Nite in San Francisco

We don't go to the city that often but I found YuJa Wang playing in Davis Hall just last week and I got a couple of really awsome seats F-109/110! So that's my Sunday outing ! Got out to the Embaracdero by 5:30pm, slurp down a doezn oysters and clams in the Ferry building which happen to be my first time there. Expensive but delicious. 王羽佳(YuJa) plays the Mendelson Piano Concerto No. 1 and it was spectacular. Saw her last year, this year added a little bit mature, great performance but no encore bonus however. But then to our suprise at the end of the evening, we had triple encores which I had never experieced before, all worth it ! Anne Sophie Mutter also playing next week ..... will see !

First try 105VR under water !

It was a misty & miserable day yesterday, we charted our usual Beach Hopper with only 5 people onboard, 3 of them are students, open water, dry suit and rescue. It's my first attempt to shoot the 105VR. Mentally I was prepared nothing worth posting going to be the result of the day and it turns out exactly that :-) We done 3 dives, water wasn't really choppy but it was good 6 ft side to side surge every where. We did Red Hat, Monterey aquarium, and El Torito. Since we have 3 students, I try to make sure things are unnoticeable in order in 8~10 ft visibility. First dive, 18 min into the dive, we got separated and had to surface after 35 min with the dry suit student low on air (he has a leaky second stage). Second dive I decided to went alone as they venture into the sandy bottom. The 105VR and D80 was lighting fast. 99% of my shots were all fired with nothing in focus, I was using AF-C, & it let me fired. While it might be quite dark at 35 ft but my focus light was quite bright as well, however, it still looks dark thru the view finder. The only 1/2 decent shot I was able to capture were something I had to brace myself to a rock or bottom and made sure I kept still so I can keep the subject within the frame and let it focus. Boy, that's not an easy task. With minimum focus distance of about a foot, the 105VR is challenging to used in Monterey. As I began to prepare my ascent, a school of 8 to 10 sea lions went up and down and around me for about 20 seconds, that was quite rewarding for the day. I will keep shooting it until I get a decent nudibranch, as it stand, seems like a steep unhill curve.

After a couple of days of research, I was pretty sure I ran into a basking shark in Breakwater last time. It's was a rare treat nevertheless.

On president day weekend, I went down to Ventura for a couple of days diving on the Anacapa island. Weather has been up and down and the weekend looks promising and turns out to be quite nice. A long 4+ hrs drive to Santa Barabara, made my usual stop and dine at the Brothy Bros at the pier before finish the last 40 minutes drive to the Ventura harbor. We went with the Spectre Boat, this was a good sized boat but you know, I never really care the bunk bed treatment ...

With the hope of running into sea lions and better luck with shooting wide angle, I carefully set up the Tokina 10-17, made sure all lock up nicely and pray for the weather and clearity of the water. I did 7 dives for 2 days and it was excellent visibility on the first 3 dives and good for rest. Water was extremely calm, totally different than last year which was my first visit. I did wide angle for the first 3 dives and the rest with th 60mm. The most fun site for me was the underwater arch, it was packed with sea lions. I would be just fine hoovering behind the arch and just wait for them to zoom by.




Here is the album - Anacapa 2008 Febuary. Hope you like it !

I ran into something huge, really huge for the first time in Breakwater after hunderds of dives in Breakwater. The condition of yesterday was bad, not extremely bad but there were good amount of side to side movement (especially in the middle above those rock patches at 15~20ft) and really low vis, bout 5 to 7 ft at most.

So, this happen on my way back from the Metridium field, I was looking for the pipe to go back shore heading straight South. It took me 30 kicks from the end of the pipe to the met field but I had about 40 kicks now and so I thought I might have off coursed because of the surge pulled me outward . All the sudden there was a big black wall in front of me and it moves, very slowly left to right! I stopped, if I didnt' stop I would have ran right into it. It's low vis, so I am probably just 5 ft away. I look at my computer, it was 42 ft and I was about 3 ft off the bottom. I saw some little thing grow on the body &amp. My mask was constantly fogged up yesterday, so I had to clear my mask. I look right, the furtherst I can see, I saw nothing, the big black body just faded into the murky water. Look left, same, so the immediate thought came to mind was WHALE. I must have ran into a whale, it moves very slowly, about 2 secs later I saw the tail went from my left to slowly faded into the right. I didn't have the camera ready, my strobes was off already. Yet I try to take a shot but it won't focus and it wont fire. Anyway, because of such low vis and I am all by myself, I didn't follow, not to mention I am only about 750 PSI left.

So I was very excited thinking about the encounter as I continue to paddle my way back to shore. As I walk up the stair back to my car, something strike suddenly, the tail ! What I saw earlier ... the tail was vertical and swing side to side !! Whale tail was horizontal and flip up and down. So what the hack did I just ran into - SHARK. This was a big huge shark. Remember I was about 5 ft away at most from touching it, look right, I didn't see the head, look left , I didn't see the tail until 2 sec passed. This thing must be 20~25+ ft ! It was a pretty feaky experience espeically in such low vis and alone. It's hard to believe a huge shark hang around in Breakwater and at such shallow water and close to the bottom. I have no way confirming what I saw yesterday but knowing mutual respect & kept distance might be the only reason how I could have came back in one piece and that I slept well last night.

Underwater Fashion Shots

Really interesting stuffs ! I guess wet shots are not alway marine life ! :-)

Aaron Wong @ work,
Aaron Wong website,
Howard Schatz website,
Candice website,

大陸史上最牛潛水員

2008/01/25 21:00 http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/080125/1/si23.html?
北京一名潛水教練獲得大陸媒體「史上最牛潛水員」稱號。
中新網報導：這位姓崔的潛水教練在北京潛水圈界算得上是名聲在外，慕名向他拜師學潛水的人絡繹不絕，甚至像「英雄」、「赤壁」這樣的大片，水下攝影的技術工作都得靠這位大師級潛水高手指導。最近崔教練接了一個幾十年專業潛水生涯都沒碰過的工作，那就是到化糞池裡救人。
原來上週日北京發生一起小客車墜入大化糞池的意外，警方害怕車裡有人，就找上這位崔教練，希望他下去大糞坑撈撈看。結果崔教練二話不說帶上裝備奔直奔出事的化糞池，一頭就跳下糞坑，幾次沉浮，把池子全摸遍了，直到確認沒人陷在坑內才收工爬出來。
岸邊看熱鬧的人雖然沒人敢接近這位渾身臭味的英雄，不過大家心裡都豎起大姆指，稱讚他真是一位肯幹、肯犧牲的專業潛水員。
這位「我不入糞坑誰入糞坑」，敢於探索「全新水域」的潛水大師，也因此獲得大陸媒體封上「史上最牛潛水員」的稱號。

2008 潛水季開始了!

What a great way to kick off the 2008 dive season by dropping in @ the Monastery Beach. I was dry for almost 2 months and with the holiday seasons just past, all those gourmet consumed has to come back out one way or another. What a GREAT way to do that by carrying a steel tank, weight belt & a giant dSLR with 2 Ikelite strobes rig hike up that 1/4 miles loose gravel hump. By the time I reach the water, I was exhausted. Saturday was such a calm day I had never seen, Breakwater can be choppier then this and that made up a lot of ground for my wimpy limp. We dove to 110ft first dive, catch a glimpse of an harbor seal and wolf eel, didn’t get any picture though. Second dove was in the same area but a lot shallower. The second dive’s exit and the hike back to the car was really torture to the leg but made it without injury !



Sunday was a 2 dives day on the Beach Hopper II, we did Carmel Bay North and what a day & nite differences compare to Saturday. We drop down at this narrow ridge which I normally really like but on this day, it was about 20 ft side to side plusa 7 ft down drift, so we were all flying. Our less experience divers and student were holding on to kelp and rock which makes them draw a lot of air. Again, I couldn’t take any picture either, it’s does not stay. So I just enjoy the flying a little bit. Second dive we went back to the bay in front of the aquarium. Although it’s calm there, there are so many small floating objects made the overall visibility down to 15 ft or so. However I did get a few shots I like.