Castaway Part 3
even more even more GPS adventuring on the high seas!!
Don’t forget to check out the first two parts of this series before diving in!
This week, I’m wrapping up the Castaway series with a few (7) extra tapes I found amongst the GPS Adventures series. When I scored these early this year, I really had no idea what I’d come across. As I’ve mentioned before, I love underwater footage, especially early video era (1990s-2000s), and there’s been so much to watch in these 15 tapes. It’s been a real treat to get to see so much footage from mostly the Keys region of Florida and it’s surrounding sea.
In this batch we have a wide variety of things. The first tape I’d like to highlight was something mentioned in the links section of the KeysDiveGuide website, which I explored in Castaway Part 2, A Key Encounter - Nature Theatre.
“You will be greeted by three HUGE screens, each showing a different aspect of our presentation. The underwater footage is absolutely breathtaking! (A big thanks to Miami attorney Pat Ford, who donated the underwater footage!)
Since March 31, 1996, A Key Encounter has brought this wonderful twenty-minute movie of God's creation in the Florida Keys to thousands upon thousands of visitors to Key West. Celebrating these years in business, the Family Wildlife Theater is now FREE to the public, and is even open seven days a week!”
The first tape I have for y’all this week is the very tape that was sold at the gift shop of this free attraction. While Don Ferguson’s name doesn't come up anywhere in the credits of this tape, it’s very neat to have found this relic from the 90s. I can only imagine how cool it was to see it projected in it’s triple screen format at the original location.
I’d also like to take a second to highlight The Legend of H2O tape, a homemade silent film that tells the tale of a magical spirit that lives at the bottom of the sea. This is a quick 25 minute video featuring a small marionette being puppeteered underwater by a diver. The spirit gets into all sorts of wacky situations like dancing with octopi, attacked by lobsters and sharks, and feeding eels.
I can tell the creators of this, Rick and Sue, had a lot of fun in the production of this video, which was intended for just friends and family.
Finally, for the GPS Adventure series fans, the last three tapes are for you! There’s roughly another hour and a half of footage from the series in work prints, test footage and bloopers, and it’s definitely worth checking out. The labeling on these tapes also solved the question I’ve had since discovering this series. Since the cameras used in production are always in their diving housings, it has been difficult to determine what format they were using.
Thankfully, one of the tapes is marked as a transfer from Hi8 to VHS, meaning it’s likely all the footage was shot on Hi8. This was a much smaller format than VHS or even Compact VHS (VHS-C), and could hold 120 minutes per tape. In a lot of ways, it was the precursor to Mini DV, which was had slightly smaller cassettes but higher quality video and transfer options. Hi8 had a true successor in Digital8. Digital8 camcorders recorded digital video information to the same tapes that a Hi8 camera would, which would result in much higher video quality in the same small size, however it wasn’t a very popular format.
Well, that’s it! Let’s get right into the tapes!
A Key Encounter
1997 | Runtime: 24 Minutes
In the Mallory Square area of Key West, Florida - beside the Aquarium (at 291 Front Street in an upstairs auditorium) you'll SEE this footage and much more on 3 huge screens totaling 48 feet across and 12 feet high. SURROUNDED by sound, you'll EXPERIENCE an encounter not duplicated anywhere else. And this tape will be your TREASURED SOUVENIR to relive unforgettable moments - the next best thing to being there! So for the next 24 minutes, ENJOY...
A rare and beautiful collection of footage featuring both under- water life and land creatures. Glimpse a barracuda bite the hand of the man trying to feed him. Listen to the roar of an upset alligator. Watch a peacock on Big Pine Key face down a Key Deer buck. Most of all, discover the fascination of scuba diving without ever getting wet! An Adventure worth viewing again and again.
Wonders of the Deep
Video 1: The U.S. Virgin Islands and The British Virgin Islands
1996 | Runtime: 45 Minutes
THE US. VIRGIN ISLANDS... A remarkably popular sailing and fishing destination, the U.S.V.l.'s are now also a highly regarded dive destination. We'll travel to the regions' three largest islands including St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. We'll also profile the unique history of these beautiful islands and feature a new watersport called "snuba".
THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS... This beautiful group of islands is world renowned for it's great sailing. Diving is also a popular activity and several fine shipwrecks are located here. We'll dive on the renowned wrecks of the "RMS Rhone' and the "Chikuzen" and feature sailing.
Wonders of the Deep
Video 2: New Providence and Walker's Cay / Bimini
1996 | Runtime: 45 Minutes
NEW PROVIDENCE... This Bahamian island has long been a favorite of tourists. It is also a wonderful diving destination that offers great wreck sites and beautiful coral reefs. New Providence is one of a handful of destinations that offers an exciting shark encounter. This program will feature sharks, sharks, and more sharks. It will also feature the James Bond wrecks, coral reefs and an interview with shark cinematographer, Marty Snyderman.
WALKER'S CAY / BIMINI... These two tiny islands are located in the northern Bahamas, just minutes from the Florida mainland. They are both premier boating and fishing destinations that are also great dive sites. This program features a shark encounter with over 50 sharks in a feeding frenzy, a visit with a tame six foot barracuda, and the art of free diving.
The Legend Of H2O
2003 | Runtime: 25 Minutes
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2003! We have made this video for fun and in response to requests from friends for some pictures of H2 O. Tips for viewing: adjust color, music should be set to moderate and be seated no more the six feet away to allow easy reading of captions. Rich and Sue
Eel Footage
Hi8 Transfer Tape - Davis Manatee October 19 1999
October 19th, 1999 | Runtime: 62 Minutes
*Contains bloopers at the end
Some of the footage from this tape, specifically the footage of the divers interacting with eels appears in GPS Adventures Volume 2 "Shipwrecks of Upper Key Largo" A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey, the final version can be found here.
Galleon Hunter Work Print 1/2
Volume 3 (2?) Version 1 January 13 2000
January 13th, 2000 | Runtime: 37 Minutes
This is a work print of GPS Adventures Volume 2 "Shipwrecks of Upper Key Largo" A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey, the final version can be found here.
Shipwreck of Islamorada Work Print 2/2
GPS Adventure WO#111960 Don Ferguson
2001 | Runtime: 42 Minutes
This is a work print of GPS Adventures Volume 5 Shipwrecks of Islamorada: A Florida Keys Dive Odyssey, the final version can be found here.
Well, that’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the tapes! If you’re looking for more, please check out my page on Archive.org for the full list of digitized media. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message right here or drop a comment below. If you haven’t already, please check out the one of my previous posts below, or all of my other previous posts here. Thanks so much for checking out this week’s edition of Diptych!
See you soon!
—Forrest
Castaway Part 1
I believe it was early this year when I came across these tapes. I was digging through the media area of one of my favorite local thrift stores, one that I’ve been going to since I was a kid and would go there with my grandma, and I opened up the cabinet doors on one of those big old wooden entertainment centers at the back of the room to find a hoard of sealed shipwreck scuba diving tapes. A treasure, if I ever saw one...
Castaway Part 2
As promised, I’ve looked into the reason a big stack of diving videos from the Florida Keys landed in a small thrift store in Knoxville, Tennessee earlier this year. As it turns out, the simplest answer once again has shown itself to be the correct answer. Don, the creator of the GPS Adventures series, lived and went to school in Knoxville in the 1960s and 70s. He was even an ICEVOL, a member of the University of Tennessee Knoxville ice hockey team...
I'm excited to watch these this week, but I'm too busy looking through all these cool old websites!