Reef hooks are common in Coco's as well. I personally see no problem with them in areas that are mostly rock and lava and if you know what your hooking on to. (ie Rocks) Every time I have been fortunate enough to see hammerheads, there has been a pretty good current. There is no way I could have photographed in Cocos (on some dives) or Galapagos w/o one.
Shallow reef dives are often complicated by surge. One can usually predict surge and go with it, but every once in a while you get surprised. The one finger approach can save a reef on many occasions.
I personally would much rather see a photographer use one finger on a rock or dead coral for stability when approaching and than to push back away from a delicate reef than try to slide in and end up trashing the whole reef when an unexpected surge comes. My problem with saying always use bouyancy is that people will listen, and as a result reefs will get trashed, at least from what I have seen on my dives.
I think we all can agree that you shouldn't even start photography until you have a good handle on bouyancy control. But once you have achieved that, use the tools and techniques that are available to you to assure that the reef is protected. The most important thing to do is repsect the reef, even if it means you dont take the shot.
I'll close by telling a story on myself, an embarrasment. I was diving in the Caymans a couple of years ago, on a night dive. I saw an octopus in a relatively shallow reef. thankfully most of the coral around was dead from bleaching. I decided I could slip in and get some shots. The surge was so bad that I ended up out of control and despite a one finger push off I got spun around and pieces of reef were everywhere from a fin kick. Dead reef....but still. I quickly backed off, but the damage was done. I felt so bad i didn't take a camera out for the next two days practicing my bouyancy and as self imposed punishement. I hope we all learn from are mistakes.
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