The state will be adding 1,500 concrete modules to Keawakapu Beach on Monday in an effort to expand an artificial reef located about a half mile offshore.

The public is asked to stay clear of the area as crews from the Department of Land and Natural Resources work to deploy the “Z” modules beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, November 30, 2009.  The public will not be able to dive or fish on the artificial reef until the deployment is complete.   DLNR Aquatics crews advise the public to say at least 300 yards away from the deployment site.

Image Courtesy DLNR.

Keawakapu Artificial Reef was created in 1962. It is approximately 52 acres in size, and consists of 150 cars, 2,250 tire modules, 35 concrete slabs, and one vessel (the “St. Anthony”) was added in 1997. This is the first addition of concrete modules since 1990 to expand the reef.

The modules, constructed from concrete by Pioneer Machinery, Inc. will be loaded onto an American Marine barge and will be deployed in 60-120 feet of water.  Each “Z”-shaped form measures eight feet long by four feet wide with 12-inch legs at each end facing in opposite directions, and weighs about 2,200 pounds (1.1 tons).

Prior to and during the deployment of the “Z” forms, the target area will be marked with surface floats to warn fishermen, boaters, and divers to stay clear of the barge and the reef site, for safety reasons.

“New coral and seaweed will grow on the forms, which will provide additional habitat to new communities of reef fish,” said Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairperson. “Artificial reefs increase potential fishing grounds for fishermen, and the cost to the State is minimal,” she said.

DLNR has four shallow water (50-100′) artificial reefs and one deepwater (300-420′) artificial reef.  Three of the shallow water reefs are located off O‘ahu at Wai‘anae, in Maunalua Bay, and Kualoa.  The fourth is located off Keawakapu on Maui.  The deep water artificial reef is located off ‘Ewa Beach, O‘ahu.

Numerous studies have shown that artificial reefs are effective at enhancing reef habitat, thus increasing fish biomass and species diversity within the reef site.  Artificial reefs are key components in fisheries enhancement, as well as a substrate for the settlement of coral polyps (coral growth).  Artificial reefs are also attractive SCUBA and snorkel dive sites.

(Posted by Wendy Osher; Information provided by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources)

We just got back from Ahe Island in Papua and have a lot to share with you. We were delighted to see that the local people see the need to develop more sustainable sources of income instead of  fishing which currently is their sole income source. We believe that with a joint effort step by step a situation can be achieved from which both people and marine life can benefit.

Let’s start by telling you a little bit more about Ahe and the Harlem Islands.

The Harlem Island are situated in the Geelvinkbaai in Papua. Many moons ago they where ‘discovered’ by the Dutch vessel the Harlem and thus got their name. These 7 islands are situated amongst crystal clear water and pristine reefs. Virtually no one has dived here and we are just touching first base when it comes to discover the diving possibilities of this unique place. We have dived many places around the world but even for us this is diving adventure ‘pur sang’.

Ahe is one of the smaller of the 7 islands. It measures 690 by 450 ft and if you are looking for the true bounty or Robinson experience… this is it. Ahe has a unique feeling to it and is inhabited by many special animals such as the mambruk, the goudvink (which is endemic to the islands) and the cuscus… an animal with a high cuddle factor and if I have to describe it I would say it is a sort of mix between a monkey a small bear and a koala. Sea eagles have their nests on the island and every evening hundreds of fregat birds return to Ahe to sleep in its lush vegetation. Turtles visit the islands to lay their eggs and you may get lucky to see the baby turtles running into the sea. Where ever you look there is white sand and the deep kobalt blue of the calm sea. Doesn’t sound bad huh

When you set foot on the island you can get rid of your shoes or flip flops for the rest of your stay. The first thing you see are two large airplane engines that where taken of the WWII plane wreck that sunk on top of one of Ahe’s reefs and that you can see snorkeling. On my first visit before entering the modest bungalow that was going to be my home for the week I immediately jumped into the water to check out the reef and besides the reef fish you would expect I saw bumphead parrot fish, mantis shrimp, several species of snake eels, many blue spotted rays, spade fish, a group of razor fish,  a turtle and even three cockatoo waspfish….this was at just 20 meters in front of the beach!

Ahe is run by a group of enthusiastic young people from the surrounding islands. They choose not to follow the path of their parents that have been fishermen for many generations, but to develop small scale tourism on Ahe with a focus on the adventurous diver. Ahe at the moment offers basic accommodation that will be developed further without loosing it’s charm or harm the wonderful nature and characteristic of the island. Ahe is truly of the beaten track and has been visited by only 20 tourists this year.

There are no specific diving sites at the moment. You can literally plunge in everywhere and have a great dive on beautiful reefs. In the next months the group that got training by us last week will further ‘recon’ the area to map the best dive sites and spot a top 25 of things divers are keen to see. Some good dive news… one of the site offers year round guaranteed private encounters with whale sharks that literally swim up to the boat and Ahe has a residential group of dolphins.

Scubasigns is truly committed to help the people of Ahe to make their plans become reality and to let both people and marine life benefit from ecologic dive tourism. We will take the following steps:

1. Further dive training of local people to increase dive safety.
2. Set up a team of paid dive guides who will explore dive sites and clean and protect the reefs.
3. Enlarge the protected area and create no fishing zone’s… this has been achieved already for the waters directly surrounding ahe.
4. Together with knowledgeable NGO’s and the local community we will write a masterplan for the future of Ahe and the Harlem Islands.
5. Increase the knowledge of the eco system and marine life within the local community.
6. Improve the dive gear and dive facilities as well as knowledge on maintenance.
7. PR activities to put the Harlem Island on the map of exciting dive destinations.
8. Set up a protocol and ‘rules’ for diving in the Harlem Islands.
9. Appoint an island manager to locally help in the development of the island and implement the necessary action points.

Anyone with good ideas or the desire to help please let us know! If you are keen to protect marine life and want to assure that the beauty of coral reefs and marine life should be safeguarded for future generations then this is your chance to actually do something. Send us an e-mail at dave@scubasigns.com. If you would like to be one of the first divers to visit Ahe then please let us know as well and we will make sure you will have the trip of your live.

C’est quand t’es pris jusqu’au couilles dans la fin de session que tu te souviens pourquoi t’étais content de ne plus aller à l’école.  C’est vrai que les 48 autres semaines de l’année, c’est chill…  Mais oufff, putain qu’on les hais ces semaines interminables, où même les besognes les plus merdiques comme laver le frigidaire, deviennent une option des plus intéressantes pour passer ton samedi après-midi, plutôt que de te remettre (encore) la tête dans les livres.

M’enfin, on lève le son d’un cran et on s’y remet…  Pendant que je vous ai…  Je vous ai parlé dernièrement de Scuba et de son label Hotflush Recordings.  J’y ai découvert un autre amateur de gros sons londonnien: Jack Dunning aka Untold.  Tout comme son label Hemlock Recordings, il semble être une des nouvelles coqueluches de Ms. Hobbs pour 2009!

Je vous laisse donc sur Dante, et parce tant qu’à y être, Annaconda pour un peu d’expérimentation rythmique.

Untold – Dante (mp3)

Untold – Annaconda (mp3)

Untold’s Discogs
Untold’s Last.fm
Untold’s Myspace

SCUBA diving community united in search for threatened coral

Not waiting for the National Marine Fisheries Service to make their determination on the Reef Rescue petition to designate most of Palm Beach County as critical habitat for ESA listed coral, the local dive community embarks on a search for more staghorn coral colonies.

The struggle to gain federal habitat protection for the reefs offshore of the Town of Palm Beach is chronicled below in previous Reef Rescue blogs. The Florida Reef Tract along the east coast, south of the Boynton Beach Inlet is now designated critical habitat essential for the survival of ESA listed elkhorn and staghorn corals. Reef Rescue has petitioned the federal government to afford the same protections to the coral reefs offshore of the Town of Palm Beach.

In Palm Beach, they say the rules should be different

Federal habitat protection along the east coast of Florida extends from a depth of 6 out to 98 feet deep. All reef stuctures capable of supporting elkhorn and staghorn coral within the designated area are protected.  Unable to deny the existence of the largest stand of staghorn coral in Palm Beach County, recently discovered offshore of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the Town of Palm Beach backed down on their opposition to habitat protection for some – not all of the neighboring reefs.

The catch – off the Town of Palm Beach they say nothing in less than 45 feet of water should be protected.  Why?  Not much has changed – the reefs interfere with the town’s beach renourishment projects – or so they claim.

The dive community’s search for new staghorn locations is designed to negate Palm Beach’s opposition. Since, once staghorn is found in less than 45 feet of water or anywhere north of Breakers (deep) Reef another of the town’s contrived excuses unravels.

Check with your dive operator for details, some are offering rewards.  All staghorn sightings must be reported to Reef Rescue and verified.

Navimate™ - © 2009 Shb Instruments, Inc.

With the visibility of the water we frequently dive in it would be nice to have GPS underwater like most smart phones are capable of on dry land. If Shb Instrument’s Navimate™ sees the light of day underwater GPS could be a reality.

Navimate consists of a wrist mounted device that communicates to a surface based GPS gateway.  It lets you know what your longitude and latitude are and places it on a map that is displayed on the device. It will also display the locations of your dive buddies provide they are wearing one of the units and are within 100 yards of your location.

I am exciting about the possibilities. I see many useful scenarios for this device as well as making diving just a bit safer. I am hopeful that this device or others offering similar functionality will be available soon.  Shb is saying initial units will be available in the May/June 2010 timeframe.

Wrist units will retail for US$700 and the GPS gateway for US$300. I am guess as part of their initial marketing effort GPS gateways will be free to shops, clubs or other organizations that purchase a minimum number of the wrist units and will also be placing the gateways on selected dive boats at no cost. Instructor discounts for Navimate™ will also be available.

I have to credit Shb Instruments with publishing the price of the device. As with many items technology based I will hear about the product, get a fuzzy late quarter X release date with pricing TBD.  I am holding out hope that this is more than vaporware.

Shb Instrument’s Navimate™ – Website – http://navimate.shbinstruments.com/

Navimate™ Press Release – October 15, 2009 – http://www.shbinstruments.com/Navimate/press.html

Navimate™ FAQ – http://www.shbinstruments.com/Navimate/FAQ.html

Well the good news is the super duper Wolf-friendly cold-killers Doc gave me are working wonders. I’m still a bit stuffed up, but my ears are loads better. I can hear almost normally again.

Ran left a message on my phone saying he’ll be over tonight to ‘talk about things’ (Yay, Woop, Whoho, Great! Just what I was hoping for.)

(Fucking Fuck Fuckity Fuck.)

AND I went back to work today, and it sucked.

Well, sort of. My boss did tell me they’ve decided to re-offer me a contract next year, so that’s good.

Not so good was the 160 emails in my inbox – none of which having reports that I had requested for a meeting deadline today. So I spent a few hours calling, and emailing people to yell at them for not doing what they were supposed to when they were supposed to.

It is hard to be all thumbscrewy, uncompromising, and intimidating to workmates who answer the phone and immediately ask if I had a great time in Raro.

So it looks like I have a ton of reports that will trickle in WAY after the deadline.

I will take refuge in the fact that I had an amazing time away, and they didn’t.

So there.

(Yes I am petty.)

Also now I’m feeling the need for some scuba diving goodness, so  you can take a look at some feel-good photos with me.

Divers descending.. Just remembered to point out that I didn’t take any of these photos, one of the ladies I was buddied with took them, and was kind enough to email them round to us. I love it when you come across genuinely friendly accommodating people!!

Tommy the fish… He waves at you when you wave at him, and he followed us almost the whole dive. He’s like a big blue/black Labrador puppy.

Me giving a big OK! I got it right this time, but I almost always forget not to give thumbs ups when someone pulls out a camera… Thumbs up mean you want to go to the surface, and when you’re 27 meters down that’s kind of a serious undertaking!

Spanish Dancer nudibranch!! I’ve never seen one before, it was awesome, AND dancing! It’s probably a little bad that I wanted to chase it, but I managed to rein in the impulse. I very much like to be in the drivers seat when I’m diving – the wolf doesn’t know the first thing about breathing through a regulator.

Lion Fish (Rawr). I’ve never seen one of these before either, and I saw TWO on this dive, this one, and a HUGE one inside the wreck of an old ship, surrounded by really big black sea urchins .

Doing my 3 minute safety stop at 5 meters… I’m crap at getting my buoyancy right, so while most of the others were able to just kind of hover there and spin around and stuff I decided to stay on the safe side and use the chain.

… There we go. Work is all forgotten. Now I’m wishing my ears were better already so that I can get back in the water and do some more diving (I have NO idea where I’d go here… the weather is kinda notorious for being bad for diving here.)

Now all I have to do is get through Ran’s visit without maiming him/ jumping his bones, and I’ll be able to SLEEP again.

เกาะราชาอาจจะไม่ใช่จุดดำน้ำที่หลากสีสรร แต่ก็มีของเล็กๆน้อยๆเอาไว้ฝึกถ่ายรูประยะใกล้

อันนี้ใกล้มากไม่ดี ^__^

ใกล้มากไม่ได้ เดี๋ยวมันว่ายหนี

ลองดูครับ สนุกไม่แพ้ว่ายน้ำมองหาปลาใหญ่ๆเลย ^__^

Similan Islands 21 – Amazing videos are here

Underwater Texture, Abstract art.

This picture was taken during a dive on the well known “USAT Liberty Wreck” in Tulamben,Bali

St. Joseph River - Grant Street Bridge - Niles, MI

After a couple of trips scouting out the location dive day came. The current from the surface looked pretty swift. Jim and I had decided that if Don M. didn’t go with us we would find another location to dive. All our diving to this point had been lake and quarry diving so we wanted to have an experienced river diver with us. As we were loading up the truck Don called and the river dive was on.
I updated my preparation from our last cold water dive. I had gone to two water jugs instead of the water bottles. In the orange jug was warm tap water and the red jug was hot water about 190 degrees. I put both jugs in a rolling cooler for easier handling. Everything else was like last dive. I had long johns I was going to wear under my 7mm wet suit. My hood and gloves were both 3mm

Orange jug for warm water and red jug is hot water

Niles was a short 20 minute drive for us. We parked in a parking lot on the east side of the river next to the Grant Street Bridge. This is on the opposite side of the river as the hospital. The only down side to this staging area is the walk down to the water.
We setup our gear and brought it down to our entry spot just upstream from the bridge. The gear was just a bit out of sight from our staging area. We didn’t feel any better about that as one of the local observers asked if that gear was expensive. There was a lot of foot traffic along the river and we got many of the normal dive questions from “what are you looking for” to “are you searching for a body?”

Staging gear on the river bank

After two trips down to the water it was time to don the wet suits. There was a slight breeze and it was a little overcast with an air temperature of 50 degrees. I was thankful that the wet suits were dry. I am not a fan of getting into a damp cold wetsuit. We primed out wetsuit with warm water. I filled my boots and gloves with 2/3 hot and 1/3 warm water while I started to put on my wetsuit. I frequently primed the wetsuit with warm water as I put it on. I finished it off by having Jim pour water down my sleeves. Mmmm toasty!
The riverbank was a steep incline of at least 45 degrees. There was just enough room for the three of us to gear up. Don pointed out that he had learned to tuck his regulator is his BC pockets after a particularly nasty incident of red ants invading his mouth piece. This seems like a very prudent practice as I am blowing dirt and grass clipping off my reg. Don has an over the head BC donning technique I need to learn. I nearly fell into the water as I balanced on the incline and swung my BC behind my back.

Jim is pouring warm water down my wetsuit sleeve

I was rewarded for my priming efforts when I didn’t get the cold water leaking in my wetsuit like the week before. The current was pretty swift at this location and you had to brace against it. Jim and Don both had dive flags they were carrying. I was budding up with Jim. We started in a shallow and quick moving current about 5 feet deep. The visibility was a good 4-5 feet. I had a little trouble dumping air from my BC. For me it is hard to get air out in shallow water, but with a little effort I was able to stream line into the current.
At first it is a little disconcerting with all the water flowing over you. There is a definite force that the river is exerting on you. After getting my bearings under water I decided to do a little navigating. There was a lot of large rocks and concrete slabs. Moving along the bottom of the river was a little like climbing down a mounting. You have to find your next handhold before you release your existing one. Some of the smaller boulders were not heavy enough and they would start to slide down the river with me riding on them. Moving onto a larger rock seemed to take care of it. It is surprising how large of a rock it took to be a good anchor. A piece 3’ wide by 2’ high and 8” deep was about as small as I could go in this current. Don and Jim were moving their rocks with them while they explored. I was enjoying the underwater mountain climber routine. The water was really moving as you got closer to the first pier of the bridge. Water depth was about 19 feet. As we started to pass under the bridge there was a surprising amount of aquatic life we could see. Various species of fish and a very surprised crawfish about 4 inches in length. He couldn’t find wait to escape us and find new protect cover. There was a lot of rubble under the Grant Street Bridge. Lots of stone, bricks and broken concrete with rebar. This bridge was originally built in 1901 and had its share of remodels. We found broken and discarded scaffolding pieces. As we exited the other side of the bridge we moved into more trash. There were several very large and heavy mufflers. We also saw ends of empty wire spools along with unspiraled coils of wire.

Don's river spike - I need one of these!

I found that a sideways movement was the best way to go down the river. I could see far enough ahead that I could avoid any river hazards and I could also keep an eye on my buddy. If the current started to get too strong I learned I could tuck along the bottom where the current was slower. Also the current was slower along the bank here. As we mucked for things in the bottom it cleared up pretty quickly. A nice bonus with river diving is any silt you stir up gets carried downstream. We had a following of fish that were also taking advantage of this. You can tell when you got the slower moving parts of the river bed as there was a slime coating that would build up making it hard to see what was natural and what was manmade.
30 minutes into the dive I was still comfortable, but was aware that I was in a quick flowing current of 47 degree water. I was really getting into this river diving stuff. I was able to read the changes of the current. I could move upstream and downstream as I needed. This is more diving that I love. I was having a blast sorting through the treasures spread along the riverbed. Anything of interest went into the bag. I like to pick up trash on every dive to leave the underwater world in better condition than I found it, but there is a point where I realize that I can’t clean up everything. How many years had this river been a dumping ground? We found a steal ring about 3 feet in diameter. I thought it could have been an old rim from a wooden wagon wheel. Nearby I find a round flat disc with rings. I had a rock in my hand and I tapped on it. The clunk wasn’t metallic as I was expecting so I lift the disc off the bottom. It is a stone wear plate. Of course too big to fit into my bag so I had to bring it to the shore.
I like the dive flags that Jim and Don have. It made it real easy to regroup when we got separated. There is a risk of getting tangled up with each other but it is simple enough to fix. Jim did have one trouble in the current that Don had to brace for as Jim flew at him. Vis was enough where Don could prepare for the collision. Everyone was OK and the dive continued.

River treasures

About an hour into the dive we called it. We each had over 1000lbs of air, but we were starting to feel the cold. There is no sense fighting through being cold. It made diving miserable and you need to have some extra left over in case things don’t go as planned. You don’t want to discover that your hands are so numb that you can’t pull yourself out of the water.

Up the hill

The shock of gravity was much worse that the cool breeze. I hauled all my gear up in one trip. I wasn’t going to trek up and down the hill any more than I had to. Jim and Don quickly changed into warm clothes. I opted into taking care of my gear before getting out of my wetsuit. I was feeling warm after the hike up the hill and took advantage of that to get everything organized. As I finally pealed myself out of my wetsuit the air bit at my skin. The euphoria of a great river dive was more than enough for me to suffer through changing in the cold to do this again. I am hooked on river diving!

http://www.spike.com/video/drift-scuba-dive-in/2845965 – Vis and conditions were very similar to this video. In spots our current was stonger than what they had shown in this video. They did a good job with a flip camera.

I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale from Toronto on Thursday night (wreck diving in the Keys) and had an interesting problem.

Curious to know what the barometric pressure was in the aircraft cabin (about 790) I turned on my Shearwater Pursuit. I’m pretty sure I turned it off but I’m not totally certain.

The next day, while getting my gear together, I noticed it was not only on, but it showed that I was at a depth of 7 feet. The only way I could turn the computer off was to remove the battery. Fortunately a Canadian dollar coin was available.

This pictures was not taken by me but by one of the crew on the boat I was on. I was taking pictures of some Nurse Sharks and some Caribbean Reef Sharks which had decided to come and check out the ‘attractor’ we had put out for them.

Interestingly the nurse sharks were the most aggressive ones with the ‘attractor’ trying to suck out the fish skin that was in there. Three nurse sharks had showed up, two smaller ones and a larger pregnant female. Somewhere along the dive I have gotten very close it as it was laying down next to a coral head. But in this part of the dive it was checking out the ‘attractor’.

I tend to get pretty close to sharks (much to the concerns of some) and this was no exception. The larger nurse shark turned away from the ‘attractor’ and swam right over me which was very cool. Unfortunately the picture is a little dark.

There are two other pictures worth checking out, here and here, there are both wide angle shots so the sharks actually look further away from me than they actually are.

While you are at it, you might want to check out my good friend JenFu’s underwater photographs, he recently took a trip to the Galapagos and to Cozumel.

Blue Seas

By Betsy Smith Jackson

The warm blue seas of Little Cayman continue to echo my name but most assuredly now, in the beginnings of a cold winter….

Looking out the window of my small commuter plane in route to Little Cayman Island, my excitement begins to build as I view the beautiful aqua water and small dive boats hovered over the reef.  Yes, I could see the actual reef from my plane, the water was that clear.  After the landing, on the somewhat paved runway, with my anticipation mounting, I quickly headed to the dive shop to confirm my dive reservations. 

My dive morning arrived and I was off to dive the infamous Bloody Bay Wall.  I took a giant stride off the boat into the 3,000 foot ocean bottom, where I soon found myself on the wall at only 30 feet.  I begin to see hundreds of schools of yellow tails, butterfly fish, amber jacks, turtles, moray ells as well as an infinite number of creatures. 

Little Caymans meals are all inclusive, buffet style and when they ring the cow-bell you better go eat, there are no other (well maybe one) restaurants. Fortunately, the food at every meal was unbelievable. Did I mention it was buffet style…meaning you could go back for this gourmet meal as many times a you like? The bar area, a simple thatched roof shack, was so much fun, including all the great drinks.  All the divers would sit around and talk about their morning dives or tell stories of other dive trips.  As the Pina-Coladas kept coming the “fish stories” got bigger!

This was not my first time diving Little Cayman Island and I think after reading about my experience you can understand why I am a repeat customer.   The people on this island and the dive boat crew are most friendly and accommodating of all the islands I have dived.  I highly recommend this tropical dive spot for the avid, advanced diver.  You will walk away wanting more and will return many times, as I have. 

Betsy Smith Jackson is a PADI SCUBA Instructor from North Carolina

For more information on accommodations visited by Betsy Jackson visit http://www.littlecayman.com/

And the dive operation http://www.littlecayman.com/diving/dive_shop.php

8:28

หมู่เกาะพีพี เป็นหมู่เกาะกลางทะเล  ซึ่งได้ชื่อว่าเป็นอาณาจักรแห่งบุปผาใต้สมุทรนักท่องเที่ยวที่มาเที่ยวหมู่ เกาะนี้ส่วนใหญ่มาเพื่อดำน้ำดูปะการังดอกไม้ทะเล และปลาหลากสีสันที่สวยงาม นอกจากนั้นยังมีเกาะต่าง ๆ ที่อยู่ระหว่างเส้นทางเดินเรือ กระบี่-ภูเก็ต-หมู่เกาะพีพี ประกอบด้วยเกาะ 6 เกาะ คือ เกาะพีพีเล เกาะพีพีดอน เกาะยูง เกาะไม้ไผ่ เกาะบิดะนอก และเกาะบิดะใน ซึ่งแต่ละเกาะมีหาดทรายสวย น้ำทะเลใส

จุดดำน้ำที่เกาะพีพีมีอยู่รอบเกาะ ไม่ว่าจะเป็นเกาะพีพีดอน พีพีเล เกาะไผ่ เกาะบิดะใน เกาะบิดะนอก นักดำน้ำสามารถใช้บริการเรือจากเกาะภูเก็ตหรือจะเดินทางไปพัก ค้างคืนบนเกาะ หรือใช้บริการทริปค้างคืนบนเรือได้

1. I went night diving yesterday evening and Oh. My. God. It was marvellous. Wonderful. Splendid. Fantastic. Generally Jolly Good.

Its amazing how much breathing through a hose in the pitch black focuses the mind.

And it is beautiful down there at night. Really, quite indescribably lovely.

Peaceful – with only the sounds of your own bubbles and with every movement made in graceful slow motion, trailing phosphorescence.

So, what did I see in the sweeping beam of my underwater torch? Crested horn sharks, wobbegong (or carpet) sharks, yellowtail barracuda, red morwong, octopus, cuttlefish, cardinalfish, bullseyes and even some anemones with their bright red tentacles out.

I didn’t have my camera, but here are some other photos* of the creatures mentioned above, since they are, I expect, none of them immediately recognisable to non-Sydney divers.

So, above is the crested horn shark…

this chap is the spotted wobbegong or carpet shark… for obvious reasons…

Barracuda are recognisable anywhere with that underslung jawline…

Octopus, however, are masters of disguise and are almost as unexpected as the Spanish Inquisition…

Cuttlefish are my favourites. Any creature which can change the colour of its own body and flash lights along its sides, not to mention having an expression like that, earns my respect…

And those guys are the red morwong, who look to me as though a child painted them, which makes me smile. No mean feat when you have a regulator clamped between your jaws, believe me.

So, night-diving: if there is a better way to spend Thursday evenings, I don’t know what it is.

2. This afternoon I have been ’storyboarding’ (i.e. drawing up concepts for) a new children’s book about Leonardo da Vinci. If there is a better way to spend a Friday afternoon, I don’t know what it is.

3. Tomorrow I will be baby sitting for 4-month old Hugo in Balmain, which is one of Sydney’s more relaxed and artsy quarters, accessible by ferry from my house. If there is a better way to spend a Saturday, I don’t know what it is.

*Obviously, those photos were all taken during the day, but you get the idea…

MANTA offers unique marine science education programs to high school and college students.  Students live aboard a large catamaran sailboat in the British Virgin Islands while being immersed in marine science, receiving their PADI scuba diving certification, and learning to sail.  MANTA’s research scientists and instructors teach in a “flippers on” style, and the syllabus includes lectures and labs on several aspects of marine science based on the Ocean Literacy principles and concepts, as well as active participation in publishable marine research.  The summer 2010 programs are scheduled and open for enrollment.  Visit MANTA online for additional information, including trip details and the online application.  The college program requires registration through the Center for International Education of the College of Charleston.

Tenerife has something to offer every diver.  It has drop offs, reefs, deep diving, shallow diving, marine life, wrecks and caverns.

Being very accessible from all destinations in Europe and America, it is a sub-tropical haven for new divers and experienced divers alike.

Dive 24-7 is Tenerife’s premier diving centre as they can offer all aspects of diver training and charter.  If you wish to try a dive, you will be under instructor tuition in a shallow secluded area.  You can complete the full range of recreational courses and specialities. If you wish to become an instructor, a trimix diver or a rebreather diver,  we can offer you the whole diver education package.

255353     การดํานํ้าเบื้องต้น     Basic SCUBA Diving

หลักการดํ านํ้ าโดยใช้อุปกรณ์ช่วยหายใจ อันตราย วิธีป้องกันและการแก้ไขในการดํ านํ้ าเพื่อให้เกิดความปลอดภัย การบํ ารุงรักษาอุปกรณ์ดํ านํ้ า

(Principles of self contained underwater breathing apparatus. Precautions, prevention and life saving. Diving apparatus maintenance.)

(255353 มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์)

As taken from the Wicked Diving Website….please repost!

The season has begun and diving is great! However some unscruplous marketers are trying to exploit people’s fears. Trying to sell divers, snorkelers and visitors some “magic cream” that prevents jellyfish stings – people can be put at risk of injury or death.

Avoid this cream, let any dive shop or retail outlet that supplies it know how they are endangering their clients and please avoid it at all costs!!!

If you think this is just opinion…please read the email below regarding this product. Written and signed by the world’s leaders in Jellyfish stings, envenomation and the head of DAN. I guess they might know a bit more than someone who makes and sells magic creams?

From: JOHN LIPPMANN
Sent: 03 November 2009
To:
Cc: ‘Lisa Gershwin’; ‘Andrew Jones’; ‘Peter Fenner’; ‘Dr. Kenneth D. Winkel’; somchai.bussarawit; potjaman; lthaikru
Subject: FW: Marketing of Safe Sea in Thailand

We have been following the recent renewed correspondence about the proposed marketing of Safe Sea in Thailand. As you are aware, there are a group of us, including some well-known medical and marine biological jellyfish experts, who have been closely monitoring the situation with dangerous jellyfish in Thailand and we are all very concerned about the introduction of Safe Sea at this point in time.

Let us re-state some important facts:

1. There is definitely at least one variety of potentially lethal box jellyfish found in Thai waters. This includes the Chironex species as well as other chirodropids, currently unidentified, but probably just as venomous . There is absolutely no doubt about this as we have received good photographic evidence of these jellyfish, and have extensive evidence from numerous cases over more than a 20 years of the distinctive scarring caused by the stings of these particular jellyfish.

2. There have been numerous documented deaths caused by jellyfish in Thailand over many years: we currently have an article in print with details of a number of documented deaths and “near-misses”. The death of the Swedish girl last year was certainly not an isolated case, although to date it was the one that received the broadest media attention. We also have a steadily increasing number of case reports of life-threatening stings, including those with permanent scarring as well as those producing Irukandji syndrome.

3. Substantial experience from northern Australia over many years has shown the importance of effective prevention strategies. To date these have included the wearing of protective clothing, suitable netting, appropriate signage and education. As a result, despite the presence of large numbers of dangerous jellyfish at certain times of the year, there are very few serious stings.

4. The Safe Sea may have been shown to be an effective barrier to the stings of certain species of jellyfish. However, it appears that there is absolutely no evidence that it is effective in the prevention of stings from life-threatening box-type jellyfish, especially Chironex.

5. We are further concerned that even if Safe Sea should someday be demonstrated to be “as effective” for Chironex-type box jellyfish as it claims for other species (i.e., 75% efficacy, in reducing the frequency and severity of stings), this is still unacceptably high for otherwise unprotected exposure to lethal species.

In light of the above, we consider it to be irresponsible and dangerous to promote an unproven product in an area where the consequences of using the product could prove fatal. It is likely that tourists and Thai locals would be lulled into what could well be a false sense of security by using Safe Sea instead of taking preventative measures that have proven to be effective. Severe stings or deaths occurring without added protection of these preventative measures we suggest could have ongoing consequences.

Receiving FDA approval from Thailand does not indicate that the product is effective against Chironex-type box jellyfish stings and can be misleading in this context.

For all the above reasons we implore you to refrain from marketing Safe Sea in Thailand until such time that it has been independently demonstrated to be effective against the potentially lethal species found there and it is established that this product effectively prevents envenomation when interacting with these species.

Sincerely,

John Lippmann OAM Dr. Lisa-ann Gershwin Dr Peter Fenner AM
Executive Director Director MD (London), DRCOG, FACTM, FRCGP
DIVERS ALERT NETWORK (DAN) ASIA-PACIFIC Australian Marine Stinger Australian Marine Stinger Expert and author
PO Box 384 (49A Karnak Rd) Advisory Services
Ashburton VIC 3147
Australia Dr Ken Winkel Andrew Jones
Tel: +61-3-9886 9166; Fax: +61-3-9886 9155 Director Father of jellyfish sting survivor
www.danasiapacific.org Australian Venom Research Unit

Please feel free to contact us, DAN or any of the above with questions regarding this and other products promising to “prevent jellyfish stings”

-Similan Diving

Michieu Lourens

After following the Sunway Trade Route through Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique we arrived in Tofo – a vibey coastal town with white beaches, warm waters, a small local market and, above all, ocean safari’s – the opportunity to go snorkelling with whale sharks!

We headed out to sea in search of one of these beautiful giants of the ocean. We were soon in luck and the captain gives his call for us to put on our snorkels and fins and dive overboard…

This beauty is a massive 8m long! She was just beneath the surface and we were able to swim along side her as she glided almost effortlessly along.

Some of the more experienced divers swam beneath her while others preferred to keep their distance from this rather large animal!
After some time she took a plunge deep into the clear waters below us. The boat came round to fetch us and we climbed on board again. We were in awe after being in the water with this giant, graceful creature.

As we bobbed along the sea we spotted manta rays, various fish and even a nurse shark overboard. There were 4 more whale sharks each varying in size (they can get up to a whopping 20m long!) We dived with them all several times – the most fascinating being with a curious baby shark who circled the group a few times before heading on.

After 2 hours of interacting with the amazing sea life in the bay we headed back to shore and said good bye to our fantastic captain and skipper. It had been an amazing trip and, although some of us were relieved to be back on shore (it was a bumpy ride at times!), we knew none of us would forget this amazing experience.

หาดกะตะ

หาดกะตะอยู่ห่างจากตัวเมืองภูเก็ตประมาณ 17 กิโลเมตร สามารถเดินทางไปได้หลายเส้นทาง ทั้งจากชายหาดอื่นๆ โดยใช้เส้นทางถนนรอบเกาะ และจากตัวเมืองภูเก็ต โดยใช้เส้นทางถนนเจ้าฟ้าตะวันออก จนถึงห้าแยกฉลอง แล้วค่อยเลี้ยวขวาขึ้นเขาไป หาดกะตะแบ่งออกเป็น 2 หาด คือ หาดกะตะ กับหาดกะตะน้อย

หาดกะตะนั้น เหมาะสำหรับการเล่นน้ำ และฝึกดำน้ำแบบว่ายออกจากหาด จุดดำน้ำเป็นแนวปะการังติดต่อกันไปจนถึงเกาะปูซึ่งอยู่ด้านหน้าหาดกะตะ หาดกะตะเหมาะกับการดำน้ำในช่วงฤดูท่องเที่ยวเท่านั้น