OneYellowTang

How many are in your group? If it's completely freelance, then you are potentially on the hook for not just the guide, but the boat and the boat crew as well. If you've got a group of 4-6 this can be economical, if it's just 1-2 of you, it could end up being a little more expensive (per dive). One of the reasons why I only dive at Anilao resorts that have their own full time boats & guides.

There is very little to nothing in northern China. You can dive near Dalian, but they have absolutely pillaged the near shore animal life in this area. In the south you can dive Hainan island (somewhat akin to the "Hawaii of China") but you will be diving with lots of other divers, and the average diver is much more likely to be on the reef than cruising over the top of it. This is changing slowly, but there are now more artificial reefs in Hainan than healthy natural reefs left because of this. Go see the Great Wall from Beijing (I was there again about two months ago) - still a very good experience. For your time in the south, if you really want to get wet, after having experienced Hainan, I would recommend traveling to HK, and trying the diving there. It's not excellent, but it's not horrible either. And you will be able to find experienced dive shops that will show you some of unique diving available.

The Iranian islands near the Straits used to have excellent coral coverage (according to scientific expedition literature from last century). It's almost all been destroyed due to dock building and other infrastructure. The Oman side is supposed to be better, although viz isn't what you get in The Red Sea.

@TimG I was in Lembeh when David was there (or more correctly, our boat did Nudi Falls when he was set up there shooting the iconic Nat Geo Nudi story). We were both staying at the old Kungkungan Bay Resort. I had dinner at his table one evening - definitely some great great stories. Actually the most interesting person a the table was his Nat Geo "gear guy." Back then he traveled with a Nat Geo technician who handled all the gear, fixed things that broke, and managed traveling with all that stuff. I have no idea how he's managing it now... I remember thinking after the dinner that the Nat Geo technician had a great job - all the travel, all the gear, none of the artistic pressure to "get the shot."

@Adventurer Glad you like your Marelux Apollo III's so much. I think we're past the point where you're convincing anyone of your position - rather just starting to sound a bit pedantic. I will give you this - Marelux makes a world-leading product that no one is talking about. Their rollerboard carryon will fit a housing (with handles on), 2 strobes, a port, a viewfinder, and several other odds and ends. It's international sized - however it's a touch wider that virtually anything else you can find on the market. It fits my Nauticam housing and retra strobes really well - I travel with it everywhere...(including this week in Misool). 6 shooters here, no Apollo's, a few Retras, some Inons, etc.

I should have also mentioned - you can stay on a shallower part of almost all the dive sites in Anilao and work on your technique, etc. Just let your guide know a head of time... I've done this quite a few times... as long as you stay somewhat near the boat your group will reunite with you eventually ;)

The Europeans solved this problem a long time ago - they just book ~3 week+ vacations ;) Seriously - I dived with a guy from Gernany years ago in Sangalaki. We were there for ~9 days and didn't want to miss a dive (ever). He was there for 22 dive days, and started with 1-2 dives a day for the first few days... he did the first couple of days without his camera - just getting used to the diving. There were a couple of days where he wanted to take a nap after lunch, missing a dive, etc. Definitely a much more laid back approach ;)

@JohnD Having been to both (albeit 5x to Crystal Blue, and 1x to Buceo) I prefer Crystal Blue. Buceo is a larger (more spread out) resort with a little more on "flat" land, however if the reason you're diving Anilao is to shoot, then Crystal Blue runs a slightly better operation (starting with the camera room)., and then there is only one Mike Bartick, so Crystal Blue has that going for it as well. The house reef in front of Crystal Bliue is significantly better (other dive resorts dive it by boat regularly), and the dive operation runs very well. The food can be a bit repetitive, but you won't go hungry. The house reef discussion is an interesting one - when you're diving 3x by boat during the day, and then adding in either a night dive or blackwater dive, it's hard to squeeze in a house reef dive as well. I wouldn't miss a blackwater dive for diving the house reef (for example).

Which is why a liveaboard in Palau does offer some advantages. It's not like Komodo, where you can get to a site early in the morning, but it does save up to 90 min a day of boat rides (because the liveaboard sit "inside" ~10 min away from some of the best dives). @bghazzal - having done Palau land-based multiple times (and liveaboard-based multiple times) everything you said it true, however the advantages of a liveaboard are the (much) shorter boat rides to the sites, and the opportunity to dive sites you can't by land (like down in Angaur,even farther south than Peleliu - on the rare occasions that it's flat calm).

I think you're looking at this a bit backwards. For those moving to the Sony A7 series, you move to FF. It's not that you "need" FF. And... there are many (many) u/w amateur photographers using a Nikon D850. I still contend one of the best pairings for blackwater dives is a D850 and the Nikon 60mm lens. This is not a "pro" (only) set up, just a very solid set up to get good images while diving blackwater.

@tailwind_marseille First - you are headed down a path many (many) of us have followed. Virtually all of your thinking to this point is well thought-out. Just a couple of things to consider: - you mentioned you were snorkeling with a TG-6... that may be part of the issue to consider. Getting crisp images when snorkeling is often even harder to do than while scuba diving. Much of the time you could be bobbing around on the surface, that motion impacts your images. In addition, most snorkelers shoot down, whereas most divers are shooting either even with a subject, or slightly up at a subject, which helps tremendously with ambient light (and perspective). Don't underestimate this, many of the best free-diving images taken are shot from this perspective. The TG-6 is a very reasonable u/w camera, especially shooting macro (small subjects), but the camera is subject to movement (leading to softer images). There are a number of reasons to advance beyond a TG-6, however understanding your use case(s) is important in understanding what kind of u/w camera system is going to work for you. - The other thing which you seem to already be considering is adding strobes. These will help you "freeze" your subject in the image to help get the sharpest image possible. That will come down to the interaction between the focusing ability of your camera & lens choices, shutter speed, and your strobe(s) ability to add light on the subject. If your primary use is going to be snorkeling, then I would be looking at a system that has both fast autofocus and the ability to adjust aperture & shutter speed easily - as you'll want to control the ambient light in every shot. If you are going to be using the rig mostly for scuba diving, then fast autofocus is a nice to have (critical in a few situations), but depending on the subject, you may be able to get away with slightly slower focus speed (as @Alex_Mustard mentions in the latest Underwater Photography Show podcast, some lenses, like the Sony 50mm macro lens, can provide great images, but are very slooooow to focus). To your specific question on camera - both my kids started shooting underwater with Olympus housed systems - it was a great learning platform. One has now moved up to Sony FF system, the other to a Nikon FF system, however both did well in u/w photography competitions shooting with that Oly (that then got handed down to a cousin who also learned using that system). It was excellent for macro (some could argue comparable to a FF Sony A7III with the 90mm lens), but was never a great w/a solution. Others here have had great success with the A6400 camera, so that could be a solid choice. If you are still considering the A7C this is a quick read (Sony A7C II Underwater Camera Review - GEAR TESTS | EVENT COVERAGE 2025 | BONAIRE - The Digital Shootout - A renowned annual event for underwater photography and videography enthusiasts.).

Maybe the shark was offended the diver was only shooting with an action cam?

For Belize, we went to Turneffe Island Resort. The dolphins were around several of the dive sites, so we saw them (and swam with them) on both surface intervals, and twice, on safety stops. They do offer snorkel tours (twice a day), however those are mostly for viewing fish and coral, not dolphins. They do have several snorkeling siteds where turtles are found.

@mcgowman I've been to French Polynesia quite a few times, but not since just before the pandemic. I'm assuming you are talking about the small airport in Bora Bora, not in Papeete. It is true that the airport in Bora Bora is on a motu across the lagoon from the main island. There is a free shuttle boat to the main town (Vaitape) that you will be able to take from the airport. You will need to collect your bags, etc. and then make your way to the ferry (usually easily seen as you walk towards the water). Once in Vaitape you will be able to catch a taxi or proceed to the rental car offices right across from the pier. Given the size of your group you likely will need to split up across several taxis and/or rental cars. If your Airbnb is on another motu then you may need to rent a private water taxi to get there.