Macro in the Red Sea?

Going to dive the Red Sea early April, Deadalus and St Johns. Don't seems to see alot of macro pictures from the Red Sea, so what will I miss if I don't bring my macro gears at all?

I'm asking because my smile doesn't work at the check-in counters as magical as some other guys post here, tired of travelling with 40kg luggages, and trying to save couple kg by leaving out the macro port, extension etc., if these's nothing much to lose, or is there?

While not necessarily rich in macro there is some there.

I would be more concerned about missing some of the fish portrait stuff over true macro.

At minimum (Nikon) I would pack a flat port and a 60mm macro lens.

Paul C

The thing with macro is that it is not always clear where the shots were actually taken. I would imagine, depending on where you are, that you see far more Red Sea macro shots than you realise.

Particularly on night dives the coral tends to come alive with shrimps, small crabs and the like, giving plenty of interesting things to shoot. If you skip these you really are missing out.

As PRC said, if you take a 60mm macro then you also have the fish portraits.

I would definitely take one.

Particularly on night dives the coral tends to come alive with shrimps, small crabs and the like, giving plenty of interesting things to shoot. If you skip these you really are missing out.

Is night diving still permitted at Daedalus and St Johns?

Personnally if it's your first trip to the Red Sea and you are only doing one week there then just take a Tokina 10-17 and matching port - you won't run out of photo opportunities down there.

Edit to add - Stephen Frink wrote an article a few months ago about travel luggage and packing for a trip to the Red Sea and he said in the article that he wasn't bothering to take any macro gear as he considered the Red Sea to be wide angle country. I can't locate the article online but I think it was in Scuba Diving around November or December 2009

Is night diving still permitted at Daedalus and St Johns?

It would appear that you are quite right. No night dives are allowed within the Marine Park by law.

It would appear that you are quite right. No night dives are allowed within the Marine Park by law.

While I hate to see more and more restrictions placed on divers, that is one that I can understand and accept. We had enough close calls down there in the early '90's when only experienced divers were heading down there, and there was very few spots that I would allow a night dive - it just wasn't worth the risk. Obviously there is a much better understanding of the currents down there these days which is going to improve safety.

Thanks guys! Then I'll leave the macro lens/ports at home this time.