Green Water Baptism

Salt doesn't kill a camera all at once. It works slowly, invisibly, bridging contacts and corroding terminals over days and weeks after the water has long since dried. By the time you see the damage, it's done.

I learned this on a small aluminum boat off the Kenai coast. We moved from chop into serious swells, and the bow began taking green water — solid water, not spray. One moment I was photographing from the bow. The next, I was standing inside a wall of seawater as green water rolled over the front of the boat and crashed into me. Saltwater streamed from my jacket, pooled in my boots, and dripped from every exposed surface. My cameras looked as though they had been lowered into the ocean for scientific study.

The instinct is to wipe it off and hope. That's the wrong move. Salt residue is the problem, and wiping spreads it. The right move is a thorough rinse with fresh water — I used bottled water from my pack, working the exterior of both bodies and the lens barrel, then dried everything with the microfiber cloth I carry specifically for this. Fresh water dilutes and removes the salt before it can do its work. The camera doesn't care about fresh water. It minds the salt.

Most camera manufacturers weather-seal only their professional-grade bodies, which means most cameras on the water have no protection at all. If you're shooting in Alaska — particularly on the water — some form of coverage is mandatory before you ever step aboard. A shower cap over a compact setup, plastic bags gaffer-taped around your lens and body: neither is elegant, and both work. Weather sealing buys time, not immunity. A proper cover buys you the same thing — a few minutes to get somewhere sheltered and rinse the gear before the salt sets.

The question you want to ask before conditions deteriorate is not whether your camera can handle it. It's whether the shot is worth the exposure risk. In serious conditions, that answer is often no — and the photographer who makes that call early comes home with working equipment and another day in the field.