Watershot

Introduction:

No matter what level of scuba diving experience you have - the thrill never ends. This is largely due to the combination of forever varying dive experiences and the social activities associated with diving. Whether its a conversation during your first dive course, after each dive, at an information evening or between buddies you often hear of a dive experience that you would like to have. During such conversations it is common for divers, like myself, to show photos of each experience on their smart phones. This is because photographs are a fantastic way to capture memories and best illustrate your experience to a fellow diver.

So, the question that faces many is 'which underwater camera is right for me?'. As a diver who enjoys showing others his diving photos, I understand the complexity of this question. Watershot have created one of the more recent underwater camera options and it is one worth considering. Watershot have created an underwater housing to suit any iPhone 4, 4s and 5. Depending on the model you purchase Watershot's housing allows you to take your iPhone up to 60 meters deep and use it as a photo and video camera. But, in combination with this housing, how good is an iPhone as an underwater camera? I was determined to find out. 

The Watershot Range:

Watershot design and manufacture underwater housings for iPhones. Their range include iPhone 4, 4s and 5 housings, specialist lenses, filters, mounts and grips. Below are some housings from their extensive range. 

To view more of their range please visit: Online Shop

Below is an outline of our trial and what we thought of the product.

The Watershot Experience:

To use the Watershot housing, you need to download a custom-made iPhone application called 'Watershot'. This application customizes the phone's screen-layout so that it is compatible with the location of the housing's external buttons. This includes locating the Watershot application's icon on the far right of your iPhone's bottom tray. It is important to also disable the auto-locking function - to prevent the phone from locking its display underwater.

For this trial, I decided to test the cornerstone of Watershot's range the iPhone5 Pro. The product comes complete with the housing, super-wide angle lens, aspherical lens, moisture absorbents, wrist strap and instructions. I also decided to put the red and magenta filters to the test.

According to the instructions - I tested the product by placing tissue paper in the housing and submerging it for a number of minutes. Once I removed the product from the water and opened the housing the tissue paper was still dry, indicating that there are no leaks. I then inserted my iPhone5 to take some practice shots. The iPhone responded well to every button press indicating to me that the housing and iPhone work well together.

I decided to conduct the trial at one of my favorite local dive spots, 9 Mile. As we approached the dive site I prepped my iPhone by disabling the auto-lock and arranging the app icons. I placed the iPhone into the Watershot housing and clicked the housing's latch shut. I configured the iPhone's housing with a wide-angle lens and no filter. We all entered the water. 

I took a series of photos and videos switching between modes and trying to take photographs both from a distance and up-close. Below are some of the photos and videos taken on the day. 

As you can tell from these photos the quality is good. I make use of a number of underwater cameras for different applications. This is largely due to the specialization in each. I can demonstrate this by using my Sealife DC1400 camera as an example. The DC1400 camera takes great underwater macro photographs. The detail and quality is really good for a compact camera in an underwater housing - especially in its price bracket. However, the moment you use the DC1400 for video or long distance photographs the quality and performance drops right off. The DC1400 will focus on the first thing it can and continue to focus at this distance - this includes floating sediment in the water between you and the key subject. This is unknown to you as the camera man until you view the photographs or video on a computer screen. As you can see from these photos - the iPhone's camera does a good job at adjusting its focus to suit the main subject in the field of view. This is a fantastic feature for those with little experience in taking underwater photos. 

I was surprised at the ability of the iPhone as an underwater camera. Switching between playback, video and photo modes was quick and simple. The housing and application worked well together with no errors. However, the product trial was cut short. By the time I had reached the first dive site for the day I had already used 20% of my iPhone's battery power. Despite activating airplane mode it was only 40 minutes into the dive that my iPhone displayed a prompt, indicating that there was only 20% battery life left. Once this prompt was displayed I was unable to press the dismiss button. By the time we finished our dive and were ready for the next one my iPhone had used up its complete battery. 

Dive Flag App's Overall Review:

The product was easy to set up and use. The product is self explanatory and has simple settings. The underwater housing is exceptionally easy to maintain. I have outline a number of advantages and disadvantages to using the housing and iPhone as an underwater camera below.

Advantages of using the Watershot product:

• The housing is affordable.
• The housing is very robust and unlikely to break easily.
• Lens attachments allows for increased flexibility and room to upgrade as you want to experience the various attachments.
• Whilst the housings are rated to up-to 40 / 60 meters they are actually testing to between 5 or 10 meters further making them reliable. 
• Watershot housings have a perfect track record with no failures. 
• Watershot housing appear to receive outstanding ratings from users worldwide. 

Advantages to using the iPhone as an underwater camera:

• Excellent auto focus
• Reasonable auto colour correction at shallow depths
• The fantastic ingenuity of the housing allows you to make use of the reverse camera for underwater selfies.
• The camera looks passed most of the floating plankton and sediment to focus on the more interesting subjects
• Taking the photos on your smart phone allows you to quickly upload your photos directly to Dive Flag App

Disadvantages to using the iPhone as an underwater camera:

• The iPhone's camera is only 8MP
• If you lose the unit underwater you will lose more than just your underwater camera
• iPhones quite often have battery problems. If yours does, we recommend having the battery replaced to ensure you can enjoy your new underwater camera and housing for longer. 
• A single button is used to switch between video and photo modes. You have to remember which mode it is in or you will continually need to check.
• You cannot dismiss a 'low battery' prompt whilst the iPhone is within the housing.
• You have to configure the iPhone properly before entering the water otherwise you may not be able to use the unit during your dive. 

Over score: 8.5/10

The Watershot and iPhone work very well together. The unit was very easy to set-up and intuitive to use. The unit allows you to easily capture fun and happy moments with the ability to quickly share them with your family and friends. We are ecstatic to be welcomed as distributors of the units and welcome you to view the product on our online shop.

If you would like more information regarding this experience or the product, please feel free to contact myself (info@diveflagapp.com). I would be more than willing to answer your questions. 

Frank Vorster

Owner

Dive Flag App

info@diveflagapp.com 

+61 420 222 139

Sharkskin

Introduction:

A dive mentor of mine once said: 

"...if you dive the same conditions over and over, 
then you are likely to have only re-occurring dive experiences."

That is, if you only dive in shallow, crystal-clear and warm tropical waters, then you are limiting yourself from diving with marine life that do not favor these conditions and you cut out a large percentage of possible dive locations. This is why I, as the owner of Dive Flag App and an adventure diver, make an effort to dive both day and night, travel the world and permanently seek new dive activities and experiences. This is also why I started planning my first cold-water dive trip to Melbourne, Australia.

Good diving practice is to speak with locally based divers to find out what the dive conditions are like. Melbourne based divers were quick to notify me that water temperatures can be expected to drop as low as 14 degrees Celsius. Furthermore, they recommended diving in a dry-suit. However, I found it difficult to justify the price of a dry-suit for the occasional cold-water dive. After speaking with more divers a friend introduced me to Sharkskin.

Sharkskin is an Australian based manufacturer of a technical water sports apparel that includes 100% Chillproof garments which provide warmth and wind protection. They also manufacture performance garments which include compression technology to aid in muscle recovery and rapid dry garments which are perfect for summer or layering on top of other Sharkskin garments for extra warmth and sun protection.

Sharkskin claim to be ideally suited to active water sports, such as; scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, stand up paddle boarding, yachting, surfing, jet skiing, water skiing and river rafting.

As most divers would be aware, being cold underwater is far from preferable and in some cases can be very dangerous. So, I put Sharkskin to the test and the results surprised me!

The Sharkskin Range:

The Sharkskin range is comprehensive and allows for cross matching garments depending on the activity you engage in. Their four product ranges include:

www.sharkskin.com.au

Sharkskin's product range claim the following key performance features:

SPLASHPROOF: Durable water repellent outer layer to provide a protective shell that ‘sheds’ water.
CHILLPROOF: High quality next-to-skin fleece to wick moisture and keep you warm and dry
SUNPROOF: Sharkskin garments range between SPF30+ / 50+ for protection from UV rays.
WINDPROOF: ‘Technical’ membrane layer which is 100% windproof to stop windchill.
PRO: Compression material for maximum maneuverability, endurance and recovery.

The above information got me excited to test their products. I decided to start by testing their cornerstone range, Chillproof, which includes a thermal insulation layer which can be used as a stinger-suit or an added layer of insulation under your existing wet-suit. This range has a purposeful 3-layer composite material designed to keep you warm during cold-water dives. I have outlined my first Sharkskin experience below.

My Sharkskin Experience:

I had the opportunity to trial the product on one of my recent excursions. The water temperature was 21 degrees Celsius. Diving for 45 minutes at this temperature can feel quite cold because you lose your body heat up to 25 times faster underwater than you would above water. I did not wear any Sharkskin product on my first dive. This allowed me to confirm that my regular wet-suit was not enough to keep me warm under these conditions. After an uncomfortably cold dive, I put on the long sleeve Chillproof top (pictured below). I found the product very easy to slip on. The thumb loops allowed me to keep the Sharkskin product in place when sliding my wet-suit on over the top. Once on, I removed my thumbs from these loops. 

After re-entering the water it took about 5 minutes for the water to fully penetrate the Sharkskin layers - after which, my body heat had accumulated and increased once again to a comfortable level. This allowed me to be more comfortable and relaxed on the dive. Furthermore, as I was taking photographs on the dive, it allowed me to steady my hands and take photographs with greater accuracy. I also found myself concentrating on the fun aspects of diving rather than being reminded of how cold I am. 

Once we emerged from the water other divers were shivering and talking about how cold they were, rather than the typical topics of discussion, including; what we saw and how awesome the dive was. Once I removed my scuba equipment and placed it aside I could actually feel warm water trickle from around the ends of my sleeves and down my fingers. On the day this feeling was especially obvious. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself over the fact that I have suffered unnecessarily on cold dives so much in the past.

After I removed my wet-suit I was interested in testing the Sharkskin product as a wind breaker. On our return trip the vessel was travelling at 20 knots. With the rapid drying of Sharkskin products I was dry in no time. Furthermore, with its three layer system no winds penetrated the garment.

Dive Flag App's Overall Review:

Sharkskin is an absolute must for every diver. The flexibility of their garments (combinations in which they can be worn) and the activities for which they are suitable - make them fantastic value for money. 

Advantages I observed of Sharkskin from my trial: 

1) It allows you to convert your standard wet-suit into one more suitable for cold waters. 
2) The product appears to be made of high quality materials and long lasting stitching. 

3) The material is flexible and comfortable enough to be used as a 'stinger-suit'.
4) Sharkskin garments dry much faster than conventional wet-suits.
5) The product is light and flexible making it easy to travel with.
6) It provides a smooth layer, making it easier for slipping on your wet-suit.

I found all the following, before mentioned product performance features, accurate:

SPLASHPROOF: The product is quick drying and lets very little water in.
CHILLPROOF: The garment kept me warm and dry with only small amounts of water trickling out at the end of the dive.
SUNPROOF: The garment is suitable for wear above the water keeping me out of direct sunlight and the sometimes harsh Australian sun-rays.
WINDPROOF: The garment prevented the cool winds from penetrating to the skin.
PRO: The garment was very flexible and did not limit any movement.

This is no wonder why so many ambassadors have put their name forward in support of the product:

Read more Sharkskin product reviews

There are so many applications for Sharkskin apparel that the possibilities are endless. Whether you're male or female, after long or short wear garments, or just plain wanting to look good - then this is the product for you. I found it comfortable to wear and that it met its marketing promises.

Over score: 10/10

If you would like more information regarding this experience or the product, please feel free to contact me ( info@diveflagapp.com ). I would be more than happy to answer your questions. 

For more product and stockist information please visit the Sharkskin website. 

Frank Vorster

Dive Flag App

Owner

info@diveflagapp.com 

+61 420 222 139

Snorkel Safari Brisbane (Flinders Reef)

Location: Flinders Reef, Moreton Island, Australia. 

Australia is known for having some of the most incredible reefs in the world. Brisbane's one true coral reef, Flinders Reef, is Brisbane's little gem and one of the most impressive reefs along the eastern coast of Australia. It is located just off Moreton Island and is part of the fully protected marine sanctuary known as Moreton Bay Marine Park.

This expansive reef comprises of 112 coral species, including; staghorn, brain, plate, sponges and sea whips and boasts more coral diversity than any individual island in the Great Barrier Reef. This diving hot spot is home to 175 species of marine fish, turtles, wobbegongs, nudibranchs, clams, guitar sharks, white tip reef sharks, octopus, blue spotted eagle rays and the occasional manta ray. The crew advised us that this reef owes its high level of biodiversity to the warm and cold currents that meet here, enabling a high number of species to thrive within these limits.

Water temperatures vary throughout the year ranging between 18 to 27 degrees Celsius. We recommend asking for an estimated water temperature at the time of booking to ensure you are adequately geared. If you often get cold during your dive we highly recommend the use of Sharkskin products available through the Snorkel Safari group. A review on this product is coming soon. 

Snorkel Safari Brisbane 

Snorkel Safari is an Australian based franchise group with 13 stores. These stores are among the most professional dive operators in the country and also offer snorkeling, free diving, spearfishing and in some cases whale watching. Snorkel Safari stores collaborate, with a shared aim of providing a consistently high product and service to their customers.

Snorkel Safari Brisbane changed its company name and product offering just over two years ago. This change brought on a switch from offering PADI to SSI certifications. Snorkel Safari have a collaboration with many key dive product suppliers, setting them apart in many respects from other dive operators.

Snorkel Safari Brisbane is prominently located just off the motor way in Milton, Brisbane City. Their open water courses are operated at Cook Island on the Gold Coast and their advanced courses are offered on the Big Cat which is a weekend live-aboard.

Snorkel Safari Brisbane are also proud to offer free diving lessons taught by Australia's female champion, 23 year old Amber Bourke. Amber is an SSI level 2 free diving instructor who has broken two national records by swimming 155 meters without fins and 181 meters with fins on a single breath. If you want to be instructed by the best possible free diving instructors, then contact Snorkel Safari Brisbane.

Our dive experience with Snorkel Safari Brisbane is outlined below.

The Vessel

The Nemo is Snorkel Safari Brisbane's dive vessel. With a maximum speed of 20 knots it takes only 1.5 hours to get from the mainland to Flinders Reef. The vessel has space for 17 passengers but is capped at 14 to ensure there is ample space on board and smaller dive groups. The vessel has two step down/up ladders at the back making entry and exit from the water simple and safe. With ample space on board for dive tanks the company may soon be offering three dives per trip, which means you can see more of the reef and make most of the opportunity. 

Meals

Snorkel Safari Brisbane ensure that there are plenty of sandwiches, snacks and drinks. This is part of their aim to ensure passengers are as comfortable as possible. They are able to cater for any dietary requirements so be sure to notify the staff when you make your booking.

Dive Breakdowns 

Snorkel Safari Brisbane's staff are both friendly and welcoming. I found they were just as eager to learn about your skills, abilities and experiences as you are to learn of theirs. Once we geared up and loaded our equipment onto the vessel, we were on our way. It was not long before we were accompanied by the first group of breaching humpback whales, on our journey out to the reef.

On the day we completed two dives, the first was at Mary's Lair and the second at Mooring A. It is not compulsory to dive with a dive guide but for obvious reasons it is always recommended to do so when diving new site. 

Both dive sites are very enjoyable with ample light penetration and clear water with approximately 20 meters visibility. Coral at this reef extends for as far as one can see in every direction. With very little variation in depth, it is easy to control your buoyancy allowing you to glide slightly above the coral. These conditions provide for an enjoyable and relaxing dive.

Dive #1 - Mary's Lair

Dive Details:

Maximum Depth: 13.0 (m) / 43 (ft)

Water Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius
Downtime: 45 minutes

Mary's Lair was a lot of fun to dive. A side from the excellent visibility on the day we experienced a mild current. The 13 meter maximum depth at this dive site allowed for a significant level of light penetration which helped to emphasize the vibrant colors of the coral and marine life. This immediately makes you feel happy and  relaxed during the dive.

Once we traveled a short distance along one side of the reef we came to an opening of an easy and pleasant swim-through. Should you be nervous about trying wreck or cave diving this swim-through would provide for a good introduction as plenty of light comes through from the top keeping the space both bright and appear open.

Once we emerged from the swim-through on the other side we were over a massive bed of coral where we encountered our first turtle. Beautiful corals and clams covered the sea bed. 

A particularly enjoyable experience at Flinders Reef are the many bat fish which follow you closely. They are especially friendly during your safety stop coming within a meter from the group. 

Dive #2 - Mouring A (Turtle Cleaning Station)

Dive Details:

Maximum Depth: 10.2 (m) / 43 (ft)

Water Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius

Downtime: 44 minutes

After our first dive the Nemo was relocated to the sheltered side of Flinders Reef. On this side the most popular dive site is Mooring A. Very close to Mooring A is a turtle cleaning station where it is common to see green sea and hawkesbill turtles being cleaned. As we arrived we could not only see the bottom, at a depth of 10 meters, but we could also make out the color of each fish at this depth.

The fantastic thing about diving at a cleaning station is that the marine life tend to hover and prolong their stay allowing you to observe them better. The turtles appeared to be relaxed in our presence, coming close and circling around.

 

After spending about fifteen minutes watching the turtles at the cleaning station we continued to explore more of the vibrant reef. We encountered many types of nudibranchs including a spanish dancer, and endless coral formations inhabited by many types of reef fish. 

As we surfaced from our second dive we were lucky enough to have a pod of four whales breaching approximately 75 meters from the boat. A fantastic way to cap off the perfectly sunny and calm conditions.

Overall Rating:

Snorkel Safari Brisbane is a very professional dive operation with its key focus on the social aspect of diving. This is in-line with Dive Flag App's philosophy that people of all types, ages and nationalities are brought together with a shared interest of diving to form strong and significant life-long friendships.

The staff at Snorkel Safari are quick to make you feel welcome and a part of their community. This is further emphasized by the dive ball they hold annually. Their balls are aimed to bring divers from all over Queensland together under one roof to share stories, tips and ideas. I was lucky enough to attend their 80s themed dive ball this year and had a fantastic time. I look forward to working closely with Snorkel Safari Brisbane to ensure the attendance from this point on continues to grow each year.

Strategically based in Brisbane City, Snorkel Safari offer dive excursions from HMAS Brisbane in Maroochydore down to Cook Island on the Gold Coast as well as dive trips internationally. This ensures that their customers experience a diverse range of dive conditions and prevents them from becoming complacent.

The owners and dive guides at Snorkel Safari Brisbane are passionate about Flinders Reef and this comes across in the energy they exude when talking about it. They're quick to emphasize how unique the reef is and how its Brisbane's best kept secret. What is best about this, is everything they said on the day was exactly what we experienced, lending further belief to the credibility of this dive operation.

The owners of Snorkel Safari Brisbane also run another business called Respond Right Training Group. This business teaches professionals workplace approved CPR and first aid. The company takes safety seriously are do not take any unnecessary risks.

Dive Flag App proudly support Snorkel Safari Brisbane and look forward to diving with them again some time soon. If you're interested in diving the reef, popping in to say g'day or part-take in one of their many courses then contact them today! Otherwise for more information check their website out now.

Dive Flag App Rating 10 / 10

Thanks guys!

Frank Vorster

Dive Flag App
Owner
info@diveflagapp.com