Diving

Emergence du Ressel from Lennart Kuijs on Vimeo.

A nice cave diving video. The waters are very clear right up to the end and you even get to see a few fish.

F3F TOP GUN from Performance Freediving on Vimeo.

Really fun video where they use divers with DPV (diver propulsion vehicles) for an underwater sequence. One of the most interesting underwater sequences I’ve seen in a while.

For those who have a passion for Scuba diving I have found a group that you will enjoy. Vimeo has a group with over 1000 members and 2800 videos related to diving. Most of these videos are warm water dives and aquatic life.

Diving with whale sharks - Chumpon Pinnacle from nick zioncheck on Vimeo.

Sidemount training | Expedition Bjurälven from Markus Nord on Vimeo.

Northdiving Arrieta Lanzarote, Tauchen an den Wracks von Barranque del Quiquero from Erich Heiz on Vimeo.

Today for the second time we went to the Dive site in Duingt. It is located on the Lac D’Annecy a short drive from Annecy. The dive site is near a castle and the dive is down the flanc towards the cliff. The dive takes you by some submerged trees that would have fallen in to the lake at some point. The visibility is good and you can see the occasional fish and crayfish at this time of year. During this dive I was experimenting with the Gopro. When I gather more footage I will share it. [flickr-gallery mode=“photoset” photoset=“72157632626270608”]

Two friends of mine decided that they would go to the bottom of the wall at the dive site in Chindrieux. This dive site is on the Northern end of the Lac du Bourget in France one hour’s drive from Geneva. The classic dive, which I have done a number of times is a 40 meter dive along the wall. You see the rock overhanging and a blackness below. On previous dives we have been two groups. One deep group and one shallower group. The deep group were at 50+ meters while the shallow group were no deeper than 40m. Several weeks or even months after they first hatched the plan they finally invested in the appropriate gas mixtures and dived down. Here are the preparations for this dive. We were planning on interviews but by the end of the dive we were cold. Those who dived were in 6°c water for 70 minutes. We were also planning on taking a gopro down there but did not use it. I stayed on the surface with the camera gear. You can expect more videos of this type in the near future.

Earlier today I was at Chindrieux, a lake side village looking out over the Lac du Bourget lake in France. It is a nice lake with good visibility. The dive site where my friends and I usually dive is a wall. You swim out for 300 meters before heading down the bank to a little gap in the cliff. At 9 meters depth you start going west along the wall. On this wall you can find lots of shells and the occasional fish hiding in one crack or other. There are overhangs and scree fields. The bottom of the wall is at 65m. From there it slopes gently off to 110m. So far my dives have only taken me to 40 meters on this wall. Diving in this part of the world takes a certain character type. The water at depth is at a stable 5°-6°c but the water column varies from 21°c at the surface in Summer zo 6°c at the surface in winter. In summer you go from warm water to cold, and then you get back to warm. You’re sweating in your dry suit and to cool down is welcome. In winter the opposite is true. You’re cold. You’re happy to put your dry suit on, and gloves, and hood. The drawback is that you go from cold air to cold water and back. Friends of mine and I have come out of the water shivering in winter, unable to use our fingers anymore. This is all part of the fun. Today for a change I went with my video camera. I am currently working on a diving documentary and I want to get footage of the surface as well as down below. The vista are nice. You can see parapentistes, the occasional boat, trains passing by and in the distance snow covered mountains. They serve as a backdrop to Aix Les Bains. I will keep you informed about how this project progresses.

I’ve been watching a series of underwater diving videos from around the world from the website divefilm and there are a number of interesting ones. Most of them are by the same person but occasionally there are guest appearances by those aiming to protect whales, others aiming to protect dolphins. There are also some videos showing the “shower” fish, those cleaning other fish. It’s an interesting collection of videos. A little different from other videos I’ve watched.