Yesterday we reached the second stopover on our current adventure. Quite the surprise I already have 5 more adds to the Average Year (bring me to 245). Three of them were standard fare that had managed to eluded me back home, one is an absolute asshat (link here) that pains me to give even the slightest attention, but the 5th was a nice pickup from a miss this year at Conroe, Texas (link here) – every time I hear their “squeak toy” call it puts a smile on my face…even better when they make it into the tin. We break camp tomorrow and move onward. Not knowing what the connectivity is going to be like, wanted to cut the suspense, as they say, and bring you the second part of Brad’s underwater adventure.
Take it away Brad…
Welcome back. When we left off last time in Part 1, our intrepid underwater photographer was sorting through stacks of negatives in envelopes and piles of printed photographs. (Did you like the alliteration?)
Since the mishap with the leaky seal in our underwater camera, I had been trying to find a replacement camera to fit the housing. It had been several years since we bought the Sealife film camera. In that time, Sealife quit making underwater film cameras in favor of digital versions. However, since they were very proud of their new products (they really do make a good camera), and digital cameras were still very expensive in general, the prices had increased accordingly. Not wanting to pay far too much (IMHO) for a camera we only use every few years, I kept searching. I wanted to find a housing for my Nikon DSLR. But when I saw I’d have to give up two appendages to purchase one of those, I thought it best to keep looking. Ironically, in early 2010, I found a small company that made reasonably good underwater cameras and housings for a reasonable price. We ended up buying an Intova underwater housing and camera kit. Intova just happened to be a Hawaiian company, not that it was any influence over our purchase. Unfortunately, they have since been bought out by a larger photography company who decided to discontinue the product.
On our next trip to the Big Island of Hawaii during the summer of 2010, I was eager to give the new camera a test run. One key difference between the digital camera and our old film camera (purely coincidence) is that its hard clear plastic case has TWO silicone seals to keep seawater out. Plus, now I put a small desiccant packet in the case with the camera, can’t be too careful. The Intova case has more tiny buttons than you can easily use underwater, but it does a decent job focusing at a distance or close-up. Unfortunately, the camera takes almost a half-second to actually take the photo once you press the shutter release button (newer ones are nearly instantaneous like a DSLR). The subject and photographer are always moving. Just point and pray.
Hit the jump to learn what this intriguing creature is and a few more of those below the surface inhabitants.
Continue reading Under the Sea – Part II of II…by Brad Marks
Wildlife Intrigued 