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Massimo, if you are going to point out errors please provide detail on what they are. don't just dump on the author of the article. He is only trying to help provide material for the site. Attacks like this only discourage people from contributing, please in the future think about what you write and how it might impact people.

@vkalia Thanks for the nice piece! One of the more interesting things about shooting film v digital is that its easier to follow the progression of changes a photographer makes in creating what one hopes is the final image. You could actually see what the photographer was thinking - and of missed opportunities - or dumb luck. One of the things mentors would say is the a good photograph is "made" rather than taken.

Congratulations on the article! After all the endless technical discussions, it was much needed. It's like a breath of fresh air. Well done! I wish there was more discussion of the 'artistic' aspects of composing an image. Static or moving Images. Once the radius and entrance pupil are perfect and we have made peace with the edges, does it all end or is there still room for composition, camera angle and patience for the perfect moment? It is common to accompany published shots with technical data: aperture, shutter speed, etc., but almost nothing is known about the photographer's choices, which are the most important and define 'the photo'. It almost seems as if it is an unmentionable secret and that it is rude to ask the photographer "how did you do it?". A disrespect to him. "I took it because I am good at it" seems to be the implied and annoyed reply. Yet, between the immeasurable talent and the skill of the craftsman, in my opinion there are immensely large spaces that could be discussed here. Which is then what is taught in photography courses once the fundamentals are established: The language of photography.

Thanks Massimo From a literal English perspective the design of the WWL and the various WACP models are different - one is wet mounted others are dry mounted and the lens element sizes are different they are design specs that vary between related models. Try telling someone his hugely expensive WACP-1 is the same design as the WWL. It's been established that WWL-1 and WACP-C are quite similar in performance while the WACP-1 is a step up. Sure many use the same lens layout, the same thing happens with camera lenses. Some people like to dig deep into the technical comparisons. Personally I find all this interesting but am more concerned about how they perform in practice and don't really think it would change which option I chose, it would more likely be set by how much I'm prepared to spend. However the point of engaging with you is not so much to deal with the facts but more so how the message is delivered. Like it or not, blunt answers upset people unnecessarily and could easily be delivered as constructive criticism with a little thought.

Congrats guys!

Great read and comments. I feel the same way as on any trip it takes me a couple days to get into basically semi-decent exposures then a few more dives to look, watch, wait, adjust and all to try and capture something I visualize. I also confess I read but quickly tire of all the "measurbating" on lines of resolution per millimeter, edge sharpness of this lens / dome port, blah blah blah......Please.....Or maybe I'm just bored after shooting perhaps conservatively 100,000 frames from film to digital since 2001 (????) We need more discussion like this how an image makes one feel looking at it. These days I discount color, grain and other factors many (most?) shooter require in a photo to feel they succeeded. I've long been a fan of grainy B&W and here's an example of one photographer I really like his imaging. His insights truly inspire me! Keep diving and shooting :) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/winning-travel-photo-contest-changed-life https://parley.tv/journal/2016/5/16/the-underwater-realm-photography-by-anuar-patjane https://matadornetwork.com/notebook/photographer-racking-awards-check-uses-point-shoot/

Thank you all for the overwhelming response. I wasn’t exaggerating when i said that i dont have much in the way of natural creative talent and it is all learned. The biggest watershed moment for me was indeed understanding the difference between “making” an image vs taking one, as @humu9679 said. “Making” implies you can work at it, instead of just seeing something magical. And yes, digital certainly has helped there. For all that people used to make fun of chimping, it was a great way to review shots, get instant feedback and improve. Atleast for me. And not having to worry about being limited to 24 photos a dive certainly is a big plus! 🙂 One thing that has helped me a lot if actually getting into street photography - it’s shaken me a little out of my usual way of looking at a scene by forcing me to look for details and find something interesting in the mundane. I am not particularly good at it, but find the process refreshing. Would love to hear from others about how they approach their picture taking as well - including your article on neutral space, @TimG. Cheers!

Thank you for taking the time to write this. Really resonates well with me, and welcome the insight into your thought process. As others have said, oh for the time to spend with a subject - it really does matter who you dive with, and how willing the group is to respect each other's needs. I find it very trying when I've found my subject, and then others decide that they'd like a go... I need a signal for "Find your own" - I don't think the middle finger gesture is totally conducive for sharing a beer later....!

Yeah, I do pretty much the same: let the DM know we’re staying put. Model boredom and irritation is always an on-going issue. Luckily my partner is not into jewellery but she does indicate repeats/go-rounds in terms of the number of expected cappuccinos. This is another non-PADI signal she has developed.

You are welcome to use my snap shot at the top of the page - this is also quite a useful image: L-R: FCP (prototype), WACP-C, WACP-2, WACP-1 Alex

PS - in the interest of sharing our images and creative vision, perhaps we can have regular theme-based topics and people can share their photos related to that theme?

Thanks for a great article and raising this topic. Also, Tim please do your article on neutral spaces. I took the attached photo this week which I personally really like because it did involve a some effort to try try to create a certain feeling and memory of the moment.

I am afraid that there is no place left on this planet where human influence is NOT happening. Thus, we can only resort to finding the best compromise rather than dreaming about an ideal scenario. Eco-tourism is an oxymoron, but some ways of doing it are certainly better than others. And the mere fact of flying around the globe to reach a remote location is creating more of our problems - so the baiting may to be that much of an add-on. We will only protect (sort of) what we know, can experience and love, I think Sir David said that first. There’s no shortcut here: Even conservation efforts WILL leave a footprint. But less so than brutal exploitation. For the animals like sharks it has been said above: They must be worth more alive, or else they will be slaughtered and sold. This just does not work without baiting, and there is no point arguing with fundamental economic principles. You cannot run a shark expedition with negligible chances of seeing a shark. That said, I have not been able to really accept this and perhaps will never join such a trip. But that is personal choice and I do indeed find it slightly reassuring that baiting at least still works… Annotating the pictures is certainly a good option, even more if you include the name of responsible operators. The animals are NOT less fascinating when they have been baited, so there is no need to hide it.

Images and thoughts on trying (pre-production) Retra Maxis in the Maldives in March/April. Quick summary - performed very much as you'd expect them to - mega powerful, good ergonomics. With specs that are very similar to Backscatter HF-1 (Retra can claim to be the most powerful strobe on paper - but basically max power on these is all but the same as FULL +2 on HF-1 in the real world). Dry weight same as HF-1, but fatter, so much closer to neutral underwater. Quality of light not as nice as Retra Pro Max, but I still produced very pleasing images (just a bit more care needed on strobe positioning). Alex

Is there a solid statistical analysis available how the numbers (e.g. 16 boats lost in 5 years) compare to other regions of the world? I mean that one needs to normalize these numbers to the sheer number of diving vessels that cruise in the Red Sea - I guess the number of vessels cruising there is many hundreds - with the number of vessels that cruise in other regions (usually a few vessels per region - and also there boats are lost from time to time). Only then a comparison of the numbers of accidents makes sense... My personal observation is that the safety protocols in diving vessels are poor in Egypt, but I did not observe that these protocols are any better in other regions of the world (e.g. our Safari boat in Raja Ampat 2020 did not even have a second emergency exit from the lower deck in case of fire)... Wolfgang

Hi everyone, We don’t typically attend dive shows as exhibitors. The costs for these events can be quite high, and we believe our resources are better invested in developing cutting-edge strobes and providing top-notch customer service. That said, some of our partners do represent Retra at these events. For example, PanOcean (Roland and Claudia Conrad) was at BOOT and carries our products. They’re a great source for anyone who wants to see Retra gear up close or discuss it further. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to us directly, we’re always here to help!

Love this eye-opening piece Davide, and love the accompanying footage. I've never seen Italy underwater before, so thank you for sharing this. This year almost 200 sq ft of marine life vegetation literally disappeared where I lived in less than a week. I raised my voice of concern but my local authorities weren't interested. It is lovely to see others caring. Keep up the great work Davide of showing how beautiful our underwater world is.

Thanks David for sharing this great article and deep insights from your long experience.

Thanks for sharing this Davide - this is a really informative and thought-provoking introduction to yet another aspect of the climate crisis, as seen through the eyes of an active and passionate observant. Fantastic footage as well, and while I'm not a fan of overheads in diving, watching it actually makes me want to gain the tools to observe this deeper environment while we still can... In the meantime I'm really happy to discover the depths of your backyard by proxy - even if you have been pushed into documenting them by less happy environmental circumstances... I think this resonates in me even more in that my first underwater memory - after someone taught me how to equalize my ears in a pool and my deeply unconscious/unaware parents (bless them! 😁) let their 8-year-old kid freedive with a one-kilo weight on a belt all day long to the point of almost blacking out - were actually fields of posedonia swaying in the shallows waters of the Balearic islands in the early 1980s... This is the environment which made me love being underwater, and it is deeply branded into my brain, but I unfortunately also saw the same fields of posedonia become patches then die out over the years, replaced by brown algae, and surrounding marine life become more discreet, and almost inexistant... A rapid evolution probably linked to the direct impact of the tourism/contruction/charter flights boom which happened around 1985 on the islands, but also probably to deeper, more insidious causes affecting the Mediterranean as a whole... It's tricky... As plane-hopping traveling divers and image-makers feeding the tourism-based development beast, we are also part of the problem. But then, for those who have access to it, there's also local diving, which has a much smaller footprints, and as is made clear in your piece, we also need people capable of documenting/sharing and basically shedding a bright (constant-output) light on the less visible underwater environment, the evolution/degradation of which will affect us all, somewhat paradoxically, on a much greater scale than land-based changes... I also think it's great to see this kind of testimony come from locals, deeply involved in the area, rather than visiting media personalities shining their spotlight on a given area's issues through single high-exposure projects before moving on to the next... cheers ben

Hi, nice shots. Missing some fish life. Br Markus

Well That's a great article by Vinnie and Vinnie has been quite humble in describing the kind of photographer he is. But having know him long enough, I would definitely add that Vinnie (Vandit) is a VERY VERY good photographer (underwater too). He does pen articles a little better though 🙂 🙂 Liked the read Vinnie. Diggy

Thanks for that thoughtful response, @Luko. A few comments of my own in no special order: - Re the use of the term “artistic” - you are correct, it does come across as fairly pretentious. I was using it as a shorthand to denote an image where the appeal is not documentary in nature (as in, “here is a fish” or “here is a fish doing something interesting”) but where the composition, lighting, etc come together to create an image whose impact is greater than just the literal recording of the subject. Pretentious or not, elevating something relatively mundane into something that has an emotional impact on the viewer is art, atleast to me (although this defending this definition is not a hill i will die on 🙂) - Absolutely agreed re geometry and composition. Too many wildlife photographers - myself included - get so excited by what they are shooting that they forget the “photography” part of “wildlife photography”: ie, the images still need to be designed/composed, and there is often a ‘decisive moment’ that needs to be captured. Speaking for myself, when it comes to megafauna or really cool stuff, i get so excited by what i am seeing that my attention to those details diminishes. OTOH, on days when there isnt a lot of action happening, that’s when I am able to slow down and look closely at interesting photo ops - Speaking of “looking” and “art”, even as a staunch wildlife/nature person, I have to say that the creative requirements of street photography is the highest. Taking the most banal of subjects (people going about their daily life) and making into a compelling visual image requires immense skill. And i absolutely agree with you about looking at the work of accomplished photographers is a great way to develop the art of seeing. - There’s always been a bit of debate about quality vs quantity when shooting. I agree with you - ideally, one should be able to get everything right in terms of composition and then take the shot. Repeated shooting is a bit of a crutch. Certainly, “spray and pray” is not an effective way to take good photos. But there is merit to an approach that is in the middle - think about your composition, take a shoot, review and see what can be made better, and repeat. Over time, as the lessons from these review/repeat sessions sink in, the number of poor shots one takes reduces. There are a lot of shots i dont even bother taking anymore nowadays, because i know the results will be mediocre or worse. Cheers!

Thanks for your article, Vandit. Nice to read some photo writing that doesn't focus on fisheye angle definition nor on a rare camouflaged nudibranch (guilty of both). I'm parisian, originally a BW street/travel film photographer on a Leica M6 (darkroom addict as well) every bit to become a long time ago an afficionado of HCB, as a photo theorist, an image maker and a free person as well. So you got my attention there. I completely agree with you on the "artistic" effort you must first engage into photography. (However as a complete fan I don't like to use "artistic" for photo since dear Henri abandoned photo in his late days assessing he denied any form of "real art" lying into photo but rather looking into painting or drawing. A Photo just needs an eye and a finger, he explained. Eventually he didn't use any camera but spent his days drawing for the last 20 years.) It may not be a different take from yours though, I think the utmost effort should be applied on thinking and trying to visualize the context possibilities, the evolution of the scene and the expected result of your image before starting the shooting : visualizing sounds more Anseladamsish here but that's also what HCB recommended, being a Zen archer, ie anticipating and waiting for your scene to compose BEFORE shooting. The geometry inside your framing is paramount, this can be depend on either on a fixed (background, sides) or an evolving fish movement) context. Hence you should exercise your eyes into recognizing the immediate geometrics patterns or when it become something interesting. Oppositely, I am not an advocate of shooting hundreds of images of the same scene until you get it right, I'd rather stop and think, take some time to remember some photos or paintings that have very little to see with the scene I am shooting and try to get some inspiration. I remember for exemple taking an image of a turtle surrounded by snorkelers that I tried to get in position to remind a painting of Matisse. (Though only me finds the reference when I show this pic to others... skill gap with the original I guess... hahaha...) FWIW at my very humble level, I often realize that composition wise (ie . apart from lighting adjustment) my first frame in a series of 5-6 photos is the first take. I hardly take more than 7-8 shots on a single scene, I feel like I have no idea left. Personally I think the most efficient way would be to inspire yourself and your photo outside diving, browsing through photobooks of legendary land photographers (in that respect, Magnum is an excellent agency) or vistiing photo exhibs whenever possible. Anyway great topic and I'm totally in with your suggestion

On the other hand, you do have places like French Polynesia (Rangiroa, Fakkarava) or even Palau (reef sharks for the most part, but also bullsharks and oceanic black tips on the spawning dives, and the odd tiger at German Channel), where sharks baiting is illegal, yet where sharks (and related dive tourism) play a major part in the local economy. Same goes for the hammerhead schools and sharks in the Eastern Pacific or the Banda Sea for instance, that attract a lot of divers to see sharks in unbaited, more pelagic settings, or even the (slightly iffy atm) oceanic white-tips and other sharks encounters of southern Red Sea itineraries, where shark expeditions are run quite regularly. In the end, it really depends on the type of sharks you want/expect to see - baiting focuses on attracting mostly larger, more pelagic species that are more difficult to see in a non-baited context (with a special focus tiger sharks and bullsharks, great hammerhead or even great whites for the now banned Isla Mujeres operations etc). As a slight counterexample to this "fundamental economic principles", there are Marine Protected Areas - these can do a lot for rebuilding the ecosystem, and while enforcement of the MPA can be an issue, they probably do more good than baited diving operators do, especially on the long term. The Misool Eco Resort in Raja Ampat was built on what was primarily a shark-finning camp, and shark populations did rebound after the establishment of the MPAs - sure, we're talking reef shark here, but this does not mean there aren't bigger pelagic sharks around. However, you will probably not see them. This is normal - the bigger, pelagic sharks which are the stars and highlights of chummed-dives are actually around in quite a few diving areas that do not practice such baited/chummed shark dives. If you could bait/chum in Palau, you would surely get all the bigger sharks as well - fishers or people looking for whales on the outer reefs see silkies, tigers, great hammerhead, bulls, oceanic white tips and black tips - they're definitely around. But just not on the main dive sites. Same goes in many diving areas, even Bali's Lombok strait, off the macro-focused Tulamben area actually has its share of big sharks, fishers on rumpon fish aggregating devices see tigers, hammerheads and more - a random great hammerhead showed up on a Tulamben dive site last month. They're around, and baiting/chumming would most likely work, for instance, even in a place where (now illegal) shark-finning is still a major, ongoing issue. Bigger sharks play their role in the ecosystem, but are not generally seen by divers, for behavioural and habitat reasons. I hear the conservation argument (basically: if it wasn't for the chummed shark dives locals would be shark fishing/finning), and I'm also with you in that it's not for me. As for the only protect what we know, can experience and love idiom, we need to remember also very good at commodifying natural highlights, and in a bigger picture, the impact of such a commodification of ressources can also be quite high, and the conservation argument can easily turn into some sort of self-justifying greenwashing. Seaworlds and similar venues have long used the educational agreement to justify their debatable practices, such as the captivity of large marine mammals, for instance. Sure, shark chumming is not the same thing, but even if the animals are not less fascinating when they have been baited, divers have to keep in mind that they are taking part in an artifical animal-encounter activity which is repeated daily, sometimes multiple times a day, with a definite impact on animal behaviour. As often, the frequency of the event is key - same goes for touching marine fauna and flora, fish feeding - the impact of such micro-events might be relatively small, but exponentially amplified if repeated daily on a large scale. Practically, when I see behind-the-scene footage of divers kneeling in front of the chum buckets waiting to take pictures in Fiji or the Bahamas (or the "shark scramble" in Japan's Chiba prefecture...), I know deep down this is not an experience I would want to be a part of, regardless of how cool the end footage would be. Even more "open water" settings like blue shark dives in the Azores or shark dives off Cabo San Lucas are not super appealing to me to be honest... I get it, but don't really want to do this. I would much rather pay to try to see a few seconds of a baitball in Bahia Magdalena for instance, or cross-finger to hammerheads in Alor or the El Bajo in the Sea of Cortez (to give a sad example of dwindling shark populations, primarily due to poor handling of the shark breeding area...). But then again I'm not a fan of zoos and aquariums as well, and consider that when it comes to animals and fauna spotting, diving is (and should remain) more a gamble than a fully-marketable, bang-for-your-buck experience. I personally hit my limit when I was working in the sea of Cortez and doing California sea lion dives daily. Sure, it was taking divers to a sea lion colony (rather than artifically attracting them), but it started to feel like I was working in a zoo, and that made me increasingly uncomfortable, and realise that this was not really the kind of diving experience I was interested in facilitating, regardless of how fantastic the sea lions are (they are!). Returning to shark dives, (so-far) more "unintentionally chummed" (tuna fishery) tiger dives in the Maldive's Fuvahmulah sound a bit more fluid, as it's taking advantage (again, for now) of an existing man-made situation. I think the bull-shark dives in Cabo Pulmo are similar. Same goes for observing mantas at cleaning stations, which, if done reasonably, doesn't really have the same impact as light-pooling (plankton aggregating) operations for instance. As with most conservation issues, it is far from black-and-white, good/bad, but chummed dives are taking the diving experience in a direction that I'm personally not interested in - again, regardless of how amazing the resulting footage of animals that would not be encountered otherwise would be - and find that the conservation argument is also somewhat debatable.

Quite. Enough already.

Hi Massimo, your additional comments are absolutely welcome and might clarify some additional facts for people, who have a deep technical interest. In fact I don't see that my Article has "A number of totally incorrect statements"... But with your elaborate comments everybody should be able to decide by himself. Currently I don't see a need to completely rewrite the article. Remeber - this is not a scientific article. This is my personal view and I still think it provides a broad overview for people who think about how to put their equipment together

Why do we need to reference WetPixel? I'd like to see this board steering traffic away from that site, not back to it.

Thank you Ben, Actually, the damage that can be seen now in every ocean is such that even those who dive in a vacation spot once a year notice the differences. Absurdly, it is almost harder to notice if you dive often. It is like parents who do not notice how much their children have grown because they see them every day then a friend or relative who has not seen them for a year comes along and exclaims Wow! But the most insidious thing is shifting baseline syndrome. People who start diving today think that the sea has always been like this. I thought so in 1990. This assumption that things have always been this way has a huge psychological impact on our perception of danger and change. Each generation assesses its surroundings with a different starting point. Not to mention the Mediterranean (I understand that in the forum it is partly incomprehensible to most), I was in the Red Sea in Sharm in 1993 and I can assure you that in Ras Mohammed and Yolanda reef was full of sharks. In 1998 I went on a cruise to Sudan and night diving was prohibited because of the danger of sharks. During the day, all dives within 30 meters were accompanied by dozens of sharks, and several times we had to shelter on the reef because the longimanus were particularly nervous. Of similar comparisons, Members in the forum will be able to make many more than I who have always been a local diver.

Thanks Davide! The photo gear space on Gaia Love is something I've never seen before, and a photo/videographer heaven! The personal rinse thanks are priceless, but in general all the spaces on boat are absolutely generous and well organized!

Hi Caolila, sorry for deleting the first issue of the post but I was editing it and got some problems. Pity you didn't find good conditions in Halmahera, I found the place wonderful and with no problems of viz or rubbish.. Cheers.

I see @Isaac Szabo got something to do with you photos... 😈

@vkalia I'm also a believer that "talent" is nurtured by one's interest, determination and circumstance. In the United States one hears of children who grow up believing "I'm not good at math," for instance. My suggestion is study and practice, and the same could be said of still photography, which I've studied for decades - and still learning - and videography, of which I am an absolute novice.

having operated for 15 years an IDC in Munsamdam oman this x-ray magazine is like a stab at my heart ..

We do need more creative/compositions articles. I’m going to work on a piece about using Neutral Space. My favourite compositional approach.

Very well said. For most of our dives I wish for even 5 minutes to work a subject! Unfortunately my dive buddy is not so patient. But then she gets cold and heads up to the boat, so the final 15 minutes or so I’m on my own in shallow water, which often leads to images I like.

Super piece Thanks!

Interceptor 121's point was that no one reads the comments... seems to me that the most valuable information is exchanged when people interact with one another. Thanks for the article, by the way👊

I think you have created a nice resource collection here for anyone who wants to try sharks without baiting! I agree on the dose-effect and greenwashing risks, but I suppose we can start way before the bait-box with that. Hence I would not want to break into an ethical discussion because someone publishes a respectful (!) picture of a shark that has been baited; this may have been a minor contribution to the total impact of the journey. I throughly enjoyed a dive with big groupers on Madeira this summer, although they were clearly way more accustomed to divers than they should be. Whatever their routine may be, or have been in the past - it is for vacationers like me. And it was a cool photo opportunity! So I‘m not that much „better“, if at all.

This is a very difficult topic. The issues of feeding animals in nature photography have been discussed for decades. Due to the fact that there are significantly fewer underwater photographers, it started here later. At the same time, the very fact of protecting marine life is even more pressing. People far from the sea do not pay attention to what is happening under water. And now the question is not even that feeding in certain places changes the behavior of animals. The problem is that soon there may be no more of these animals left (and no fish either). Therefore, attracting attention (including through underwater photography) is now critically important. An example from personal experience: Philippines. When you dive in some places you are told that the use of gloves is not allowed as it can damage the corals. In my experience, one fishing boat that forgot to remove its anchor destroyed more coral than all the underwater photographers combined (for all time). Examples from history: On the one hand, tourism in the Red Sea causes a lot of damage to the reefs. On the other hand, in the south where there is no tourism, fishing with dynamite has destroyed almost everything. The Queen's Gardens remained almost shark-free until the advent of tourism. And there are many such examples. Of course, a strict violation of ethical standards during underwater photography is not acceptable. But things like feeding... especially if it goes hand in hand with learning and advocacy like in Fiji. This is the best option we have.

Free wet lens for everyone 😄 Let me think about it

Next Sunday AOI will be at the Boot-Düsseldorf and I will be there. Are there any specific questions I should ask the people from AOI?

this lens is an AOi UWL-03 with the Backscatter mark imprinted on it

Massimo - sorry-no, there is a right and a wrong way of getting your point across and you are doing it wrong. Explain what you believe the error is and provide facts to back it up. Frankly your points while they may be factual are not really relevant to any trying to choose one of these water contact optics and are an omission rather than an error, as is the the fact that only Sony can use everything on the list, people will soon find this out from the port charts as you mention.

@Mathieu Cornillon Unfortunately most of my pics are of archaeological remains! The best resource is probably the Scubaqua website, https://www.scubaqua.com/gallery/ @ianmarsh Thanks! Statia, Saba, and St. Maarten definitely have more sharks than the ABC islands. While this observation is not based on any scientific data, my experience after 15 years of diving on Statia is that there used to be a lot more sharks than there are now though. I'm not sure if human population size/density is the best indicator, although it must have some effect. For example, some sites on the British Virgin Islands have lots of sharks, and these are close to Tortola which is very populated. I guess it has to do more with how the marine environment is managed/protected. Maybe there are marine biologists here on the forum who can provide some insights?

It's so easy from France, Flo. Non-stop, daily flights from CDG - twice a day sometimes! Similarly easy from Amsterdam: 3 times a week.

This article sparked a memory of a great piece of Japanese artwork that I once saw in a museum in Frankfurt Germany of all places. It's a late 19th or early 20th century woodblock triptych. Sort of a "Samurai meets Thunderball" scene. 🙂 Kobayashi Toshimitsu Triptych - "Underwater fight at the Yalu River" Rare Kobayashi Toshimitsu triptych | Graphic Arts (princeton.edu)

I loved the article as Japan is so often overlooked and offers great diving, good to hear it is easier to find English speaking shops as it is always been painful, but I have been travelling to Japan for over 30 years and always forget how much easier it has got over the years, the first few trips where very hard with hardly any signage in English. It has become a lot easier after the football world cup, Rugby world cup and the ill fated olympics, I just wish the hotel costs in Tokyo had stayed at their Covid levels, as they seem to have bounced up massively. My wife is japanese and we always use the luggage service from the airport to get our bags to her home and vice versa and have used it to send gear to shops, I love the concept. I haven't managed to get 200 bar yet, the have all been 190-185 but maybe it is just where I dived and not seen a tank over 12 litres, normally offered 10 and I request 12. Not tried a japanese drysuit but that is something I might need to checkout, my favourite surfing suits where always Japanese Izu is on the list to visit and I think the next trip I will dive Mikomoto, but timings are always limited due to family commitments

Great article and got a few bits to add:- You can often ship all of your dive gear to a shop ahead of you visiting and they will wash and ship it back to you. There is a wide network of baggage handlers set up for this and often its 24 or 48 hours and is very cheap Tanks are often small and in Okinawa are often filled to only 180bar and I have been told this is a law Strobes etc are about 50% of the price in Europe with the sales tax discount and there is a thriving second hand market for dive camera gear You will often quiet easily find english speaking guides in the Okinawa islands, it is slightly harder on the main islands, but is possible If you are on a dive boat then the lunches can be amazing If you are a westerner diving in Japan you will get a lot interest from the local diving population as they are not used to seeing westerners dive and are very proud of their diving Some of the best wetsuits if the world are made in Japan, Yamamoto neoprene is so comfortable and super stretchy The photo below is from Ishigaki a couple of years ago

Great article, thank you for sharing this, I didn't think Japan was a destination with such potential in diving