After a cream-cheese bagel & muffin breakfast I ask the motel's Indian manager for a cab. In the USA, without a car, you're stuck.
Having a free, trick or treat, day, I decide to check out The Gardens Mall, a 15' minute ride (20$) from the motel. Unfortunately there's not much there to catch my interest, except for an Apple Store, where I do not dare hang around too long so as to avoid any temptation, and a Radio Shack, where I do treat myself to an extra SanDisk Video HD SDHC 8GB memory card (42.60$).
Somewhere across one of the surrounding streets, there's supposed to be a Barnes & Noble bookstore and a Best Buy. However, when I ask some Hispanic workers, they look at me strangely and say it's a six miles stroll. No way I'm going to walk that far along a motor way!
Back at my motel, the manager tells me the Best Buy's indeed just across the street from the Gardens Mall, that is, maximum half a mile, when you know which tricky street to cross.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Sonthofen - Palm Beach
Around 18:30 yesterday evening I took a train (19€) from Sonthofen to Munich's airport, a 3h ride via München Hbf, and spent a restless night trying out various airport benches.
Despite being there early, check-in was inquisitively slow, everybody having to pass a friendly interrogation & passport control first, before being allowed to get a boarding pass. As usual, I also had to open up my backpack, airport security always being suspicious about my WAL. The flight itself was cramped & uncomfortable but otherwise nondescript, landing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA almost an hour early.
The waiting lines at the US immigration control in Atlanta are rather long but at least pass-through is fairly steady. Passport check, fingerprint scan and webcam photo are standard procedure here. By the time I get through, my check-in bag's already there, ready to be hand carried through customs. Here again I get picked out for a more thorough inspection of all my stuff and some more friendly questions before being allowed to find my way towards my connecting flight. Getting from the arrival gate to the next boarding gate only took two hours. Well within the five hours transit time I've got.
From Atlanta, Georgia to Palm Beach, Florida is only a short 1h30 hop, and at 21:00 local time I truly find myself on US bottom without anymore hassles, except for the fact that my check-in bag got obviously searched one more time somewhere on the way. Fifteen minutes later, a shuttle bus (20$) brings me to my Super 8 motel in Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, a 15' minute ride from the airport.
As they haven't changed to winter time yet, there's currently only a five hour difference: Florida summer time = Bayern winter time - 5h. Till sunday that is, then it will be officially winter time here too.
Currency: 1 Euro = 1.25 USD , 1 USD = 0.80 Euro
Despite being there early, check-in was inquisitively slow, everybody having to pass a friendly interrogation & passport control first, before being allowed to get a boarding pass. As usual, I also had to open up my backpack, airport security always being suspicious about my WAL. The flight itself was cramped & uncomfortable but otherwise nondescript, landing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA almost an hour early.
The waiting lines at the US immigration control in Atlanta are rather long but at least pass-through is fairly steady. Passport check, fingerprint scan and webcam photo are standard procedure here. By the time I get through, my check-in bag's already there, ready to be hand carried through customs. Here again I get picked out for a more thorough inspection of all my stuff and some more friendly questions before being allowed to find my way towards my connecting flight. Getting from the arrival gate to the next boarding gate only took two hours. Well within the five hours transit time I've got.
From Atlanta, Georgia to Palm Beach, Florida is only a short 1h30 hop, and at 21:00 local time I truly find myself on US bottom without anymore hassles, except for the fact that my check-in bag got obviously searched one more time somewhere on the way. Fifteen minutes later, a shuttle bus (20$) brings me to my Super 8 motel in Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, a 15' minute ride from the airport.
As they haven't changed to winter time yet, there's currently only a five hour difference: Florida summer time = Bayern winter time - 5h. Till sunday that is, then it will be officially winter time here too.
Currency: 1 Euro = 1.25 USD , 1 USD = 0.80 Euro
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Gear packing day
Got all my dive gear packed in one check-in trolley-style bag, together with some clothing and a small pharmacy pouch. Good for about 21kg, well within the 2x 22.5kg limit as allowed by Delta Air Lines on flights to the USA.
Sunglasses, logbook, dive computer, cameras, accessories & housings are all safely stowed in my hand-luggage sized backpack, together with a few spare clothes. Another 6kg.
Sunglasses, logbook, dive computer, cameras, accessories & housings are all safely stowed in my hand-luggage sized backpack, together with a few spare clothes. Another 6kg.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Gear gathering day
Got all my dive gear out of the closet, storage boxes & cellar, ready to be sorted out, selected as necessary and configured for single-tank shark diving.
In order to reduce, if not avoid, any risk of possibly being mistaken for a piece of fish, any shark diver is required to wear dark colored gear. Dead fish looks ghostly white underwater and we would not want to be taken for a morsel of bait. Meaning any exposed light-colored skin should be covered as much as possible, that is, hood & gloves are a must.
Black hooded vest and dark grey gloves I have, but my trusted yellow fins are alas a no go. Luckily my feet also fit in Petra's dark blue Aeris Velocity Duo split fins. And, just to be safe, I'll also use her Aeris Reef Rider wing-style BCD (with its reflective straps taped beyond recognition), in stead of my own shiny metal backplate & wings.
In order to reduce, if not avoid, any risk of possibly being mistaken for a piece of fish, any shark diver is required to wear dark colored gear. Dead fish looks ghostly white underwater and we would not want to be taken for a morsel of bait. Meaning any exposed light-colored skin should be covered as much as possible, that is, hood & gloves are a must.
Black hooded vest and dark grey gloves I have, but my trusted yellow fins are alas a no go. Luckily my feet also fit in Petra's dark blue Aeris Velocity Duo split fins. And, just to be safe, I'll also use her Aeris Reef Rider wing-style BCD (with its reflective straps taped beyond recognition), in stead of my own shiny metal backplate & wings.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
UW videography
Ordered a Panasonic Lumix DMW-MCFS5 UW housing (182€ + 13€ for shipping & handling) from Foto-Palme for Petra's Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS5, so as to be able to record underwater video clips in a higher resolution than just 320x240 as possible with my Sea&Sea DX8000G.
Camera
– 1/2.33" CCD
+ photo: 10MP JPEG
+ video: 848x480 pixel @ 30fps MOV
+ 30mm wide 4x zoom lens
– aperture: F3.3
+ Mega OIS
+ SDHC memory card slot
+ 2.5" 230'000px TFT LCD
+ Lithium-ion battery pack (3.6V, 1000mAh)
Underwater housing
+ access to all the camera's functions & settings
+ clear view of the camera's LCD
+ rated to -40m
Camera
– 1/2.33" CCD
+ photo: 10MP JPEG
+ video: 848x480 pixel @ 30fps MOV
+ 30mm wide 4x zoom lens
– aperture: F3.3
+ Mega OIS
+ SDHC memory card slot
+ 2.5" 230'000px TFT LCD
+ Lithium-ion battery pack (3.6V, 1000mAh)
Underwater housing
+ access to all the camera's functions & settings
+ clear view of the camera's LCD
+ rated to -40m
Thursday, October 9, 2008
UW photography
I plan on using my good old Sea&Sea DX8000G compact camera for underwater photography. Fitted with a 0.6x WAL it allows 17mm wide angle shots... enough I hope for close-up portraits of big fish :o) In shallow water, with some sunshine, it should be possible to get decent snapshots without using any strobes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
