Breaking News

February 25, 2008

The Komodo trip has several openings. Join now for a fine above and underwater adventure. Since this is a new trip for me, I do not have images specifically from this area. So go to http://www.kararu.com/gallery/komodo/2002/index.html to see how beautiful and fascinating this area is.

Latest digital news: The Sea and Sea housing for the Nikon D300 is wonderful. See the review. There are lots of new cameras including the Nikon D300 and D3, the Olympus E3, Ikelite TTL advances, Olympus point and shoot, and more. I hope to take some good looks at many of these in the next few weeks if Herb will quit selling out the new items before I get my hands on them.

Cathy was inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame January 17, 2008.

We still enjoy the Olympus cameras. Our favorite, the SP350 is discontinued, so we bought a LOT of them. They sold fast and we found a source of re-conditioned units. We have about 25 left. It is a terrific camera and meets virtually all of our needs for a monitor-back digital underwater camera system. The "My" modes let us preset the camera for various situations, making it easier for beginners to quickly switch all of the appropriate settings when changing from close-up to far photography. It allows super macro to fill the image with subjects an inch across. I also like being able to offer a true TTL exposure, especially when it allows you to use any TTL strobe that has a Nikonos 5-pin connector. The entire system is around $2600.00, depending on strobe and arm configurations. It has been terrific for everyone. Come down now to try one out while diving in warm

If you didn't receive Cathy & Herb's Christmas letter, you can click here to read it.

 

Cathy's boat

The M/Y Photo Journey has been great fun. We have now gone out on eight charters and all have yielded wonderful photos.

=======Past News below====================

This is Chris and I in last year's ('06) garden photo. How's that for "Breaking News?"

We added a back porch, as seen on the left side and the garden is growing back. Here it is this June, 2005.

 

Photo course news: I will not be teaching the SuperCourses in 2006 or '07, and do not have plans to offer them later. I prefer to teach the digital systems on an individual basis, rather than as a large group. I am researching ways to offer the fabulous SuperCourse diving style without the full SuperCourse.

May 14, 2005
Cathy shoots digital

Hear ye, hear ye! For the first time, Cathy Church shot with a digital camera for her own photography--not just for testing and teaching--during an entire trip!!! This grand event took place April 23 - May 3 in Fiji. Her choice--the Nikon D2x in a Subal housing. I shot a lot of photos and had a great time. I was freed from the magic number 36. I could shoot any number of photos that I wanted to. The camera and Subal housing worked flawlessly.

Kimbe, Papua New Guinea

I had so much fun on the Star Dancer in Kimbe Bay, PNG, that I want to rush right back. I saw lots of interesting creatures, and the diving was easy. It really took my mind off of the aftermath of hurricane Ivan (Sept. '04) in Grand Cayman. Poor Herb had to stay here to try to get through to insurance assessors and contractors.

Hurricane update

Our condos at Ocean Club still look just like this, so I may as well leave this in the way it was written just after the storm.

Here is one of our rental condos. See the open-air, spacious, ocean-view kitchen/dining/living room? People were still upstairs when the rooms became more than just ocean "view". The house to the left, shown by the remains of a tile floor, was also occupied. The occupants were rescued and taken to my condo during the height of the storm.

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Our neighbor has a new tree. He needs a chainsaw, too. He also has a new sky light. We have a skylight in our room at Sunset House, and it glows blue. That is the color of our tarp.

Here is my beautiful garden with lots of shade trees. Oops, they all fell over. This photo was taken after I picked up all of the wonderful free shingles that my neighbor gave to me. They are piled on my back porch. The forest on the other side of the canal will not interfere this year with my TV reception! You can see forever without those pesky trees!

Here is a photo from just a few weeks before it was a little over pruned. I took the top of the bird feeder in, but I should have taken the pole, too, as it is gone. Remarkably, the cement turtle and water bath remained.