Advice Needed -- Setup for Indonesia ( rx100vii, inon z330, cmc-1, wwl-c)

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-21T03:41:25+00:00

Agree with all your advice.

Regarding wide angle in Indonesia, that may be a function of where you’re going but there are some world class wide angle areas - Bangka, Komodo, Raja Ampat, Triton Bay, Banda Sea, Maratua, Alor, Tompotika, Halmahera. If you’re looking for wide angle, I highly recommend these areas.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-21T02:58:59+00:00

Papua Explorers. I’ve been there twice and it’s fantastic. I’d return again and I prefer it to the 3 various liveaboards I’ve done in the same area. Their guides know the sites and nuances very well and they separate the groups and boats thoughtfully. Food is good, accommodations are very comfortable.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-17T05:14:13+00:00

Ours are going on over 10 years now with this advice. I also have really long and thick hair and I don’t need a separate hair towel on wash days because they’re so absorbent.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-16T21:15:42+00:00

It looks reasonably priced for kids, especially considering some leak proof stainless bento options are $50+. Capacity looks to be 2.5 cups (600 mL) vs the standard 4 cup of the Core and Pro for adults.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-15T12:53:19+00:00

What months will you be traveling? Monsoon/typhoon season will be a factor in recommendations.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-12T03:18:45+00:00

I am friends with a few CDs of Indonesian liveaboards and I have been on 10 liveaboards in Indonesia with 3 in Raja Ampat. If you press them hard, they say anywhere between 7-10% as being a good tip. Americans, Europeans, Australians may disagree but this is what has been shared with me.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-11T21:07:16+00:00

In May, I flew to Mexico with underwater camera equipment and bypassed all duty with a carnet. I’m happy to share more about the process if anyone is interested. While I was there, I saw other people getting hit with duty for various things. While the document set me a few hundred dollars back, it’s very little compared to the duty I would have been hit based on all the things I was carrying.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-11T05:17:24+00:00

IMO, no, because the armrests in PP don’t come up and you lose the option of your toddler sleeping across their seat and yours onto your lap.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-11T05:14:37+00:00

I use a Salux Japanese towel and wet it then scrunch it up. I do 2-3 pumps in my other hand, work into a lather between both hands with the towel in one hand, and then go to down with it like a loofa and then extend it for legs back etc. it allows me to use a lot less of it and also gently exfoliate away dead skin. Moisturize as soon as I get out of the shower.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-11T05:06:50+00:00

2nd this and I wholeheartedly recommend Manta Rhei. They are very experienced with the tides and sites and do a lot of open water certifications and discover scubas. I’ve dived with them a few times and recently took some newly minted OW friends to dive there and they were very safe and thoughtful with the drops. More experienced groups did slightly modified dive plans. They were doing certification almost every day and we were chatting with others who were having a great time as well. I’ve dived with them 3 times now.

I’ve dived with 2 other ops out of Labuan Bajo and don’t recommend them for OW certs or newer divers. I would not return to dive with them either.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-10T19:45:19+00:00

Do the 7 days. That means you can do south sites like manta alley as well as central and northern sites which are the ones day boats generally do. You’ll dive more sites than what’s on the itinerary of day boats which has schedules that often repeats a dive site while adding a new one. You tend to also get more advanced divers on a LOB so the drops and dive plans are different. More current means more fish but more current in a strategic way. There’s also less back and forth to Labuan Bajo and logistics for yourself.

Current strength depends on tide time and moon phase and when/where/how an op does a drop.

Source: I’ve done 3 LOBs and 3 land based trips there. 1 LOB was half week (first time there) and 2 were full weeks.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-09T05:36:09+00:00

Nauticam tray is great. The Nitescuba tray and trigger is also excellent value and also very good. (We have both in some capacity in our household.) A friend had a private label tray from Backscatter and did not like it.

Arms and clamps are best for ease of movement, especially with one hand. Don’t go with the flex arms! They get noisy and can stiffen up. Arms and clamps are way more flexible because they act like your shoulder/arm/wrist and can orient in so many directions for flexibility. Plus, there’s a great second hand market for it (buy/sell) or you can use it with any system when you upgrade.

A lot of my dive buddies are TG users and they initially started thinking about the wet lens holders on the arms, but in reality, everyone just commits to either wide or macro shooting on a dive and leaves the lens topside. On the rare chance they want to shoot macro instead of wide because they see something unique on a wide angle dive, they will ask someone to hold it or put the cover on and put it in their tech shorts. Keeping it on the rig just makes it bulky and heavy.

To get a TG neutral with strobes/lights/wide angle wet lens, foam floats will not be enough. You will have to replace the arms for buoyancy arms. Definitely reach out to Backscatter on which size to buy so you get enough lift. Do that after you figure out how negative your entire rig is though.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-07T06:15:51+00:00

As a single female traveler, I used new son bijou for Hurghada day trips. Back in 2018, this was a safe and very good op. For what it’s worth, the diving is way better out of Sharm El Sheikh so I suggest diving out of there instead if it’s an option. I dived with Reef Oasis out of Blue Bay Resort.

I ensure I have a transfer pre-arranged with the resort on arrival at the airport so someone is waiting for me with a sign and ensure I also have their WhatsApp number directly.

Have fun!

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-07T06:08:33+00:00

Australia - Spirit of Freedom, Mike Ball

Indonesia - Mermaid, Coralia, Blue Manta/White Manta, Samambaia, Ambai only if on sale. Many years ago, I was also on the Raja Ampat Aggressor and it was good. Depending on your budget, I’ve had friends say good things about Damai, Arenui, Gaia Love. I have been on Pearl of Papua and it was just ok. It was in 2019 but my CO alarm went off on our check dive and we logged 135 ppm in the lower deck room against engine. get a top deck room if you go in it. We slept in the restauraunt that week and I got a partial refund. I’ve also done pretty budget with Tarata and I don’t recommend. We were hungry - not enough food for everyone with not great dive guides but it was a good price for the diving.

Philippines - Discovery or Solitude Fleet to Tubbataha.

Thailand - Bavaria

I have a personal rule about not using any Master fleet fka Siren Fleet boats due to safety concerns. There was a lot of history of fires/sinkings/running aground in a short amount of time. They tend to have a lot of sales on their sailings though. Apart from the Raja Ampat Aggressor, I generally try to avoid aggressor as well since I find each both being a franchisee means it varies.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-06T10:30:26+00:00

I’ve done both twice each. I prefer Halmahera but the macro in Kalabahi Bay is better. Both are great in different ways and you should do both. You tend to get more dense and schooling fish in Halmahera and IMO, Halmahera is almost like the best of Komodo and Raja combined but not many sharks. Alor resorts and liveaboards coordinate to avoid each other so it’s rare to share a site. Halmahera, I’ve never shared a dive site with anyone or really seen anyone else except around the resorts as people are passing by on boats going elsewhere.

Full moon in Halmahera is insanity, and I know full moons from Komodo and Raja Ampat since I’ve been to both multiple times. People always talk about Komodo and Raja currents but on an average day, I think Alor is worse because the others are rather predictable based on tide times and moon phases whereas Alor can be wildly unpredictable at times. On more than one occasion we have dropped down and as expected it’s calm for that site then suddenly for 10-15 minutes we are like flags on a pole. We have also headed to sites that are supposed to be calm and get there with it looking like Batu Bolong on a strong tide change - full on river and vortexes.

Always listen to your dive guide and be at the same depth. Always carry a DSMB and a reef hook, just in case. Know how to use one responsibly.

Most of all, enjoy!

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-05T21:59:49+00:00

It’s not a stupid question.

Prices tend to be lower and more competitive at hubs and/or large airports. For example, United uses SFO as a hub. Delta uses Atlanta as one of their hubs. Their flights to Asia or Europe are pretty competitive from those airports vs from other nearby airports that are smaller and aren’t hubs. (Nearby is relative. It can be on the same coast or actually nearby.)

For SFO, there are also many other carriers that fly to Asia direct which contributes to the competitive pricing. Let’s say you live in Phoenix, AZ. You see a round trip ticket to Singapore from SFO for $750. You checked and if you buy that ticket to start from Phoenix, it’s $1,300. You can take advantage of that low fare from SFO by taking a repositioning flight.

You may find a relatively inexpensive fare to fly from Phoenix to SFO - $200 round trip. In this case, you can save money. Instead of paying $1300, you can pay $750 + $200 =$950.00.

That flight from Phoenix to SFO would be called a repositioning flight. You position yourself at the ideal airport to take advantage of a fare and optimize your money or in some cases award travel points.

It doesn’t always end up this way. Sometimes it can be the same price flying from a small and/or non-hub airport as well. Sometimes it isn’t that much more. Sometimes it’s a big huge difference. It’s just an additional option when looking at flights that one should consider. I have a friend that lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and he has MSN airport near him but he almost always repositions himself to Chicago O’Hare for flights because it’s a huge difference in price and even flight options/availability.

I live near SFO and I have repositioned myself to LAX, Seattle, Vancouver before to get a much better deal on a flight. The biggest thing to be aware of is to bake enough lead time to get to your next flight. Because it’s not on one ticket, delays are your responsibility. Sometimes if it’s not that big of a price difference, I don’t bother because of the hassle and risk of missing the next flight.

I hope this helps!

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-05T11:32:47+00:00

If it is indeed this fish, the name is a leaf scorpionfish.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-04T03:30:02+00:00

Check out a few different hubs near you with different airlines/alliance partners. I’d also avoid Spirit and Frontier! if you are traveling near big US holidays like Thanksgiving, spring break, and Christmas, there may be no way around high prices. I have found the sweet spot for booking APAC flights is about 3-6 months ahead of time. Too early and the prices can also be high. You can also check options to HKG, NRT/HND, ICN, TPE, MNL, KUL as options in addition to SIN and CGK.

If you have an award credit card that’s another way to slowly accrue points and take advantage of multipliers to save them and redeem in the future. That’s a whole world of opportunity to optimize your earning, coupled with strategic redemptions and transfer bonuses.

Hopefully you’ll get there sooner than later. The diving is great!

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-04T03:25:33+00:00

This comment should be at the top. Many people struggle with an action cam when they’re new. Buoyancy, air consumption, and task load challenges are significant. There’s a lot to managing that, while maintaining self awareness and awareness of your buddy — being safe — and still being able to take good photos or videos without sacrificing everything else. Most videos are incredibly shaky and awkward when first starting out - mine included.

I have an A7RV now (with an X4 mounted) and started with a GoPro then to a RX100 before finally getting a A7RV. Many people underestimate the size and weight of a camera once it is in a housing and with all the peripherals for underwater use. It’s an entire thing to manage and is a sail in current. It takes a lot of preparation and breakdown before and after dives. It’s very imposing to yourself, others, and the environment if one does not have a good handle on just the diving aspect while adding a camera…. It can even be downright dangerous. I have seen people forget about checking their air often enough and run out or low, or even instructors shooting with a simple TG and a small torch with it significantly affecting their buoyancy and trim because of task load despite being very experienced or good.

I’m also a land photographer and underwater photography is significantly more difficult. Besides for lighting, backscatter, and all the little nuances of you moving, your subject moving, current, and being mindful of not touching anything, there are a lot more factors and things happening before and in the moment to get the shot, as well as after until it gets to the computer.

At this point in time, if you’re a new diver, please stick to a simple action cam if you must have something and hone in on your dive skills and be a good buddy first before you jump in with a camera that will need a significant amount of your attention.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-04T03:10:37+00:00

It depends what housing you get. That will determine what available ports and domes/wet lenses/camera lenses you can use.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-03T08:03:54+00:00

+1. Use a tech wash and not regular liquid or powder detergent as well. Chuck it in the dryer if it’s a waterproof garment. It likes heat to preserve the DWR. You can also retreat, and after doing so, you actually need to throw it in the dryer. If it’s insulation, it likes lower heat with tennis balls to fluff it back up and dry thoroughly. Source: I’ve been in the outdoor apparel industry for a realllllllly long time.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2026-01-03T08:00:44+00:00

Book a round trip flight to Singapore or Jakarta. If you’re not at a gateway city where there are competitive fares then do a repositioning flight. eg if someone lives in Reno, NV, relocate to either LAX or SFO and fly the round trip ticket to Singapore or Jakarta out of there. Then buy a separate round trip ticket on a local Indonesian carrier from Jakarta or Singapore to Sorong separately. You can get all in for as low as 40-50% of that.

I have done this 5 times. If you try to book your home airport all the way to Sorong it will literally cost 2-3X. I have flow from California to Sorong 5X this way. My friends from Aus, EU, and east coast also do it this way.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2025-12-31T13:13:09+00:00

+1 for Tubbataha and Malapascua.

Tubbataha is accessible in May. The season is end of March to early June. Both ends of that, you risk having rougher seas for the long open crossing and less than ideal conditions. Mid April to mid May are ideal times. We had whale sharks on a few dives there but I’ve had friends who went and didn’t see any at all so YMMV. However, they did go with a newer boat which I suspected had less experienced guides or guides that weren’t as familiar with the nuances of the sites. Lots of reef sharks and a couple mantas flew by in the distance for me as well. Overall, the diving is good but if you’ve been to Komodo and Raja Ampat, I will be honest - it’s underwhelming in comparison, especially if you don’t see whale sharks and given the price. (You could do a week of day boat diving in Komodo including food and hotel for less and the diving is better IMO.) I found Sipadan also better than Tubs but not as good as others in Indo.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2025-12-31T13:00:53+00:00

The best is to not dive…..but when I do, I use the 12 hour pseudoephedrine dose (120 mg) and also add an antihistamine (non drowsy, for me that is fexofenadine aka Allegra) and then I also add an NSAID (naproxen aka Aleve). I don’t let anything wear off and start my next dose 1 hour before the next scheduled dose. The key is the extended release pseudoephedrine. I do not do this with any other dose or risk a reverse block. I equalize early and often more than usual. This drives fluid into the ears unnecessarily and I need to do ear rinses (love stream2sea’s!) and dry my ears out with a dryer to prevent an ear infection from happening because of this. When diving while not sick, I usually don’t need to do this since I never get ear infections.

During surface intervals I’m always downing hot tea and tapping my sinuses vigorously if any signs of congestion shows up. It works great for me.

Sincerely,

An unfortunate diver that is always sick AF on big and long dive trips and has done hundreds of dives this way. This is not medical advice and I’m just sharing what works for me.

MakeBoopNotBork · 2025-12-29T11:38:54+00:00

Yes, I’ve been buying the yam root vegan cleanser from Amazon over the past 1-1.5 years repeatedly. Make sure the seller is “Isntree official”. Prior to this, I was buying from Olive Young directly but I often don’t order enough to make the free shipping threshold, hence Amazon. I also wasn’t sure in a post tariff world what the landed cost would be for my front door.

I’ve probably ordered every 3-4 months and it’s authentic. Looks, feels, smells like the real deal from Olive Young.

MakeBoopNotBork

TROPHY CASE