Muellema

Well, ??????? dived Siren fleet 2006 with their first own designed/built boat together wit the owner in Andaman Islands/India. Again several times later on differnt destinations, last time Tubbataha with P. Siren in 2023. Loved their concept in the beginning. But the company has changed a lot. I also missed one trip in Timor with them due to loss of the liveaboard short before departure. As far as I know they lost all of their original boats except Palau Siren (which has already run aground in the past). From my point of view too many accidents with liveaboards these days. May be more liveaboards----more accidents. I do liveaboards since 1992 but current I'm feeling a bit unwell booking next trip. Br Markus

Hi, last time we did the Dauin Malapascua route on our 2023 philippines tour (Anilao, Coron,Tubbatah, Leyhte, Anda, Dauin, Malapascua). We did it by car and ferry. Very easy and confortable with our heavy dive and UW Camera equipment. Easily done in one day. We were not organized in advance and even miss the first early morning ferry from Negros to Cebu. After arrival Cebu island it took some time (arround 1.5h) to get a driver with car for transfer to Maya Port to Malapascua. We left Dauin arround 07.00 am and arrived Malapascua arround 05.00 pm. We paid 5000 Pesos for the car. If you organized in advance you should be able to do the trip in approx. 8 hours door to door. From my point of view no need for hotel, flight, etc. If you have some negotiation skills a car with driver is still very reasonable. We were diving Malapascua again (4th & last time) this spring and the car with driver from Cebu Port to Maya was 3200 Pesos. From Maya to Cebu airport we paid 2800 Pesos. Might be little more expensive at the moment due to fuel price increase worldwide. If you wanna see the treasures hurry up. There is a big underwater gopro circus going on at Kimbud Shoal. In April we had up to 28 boats anchoring. The ocean was bubbling. Guides told us in main season in may they have up to 50 boats (one full boat = 15-30 divers)☹️ +++++++the place is not big. Do not know how long the Treasher will play that game. Br Markus

Hi Michi, I bought my cerium oxide on an online platform called hood.de (similar to eBay), though that was a few years ago. I don't recall the brand name. However, during my research at the time, I found out that there are quality differences reflected in the color of the cerium oxide. Yellow and light cream-colored varieties are the purest and are used in the semiconductor and optical industries. Reddish-brown versions contain slightly more impurities and aren't as pure. These are primarily used in the glass industry for polishing glass. I have the reddish-brown type (see photo), and in my opinion, it yields very good results on the ports. Br Markus

Hi guys, Here is my "silly question" again. Can someone please explain the rationale behind applying the coating to the outer surface of a port? Does anyone have a technical or optical justification for this? I do not know the optical sense, but the problem with coating on outer surface is, that we clean/wipe the port after every dive. Even if we use the softest cloth available, we inevitably remove a little bit of the coating each time—however minuscule that amount may be. Unless there is some specific optical purpose for it... why put the coating on the outside of ports? However, I’m certainly open to being corrected if someone can offer a clear explanation for a reason for outer surface coating on ports. May be there is difference on super macro lenses due to optical setup. Hope someone can help. I use ceroxyd for years for my ports and my old macro wetlens and it works perfect. It removes watermarks and even tiny scraches without much effort. Also Seacam confirmed that optical coating is on the inside of the ports. Let me give you also two other example not UW related -first not from the field of optics- but still related to the loss of coatings. I had my car's paintwork treated with a very expensive ceramic coating (a very hard coating). After three years—and very few hand washes the coating was virtually gone due to the washing process and environmental exposure and it had to be reapplied. -second from my optician. I have glasses with expensive progressive lenses with hard coating for protection. My optician recommends to clean this one only with warm dishwashing liquid and use a supersoft close (no standard microfiber, no standard glasses cleaning cloths) to dry. He too, assured me that otherwise, the coating wouldn't last for a terribly long time. May be our UW camerahousing supplier have a superformula coating😁 Best regards, Markus

Hi guys, could someone please explain to me why a coating would be applied to the outer surface of a port? We all clean and dry our lenses after every dive. Even if we were to use a super-soft cloth, it still means we are compromising the coating. In my view, an AF coating only makes sense on the inner surface of the lens. But please—I'm open to being corrected. I use Ceroxid to polish all my glass ports and had never a problem. BR Markus

Hi, I first dived Tulamben and the Liberty in 1992. Tulamben did not really exist. There were only few huts and a "parking area". Last time time I dived there in 2024. In between, I visited and dived Tulamben various times. Things have changed significantly. But nowadays, that is not just a problem in Tulamben. Dived this spring Philippines for 5 weeks. Malapascua/Kimud Shoal and the treasures are a nightmare. We had 25 boats anchoring. Big party underwater and Gopro show with a lot of "nice models". I have never seen before so many divers on such a small place underwater. Guides told me they have up to 50 boats at high season in may. Sabang/Puerto Galera same. Bohol/Alona beach 600+ cylinder early morning on the beach waiting for divers. But I still know some places.......but they are becoming rare. Br Markus

Hi Dave, verry sorry, my mistake. I mispelled may be something. I also have only one 2032 battery on my D850 housing vacuum system. Br Markus

Hi Dave, if your happy to work with the rechargeable cells it is fine for me. Fact is that rechargeable 2032 have a capacity of 45 mAh and the Li cell between 210-240 mAh. For me, that's a significant capacity difference. Sorry ,but I do'nt want to change cells every few days, but I agree on your argument regarding waste. FYI: I started my dive trip in march with new installed CR2032 on my Nauticam vacuum system. I did 25 diving days and left the vacuum system running several days overnight (f.e. Malapascua, you leave 05.00 am...I think you know) and even left the vacuum running several times for 2 full days (too lazy open the housing). It was still running on the last diving day without change batteries. I just made a quick calculation and I roughly estimade more than 300 hours the vaccuum system was working with two CR2032. Br Markus

Hi Dave, thanks for hint. I have also checked after reading your message and must agree with Chris. The capacity of rechargeable button cells are very low. Nothing compared with the lithium battery one. You won't be happy using them. Br Markus

Hi, I’ve been using the Nikon 8-15mm lens in combination with a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter for several years now. I’m actually quite satisfied with the image quality. I mostly work within the 11–15mm range, shooting through a Seacam fisheye port. I’ve quickly picked a few sample images attached here. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to provide you with detailed metadata for the images. Best regards, Markus

PLUS some blue reduction rings. Thanks Dave for sharing the files. The reductions fit perfect and did a great job reducing backscatter on my Philippines trip March/April

Hi Dave, thanx for sharing. Will download and print in the next few days. Rating will follow. But I`m shure your design will work. Already printed your design of macro rings for retra flash and used it on my current philippines dive trip. They fit and worked perfect. Backscatter was noticeably reduced. Just returned back home after 6 weeks and need some time for detailed review. Br Markus

Hi Dave, interested in the new designed connectors. It would be great if you shared the print files. Br Markus

Hi, any coatings on UW- ports are on the inner surface. Br Markus

Hi, I use Ceroxid (Cerium (IV) oxide). It is a powder widely used as a high performance polishing agent in the glass industry. I bought some stuff on ebay but it shoud be available on internet shops as well. Watermarks are easily to remove and I was even able to remove small scratches with. I do it without polishing machine, so it takes a bit of time. But worth to do it. Br Markus