Camera Rig for Brothers

[bvbellomo]

I wanted to know anyone's thoughts on the size of a camera rig for this dive. I have a long thread in the photo section discussing different cameras, and everyone says 2 strobes are better than 1, but I wondered if this might make my dive more difficult and thought it more appropriate to post here. I am a master diver, but this is only my 2nd real trip, so I really don't know what to expect and some people on this forum say Brother's is challenging (other people said it was easy or depends on the weather).

As a large man I've had issues in the past swimming through small holes, but that shouldn't matter for BDE. As long as I am in open space, I don't think even the biggest rig is going to make things more difficult, and I am not going crazy - just a compact and housing and either 1 or 2 strobes.

 

[Christian]

Most times it's easy diving. But some times, it can be a dangerous dive, most notably choppy seas in combination with currents that pick up and can be a little unpredictable. I have been in search parties there a few times. All ended lucky, but one was a close call as light was getting low, divers some 1500 meters away. As you say, this won't make any diffrence to what rig to bring. Bring the biggest one you are comfortable with carrying under water. Two strobes for sure.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

Two strobes for sure.

and a SMB...

 

[Christian]

and a SMB...

It's mandatory equipment. If you don't have one, you will be rented one.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

We had some pretty nasty conditions at brothers to the point where i found it difficult to bring my camera. the problem was that dove from the mother ship there and there was a sizable swell. So you had to time your jump to the ups and downs of the mother ship. Unless you jumped with your camera (which I did not want to do for various reasons) it was quite difficult to have the crew get your camera down to you. If anything, make sure you have lots of floats on your rig so that if they drop it down with a rope it will be somewhat neutral.

When were were there, 4 divers were lost at the site that day and found 18 hours later by helicopter. Their day boat ran out of gas looking for them and returned back to port with no passengers. I am pretty sure that those four divers were four people that I witnessed literally hugging the wall there so as not to fly away in the current. Hands fully grabbing corals in a vertical position with fins dug in hard. They looked like they were holding on for dear life waiting for their DM or something. It was a bizarre sight. The currents were quite strong when we were there and several people on our boat sat out many dives. I felt bad bc they missed a large chunk of the dives on the trip...but it was the right thing for them to do.

 

[Tippytoes12]

You will need to do negative entry from a dingy on several if not most of the off -shore dives. People with compact cameras often just roll back with the camera double clipped to the BCD. The dingies don’t have ladders so you will that to contend with after the dive. Also not sure if strobes are needed for shots of big creatures far away from you in the blue. I would personally just take the housing and the camera. BDE are serious dive sites, minimise the risk of task overload as much as you can.

 

[uwgreg]

We had some pretty nasty conditions at brothers to the point where i found it difficult to bring my camera. the problem was that dove from the mother ship there and there was a sizable swell. So you had to time your jump to the ups and downs of the mother ship. Unless you jumped with your camera (which I did not want to do for various reasons) it was quite difficult to have the crew get your camera down to you. If anything, make sure you have lots of floats on your rig so that if they drop it down with a rope it will be somewhat neutral.

When were were there, 4 divers were lost at the site that day and found 18 hours later by helicopter. Their day boat ran out of gas looking for them and returned back to port with no passengers. I am pretty sure that those four divers were four people that I witnessed literally hugging the wall there so as not to fly away in the current. Hands fully grabbing corals in a vertical position with fins dug in hard. They looked like they were holding on for dear life waiting for their DM or something. It was a bizarre sight. The currents were quite strong when we were there and several people on our boat sat out many dives. I felt bad bc they missed a large chunk of the dives on the trip...but it was the right thing for them to do.

Hey! Looking at a LOB trip to BDE
Do you mind saying which month/weeks this situation happened? Is it mostly seasonal or literally a matter of day to day? Is it 90% of the time easy and 10% crazy currents? Is it based mostly on moon cycles?

Thanks!

 

[weeksd]

I have an aquatica housing for nikon d60 for sale. Here is a trip i did with the brothers islands. Most times the dive is easy but from the wall to the boat at the end of dive is where we found the most current. Open water all the time, no caves or opening to go through. Just stay close to wall as there is just nough current to keep you moving. Red Sea - reefscenics

Aquatica Housing Package Nikon d40,d40x,d60 Cameras | eBay

 

[tursiops]

It's mandatory equipment. If you don't have one, you will be rented one.

And practice deploying the DSMB while carrying a camera, especially from depth.

 

[Christian]

The Red Sea is a wind tunnel and due to the shape of the water body––short waves which make for choppy seas. Changes can come quickly. Currents are a little unpredictable, but are most of the time pretty managable. Not as extreme as in e.g. passages in Komodo or channels in the Maldives. But they can take you for a ride.
The Egyptian Red Sea is very seasonal and there are periods of "lull" in each season, but late summer perhaps will give you the best chances of calm seas. Inme the "change periods" will cause more unpredictable and lively conditions--I have e.g. found May-June to be more windy. Some say currents are stronger just before full moon ... but after 20+ years diving the Red Sea I still don't have the data to say. Currents in the Red Sea, unlike in other parts of the world, seem unpredictable to me.
Brothers, Deadalus and Elphinstone are advanced sites that have claimed lifes of experienced divers. Most of the time, easy dives, but conditions can change quickly and if you end up surfacing where you're not supposed to surface ... it might be very difficult to spot you in choppy seas. As mentioned, do not bring a camera if you are not super comofortable with handling it in rough, open water dive conditions.

EDIT: It is not uncommon on liveaboards in the Red Sea that dive guides don't go in the water, they will give very good and detailed briefings and they will have checked currents, but the norm is that you dive with your buddy. Most guests inme tend to prefer that to being herded around in a group.