The Pentax Optio S5i is not a new camera.  I've had mine for almost a year now and I like it more and more each day.  What I like about this camera is that it's tiny enough to carry around in your pocket (fits in an Altoids tin), yet it's packed with all the features you'd expect in a larger camera.  And for the recreational SCUBA diver, it sports a very stylish and equally small (optional) underwater housing!

The underwater housing (about $200.00) is rated for 40 meters - more than deep enough for the recreational diver.  The housing is compact and rugged. It's full-featured, meaning that you're able to access and operate every button on the camera through the case.  The LCD display is completely visible and makes for a wonderful viewfinder underwater.  If you're going to do any serious underwater photography, I highly recommend a strobe attachment.  The camera includes a built-in Marine Mode which ensures that blue tones are reproduced in a faithful, pleasing manner.

Many of the pictures you see on DiveSpots.com were taken with the Optio.  Some of my favorites are the pictures taken while in Bimini.  Check out the photos of Tuna Alley and Honeymoon Harbor.  While the camera is not going to win any awards when compared with higher priced SLRs, its tiny size, tiny price, and very good 5 megapixel quality make it a no-brainer for most divers. 

Ever wanted to deploy your very own private artificial reef?  If you live in Alabama, all you need is a $25 license and the services of David Walter, The Reefmaker.  Walter has been creating and deploying artificial reefs for personal use (primarily for fishermen) since 1986.  His structures have been widely deployed along the coast of Alabama and in many parts of Florida.  Many of his customers are charter fishing boat captains and local community groups, which buy and deploy specially designed reefs to attract fish and promote fishing enterprises. 

Interested in diving these artificial reefs?  Good luck.  As you might imagine, GPS coordinates are closely guarded secrets.  Clients often invest big money to buy and deploy their private reefs.  But you can get your own reef for less than you might think, usually for under $1,000.

Private reefing is illegal throughout much of the United States.  Public artificial reefs are created directly by State and County departments. Alabama and Florida are two exceptions: They both have designated limited areas where private groups and individuals can deploy their own reefs. However, once the reefs are in the water, they become public property.  But the knowledge of where the reefs are located allows their "owners" to enjoy the reefs exclusively for as long as their locations remain secret.   Walter has extensive procedures in place to make sure your secret is safe.

Interesting side note: This past March, while diving the DEMA Trader off Key Biscayne, I noticed an "odd" triangular structure on the stern of the wreck (pictured above).  When I came across David Walter's site this past week, I immediately recognized the same familiar structure and realized that the object on the DEMA was his handy work.  Dive the DEMA and check it out.

Katrina made an unexpected turn south after making landfall last Thursday night and caught us all off guard. That B*tch! The DiveSpots.com office, located in South Miami, took a hard hit. We lost power around 9:15 pm on Thursday and, as I write this today on Saturday around 4:00 pm from a remote location, we?re still without power. It?s been a rough couple of days, but we are fortunate for three things: 1) Most importantly, we?re all safe. 2) The marina where we keep the dive boat did really well. Our Grady-White weathered the storm unscathed. What a great ship! Unfortunately, several neighboring boats did not do as well, completly sinking in their slips. 3) The DiveSpots.com Web servers are located in a fortified data center in the Midwest and we had no interruption of service.

If you're into treasure hunting, diving the sunken galleons after a hurricane could turn up rare coins and other treasures. The storms often move large amounts of sand and sediment, sometimes revealing ships' bounties.  Get out there!  Me? I just want some A/C, a hot shower, and some ice! 

One of the coolest things to come out of Google Labs recently is the Google Earth project.  If you haven't seen this, do yourself a favor and check it out.  Google Earth, formerly known as "Keyhole", is a desktop application that combines satellite imagery, maps, and the power of Google Search.  With it, you can enter just about any address or GPS position and "fly in" to that location.  You can zoom, tilt, rotate, get driving directions, e-mail, print and so much more.

Google has recently posted a virtual tour page on their site, highlighting some of the more interesting spots around the globe.  Other Websites have done the same, making it possible to tour the Earth without ever leaving the comfort of your keyboard and mouse!  Jetlag be gone!  In many cases, the resolution is truly spectacular! 

As you've probably noticed, we recently licensed and incorporated this awesome Google Mapping technology directly into our own site.  Now members can access satellite images of their favorite dive spots with a single click. 

After seeing some of the other virtual tour sites, we decided to take a good look at some of the dive spots on our own site -- close-up -- to see if we could spot anything interesting.  What we found was pretty cool!  Here?s one: Carysfort Lighthouse in Key Largo, Florida.  Click on the Map button, switch to Satellite mode, and then zoom all the way in.  You can actually see the lighthouse on the satellite image!  We'll be posting other interesting sites periodically.  Let us know if you find others -- happy hunting!

Remember Flipper?  The series ran for just three years, from 1964 - 1966 for a total of 88 episodes.  Flipper was one of my all-time favorite shows as a kid growing up in South Florida.  No, I?m not that old --  I saw the show in syndication years later, thank you.  Man, I remember wanting to be just like Sandy Ricks (Luke Halpin).  He had it made.  In the TV series, Sandy lived in a fictitious Florida nature preserve called Coral Key Park, and he swam all day in the clear blue ocean and snorkeled (and occasionally dove) with his bud Flipper.  How cool is that? 

So recently I decided to see if I could get the series on DVD to relive it all again.  But alas, after a few Google searches I discovered that the TV Series has not (yet?) made it to DVD.  I did however find that the original movie that kicked off the TV series has, and I quickly added it to the top of my Netflix queue. 

The movie arrived today.  Remember the simple round diving face masks?  And swimming with cut-offs?  The one diving scene in the movie was classic -- no weight belt, no BCD, and no wetsuit or skin.  Now that's diving! 

The underwater scenes were pretty good, although I laughed when I noticed that some were obviously filmed in California, while others were filmed in Florida.  There's a pretty ridiculous scene where Sandy is being chased by sharks, and Flipper saves him by darting into the sharks nose first.  I say ridiculous because Sandy somehow manages to hold his own for a short period by seemingly out-swimming the sharks!  And the shots of Flipper barreling into the sharks seem odd.  The sharks look drugged or fake. 

A great movie nonetheless!  Rent it.

Footnote: Mitzie, the Atlantic bottlenose that played Flipper in the movie, died in 1972.  Bebe ("B-B"), a dolphin that played Flipper in the TV series, died at the Miami Seaquarium in 1997.  She was 40 years old.  Most bottlenose live an average of 30 to 35 years.