The eagle-eyed will have noticed that I missed my regular Monday posting this week, which must mean life is busy. I’ve spent this week packing before leaving for Bali tonight, to join Marc Crane at Orca Dive Club Bali for six days of rEvo instruction. I’m doing my MOD1 course to begin bubble-free diving. I’m excited about the photographic possibilities…being able to sneak up on critters that don’t like bubbles, and doing ~30m dives on helium so I’m not composing under the influence of (as much) nitrogen.
Of course, there’s a learning curve that comes with all that. The move to closed circuit will mean a complete relearn of buoyancy skills with the end of small adjustments by breathing in or out. It also means I need to learn to drive a complicated machine underwater and one that has to take precedence over the camera. So I imagine the photos from the next couple of weeks aren’t going to be fantastic, but I hope they will be a step towards better image opportunities in the future. For a start I’ll be able to photo straight up without having to stop breathing!
Here’s a shot from 18 months ago of a rEvo course underway in Kilsby’s Sinkhole, Mt Gambier. The two students in the foreground are completed their deco on bailout, loops floating over their heads. I’m not sure if the vis will be quite as good in Bali but I know the water temperature will be twice as good. Now if I can just work out how to shoehorn the last regulator and the last strobe charger into my bags, I’ll be set.