Traveling on an airplane to dive? Don't forget your fins!

Underwater photographer travel tips 

On my recent trip to Australia to photograph Leafy Sea Dragons, I decided to leave my dive equipment at home, except for a mask and dive computer.

Since I was only diving for two days in Australia, and one day in Milford Sound, New Zealand, even underwater photography equipment was limited, and I only brought 2 strobes, and a dome port. I left my macro port at home, but I still shot macro with my dome port - which I will write about in a future article.

So back to the diving - it turns out the rental equipment I had was fantastic. I didn't miss my wetsuit, backplate, or regulator. But what I did miss - was my fins.

The fins I was given by both dive shops, in Australia and New Zealand - were light, high-quality, and allowed me to kick with ease. And that was the problem.

Being an underwater photographer, I prefer stiff fins like my OMS Slipstreams, that allow me to kick slowly, and make precise turns. Split fins and some paddle fins often have you kicking at a faster rate, which can greatly increase silt and backscatter in the area, and make it difficult to maneuver around an underwater photography subject. Frogkicking was difficult.

Silt from excess finning can create backscatter like this

I'm not trying to recommend a certain type of fins - I'm just saying, if you are travelling for diving, and planning on taking some underwater photos, besides your mask and dive computer, you might want to think about bringing your favorite fins.

These are my fins. Whatever fins you prefer, make sure they can be used to kick underwater without silt, and bring them along with you.

Further Reading:

Diving and Dive travel for underwater photographers