Christian K

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.

Gotcha. Cheers, the 1.xx kgs apparently the 24 mm variant…

No matter how long you’ve been on it, you have the right idea Helen! Welcome.

🤣 Let’s not jinx any accidents. But yes, good like in the saying ”… for the buck”. Made in Japan.

Most bang … : IKEA ladda.

Is that the travel friendly 1.xx kgs wet lens or the 4 kg ”lump”.

Get really cheap dive gear. The only ”expensive” stuff i have checked (and might plan to check) is ports. Otherwise arms, clamps and batteries. Housing, camera, strobes and cables in carry on. Lenses and wwl-c in big fanny-packis my plan (personal item).

Rules seems to be tighter and tighter. So does the slack given to ”sinners” :) I know, because I am one too. However with flying several times per year luck can’t be a part of the equation and business is out of budget. So most has to be checked it seems. And what I bring kept more or less within regulations.