Part IV On The Road to Master Scuba Diver What a sight," I exclaimed as I climbed aboard the dive boat. "We just saw a school of finbacks feeding on plankton." My Master Scuba Diver students, Alph and Kendra, clambered up the ladder behind me. "'Pod,' not 'school.' Finbacks travel in 'pods,'" corrected the divemaster, "And I don't know what you saw, but finbacks don't frequent Southern California waters." "We've got the pictures to prove it," I countered, gesturing to Alph and Kendra. Alph, who was taking the Underwater Photographer course, was rinsing his digital underwater camera. Kendra, who was taking the Underwater Videographer course, was drying her housing. "Show me," challenged the divemaster. We paraded into the salon, where Kendra started hooking her camcorder to the wall-mounted television monitor. Alph booted up his laptop to download his photos. "Here's what I shot," said Alph, "But I didn't get those finbacks because I was modeling for Kendra with them." "Then skip these," replied the divemaster impatiently. "Let's see the video." By now other divers had crowded the salon, and they immediately shouted down the divemaster. "No way," one protested, "Alph took a bunch of shots of me and Eddie in the kelp. I wanna see 'em." Alph began flicking through his shots, earning "ooohs" and "aaahs." I had to admit Alph was getting really adept w ith his camera. "How'd you get the exposure on that shot?" someone asked as Alph flashed up an awesome upward wide shot of divers in kelp, "They're always too dark for me." "Shoot it manually," Alph suggested. "The surface brightness fools the camera, so they come in too dark if you use automatic." "Where'd you learn that?" "In the PADI Underwater Photographer course," he said. "And by taking lots and lots of pictures." "Finbacks! I want to see these supposed finbacks," interjected the divemaster. "OK, Kendra," I relented. "Let it roll." "This isn't edited yet," she cautioned as the first images flickered on the screen. "Wait. Stop, stop. Back that up," someone exclaimed. "See? That's you and me, Sara." Although Kendra hadn't edited the shots into their final form and sequence, I could tell she had the makings of a good video. She'd planned key shots to tell a story, and they were there. She also had a series of wide, medium and close shots that would cut together smoothly to show viewers the dive. "Can I get a copy of this?" someone asked, echoed by a chorus of "Me, too." "I guess so," Kendra nodded. "I'm going to edit it all together as part of the course, so I can burn you some DVDs when I'm done." "You learned this in the Underwater Videographer course?" someone asked. "Yes," she said. "Don't overlook their good instincts and eye," I interrupted. "But the Underwater Photographer and Videographer courses help even the most talented diver, because they bring you up the learning curve faster." "Yes, yes, that's really interesting," cut in the divemaster. "Finbacks." "Right," said Kendra, fast-forwarding despite protests that she just let it play. "There," she said. On screen Alph and I floated in clear blue water, surrounded by a ballet of sea creatures feeding on bits of plankton in debris. "That's a bunch of damselfish. Where are the whales?" demanded the divemaster. "Whales? What whales?" Alph, Kendra and I said in unison. "What whales?' The finback whales you've been talking about, that's what whales!" "Right, we said 'finbacks.'" Alph noted innocently. "They have fins on their backs," he said, pointing to the screen. "Finbacks." "What? Finbacks are whales. This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Know what would've happened if you hadn't shown me video? I'd've been telling divers to look for finback whales for a month." "Gottcha," I grinned as Alph, Kendra and I high-fived. Momentarily surprised, he smiled sheepishly as he realized we'd set him up. "Man, why can't you run normal underwater photo and video courses?" he said, shaking his head.