Christian K

Unfortunately it seems bleaching happens more frequently all over. Inme Pemba was pretty much spared in the biggest El Niño in 1998 when the Maldives, Seychelles and other central / western Indian Ocean locations were so heavily hit and most coral died. If Mafia, which is fairly close and sits in shallower water, escaped, chances are Pemba has too. It can be very local tho. However, Pemba is a deep sea island surrounded by big depths and corresponding water masses and currents, which normally is a good thing when it comes to avoiding elongated periods of too warm water. Don't get your hopes up too high regarding whale sharks around Pemba. Please report back.

I've lost 2-3 neoprene covers through the years due to a Mares BCD with "netsection"-pockets made out of plastic/rubber that deteriorated and zippers that gave up after 15-20 years and a 'few' dives. Aforementioned BCD now retired.

I have this one. Most of my shooting has not needed it, I mainly shoot WA. Closest I get to macro is CFWA 😀 I feel (in theory) that the af is pretty fast and sticks. What’s your experience? Anyways I will start videoing a bit too so a better torch is on the list. Gold star to me for DIYing a lanyard: Will be drilling a hole in the wwl-c cover and attach it to myself or carv up my own neoprene cover. Cheers!

Question Dave, do you use the hard plastic protection cap for the lens when you go in the water? I’m used to a neoprene cover on my domes but none is available for the wwl-c afaik? Or do you ”strip” before you jump in?

Good to go!

Sorry, Nauticam compact wet lens, didn’t I write that? And z24-50 lens. Just missing the camera body here (nauti house, z240x2, cables, macro port, extension, zoom gear, 24-50 lens in peli 1480 air). Wet lens and arms go in personal item (fanny pack). Chargers and batteries and extras go in checked.

So I have made the move. Have been a DX shooter since 2005 and was reluctant to FF due to a number of reasons, mainly bulkiness and weight (travel) and difficulties with rectilinear wide angle, which I use a lot. So now I’m putting my hope to a little compact wet lens paired with a kit zoom… Apparently an awesome combo, I’ll see in a couple of weeks on a trip to nusa Tengerra… I have been using Hugyfot housings before, sleek and small. Now I’ve converted to Nauticam. The latter is a tad lighter and with handles removed for packing, about the same size. Z-body and optics smaller and lighter than DX versions. The wet lense is smaller and lighter than a big dome port. The macro port for the Nauticam is very little and light. So I managed to make the move and actually, it looks like, loose some weight and pack a tad tighter. So far mission accomplished. So now let’s just hope images will not be sheit 🙂

The photogear insurance sound interesting. I will look into that for sure. As for regular travel insurance and incidents / accidents, I am covered by my home insurance for 45 days abroad, assisted by SOS international, evac, treatments everything.

Sad indeed. Manta rays and sharks are seldom eaten though, very poor meat. Finns dried and sold to the Chinese. Meat become animal fodder. Still, it’s their part of the world and they’re free to do as they wish with their natural resources.

2.4 with padding, which I won’t use, only thin foam in bottom and lid, then cloth and bubble wrap. So it’s close to two. A very swift and easy move of a couple of items, 10 second operation, to my private :) fanny .. gets me close to 7. Carrying the Nauti house as personal item an option, many do it. But I very much prefer to have it tucked in a case, so it can be ”tossed around” a bit. Have never considered putting the camera inside during travel. Tried to chose everything with weight in mind for solo traveling. Dropping the pelican might save another 400 grams or so… worth considering. Kind of want the protection though, I’m used to travel that way, old dog, new tricks… Now when I go with my daughter … it will be a non issue. She only has a gopro with a small handle and lamp. We just pack e v e r y t h i n g in two 7 kg carry on pelicans. Then 2 x 30 kgs checked.

Yes, unfortunately so. According to locals there used to be plenty of manta rays, but all fished out since 25-30 years ago. There’s a reef in the Fundu gap that they called manta reef or manta point, which is a cleaning station. No more. Still was an incredible dive even w/o mantas. Explosion of life. The best area inme together with the reefs that dropped off into the abyss north of Pemba. It is an oceanic island different to the other ones in the archipelago , in some ways like Sipadan compared to the other islands in the Sulawesi sea off NE Sabah.

”Best” season for Pemba is November to April roughly. Outside that period chances for good conditions are a less. It is very tide dependent. Only a short window every day is good which means only two good dives a day. Intimate, local experience and knowledge absolute critical. There were fields of dead coral already 20 years ago—dynamite fishing had been practiced by local military according to the dive center—but very limited. It seemed to have escaped the big bleaching in 1998 that hit the Indian Ocean badly, Maldives in particular. But for the most vast areas of living, beautiful coral. Visibility incredibly clear and lots and lots of fish. Roaring currents. Also bigger schooling fish like barracuda and trevally, and game fish. No sharks or mantas. It was inmo a lot better than diving around Zanzibar.

Pelican Air 1485 2,07 Inon Z-240 x2 1,24 Nikon Z6 III+battery 0,76 Nauticam Z6III-hus 2,70 Cables 0,15 WWL-C 1,05 Nikon Z 24-50 mm 0,20 Nauticam Macro Port 6 0,35 Bayonet Mount Converter 0,115 Total 8,635 kg Moving the wwl-c and perhaps the 24-50 to my ”personal item”—a fannypack with 4 arm segments and six clamps—will get it down to 7ish carry-on legal weight. NiMh AA:s, chargers etc. and additional gear in checked luggage—I’ll be able to shoot even if checked luggage is delayed or ”lost”, batteries and chargers can be replaced in most semi civilized areas. A plan in theory in this moment. Will test it in a month or so :)

Pemba Island in that region also interesting. Was many years ago, spent a week on Manta Lodge on its north tip. Very different to Zanzibar as it sits outside the continental shelf and has very deep waters all the way up to its shores. Kind of fjordlike ”gaps” that cuts into the island with 100+ meter deep walls. Pemba channel 1000 meters deep. Don’t know if there are any good DC:s now. Mafia and Pemba would make an interesting combo.