Christian K

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)