Underwater photographs using Canon G9's full manual settings

Okay, before I start, I acknowledge that these are in no way shape or form fantastic underwater images. They are not even good if I am completely honest.

But, they do represent a start for me in getting to grips with my Canon G9's manual settings while scuba diving and a better understanding of some basic principles.

First, and perhaps most importantly, lets get the setting right. These were taken in Dosthill in about 3m worth of viz. I've not really tested myself with adjusting the manual settings (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) before so everything was a learning curve of trial and error. Also nothing image-wise was planned, three of us jumped in armed with cameras and started blasting away. And these are a few of my efforts.

Practical things I've learned:

Challenging oneself with three independent functions while also scuba diving was a tad tricky and I would have been better off trialling one first but you don't learn until you give it a go.

You need a lot of patience to get things right.

Taking a white balance before each image is now second nature but I found a white slate left the colours looking a a bit harsh and found using the palm of the hand might be better.

The intensity of the built-in flash can be altered to make it softer or stronger. Don't forget that.

The two images of the perch who was happily hanging about the bottom of the buoyed line that drops onto the house are perfect demonstration of the wrong settings.

The fish didn't want to leave the safety of the line and, like a clown fish darted here and there every time the camera was pointed at him.

Unfortunately, catching him with a bit too much flash left left almost burnt out areas of white on his underbelly and near his mouth. Slightly less flash might have softened the images more.



As the next three images show, while white balance returned the right colours to the underwater realm, the poor viz meant there was still too little light to capture a crystal clear image, hence a bit of blurring as the fish darted around, caused by a shutter speed that was too slow.

Closing the shutter speed down, got a sharper image (below) but left the image darker than those above. A strobe which can be angled around the camera is a must.
I was surprised by how little backscatter was created by such a large unit used by my buddy by carefully angling it when taking different pics.

Dosthill itself is not short of atmosphere and the next two pics, of the buoyed line down to the old pump house and the reeds at two to three metres give two different natural-light perspectives to different parts of the quarry.

The reeds are where we find the population of pike. Below is a jack pike. Hopefully instinct will help me approach a scene with the right camera settings in mind but the best I could get here ended with the rear of the pike giving off too much white reflection and the blue background of the water becoming almost black because of such a short shutter speed.

As the next image shows, the G9 needs a wide angle lens. In poor viz situations the camera just cannot capture a wide enough shot of a diver behind the Parcelforce van. The G10 offered a wider image but a compact fitted with a wet wide angle really opened up the image a lot more.

So, nothing to worry Tom Peshak or David Doubilet but we've all got to start somewhere and despite the issues with each image, I've learned a few things and discovered that there is the possibility of getting decent images even in somewhere like Dostill Quarry.

You'll be afraid to go back into the water!

Hands up those who want to go cage diving with great whites in South Africa.

Some fantastic footage doing the rounds on email might make you think different (or maybe not). It shows a two ton, 15 foot Great White barreling into a diver's cage in Mexico.



Phew! That was a lucky escape. I still want to go cage diving though!

Scuba divers break Guinness record in Indonesia

They must be mad. Normally scuba divers are trying to find a quiet bit of ocean to enjoy the peace and tranquility. But not this lot.



AFP newswire reported that almost 2,500 scuba divers set a new world record Monday for the largest mass dive, Guinness World Records said.

A total of 2,486 divers were involved in the bid off the coast of North Sulawesi for the record for "Most People Scuba Diving Simultaneously."

The previous record was set in the Maldives in 2006, which attracted 958 divers.


The challenge was part of efforts to establish the Sulawesi town of Manado as a world-class tourist spot and mark Indonesia's 64th Independence Day.

Helicopter scuba diving

If the Caribbean Island of Curacao didn't have enough to tempt scuba divers, it has just added the ultimate thrill - “helidives”.

Niels Jorissen, owner of Dive Charter Curacao, has been taking adventurous divers to their dive site on his helicopter.

Jorissen said the experience is unique with the divers dropped into the water from about ten feet. After the dive they jump on the dive boat waiting to pick them up.

But at $250 a go, it's quite expensive.

Scuba diving the M2 Part 2

The M2 submarine has a special place in the hearts of British scuba divers.

The intact vessel that lies intact and upright in 34m-ish of water in solemn tribute to the bravery of submariners everywhere.

The wreck, covered in marine growth from spending 70 years on the seabed, it's conning tower now populated with shoals of fish where the crew once stood, and one grainy black and white image is the window we have into the world.

Until now. Thanks to Rich Doram (who dived the M2 with us last month but stayed down much longer than I managed) we have another glimpse with the video tucked away on YouTube.



For those who might not have seen the earlier post, the M2 was fitted with a small Parnall Peto seaplane in a hanger located in front of the conning tower. The idea was for the plane to launch, complete it's mission and be winched back abroad so the sub could dive without the enemy knowing where it had come from.

Unfortunately, the sub was lost with all crew in 1932.

Thanks to BomberGuy who posted the vid, there are a few more details of the plane, the M2 and the accident which I shall quickly recap here.

The aircraft was launched using a compressed air catapult mounted on the forward casing of the submarine within a few minutes of surfacing and recovered using a crane, such as on the HMS M2, after landing alongside.

After the accidental sinking of HMS M1 in 1925, M2 and her sister M3 were taken out of service and reassigned for experimental use. She had her gun removed and it was replaced by a small aircraft hangar to carry the small seaplane.

The M2 left her base at Portland on 29 January 1932, for an exercise in West Bay. Her last communication was a radio message at 10:11 to announce that she would dive at 10:30 am. The captain of a passing merchant ship mentioned that he had seen a large submarine dive stern first at around 11:15.

The submarine was found on 3 February, eight days after her loss, the hangar door was found open and the aircraft still in it.

Two explanations for the sinking have been advanced. The most popular is that since the crew were always trying to beat their record time for launching the aircraft, they had simply opened the hangar door on surfacing whilst the deck was still awash and it flooded taking the sub down to the seabed.

The other theory is that the flooding of the hangar was due to failure of the stern hydroplanes.

The normal procedure for launching the aircraft was to hold the boat on the surface using the hydroplanes whilst the hangar door was opened and the aircraft launched because of the time needed to clear the ballast tanks.

Failure of the rear hydroplanes would have sent the stern down as observed by the merchant officers and water would have eventually entered the hangar.

The submarine currently lies upright on the sea bed at ( 50°34′34″N, 2°32′55″W) OSGB36.

It's worth checking out the YouTube vid as there are some messages from relatives of the crew.

Tributes in scuba diving tragedy

THE heartbroken families of two divers who died off the coast of North Yorkshire have paid tribute to the men.

Stephen John Bailey, 49, of Filey, and Malcolm Exley, 52, of Scarborough, died after getting into difficulty eight miles off the coast of Filey on Monday (AUG3).

In a statement, Mr Bailey's wife Helen and children Anna and Robert said he learned to snorkel on a family holiday in 2003 and discovered Filey Diving Club soon after.

"As a family we know that whatever tragedy occurred there would be no question of one not aiding the other and that in itself brings a glimmer of comfort to us all," the statement said.

Mr Exley's wife Dot and their children Karen and Gary said: "He loved being part of the diving club, he loved diving and we take comfort in knowing that he died doing something he loved."

Coral painkillers - bad news for scuba divers?

Researchers have discovered that a compound harvested from soft coral off the coast of Taiwan could provide a new treatment for pain from damage.

A study published in the British Journal of Pharmacology suggests Capnella imbricata, or Kenya Tree Coral, could provide relief where traditional painkillers can't.



Dr Zhi-Hong Wen from the National Sun Yat-Sen University has been testing a chemical isolated from soft coral collected at Green Island, a small volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean.

More studies are now needed to see if this could offer a new way to treat the condition.

Dr Wen said: "Today there are few pharmacological agents that can help people suffering from neuropathic pain, but we believe that these marine-derived compounds could lead to the development of a new range of drugs of great potential."



Which leads to an interesting dichotomy. Coral reefs are already under threat from a multitude of different sources, rising sea temperatures, increased acidity, pollution, coastal development, over fishing, crap divers.

Hell, the doomsayers say the Great Barrier Reef will be gone in 20 years due to warmer waters, whereas I say the Red Sea reefs will be gone in the same time due to clod-hopping foreign f**kwits who walk all over it or crash into it.

But if corals offer a potential pharmaceutical benefit, do the world's powers start taking the issues that affect our oceans more seriously in order to preserve the coral reefs? In which case we might all benefit.

OR do they simply plunder the world's reef systems that are so crucial to the planet's health and well-being for a short term gain as has befallen Africa and any number of important rainforests?

I know which one my money's on and I'm gonna make sure I dive the Far East in the none too distant future - while there is still something of Mother Nature that is inspiring to see.

Scuba diving on the M2

The jinx is finally over for two Yam Yam scuba divers.

Yep, we finally got to dive the M2; me after three years of waiting, Jono after about eight failed attempts where he has been blown out, sick, and chased off by sharks (not really).





And here are the pics to prove it.

In 1927 HMS M2 became the world's first undersea aircraft carrier, a submarine carrying a small two-seater seaplane in a watertight hangar.
The seaplane, which had folding wings, was launched by catapult off a runway on the deck.
The M2's crew was proud of the speed with which it could launch the little floating plane but it was this speed which proved their fatal undoing.
It is thought in an attempt to beat the record, the hangar doors were opened before the sub had fully surfaced, flooding the hangar and taking the boat to the bottom of the sea, taking all 60 crew with her on 26 January, 1932.





And now she has become a magnet for scuba divers. Her very name will resonate with most; those who have dived her will reminisce, those who want to dive her will listen intently.
But at about 34m-ish to the seabed, she is a challenging deep dive where air consumption and bottom time have to be closely monitored.





We dived with Scimitar Diving, based on the harbour edge of Portland Harbour that offered hardboat diving - and a lift to get your tidy body out of the water at the end.
The great thing about the outfit was that you simply book your spot and turn up on the day joining in with a mixed party in much the same way as holiday diving abroad.



M2 lies in Lyme Bay, about an hour's chug around Portland Bill.
The shot-line had been dropped right across the conning tour dropping us in a perfect spot to begin the dive.
The deck sits at about 27m-ish and we followed it northwards to the sub's spectacular bow with its famous knife-like razor edge. Visibility was about 5m and the wreck disappeared ghost-like into the distance as we peered along its sleek lines.
Heading back we followed the tracks that once fired the seaplane off the deck, leading us to the hangar. One or two huge conger eels are said to have made this their home but they must have been out Saturday afternoon shopping when we visited.



Moving beyond the conning tower, we headed sternwards to the propshafts, keel and rudder which are covered in anemones.
With time running out we made a quick swim back to the conning tower. And this is where the reality of what we were doing hit me.
Peering into the tower bridge, where a small shoal of fish were loitering, I was reminded that 80-odd years ago, the sub's crew would have stood here among the jutting mass of periscopes that now rose towards the surface.
From that very spot the captain would have proudly surveyed the vessel; the crew would have watched the plane take off and land and said goodbye to the blue skies as they finally prepared for a stint running silently beneath the waves. Sadly they never returned to the surface.
Wreck diving, particularly military vessels, offers wonderful diving opportunities - but also a poignant slice of history with the vessel standing in solemn tribute to the brave.



The M2 was a wonderful dive but it nearly ended so tragically for divers on another boat. As we surfaced following 30 minutes underwater, the Coastguard's rescue helicopter was hovering overhead winching a stricken diver to safety.

It would appear she had a problem in the first stages of the dive. By the time she was back on the boat she was unconscious and not breathing. The chopper crew raced her to Dorchester Hospital and managed to get her breathing again, an amazing example of their skill and never-give-up attitude.

Minutes later a second diver hit the surface in a panic after a rapid ascent when he realised - 20 mins into the dive - that his pressure gauge had stuck on 200bar.

This is a challenging dive and I would urge anyone looking to do it to think long and hard about their own experience and expertise. Please don't try it until you are ready, it will wait for you.



I know this is somewhat gratuitous - but after a hard days diving, it was nice to relax and watch some bikini-clad ladies playing beach volleyball. I would have offered to help clean the sand off after the game but I doubt this missus would have been too happy.