The camera bag, the phone and the signal

Salt gets into everything on a boat, in a fine mist you cannot see. Keep the camera in a dry bag between shots, and carry a clean cloth for the front of the lens. Change lenses indoors or under the shade roof, never in the spray on the tender.

Heat is the second enemy. A camera left on a sundeck sofa at midday gets hot enough to dim the screen and shorten the battery. Shade, a bag, and patience: take it out when the light is worth the effort.

Landings are wet. The tender puts you ashore on a beach, and the bag goes into a second bag for the transfer. Photograph the beach, not the tender, until your feet are dry.

Gandiva has local Wi-Fi on board. It is local Wi-Fi only, and the connection comes and goes, so do not plan a video call around it. Messages and a few photographs go through; a long upload does not.

The mobile signal comes and goes with the position of the boat. A bar at one stop does not mean a bar at the next, and the captain's choice of anchorage decides which stops you get, so we cannot tell you in advance.

Download before you leave the hotel: your boarding passes, the park e-ticket, offline maps and the messages you want to read. Tell the people at home that the replies will be late, and they will not worry.

For sockets and chargers in the cabins, ask us, and our written answer reaches you ahead of sailing. Bring a power bank so that you are not waiting on one.

The cards fill faster on a boat than anywhere else. A sunrise, a ridge, a dragon walk and a sunset can be four hundred frames before dinner. Carry more cards than you think you need, and keep the full ones in a different pocket from the empty ones.

A flash drive or a hard disk is on our packing list, and copying files is the thing to do each evening. Copy the day's files across before dinner, while the memory is fresh and the battery is full. A backup made at night is a backup you have.

Open-trip seats come with a guide and with photo and video coverage. How the files reach you is a question for us; bring the drive in any case.

A drone needs a permit from the national park. The national park drone fee is outside the fare, and the permit is applied for before the trip. We arrange it on request, quoted in writing, and the park decides whether it is granted.

That applies on the open trip too, where the documentation includes a drone. The fee for the park is its own line even then.

If you fly your own, ask the captain before you launch, because the captain decides whether a stop is safe for it. Fly in the early light, keep well clear of the other guests, and never fly without the permit. The park line on your quote shows the fee.

Our short list reads: trekking shoes, a small daypack, a reserve of cash, your own medicines, and a flash drive or hard disk. We add reef-safe sunscreen, which protects the reef you will swim over.

Trekking shoes matter most. The Padar ridge is walked at first light, and shoes with a good grip decide whether the climb is a pleasure or a chore. A small backpack holds the water, the head torch and one camera, and keeps your hands free.

The rest is simple: a hat, a thin long-sleeved shirt for the sundeck, swimwear that dries fast, and a layer for the evening. Leave the second tripod at the hotel, and take one bag that you can carry up a ridge in the dark without thinking about it.