Travel Tech Gadgets: underwater camera

Sep 5, 2012

Fun in Dominican Sun

Last week we spent relaxing for the first time in quite awhile in the warm sunny Dominican Republic. While we have taken trips here and there, this was the first trip that we were down South and relaxing for most the vacation.

To get to DR, we flew on JetBlue, which has shuttle flights a couple of times a week into the southern resorts. The airport is less than half hour away. Better yet, JetBlue has a policy of first checked in bag flies free. If we really wanted to and really tried, we could have packed all of our stuff in the two carry-ons. However, we expected to have some more stuff with us on the way back as well as wanted less packing hassle.
The plane, while small, had good leg room. Surprising, since most of the other flights with larger airlines were with very tight quarters. Another thing that JetBlue has, that other do not, is included "unlimited" snacks and drinks.

At the resort, I expected tech gadgets, and mostly smartphones, as everyone has them now and are rarely separated. I was surprised by how many iPads there were. Folks were using them to take pictures and videos quite often. And to surf or look through pictures at lunch time.

Large part of the time on vacation we spent in the ocean. The water was great, clear to the bottom. And we actually had a beach. Quite contrary to our trip to Cancun a few years back where there was only about a foot of beach left after some storms. During every one of our swims we had along our newest travel gadget, Panasonic Lumix underwater camera. We fell in love with it after the first swim. It is easy to use and can be left on while swimming and be able to take a photo at any time. It was great during our snorkeling venture in the open ocean. The camera has all the features of a regular digital camera with great function in and under the water. See some of the water fun shots we have taken on the trip below. We got the camera together with a floating strap. It connects to the camera and hangs on your wrist. And if it does happen to slip off, the strap will just float on the surface keeping the camera within reach.

Another great feature of the camera, that made it like a swiss knife, was its time telling capability. We had a sports watch along with us for that purpose. A watch is also a great gadget to have with you on a trip. Even though it is not much used when at home with smartphones and so on, it comes in very handy in traveling. Unfortunately, we lost ours, rather I lost it, half way through our vacation. And it was at that time that we realized that the camera which we dragged just about everywhere around the resort, can also be used to tell time. It was awesome.

A smaller part of the vacation we spent lounging around. During that time we caught up on some reading. I had a magazine with me and my wife her Kindle. I monopolized the Kindle during our flight as I was reading one of the books from the Hunger Game trilogy. All three books were pre-loaded on the e-reader. My wife also had a few other books loaded as well. It is great that you can carry so many books in one small compact and light package. It saves so much luggage space and provides hours of entertainment. Kindle also came in very handy when I got a sunburn and had to wait around for all the lotions, to make my skin normal again, absorb :)
By the way, if anyone has some tips on either good sunscreen or technique for staying out in Caribbean sun without feeling the burn after, PLEASE Let Me Know

To keep our relaxation going even when it was time to head back, we packed with us our digital luggage scale. Good thing too, as the all-inclusive resort that we stayed in charged extra for weighing your bags before departure. That was only one of the reasons we were happy to have this gadget along. It is small, compact, and does not add much weight to the luggage. We were confident when giving our one bag for check-in with the souvenirs and damp clothing (we went swimming on our last day in the morning to enjoy the clear ocean one last time)

Packing it in: