This week I'll be going for my annual summer vacation -- back to a familiar place: Hornby Island. If it was anything like that the last few trips I'll be spending days waking up very early hoping to capture photos of the placid Hornby deer chewing on dew-tipped grass, interspersed with landscape photos from Helliwell Park, night shots of stars and shooting portraits of people we hang about with.

One additional challenge (if you can call that island regime a challenge) is this time I aim to take out my long lens and 30D into the kayak. The last trip I made it out to a seal rookery off Little Tribune bay and cursed myself for not being able to take a camera with me. This time I'll revisit the same site but with the 100-400L.

What's that you say? Take $2000+ worth of camera equipment out on a boat that is known for its ability to flip upside down? The 100-400L is weather resistant but it would die just like any other kind of electronic equipment when immersed in salt water. The 30D would soak up a splash like a sponge. And while I can toodle along in a kayak my first impulse when faced with adverse conditions would be to hang on for dear life -- equipment be damned. So what to do?

Protecting that gear in the water
The first thing is: insurance.

The second thing I'll do to protect my investment is I'll be taking along a dry bag, specifically a Chatanooga duffle made by Watershed. Initially, I went to the Mountain Equipment Co-op and got myself a regular dry vinyl bag but after testing it in my bathtub I decided I was too moronic to understand how the roll over seal system worked (every piece of paper I tested it with got very damp).

After going on-line to do more research I found photographer Josh McCullough's blog post about the Watersheds which convinced me to go back to Mec and exchange the first bag for the Chatanooga. The Watersheds have their own patented rubber zip-loc-style seal which works just like a zip lock albeit with a bit more pressure needed and some training on figuring out how to open it after it is locked. In my subsequent test in the tub and shower the paper inside survived a good soaking with not a drop. Plus, sealing it for me proved a lot quicker than the roll-over method. I'm no watersports expert so don't take my word for it. I won't chance it either; if the water gets choppy, the camera and lens stay in the bag tucked against my legs. Hopefully, though, I return next week with pictures instead of bad stories.

More on preparing later...