REEF recently announced their field survey schedule for 2007. If you haven't ever taken one of these trips, maybe now's the time to consider it. Not only are they fun, educational, and conservation-minded, they're tax deductible! Who ever heard of taking a tax-deductible dive trip?! Thanks, REEF! Upcoming trips include:
Grand Turk, February 17-24 -- 7 nights/8 days - $990
Tortola, British Virgin Islands, April 14-21 -- 7 nights/8 days - $974
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, May 22-27 -- 5 nights/6 days - $TBA
St. Vincent, June 9-16 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,050
San Juan Islands, Washington, July 23-26 -- 4 days/3 nights - $818
Kona, Hawaii, August 4-11 -- 7 nights/8 days - $1,485
Woods Hole, Cape Cod, September 11-16 -- 6 nights/5 days - $509
Bonaire*, September 22-29 -- 7 nights/8 days - $1,063
Utila*, October 20-27 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,110
Anguilla, November 10-17 -- 8 days/7 nights - $975
Cozumel, December 1-8 -- 8 Days/7 Nights - $544
All prices quoted are per person, based on double occupancy. An additional $300 REEF fee will be added to each trip to cover the cost of the group leader, seminars, survey materials, and data management. For more details, you know where to go. *Trip led by Paul Humann, recent inductee into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame.
Beach diving is an inexpensive and fun way to explorer your underwater world. I love La Jolla Shores in San Diego, it has bathrooms and showers for quick after-dive rinse, it keeps my car and gear a whole lot cleaner.
But what about when your diving in an area with out showers? I've seen surfers use water jugs/bottles to get the sand off there feet and gear but it's not as convenient when your trying to spray off sand from all your dive gear.
Enter in HotJugz. No, it's not some dodgy Internet site that you shouldn't be visiting at work but a portable pressurized and insulated shower.
It works like a hand-pressurized pesticide sprayer, you pump the handle, it pressurizes the contents and has a shower head with a coiled hose.
But wait! There's more! It also is insulated so you can keep the water hot or cold over a longer period. So, you could fill up your HotJugz (I love typing that) with hot water, do your dive, come back to your car and get a hot shower.
Brilliant!
They range in price from $50 to $60 dollars, so while not cheap they are a great idea.
You know my thoughts about redundant scuba web sites but here's one with a good premise: DiveBuddy.com. Touting itself as a "social network for scuba divers" it offers members a way to find a dive buddy around the corner from you or at your next dive destination.
Membership is free and offers a profile page, buddy search, blogs, classifieds, event calendar, and photo galleries. The blog entries were fun to read and presented in more of a "blurb" style (quick to read) than a conventional blog post. The photo gallery doesn't hold a candle to This Is Why We Dive and I fear the event calendar is doomed to a life of neglect.
To find dive buddies I'm guessing most divers reach out to the shop that trained them, but if you hate your shop or live in an area devoid of one, this may be a useful resource. Sign-up if you're remotely curious since DiveBuddy's success hinges on building a large network.
Don't forget that Chicago's Our World Underwater is scheduled for the weekend of February 9-11. According to the press release on Scuba PRWire, this year's show will host over 200 booths featuring dive destinations, training agencies, equipment manufacturers, apparel and dry suit companies, and a variety of regional dive centers. Don't like crowds? You might want to steer clear, as OWU anticipates between 15,000 and 17,000 attendees.
Packed with educational seminars and workshops, the event will also feature a pretty smokin' film festival, emceed by Stan Waterman (geez, he's everywhere!). Moreover, the winners of the Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide Underwater Competition will be announced Saturday night. The show opens Friday night at 6 and runs through the weekend. Admission is $10.
Jack Connick has started writing a monthly column for Northwest Dive News. Discusiing underwater photography, Jack plans to concentrate on cold-water dive photography, but I'm sure tropical divers will learn lots, too. Fortunately, he plans to re-print the articles on his blog, so check in often if you don't subscribe.
In his first article, Jack discusses the importance of experience and not engaging in unnecessary task-loading. He also goes over important questions to ask yourself before making the often-expensive leap into underwater shooting. What do you want to do with your photos? Where are you going to be shooting? How much can you really afford to spend? These are some of the questions Jack walks you through.
In 2000, Yuri Lipski died while scuba diving in Egypt's famous "Blue Hole." During his dive, Lipski had a video camera strapped to his head. This 5-minute clip shows portions of Lipski's final moments, as well as some analysis of the tragic end provided by specialists. Don't expect to be amazed by the level of analysis -- in my opinion, they seem far too emotional and engaged in the clip to be objective -- though they do help clarify what's going on on screen.
Of course, it's a bit morbid to watch a person's final moments. Hopefully, though, divers can use the footage to help protect themselves against similar accidents.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- comprised of 2500 experts from 130 countries -- the Great Barrier Reef could become "functionally extinct" within a few decades. According to the Panel's leaked report -- the final, official draft of which should be available this Friday -- the reef will (might?) die from bleaching, which occurs when water temperatures grow too high, and which involves a breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between corals and their color-giving zooxanthellae. Interestingly, the cooling waters associated with last year's Cyclone Larry preempted the potentially catastrophic bleaching event that scientists had predicted for 2006. However, the thought is that by 2030, the GBR will likely begin suffering from routine bleaching events and quickly perish.
What's most disturbing to me about this news is that the GBR is the largest living organism on the planet. Able to be seen from space, a dead GBR would be a permanent, hideous scar -- a constant reminder of beauty and life wasted.
As promised, the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame inducted the class of 2007 into its hallowed halls this past weekend. Sadly, I wasn't able to make it to Grand Cayman to cover the event, but apparently it went off without a hitch. Nobody threw drinks. Nobody caused a scene and demanded a refund. No food fights broke out. Rather, the event -- emceed by the great Stan Waterman (himself inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000) -- was serene, pleasant, and polite.
Of course, the Hall of Fame is still only a virtual Hall and has no actual brick-and-mortar facade...yet. During the induction ceremony, however, Minister Charles E. Clifford announced that, "The Ministry and Department of Tourism will work with the board to make the Hall of Fame vision a reality." Can't wait to visit!
In November, Divester reported on an underwater poker tournament-slash-fundraiser in Colorado. Organized to assist a Marine reservist on his third deployment in Iraq, the High Plains Scuba Center raised $1600 for Brian Ivers and his family. This past weekend, some of the same folks got together for another round of underwater festivities. Instead of playing cards, though, about 30 certified divers ranging in age from 13 to 60 competed in the 11th Annual Scuba Olympics. This year, the event also served as a fundraiser for Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros, two high school wrestlers whose legs were amputated after they were struck by a car. According to Scuba Olympics Coordinator and High Planes Scuba Director Mark Williamson, all the money collected from the $10 Scuba Olympics entry fee are being given to the families of the boys to help cover their medical bills.
What happens at a Scuba Olympics? In one event, divers had to swim through a series of rings without touching them. In another event, divers were required to assemble a bag of wooden parts, nuts, and bolts underwater. Among the other events staged were the Pin Pong Push, the Dart Throw, and the Golf Ball Crawl. If you're interested, David Buffalo walked away with the gold at this year's Olympics. But all the participants are going to receive Divester's coveted Hero of the Week Award!
Anybody who knows anything about the ocean knows there are countless predators down there. While they may not be predator-ing on humans, they're certainly going after other marine organisms, many of which are sedentary. These sedentary animals, like anemones for instance, rely on powerful toxins for defense. In recent years, research has shown that in addition to defeating hungry sea creatures, potent chemicals extracted from undersea organisms may be used to help humans defeat disease. Over the years, one such researcher, William Fenical, has been very successful at bioprospecting, or looking for chemicals underwater. For example, he's found:
Pseudopterosin, an anti-inflammatory chemical found in the sea-whip Pseudopterogoria elisabethae. Interestingly, when these sea-whips are "pruned" and harvested, the whip actually grows back stronger and healthier than before, meaning this endeavor is not only good for the organisms, it provides sustainable employment for low-income coastal residents.
A small, yellow coral in Australia that yields eleutherobin, which prevents cancer cell division.
Two other compounds that may work against cancer, and one compound that may help patients fight Herpes simplex.
In case anybody needed further proof that we need to protect our oceans.
DAN's latest medical FAQs cover what some might call a very important topic for anyone living in Los Angeles: the implications of cosmetic surgery and diving. Whatever your latest enhancement there's good news: in a few months you'll be back in the water.
It seems the biggest concern with breast implants and diving isn't the adoring the new looks from your dive buddies, but getting your buoyancy back: "Breast implants filled with saline are neutrally buoyant. Silicone implants are heavier than water, however, and they may alter buoyancy and attitude (trim) in the water, particularly if the implants are large. Appropriate training and appropriate adjustment of weights help overcome these difficulties."
That would be an interesting PADI course to teach.
Earlier this month, we told you about Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed. Recently, I got my hands on a copy, and I'm so happy I did. This amazing reference guide is brimming with charts, tables, maps, pictures, drawings, and information -- so much information! -- that it's almost overwhelming. However, sit down with a cup of coffee, slowly turn the pages, and you'll see that...no...it'll still be overwhelming. However, looking at Ocean is overwhelming in the same way that the world's oceans themselves -- huge, sprawling, bottomless, and beautiful -- are overwhelming: despite their size, you still feel compelled to dive right in. Quite simply, Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed is the ultimate reference guide for our planet's most precious resource.
On the weekend of February 17, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society will hold its annual "Dive Into the Past" event. Friday night is an informal movie night, during which anybody can screen a film or TV show (no, you can't show Ferris Bueller's Day Off; it has to be relevant to the theme). On Saturday, the event really gets rolling with presentations ranging from an overview of the wrecks and geography in the Straits of Mackinac to a discussion of The Wreck of the Rouse Simmons. There will even be a talk concerning the sinking of the Oriskany, which isn't in the Great Lakes -- but should be.
The event will be held at the AmericInn Hotel and Mermaid Entertainment & Event Center in Mounds View, Minnesota. Tickets are $12 in advance, or $15 at the door. Check out the complete list of speakers and exhibitors if you're curious.
The United States Apnea Association recently confirmed that Theo Ivanovic set a new national record in the freediving discipline of Dynamic Apnea with a performance of 167 meters (547.9 feet) on November 12, 2006. This performance surpasses the previous record of 149 meters, also held by Theo.
During a dynamic apnea performance, the freediver travels horizontally under water, attempting to cover the greatest possible distance. Propulsion aids are not allowed, although the diver may use fins. At the conclusion of his performance, Theo remarked, "I cannot think of any other sport where fellow athletes are less competitive with and more supportive of each other." Easy for him to say, since he broke his own record.
Recently, I had the chance to read The Art of Diving. Written by Nick Hanna and photographed by Alex Mustard, The Art of Diving is absolutely mesmerizing. I took it to the beach. I read it in bed. I examined it over coffee. I was totally enthralled.
Never before has a book about scuba diving been so beautiful, so literate, and so spot on. I can come up with at least 10 reasons why this book belongs on every diver's shelf.
REEF recently announced their field survey schedule for 2007. If you haven't ever taken one of these trips, maybe now's the time to consider it. Not only are they fun, educational, and conservation-minded, they're tax deductible! Who ever heard of taking a tax-deductible dive trip?! Thanks, REEF! Upcoming trips include: 
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