It wasn’t too long ago that if you wanted to take your precious camera underwater with you, you needed to jam it into a cumbersome metal enclosure so as to keep the water out. This often meant a significant additional expense in purchasing the housing, one more bulky item to pack for your snorkeling trip, not to mention the fact that the housing would increase the size and weight of your camera by two or three times. What was once a small point-and-shoot camera that could easily be operated with one hand has now become a hefty burden that requires two hands to wield. Thankfully, for those of us who want a reliable camera that fits in the palm of our hand and also functions beneath the waves, there is the Olympus TG series. These cameras have been out for quite a while now, with the most recent model being the TG-7, and have really set the standard for what amphibious compact cameras should offer the shooter. Olympus has done such a superb job of building a camera that’s ready to be submerged right out of the box; other camera manufacturers like Sony, Canon, or Nikon have basically backed away from this corner of the market. As a result, the TG series has become the obvious camera choice for snorkelers around the world. While the TG cameras are ready to start shooting underwater straight away, I’d like to ever so delicately present the idea of purchasing a housing for your TG camera, using only the most rock-solid points. I get that this might sound a little contradictory as I’ve just set TG cameras on a pretty high pedestal for their underwater readiness sans accessories. In my opinion, the TG camera’s pedestal position is very well deserved, and I don’t offer
It wasn’t too long ago that if you wanted to take your precious camera underwater with you, you needed to jam it into a cumbersome metal enclosure so as to keep the water out. This often meant a significant additional expense in purchasing the housing, one more bulky item to pack for your snorkeling trip,
Mexico Sardine Run Trip Report At the end of November 2025, I had the very good fortune of being able to visit Mexico’s Baja California for a rare moment in time, when some of the ocean’s most enigmatic species come together to hunt. For about six weeks each year, species like the California sea lion, striped marlin, dorado, Bryde's whales, and humpback whales all converge just outside this magnificent little bay called Magdalena Bay, to hunt the shoals of mackerel and sardines that congregate here, starting from around October to December. As most of these species are pelagic ocean wanderers, it’s nearly impossible to predictably encounter them on your average snorkeling trip. However, as the sea lions, marlins, whales, and other ocean predators are all drawn into this relatively small area by the dense bait balls, we snorkelers have a rare opportunity to swim alongside these magestical creatures and bear witness to them in all their glory as they prey on the tiny fish. https://youtu.be/7DCPilsmf4A?si=Q6WaerYdgdcPPA0S As this is a very unique tour for us, one in which we will be running in November 2027, I wanted to get out to Mexico and experience it for myself so we can paint a much better picture of what to expect with our Mexican Sardine Run, through photos, videos, and only the most eloquent wordage. Now, I’ve already done quite a bit of posting about the tour on the Facebook and Instagram as I was partaking in it. For those of you who are lucky enough not to be on either of these apps, I hope this trip report suffices as a vehicle for absorption of all things relating to our Mexico Sardine Run! Magdalena Bay Magdalena Bay–Mag Bay for short–is a really quite large bay that sits on the Pacific coast of
Mexico Sardine Run Trip Report At the end of November 2025, I had the very good fortune of being able to visit Mexico’s Baja California for a rare moment in time, when some of the ocean’s most enigmatic species come together to hunt. For about six weeks each year, species like the California sea lion,
Palau is a small island nation surrounded by shallow coral reefs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It sits about 500 km northeast of North Sulawesi and 500 km east of the Philippines. It's remote! This remoteness, however, works to our benefit as snorkelers because the shallow coral reefs are in fantastic condition, they are abundant, as are the fish. While reefs border the entire country of Palau, we tend to concentrate our time in the south, around the Rock Islands and even further south towards Peleliu as that's where we have the most protection from wind and waves, not to mention that's where the best reefs are and the marine life is most abundant. There are only a few flight options for arriving into Palau. Some of the most popular and recommended routes from U.S. are either through Guam via Hawaii or Japan, or via Taipei which has a direct route into Palau several times a week. If you're looking for flights you'll likely see some convenient-looking routes through the Philippines. As convenient as these itineraries look, we'd advise against them as the airports in the Philippines are notorious for delayed or canceled flights, and many of the airlines that route through the Philippines are some of the least reputable ones out there. Palau is quite a small place, with one main town called Koror. There is one Airport which is about 20 minutes outside of town. The nicer ocean-view resorts are about five to ten minutes from town and border the marina. This is generally where we'll spend our time on land as it's where the nicer resorts and restaurants are, it's also the hub for all of our snorkeling activities. Snorkeling While Palau sits just outside the Coral Triangle, it still shares the bulk of the
Palau is a small island nation surrounded by shallow coral reefs in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It sits about 500 km northeast of North Sulawesi and 500 km east of the Philippines. It’s remote! This remoteness, however, works to our benefit as snorkelers because the shallow coral reefs are in fantastic condition, they
We regularly post photos and videos from our many different tours on our website or other social media platforms which are taken by our Snorkel Venture Snorkel Guides, and quite often this content prompts quite a few questions from our guests. The bulk of these questions centers around video lights or strobes/flashes. “I just saw the latest video on Facebook. What kind of lights were used for these shots? I don't have an underwater light but maybe I should get one. What would you recommend?” “I have a question about my Olympus TG 6 camera. Would it make sense to add a Backscatter TTL mini flash? I thought it might help on cloudy days or for dark settings and maybe murky waters if close enough to the subject. I would appreciate your advice.” A lot of people think, and rightfully so, that adding a video light or an external flash to their current camera setup that it will yield photos or videos with more true-to-life colors. In the simplest of terms, they are not wrong. More light underwater does equal more color. However, light doesn't work the same way underwater as it does on land and there are quite a few variables we need to take into account for this to be true. First of all, water is significantly more dense than air is, around 840 times more to be roughly precise. What does this mean? Well, it basically means that your light, whether it's a strobe or a constant video light, just won't travel very far. Second, we need to take consider the sun's power versus the power of our light. If you walk around your garden or a park on a bright sunny day and shine a flashlight on the different flowers, you're really not going to
We regularly post photos and videos from our many different tours on our website or other social media platforms which are taken by our Snorkel Venture Snorkel Guides, and quite often this content prompts quite a few questions from our guests. The bulk of these questions centers around video lights or strobes/flashes. “I just saw
I don't feel like I'm going out on a limb here when I say that snorkelers love fish, reef fish in particular. Given the affordability of underwater cameras nowadays, we've found that our guests absolutely loooooove to take photos of reef fish while on our snorkel safari. The thing is though, as much as they love taking photos of reef fish, many times the guests just aren't satisfied with their photos. Having run numerous Snorkel Venture snorkeling safaris with our camera-happy guests and having helped many realize and avoid many of the common pitfalls guests run into while photographing reef fish, I'd like to break down some of the elements that make up a really great reef fish photo. Subject is in Focus This is arguably one of the most important elements to any photo, if it's out of focus it just doesn't work no matter what. Eye Contact Eye contact is really what draws the viewer in, it's part of what give an image “life.” Visually Interesting Subject This is not a super important thing to focus on, but it does help. Don't get bogged down at finding the most rare and flamboyant creatures to photograph because you'll no doubt many other great subjects. Subject Fills at least 1/3 of the Frame This rule can be broken if you've framed the subject right and found a complementary background, but it's a good rule to follow as a subject that's just too small in the frame is not likely to grab the attention of the viewer. Pleasing Composition There is a lot of room for artistic interpretation here, obviously, but when you're first starting out it's a good idea to start with the basics and follow the Rule of Thirds and allow for your subject to have enough “look room”
I don’t feel like I’m going out on a limb here when I say that snorkelers love fish, reef fish in particular. Given the affordability of underwater cameras nowadays, we’ve found that our guests absolutely loooooove to take photos of reef fish while on our snorkel safari. The thing is though, as much as they
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
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