If you're a diver who's looking to get involved in some conservation efforts on your next dive trip, consider heading to the Komodo National Park. The Park's Conservation Fund has teamed up with a marine biologist to install throughout the Park environmentally-friendly "Manta Ray mooring balls," which are drilled into sand patches or rubble areas. There are already 14 mooring balls in this Park; the newly-formed alliance wants to install up to 30 balls, which will protect the reef system from anchor damage by local fishermen, big liveaboard dive boats, and visiting yachts.
The Park is seeking qualified divers -- in other words, Nitrox-certified and capable of working at 100 feet -- to assist with the installation. Participants will learn multiple skills, ranging from rope splicing to operating an underwater jack hammer. Although the trip is work-oriented, there will be time "for the occasional leisure dive." Interestingly, the organizers hope to film the project for use in other conservation projects and awareness campaigns. You'll be a movie star!
The trip is from February 18-26. Only 4 spaces remain. The cost of the trip -- which includes shared accommodation in air-conditioned cabins, meals, diving, tanks, weights, and presentations -- is $800. For more details, check out the National Park's website or the Coral Reef Alliance.
Some jobs don't seem so bad. Imagine being a research scientist diving in the Maldives with the sole purpose of observing manta rays to study their reaction to an ever-evolving ocean. Maybe catch a glimpse or two of other big fish like whale sharks and hammerheads. Unlimited dives in 80 F water.
Thanks to the Manta Network this isn't just a job for the academic elite. On these trips they allow a limited number of the public to participate as research assistants and they're looking to fill spots for the 12-day trip starting July 16th. It's not free a trip though...it'll cost you US$3,250 (plus airfare) for 12 days on the MV Sea Spirit. Imagine the bragging rights and the satisfaction of making a difference for the mantas.
If the timing doesn't work for you there's still room on an expedition leaving January 23 (view PDF) and another in August.
On Beyond the Blue, Jaime Burns posted an interesting trip report about cave diving in Nha Trang, a city lying on the southeast coast of Vietnam, abutting a huge bay sprinkled with small islands. Claiming the caves were "not hard to dive and anyone with a reasonable standard of diving should not have any problem investigating them," Burns points out that no special equipment is required to explore these caves, although "a large torch is essential." Think of it as Cave Diving Lite.
After motoring into the sheer-cliff'ed bay, Burns swam through 75-foot-viz waters, marveling at giant pufferfish, huge schools of Yellow sweepers, unfamiliar, colorful nudibranchs, cave shrimp, and much more. Burns suggests that hard-core scuba divers may be unimpressed with the overall dive conditions in Nha Trang, although if you're a diver who appreciates a little culture with your dive trips, then Nha Trang might be for you. Personally, I enjoyed the report, though I would've loved some more photos.
Interest piqued? Here are some other (non-cave diving) trip reports to Nha Trang:
Pelagic Drifter caught this beautiful shot of a tiger shark off South Africa on New Year's Eve. There are so many things I love about this image: I love the beautiful spottles on the shark. I love that there's a diver in the background -- which adds a lot of depth to the shot -- taking a photo of the shark. I love that there are 47 shades of blue in the image. And I love the forboding feeling I get when I notice that, um, another shark is circling. Look out behind you!
If you have any forboding underwater images, how about adding them to Divester's Flickr pool? If you do, we'll feature them on Divester.
I don't know about you, but my memory could use some help when it comes to fish identification. Black tip reef sharks and the bright orange Garibaldi are easy to remember but the variations of damselfish and triggerfish can be overwhelming.
Fish ID guides, like those by Paul Humann, are a critical part of any divers bookshelf but they're not always the easiest to use if all you can remember is the general size or markings on a fish. What I've always wanted to see is a fish guide which cross-references their characteristics in greater detail and It looks like the folks at WikiDivers are doing just that.
Their fish identification guide begins with describing the characteristics of fish: body shape, fins, markings, gills, size, and body/fin configurations. Each of these includes a link to fish which have those characteristics. If your unknown fish had vertical bands, click the Bands link and a list shows you those with vertical bands.
There is a growing number of fish species already in the guide but it's a work in progress. While the main page is a great starting point with photos and links, the search results don't generate thumbnails. Bummer, because clicking through links for individual photos is no better than paging through Humann's book. The founders of WikiDivers have voiced their commitment to the site so hopefully their hard work will continue and produce an intuitive and thorough resource.
It's 2007 and hopefully you've survived another Festivus holiday. I'm looking forward to next year when I don't have to follow my 14-month-old around my in-laws' and pulling him away from tables and electrical outlets.
My scuba stocking had these great books inside...
The first, Master Guide for Underwater Digital Photography, is authored by Jack and Sue Drafahl. I've only paged through but it looks like an excellent introductory guide to underwater shooting with your digital camera. There are many photos and references to new(ish) gear from point-and-shoot digitals to SLR. Topics covered include camera settings (what <i>is</i> the histogram used for?), setting proper exposure, strobes, wide-angle, macro, composition, and traveling with your gear. This is my first book on the topic and it looks like an excellent place to start.
The other is a giant coffee-table-sized thing called Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed. With a foreword by Fabien Cousteau, it's the end-all, be-all visual reference and fact guide to our seas. There are beautiful two-page photos and hundreds of diagrams describing every facet of our great seas from ocean currents to temperature to the creatures living in dark depths. It's the type of book where you can read two or three pages and move onto the next topic. If nothing else this should inspire you to get back into the water, try a new dive site, or simply impress your friends.
A company called Sea Culture, Ltd. plans to begin growing coral in tanks on a "farm" in Sri Lanka. Funded by a group of Canadian investors, the group intends to demonstrate that environmentally friendly methods can be used to farm coral, anemones, invertebrates, and other marine life in demand by marine aquarium hobbyists. This shouldn't be too hard; after all, some people grow coral in their basements.
The investors have already installed 20 tanks on the island. Despite this, however, the group is still waiting for licensure from the country's National Wildlife Service. Once licensed, they plan to hire 10 local kids and train them to run the farms. Ultimately, Sea Culture hopes to have 200 tanks and 56 staff.
I think this sounds like a great idea. In addition to providing people with employment, if this takes off, it might help reduce the illegal coral trade.
Recently, South Africa's Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) announced that recreational divers swimming in the country's marine protected areas would be required to purchase a permit. Beginning January 1, 2007, all divers will be required to keep their $11 permits, or certified copies of them, on the boats they are diving from, or in their vehicles if they dive from shore. Dive operators are exempt from the tax.
So stirred up was Cape Town's dive community that they sought legal opinion on the matter. Arguing that the MCM is not entitled to make rules to control recreational uses of the sea that do not entail the consumption of marine resources (swimming, surfing, diving), the divers believe the MCM is acting beyond its powers in compelling them to buy these permits. Quite logically, Monty Guest, chairperson of the False Bay Underwater Club argued that, "Fishermen kill sharks in marine protected areas and nothing happens to them, but we cannot even swim underwater to watch marine life without buying a permit. There are sewerage outfalls pumping effluent into the marine protected area and nothing is done..." MCM countered that it is allowed to regulate non-consumptive use of the ocean if a particular activity causes damage to the environment. And we all know how destructive divers can be.
In high bureaucratic style, the government informed the divers that they could get the permit legislation overturned -- but that would require high court action that could take three years and cost in excess of $70,000.
Of course, eleven bucks seems like a small tax, but is it fair?
This may be a post you want to come back to, say, in January or February, when the weather outside is frightful, your job is a real cramper, and things just aren't going your way. Sigh. Maybe it's time for a bold career change. Maybe it's time to leave the desk behind and head somewhere sunny to become a certified dive instructor. Oh...forget about the mortgage.
Where ya headed? If you're thinking Asia, you might want to consider Learn-In-Asia, the only PADI Career Development Center between Bangkok and Cambodia. What's more, Learn-In-Asia now works closely with Divers Jobs to provide job advice to recently-graduated divemasters and instructors. Providing a "personalized consultancy" to every recent dive-grad, Divers Jobs is sort of a career development center/job placement center for Learn-In-Asia. (That sure sounds appealing, especially since my stinking Master's program didn't even offer that!) Essentially, the service works by letting dive center managers the world over request that Divers Jobs provide them with a list of job-seekers so they can actively recruit new hires.
A group of researchers from Vietnam's National Agency of Aquatic Resources Protection recently surveyed the reefs off that country's northern Quang Ninh province, adjacent to the Gulf of Tonkin. Unfortunately, the team concluded that non-sustainable fishing practices -- like blast fishing and cyanide poisoning -- has led to widespread coral destruction. In fact, the researchers concluded that "up to 85% of the coral reef had died at Co To Island." Moreover, what fishermen hadn't blown up, they smothered (overfishing has led to the rapid development of seaweed, which covers the reef, preventing its growth), or crushed with anchors.
Local officials claim that the restoration of the reefs will require great effort, time, and money. Their first suggestion was to limit the amount of fishing allowed in the area. Happily, Vietnam has already vowed to cut its fishing fleet in half by 2010. Their next suggestion was to restock the reefs with indigenous fish. I wonder if the researchers know how to force the fish to stay on the reef.
Divers spent nearly the entire month of September installing Thailand's first underwater tsunami memorial on the sea floor in Tonsai Bay, some 2 miles off Koh Phi Phi Island. Comprising three, 5-foot-tall granite markers (representing earth, wind and water), the monument forms an equilateral triangle and features a 2-and-a-half-foot granite marker in the center. Non-divers can see the memorial's location from three yellow buoys on the water's surface.
The distance between each of the markers is 5395 centimeters, which corresponds to the number of identified victims of the tragedy. Additionally, exactly 2874 centimeters from the memorial site is a traditional Thai sala, built from wood collected from the wreckage of the tidal wave. 2874 represents the number of victims whose identity could not be determined. Local officials are hoping the memorial will become a popular attraction for divers and snorkelers.
Why do divers dive? Because it makes us smile, of course.
Seawaters captured this funny little shot of a porcupinefish grinning in Mauritius. Titled "Happy Fish," he was clearly thrilled to be having his picture taken. That said, maybe he was hoping Seawaters was going to present him with a little chapstick as a "sitting fee."
Do you have photos of happy fish? Add them to Divester's Flickr pool and share them with us!
It's not terribly difficult to find details about the weather conditions of a dive destination. A quick Google search or thumbing through Sport Diver will give up the answer. Finding the information in one place may be a different story.
From Africa to the Virgin Islands, Dive Global has an alphabetized listing of dive destinations and what to expect for water conditions based on the season. It's not as nicely designed as their Critter Calendar which presents animal encounters by calendar month (hint, hint), but it's a start.
In addition to their regular full-time jobs, Andrea and Antonella Ferrari moonlight by writing and publishing a wide-ranging assortment of books -- from a guide covering Malaysian dive resorts to Oceani Segreti, a coffee-table book awarded the World Grand Prize at the Underwater Image Festival at Antibes. The couple also serves as associate editors for FiNS dive magazine.
Recently, the Ferraris published A Diver's Guide to Reef Life, a 478-page reference guide detailing 1200 tropical species that divers might encounter from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific. In addition to more than 1300 photos, the Ferraris also provide detailed descriptions of the creatures that include distribution, size, habitat, and "life habits" -- a summary of the animal's characteristics that may include color variations or other trivia. Scattered throughout the book are "bonus" chapters that, for example, discuss specializations fish have achieved, or showcase brilliant images. Thoughtfully, the Ferraris also provide underwater photo tips, so you can come home with photos as resplendant as those in the book.
A Diver's Guide to Reef Life will be available from both SeaChallengers and Amazon soon. The book will cost around $55, but, according to the review on Wetpixel, you should consider that money well-spent.
Early this week, and without any fanfare, the Royal Thai Navy hauled the RTN Kood -- a sister ship to HMS Khram -- out to sea and sunk it off Pattaya beach. Scuttled among Thailand's Near Islands -- a 45-minute boat ride from shore -- the 203-foot Kood's hull now rests in approximately 100 feet of water. Since it's conning tower rises to a mere 36 feet, the Kood appears to be easily accessible to most divers. If you want to learn more about Pattaya's third shipwreck, check out Aquanauts, which has -- forgive me! -- a boatload of information about the ship and her sinking, including a cool video of her final topside moments.
If you're a diver who's looking to get involved in some conservation efforts on your next dive trip, consider heading to the Komodo National Park. The Park's Conservation Fund has teamed up with a marine biologist to install throughout the Park environmentally-friendly "Manta Ray mooring balls," which are drilled into sand patches or rubble areas. There are already 14 mooring balls in this Park; the newly-formed alliance wants to install up to 30 balls, which will protect the reef system from anchor damage by local fishermen, big liveaboard dive boats, and visiting yachts. 
Some jobs don't seem so bad. Imagine being a research scientist diving in the Maldives with the sole purpose of observing manta rays to study their reaction to an ever-evolving ocean. Maybe catch a glimpse or two of other big fish like whale sharks and hammerheads. Unlimited dives in 80 F water.
On 
I don't know about you, but my memory could use some help when it comes to fish identification. Black tip reef sharks and the bright orange Garibaldi are easy to remember but the variations of damselfish and triggerfish can be overwhelming.
It's 2007 and hopefully you've survived another 
Recently, South Africa's 
This may be a post you want to come back to, say, in January or February, when the weather outside is frightful, your job is a real cramper, and things just aren't going your way. Sigh. Maybe it's time for a bold career change. Maybe it's time to leave the desk behind and head somewhere sunny to become a certified dive instructor. Oh...forget about the mortgage. 
A group of researchers from Vietnam's National Agency of Aquatic Resources Protection recently surveyed the reefs off that country's northern 
Divers spent nearly the entire month of September installing Thailand's first 
It's not terribly difficult to find details about the weather conditions of a dive destination. A quick Google search or thumbing through Sport Diver will give up the answer. Finding the information in one place may be a different story.
In addition to their regular full-time jobs, 
Early this week, and without any fanfare, the 
