Imagethief
Diving
My passion. My wife and I are PADI DMs and TDI Advanced Wreck/Normoxic Trimix.
If I had more time, I would put more on this page. For the moment, there are three main things: Photography, links to articles I like and a list of kit I like.
Underwater
Photography
These
are underwater photographs from dive trips around Southeast Asia, arranged
by location with thumbnails that lead to higher-resolution images.. I
shoot with a Nikon F90X in a Sea&Sea housing with double Sea&Sea
YS120 strobes. I do a lot with 105mm macro, 20mm wide and, occasionally,
16mm fisheye. Some of these photos have been previously published in Asian
Diver magazine. The index is on my Photography
page.
Scuba
Diving Articles
These were all written for Asian Diver. Three are surveys of Southeast
Asia diving and one is an article on diving Gangga, near Manado in North
Sulawesi. Links lead to my original copy on this site. They may differ
slightly from the published versions.
The Two Faces of North Sulawesi
(Asian Diver, March 2003)
Malaysia's Legendary Divesites
(Asian Diver Annual, 2004)
An Infinity of Islands: Diving Southeast Asia
(Asian Diver Annual, 2003)
Diving Malaysia
(Asian Diver Annual, 2002)
Kit
I Like
For what its worth, this is gear I like, having used a fair amount of
different stuff over the year:
Regulators and
attached kit:
Apeks TX50 DIN mount (sealed diaphragm;
inexpensive, reliable and easy-breathing at depth), Two for tech, one
for recreational, either way in DIR config with a 7 foot primary hose
and 22 inch secondary hose with the second stage on an elastic neck strap.
SPH is a naked Poseidon guage on 24 inch hose clipped at left hip, no
boot, no console, no fuss.
Buoyancy Compensation:
For recreational, no-name aluminum
backplate cut on a Halcyon pattern with self-cut webbing. Halcyon Pioneer
27 pound wing. No single-tank adaptor; just Halcyon Octo-grip straps.
I've never had a problem with tank movement. I used to use a Dive-Rite
harness for recreational dives, but the backplate and harness is much
more rigid while still completely comfortable in the water (at bit severe
out of the water due to the lack of padding). For Tech dives, depending
on the weight needed either the same aluminum plate or an old Halcyon
steel plate with the same harness and a Halcyon Explorer 55 pound wing.
The webbing is configured DIR with 3 D-rings. I carry a 100 pound Dive-Rite
lift bag in a Halcyon pouch (between the plate and my back) in both Tech
and Rec configs.
Fiddly Bits:
For recreational diving I use
a Suunto Vytec computer, which I really like. I used to use Aladdins,
and there is no contest. For Tech I use the Vytec in guage mode (I use
tables cut on GUE's Decoplanner software for PC, not a Trimix computer).
For recreational diving, a Dive-Rite 10 watt HID light (which gives me
problems; I think the ballast is wierd and it is sometimes reluctant to
turn on althought it stays on once fired), paramedic shears, a whistle
and a 50 meter thumb reel. No pockets; everything is on the webbing except
for the whistle, on the power inflator and the thumb reel, on a crotch
strap just below the bottom of the tank. If I am DM-ing I carry a stainless
steel pointer in my hand and a shaker on the webbing under my arm, where
I'd keep a backup light for tech diving. My fins are 10 year old Mares
Plana Avantis. Never seen a need to change them.
For tech diving, the above minus the shaker plus thigh pockets, an extra sausage, a Halcyon 400 foot primary reel with #36 wreck line, two Princeton Tec 40 backup lights (inexpensive, bright and reliable), a second thumb reel, a very small backup remora knife and my tables. Everything is in the thigh pockets except for the backup knife, one thumb reel, the primary reel and the backup lights.
The wife and me, hitting the waves again. Tech divers note: This is an old pic. The kit and config are somewhat different now.