So first off I know this is not the typical explore as I usually like the underground caves or mines. Typically I love long exposures. I thought some of you might like these anyways as technically these wrecks are abandoned right?

This past May I Finally decided to make the plunge and spend around 600 bucks on an underwater camera housing. Since starting diving and visiting a few shipwrecks I have always wanted to try photographing them. After doing some research and pool tests with the new housing, I realized that it could be possible to light paint underwater but that there would be a ton of extra steps I had not planned on. I would need to weight the tripod/camera to prevent the water from shaking the camera even a little, and I would also need a bit more light. This all presented a lot of technical issues with diving as you need to usually have your weight perfectly figured out. Bringing extra weight down for the camera and its weights + off camera lights is a whole new thing I need to sort out.

These images are sort a first test to be sure that I could capture images to begin with.

I sadly was unable to test out my long exposure ideas as I was just trying to focus on the dive and so many other elements. We did not have time to worry about extra steps. In the future my idea is to possibly bring a light tripod, and empty sand bags, fill the bags with sand from the ocean floor, then use those to hold everything from moving. Given we only get about an hour underwater I think we would be lucky to capture even a handful of shots this way with another person helping me. Still excited to try this next time!

Anyways these images still came out pretty cool, and it was great prep for future expeditions! Hope yall like them!


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This was our first look at a new wreck we had never been guided through. This wreck ended up being super sketch so we only ventured slightly inside and never to far from an exit.




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Entering here lead to what I believe was the engine room. The wreck was super disorienting as it was on its side.





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Looking out the Bridge of the ship




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In this image you can see the lowest point we reached inside the wreck on its side. You can see a lot of all the metal and debris in there so it is no wonder that I actually got stuck.
After diving under that set of stairs/ ladder following my friend, he had began ascending while I was taking these images. I began to follow him up only to not move at all. At that moment I knew id fucked up and just sat back breathing to stay calm. I tried to wave to my friend but he was looking up and moving out of the wreck as he continued. I realized I needed to get unstuck and that one of my regulator hoses was stuck on some metal. After evaluating the situation I was able to lift it off and get myself out of it fairly easy. This made me realize how easy it really is to get killed in a situation like this. Luckily we both have a large amount of dives under our belts and my buddy is a certified rescue diver. I know if Id been truly stuck hed have come back and helped me out of it, but its still very understandable how a lot of people in that same situation would have freaked out and could've easily died. Made me think twice about exploring new places underwater like this without more careful planning.




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This was my buddy checking the depth on his computer. This was the deepest we ventured this trip at about 100feet. Its crazy how the water goes from tropical to ice cold so quickly. Maybe one day ill get deep dive certed and hit some 100-200ft wrecks but for now im happy with this being my deepest.




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It was pretty cool being able to go under parts of the ship like this. The hull had holes in parts so we could go under the side and then ascend up inside the ship.




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Hope some people liked this kind of explore. If there is any interest I also have video of exploring 3 different shipwrecks that im still editing. Probably with minimal edits and just the full raw video of the explores.

Man I wanna do this so bad!

Posted by decayed state Man I wanna do this so bad!

You should! I always thought Scuba was a super rich person hobby but it is not really that bad. I was able to do all my trips on broke ass college student budget. Open water cert was like $2-300 for the course and pool training/ dives then all you need is an open water dive. If you dive in Mexico or another cheaper country its still possible to rent gear and a boat tour with multiple dive sites for 1-200 for a full guided day. The more friends you have the cheaper the cost of the boat too, so if it had been more than my friend and I you could probably have an entire day out on the water with at least two dive sites and it would be like $50-100.

I dig it! Cool and unique.

And damn that is a bright pink tank.

this is so cool! as someone who loves fishing, surfing, swimming, etc, i've always loved the ocean and been interested in diving, but man the ocean sure is a scary place haha

i'm curious about how the long exposures underwater would work. is there no current that would move the camera?

8, 11, and 28 are my favorites! hope to see more from you

Posted by bleckfrog this is so cool! as someone who loves fishing, surfing, swimming, etc, i've always loved the ocean and been interested in diving, but man the ocean sure is a scary place haha i'm curious about how the long exposures underwater would work. is there no current that would move the camera? 8, 11, and 28 are my favorites! hope to see more from you

You should find a way to make diving happen! even if not at a wreck it is one of most I have ever felt like I am exploring an alien planet. It for sure can be scary but even after the first dive It becomes so tranquil and relaxing its almost a meditative thing. I once had a dive where my buddy was sick so I did a shallow 30ft deep reef alone. I was so relaxed a tank that should have lasted 45mins lasted me easily over 70mins. laying on the sea floor and just watching fish swarm around you is something everyone should experience.

Well in regards to long exposure I figured out the camera would need to be very weighted down to a solid surface so movement is impossible, my plan was to setup a cheap tripod, then toss on a ton of sand bags until its so pulled down to the deck of the ship that no waves can move it. The issue is that if you bring that weight down with you then let go you dangerously shoot the surface. I know there are scuba things like lift bags to help with going up but getting down I just need more planning. From there id probably set a delay timer and swim as fast as I could into the positions I wanted to light from. If you search Shipwreck photography, there is one guy out there that I think does something similar to this, however id like to fully paint a scene even more than he does. (the same as I do for mines). To regain all the color that is lost from the water blocking red wavelengths at depth would be so cool to see as even with your eyes it is impossible to see the scenes like that without thousands if not 10s of thousands of dollars of video grade underwater lighting gear. I really think I can do it with just two decent lights and a longer exposure time. Guess we will see Idk when my next diving trip will be.

This looks incredibly fun! Definitely one of my bucket list things to do, getting certified and diving wrecks. Great pics as well, I can imagine it takes some skill to get clear shots underwater.

Surprised to see no graffiti

Posted by selectedgrub Surprised to see no graffiti

Surprised that nobody has burned it down yet.

This is so awesome

Seabex? Scubex?

Super awesome, btw.

Who was this? If she is missing one of her three propellers and is in the Pacific, then I already know who she is and just want confirmation.

Posted by Tigergo2112 Who was this? If she is missing one of her three propellers and is in the Pacific, then I already know who she is and just want confirmation.

So the images are actually a bit confusing in that this is a bit of two different wreck dives. The ones from the bridge are from the Fang Ming in the sea of Cortez and the other ship is near by that Wreck but is much lesser known or dived. Most the images of the Props and such are of another wreck near the Fang Ming, however there was very little info about this wreck on the internet. I think both were actually scuttled to make artificial reefs.

Totally cool! i love old wrecks, and really appreciate the photos you was able to get. The whole experience must be so surreal. Thank You for sharing your underwater adventure with us. Awesome explore!