Bubbles September - October 2015

Atlam Celebrates its 60 th Anniversary and The Official Opening of the Club Premises

T HE A T LA M SUBA QUA C LUB E -M A G A Z I N E

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015 2015 Atlam Committee Members :Joseph Azzopardi President guzeppi56@gmail.com Anton Debattista Secretary andeb@go.net.mt Alfred Muscat PRO superfredie@yahoo.com Klaus Farrugia Treasurer klafster@gmail.com Reuben Borg Activity Officer reuben.borg@yahoo.com Alvin Pace Activity Officer tamsinjane@yahoo.com Victor Fabri Photography Off. vfabri@gmail.com

IN THIS ISSUE

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Note from the Editor | 60th Ann, Club House Opening 2 Atlam Photo Comp - DSLR/Compacts October 2015 3/8 Species Page - Cardinal Fish - Edward Vella

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60th Ann | Club House Opening Pictorial - Victor Fabri 10 Dive Kit Bag - Suunto Eon Steel Review - Tano Rolé 11/12 Dive Logs Reqqa Point - 06.09.15 - Edward Vella

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Forna Point - 13.09.15 - Tano Rolé

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Crocodile Rock - 04.10.15 - Edward Vella

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Cathedral Cave - 18.10.15 - Edward Vella

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Dives Map - Joe Formosa

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www.atlam.org

The Editorial These past two months have been quite eventful. First and foremost, there was of course the 60th Anniversary of our Atlam Sub Aqua Club, for which occasion, our present President Guzi Azzopardi unveiled a commemorative wall plaque. Following Father Silvio’s blessing, President Guzi mentioned - that while he as President was physically opening the premises, all the members were in fact enjoying the fruit of many, many hours of hard work carried out by this and the previous committees.

This struck a chord especially with those members who have been on Atlam’s books for a long time since them more than others have lived through the many Atlam moves from one location to another. Now for the first time in its history, the Club has a prime clubhouse which it can call its own - a clubhouse with a potential to incubate and support many diving ideas and activities. The Bahar ic-Caghaq clubhouse was declared officially open!

During the reception, as mementos of the occasion, glass paper weight replicas of a clubhouse’s architectural front feature were distributed to the members. It was a most memorable occasion which was greatly appreciated. The anticipation in these past two months was not all for the 60th Anniversary celebrations. The photographer members (and organisers) were kept on their toes with two and a half stages of the Underwater Photographer of the Year league taking place. The first took place on the 1st September consisting of a night dive at Wied iz-Zurrieq, the second at Cirkewwa on the 4th October - and the half stage? This last mentioned competition was to take place over two weeks - this was a novel idea put forward by Diving Officer Victor. It started off on Thursday 22nd October – with the closing date on the 5th November – and therefore was half way through at October’s end…

The water temperature is now at that time of year when it is showing the first signs – more like suggestions, because at 23 deg C, one cannot really complain – of winter which is inexorably approaching. During the last boat dive, divers were noticed putting on an extra layer, or putting on hoods after a summer of diving bare headed, but then diving in a Maltese winter is no big deal, all you need is a thicker wetsuit – ideally avoiding those 90 minute dives – and yes of course, a flask of warm tea!

Keep diving,

Edward Vella evella@onvol.net

ATLAM Underwater Photographic Competition 4th October 2015

DSLR Camera Category These and the following photos are the entries of all the competitors in the DSLR Category in sets of three . The photos have not been retouched, cropped or enhanced in any way. They are being presented as the photographers shot them and oriented to the photographers wish.

Only 1st, 2nd and 3rd places have been announced the remaining photos are displayed according to the competition registration number.

1st Place - Mario Micallef

Second Place: Joseph Azzopardi Falzon

Third Place: Victor Fabri

George Mugliett

Joseph Azzopardi

ATLAM Underwater Photographic Competition 4th October 2015

Compact Camera Category These and the following photos are the entries of all the competitors in the Compact Camera Category in sets of three . The photos have not been retouched, cropped or enhanced in any way. They are being presented as the photographers shot them and oriented to the photographers wish.

Only 1st, 2nd and 3rd places have been announced the remaining photos are displayed according to the competition registration number.

1st Place - Tano Role

Second Place: Veronica Busuttil Third Place: David Agius

Derek Desira

e h t f o s Result British Airways vs ATLAM

UnderWater PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION 31st October 2015

e u s s i t x e in n

Species Page Research and photo by Edward Vella

C a r d i n a l F i s h (Sultan iç-Cawl) - Apogon imberbis

This must be one of the most inconspicuous yet at the same time, one of the very common fishes to be found locally. I would go as far as stating that it is very seldom that a cardinal fish is not encountered during a dive. All that the diver needs to do is to have a look where there is deep shade, for example beneath piled up boulders or in cavern entrances – and there, the chances are that one will see the almost stationary dark reddish orange shapes of the cardinal (which remind of the fresh water goldfish!). Very probably it will be more than one, because this is a shoaling fish.

A sighting place which springs to mind is that small cave situated right beneath the entry point at Wied iz-Zurrieq.

There in its shade, one normally finds dozens hovering, waiting for nightfall, t o then go out to forage for small fish and crustaceans.

Judging by the numerous encounters, it would seem that this fish has a successful reproductive rate. Could it be that this success be attributed to an unusual characteristic in its reproductive process? The cardinal fish is unusual in that the male holds in its mouth the fertilised eggs until they hatch – all 20000 of them I have learnt! As it may be deduced, while the eggs are in the relative safety of the male’s mouth, no other oral activity such as eating, is possible.

The breeding season is between June and September.

Its eyes appear a bit too large in relation to its body, above and below which are two white lines which create a distinctive contrast with the body’s orange colour.

Apart from the Mediterranean, Apogon imberbis, may be found from the Atlantic coasts of Portugal right down to the upper part of the West African coast.

November - December ­­– Trigger Fish Hmar P L E A S E S E N D P H O T O S

Official Inauguration of the Club Premises & Celebration of the 60th Anniversary 10.10.2015

Tano’s dive gear reviews Now let’s face it – we ALL love dive gear and, I must admit that, I love it probably more than most other divers. New gear opens up new possibilities in diving deeper, or exploring submerged caves, and I just cannot wait to put it through its paces underwater. This is only one of the reasons why I review essential, and perhaps less essential, pieces of dive kit. The other reason is that, as an instructor, I am often asked to recommend what sort of diving equipment a novice diver should purchase. I hope that these articles will provide some useful advice to divers in their choice of new equipment and others who may consider upgrading their gear. I hasten to add that this column is not meant to act as an advertisement. Nor is it meant to be an exhaustive review. I suggest you do your homework and consult review websites. We have no sponsorship and we present the facts however pleasant, or unpleasant, they may be. In this spirit, I would like to cordially invite all manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers of diving equipment to submit any innovative products they may have for our review

SUUNTO EON STEEL 1.1 Dive Computer At long last, dive computer manufacturers seem to have cottoned on to the fact that many divers are fed up with tiny, poorly illuminated, monochrome screens on their dive computers. Moreover, the diving population is rapidly ageing and veteran divers often have problems reading small symbols on watch-sized computers – no matter how intelligent such computers can be. Many older divers have now resorted to bifocal sighted masks but these can be very annoying. In response, computer manufacturers are making use of TFT LCD technology to produce pin sharp, high contrast colour video displays on larger screens.

Of course, the Suunto Eon Steel is not specifically meant for older divers but it certainly alleviates the problem of ageing eyesight. As such, it is a departure for Suunto from the traditional matrix display – somewhat like the difference between an old dot matrix printer and a modern

colour laser printer! However, Suunto has now entered into a market segment where there is already a lot of competition from worthy adversaries. Perhaps, I daresay that Suunto are latecomers in this field and may now be at a distinct disadvantage.

I must admit that I am partial to Suunto.

My first dive computer was a Suunto Alpha Solution and, despite its venerable age, it is still working perfectly well. I now dive with a D9tx and a Helo2 and these meet practically all of my needs. The Suunto Eon Steel, however, is a far cry from the Alpha Solution and it is certainly an impressive computer. It sports nice styling although it may look somewhat bulky on the arm – especially if the diver is a smaller framed woman. Dive computer manufacturers need to bear in mind that there is limited space on a human forearm and this is often occupied by another computer and, possibly, a diving slate (this is particularly applicable to tech divers).

SUUNTO EON STEEL 1.1 Dive Computer

trimix diving conditions but, of course, it entails a higher level of risk. Like the other computers in the Suunto stable, the EON Steel seems to be limited to settings ranging from +2 to -2 so there is not much room for manoeuvre.

The EON Steel user interface is quite simple.

Three buttons are positioned on the upper face of the computer. I think that this is a good design feature since they may have a lesser chance of getting activated by being knocked about; especially while divers are about to get into the water. I find that I keep hitting the side-mounted buttons on the D9Tx as my two computers jostle for space on my arm. While we are discussing this, I would like to pass some words of experience to novice divers – keep your wrist-mounted dive computers facing towards you rather than sitting proudly facing outwards on your wrist. This allows you to read them more easily while saving their faces from scratches and inadvertent pressing of buttons.

The standard wrist strap bundled with the Eon Steel is extra wide but I always seem to have problems with such straps. The computer kept sliding off my forearm and I had to keep turning it around. Thankfully there is an optional system which employs two elasticised straps and this is also included in the package. Logic would say that this would position the unit more

securely on the forearm but I did not have the opportunity to try this.

The computer is loaded with a lithiumion Rechargeable battery which delivers more than 20 hours of use. This is very welcome news for divers who have to replace batteries quite frequently on other computers. I really like the battery charge indicator on the screen which shows you the number of working hours you have left.

This provides far more useful information; unlike a low battery indicator. The unit is easy to charge and does not have to be opened since it can be connected to a USB charger through an external port. There is no danger of flooding the unit by leaving ports open after a charge. I know of some cases where this happened to divers using dive computers from other manufacturers and it is certainly an expensive oversight!

Some dive computer manufacturers allow very invasive tweaking of the decompression algorithms to permit more aggressive diving. This is achieved by allowing changes in tissue groups. This accommodates very specific advanced

One of the features I really like about this computer is the compass which can be activated with a simple pressing of the centre button. The compass display is bright and quickly responsive allowing divers to keep track of their orientation underwater. I find that console-mounted compasses are rather cumbersome while this computer unit can be referred to more often.

Another attractive feature is the sidebar on the left of the screen which shows your rate of ascent in different colours – green to yellow to red. This is very useful because I often find the miniscule bar on the right side of my own Suunto D9Tx too small to be really effective.

The place where the Suunto Eon Steel truly shines is its computer interface.

This software (Suunto DM5) is available for download online and is a VERY useful and thoroughly user-friendly program. Of course, DM5 can link other Suunto dive computers. The Eon Steel version just provides additional facilities.

This is in marked contrast to the rubbish sold by VR Technologies for their legendary VR3. I still have a bone to pick with the now defunct company VR Technologies. I had paid £150 for a pin number and cable (not worth more than 2 Euro) which was meant to allow communication between my VR3 and my computer. After much stress and waste of time, I managed to get it to work sporadically. However, the software

was so poorly designed that it seemed to have been written by a primary school student on his off-day. In the end, failed connections between the VR3 and my computer resulted in a failure of the VR3 screen thus effectively ruining the unit.

I also know of other divers who ran into similar problems with displays on their own VR3s.

Of course, I had long discussions with other people about the Eon Steel and these often originated after they noticed me wearing the trial unit. Some of my fellow divers, who regularly carry out deep dives, tended to dismiss Suunto’s Eon Steel claiming that it is heavy, bulky, and overpriced. However they may have overlooked the fact that the Eon Steel is bundled with a dedicated transmitter and that it can support multiple transmitters.

If there is one thing I would like to improve in ALL the latest versions of high tech dive computers, it has to be GPS navigation.

I am fully aware that this would not work underwater but there have been several occasions when I would have appreciated obtaining a position fix while at the surface.

One dive computer has already achieved this and I hope that more computers would sport this feature soon.

Alternative Dive Computers • AV Underwater Technologies - AV1 • Shearwater Petrel and Predator, • Liquivision – Xeo, Kaon and Lynx • Aladdin Galileo • VR Technology - VRX, • DiveSystem RATIO IX3M Computer

Reqqa Point - Gozo 06.09.15 Article and photos by Edward Vella It was a full house Atlantis II that left the Marfa quay under what seemed to be ideal conditions, however once beyond Ir-Ramla l-Hamra beach, a low but steady swell started to make itself felt. It was far from compromising the dive site, but certainly enough of a nuisance to prevent dropping anchor on the reef – Skipper Joseph decided to drift, to then approach for the diver pick up.

We entered the water where we could see the edge of the Reqqa reef disappear into the blue depths, and then headed along its northern side for our first target – Shrimps Cave. This circular layout cave lies against the shore wall at a depth of about 35 metres – in about the middle of its ceiling, it has a short vertical chamber, forming a sort of cupola, the inside of which is renowned for the presence of narval shrimps. We entered cameras at the ready, but unfortunately, this time either the shrimps took refuge behind some cranny, or else they were not at home. Since then, it has come to my attention that in this roof cupola, there are rock formations which are reminiscent of stalagmites – in other words, something to look out for in the next visit.

It is easy to lose track of time exploring the cave, but the plan was to visit the next cave, and so we exited and kept moving more or less at the base of the wall heading towards the so called Billinghurst Cave. Actually local divers resent referring to this large - if not the largest known - underwater cave as Billinghurst! The resentment arises out of the impression given in the touristy literature that it had to be a jolly British team of divers from good old Billinghurst to gift this cave to the diving community.

The Maltese name for it is L-Ghar il-Kbir tar-Reqqa, which might be translated into the Grand Cave of Reqqa or Grand Reqqa Cave. Time for some verbal rehabilitation please!

It was not our plan to enter to the innermost chamber of the Grand Cave, but to arrive up to the beginning of the boulder slope, since we had lingered too much in Shrimp’s cave. The floor of this huge cave is made up of heavy coarse sand, which is arranged in deep parallel waves breadth wise by currents when surface conditions hammer this unprotected coast.

Soon it was time to turn back. For some in our group it was the first time in this cave – I imagined them feeling the awe at the sight of the live blue light at the immense cave mouth!

Once out, we re-traced our path along the shore wall, but this time in a slow but constant ascent. This is a North facing wall, and therefore almost permanently in the shade. For some reason, this is a favourite spot for graceful orange anthias.

And so back on the reef to pay back what remained of the light decompression time. We surfaced more or less close to where we had started the dive; in the meantime, the swell had got a bit more pronounced which made the drifting Atlantis 2 buck in between waves. In other words one had to time when to grip the ladder to avoid getting a nice bruise on the shin – now it was time for a well earned ice cold lager!

Forna Point - Gozo 13.09.15 The Northwestern coast of Gozo is one of my favourite dive locations. The dive sites include sizeable caves, cliff walls, boulder fields, swim-throughs – the lot. So I made sure to book a place on the boat as quickly as possible. The weather was also perfect; a southerly whisper of a wind which ensured calm, flat seas.

We were dropped off just outside the spectacular Ghar Forna (Forna Cave).

One glance at the opening of the cave is enough to realise why it got its name; the straight angular features give the impression that one is about to enter an oven! Of course, my speleological interests went into overdrive and we quickly entered the cave. Some of the most remarkable aspects of this cave are the potholes and phreatic tubes. Potholes are formed when rocks collect in a shallow depression and are spun by running water. This creates a grinding action and characteristic circular depressions. Moreover, the rocks are also ground down into circular pebbles. The lack of marine growth on the pebbles indicates that this process is still going on and the driving forces are marine waves.

We by-passed Ghar Gholi (High Cave), located west of Ghar Forna, since the entry to this cave is quite shallow and we were swimming at a deeper level. Once again the name of this cave is evident since the cave mouth towers some twenty metres above sea level. One fish Cervjola or Accjola must have been disturbed by someone inside the cave so it sped out of there, only to meet Adin and me just as we were making our way into the cave.

Article & photos by Tano Rolé

Despite our best efforts, we could not find any nudibranchs, squat lobsters, octopus, or any other photogenic subjects. To make up for this, I concentrated on taking some footage of the spectacular caves – some sporting spectacular archways and pot holes. One of the best aspects of these caves is that they contain very little silt so the photos and videos that we took were thankfully free of the usual backscatter.

My greatest misgiving during this trip was that I missed capturing a wonderful photo of a canoeist skimming right on top of me; past the shoreline and beautifully framed by an indentation of the cliff-face.

I was not expecting a canoe to shoot past and, in my hasty excitement, I managed to push the wrong button and switch off the camera instead of the shutter button. Oh well; these things happen – I guess – but they seem to always happen at the worst possible time.

I tried out the Suunto Eon Steel dive computer as part of my review (published in this edition of Bubbles page 11-12) and, when I placed it on my forearm, it raised quite a lot of interest from other club members. Of course, “interest” is a kind way to describe the flood of comments regarding my obsession with diving gear.

They had honestly thought that I had gone completely overboard and that I was about to start diving with three computers from now on!

We had to surface early from this dive – my 12lt 300 bar tank was only filled to 220 bars and Alex (my dive buddy) was also running short of air. We therefore decided to swim back to the boat on the surface and this turned out to be very pleasant indeed. I turned on my back and enjoyed a majestic sea-level view of the Gozitan cliffs from an oily calm sea. It was so quiet and beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed the tranquillity of the moment. Such is the stuff of great memories!

Dive Safely. Tano

Crocodile Rock - Gozo 04.10.15 A highly unusual situation with Crocodile Rock declared as the dive destination, and having a dive boat with room enough to swing a dead grouper (no cats in the sea). It was not due to weather conditions, but because a good number of divers attended the other Atlam organised activity – a photo competition at Cirkewwa. With the prospect of a financial disaster looming, there was a move to change the dive site to a closer (and cheaper) location, but the divers were adamant on Croc Rock. In the end the divers decided to fork out a donation over and above the usual to mitigate the blow – and so Crocodile Rock it was.

Dives at this site happen frequently and therefore Crocodile Rock has featured in many dive logs in your beloved Bubbles. This time as well, the dive path was no different – the passage from the breach in the reef top beneath the Crocodile Rock down onto the first ‘platform’ at about 38m, then proceeding beneath the reef wall until the turn-back at the so called ‘Roger’s Cave’, and the final phase consisting of a slow ascent back along the reef wall back to the reef breach where it all started. A nice relaxing dive – but this time there was the added bonus of some of the larger reef inhabitants making an appearance!

Crocodile Rock is alas, is one of the few dive sites where I should think that the probability of sighting a large fish is higher than average – this time the divers were regaled with the appearance of large dentex (Maltese: denci) and mottled groupers (Maltese: cawlun) flitting about on the ‘platform’ – so that started the dive on the right foot (I mean fin). The sighting that made the dive however was in a gulley formation right in front of ‘Roger’s Cave’ – a very large dusky grouper, and by very large, I would say over a metre. Old timers of this size have no predators in this part of the sea, so it swam leisurely until it hid beneath an overhang. On our way out of the cave, its head could be seen observing us from beneath the overhang. Then on our way back, out in the blue, a large lone barracuda passed us by. The tekkies came up telling of a very large unidentified ray out on the sand.

Crocodile Rock did not disappoint.

Article & photos by Edward Vella

Cathedral Cave - Gozo 18.10.15 Article by Edward Vella Our Diving Officer Reuben must have thought hard on how to recover a bit of the previous boat dive deficit, and he came up with the Cathedral Cave dive. (Goes without saying that he must have also prayed hard for ideal weather conditions.) This time the prayers were heard! Hallelujah Brother – we got a full house Atlantis 2, the sun was shining, and the dive site was a mill pond…

The so-called Cathedral Cave – again touristy speak – whose actual name in Maltese is Ghar ir-Rih, which would translate into Cave of the Wind (?) – is located on the left hand side head land (back to land) out of Ghasri Valley (Wied il-Ghasri). The name probably came about because of a small window which very conveniently allows fresh air within the cave, but which also becomes a blow hole when there is storm surge entering the cave. The entrance is underwater and unless one knows of its location, there is nothing from the sea’s surface upwards to give it away.

The Atlantis anchored close to the mouth of the fjord like Wied il-Ghasri. Once in the water, we followed the shore wall until quite a short distance away the wall gave way to section of dark gloomy water, the unmistakable sign of a cave entrance. The entrance is littered with boulders which could have only come from the cave’s roof, and the further one advances, the bigger they become, presumably because the inner ones do not get knocked about as the ones in the entrance. After a very short distance, one can make out the movement of waves or in other words, that there is a surface inside. Even though we could not

have been more than 10 minutes in the water, as soon as we got above the last 6 metres, the computers were already asking for a 3 minute safety stop – and we respected that!

After ascending slowly and breaking the surface, I believe that this is one of the most wondrous (or as the Americans would say – awesome) locations of the Maltese Archipelago. It is a huge dome shaped chamber, whose top is high enough to be lost in the gloom. What strikes most however, is colour of the light entering from the caves entrance giving

the water an electric turquoise which in turn gives off an incredible blue light.

The Cathedral Cave was the source of some controversy a couple of centuries ago. Right above the cave some salt pans were dug in the rock. To provide sea water to these pans, two well shafts were dug at the extreme edge of the cave. The idea was that in heavy seas, the surge would flood the cave, and force seawater up the shafts and into the salt pans. Unfortunately what happened was that the pressure was too high! The water spouts out of the cave were being caught by the wind and carried into the surrounding fields and covering them with salt.

The farmers were not amused, and the well shafts were blocked and may still be seen both from above and from inside the cave.

This site however is not just the cave.

Following the coastline heading East, there is a small boulder strewn cove, in which on the right hand side there is a small but suggestive cave with a sandy floor, and a small window leading to an inner cave.

Outside of this cove the coast wall drops off to 40m plus, giving scope to many dive profile permutations.

This was truly a very nice dive and an uplifting experience. May we visit again soon.

Photo by Edward Vella

Photo by Joe Formosa