Hosts of The Surface Interval Show - Andrew Bowie, Bear and Des Paroz


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About BlueBeyond.com.au

BlueBeyond Concepts operates the BlueBeyond.com.au website. We focus on providing information regarding the underwater world, through articles, photography and courses and workshops regarding scuba diving and photography.

The People of BlueBeyond

Des Paroz is an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer. A PADI Course Director and an Emergency First Response (EFR) Instructor Trainer, Des also holds instructor qualifications with DAN and TDI. In 15 years of diving, Des has been fortunate to have dived in such exotic places as Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Thailand, Queensland’s Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef, the Florida Gulf Coasts and the quarries and lakes of Ohio and Indiana. The temperate water diving of NSW holds a special place for Des, and he and Belinda dive most weeks around Sydney, the Illawarra and beyond. Des is also producer and co-host on the scuba diving podcast The Surface Interval.  Des holds a masters degree in marketing, a degree in Economics, a Diploma of Outdoor Recreation and a  Certificate IV in Assessment & Workplace Training.

Belinda Briggs has been diving for more than 5 years, and is a PADI Master Scuba Diver and EFR Instructor. Belinda has dived extensively around Sydney, the Illawarra and Nelson Bay, and has tropical diving experience in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Belinda has also had the unique experience of snorkelling in Antarctica. Belinda holds a degree in linguistics and a masters in criminology and Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training.

Photographic Equipment

Currently, most of our photography is done with a Nikon D200 SLR in an Aquatica housing. We also use a Nikon F80S in a Sea & Sea NX80 housing. Lenses used include wide angle (10.5mm Fisheye), macro (60mm) and zoom (12-24mm, 24-85mm and 70-300mm). Lighting is provided by a range of strobes, including a pair of Inon Z220S’s, a Sea & Sea YS-60/N and a Sea & Sea YS-30/Duo.

Over the years we have used a variety of camera equipment, including the ever-popular Nikonos V. For SLRs we have used housings from Ikelite, Sea and Sea and most recently Aquatica. The Ikelite housing is a terrific product, but the lack of a superwide dome port proved to be a limitation now that I am trying to improve my wreck and under/over photography, both using a fisheye lens requiring the superwide dome. The Sea & Sea is lovely product for the Nikon F80, but for the D100, we felt that the Sea & Sea product was too bulky and expensive. So we changed over to Aquatica, a product we have found to be both excellent and affordable. We have stayed with the Aquatica product as we’ve migrated to the Nikon D200.

About BlueBeyond.com.au

What you see is the 5th Generation version of the BlueBeyond.com.au website. This version is built using ModX , which makes it easy to manage and operate, through a web interface. The photo galleries are currently hosted at Flickr, a Web 2.0 style service that allows you to easily upload and manage your images, and to retrieve them to display on your own site. I will be rebuilding the galleries in this site shortly.

Images have been prepared for the site using Adobe Photoshop CS2 or Photoshop Elements 5, and more recently with Nikon Capture NX. For older images, scanning is done with an Canon CanoScan 4000U film scanner. Of course, more and more of our images are captured digitally, reducing our scanning efforts.

BlueBeyond.com.au is hosted by ILB Computing, who also provides technical support for scripts and the occasional dive buddy.

Environmental Statement

As avid divers, we believe we have a role to play in being ambassadors for the marine environment.  It is a misnomer that our planet is called Earth - we really should be called "Ocean".  It is becoming clearer everyday that the survival of our species (and those around us) is dependent on the health of the planet - particularly its oceans and its atmosphere.  

It is now beyond reasonable doubt that our planet is under severe threat brought on by Global Climate Change.  The Greenhouse Gases we're releasing into the atmosphere are a major cause of global warming, and are also causing acidification of our oceans.

If we don't do something about it, the long term viability of our society and the environment is severely threatened.

We believe that every individual can be part of the solution.  To this end, we have made the following changes as part of our efforts

  1. We try to practice responsible diving on every dive.  We don't aggravate marine life, and we endeavour to have good buoyancy control.
  2. We participate in beach and underwater clean up activities
  3. As a dive instructor, Des promotes awareness in all courses, and actively promotes Project AWARE activities
  4. We have switched to 100% GreenPower for our household consumption
  5. We purchase carbon offsets for our vehicle usage and airline flights.
  6. We have changed to energy efficient lighting and water usage at home, and make an effort to switch lights and other electrical outlets off when not in use
  7. We have decided that we have bought our last petrol cars.  We are exploring hybrid or other cleaner vehicles for our future requirements
These are just some steps.  We hope you'll also take steps to do your bit!

Mailing Address

Blue Beyond Concepts
PO Box 3202
Bangor, NSW 2234
Australia

Phone: (02) 91149226
Fax: (02) 42530052