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Still getting ready for snorkeling Maui!

by Susan
(Columbia, SC)

We're leaving next Sunday and I am getting soooo excited to go back to where it first began. 8-) I was reading some other comments about Maui and wanted to know where the 5 Caves and 5 graves are? Also if they and Makena and Honolua Bay are calm waters. I still don't like the choppy waters. I'm a little gun shy.

My husband just showed me a video of me in the water that first time (in 25 years) with the goggles on and it reminded me of a question I wanted to ask you. Do you have any comments on the Sony Cybershot. I have 2 of them, both with underwater cases and was reading about changing the brightness and turning off the flash to see the fish better. Is this true with this camera also?

Thanks for all the good advice.

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Still getting ready for snorkeling Maui!

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Mar 06, 2010
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Snorkeling 5 Caves & Cybershot Camera Settings
by: Galen & Nicole

Susan, I am excited for you about your Maui trip. There are directions and lots of info about snorkeling five caves in our Maui Snorkeling Guide eBook. We have seen lots of turtles there.

Now I can't really tell you if the three places you mentioned are calm or not, because you will have to see what it is like on the day you visit. Some snorkeling spots may be calm and protected often, but if the wind direction and wave and currents change, they can be downright dangerous. So you always have to judge what is happening in the moment. And continue to evaluate what is happening with the weather and waves and currents while you are in the water (things change). Keep in mind that most often in Maui it will be calmer in the morning, and the wind will pick up towards noon.

For example, the weather kept us from snorkeling at five caves many times. But then you can read this story from Linda of CA who found the spot very calm another day.

And your Sony Cybershots are probably great cameras. But without knowing what model you have or how old they are it is hard to say. If you are getting pictures you like with them, then stick with them. And generally, yes, for snorkeling, I turn off the flash. On little cameras the flash is so close to the lens that it creates "backscatter", which is reflections of particles in the water that cloud your image.

Mar 06, 2010
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Thanks!
by: susan

Thank you for the info and I do hope it is calm because in St. Thomas they had the first tropical storm since 1957 in mid December when we were there, so it kept the ocean stirred up until it go there.

My camera is a "mpegmovie vx" super steady shot dsc-w90 and it is a small one about 2 years old. What about the brightness thing I read about?Should I do that? I don't know how to do the "white increase" thing. Thanks for you help. I'm glad our Bahamas trip turned into a Maui trip. I really want to live there when we retire.

Mar 06, 2010
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White Balance & Exposure Compensation
by: Galen & Nicole

That is a nice camera with a fast F2.8 Carl Zeiss lens. I would stick with it.

I am not exactly sure what you may be referring to about the "brightness thing". It could be two things. Maybe it was about increasing the brightness of your viewing screen so that it is easier to see underwater. That is a good thing to do. On your camera there is a button on the back, at the top of the ring that reads "DISP". Press this once and you should be able to adjust your display brightness (read your manual to learn more).

The other thing you could be referring to is adjusting exposure compensation. You use this to increase how light or dark your pictures turn out. When looking at your screen, if it appears your picture is going to be too light, or too dark, you can use exposure compensation to change your exposure, and your picture should turn out like you want. You should be able to see the difference on the screen as you adjust it. You will need to read your manual to see how to do this.

Finally, your other question was about the "white increase". I think you are referring to setting your white balance. Your camera does not have the ability to set a manual white balance. So you don't need to worry about learning how to do that. But your camera does have some preset white balance settings, and you could try some of those underwater to see if you can get better colors. I would try the "cloudy" white balance setting. You may get better colors than leaving it on auto white balance.

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Still getting ready for snorkeling Maui!

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Still getting ready for snorkeling Maui!