St George Underwater – Hideaway Island 2012 from Damien Siviero on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

While waiting for the work to be completed, I thought there might be some value in reminding people who have dived Shiprock what the path looked like before the upgrade and to show those new to Shiprock what we had to put up with.  I must say that while the trips down the path and especially the trips up the path were difficult, the dive more than made up for it.  Even on a bad day, Shiprock is a great dive.

The old path was steep, slippery and at times dangerous, especially after rain.  As Kel recently commented, if you were one of the last to leave the water and had to make your way up the path after 20-40 divers had just trudged up, it could be quite a challenge.

Here’s what the path looked like while heading down.  For those that have never dived Shiprock, remember that you’d be wearing full dive gear including weights…

And here’s what the path looked like when you were heading back to the car after a dive. Again, you had full dive gear and you were usually dripping wet making the path quite slippery, even if it hadn’t rained…

Looking at the work they have done so far and the plans they have for the upgrade, diving Shiprock is going to be much easier… I hope this doesn’t mean it will become even more crowded when the tides are right.

• SDI Advanced Open Water Course + Nitrox Course – 19 – 22 January 2012 – $498
• SDI Nitrox Course – 19 January 2012 – $199
• PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Course – 29 January 2012 – $199
• PADI Advanced Course + Nitrox Course – 2 – 5 February 2012 – $498
• PADI Nitrox Course – 2 February 2012 – $199
• PADI Rescue Diver Course – 17 – 19 February 2012 – $399

Click on the links above for more information or call or visit the shop.  Books are essential.

Pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, at The Leap on 14 January.

Not only is the water warmer, but there is a lot of life around. On dives so far this Summer, we have see Port Jackson sharks, blue groper, many nudibranchs, octopus (including a blue-lined octopus that George saw at Salmon Haul Bay, Cronulla), weedy seadragons and seahorses.

Nudibranch, Tambja verconis, at Bare Island on 2 January.

Visibility for most of the dives has been good, although as usual it depends on the dives, weather and the tides. Last Saturday was a pretty ordinary day, overcast and windy, and yet we had over 15 metres at The Leap (Kurnell). Even the viz at Bare Island has been OK.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, at Bare Island on 2 January.

If you have been hesitant to get out for a dive I recommend you come and join us on one of the club dives. There’s a dive on every Saturday and Sunday, as well as a night dive every second Friday. If you can get Thursday mornings off, we even have a mid-week dive most weeks. The dive schedule is usually posted on our Facebook page, with meeting times and the dive’s location.

Come and get wet and join in the fun.

One of our divers Grant Camper put together this great snapshot of our trip featuring some great pictures of some of our best moments! Take a look and keep your eyes peeled soon for more photographs and videos from our trip here on our website and on our FaceBook page!

Thank you to Grant Camper for sharing this video.

Komodo

Yes! We have a liveaboard trip on the PA Siren.

If you are interested in this trip or just want to find out more about diving around that area come along on to the Centre Wednesday (14 December) night at 6.00 pm.  We’ll have the owner of the boat here to tell you all about it and what you can expect to see and do on a trip like that.

For more information on the trip, please see the travel section.

Please send us an email so we can make sure that we have enough seats.

GoPro make a range of what can be best described as Sports Video Cameras.  They are very small, lightweight, capable of shooting high definition video (up to 1080p) and come with a housing that is waterproof to 60 metres.  They can also take photos up to a resolution of 11MP (depending on the model).

These cameras are great for diving because they are so small and light.  The can be mounted on your mask, worn on your hood or wrist or simply carried for shooting whatever you may encounter.

There are two main models (at least in the interest of divers):

• HD Hero Original
• HD Hero2 Professional

Both shoot video in 1080p, 960p, 720p and WVGA.  The original is limited to a wide field of view (127º for 1080p and 170º for the other modes) where as the Hero2 allows the video to be shot in on of three different fields (170º, 127º and 90º) of view in all video modes. A field of view of 170º is almost as wide as a 10mm fisheye lens on a digital SLR camera – that’s a very wide angle of view. A FOV of 90º is still quite wide but closer to a 17mm lens on a DSLR.

The original GoPro Hero HD next to a 50c piece to show the size.

Both cameras have a battery life of around 2.5 hours when shooting in 720p/60 fps mode.  i.e. you could easily record a whole dive.

For a more detailed comparison, see: Product Comparison: HD HERO2 & HD Hero Cameras

The cameras don’t come with a screen but you can buy them as an optional accessory.  The screen fits onto the back of the camera making it marginally fatter and also includes a replacement rear door for the housing.  Unless you plan on wearing the camera on your mask or hood, a screen is a good idea for framing your shots.

The original GoPro Hero HD with the optional screen attached.

With the screen attached and switched on the battery life is reduced however it will still record 720p/60 for up to 1.25 hours, more then long enough for a single dive.

Another recommended accessory is a corrective flat port on the front of the housing. By default the port on the front of housing is curved. This works fine out of the water but underwater can result in less than sharp footage. A few third party companies make an add-on port which does not compromise the seal on the housing. I have installed the BlurFix adapter on my GoPro and I now get very sharp footage. The added advantage of the BlurFix adapter is that it uses a standard lens filter as the port so a coloured filter can be used to correct for the loss of red light underwater when shooting with natural light.

GoPro Hero HD in housing with BlurFix adapter.

The quality of the footage on these cameras is exceptional, especially when you consider how small and inexpensive it is. It is comparable to professionally shot footage.

Here’s some footage that was taken on the recent drive trip to Borneo.  All expect the last sequence (leaving Kapalai) was shot with the original HD Hero. The last sequence was shot with a Nikon D7000 DSLR.

There are some more videos at St George Underwater’s Vimeo page.

Please call the centre for more information and pricing.

When: Sunday 18th December from 5pm

Where: St George Underwater Centre

Come along and celebrate Christmas and 2011 with your diving family.

We’ll supply sausages, kebabs, salads, nibbles and some drinks.  Please bring something extra to share, like cake or desert, if you like.

We’ll also be taking donations on the day of both cans of food and cash for the Salvo’s Christmas Appeal.

Please call the centre to let us know if you’re coming so we can plan the numbers.

I asked Damien the other day what the workshop would cover, here’s what he said:

“I think we can all fall victim to wanting/needing the newest camera model, more megapixels, higher ISO, etc… whilst that’s important, I want to take things back to basics and focus on light. It might sound simple, but that is what photography is all about. Subject, framing, shutter aperture  – these are the key to a great image.

Instead of a macro or wide angle themed workshop, I’d like to divide the workshop into two parts.

1.       Artificial Light – the focus here will be on strobe lighting, as well as an exploration of what video lights can/cannot do for still photography. For those without strobes, we’ll put together a some P&S kits that people can use with their own cameras. Macro and close focus wide angle will naturally be the focus here, so Hideaway reefs are idea.  

2.       Natural Light – more often than not it is harder to capture great wide angle images. Hideaway Island offers some very nice hard coral and some nice small wrecks, which if captured nicely will be great for shooting with natural light only. The use of filters will also give us a helping hand and bring back some colour in the shallows at Hideaway.

Ultimately I think it’s about learning to balance light, so we’ll focus on this as well as framing, colour, equipment handling and finally what do to (or rather not to do) with a photo on a computer. I’m a big fan of shooting in RAW, so if people want to learn the finer points of that, I’m more than happy to cover that too. 

Participants should also think about a photographic goal. When I travel, I usually have one or more things I want to achieve, so I’ll like to help people get want they want too in this regard. ”

Over the week on Hideaway Island, Damien with run a few formal workshops plus a series of more personalised tutorials and dives. The latter will be targeted at different experience levels from absolute beginner to advanced shooter. In addition, we will run a pre-Vanuatu session on 4^th Dec 2:00-4:00pm, to cover some theory and make the most of our time on Hideaway. For those with new camera setups, or anyone wanting to test out one of our strobes there will be a club dive on the same morning (4^th Dec) where Damien will dive and be available for to help with equipment setup or answer any questions about diving and photography.

The base workshop fee is $199. If you also want to combine the PADI Underwater Photography course with this experience, the cost for both is $299. Space is limited and filling up fast, so book immediately.

If you need inspiration, checkout Damien’s website at http://damiensiviero.com/portfolio

Click here to download PDF brochure.

There’s nothing wrong with the diving in Sydney, except perhaps being a little cool at times, and you can get in a few dives in a weekend if you push it.  There’s lots to see and most of the dives are easy.  A dive trip, however, can take you to an exotic location with completely different diving, experiencing different cultures as well as having a great time with a great bunch of people.

In October in Borneo, 11 of us experienced living in a water village (with no sign of Kevin Costner) far from any land, up to 22 dives in 6 days, warm (around 29ºC) and clear water, turtles, sharks, and thousands of brightly coloured fish and corals.  We dived Sipdan Island, Mabul Island and Siamil Island as well as dives around the resort in Kapalai. The accommodation was very comfortable and the food was great. In addition, we stayed at a rainforest retreat; saw orangutans, macaques and proboscis monkeys up close; visited a rainforest at night.

In December, there’s a trip to Hideaway Island, Vanuatu for 7 nights.  Vanuatu is less than 4 hours flight from Sydney and the transfer to the resort is less than an hour.  You’ll hardly feel like you’ve left the country.  Accommodation is comfortable, food is good, the diving is easy and the water warm (27-28ºC) and clear.  We should have the island to ourselves to it will also be a bit of a party.  In addition, Damien is running a photography workshop.  What better place is there to hone your photography skills?

Next year we also have trips to Palau, Tonga and Indonesia.  See: Travel

If you are a new diver, a dive trip is a great way to increase your number of dives.  On one trip you could easily do 20 dives which would take 4 to 5 months of diving once every weekend.  As the water is likely to be warmer you can where a lighter suit (if you need a suit at all) which means less weight and so easier diving.  Most of the dives will be from a boat which makes things easier, again.

If you are an underwater photographer, a dive trip will give you not only more opportunities to take photographs but also a greater range of subjects.  With more dives in a short space of time you’ll have more chances to get that special image.

There’s also the great social side of things.  You aren’t diving the whole time and you get to spend the other time with a great group of people and be entertained by the shenanigans.  I have enjoyed the social side of every dive trip I’ve attended.

While a dive trip may not look inexpensive when you first look at it, traveling in a group almost always costs less.  This means you can generally do a trip with a few bells and whistles for less than if you did the equivalent trip on your own.

So… what are you waiting for?  Why not book a trip today?  See the Travel page to see what trips are coming up.