The View from Below

This past July I finally took a much needed vacation to the Turks & Caicos Islands to go scuba diving. I had been looking forward to getting back into the water since it had been two years since my last dive vacation. I was anxious to use my new camera and underwater camera.

Everything started out great. I arrived on the island of Providenciales on schedule and after the short cab ride to Club Med I joined my friends who had already been there for a week, for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach…ahhh heaven!

The following morning I woke early firmly first day of diving. It felt great to jump in and once again visit with the undersea world. A couple of reef sharks showed up to welcome me back, as did a sea turtle. What more could I ask for? I noticed the abundance of Lionfish on the reef however. And, consequently, the scarcity of other reef fish.

I tried out various settings on my camera trying to figure out the best ones for shooting underwater. I guess it probably worked have better if I hadn’t just bought the camera the week before I left for my trip! Reading the manual once just didn’t prepare me for all the shooting options. After 3 days however, I was starting to get the hang of it

My fourth day of diving started out like any other dive day, except perhaps for the slight nauseous feeling that I still had since coming up the night before from the night dive. Once I got into the water however I felt fine. I usually dive with 3 other buddies. My usual buddy was off taking a specialty course so it was just three of us. At the beginning of the dive one of my buddies told me that this other guy “might” end up tagging along with us since his buddy, one of the instructors, might have to take care of a student who had trouble clearing. I should have known that this uncertain buddy situation was not a good idea. We all signaled ok and proceeded on the dive, which for me maxed at 114 ft.

We were swimming along the wall, and I was taking pictures when I noticed that two of my buddies were getting too far from me and the other guy, who I assumed was with us was way back and much deeper than me. I waited and motioned for him to come shallower. He didn’t so instead I swam towards my regular buddies to catch up.

Maybe it was the exertion of swimming to catch up and fussing with my new camera, but I seemed to be running low on air. I signaled to my buddy that I was low and that she should stay close in case I needed to breathe off her octopus. We starts to ascend to about 15-18 ft to do our safety stop while swimming towards where we thought the boat was. I tried breathing from her octopus but the hose was twisted and I couldn’t get comfortable so I decided to continue to breathe off my own tank. What I didn’t realize was that as my tank emptied, it got very light, and consequently so did I, and I ended up surfacing too fast. I remember seeing a red flashing ascent warning.

On the surface I felt fine and we proceeded to swim to the boat after signaling to the crew on board that we were ok. After a surface interval of about an hour I dove my second dive at a max depth of 58 ft for 50 minutes. Other than a bit of a current, this dive was uneventful.

About 3 hours after my last dive, I was relaxing on the beach when I noticed a pain in my right wrist when I tried to move it forward or backward. I immediately went to see Alain, the scuba doctor to see if I should be concerned. He put me on O2 for 30 minutes and gave me an aspirin. There was no change at that point so he decided that I should go to the clinic on the island where they had a chamber. The

Having left my stuff on the beach, I went back to get it and take a shower. By the time I started to walk back to get the taxi to the clinic, my wrist was feeling much better. I was on O2 during the 15 minute cab ride to the clinic and again at the clinic for another 30 minutes. Dr. Euan Menzies, the British doctor at the clinic suggested that I go into the chamber to be on the safe side, although he did suggest that it was possible that my wrist pain could be tendinitis. If after the first 10 minutes the pain went away completely, then I would stay for a US Navy TT5 which would be for 2 hours, 45 minutes. If not I’d need to stay longer. Thankfully that was all I needed.

To complicate matters, I had to share the chamber with another fellow diver who was not as lucky as I was. I only had what the doctor called “pain only” DCS, whereas my companion was affected neurologically, unable to move his arms.

The inside of the chamber was pretty tight with three of of inside (me, the other patient and a tender to look after us). In addition, due to the pressure at depth, it was also extremely hot. We had to wear oxygen masks to breathe, with “air” breaks every so often. Needless to say, this was not a comfortable experience. My yoga breathing came in handy to keep my anxiety level down.

We were brought down to 60ft and, just like we were in the water, I had to clear my ears as we went down to relieve the pressure. We stayed at 60ft for about an hour and a half (although it seemed much longer to me) and then were slowly brought up to 30ft. After a while I was told to go into the smaller outer chamber, where they would be able to slowly bring me back up to the surface, while the other chamber remained at depth. While the outer chamber was quite small and I was alone in there, sitting on the floor, it was much more comfortable than the other space. Because we were getting shallower, it was a lot cooler in there. After another half hour I was at the surface and finally released. Time spent in the chamber: 2 hours, 45 minutes. I don’t know how I could have handled any more time in there. I’m not sure if it is this way in all chambers, but I wasn’t allowed to bring in a book or ipod (no metal and nothing flamable) so it is basically just sitting or laying down, breathing oxygen through a mask and staring at the walls. Pretty boring.

Overall I will say it was a pretty surreal experience, one that I do not want to ever repeat. All I can say is after seeing the bill I am so glad to have DAN (Diver Alert Network) insurance! I still had to put a deposit on my credit card and had to put the bill though my insurance first but, once they deny it, DAN will pay. If you are a diver, DAN is something you cannot be without. Accidents can happen, even to experienced divers like myself. I was given immediate and professional care by everyone at the Menzies Medical Practice.

I spent the rest of my holiday on the surface, swimming, snorkeling, sunning and hitting a few tennis balls, but still wishing that I could join my friends under the sea. Oh well, next time…

The view from the beach of Grace Bay, Provodenciales

I’m finally going to take a well-needed vacation. In just 6 days I’ll be heading south for the beautiful Turks & Caicos Islands to go Scuba Diving. It’s been two years since I’ve been down there and I can’t wait to get wet again!

I just bought a new Canon G11 camera and underwater housing and I’m anxious to try it out. As with all new cameras there is a learning curve. The G11 has tons of settings, from all automatic to all manual. Hopefully by the time I jump in the water, I’ll have mastered, or at least learned enough about all the various features and options, to take some kick-ass photos! Stay tuned, my results will be posted.

Designer, Sheryl Checkman with artist David Dunleavy at his booth at Beneath the Sea

I would love to have been beneath the sea today but since that wasn’t possible I did the next best thing – I took a bus out to the Meadowlands Expo Center to “Beneath the Sea,” the annual Consumer Dive Show. I got to listen to some interesting seminar presentations, which succeeded in further wetting my appetite to get back into the water. I re-lived past dives during a presentation on the Turks & Caicos Islands by Michel Gilbert & Danielle Alary, discovered some new Photoshop tips from Larry & Denise Tackett and learned about photographing models underwater with photographer Jason Heller. Jason’s newsletter, Dive Photo Guide is a great resource for underwater photographers. In between seminars I got a chance to catch up with some friends from the two dive clubs that I belong to: OceanBlue Divers and NYUPS (New York Underwater Photographic Society).

And that was just the morning.

After the seminars I set off to walk the show, make some contacts and see who else I would run into. I stopped by my friend, David Dunleavy’s booth to see his latest work and catch up. David paints beautiful ocean life paintings and murals. I even bought one of his t-shirts. If you like the t-shirt that I have on in the photo above, it’s one of my “Life is Balance® Neutral Buoyancy Scuba designs.

I joined REEF to show my support for the ocean environment. The Reef Environmental Education Foundation is a grass-roots organization helps conserve marine ecosystems by educating, enlisting and enabling divers and other marine enthusiasts to become active ocean stewards and citizen scientists. I bought a beautiful DVD  called “Sensational Seas Two” which is a compilation of various top underwater photographers and videographers and is narrated by Stan Waterman and Annie Crawley. It’s a wonderful view into the undersea world and all proceeds benefit ocean charities. I can’t wait to show it to my friends who don’t dive and always ask me what it is that makes me so obsessed with the sport!

Pirate Diver design on a sweatshirt

Ladies Pirate Diver dark t-shirt

Captain Jack's Scuba Shack

The light version of Captain Jack's Scuba Shack design.

You might also like to check out the official site for Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Practicing yoga at Club Getaway wearing the Life is Balance Yoga Tee.

One great way to balance out your life is with exercise. Another is to get away from your daily grind, even if it’s just for a nice long weekend. This past Labor Day Weekend I managed to do both! I spent three glorious days in the Berkshire Mountains of Kent, CT at Club Getaway, a weekend sports resort for adults. It’s like going back to camp! During the course of three days I managed to take a yoga class (wearing my Life is Balance yoga t-shirt of course), play lots of tennis, swim across the lake and hike alongside a waterfall, kayak around the lake and even strap on a regulator and scuba tank and go face to face with an inquisitive fish! All the stress of my daily life disappeared the moment I stepped off the bus from NYC and into the fresh country air!

At Club Getaway you can practice your favorite sport or learn something new. There is something for everyone: tennis and mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing, kayaking, trapeze, yoga and fitness classes and much more. The food is terrific and there is never a lack of things to do. There are still a couple of weekends left before they close for the season. So go check it out!

If you like this t-shirt, check out the rest of the designs here.

Canon G-11I have been waiting to upgrade my current point and shoot camera for quite a while. I have a Canon SD700 Digital Elph camera which I have been very happy with -- up to a point. In addition to using it for snapshots I also put it into an underwater housing and take it diving with me. Here's where it falls short of my expectations. While I can get some pretty good photos and color using the custom white balance feature I find that when shooting either up from below or towards white sand or coral, I tend to get a pink fringe. I also get some pink noise. I'd love to shoot underwater and get pictures that would be photo magazine worthy! I'm not ready to spring for an SLT with alls the bells and whistles and expensive housings required to shoot like a pro but I do think there is a happy compromise. I have always loved Canon's cameras. Their optics as well as their design have always been superb.

I’ve been waiting for Canon to introduce the next version of their G Series and it seems that come September the G11 will be available. I read about this new camera on Dive Photo Guide. Here is a link to the article by Matt J. Weiss.

This camera sounds like just what I’ve been looking for, now all I need is the green stuff to buy it. I want it! I was hoping that I would have won the Mega Millions Lottery last night in which case I wouldn’t think twice about ordering it as well as the underwater housing for it as soon as it comes out. Now I guess I will start saving my dollars for a few months and hopefully can pick one up soon. Of course, if anyone wants to send me a gift (LOL) I wouldn’t turn it down!

If you’d like to see some of my underwater photography go to my Imagekind Online Gallery

In Chinese philosophy, yin & yang (heaven & earth) represent two  opposing yet complementary forces, or energies that are said to be found in nature. One cannot exist without the other. They create balance.

I designed Life is Balance™ to pay homage to the yin & yang by celebrating the balance we add to our lives through sports and activities that bring us pleasure.

Each yin yang symbol in this line has been altered to make it specific to a particular sport. Each sport has a color coded pallette.  Along with the “Life is Balance” tagline, each sport symbol contains a phrase, the meaning of which can be taken both as a reference to the sport itself, as well as in the broader realm of life.

You work hard. You play hard. But life should be a balance. Introducing Life is Balance,™ a new line of sports-themed apparel. Scuba Diving. Skiing. Sailing. Volleyball. Yoga. Golf. Swimming. Trapeze. Gymnastics. Biking. Windsurfing. Tennis. You get the idea. Whatever sport adds balance to your life, there’s a Life is Balance™ shirt for you.

If you are a retailer or are interested in  co-branding with this line, please contact Looking Good Licensing for pricing and more information paul@lookinggoodlicensing.com.

Another site for scuba divers is DiveBuddy.com. You can view my profile here:DiveArtist at DiveBuddy.com. Join the fun , add me as a friend and tell them I sent you!

These are both great ways to meet new friends and dive buddies.