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Yes, it was exactly like that. After a good season in
the North Region or Rio, I would travel to the Caribbean
to take it all to the next level, mostly because the diving
was so seasonal in Brazil. I landed first in the Dominican
Republic and worked there for one year, doing both
scuba instruction and videography.
My big break — the one job that most advanced my
career — happened when I got a job with Stuart Cove’s
Dive Bahamas on the island of New Providence in
2000. There I was a dive instructor, a shark feeder and a
boat captain. Eventually I began to work with their photo
center; I learned more about cameras and video as a
photo pro there than at any other time in my life. It was
a time for hard work, and I loved it every aspect of it.
The foundation for my career as a filmmaker today is
a reflection of what I learned at Stuart Cove’s. I had to
be efficient there. It was very busy all the time, and our
guests were sometimes cruise-ship passengers, or maybe
they were staying at a hotel on Cable Beach or in Nassau.
They would often be there just for the day, and we had
to get the videos and stills ready for them to review very
quickly or, no matter how inspired and creative the shot,
the customer would never see the images.
I had to get it right the first time and deliver the
content quickly. But that didn’t mean it had to be
boring. In a 30-minute shark dive I would shoot different
angles, different cuts. Maybe I’d include some shots from
above to establish the scene and to show how many
sharks there were, or maybe other angles right at the
feeder’s spear would help capture the forced perspective
of the bite shot with the customers in the background.
The opportunity was there, and I had the will to try to
make it different and better on every dive. For me it was
a very good education about discipline and the business
of filmmaking. I spent three years working with Stuart
and Michelle Cove, and I remain grateful for the learning
and inspiration they provided.
It was hard work though, often seven days a week.
When it was time to move on, I took a sabbatical
year to go diving, hiking and rock climbing.
My personal batteries needed to be recharged, and I
needed the clarity to decide what was next for me.
I was an itinerant cameraman for a while, mostly
shooting tourist videos around the various dive hotspots
in Mexico. My travels to the Riviera Maya, Holbox,
Cozumel, the cenotes and Baja made good content for
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