Jeff has a co-worker named Dave who will be in Hawaii at the same time we are, for the same reason – the Kona Classic, an underwater video/photo seminar/competition. Dave’s gone for the last several years, and was probably instrumental in talking Jeff into signing us up for it this year.

I own a Sony miniDV camcorder that I’ve occasionally thought of buying an underwater enclosure for. Going to Hawaii seemed like the perfect opportunity to find out whether I liked (and was any good at) shooting video: clear water, long dives, professional supervision. But I didn’t particularly want to sink tons of money into something that I wasn’t sure I’d even like.

Dave to the rescue! When Jeff mentioned to him that we were looking around for cheap, used housings, he mentioned he has an old Top Dawg housing “at his Kona house” that we’re welcome to borrow. These housings were designed to fit just about any Sony digicam, although not all perfectly. For instance, my model of camera won’t line up quite right with the viewfinder, which is small to begin with. No problem, though – Dave also has the monitor back for the Top Dawg, so I’ll have a nice big screen to look at underwater instead of a little viewfinder. On top of that, he’s willing to loan me lights for the night dives, and a filter and wide-angle lens for the day dives!

I think I love Dave. :)

Now let’s just hope I don’t suck at underwater video.