• Projects
  • The Book
  • About us
  • Contact
Menu

Divers of the Dark

  • Projects
  • The Book
  • About us
  • Contact
Last winter we had a privilege to join Expedition Bjurälven in Northern Sweden. This had been our goal for several years and the trip proved to be worth the wait. By far best organized expedition we have participated. Everybody had a specific role, which kept the project moving smoothly. Also circumstances were on our side and not a single day was canceled due to weather. Expedition will continue next year and when it will be organized for the tenth time. Despite the anniversary challenges will grow. End of line is beyond several sumps and collapses making advance difficult. Laying new line will be challenging not to mention its documentation. We look forward to the challenge. We documented this years expedition from Bo "Bosse" Lenander's point of view. He is the one who found the cave 37 years ago and is still active explorer. Divers of the Dark Production 2016 diversofthedark.com in co-operation with Suunto and Expedition Bjurälven suunto.com expeditionbjuralven.se Filming by Janne Suhonen & Antti Apunen Exploration Team filming by Sami Paakkarinen Divers and uw-lightning team: Ane Mengshoel, Antti Apunen, Dmitri Gorski, Oscar Svensson, Robert Staven & Øyvind Hegle Sound Mastering by Lauri Turjansalo Shot with Sony A7s and Nauticam housing. Housing supplied by Fotografit fotografit.eu Divelights by Scubamafia. scubamafia.com

Signal Seeker

October 4, 2016

In 1979, Bo Lenander was hiking in the Bjurälven natural reserve. He was enjoying the northern Swedish landscape with its lush green beauty of the summer, making his way along the river running through the limestone valley.Bosse arrived at the river source. Being a curious individual, he was soon in the water, freediving to the bottom of the pool...

Read More
In Caves, People, Projects, Home
Setting the personal limits in cave diving Cave diving requires rigorous training and the right equipment. But there also needs to be the correct mentality and respect for the forces of nature. Constant practise and safety margins are the cave divers tools for keeping the risks at bay. Phil Short has been a dive industry professional for over 20 years. He has trained hundreds of divers and participated in demanding cave rescue operations. With the experience of thousands of dives, he knows where to draw his line. “I don't consider cave diving an adrenaline sport. In fact, it's the opposite. Going to an extremely deep point in the ocean, just to get a number for a depth record, that is not my motivation. I would happily do, and have done a lot of very deep dives, for a reason such as a historic shipwreck that nobody's managed to dive. I have more of a kind of Peter Pan, never grow up, child-like approach to exploration. Being there is just magical. It's my drive.” Divers of the Dark Production 2015 www.diversofthedark.com in co-operation with Monami Agency 2015 www.monamiagency.com Underwater filming by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen. Surface filming by Jarkko Virtanen & Iisakki Kennilä/ Monami Agency Phil Short's interview by Juan Reina and filmed by Jarkko M. Virtanen / Monami Agency Sound Mastering by Lauri Turjansalo Divers and uw-lightning team: Phil Short, Antti Apunen, Jarmo Kuusinen, Harri Urho, Veli Elomaa & Zoltan Varga. Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

Phil Short part 3 Personal Limits

February 25, 2016

I don't consider cave diving an adrenaline sport. In fact, it's the opposite. Going to an extremely deep point in the ocean, just to get a number for a depth record, that is not my motivation. I would happily do, and have done a lot of very deep dives, for a reason such as a historic shipwreck that nobody's...

Read More
In Caves, People, Projects, Home
The Cave Diving Rock Nerd Millions of years ago, the seas were filled with very different kinds of life forms than today. Over the millennia, soft seafloor turned into limestone, preserving a snapshot of these creatures from the past. Caves cut right through these ancient layers, displaying a rich collection of fossils and telling a geological story of the Earth’s past. Phil Short has dived caves all over the world, spending thousands of hours diving exploring many kinds of dry and water filled passages. He knows that seemingly small details hide countless stories. Taking a close look, a bulge in the cave ceiling can turn out to be a tooth of an extinct tiger. “Think about swimming through 100 metres of cave passage today, and memorise all of it. And the getting into a time machine and go 3,000 years into the future. The cave would be different because you're diving in something that is alive. The acidic rainwater is dissolving rock, and the flow of the water is eroding it. So the cave is growing. It's forming. It's changing as you're swimming through it.” Divers of the Dark Production 2015 www.diversofthedark.com in co-operation with Monami Agency 2015 www.monamiagency.com Underwater filming by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen. Surface filming by Jarkko Virtanen & Iisakki Kennilä/ Monami Agency Phil Short's interview by Juan Reina and filmed by Jarkko M. Virtanen / Monami Agency Sound Mastering by Lauri Turjansalo Divers and uw-lightning team: Phil Short, Antti Apunen, Jarmo Kuusinen, Harri Urho, Veli Elomaa & Zoltan Varga. Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

Phil Short part 2 Rock Nerd

February 24, 2016

Over 90 percent of caves are formed in a solutional rock, usually limestone. To explore you need to find areas with limestone beds. There are numerous areas like this worldwide. They're all unique because of how the caves are formed...

Read More
In Caves, People, Projects, Home
Discovering the earth’s last hidden frontiers Phil Short has been a dive industry professional for over 20 years. He has explored some of the world’s deepest dry caves and spent thousands of hours diving water filled passages. Research and archeology are also his passion, including such assignments as the Antikhytera survey project in Crete. But what is down there that draws Phil to explore these submerged realms? Cave diving is the last field where human beings are mandatory for exploration. In Victorian times, when somebody climbed a mountain, that was it. They were the first. Now technology has taken over. You can take a look at a picture of a mountain, a valley, jungle, or a gorge before you go there. It has been all mapped. “When you get to the end of the line in a cave, tie your line to that line and swim around the corner, you're the first human being there. It's true exploration, much like Shackleton, Scott and all of these early explorers did because there was no choice. In cave diving, there's still no choice, and that's why I’m so passionately driven by it. Anyone with a sensible budget can find new territory.” Divers of the Dark Production 2015 www.diversofthedark.com in co-operation with Monami Agency 2015 www.monamiagency.com Underwater filming by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen. Surface filming by Jarkko Virtanen & Iisakki Kennilä/ Monami Agency Phil Short's interview by Juan Reina and filmed by Jarkko M. Virtanen / Monami Agency Sound Mastering by Lauri Turjansalo Divers and uw-lightning team: Phil Short, Antti Apunen, Jarmo Kuusinen, Harri Urho, Veli Elomaa & Zoltan Varga. Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

Phil Short part1 Why I Dive

February 23, 2016

Phil Short has been a dive industry professional for over 20 years. He has trained hundreds of divers and participated in demanding cave rescue operations. He has explored some of the world’s deepest dry caves and spent thousands of ...

Read More
In Caves, People, Projects, Home
In summer 2014 we got an exciting filming assignment. We packed our vans full of brand new Apeks gear and headed for the fells of Norway. We dived the Plura cave and filmed cave diving footage available at Apeks website and Vimeo. The video well summarizes the exceptionally beautiful surroundings of the Plura cave, a home for demanding technical dives and one the deepest natural cave traverses in the world, reaching depth of 130 meters. We would like to thank Apeks for their continuous support to Divers of the Dark and other Nordic diving projects. Apeks gear has earned a strong reputation and unwavering trust among not just our team, but so many divers operating in the icy waters of the north. Divers of the Dark -production 2015 Underwater and surface filming by Janne Suhonen Divers and uw-lightning team: Antti Apunen, Sami Paakkarinen, Steven Wahlberg & Jarno Pietikäinen Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

Diving in Plura with Apeks

September 2, 2015

Over a year ago we got an exciting filming assignment. We packed our vans full of brand new Apeks gear and headed for the fells of Norway. We dived the Plura cave and filmed cave diving footage available at www.apeks.co.uk and Vimeo...

Read More
In Caves, Projects, Home
Suunto EON Steel is a next generation Dive Computer. Our group has been involved in the process from the very beginning, from the beta interface testing to ongoing field tests of coming updates. Biggest involvement for us has been producing the images and marketing material for the campaign. Material is filmed in Ressel & Source De Marnade caves in France, Orda cave in Russia, Steinugleflåget cave in Norway, Modric & Vucovica Vrelo caves in Croatia and Tuna Hästberg mine in Sweden. Production by Divers of the Dark. www.diversofthedark.com Filming by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen. Divers and uw-lightning team: Antti Apunen, Harri Urho, Jarmo Kuusinen, Pasi Lahtinen, Phil Short, Sami Paakkarinen, Tomi Mustonen, Veli Elomaa & Zoltan Varga Dive computers by Suunto. www.suunto.com Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

Sami Paakkarinen

February 13, 2015

Baltic waters may not be the clearest and warmest of all seas, but they contain plenty of wrecks and other uncovered secrets. These waters are home for Sami Paakkarinen, one of the topmost European dive instructors...

Read More
In Caves, People
Suunto EON Steel is a next generation Dive Computer. Our group has been involved in the process from the very beginning, from the beta interface testing to ongoing field tests of coming updates. Biggest involvement for us has been producing the images and marketing material for the campaign. During last two years we'v been filming and photographing EON Steel in Orda cave in Russia, Lofoten Islands and Strømsholmen in Norway's Atlantic coast, Plura cave in Northern Norway and latest in Adriatic Sea and caves in Croatia. Screenplay, filming, editing and post production by Divers of the Dark. www.diversofthedark.com Filming by Janne Suhonen, Sami Paakkarinen & Veli Elomaa. Divers and uw-lightning team: Antti Apunen, Harri Urho, Raisa Turja, Sami Paakkarinen, Steven Wahlberg, Pasi Lahtinen, Olli-Pekka Jortikka, and Veli Elomaa Dive computers by Suunto. www.suunto.com Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com Dive gear by Aqualung. www.aqualung.com

Suunto EON Steel

September 30, 2014

Suunto EON Steel is a next generation Dive Computer. Our group has been involved in the process from the very beginning, from the beta interface testing to ongoing field tests of coming updates. Biggest involvement for us has been producing the images and marketing material for the campaign...

Read More
In Caves, Home, Projects, Wrecks
Divers of the Dark -group filmed an ad for Suunto DX in Ojamo mine Finland. www.diversofthedark.com Filming by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen. Divers and uw-lightning team: Antti Apunen, Jarmo Kuusinen, Juha-Matti Räty, Pasi Lahtinen, Veli Elomaa & Vesa Rantanen. Dive computers by Suunto. www.suunto.com Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

Ojamo Lime Mine

January 9, 2014

Imagine sub-zero temperatures and a hole in the ice. That is your entrance to the underworld of Ojamo, the most popular diving site in Finland.Ojamo lime mine is situated 60 kilometers west of Helsinki. It attracts thousands of visits every year...

Read More
In Caves, Home
Divers of the Dark -group started filming a cave diving documentary in september 2012. www.diversofthedark.com Underwater filming by Janne Suhonen & Sami Paakkarinen. Surface filming by Jarkko Virtanen & Iisakki Kennilä from Flatlight Films. www.flatlightfilms.com Divers and uw-lightning team: Phil Short, Antti Apunen, Jarmo Kuusinen, Harri Urho, Veli Elomaa & Zoltan Varga. Camera housings by Aquatica. www.aquatica.ca Lights by Scubamafia. www.scubamafia.com

New footage from Ressel

November 22, 2012

In September 2012, we traveled to France. Our original goal was to secure some footage for our cave documentary in Herault area. Luck was not on our side. Gourneyras and Gourneyroy were closed as the road was being rebuilt. Foux de la Vis had collapsed at the entrance and Durzon was closed for diving...

Read More
In Caves, Updates

Latest Posts

Powered by Squarespace