Annie Greenbergs Associated Press story of the underwater camera housing that kept its Nikon camera in pristine condition and survived a 2,000-mile voyage, including a possible turtle attack, kept me chuckling this morning. Sounds like a good protocol for a Practical Sailor test.
According to the story, the camera and its housing were lost off the coast of Aruba by a diver, only to arrive months later in Key West, Fla. The housing was encrusted with barnacles, but the camera was nearly pristine. When the discoverer, Paul Shultz, downloaded the images, he found some mysterious footage that suggested a violent encounter with marine life. Only after some super sleuth work did he find that the owner, Dick de Bruin, was alive and well, in Aruba.
The mysterious footage? Sometime during the course of the camera and housings oddysey, a sea turtle mistook the floating object for lunch, it seems.
We will be looking at a few underwater camera products this summer, including the Liquid Image Video Mask, but the testing will be more controlled.
The housing that protected de Bruins well-travelled camera looks to be made by Ikelite, a longtime manufacturer of underwater housings and lights for divers. The camera, we believe, is a Nikon Coolpix series. The two are sold as a package by Ikelite.
For the Youtube video from the camera, check out this link.
For photos from the camera are here.
Thanks to alert PS reader Rob McLaughlin of Freehold, N.J., for the heads up on this story.
