Scuba testing the GO Pro camera


I just returned from a Vet School reunion cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico. Beth got me the Go Pro Surf Hero camera that mounts on the front of my board so I can shoot video of myself....thats right, it's all about me. I think she did it because I think I surf better than I might actually be doing and she wanted to bring me down a notch. The camera is really small and runs on 2 AAA batteries (1 hour) and holds 50-60 minutes of high quality video on a 2GB card. Oh....and it's waterproof to 100 feet. It's so small and light that you can stick it in your BCD vest pocket. I did have some goober moments where I couldn't tell when it was on or not. You have to look into the front and see if the small screen has a number on it...and whether it's flashing. There are no lights on the back of the camera. It worked great and never leaked. When you're back on the surface you just put the card in your laptop and view ...that simple. We dove Eagle Ray reef (non-eagle ray...none there) and Devils grotto. Both are very close to shore since it drops off to 2000 feet very quickly. Quite a few tarpon present and a very active reef. We did a few "swim through s" ...kinda like a cave but with an opening at the end. Now let me set everyone straight....I hate caves, and when the dive master said "anybody got a problem with swim through s?" I was to busy trying not to crap myself to speak. He said "these are really big ones"....translation ( they are very small and your tank is going to scrape along the walls so don't panic) ....concentrating on sphinter and bladder control earnestly at this point. When we dove down to the devils grotto at about 50-60 feet I couldn't even see the opening....even when he went in. I waited towards the back of the line and went in ahead of Beth. She commented afterwards on how warm the water was inside....I didn't tell her how scared I really was and just why it was so warm. I also didnt shoot video inside either as mentally I had some difficulty turning the damn thing on and shot about 2 minutes of my fins because I thought it was off and was trailing behind me. Just as well since the sound of my tank hitting the coral roof is still a bit un-nerving , especially when combined with my girlish whimpering through my regulator. Once out I was much better, saw some huge tarpon....sorry no video....still having touble with the on/off thing but got some classic clips of my shorts. We went to Cozumel the next day and did a shore dive at Villa Blanca for $25 each...including all the equipment. A shallow dive about 40 feet and the camera worked great, however there was some operator error. I didn't change the batteries (see note at top..2AAA batteries=1 hour). After the dive we had lunch at La Mission, a great Mexican resturant with killer Margaritas. After 3 ,I was unable to add up the bill and had to get Beth to do it.Seriously had trouble walking back in a straight line so we did some shopping at the Tequilla store. We did learn a great travel tip...while they say you can only bring in 1 bottle per person, thats not exactly true. You can bring back however much you want, the duty is 3% but they don't collect on any total less than $10. So you can actually bring back $300 of booze without a problem...just declare it. All in all another great Weldon adventure....may have to take the kids next time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
hi, were u holding the camera or did u use a bracket ?
9:58 AM
Dr. Alan Weldon said…
I used it hand held. It really is pretty small and I just carried it in my BC pocket. Just got back from another trip to Cayman and used it again...ill post the video
10:12 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Purina feed recall announced-Aflatoxin confirmed

Image
There have been several horse show signs of acute liver dysfunction recently while eating Purina feeds. The company seems to have jumped on this quickly and found an aflatoxin (mold toxin) contamination from one of their suppliers. It only affects 3 of their plants and the North eastern United States.The following states are under the recall, Connecticut; Delaware; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; South Carolina; More info on Aflatoxins can be found HERE . " Aflatoxins are potent toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive agents, produced as secondary metabolites by the fungus Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus on variety of food products. Among 18 different types of aflatoxins identified, major members are aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is normally predominant in amount in cultures as well as in food products. Pure AFB1 is pale-white to yellow crystalline, odorless so...
Read more

How Horses could help fight "BIRD FLU"

Image
Horse serum has been used for years as a souce of "gamma globulins" (anti-bodies) for many species including man. Now a group of scientists in China are using antibody fragments from horses to fight the H5N1 virus. "The researchers included Jiahai Lu, PhD, of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. They're among experts worldwide working on bird flu treatments." The article is in MedicineNet.com and was written by Miranda Hitti from WebMD. "First, the scientists prepared H5N1 virus in hen's eggs. Next, they immunized horses to make antibodies to H5N1. Lu and colleagues took fragments of those antibodies, mixed them with H5N1 virus, and then spread the mixture on plates holding dog cells. Dog cells were only exposed to H5N1 or the horse antibody fragments. For comparison, other dog cells were left alone, without either H5N1 or the horse antibodies' fragments. The researchers checked on the dog cells every day for the next five...
Read more

Headshaking Syndrome....Just the facts

Image
( angelfire cartoons ) Just to set the record straight....this is a SYNDROME. That means it is a condition with multiple potential causes that has a unique set of symptoms. In this case the symptom is head shaking, this is either horizontal, vertical or rotary and frequently resembles a nervous twitch. Sometimes this is so uncontrollable that the behavior becomes almost manic and dangerous. Over the years many different causes have been attibuted to causing head shaking syndrome, including (1) ear mites (2) allergic rhinitis (3) ocular disease (4) Trigeminal neuritis (5) dental disease and (6) photic headshaking. One, from the fever swamps of the internet , links it to vaccines ( see my previous post about my thoughts on holistics) One older study noted that these horses were frequently over 8 years of age, Throughbred or Warm Blood, owned by 40+ year old women used for hunter/jumper or dressage. Additional studies have linked this to the time of year (seasonal) and most recently, to b...
Read more