The Similan islands, Thailand, 2004
I'm getting the computers a bit more organised now and found this footage today. I shot this in 2004 (just pre-Tsunami) and had encoded as mpeg2 dvd. So all I had to do today was chop it into 3 parts and re-encode to mpeg4, so that I could upload.
Sorry about the start of part 1...bit boring but nice colourful reef.
Part 2 is probably the best, but then Chris was asking for a "Steve Irwin" with that GIANT stingray .
Part 3 has the weird stuff...octopus changing shape and colour and shrimps eating my fingernails.
Why not enjoy all 3 back-to-back.


Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Galapagos sealions video
This is a compilation of just the sealion shots cos diving with them was the most memorable experience of the trip. Amazingly agile, it seems like their heads stay still watching you while their body spins and turns. They just appear next to you on a dive and you see something big and dark out the corner of your mask. Makes you totally jump out yer skin! Only 1 big male ever looked threatening when it came to check me out while I was alone on the surface photographing a penguin. That was quite scary. You can see 1 sealion chase a shark about half way through the vid. Filmed over 10 dives around Santa Cruz and Floreana.

Places I've dived
I tried to use all these fancy updatable maps on my blog, but they never seem to work. So I've just made my own enlarge-able map to show all the places I've dived.

Galapagos pics
Heres a few screen grabs from our Galapagos trip video footage, currently being edited.
Not the best quality but definitely give a feel of the great experience that diving there is.
Some pics may seem out of focus but sometimes thats because of those vicious thermoclines that divers experience in Galapagos. The cold water currents can appear hazy and combined with the ever-changing vis, can mess up your shooting.

May as well start with the stars of the show....the galapagos sea lions. Soooo playful and appear on every dive to zoom up to you....just amazing!!!

Click on the pics to enlarge

...and more than happy to have their photo taken.

The second biggest draw for divers to Gala are the Hammerheads. We saw them frequently but they are very shy and hard to see up close
(especially when the dive master uses one of those damned "shaker - noise makers")
So most views are like the one above. However, Jill and I would drop off the back of the group and by keeping quiet, they came this close.....They were still very fast though, 25 frames later.... its nearly gone....
I'm sure to get a good shot, you'd need to be using a rebreather.


Other critters that we saw on nearly every dive were...

Eagle rays



Countless turtles



Plenty white tip reefies


and on one dive near Floreana, we came across a school of 100's of Galapagos shark.


But the winner of weirdest new critter for me was the red lipped batfish...

I'll post more stills before the videos are finished and uploaded.
I'm also writing a report on the dives ,the 3 companies we dove with and how to do Galapagos on a budget.

New Blog

I've got another new blog now to cover everything that isnt diving related like this one, "The Scublog", or wildlife related like TWITCHwithMITCH

Its a space for me to rant and rave about everything else in my life.
Heres the link -

http://myspace.com/whothrewthat

Bonaire and Galapagos reports and vids to follow soon!!!

Bonaire diving

Well...heres a webcam grab of Jill and I off on an early morning shore dive on Bonaire. We eventually did only 9 dives on the island...it wasnt too spectacular for us, but still nice.

We are in Quito at the moment, therefore updating the blog is slow and tedious. We fly to Galapagos in 2 days time for more diving. Think its best if I keep the trip reports until we return, then I can post video too.

We're off to Bonaire!

All packed now and taxi booked to Manchester airport. 2 dive kit bags, 12.5 kgs each, camera bag 6kgs and underwater housing case 6kgs. That leaves us 14 kgs of other stuff, not bad as I thought that KLMs baggage allowance was a bit tight. We bought one of those hanging scales (that fishermen use) to make sure of the bag weights, very handy.
So watch this space for photos,video and dive logs from Bonaire and keep an eye on those Webcams.

Bonaire Webcams

Heres a link to some webcams on Bonaire. When we get there, everyone will be able to see us....... if we can find the cameras. Apparently, theres an underwater cam for us to visit too....but its showing nothing today. I like the donkey sanctuary webcam!

BONAIRE WEBCAMS

Booking progress

Now then....booked an apartment this a.m. A dutch woman called Rietje has a 1 bed self contained apartment w/ kitchen, tv and balcony. Here it is!
Good price and we'll save heaps by cooking for ourselves rather than eating out every night.
Still waiting on a reponse from the Jeep people as we need a 4x4 to access all the shore dive sites. Dive-wise we'll just arrange a unlimited shore dive package when we arrive, seems to be $20/day for airfills and we've got everything else covered. There are great websites for Bonaire with loads of trip reports and opinions on best places to dive/eat/stay etc
Check this out if you fancy a visit.
Will probably pop round to reefers and wreckers tomorrow to see if our new wetsuits and my new mask are in yet.
Also, for all you divers who like a freebie....here a link for a new international dive mag that I've discovered.......X-RAY Magazine
Its in a full screen PDF style, better than a glossy. I also subscribe to UWP magazine if you like snappin pics down there.
Anyway enuff free plugs from our sponsors. Heres a pic of the best named critter that we hope to find in Bonaire......"The Flamingos tongue" cowrie snail!!!!!

Bonaire and Galapagos!!!!!!!

Oh my god!!!! We're booked up for the next adventure. We're off to Ecuador and the Galapagos with a stop off in Bonaire.
We depart from Manchester on Feb 25th....so lots to arrange!!!!
The KLM flight was the cheapest to Ecuador and it just so happens that it stops off in Bonaire (cos the Dutch own the Antilles islands) therefore we cant pass up the opportunity to dive there.
I'm trying to sort out accommodation today but the island seems to be well adapted for experienced divers. All we have to do is grab a few tanks and drive round the island (in a rental pick-up) and decide where we fancy diving - check out the dive site map. Couldnt be easier, we'll probably take 3 shore dives per day.
The water temp and conditions will be drastically different between bonaire and galapagos, so we're both getting new wetsuits from "Reefers and Wreckers", the dive shop next door.
Anyway, I'd best get back to finding a Studio or apartment in Bonaire....I'll post more info when we get it.

Lanzarote dive video

This video was shot in November 2006 from Lanzarote, in the Canaries.
We were only on the island for a day (en route to Brazil) so this film is comprised of 2 quick dives from "Safari divers" Playa Chica.
The google earth intro shows exactly where we dived, but in retrospect I'll probably shorten such intros. The last two minutes of seaweedy looking stuff is a pair of sea horses that we found at 6-8 metres. Music by Zero-7.

Whaleshark movie, Thailand

This is an April 2003 video, shot in Koh Tao, Thailand. Its only part of the footage and needs re-editing, cos it was shot in NTSC and converted from video tape.
We stayed in Koh Tao for 6 months that year, and I made videos for Scuba Junction, Easy divers and Planet scuba.
At the start of the film, you can see our apartment above the post office with the blue roof. The "Hell ride" clip was shot by Jill over my shoulder on the back of our wee motorbike.

Shark feed dive video, Australia

Now that I've got the hang of it, I'll post a few of our older dive videos to get us more up to date.

This is a video of a shark feed dive from "TAKA 2" Cairns, Australia.
Filmed out at Osprey reef, mid July, from a 5 day liveaboard. The diners are Grey reef sharks,white tip reef sharks and the odd very big potato cod. Not dangerous but incredible to watch close-up. We also dived with Minke whales later on the trip. Anyone in Cairns really should try to get to the outer reef rather than just day trips.

The Boonsung wreck video, Thailand.

The Boonsung wreck

This is the "Boonsung wreck" dive video we filmed off Khao Lak, Thailand.
We filmed this from a private boat that we "borrowed" from one of Tims Thai mates, one month before the Tsunami hit.
Only 4 divers doing 2 dives around the wreck to get this footage.
Obviously the Similan islands have some great dive sites with great colour and vis, but we all need a bit of variety eh?
This is also the only time I've narrated one of my own films. I'm not sure the Scottish accent lends itself to well.

Jill with leafy sea dragon, Adelaide

This is the first post on our new blog just to test if its working.
Hopefully we'll see a picture of Jill with a Leafy sea dragon......GOOD its working then....