Cruisin' Video Clips #6 - Snorkeling & Swimming with the Stingrays

[chesterh]

Our sixth in a series of Cruisin’ Video selections is simply entitled Stingray Swim. It documents an excursion at Grand Cayman to snorkel and swim with the stingrays. It was an absolutely amazing experience, not to be missed if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood.

 

The video is 6+ minutes long, and a broadband connection is essential (unless you're willing to tie up your modem for an hour). It is available in two formats:

 

Stingray Swim (Windows Media 9, 6:36, Stereo sound)

-or-

Stingray Swim (Real Video)

 

A written account of the adventure is contained elsewhere on CruiseCritic -- click here to read the story.

 

Other videos in this series (so far):

 

1) Leaving San Juan at Night

 

2) Young Men in Black (Teens in Tuxes)

 

3) Sailing Under the Baltimore Bridges

 

4) A Little Levity (Excessive Happiness)

 

5) Lamanai and the New River Safari

 

All the best,

chesterh

[LAFFNVEGAS]

chesterh, what a great video of your Stingray swim, it reminded me of mine just a few weeks ago in Grand Caymans.

 

Thanks so much for sharing.

[stanford's girl]

What a great video. This is something that I have always wanted to do. We'll be sailing the Caribbean in 06 and will definitely put this tops on my list of things to do. Thanks for sharing!:cool:

[texascruzer]

Thanks for sharing. :D

[chesterh]

Thanks Lisa, stanford's girl and 'tex'. My pleasure... Everyone should do this excursion. Don't miss it!

 

Lisa, I'll be curious to hear about your Maasdam trip. We sail out of Boston on 8/20. Let me know how it goes...

 

All the best,

chesterh

[House_Atreides]

GREAT stuff! I've watched all your videos and in the past read your cruise stories....wonderful!!!

 

I am wondering, Chester, what kind of camera you are using underwater; and the editing software? I did a "movie" of sorts with my digital cam combining stills and short movie clips; put it into Windows Media Player format and published it to the web. It's NOT nearly as good as your stuff!! But sure had fun doing it!!

 

Thanks again!!

Mary:D

[chesterh]

Mary,

 

The underwater shots come from the video taken by the tour operator. Monique was the videographer, and she used a nice 3 CCD DV camera in a professional housing. I used a low-end Sony digital 8 camera for the above water shots, housed in a water-tight camera bag.

 

For editing, I use Adobe Premiere. It took quite a while to learn to use it productively, but it is a lot of fun. There is a consumer-level version of this program (Premiere Elements) now available for about $100, and it appears to offer some pretty advanced capabilities.

 

I haven't found another hobby that is so engrossing as video editing. I did a one-hour highlights program for the high-school football team a couple of years ago, and calculated that I spent a total of 300 hours shooting and editing. It was a blast - the audience response made the whole experience very rewarding, and I learned a lot in the process.

 

So, I say 'go for it'. Where on the web can I find your video?

 

All the best,

chesterh