Archive for ‘Other’

TOP TIPS FOR UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY……

By sea-dog, 28 March, 2010, 1 Comment

If your intrested in capturing your underwater adventure then photography is your best choice. here at DJL Diving we belive in getting the most from our pictures, while leaving no impact on the local underwater enviroment. Here are our tips as recomended by project aware :-

1. Photograph with Care. Dive carefully as many aquatic creatures are fragile regardless of size. Improper techniques while taking or editing photos underwater can damage sensitive aquatic life and harm fragile organisms with the bump of a camera or tank, swipe of a fin or even the touch of a hand.
2. Dive Neutral. Camera systems may add weight or be buoyant. Make sure to secure photo and dive equipment and be properly
weighted to avoid contact with reefs or other vital habitat. Practice buoyancy control and photography skills in a pool before swimming near sensitive and fragile environments.
3. Resist Temptation. Don’t touch, handle, feed, chase or ride aquatic life. Don’t alter an organism’s location to get the perfect shot. Most aquatic creatures are shy and easily stressed. Your actions may interrupt feeding, disturb mating or provoke aggression in a normally nonaggressive species.
4. Easy Does It. While diving, move slowly and deliberately through the water. Avoid excessive use of flash that can startle underwater creatures. Be patient and still while photographing – allow organisms to show their natural behavior for a more significant and meaningful shot.
5. Sharpen Your Skills. Make sure the difficulty of the dive and the environmental conditions are appropriate for your current skills and comfort level. Don’t stabilize underwater by grabbing onto the reef for a better photo. Enroll in PADI’s Underwater
Photographer, Digital Underwater Photography and Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty courses to learn sustainable dive techniques and become a more skilled and successful photographer.
6. Be Informed. Know and follow local regulations and protocols regarding behavior around marine mammals and other animals before entering the water. Share this knowledge with other divers. These regulations protect creatures and aim to assure their preservation for future generations.
7. Be an AWARE Diver. Knowing more about the life and behavior of your aquatic subjects can help you get better shots. Consider enrolling in an AWARE – Coral Reef Conservation, AWARE Fish Identification, Project AWARE Specialty or Underwater Naturalist course to learn more about the environment you’re photographing.
8. Take Only Pictures, Leave Only Bubbles. Nearly everything found in the aquatic realm is alive or will be used by a living creature. Removing specimens such as corals and shells can disturb the delicate balance and quickly deplete dive sites of both their resources and their beauty.
9. Share Your Images. Use images for conservation by reporting environmental disturbances or destruction using your photographs as evidence. Assist scientific research and improve resource management by contributing your photos to species monitoring programs such as The Whale Shark Project. You can also submit your photos to Project AWARE. Your images have the power to change perspectives and influence conservation.
10. Conserve the Adventure. Support Project AWARE Foundation, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.
If you have the time a MASTER SCUBA DIVER course is a great option. You have two weeks of unlimited fun diving were we grantee you at least 50 dives, and also 5 PADI specialities certifactions. A example of a two week course :-

underwater photography spec- 1 day 2 dives       

Peak Perfomance Buoyancy spec- 1 day 2 dives

Fish id spec- 1 day 2 dives

Nitrox spec- 1 day 2 dives

deep spec- 2 days 4 dives

With unlimited fun diving in between. the PADI master scuba diver is the highest non proffesional diver rating.

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By djl team, 13 March, 2010, No Comment

We are happy to announce that with the opening of Koh Tao

Koh Tao's 1st and only hostel

Always open with 24hrs security

Backpackers Hostel (www.kohtaobackpacker.com) we are now able to offer AC dorm rooms as an a free accommodation option when taking dive
Clean and comfortable budget accommodatoin

Clean & comfortable accommodation in a great location

courses with DJL. KTB has four dorms each with eight beds in each, one of these dorms is a female only dorm. The hostel is based down in the Sairee
Friday pool parties with free BBQ

After a 'hard' weeks diving kick back and party on a Friday evening at the Pool Party

beach area behind the dive school conveniently near the bar/restaurant and swimming pool.

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WHY NOT CHOOSE THE GREEN OPTION.

By sea-dog, 18 February, 2010, 1 Comment

When selecting your dives for the PADI ADVANCED OPEN WATER course why not choose the green eco friendly option. Here at DJL we are a proud memeber of project aware go eco group and we encourge all divers to do there bit in helping preserve our island. For the ADVANCED OPENWATER COURSE you have to do a deep dive and a navigation dive. When doing the deep dive we normaly go to chumpon pinnacle if the conditions are right, were you will get to see the sharks Kho Tao has to offer, all shark sightings will be added to the project aware shark trust data base. For the navigation dive we will teach you compass skills and how to use the natural enviroment for navigation, so no more getting lost in the sand.
Then you have 3 more dives to choose, The eco friendly choice would be peak perfomance buoyancy, helping you fine tune you buoyancy and giving you better control in the water, so no more excuses or that fin hitting the coral. Then the final two dive could be fish identifaction and underwater naturalist diver, you will learn about the local fish, coral and eco-system around Kho Tao island. The more knowledge we have about the local enviroment the better we can protect it for the divers of the fututre.
For more info about the ADVANCED OPEN WATER COURSE or project aware visit our main website.
Lets all do our bit to keep this island beautiful.

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Marine Life of Koh Tao

By Ollie the Spaniard, 17 February, 2010, No Comment

PADI Digital photography specialty courses are available at Davy Jones Locker, for more information check out the main website www.davyjoneslocker.asia

Yellowback Fusiliers

Angelfish

Christmas Tree Worms

Clown Anemonefish

Fusiliers

Kuhl's Stingray

Porcupinefish

Pustulose Wart Slug

Reef Shark

Titan Triggerfish

Whaleshark

Whaleshark

White-Eyed Moray Eel

Yellow Boxfish

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Luke Certifies 2 New PADI Open Water Divers

By sea-dog, 25 January, 2010, No Comment

After completing the theory and pool work, I knew that this was going to be an easy PADI Open Water Course. Anthony and Joanne, both from England took to diving like a fish to the sea. The guys excelled in the pool, completing all the skills with ease and when it was time to do our first two Open Water dives I knew we wouldn’t have any problems. The First dive was at Twin Rocks and the conditions weren’t perfect but that didn’t stop both students doing an excellent job, we saw moral eels, nudibranch and lots more cool fish that call this dive site, the second dive at Sairee Reef were we had to complete 2 mask skills and a few others which the guys made look easy. The final 2 dive and an early 7 am start. With one of the shops videographers in tow we made our third dive of the course on the popular Koh Tao dive site of White Rock. Descending down to 18 meters for the first time, we saw a cool blue spotted stingray and lots of angel fish. Dive four we decided to go to twins again and this time the conditions were much better, with good vis we did our first free decent, a few more skills and a great dive.
So after lots of great diving, waving to the camera and a very easy course to teach, I am very happy to give Anthony and Joanne the their PADI Open Water cards. Well done guys and I can’t wait to teach more great Open Water Courses in 2010.

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