TimG

I think the less said there, Craig, soonest mended eh? Blame Christmas?

Hi turriffk (love the user name!) Ive organised trips a few times to Egypt. I'd advise strongly looking at the southern Red Sea. That's a bit less crowded than the northern area which has tons of day boats in addition to liveaboards. I always use Emperor Divers liveaboard fleet who I have found to be very good. Take a look at their trips out of Marsa Alam heading south: St Johns and the Furys is very good and not crazy busy - well for the most part any way. Last trip we had Oceanic Whites and loads of dolphins. The itineraries that have The Brothers and Elphinstone Reef tend to be busier but the diving is pretty good. The Red Sea gets pretty cold in the winter, say November to April with temperatures in the celsius teens. In the summer it gets into the very high celsius 20s or even low 30s. As for travel, Marsa Alarm is fairly easy to get to via Europe especially via the UK or Amsterdam. Cairo is easy of course and there are 2-3 flights a day from Cairo to Marsa Alam. We've found those reliable and inexpensive. A couple of days sight-seeing in Cairo is a bonus and well worthwhile. I can recommend a company who can arrange a car, driver and guide for you. Similarly, if you use a Marsa-based boat, a 2-3 night side trip to Luxor is very worthwhile. You can then fly from Luxor to Cairo. I really like diving in the Red Sea (and Egypt more generally), although, have to say, I did notice a drop off in reef quality from 2023 to 2024. I don't know if that was seasonal or more long-term. The colour vibrancy was just not as good. Any follow-up questions, just let me know.

Thanks, Dave. I wasn't aware of any issues but we will check it out.

It never used to be......

My bad

Hey Alon! Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to your new photo home! Best wishes

How about which lenses underwater are excellent underwater but are horrible topside? Tokina 10-17, anyone?

I agree with Dave. My ULCS stuff is 20+ years old and my Stix 15. All still good!

Hi bearaway Always great to see an old Wetpixel hand here. There’ll be lots of names you recognise. Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to your new home!

HelpingfriendsemptytheirbankaccountsRUs.com I hope your buddy really enjoys it!

Hey Rick Welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. Good choice on cameras - and using the D500 underwater. A great system!

Kate Bush: putting the world to rights, one note at a time……

Yeah, I’m with Caolla. The more gear you carry, the more the distractions. One lens: you know then what you’re shooting and can concentrate on that. It’s a lesson I learned the relatively hard way (lots of unused kit), but it pays dividends, saves faffing about and avoids gear loss underwater.

Remember the time when US sellers wouldn’t sell to potential buyers in Europe? Best of luck for 2026, my US friends…..

Dodgy!

Sticks? Work of the devil. They let you poke bits of reef that you wouldn’t dream of touching. 😝😱

Hi Ben! Always great to get a Wetpixel refugee with us. You’re very welcome. I’m sure you’ll see lots of familiar names.

Yep, I’m pretty much with Dave on this. I seldom remove them - especially the housing main o-ring - unless there is obvious sand or grit visible. Shore diving can create this. But week diving from a liveaboard rarely requires an o-ring removal with the potential for damage or mis-placing.

I’m off to the Maldives next year and was mulling over strobes or no strobes for the classic manta dive. Waters are usually turbid, I guess, so backscatter would be an issue.

Yep, the Nikkor 8-15 works really well on the Z bodies with the FTZ. I use it both with a Z6IiI and a Z9.

Hi and welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Uk Diving eh? Brrrrrr…… Best wishes

Hey Scott! A warm welcome to Waterpixels, we hope you really enjoy the forum. What an exciting time with your project. Very best of luck with it. Best wishes

That’s good thinking. Strobes and their accompanying arms and clamps are some of the few long-term investments in u/w camera gear that can transfer from one system to another. Definitely worth planning ahead.

John, why not just dive with a 60mm? I use a 105 on a D500 and like it but, for sure,it’s not the easiest to use. Are you using it on a FF body?

I've seen a Hasselblad as a paper holder - albeit with an analogue clock mounted in the lens mount - so don't feel too bad 😉 Fingers crossed.