Flooded housing is for the birds

[MaxBottomtime]

I had big plans of a video shoot at Marineland this morning. I had a long list of underwater and topside shots needed. I planned to start the shoot with Our Lady of the Garden and the sheephead who seems to be there all the time. I entered at the cove and made the surface swim to the point while the other divers entered at the point. I somehow managed to beat them out there. We agreed that I would drop down first to get my statue shots before the vis was stirred up. It took a couple minutes but I found the statue. Visibility was only six to eight feet, so my wide angle plans were ruined. That wasn't the only thing nearly ruined.
I looked in the viewfinder to frame my first shot ans saw two inches of water inside the housing. I made a four minute ascent that seemed like an hour. I managed to open the housing, dump the water and close it without getting more water in or losing the housing plate. I made a beeline back to the cove, washed the camera and housing with fresh water and dried everything. The camera still worked!
I grabbed the tripod and set out for my topside shots. As I finished I met two divers who told me about Matt the Birdman. Terranea hired him to use his hawk and owl to scare away seagulls. They were friendly looking predators. I'll save the rest of the shots for next week, when I'll try again to shoot things outside the housing.
Click on HD

Large video at YouTube - Terranea birds

 

[CheddarChick]

Man....Go get a lottery ticket...now....

 

[FrankPro1]

Ouch...At least your camera still works though. Any idea on why your housing flooded? Did you inspect the o-ring after the flood and look for nicks, cuts or debris? Is your camera insured for floods? The first thing I did when I got my new system was insure the camera. 45 bucks for peace of mind is a small price to pay. I'm bummed I missed the dive this morning. I had prior responsibilities to take care of. Charlie and I are gonna try Honeymoon or Christmas Tree tomorrow though. Cool shots of the birds of prey. Where were they at Marineland?

 

[Teamcasa]

Flooded housing but the camera still works is very lucky indeed.
I hope you find the source of the leak.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Dave, I forgot to clean the O-ring after my last dive. It had a LOT of sand.

Frank, the birds were being driven around in a golf cart down to the cove. Too bad you had to babysit your brother, but the vis wasn't very good and it got pretty surgy in the shallows. I was going to stop and feed Abby but a sand cloud rushed by so I kept going.

Cheesy Poof, I actually did buy a Lottery ticket after the dive. The winnings are going for my new boat.

 

[kelpmermaid]

That owl is just adorable!

 

[JMdiver]

Hey Phil when can we dive marineland, is it open all the time now or just some of the time? We need to go to 120 reef to finish a Reef check survey that we started today off the Sundiver.

John

 

[FrankPro1]

is it open all the time now or just some of the time?

The public will be allowed access all days of the week starting the 12th. Up until now its only been open on Sundays.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Update...it's now the 14th. We can only dive there next Sunday. After that. it's fair game.

 

[CheddarChick]

Call me when you get it in the water