Stop Me If You've Heard This Before
So, as usual, I have camera problems that are going to put this blog on hold for a while - this year it's the housing that failed so I can't take it underwater anymore. I do have a few more pictures from Pulau Weh to post before I leave for Komodo though so look for at least one more post in the next few days.
In the meantime, here's the only worthwhile picture I managed to take on the Sophie Rickmers dives. This picture of Rémy Dubern, my guide/buddy for the Sophie dives, was taken near the stern at 60 meters (@ 200 feet) shortly before I noticed the housing was leaking. I guess Fisheye wasn't kidding about that 60 meter max rated depth.
Miraculously the camera itself survived. The leak stopped above approximately 55 meters and I spent the rest of the dive carefully holding the case port-down to keep the water off the camera itself (this was extra fun during gas switches on the way up when I could have used both hands for more important things). Unfortunately the housing didn't survive the subsequent dives I carried it on to look for the leak. On the last Sophie dive it leaked again and the pressure differential on surfacing popped the glass out of the port. D'oh!
Although I should be able to replace the port in KL I won't be there until the second week of July. Which means no pictures of Komodo again this year unless I can rent or borrow a camera which is unlikely. Maybe I'll be inspired to take some surface shots or something.
Camera troubles aside I had a blast on the four tech dives I got to do on the Sophie, particularly on the last three which I got to dive on Trimix (Lumba Lumba just happened to have a couple bottles of helium available). On the last two dives we even made a few penetrations beyond just dropping into the cargo holds. I was originally somewhat dubious about this idea beforehand but found them exhilarating.
Miraculously the camera itself survived. The leak stopped above approximately 55 meters and I spent the rest of the dive carefully holding the case port-down to keep the water off the camera itself (this was extra fun during gas switches on the way up when I could have used both hands for more important things). Unfortunately the housing didn't survive the subsequent dives I carried it on to look for the leak. On the last Sophie dive it leaked again and the pressure differential on surfacing popped the glass out of the port. D'oh!
Although I should be able to replace the port in KL I won't be there until the second week of July. Which means no pictures of Komodo again this year unless I can rent or borrow a camera which is unlikely. Maybe I'll be inspired to take some surface shots or something.
Camera troubles aside I had a blast on the four tech dives I got to do on the Sophie, particularly on the last three which I got to dive on Trimix (Lumba Lumba just happened to have a couple bottles of helium available). On the last two dives we even made a few penetrations beyond just dropping into the cargo holds. I was originally somewhat dubious about this idea beforehand but found them exhilarating.
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