posted by Lars Kirchhoff on 05/29/2007
Curacao Dive Festival 2007 Live Webcast
Diving
On our second day at the Curacao dive festival we were welcomed from a cloudless sunny sky.
With this condition diving and of course underwater photography is a great pleasure and makes
a lot of fun. Next to the Chogogo Resort, where we are staying, is the Scuba Do! dive center
located. From here we started our dive adventures today. The housereef of Scuba Do! in the
Jan Thiel Bay is a nice mixture of shallow water areas (3-5m), as most of us imagine the
caribbean reef scenery, and a slowly descending reef down to 60m with tons of corals and patroling
fish schools. You can find lots of interesting stuff for either macro or wide angle shots.
Presentations
Todays presentations were held in the Kura Hulanda Lodge, a part from the Kura Hulanda
Hotel in Willemstad. The Kura Hulanda Lodge is located at the very west of the island,
where you can ease down and really relax from anything and enjoy the best panaroma view sunsets
on the island. But back to the presentations.
Ty Sawyer, from Sports Diver magazine started first with his presentation "Wild About Curacao", where he presented the highlights of the island from a perspective of a expert traveler, journalist and photographer. Unfortunately we missed the presentation as we got stuck in a traffic jam in Willemstad making the 40 minutes drive to a one and half hour long odysee all over the island. We just reached the Kura Hulanda Lodge as Ty Sawyer answered the final questions. Right after his presentation Andi was going to talk and had to prepare his laptop and himself for the presentation.
So Andi's presentation was about digital underwater videography. The presentation
was the first of two at the festival. Andi gave an overview about the basics of underwater
videography, including discussion of criterias for choosing the right camcorder, different
video formats, types of housings and things that needs to be considered while preparing the
video dive and assembling the housing. Additionally Andi gave a quick intro to different
light system and what to check to choose the right light system for the needed purpose.
At the end of the presentation the an interesting discussion began. One of the participants
asked what can be done to protect the reefs, from the hordes of divers with their new digital
toys (underwater camera or camcorder), which aren't either trained on underwater photography
or videography nor divers with a lot of experience. This seems to become more and more a
problem for reef conservation.
Chill
After these two presentations the participants met and discussed at the pool bar of the
Kura Hulanda Lodge, while having a drink at the Happy Hour. In the background the big screen
was prepared for a second screening of "Sharkwater" for all the people, who couldn't watch it
the first time. As we didn't want to view it a second time so quick after the first, we decided
to enjoyed the beautiful view on the seaside from the Kura Hulanda terace.
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