Ajay

I was planning to just use a tiny piece of 0.3mm steel strip, bend it to deflect the light up, and epoxy it to the front of the flash. It seems there is around 5mm of space at the front bottom below the strobe window, so it should be plenty to hold the strip. Once the flash arrives, I will post details. Ajay

All great advice above. I would add the following: 1. You can consider a liveaboard in Raja Ampat. I think even a relatively new diver, or one who wants to do fewer dives a day and/or skip some day can easily enjoy life on a boat away from wifi. Also, Misool area you can kayak around the nearby Islands where the mother ship anchors. 2. I love Malapascua diving, but note that every day you will do one hour out and one hour back in a possibly bumpy banka boat. 3. Love Bali. Has plenty of reef, macro, wall, wreck (or what remains of it). Also has other topside activities, if you do a safari. 4. If Philippines, I would say (despite the town being what it is), diving in Puerto Galera, Verde Island, and then moving across the channel to stay in Anilao few days can be rather nice. 5. Similar experience (combo of wall/reef and macro) could be to split few days each in Bunaken and Lambeh. Both places have nice resorts and good food. 6. Personally, I would wait for fresh divers to get a bit more experience before going to Sipadan: mainly because it opens the possibility of diving turtle cave. Kind regards, Ajay

Cool. If you get it, please update us on the performance. I will do so if I get the Zeniko one. I must say that I can only think of all this as a backup, since (a) already have the Nauticam trigger and carry spare battery, and (b) these small flash guys have mixed reviews. The amazon page for the Medalight F1S claims it is frequently returned; it also lists the re-cycle time as 6 sec, although the Aliexpress page seems to show 0.9s. Kind regards Ajay

This is a great find. A quick check on taobao (or aliexpress) shows the GoDox IM20 and similar other ones, e.g. Zeniko EF04. I already have the Nauticam trigger, but one of these would be a great backup. A quick comparison on sizes: Nauticam trigger for sony: 52 x 36 x 26.5 GoDox iM20: 39 x 38 x 29.5 Zeniko ZF04: 35 x 30 x 29 Not sure if any of these can do speed sync, but as a backup, should be fine. Kind regards, Ajay

For what it's worth, I don't see any change in prices of Sony lens or Nauticam here in Hong Kong. In the past, folks from India/Europe would often make a stop in HK and buy loads of electronics here on their way back to home.. Now maybe friends from US will also make a stopover here on their way to some dive destination.. The alternative, I expect would be Singapore. Kind regards, Ajay

Hope, despair, outrage, beauty, and nostalgia. All in 16 min of honesty.

I think my first video lamp was the L&M sola 800. It worked well until it didn't (which is how my wife describes me). I loved the design, and the compact size and the idea that it was all sealed - leaving less room for leaks. Ajay

Some other divers staying with us had taken the ferry route. One feedback from them was that the beds in the private cabin had very thin/hard mattresses: they were wishing they had carried air mattresses. 🙂 Ajay

Indeed - getting there was a mess. I am thinking a better approach would be to dive Anilao a few days. Then take the overnight Ferry from Batangas (I figure it's only a 40 min car ride from any resort in Anilao). Ajay

ohhh, it was just a bit cold, we didn't do any night dives at all. Missed the sashimi shrimp. But still was great diving. Couldn't agree with you more about the need for a dedicated (super)-macro setup. Ajay

In an earlier chat about Philippines, @scubadiggy had recommended Romblon, so we decided to make a brief trip to check out this little Island. It's been around, I learnt, for a fair number of years, but lately they are focusing more on super macro. The guides enjoy discovering rice-grain (or smaller) sized critters. But I suppose the two things that make the place special are the Phantom nudibranch (aka, the ghost melebi nudi), and the tiger butterfly nudibranch - whose shape reminds me a bit of the Sydney opera house - hence the title of the post. A trip report is on my blog, along with more photos. Frankly, I felt a bit handicapped with the Sony 28-60 lens and Subsea +10 plus an Inon 165 macro wet lens in tandem. I've been somewhat reluctant to add more travel weight, but Romblon pushed me to seriously consider getting a dedicated macro lens and the associated ports, sigh. Anyway, in keeping with the title, here are two photos as teasers. Kind regards, Ajay

Thanks @Davide DB. My new year resolution(s): (a) Take some time to really learn how to take better photos, instead of returning from each dive with 18 copies of essentially the same poor composition &/or exposure of each subject. ... failing that (b) Take 36 photos of each subject, hope for the miracle.. ... failing that (c) Buy more gear. 😑 Ajay

Interesting video, @TmxDiver, thanks. Indeed, in a closed environment with a 360 camera, it's not clear to me what lighting would be preferred (your setup definitely gives a "scuba" feel to it; floodlight the entire space, e.g. cave, could also be interesting). I also hear rumors that Apple is reconsidering the Vision pro, but I do think that this tech will carry on; last summer we had an immersive experience of the Barcelona cathedral (in the cathedral :-)).. I think they used the Meta quest, still very nice. Ajay

A friend caught hold of the Apple Vision Pro, and we watched the immersive video (part of Apple's initial promo series to show off the hardware, I think?) on tiger sharks. It's ~9 min, and quite spellbinding, I felt. I dare say this immersive video could be the next best thing to actually diving, hehe.. Anyway, it got me wondering what is a good camera setup for making this style of videos (I mostly do photos, so I am quite uninformed about even normal UW videos, apart from enjoying the videos that folks post here). It would be nice to learn more form folks here about what could be pro level, or consumer level rigs specifically designed for this type of content creation. I am not sure if Apple will continue the Vision Pro, but this form of media consumption is definitely here to stay (I watched the immersive NBA show also, and it was 4 minutes of pure magic). Ajay

Thanks for the video, @bghazzal. If I was planning to dive in Mikomoto, this is exactly the kind of video I'd like to watch on the flight over to Japan, it shows me exactly what to expect and mentally prepare for :-). These guys have been working in what I imagine are challenging conditions for a fair number of years -- I think if anything, they have earned the right for the attitude, if any :-). And they made a nice video. All good. Ajay

@Luko your gallery is awesome! Thanks. Ajay

Great description @fruehaufsteher2. We dived Fuvamulah earlier this year (January). Couple of minor things to add: 1. There is a resident Sand Tiger shark that comes up form the deep (almost) every afternoon at a site (if I recall, Havitha Fannu). 2. The dive site Ferikkade has thresher sharks (we saw them couple of times, when I was at 43m, and the shark at 50+). Several in our group also ran into a school of hammerheads there, at around 46m. By the way, we stayed and dived with Tiger Shark Residence: it's owned and run by a group of Chinese/Singaporeans. They managed to catch a chef from China, and we had the best ever meals at the resort (we're quite used to eating Chinese food a lot, what with being in Hong Kong). I'd go back just for the food, haha. My dive blog post is here. Kind regards, Ajay

Simon runs a diving business (travel and more) out of HK. He recently posted this video to a whatsapp group - it's rather nice.. in fact.. downright amazing for me. Thought I'd share it with you folks. Simon Lorenz with albino baby humpback in Tonga Kind regards, Ajay

Reporting a short dive trip to Bali couple of weeks ago. Stayed with Utama resort, and overall quite happy with the arrangement. My last trip to Bali was ten years ago, and in this period, it seems to have turned into much more of a macro, I might even say, ultra macro, destination. Guides compete to find the smallest of nudibranchs, it seems. My trip blog is here. Feel free to comment on the images - apologies if the download speed is a bit slow. I managed to flood the battery compartment of my YS-01 strobe on one dive. Upon opening, it was a total mess inside, I was not optimistic. But our guide, Jaya, offered to give it a shot.. a shot of good old coke. Soaked it for few hours in coke, rinsed, cleaned, repeat. And amazingly it worked just fine the day after. It was the first can of coke I have bought in a couple of years (being a carbonated water person) - and it was the best coke I might have bought in my life :-). Anyway, here is a teaser for the trip photos.. a Donut (Doto) nudibranch. Kind regards, Ajay

Just a quick follow-up from my questions. We spent a few days at Utama. The executive brief: Resort: A Dive arrangements and dive guides: A Food: C. I think these are a bunch of good folks, and with a bit of guidance on food side of things, it can well be an ideal diving holiday resort in the Tulamben area. I will make a more detailed report of the trip, together with some selected photos and post in a few days. Kind regards, Ajay.

Thanks Luko. We ended up booking with Utama (they had very good response to my inquiry).. Hope it'll be all good. We will be there late June. Kind regards Ajay

Thanks folks, all of these three look nice, esp. Markisa and Utika. Shall start planning :-). Ajay.

Hi folks, Pre-covid, our favorite dive resort in Bali/Tulamben was Scuba Seraya. I cannot see their website any more, although I can see bookings available for staying at the resort on tripadvisor. Does anyone have updated info about whether they are up and running once again, and if so, do they have a dive operation and also the same restaurant that they used to have before (😃). If not, would welcome any other recommendations for Tulamben. Kind regards Ajay

Back in 2018, our trip to Triton Bay (nearest airport is Kaimana) was: Jakarta - <Batik air> - Manokwari - <Wings air> - Kaimana; the return was Kaimana - <Wings air> - Sorong - <Batik Air> - Jakarta. I don't know if these airlines and routes are still operating, I know Covid changed a lot of these things. I do recall that finding info about local airlines in Indonesia used to be a bit of challenge - Triton Bay divers had helped us make the bookings (they had experience with what flights tend to get delayed, and planned a schedule that was more tolerant to delays). Kind regards Ajay p.s. If you do get to dive in the neighborhood, Triton Bay is really amazing - I'm sure you know.

Easter gave me a chance to do three days in Anilao (Philippines). I really cannot post anything that hasn't yet been done there, by now. The mandate to the dive guide (Ernesto) was "hairy". And he did lead us to various hairy frogfish and a hairy rhinopias. There were a couple of instances of mating nudibranches. Here are the teaser photos. I also have a trip report with more photos, linked from here. Comments/criticisms are welcome - I'm getting used to the Sony A7 IV, and there is much to learn. Kind regards Ajay