Macro video at Dumaguete

 Macro, Other, Reef diving  3 Responses »
Jan 202014
 

Over the course of my week at Atlantis Dive Resort Dumaguete in the Philippines (with thanks to Diversion Dive Travel) I did 26 dives plus a day trip to snorkel with the whalesharks. This meant heaps of in-water time to photograph everything that moved and a few things that didn’t (more photo stories to come!). So by day three or four I swapped my strobes for my Archon video lights and jumped in to try something different. I hadn’t attempted video with my 100mm macro lens before and I was fairly sure it was going to be tricky – I was right. But the critters at Dumaguete were fairly obliging and the sandy bottom made it easier to stabilise the [read more…]

Rebreathers in Tank Cave

 Cave diving  No Responses »
Jan 132014
 
Rebreathers in Tank Cave

About the cave Tank Cave is one of my favourite places to be. Miles of tunnel, clear water, great photo opportunities, stairs to the water…and shallow tunnels, narrow spots and lots of small depth changes. Those last three points mean Tank is not generally regarded as a great cave for rebreathers. The counterlung acts as a third source of buoyancy in addition to the wing and the drysuit. As well as managing the oxygen levels in the rebreather, the diver also has to manage the gas volume. So every up and every down means either adding or venting in at least two locations. On an open circuit dive I manage microbuoyancy with my breath. Need to go up slightly? Breath [read more…]

Ornate ghost pipefish

 Macro, Ocean diving  No Responses »
Jan 062014
 
Ornate ghost pipefish

About the resort As I posted last, I’ve just spent a week at the lovely Atlantis Resort in Dumaguete, the Philippines sponsored by Diversion Dive Travel. Over 6.5 diving days I managed to take 2,367 photos and nearly two and a half hours of underwater video. The diving at Dumaguete is mostly muck diving. We sell tickets on the site and via telephone. This means the macro lens stayed on and my dives were a treasure hunt for strange critters over a mostly sand and rubble bottom. I did five dives a day and with only 1-2 hours between each one it was good to stay shallow. The resort itself was lovely topside with great food and facilities. Most importantly, [read more…]