Near miss

by Mike Maloney

Reproduced from in focus 54 (March 1995)

I recently returned from a superb two-week vacation at Naama Bay, Sinai, Egypt, where I used the facilites of the well-established Sinai Divers, who have been diving this area for some twenty years. I made two dives each day from the 20 m dive vessel ISIS. Excellent visibility and warm water were experienced. All the usual sites were visited plus a new one on the far side of the Strait of Tiran, Laguna. This is a drfit dive along a drop-off and was the only place I saw sharks during the trip.

Sinai divers now have a facility for visiting divers with their recently opened photo service centre offering camera and video rental, E6 processing, custom videos and one or two day photographic courses. The two day course enables you to become a certified PADI underwater photographer - at an extra cost of course.

A note of warning to members who have the new type of Nikonos 15 mm lens and viewfinder. The two self tapping screws securing the viewfinder to the camera shoe are prone to corrosion. Even with the fastidious care I give my outfit, always washing off in fresh water and carefully checking it after use, the viewfinder just dropped off on the deck, luckily just after I had climbed aboard after a dive.

[Editor's note: Kurt Ainsler, former World Champion, who runs a diver / photographer training facility hiring camera equipment to students recommends that all equipment be soaked in fresh water for twenty minutes following each sea water dive. This immersion allows the salt which has accumulated out of sight to dissolve. Following this practice has meant that none of Kurt's hired equipment has suffered from corrosion.]