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Welcome! Tahoe, a skier too I presume? -
Cool. 3500 dives… take my hat off. Have a few left …
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I’m in the same boat. Two z240:s getting retired during 2026. Now suddenly having pretty good video capabilities, some sort of hybrid might make sense (stills still the absolute priority, and travel friendly). HSS too. Watching this space.
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I’ll add (or second) Red Sea Diving Safaris, Marsa Shagra. Unlimited diving from shore on big, healthy house reef. Reef taxi (zodiac+driver) always at your disposal. Morning speedboat to Elphinstone (7:00 and 10:00) for big fish. Good desk in rooms for setting up / handling rig. Big dedicated camera rinse tank in DC. Alor Divers Indonesia (Pantar Island). Bit of a pain to get to, but very good mix of diving. Coral must be one of the healthiest atm to be found. Very photo friendly given circumstances—you’ll have a private rinse tank in your bungalow. Big desk with plenty of electricity and light. Dive as much as you want on house reef, two organized boat dives in the strait every day. Guide Johnnie and guide Rio top people.
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Money tends to solve a lot of things, excess luggage being one of them :)
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And you travel business or first class, I presume? Or pay heavy extra $$$ for overweight luggage. Four wheels definitely!
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For check-in, I personally prefer a regular lightweight hard case. For carry-on I use a Pelican light, which some don’t like because it can draw attention. I have never experienced that during som 25+ years traveling with dive and photo gear—then I have never dived in Mexico 😬 I just like that it can be tossed around and give protection. Otherwise I’d chose a normal carry-on size legal lightweight hard case. Nowadays it’s weight setting limits rather than size if you want to be within the regulations. 23-25 kgs for checked and 7-8 for carry-on are easily exceeded with just essentials. So getting lightweight, travel-friendly gear a must. And don’t forget ”personal item”. I got a Patagonia fannypack (my 23 y/o daughter keeps a distance when I wear it) which can fit some arm segments and a lens and other smaller details, taking some load off my carry-on.
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Had a chat with a fellow Swedish photographer who arranges a Socorro WS in late March. His ”trick” has been to enter via Mexico City and then domestic to Cabo.
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Cancelling Socorro for a combination of reasons and contemplating to go to the Maldives in March instead, combining a Central LoB (mantas) with staying in Hulhumale and dedicate a whole day 2-3 dives to this spot, hoping for close encounters with tigers, bulls, spinners etc. Have never dived this spot (have been to the Maldives two times before). Has anyone been and is it productive? Compared to Favamulah? Depth for close encounters? Good DC for photo logistics? Any intel appreciated. All the best.
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Just can’t stop thinking about all the time and money spent. For what? Is it something we need or want?
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”The Pelican Case”
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Perhaps not individual travellers. That would be very inefficient I would assume. But dive travel operations, tour organizers and tourism agencies that team up and turn to the local authorities with proper judicial back-up. It is a pretty specific case of misusing the law to point to and, I suppose, very specific individuals that do it to point at.
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What’s the cheapest carnet alternative? Anyone here looked into it? The ones I’ve found are $500ish. Cheaper to pay the 16% tax? But sometimes it’s not about the money. It’s the principle. Is what happening correct from a Mexican perspective (judicial)? Are those custom agents in their right or are they doing something wrong? Do their superiors have anything to say? I find it hard to buy that the intention of Mexican law is to tax tourists on holiday on camera equipment used non-professionaly—un-professionally in quite a few cases 😆
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Bummer. Was entertaining the idea of going to Socorro in March on a photo ws. Perhaps I can get an invoice saying I don’t own my gear-only rented it.
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Can she fit a Nauticam wwl-c on her current housing? It’s €1100 iirc and works with 24 mm lenses to produce 130 degrees very good iq.
