It's required in the Upper Canyon if you take the tour. It's not required in the Lower Canyon.

Bring a wide angle lens, shoot in Raw and bracket 3 shots, 1 stop + and 1 stop -. I used 1/100sec. , f 5.6 and auto ISO and auto white balance. My best photos are with a 14mm lens on a FF camera.

There are many wet landings, you will not be happy with to many lenses.

I went in 2009 with a Canon 5D ii, 24-70mm-f/2.8 and the 70-200mm f,2.8. I'm happy with the photos I took. You will be hiking in some places over rough terrain, but very close to nesting sites. In your case I would add a wide angle zoom. Do some snorkeling, great sea life.

No. I had an electric razor in a small leather case, which could be mistaken for a small P&S camera,
missing from my checked baggage when I got home.

Did you use a tripod? If not, go with 1/1000 to 1/1200 sec, and spot focus. You have to increase your ISO to make up for the shorter exposure. By enlarging your photos, none are really sharp. What 600mm lens did you use? Photo below taken at 400mm - ISO 1600 - f13 - 1/750sec hand held, no stabilizer Yes, the ISO was a little to high.

(Download)

At 600mm I would go with 1000 iso- 1/1000sec and spot focusing on the eye.

My Canon D20 underwater camera has GPS, works great except it does not work under water.
My Panasonic Lumix GX 8 "Street" camera does not have it, and I miss it. Works great on my Canon 5D4.
I always carry extra batteries in case the GPS is using up all the power.

I went with my wife on a 21 day Antarctica trip ($30,000) with 2 DSLR's and Canon G7+G12. Why would anybody have only 1 camera. We came back with great photos and memories. The point and shoot cameras we used on the way back in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. I didn't want to take a chance with my DSLR's.

If you think a smart phone is a good enough back camera, you are not much into photography.
The only time I take a photo with my iPhone, is when my wife sends me to the store to pick up an item.
I just want to make sure I picked up the right thing.

So you are telling me that an iPad or iPhone is a good vacation back up camera. Try to take photos of Bald Eagles, Whale watching and Northern lights in Alaska. Or you go Bird watching in Costa Rica, I don't think iPad or iPhone would be a good back up.

My wife and I go on adventure trips together. If you travel to the Amazon, Galapagos, Greenland, Antarctica, Jordan, Israel and so on, you spend a lot of money, and you like to come home with photos. My wife has a bridge camera, but in many locations I don't want to change lenses, so she is using my back up. In the Zion National Park the wind got hold of my tripod and camera. Lens and camera where damaged. Lucky me I had a back up camera and 3 more lenses. I own the Canon Mark IV and the Mark II. They are both great cameras, and I can't tell which camera I used after downloading and viewing them on my monitor.

I own the 14mm 2.8 Rokinon lens and I'm happy with it. . It's a manual lens on the Canon. Focusing is a little tricky. For night sky photography I prefocused infinity during the day and put a mark on the lens. Don't rely on the infinity mark on the lens. I will be using it in April on a Death Valley trip.