A Few Dives at Aliwal Shoal, South Africa

Our attempt to do the Sardine Run was scrubbed by weather, and we attempted Plan B at Aliwal Shoal, near Umkomaas. Nevertheless, we only managed 5 dives, and the video has some lighting errors (not many chances for do-overs).

[vimeo]27341383[/vimeo]

Sorry to hear about the Snow Petrel going south on you in East London. You had better viz than what we had with the action south of you in the Transkei.

The noise was pretty high in a few scenes. What camera did you use?

I had unfortunately goofed on the gain during a couple of the dives, which yielded quite a bit of noise. But, we at least had pretty good viz on two of the five dives. Viz was semi-shabby on two of the others, and harsh currents and rubbish viz predominated during an attempt at the bow of The Produce.

Camera = Sony HVR-Z7U.

Hopefully, next year...

Sorry to hear about the Snow Petrel going south on you in East London. You had better viz than what we had with the action south of you in the Transkei.

The noise was pretty high in a few scenes. What camera did you use?

I had unfortunately goofed on the gain during a couple of the dives, which yielded quite a bit of noise. But, we at least had pretty good viz on two of the five dives. Viz was semi-shabby on two of the others, and harsh currents and rubbish viz predominated during an attempt at the bow of The Produce.

 

Camera = Sony HVR-Z7U.

 

Hopefully, next year...

Are you going to try the same boat again next year?

What species of turtle is that at 2:35, it looks different to me. From the flashes I see, it appears that you should check out the alignment of your heads and have them cleaned. Hope you weren't using a preused tape which could have caused the drop outs. You do have some nice shots there tho. A shame to have to travel all that way and get skunked on the sardine run. I would love to do it but I remember many years ago the times we never even got on the boat in Gansbaii when going there for the Great Whites due to the water conditions.

Steve

we did 6 dives but very rough for the first 2, quite an experience to me !!

Still don't have much time to fix all clips together, so starting with the trailer first !!

That's a good-sized female loggerhead. Her advanced age gives her the distinct appearance. You can see the younger smaller male chasing her near the end. He was the one who bit my light.

The flashes were introduced by my buddies, who were shooting stills.

What species of turtle is that at 2:35, it looks different to me. From the flashes I see, it appears that you should check out the alignment of your heads and have them cleaned. Hope you weren't using a preused tape which could have caused the drop outs. You do have some nice shots there tho. A shame to have to travel all that way and get skunked on the sardine run. I would love to do it but I remember many years ago the times we never even got on the boat in Gansbaii when going there for the Great Whites due to the water conditions.

Steve

That was the plan, but we understand that this may no longer be possible.

Are you going to try the same boat again next year?

The flash causes the CMOS sensor to break up the picture... switch to CCD

I forgot to add that your label for the sharks is missing. I think more than a few of the sharks in your video were C. Limbatus or Oceanic Blacktips, not grey reef (C. Amblyryncos or however you spell it!).

I heard about the Snow Petrel. So what are your alternatives?

Yes, I could switch to CCD, but the cheaper solution to the rolling shutter issue is getting new dive buddies lacking strobes.

Also true about the missing label for the sharks. Someone else had pointed out the booboo, but I had not yet had a chance to update and replace the video.

The return to Africa for next summer is still in limbo. I had already planned a trip to Asia for the early summer but remain uncertain whether an African adventure can feasibly follow.

The flash causes the CMOS sensor to break up the picture... switch to CCD

 

I forgot to add that your label for the sharks is missing. I think more than a few of the sharks in your video were C. Limbatus or Oceanic Blacktips, not grey reef (C. Amblyryncos or however you spell it!).

 

I heard about the Snow Petrel. So what are your alternatives?