‘Diver Ed’ and ‘Captain Evil’ show visitors new worlds underwater

Carving a wake in the early morning calm of Frenchman's Bay, the Starfish Enterprise steams out of Bar Harbor on its maiden voyage.

Onboard, 11 passengers-parents and kids, all sporting duct-tape name tags-are sitting on long yellow benches.

Ed Monet, 43, known to his passengers as Diver Ed, stands by the cabin. A few kids begin to laugh as Monet, bulging his eyes, squeezes into his one-piece dry suit. The heavy neoprene stretches tightly against his thick chest and legs. His long tangled hair and most of his face are covered in a hood made of the same elastic material.

Speaking in a loud, brassy voice, he explains his gear as he prepares to dive "These air tanks hold pressurized air like your car tires-air that I breathe. But instead of 32 psi [pounds per square inch] it has 3,200. This could blow through a 12-story concrete building."

Hoisting the large silver canisters, he grins. "Now I'm going to strap it to my back."...[Link]

PADI Nitrox SCUBA course now available to divers online

The most popular PADI Specialty SCUBA course - Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) – is now available online. This latest offering in the highly respected menu of PADI eLearning® course options allows divers to complete the knowledge development portion of the course on their own time and at their own pace.

The PADI Enriched Air Diver Course Online incorporates changes to the recently revised PADI Enriched Air Diver program, including a dive-computer only option which simplifies the learning process.

How does the online course work?...[Link]

Dive tourists up 62.8 percent in Philippines

As the Department of Tourism (DOT) aggressively pushes "Dive Tourism" in some areas in the Philippines, the number of dive tourists in the Philippines grew by 62.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

A record from the DOT planning and promotion office revealed that Cebu, Bohol, Palawan, Mindoro Oriental and Batangas are the identified favorite diving destinations especially for foreign tourists.

German dive enthusiasts visiting these diving destinations posted 131 percent increase while the Korean dive tourists went up by 104 percent, American 37 percent, Japanese 34 percent and Chinese 31 percent.

Over-all gross receipts from dive tourism in these destinations posted an upsurge of 52.8 percent to P31 million compared to P20.2 it generated in the first quarter of 2008...[Link]

Complimentary 5 issue subscription to Sport Diver

Enjoy 5 free issues of Sport Diver. No strings attached. You'll never receive a bill.

The official publication of the PADI Diving Society and the fastest growing dive magazine in the U.S. gives you practical tips on your dive and photography skills, updates on cutting-edge technology and reviews of the best dive locations in the world..[Link]

Going Off the Beaten Reef

The Malaysian navy may not have had diving in mind when it poured in sand and concrete rubble to make this small island 300 kilometers off the coast of Sabah, but it succeeded in creating a mecca for divers just the same. From all over the world they come, drawn by the large schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks that swirl in its waters.

The Malaysian navy may not have had diving in mind when it poured in sand and concrete rubble to make this small island 300 kilometers off the coast of Sabah, but it succeeded in creating a mecca for divers just the same. From all over the world they come, drawn by the large schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks that swirl in its waters...[Link]

Handicapped divers plan 25th annual trip to Bonaire

Bonaire, an island off Venezuela, is well-known as a diving destination, and its fans include the Handicapped Scuba Association, based in California, which is organizing its 25th annual trip there.

The Aug. 8-15 trip to the island's Divi Flamingo Beach Resort costs $1,240 for seven days, including accommodations and six days of boat diving, based on double occupancy. The trip is open to certified dive buddies as well...[Link]

Denise Richards interrupts scuba diving lesson to take her little ladies for a dip

It wasn't all work and no play for actress-turned-reality TV star Denise Richards this week as she took a scuba diving lesson in Malibu.

Thirty-eight-year-old Denise also managed to squeeze in some fun pool time with her daughters Sam, five, and four-year-old Lola Rose - her children with former husband, actor Charlie Sheen.

The two youngsters – who were clearly thrilled to join their mum in the water - can occasionally be seen in the beauty's fly-on-the-wall TV show Denise Richards: It's Complicated...[Link]

Treasure Hunters Search Jupiter Shipwreck Again

For the next month, divers will be searching for coins and artifacts from the Spanish galleon "San Miguel Archangel," which sank off the coast of Jupiter in about 1660.

Jupiter resident, Dominic Addario, who is part owner of Jupiter Wreck Inc., will be one of the divers...[Link]

Shipwreck Camp hosts young explorers at Case Western Reserve University

Teams of young explorers plumbed the depths of the world's oceans Tuesday -- all from the shallow end of a Cleveland swimming pool.

They were attending a two-week Shipwreck Camp at Case Western Reserve University. The idea was to present a scientific smorgasbord to 11 aspiring Cousteaus, immersing them in everything from field work, historical research, land and marine navigation to actual underwater exploration.

They spent the morning poolside, guiding video-equipped remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, around the pool. And after lunch, they pulled on wetsuits, masks and scuba tanks to explore on their own.

The ROVs came from kits. A cube of PVC pipe about 1 foot on each side was weighted with iron bars, made somewhat buoyant with foam, and propelled by little props attached to motors from submersible pumps...[Link]

The Underwater Express Lets You Cruise In a Gigantic Gas Bubble at 100 Knots

While most DARPA projects never materialize, the Underwater Express mini-submarine project is entering the test phase. If successful, the Underwater Express will be capable of going 100 knots—far faster than the 30 knots today's subs can muster.

To achieve the amazing speeds, the sub utilizes a hydrodynamic effect known as supercavitation. When the Underwater Express achieves enough speed, a gas bubble envelops the vessel and reduces drag allowing it to achieve speeds not otherwise possible—not unlike the USS Enterprise's warp field...[Link]

Litepanels Goes Deep With New SeaSun Underwater Housings

Do you shoot underwater? Do you ever want to take the same lighting kit into the deep that you might use aboveground? Of course that's not practical in every case, but you can take your Litepanels with you. Working with underwater-shooting specialist HydroFlex, Litepanels has developed SeaSun, a new series of underwater housings...[Link]

Army Using Extreme Sports to Help War Veterans

Secured with elastic cords to a railroad bridge more than 200 feet over a gorge south of Mount St. Helens, Portillo's mission was to dive over the edge. She pretended to throw up, getting a nervous laugh out of the troops behind her. Then, keeping her own anxiety in check, she bungee-jumped into the lush green below.

Dozens of soldiers in the 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment and the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team took the plunge that day last fall. Most had been recently deployed in Iraq. Few had bungee-jumped before.

As he stood at the edge, Sgt. Steve Damron felt a mix of trepidation and adrenaline that he likened to patrols through Baghdad. ''It's a chance to calm our brothers down,'' he said, ''to push that adrenaline out.''

That's the idea...[Link]

"It's a good gig,'' he said, "except for the gators.''

The next time you hit a golf ball into a water hazard, consider it a donation to Jeff Wiemert and people like him.

A commercial diver from Stuart, Fla. Wiemert scoured the beds of Coastal Pines Golf Club's lakes and ponds Monday for wayward golf balls.

Wiemert works for TGSI, a golf equipment company in Texas, that cleans up and resells lost balls. And some are very low mileage.

Wiemert figures if he works every day, he would collect 300,000 to 400,000 balls a year. He ships them to TGSI in bags of 600 each. He shipped 30,000 balls Sunday...[Link]

Lobsters beware! Sport season begins Wednesday

As thousands of scuba divers take to the waters off South Florida this week for the annual lobster sport season, state officials and scuba diving groups are trying hard to remind them of one important fact.

"A lobster isn't worth your life and sometimes people lose track of that," said Rob Murphy, 26, of Palm Beach Gardens.

Murphy lost both his legs after being hit by a boat while diving off the coast of Stuart on Jan. 9.

The two-day mini-season for lobsters kicks off at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, with the regular lobster season starting on Aug. 6 and running through March 31. Four divers, including 48-year-old Robert Canada, of Lake Worth, died during last year's mini-season. This year the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the North Carolina-based Divers Alert Network diving safety advocate joined forces to run a safety awareness campaign in the weeks leading up to the mini-season...[Link]

Owner calls cops when man tries to sell his stolen scuba tank on Craigslist

A man trying to peddle a stolen scuba tank on Craigslist for cheap was busted on Sunday when the real owner discovered his property listed on the online advertising site, police said.

Christopher Logan Lewis, 21, of 870 64th Ave. S,, is charged with dealing in stolen property and is being held on a $20,000 bail at Pinellas County Jail...[Link]

Australian charts breathtaking record for freediving

Grey nurse sharks, giant cuttlefish, glistening anemones and bull rays make Fish Rock Cave on Australia's east coast one of the world's best scuba dives.

Daredevil aquanaut Mike Wells said Monday he hoped to set a world record for freediving by swimming the length of it in a single breath.

That entails swimming to a depth of 14 metres to get into the 120- metre tunnel, then negotiating a tricky exit where the gap in places is no wider than Wells' 1-metre fins, before popping up the 24 metres back to the surface.

The swim should take around three minutes, mostly in pitch black and at breakneck speed...[Link]

Taking the plunge underwater; SCUBA weddings grow in popularity

Many people seek to make their wedding a memorable experience. In South Florida, recreational scuba divers are taking their love of the underwater (and each other) to new depths.

According to Kelly Levendorf, General Manager at Pro Dive International in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the number of customers coming into the dive store and inquiring about underwater nuptials has led the store to begin offering special packages for the aquatic bride and groom.

Pro Dive takes the bride, groom and guests just off-shore for the event in a large glass-bottom boat. The bride typically wears a white suit, but not a traditional wedding dress (too much lace causes problems Levendorf explains). The ceremony takes place in just 20-25 feet of warm, usually clear water.

“Underwater weddings have been happening for many years,” he says, “but modern technology has made the events much more convenient and interactive.” He explains that in the past (and at some locations still), divers could only hold up an “I DO” card. Today, the bride, groom and officiator are outfitted with underwater communications gear that enables them to answer each other verbally...[Link]

Orient Mako Diver Automatic Watch Free Giveaway

Here is another way to win this summer. This wrist watch giveaway is for an Orient Japan "Mako" Diver Automatic. The pictured model is the CEM65002D, bit the winner of the giveaway has their choice of models that have different color faces as well a metal or rubber diver's strap. The Mako is Orient's mid range diver watch and features an Orient-made Japanese automatic mechanical movement, solid stainless steel case and is water resistant to 200 meters.

The hands and hour markers are all covered in luminant while the overall watch gives off a handsome and function presence. Oh, and you can dive with it too. The giveaway is part of aBlogtoRead.com's summer watch giveaway series and it is free and easy to enter. Simply visit the auction posting page (see link below or above), comment on the article following the instructions, and a winner will be chosen at random when the giveaway ends after August.

To enter, visit the Orient Mako watch giveaway at the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com...[Link]

Call her the diva of diving

It was June 1967, and the 22-year-old woman with a toothy smile from West Chester was aboard a smelly fishing boat with 11 men eager to dive the offshore wreck of the famed Andrea Doria, 220 feet below the Atlantic.
Evelyn Bartram Dudas didn't recover the best artifact - the ship's compass, which went to her future husband, John Dudas - but she returned from the trip a hero as the first woman to reach what is considered the Mount Everest of shipwrecks.

It was a defining moment in the life of the now 64-year-old scuba entrepreneur, who owns a well-known Westtown dive shop, teaches, and leads diving trips around the world, and it landed her a spot as a contestant on TV's To Tell the Truth.

Four decades later, on a warm summer afternoon, Evelyn Dudas is back in the water - only this time, it's 12 feet deep. In Malvern Prep's swimming pool, she is teaching a class of mostly young would-be divers a gentle frog kick. They are probably unaware of the exploits that have made Dudas famous within the diving world, leading to her induction in the first class of the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2000...[Link]

As waters recede, drought reveals lake relics

While waters receding because of the drought revealed this month whole vehicles submerged in Lake Travis, the episode was not the first time strange and sometimes grisly artifacts have poked their heads out of the banks of the Colorado River during severe dry spells.

The river was dammed in a series of massive projects in the first half of the last century to control flooding and provide steady water supplies for Central Texas. As a consequence, the lakes that formed swallowed up whole bits of history.

The drought "reveals things that haven't been seen in a long time," said Brian Block, executive director of Keep Austin Beautiful, which runs an annual cleanup of Lake Travis.

In August 2006, during the last drought that gripped Central Texas, an Austin man riding a watercraft on Lake Travis found a skeleton that archaeologists later estimated to be a female at least 700 years old...[Link]

Industry Stresses Fitness for Out of Shape SCUBA Divers

Officials from the Divers Alert Network (DAN) are encouraging divers to get prepared for next week’s “mini-Lobster” season in Florida. The two-day lobster sport diving season is July 29 and 30.
"Divers get excited and rush to dive without preparation, and most of them are out of shape," said Petar Denoble, a physician who is the senior research director for the Divers Alert Network, a non-profit scuba diver safety organization. "They underestimate the level of exercise required for diving, particularly lobster diving."

This year, it is estimated that 30,000 divers will go out for lobster during mini-season. A large percentage of those will visit and dive in the Florida Keys. In the past four years, 14 divers have died in Florida during “mini-season”, 10 of those in the Florida Keys.

In comparison, only six divers died while hunting lobster statewide in the regular eight-month lobster season in the same 2005-08 period.

This year's lobster sport-diving season arrives July 29 and 30...[Link]

Divers salvage tires in failed artificial reef

Military divers returned to Fort Lauderdale this week to resume the job of salvaging hundreds of thousands of tires dumped offshore in the early 1970s in a failed attempt to create an artificial reef.

About 30 Army and Navy divers worked about a mile and a half off the beach at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park on Friday to haul tires off the ocean floor and collect them on the Army assault vessel Brandy Station. The day's catch: About 1,400 tires.

It is the third year of a project created to address a difficult environmental problem and provide a training opportunity for divers who need to accumulate hours below the surface. And while this may not be as challenging as clearing mines in advance of a beach assault, it is a massive task that will take years to complete.

Up to 2 million tires had been tied into bundles and shoved into the ocean in an attempt to create undersea structures that would support marine life and attract fish for people to catch. But many of the tires broke loose and actually damaged coral reefs...[Link]

Update - Subway car artificial reef program discontinued

A New Jersey program using subway cars to build artificial reefs has now been discontinued when it was discovered that the cars weren't holding up as expected.

According to an article in the Press of Atlantic City, the operation was originally suspended in February because the stainless steel cars were disintegrating after only seven months in the ocean.

Darlene Yuhas, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, told the Press that a survey of the 48 cars submerged at the Atlantic City Reef revealed that only two of them remained intact and upright.

"All the evidence suggested they would be long-lasting. In fact, the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] data was these cars should last 25 years," Yuhas said...[Link]

Underwater photography exhibit available through end of August

An exhibit of underwater photographs from West Lake Okoboji by Lloyd B. Cunningham has been extended an extra month, to Aug. 31, because of popular demand.

Cunningham's photographs are in Pomerantz Hall at the Pearson Lakes Art Center, Okoboji, Iowa. His work features underwater shipwrecks, the famous Lost Sailboat, the tower, the Allen Ice truck, underwater railroad tracks and many types of fish...[Link]

Grand plan for a sunken schooner in Lake Erie

For as long as 175 years, a shipwrecked schooner that had once sailed the Great Lakes, bringing grain and other goods to and from a just-burgeoning Buffalo, has laid virtually unscathed at the bottom of Lake Erie just west of Dunkirk.

A group of shipwreck hunters who have been diving on the downed ship over the last several years have a novel and exciting plan for the 85-foot vessel: They want to raise it from its watery grave and put it on display in a giant water tank in a museum in the Buffalo harbor.

“We have the birth of the city of Buffalo right there, sitting in the middle of Lake Erie in pristine condition,” said Pat Clyne, a videographer who specializes in filming shipwrecks and is a member of North East Research, the group that wants to lift the schooner out of the lake.

Even more tantalizing, Clyne said that recent research has led some to believe that the ship may actually be the Caledonia, a British-made vessel captured by U. S. forces during the War of 1812 and used against the British in the Battle of Lake Erie. The Caledonia was then sold as a merchant ship...[Link]

Dive Pirates group teaches physically-challenged to SCUBA dive in Cayman Islands

The Houston-based Dive Pirates Foundation returned from Cayman Brac earlier this month after successfully completing its mission of certifying 12 adaptive dive students during their open water adventure.

Once a year the non-profit organization of scuba diving enthusiasts sponsors those with disabilities with training, gear, and a paid trip to Cayman Brac to complete their certification.

This year’s trip featured 63 travelers including the recipients, their support teams and Dive Pirates enthusiasts.The event this year was especially unique because it was among the first dive groups to return to Cayman Brac following Hurricane Paloma that devastated the island last Fall...[Link]

5 ancient Roman shipwrecks found off Italy coast

Archaeologists have found five well-preserved Roman shipwrecks deep under the sea off a small Mediterranean island, with their cargo of vases, pots and other objects largely intact, official said Friday.

The ships are submerged between 100 and 150 meters (about 330 to 490 feet) off Ventotene, a tiny island that is part of an archipelago off Italy's west coast between Rome and Naples.

The ships, which date from between the 1st century B.C. and the 4th century, carried amphorae — vases used for holding wine, olive oil and other products — as well as kitchen tools and metal and glass objects that have yet to be identified, Italy's Culture Ministry said. The spot was highly trafficked, and hit by frequent storms and dangerous sea currents.

The discovery is part of a new drive by archaeological officials to scan deeper levels of the sea and prevent looting of submerged treasures.

Discoveries of shipwrecks are not unusual in the Mediterranean, but these ships are far better preserved than most, which are often found scattered in fragments, said Annalisa Zarattini, the head of the ministry's office for underwater archaeology. Because the ships sank at a deeper lever than most known wrecks, they were not exposed to destructive underwater currents, she said.

The ships also sank without capsizing, allowing researchers to observe their cargo largely as it had been loaded, Zarattini said...[Link]

Next Article Seattle Camping Examiner Explore Canada: Check out Porteau Cove Provincial Park

Even though Washington State has plenty to offer to the outdoor enthusiast, there is even more to experience with our neighbors to the north. British Columbia may get overlooked when planning weekend camping trips, however it is only a couple hours from Seattle and unfolds new cultures and terrain. Porteau Cove Provincial Park is one of many Provincial Parks in Canada that has something for everyone.

Located only 38 km north of Vancouver, B.C. on Highway 99 this park features a scuba diving area that contains a series of man made reefs and sunken ships that are marked by buoys. Depths vary from 20 to 60 feet. Marine life can be spotted as various types have made the area it’s home. Diving from a boat is prohibited. Steps leading down to the waters edge are recommended to access the nearby scuba park...[Link]

Cleaning of MV Xlendi underwater signs

he Scuba Diving Unit of the Malta Red Cross - Gozo Branch continued the MV Xlendi underwater signs project, which had been ommissioned by the Ministry for Gozo in an effort to make the dive site a safer place.

Besides installing a new set of signs, this project endeavors to keep the existent underwater signs free from debris

The new signs further supplement the other signposts and are located both on the inside and the outside of the wreck.

The signs are intended to warn divers of potential hazards they might face if the wreck is penetrated...[Link]

World’s deepest underwater Web camera featured tonight on CBS

The news magazine Brink will air a segment on the ORCA Eye-In-The-Sea camera tonight at 10:30 on The Science Channel.

The camera, which was featured in The Post earlier this year, was developed by the Ocean Research and Conservation Association’s Edith Widder. Widder, who once worked at FAU’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute created the camera with the help of institute researchers.

Pictures from the camera are amazing, kind of like looking into an otherworldly fish tank.

It has been sunk in Monterey Bay Canyon, but because of the great pressure at 3,230-feet below the ocean’s surface, it has experienced intermittent problems and is currently not working...[Link]

Underwater Investigators Trained in Bay County

Every year we hear of disasters on the water.

Whether its a plane landing on the Hudson river, or a swimmer lost in the Gulf, working in the water can be very challenging.

Newschannel 7's Elizabeth Prann was lucky enough to catch up with students who are trained locally for these daring jobs.

UCSI, otherwise known as the Underwater Crime Scene Investigation Unit, is the first of its kind in the nation.

And these divers are called to duty all over the country...[Link]

Update - Record still stands, divers vow they’ll return

They came, they saw, they didn’t quite break the record.

About 13 Lorain County residents were part of a massive effort Saturday at Gilboa Quarry near Findlay to break the Guinness world record for most divers submerged at one time. Only 794 people participated, short of the 958 people who submerged themselves for 20 minutes underwater in 2006 off the cost of the Maldives islands in the Indian Ocean.

The event drew people from all over the country and Canada, and even though the record wasn’t broken this time, plans to bring the record to the United States and Ohio are in the works for next year.

“We’re bound and determined to break this,” said Jim Blauvelt, of Elyria, who was one of about 100 people who already signed up to dive next year at the quarry. “Even though we didn’t this year, we tried, and it will fall.”...[Link]

Wounded war veterans find water the 'great equalizer'

Life on land for wounded Iraq war veteran Shane Heath is one where every step with the prosthetic leg can bring jolts of pain, every attempt to reach for something a reminder of the human arm that's no longer there.

Life in the water has been his liberation.

As a member of Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba, Heath, 29, has found himself able to explore the depths of the sea unfettered by his disabilities.

He's dived the waters of Guantanamo Bay, Puerto Rico, St. John, the Bahamas, North Carolina and Honduras, to name a few. Saturday, he made his 80th dive, into the cobalt blue waters off the coast of South Padre Island, becoming one of the newest aficionados of the sunken Texas Clipper, a World War II attack transport.

“All the aches, all the pains in your joints and everything, just go away,” he said after his first of the day's two dives more than 65 feet below the surface. “I can go down there and see all these amazing things, and I can do it by myself. I don't have to have someone to take care of me.”...[Link]

Scuba-thon reaches out to kids battling cancer

There are telethons, marathons, motorcycle rides, mountain climbs and more - all designed to raise money for charity.

Now there's even a scuba-thon. It's called "Dive Around The Clock." And it has Redondo Beach swimming with scuba divers.

For a solid 24 hours, buddy teams of divers will rotate in and out of the water every 30 minutes.

Truxton Terkla can be heard giving last-minute instructions before wading in with his group. "Then we'll swim out to deeper water," he says.

I was in that group, going down with 13-year-old Sierra Fuller and Lavonne Terkla. We went down 32 feet...[Link]

Scuba divers on the bubble of world record

They are participating in an attempt to break the Guinness world recordfor the number of divers under water at the same time.

The previous record was set by 958 divers in the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean in 2006.

The new record is expected to be set today at Gilboa Quarry Scuba Diving in northwestern Ohio.

"They are trying to get 1,500 people together," said Mike Campbell, a Battle Creek diver who is participating in the event. "The record is just under 1,000, so 1,500 will really blow it out of the water."

Other quarries in the United States have tried and come close to breaking the record, said Mike Williams, the caretaker at Gilboa Quarry Scuba Diving.

"I just felt like it was something obtainable," he said.

In order to obtain the record, Williams has to get participants to be submerged simultaneously for at least one minute, said Philip Robertson, marketing manager for Guinness World Records in the United States...[Link]

Popular diving accessory company heads in a new direction

In today’s changing business climate, it’s not uncommon for companies to change management or become acquired by others. Always on the leading edge and an innovator, Susan Martin, the creator of ScubaDoRag has announced that she has changed her legal name to Suuz Martines and has changed the corporate identity of Susan Martin Inc. to Suuz Enterprise, Inc.

While the company name may have changed, ScubaDoRags continues to be one of the most popular scuba diving accessories in the market today. Designed for safety, action and style, ScubaDoRags remain unmatched in quality and originality...[Link]

US DOD - South Carolina Guard Makes Big Splash With Artificial Reef

The South Carolina National Guard recently dropped 32 armored personnel carriers and M-113 track vehicles into the Atlantic Ocean -- and it wasn’t by accident.

Since 1997, the Guard has deposited decommissioned vehicles to more than 39 sites along the state’s coastline to create artificial reef environments for fish and other wildlife.

Reef-X is a collaborative artificial reef project with the South Carolina Department of National Resources.

“It is a wonderful partnership that has proven to be a valuable asset to the community and beneficial for wildlife along the coast,” said Army Maj. Gen Stanhope S. Spears, South Carolina’s adjutant general.

Along with vehicles, the state delivered several metal box containers to the Jim Caudle Artificial Reef in Horry County, S.C...[Link]

Adventure traveler Matt Delejewski seeks escape underwater in Chicago's Lake Michigan

Adventure traveler Matt Delejewski seeks escape underwater in Chicago's Lake Michigan. Everyone has a reason for needing a stress reliever. Whether it is a bad boss, boring job, stressful job, or just looking for excitement, everyone is looking for a release. For educator Matt Delejewski, it is a class full of spit wad throwing young men that pushes him to the brink. He loves teaching, but anyone who works with kids or has them know that they can test your patience.

Many people seek traditional means of escape like a drink at a bar, a movie with the significant other, or a favorite TV episode. Mr. D. enjoys these pursuits, but he finds underwater in Chicago's Lake Michigan his true inner peace. There are no loudmouth kids underwater in Lake Michigan and if there was he would not be able to hear them. All that he hears is the eerie high pitch sound of his oxygen apparatus bubbling and giving him breath in these serene, peaceful, and mystical green waters ...[Link]

Firefighters train for underwater rescue

At the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, firefighters are training in underwater rescue.

"We can't ask for a better area to train for our dive rescue team," said Jamin Jenkins, district supervisor for the Gulfport Fire Department.

In a pool, 12 feet deep, firefighters are training for underwater rescue using a technique called line-tending. It's a technique where one person holds one end of a rope on shore while divers hold on to the other. The movement of the rope helps the person on-shore communicate with divers.

"Most of the time we're in zero visibility water; you can't really see what you're doing and you can't train in that environment cause you can't keep an eye on the divers," said Jenkins...[Link]

The Elbow Reef, North Key Largo

Within sight of Carysfort looking south, another tower marks the location of the Elbow Reef, so named for the change of direction the reef line takes here from south to southwest.

The City of Washington Wreck, a large steel freighter that went aground in 1791 lies here in 20 feet of water. Much of the wreck has disintegrated but you'll find a plethora of marine life in and around this site, including arrow crabs, cleaning shrimp, green morays, angelfish, flame oysters and much more...[Link]

Whimsical images of seldom-seen underwater wonders

Divers are adventurers who plumb the depths to explore this watery planet we ironically call Earth.

Seekers of living treasure, diver-photographers gift the world with whimsical images of seldom-seen underwater wonders.

The Pacific Northwest is a divers’ paradise with a world-famous marine ecosystem. Jacques Cousteau and National Geographic Magazine rated this diving area as the world’s second best, surpassed only by the Red Sea.

Waters off Vancouver Island boast 120-plus dive sites, and a variety of activity options including drift dives, wall dives, and shipwrecks.

The appeal is being able to experience a psychedelic underwater landscape filled with every type, colour and size of sponge, sea-plume, nudibranch, abalone and anemone, including Campbell River’s renowned strawberry anemone, which carpets the ocean bottom, turning it a deep red colour.

Becoming a diver and learning the sport of scuba requires proper training and equipment: this involves time for study, upgrading and practice, and gear such as regulators, tanks and diving suits. Don’t forget about dive knives, dive lights, signaling devices, a lift bag, drysuit undergarments, dry gloves and that all-important underwater camera.

Now, hot off the press, a new handbook: The Northwest Dive Guide is sure to appeal to all levels of divers and packs a hefty three-in-one punch with sections on training, equipment and destinations. Richly illustrated, the guide features 130-plus colourful photos...[Link]

A Series of Special Dives by Divers From North Carolina Aquarium In a Marine Sanctuary

As part of an ongoing partnership between the NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary and the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, several Aquarium staff and volunteer scientific divers will participate in research dives within the first nationally designated marine sanctuary. All dives are planned on the wreck of USS Monitor August 1st thru August 7th, in waters over 230-feet deep approximately 16 miles off Cape Hatteras. The purpose of research expedition is to assist the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary identify and document emergent underwater biosphere issues, which will help in future management endeavors to protect sanctuary resources.

Archeology of the Monitor wreck site has been well investigated and documented, since there has been significant recovery of several large ship structural pieces along with numerous historical artifacts over the past couple of years. Interestingly enough an area of the Monitor that has been entirely overlooked to date is the underwater biosphere, specifically the various species of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, cnidarians and porifera that inhabit wreck.

Upcoming dive expedition will undertake a complete non-destructive and non-invasive inventory of the animal inhabitants, including the use of photography and film, which reside on or near the wreck of the Monitor. Those direct observations recorded will establish an inventory baseline of organisms found on the wreck that can be updated and modified as time and further expeditions will allow. Particular interest will be given to the number of native underwater plant and animal species found, distribution, population, and health. Additional emphasis will be place on identification and population numbers of invasive animal species such as Lionfish...[Link]

Boys Home Boat To Become Artificial Reef

A place that turns boats into homes for at-risk boys is now giving one of its boats a new home.
The 75-foot boat is going from the Safe Harbor Boys Home on Blount Island to the deep sea, where it will provide a home for fish...[Link]

Finding Beautiful, Unforgettable Dive Site in Yap with Divetime.com

Divetime.com is the best resource on the entire Internet if you are seeking beautiful, unforgettable dive sites in Yap! Yap dive sites await the neophyte and adept diver looking for a chance to enjoy underwater exploration, scuba diving Yap destinations, and a chance to explore what lies beneath the waters surrounding Yap. In fact, Divetime.com will help you explore as many as 46 Yap dive sites before you plan your scuba diving excursion so that you will know precisely what there is to offer at each and every one of the Yap dive sites available!

Plan your next diving adventure in a place situated just west of Micronesia and amid places like Palua and Guam. There are four different continental islands that make up Yap, all which offer you unique dive sites in Yap to explore too. Find scuba diving Yap destinations nearby Map, Tomil-Gagil, Yap Proper, and Rumung instantly. Free information is given to you from Divetime.com and all of the interactive divers that use Divetime.com on a regular basis too. Divetime.com offers insightful articles, diving tips, diving photos, diving videos, and scuba diving Yap destination ratings and information too. Finding perfect Yap dive sites for your next diving excursion has never been easier...[Link]

Hold onto your dive buddy's hand in Fij

n the silent blue depths of the Fijian coral reef, having my hand grabbed by the diver next to me was the tactile equivalent of a shout in the ear.

The diver happened to be my husband and the signal he was urgently passing on was the presence of a green turtle swimming just metres away from us.

The turtle lazily crossed our path and glanced at us with glassy black eyes before disappearing around the corner of a coral-covered outcrop. But my hand was not released from the vice-like grip my appointed dive buddy had chosen to apply.

Instead, it was yanked and pumped even harder as another creature had been spotted gracefully gliding across the sea floor below us.

It was a black-tipped reef shark moving with effortless guile some 10m away. The slow sway of its lithe grey body was enough to propel it through the water at a far greater speed than we could muster with the collective thrashing of our fins; an indication of the coiled power it held in perpetual anticipation.

Our dive trip seemed to have turned into a dive safari but without the ability to zoom off at top speed if things got hairy...[Link]

Coast Guard, NOAA, Army divers pull tons of trash off reefs

A fishing trip of sorts has resulted in a huge catch for agencies working to preserve coral reefs.
Advertisement

On a three-week mission to Maro Reef, Kure and Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the U.S. Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Army 7th Engineer Dive Team pulled more than 32 metric tons of debris off coral reefs.

The debris, primarily fishing nets, was brought back to Honolulu yesterday and put on display this morning at the Coast Guard station on Sand Island.

"It was a great effort by all the people involved," said Coast Guard Cmdr. Jeffrey Randall, commanding officer of the Walnut.

Randall said NOAA mapped the sites to be cleared, Army divers bagged the trash and the 225-foot Walnut provided the heavy crane for lifting the debris and deck space for containers in which the debris was stored...[Link]

Diver recounts close encounter with squid before earthquake

By at least one eyewitness account, the jumbo-size Humboldt squid rarely seen in La Jolla waters which have been turning up in large numbers recently are curious and aggressive with divers - but not threatening, at least not life-threatening.

When Cynthia Velazquez and her dive partner Roger Uzun of San Diego heard last week that large squid were being sighted, they decided to pay them a visit Friday night.

That was before people spotted the sea creatures on the beach Saturday, shortly after an offshore earthquake. Some speculated the squid might have been disoriented by the quake.

Armed with bright floodlights and a video camera, the pair went searching for squid about 8:30 p.m. in 30-foot-deep water off La Jolla Shores on July 10.

It didn't take long for them to find - or be found by - the object of their search...[Link]

Scuba shop to offer underwater weddings

A Florida scuba shop says it is seeking pastors, priests, rabbis and other religious officials for its latest promotion -- underwater weddings.

Pro Dive International of Fort Lauderdale said it is recruiting clergy members for its first underwater weddings to be conducted within the next few months, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

Debbi Ballard, 47, a Jewish cantor, said her training with the scuba shop involved use of a mask with a microphone that would allow her to communicate with a bride and groom while guests listen and watch a video link from a boat.

Reform Rabbi Barry Silver of L'Dor Va-Dor congregation in Boynton Beach, Fla., said the ceremonies could be legal under Jewish law provided certain traditions are kept intact...[Link]

Luxfer Cylinders resumes scuba cylinder production in North America

Overwhelming public demand has prompted Luxfer Cylinders to reinstate production of its popular scuba cylinders.

Luxfer had opted to discontinue production in the past several months, as part of a wide-ranging operational restructure. The company had moved all aluminium cylinder manufacturing in the US to its factory in Graham, North Carolina.

In the process, Luxfer decided to discontinue its scuba cylinder production - until now. With demand from the diving public proving to be so strong, Luxfer has reconsidered and decided to offer its most popular scuba models again.

Furthermore, XS Scuba (Santa Ana, California) has been appointed the exclusive distributor for Luxfer scuba cylinders in North America...[Link]

Twelve rescued as dive boat sinks

Twelve people have been rescued from the sea off Salcombe in Devon after their 40ft (12m) dive boat sank.

The divers from London let off a flare when their boat, Aquanaut, started taking in water, sinking in about eight minutes off Bolt Head on Saturday.

The divers were spotted by the crew of a passing yacht which took two on board while the rest got into a life raft. A lifeboat took them all into Salcombe.

The divers were with the Aquanauts Dive Centre, based in Plymouth...[Link]

New Scuba Re-Breather Tech: Test Dive

Technology is opening all sorts of places to human exploration, including areas of the sea previously too remote to spend much time lingering in. I had occasion to reflect on whether this is a good or a bad thing when I went with a rebreather in the Caribbean last summer. Rebreather technology, though new to me, has been gaining popularity among technically inclined recreational divers — enabling them to dive deeper and for longer periods than with comparably sized, traditional open-circuit scuba systems.

When you inhale using a traditional system, compressed air or nitrox (a blended gas containing more oxygen and less nitrogen than ordinary air) is drawn from a tank to a regulator to your lungs. When you exhale, the air — now containing less oxygen plus carbon dioxide — bubbles out into the water.

Though robust, reliable and inexpensive, open-circuit systems have significant drawbacks. For one, the waste of all that perfectly good oxygen. Inhaled air is about 21 percent oxygen; when you exhale, the oxygen level is still about 15 to 16 percent. In addition, those noisy bubbles can scare fish. (They also make military divers conspicuous when they’d rather not be noticed.)

Rebreathers, in contrast, employ a closed or semiclosed circuit; instead of releasing exhaled air into the water, the system forces it through a chemical scrubber that removes the carbon dioxide. The scrubbed air is then supplemented with oxygen from a small tank, bringing it up to the 21 percent concentration that is easily breathable. Because gas gets compressed as a diver descends, diluent (often ordinary air or trimix, a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and helium) from another tank maintains the gas volume in the rebreather circuit...[Link]

A dive to help the reefs includes a rock star

Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry focused on combing ocean reefs for trash instead of perfecting guitar riffs Saturday.

The musician was not alone -- he was accompanied by his wife, Billie Perry, and about 85 other divers who dedicated the day to scooping up trash left in the waters off Lido and Longboat keys.

The Perrys, who have a second home on Longboat Key, found themselves with extra time this weekend after an Aerosmith concert in Tampa was canceled because lead singer Steven Tyler has an injured leg.

The pair read an article about the cleanup in a local magazine and decided to put their 25 years of diving experience to work for a noble cause...[Link]

SeaLife DC1000

This is a review of the SeaLife DC1000 digital camera that you can use both under and above water. It consists of a standard (but modified for underwater performance) 10-megapixel digital camera and a very tough and intelligently engineered underwater housing. Underwater you can use it to a depth of 200 feet. Out of its housing, it is a small and handy digital camera that you can take and use anywhere. The SeaLife DC1000 with its underwater housing has a list price of US$549.95 and the entire Elite package that also includes a powerful external flash, a wide angle lens and a carry bag lists for US$999...[Link]

Underwater Music Festival celebrates The Beatles

About 400 divers and snorkelers had to get wet to listen to a radio station's broadcast in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The annual Underwater Music Festival is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the release of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" album.

Divers took the plunge Saturday dressed as the four Beatles with a replica of their submarine. They swam at the Looe Key reef while listening to music piped beneath the waves by WWUS-FM...[Link]

Join Florida Keys divers and snorkelers in Great Annual Fish Count

The Great Annual Fish Count, an international eco-event where volunteer divers and snorkelers assist in identifying and documenting fish diversity and population trends, is set to feature a series of July dive events hosted by local dive operators throughout the Florida Keys, in conjunction with volunteers from the Reef Environmental Education Foundation.

The data gathered is to be used by marine researchers, resource managers and policy makers to help assess reefs’ condition and their ability to sustain fish and marine life.

Divers and snorkelers interested in participating can check with local dive shops or organize their own fish count dives individually or through a dive club. Some Keys dive operators have already organized special fish identification dives...[Link]

City may seek old Navy ship for artificial reef

With an eye on attracting fishers and divers, city leaders are exploring the idea of creating an artificial reef off Padre Island.

The plan is still in its earliest stages, but would resurrect plans from four years ago to sink an old Navy ship.

When an old ship is sunk, plants and algae grow in the vessel and fish live there, establishing a good place for fishing and diving.

When the city considered it before, the Navy had just released its first ship under its reef program and had no more available, City Intergovernmental Relations Director Rudy Garza said.

When city lobbyists asked Navy officials recently, they learned the Navy had four or five old ships that could be used to create artificial reefs.

Knowing that a ship is available is the first step of many, Garza said...[Link]

Divers get up close, personal with milfoil

Decked out in diver’s gear, Glenn Edwards submerged for a search-and-destroy mission Friday. His target: Eurasian milfoil.

The invasive aquatic weed has gained a toehold in the St. Joe River, a tributary of Lake Coeur d’Alene. To keep the milfoil from invading new territory downstream, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe hired divers to suction it off the river bottom.

“We don’t want it spreading northward into the lake,” said Dave Lamb, the tribe’s lake ecologist.

Earlier this month, the tribe sprayed 100 acres of southern Lake Coeur d’Alene with an aquatic herbicide, 2, 4-D. The herbicide effectively combats milfoil where it forms thick mats of floating vegetation. But it’s less practical for fighting smaller pockets of the weed in flowing waters.

That’s where the divers come in. They’ll scout the river bottom, and part of the St. Maries River, canvassing the area twice over a 40-day period...[Link]

Baltic Sea divers find wreck of Soviet submarine

After a decade-long search, a team of Baltic Sea divers has discovered the wreckage of a Soviet submarine that sank with dozens of sailors aboard during World War II, one of the divers said Tuesday.

They found the S-2 submarine near the Aland Islands between Sweden and Finland in February but only announced it Tuesday because they wanted to confirm the identity of the vessel, team member Marten Zetterstrom said.

He said all 50 crew members died when the vessel exploded in 1940, probably after hitting a mine. He declined to give the exact location.

"I think it's been 10 years since people started searching. I've been part of it for four-five years," Zetterstrom said.

Markus Lindholm, an Aland-based expert who studied pictures of the wreck, said the claim appeared to be true...[Link]

'Billy Mays here!' even after death

When you've got a pitch as good as Billy Mays, death can't still your voice.

The bearded TV commercial pitchman who died of a heart attack June 28, "returns" in a new Mighty Tape commercial, the last he recorded for Media Enterprises, a marketing company based in Trevose, PA.

In the new commercial, he's seen, underwater, in scuba gear using the ultra sticky product to repair another scuba diver's air hose.

The commercial will begin airing July 20...[Link]

Change of plan for shipwreck reef site off Portland

Objections from the military have prompted project leaders to rethink a plan to sink a warship off Portland and create a new diving reef.

They have been forced to identify a new area of seabed for their underwater sanctuary after a preferred site in Balaclava Bay was blocked by the MoD because it would affect a training area.

Wreck to Reef (W2R) project co-ordinator Neville Copperthwaite insisted the scheme was not dead in the water as a new site had been found south of Ringstead Bay, following discussions with the Crown Estate. The zone is around the same size of 1km by 1km and although less sheltered it is deeper.

Initial findings from a survey of the new site indicate an artificial reef would not affect any marine life and in fact would probably help to boost flora and fauna...[Link]

Black scuba divers win national award

A group of black scuba divers will receive a national award and a planned tour of the White House in Washington, D.C. next week for outstanding volunteer work in documenting historical shipwrecks.

Diving With a Purpose will be honored on July 17 at the 2009 Take Pride in America awards, scheduled to take place at the U.S. Department of the Interior’s main building in Washington, D.C.

DWP founder Kenneth Stewart, lead instructor Erik Denson and Dr. Jose Jones, chairman of the National Association of Black Scuba divers (NABS), will receive the award and personal congratulations from U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at the annual ceremony.

DWP is the first African-American group to win the award. The group, whose members have worked with the National Park Service for the past five years, will be recognized under the public and partnership category for their work in researching and recording the history of shipwrecks found in Biscayne National Park...[Link]

Scuba fireman finds specs for Chinese exchange student

A German fire brigade deployed a scuba-diver to recover a pair of spectacles accidentally dropped from a canoe into a river by a Chinese teenager, municipal officials in Fulda said Friday. The water of the Fulda river in central Germany was only 1.5 metres deep, but too murky for the 16-year-old exchange student to see where his eyeglasses had gone.

He had a spare pair, but they were at home in China. With just two weeks in Fulda left, he needed a diver, hospitality officials decided, and phoned the brigade.

The diving fireman took just 10 minutes to locate the spectacles, and the happy owner immediately texted an "all-clear" message to his friends at home in China...[Link]

Local divers retrieve sunken boat

The divers at Amber Waves Diving Co. in Augusta know what it is like to use their expertise to help people.

Tyler Brewer is the Chief of the Augusta Department of Public Safety and the Chief Financial Officer for Amber Waves.

Most of the diving instructors are also firefighters or are employed in law enforcement.
It is nothing new for these men to serve the public during their "day jobs" but they don't get that chance as often as divers.

That all changed recently when a Wichita family lost a boat that had been in their family for almost four decades...[Link]

Florida’s springs keep their cool all summer long

Once July and August roll around, residents of North Central Florida battle through their daily routine in a scorching sauna known simply as summertime. The high temperatures usually leave locals searching for any and all ways to cool off.

More than 700 springs are located all around Florida and give visitors an experience much different from a city or backyard pool.

Springs maintain a year-round temperature of about 72 degrees, which is almost 10 degrees cooler than most municipal pools, and many of them have a host of activities for visitors in addition to swimming.

Several springs around North Central Florida provide residents of all ages with a place to dive a little deeper into the nature and culture of this region...[Link]

PGMA an asset to RP diving industry

Having a president who is a known diving enthusiast is a big boost for the tourism industry in Negros Oriental which has long attracted divers from across the world.

Steve de Neef, a Belgian underwater photographer who first arrived in Negros Oriental five years ago as a tourist, said that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's diving activities have cast a positive light on the dive industry in the country.

"It's a good thing that we have a president who dives and she does really care about the marine life," stressed de Neef who works for Atlantis Dive Resorts and is now based here.

Pres. Arroyo in April this year made a brief unannounced private stopover in the province to go scuba diving off Apo Island in Dauin before setting off for a two-day trip across the country to launch the Eastern Seaboard Route of the Strong Republic National Highway.

The President was reportedly accompanied by her daughter, Luli, who also went scuba diving in the waters of Apo Island...[Link]

Artificial Reef off Padre Island

Several years ago the City lost out to Pensacola, Florida for the right to have the U.S.S. Oriskany sunk off its coast. Now, the City is looking to try again to find a ship to use as an artificial reef off the Padre Island Coast. The idea is still in the planning stages and officials believe it may take 3-5 years to get a ship, clean it up and send it to the bottom of the Gulf...[Link]

Scuba divers rescue struggling bird

Members of the Torbay Sub-Aqua Club said they were about a half a mile off the coast of England's Berry Head coastline when they spotted a bright blue budgerigar, a bird native to the Australian desert, flapping furiously in the water in an attempt to stay afloat, The Times of London reported Wednesday.

"I noticed something fluttering and bobbing up and down on the surface of the water some distance away," said Cathy Jackman, a member of the scuba club.

"We went off to investigate and realized that it was a bird of some sort. The
bird was flapping and disappearing under the water and had almost drowned as it clearly could not take off or swim."...[Link]

Five Best Places to Scuba Dive at the Shore

Have you ever wondered about what might lurk beneath the sea off the coast of New Jersey? Sand, fish and seaweed? Sure! Dead mobsters, illegally dumped trash and waste and maybe even Jimmy Hoffa? Perhaps.

In your wildest dreams, did you ever think that somewhere down there in Davey Jones' locker there might be a New York subway car, WWI-era experimental concrete ships, sunken freighters and passenger liners? Well, they're all down there and so is a bunch of other unbelievable stuff...[Link]

Walton deputies get first-ever dive team

Some Walton County deputies will have wetsuits hanging next to their uniforms after the Sheriff's Office receives a federal grant to establish a scuba diving team.

The Sheriff's Office recently learned it will receive a $212,000 grant from the Department of Justice, which will be used in part to form the county's first-ever dive team, according to a news release from the Sheriff's office. The remaining funds will be used to buy new equipment for a larger SWAT team and 160 rifles for patrol deputies.

"We're just basically waiting for the money to set up the assessment for testing for the selection process" for the dive team members, said Lt. Mike Howell, the Sheriff's Office's special operations commander.

The Sheriff's Office will get the money after the 2009-10 fiscal year begins Oct. 1, said Mike Gurspan, the Sheriff's Office public information officer.

Walton County never has had a stand-alone dive team. Instead, it has worked with the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office when underwater search-and-rescue or evidence-recovery operations are needed...[Link]

Blu-ray Review: The Deep (1977)

In 1975, the film Jaws opened. It was, as you may already know, a huge hit. In fact, some argue that Jaws helped bring about the current "blockbuster" era of filmmaking, but that's neither here nor there. Whether or not Jaws reshaped the film industry (personally, I'd argue that it did), it certainly gave way to a lot of imitators. It is a truism of any form of media that upon witnessing the success of something, someone else will try and duplicate that success with a similar item. Thus, 1977 brought filmgoers the Peter Yates (Bullitt) helmed film, The Deep.

As with Jaws, The Deep is based on a novel by Peter Benchley (this time out Benchley got to write the screenplay alongside Tracy Keenan Wynn), stars Robert Shaw, and much of the film revolves around the water. However, it is there that the similarities end. Where Jaws was an edge-of-your-seat, at times scary, thriller that takes in a sleepy New England town, The Deep is a much more lackadaisical film which uses Bermuda as its setting. Rather than thrills, The Deep attempts to get audiences on the edge of their seat with shots of Jacqueline Bisset scuba diving in a white shirt...[Link]

TECH TARIK: Just dive into it!

MOST of the time, we stay clear of any kind of liquid when working with our computers. But there is this type of computer that you can use underwater. What is it?

Answer: A dive computer.

A dive computer is not like your laptop or desktop computer. It looks more like a wristwatch and is a device used by scuba divers to measure the time and depth of a dive so that a safe ascent rate can be calculated.

What that basically means is this: In scuba diving, the pressure of the surrounding water increases as you descend, and reduces as you ascend.
As you go deeper underwater, you have to constantly “equalise” the air pressure in your ear with the pressure of the surrounding water by pinching your nose and blowing hard out through your ears.

And when you ascend, there’s something to be said about decompression sickness...[Link]

Scuba diving in the Whitsunday Islands

On the second day of our Whitsunday cruise, we went scuba diving. Since I’d never dove before, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I had done some snorkeling before, but only briefly in a lake on Fraser Island. There, I had only looked down through the water and onto the white lake floor. In the Whitsundays, we would be swimming through the Great Barrier Reef.

In small groups of three or four, we were taken out for free 30-minute introductory dives. Along side Andrew and an English guy, I put on my wetsuit, which was really to protect against jellyfish stings more than anything. The instructor, a soft spoken man named Carlo, showed us how to breath and taught us the appropriate hand signals for any situation that might arise underwater...[Link]

Artificial reef headed to Grand Strand

Grand Strand fishermen are welcoming the newest addition to an artificial reef in the ocean near Little River.

Tuesday, local and state officials kicked off the 2009 Reef Project with a dedication ceremony.

Wednesday, the Department of Natural Resources

will dump more than 30 surplus Army National Guard personnel carriers into the ocean, creating a new place for fish to live and grow on the ocean floor.

The artificial reef provides a diverse habitat for marine creatures and a better fishing opportunity...[Link]

DOT inspects bridges

The Broad Avenue bridge did not sustain additional damage during springtime flooding earlier this year, Georgia Department of Transportation divers said Monday.

Following up on a February inspection that eventually led GDOT officials to close the bridge, a dive team re-examined the structure's footings Monday afternoon, checking to see if April's flooding caused additional damage to the bridge.

"Preliminarily, they've said that there doesn't appear to be any additional scouring done by that flood," City Engineer Bruce Maples said. "They said it looked like nothing much had changed with it."

The bridge was closed to all vehicle and foot traffic in February after GDOT divers said they found significant structural wear on the footings of the bridge...[Link]

Below the surface

Descending to the Lumberman, when visibility is good, is like dropping into the movie version of a shipwreck.

The stern — the back end of the three-masted schooner — is closest to the mooring buoy line’s anchor point. The rest of the ship points west, back toward shore.

The ship still has sides and a deck and one partial mast, said Bob Jaeck of Caledonia.

“It almost looks like a schooner going by,” the longtime Lake Michigan diver and shipwreck historian said.

The Lumberman is 126 feet long and 26 feet wide. It rests intact, upright on the lake bottom, sunk into the lake bed about where the water line would be if it were on the surface. The Lumberman, found in 1983, is a popular dive site four miles east of Oak Creek.

There are similar wrecks hidden throughout the area. The Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association lists 43 ships that wrecked off Racine County’s shore; dozens more sank off Milwaukee and Kenosha counties. Some wrecks — like the Lumberman, Kate Kelly and Wisconsin — are listed on state or national registers of historic places...[Link]

Fujifilm to Host Underwater Photo Festival

Fujifilm UK Ltd. is pleased to announce their first ever underwater photo festival; ScubaSnap Weekend 2009. The festival will take place in Looe, Cornwall on the 12th and 13th September and is guaranteed to be a weekend of fun, diving and underwater photography in the wonderful surroundings of the Cornish coast and countryside.

In association with local dive operators Looe Divers, the weekend will include shore diving, photographic tuition and seminars from industry experts such as Mat Trim of Fujifilm and Maria Munn of Ocean Visions, photo competitions, with some fabulous prizes to be won, and a dinner dive and BBQ in the evening...[Link]

Phoenix man uses scuba gear to escape burning home

A Phoenix man is lucky to be alive after using scuba gear to escape his burning multi-million dollar home.

Crews were called out to the Biltmore Estates near 26th Street and Camelback Road early Sunday morning. It was neighbors who made the 911 call.

"I just saw some orange glow, so I went outside and there was a huge fire coming out of the skylight of the house so I ran outside and called 911," said J.D. Bird. "I could actually feel the heat standing like 30 yards away."

The homeowner, Michael Marin, told firefighters he threw on his scuba gear so he could breathe and used a collapsible safety ladder to climb out the window of his second-story bedroom.

"In all my years on the job, this is the first time I've seen somebody use scuba diving equipment to get out of a fire," said Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Dorian Jackson...[Link]

Divers hit by speeding boat off Hollywood Beach

A boat traveling dangerously close to the Hollywood Beach shore slammed into two divers Sunday morning before gunning its engines and disappearing.

Both victims, a father and son, were quickly transported to hospitals nearby, according to Hollywood Fire Rescue. A third diver was not injured.

Law enforcement officials are now searching for Karma, a 25-foot white boat believed to have struck the two and left the scene.

According to Fire Rescue, lifeguards with the department's Beach Safety division spotted a boat making its way north about 200 yards from shore near Johnson Street at around 11:50 a.m.

It was 100 yards too close, according to the division's Capt. Pat Hendrick.

The boat approached a red diving flag floating, alerting of divers in the water, Hendrick said. The boat slammed into two of them: a man in his 40s and his teenage son.

Lifeguards radioed for help, said Hendrick, who sent out a lifeguard on a jet ski. The lifeguard found the three conscious divers swimming near the flag, and two were injured.

The third diver, a family friend, told lifeguards that the boat slowed down after hitting them. Then a person aboard the boat looked back. Then they gunned the engines, took a 45-degree right turn and fled into the ocean...[Link]

Catalina Island: Mingle with singles on Sierra Club weekender

Enjoy Catalina Island in the company of environmentally minded singles with “Fun in the Sun 2009,” put on by the 20s & 30s Singles Section of Sierra Club’s Angeles Chapter. The fall weekend, at Camp Emerald Bay in the island’s northern end, promises a fun itinerary that includes snorkeling, hiking, swimming, volleyball and even a little limbo.

Last year’s trip was a success, according to Ron Dumash, a Sierra Club volunteer trip organizer. “The group had a great time with all the water activities and team activities; the dance lessons were really great, and everyone participated.”...[Link]

Diver discovers Spanish shipwreck off Singer Island

A few weeks ago a diver snorkeling not far from shore on the northern end of Singer Island, Florida, stumbled upon a huge anchor and other artifacts.

Local divers like Brian Portmann and Peter Leo quickly assembled their expertise determining the anchor, which has a wooden stock and is in excellent shape, likely came from a Spanish sailing ship from the late 1800s.

"This anchor still has wood on it, which is rare and means it's been covered up in the sand a long time," says Portmann.

"It's definitely a piece of a maritime artifact that's really going to enlighten the area," Leo added.

There's no treasure at the site, just a scattered section of century old pieces unearthed by sand shifting in the current.

"You've got something people have been swimming over for 100 years and didn't know it was there," says Portmann...[Link]

Scuba Diving Releases Stress: Sulaiman

Scuba diving could be the best therapy to overcome depression which is on the rise in the country, said Deputy Minister of Tourism, Datuk Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib.

He said the country's seas and shores with its varied flora and fauna could reduce and even overcome a diver's stress.

Sulaiman said among divers' havens were the very popular islands of Sipadan , Perhentian, Layang-layang, Payar and Tioman.

"We have many attractive destinations for scuba diving therefore make good use of God's gift to overcome stress.

"Furthermore the water temperatures here are not seasonal so one could swim, dive or participate in other water sports all year round," he told reporters after officiating the Malaysia International Dive Expo 2009 here, Friday...[Link]

'Significant find': Divers discover Glenelg shipwreck

A shipwreck has been found off Victoria's east coast 109 years after 31 people drowned when it mysteriously sank.

The Glenelg set off from Lakes Entrance, east of Melbourne, on March 25, 1900 on a regular short run to Bairnsdale.

The iron steamer's captain Thomas English is believed to have double-checked the ships two lifeboats moments before sailing, telling bystanders it was always best to be prepared.

The lifeboats were used by the ship's only three survivors when it ran into bad weather and monstrous waves not long after leaving shore.

Survivors told a marine board inquiry they heard a crash before water began to fill the ship.

More than a century later, their evidence helped a group of wreck divers discover the Glenelg lying upright on the sea bed...[Link]

Historic ship to become diver's wreck

HMAS Adelaide, the ship that came to the rescue of stranded yachtsmen and terrified asylum seekers, now begins its final chapter underwater.

The decommissioned frigate was on Friday handed over by the commonwealth to the NSW government and will be sunk off Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast later in the year to create an artificial reef and dive wreck.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees said instead of being scrapped or dumped, the ex-HMAS Adelaide would be used by generations of divers.

"Coral will grow on the metal you see before you, fish will swim through the corridors that once rang with the sound of action stations," Mr Rees said.

"And divers will find a place of contemplation and beauty as nature slowly reclaims her broken frame."...[Link]

Underwater cleanup needs helpers

Scuba divers, boat captains,and other volunteers are needed to participate in an underwater clean up of Sebastian Inlet on July 18 and in Ft Pierce Inlet on July 25.

Kayakers are needed to man kayaks sponsored by Kayaks Etc and Tropical Kayak Tours in Sebastian and Vero Beach.

A removal of derelict crab traps will take place on July 18 in the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge and anyone with a boat interested in helping haul traps to shore is asked to contact us.

Abandoned crap traps and other discarded fishing equipment continues to kill wild life and is known as "ghost fishing" One trap removed in 2007 contained at least 25 trapped species...[Link]

Collier building another artificial reef

A big bunch of concrete is sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico just off the Collier County coastline.

In total, 950 tons of concrete is getting dumped about 4 miles off the beach in Naples.

Thanks to a $60,000 grant, Coastal Zone Management workers are laying the foundation for what will grow into Collier County's latest artificial reef.

Within months, the artificial reef will produce two big benefits.

The first, barnacles and other marine life will start to grow on the concrete to make it a central habitat for many species of fish.

The second benefit, a new reef means a new place for you to fish, and for fishing captains to take tourists in the wake of a weak economy.

"We will use that to take people out and actually catch fish off that reef, and also take them out scuba diving," said Captain Joey Dobin, a charter boat fishing captain in Naples...[Link]

Pierre Kunz Spirit Diver Depth Gauge Watch Back

The new “Holy Grail” complication for luxury mechanical diving watches is an included depth gauge – applied in various techniques. Many of the established luxury brands who make diving watches have a depth gauge model (such as IWC, Panerai, and Jaeger-LeCoultre). However, in this instance Pierre Kunz’s very first diving watch will be fitted with a depth gauge module. As you can see, the depth gauge will accurately measure depths up to 80 meters (the majority of divers will not exceed this depth) and is placed as a module on the left side of the 44mm wide decorated steel (or Blacktop steel) case with a rubber strap. The watch itself is water resistant to 100 meters. The little touches on the watch are where the luxury comes in from the extremely fine detailing and finishing to the designer dial. Applied hour markers, a multi-level dial, and a quirky subsidiary seconds disc, make for a fantastic style. The dial is done in a material known as texalium (black or silver) or in the pictured lacquered “diver’s flag.”...[Link]

PADI and The Underwater Channel / Babelgum Launch Web Video Alliance

PADI and The Underwater Channel, which is powered by Babelgum, today announced a new partnership that will bring scuba diving and ocean conservation video content to a global audience on www.padi.com/scuba/video.

New York, NY and London, UK (Vocus/PRWEB ) July 2, 2009 -- PADI and The Underwater Channel, which is powered by Babelgum, today announced a new partnership that will bring scuba diving and ocean conservation video content to a global audience on www.padi.com/scuba/video. PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) is the world's leading scuba diving organization and strongly supports oceanographic conservation efforts globally.

Kristin Valette, VP, Marketing and Communications at PADI Americas said, "We have had a successful partnership with The Underwater Channel for some time. They share our commitment to diving and to the future health of the world's oceans. This distribution partnership with Babelgum, is both exciting for us and the dive community globally. We are particularly proud to be associated with a range of compelling programming being produced and acquired by The Underwater Channel from around the world. These include exciting diving and other inspiring films about the importance of marine conservation."...[Link]

Yemen diver group flies for Moroni

A Yemeni diver group from the Special Forces headed early on Thursday for the Comorian capital, Moroni.

The group will participate in the search and rescue operations for remaining passengers of the Yemeni airliner crashed off the Comorian coasts...[Link]

Scuba diving refresher course helps to scratch the itch to go deep again

I grew up in Florida. After years of snorkeling as a kid, I took the plunge in 1988 and took a scuba class. I was instantly hooked and spent many fun weekends in the Keys diving reefs and wrecks. But a new job took me across the country to the Puget Sound area near Seattle. It's an area of extensive waterways and extremely dark, cold water. Friends tried to get me to dive, but the thought of dry suits and visibility that dropped off near your hand kept me on shore.

After moving to the Northeast, the same scenario presented itself. Diving became one of those things you used to do when you were young.

Now I'm 48 and back in Florida. I've been snorkeling again in the Keys, but nothing compares to diving. Once you've spent time down deep, you want to go back. Floating on the surface just doesn't cut it. Since I hadn't gone diving since 1993, I needed to make sure I could still do it...[Link]

Mysterious Current Drags Away Divers at La Jolla Cove

Lifeguards were warning scuba enthusiasts to take extra precautions in the waters off La Jolla Shores following a report of a strong underwater current that pulled about a half-dozen divers into deep water and made it difficult for them to surface.

The group of divers reported getting caught in the unexplained undertow while roughly 30 feet underwater about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, San Diego lifeguard Lt. Andy Lerum said.

They said the phenomenon lasted about 10 minutes and rapidly pulled them 30-50 feet deeper. Several described hanging on to the edge of the a deep submarine canyon in the area to keep from being dragged farther down...[Link]

National Guard donates surplus materials for artificial reef project

The city of North Myrtle Beach states with help from the S.C. Army National Guard, artificial reefs along the coast continue to flourish.

According to a news release from NMB, for the thirteenth consecutive year, the S.C. Army National Guard has partnered with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to donate surplus materials to the Marine Artificial Reef program, a collaborative project known as Reef-Ex.

This year, the Jim Caudle Reef and Little River Offshore Reef in Horry County will receive the materials from the S.C. Army National Guard.

According to Bob Martore, DNR’s Marine Artificial Reef Program Coordinator, “We’re very excited to be partnering once again with the Army National Guard and the Jim Caudle Memorial Reef Foundation. These organizations have done a great deal to assist our reef program through the years and these joint efforts have always resulted in exceptional reef habitat.” ...[Link]