Photography

Diving in the Lagoon Tank at uShaka Marine World

On the first of our two days in Durban after the Sodwana trip, Tony and I did one of our most favourite things: we went for a dive in the aquarium at uShaka Marine World. Tony used to work at Calypso Dive and Adventure Centre, based at uShaka, and it is in this idyllic location – known as the Avis Snorkel Lagoon – that all the confined water skills were taught. How awesome is that?

Longfin batfish in the foreground, hound shark in the background

Tony and I wanted to go somewhere calm and pretty where we could lie on the bottom and play with different camera settings, and a sunny, shallow dive (3 metres maximum) in limitless visibility surrounded by 1,500 tropical fish and hound sharks (only five of those, fortunately) was just the ticket.

Hound shark passing in front of the aquarium window

It is a magnificent dive. Not challenging by any stretch of the imagination, but that is one of its charms. It’s an open air tank accessed by walking into Marine World with a Calypso Divemaster (you can’t do the dive without someone from Calypso accompanying you, even if you’re qualified). There’s an area to kit up, and then you stroll (or waddle, or slide) down some gently sloping rubber mats in shallow water to the drop-off into the tank proper.

The tank has windows looking onto the aquarium (or, the aquarium has windows looking onto it, if you prefer), and a large window looking into the Open Ocean tank, which contains sharks and rays. Most of the tank, however, is your own private paradise, as the windows only cover a fraction of the one side. On the day we went, there were no snorkelers in the water (it gets really busy on weekends and holidays – last time we dived there it was hilarious and somewhat unnerving to look up and see countless pairs of legs in board shorts hanging above us).

Tony in the undercover portion of the Lagoon tank

There is a section of the tank that’s covered over (including the window onto the shark tank), and in this area is a submerged jeep (with licence plates still attached) and some other bits of atmospheric debris such as ropes, crates and wooden packing pallets. It’s a bit dark in there, and I prefer the sunny bits, but it’s really lovely to lie in front of the window to the shark tank (where it IS sunny) and watch the big predators on the other side of the glass. Some of the fish seem to like it, too.

Clown triggerfish — A clown triggerfish emerging from the covered portion of the tank

There are half hour time slots that can be booked with Calypso – either as a Discover Scuba Diving experience if you haven’t dived before (and I think this will spoil you for diving anywhere else!) or for an accompanied dive if you’re qualified. We took the one at 1.45pm and the half hour immediately following it, so we had a blissful hour in the 24 degree water.

Tony and some fish playing with his camera

I took hundreds of photos, and Tony took some fantastic video footage (for another post). The thing that delighted me the most was that many of the fish interact with you – the old woman angelfish and the boxfish in particular are totally unafraid.

Old woman angelfish — An old woman angelfish comes to visit me

There was also a toothy fish who alternated between harrassing me and Tony, and appears in nearly every frame of Tony’s video as he kept passing by the camera to remind us of his toothy presence. This fish and several of the others deserve their own posts, since they were such large personalities!

Many of the fish were fascinated by the video camera lens – perhaps they could see a reflection or movement in the glass – and came really close to inspect and even head butt it. You can get really close to them either by lying or kneeling on the floor of the tank and waiting for curious visitors, or by sneaking up very slowly and quietly while they’re eating.

Lagoon tank at uShaka — Terracotta vases and fish in the lagoon tank

If you’re visiting Durban, this is a wonderful way to pass a couple of hours. If you don’t dive, it’s the most perfect setting in which to try it, and if you do – don’t scoff at how shallow it is and that it’s confined – just go and relax, marvel and enjoy the spectacle. It’s incredibly reasonably priced and afterwards you can do some water rides, chill out on the beach, enjoy an ice cream, or stroll around the retail space at uShaka.

Bookshelf: Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers

Mystery of the Ancient Seafarers: Ancient Maritime Civilzation – Robert Ballard

I read this book while miserably ill in bed this past weekend, envying Tony the nine dives he was doing over two days with students. It was a small consolation – Ballard combines history of the various maritime civilisations with descriptions of research and exploration expeditions mounted to search for and examine undersea remains of the vessels used.

The photography, as is usual for National Geographic, is magnificent, and ancient mosaics and frescoes are interspersed with paintings of how the ships must have looked in full sail, photos taken by the submersibles and divers working on the archaeological sites, and pictures of the submersible and other marine technology used to perform the exploration. Ballard’s writing style is engaging but he really comes into his own when he’s describing the voyages of discovery he was a part of.

I was particularly interested in the research being done in the Black Sea, which has only a very narrow channel leading out of it into the Mediterranean Sea. The freshwater draining into the Black Sea from the surrounding rivers drains out, but a deep layer of anoxic water – a dead zone devoid of any kinds of life – exists in the depths of the Black Sea where the water is never stirred up or refreshed. This provides a perfect preservation environment to the many shipwrecks which must be lying there as a result of the Black Sea being part of such important trading routes. Ballard and his team found a vessel with wood looking as though it was hewn yesterday, when it had been underwater for over 1,000 years.

The book is a large format hardcover, and a lovely addition to the library of anyone who is interested in the sea and its history. You can purchase it here.

Dive sites (Sodwana): Two Buoy & Arches

Our last dive in Sodwana was at 0630 on the Sunday morning. It had to be early, and not too deep, to accommodate those who were flying home later in the day. By this stage of the weekend the sea had flattened out beautifully – we had had a couple of windless days and the swell had dropped. Duncan, our regular skipper, was not to be found on the beach (I think he overslept!) so we were taken through the waves by Joe to yet another site close to the launch site (what a pleasure for those of us who don’t particularly love long boat rides!). Joe dropped us at Two Buoy, and we drifted down Two Mile Reef ending up at Arches.

View of Two Buoy on Two Mile Reef, Sodwana

Two Buoy is the location at which we did our first dive in Sodwana, and the conditions were in marked contrast to that dive. It was far less surgy – there was a bit of current and slight surge, but we were able to swim around with ease. The surface conditions were also a thousand times better, so we didn’t have as much discomfort with equalising. On our earlier dive, the size of the swell meant that the water pressure above us was changing dramatically with each passing swell, and Sophie in particular was struggling with the pressure changes on her ears.

A hawkfish hides in the coral. If you look carefully, there are several other little stripy legs and shelled creatures in there too.

There was an astonishing proliferation of fish life as we moved away from Two Buoy, and I spent quite a lot of time at a cleaning station watching the cleaner wrasses darting in and out of the mouth of a barred rubberlips. That’s trust! There was so much activity that I didn’t know where to look.

Barred sweetlips — A barred rubberlips hangs about at a cleaning station on Two Mile Reef – aren’t those lips sweet and rubbery indeed!

We also saw a guinea fowl puffer fish and a male ember parrotfish sleeping (I guess… what do fish do?) under overhangs in the coral. The temptation to touch was almost overwhelming but I resisted! There were crowds of Moorish idols (Tony’s favourite fish), tobys, sea goldies and a multitude of parrot fish milling around, many taking shelter under the rock formations after which Arches is named.

Giant clam mantle — I love love love the giant clams!

The visibility on this dive was the best we’d seen on the Sodwana trip, and, for many of us Cape divers, the best we’ve EVER seen anywhere. While I hung at the safety stop, I could see the reef spread out below me, and the bright strobe on Tony’s video camera as he explored further, determined to suck his cylinder dry before finishing his last dive here.

Dive on Two Mile Reef in Sodwana — Tami, the Silver Fox and Borrels in a row on the sand at Two Mile Reef… Look at that visibility!

Dive date: 10 October 2010

Air temperature: 24 degrees

Water temperature: 22 degrees

Maximum depth: 15.9 metres

Visibility: 20 metres

Dive duration: 47 minutes

Dive sites (Sodwana): Two Buoy

Two Buoy is fairly central on Two Mile Reef, and like the entire reef system is only a short boat ride from the beach. That said, it was our first dive in Sodwana and the sea was ROUGH. The boat ride was vigorous but refreshing (I find surf launches quite scary). When we stopped I got quite seasick however – the swells were two metres high and the boat was rocking violently.

Boats lined up on the beach at Sodwana, ready to launch through the surf

Because of the surface conditions and the current, we didn’t want to mess around when we rolled into the water, so we descended fast. Beneath the surface it was somewhat calmer, but still very surgy. Most of us were feeling weird – Tami on her first ever boat ride (in pretty hairy conditions), Fritz without a hoodie couldn’t get used to the water in his hair, and I just felt as though everything was upside down. I was also diving without a hoodie, which made for a spectacular display for my fellow divers… I lost my hair band almost immediately, and did a mermaid impression for the rest of the dive – pretty but annoying! The surge also took a bit of getting used to, as we couldn’t really go anywhere of our own volition but were at the mercy of the water.

The contrast between Cape Town diving and the coral reefs beneath us, however, put all the irritations and discomforts out of my mind. The coral is incredible – huge plate corals that have taken decades to form, little soft ones, and spiky ones that look like Christmas trees or deer’s antlers. And in between the coral were the fish – in colours you can’t even imagine. Several times I had to remind myself that I wasn’t diving in the fishtank in the Chinese restaurant near Tony’s house… This was the open ocean.

Limespot butterflyfish and coral — The ubiquitous limespot butterfly fish passing in front of a HUGE coral formation

I was incredibly excited to see a giant clam – I immediately felt like a character in a Willard Price novel (for kids!) and took care not to get my foot stuck in it, as if that was a danger!

Coral on Two Buoy, with giant clam in right foreground

The other thing that stunned me was the clarity of the water. In False Bay, 10 metres visibility is a really good day… We could see at least 12-15 metres on this dive, and that was apparently “not so good”. It’s that feeling of being able to move in three dimensions that I love about diving, hanging in space and being able to see for ages.

Dive date: 8 October 2010

Air temperature: 23 degrees

Water temperature: 22 degrees

Maximum depth: 13.2 metres

Visibility: 12 metres

Dive duration: 47 minutes

Dive sites (Sodwana): Deep Sponges

I think our dive on Deep Sponges was among my favourites of the five I did in Sodwana. It was to 30 metres, and Tami and Sophie were doing their deep skills for their Advanced course. I descended right on top of a pincushion starfish the size of a birthday cake!

Giant pincushion starfish at Deep Sponges

There was quite a strong current when we reached the bottom, and the rest of us tried to hang around in one spot while the girls filled in their slates. Once they were done, we set off – swimming into the current! This was exhausting and the water at depth feels like honey… Very hard work. Tony had a word with Divemaster Dean, and we turned around and did a fantastic drift dive in the opposite direction.

Another enormous starfish at Deep Sponges - this one had nice green tips on his legs

Deep Sponges is on Two Mile Reef, and characterised by (surprise!) many different sponge formations. Within minutes of starting our dive we spotted a whitetip reef shark swimming past about 20 metres away. This was my first shark sighting (apart from sevengill cowsharks, catsharks, nurse sharks, gully sharks and shysharks!) and I was thrilled. He didn’t seem to care about us at all, and I wanted to chase him so that we could spend more time together. Story of my life… hehe!

I also saw two hawksbill turtles (or the same one, passing by twice). They look so relaxed in the water, crusing along in perfect solitude. This dive site is amazing because it is both deep and a reef, so you have the gorgeous detailed reef life as well as a good chance of spotting pelagic species passing by on their journeys through the open ocean. The reef fish were far more curious and confident than those we saw on the shallower dives, possibly because they are bothered by fewer divers.

My photos from this dive aren’t very good – I think because the current was quite strong, and because I don’t have strobes to illuminate the depths. They just don’t do the experience justice. Because the visibility was so good – almost top to bottom – there was a tremendous sense of space, but also all this magnificent life begging for some macro shots. I haven’t done enough deep dives with the camera (two!) to figure out what works. But I am quite proud of the picture of the soft coral above.

Safety stop at Deep Sponges — Tony (on the right) and the Silver Fox (on the left) help Giraffe and Mariaan, who had descended unexpectedly while arranging some alternate air source breathing

I hardly finned during the dive because we were drifting with the current, which was great, and in all the dive was very relaxing. I had plenty of air – surfaced with the Divemaster and Tony, which was awesome! Felt very proud of myself and got a handshake from Tony at the safety stop. We did a nice long safety stop punctuated by one or two dramatic incidents which were nicely handled by Dean, Tony and the Silver Fox (who is also a Divemaster). Almost everyone seemed to breathe off someone’s octo at one time or another.

Breathing off octos — Tami taking Dean's octo, and Tony telling Justin, who was finishing breathing from (I think) the Silver Fox's octo behind Tami, to continue his ascent

Dive date: 9 October 2010

Air temperature: 23 degrees

Water temperature: 22 degrees

Maximum depth: 31 metres

Visibility: 20 metres

Dive duration: 37 minutes

Underwater camera review: Sony DSC-TX5

Sony Cybershot DSC-TX5 and MPK-THJ marine housing

I am a devoted Sony fan for compact digital cameras – my first (and only to date) digital compact camera was a Sony, and it’s given excellent service and taken brilliant photos over the last five years. Underwater digital photography equipment is very expensive – often in the case of DSLRs the underwater housing costs multiples of what the camera inside costs, and it can be very bulky. I can’t get a marine housing for my existing digital compact camera, and I have had no interest in taking my DSLR underwater – it’s just too big, and I can’t bring myself to spend three times the value of the camera (a Nikon D3000) on a housing.

Sony has been making marine housings for years, and they are small, light and – in the case of the newer models – incredibly easy to operate. Tony has one of the original ones, and I’ve done a few dives with it. On the digital photography dive for my Advanced course at A Frame, I actually gave up in frustration (and had to repeat the dive – first time in my life I’ve had to repeat a class!). We were diving in quite strong surge, and I felt as though I was trying to take pictures out of the window of a moving car. The original Sony housings also have a different button configuration to the newer ones – much stiffer, closer together, and harder to distinguish from one another. I kept turning the camera off instead of pressing the shutter release button.

Fiddling with Tony's old Sony at A Frame — "How the heck do you work this thing?!" Me trying to figure out the buttons on Tony's old Sony housing at A Frame

After a year of dithering, and wondering whether underwater photography is for me (land-based definitely is), I finally caved and bought a Sony Cybershot DSC-TX5 compact digital still camera with the corresponding MPK-THJ marine housing. I chose the DSC-TX5 partly because the camera itself, minus the housing, is waterproof to 3 metres – so you could theoretically take it snorkelling or in the swimming pool. This gives me a lot of comfort, because if the housing floods (generally not as dramatic an event as it sounds – it’s usually just a few drops of water that leak in, not the whole ocean), I know the electronics won’t necessarily be fried.

The camera also has a respectable optical zoom (4x – I switch off digital zoom because it just degrades picture quality), and a 10-odd megapixel sensor. The LCD is a touch screen, and absolutely massive – very easy to see what you’re focusing on underwater.

The housing is small enough to fit into a tiny Woolworths cooler bag before and after dives (to prevent it from fogging up in the temperature change), and weighs just enough to feel substantial but not too much to feel bulky. It’s quite comfortable hanging from my wrist or a clip on my BCD if my hands are otherwise occupied. I can hold and operate the camera with one hand, which is super if you need to hang onto a rock or piece of kelp for stability with the other!

Me and my new Sony DSC-TX5 in its marine housing — A still taken from one of Tony's videos, of me and my new Sony DSC-TX5 in its marine housing - note the lever shutter release under my index finger

I’ve used the camera on three sea dives (the first one to 30 metres – a baptism of fire!) and once in a swimming pool so far. It’s a dream. The buttons are responsive and easy to use, even when I am wearing my thick gloves. The shutter release button isn’t actually a button, but a lever that makes it very simple to depress. There can be no confusion with the power on/off button which is great! There are dedicated underwater still and video modes which boost the red, and several white balance settings depending on the water colour – blue, green, etc.

It focuses quickly, and works very well in low light. I am still figuring out macro mode – the camera doesn’t like to be zoomed (4x optical!) and then asked to focus – it prefers to acquire a target, and for the zoom to be activated subsequent to that.

On the deep dive, the flash did cause a fair amount of backscatter – visibility wasn’t great to begin with, and there’s not much light at that depth. But it’s a powerful little flash with a diffuser built into the housing, and the camera battery lasted for approximately 250 photos over two successive dives (in cold water) with the flash firing for every single one, plus about another 50 I took of whales from the boat. The recharge time for the flash is very quick.

Sea anemone at A Frame — Sea anemone on a very sandy dive at Fisherman's Beach - not National Geographic quality yet, but passable!

The only annoyance I have had so far is that I can’t figure out how to switch off the automatic preview after I’ve taken a picture. I generally want to fire off a few shots in succession, not wait around while the camera shows me what I’ve just taken – particulary in the underwater environment, if you miss the shot then it’s gone. The preview also chows battery! It’s not clear whether you can deactivate this feature without going into burst mode, which would deactivate the flash.

I’m looking forward to taking a zillion photos in Sodwana!

Who to follow

So I am sick in bed today while Tony enjoys the sea and southeaster with students. In the absence of my diving fix, I have to rely on the Internet to feed my currently short attention span. Enter Twitter.

To me, Twitter incorporates my favourite feature of Facebook – constant stream of bite-sized news and views – and leaves out all the other guff (Farmville, Zombie Vampire Slayers, Are You Feeling Hot Today?).

It’s not all about socialising and keeping up with your online friends… It’s also useful for news, activism, and informative updates from individuals and organisations whose work interests you. If you want to beef up the list of users you’re following, check out our “followees”!

Diving

Learn to Dive Today: @learn2divetoday (of course!)

PADI: @PADI

South Africa

SANCCOB – the organisation that rescues, cleans and protects our coastal birds: @SANCCOB

Two Oceans Aquarium, Cape Town: @2oceansaquarium

Shark Spotters for reports of shark activity in False Bay: @SharkSpotters

World Wildlife Foundation South Africa: @WWFSouthAfrica

Conservation & Agencies

NOAA’s National Ocean Service: @usoceangov

NOAA’s Ocean Explorer educational program: @oceanexplorer

Project Aware – conservation agency by divers: @projectaware

Save Our Seas: @saveourseas

World Wildlife Foundation: @WWF

Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society: @whales_org

NASA (they do ocean exploration too!): @NASA

Ocean Information Center (OCEANIC) at the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment: @oceandata

The Smithsonian Institute: @smithsonian

Smithsonian Ocean Portal: @oceanportal

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (because everyone can do with a bit of radical extremism to spice things up now and then!): @seashepherd

Ocean Conservancy: @OurOcean

Ocean Institute: @oceaninstitute

Oceana: @oceana

Bonica Snapper video cameras (the manufacturers of Tony’s newish toy): @bonicahddv

Fiona Ayerst, underwater photographer who offers courses: @Fayerst

Orms (more awesome camera equipment, knowledgeable sales staff and a top-notch D&P facility): @OrmsdDirect

SA Camera (very reasonably priced photographic equipment, including underwater housings): @SAcamera

Scott Kelby, author of fantastic photography books: @scottkelby

Writing & Television

National Geographic: @NatGeoSociety

Urban Times Oceans: @UT_Oceans

The Guardian Environment section: @guardianeco

PBS NOVA will keep you up to date with science news and cool gadgets: @novapbs

Pyjama catsharks… in their pyjamas

We’ve seen a handsome pyjama catshark at Long Beach on a night dive before – about 75 centimetres long and gorgeously striped in white and blue. These small sharks are nocturnal, and during the day apparently like to sleep clustered together and even lying on top of each other in rocky gullies.

We often peer into the ends of the pipeline, looking for octopus (or whatever else is interesting). Lately we’ve been seeing the shape of a large fish in there, but it’s been too dark to figure out exactly what we were looking at. On Sunday morning Tony stuck his video light into the pipe, and his small Sony digital still camera, and took a picture. It’s not the most outstanding photograph ever taken, but we’ve clearly discovered where the pyjama catsharks like to hide during the day!

Newsletter: Diving

Hi everyone

SAS Transvaal in Smitswinkel Bay — The SAS Transvaal is a huge naval frigate

The weekend was a real humdinger and we started off with a early boat dive out of Miller’s Point, seven of us all together and we visited the wreck of the SAS Transvaal in Smitswinkel Bay. The wreck, 94 metres long, lies in 34 metres of water and the top of the deck is at about 29 metres. Once we were down we dispensed with the deep skills for the guys doing their Advanced course and then cruised down the length of the wreck to the stern before starting back up to the dive boat.

Besides the good viz of about 8–10 metres we were honored with three Southern Right whales waiting for us when we surfaced. There are more photos on the blog and Facebook of these huge whales and tiny divers less than 50 metres apart. The whales don’t know the 300 metres regulations and we were forced to back away from them as they were totally oblivious of us. Coming face to face with such a majestic creature, in its own environment, relaxed and content to have us gawking is one of the many reasons diving is so rewarding. We were treated to them fluking, blowing broad V-shaped water fountains and diving around us. I would guess they were around 12 – 16 metres long. That is a lot bigger than the 9 metre rubber duck we were on. The skipperwas quick to get everyone on board and back slowly away from them.

Southern Right whales and divers in Smitswinkel Bay

Fisherman’s Beach

The day got even better and after lunch we dived and explored the site called Fisherman’s Beach or sometimes called Froggy Pond. Clean white sand, an easy entry and several clusters of rocky reef make this an amazing site. We found a crevice in a small swim through that is home to a huge octopus and and he was very wary of us as I was on the one side of the opening trying to get a picture and Justin was on the other side peeking in. We were also treated to a very amusing feeding frenzy by a school of Fransmadam. I picked up a piece of kelp root and broke it into little pieces and they went wild snatching pieces from each other.

Coraline algae and other life encrusting a kelp stem

Long Beach

Today we dived at Long Beach and were able to confirm the hiding place of the pyjama catsharks with a photo. They are primarily nocturnal but are sometimes seen in the day. Over the last few weeks I have seen them in a small hideout a few times, never really sure of what I was seeing as it is a small opening. Today I put my video light in the opening and and held my camera in the entrance and took a few photos. They were sleeping stacked on top of one another.

We saw quite a few sea jellies, of different varieties, and lots of fish. It seems to be breeding season, as I also spotted a teeming mass of about 30 warty pleurobranchs the size of my fingernail – perhaps they had just hatched.

We were joined by Alexandra who has recently moved to Cape Town and has done lots of warm water diving. So the chilly Cape waters came as a bit of a shock!

Diving this week

Tuesday: Peak Performance buoyancy,

Thursday: Seven gill cow sharks.

Friday: I want to explore the Kalk Bay Harbour wall.

I have students on Saturday and Sunday starting their Open Water course, but we will start after lunch so I am planning another wreck dive to one of the other wrecks in Smitswinkel Bay on Saturday morning. With boat dives I need confirmation by Wednesday night.

For the group joining me in Sodwana don’t forget the dinner on Tuesday for final planning.

Have a good week and try and get wet, it beats sitting behind a desk, tell your boss you need a day of aquatic therapy, then come and dive, you will feel better the next day!!!

Permits: All divers need a permit, so please get yours at a post office near you.

Regards,

Tony Lindeque
076 817 1099
www.learntodivetoday.co.za
www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog
Diving is addictive!

Whale alert!

Tony took a group of divers on the boat yesterday, to dive the SAS Transvaal in Smitswinkel Bay. Two of them were advanced students who had to do their deep skills.

Deep skills — Justin and Gerard complete their deep slates with Tony

I was testing my new Sony Cybershot DSC-TX5 digital camera in its marine housing. The underwater shots are a mixed bag of quality so far – I was a bit over-ambitious trying to get grand sweeping shots, given that the visibility was only about 10 metres and the ship is nearly 94 metres long… But overall it was tremendously easy to use. More on the camera later, but I wanted to share these pictures taken on the surface. We’d seen whales on the way to the dive site, and when we surfaced they were very close. I took these photos from the boat while the others were still in the water.

Divers and whales in Smitswinkel Bay – note the callosities on the whales’ heads

The sound they make when they expel air (and mucous and nitrogen waste products, according to Wikipedia) from their blowholes is tremendously loud. I wanted to go to the airshow this weekend, not so much as to SEE the planes (though that is cool) but to HEAR them – I love the noise. However, after hearing a few of these whales snorting from less than 20 metres away, my desire for LOUD NOISES was satisfied.

The surface current was pushing the divers towards the whales, at which point the skipper got everyone back on the boat and carefully moved us away. Whales don’t always respect the 300 metre rule!