Anka wrote:
>
> I would *never* give my camera(s) to someone I don't know. Maybe I'm
> just too (excuse the term if it offends) anal about this, but even
> when I ask a fellow traveler to take my photo with my camera, I insist
> that they put the strap around their neck before shooting. The whole
> camera-carrying guide thing bothers me.
The degree of cautiousness that I have with my gear depends on the
situation and how much the gear in question is worth. If its a
stranger, I'm not going to hand them my $3000 system, but if its a
coworker or my wife, I will.
> Is there no way that I can
> carry a Sure Shot and a small digital camera (dutifully "baggied") up
> the Dunn's River Falls rocks (perhaps in a fanny pack - arghghghggh!)
> so that I wouldn't have to turn them over to a stranger.
The question is how much water protection do you feel is adequate? As
an underwater photographer, I would not trust 'baggie' type systems,
although for merely surf I might tolerate the Ewa-Marine product line.
> Also, -hh... Why would you not go to DRF again? Can you please
> elaborate?
As a water baby, I would have much preferred to have been allowed to
'explore' the falls on my own. Instead, we were told that we had to
go with a guide, who then did the "camera hostage" routine. It also
didn't help that his guidance at the very first pool entry encouraged
some of his guests to jump in right on top of a submerged rock,
causing some injuries (fortunately, far more minor than they could
have been). The rocks were downright slippery, to which we later
learned that their claims of "we scrub the rocks clean every night"
was untrue: its the feet of the tourists that did the scrubbing.
Finally, when it comes to those admonishments of "don't drink the
water", this is a source of incidental splashes near the mouth that
can be enough. I might go to admire the falls from along the fenced
off path, but a guided climb? Never again.
-hh
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