Aloha! As our Tonga 2017 trips draw close, I find myself once again swallowed up by gear. Headed to Fiji on Tuesday, but I thought I’d take a little bit of time to cover what I bring (and recommend) for Tonga and the Humpbacks. Here’s 90% of it, and I’ll include links below for gear I particularly love and highly recommend. Can’t wait to get back out there and share it with twelve excited guests!

 

Camera

• 2x Canon 5ds R
• Canon 8-15 F4L
• Canon 16-35 F4L IS
• Canon 24-70 F2.8L II
• 6 batteries (3 would likely be fine) + 2 chargers
• Hoodman eyecup and Blackrapid strap for topside camera
• 2x 128gb Lexar Professional CF cards
• 2x 128gb Lexar Professional SD cards
• Giottos Rocket Blaster

Housing

• Aquatica housing with Backscatter AirLock vacuum system (vacuum system is important!)
• Aquatica 9.25″ megadome
• Aquatica ports and zoom gears for 8-15 and 16-35
• Spare O-rings and parts
• Assorted small screwdrivers and allen wrenches
• Super glue
• 2x Sea and Sea YS-D1 strobes
• ULCS arms and clamps
• 12 Eneloop AA + 2 chargers

Drone

• DJI Phantom 4 Pro
• 3 batteries + charger
• 2 sets new props
• Polar Pro filter set, ND+CPL
• 2x 64gb Sandisk Micro SD

Video

• DJI Osmo+
• 3 batteries + charger
• Rode Compact video mic
• Polar Pro filter set, ND+CPL
• 2x 64gb Sandisk Micro SD

Computer

• Apple Macbook Pro 15″, maxed out specs, late 2015.
• 2x Lacie Rugged 2tb thunderbolt hard drives
• 2x Lexar card readers
• Logitech wireless mouse
• Sony MDR-1000X noise cancelling headphones (a must for flying)
• Apple iPhone 7+ and charger
• Bestek travel power converter

Water/boat gear

• Patagonia zip up wetsuit top
• Patagonia R1 front zip shorty wetsuit
• Bluesmiths Spartan shorts
• Bluesmiths Kula hoodie *single best/favorite article of clothing I’ve owned
• Bluesmiths Delta cap
• Mares Volo Race fins
• Beuchat Mundial Competition blades
• Atomic Aquatics SubFrame ARC mask
• Oceanic snorkel
• Mako weight belt
• Klean Kanteen insulated water bottle
• North Face rain jacket

Luggage

• Pelican Air 1535 with Trekpak (Carry-on, camera gear, batteries)
• F Stop Guru UL backpack (Personal Item, laptop, headphones, books, etc)
• Pelican Air 1615 with Trekpak (Checked, housing, drone, misc electronics)
• Patagonia 120L Black Hole duffel (Checked, water gear, clothes, anything not fragile)
• Lightweight luggage scale

See some of you very soon!!