Been a tad busy in the last month so not only has playing on the net &
checking out the scuba lists been a bit lean of late, diving was the last
thing on my mind until I received an urgent plea from Reef Diving in
Bunbury last week. "Help, only 4 people have registered for our photo comp
and we have 12 prizes. Any chance WAUPS could support us please".

Normally we would have been there in a flash but as the Perth UW photo club
was already committed to 2 trips down that way our free weekends in
November were disappearing fast factouring in trying to make time for
family & friends, work commitments, etc.
Our 1st jaunt - 3 day dive trip to Busselton and Dunsborough (next towns on
from Bunbury) the w/e after the Bunbury Aquatic Photo Shoot .. and then the
2nd jaunt - heading down past those towns a fortnight later for the sinking
of the HMAS Perth off Albany.

After a hurried ring-around I managed to convince 11 others to go down just
for the day as this was Bunbury's first UW photo shoot-out and we did not
want to see the organiser fall flat on his face due to lack of interest :-(
Trust them though to organise it during a month where the temps are still a
tad chilly down there ... *shudder*. Car pooling was organised with a few
of us chucking in a sleeping bag just incase we felt too tired to drive
back in the dark risking collision with kangaroos in the unfenced areas.

We chuff off at 5am in the morning for the 2hour drive down south of Perth.
Mobile phone calls interupt us on the way down. Glen has had to pull out ..
expensive engine problems. Next phone call .. Owen advises his sinuses are
playing up so he's pulling out - so the tally now is 5 divers & 1 boat
down. Heck, what next. Another buzz on the mobile Frieda's mother has
broken her hip so she's pulling out :-(   What is left of our original
contingent (6 WAUParians) meet up at the dive shop in drips & drabs. We
sign up, pay our dues, refresh ourselves on the rules, take note of the
categories & walk out with our individually numbered film. Our entry to the
competition begins AFTER we find somewhere to park our butts for a cooked
breakfast. Naturally we all choose what prizes we expect to win ;-))

The Categories and prizes (organise own transport for all dive trips) were:

Best Overall Photo (from all categories): Ten days White Shark's at Dyer
Island expedition - Sponsored by White Shark Research Institute, Cape Town
South Africa.

Best Shark/Ray: 4-day White Pointer Port Lincoln expedition with the famous
Captain Rolf Czczashjb aboard Calypso Star Charter.
Runner up: Diving Reel - Donated by Alpha Diving, Trip to Rotto - Donated
by Diving Ventures, Peter Stone's Dive Australia book - Donated by Oceans
Enterprises.

Best Diver: Supersport Cod Hole 3 1/2 day expedition - donated by Mike Ball
Runner Up: History of Spearfishing and Scuba Diving - donated by Tom Byron.

Best Invertebrate: 5-nights b&b and six guided shore dives in Vanuatu -
donated by AquaMarine.
Runner Up: Peter Stone Dive Australia book - donated by Oceans Enterprises.

Best Vertebrate: Weekend Trip for two from Jervis Bay - donated by Ocean
Trek Diving Resort.
Runner Up: Autographed book - donated by Neville Coleman.

Best Teenager: Certificate, Fleecy jumper, shirt, T-shirt - donated by
Undersea Explorer, Trip to HMAS Swan - donated by Diving Ventures.
Runner-up: Mastering Photography book - donated by Oceans Enterprises.

Best Disposable: Certificate, - Fleecy jumper, shirt, T-shirt - donated by
Undersea Explorer, Two-dive Trip to HMAS Swan - donated by Cape Dive.
Runner-up: Mastering Photography book - donated by Oceans Enterprises.

Best Pest: Western Fisheries Subscription - donated by Fisheries WA, MAD
Gauge Cage - donated by  MAD Gauge-Cages, Autographed book - donated by
Neville Coleman.

Best Underwater Seascape: Trip to Ningaloo - donated by Diving Ventures.

Runner Up: Autographed book - donated by Neville Coleman

Encouragement Prizes:
4 X - Lonely Planet Guide Book - donated by Lonely Planet
4 X - JW Fishers Search Team hat - donated by JW Fishers
A Golden Dolphin CD Magazine - donated by Walter Starck

NB: As more prizes are found the value and number of Runner-up Prizes will
change.  The final list of which prizes are available for which category
will be published the night before the competition.  This will allow the
organisers to increase the prize-pool until the "last minute".
**********

We were allowed 2 print films with choice of ISO rating & 24/36 exposure.
There was a limit of 2 photos per category per entrant. We had until 8pm
that night to get the print film in for processing. On Sunday everyone
would turn up to select their best 2 pics for each category & leave them
with the competition organiser to be displayed at the Bunbury Regional
Library for the week. The judges, not necessarily either divers or
photographers, then have that time to choose the photos they like best in
their category & award 1, 2 or 3 points for their favourite three photos.
On Friday morning the points will be added up & the winners chosen.

Well, as per usual for a WAUPS trip, we had a few minor disasters:
* The weather was perfect the day BEFORE the competition .. and absolute
crap the day of the comp. We geared up fully in our divesuits before
driving from Bunbury to Dunsborough for the 1st dive at Eagle Bay as we
could see the rain coming.
* Allan's landcamera played up in its housing so he never got off any shots
on his 1st roll. Having rheumatoid arthritis he was feeling the pain of
that during the 1st dive so he never got in a 2nd dive :-(
* Peter's housing had a small flood after 5 shots on his 1st film so he
only had 5 pics to choose from for the competition.
* Thomas' extension tube framer had moved so he had chopped off half the
things he was photographing.
* Wendy's first film was next to black .. could just make out some
shapes .. she had put it on the wrong ISO rating.
* Pulling Allan's ally-duck out of the water we heard a ping & yelled for
everyone to get out of the way as the winch cable started to fray. Being
out in the middle of nowhere with no marine store to pull into for a quick
repair job we had to unload all the dive gear from the ally-duck and heave
the boat onto the boat trailer manually. To say we were completely stuffed
from that effort was an understatement. I can still see the bruises I
suffered when we slipped a few times during the heaving & ho-ing and I was
covered in a 5 mil wetsuit.
* We get to Busselton Jetty planning to take the train down for a quick
dive off the far end & find the train is under repair. Plan B was to walk
down the jetty in full kit with cameras & jump off the next fishing
platform for a quick dive looking for nudibranchs & other small critters
that don't move fast .. we were tired.

At last .. a ray of sunshine :-) Plan B turned into Plan C as I spotted a
pleasure craft I knew slowly cruising along watching everyone fishing off
the jetty. I dumped my bcd, tank & camera running down the jetty waving
furiously to get their attention. If I could persuade them with a few $ to
drop us off at the end of the jetty for our dive we could snorkel back in
under our own steam. Not only did they take us out they snorkeled above us
for that hour saving us from a 6:30pm slow crawl on snorkel back to shore.

Returning to the jetty we bumped up our offer of a few $ to pay for the
quickie trip out on their boat for that dive to dinner at a Thai restaurant
in Bunbury at 8:30pm to give everyone enough time to tidy up their boats,
wash their gear, sort out their cameras, get their film in for processing
before the 8pm deadline for the competition and showers. Allan kindly
invited us to crash as his place so the sleeping bags came in handy there.
While enjoying ourselves at the restaurant a tall gent from the other noisy
table in the room came over to ask if we wanted to join them. We find out
he is from Ontario & use to dive so we fill him in on what we had been
doing for the day and pass over a WAUPS business card inviting him to
attend a slide show if he is ever in the city. I think he fancied Wendy
actually .. it was sweet of him to occasionally tear his eyes off her to
look at us now & again while he was talking ;-)  That night we slept like
logs, totally stuffed .. and woke the next day to brilliant sunshine and
the task of selecting our best pics for the comp.
Viv