Sunday morning was my orientation and check out dive here at Divi Dive Bonaire, which of course meant checking out my new camera, housing and strobe. Everything was going smoothly until I noticed some tiny bubbles. No Don Ho did not move to Bonaire from Hawaii. The tiny bubbles were coming from the battery compartment of the strobe. When bubbles are coming out that means water is going in. Water does not belong in the battery compartment of the strobe. The strobe did continue to fire throughout the dive so I hoped for the best.
When I got out of the water I confirmed the worst. The battery compartment had flooded. Bad, but not tragic. The batteries were quite degraded, but they can be easily replaced. Unfortunately the guts of the batteries had eaten away at the contacts and one is missing altogether. No amount of cleaning, drying and fresh batteries is going to make this thing flash again. It can be repaired and is under warranty, but there's a limit to what can be done on the island.
I attempted using the camera without the strobe. But the particular housing I bought - yes the more expensive one - blocks most of the light from the camera's internal flash. It's specifically designed to be used with an external strobe. The housing is also specifically designed to be used with a strobe from the same manufacturer and isn't universally compatible, something I never really thought of before.
So I had planned this trip several months ago. I opted to keep the old TV that requires a solid daily slap to head to keep displaying a picture. And I spent hours researching the camera equipment I wanted to purchase. Apparently I had done all that for one (1) dive.
Now on that first dive I had gone to about 50 feet. At that depth divers and all there equipment are exposed to around two and a half atmospheres of pressure, and salt water is quit corrosive - though an excellent conductor of electricty - so things don't have to go terribly wrong before a small problem becomes a big problem. I understand this, so I wasn't nearly as angry as I was disappointed. Yes, I did indeed pout.
On Monday I dove without a camera for the first time in about 100 dives. It was still enjoyable and relaxing, but different. My mind was free to go on autopilot instead of contemplating thought such as "how can I get perfectly still in this current in order to get this shot in focus". Relaxing or not it didn't cure the disappointment, and my pout didn't make it to a smile.
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