In underwater photography, close is key. You need to be as close to your subject as possible. Because the water absorbs light, the further away from your subject you are, the less light you have to work with. Remember that the path of light from your strobe is twice the distance from you to your subject, because the light must travel from the strobe to the subject, then back to your camera sensor. So get close!
Stop by Husker Divers next time you're in the neighborhood and see the photos from this winter's trips to Statia and to St. Lucia! And if you have any questions about underwater photography, we'll be happy to help you.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Top 10 Ocean Adventure Movies Revealed
When you think of an ocean-related movie, what leaps to your mind? "Jaws?" "Finding Nemo?" "Open Water?" Well, the list is official. Sort of. Click here to see the list of the top 10 ocean adventure movies. Is your favorite on the list? If so, or if you have another movie you'd nominate, leave a comment and let us know! Movie marathon, anyone?
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Flashing, Mucus-spewing Green Fireworms Photographed
Females of a species of marine fireworm secrete a glowing mucus coinciding with the moon's phases to attract mates, according to an April 15th article on National Geographic news online. Juveniles of the species also secrete the phosphorescent goo, but in flashes, possibly to startle predators, the article says. Check it out and view some outstanding photography of the worms by clicking on the link above.
Want to learn more about fireworms and other fascinating marine life? Stop by Husker Divers and pick up a copy of the book Reef Creature Identification - Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas by Ned DeLoach and Paul Humann. This book is a field guide of sorts to the critters that inhabit our favorite dive locations. There's species information galore, beautiful photography, and even a list in the back so you can check off the species you've personally seen. The fireworm section, by the way, begins on page 140.
There's a book on reef fish and one on reef coral, too. See them all at Husker Divers!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Try Adaptive Scuba Diving!
On Sunday, May 31st from 5-8 p.m. at the Downtown YMCA in Lincoln, Nebraska, Husker Divers is holding a Try Scuba event for adaptive divers! Our trained, caring staff will take individuals with physical disabilities into the pool on scuba. Participants will get to experience the weightlessness and freedom of being underwater with scuba equipment. We can safely accommodate a wide range of physical disabilities, including quadriplegia, paraplegia, amputation and blindness, among others.
Husker Divers' goal with our Adaptive Scuba Program is to offer physically challenged individuals opportunities to dive and travel in the mainstream scuba diving world. We are a chapter of Dive Pirates, a national, non-profit organization which works to equip and train disabled divers.
Husker Divers will provide all the equipment for participants in the May 31st Try Scuba (participants should wear a swimsuit and bring a towel and dry clothes for afterwards). Pre-registration is required as a medical form must be filled out, and a doctor's signature will be required in some cases for participation. The cost is $20 per person, and all proceeds will go to the Husker Divers Adaptive Assistance fund, which is used for equipping, training, and providing dive travel opportunities for adaptive divers.
If you would like more information about the May 31st event or about adaptive diving in general, please contact Joe Tyler at Husker Divers at 402-420-6338 or at huskerdivers@prodigy.net.
Husker Divers' goal with our Adaptive Scuba Program is to offer physically challenged individuals opportunities to dive and travel in the mainstream scuba diving world. We are a chapter of Dive Pirates, a national, non-profit organization which works to equip and train disabled divers.
Husker Divers will provide all the equipment for participants in the May 31st Try Scuba (participants should wear a swimsuit and bring a towel and dry clothes for afterwards). Pre-registration is required as a medical form must be filled out, and a doctor's signature will be required in some cases for participation. The cost is $20 per person, and all proceeds will go to the Husker Divers Adaptive Assistance fund, which is used for equipping, training, and providing dive travel opportunities for adaptive divers.
If you would like more information about the May 31st event or about adaptive diving in general, please contact Joe Tyler at Husker Divers at 402-420-6338 or at huskerdivers@prodigy.net.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
What Fish Are You?
Take this fun little survey and discover what fish you are (or would be, if you were a fish). Then post a comment and let us know your results!
http://www.worldwildlife.org/waveforward/fishGame.html
By the way, I'm a swordfish!
http://www.worldwildlife.org/waveforward/fishGame.html
By the way, I'm a swordfish!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Husker Divers Spare Air Stimulus Package
Got air? You should have plenty if you monitor your guage and follow your training. In the event that you do find yourself out of air at depth and need a source of air until you can safely reach the surface, having a Spare Air attached to your scuba unit can be a lifesaver. It can also instill peace of mind, knowing that you always have another option to get air whenever you're underwater.
Husker Divers staff believe in Spare Air, which is why you'll see one on every staff member's equipment. The Spare Air unit is easy to use, small enough to be out of the way yet readily accessible if needed. It's a completely redundant system, with its own regulator and purge valve. You can even fill your Spare Air yourself from any full scuba tank before you begin your dive. If you find yourself out of air at depth, the Spare Air will allow you to get to the surface and safety - it's the ultimate buddy!
Husker Divers is offering a Spare Air Stimulus Package right now! The Spare Air comes in two sizes, and the package deal gives you the choice of either the 300 or the 170. The package also includes:
- Holster
- Safety Leash
- Refill Adapter
- Travel Kit (clear plastic case with spare O rings, regulator and bottle caps for travel)
- FREE first year service!
The cost for this entire package is just $275, which is a substantial savings over the regular retail price. This package price is good until May 31, 2009, so pick up your very own Spare Air and be ready for a safe and fun open water diving season!
Husker Divers staff believe in Spare Air, which is why you'll see one on every staff member's equipment. The Spare Air unit is easy to use, small enough to be out of the way yet readily accessible if needed. It's a completely redundant system, with its own regulator and purge valve. You can even fill your Spare Air yourself from any full scuba tank before you begin your dive. If you find yourself out of air at depth, the Spare Air will allow you to get to the surface and safety - it's the ultimate buddy!
Husker Divers is offering a Spare Air Stimulus Package right now! The Spare Air comes in two sizes, and the package deal gives you the choice of either the 300 or the 170. The package also includes:
- Holster
- Safety Leash
- Refill Adapter
- Travel Kit (clear plastic case with spare O rings, regulator and bottle caps for travel)
- FREE first year service!
The cost for this entire package is just $275, which is a substantial savings over the regular retail price. This package price is good until May 31, 2009, so pick up your very own Spare Air and be ready for a safe and fun open water diving season!
Visit SpareAir.com for more information on the Spare Air.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Oronogo Trip Report April 3-5, 2009
On April 3-5, eight of us went to Oronogo to kick off the local open water season (and to close out the season for our shop's Polar Bear Club). Joe Tyler, owner of Husker Divers, and three of us from the Lincoln area drove down together, and the other five came from Imperial, Nebraska. We planned on doing one dive on Friday, three dives on Saturday, and one on Sunday. However, due to the weather forecast for Nebraska on Sunday, as well as the fact that it was 75 degrees and sunny at Oronogo on Saturday and scheduled to be in the low 40s there on Sunday, we did an extra dive on Saturday and skipped Sunday's dive.
After checking in to the hotel in Joplin and dropping off our non-diving luggage, we arrived at the gate to the lake on Friday around 3 p.m. They didn't open until 4, they told us, so we parked and waited, watching John, the owner, fiddling with some 55 gallon drums full of cement. Around 3:30 they let us in, and we found our gearing-up spot. Inside the building, there are two computers to check in on - you just type in your name and other info, including your diving level, certification number and agency, and your liability release prints out behind the counter. Once that was done and we'd paid, we walked over to where the parking area overlooks the lake and got a briefing of where things were. Then we geared up for our first dive.
All but two in our group were wearing drysuits. Those who weren't were wearing the new Aqualung 8/7 suit, and they both later said they didn't get overly cold all weekend. For our first dive that afternoon, we headed left from the entry point, following the mine road down to the
airplane at about 45 feet. You can see where it is on the surface by the blue buoy marking it. From the airplane we continued down the mine road, which switches back and parallels the shore while descending to the "doors" of some underwater caverns. These caverns are cutouts in the side of the quarry. Due to lower than expected visibility, we could see the mouths of the caverns when we came to them, but not super clearly. There was a large dark area and the wall of the quarry turned inward. You have to be on your toes and paying attention, because if you're not, it would be pretty easy to get inside one of the caverns and get disoriented. We reached a depth of 89 feet on that dive before turning back for the surface. We didn't see a lot, but it was a good orientation to the quarry and gave us a taste of what to expect on Saturday.
Friday evening we descended upon a place called Turtleshead Raw Bar for supper. Driving up to it, we saw a turquoise-colored cinder-block looking building standing by itself, and we wondered what we were getting into. As it turned out, we all loved the place! I had crab cakes with sweet potato fries and slaw, and it was all really good. One of the guys got some oysters on the half shell for an appetizer, enjoyed those thoroughly, and then proceeded to expertly wipe out a large plate of king crab legs. The food was great, and the band, called Too Mothers Left (yes, that's spelled correctly), was fantastic. We were seated right in front of the band, which played a lot of older hits, like Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd stuff.
We arrived a little before the gate opened at 9 on Saturday, and a couple of other vehicles were there with another group. After signing the liability forms for the day, we geared up and hit the
water. The water temp on the surface was 52 by my Cobra computer, and the temp at depth was 46. Over the course of the day we found several of the underwater attractions, including the pile of cars, the airplane we'd seen on Friday (complete with a Halloween pumpkin candy bucket in the back and a skeleton hanging in the pilot's seat area), three training platforms, and some boats. The gorilla reposing on the bottom was a hit, and looked even better when several of our divers had hung the obligatory strings of colorful beads around his neck. Joe found a coffee mug nearby and gave that to the gorilla, too, so when we left him he looked quite comfortable and very stylish.
Not everyone did the fourth dive of the day on Saturday afternoon, but I paired up with Mark from our group to go find what was being called the "air cave." The opening to this cave was only
10 feet below the surface, and we found it by swimming along the wall and looking for the usual dark area indicating one of the caverns. When we saw it, we switched on our dive lights and cautiously swam inside, not sure how far in we needed to go. Once inside we swam upwards and almost instantly topped out on a beautiful, turquoise surface lit by the daylight coming up through the water from the mouth of the cave.
In spite of the drysuit, it felt really good to get back into the sun and 75 degree temperatures topside after that fourth dive of the day, and I felt great about the weekend's dives. It was my first time to Oronogo, and only my fourth dive outing in a drysuit, so I gained some great experience and had a wonderful time.
The grounds at Oronogo leave something to be desired, aesthetically. However, they've got good air and nitrox for your tanks, and the diving is fun and about as easy or challenging as you want to make it. New divers can follow the string and rope trail to the training platforms, the computer workstation, some cars, and the airplane and never get too deep for comfort. More experienced divers, and even tech divers, can go deep, even beyond recreational depths if equipped and trained to do so. It's cold, and as I mentioned, on this trip the vis wasn't as good as usual (only 10-12 feet as opposed to the usual 30-40 below the thermocline). Thus it's definitely something you want to dive with someone experienced if you're new to diving, and an orientation to the site is a must if you haven't been there before.
We had a GREAT trip with a super fun group of divers. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a great way to end the Polar Bear season and start off the new open water season!
After checking in to the hotel in Joplin and dropping off our non-diving luggage, we arrived at the gate to the lake on Friday around 3 p.m. They didn't open until 4, they told us, so we parked and waited, watching John, the owner, fiddling with some 55 gallon drums full of cement. Around 3:30 they let us in, and we found our gearing-up spot. Inside the building, there are two computers to check in on - you just type in your name and other info, including your diving level, certification number and agency, and your liability release prints out behind the counter. Once that was done and we'd paid, we walked over to where the parking area overlooks the lake and got a briefing of where things were. Then we geared up for our first dive.
All but two in our group were wearing drysuits. Those who weren't were wearing the new Aqualung 8/7 suit, and they both later said they didn't get overly cold all weekend. For our first dive that afternoon, we headed left from the entry point, following the mine road down to the
airplane at about 45 feet. You can see where it is on the surface by the blue buoy marking it. From the airplane we continued down the mine road, which switches back and parallels the shore while descending to the "doors" of some underwater caverns. These caverns are cutouts in the side of the quarry. Due to lower than expected visibility, we could see the mouths of the caverns when we came to them, but not super clearly. There was a large dark area and the wall of the quarry turned inward. You have to be on your toes and paying attention, because if you're not, it would be pretty easy to get inside one of the caverns and get disoriented. We reached a depth of 89 feet on that dive before turning back for the surface. We didn't see a lot, but it was a good orientation to the quarry and gave us a taste of what to expect on Saturday.Friday evening we descended upon a place called Turtleshead Raw Bar for supper. Driving up to it, we saw a turquoise-colored cinder-block looking building standing by itself, and we wondered what we were getting into. As it turned out, we all loved the place! I had crab cakes with sweet potato fries and slaw, and it was all really good. One of the guys got some oysters on the half shell for an appetizer, enjoyed those thoroughly, and then proceeded to expertly wipe out a large plate of king crab legs. The food was great, and the band, called Too Mothers Left (yes, that's spelled correctly), was fantastic. We were seated right in front of the band, which played a lot of older hits, like Eric Clapton and Lynyrd Skynyrd stuff.
We arrived a little before the gate opened at 9 on Saturday, and a couple of other vehicles were there with another group. After signing the liability forms for the day, we geared up and hit the
water. The water temp on the surface was 52 by my Cobra computer, and the temp at depth was 46. Over the course of the day we found several of the underwater attractions, including the pile of cars, the airplane we'd seen on Friday (complete with a Halloween pumpkin candy bucket in the back and a skeleton hanging in the pilot's seat area), three training platforms, and some boats. The gorilla reposing on the bottom was a hit, and looked even better when several of our divers had hung the obligatory strings of colorful beads around his neck. Joe found a coffee mug nearby and gave that to the gorilla, too, so when we left him he looked quite comfortable and very stylish.Not everyone did the fourth dive of the day on Saturday afternoon, but I paired up with Mark from our group to go find what was being called the "air cave." The opening to this cave was only
10 feet below the surface, and we found it by swimming along the wall and looking for the usual dark area indicating one of the caverns. When we saw it, we switched on our dive lights and cautiously swam inside, not sure how far in we needed to go. Once inside we swam upwards and almost instantly topped out on a beautiful, turquoise surface lit by the daylight coming up through the water from the mouth of the cave.In spite of the drysuit, it felt really good to get back into the sun and 75 degree temperatures topside after that fourth dive of the day, and I felt great about the weekend's dives. It was my first time to Oronogo, and only my fourth dive outing in a drysuit, so I gained some great experience and had a wonderful time.
The grounds at Oronogo leave something to be desired, aesthetically. However, they've got good air and nitrox for your tanks, and the diving is fun and about as easy or challenging as you want to make it. New divers can follow the string and rope trail to the training platforms, the computer workstation, some cars, and the airplane and never get too deep for comfort. More experienced divers, and even tech divers, can go deep, even beyond recreational depths if equipped and trained to do so. It's cold, and as I mentioned, on this trip the vis wasn't as good as usual (only 10-12 feet as opposed to the usual 30-40 below the thermocline). Thus it's definitely something you want to dive with someone experienced if you're new to diving, and an orientation to the site is a must if you haven't been there before.
We had a GREAT trip with a super fun group of divers. I thoroughly enjoyed it. What a great way to end the Polar Bear season and start off the new open water season!
Thanks to Rob and Jon, divers from Imperial, for the pics of the gorilla, air cave, and computer posted here! Rob and Jon didn't make it into the group picture at the top of this post because they were diving the air cave when it was taken, but were fun to have on the trip (Rob is the one who demolished that pile of crab legs so expertly at Turtleshead on Friday night).
Friday, April 3, 2009
Oronogo Diving
Eight of us are in Joplin, Missouri right now, having done our first dive of this trip this afternoon at Oronogo. This dive location is a former lead and zinc mine, and has depths of 210 feet. On today's dive we explored the airplane at around 45 feet, reached a max depth of around 70 feet, then found a couple of boats on our way back to the entry point. Water temp at the surface was 52 degrees, and the temp at depth was around 48. Vis was about 10-12 feet; a bit lower than expected but not a problem.
After the dive, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up, then went to eat at Turtleshead Raw Bar. A terrific band called Too Mothers Left (yes, that's the correct spelling) was playing, and a good time was had by all.
We're planning to do three dives tomorrow, Saturday. Can't wait!
After the dive, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up, then went to eat at Turtleshead Raw Bar. A terrific band called Too Mothers Left (yes, that's the correct spelling) was playing, and a good time was had by all.
We're planning to do three dives tomorrow, Saturday. Can't wait!
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