Are muck sticks banned in Bonaire?

[LarryHallas 44]

I am reading that muck sticks (pointer sticks) are not allowed in Bonaire. Is this true?

I like use a muck stick with a T bar in the sand or on bare rock for super-macro shots. If so, I will have to leave it behind.

[mrchen911 6]

I don't know the answer. There are areas with sandy bottoms where I wouldn't think it would hurt to use one, but wearing gloves in these areas wouldn't hurt either and you aren't allowed to wear gloves. Whichever dive shop you are doing your checkout dive with, I would ask them. Let us know what they say!

[mrchen911 6]

Maybe don't call it a muck stick and call it a tank banger, used as a noise maker? lol

[TimG 62]

I’ve heard of plenty of places that ban gloves but never anywhere that banned muck sticks. I’ve seen folks using muck sticks in Bonaire pre-COVID. 

[Eyematey 5]

I've made these for fellow uw photographers, we call them 'reef saver sticks' in that it keeps our finger off the delicate nature of the environment we love to visit and photograph when in close proximity.  Only once, in Roatan, have I ever been confronted while using. Dive master said other divers would want to use them.  Changed dive master/operation, and continue to carry one on dives, always when shooting macro.

[LarryHallas 44]

Thank you! I know you aren’t allowed to wear gloves in Bonaire, but I like using the pointer stick for super-macro instead of 2 fingers on rock. I will take it with me and stash it away in my BCD if anyone says anything. BTW: it’s a great stick with a t-handle and ball mount. I can also stick it in the sand to mount an off camera strobe or light. My only complaint is that it is aluminum and can bend. Here is the into to order if you are interested: https://ulcs.com/accessory-pointer-stick/

 

Edited January 31 by UWPics

[JimG 26]

In reply to TimG above, several islands I have visited in the Maldives had a ban in place. Don't  know if it is a Maldives law or just something imposed locally. Defo stupid and shortsightedness in my view

[TimG 62]

Good to know, Jim - thanks!

Fairly new maybe in Maldives? 

[Architeuthis 156]

A bit off topic, but since the discussion goes general: in the Red Sea of Egypt mucksticks are forbidden by law...

Wolfgang

[Redwing 8]

Until today, I just assumed there must be a class of divers out there with super-human buoyancy skills taking these perfectly in focus super macro shots with mm depth of fields.

[TimG 62]

1 hour ago, Redwing said:

Until today, I just assumed there must be a class of divers out there with super-human buoyancy skills taking these perfectly in focus super macro shots with mm depth of fields.

There are. But it's just practice. Ditch the stick and just work on buoyancy skills. 

[LarryHallas 44]

2 hours ago, TimG said:

Ditch the stick and just work on buoyancy skills. 

Thanks Tim. I have pretty solid buoyancy for macro shots without the stick but I don’t know if I will ever be solid enough to frame an extreme closeup super-macro with the SMC-1 without some sort of brace. I will make it a goal! I have had a lot of success using Alex’s bracing method described in his book, but I get scolded by DM’s at some locations for touching the reef, even two fingers on dead rock. Here is how Alex describes this method (BTW: this is my favorite book!)

“When you spot a macro subject, look for a bare piece of rock below and to the right. Hold here, gripping it firmly between the finger and thumb of your left hand. Try this now where you are reading. You left forearm is now crossing in front of you and forms an ideal rest for your macro port. Wedge your housing into your left arm and push your mask to the viewfinder. This locks everything solid while the rest of your body can float free. This stability lets you fine-tune composition and focus, on the tiniest scale, by flexing your left wrist. When there is not a handhold to the right of the subject, you can use one on the left, bracing your left strobe against your left forearm.”

Edited February 1 by UWPics

[TimG 62]

16 hours ago, UWPics said:

I get scolded by DM’s at some locations for touching the reef, even two fingers on dead rock.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.....

I wasn't having a go at you of course.  

I spent a year running a dive operation in the Lembeh Straits and made a nice little earner out of selling muck sticks. Yeah, they were maybe better than nothing in trying to keep the mightily determined inexperienced off the reef. Generally the serious u/w photographers were pretty good on buoyancy and very considerate.

But there was this inevitability by those whose buoyancy skills made them feel they needed a muck stick, of then finning hard to get off the bottom. Farewell viz, farewell next person getting a pic as clouds of sediment and silt blotted out the view. 

This left me with a pretty jaundiced view of muck sticks!

You are right, of course, super macro is hugely demanding of buoyancy control. Alex's method is good I think and if you are using finger tips to hold the edge of dead coral, then fair play!

[mrchen911 6]

18 hours ago, TimG said:

There are. But it's just practice. Ditch the stick and just work on buoyancy skills. 

I carry one to Blue Heron Bridge because water current is tide sensitive. When you first enter the water an hour before high tide, the current is going north and eventually slacks. Then it shifts south and we are typically in an area where the current picks up, so I'm able to use the muck stick in the sand to stabilize against the current. At the end of the day, on a 3 hour dive, you only get about 30-45 minutes of no current. 

Other times I use it to point towards where the critter is. I'll lay it down and I can use it as a reference point in my viewfinder to find the critter. This is really helpful on night dives when using a red focus light. 

[phxazcraig 116]

I used my muck stick in Bonaire last June, though it was almost exclusively for pointing at things.   I usually don't end up using the muck stick to actually hold me in place on a sand bottom in current, which is what I think the point of a muck stick is for.

However, I now have (not yet used) the Backscatter remote flash business for their mini-strobe, and it is designed to be used on the end of a specialized muck stick shoved in the sand.   I figure the scenarios where that actually is useful are limited, but it seems very useful for them.

[LarryHallas 44]

3 hours ago, phxazcraig said:

I used my muck stick in Bonaire last June, though it was almost exclusively for pointing at things.

This is great to know. Thank you!

I am going to take it with me. 

[rickmorgan 4]

Backscatter has these, which appear to have been recently introduced.  There's a little YouTube video demonstrating it. I can't find anything indicating the material, but whether it's AL or SS, it seems reasonably useful as a prop for the rig, in addition to an off-camera light.

[Ministryofgiraffes 6]

Today at 50ft -salt pier a tour guide politely informed me on her slate that ‘pointer sticks’ are banned.( I was carrying my full nauticam Z7 with dual strobes+ keldan 8k lights etc on solo dual side mount tanks) It’s the first time it’s happened to me and when I checked in etc  last week the divefriends guys had no issue with it as I am a photographer. Now I’m generally a ‘follow the rules’ ‘the rules are rules for a reason’ etc but I’ve got to say that I’m not obeying this one. It’s a well meaning ban, but ultimately it’s ignorance. I understand the concept of trying to avoid Yahoo!’s using the stick to point/poke etc, but that’s not what it’s being used for and it’s equivalent of referring to a mask as a ‘fish whacking mask’….yea, you could take your mask of and whack fish with it, but that’s not what it’s for. Quite the opposite. It’s a last resort to ensure you don’t touch the reef when shooting macro  if there is swell/pass gas/who the hell knows…, then the macro stick is there to make sure you don’t kill anything..

sure, there is the ‘your buoyancy should be blah blah’ but I see that as the equivalent of saying ‘don’t get in a car if you can’t drive without emergency brakes’ 

so here we are… I’m now that guy. The ‘there is always one guy who thinks the rules don’t apply to him’ guy… but I’m fine with that. At the end of the day it means I’m much less likely to damage anything on the reef, so I’m going to be that outlaw.

I also want people to stop calling it a bloody:

Tickle stick

pointer stick

fish stabbing stick

reef Armageddon metal finger etc.

It’s a macro stick, i carry it to protect the reef. I’m not comfortable shooting macro without it and I’m not going to start touching the reef with 2 fingers, although i have no issue with other photographers who do…,carefully etc.

 

Edited April 17 by Ministryofgiraffes

[LarryHallas 44]

I agree with the above posts. There is no amount of “learning buoyancy” in 300+ photo dives that would have allowed me to take this super-macro shot without a brace of some kind. I have tried both the “2 finger brace” and the “macro stick”, and the pointer stick has much less contact with the rock. This shot of a very tiny 1/4 inch (6mm) Blenny was taken with a Nikon Z 105mm Macro + Nauticam SMC-1 at the full 2.3x magnification (as close to the subject as I could get a sharp focus). At this magnification, even the slightest movement and the subject would be completely lost out of the frame! 
 

 

Edited April 18 by LarryHallas

[JohnLiddiard 31]

In the right hands, a stick is a positive accessory. Places with no-stick rules are saving themselves from the 99% of divers with the wrong hands.

[Ministryofgiraffes 6]

51 minutes ago, JohnLiddiard said:

In the right hands, a stick is a positive accessory. Places with no-stick rules are saving themselves from the 99% of divers with the wrong hands.

This is a valid statement, but I suspect in this instance the potential damage from the banning of the sticks from photographers outweighs the benefits. I have never seen another diver with a macro stick in Bonaire and am regularly asked by other divers what it is for… although I concede that this may actually be increasing the uptake in ‘non photographers’ 

I’m just not convinced that the rule shouldn’t be ‘sticks are banned unless you are carrying macro photography level equipment’ … Stinpa finally conceded that their original lionfish policy contributed to more harm than good. I feel this falls into the same category….. 

I should add. I still can’t find any literature on Stinpa website, their marine park guidelines or any dive operator website stating that sticks are banned…

 

[Draq 118]

If it isn't listed by Stinapa, it isn't banned.  The dive guide was mistaken or bolstering his/her personal beliefs by claiming they were in the rules.  I don't support the use of muck sticks.  I do, however, have this tank banger stick thing that I will occasionally use to brace myself in sand or against a rock or dead coral in a current so I can get a picture I want. 

[Ministryofgiraffes 6]

1 hour ago, Draq said:

If it isn't listed by Stinapa, it isn't banned.  The dive guide was mistaken or bolstering his/her personal beliefs by claiming they were in the rules.  I don't support the use of muck sticks.  I do, however, have this tank banger stick thing that I will occasionally use to brace myself in sand or against a rock or dead coral in a current so I can get a picture I want. 

What’s the difference? 

[Draq 118]

No difference.   Being facetious.

[Ministryofgiraffes 6]

1 hour ago, Draq said:

No difference.   Being facetious.

So perfectly dry I completely glossed over it!