my next trip is a liveaboard in the Red Sea in late November from Hurghada visiting all the well known sites , thistelgorm, brothers, ras mohammed and others

I haven't been to the Red Sea since 1999 so my memory of the dive sites is a bit hazy

I am presuming this is mostly proper wide angle territory rather than macro? My wife got a bit 'bemused' by the amount of kit that came to Indonesia, so rationalising it a bit would be good

6 hours ago, Mike Saunders said:

my next trip is a liveaboard in the Red Sea in late November from Hurghada visiting all the well known sites , thistelgorm, brothers, ras mohammed and others

I haven't been to the Red Sea since 1999 so my memory of the dive sites is a bit hazy

I am presuming this is mostly proper wide angle territory rather than macro? My wife got a bit 'bemused' by the amount of kit that came to Indonesia, so rationalising it a bit would be good

Definitely wide angle country - you can leave the macro kit at home.

Basically you are doing a north reefs & wrecks trip from Hurghada - will be windy that time of year so make sure you pack a hoody. Probably 5mm wetsuit too rather than a 3mm. Best tip is to take two wetsuits - one can be drying while you are diving the other one - that way you are always putting on a dry wetsuit.

very helpful thank you

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Red Sea, but I wouldn’t leave my macro gear at home; macro can be interesting for night dives and certain other dives.

yep - three night dives are planned so I will take a short macro lens and port anyway which shouldn't upset the other half too much...

definitely planning a hoody and tracky bottoms for the evenings

Edited September 14Sep 14 by Mike Saunders

Definitely wide-angle for the day dives. I’ve pretty much given up on daytime macro in the R/S. Macro makes good sense though for the night dives and, yep, not something too demanding in terms of “finding “ the subject in the viewfinder. So 60mm on FF.

As CCRphoto says, it’ll be starting to get a bit nippy. Wrap up warm, Mike 😜

I dive out of Eilat a lot (northern Red Sea), so different routes than a Hurghada liveaboard, but the same water type. Agree this is mostly wide-angle country for that itinerary. Wrecks and reef walls are the main show. If you're thinning the bag after Indonesia, leave the macro kit home.

I shoot a phone in a housing and a GoPro with no strobes, which forces the keep-it-simple habit. What I'd actually want on a Red Sea boat: a camera you can grab every dive without fuss, a spare battery or two, and hands free for buoyancy.

Agree with the two-wetsuits tip already in the thread for November. Beyond that I'd rather leave options I won't open at home.