With Beijing Ocean Week coming to a close, the team is now preparing to bring the festivities to Shenzhen for the inaugural Shenzhen Ocean17 Festival! Apart from the regular Film, Book, Image, Art, and Science festivals, the ADEX team is introducing a fresh line-up of programmes to celebrate the beginning of this venture. ADEX Shenzhen will see the largest gathering of mermaids – ever! Witness the beautiful spectacle of mermaid performances and cheer for your favourite mermaid as the competition unfolds in the exciting Mermaid Challenge. Officials from the Guiness Book of Records will be in attendance to make this historic recording. The Freediving Festival will feature everything that took place at the freediving pavilion in Beijing – and much more! The champions of freediving – Herbert Nitsch, Alexey Molchanov, and Aolin Wang – will be present to share their passion and tips with participants. Lookout for an array of watersports presentations and tryouts at the pool. The adventurous have the opportunity to try their hand at kiteboarding, surfing and wakeboarding. A yacht show will also be present, featuring luxurious charters for your next dive trip. Don’t head off too soon, you won’t want to miss the ADEX Music Festival featuring Asia’s top DJs. From 7pm each night, participants are invited to stay for a time of partying till the early hours. See you there!
Congratulations to the winners of ADEX China Voice of the Ocean 2017!
After two intense rounds of live judging, we are proud to announce the winners of this year’s ADEX China Voice of the Ocean.
First Place Winner, Video of the Year, Florian Fischer (Germany)
Second Place Winner, Video of the Year, Florian Fischer (Germany)
Congratulations again to all the winners!
Can you dive with ear barotrauma?
OK, so you messed up on your first dive of your holiday, didn’t listen to the pain in your ears, and now you’ve got middle ear barotrauma. Your ears feel “full” (they are: with blood and mucus) and you can’t hear too well. But you feel fine, and equalising is no longer a problem. Can you continue to dive for the rest of the week you paid so much for? Some divers do, but they are taking a serious risk of permanent loss of hearing or, even worse, balance control. In addition to the obvious risk of infection, remember that you can’t be sure you haven’t also damaged your inner ear at the same time. Symptoms of the latter aren’t always strong or immediate. All the medical advice says that if you’ve suffered middle-ear barotrauma, get out of the water and stay out until it clears up. Answer provided by the DAN Medical Team Scuba Diver AUSTRALASIA + OCEAN PLANET is the official media partner of DAN Asia-Pacific, the diving industry’s largest association dedicated to scuba diving safety that provides dive accident insurance.
Register for the Solomon Dive Festival 2017!
The second annual Solomon Dive Festival 2017 invites all divers to join in the celebration from 2 to 7 October 2017. Held at the western province of the island, this year marks the 75th anniversary of the battle for Guadalcanal – the day the nation of Hapi isles gained their freedom. Visit the unspoilt reefs of the Solomon Islands for a week of dive excursions, cultural activities, photographic competitions, and workshops. After two nights spent in Gizo, participants will hop on the SIDE MV Taka liveaboard for a night of sailing to the island of Munda, where they can expect two more nights of festivities. Swim through caves and explore wrecks of planes and boats in Munda. The water flow and currents create the perfect conditions required for barracuda and jackfish feeding frenzies. Barry’s Breakfast is just one such dive where you can hang in mid-water surrounded by swarming pelagics while titan triggerfish patrol the reefs below. Offering a huge variety of spectacular dive sites, divers visiting Gizo are in for a treat with Grand Central Station boasting the highest fish count in the world with more than 275 species recorded in its teeming waters. Wreck enthusiasts can expect to witness a 440-foot Japanese freighter, the Toa Maru and an almost fully-intact US Hellcat fighter aircraft lying in very shallow waters, just a short boat ride from Gizo Town. From USD$1,355 per person, the package includes: Return flights flying Solomon Airlines ex-Brisbane to Gizo and Munda via Honiara, including all transfers.
- Two-night twin accommodation at Rekona Lodge or Gizo Hotel, breakfast and dinner
- Attendance at the festival’s opening ceremony, dinner at PT109 restaurant with kastom sing sing and dance
- Three-tank dive day with Dive Gizo with tanks, weights, and dive guide
- BBQ lunch
- DAN seminar
- One-night twin standard cabin (shared bathrooms) on board with all meals sailing from Gizo to Munda
- Up to four dives with tanks, weights, dive guide and kastom fees
- Photography workshop
- Upgrade to a twin deluxe cabin with private en suite at an extra USD$50 per person
- Two-night twin accommodation at Agnes Gateway Lodge
- Two-tank dive day with SIDE Dive Munda with tanks, weights and dive guide
- Kastom lunch at Hopei Island and WWII Museum visit
- Marine biology focused seminar
- BBQ dinner with kastom dance performance
- One-tank dive day with tank, weights, dive guide plus Skull Island visit
- Cocktails and winner of Photo Competition announcement
- Closing ceremony and dinner
- One extra night twin accommodation at Agnes Gateway Lodge, Munda (no meals included)
For more information about the Solomon Dive Festival 2017, visit http://www.solomonsdiving.com/solomons-dive-fest-2017/ or e-mail info@sivb.com.sb
My Camera of Choice Tested in the Extremes
Text & images by William Tan
It was an honour when Canon placed an EOS-1DX Mark II in my hands and gave me the opportunity to shoot images to promote its launch in April 2016. I tested the camera under extreme conditions at various locations: In Hokkaido’s freezing waters (around minus 1.8 degrees) during the winter season; shooting thresher sharks under dim morning lights at Malapascua; balancing contrasts of mantas against bright sunbursts at Hanifaru Bay; and stacking on macro diopters to test the autofocus on balloon fish hatchlings in Takeno that were no longer then 2mm. In every aspect, the EOS-1DX Mark II outperformed its predecessor. It is now my camera of choice.
Image 1: Sperm Whales (Physeter Macrocephalus)Shot at: Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
LankaIn a situation where you have a photographer and three large sperm whales all swimming at the surface, water movements can make getting a perfect reflection of your subjects rather challenging. Fortunately, the EOS-1DX Mark II is capable of bursting at 14 frames per second (with AF/AE tracking) inhigh-speed continuous shooting mode. As you can see from the resulting image, I was able to choose frames showing perfectly still waters just before the reflections break into abstract art forms. Image 2: Shrimp Larva (Aristeidae)Shot at: Kenting, Taiwan
TaiwanThe super fast auto focusing system in the EOS-1DX Mark II is able to accurately track tiny and mobile planktonic subjects through a 100mm macro lens. The amount of details the new sensor captures allows you to see delicate textures in the almost transparent exoskeleton of this shrimp larva. The EOS-1D X Mark II’s optical (pentaprism) viewfinder provides a bigger and brighter view that is especially useful when filming these fast 3mm-sized creatures.
Join us at ADEX China 2017!
The countdown has started and we are one day away from the opening ceremony of ADEX China 2017!
From 31 August to 1 September, ADEX will be kick starting the show at Beijing Ocean Week 2017. Happening at China International Exhibition Center, the show promises good deals, inspirational speakers, exciting programmes, and a whole lot of fun. Here’s what we have in store for you: A competition for the world’s best underwater photographers and filmmakers to showcase their work to a panel of judges. Six categories are up for judging – Photo of the Year, Compact Camera Photo of the Year, Environment Photo of the Year, Underwater Fashion Photo of the Year, Video of the Year, and Best of Show. ADEX Guest of Honour Ernie Brooks, Todd Essick, Aaron Wong, Yorko Summer, Nan Wang, Tobias Friedrich, Kevin Wu, William Tan, and Alan Lo will be judging the finalists live at ADEX. A series of festivals featuring the best of art, photography, film, music and science. Look forward to activities, exhibitions and workshops held by the creators of these inspirational works. ADEX would like to honour and recognise individuals and organisations who have poured their time and heart into ocean conservation. The highlight of ADEX Beijing Ocean week– meet the pioneers of technical diving as they share their passion for ocean exploration. This conference is a place for tek diving enthusiasts to meet, share, and learn. The various presentations, delivered by famous individuals such as David Strike, will include information on prime underwater environments, technical diving adventures and experiences, as well as new technologies. Come to the Freediving Pavilion to meet the faces of freediving – Alexey Molchanov, Aolin Wang, and Pepe Arcos – just to name a few. For all underwater photography and film enthusiasts, this seminar offers invaluable tips and tricks from highly acclaimed professionals such as Aaron Wong and Yorko Summer. You won’t want to miss out on the riveting performances by world-famous mermaids and mermen! For more information, head over to the ADEX China website. We look forward to seeing you there!
AIDA Freediving Championships: Congratulations to FIM Gold Medalists Alessia and William!
From 22 August to 3 September 2017, the world’s top athletes will be competing at the AIDA Freediving Championship. Taking place on the Island of Roatán, Honduras, international athletes are attempting to break national and world records. Currently, results have been announced for the Women’s Free Immersion (FIM) with Alessia Zecchini earning the Gold Medal at a depth of 88 metres and breaking the Italian National Record. The Men’s FIM saw William Trubridge clenching the gold at a 114-metre depth despite getting a yellow card. Check out the footage of his dive taken with an underwater drone here. So far, the event has witnessed numerous national record-holders such as Natalie Rudman from South Africa at a 60-metre depth, Jennifer Wendland from Germany at an 82-metre depth, and Estrella Navarro from Mexico at a 74-metre depth. “The women performed extremely well with many white cards! It was close with Alessia getting to 88 metres, Sofia and Jessea doing 86 metres and Sayuri’s 85 metres. The men announced very deep dives and as a result there were many yellow and red cards,” official photographer Alex St. Jean comments.
From left to right: Sofia Gomez Uribe, Jessea Lu, Sayuri Kinoshita
Alex continues, “I think the women will dive strong in the upcoming days and more white cards will be seen. The men might take today as a warning to dive a bit more conservatively after seeing so many early turns and blackouts. It pays to dive a bit more conservatively so that you are sure to get some points instead of being deducted for yellows or getting zero for red.”
From left to right: Tied for third, Brandon Hendrickson, USA, 92m white card and Adam Stern, 92m white card, Australia National Record Holder
Receive real-time updates as the competition unfolds on AIDA’s Facebook page.
We wish all the participants the best of luck!http://aidaworldchampionship2017.com
Free Diving (also known as lung diving, apnea or freediving) is a sport in which athletes compete to go as deep as possible while holding their breath. Some of these athletes, many of whom already participated in previous editions of the Caribbean Cup in Roatán, are able to descend more than 100 meters deep and emerge about 4 minutes later.
The World Championships and Caribbean Cup is comprised of three freediving disciplines:
Free Immersion (FIM): Constant Weight, pulling the rope during ascent and descent.
Constant Weight Fins (CWT): Propulsion using only bi-fins or a monofin with one tug on the rope allowed when beginning ascent.
Constant Weight No Fins (CNF): Propulsion using arms and legs without fins with one tug on the rope when beginning ascent.