Koh Tao Oceans Below began 2012 by agreeing a new collaboration with the music label Aqualise. Headed by the talented Nicolas Bulostin, Aqualise is the very first record label in the world dedicated to protecting the oceans by creating awareness and donating to non-profit marine wildlife conservation and environmental organizations. Nicolas produces some amazing music and we create and edit underwater videos for it. Check out our latest product on http://www.aqualise.com/ or click here.

Over the low season we also worked with BSAC Thailand and Man TV Thailand on a new series about scuba diving called Black Water. The aim of the show is to promote diving to the local Thais.  We provided 80% of the underwater footage used in the show. Click here to view the first episode of Black Water by Man TV & BSAC Thailand.

Here at Koh Tao Oceans Below, our pro video team is committed to helping promote awareness and protection of the environment which inspires us, and we're proud to be partners with like-minded groups. We look forward to continue working with these and other conservation groups in the future...

On the 3rd of February I took a short leave from my Oceans Below duties on Koh Tao and packed my Sony EX1R camera, Gates Housing and my free diving fins to go on a wonderful trip to the Caribbean. My goal was to film the most amazing thing in the ocean- the Humpback Whale!

The trip took a bit longer than expected due to snow storms in Canada and North America. But after 3 days of airports, stress and stolen moments of sleep, I managed to get to Puerto Plata just in time!

Elisabeth alone with two humpbacks

David Trescot, my fellow Oceans Below videographer, was waiting for me at the airport and we sped to the Aggressor Turks and Caicos II. Eager to get into the water, we started putting our film equipment together during the overnight trip to the Silver Banks which lies 110 km north of the shore amidst the Sanctuary for the Marine Mammals of the Dominican Republic. Every year from January through to April up to 5000 whales gather to calve, court and mate in the waters of the irregularly shaped 16 x 32km area with an average depth of 30 meters. And we were hoping film at least one of them!

Humpbacks start the day with a few tail flaps

During the whale expedition, we sat many days for long hours on the lookout for a breaching whale, pec flap, a blow or any sign of whale activity. Once spotted we would approach very carefully and our guides would determine whether it was safe to get into the water with them. Whales involved in rowdy behaviour were left to work off their aggression! Resting or courting whales were the target of our cameras. The first couple of days were spent mostly in the water with resting whales who would come up every 15 to 18 minutes to breathe.

Curious Humpback whale

On the surface there was loads of activity going on, as well. The whales would begin to breach at around 9:00am to shake themselves awake. There was communication between them with pec and tail slapping.

Elisabeth with the always fashionable, Dave

And then one day when the wind dropped, we saw a cute couple quietly swimming next to each other. This was our chance! David jumped in and did a free dive down. While coming up, he stretched his arms and spun around to get the female's attention...and it worked! We got to see a 'Valentine'- a pairing! The female swam towards us, turned upside down, around and then swam all the way to the surface. We had her attention for more than 2 hours. Every now and again she popped her head out of the water just in front of us, as if she wanted to have a closer look. Every movement of our fins was immitated by her. As I tried to swim backwards while circling my fins, she slowly moved forwards with her pecs making the same motion! Meanwhile the male was still around and was desperately trying to get her attention and lure her away from us. When the sun started to set, we finally returned to the boat.

Close encounter

What an amazing experience! With big grins on our faces we went back to the Aggressor for a hot shower and cocktails to celebrate this succesful encounter!

In the coming months, David and I will be editing our whale footage and will be posting clips on our youtube page. Watch this space!

Oceans Below has just been commissioned by BSAC Thailand to do a photo shoot for their new advertising campaign. On Tuesday we got started using our own Elisabeth and BSAC Professional HD Underwater Video trainee 'Rudey' to model some typical predive and postdive shots. We were asked to provide a handful of photos depicting scuba dive students and BSAC Instructors learning and teaching.

Postdive shot from the BSAC shoot

Elisabeth has a bit of experience in modeling, but controlling Rudey was a bit more of a challenge! That said, the results were great and Kieron, head of BSAC Thailand was more than happy. We used the opportunity to take a few shots for our website, as well. If you have a look around the site you'll see some of them. The following day we headed out to sea on the Simple Life Divers boat to shoot some underwater stuff. We started strong, but after a short time, the clouds rolled in and we had to call off the shoot. Now all that remains is to get out a few more times with some typical Koh Tao sunny weather and we'll be able to finish the project.

Shiny new equipment!

We'll definitely find the time over the next few weeks though it will be hard as we have many new people coming for the Pro Video Internship. They may be surprised to find that they'll be starring in our latest version of Koh Tao's Next Top Model!

Predive...

I'm just back on Koh Tao after a nice break on the other side of Thailand. My girlfriend, Delphine, and I took a short holiday over to Ao Nang on Thailand's west coast. We decided to get a break before the start of the coming season which kicks off in December, and we also got a chance to visit our underwater videographer friends at Pirate Videos, Hilton and Anja.


Mantis Peacock Shrimp...

We took one of the Aquatica HD Wave underwater video housings with us to get some shots. It was nice to get a change of scenery and dive in a different area. Unfortunately, the visibility wasn't at its best on the one day we went out. But it was still great to see some of the interesting little critters which we don't get to see on Koh Tao. I managed to bag some lovely macro shots of some porcelain crabs, and a mantis shrimp was kind enough to make an appearance before my lens. There was plenty more to be seen on the dives we did. But these were my favourite shots of the day. I do love diving in different places, but it's always nice to get back to Koh Tao and the  Oceans Below office. Now it's time to update the computers and get them running their best, get the office ready, service the housings and prepare for the next batch of HD underwater video internship trainees that are arriving soon!

We got a call a few weeks ago about a job for The Travel Channel.

So we naturally thought it was going to be the usual stock footage sale and some commissioned shots for who knows what?

When the producer came into the office for a meeting, I found out that we would be shooting underwater video for a TV show involving the guys from Miami Ink on the Discovery Channel! http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/miami-ink/miami-ink.html

Image: Us and Miami Ink on the Simple Life boat

They are in the process of filming a new show about tattoos from around the world. So they are travelling from country to country filming local artists along their way. As they were coming to Koh Tao, they thought they should write diving into the episode, as it's what this island is all about. So that's where we came in.

We got them set up in Simple Life Divers with our friend Nicki to instruct them. It was a great day out on the boat.

Image: The Miami Ink guys head out diving

Image: Filming aboard the dive boat in Koh Tao

The guys were all really cool and easy to work with. We also had our mate Rex out with his speed boat to serve as chase boat.

Image: Rex's Chase boat with film crew

The whole thing was a great experience, and it was nice to be doing something a bit different.

Image: Funky Mantis Peacock Shrimp

Results from the prestigious 19th Belgian NELOS underwater photo- & film festival in Antwerp which in 2008 had a huge number of submissions from around the world have recently been announced.

My movie 'From Dawn 'til Dusk' was awarded 8th place! The short compilation movie highlights a day in the underwater world around Koh Tao from early morning until the shark’s come out to play around sunset!

The original music was provided by a fantastic composer named Kevin McLeod. The movie can be seen on our facebook group Oceans Below and is also featured on all the Sea Tran ferries coming to Koh Tao from the neighboring islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and the mainland.

Some time ago we were asked to film some specific underwater video shots for the guys at Studio pro design, in conjunction with a project they were working on for the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand).

They also bought some of our stock footage for the film. It's been a long time since we heard anything from them and had almost forgotten all about it.

Then we got a call today to let us know that they have put the finished piece on You Tube. It will be officially released at a later date to be used for promoting tourism in Thailand. But for now, anyone wanting to check out the You Tube version the link is here. http://www.youtube.com/user/Studioprodesign

If you look closely, near the end of the piece, the snorkeller swimming up to the anemone is our very own Elisabeth. Ha ha. Fame at last.