HD shark video from Cocos - August 2009

I just returned from a great trip to Cocos and Malpelo aboard the Sea Hunter. Lots of Hammers, white-tips and even the silkies showed up on one dive. Check it out!

http://www.vimeo.com/6265455

Wonderful!! I felt like I was back there. That one hammer at the end came so close. What did you do? Hold your breath so your bubbles didn't scare him?

We didn't see any dolphins when were there. Very cool. I can't wait to see your white tip night dive.

Now that was awesome !!! ... August looks like a cool time to go ...

Dive safe

DeanB

Great video - thanks for sharing. That last shot is incredible.

Aloha,

Bryce

Nice!! Makes me want to go back...

Phil

Were you on the trip with Andy Sallmon??

Wow awesome video..what did you use to shoot that with?

Nice clips. I especially like the predation/play of the bottlenose and the trevallies. That last shot was almost money if the hammer didn't jerk back like that, in response to your exhaling?

Did you have your OIS on? I saw a few clips where the motion didn't look natural.

Great video!

I wasn´t near as lucky with the hammers. What was the water temp in august?

Were you on the trip with Andy Sallmon??

Yep, I was originally booked on the undersea hunter about the same time but made a last minute switch to Andy's trip to dive with some friends of mine. Glad I did; we had a blast.

Wow awesome video..what did you use to shoot that with?

Thanks, Sony HC9 in a Gates with the Fathom SWP-25 port.

Nice clips. I especially like the predation/play of the bottlenose and the trevallies. That last shot was almost money if the hammer didn't jerk back like that, in response to your exhaling?

Did you have your OIS on? I saw a few clips where the motion didn't look natural.

Thanks, Drew. Yeah, those dolphins were a lot of fun to dive with. We actually had a lot of dolphin sightings on this trip. We had a phenomenal dive at Dirty Rock where the dolphins were hitting bait fish that they had corralled up against the pinnacle with lots of tuna slashing in and out as well. Very close to a true bait ball and some of the craziest dive action I've ever seen. All of this with a huge school of silkies hanging just off the rock. That was the best dive of the trip by far! Unfortunately, I didn't like the color and shakiness of a lot of that footage so I only included one shot from that dive (the silky fly by).

In that last shot, I don't recall if the hammer was spooked by my bubbles or just by nearly running into me! He was very close when he spooked. You're absolutely right though in that you really need to hold your breath when they come in - very skittish! Several of the divers on our boat were on rebreathers and you can really see the advantages of that with hammers.

OIS was off for these shots as far as I recall, however, it's certainly possible that I may have accidentally left it on during one or two dives. This was all shot on my Sony HC9. Its a fun little package for what it is, but it certainly has its limitations.

Thanks for the feedback, btw!

Great video!

 

I wasn´t near as lucky with the hammers. What was the water temp in august?

Thanks, davichin. When were you there? August is the rainy season in cocos and also prime diving season.

Water temp was variable - anywhere from 80 to probably high 60's under the harsher thermoclines. I was very comfortable in a 5mm with gloves and hot socks with my full fins. I didn't wear a hood but quite a few did. For the most part we had overcast skies with a few scattered rain storms. We really lucked out though on the crossings with nice sunny weather and glassy seas! I have another video on my vimeo page that is a brief montage of images from the boat during the crossing that will give you a sense of that.

I hear you had a great trip Alex. Wish I coulda been there. Video looks great, I bet your happy you had the Superwide for that trip!

I hear you had a great trip Alex. Wish I coulda been there. Video looks great, I bet your happy you had the Superwide for that trip!

Oh yeah! It was just awesome. Getting off that boat sucked, lol.

The Cocos are my favorite place to dive. Been there 11 times now and I never get bored of the place. One never knows what they will come up with. Great music for the video and some stunning shots. The rainy season between June and Sept are always the best times to go there.

Steve

Thanks, Drew. Yeah, those dolphins were a lot of fun to dive with. We actually had a lot of dolphin sightings on this trip. We had a phenomenal dive at Dirty Rock where the dolphins were hitting bait fish that they had corralled up against the pinnacle with lots of tuna slashing in and out as well. Very close to a true bait ball and some of the craziest dive action I've ever seen. All of this with a huge school of silkies hanging just off the rock. That was the best dive of the trip by far! Unfortunately,

Yeah Dirty Rock seems to have the bottlenose hunting quite often. I had them on all 5 trips out to Cocos. What kind of tuna did you have? Any yellowfin?

Several of the divers on our boat were on rebreathers and you can really see the advantages of that with hammers.

I'd advocate rebreather diving for most dives around Cocos/Malpelo. Did you get many baitballs in Malpelo? I had the best action I'd seen in in the Pacific island triangle there.

OIS was off for these shots as far as I recall, however, it's certainly possible that I may have accidentally left it on during one or two dives. This was all shot on my Sony HC9. Its a fun little package for what it is, but it certainly has its limitations.

Could be my eyes too or just going from 30-24p on Vimeo.

Btw it's nice that you list the music in the credits. The Dark Knight album was the best soundtrack score I'd heard last year. Funny thing is quite a few people have used tracks from that soundtrack.

Yeah Dirty Rock seems to have the bottlenose hunting quite often. I had them on all 5 trips out to Cocos. What kind of tuna did you have? Any yellowfin?

 

I'd advocate rebreather diving for most dives around Cocos/Malpelo. Did you get many baitballs in Malpelo? I had the best action I'd seen in in the Pacific island triangle there.

 

 

Could be my eyes too or just going from 30-24p on Vimeo.

 

Btw it's nice that you list the music in the credits. The Dark Knight album was the best soundtrack score I'd heard last year. Funny thing is quite a few people have used tracks from that soundtrack.

Yeah Dirty Rock was a great spot. We saw quite a bit of the yellowfin tunas out hunting with the dolphins. Really makes me wanna do the Sardine Run someday...

Malpelo didn't produce any baitballs for us unfortunately although the diving was still quite good. Sadly we didn't have any Silky action out there either. The divemasters seemed to think this was related to the change in currents around the time we arrived, but who knows.... I've heard Malpelo is less consistent than Cocos but that when it is on it can be really, really impressive!

Agreed - Dark Knight is a killer sound track. For whatever reason, Hans Zimmer's music seems to fit really well with a lot of underwater images - especially the wide stuff. I personally was inspired to use his music by Derek Sepiolo's incredible pieces from the Galapagos and Antacrtica.

The Cocos are my favorite place to dive. Been there 11 times now and I never get bored of the place. One never knows what they will come up with. Great music for the video and some stunning shots. The rainy season between June and Sept are always the best times to go there.

Steve

I can certainly see why people would keep coming back! There was a guy on our trip, like you, who was on his twelfth trip out....and was coming back again in March, lol. In addition to all of the sharks we saw, we also saw a humpback and her calf breaching near the ship, mating turtles, mating white-tips, whale sharks, etc. As our trip leader put it, "Whales, sharks, and dolphins, what more could you want??"

Great footage ! Nice hammerhead and dolphin shots

Cocos are definitely on my list...

The only place I have seen schooling hammers so far was in the Maldives and it was after that amazing dive I decided to start underwater video..

However nothing like the numbers in Cocos...

Again nice video.

Did you edit with imovie ?