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Yes, this is a major issue with Peleliu. It's not dived as much and the currents are more complex than elsewhere, including serious downcurrents. We also had a fuel surcharge to go there and the owner was a little uneasy because of a drift incident that happened to staff a few years earlier (drifted off Peleliu and picked up safe hours later, far away, after a massive search). I've worked in Komodo so pretty cautious about this kind of thing, but really the only way to gain confidence is to dive it often, cautiously, in different conditions. We did go a few times and while I can visualise some sites like Yellow Wall, Wall/Cut Corner and Express to some degree, I wouldn't say that I'm comfortable with these, and there are plenty of sites in the area I haven't dived at all. This happens a lot on real liveaboard trips, where you sometimes even dive new sites on more exploratory trips, but one thing to keep in mind for Palau is that boat operators are generally not really used to following divers and drift dives as much as in places like Raja or Komodo. This is especially true for land boat ops. Local captains are great and are pretty much all fishermen with fantastic local knowledge, but most are used to dropping divers in one place and estimating pickups rather than following divers, which has to be taken into account on sites with drift potential like Peleliu sites or more exposed sites like Shark City for the snapper spawning. I was actually planning on diving a week from Peleliu with the op there when I had the time, but that didn't happen. The Peleliu sea bream spawning looks amazing, if anyone's done that. Sorry to hear that. It should be a little busy now but still... Keep in mind that Palau will be expensive, I don't know if the 10% PSGT is still applied (it was put into place as I was leaving), but this also increased the prices further. One thing you could look into are dive-accommodation packages. We offered packages with negotiated prices for accommodation available for people diving a certain number of days, with pretty much all the hotels I listed above, and I'm sure other operators do as well. It was quite a good deal, but yes, package or not it is still way more expensive than diving in SE Asia.

Hi Atus, Which mount did you get? I don't understand the Sea and Sea mounts (DX and NX) and which one suits Isotta. Thanks John

During my Palau trip last year, I did a few days with Fish n Fins and the next week on a liveaboard. We went to similar sites, but we only went to Peleliu on the liveaboard. Fish n Fins does do Peleliu trips, but they need a certain number of guests and an additional fee. Unfortunately even though we did go to Peleliu, the liveaboard dive masters weren't too familiar with the site so there wasn't as much to see compared to the more popular sites we went to like Blue Corner and German Channel.

Purchased an EMWL #1, Relay lens, 130degree lens, and strobe holder from @WindWaternWaves SUPER smooth transaction in every aspect! Parts appear exactly as described. Excellent communications & very nice interactions. Insanely fast shipping from Australia to USA and well packed and protected! (Good thing too - box was CRUSHED on arrival)

Here is my trip report for a non-technical, land-based trip from 2022: https://wreckedinmyrevo.com/2022/04/10/trip-report-palau-wrecks-caves-reefs/ Regards, Brett

😃As much fun as it is to measure and research new stuff, not much point to it unless we go diving!

Same. I use the Nauticam Dual Flip with a couple of setup. MFO-1 + SubSee +10 MFO-1 + Kraken KRL-09s The Kraken wet wide adapter is quite large, probably bigger than an MFO-3. I don't have any issues using it deployed or folded with my strobe positioning.

How was the trip? Did the camera perform well?

FWIW, I just got back from a trip to Cozumel. We flew directly from Charlotte, NC into Cozumel and no one batted an eye at my camera gear or even mentioned it.

I love my dual flip holder.

I actually appreciate your tips, I'm learning a lot about what I want in this trip and what I don't. Now i only need that the operators answer any email or whatsapp, for the moment I only had one answer from a dive center with an offer for what I want to do, and it's really expensive. I have sent almost 10 different mails since the day I opened this trip and only one answer. Or they have a lot of work and are not interested in an 8 people group or they don't care abut possible new costumers.

The EF version originally launched at $1,399 back in July 2011. Adjusted for inflation, that works out to roughly $2,000 in today’s money. Given Canon’s usual lens pricing (generally on the higher side) and compared to its predecessor, it’s honestly surprising that the new one is cheaper. With that in mind, I really hope it turns out to be a true L-series lens in both build and optics, rather than something closer to the non-L RF 28-70mm f/2.8 IS STM which is a lens that was clearly designed as an “almost-L”. It is very sharp but heavily relies on software correction, which Canon seems to be leaning on more and more these days as part of cost reduction.

Here is the review for the Backscatter Hybrid Flash Snoot. You can read the full article here: https://www.backscatter.com/reviews/post/Backscatter-Hybrid-Flash-Underwater-OS-3-Snoot-Review Hope you enjoy.

I’m also baffled, as I shoot verticals all the time and have not noticed this issue. Could it be that your secondary hose is too long and stiff, thus creating a bigger loop over your shoulder than necessary? Maybe try a shorter Miflex hose, they are super flexible. That plus a swivel would be a relatively cheap experiment.

Not sheap .... but if it is a good lens... ;)

Well, my buddy's new 160 pro was bought in november, it arrived just in time for the trip. He never said anything about that he's going to stop making strobes, and the strobe is brand new, so 3 years warranty. But obviously is a brand which is near to close ot to be sold. Anyway, my intention is not send my strobes never else, next time I'll put it on a box and I'll use only the AOI ones. I'm so happy with them. I also was about to buy that Photocore but I was told there are so many issues with that so I I bought the AOI. Sea&Sea, never again, I have had D1, D2, D2J, all of them are bullshit. It's going to be difficoult to trust them again. And Inon, for the moment are in a lower league.

tambien tengo un 160 pro (nuevo) comprado hace un mes,pero fue fabricado hace 7 años,con lo cual garantía cero y se rompió a la segunda inmersión,,otra vez paga portes,reparación etc etc,,el señor Wolfgang siempre muy atento y cordial,eso sí,y revisiones a un precio razonable,pero todo esto cansa mucho.............aunque he tenido peores experiencias con sea sea por ejemplo.......

bueno,tambien he tenido varios problemas de ese tipo y este mes pasado me ha revisado 3 de mis 160 opto,,le pedí que me vendiera flashes nuevos y me dijo que no,que ya no fabrica solo vende usados revisados,solo los garantiza por 6 meses y los envíos a Alemania desde el 1 de enero son bien costosos,es decir que tambien ando mosqueado con el tema,,por otra parte compré flashes fotocore que todo el mundo habla muy bien de ellos y en 1 mes dos se rompieron,afortunadamente el distribuidor me atendió perfectamente las garantías y me envió flashes nuevos,hoy por hoy lo único fiable es inon pero de momento no sacan la joya de la corona,habrá que esperar un poco más..... uno ya no sabe que comprar....pequeño y potente además de fiable,,viajar con sobrepeso es complicado... seguiré jugando a la lotería con los subtronic,estoy cansado de dar de baja otras marcas de cuyo nombre no quiero ni acordarme.......todo se andará.

Ohh, interesting...

I made a custom port using the glass dome from the Zen WA-100 port.

According to Canon Rumors: Canon RF 7-14mm F2.8-3.5L VCM $1599 USD / €1829

Which dome port did you use for this comparison?

I recently compared the Tamron 90mm (on full frame) with a flat port, MFO-1, and dome port. I was shooting at a large aperture (f/4), mainly because I was shooting without strobes in my test tank and didn't want to use a high ISO. With the flat port there was good sharpness across the central 50% of the horizontal frame. The MFO-1 improved it to around 80%, and the dome improved it to around 95%. So yes, with this setup at least, the MFO-1 provided a significant improvement in edge sharpness over the flat port, though the dome provided a more significant improvement.

SOLD

Nauticam WWL-1 - Price: €950 - SOLD + float collar, hard lens cap, and neoprene lens cap Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6 + focus ring - SOLD New prices: Isotta Housing for Sony Alpha A7 III & A7R III - New Price: €2,100 + manual trigger and moisture/leak sensor Sony A7R III A - New Price: €1,200 Sony FE 28mm f/2 + Sony Fisheye Converter - New Price: €250