Riann, from South Africa joined us a little over six weeks ago to start the BSAC Professional Underwater Videography course on Koh Tao. He embraced & enjoyed it tremendously, and seeing the panic in his eyes as he neared the end of the two week course, we all knew he was hooked! Since then he completed the Student Filming Internship AND the Underwater Documentary Internship and is now looking for yet more nuggets of knowledge from the teaching team here at Oceans Below!

For his marine documentary, Riann chose to focus on the differences in behavior of species on the reef during day & night. We rarely get out on night dives with students so it was a great opportunity to charge the lights and board the boat at sunset for a change of pace!

A hermit crab getting active at night

The reef is such a wondrous and vibrant place during the day but filming it at night adds a different dimension altogether. Species such as the Porcupine Pufferfish & Blue-Spotted Stingray which are notorious for hiding in cracks & crevices during the day behave totally different during the night shift. As we entered the water armed with our Aquatica HD Wave housings & Nightrider Lights attached, we instantly found numerous rays out on the sand, feeding and swimming around & Pufferfish unprotected & unperturbed by our approach. We also noticed that the sea urchins, instead of being wedged securely in between rocks and coral as we find them during the day, they were out, moving along the sand in an almost uniform marching procession.

A curious Blue-Spotted Stingray

Sea Urchins on the move

We had a very successful & enjoyable dive and Riann managed to get some amazing shots for his documentary. Check out the Oceans Below You Tube page, “Exploring the Reef at Night”. I think it is safe to say that Riann has been hit right between the eyes & has fallen wholeheartedly in love with underwater videography!! Well done & good luck!!!

In other news, to celebrate a very busy beginning to the high season and great success with students and the films they have produced, the Oceans Below team went to Sunset View for drinks & dinner!!!


After work, chilling...