marksm

Book 'em Danno: Kleptomaniac Manta Mugs Cameraman -
What began as another exhilarating manta ray night dive off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on an August evening in 2010, quickly turned into the theft of the century. Cameraman Travis Matteson was capturing footage for the scuba diving travel television show "Into the Drink" aboard the Kona Aggressor II. Suddenly, one of the manta's cephalic lobes hooked his lighting system, and darted off with the nearly $10,000 worth of gear. Underwater videographer Johnny Reidt caught the entire theft on camera, and the manta, carrying the stolen rig, captured some amazing footage of the nighttime reef. Remarkably, the camera rig was found completely intact after an eight-minute run by the manta, just yards from the dive boat. Case closed.

The video can be seen here on Into The Drink's youtube channel



Let me add a note for those who care like we do at Into the Drink about our marine environment.

As the DOP on this shoot, I was there and Travis was obviously shooting the school of small fish and had his attention on them at the moment the manta decided to swim at his lights and hooked the light cable. Travis is the most heartfelt, mindful person for the environment and the sea life I have ever met. His first thought was of the manta not getting hurt by this when he came up, even with a $10,000 rig out on the ocean floor. At NO time does any of the film crew do anything harmful to the marine life that provides us with our passion and our livelihood.  If one of the cameramen did so intentionaly,  they would be fired on the spot.  I encourage you to look as this freak occurrence for what it was. A freak occurance we can only laugh at now.

We thought the manta night dive in Hawaii was amazing. It caught all of us off guard with the quantity and quality of the experience. When the Hawaii episode airs, we hope that all the great operators, who share the Manta's waters each night, will benefit from the exposure. More plankton for the mantas please.

Win a dive trip in the Philippines with the "Into the Drink" Crew

Click here to enter: http://www.intothedrink.tv/abyssworld

LiquidAssets.tv, the producers of "Into the Drink," is teaming up with AbyssWorld to give away a dive trip of a lifetime for two in the Visayas, Philippines. The lucky two divers will join the crew of LiquidAssets.tv in the Philippines Oct. 19-29 as they film another episode of their new dive travel television show, "Into the Drink."

You've heard rumors about how great the diving is, now see for yourself. The Philippines is a magical archipelago of more than 7,000 islands which host an authentic and captivating population. A sense of adventure and evasion prevails in the country surrounded by warm coral seas. Discover Cebu, Moalboal, Apo, Siquijor and Panglao. Dive the drop-offs, be amazed by the color and rich marine life, great visibility and enchanting surroundings.

No purchase is necessary to win, however you must agree to receive both the LiquidAssets.tv and AbyssWorld's email newsletter to be eligible. The winner will be selected on or after June 1, 2010, and will be contacted at the email address and phone number that the contestant provides below. Winner will be announced on this web site in Summer 2010. Retail value is $5,390 US. This prize is transferrable to the divers of choice should the winner not be able to make the allocated dates. You can enter only one time per day.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Into the Drink" Premieres on Tuff TV, Retro Television Network and Resort & Residence TV This Week

"Into the Drink," the new dive travel television show produced by LiquidAssets.tv, premieres this week on Tuff TV, Retro Television Network and Resort & Residence TV. "Into the Drink" is a hosted travel show made up of 13 half-hour episodes. Filming locations for Season One include California's Channel Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Grand Cayman, Guadalupe Island off the coast of Baja California, Honduras, Wakatobi, Indonesia, St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Turks & Caicos.

The show premieres Sunday, Feb. 7 at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. EST on Tuff TV in Wichita/Hutchinson, Kansas (KGPT-D4, Channel 49), Little Rock/Pine Bluff, Arkansas (KKYK-DT, Channel 49) and Fort Smith/Fayetteville/Springdale/Rogers, Arkansas (KFDF-CA, Channel 10). Also, look for "Into the Drink" on Tuff TV coming soon in Tyler/Longview, Texas (KIVY), Dallas, Texas (KHPK), Memphis, Tennessee (WBII), Atlanta, Georgia (WYGA), Austin, Texas (KVAT), and Charleston, West Virginia (W31CA).

"Into the Drink" will premiere on the Retro Television Network (national feed) every Sunday at 9:00 a.m. EST beginning Sunday, February 14. A list of stations that broadcast Retro Television Network will be available soon on the show's official fan web site, http://www.intothedrink.tv.

"Into the Drink" will also be televised on Resort & Residence TV, DirecTV Channel 354, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. EST, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday at 4:00 p.m. EST starting Thursday, February 11.

Distribution for "Into the Drink" is growing weekly and updates will be made as they become available on the official show web site's "Watch It" page, located at http://www.intothedrink.tv.

LiquidAssets.tv also leads "on-location" trips to join them as they film episodes in exotic locations. Upcoming trips include Belize April 20-24, Kona, Hawaii August 14-21 and the Philippines October 19-29. For more information about their on-location trips, please visit http://www.intothedrink.tv/travel.

Contact:
Randy Harris
Executive Producer
LiquidAssets.tv
(903) 432-4646
randy@liquidassets.tv
http://www.intothedrink.tv

Put the "You" in Utopia! - Utopia Village: Utila, Honduras:  Enter to win a unique dive vacation for two at Utopia Village on Utila in Honduras's Bay Islands. Package includes 7 nights accommodations, three gourmet meals daily, five days of diving, and much, much more.  http://intothedrink.tv/utopia/


Enjoy!

Mark - LiquidAssets.tv

Well just a public thank you to the team at Gates.

Capturing an episode of the show here in Cayman Islands , I just had an issues that could have prevented me from finishing the shoot with my EX1.

First on an amazing dive through cut passage ways; beams of glorious light were cascading through cuts in the coral ceiling. The plan was to have the host move through the beams, breaking the light as he passed. So I went to dial down the iris and nothing! Arghhh I had lost control.  Getting back to the room I realized the end of the control had gotten chewed up. This was operator error from engaging the servo motor before disengaging the control.  I had only 30 minutes back at the dock. I ran to the laptop and fired off the most cryptic of emails to John & Pamela at Gates. It was something like this.

"John, my iris control is chewed up. Can you get me one to Sunset House in the Caymans overnight. Thanks. - Mark Santa-Maria"  

The next day, the control is there at the front desk. Overnighted to me despite me not giving them even an address.  Not only did I get the part but they through in the allen wrench to do it!   I think that is amazing customer service.  I still have three more days of shooting before we move on to the next location but right now Im just waiting for a nice break in the weather to get back to those streaks of light.


Mark