TimG

I've just got home from a terrific 12-night Raja Ampat trip on Emperor Diver's vessel, MV Harmoni. The itinerary started in Kaimana, covered Triton Bay, Misool and the Dampier Straits - and ended in Sorong. Others have written about the diving delights of the area so I won't rehash that. Suffice it to say that, my first trip to this part of Indonesia, I found the diving just fabulous. Abundance and variety of marine life was something else. Whale sharks and mantas included. I've been fortunate to have been on lots of liveaboards over the years. This was, by far, the best I have ever done. Harmoni has a crew of 21 for 24 guests and is spacious,. comfortable and relaxed. Lead by a first class Cruise Director, the entire crew were unfailingly helpful and considerate. Diving was from a RIB with four guests accompanied by a dive guide. Nitrox was included in the price. Following the usual briefing, divers put on their wetsuits and only had to carry their mask and camera to the RIB. All gear was loaded by the crew with divers being helped into their BCs etc on the RIB immediately before a backward roll onto the divesite. No carrying heavy gear down to the RIB or down to a dive deck. Luxury. A dive guide was assigned to each group of four and rapidly understood what the group wanted to do in terms of photography, ease of the dive, avoidance of current etc. Dive sites were usually 4-5 minutes (enjoyable) RIB-ride from Harmoni with at least one RIB monitoring the dive with several ready for pick ups at the end of the dive. At the end of the drive, the crew moved dive gear, except mask and camera, from the RIB to Harmoni so, again, no lugging of gear. They even rinsed wetsuits after each dive. Food was always excellent and a mix of Asian and European. The system was the classic light breakfast, dive, big breakfast, dive, lunch, dive and dinner. Harmoni had a well-stocked bar complete with barman and espresso machine (yay!) We used the Aston Hotel in Sorong and the Grand Papua Kaimana in Kaimana. Both were good. We flew KLM to Jakarta and then Garuda to Sorong and Wings Air to Kaimana. No problems with any of the flights and the service was always very good. On one flight there was a tiny charge for excess baggage. We applied for Indonesian visas online and were seriously impressed by the arrival formalities in Jakarta: a quick transit through e-gates. I celebrated an "x0-birthday" during the trip and cannot think of a better way of marking the occasion. I can recommend Harmoni highly.

I agree with Chris. The Inon torches are very good. I had the 1100F model until last week when it and a Zeagle pouch complete with magnifying glass, disappeared in Triton Bay first dive of my trip. I like it so much I ordered a (sadly) more expensive replacement as the 1100F model is no longer available. But as Chris sets out, ease of use of the Inons, power as a dive light or focus light are both good. And I really like that it doesn’t need a bespoke charger or battery. (I had an L&M Sola before)

I could have waved to you, Bill. We sailed out of Misool yesterday. Fabulous diving.

Cynical? I think you mean we’ve learned from bitter experience. The US sneezes and the rest of the world gets flu. Manufacturers will hike up the prices worldwide because they don’t want to hit the US market too hard; and because they can. All the world needs: COVID, Ukraine, Gaza and now tariffs.

Great to have you with us A warm welcome to Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum

Fair point, Chris!

As Chris explains, something like the Retra reduction rings work very well as does a snoot. Snoots do take some practice though and work best on strobes that have a circular flash tube with a central aiming light. A fast shutter speed also helps by reducing the amount of light the sensor can pick up. And, yep, after that inward or overhead lighting but these techniques can produce unwanted shadows and odd effects.

Hey Sam! Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes

No equipment manufacturer is going to get rich with that kind of attitude, vkalia. Up your game, man!

I do find that my leak sensor, a Vivid Sentinel, can switch from hours of steady green to blinking green/red through, I think, temperature variations - although it’s supposed to compensate for that. The fact you are getting moisture though is concerning. Good idea from Wolfgang to taste the water. If unsalty then condensation is the likely answer. I did think though that aluminium housings were not especially prone to that. But maybe it’s possible in tropical environments or where there is significant ambient temperature fluctuations, like the mountain lake. You could try packing the housing with tissue paper and taking it for a dive and seeing where the moisture is developing. This also might help show up the site of a possible small leak as it’s likely to only set the area around the leak whereas moisture would likely be more widespread. Good luck tracking it down. An annoying and troubling issue for sure.

I’m a Mac user too so it’s not that.

Hmmmm…… odd. I thought that did work. Try cutting and pasting into Notes and then copying from Notes. Ive been able to copy from Notes into Waterpixels. I’m sure Rich will take a look at the issue.

Yeah , I’m now very wary of letting water dry on my ports. Once out of the rinse tank I use a micro fibre towel to dry them.

Good one!