Right now we are in the middle of an oppressive heat wave, so nearly any body of water will do. Under more discriminating circumstances I often choose the beautiful waters of the Bahamas. From Indiana they are only a hop-skip to Florida and a small puddle jumper from there.

This year I wanted to finally cross Cat Ppalu Cruises off my must-do list. The 65' catamaran seemed like the perfect mixture of comfort and adventure... a boat that feels like it could be your own. I left seeking the simple life—the good life—which is easy to find on a live-aboard dive boat.

Following the "simple" theme, I narrowed my imaging focus to the Canon 5D Mark II and 17-40mm lens. Video is a preoccupation of mine, especially with all of the great footage coming out of this camera.

I quickly learned to start with one of the basics of photography: achieve focus. After shooting autofocus and fixed-focus camcorders for so long, this proved to be a challenge. The <AF-ON> button is essential—learn to use it. On the housing it is placed conveniently within thumb reach right next to the record start-stop control.

The strobes came off and were replaced with a single PRO-2800 LED Lite attached to the top mount of the housing. The system is balanced and comfortable to shoot underwater. I even find it easy to handle one-armed when snapping a photo of my hand for custom white balance (WB). For shallow wide-angle reef scenes, the Magic Filter (not available through Ikelite) attached simply to the rear of the lens and provided lovely, natural colors with custom WB and available light.

An unexpected photographic highlight of the trip was the cay of the swimming pigs—wild hogs temporarily turned "domestic" by the sound of dinghy engines and their promise of fresh fruits. The Modular 8" Dome was essential to controlling the water line in over-under (half-in/half-out) photos. The day was partially cloudy and the sun's reflections off the shallow, white sand helped to create good exposures even without strobes. It was good for some unique water-based images and a laugh as I found myself wiping noseprints off the front of the dome.

So what now? When I return home I always try to do the quick edit of my video and photos as soon as possible. This is an accumulation of my favorite clips and inevitably turns into the final edit when I become distracted by the next project. Try to tell a story, keep your audience in mind and watch the length. Clips are great at 3-7 seconds, with an overall length of 3-5 minutes. Unless you have a one-of-a-kind event, much longer will lose people.

Hopefully you'll avoid my classic underwater video mistake by actually taking the camera out and shooting some great topside video to add in. Get some action clips of the operation, the gearing up, the antics and the people. Intermixing still photos will work in a pinch (play with Ken Burns effect in iMovie), but video makes the difference.

If you're like me and forgot the snapshots, too, then I recommend going back. I guess I can't cross the Cat Ppalu off my list yet!

Equipment featured:

Canon 5D Mark II

Modular 8" Dome

PRO-2800 LED Video Lite

Magic Filter for digital SLRs

Thanks to our crew of Cat Ppalu Cruises: Des, Helen, Chris and Cory. They're first class and felt like a (much harder-working) extension of our group.

Check out Cat Ppalu Cruises.