UNDERWATER HOUSING AND SURFING FOR THE WEEKEND
It’s Friday. In just a couple hours I’ll be on a ferry heading to my favourite place… Tofino.
The forecast for the weekend: Rain, rain and more rain. But when you’re in a wetsuit, surfing in the ocean in the rain is a glorious experience. Who cares about rain when you are already wet? 
Our tarps and tent have always been 3-season and very waterproof, so rain isn’t much of a downer when we are out there. Another side benefit is that there are always less people out camping and surfing when it is raining. I love waking up, hitting the surf on the rising tide (whenever that may be), and then spending the day in the tent with Allan… reading books, watching movies on my Zune, or just being together. I sleep best when there is rain pattering on the tent.
If you’re going to live on the “Wet Coast”, then you have to suck it up sometimes, let everything go… and just enjoy the rain for what it is.
In other news, this past weekend I picked up an underwater housing on clearance from Leo’s Camera. I purchased the Ewa-Marine U-AX housing for my Nikon D90 DSLR, but really any DSLR should work in this case. Everywhere I looked online the prices were $250-500 US. And amazingly… it was only $175 CAD at Leo’s on Clearance. No returns, but hey… at that price you just can’t say no. (They still have some if anyone is looking for one!)
I actually have a Fantasea (har har) brand camera housing, but it’s quite heavy and bulky… and as I realized, best used for scuba diving. The real problem is I couldn’t adapt the housing from my D50 to the D80 and eventually my D90… and so the video controls don’t work on it.
So this new housing will hopefully give me the flexibility of changing the video settings and other controls, while still leaving open the possibility of later changing cameras.
So let’s hope the surf videos and photos turn out with this. I’ll let you know the full review when I get back!
And yes, that HD surf video I promised… it’s still coming 
I’ll combine the footage with the stuff I get this weekend to put together something cool.
Hope everyone has a fabulous long weekend!
Tags: camera housing, DSLR, Ewa-Marine, Nikon D90, review, surf housing, Surfing, Tofino, U-AX, water housing
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September 4th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
so excited for you – and the forecast right now looks beautiful and sunny, although who cares if it’s raining since you’ll be wet anyways. there’s something so magical about surfing in the rain anyhow in tofino.
you’re like the only person I know that actually has a zune! amazing! i’m definitely on the apple camp – between rob and I we have 2 iphones, 3 ipods, 1 nano, and 1 touch. most of these items we scored for free b/c of what rob does but we’re definitely apple peeps.
looking forward to your new pics and surf videos. I really really really wish i was surfing there this weekend!
btw, how big is your board?
September 4th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Hah! Just saw your tweet about the ferry reservation – well done
Have an amazing weekend, Allie! The underwater housing looks brilliant, I’ve been wanting to pick some up too!
September 5th, 2009 at 7:44 am
It blows my mind that you’re able to go to Tofino so often and I’ve never once attempted to make the trip. Hope you’re having the best time ever!
* Kelsey
September 7th, 2009 at 4:25 am
what a lucky girl, you got cheap housing for your camera. But surely money will not lie somehow it will contain any defect. Hope your camera housing will last longer
September 7th, 2009 at 6:57 am
nice. keep us posted…. miss tofino tons… one of these days we’ll show Callen BC proper
September 7th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Very cool about the underwater housing! Do you think it would fit the D90 with the grip installed?
Looking forward to seeing the results!
September 8th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Looking forward to see the results with the housing!
I hope you had fun there
xxx
September 9th, 2009 at 9:03 am
“The Wet Coast”. So true. Long ago I gave up on wearing a bathing suit at the beach and am as happy as a clam in my fleece. Can’t wait to see the surfing photos. Tofino is so beautiful, I’m jealous you’re so close!
September 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am
So…where are the pictures and videos? :p
September 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hey Liv, my board is 7’10″… it’s a small longboard for me
(I am 5’6″)
John, it’s a tight fit for the D90, let alone with a grip. However Ewa-Marine has several housings… I think Leo’s has the U-AXP on clearance as well which is a bigger housing. You can go in and try the idfferent sizes
Tawcan… they are coming.. I need time on the weekend to edit the video
April 23rd, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Hey, this is too much fun! For over a year I’ve been planning and dreaming and bragging to all my friends that I’m going to make a surfing video in Tofino! Nobody believed me, well, except my wife and my granddaughter who believe everything I say. Well, after endless research I finally bought my new Canon t2i — two days ago — the only remaining purchase was an underwater housing – I can’t wait to catch those waves — so, I did a final google before I plunked down over $350 for a new Ewa-Marine housing — your web blog popped up — I read “… it was only $175 CAD at Leo’s on Clearance. No returns, but hey… at that price you just can’t say no. (They still have some if anyone is looking for one!)”
So I immediately called Leo’s Camera — and guess what — they still had one last one on clearance for $175! Thank you so much!
If you happen to see some old guy in Tofino — who doesn’t quite fit his wet suit the way it might have 40 years ago — with his Canon wrapped in a new Ewa-Marine housing — it might just be me! Thank again! I will look for you surfing video.
You might note from my photo — that’s my granddaughter who is a real Tofino surfin girl. We love the west coast — but make sure you don’t ask me to tell stories about Ucluelet and Tofino– history, ship wrecks, politics, surfing from the 60s — I’ll never shut up.
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:14 am
Hey I like your camera! So pro! Have fun always Allie
February 13th, 2011 at 8:47 am
hello all, I’m new on here and looking forward to being a part of the threaded.