It’s More Fun SCUBA Diving In Boracay, The Philippines

February 8, 2013 - Asia, Exercise, Philippines, Travel, Video, YouTube - Tagged: Adventure, Asia, diving, Edutige, Edutige ETM-001, Exercise, Extreme, Fun, GoPro, ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines, Philippines, QuikPod, SCUBA, Sports, Travel, Video, YouTube - 8 comments

When Jo and I decided that we’d be returning to Boracay (Philippines), there was one thing I wanted to do more than anything else – go SCUBA diving. My brother Gary and I have been certified divers since 1997, and I love getting wet any chance I can. Therefore, armed with my GoPro Hero2 and QuikPod Monopod, I teamed up with Dive Gurus once more to explore some of the best diving in the Philippines.

Accompanying me on my dive was Edwin, one of the Dive Masters at Dive Gurus. He knows the area inside and out, having worked in the area a long, long time. From the dive shop’s beachfront location, we cruised on their boat for about 15 minutes before donning our gear and back-rolling off the deck. From there, we descended to a depth of about 18m, skimming the surface of the surrounding corals before arriving at the Camia. “It is a 30 meter-long cargo boat that was sank as a Fish Attraction Device in January 2001. It has since developed very nicely as an artificial reef. Residents and transients include a couple of huge red bass, some bluefin trevallies, scorpion fish, trumpet fish, ghost pipefish, squid, pygmy seahorses, frogfish, a school of batfish, and nudibranchs, among others.” (DiveGurus website)

We arrived and quickly swam around the exterior of the submerged vessel. Then, much to my delight, Edwin signaled it was time to penetrate the wreck. The Camia has two cargo holds large enough for SCUBA divers to enter. Swimming up to deck level, we proceeded to one of the cargo openings and then entered the sunken ship. Quickly I was enveloped in darkness; however, there was always at least one light source, since the holds are connected and exposed.

Because of the depth (30m), our bottom time (dive time) was limited to about 30 minutes. It sounds like a long time, but underwater, it goes quick. After swimming through the Camia, it was time to return to the ascent line and make our way up to the surface. It was a great experience and a lot of fun.

How it was filmed

This video was show entirely with the GoPro Hero2 and the QuikPod Monopod. Land segments were shot using the Hero2’s Skeleton Housing and an Edutige ETM-001. I’m not sure why the sound was so bad in the opening segment – it’s almost as if the mic wasn’t attached to the camera. In any case, it sounded great in the signoff.

During the dive, the Hero2 was enclosed in the Hero2 Dive Housing. This case is obsolete with the Hero3, but a must for those with older cameras. Since light changes under the water, in post-production, I needed to color correct the tint, otherwise the images would have been even greener than seen in the video. I also turned on spot metering for this video, since light fluctuated significantly.

Probably the most fun part of this video was filming with the QuikPod. The opening boat shot was filmed with the monopod extended fully and swinging into place. Under water, the QuikPod proved to be a great tool, allowing me to not only film myself, but also switch to a POV mode and capture things directly ahead of me. Fully extending the monopod, allowed me to capture images of Edwin and me swimming, and while not included in the final video, the framing was easy. Probably the most difficult shot of the trip was of me swimming through the wreck. Extending the QuikPod out that far made turning in tight quarters a little hard. I would have loved to fully extend the monopod, but it just wasn’t possible.

What did you think of this video? Did you like the use of the monopod? Please share your thoughts below.

http://www.scroozle.com/ Zackary Downey

I’ve been watching YouTube comparisons between the Hero2 and Hero3, like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgDXdo7cBEY

The Hero3 seems to be a big improvement in colour and clarity. Do you think you’ll upgrade in the future? The pod accessory seems to have worked great. I just used my hand for the skating video, but I think that would have made things a bit easier.
- qiranger
  
  There certainly are some massive improvements in clarity and function in the new HERO, but my cameras are only a year old. If GoPro is going to be releasing a new model every year, I might hold off a bit. I have LCD backs and batteries for the H2 and I’m quite happy with the camera. The only thing I’d really like is the 1080/60p mode – but then again, I really don’t do all that much slomo stuff.
  - http://www.scroozle.com/ Zackary Downey
    
    The 720/120 is sweet, though. Sweeeeeeeeet.
    
    The next time my students and I shoot a vid, we’re going to have some fun, haha.
    - qiranger
      
      I can imagine. I’ve had fun with the 120 mode on mine before. But can you switch it off the ultra wide mode when at that speed?
      - http://www.scroozle.com/ Zackary Downey
        
        Apparently you can if you use it in ProTune mode. There are so many different combinations you can do, I sometimes get lost in the menus.
      - qiranger
        
        You get used navigating them. I zip through mine.
http://artofbackpacking.com/ Michael

Impressive video!
I’ve heard bad things about the audio in the Hero2 and it seems like the Hero3 is a major improvement. Still, I need to get a mic and LCD as that’s the last thing I’m missing for my accessories.
- qiranger
  
  Yeah, the LCD is awesome… no delay, but the battery drain can be a killer. I used an entire battery on this dive because of the LCD screen. I learned from my mistake on subsequent dives. Take a look at the Edutige mics. They work great with GoPros. All my GoPro videos are made with them now.