Christian K

I’ll be in Hulhumale late March, so will see what the situation is then.

Latest "reports" (more like rumors) from Shark Tank in Hulhumale are that there are no sharks anymore, only rays due to lots of disturbance from work and construction in the harbor. Will get back in a couple of months and give my impressions. I'm there anyway so might as well give it a try. I understand this dive, in case there are sharks, are quite different from the Fav tiger dive. Deeper and with lower visibility, so not really as suitable for shooting. Well, well...

There are fewer sharks in the oceans now than in 2011, so it’s not like the conservation work is done and we can sit back. It’s an uphill battle. Shark diving helps a lot. Of course it has to be done in a responsible way. Also note the difference in feeding and baiting. Feeding … I don’t know if that is such a good idea. Looked quickly but can’t see those studies really say anything about modyfying or altering the behavior in individuals. Basically they conclude: Sharks go were they think the food is. (bullsharks went to shallower depths) and big congregations of sharks can cause ”social” issues (many sharks in one spot can cause them to fight with each other). Consequences of feeding/baiting over time in the same spot. Perhaps detrimental to a group of individuals? Perhaps immoral? But it’s not really altering or modifying shark behavior inmo. They are opportunistic by nature and still have that behavior intact. Now with all that said. All shark diving aren’t equal. There are very bad examples out there.

Inme it is a common misconception in popular and mainstrean media that the sharks behaviour is ”altered” or ”modified”. The truth is that it’s very difficult to alter the behavior of an animal who has been perfected through longer time than any animals on earth. What we do when we use fish scraps or plastic bottles is exploiting their natural behavior. Dangerous? It depends, but it is more dangerous than when there’s no baksheesh.

Spectacular series of shots tho 🙂 Most sharks will n e v e r come close enough for photos w/o something to attract them, which might be fine. An acquaintance diver lost a rig in a similar fashion to a tiger shark in the Aldabra atoll some 20 years ago. Think it made the tv news in his home country (Netherlands) .

Was there with extended family and we had a very good time. Good for snorkeling to. No mantas there but eagle rays and sharks on the house reef. Was a few years ago tho, 2019.

For a family with mixed abilities and non-divers. Been there, done that. Not a trek. Maldives. You can see sharks, rays and turtles etc. on quite a few house reefs. Mantas have cleaning stations and can be found reasonably reliable. Less expensive resorts with good house reefs inme Ellaidho in north Ari and Filitheyo in North Nilhando. Bon Chance.

I’ve used and like the Royal Evolution. It has operated in Egypt and Sudan for 20+ years and has had the same owner Yasser Elmoafi for all the time—a true pioneer in Red Sea liveaboard diving who has ”created” a few of the routes. With that said, there are too many boats in the Egyptian Red Sea nowadays so it’s crowded also on the off shore islands. Beautiful dives tho. Summertime is the overall best inmo with good chances of seeing hammerhead sharks. In fall and winter, oceanic white tips. The latest years I have ditched liveaboards for camps with housereefs where you can go unlimited w/o guide or even solo, like Red Sea Diving Safaris, run by another pioneer Hossam Helmy.

Just want to add one thought. We shoot a whole system / configuration. A great lens can be sheit under water. Nikon 14-24 anyone? So while a lens won’t get sharper or better under water, it might not be as degraded as others.

Another vote for Stixx.

Ahh. Okey. That lens sounds like real sheit then, if it does not even function at a basic level with the FF body. Not that into details about Canon optics, but interesting. I thought those days were over.

Not sure it does not make a difference. As a comparison, my z24-50 with a wwl show slight vignette in corners shot dry @24. Nothing when under water. Now I don’t know much about the Canon set-up, but if the lens is 24-50 it should work similar.

The z24-50 combined with the wwl-1C on a Nikon mirrorless FF (think they call them 1B and 1C now, for 28 and 24 mm lenses respectively) works very well and delivers very sharp and contrasty images that are much better than I have seen previously with any other rectilinear zooms in (huge) domes. Just asking, the ”test image”, how did you shoot it? Looks like dry, no?

Any recommended bait to get close (like 8-15+1.4 close) to dema:s?

Hat for my hairless skull and a tee!

I’ll give it a shot going in with low expectations. Doing a liveaboard from Male so might as well. Looks like viz is usually pretty low and hundreds of rays that silt like crazy.

Were there any restrictions on using flash / lights on the tiger dives in Fav?

What lens does that work with that Kraken optics Dave? How do you find general IQ compared to the Nauticam WWL?

MWL, agree that there’s an issue with minimum f14 which is a turn off. The concept very interesting as I personally find myself either @24 or @50 with WWL-1C—never in between. Would be VERY interested in feedback from someone who has used the MWL. The 8-15… yes. If one can find one for sale. People tend to hold on to them. For a reason.

No it doesn’t. Fav is a seaplane ride away to the south. There’s a ”new” site in Male that mimics Fav, just near the harbor. So I intend to explore it after the Sharktastic trip. But I figured it will be the same ”rules of conduct” as in Fav (haven’t been to Fav, hence asking the ones who have)

And what about Fav and tigers? Strobes? I’m going mid March on a week S Male-Veevu-Meemu-Ari so called ”sharktastic” on Emperor Voyager, then a day in Male with local DC (not decides which yet) to do ”the tank”. Manta in Ari cleaning station Dec 2018.

I was planning to go on a WS in April to Socorro but was put off by this scam tax, replacing it with Maldives ”Sharktastic” in March instrad.

I recently went wet lens too (Nikon z6iii), came from DX (Tokina and 10.5). There are situations I’d want to go full fisheye but I have tried to avoid them, waiting for a z-fisheye to emerge. In vain perhaps 🙂 But the WWL-1B & C are really a super neat, capable and flexible wideangle solution. I have been looking at the Nauticam MWL too, which I think might be better for Canon than for z Nikon, as there’s no z60. Other wise that gives 150 degrees FoV or 60 macro in one package—wet. Nikon FF with z24-50 and WWL 1C (1B as mentioned produce the same FoV with 28- lenses) @24 (130 degrees) @50 (70ish FoV and cropped 20%)

There’s a tiger (and bull, great hammer, spinner, nurse) shark dive since a few years back in Male too called shark tank. Same story, fishermen started to dump fish scraps. I don’t know exactly how productive this dive is for photo as it seem to be a little deeper and water gets seriously silted by 100’s of rays roaming around. Will find out in March when I intend to stay a day extra in Male after a liveaboard and do ”the Tank” 2-3 dives. Question: did you use strobes in Favamullah? Sometimes said it’s prohibited (according to Maldivian law), but I can’t find any info suggesting that? And I’ve used strobes in the Maldives on other sharks and big animals w/o any ”issues”. Merry Christmas 🎄🎁