DiveFilm Podcast Video

Humpback Whales give hope for our ocean's future in this award-winning short film by Simon Spear. Award winner in the Our World Underwater Conservation Video Competition hosted by Wetpixel.com and Divephotoguide.com. More info on filmmaker Simon Spear at Viewfromtheblue.me.uk. For a high definition version of this podcast, please go to DiveFilm HD Video podcast at iTunes!

From birth on the Antarctic ice to life underwater, a rare look at the southernmost mammal on Earth. Video Production by Mary Lynn Price. Learn more at http://WeddellSealScience.org . For a high definition version of this podcast, please go to DiveFilm HD Video podcast at iTunes!

Graceful divers, magnificent animals, unforgettable pups! Working in Antarctica with a research team continuing one of the longest running population studies ever of a long-lived mammal, on the most remote continent on earth. Video production by Mary Lynn Price. More information at WeddellSealScience.org . For a high definition version of this podcast, please go to DiveFilm HD Video podcast at iTunes!

Howard Hall. Cocos Island Submersible. Gorgeous. Howard and Michele Hall explore Cocos Island by deep sea submersible for an unforgettable experience of this famed Pacific island off Costa Rica. More info on Howard Hall Productions at HowardHall.com

Ocean catfish yearning to be free. Mike Elliott's playful look at a sunken car full of daydreaming critters. More info on Mike at MuckDiver.com

Scooters. Wreck diving. 5D Mark II. The Backscatter folks take us scooter imaging with the Canon 5D Mark II in beautiful blue Caribbean water, and talk about how they got the shots. More info at Backscatter.com. Music by Luce. More info at LuceBand.com.

Danish seas. Spectacular marine life. Bent J¿rgensen of Chilbal Film presents a glimpse of a new three part Danish television education series on the underwater world beneath the waters of Denmark. More info on Chilbal Film at chilbal.dk

Cave diving. Big Sharks. Australia. Jon Shaw's fastpaced visual tour of Fish Rock Cave, New South Wales, Australia. More info on Jon at ginclearfilm.com

Tony Wu's rare glimpse with Capt. Craig DeWit of extreme remote PNG diving. More info at tonywublog.com

Simon Spear on our deep connection to the ocean world. More info at viewfromtheblue.me.uk

Eric Cheng's stunning whale imaging from Dominica. More info at echeng.com

Howard Hall, RED One, Maldives. Gorgeous. More info at HowardHall.com

Leandro Blanco's playful homage to Nat Geo's 1952 Book of Fishes, narrated by David Doubilet.

Rare sights from the sea to benefit ocean conservation! More info at SensationalSeas.com.

Renowned imager Tony Wu brings us Lembeh Strait, Indonesia at its beautiful best. More on Tony, his wonderful work and travel at tony-wu.com and tonywublog.com.

Stunning underwater imaging of our ocean world by photographer Joe Dovala. More on Joe at jcdovala.com.

Underwater HD filmed entirely on a compact camera diving in the Philippines by Huw Jenkins. More info on filmmaker Huw Jenkins at huwjenkins.com.

From Giant Pacific Octopus to brilliant blue glacial ice, the Inside Passage is a stunning visual water adventure. More info on filmmaker Mike Boom at LaughingEel.com.

Top honors garnered by this Belgian entry at 2010 OWU show.

Fantastic trailer for new Sensational Seas Two DVD!

Antics of Ocean Ladybugs. Tiny. Incredible.

Bat rays, diving birds and ethereal light in this favorite by Mike Boom.

A wild world of crustaceans!

Winning Wetpixel entry for the new Sensational Seas 2 DVD!

Jill and Kelly, great divers with an unusual story.

Little fish with a surly attitude, Sarcastic Fringehead duke it out in this award winning short film by Walter Marti.

Freediving training in Kona, Hawaii with the fantastic folks of Performance Freediving International--blue water, spinner dolphins and great instruction!

Alaska's Inside Passage is the diving locale for Eric Hanauer's great short film, from an Alaska dive expedition on board the Nautilus Explorer. Camera by Eric Hanauer and Karen Straus, editing by Eric Hanauer. This was an audience favorite at this year's San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. More about Eric and his beautiful work at his website, ehanauer.com. More on Karen's fantastic birding images on her website, birdbrained.biz.

Champ Williams won two Emmys with this fantastic short film about a keyhole limpet's "secret weapon."

We recently had the opportunity to do some fantastic diving with Dive Damai from Komodo to Bali, Indonesia. This is a fun short video of some of the interesting underwater life we encountered on that expedition. Footage by Mary Lynn Price, Mike Elliott and Steve Perez. More information on Dive Damai at Dive-Damai.com.

In this fantastic short video, underwater filmmaker Richard Brooks presents a glimpse of Palau's vibrant and beautiful underwater world. Micronesia has some of the world's most beautiful reefs and offers fantastic diving. Richard, underwater imager with Fish n' Fins in Palau, has the enviable opportunity to dive these waters and experience the marine life there on a regular basis. You can see more of his work in the Photoshop section of the Fish n' Fins website: http://fishnfins.com

Dr. Stacy Kim is a Benthic Ecologist and diver who studies sea floor creatures in Antarctica waters that are below freezing. Her research team has developed a cool new ROV named SCINI (Submersible Capable of Under Ice Navigation and Imaging) for deployment beneath the ice to study depths below where divers can go. In this video, Stacy tells about diving the extreme cold water beneath Antarctic ice, and how SCINI makes possible even greater capabilities to explore and record the sea floor life in polar regions. Video includes wonderful underwater footage by Henry Kaiser of Stacy with SCINI diving beneath the Ross Sea ice near the Antarctic Base, McMurdo Station.

"Choice for Change" features manatees and their vocalizations. It garnered filmmaker Mark Santa-Maria showings and awards at the prestigious International Wildlife Film Festival, Our World Underwater Film Festival, Beneath the Sea Film Festival, Grays Reef Ocean Film Festival, the San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, and several others. His work has also appeared on several broadcast and cable channels. This film received the First Place Award in the Conservation Video category of the 2008 Our World Underwater/Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide competition, and has led to heightened attention being brought to manatee dive operator procedures and safety guidelines, and an outpouring of support for increased protection of these amazing animals. For more information on award-winning filmmaker Mark Santa-Maria, please visit the Filmmakers Page at DiveFilm.com.

The coastal waters and diverse marine life of Western Australia are the subject of this award-winning conservation film from the 2008 OurWorldUnderwater/Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide Competition by underwater filmmakers Paul and Kelly Wags. Paul and Kelly Wags, based on the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, are producing some of the best underwater video available today. Wags is also a video forum moderator at Wetpixel.com. For more information about Wags & Kelly, and to see more of their work, please visit their website, www.hdvunderwater.com .

In this wonderful video, Guille Cervera takes us to dive the Illes Medes National Reserve in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea off the Costa Brava of Spain. The Illes Medes archipelago is located just off shore from the seaside resort town of L'Estartit, Spain, and is a world-renowned diving location with protected National Park status.

Resort videos are an art form in their own right, and many underwater filmmakers get their start creating short dive resort promos. In this episode, Jon Shaw has crafted a fine example of this video format in his depiction of what it is like to dive the waters of Papua New Guinea, and experience the surroundings of the Tufi Resort located there (http://www.tufi-experience.com). About this video Jon says, "the location is idyllic, you can only fly in to TUFI, [and] the resort sits on top of a 1000 ft deep Fjord with access to pristine untouched diving. From the ‘muck’ of the fjord with fantastic macro life, to the coral bommies with hammers, grey reefs, silver tips, white tips and fantastically diverse coral life." The resort itself is gorgeous, staff fantastic, amazing food and to top it off you have the history, the culture and the surrounding villages to experience and visit. All in all an absolutely breathtaking experience." For more information on Jon Shaw and his work, please visit his website at: http://ginclearfilm.com

Invented by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Jean Mollard, the Soucoupe plongeante or "Diving Saucer" was a small two-person submarine that could dive to depths of over 1000 fsw. Back in the early 1960s, Professor Emeritus Dr. Doug Inman of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and other deep diving scientists from Scripps explored the deep underwater canyons off the California coast in the famed Cousteau Diving Saucer. These explorations led to a better understanding of how these deep canyons are formed over time by powerful "turbidity currents." Combining vintage underwater film footage from the 1916 silent film "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" with Scripps Archives images of the Cousteau Diving Saucer and underwater images from deep water canyon dives, Dr. Douglas Inman tells some of the stories of these historic scientific voyages into the deep water canyons.

An audience favorite at the recent 8th Annual San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition, "Green Water, White Mirth" is a delightful look at the mischievous antics of juvenile Harbor Seals on one of Mike Boom's dives in the colder waters of the Monterey Bay along the Northern California Pacific Coast. "I shot this video on a single dive in April of 2006 in Monterey Bay with friends from my dive club. We were in sight of the Monterey Bay Aquarium when we dropped in. We had 3 or 4 juvenile harbor seals who checked us out for the first half of the dive, then decided to come in and have their way with us during the second half. It was hard to shoot much video because 1) the seals kept me too busy (one tucked his head under my arm asking to be scratched) and 2) I was laughing too hard." Mike is an underwater filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. His short films have delighted audiences at numerous underwater film festivals and gatherings around the United States. To learn more about Mike and his high definition underwater video work, please visit his website, www.LaughingEel.com.

In this newly revised version, legend Stan Waterman narrates, as only he can, this beautiful and moving new film by Leandro Blanco. This powerful and provocative masterpiece is quite possibly Leandro's best work to date. It speaks clearly from the heart about the one ocean on which we all depend, and yet so far have failed miserably to care for. To learn more about Spanish filmmaker Leandro Blanco, please visit Leandro's entry on the Filmmaker's Page at DiveFilm.com.

DiveFilm proudly presents filmmaker Leandro Blanco's latest masterpiece, "Uno Para Todos," or "One For All." This beautiful, powerful and provocative film is quite possibly Leandro's best work to date. It speaks clearly from the heart about the one ocean on which we all depend, and yet so far have failed miserably to care for. To learn more about Spanish filmmaker Leandro Blanco, please visit the Filmmaker's Page at DiveFilm.com.

In this poetically beautiful short film by Irish nature filmmaker and illustrator, Vincent Hyland, the plight of the Atlantic Salmon in Ireland is dramatically depicted from the Salmon's point of view. Recently, a ban on drift net fishing of these magnificent fish was enacted in Ireland. The drift net ban originated by pressure from the European Union which is taking the Irish Government to Court over non-implementation of laws to protect wildlife and habitats based on scientific research showing a near fatal collapse in Salmon stocks and a very persuasive game angling lobby - who are powerful, well-financed and organized. Their argument is that catchment management, conservation, bag limiting and catch and release are the best way to manage Salmon stocks. They also point out that a Salmon caught on rod and line bring far more revenue into the local community than those caught commercially. Even though the Government created a hardship fund (known as a net buyout fund) so that Salmon drift net fishermen would cease fishing and hand over their nets, to date no Salmon fishermen have received compensation due to the Government dragging the issue out. A number of Salmon Anglers in the Southwest of Ireland have threatened to defy the ban by putting nets back into the water. Recently a Basking Shark was washed ashore this month entangled in a drift net - the fishermen deny that the net is a drift net. So tensions remain high between Government and fishermen. And what is at stake is the very future of the Atlantic Salmon of Ireland. For more information on the wonderful work of Vincent Hyland, please visit his website at www.VincentHyland.com.

Clown Fish are a loved and dissed subject for underwater imagers--we have great difficulty admitting our attraction to filming and photographing these little guys. And yet they are a delight to viewers young and old. Leandro Blanco, one of the best and most creative underwater short filmmakers working today, turns his artistic attention to the world of Clown Fish. And true to his passion for the conservation and respect of marine life, Leandro also makes a powerful statement about the adverse effects of unsustainable practices of the aquarium trade. It is an honor to present Leandro Blanco's wonderful short film, "Clown Struck." For more information on Leandro and his work, please visit the Filmmakers Page at DiveFilm.com.

Hagfish are amazing ocean fishes! They are found nearly worldwide mostly in deeper ocean environments, and are some of the most primitive fishes in existence today. They feed primarily on dead or dying fish and mammals on the ocean bottom by burrowing inside and eating from the inside out. Hagfish are blind, although they possess eyespots on either side of their heads. They have a unique defense mechanism of sliming. If moved, disturbed, or bitten by a predator, Hagfish can very rapidly produce copious amounts of slime from glands along the sides of their long, eel-like bodies. This slime allows them to escape potential predators, and consists of a filamentous protein that is highly hydrophilic. Scripps Institution of Oceanography Marine Technician, Eddie Kisfaludy, introduces us to the weird world of Hagfish, in particular that of Eptatretus stouti, or the Pacific Hagfish, found off the coast of La Jolla, California. With the help of marine biology intern Lily Bolig, we get a first-hand account of Hagfish slime.

In April of 2007 the Nautilus Explorer took a group of dive explorers, scientists and underwater imagers from Mexico, the United States and Canada to the remote and uninhabited Clipperton Island located some 500 nautical miles off the coast of Acapulco, Mexico. Clipperton has a long and fascinating history, including two Scripps expeditions with research diving pioneer Conrad Limbaugh in the 1950s. In 1956, Connie Limbaugh described the sharks of Clipperton Island as so numerous and aggressive that researchers had to cut short their diving operation. Limbaugh returned in 1958 with a number of other scientists as part of the Scripps Doldrums Expedition, this time bringing with him shark cages in which to safely dive and study the sharks. In part one of this two-part podcast, Mary Lynn Price discusses some of the history of Conrad Limbaugh's visits to Clipperton Island in the 1950s and what the 2007 Nautilus Explorer expedition discovered diving the reefs of Clipperton for five days. Historic images and footage from the Limbaugh Collection at Scripps Archives, as well as rare 1958 news footage from San Diego's KFMB TV Channel 8, depict the Limbaugh expeditions in the 50s. Current underwater video and images by Mary Lynn Price, dive explorer Roberto Chavez Arce and nudibranch scientist Alicia Hermosillo show what the marine life of Clipperton Island is like today. What the divers find is abundant healthy coral, numerous small and medium-size fishes, a variety of colorful nudibranchs, and the beautiful endemic Clipperton Angelfish (Holacanthus limbaughi, named in honor of Conrad Limbaugh). However, the divers are struck by the sad reality of very few sharks--and old long-line from commercial long-line fishing criss-crossing the otherwise pristine reefs nearly everywhere they dived. Without conservation protection and enforcement, it is likely that the sharks of Clipperton Island will not have much of a future. For more information on the Nautilus Explorer, and to read the Clipperton entries in the Captain's Log, please visit www.NautilusExplorer.com. Part two of this two part podcast will include interviews with scientists, dive explorers and longtime fishermen about the issues facing the sharks of Clipperton Island, and what might be done to better protect them.

Featuring some of the best underwater images being produced today by Paul and Kelly Wags of Exmouth, Australia. Ningaloo Reef is the location for this video, and includes some of their footage of turtles, nudibranchs, whale sharks, mantas and reef fishes of many varieties. We know you'll enjoy this taste of Ningaloo--naturally! For more information on Paul and Kelly Wags, and their HD underwater images and filmmaking, please visit their website, www.hdvunderwater.com. To watch this in high definition on your HDTV using AppleTV, please visit our new DiveFilm High Definition Podcast Video available for free at iTunes!

Both Cocos and Mapelo Islands in the Eastern Pacific Ocean are home to an abundance of marine animals, including numerous species of sharks, rays, dolphins and whales. Cocos Island is some 300 miles southwest of Costa Rica, and has been designated a Marine Park and World Heritage Site by Costa Rica. Malpelo Island is a little over 300 miles off the coast of Colombia and is designated as a Colombian Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, and marine protected area. The waters off both islands are considered by divers to be among the most exciting areas in the world for big animal sightings. The immense schools of Hammerhead Sharks that gather in these waters leave divers awestruck. The biodiversity is rich and vulnerable. Join Shawn Heinrichs as he takes us there to experience the magnificence of these animals and many other marine animals that abide in the rich waters surrounding the islands of Cocos and Malpelo. Shawn Heinrichs is a conservation filmmaker based in Longmont, Colorado, USA. To learn more about Shawn and his work, please visit his website, BlueSphereMedia.com.

These unusual bubbling reefs are located in Kattegat off the coast of Denmark. Methane seeps into the shallow waters in the northern Kattegat off the Danish coast to form spectacular submarine landscapes - the 'bubbling reefs' - due to carbonate-cemented sandstone structures which are colonized by brightly coloured animals and plants. Hans Christian Andersen has been working for some time to document these bubbling reefs, and offers us a fascinating glimpse in this special DiveFilm Podcast version of his documentary, "Bubbling Reefs." His website on the reefs, TheBubblingReefs.com, garnered the prize for the best website in the promotional category at the World Festival for Underwater Pictures at Antibes, France. To learn more about Hans and his work, please visit his website, Skawdiver.dk.

Renowned underwater cinematographer and pioneer, Chuck Nicklin, has long been known for his "big animal" work filming all kinds of whales and sharks. Recently, however, he's dived into making high definition videos of the strange, small inhabitants of Lembeh Strait, Indonesia. This video was a judges and audience favorite at the most recent San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. To learn more about Chuck, his work and his dive travel, please visit his website, www.ChuckNicklin.com.

Underwater imager and writer, Eric Hanauer and nature imager and writer, Karen Straus dive with a mother Humpback Whale, her calf, and a male escort, off Roca Partida, a rocky island about 250 miles off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, Baja del Sur, Mexico. This is some of the most fantastic Humpback footage you'll ever see! Narrated by both Eric and Karen, who both also shot the HDV footage, as well as the accompanying still photographs, this film was one of the judges' and audience's favorites at the most recent San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibition. Beautifully edited by Eric. To learn more about Eric and see more of his work, please visit his website, EHanauer.com. Karen is a skilled bird photographer as well as an underwater imager of many years. You can see more of her work at her new website, BirdBrained.biz. DiveFilm Podcast Video is proud to announce that this film is the first one to be released as one of DiveFilm's new High Definition Video Podcasts and Web Videos. To learn more, visit DiveFilmHD.com.

This powerful film portrays the tragic decimation of sharks and shark populations by humans and the shark fin industry. Underwater filmmaker and conservationist Shawn Heinrichs juxtaposes beautiful images of lush tropical marine settings with the all-too-common scene below the surface of dead sharks littering the bottom, their fins cut off to feed an insatiable market for shark fin. Shark populations have dropped 90 percent in areas due to this unsustainable practice, threatening the very survival of numerous species of sharks, and disrupting fragile ecosystems worldwide. For more information on Shawn Heinrichs, his videos and his conservation work, please visit his website, BlueSphereMedia.com. Shawn is a conservation forum moderator at Wetpixel.com, and a regular contributor to the video forums.

In this funny and beautifully creative short film, Jeff Leicher presents an aspect of diving with which we are all familiar: bubbles. With the light touch of a filmmaker clearly enjoying his work, Jeff depicts bubbles and bubble rings in ways that are imaginative, transfixing and unforgettable. A cast of dozens, many of whom you may recognize, contribute to the fun of this film (don't miss the out-takes after the end credits!), and the well-chosen soundtrack by Ray Lynch and Tom Canning is the perfect touch for an all-in-all delightful short film. Jeff Leicher is an underwater videographer and filmmaker based in Kona, Hawaii. He is an owner and managing partner of Jack's Diving Locker in Kona, where he is an instructor and USCG Captain. To learn more about Jeff, visit Jack's website, www.JacksDivingLocker.com.