn everything. During the first couple of dives we do dives with a max depth of 65 feet. Of course in full tech setup: but both the backgas (D-12) and the deco stage are filled with 32% nitrox. This way we can show that we can control our trim and buoyancy enough to safely perform our gas switches at a ppO2 of 1.6. At this high ppO2physical exercise contributes to all kinds of side effects that we really don’t want,so excessive finning and correcting trim is out of the question. We should basically do the gas switch, and then ‘fall asleep’: do absolutely nothing more than observe each other and watch the time pass by. Because we do many dives in one day and with sometimes more than one ascent and descent, we have Nitrox 32% to have a bigger safety margin. First things first: team composition underwater. Jeroen (ROEN) and I did our intro to tech together, so we were familiar with each other’s diving capabilities. Team member Peter (PDG) we had not met before. It’s nice to see that because everyone has exactly the same mindset and equipment, Peter had no problem fitting in. The first dive passed without problems. Little did we know what we were heading for. That would change very, very soon…. During the second dive the problems and failures started to occur. The idea is to keep on diving and finding solutions for the failure/problem until an unfixable failure occurs and the dive has to be aborted. This way, the instructors can evaluate our problem solving capabilities and skills and see if our “underwater brain” can deal with accumulating problems. Dive after dive, more and more failures had to be dealt with before the inevitable unfixable problem occurred. Failures came inexorably and rapidly, so that at the end of every dive, all three of us were missing at least a lamp, a reel, a buoy, a stage bottle or a mask (and don’t bother getting your spare-mask cause you have to give that to Rob and/or
126 Ron as well) and a wide variety of problems on the first and second stages had passed by before a thumb goes up: end of the dive. The first part of the T1 course, we are mauled by Rob and Ron. I have got quite a big mouth when it comes to diving now I’m not going to lie: I really spent some time thinking “Do I want to do this” and even:” Am I capable of doing this”. During the dives Ron and Rob really go out of their way to do anything they can possibly think of to have you make mistakes. Absolutely everything ‘breaks down’, ‘breaks’ or ‘gets stolen’ from you. Believe me, I thought it was impossible to steal a deco bottle, but when you are busy with a failure you don’t even notice. All three of us ended up ‘dead’ a couple of times which Rob, Ron and Case explained to us in no uncertain terms. Every evening we had theory about gas management, rock bottom, turn pressure, rules of third, halves and of course, decompression theory. It is very confronting to have the feeling that you really do not know as much as you thought you did. A pat on the shoulder is completely absent, whilst the diving getting more and more difficult. Therefore more and more things go wrong. The words ‘’under-perform in the first part-means back to the drawing board and end of story” echoes in our heads. What we learned is that anyone can get into a situation in which a minor mistake or equipment failure can quickly lead into a major problem. The biggest problems are caused by a cluster fuck of small problems that follow each other in quick succession and form a big unsolvable problem. On day three we lock ourselves in our apartment and simulate on land everything that Rob and Ron have done to us underwater. We’re lying on the kitchen table turning valves, walking through the apartment with our eyes closed whilst holding the reel. We pass a fictional stage bottle around on a “lost-deco gas” scenario and we make almost obscene-sounding noises to simulate leaky first- and second stages. If someone had filmed that, I would not dare to show myself anywhere. A curious hobby tech-diving ... The next dives are significantly better. Bring on those failures! In that one night we became a team and helped each other out when in need. It appeared that we wanted to do things too fast (to show the instructors how good we were) but wanting to show off by doing things fast, bit us in the rear-end. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. After this lesson we received great news: we could proceed to the second part of the training! Trimix dives on the beautiful wrecks of Croatia. More about that in the next issue (Part 4.2). For a taste, you can have a look at https://goo.gl/VJULiQ . This video shows of some of the wrecks, gives a good idea of what attracts us in the wreck-dives. Hope to see you at the waterfront and do not forget to like and follow Team Pitch Blue on Facebook WORDS: Job Kuperus PICTURES: Case Kassenberg
N O LL II M M I IT T N O
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