Marion deputies practice scuba skills at horse facility

Fred Vyse sometimes does his best work in the dark and with his eyes closed.

As a captain in the Marion County Sheriff's Office and head of its underwater recovery team, Vyse and his crew of 10 scuba divers often are in dark water and blindly feeling along muddy bottoms, using their hands to recover criminal evidence.

"Imagine swimming in that and looking for a body," Vyse said. "Ninety percent of diving is in blackish water."...[Video on OCALA.com]

TV shows to keep an eye out for...

Defiance will head to MIPCOM with a number of newly acquired programs, including Spin 360, an entertainment newsmagazine series about what’s on the Internet.

Spin 360 caters to all media platforms and is available in both long- and short-form formats. The series Eco Travel, which takes viewers on environmentally friendly vacations around the world, is also part of Defiance’s slate.

Other programming includes Reef Series, a three-part documentary film featuring underwater cinematography and a portrayal of marine life; The Underwater World, a journey that goes to the world below the surface, which includes swimming with barracudas...[World Screen.com]

Dive for Blackbeard’s treasure

A new book touts the idea that history’s most famous pirate, Blackbeard, was a native son of North Carolina. While historians debate just who Blackbeard was, there is no doubt that visitors can retrace his steps at several sites in North Carolina. The book, “The Last Days of Black Beard The Pirate,” discusses how he met his demise off Ocracoke Island and may be buried there.

For a limited time, visitors can dive on Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch offers recreational divers with a unique, exciting, and historic diving experience of exploring the remains of what is believed to be Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge...[Citizen-Times.com]

Shipwreck Sites Provide Cultural Lessons

The discovery of the shipwreck remains of a British whaling vessel highlighted a successful month-long expedition. The 29-day voyage was filled with other landmark discoveries. The Hi'ialakai landed at Ford Island Thursday morning, filled with maritime archeologists and stories from the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

"First expedition in that scientists and cultural practitioners were on the same ship," said Hiilei Kawelo, one of two members of a traditional ecological team.

Literally on the same ship, separate teams hoping to share cultural, historical and biological information.

"Helped us all gain a lot from each other and also a better understanding of the monument's resources," said Kelly Gleason, NOAA archeologist for the Monument and mission leader.

Armed with historic research, the teams made two discoveries. The first came at Kure Atoll...[KHON2.com]

Goblin shark caught on video

Divers and Shoreline Volunteers Needed on International Cleanup Day

The Monterey & Bay Area's diving community and local residents are being called upon to celebrate International Cleanup Day on Saturday September 20th 2008 in Monterey, CA.

Pacific Coast Scuba needs your help to target underwater and shoreline debris in your local area. Project AWARE Foundation, the dive industry's leading environmental organization, coordinates underwater clean up events and urges divers and volunteers to jump in their wetsuits, pull on their gloves and make a splash for trash!

Project AWARE is pleased to support Pacific Coast Scuba. Divers are the guardians of our underwater environments - they often see first hand the effects of marine debris on our delicate ecosystem.

This event is the largest single day volunteer event on behalf of our underwater environment. It's a fantastic example of how people can work together to take action." said Jenny Miller Garmendia, Director of Project AWARE Foundation.

"It's not too late to get involved," said Pacific Coast Scuba...[News Blaze]

Underwater tourism becomes a new trend

Over 150,000 people have dived beneath the Aegean city of Bodrum's waters to visit two wrecked warships deliberately submerged last year and a warplane submerged this year as part of a new project.

The Bodrum Black Island Artificial Ledge and Sunken Rocks project was prepared in the Bodrum district of Muğla to improve underwater tourism.

Chairman of Bodrum Underwater Association, or BOSAD, Ihsan Küçükünal, said the war planes and ships form a shelter for many sea creatures as well as helping diving tourism. There has been a lot interest in the warships and plane submerged in different bays of Black Island. Festivals that we organized to introduce our underwater beauties to the world and to improve diving tourism also provided great benefit for us. Our aim is to increase the diving points other than the Black Island and thus bring more tourists to our country...[Turkish Daily News]

Aquarium readies new white shark

Just in time for Labor Day weekend, Monterey Bay Aquarium is putting a white shark on display — the fourth in the institution's history.

The 4-foot, 55.5-pound young female shark was brought to the aquarium Wednesday after being trapped Aug. 16 in a net off Malibu, aquarium spokesman Ken Peterson said in a news release. The shark will likely remain on exhibit for several months.

Renovations scheduled for late 2009 to the aquarium's Outer Bay Exhibit, where the sharks are displayed, could make this white shark the last to be on exhibit until 2011, Peterson said.

Since 2004, three white sharks have been displayed at the aquarium, with more than 2 million visitors seeing them before they were released into the ocean. ..[The Herald]

OceanLED has been granted US patent for unique LED underwater lighting products

The patent has enabled OceanLED to own the rights of using optical collimators with LEDs for underwater lighting, ensuring that no other lighting system on the market can compare in terms of performance. A collimator placed over an LED uses total internal reflection to intensify the light leaving the fixture by over 500% - very similar to the principle of a lighthouse.

Old bulb technology lights using reflectors or magnifying lenses just can’t compete.

The US patent is the last of a series of patents that OceanLED has been granted, adding to many others including European, Middle Eastern and Australian patents.

Started in 2004, founder, Nigel Savage recognised the potential of LED lighting, and the benefits of being able to use LEDs with collimators underwater. This was the reason for him giving his original company away in exchange for the patent application he had solely worked on for 6 months, to start OceanLED in the pursuit of LED perfection...[BYM Product and Industry News]

Pictured: A majestic rare albino whale shark graces the ocean

It is one of the rarest sights of the ocean. A 30ft albino whale shark glides through the water with majestic grace.

It was captured by diver and naturalist Antonio Moreano off the coast of Darwin, the northern-most island of the Galapagos.

And this female is thought to be one of a kind...[Mail Online]

Annapolis one step closer to becoming artificial reef

The former HMCS Annapolis has made its final voyage out of Esquimalt Harbour and is undergoing reclamation in Howe Sound as it awaits its destiny to become an artificial reef.

The ship has found a new home in Long Bay on Gambier Island, where many of its remaining components will be dismantled before it undergoes an environmental clean-up in preparation for its new life on the ocean floor.

The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia (ARSBC) purchased the Annapolis from the navy to make it the sixth former Canadian Navy ship to be sunk in waters off B.C. The high number of ships being turned into marine habitats and scuba diving destinations increases B.C.’s reputation as one of the premier diving hot spots in the world.

“With the sinking of the Annapolis on the mainland side, we effectively close an eco-dive tourism travel loop, allowing divers to visit each sink site, thereby adding to a unique Wreck Trek adventure second to none in the world,” says ARSBC president Howard Robins. The final resting place has yet to be determined, but the ship is expected to be sunk in 2009...[Lookout Newspaper]

TodoCast™ Brings Live Webcasting of Underwater Videography to 11th Annual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition

TodoCast™, the innovator of the world’s first affordable, portable, live satellite-to-web video streaming system, today announced the success of live underwater video streaming at this year’s 11th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition held earlier this month. Sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), and TodoCast, the event featured 25 teams who competed in the design and construction of an AUV capable of navigating realistic underwater missions.

Spectators who were not able to physically go to the event, could for the first time, watch the competition live via the Internet. Ground and elevated videography services, including provisions of production equipment, cameras and crews and were provided by Solana Productions, Inc, with underwater video feeds provided by SeaBotix, Inc. Above ground and underwater video content was then encoded to Flash using the Kulabyte encoder, a standard component of the TodoCast Kit. In addition, TodoCast provided the satellite feed and content distribution services which enabled AUVSI, with support from Solana Productions and SeaBotix, to pull off the event live via satellite for the first time. ..[WebWire]

UNEXSO and DiveHeart team up to provide diving for the disabled

The International Underwater Explorers Society (UNEXSO), is the premiere dive destination and dolphin experience facility located in Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island. UNEXSO and the DIVEHEART FOUNDATION of Downers Grove, Illinois are pleased to announce the first disabled dive training course for instructors and dive buddies. Jim Elliot, President of DiveHeart Foundation was founded in 2001 and is a non-profit tax exempt national organization. The purpose of Diveheart is to provide and support educational SCUBA diving and snorkeling experience programs that are open to any physically impaired child or adult in the hope of providing both physical and psychological therapeutic value to that person.

DiveHeart holds a number of instructor and buddy training courses throughout the United States and Caribbean. UNEXSO has been selected as the next host site for DIVEHEART FOUNDATION training course September 20-27, 2008. According to Elliott, “UNEXSO offers the perfect location for our disabled diver training programs and they are fully capable of handling our students with a state of the art facility and handicapped ramps for easy access to the dive boats and Pelican Bay Hotel located next door to the dive center.”..[Bahama Islands Info]

Stunning Jellyfish

Underwater photography at its best

On October 1 the National Maritime Museum Cornwall opens a beautiful and revealing new photographic exhibition, created by students on the BA (Hons) Marine and Natural History Photography course at University College Falmouth.

The new exhibition called ‘Our footprint below’ celebrates the riches of Falmouth’s marine environment. Falmouth has many different identities, from its yachts and golden sands to its industrial docks, boatyards and mussel beds. This exhibition gives a flavour of what lies beneath the pontoons and frapping halyards of Falmouth’s waterline.

Milly Newman, Exhibitions Development Officer, says: “Our Under the Sea exhibition explores mans exploits under the waves and this temporary exhibition explores this theme in a local perspective – showcasing the incredible sights underneath Falmouth’s waters.”

“We have always worked closely with University College Falmouth and we are delighted to be able to donate a £100 prize to the winning photographer, knowing that it will go some way in helping students fulfil their ambition to become top underwater photographers.”...[thePacket.co.uk]

Army divers clean up underwater junkyard

To sink used tires to the bottom of Puget Sound and create an underwater reef seemed like a good idea 30 years ago. But now scientists know that tires don't belong there.

Piles of tires at the bottom of Puget Sound looks like an underwater junkyard. They're part of a toxic mess that must go.

"We're just now beginning to understand there is a lot more down there. Not just tires but other debris, other litter we've left behind over the years," said Ginny Broadhurst, director, Northwest Straits.

And who better to get it out than the United States Army.

Army dive teams are preparing to solve our environmental problem and get themselves some valuable training at the same time.

Divers splash down in about 50 feet of water off Salt Water State Park. They locate the piles and use inflatable pillows to bring 30-year-old mistakes to the surface. ..[King5.com]

Myleene turns mermaid to perform underwater stunt for TV

Swimming gracefully along the seabed with her hair flowing behind her, Myleene Klass looked like a real life siren of the sea as she discovered how underwater scenes are filmed for movies.

Lensing for her monthly CNN International show The Screening Room, the small screen and radio presenter spent a day in the water. And after her time at Pinewood Studios, the Marks & Spencer model was rewarded with a few minutes of footage showing her swimming without an oxygen mask.

"I found the stunt a lot more exhausting and physical than I expected it to be," says Myleene. "I was wearing three weight belts to keep me on the seabed and I had to keep equalising, yet try and look graceful… Being underwater was emotionally really liberating though."..[Hello Magazine.com]

Shipwreck from 1837 discovered off Kure Atoll

The remains of a sunken British whaling ship lost for 171 years have been found off Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Advertisement

A team of maritime archaeologists discovered the shipwreck Wednesday during an exploratory dive, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration news release.

Using a hand-drawn map, a hand-held GPS, historical charts and notes, the archaeologists located the spot where the Gledstanes was thought to have sunk in 1837.

"After preliminary surface surveys, one dive and there it was," wrote Dee O'Regan of the National Maritime Historical Society in the team's daily mission blog.

Divers came upon a pile of iron ballast and some chain, which led them to a part of the reef where more pieces of the ship were found.

The artifacts — which include four massive anchors, cannons and cannonballs — are believed to belong to the Gledstanes, a British whaler lost to extremely rough seas...[Honolulu Advertiser.com]

Montana's underwater worlds

The bubbles surfacing at Canyon Ferry Reservoir this weekend won't be from a giant sea monster lurking deep down.

Chances are, they're just from Glen McKinnon and his wife, Karen, along with a host of other divers from across the state.

This weekend, more than 100 divers from Billings to Kalispell will gather at Canyon Ferry to explore the lake's attractions and test new gear. The Montana Dive Fest, hosted by the Helena Scuba Club, begins Friday and ends Sunday.

Montana may not seem like a diver's paradise, but the state offers its share of underwater attractions and certified divers.

The interest is enough to support seven dive shops across the state, including the McKinnons' own Helena Scuba, which rents gear, offers certifications, and leads guided trips to underwater worlds.
..[HelenaIR.com]

OCEANUS SETS SAIL WITH SUPER CHRONOGRAPH

The Oceanus Cachalot is a good looking timepiece for serious divers. The 200M water resistant analog watch has an anti-reverse bezel, yacht racing timer, titanium band, and a sapphire glass coated face for scratch resistance. It also runs on solar power and uses Multi-Band, and is priced for the Yacht rock set at $1200...[Casio site]

Mythical, bubble-like scuba suit inspired by underwater bugs

Imagine diving in the ocean while breathing through a bubble enveloping your body -- no tubes, mouthpieces, or bulky oxygen tanks necessary.

This was briefly the vision of Morris Flynn, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta.

During his post-doctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Flynn partnered with his colleague John Bush to study how aquatic insects breathe.They were fascinated by the critters' ability to breathe underwater by forming "plastrons," or bubbles, on their bodies.

When Flynn first embarked upon his research, he toyed with the idea of using his findings to develop a bubble suit that would enable divers to ditch their scuba gear.

He soon realized how implausible such a suit would be, however...[Edmonton Journal]

Review: Dive deep with 3 underwater cameras

While your current digital camera may be OK for ordinary photos and videos, do you have an underwater camcorder to capture your kids swimming with dolphins or to take snapshots of those beautiful coral reefs that you're snorkeling through?

Unlike normal camcorders that may offer higher-quality video or a top-of-the-line lens, underwater devices are specifically designed to give you a good picture (usually without all the extras) in an underwater environment. In fact, many of the devices are capable of plunging up to 200 feet into a pool, lake or ocean.

To keep all of the precious components inside the device safe, an underwater camcorder features a rugged outer shell and is sealed tightly with a host of doors that cover the battery, memory card and transfer ports...[Computer World]

Stingray City

Aug 13th - Left-Hander's Day 2008

"Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater" according to [Left-Hander's Day]

Divers discover history in Lake Michigan waters

Most people don’t expect to have any scuba diving experience in Lake Michigan, let alone an exciting one. While diving is usually synonymous with warm, turquoise water and dazzling marine life, scuba divers in the Great Lakes region guard a well-preserved secret.

“If you’re diving and you want to see fish you have to go to the tropics,” says Cris Kohl, author of eleven books on the Great Lakes. “But if you want to see the best preserved shipwrecks in the world you have to dive here, because you sure won’t see them in saltwater.”

Our lakes boast shipwrecks galore, from smaller tugboats to schooners resting less than one hundred feet below the surface, a treat for adventurous divers willing to tolerate the cold. Although the water temperature is a deterrent for many potential and seasoned divers, it prevents the deterioration of the sunken boats, products of the Great Lakes’ extensive maritime history.

“There are shipwrecks in the Great Lakes that are almost entirely intact to the point that you can stick your hand into the cargo hold and come up with grain if they were shipping corn or flour,” said Peggy Kurpinski, owner of Adventures in Diving in Holland, Mich...[The Windy Citizen]

Mola Mola Video from National Geographic

Canada's Thousand Islands are a scuba diver's paradise

A couple weeks back, while fishing out of Caiger's Coun try Inn in Rockport, Canada, I had the opportunity to get in on something that has really caught on in the super clear waters of the Thousand Islands -- scuba diving.

The Thousand Islands has al ways been known for its fishing and scenic beauty. However, in the last five to eight years, the sweetwater of the Thousand Islands has developed a reputation as one of the best dive destinations for scuba divers.

While the popularity of diving in the Thousand Islands really started to come into its own around the turn of the century, one of the reasons that brought about the surge started back in the 1980s and 1990s, and even earlier.

It was in those years that Zebra mussels began to infest the waters of the Saint Lawrence. The Saint Lawrence is the route ocean-going ships take from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario and then on to the rest of the Great Lakes. The zebra mussels, which are sucked into the ballast tanks of the ships, got into the waters of the Saint Lawrence when the ships would expel water from their ballast tanks.

Zebra mussels are natural filters, taking in water for the nutrients and expelling clear water as a bi-product. What this has done to the waters in the Thousand Islands is make it super clear with visibility that can be as much as 20 to 40 feet or more. The visibility gives divers a look at the beauty of the under water natural rock formations, some going down 200 feet, as well as sunken ships that date back to the 1700s. ..[NJ.com]

Descendant of Lady Elgin victims dives to wreck site in Illinois

Jacob Cook never forgot the death screams. All around him, as he fought to stay afloat in a turbulent Lake Michigan, fellow passengers struggled to stay alive. His mother and sister were among them.

The Stockbridge, Wis., man, then 19, couldn’t see in the dark as the paddlewheel steamer he had boarded a short time earlier for the trip from Chicago to Milwaukee broke apart and slipped beneath the surface. Lightning flashed, illuminating the horrible scene. But he never saw his mother again, and the next time he saw his 24-year-old sister Elizabeth was when he claimed her body.

Last week, Sharon Cook thought of her relatives’ last moments as she swam down to the wreck of the Lady Elgin, which now lies in several pieces a few miles off the shore of this northern Chicago suburb.

“The notion of swimming over where my relatives might have walked is exciting,” said Sharon Cook, 56, who lives in Bay View.

All shipwrecks have stories — of those who lived, of those who died, of heroism, of blame.

But perhaps more than most of the hundreds of ships that lie in the underwater graveyard of the Great Lakes, the story of the Lady Elgin is particularly tragic...[Journal Sentinel]

US university team studying Island caves

Mini organisms meet modern technology as their underwater worlds get broadcast from below Bermuda's hills around the world this week.

The interactive programme is a partnership between the Bermuda Department of Conservation, Crystal Caves, the US Cambrian Foundation and Interactive Expeditions (Intx) — which will provide the technical equipment and expertise.

The Cambrian Foundation, which surveys and maps underwater cave systems, documenting new cave species, and monitoring water quality in endangered subterranean systems as well as teaching students about it.

Now students around the world will be able to ask divers questions and direct them through the caves of Bermuda as they learn about the unique environment...[The Royal Gazette]

World's Deepest Swimming Pool

Movie Review: 'Encounters at the End of the World'

Its title sounds like a cross between Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles, and, indeed, it contains fantastical, sci-fi-like elements aplenty, but "Encounters at the End of the World" is just a simple, straightforward documentary.

Well, not "just" -- and maybe not so simple. How could it be, when its director-narrator is Werner Herzog, a man who unfailingly warms -- or in this case, cools -- to his esoteric subject. The German master ("Fitzcarraldo," "Grizzly Man") has made 40 films over four decades. With this one, he becomes the first director to shoot a film on all seven continents...[Post-Gazette]

Update - Now available in Japan

5.0MP Underwater Digital Camera Mask
Technical Specifications:
Image Resolution - 5.0MP CMOS Sensor
Internal Memory - 16MB NAND Flash Memory
External Memory Card - Micro SD Card
Video Mode - 18-25FPS @ VGA
Status Display - LCD Display
Interface - USB
Power - 2 AAA Alkaline 1.5V Batteries
Photographic Distance - 1.2m (5ft)
Depth = 5 M - 30 M Depending on model rating
Find out more...

Divers find D Day Tanks

Divers found the massive vehicles were relatively well preserved with guns still intact even after more than 64 years under sea.

And by painstakingly checking minute details on the sunken vehicles against historical records, investigators managed to identify them as rare British Centaur CS IV tanks.

The historic weapons were destined for battle during the D-Day landings but never arrived.


Historians discovered the tanks fell overboard when a landing craft capsized on its way to the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944.

Scuba divers searching for hidden treasures at the bottom of the English Channel got more than they bargained for when they stumbled across two massive army tanks on the ocean floor...[Divemaster.com]

Sunken ship swimming with life

The former Navy frigate Canterbury has been transformed into a nautical wonderland since it was sunk in the Bay of Islands last November.

Paihia Dive HQ owner Kelly Weeds said the wreck had attracted life to an area of seabed in Deep Water Cove that was barren half a year ago.

"It's like life has suddenly started from nothing."

The wreck had come alive with large schools of juvenile snapper as well as an array of bait fish, big eye, kingfish and other marine life.

"The huge schools of fish are really impressive, straight out of the Discovery Channel." ..[The Northern Advocate]

Bramley's passion

Few people are more passionate about the giant cuttlefish in Whyalla than Tony Bramley of Whyalla Dive Services.

Tony did his first Scuba dive in 1963 and first dived with the giant cuttlefish in 1980 shortly after moving to Whyalla.

Since that time they’ve been through a lot together, including a fight for the survival of the species when over-fishing in the 90s almost wiped them out.

Tony said, in the beginning, divers in Whyalla didn’t really know what they were looking at with the cuttlefish.

“We didn’t think anything of it because it happened every year, we didn’t know it was unique.”

Now he has been a guide for thousands of people, and dozens of film crews and scientists from around the world who come to Whyalla to document this unique phenomenon...[Whyalla News]

Identify Your Gear or Buddy Quickly...

YourBagTag, LLC launched a new line of unique name tags for SCUBA gear today. These versatile tags, personalized with a diver's name, initials, or nickname, make identifying your gear a snap.

On a crowded dive boat or beach, most dive gear looks the same. The majority of Buoyancy Compensators (BC's) and wetsuits are manufactured in black, grey or blue colors making it hard to pick out your gear or your buddy from the crowd...[PRWeb.com]

British Divers spend 24 Hours underwater

If you spot someone playing scrabble on the floor of Maidstone swimming pool don’t be alarmed.

It will just be dive instructors Alex Heyes, 23, and Anthony Pike, 25, practising for their 24-hour stint under water.

The pair devised the madcap plan to raise money for charity Different Strokes after one of their colleagues from Blue Ocean Diving suffered a stroke.

So far they haven’t spent more than a few hours underwater but have been practising eating and drinking at the bottom of the pool in Maidstone Leisure Centre, Mote Park, where they’ll be making the attempt...[Divemaster News]

Go deep in Wazee Lake

If you want to say you've gone swimming in the deepest lake in Wisconsin, take a dive into Wazee Lake in Jackson County.

Wazee Lake, east of Black River Falls, is 355 feet in its deepest hole. That's more than 100 feet deeper than Green Lake. Of course, the folks near Green Lake will argue that their lake is a natural waterway while Wazee is a restored quarry.

Scuba divers and others don't really care about that distinction. Most will tell you that Wazee is the deepest and clearest lake in the state, and they love it...[OnMilwaukee.com]

Islamorada Exhibit To Honor History-Making Quadriplegic Diver

Showcasing the unparalleled story of Matt Johnston and his one-of-a-kind dive gear, a "Diving a Dream" exhibit is set to open Wednesday, Aug. 13 at the Florida Keys History of Diving Museum in Islamorada.


Johnston, of Woodbury, Minn., made diving history in November 2006 when he became the first paralyzed scuba diver who breathes through a ventilator to complete two successful ocean dives in the Florida Keys.

Floating face down with a medical team nearby, Johnston made his historic dives in shallow water over the reefs off the Florida Keys. The experience fulfilled a longtime dream for the 32-year-old Johnston, a quadriplegic who was diagnosed during his childhood with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, a hereditary degenerative disease of the voluntary muscles...[TravelVideo.tv]

Dive couple Richard Neely and Allyson Dalton told truth

MIRACLE dive couple Richard Neely and Allyson Dalton told the truth about their 19-hour ordeal at sea, a top-level investigation has found.

Investigators, in a soon-to-be-released report, have backed the version of events by the British scuba instructor, 38, and his American girlfriend, 40.

The experienced divers - with 2000-plus underwater dives each - survived being lost at sea during a dive expedition on the Great Barrier Reef, off Airlie Beach, two months ago.

They sold their story in a media bidding war rumoured to be worth up to $250,000 - but faced scathing criticism as doubts surfaced amid claims they staged their disappearance. ..[News.com.au]

World's First Undersea Sculpture Park

Imagine diving down deep clear water to explore underwater sculpture park that sing the saga of the lost world. Is it hard to believe? Believe it, for the next few minutes you are going to explore this strange sculpture park by Jason de Caires Taylor. Some may find it eerie and some fantastic, but none can neglect them and pass away, for their tide of attraction is stronger to pull you back to the warmth of the sea underneath.

32 year old, Jason Taylor, the creator of this unusual park is a fully qualified dive instructor with over 14 years of diving experience from all over the countries worldwide. In May 2006 he set up the world's first underwater sculpture park, at Moliniere Bay in Grenada. His work gained him international recognition instantly, but behind the mirror of fame and recognition there also lies his extreme struggle to gift such a unique work to to the world. He had to sell his house to complete his project...[One India]

Underwater photography adds new dimension when diving on Okinawa

Underwater photography can be an interesting hobby; it enables photographers to photograph a world few people ever see. However, capturing the perfect shot can be time consuming and challenging in an underwater environment.

Some award-winning underwater photo enthusiasts who recently participated in the Marine Corps Community Services' Tsunami SCUBA Underwater Photo Contest offered a few tips recently for capturing quality images.

Lighting, focus and camera stability are just some of the obstacles to overcome when shooting photos underwater, said Bill Glenn, first place winner in the macro and abstract categories of the contest. ..[Okinawa Marine]