Scuba Diving with GoPro: 7 Ways to Improve your Underwater photography

With a moderate price, easy use and a casing that is waterproof up to 60 meters (officially 40m), you’ll increasingly meet fellow divers carrying a GoPro to capture their scuba experience. Overall, the photos and videos from the GoPro are pretty good, but usually not great. After getting my Hero 3+ Black Edition last year (see my first review here) I have taken 1,000’s of photos and many videos during a few dozen dives, gaining practical experience on how to best use the GoPro underwater. I’ve learnt that if you stick to a few basics, the quality of your diving media can drastically improve. Go through the following 7 basic steps and see if you can increase your diving photography performance.

Step 1: Get a red filter right away!

For snorkeling you’re fine, but anyone diving deeper than 5 meters needs to have a red filter (up to around 20 meters). Any cheap version will do, as long as it clicks on/comes-off easily of your GoPro and it should have a strap to your camera so that you won’t lose it. Without a red filter your pictures and videos become pale-blue, losing color and warmth, see the example below.

Step 2: Choose your mount

This is harder than it seems and depends on what you plan to do with your GoPro underwater. Many divers that I know use a stick (with a floating grip) and personally I use a wrist-strap. Both are ideal to see what you’re capturing and it’s also easy to change settings during a dive (or take a selfie). Being a bit ADHD-ish, I use my arms too much while diving, so most of my videos are a bit shaky. I tried a head strap/mount, but the downside is that you can’t see what the camera is doing (and I’m that type of guy who finds out after his dive that the camera wasn’t switched on). The best thing about a body/head mount is that you won’t be tempted to fool around with the camera during your dive, forgetting about your surroundings or your buddy. In such case, go for continuous video with the option of interval-pictures. Make sure your SD card has sufficient space (I use 64GB, class 10 speed). Whatever you choose: think ahead about the type of footage you’d like to get from your dives.

Step 3: Trust GoPro’s standard settings

On my first dives I changed the frame-rate ( fps) to a low setting with the idea that I needed more light under water. Although this might be true, I found that many pictures were blurred and unclear. After taking to several divers who just use the standard settings (60 fps), I decided to go with that as well. I still ditch 50% of my pictures (I take many), but that has other reasons (see below). If you have a great recommendation for camera settings for underwater, let me know. Until then I’ll stick to the standard. The angle (superview, wide, narrow) is a setting you could change if you like. The wider it goes the more you capture, but the distance to an object seems further away. I took a picture of a sea snake at very close range and when looking back it’s like a mile away!

Step 4: Spare Battery

Often you won’t have time in between dives to charge your GoPro, so bringing an extra battery is highly recommended. If you plan 2 dives, switch the battery for your second dive, regardless how much power you still got left. I’ve experienced several times that my battery went dead halfway my second dive, only minutes away from a picturesque moment.

Step 5: Keep your old camera!

During my last dive I promised myself to dig up my ‘traditional’ digital camera (a Lumix). Yes, it’s dated, but close-ups/macro shots –even without flash– is pretty good. Just know that GoPro is TERRIBLE at close-ups: it can’t zoom and the smaller stuff is hard to capture due to the wide-angle. You start realizing after a while that it’s a great action-camera to capture moments, not macro-life. So if you’re lucky to spot a pygmee seahorse, grab your old fashioned camera and forget about the GoPro.

Step 6: Enjoy your dive!

The course director at my last liveaboard trip told me at a certain night dive: “don’t bring your camera, just enjoy the experience”. It sounds trivial, but sometimes you’re too preoccupied with your camera and miss out on some amazing stuff around you! Enjoy what you see first, and then capture it with your camera.

Step 7: Pimp your media

Editing your media with media management software makes a huge difference. The GoPro Studio has several features to improve the quality of your media. Personally I use Picasa for enhancing my photos before using the GoPro studio. Many other tools are just as fine. What I like about Picasa is that I can automatically auto-correct contrast for a batch of photos. For videos it might be noteworthy that you can auto-stabilize them with the YouTube Video Editor.

Enjoy your diving and leave any comment if you like.

Roger
TheDivingGuide.com

How to choose a liveaboard? 7 essentials for better decision making

The other day someone asked me “why did you choose this liveaboard and not the other one?” Great question, I wasn’t sure. So on my latest trip to the Great Barrier Reef I decided to do a small research and asked my fellow liveaboard guests on their decision making. Why did they go for this boat? Apart from the usual suspects there were several interesting answers worth considering for future decision making. To share this with anyone interested in liveaboard diving, I’ve listed 7 essentials to consider when choosing a liveaboard trip. 

1. Journey 

First and foremost your destination and desired route must match a Liveaboard’s itinerary. There are slight differences between operators, so check out their schedule and the divespots they intend to visit (weather can always change that of course). On my latest trip I checked the internet for liveaboards and multi-day tours to the Great Barrier Reef and I got loads of search results. When narrowing it down to trips from Cairns to the Outer Reefs (Ribbon Reef, Osprey) my search resulted in only 3 viable options, making the evaluation easier. So be specific in your search.

2. Price

A no-brainer since most liveaboards are pretty expensive. However, don’t look at stand-alone pricing but relate it to other components; you might even go for a more expensive operator after all. Additional cost is sometimes hard to compare, but at least check the following: total number of dives, equipment rental (often not included), Nitrox, fuel and/or other surcharges, meals/drinks (i.e. alcohol) and pickup/drop-off services. On my latest trip we returned to the shore by small aircraft, flying low over the reef; it was really cool and worth the higher cost compared to other operators who weren’t offering this.

3. Service & Facilities

With 4 dives a day on average you’ll spend quite some time on the boat, so think of what’s important to you: sundecks for relaxing, great food throughout the day, a large cabin with daily service, free Wi-Fi? What I enjoyed on my latest trip was that I hardly had to bring any personal stuff: towels, sunscreen, and shampoo; all of those little things were taken care of. The meals were amazing and after every dive the crew handled the change of tanks. Before every dive they helped putting on your fins before jumping in the water and they cleaned-out your mask with soap. Of course you can all do this yourself and I’m far from lazy, but it felt like they valued their guests.

4. Size matters!

My favorite answer from one of the fellow divers was his comparison of the boat versus group size. We apparently had a bigger boat with less people, providing more personal space than the alternatives. I would never have thought of this, but it makes sense. It allows the crew to be focused on service and safety. Our boat was 37 meters with a maximum group size of 26 (we were with 20 though). Apart from personal attention, it was easy to connect to (and remember the names of) my fellow divers, creating an intimate setting. From now on this comparison is on my evaluation!

5. Quality & Safety

If your equipment is in bad shape you won’t enjoy your dives, so try to find out if the gear is well maintained. Also having strict safety procedures and the number of dive masters will tell you something about the professionalism of the operator. During my trip we had new equipment. On top of that we were given an emergency radio and we had to demonstrate on our first dive that we were able to get it out of our BCD and use it. My concern of being forgotten in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef disappeared right away! Always remember: pricing can never beat safety.

6. Engaged staff

Think about it: when travelling on a crappy boat with a great, enthusiastic (but professional) dive crew, you’ll probably have a better time than when staying on a fancy, full-serviced liveaboard with a crappy team. When your dives are great, the remaining part of your experience is determined by the people. The teaming and enthusiasm of the staff will largely determine the ‘chemistry’ on the boat. On my last journey the crew (10 people or so) were as enthusiastic as teenagers on a fieldtrip which had a huge positive effect on the entire liveaboard experience. This “X-factor” isn’t easy to find out; only word-of-mouth will tell you this, which brings me to my last point: checking reviews.

7. Reputation: online reviews

A lot of points mentioned above are not easily found on a liveaboard’s website, although quite a few can be interpreted from it (no.1 to 4 and partly no. 5). So check online reviews to make sure you make the right choice. Note that quality means different things to different people so decide what fits your personal requirements and read comments of reviews instead of staring at the number of stars of ratings. For short trips I would personally check try to find out the operator’s business-model: low-cost (= cheaper but volume) vs quality/service focus (smaller groups, but more expensive). I’d rather spend 20% more to avoid those operators taking hordes of people out to moored platforms with slides and everything. But as said: it’s always a personal matter and a budget trade-off.

Hopefully this helps in determining your next liveaboard trip. Comments or other essentials to evaluate dive-trips are welcome; send me an email or leave a comment below.

Roger van der Spek, diving enthusiast
www.TheDivingGuide.com

What's it like as a diver to to go snorkeling with Manatees in Florida?

Recently I planned a trip to Florida for some wreck diving in the Keys and I decided to drive 6½ hours up to Kings Bay, Crystal River to swim with Manatees. I wondered: would it be a tourist trap or would it be awesome? Here's my version of the Kings Bay Manatee experience so that you can decide if this is something you would like.

First of all: What's so special about Crystal River and Kings Bay?

Well, it is home to the largest concentration of West Indian Manatees in the world. More than 1,000 manatees visit this area every year during winter season. The season starts when the Gulf of Mexico cools down, motivating the Manatees to migrate to the warmer rivers that are warmed by the springs (22°C/72°F year round). 

Citrus County is the only place in the United States where you can swim with the manatees. Scuba diving with them isn’t allowed (you might try in non-protected areas, but in the protected areas you’ll pay a hefty fine and there are many voluntary rangers to watch you). In particular Three Sisters Spring is famous for its clear water and hundreds of manatees that gather here in winter time. This also brings in hordes of people, from kayakers to swimmers and other day-trippers, all eager to see, photograph and swim with these friendly creatures. When there are too many manatees the spring is even closed for the public by the Fish & Wildlife authorities (but if that's the case you'll see many on other locations nearby around the Bay).

What is the best time to see and swim with Manatees?

The high season usually runs from November 15th to March 31st which is when the Manatees are coming inland to the springs. The start/end date depends on the temperature of the Gulf. There are always some ‘residents’ so that you are likely to see off-season. It’s rare to see none, but it has happened, so operators don’t guarantee anything during the summer.

So what does a trip generally look like?

My trip was at the end of October, so just before the season. The weather was still warm so it was a bit of a risk: most of the Manatees were still out there in the Gulf of Mexico. The good part was that there were only 2 or 3 boats scouting the area, each carrying around 8-10 tourists. The term ‘tourist’ is a better description than snorkeler since I quickly found out this has nothing to do with snorkeling! There were no divers on board and some people hadn’t snorkeled ever before.Most operators provide a mask, snorkel and wetsuit but no fins to minimize the chance of stirring up the loose soil and sediment on the bottom of the shallow rivers. When doing so, visibility is gone instantaneously. The water is so shallow (1-3 meters/3-10ft) that you can stand most of the times, so you’ll be given a ‘noodle’ to stay afloat. You’ll be cruising the shallow rivers on a flat type of boat until a manatee is spotted and the group silently goes into the water to swim closely to the Manatee to observe it. The captains help the other boats, so you’ll quickly surround yourself with a (couple of) dozen other ‘floaters’. This also works in your advantage since it boosts your chances to swim with the Manatee(s).

So, how cool was it really? 

It was OK. The fact that I did swim with a several Manatees was special and amazing! They are really interesting and it is cool to swim so close to them and observe their movements and behavior. The experience around it was a bit of a disappointment though, so all in all I have mixed feelings about the whole experience. Here's why:

We arrived early morning (6 am) at the dive shop where we picked up our gear. We were instructed (a dozen different versions on how not to disturb the manatees) before we headed out before dawn. You should consider the first boat ride out when the Manatees are most active. Later in the day they’ll mainly be looking for food. Manatees are very curious and they occasionally check you out (sometimes even sucking your face). Having said that, most of them will just ignore you.

First thing that struck me was that you’ll be looking (and swimming) with them in a residential area. The villas along the canals and small bays with their gardens facing the waters and their private marinas are where the manatees are (that is, until they’ll head out for the springs, but also these are close to the residential areas), so it's almost like swimming in someone's backyard. 

After cruising for about 10 minutes in these ‘suburbs’ we found 2 adult manatees and a calf/baby. Silently everyone went into the water and we were swimming with them in a half circle (you’re not allowed to surround them). The manatees were nice to watch. They aren’t bothered by your presence and were sometimes even bumping into someone on their endless expedition of grazing the bottom.

We saw several more and I swam almost privately with a big one (3m/10ft) who was maneuvering between the boats and boardwalks. After some time people got cold so we moved on to Three Sisters Spring to take a swim. There weren’t any Manatees yet but it was an interesting pool to see with its amazingly crystal clear water (hence the name) and its springs. There were more fish than I’d expected. It also has a resident turtle and a tiny alligator, but the latter is hard to spot. In the afternoon kids often come here to play, so again, you might want to consider the early shift. Before noon the trip was coming to an end.

And, would I recommend it?

After the trip (and still today) I have mixed feelings on the experience. It was truly nice to see the manatees up close and personal but it wasn’t any diving or snorkeling experience at all, mainly due to the number of people (and it was still off season) and the residential surroundings. It felt a bit like a zoo. 

If you would ask me if I would ever do it again I would think very hard and finally answer: Yes. But only with my kids.

Roger

www.thedivingguide.com

Three Sisters Spring

Manatee in just a few ft/m of waters of Kings Bay