It isn't educational. It doesn't feature marine life. It's not relaxing. However, this 59-second clip of scuba divers battling it out underwater is still pretty cool and deserves to be showcased as a Dive Video of the Day. Anybody know where the footage is from?

My favorite part is right before the end, when you see a head peek up ominously from behind a rock. What is that? Some kind of mutant underwater lizard?

About a year ago, researchers discovered that two kinds of octopuses were able to use two of their arms to walk around the sea floor. One of the species, Abdopus aculeatus, is shown walking over rugged terrain in today's Dive Video of the Day. It's very cool -- and only 8 seconds long, so watch carefully!

What's going on here? Is this pair of wrasse lovers...or fighters? I don't see a spawning rise, but then again, I don't see the fish nipping aggressively at each other.
What do you think?

For today's Dive Video of the Day, I thought we'd do something inspirational and educational. Here's a 4-minute clip showing 29-year old Matthew Johnston -- who suffers from muscular dystrophy and is capable only of moving his thumbs -- preparing for a pool dive. Matthew recently became the first ventilator-dependent person to dive in open water, and I thought the process he has to follow to prepare for a dive was worth looking into more deeply.

If you're interested in learning more about Matthew, be certain to check out this clip from the Today Show, in which Ann Curry interviews him and discusses his recent open water triumph. Whether or not you're an Ann-fan is irrelevant; the piece is truly excellent.

[Thanks, Matthew!]

Recently, George Tierney had the opportunity to go diving with with Manta Rays off Mexico's Revillagigedo Islands. Upon returning, he posted the footage he shot to YouTube, for the rest of us to enjoy. Each time I see these amazing "devil fish," I marvel at their size, grace, and beauty. Great work, George! I bet you'll never forget the experience.

Keith Manning, a dive instructor in Thailand, has recently launched TheAquaPlanet.com, a video sharing site dedicated to scuba diving and the aquatic environment. In other words, it's a YouTube specifically for divers. There aren't many videos on the site yet, but as word spreads, I'm sure that'll change.

For today's Dive Video of the Day, we present The Hover, a short clip of a diver demonstrating how to achieve and maintain proper buoyancy. I'm pretty amazed that he managed to impart this knowledge without using a single word.

I wish all divers looked like this.

[Website tip via Wetpixel]

Of course, pretty much everybody has heard of Palau's Jellyfish Lake. Millions of years ago, the Lake's outlet to the ocean closed, trapping the jellies inside. Slowly, having no natural predators inside the Lake, the jellyfish lost their stinging cells, and today, the jellyfish population is completely sting-less. Although people are not allowed to dive in Jellyfish Lake, snorkelers are welcome. This 3-and-a-half minute clip illustrates what the experience is like.

Hypnotic.

This 4-and-a-half minute clip presents some excellent footage of the Windiate freighter. Lying bolt upright 190 feet below the surface of Lake Huron, the Windiate is in incredible shape, despite having sunk well over 100 years ago. Shot by Dale Kreiner, this intriguing video shows the boat's deck and rigging, as well as a well-preserved yawl boat.

And now...for something a little different. This video, called "Zombie vs. Shark" is one of the strangest, funniest, creepiest, most entertaining, most distrubing things I've ever seen. My favorite part is when the zombie starts biting the tiger shark.

Good times.

Diver colouredshots captured this scorpionfish walking along the sea floor on its pectoral fins in the Lembeh Straits. If you've never seen a fish walk before, you should really look at this 39-second clip. It's pretty amazing.
So...why do scorpionfish walk? I guess even fish get bored swimming all the time.

In May, 2006, sculptor Jason Taylor launched his Underwater Sculpture Gallery in Grenada. The unique artistic display celebrates Caribbean culture while it simultaneously explores the constantly changing relationship between art and the environment. More importantly, the Gallery is a fascinating dive destination.

Sculpting the pieces in the Gallery looks time-consuming and labor-intensive. For divers exploring the work, however, it appears to be worth it: the pieces aren't just statues or swim-throughs. They're gorgeous, multi-dimensional displays of genius. La Diablesse, for example, is fashioned from concrete and steel and secured to the ocean substrate. The effect is a sublime underwater goddess -- at once beautiful and wretched -- watching over the reef. Meanwhile, The Lost Correspondent is a forlorn, amazing work -- and totally incongruous underwater.

There's no way words can convey the beauty -- and the unusual-ness -- of Talyor's work. To begin to understand his art, check out his image gallery. However, to get the full impact, you should watch this video. It's amazing.

Via: VideoSift

If you want to visit the Sculpture Garden, head to Grenada's Moliniere Bay and get hooked up with the folks at Dive Grenada. Located 2 miles north of the capital on the West coast of the Island, the Gallery sits within a designated National Marine Park.

Lately, I'm determined to prove to the disbelievers that artificial reefs do, in fact, provide fish with important habitats and promote healthy ecosystems. If you're one of those disbelievers that I'm trying to convince, then check out this short clip of wreck diving on Florida's Duane and Bibb. There are fish everywhere!

If you're not one of those disbeleivers...then good for you -- and I hope you enjoy the video. Personally, I was especially intrigued with the footage of the Duane's conning tower.

Merry Christmas to all of Divester's readers!


This video of a Scuba Santa was shot in LA's Rainforest Cafe. Hmm...can anybody tell me how Santa keeps his beard down?

Giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "multi-tasking," this 1 minute, 51 second clip shows a cuttlefish stretching its face, finding where it hid its eggs, fertilizing said eggs, maintaining its buoyancy, AND changing colors. Talk about efficient...it took me about 10 minutes just to write that sentence.

Why do cuttlefish engage in face stretching? Well, according to the person who posted the clip, "Cuttlefish store their eggs in coral, and then stretch their tentacles into the coral to fertilise them. It means they stretch their face to about twice its usual length. Really quite spooky."

While I don't think "face stretching" is the scientific term for what the cuttlefish is doing, this little video is just too bizarre and beautiful to pass up.

We've mentioned Phil Nuytten in the past -- though not nearly enough. Diving since 1955, Nuytten is a significant force in the creation of imaginative, utilitarian underwater vehicles, from ROVs to the Exosuit – an ultra-lightweight "hardsuit" for ultra-deep diving. Today's Dive Video of the Day is a 4-minute clip of his Deepworker Submersible in action. At 8.25 feet long, the Deepworker can take a diver to 2000 feet. Although this amazing video doesn't show those kinds of depths, it does, in fact, demonstrate the agility the little sub has.

Considering the smile of the driver's face, it must be a hoot to drive.