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Thank you so much for your tips, I hope I'll have good look with the weather. I know it will be crowded, but anyway I expect I'll take almost a good shot which makes the the trip to worth it. I'll tell you my impressions once I come back

Japan said on July 24 it plans to conduct full-scale mining tests next February for rare earth minerals from a seabed near a remote Pacific island, after a mission successfully recovered samples from 6km below the waves. The Straits TimesJapan to test rare earth mining 6km underwater in Februar...A mission had successfully recovered rare earth samples from 6km below the waves. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Im also planing a 2 weeks trip to Philippines for 2027.. its mixed family trip with Diving, so im also looking for stunning beaches and nice resorts-- What are the recommended diving sites besides Malapascua Island and Moalboal. What route would you select around Cebu, from north to south (vice-versa)

Hi I’ve dived Malapascua several times—the first time in 2005, and most recently this past March. The island and the diving scene have changed significantly. There’s a lot of partying, noise, and casual "fun divers," etc. The teashers are now mainly found at Kimud; there are hardly any left at Monad Shoal. However, it’s a bit of a circus there—basically a GoPro party with well-dressed female mostly chinese divers using their regulators to blow bubbles for photos with shark. The macro life Malapascua is okay these days, though it was much better in previous years. Be aware that Malapascua is currently very busy; we saw over 25 boats (approx 300-400 divers) at Kimud in March, and it’s not a large dive site. Gato Island also sees a lot of divers. Please keep in mind that you’ll be traveling in November, which is the rainy or shoulder season. This can mean strong winds, rain and poor underwater visibility. We experienced very poor visibility even during the peak season in March. You can find mandarin fish at a site called Lighthouse—there are two or three spots there, finding depending on your dive guide. It’s a very popular location, so it tends to be crowded. I can’t really help you with Moalboal these days. I was there in 1999, which is a bit too long ago to offer any up-to-date advice. Travelling from Moalboal to Malapascua is easy in 1/2 to 1 day depending on time of the day and weekday. Br Markus Markus

And it looks like Marelux, Nauticam, and Ikelite will be making housings for the FX5. Nothing on the official channels but Blue Water Photo (and Backscatter for Nauticam) have housings listed for pre-order.

Thanks for the tips, I have contracted with Savedra diving in Moalboal which has made a combination with what I ask them. So we are going to do 4 complete days of diving in Moalboal and 4 complete days of diving in Malapascua. I assume that I need a full day to reach Malapascua from Moalboal and another day to go from Malapascua to Cebu City. If I'm not wrong Savendra operates in Malapascua dealing with Thresher Shark Divers but I'm not sure about that. My whole point is follow my dream of diving right in the middle of a sardine School like a I watched in the Documentaries when I was child, everything else in Moalboal will be a plus, turtles, etc. If I completed 12 diving days in Tulamben doing macro shots with no regrets being primarily a wide angle photographer I'm pretty sure i will find lots of interesting things in Moalboal. And another of my dreams is diving with Thresher sharks, so Malapascua is the place to go, and somebody talk me also of Gato island like the place to go if going to Malapascua. Once there I'll see

Eeee, you were lucky. We had to build the boat first, cut the wood, carve dive cylinders out of tree trunks. Eeee, they were the days.....

I posted about my Curved Macro port project, and in the course of that I destructively removed the o-ring from a Zen port, and installed new o-rings in prototype ports about 6 times. I used 50 cent buna rubber o-rings from McMaster Carr and they work perfectly. I eventually got pretty quick with the installation using a dryglove plastic prybar and plastic credit card for pressing in the new o-rings.

Hi. A few years ago, I replaced the port glass on my Hugyfot macro port. It’s absolutely no problem if you have a little bit of technical know-how. Though removing the existing glass was a bit tough. If I recall correctly, the cost for the glass and O-ring was around €20-25. I think it’s a bit more expensive these days. Plus of course Nauticam bonus+++++.😁😁😁 Br Markus

I think back to when I was guiding on liveaboards in the Red Sea in the late 80's early 90's and look at the liveaboards today and bet the punters these days don't realise how good they have it! For some reason we didn't bother about safety briefings about life jackets or life rafts etc back then...😄

As your case is really interesting while the software could help you and you could help us improve it, it would be amazing if you filled this form and become one of our beta testers. If interested of course : https://survey.zohopublic.eu/zs/U3CA15?Source=Forum&[email protected]

I believe an "I survived a Red Sea Liveaboard" t-shirt is all the rage now. There's also a Maldives version.......

They sell new port glass but its not exactly cheap. Surprise!

The WWL is probably not an ideal choice as you will be snorkeling a lot. Since you don't dive deep it can be a problem with bubbles between the port glass. They clear out if you dive past 3-4 meters but you will splash and shoot on the surface quite often. A fisheye with zoom ability is ideal in my opinion. I did very well with my 15mm fisheye in MagBay with humpbacks, but would have been nice to have more reach. If i get another chance i would add a 1.4tc to get more reach for when subjects are a bit further than point blank.

At a last moment decision I am joining friends in Tonga on early Sept. Any recommendation for photography of whales (a first for me)? what type of lens and setup? Any technique tips? I have an Olympus/OM setup, with either 8mm fisheye or 7-14 pro + 180mm dome, or 12-50 kit + WWL1 Thanks!

Wish i’d have seen this post before I ordered a new macro port from Nauticam to replace one with blotches on the glass.

New price - 1700 EUR

bugger! I'm going in November....

Written review of the Sony A7RVI on Inside Scuba: https://insidescuba.online/p/alex-mustard-s-field-review-the-sony-a7r-vi-underwater Alex p.s. Inside Scuba is also now home for the UWP Mag - searchable archive: https://uwp-archive.insidescuba.online

I have also started to take pictures with the Mission 1 Pro. In this case with the GR140Pro. I had to reduce the file size to upload it, so the quality has been a bit reduced compared with the original, but considering the distance underwater, I find the focusing pretty good. In the next days I will see if there is any difference without the lens.

I am still working on with the Mission 1 Pro and the wet lenses GR140Pro and G165II to understand the best setting for the various situations. In the mean time, some short clips to have a first impression on what the Mission 1 Pro can do. All unedited because I am still on holiday and I give priority to actual diving, rather than video editing 😁

Aloha and welcome Nir!

Ordered from the U.S. - we had quite a lot of work going on at the time and so we had a freight consolidator/forwarder in Los Angeles that happened to be just around the corner from Blue Robotics, we had spare parts and addons for all sorts of exotic equipment from various manufacturers in the U.S. all being sent to the consolidator and every Friday in L.A. the consolidator would box up everything that they had received and send it to us, and we would receive it on the following Tuesday or Wednesday - it worked pretty well for us.