{"id":593,"date":"2017-04-20T19:56:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T18:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.josephcaruana.co.uk\/diving\/?p=593"},"modified":"2017-04-21T22:44:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T21:44:47","slug":"lighting-up-the-karwela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.josephcaruana.co.uk\/diving\/2017\/04\/20\/lighting-up-the-karwela\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighting up the Karwela"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I received a new toy, and a very useful one at that – an ultra-powerful primary (canister) dive light. \u00a0If you’re interested in equipment, you might enjoy the next paragraph. \u00a0If not, you may safely skip it\u00a0and proceed with the rest of this post.<\/p>\n

I had been researching various dive lights available on the market for a very long time. \u00a0I won’t bore you with the details here, but in the end I settled on\u00a0a light from GRALmarine<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0a company that, apart from its line of dive-lights, designs and\u00a0manufactures\u00a0custom-made\u00a0equipment to\u00a0support\u00a0complex diving expeditions. \u00a0The particular dive light I had set my eyes on was the LED DUO half VIDEO. \u00a0As the name suggests, this dive-light actually has two lights fitted on the same head, one outputting 9,600 lumens in\u00a0a wide (125-degree) beam suitable for video and photography applications, and another one giving out 8,600 lumens in a narrower (16-degree) beam that\u00a0reaches far\u00a0and is especially\u00a0suitable for wreck or cave penetrations. \u00a0If both lights are switched on together, one gets a whopping 18,000 lumens, which is… well, bright. \u00a0Suffice to say that the moment I got this dive light I simply could not wait to try it out – and this morning\u00a0I had that opportunity.<\/p>\n

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The GRALmarine LED DUO half VIDEO with 13.6Ah battery canister<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I wanted to do\u00a0a “dark” dive to test out the new light, but wind conditions this morning\u00a0were favourable only\u00a0on\u00a0Gozo’s South coast, so we decided to dive the Karwela<\/em> wreck, penetrate below decks and have a good look around. \u00a0We\u00a0planned a bottom time of\u00a030 minutes (the wreck lies at ~40m) and\u00a0used\u00a051% Nitrox\u00a0for our decompression, meaning that we would switch to our decompression gas at a depth of 21 metres.<\/p>\n

I had barely started my descent when\u00a0I switched on the dive light, and\u00a0even in the bright ambient light I was convinced I had made the right choice: this thing was seriously bright! \u00a0Upon arriving at the Karwela<\/em>, we proceeded straight to the engine room, and the light truly came into its own.<\/p>\n

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Video-still from inside the engine room of the M.V. Karwela<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upon flicking on the video light, the interior of the Karwela was flooded with light – and I could appreciate the\u00a0colours that so far had always been muted.<\/p>\n

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Colours of the Karwela <\/em>(video-still)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the rest of the dive, I mostly\u00a0only used the wide-beam light (since I was shooting video throughout), only occasionally turning on the narrow beam. Something that I instantly realised was that I’ll need some practice with using the right angle to mitigate backscatter.<\/p>\n

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Inside the Engine Room of the M.V. Karwela\u00a0<\/em>(video-still)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had a good look around\u00a0the\u00a0Karwela<\/em>‘s engine room, leaving no corner unturned.<\/p>\n

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Brian looking for something in a corner…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After we exited the engine room we came across a sizeable Scorpion fish that settled right in front of me. \u00a0My first reaction was to point the light away from it as I did not want to scare it\u00a0off, but to my surprise this one seemed utterly unfazed by the bright light, and as I cautiously pointed it again in its direction, it stayed right there, not moving a fin.<\/p>\n

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A particularly nonchalant Scorpion fish we encountered inside the Karwela.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we proceeded to start making our way out, I paused for a picture of the staircase, which in my books is a must on every dive on the Karwela<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The Karwela<\/em>‘s staircase (video-still)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Finning along inside the Karwela<\/em> on our way out.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When we exited the wreck, I could see Brian already looking around for something interesting. \u00a0And his constant searching\u00a0did\u00a0yield a nice prize: a wonderfully colourful Nudibranch known as Hypselodoris valenciennesi<\/em> which stole the spotlight and made it as the featured image of this post.<\/p>\n

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A fine example of\u00a0Hypselodoris valenciennesi<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this point we realised how good the visibility was. \u00a0While we were still at the Karwela, we could make out the wreck of Xlendi<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in the distance! \u00a0We slowly started ascending, making our way to the deck.<\/p>\n

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Hovering at the deck of the Karwela\u00a0<\/em>(video-still)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this point I really started to appreciate how I could illuminate very wide areas of the wreck with this dive light, and I still need to properly get used to it!<\/p>\n

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Another picture taken at the ship’s deck prior to our ascent.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we started to leave the ship to proceed with our ascent, I paused and turned around to have\u00a0another look at her. \u00a0There she lay, majestic as always. \u00a0There is something truly beautiful about ships lying peacefully on the seabed, like witnesses to the sea’s stories.<\/p>\n

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The M.V. Karwela<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During our decompression we made friends with a few individuals, including multiple examples of Ornate wrasse and this lovely jelly.<\/p>\n

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A jellyfish entertaining us during our decompression.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All in all, a very nice dive where I got to know a bit the new dive light. \u00a0Needless to say, I can’t wait to get back underwater to try it some more! \u00a0Until then,\u00a0as always, happy &\u00a0safe diving to all!<\/p>\n