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My wife has an Olympus PEN E-PL1 with an underwater housing PT-EP01 and a single Sea & Sea YS-27DX strobe and strobe arm. I would like to buy her an upgrade strobe for her birthday. Questions: What is the recommended single strobe for her camera? Can the YS-27DX be used as a secondary (slave)...

Another question is raised that I am naive about. Do divemasters get paid a minimum wage like tipped employees in the US or is 100% of their income from tips? I was under the impression they were paid a wage and received tips on top of the wage.

My initial question was about liveaboards in the Carribbean. I guess there are not industry standards and that would make livaboards in other areas of the world have different policies and fringe benefits. I was under the impression that divemasters on Carribbean liveaboards had paid...

A curious question, do divemasters and the crew of liveaboards receive fringe benefits like health insurance and paid vacations or are they considered seasonal employees and receive no benefits? So when a divemaster does not work they do not get paid. Thanks!

The irony about the hairdryer suggestion that I have continually taken heat on is that I did not use a hairdryer, but my wife who has long hair thought that it would be a great amenity to have in each cabin. I was only passing on her suggestion.

Howard, thank you for your response. I wanted to provide you with some additional information.

Thank you SeaHorse81. Your points are well taken. I will not "throw out the baby with the bath water".

Liveaboards by their nature have to provide service to a diverse group of divers. Some may want to left alone and dive without the intrusion of a divemaster. That is fine. But there are also some people on the boat that may feel more secure having a divemaster in the water with them or having a...

I think everyone is misunderstanding a comment that is meant as a suggestion to improve an experience versus a complaint. I was not complaining that there were no hair dryers on board, but suggesting in this time of weight restictions on airlines that it would be nice for the Explorer fleet to...

JP, thank you for your response and your points. They are helpful, especially the bow line suggestion for night dives. You are right, the crew did have to work extra hard when they were down 2 crew members for most of the week. For what it is worth, I did tip within the guidelines provided, I...

Seahorse81, the divemaster who got bent was Alexandra. No reason was given to us for how it happened or why. The boat was able to secure another divemaster for the week after us. I met her and it would be her first time diving on the Turks & Caicos Ecplorer II. I think she was of German descent...

Richard, you make a lot of good points. I admit that my navigation skills are not that good, even though I have logged over 200 dives. I guess I have been spoiled by my other dive experiences where I had the extra comfort factor of a DM in the water that provided a tour or helped to make sure...

Arkstorm, I am surprised by your agitation. I live in the Midwest and I am a conservative. We live in a world where environmental concerns are growing all the time. Diving is not exempt with the deterioration of our reefs. Clearly re-cycling helps the environment. Just becasue it may be...

On the contrary, all of the divers on the boat told the captain that safety was the priority and that we should go directly to land to get the divemaster to a decompression chamber. Rather than doing this, the captain had us do the morning and then we went to shore. I was only stating the fact...

The divemaster that was bent was not Demi. Demi was the divemaster on vacation. I have read many very positive comments about Demi and we were disappointed to learn that he was not going to be on the ship when we arrived.

My wife and I were on the Turks & Caicos Explorer II from 11/27/10 through 12/4/10. This was our first liveaboard experience, but it will probably be our last one. I thought that the boat was nicely designed and functionally laid out. We stayed in State Room #2. The cabin was large enough for...

We just completed a wonderful trip to Maya Palms from October 14-19. My wife and I were the only guests at the resort for 4 of the 5 days and we were spoiled by Ken and Mark. Ken served as divemaster and chef. Mark provided for all of our needs. It is a 4.5 hour drive from the Cancun airport...

I realize that Mares is now selling a spring strap, but the cost is $70, whereas the other spring straps sell for $20-30. That is why I am investigating whether any of them will work with the Mares fins before shelling out $70.

Which brand and model of spring straps did you buy? Did you have to modify the spring strap or the post on your Mares Volo Power fins? Thanks