DEPTH & Alert Diver Lite Dec/Jan 2022

Dec/Jan/Feb 2022

Outside the Cage

Adventure Diving

Strong Currents in Indonesia

with Great White Sharks

Blackwater Diving Photography

Baited Diving with Tiger Sharks

Marine Conservation

and Sunken Wrecks

Pygmy Sea Horses

Diving Musandam DEPTH MAGAZINE

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©Sebastian Pena Lambarri

VIDEO TO GO HERE

This could be you!

ResoRts - LiveaboaRds - expeditions 2

US/Canada: 866 690 3483 www.liquiddivingadventures.com

DEPTH MAGAZINE

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Written by Jill Holloway

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

WINTER 2021:

CHRISTMAS ISSUE This Christmas, DEPTH takes a look at the contribution made by ships and shipping to our undersea world. We read of ships sunk during warfare in Normandy on the French coasts, their contribution to technical diving, technical explorations and the superb opportunities that they offer to adventure seekers. The retired head of the French Federation Diver Training Centre in Cherbourg, Roger Grenouille, has shared an insight into the philosophy behind Technical deep diving. And Matthias Dufour has provided a map of the wrecks, who to dive with in France, opening up a whole wealth of new opportunities for divers.

Take a look at the wrecks of the Red Sea story from Jean Luc Schmitt, a French Canadian who spent 20 years diving and writing there- it’s the Red Sea as you never knew it. Sunken wrecks are also contraband fishing vessels, where in Mauritius and Australia they are confiscated and sunk to create artificial reefs, great dive sites with magnificent exploration opportunities. Greet Meulepas, our resident Marine Biologist, explains the 4

balance of nature in coral reefs and how they grow.

Some ships are sunk by accident, like the Wakashio as desperate mariners at the height of COVID try to find a wifi signal to reach loved ones at home after 8 months apart. Now, after a year Mauritius is propagating corals to repair the reef that was damaged.

The shipping companies are our partners. We all need the ocean, we all need to share its wealth and bounty, and we need to protect it together. Equitably, conservatively, and with due care. We are constantly complaining about the Chinese devastations, uncontrolled fishing and stripping of the African Coast. We read about over -fishing and shark finning in the UK, where it is now banned, thank goodness, on humanitarian grounds. We need to take the action available to us as divers.

Show and tell.

If we don’t tell the shipping companies our problems, how will they know? We see the results of overfishing immediately. We watch as populations of lionfish grow.

We watch the decimation of shark populations.

We read about the Krill fishing fleets, ever growing and read of the death of whales, found washed up ashore with empty bellies, dying of starvation.

If we don’t tell them they don’t know.

Satellite tracking controls most of the movements of ships, but often, the owners are not aware of the contents of the holds of their fishing fleet, nor of their impact on the undersea world. The canning factories don’t care, they work to rule, they fill their quotas and they go home.

Take a look at Chris Cherapamel’s story about diving in Oman, where abandoned ghost fishing nets become deadly traps for turtles mantas, and whale sharks.

Many CEOs of shipping companies are deeply conservationist. They are spending billions on finding low impact fuels. Many are divers. They need to preserve the fish as much as we want to watch them.

We can reach them by publishing our blogs, subscribing to one another’s publications, and by sharing what we discover. From an adventure perspective, this

edition takes a look at large animals, and we’ll track them as we circle the globe.

Annabel Thomas of Aquamarine Bali shares her wealth of experience of diving in strong currents with the massive pelagic mantas and Mola Mola of Nusa Pineda in Bali, Indonesia.

Our good friend and internationally acclaimed photographer Mark Gottlieb has shared some magnificent pics of his encounters with Great Whites Out of Cage, and thanks to Martin Strmiska for the story.

And Allen Walker and the Tiger Shark Dive- how to dive safely with the Apex Predator.

I tried to put a link to Missions to Seaman here, so we could contribute to the stranded unvaccinated seamen who can’t get home for Christmas, but my correspondence with them sadly goes nowhere.

Happy Christmas.

For more about Jill Holloway: Please google Jill Holloway Mauritius DEPTH MAGAZINE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

10

PG.

Farallon Islands

BAITED DIVING WITH TIGER SHARKS

16

PG.

Blackwater Diving

and Great White Sharks

PG.

20

Diving With Mantas And Mola Mola

Part Science, Part Wow!

Written by Martin Strmiska

in Strong Currents in Bali Indonesia

Written by Mike Bartick

36

Celebrating Turks & Caicos

30

PG.

44

96

PG.

91

102

Shipwrecks

Pygmy Sea Horses

Written by Matthias Dufour

Written by Mike Scotland

Along The Coasts Of Cap And Other De La Hague Toothless Critters

PG.

110

Wrecks as Reefs Written by Greet Meulepas

PG.

120

Diving Under The Influence

Written by Dr Mike Marshall

Written by Michele Westmorland

PG.

50

Diving The Wrecks Diving Musandam Adventures The Last Arabian Frontier Celebrates 38th Of The Red Sea Written by Christophe Chellapermal Anniversary Written by Jean-Luc Schmitt 6

PG.

Written by Annabel Thomas

PG.

PG.

PG.

Written by Jill Holloway

THE GLORIOUS CORAL WRECKS Of Mauritius

Written by Jill Holloway

PG.

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Close your eyes and take a long, slow breath, Feel the water caress your skin, Exhale and hear the bubbles race towards the surface far above.

The feel and sounds of the sea and air stirs your soul like nothing else.

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And relish that scuba diving makes you feel Truly free and alive.

–Dan Orr

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photo by Michael Pizzi

DEPTH MAGAZINE

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Written by Martin Strmiska

Photos by Mark Gotleib

FARALLON ISLANDS &

GREAT WHITE SHARKS A DAY IN LIFE In more recent years, the Farallon Islands have become a hotspot for Great White Shark cage diving, which also contributed to the sharks gaining a better understanding of human element. Great Whites are mighty predators, aware of their power but tempered with an enormous dose of caution.

Shortly after sunrise a small aluminum boat with a single man on board leaves Tomales Bay, a narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean in northern California. Guiding the 10

boat to the open Pacific, across the waves breaking at the shallow exit point, requires a bit of practice. Today’s weather, however, is remarkably good, and the surface is calm, which makes the maneuver easier. As the boat passes by the Point Reyes lighthouse, Ron turns the steering wheel to 170 degree south with auto-pilot accuracy. The waves gently hit the stern, and the sunrays break in the cabin through left window. He knows this feeling. It’s just him and the sea, once again. He must have crossed the 33 km distance across the Gulf of DEPTH MAGAZINE

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Farallon’s a thousand times accompanied by murmur of the engine and screaming of the sea gulls. Doubtful thoughts run across his mind - does he still enjoy these lonely moments?

URCHIN DIVER In the late 1970s, a 27-year-old Californian started a career as a commercial urchin diver. Equipped with an air compressor, peanut butter sandwich and a thermos of coffee, he would make the daily crossing by himself to Farallon’s to collect sea urchins, a delicacy craved by patrons of the upscale Japanese restaurants in nearby San Francisco. Throughout this 26-year period, the wild Pacific provided a sanctuary for Ron’s turbulent mind, while the elephant seals and the seagulls have become his friends. They were not the only friends of the animal kingdom he met though. Great White Sharks visiting the islands from September to December to feed on northern elephant seals, sparked his curiosity as they passed by him during his foraging expeditions. His encounters taught him that these ultimate killing machines were so much different in reality than the “monsters” they were portrayed as in the stupidly misleading “Jaws”.

Similar to shark behavior in the False Bay of South Africa, in order to catch their swiftly moving prey in limited visibility, sharks have to employ an aggressive hunting strategy. They hide from their prey close to the bottom, locate the animal swimming on the surface and then ambush it while accelerating to full speed. Despite having relatively good vision, the last path of the attack is driven by a combination of senses, for which vision only has an advisory role. The collision at high speed is often followed by sharks breaching the surface in majestic displays of acrobatics.

Back in the day, humans were unknown creatures to the sharks. Through occasional encounters, however, these Great White Sharks have learned that Ron is not a “typical” elephant seal to feed upon. Based on Ron’s experience over the years of collecting the sea urchins, Ron had met dozens of individual Great White Sharks, each with a different personality and slightly different hunting strategies, but he has only been investigated closely by the sharks a handful of times. Most of the 12

time the predators would observe Ron curiously from a safe distance for both species. In case of more intense interaction, there was always a wire basket that could be placed between Ron’s body and the shark’s mouth.

Eventually, Ron fell in love with these majestic predators, and he realized that although he can live without sea urchins, life without the White Sharks is hard to imagine. In 2005 he definitively leaves the urchin basket at the dock and starts filming his beloved creatures. From now on it’s the video camera to be used as his shield from the shark’s raid. Since it’s a one man show, Ron uses various methods to capture not only the animals, but also the actual interaction between him and the predators.

As Ron tells his story in front of the divers in the audience on a liveaboard, he doesn’t have the full attention of all spectators yet, but as soon as he begins

showcasing some of his favorite video sequences, everyone, including me, goes silent and gradually drop their jaws. It’s Ron who got hit directly in the head by a huge Great White in the most popular YouTube videos featuring a Great White Shark. It’s Ron whose GoPro has filmed some of the most perverse encounters with giant White Shark and a single diver in murky green water ever captured. www.youtu.be/DWSUN3LhODI SUNNY YET SCARY Around 9 o’clock the boat reaches the Southeast Farallon Island. Usually, the legendary San Francisco mist covers the Islands for good portion of the day, but this morning feels different. The air is clear, the seas are calm, and far in distance the outline of the Golden Gate Bridge is visible. Ron anchors in a partially protected bay on eastern tip and tries his luck at his usual spot, but there is nothing going on underwater. Back on boat

frustrating thoughts emerge; as, this might be his last shark watching season. He needs to move on, but before he calls it a day, he decides to check one last shark hotspot.

Ron pulls the anchor, drinks a cup of coffee, moves the boat over to Mirounga Bay and prepares for another dive. The water around the boat looks dense and green with brown sea foam sitting on the surface like whip cream on a stale cappuccino. The idea of jumping into this dark water, suspecting that big sharks are swimming underneath is creepy for most of us; however, that’s exactly what Ron is hoping for, and he gets in. He hasn’t yet made it to the bottom when he spots a big female interested in meeting Ron right away. She makes a quick circle at the edge of visibility and without further procrastination aims the bearing for Ron’s head. From his years of observing shark behavior, Ron knows DEPTH MAGAZINE

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what’s going on. He sees how fast she accelerates and how motivated she has become, and he realizes that a collision is unavoidable. He stands his ground, facing the shark and preparing himself for a strike. When her jaw opens wide, all he focuses on is keeping the camera in between himself and the shark’s teeth, but she moves too fast. Her jaw is huge, and Ron’s camera is way too small to keep the shark out of reach. As she feels an object touching her jaw, she instinctively turns the head inwards and grabs Ron’s arm together with the regulator hose, missing Ron’s head by centimeters. While being pulled by arm and reg simultaneously, Ron thinks that his forearm is gone. The hose got stuck in the corner of her mouth like an apple stem. To spit the hose out, the shark opens her jaw and twists around. Ron uses this momentum to pull his arm out of her jaw. He grabs his regulator and breathes heavily, and holding his bleeding arm over his head, he makes it back to boat.

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Luckily, close by, the research boat NorCal I is busy observing White Shark predatory behavior when a heavily bleeding Ron calls an SOS, repeating in the radio – “One got me, one got me!” NorCal I arrives 4 minutes later. The researchers help Ron stem the bleeding and organize emergency transportation followed by proper medical treatment. Although his main camera was commandeered by the shark as the price of the encounter, his GoPro, clamped on his regulator hose captured the entire event, including the aftermath.

LOVE IN HIS HEART Ron’s presentation left many with jaws dropped and obvious questions hanging in the air. How does such an adventurous job come together with family life? How could one feel comfortable knowing that he could accidentally become prey any time? Does he still love these sharks? Didn’t he think of death every day?

Well, the answer on majority of these questions is simple - it just happened to be that way. It was Ron, who was able to live his life peacefully next to the most feared predators, and he enjoyed every encounter. This same man survived a number of shark raids, including the one in 2018, which could have easily ended fatally. Despite having experienced many situations that would scare a normal human for good, Ron has never felt terrified. He felt like a man living his life and being part of nature. Although today he’s got a big scar and limited mobility on his arm, a deep love for sharks is still present in his heart.

MARK GOTTLIEB - ENTREPRENEUR Mark Gottlieb has been an entrepreneur most of his life. His first major company was DesignTech International which produced over $125 million in consumer electronic products. Mostly automotive

and telephone accessories. His last company was LogicMark, LLC which produced a line of Personal Emergency Response System for the home healthcare market. This company received the honor of making the INC 500/5000 awards the last two years for its record growth before he sold the company in 2011.

Mark has earned two masters degrees from Stanford University. One in Engineering Management (IE) and the other in Product Design (ME). After graduate school, Mark worked as a consultant for SRI International and taught as an Associate professor at George Washington University. He has been awarded 29 US patents. Mark is active in the angel investing area supporting and mentoring several start-ups. He has several other Board positions and is also active in the community. Mark lives in Fairfax Station, Virginia with his wife Sharon. They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.

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Written by Mike Bartick

Blackwater Diving

PART SCIENCE, PART WOW! A new way to look at our Ocean Its late in the evening, the sun has set, and all of the divers have gathered for tonight’s dive. Tonight, isn’t going to be an ordinary night dive though, and we won’t be descending to the sand, in fact the sand is the last thing that we would want to see on this evenings dive as the sand will be more than 500 feet below us. Tonight, we drift in the open ocean with nothing more than a few lights to guide our way. It’s there in the open ocean where we will be able to witness the greatest animal migration on our planet, “The Diel Migration”. Tonight, we Blackwater dive!

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Blackwater diving offers a chance for divers to get a glimpse at the inner workings of the intricate web of life that our oceans are. The many layers of organisms in the form of zooplankton and phytoplankton that migrate towards the surface each night to feed. The “diel migration” occurs worldwide and in every ocean.

This mass of drifting gelatinous, pulsing, buzzing stew of subjects is made up of primarily small jellyfish, salps, egg masses, crustaceans, gastropods in the form of snail veliger, heterpods, pteropods, opisthobranchs and more.

There are also ornate and sometimes colorful larval fish

and other pelagic animals too such as argonauts. But the real thrill for avid blackwater enthusiasts comes with the chance of seeing deep sea subjects. Deep sea squid, fish and other deep water inhabitants that have scientists baffled and now interested in what the blackwater diving community are encountering during their dives.

Prior to this style of diving gaining in popularity, the chances of seeing these types of deep see subjects were generally in a lab or collected during open ocean trawls and scientific expeditions. What BW divers are able to add to this big puzzle, is documentation of deep sea

subjects in shallow water and in their natural state.

Some divers also selectively collect specific specimens for science and have made significant contributions in the area of describing new animal life on our planet too.

Once our offshore location has been reached, we assemble our 80 foot downline and lighted buoy. Our downline has close to 100,000 lumens of light dispersed at several depths which is used to light our way and to assist the divers to stay in the same general area. The lights also attract plankton but isn’t really the main reason for using the light system. For the best experience, DEPTH MAGAZINE

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Most BW dive operators now choose not to tether divers to the boat, allowing them to free drift unencumbered by the topside conditions and a chance to relax. The exhilaration or preparation and finally jumping into the open ocean, exacerbated by doing it at night can get the heart pumping, so relaxing and enjoying the ride is the main idea.

The action for subjects can happen at all depths, so divers are reminded that they don’t need to go deep during BW dives. Interesting subjects can be found at any depth including the surface. We’ve also noted that some of the best times of the month to do the dives are over the cusp of the new moon, but nature always has the final word in this regard.

Blackwater diving for me is the ultimate for photo ops. A 360º dynamic environment that is unlike anything you might encounter otherwise. It’s part science, part adventure and there is just no way of telling beforehand what you might encounter.

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Please visit the Blackwater Photo Group on Facebook for more information and images. What you see will open your mind to a new world that has existed under the nose of mankind for billions of years.

1. Stacked Nautilus Anilao, Philippines - Female Argonaut chains will stack together forming chains during mating season. It is not uncommon to see them holding onto a jellyfish or other flotsam.

2. Snakethooth swallower-Florida Gulfstream- A deep sea fish capable of swallowing prey much larger than themselves, regarded as the king of competitive eating for deep see fish.

3. Ribbonfish, Anilao Philippines- Believed to be in the oar fish family. These are ornate and can reach sizes of enormous proportions.

4. Champsodon sp. Anilao, Philippines- Crocodile toothfish is a deep sea fish that we have seen in our bay photographed at 80 feet while drifting over 600 feet of water.

5. Cotton mouth jack and purple jellyfish- Anilao, Philippines- Animal behaviors such as symbiotic partnerism that exists in in the open ocean can often times be very baffling and mis leading.

6. Southern California-Medusa fish riding in the peoples or a colorful 20 foot siphonophore.

7. Settling Wunderpuss, Anilao, Philippines. I first photographed this subject in 2012. At that point they had never been documented but since then have become an iconic subject for blackwater diving in Anilao, Philippines.

Mike Bartick — Mike was raised in sunny Southern California just a short distance from the shores of the Pacific Ocean. An avid diver and marine wildlife enthusiast with more than 5000 dives under his weight belt, Mike turned to underwater photography to capture and share some of his diving experiences with others. Mike is a highly published, award winning photographer, writer, international speaker

and Photo pro at Crystal Blue Resort, Anilao, Philippines and who is passionate about telling the story of marine life through photos and video. His love for critters has lead him across the globe, landing him in Anilao more than a decade ago. He has pioneered blackwater diving in Anilao and other locations globally and is a dedicated dive professional that guides and consults on wildlife projects, scuba gear, camera gear and lighting equipment. At the end of the day, Mike considers himself just a guy with a camera that is lucky enough to do what he loves.

“Do it for the love, Not the likes.” — Mike Bartick Photo Pro, Crystal Blue Resort Sea and Sea Global Ambassador Kraken Sports Pro team and product development Ultralight Control Systems Pro staff Winner 2018 World Shootout Highly acclaimed Smith Rice Museum, world wildlife competition www.Saltwaterphoto.com | www.Divecbr.com DEPTH MAGAZINE

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Written by Annabel Thomas

DIVING WITH MANTAS AND MOLA MOLA

IN STRONG CURRENTS IN BALI INDONESIA The tropical waters that surround the Indonesian island of Bali are home to some of the world’s most impressive marine species. If you want to dive with the largest species of ray in the world and see the heaviest known bony fish in the ocean, Bali should be on your bucket list.

Nusa Penida’s Manta Rays Just off the east coast of Bali is the island of Nusa Penida which is home to not one but two manta ray dive sites. The rugged south coast of Nusa Penida offers a manta ray cleaning station at Manta Point and a feeding and nursery area at Manta Bay. These two remote dive sites attract year-round reef mantas as well as visiting oceanic manta rays.

Diving with these majestic sea creatures is an incredible experience. Once you’ve descended into the 20

blue at Manta Point, it’s a short swim to a huge coral encrusted boulder which is the manta rays’ cleaning station. It’s a mesmerizing sight to watch these huge rays circle and literally form a queue to glide over the boulder and hover above it while the small cleaner fish go to work on their massive bodies, fins, gills and around their eyes. Seasonally, manta ray mating trains can be seen here, where several males can be seen chasing a single female and mimicking her every turn, swoop, and dive, until one male will latch onto one of her pectoral fins for mating.

Manta Bay is a stretch of coastline encompassing three large bays. The bays naturally trap planktonrich water within them and attract predominantly smaller (less mature) manta rays which revel in this huge feeding ground. When the mantas swim

through a particularly dense area of plankton, they can often be seen somersaulting to remain in the same area – it’s quite a sight!

Although both dive sites are relatively shallow, the position of the sites in front of steep cliffs makes them subject to underwater surge. Surge is caused when the waves from the open ocean roll in, hit the cliffs, and roll back out. It’s important to dive these sites with a reputable operator who has experience in navigating these sites and reading the sea conditions.

Seasonal Mola Sightings It’s not only manta rays that draw divers to Nusa Penida. From as early as June through to November, seasonal mola start to come up to shallower depths with the cool upwellings from the Bali Trough.

While many people refer to these strange looking fish as Mola mola, the species most spotted around Bali is the Mola alexandrini. Mola, also known as sunfish, have two long dorsal fins which means that they can measure 3.5m in height but, although they have rounded bodies, they are very narrow when seen from front or back. This strange fish appears to have a head attached directly to its tail, which perhaps explains the German name for them, ‘Schwimmender Kopf’ or floating head!

Mola are a deep dwelling fish, preferring cooler water temperatures. The cool upwellings during these months allow them to drift up for a much-needed annual cleaning on the reefs. Mola carry a heavy parasitic load (around 40 different types) which they rely on the reef fish to clean from their huge bodies.

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At Wakatobi, you don’t compromise on comfort to get away from it all. Our private guest flight brings you directly to this remote island, where all the indulgences of a world-class resort and luxury liveaboard await. Our dive team and private guides ensure your in-water experiences are perfectly matched to your abilities and interests. Your underwater encounters will create vivid and rewarding memories. While at the resort, or on board the dive yacht Pelagian, you need only ask and we will gladly provide any service or facility within our power.

This unmatched combination of worldrenowned reefs and first-class luxuries put Wakatobi in a category all its own.

Different parasites are preferred by different species of reef fish with the main cleaner fish for mola being schooling bannerfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, and tiny cleaner wrasse. It’s not unusual to see a mola drifting while being cleaned by enough reef fish to obscure your view!

Crystal Bay, located on the south of Nusa Penida, is a well-known dive site for mola sightings but this small site can become busy in Bali’s high season. We have often had success spotting mola along the north coast of Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan. Encounters with mola on the north of the island are a more personal experience with fewer divers in the water and less chance of the mola becoming spooked. The cleaning process is essential for the well-being of these mighty fish and divers should passively observe them, allowing them to continue cleaning uninterrupted.

Join a Day Trip during the mola season and you might be one of the lucky divers who see both manta rays and mola on the same day!

Nusa Penida isn’t the only location in Bali where sightings of mola are reported during the season. The sites of Mimpang and Tepokeng just a short boat ride from Padang Bai and these two rock formations in the Amuk Bay area offer phenomenal mola sightings later in the season. Tepekong offers a steep wall and a canyon whereas Mimpang is a collection of underwater ridges and rocks.

Both sites can be subject to unpredictable currents and are best suited to experienced divers. However, the rewards of diving here not only include mola but sharks and schooling fish which thrive in the currents.

DIVING IN CURRENTS Diving in Bali, particularly around Nusa Penida, is known for currents and - particularly along the north coast of Nusa Penida - this leads to some impressive drift dives.

In the Pacific Ocean northeast of the Indonesian archipelago, as water is pushed up against Asia, the sea level is twenty centimetres above average. This massive disparity is caused by the trade winds and

associated oceanic currents. These act in opposite directions in the northern and southern hemispheres.

But the overall result is the largest movement of water on the planet which flows through the Indonesian archipelago – known as the Indonesian Throughflow.

The phenomena of the Throughflow combined with this vast body of water being forced through the narrow channel between mainland Bali and the island of Nusa Penida creates the sweeping drift dives along the north coast.

Penida’s drifts are tidal-driven and diving around slack high (or slack low) tide minimizes the drifts compared to when there is a steep tidal exchange around the full moon.

By far the best way to see these stunning sites is drift diving with an experienced operator. Drift diving allows you to explore a much larger area, which would otherwise be inaccessible if you were trying to return to your entry point. Drift diving at Nusa Penida is always from a boat which follows divers as they drift

along the reef and picks them up at the end. There are some serious safety considerations to consider when diving in these currents: 1. Boat diving with an experienced boat crew is essential – especially as currents can change direction during a dive. Boat crew should monitor the current and track divers’ bubbles on the surface.

2. Dive boats must have communications devices (either marine radios or cell phones), emergency action plans, and experience of diving in the area.

3. Divers should carry a DSMB (Delayed Surface Market Buoy) and be proficient in its use. A DSMB is a long, brightly coloured tube (often referred to as a safety sausage) that can be inflated underwater using an alternate air source and sent to the surface ahead of the diver ascending. DSMBs should have a minimum of a 7-metre cord, allowing them to be deployed from the safety stop. This allows the divers’ boat crew to locate them and warns other passing boats of the presence of divers in the shallows.

SCHNITMAN Sunfish Southern (Mola alexandrini) with Aan

POSTLETHWAITE Fishes Cleaning Station

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POSTLETHWAITE Anemonefish Pink (Amphiprion perideraion) three with anemone

KRAUS Manta Reef (Manta alf redi) under-belly shot

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POSTLETHWAITE Sweeper Silver (Pempheris schwenkii) schools with anthias

4. Maintain excellent buddy contact. It goes without saying that one should never dive alone, but when diving in currents buddy contact is even more important to avoid separation.

5. Divers need to have good buoyancy control. One of the joys of drift diving is being able to effortlessly go with the flow and allowing the current to move you along the reef. This requires little effort and it’s a lot of fun. However, for divers who have not yet mastered buoyancy control, drift dives can be challenging and potentially stressful. For divers who are new to drift diving, it’s highly recommended to take an advanced level dive course, such as the PADI Advanced Course which includes both drift diving and buoyancy components.

It’s well worth making drift dives when visiting Bali for multiple reasons. The north coast of Nusa Penida is home to some of Bali’s healthiest and most vibrant reefs – largely due to the currents. Cooler water flowing upwards from the deep not only brings seasonal mola but also prevents coral bleaching. The currents bring a fresh supply of plankton rich water to the reefs which is the lifeblood of marine ecosystems. The thriving reef life in turn attracts pelagics and predators such as reef sharks, giant trevally and barracuda which can be spotted out in the blue.

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FERRARI Sunfish Southern (Mola alexandrini)

DIVING MAINLAND BALI It’s not only around Nusa Penida that has incredible diving, but there are also a multitude of diving locations around the mainland of Bali too.

Tulamben an excellent option for those who prefer calm conditions, muck diving, critters, and wreck diving. The 120 metres WWII USAT Liberty shipwreck is Bali’s most famous dive sites and is suitable for all experience levels. The wreck lies just off the beach and comes into view at 5 metres; extending down to almost 30 metres, a host of marine species inhabit the structure at all depths. Night diving here should not be missed as a plethora of nocturnal critters come out after the sun has set. A resident school of bump head parrotfish are also known to sleep in the wreck’s superstructure!

Other standout regions in Bali are Candidasa and Padang Bai’s Amuk Bay area and its rocky islets of Mimpang, Tepekong, Biaha and Selang, Amed on Bali’s east coast, and in the north and northwest of Bali, Pemuteran, Menjangan, Secret Bay and Puri Jati.

By far the best way to get the most out of a diving trip to Bali is to book a Safari that takes you around Bali’s best dive sites or can be tailored to include the areas you most want to dive.

SUTTON Sunfish Southern (Mola alexandrini) cleaning

WHEN TO VISIT BALI One of the major plus points to diving in Bali is that diving is all year round, albeit with some seasonal differences.

For those who prefer warmer water, from November to May are the best months with sea temperatures averaging 28-29 degree Celsius. From June through to November temperatures are cooler, especially around Nusa Penida, Lembongan, Tepekong and Mimpang where cool thermoclines (can be below 20 degrees Celsius) are not unusual. These uprising thermoclines bring incredible visibility as well as the opportunity to see mola.

The rainy season in Bali runs from November through to March and although this is when the water is warmest, it can result in wash out and reduced visibility as some of Bali’s east coast muck diving sites.

If you are planning to enjoy some of the other activities that are on offer in Bali, you may also need to consider the season in which you visit. Trekking, particularly volcano trekking is best during the dry season when the tracks are easier (firmer) underfoot.

For activities such as white water rafting and canyoning however, the wet season offers the best conditions.

Bali’s famous surf breaks are also available yearround with November to March offering the best conditions on the east coast breaks like Keramas and

Sanur, and April through to October being best for the west coast breaks including Kuta and Canggu.

If you are keen to experience the Balinese culture and ceremonies, then Nyepi is the Balinese New Year where the entire island shuts down for the day and visitors and locals alike remain indoors. It’s not such a hardship though as the night before is one of celebration and street parades. Other notable dates are Kuningan and Galungan which occur every 210 days and take place 10 days apart. Balinese holidays are based around the lunar calendar and so dates vary from year to year.

About the Writer: Annabel Thomas is a PADI OWSI, originally from the UK but has lived on Bali for 23 years. Annabel founded Aquamarine in 1999 and it is the only British owner-operated dive centre in Bali. Annabel’s concept was to plan dive trips as she would want arrangements made for her if she were a diver visiting Bali, and this philosophy of individual attention continues today.

When she is not exploring Bali’s dive sites, Annabel can be found exploring Bali’s beaches with her rescue dogs.

Copyright words and pictures AquaMarine Diving - Bali Photographers: Thanks to Antonelli, Kraus, Postlethwaite, Sutton, Schnitman, van Weiren DEPTH MAGAZINE

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DIVING THE WRECKS OF THE RED SEA Written by Jean-Luc Schmitt

“How is it diving in the Red Sea?” Many times, I was asked this question and much as I would love to answer it in a short sentence it is just not possible, so I will try to help you discover the Red Sea through my eyes, my camera, and my fin kicks.

My name Is Jean-Luc Schmitt, and I am a Padi Course Director, originally from Quebec in Canada. I love teaching diving and opening the eyes of the guests that are joining me in this adventure. I spent over 14 years in the Red Sea, where I got lucky and was richly rewarded by being able to gather a multitude of experiences during this time.

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Egypt is a year- round tourist destination but the best time to dive is from April to December where the water temperature will be ranging from 24 to 29 degrees. The three main diving destinations in Egypt are Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam, all normally well-served daily with many airlines coming from Europe. There are plenty of hotels in these cities making it very easy to get a great bargain on a booking channel. Traveling to Egypt for diving was made easy by a few of the major Airlines allowing a free sports bag for your diving equipment. You need shorts, sunglasses, and of course bathing suits. Airport transfers DEPTH MAGAZINE

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are usually taken care off by the hotels where you will be staying. Don’t be fooled by the “airport taxi mafia” they are always 3- 5 times too expensive.

Daily diving packages with 2 dives food and drinks can range from 35 Euros to 70 euros depending on the company you will use. You will have to make your own dive shop shopping preferably, I would suggest you to take a look at the following European lead operators: Blue waters diving www.blue-water-dive.com James and Mac www.james-mac.com Red Sea Divers www.redsea-divers.com Usually the divers coming to Egypt as returning guests and will find online travel packages with hotels ranging from 500 to 800 euros per person so at those rates they tend to come twice a year and would only stay for a 7 days trip allowing them 5 days of diving.

Diving operators use boats ranging from 18 to 30 meters long with full amenities on them going from showers, restrooms, salon for the restaurant and 32

multiple decks to accommodate the guests.

Most of the European Diving center offer a “sit and have a drink after dive” corner where usually divers decompress, sharing thoughts, pictures, and stories about the day. The atmosphere is always very friendly and open.

Many decompression chambers are available all along the Red Sea, a very effective SAR team is available and usually roaming the dive sites in case help is needed.

To start this journey, I will begin with a sample of what it is like to dive the Red Sea from the mythical place of Hurghada, which was a very small fishing village in the early 80s and was at that time known to only a few divers that would travel the sandy roads of the Egyptian desert to be able to get a taste of it. Today Hurghada is one of the primary destinations of the Red Sea with about 80 Diving Centers and more then 40 dive sites reachable just from shore launches there.

Typical dives are boat dives, and you will find over 200 boats going out every day in the summer for diving

activities, the boats are usually 18 to 28 meters long with multiple decks, dive deck sun deck able to host up to 36 divers with all the amenities you would need, shower salon toilets kitchen etc. 60 to 80- tanks can easily be carried on them.

A typical day of diving is 2 to 3 dives starting at 8-9 am and a return at about 4 pm with a lunch break in the middle. The dive deck usually offers space where you will be able to setup your equipment and a place under the bench where your dive box will be located just under your tank with your equipment in it.

Safety and dive briefings are conducted on the way to the dive site by the team of divemasters and instructors from the dive operation. Open water sessions and courses are very often conducted from these boats. By the time the dive site is reached teams of 4-6 divers per guide have been created and briefed on how the dive with happen with all the safety rules that each diver must follow regarding buddy system. Depth air consumption etc.

I’m starting our journey in Hurgada and in this issue we are focussing on the best wrecks to be found there, from the minesweeper El Mina lying at about 24 -28 meters depth which is about 70 meters long offering some penetration and it’s adjacent Mohamed Asabella fishing boat. The El Mina, a naval boat, was sunk in the late 1960s by an Israeli military plane during the 6 Day War, and lots of hard coral took over the wreck with thousands of glass fish. The visibility is not always the best on this site but remains at about 10 meters.

One of the least know wrecks but for me one of the most interesting for its marine life is the Balena, a old safari boat, deliberately sunk by the angry wife of the owner, that can be seen in the vicinity of the Sports Marina harbor. This wreck is lying in a maximum of 9 meters and some of its upper parts are breaching the surface. You will discover the most beautiful marine life around it, from schools of baby barracuda hiding inside the wreck to schools of Platax “batfish” roaming the side DEPTH MAGAZINE

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of the wreck to some rare black sea horses that can only be found by the most experienced of us. The bed of the wreck is covered with blue spotted stingrays and when you are lucky you can even encounter a turtle feeding on the soft coral that took over this now newly claimed artificial reef.

Hebat Hallah: In the early 2000 the military and the Sea Conservation organisation HEPCA established a project to add a new artificial reef by sinking a 60-meter boat near to the coast of Hurghada. Unfortunately, the boat sank on a sandy bottom at around 44 meters not allowing as many divers as we could have expected on this wreck, but the technical divers quickly took ownership of this dive site and they conduct many training sessions on it Abu Nuhas: On the north of the city at about 2 hours navigations you will find a legendary reef called Abu Nuhas where wreck afficionados will be able to enjoy as many as 4 different wrecks in the same spot, all of them are ranging from 12-30 meters depth all with as many stories as you can imagine about their cargos and goods.

This journey is an absolute must. After an early departure at about 6 am you will arrive at the marina, and you will be able to enjoy the sun rising over the Red Sea as the boat is departing. For this sight alone you will want to enroll on this trip. On the 2 hour trip to Shedwan Island we often see dolphins. As you arrive the team will start the briefing and make you are aware of the safety

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rules and protocols regarding wreck diving.

Let me present to you The Four Ladies.

The Carnatic (1869) The original cargo of the Carnatic was what every wreck explorer wishes to discover: a full load of gold that was at today’s value about one million British pounds.

The Carnatic was a steam and sailboat made of wood, but you still will be able to see the bow and the stern and some of the rest of the structure. A few wine racks with still some of the bottles completely covered with coral can be discovered. This wreck is the perfect place for schools of fusiliers and small fishes to hide. If you are lucky, you will be greeted by a school of batfish or crocodile fish sleeping around the wreck. This is a very easy dive and offers countless hours of photo sessions due to the shallower depth and the sun beams that are reaching it.

Ghiannis D. (1983) One of my favorite wrecks on this reef, this wreck is over 100 meters long with the hull broken in this middle part splitting the wreck in two. Originally the shipment of the cargo was wood and obviously none of it is left.

The bridge with the engine room, captain galley and accommodation give a very easy dive with many entries exit points allowing you some penetrations but keep in mind that the wreck is lying on its side and might give divers a feeling of disorientation.

The engine room, which is accessible from the top of the wreck is the playground of many schools of Glassfish swarming around the huge 6-cylinder diesel engine.

Always remember to have a torch with you to reveal the beauty of this wreck.

At the bow you will discover a huge mast on its side covered with soft corals and a few batfish roaming around it.

Chrisoula K (1981): The “tiles wreck” is a freighter lying on a slope from 8 meters depth to a maximum of 30 meters at the propellers. The engine room and workshop will offer some of the most memorable memories from this dive with the standing drill and the workbench.

The galley on the upper part of the wreck will astonish you with the still open oven doors. You can easily imagine yourself be part of the last moment of this boat journey.

The two loading bays had the entire cargo filled with tiles coming from Italy that should have been delivered to Jeddah. Unfortunately for the operator and luckily for us it has become over the past 40 years the home of a large coral formation covering the entire ship, allowing all kinds of corals to take over.

Kimon M. (1978) The last of the 4 wrecks “the lentils wreck” has

its bow broken and still visible on top of the Reef of Abu Nuhas giving you an easy reference point where to find the wreck and start your submersion. The ship is resting on its starboard side and the freight was composed of bags of lentils that have obviously with time disappeared. One of the main attractions on this dive is the bathtub in the Captains cabin. Due to the advanced deterioration of the wreck, I would suggest not to do any penetration on this wreck.

From the four wrecks it is the one that is the most exposed to the current which has accelerated it’s deterioration.

Conservation is by HEPCA, an association that has been present in the Red Sea for almost 30 years having many activities on land and in the sea and is specially know for taking care of all the mooring lines in the Red-Sea with a fleet of many boats and zodiacs atrolling every day to help and prevent boats from illegal mooring on the reefs. I invite you to read about them on their website www.hepca.org I only hope that this sample of diving the wreck of the Red Sea allows you to see the underwater world through my eyes like I experienced it. There are countless of wrecks and places that I have been in the Red Sea, and I hope to be able to meet you again in further articles.

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CELEBRATING YOUNG & OLD IN

TURKS & CAICOS Written by Michele Westmorland

How many times have you heard or seen the Pirates of the Caribbean stories and films? It was one of the questions I asked myself when I arrived in the Turks and Caicos Islands to spend two weeks onboard the liveaboard dive yacht, T & C II. It was the first dive trip I’d taken in 18 months, and I quickly learned that this small island nation has plenty of pirate tales to tell. We had our pirates, privateers and buccaneers onboard, too, but did you know there is a difference between them? Our enlightened Captain Jonathan is not as insidious as a pirate, but he has a big smile and lots of jokes ending with “Arrrr.”

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Long before the Europeans came to occupy this territory, it was inhabited by the Taino and Lucayan people, who were cultivators of the land - and the sea. Generations shared a love of shellfish, particularly conch, and this was one of the only places in the world that they can be commercially farmed. Who doesn’t like to watch conch crawl along the sandy bottom with their strange eyes peering out of the flamingo pink shell? But check out some of the other bottom dwellers. Stingrays, lizardfish and peacock flounder, which has the most unusual face. We began our journey in West Caicos,

one of 40 different islands and cays, only 8 of which are inhabited by humans. We made a quick crossing to French Cay while winds were down. This tiny spot on a map has so much to see - underwater.

A cove shaped like the letter “G” was a great way to start the day, but it was Rock and Roll that was a hit with all the divers. The third was a night dive and a reminder just how different the activity can be. Sharks, both reef and nurse, coming in and out, hunters of the night. Caribbean Spiny Lobster, some of the biggest I’ve ever seen, were peeking out of their dens with their

antennae keeping me at a distance. Graysby, although quite colorful than their name suggests, was waiting for some cleaning by shrimp. My personal favorite was a cowfish. She was beautiful, and although I only got a few shots, I was stunned by the colors and patterns.

A reminder of the days of pirates and galleons is a site I could dive multiple times, and I did.

The Spanish Anchor is a reminder of the 14th century invasion of colonialists - and pirates. It is firmly secured into the reef, and like a treasure from the hold of this ship, is covered in brightly colored corals and sponges.

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Dropping to 60 feet and entering a swim-through, you can easily miss it if you don’t have your eagle-eyed guide point it out! While curious sharks cruise above, you can also find fascinating small creatures from nudibranch and colorful small fish to an occasional frogfish. It’s also a location you can just turn around and have a completely different experience.

There was also a site that more modern “pirates” utilized. Located on West Caicos is Boat Cove, a very off-the-grid site where runners of illicit material anchored and sometimes dumped material. It was a bit eerie to discover a metal grid container with, of all things, a Christmas tree worm as decor.

One of the greatest things about this experience was that it was Family Week onboard the Turks & Caicos Aggressor II and I could spend time with the younger generation of divers and their parents. Although Family Week is only held three times a year, that does not mean you can’t do an Aggressor trip with your kids at other times. The specialists at Aggressor Liveaboards are extremely helpful and can identify your needs for specific certification levels, travel times and the most beneficial location for all of the family members to enjoy.

All of the little buccaneers saw sea life that I missed!

While several watched an octopus crossing the reef top at Amphitheater, I only saw the octo’s eye peering out of

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his den. So much was happening with sharks, giant reef crabs, and lobster scurrying over and under. This was the 4th of July, so there was no better way to celebrate our fireworks with so many species on parade, then get back on board to be greeted with a nice warm towel and some hot chocolate.

West Caicos provided some great sites for all ages, especially the Gully, with barracuda, sharks, turtles, stingrays, groupers, cowfish and more. But in my opinion, the best of the best is The Dome, which is shallow and accessible for young and old. Left over from a very silly reality show in the early 1990s, it’s also known as Thunderdome and was the prop for the French game show “LeTresor de Pago Pago.” This was not successful and truly full of danger but today it is a magic land of marine life in a unique artificial reef. Every member of our diverse age group was mesmerized by the occupants of The Dome. Filled with schooling species down to the tiniest blennies, the structure was riveting. The newest divers (as young as age 9) got to experience spectacular fish, octopus, grouper and eels all at a safe depth, so they could also pay attention to their instructor, gauges and time limits. None of us wanted to surface, because doing three dives at The Dome was not at all boring.

And how did we end our days? By eating more, of course!

In fact, food on the liveaboard was always a treat.

Plenty of yummy kid and adult meals and snacks that were prepared during both weeks were PERFECT! The first week was all about beautiful presentation with fish and meat that were so tender, there was no need to use a knife. Our Chef blended the taste of the divine and created one of the best creme brulees ever. The second week Cyrill moved from galley to dive deck, and his guiding skills were excellent. Chef Cece took over for the kids, and what can I say? There were a lot of smiling faces with peanut butter or key lime pie, cookies that melted in your mouth as an after-dive treat and main dishes that everyone enjoyed.

One morning we changed the itinerary up a bit and went to dry land. West Caicos has a rich history and is known for its salt mining. There is a lagoon in the center of the island, and if your timing is right, it’s possible to see flamingos. Old machine relics, a nice walk watching for birdlife, but personally, the most extraordinary thing was to see a shoreline that was like a petrified forest of coral. The patterns and detail were stunning, and when you take one step forward, it’s another exquisite design. Let’s all hope that this is not the only way we can remember the rich sea life.

As the week progressed, it was not hard to be more and more engaged with the kids and what they

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QUOTES FROM KIDS Roxie, 9: “I learned how to use a regulator and buoyancy got better. Got my first scuba dive! I was free and see all the cool fish. Being on a liveaboard, dive and the food! My favorite creature is the stingray on my my 2nd dive burrowing and eating. Loved The Dome with all the schools of yellow-striped fish.”

Zak, 9: “I got certified for my first dive. My favorite being on the yacht was diving and the food. My favorite creature was a turtle”.

George, 7: “My first favorite things are the cookies.

My second favorite thing is - the cookies.”

were learning, seeing and accomplishing. It became obvious to me that these activities don’t have to happen during Family Week. I watched in awe how many families can learn on many of the yachts, especially in the Caribbean, where the sea conditions are more amenable to youth activities. Sharing the sport of diving is more than just an adventure. It’s learning new skills. It’s learning more about the marine environment. Most importantly, parents can find their own moments while still building family bonds. I found such joy and moments that inspired ME! It was from our youngest generation of divers.

I want to spend more time with them. They are the teachers of appreciation in the underwater world.

Getting to Know the Next Generation: Izzy - The Artist It was so energizing just to watch the progress of one family in particular, the Cooks, who live in Orange County, California. The oldest daughter, Isabelle (Izzy), age 13, is a very accomplished diver. Her little sister, Roxy, age 9, was working on her first dive certification and learning the basic skills from her instructor, Captain Jay Roberts.

Izzy is a talented young woman who is completely immersed in becoming a marine biologist.

Izzy’s first internship was at an octopus farm in Kona, Hawaii, where she got to experience octopus’s individual personalities, curiosity, intellect as well as 40

their full life cycle. “I had the opportunity to teach adults and children about the day octopus and answer their questions on the 3-4 tours each day. It was a great experience because I got to help spread awareness about protecting the animals from being overfished and show people that you are never too young to care about the ocean!”

In addition to learning about octopus, Izzy participated in multiple marine-based camps, such as the Pacific Marine Mammal Center’s camp. She got to do mock seal rescues and learn the importance about all of our local marine mammals, and she got to create/design and present an idea to help prevent by-catch.

For someone so young, Izzy had another memorable ocean adventure when she swam with orcas in Norway, at age 11! “This really made me appreciate the beauty of this species, and later in sixth grade I presented the issue of the southern resident orcas to my class and together we all wrote letters to the governor of Washington to take down dams for the resident orcas.”

“Newest skill was being certified a Nitrox diver and reading the settings on my dive computer,” Izzy said.

“Favorite thing about being on a liveaboard is diving 5 times a day! Favorite creature was the baby nurse shark, because he was sooo cute. Loved The Dome and felt like I was in a movie.”

In addition to this passion is her art. As I got to know Izzy better, she shared with me some of her “doodles” in her journal. These are not doodles! They are a testament to her passion to create art that celebrates marine life. Izzy’s favorite medium is watercolor but she has discovered adding layers, such as copper strips, newspaper clippings and rubber cement, to give the painting texture. Izzy expressed that her Inspiration has always been real-life experiences with the ocean and its creatures, and her goal is to show people that the ocean and its inhabitants are not monsters or scary. Izzy hopes to help people fall in love with the ocean and its beauty, so they too will want to protect it.

Of course, her self-portrait is special. How could someone so young tell the story of being exhausted after a dive or research trip and express that no matter how far away from the ocean she is, her dreams will always be of the sea?

“My favorite medium has always been watercolor, but recently I found that adding other mediums on top of the watercolor base makes for a better expression of the underwater world.”

1. The octopus art piece has copper strips, colored pencil, watercolor, newspaper clippings, and rubber cement to give the painting an interesting texture.

2. For the bedroom self-portrait I also used mixed media, with watercolor, colored pencil, and pen.

Izzy, 12: “Newest skill was being certified a Nitrox diver and reading the settings on my dive computer.

Favorite thing about being on a liveaboard is diving 5 times a day! Favorite creature was the baby nurse shark, because he was sooo cute. Loved The Dome and felt like I was in a movie.”

Mia, 14: "Skill was to equalize better and buoyancy.

Liveaboard is special for making new friends.

Creature? Hard because all the creatures are so cool.

Maybe the arrow crab because of their little pincers, they're so cute!"

Zoe, 12: “My biggest skill was using a compass or control my buoyancy better. Best thing about being on the T&C Aggressor II was definitely Cece’s cooking.And friends. Favorite creatures were octopus and turtles. Was proud that I could find one hiding in the reef.”

The Chefs: Cyrill and Cece are ranked at the top. Of course, I’ve never been disappointed in any of the chefs’ skills aboard an Aggressor yacht.

Likes and Dislikes: I admired the additional responsibilities the entire crew took to make our journey and yacht safe, during this time of COVID. Bags were sprayed appropriately, meals served individually with no big scooping and handling of food by guests and cleaning of salon and cabins always the main consideration.

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Written by Christophe Chellapermal

DIVING MUSANDAM

MUSANDAM, OMAN - THE LAST ARABIAN FRONTIER In 1986 my family moved to the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, originally from the South of France this was quite a drastic change in lifestyle. We had just spent a brief stint in Brittany, we went from constantly being inundated with rain to beautiful sunshine filled days. This provided an opportunity not only to explore the deserts - dune bashing and camping, but also spending nights under the stars on the coastal beaches of the Indian Ocean. My family loved to explore, and I first visited Musandam as a small boy. Unlike many places I have visited, it is one of the very few places that is still the way 44

I remember it from my childhood. I once heard someone say that in Musandam time had stopped. Indeed, though time has clearly continued on, the landscape has a unique ‘end of the world’ feel. There have been many occasions that I’ve found myself in absolutely breathtaking and incredibly isolated locations. The region is often referred as the Middle-Eastern Norway because of the Fjord like bays that resemble the Fjords in Norway. Located to the North-East of Dubai, Musandam is part of Oman and the best way to locate it on a map is to look at the Arabian Gulf and search for the tip of the peninsula which historically known as the Strait of Hormuz.

This region is charged with history, with human presence that can be dated up to the Bronze Age, it has seen the Ottomans, the Persians, the Portuguese and even the British who set up a military base towards the end of the 19th century. It has such a rich history, that till this day there are still many undiscovered wrecks in the region. As a matter of fact, at some point I had discovered a map and the captain’s log from a Portuguese fleet with 3 galleons that were sunk by the Ottomans in the 16th century. I hope that maybe someday I have the chance to go and explore to find the exact location – what an adventure that would be!

In 2003, I finally decided to plant some roots and set up a dive shop which eventually blossomed into a laidback resort which I operated for almost 15 years. I was initially attracted by the beautiful landscape – spectacular mountain ranges dropping into the crystal turquoise sea but what hid under the surface was what really impressed me – the sheer number of fish and diversity of underwater life! Having traveled all over the world to dive, it is still one of the locations where I had seen the densest population of fish life. Especially around AprilMay, at this time of the year the green waters of Oman are filled to the brim with Red Tooth Trigger Fish (which, DEPTH MAGAZINE

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by the way, despite their name, are bright blue!) - there are so many you couldn’t even count them.

DIVING MUSANDAM: The region is not only unique because of its landscape - with only 2 big cities; Dibbah in the South East and Khassab further North, the entire East Coast has no roads, and while there are a few villages, they are only accessible by boat. In these modern days a coast that is not totally developed, filled to the brim with resorts and camera toting tourists is very rare.

The absence of development has resulted in the region’s waters being preserved and many coral reefs are still thriving under the surface. One of the most emblematic corals of Oman is the Purple Whip Coral which can be found just about everywhere and is a stunning contrast with the waters of Oman which can be emerald green at some times of the year.

In term of visibility, this is not a location where you will always get crystal clear water and the water can be murky, particularly in winter around February and March when the water gets inundated with Plankton.

I suppose this is the price to pay, as the low visibility is due to the water being rich in nutrients which supports a diverse underwater life.

Every year, there are essentially two great periods to visit this beautiful region. One is between October and December and the other is a smaller window between April and May. During these months, if you are lucky you can cross paths with Whale Sharks or a Mola-Mola these are huge marbled rays over 3m long. They are regularly seen along with Eagle Rays and Torpedo Rays. There is a vast amount of reef fish including Clown Fish, Lion Fish, Honeycomb Moray Eels and sometimes Zebra Sharks as well.

The water is filled with an incredible number of Nudibranchs, Omani Lobsters and Critters. Stewart Clark who is a biologist and Nudibranch Enthusiast has identified around 250 species of Nudibranchs with the help of other scientists, and they believe that the wide variety of species is due to tankers that could be carrying larvae in the ballast waters. Another regular siting in dive sites like Octopus Rock and Ras Marovi is the H. Kellogi SeaHorses that can grow up to 45cm!

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With over 25 dive sites and such rich fauna and flora you will always find something interesting on any of your dives and I can confidently say that in 14 years of diving the region I have never grown bored. The water is so rich that I personally believe that it be an excellent candidate for a marine reserve - the remoteness of the location, as well as the lack of big bustling cities bordering mean that Musandam already plays its role as lungs of the Persian Gulf and without it, its clear that the surrounding biodiversity would shortly disappear.

There have already been a few attempts at building roads along the coast but until now, thankfully, all these projects have been cancelled.

CONSERVATION: While the region has been spared by trawlers, local fishermen are very active and have sadly even been fishing many sharks. In my time there I have seen the regional shark population drop significantly – unfortunately this seems to be a practice so ubiquitous that even in this remote part of Arabia, the Asian soup bowl has taken its tribute.

All the while, there has been unfortunately very little concerted effort toward conservation, and it really is a shame because the region is very much in need of this.

Through my dive center, I used to run workshops and collaborated with numerous citizen science programs but

since I have left the region the only active dive center in the region is Freestyle Divers. The Ministry of Environment also used to organize clean ups once every two or three months to pick up ghost nets that were stuck on reefs and I hope that post COVID these activities will continue.

SOCIALIZING IN THE MIDDLE EAST: In all honesty, living in this part of the world was not always an easy task. Of course, when I first arrived, I spoke very little Arabic, but back then, being the only Frenchman living in the small village of Dibbah I very quickly picked up a few words of the local language through my interactions with the local shopkeepers and restaurant owners.

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All around the Middle East there are different dialets of Arabic, and uniquely in Dibbah I believe the dialect is called “Shehi”. The people in Dibbah at first were very shy and I mistook this to be rudeness, them not willing to accept a foreigner like me, however, once I started learning a few words of their language, the locals started opening up to me I think that they felt comfort in the fact I was trying to understand their culture.

It didn’t take long before I was regularly invited by neighbors to celebrations, weddings, births and birthdays, and really felt that I was accepted as one of their own. Some of the Omani friends I made to this day have becomes like family to me and I still today regularly keep in touch with them. I can honestly say that I feel so blessed to have witnessed Arabian hospitality and generosity. I once had an Omani friend spend the whole night helping me fix a boat engine and to boot, the only payment he accepted was my 48

gratitude. I have countless stories like this where without the help of a good Omani friend, I would have been lost without them.

GETTING TO MUSSANDAM Due to COVID, the region has been closed to visitors for almost a year and even the Omanis have not been able to leave the region. The one positive aspect, despite how difficult it has been for me to stay away, and I imagine, for the Omani’s who haven’t been able to leave, is that I’m sure that the marine life has benefited from this period of rest. To visit Musandam, there are two main options; 1. you can travel to the capital Khassab by airplane from Muscat or by car from the UAE (it is only a short four-hour drive away from Dubai) or 2. you can travel by car to Dibbah in the South from the UAE (a short two-hour drive away from Dubai).

In Khassab, Freestyle Divers has been operating from the Atana Hotel and in Dibbah there are two main hotels,

the Golden Tulip Hotel and Ziggy Bay Hotel where Extra Divers have settled a dive center. If you travel through Dibbah you will need to arrange for an entry with the hotel prior to your arrival.

Aside from the ocean which I’ve written a lot about, the mountainous range is incredible for mountain trekkers or bikers with many trails, but please keep in mind that the rocks are very brittle and are not appropriate for rock climbing. There are also plenty of small bays and plains which are ideal for camping.

There are also two charter companies that offers dhow trips such as Al Marsa or Sheesa beach. Dhows are traditionally commercial or fishing boats that have been built with tourists in mind, full equipped with cabins for overnight stays as well. Finally, the Aggressor Fleet also operates a route around Musandam.

IN CONCLUSION: Musandam is a wonderful location, still fairly virgin,

not very well known and this is to the advantages of those looking for new areas to explore. A very rugged and wild place, it is missing all the modern bells and whistles but that, to me is part of its charm, a far too rare quality to find in this day and age. For those that wish to go shopping and visit many different luxury hotels, the UAE is right next door, and for those looking for a combination of both can easily pursue this as a trip to Musandam is easily combined with a trip to the UAE. CHRISTOPHE CHELLAPERMAL has been diving for the last 30 years. He is a diving instructor and instructor trainer with various training agencies. Christophe owned and managed two dive centers in the UAE And Oman for 14 years. Since 2017, underwater photography and journalism has been his main focus, he has travelled the globe looking for environmental stories related to scuba-diving or rare animals.

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AGGRESSOR ADVENTURES CELEBRATES 38TH ANNIVERSARY AUGUSTA, Ga. (October 4, 2021) – Aggressor Adventures, known for its thrilling adventure vacations for guests around the world with 40 unique itineraries in 19 countries, is celebrating its 38th anniversary! While much has changed since 1984, the brand’s commitment to adventure hasn’t wavered.

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“Like every new company, we started small but today we are the largest adventure company in the world. All my staff and destinations owners have a part in taking Aggressor Adventures to an entire new level of success. 38 years certainly deserves a moment to reflect of our achievements,” says Wayne Brown, CEO of Aggressor Adventures.”

NEW ADVENTURES AND ITINERARIES Over the past 12 months, Aggressor added several world-class adventures and itineraries to its impressive portfolio. The brand recently announced the addition of the Red Sea Royal Evolution Aggressor to its excursion lineup in Egypt. Over the past several months, Brown

and his team visited numerous adventure sites and are actively exploring new trips in Belize, the British Virgin Islands and several other exciting destinations.

“To be the adventurer’s choice for world-class, intimate and artful adventures on ocean, river or land, we can’t rest on our laurels. Our customers love to travel with us, DEPTH MAGAZINE

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and we can feel their excitement when new trips are announced,” adds Brown. “In the coming months we will announce new adventures and itineraries that will have customers yearning to join us on their next vacation. We can’t wait to share what we have planned.”

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL Aggressor Adventures is excited to announce a special 38th anniversary promotion offering 25 percent savings. The anniversary special starts October 14 and runs through October 24 for travel April 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. In addition to the generous savings, customers who book are eligible to win a full set of Aqua Lung equipment valued at $3,230. The winning customer will be announced October 31. In addition, all customers who book travel during the anniversary window will receive a special commemorative t-shirt.

Participating destinations include Bahamas Aggressor, Belize Aggressor III/IV, Galapagos Aggressor III, Kona Aggressor II, Maldives Aggressor II, Nile Queen, Okeanos

Aggressor I/II, Oman Aggressor, Palau Aggressor II, Red Sea Aggressor II, Red Sea Aggressor III, Red Sea RE Aggressor, Roatan Aggressor, Rock Islands Aggressor, Socorro Aggressor, Turks & Caicos Aggressor II and the Sri Lanka Safari Lodge.

ABOUT AGGRESSOR ADVENTURES Since 1984, Aggressor Adventures® has offered travelers liveaboard scuba and snorkeling charters, luxury river cruises and exotic wildlife safaris.

Worldwide locations the company explores include Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Islands, Cocos Island, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Galapagos, Hawaii, Indonesia, Maldives, Mexico, Oman, Philippines, Palau, Red Sea, Roatan, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Turks and Caicos. The company’s Clean, Refresh, Sanitize safety standards are industry leading.

For more information, visit www.aggressor.com or call (800) 348-2628 or (706) 993-2531.

Dec/Jan/Feb 2022

TRAVEL SMARTER RETURN TO DIVING INITIATIVE HAND PROTECTION SAFETY TIPS FOR DIVE PROFESSIONALS 52

SCUBA EQUIPMENT CARE LOOKING INTO THE LUNGS FROM THE MEDICAL LINE WOMEN'S WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT ALERT DIVER LITE

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For more than a year, DAN Medical Services, DAN Safety Services and DAN Research have been gathering, analysing and publishing information about COVID-19 and diving. In the past few months we have also focused on the risks associated with prolonged breaks from diving. As the situation evolves, it can be challenging for divers to find accurate and up-to-date information, but DAN’s experts are staying informed and working to make reliable knowledge available to you.

We are standing by to answer questions and provide recommendations for all divers who plan to return to the water after a period of inactivity. After being away from diving, comprehensive awareness of your situation and careful preparation will be crucial for reducing incidents.

As you get back to diving, you may have questions about your health, gear and more, so know that DAN is available to provide advice tailored to your unique situation.

For a quick overview of the issues involved, see our Youtube on Returning to Diving after Covid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-NDkuQQjI DAN Medical Services has been answering divers’ questions about dive medicine, safety and the science of diving for four decades. Medics have a wealth of insight to share about physical fitness, lifelong medical fitness and the risks associated with various medical conditions.

They also can refer divers to local physicians trained in dive medicine.

There are many unknowns about COVID-19, but DAN Medical Services can provide guidance about returning to diving after COVID-19 infection and offer referrals and doctor-to-doctor consultations. We can also give practical advice about diving and COVID-19 vaccinations, getting medical clearance and other considerations for getting back underwater.

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Although we have seen progress in understanding diving after experiencing COVID-19, there are still some unknowns about how it may affect a diver’s abilities. DAN Research has evaluated the lasting effects of COVID-19 on divers with an ongoing study that specifically tracks the illness’s pulmonary ramifications.

When the pandemic began, DAN set to work determining the virus’s implications not only for diving but also for providing CPR, operating dive shops, teaching first aid, disinfecting equipment and more. Newly created and consistently updated resources available at www.dansa.org/blog/category/covid-19-updates help dive operators navigate through the return process. We have also produced a series of webinars to reach divers in the absence of in-person events and will continue these webinars in the future.

Our online outreach has become an invaluable tool for DAN departments to share their work and findings with divers, dive operators, medical professionals and others. We are adding new resources to DANSA.org all the time. You can also contact us if you have any questions we don’t cover in these online resources. [www.dansa.org/covid-19] If you’re a dive operator, don’t hesitate to contact DAN at danmedic@dansa.org to ask your questions about safe operations. Our researchers constantly seek new information about best practices and consider the realities of a dive business having to adapt to new challenges.

Much of DAN’s strength lies in the expertise of our staff. Our researchers, medics and safety professionals elevate our capability to field questions companywide through joint meetings and cross-training workshops.

Our departments are strongest when working together to achieve the common goal of making diving safer.

This internal collaboration helped us launch the new Return to Diving guide, which is full of simple steps and

considerations to help you safely get back in the water.

The free guide provides you with the tools and resources you need to assess your health and fitness, refresh your skills and examine your equipment before your next dives. Divers will also find information about health, safety and testing requirements and learn what measures dive operators are employing to keep customers safe.

Created by dive medicine specialists, researchers and scientists, the guide is backed by the commitment to dive safety you’ve come to expect from DAN. It is available at www.dansa.org/return.

None of this would be possible without the invaluable support of our members and donors. We thank you all for your continued commitment to DAN. While the past year has led us to address new challenges and adapt our approaches to existing ones, our commitment to your safety has never wavered.

As you dust off your gear, refresh your skills and assess your health, be sure to contact DAN with any questions.

We’re here for you.

Morné Christou, DAN Southern Africa CEO The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those advocated by the publisher or DAN Southern Africa. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information and reports, the publisher as well as DAN Southern Africa does not accept any responsibility, whatsoever, for any errors, omissions, or for any effects resulting therefrom. As to the best of the publisher and DAN Southern Africa’s knowledge, contributors have not indulged in plagiarism. Although the utmost is done to avoid such occurrences, the publisher and DAN Southern Africa will not be held responsible for the contributors’ or writers’ indulgence in plagiarism. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form without the written permission of DAN Southern Africa. E&OE.

Alert Diver Lite Your compact Alert Diver companion

CONTENTS

PERSPECTIVES

YOUR ADVENTURE, YOUR SAFETY!

58 Travel Smarter

Traveling with Scuba Equipment

60 Return to Diving Initiative Program Spotlight

63 DAN Dispatch:

DAN Safety Services

64 Hand Protection

By Frauke Tillmans, Ph.D.

68 Scuba Equipment Care

Prepping for your next dive!

71 Looking Into the Lungs

Breath-hold dive physiology

74 From the Medical Line

Answering your dive questions

79 Safety Tips for Dive

Operators and Professionals

80 Scuba Equipment Care The Service Technician

83 Not Your Mama’s Cardio

Exercises to improve your health

86 Women's Record Attempt: The Dive

Team & Contact: Contributors Chloe Strauss Jim Gunderson Dr Frans Cronje DAN Medical Team Karen van den Oeven

Team Morné Christou Dr Frans Cronje DEPTH magazine

Contact Us Please contact us at mail@dansa.org or phone +27 11 266 4900.

In a diving emergency call the DAN Hotline on +27 82 810 6010.

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UNBEATABLE BACKUP SERVICE With our state-of-the-art workshop, comprehensive inventory of spare parts and trained team with decades of experience, we pride ourselves on being the best in the business when it comes to offering support.

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+27 11 444 6563

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TRAVEL SMARTER TRAVELING WITH SCUBA EQUIPMENT Many divers love to travel. As more destinations open to travellers, divers are eager to get back in the water at their favourite site or a new location. Here are a few tips for travelling with scuba equipment.

Service Your Gear Most manufacturers require regular service for scuba equipment, typically at least once per year. Be sure to contact the nearest service centre and drop off your gear well before your next dive trip. Getting an early start will help ensure no delays with your service or potential repairs to prevent equipment malfunctions on your journey. If possible, dive with your newly serviced equipment in a pool before leaving on a dive trip. If you don’t have access to a confined-water location, your first dive after gear service should be easy, shallow and at a site with which you are familiar.

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Consider Renting Travelling with your equipment is not always feasible or convenient. If you decide to rent, contact the dive shop at your destination to ask about their infection-control policies and ensure they have the equipment you need in the correct sizes, especially if you have any specific needs.

The dive operator should be disinfecting rental equipment that contacts your eyes, nose and mouth — such as masks, regulators and snorkels — between users. If you own equipment, consider bringing your regulator, mask and snorkel since these items will be in direct contact with your face. You might also want to take your gear with you after each day of diving and rinse it in your hotel room.

Pack Well Scuba equipment is expensive, and your safety in the water depends on it being in good condition. Pack your gear in hard-sided luggage instead of a soft-sided or mesh gear bag if you check it on a flight. A sturdy suitcase packed to prevent its contents from being jostled provides more protection against damage when baggage handlers throw around your suitcase. Check the travel regulations for your airline and destination country to learn what gear is allowed in carry-on and checked bags.

Plan Ahead Your international destination or airline might require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID19 test, so have that information available. Start the process of getting any necessary vaccinations or the

medical documentation you need well in advance of your trip. Your country of residence may also have recommendations or restrictions for reentering the country, so check the latest information on your country’s COVID website.

Research what type of COVID-19 test is necessary for entry or reentry, and find a testing centre near your destination, preferably before leaving home. If possible, schedule an appointment for testing so you can be ready to depart without any delays. Be sure that this test is within the recommended time frame before your flight to or from your destination.

Taking time to plan and research for your trip can help you avoid inconvenience and worry when heading out on your next dive vacation.

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PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: RETURN TO DIVING INITIATIVE After taking time away from diving, divers should assess several essential factors to help them safely get back in the water, whether for a few months or even longer. DAN’s new Return to the Diving initiative is a comprehensive, practical guide developed by dive medicine physicians, scientists and researchers to provide the knowledge needed to make informed decisions.

The guide contains six sections, each with detailed step-by-step instructions and tips. Topics include issues stemming from inactivity, your health status, fitness to dive, equipment, dive skills and travel plans. Articles, questionnaires and other resources will help lead you through your return process.

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Suppose you are concerned primarily with your health status, for example. In that case, you can access materials such as the DAN Guidelines for Lifelong Medical Fitness to Dive, information about talking with your doctor and ways to evaluate your current fitness status.

With the recent changes we’ve witnessed in travel, the detailed section about trip planning helps you handle regional and global travel restrictions.

The interactive, digital guide is a comprehensive plan that you can use in its entirety or by section based upon your current skills, understanding and needs. A printable guide is also available to take along on your next adventure. Access the guide at https://www. dansa.org/return for valuable information no matter where you are in your dive career.

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DAN DISPATCH: DAN SAFETY SERVICES The newly reorganized DAN Safety Services department combines our risk mitigation efforts’ prevention focus with the incident-response aspect of our first aid courses and safety products. Everyone in the dive industry — students, divers, and dive professionals and operators — can access DAN’s wealth of educational, training and safety product options to help keep themselves and their fellow divers safe.

A wide range of e-learning courses, webinars, newsletters, articles and safety tools are available to help you learn and understand the risks associated with diving. Once you know what can happen, you can educate yourself on preventing or mitigating the consequences of an incident arising from various risk factors.

An incident response may include providing first aid.

Our courses align with international guidelines, giving you the knowledge and skills to respond to an accident in dive locations across the world. Our safety products can support your training with reliable, durable and practical equipment, whether close to home or far away.

If a healthcare facility recommends recompression treatment for a diving accident, we want to ensure that you have access to a safe hyperbaric chamber.

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The DAN Recompression Chamber Network (RCN) is our outreach effort to maintain a global network of chambers available for dive emergencies. We provide safety assessments and support to ensure these chambers can provide appropriate treatments for injured divers.

Supporting our focus on safety through awareness, these resources are available for everyone. The DANSA. org website offers free online articles, guidelines and tools for dive professionals and chambers. We also provide guidance and materials to help divers do their part for the safety of themselves and their fellow divers.

We are happy to help answer your questions about dive safety. Contact DAN using the phone or email options at www.dansa.org/contact.

Useful links DAN Education: www.dansa.org/education DAN Shop: www.danshop.co.za DAN Safety Programs: www.dansa.org/partner-programs DAN Webinars: www.dansa.org/webinars DAN Chamber Safety: www.dansa.org/chamber-safety Return to Diving Safety: www.dansa.org/return ALERT DIVER LITE

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HAND PROTECTION

BY FRAUKE TILLMANS, PH.D. Gloves are one of the most overlooked and individualized pieces of dive equipment. When choosing gloves, consider the kind of diving you plan to do and what you expect from your hand protection. The following are some factors to consider when selecting gloves.

Thermal Protection and Fit Thermal protection is a significant factor to consider in glove selection. When diving in frigid water, you want gloves to prevent hypothermia, but you may want a thinner glove or even no gloves in warm water. In general, 64

the thicker the glove, the better the thermal protection.

Here are some commonly accepted facts about thermal hand protection: • Diving with gloves is warmer than diving without gloves.

• Dry gloves are warmer than wet gloves.

• Three-finger mittens are warmer than five-finger gloves.

• More neoprene is warmer than less neoprene.

Proper fit is paramount. Gloves that are too big will allow water to flow in and out freely and may not provide adequate thermal protection, although you ALERT DIVER LITE

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may attempt to adjust fit through tighter seals or Velcro straps around your wrists. Gloves that are too small may restrict blood flow to your hands, which can somewhat negate the protection from the outside elements.

Dexterity The more neoprene that’s around your fingers and the bulkier or stiffer your gloves are, the more difficult it is to communicate with hand signals or writing. It can also be challenging to operate your equipment, such as inflating and deflating your buoyancy compensator, opening and closing pockets, clipping and unclipping items, deploying a light or spool, or pushing buttons on your dive computer. The best way to become more comfortable with gloves is to train while wearing them to be prepared for whatever water conditions you encounter.

It is helpful to familiarize your hands and brain with manipulating objects with your gloved hands.

You can acclimate your hands even while sitting at your desk by typing, drinking coffee or writing on a notepad while wearing the gloves you plan to take underwater. This practice will train the muscles and limit the surprise of intricate movements underwater when you need to use your hands.

Hazard Protection and Impact Resistance Gloves also provide hazard protection. Dangers can include contaminated water (e.g., petroleum products, oils or solvents), hazardous marine life, and sharp objects or edges on corals or wrecks. Gloves may also prevent skin damage when dive conditions require holding on to something or pulling yourself against flow or current.

Materials Dive gloves come in a variety of materials: textile, neoprene, rubber or latex. Each material has an intended use. Neoprene dive gloves are the most common and come in thicknesses ranging from 0.5 mm for tropical waters to 7 mm for cold water. These gloves can also provide additional grip with slip-resistant materials that coat the palm and fingers. Neoprene gloves may come as five-finger or three-finger mittens; both styles have advantages 66

and disadvantages but are generally highly durable and tear-resistant.

Divers who hunt, collect, or spearfish often use textile gloves. The palms of these gloves often have latex or rubber to provide better grip and protection against sharp objects. While textile gloves grant you high dexterity and adequate hazard protection, they do not provide much thermal protection.

Dry gloves are an option with drysuit diving.

These gloves are usually made from flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC). These gloves provide a protective shell over textile or thin neoprene gloves. Ring systems or seals usually attach dry gloves to the drysuit. Dry gloves should have a venting connection (e.g., tissue, fabric or a small hose) to the drysuit so gas can travel freely between the glove and suit to prevent your hands from being squeezed while descending or having balloon gloves on the ascent.

No Gloves Allowed Some locations, such as the Great Barrier Reef, prohibit divers from wearing gloves. Two considerations are generally behind these regulations: Some divers who wear gloves erroneously think it is OK to touch things underwater, and gloves often give people a false sense of security that they cannot be harmed by touching coral or other marine life. You might still be injured even with gloves on, for example, if a cone snail’s sting penetrates through a glove too thin to protect you. There is also the risk of causing significant harm to marine life by touching it.

There is no one-size-fits-all type of glove, and your choice depends on individual preference. Consider the kind of diving you plan to do and how well you tolerate cold. Evaluate to what extent you are willing to compromise warmth, dexterity and comfort to find a combination that works for you.

With the ease of online shopping, it is tempting to order five pairs of gloves, see which ones work and return the others. However, to benefit the dive community and the planet, visit your local dive shop or have a professional help you find the gloves that are right for you.

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SCUBA EQUIPMENT CARE — PREPPING FOR YOUR NEXT DIVE! In this third of four articles, we discuss how to make sure your kit is in good safe working condition, so there are no unexpected or unpleasant surprises when you return to diving. Although this article will give you the basics, consult the relevant user manuals for specific maintenance procedures.

Check your gear Taking the time to clean everything post-dive will increase the life and safety of your equipment. However, with time and use, everything deteriorates. Don’t wait 68

until something breaks before you replace it. To be safe, it’s essential to carry out periodic equipment checks.

For fins, masks, or anything with straps or buckles, look for cracks, splits, and ruptures and check functionality. If you notice signs of damage or loss of function, replace them. Additionally, check the seal of your mask for mold or fungus, particularly where the glass joins the seal. This area is prone to dirt or grime collecting and can be challenging to clean.

Dive suits should be checked for damage, tears

and holes. Make sure the seams are in good condition.

Zippers should be undamaged, move smoothly and regularly lubricated with Zip wax or oil. Seals and cuffs should be without cuts, splits or cracks because they could tear when getting into your suit or result in a leak in the case of a dry suit.

If you dive a dry suit, check the valves and the seals around them for cracks and make sure they are in good working condition. To do this, attach the inflation hose to the valve. You should be able to activate the valve

without excessive force, and the gas flow should stop when you release it. Ensure the hose attaches/detaches easily from the valve and keep the O-ring in the coupling lubricated with silicone spray. The pressure release valves should vent adequately, but don’t apply silicone spray—it may cause leaking.

When “cold water” diving season begins, it is good practice to inflate the suit completely using balls or bottles to block the seals and wait 15-20 minutes to see if it remains fully inflated. This is also the perfect occasion ALERT DIVER LITE

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to check the relief valve to see if it works properly.

Similar principles apply to your BCD. We recommend you occasionally fully inflate the BCD until the pressure relief valve activates, then wait 15-20 minutes to see if it stays inflated. If it has metal rings or buckles, they should not show signs of corrosion and check the straps for any wear and tear.

Regulators and hoses need special attention.

Thoroughly cleaning your regulator post-dive will prevent most problems, but make sure it works properly. Start by inspecting the hoses. They should be in good condition without any signs of damage, cracks, splits, scuffs or blisters. Check braided hoses for loose threads. Squeeze hoses over their entire length to assess flexibility. Any change in resistance while squeezing along the hose could be a sign of a possible problem. Check the hose fittings for any scale build-up; this can be removed with household vinegar or any citric acid-based descaling agent. Many divers use hose protectors, but these can also lead to salt, dirt or scale build-up underneath them. Be sure to slide any covers away and clean if needed.

Once hoses are checked, you can examine the second stage. The mouthpiece should not have any cuts, and the bite tabs should be in good condition. Both the exhalation port and mouthpiece should be firmly attached. If present, the breathing resistance control knob should turn easily. It should not be possible to inhale through the second stage unless it is pressurised; there is a problem with the membrane if you can draw air through it. Once pressurised, try the purge button, but don’t assume this means that a breathing test can be skipped.

You should breathe in and out from the regulator a few times to check it’s in working condition. Listen for any leaks or hissing sounds; if you hear anything try to determine the source. It might mean a broken O-ring in one of the connections or fittings. There isn’t much more to check on your regulator’s first stage other than leaks. Before attaching your regulator to the cylinder valve, make sure the O-rings on the regulator and valve are in good condition. Finally, don’t forget to check your pressure gauges. Are they reading correctly?

As a diver, you carry other equipment that must 70

be checked periodically, sometimes before the dive.

This includes your snorkel (check the mouthpiece and exhalation valve), diver surface marker buoy (DSMB) and other safety kits, knife or line cutter, and ensuring that your batteries are charged for electronic equipment.

Do I need to check my gear if I always do a buddy check?

Unfortunately, many times this is the only time, if at all, that a diver checks her and her buddy’s kit. During a buddy check, you can identify problems, but it should not replace the regular maintenance checks described above.

If there’s a problem, what should I do?

If you find anything wrong, a broken mouthpiece, ripped seal, leaking regulator or valve, it needs immediate attention and care. We recommend you keep some spares in your dive kit, including a mouthpiece, straps, O-rings, and batteries, along with neoprene glue, silicone spray or grease, and zipper wax. That way, you can to do minor maintenance work yourself.

Discovering that something is not working properly just before a dive is problematic. It can ruin your dive or, worse, lead you to dive anyway, ignoring the problem, placing you and or your dive buddy at risk.

What more should be done?

In the final article in this series, we will discuss when you need a service technician. Many organisations have equipment speciality courses to learn more about diving equipment and how to maintain it properly. Why not consider such a course this winter?

It is recommended that divers take special precautions, including disinfecting their scuba gear when appropriate to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

For more information, see: Part 1: Scuba Equipment care Drying and storing your gear: www.dansa.org/blog/2020/04/07/scuba-equipmentcare-drying-storing-your-gear Part 2: Scuba Equipment care – Rinsing and cleaning diving equipment: www.dansa.org/blog/2020/03/18/scuba-equipmentcare-rinsing-and-cleaning-diving-equipment

LOOKING INTO THE LUNGS PETER LINDHOLM STUDIES BREATH-HOLD DIVE PHYSIOLOGY Born and raised in Sweden, Peter Lindholm, M.D., PhD, enjoyed collecting tadpoles when he was little. Whether that activity sparked his interest in diving is uncertain, but his early interest in nature developed into an urge to become a scientist.

During medical school, he joined a laboratory researching aviation, space and underwater physiology, where he developed a passion for breath-hold dive physiology, about which he wrote his doctoral thesis.

He served on various committees on breath-hold diving, including the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA, Association Internationale pour le Développement de l’Apnée). As one of the Swedish Sports Diving Federation (SSDF) physicians, which is part of the World Underwater Federation (CMAS, Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques), he was involved in developing breath-hold dive protocols and training the first instructors of competitive breath-hold diving. After clinical training as a radiologist, Lindholm moved in 2019 to San

Diego, California, where he leads a research group focused on dive physiology and dive medicine.

Peter, tell us a bit about yourself. When did you become a diver?

I liked to snorkel when I was a kid, and my parents took me to the Maldives and the Red Sea when I was a teenager. I got my first dive certification when I was 16 years old. Everyone in Sweden had to join the military service for one year, and the military selected me for mine-clearance diving. We learned to dive to 200 feet on both open-circuit scuba and semiclosed rebreathers to search for things and blow them up. It took about nine months of training to become a mine-clearance diver, and then I was in operations for three months before my service ended.

What started your career in dive physiology?

Determined to become a researcher, I entered medical school at Karolinska Institutet after my military service and undergraduate studies in marine biology. After about two years, I realized my interest in being a physician and ALERT DIVER LITE

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switched my focus from animals in the sea to human divers. My dive background led me to Dag Linnarsson, M.D., PhD, who had experience in dive research and ran a lab where he was doing space research. He was a professor of baromedicine; the European Space Agency funded his work due to their interest in space-related cardiopulmonary research. That continuum of diving, high-altitude, aviation and space led to my doctoral thesis on hypoxia from breath-holding.

After some literature review and talks with Dr Linnarsson, I found that previous studies of breath-hold diving were not as thorough as I thought, so I started coming up with questions and ideas for answering those questions. Linnarsson encouraged my work, and we did some interesting projects together; that was the beginning of my thesis. I created my own M.D./Ph.D. program, and Karolinska was very supportive, although it extended my medical degree from the usual five and a half years to seven and a half years.

Tell us more about your doctoral project.

When I started reading about breath-hold research, I realized that nobody had shown that a breath-holding human could conserve oxygen. There were, however, discussions about oxygen-conserving effects in diving mammals, which can dive for so long because they stop blood flow to their bodies and save oxygen for the brain.

There were some discussions about whether humans could save oxygen like that. I thought it interesting to investigate that question, so I decided to study it during exercise instead of resting conditions. When a freediver is resting, not much blood is going to the muscles anyway, and most of the oxygen consumption already occurs in the brain, so that would not be a useful model.

A second necessary step was to eliminate the diving response from the equation without affecting oxygen storage. We did that by having participants use a bag to rebreathe their exhaled air, which will trick the body into thinking that you are breathing normally, but you do not get any new oxygen.

In the experiment with exercising human subjects, we showed that working muscles’ essential vascular constriction was just enough to be significant, which 72

means we proved a temporary oxygen-conserving effect. Some essential parameters we measured were vasoconstriction, heart rate and cardiac output. The amount of blood the heart pumps out is the most critical variable, although it is harder to measure than the heart rate and oxygen levels in the lungs and blood.

Did you stay involved with the military during or after your studies?

In Sweden, the military can call you back at any time. After you pass the surgery exam in medical school, the military can repurpose you as a surgeon in the event of war. Upon getting my Swedish medical license, I was eligible to take the military dive physician course, which lasts several weeks and includes field practicals in dive medicine and submarine escape. It was a great experience to return after more than ten years. I occasionally served a couple of weeks as a dive physician in my old unit in the Swedish Navy.

What brought you to the U.S.?

I did postdoctoral work at the University at Buffalo, where my assignment helped me gain more research experience. My supervisor there was Claes Lundgren, M.D., Ph.D. I also did some experiments with Massimo Ferrigno, M.D., at Harvard. They are exceptional breathhold dive researchers. I returned to Sweden after that postdoctoral assignment.

My medical training was as a radiologist; I did radiology research and then became director of thoracic radiology at Karolinska. Having kids did not leave time for me to do dive research for about five years. When my wife got a postdoctoral position at Stanford University, I took a sabbatical and went with her. I got a visiting professorship at Stanford, which got me back to doing research. I did not have any clinical obligations and picked up some old ideas for breath-hold dive research. Because my interest is thoracic radiology, I researched pulmonary oedema — what some breath-hold divers call “the squeeze.” I had published a paper on the squeeze in 2008 from research we did with people diving in a tank with empty lungs, so I resumed that topic in 2017.

My wife and I wanted to stay in California. When the University of California San Diego advertised a hyperbaric

and dive medicine position, I applied for it and got it.

What are your current breath-hold research projects?

I am focusing on squeeze effects in which the lungs suffer compression at depth and problems such as immersion pulmonary oedema and hemoptysis from bleeding in the lungs. I am also studying swimminginduced pulmonary oedema (SIPE). We have a large group to study in San Diego since some Navy SEAL candidates suffer SIPE when trying to pass Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training.

Pandemic aside, do you still breath-hold dive?

I did some freediving in Hawaii last New Year’s, but I am more of a snorkeler now. I do not do competitive freediving. Back around 2000, when I was seriously practising for it, I could freedive to 40 meters and breathhold for five minutes.

If you wanted to get back to a five-minute breath-hold, how long would it take you to train for that?

I am not sure — maybe two weeks?

Note: Two weeks after the initial interview, Lindholm reported that he had felt obliged to test his statement.

Having not done any breath-hold training for the past decade, he was able to return to 4 minutes and 47 seconds in dry, static apnea.

Collaborations and Current Research Focus Lindholm has secured a collaborative grant from the Navy to build a database of old audio Doppler files. Doppler ultrasound has been used for decades to record audio signals of bubbles in the bloodstream after a dive, so there is an enormous amount of data from experiments by the Navy, universities and DAN. The plan is to collect the files in a gigantic database and use artificial intelligence to automate grading them so researchers can use the data to better understand decompression stress.

Lindholm is also collaborating on the DAN COVID19 study as an expert consultant on lung imaging and has received funding for a project that examines decompression stress in breath-hold divers. Researchers have long ignored this topic, as the general perception is that decompression sickness cannot occur when diving without compressed gas.

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continue to push yourself, your heart may race, and you can experience an elevated breathing rate, panic or even hypoxia (insufficient oxygen) and pass out.

— Brandi Nicholson, MS, EMP-T

FROM THE MEDICAL LINE DAN medical information specialists and researchers answer your dive medicine questions.

I was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) last summer. When I exercise, I get short of breath, but I still swim for about an hour three times a week, including a 75-foot underwater swim with fins.

How will COPD affect my diving?

Unfortunately, COPD is a contraindication to diving for several reasons. There are abnormal enlargements of the air spaces in the lungs and destruction of the air sac (alveoli) walls with COPD, reducing their elasticity. The alveolar walls usually are elastic like a balloon. A balloon expands when you breathe into it, but the walls are ready to recoil and expel the air, which is how normal alveoli function. With reduced elasticity, it is more like breathing into a plastic bag. It expands, but the walls do not actively force out the air. Any air remaining in the alveoli creates a much higher potential for pulmonary barotrauma.

The volume of gas is inversely proportional to its absolute pressure, which your open-water instructor probably demonstrated to you using a balloon. The balloon filled with air at depth expands during ascension, which teaches the importance of never holding your breath while diving. If your lungs cannot quickly expel all 74

the air, it creates a situation similar to partially holding your breath while diving since the trapped air will expand, possibly to the point of rupturing your lungs. A rupture leads to air escaping the lungs and potentially entering arterial circulation, which can cause an arterial gas embolism (AGE), or the chest, resulting in a lifethreatening pneumothorax. The bubbles that cause an AGE may lodge in the lungs, heart or brain and result in a pulmonary embolism, heart attack or stroke, respectively.

Some people with COPD retain carbon dioxide (CO2), which creates a risk of CO2 toxicity at depth. Reduced exercise tolerance is also common for those with COPD and poses risks for diving. There can be strenuous activity involved with managing currents, swimming on the surface in choppy seas or pulling yourself and your wet, heavy gear up a ladder and onto an unsteady boat. You may also have to walk in full gear along a boat deck after an exhausting dive.

With COPD, shortness of breath during exertion does not mean you are out of shape; it means you cannot rid your body of CO2 and replace it with the oxygen needed to meet the demand of your exertion. Should you

I recently had a hiatal hernia repaired with laparoscopic surgery, during which the surgeon used CO2 to inflate my abdominal cavity. One of the side effects is shoulder pain on my left side, which my doctor said was due to the CO2 permeating the tissue. Pain medicine has not been working, so my doctor suggested walking to get rid of the excess gas.

Since this seems similar to decompression sickness (DCS), should I be concerned about future dive trips?

Surgeons insert tubes with lighted cameras and surgical instruments during laparoscopic surgery to repair the hernia with minimal intervention. To expand their view, surgeons often use gas to create a space called a pneumoperitoneum. CO2 is the preferred gas in laparoscopic surgery due to its high solubility in the blood and its resistance to combustion, which is particularly important with the presence of electrosurgical equipment.

Another benefit is that you can rapidly clear CO2 from your body as a natural byproduct of respiration.

Shoulder pain is a common side effect of a pneumoperitoneum. The phrenic nerve originates from

the cervical spine (neck) level as the nerves that provide sensation to the shoulders and descends downward between the lungs to the diaphragm. The diaphragm and shoulder thus share the same nerve path. Trapped CO2 can irritate the phrenic nerve and cause shoulder pain, and movement may help release the gas. Residual effects of a pneumoperitoneum and CO2 retention resolve within seven days in 96 percent of the patients who undergo this procedure.

The pathophysiology of referred pain from laparoscopic procedures differs from how DCS may cause shoulder pain while scuba diving. Many factors can lead to DCS, including overall diving fitness, general health, hydration status and thermal status. While you may or may not be at a greater risk for DCS after surgery, it is prudent to refrain from diving until you have completely healed and your surgeon has released you for unrestricted, rigorous activity.

Remember that there is always some degree of DCS risk any time you dive, so take measures to minimize that risk. Continuously monitor yourself for signs and symptoms of DCS following a dive, and seek medical attention at the nearest appropriate facility if symptoms develop.

— Robert Soncini, NR-P, DMT

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I am a recently certified diver who has made nine dives. I have never had a problem with seasickness until recently.

I am fine on the boat ride to the dive site, but now after my first dive of the day, I get extremely seasick every time, with terrible headaches, nausea and vomiting.

While you previously have not experienced seasickness on boat rides, diving could be providing the trigger for nausea and vomiting.

As you may recall from your open-water class, pressure doubles in the first 33 feet of a dive, challenging our ears, which are responsible for balance and spatial orientation. The inner ear houses the vestibular apparatus and the semicircular canals, which send information about balance, head position, motion and acceleration to the brain. These organs are sensitive to pressure changes, and the brain gets confused when there is conflicting information between the right and left ears. The slightest variation could lead to autonomic manifestations such as nausea and vomiting. Some people are more sensitive to these changes. Your vestibular system can typically accommodate the motion of the ocean through compensation from visual feedback. However, your inner ears might be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the stimulus following a dive.

It is also possible that you are experiencing equalization issues that are causing a middle-ear barotrauma, which can lead to dizziness or vertigo. If you have muffled hearing or a feeling of fullness in your ears after a dive, consider working with a dive instructor to improve or learn new equalization techniques. If this problem persists, you may want to seek an evaluation from an ear, nose and throat specialist to ensure the proper function of your Eustachian tubes and tympanic membranes (eardrums).

A variety of situations can cause headaches, including tight-fitting mask straps, sinus barotrauma, dehydration or an elevated CO2 level resulting from skip breathing.

Pain can cause nausea.

Your seasickness may also be a result of anxiety or nervousness due to being a new diver. Diving below the surface and relying entirely on life-support equipment can be nerve-racking at first. These feelings can lead to a significant catecholamine release, which can manifest as 76

nausea after the dive. This may or may not be your case, but it is worth considering.

The DAN website has more information and some recommendations to combat seasickness.

DAN.org/health-medicine/health-resources/diseasesconditions/motion-sickness.

— Brandi Nicholson, MS, EMT-P I have had problems with both outer- and inner-ear infections. How can I prevent them from happening after a dive?

There are ways to mitigate the risk of external ear infections (swimmer’s ear or otitis externa). Never clean your ear canal with items such as cotton swabs or other objects that might cause damage. Trauma to the external

canal disrupts the protective epithelium that, along with earwax, prevents infection.

A cleansing mixture of 50 percent isopropyl alcohol and 50 percent vinegar is inexpensive and easy to use. The key is using it properly. Put two to three drops in one ear first thing in the morning.

Allow it to sit in the ear for five minutes, and then repeat with the other ear. Do this procedure again at night after finishing your diving for the day. The alcohol dries the ear, and the vinegar slightly changes the pH to make it difficult for bacteria to propagate.

Remember that this is a preventative measure and not a treatment. If you are ever diagnosed with otitis externa, follow your doctor’s advice, and please do not put this solution in your ears.

The best prevention for middle-ear infections (otitis media) is using a proper equalization technique. Repeated pressure injuries (barotraumas) cause congestion, leading to infection if the ear is unable to drain normally.

Barotrauma can be challenging to differentiate from otitis media because the eardrums can appear similar in both conditions during an otoscopic exam. It is important to tell your physician when the symptoms began.

Diving again before your symptoms are entirely gone lengthens your healing time, exacerbates the original injury and risks rupturing the tympanic membrane. You can find additional information about ears and diving on the DAN website at DAN.org/health-medicine/healthresource/dive-medical-reference-books/ears-diving.

— Lana P. Sorrell, MBA, EMT, DMT ALERT DIVER LITE

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SAFETY TIPS FOR DIVE OPERATORS AND PROFESSIONALS I have been a breath-hold diver for the past 14 years.

I was diagnosed with stage IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer last April. I had three rounds of chemotherapy and 27 rounds of radiation, followed by a resection of the superior lobe of my right lung. A year later, I am in remission, and my surgeon stated that I could return to diving with a depth limit of just under 10 feet (3 meters). Is it safe to dive, and should I restrict my freediving to that depth?

Although some divers may continue to actively dive with little or no limitations after recovery from a disease or surgery, lung disorders carry unique risks.

Your surgeon’s depth restriction likely reflects some concern about your lung function and the possibility of air trapping. Shallow water, however, does not always mean it is safe. Your lungs must tolerate rapid volume changes with the pressure at shallower depths, and the greatest changes occur in the first 33 feet (10 meters).

Remaining in shallow water does not reduce your risk of pulmonary injury.

For scuba diving, two significant factors can limit your breathing capabilities: immersion in water and the increasing density of your breathing gas.

Another issue is the impact of any fibrotic or scarred 78

tissue in your lungs. After lung resection, your maximum breathing capacity could be severely reduced, which could impair your ability to tolerate exertions underwater.

The surgery may have reduced your lungs’ elasticity or function. Any areas of air trapping may be prone to rupture with minimal overinflation.

When planning a return to diving, you should consider your medical condition, any medications you take and the impact of diving on your body. Physical issues may reduce your exercise tolerance, and physiological processes such as lowered immunity and impaired blood clotting could be detrimental and possibly life-threatening. Chemotherapy can damage your immune system, skin (your body’s barrier), heart, lungs and other organs. Diving may expose you to an environment that you may not be able to tolerate in a weakened state.

We recommend that you receive an assessment of your exercise capacity for compatibility with diving. Your physician will check your lung structure and function, which may include a pulmonary function test (PFT) and a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPX). If your doctor clears you for diving, you should keep medical history records with you every time you dive in case of an emergency.

— Shannon Sunset, CPT, NREMT- VFF

The first step in ensuring the safety of staff, divers, and the public is to develop a detailed awareness of the real risks present in all operations performed by dive businesses and professionals. Identifying hazards and assessing risks allow you to take practical and achievable mitigating steps. This preparedness leads to preventing accidents and injuries effectively and sustainably.

DAN has produced a brief guide for anyone responsible for safety. The guide offers an introduction to identifying and understanding 17 of the most common areas of concern. These potential incident sources highlight the kinds of considerations that need attention and help operators better understand how they might apply this knowledge to their businesses.

The following essential aspects could apply to many dive businesses: • customer health and safety, including the need for proper screening and when to decline a customer’s request to go diving • travel and health advice, which is especially relevant for travel to remote and undeveloped regions • staff health, safety and training, such as taking care

of staff and ensuring that they are fully equipped to manage clients’ safety • classrooms, retail shops and confined-water training sites as areas of concern that may not be obvious • boats and other vehicles, which have safety requirements and may also provide accommodations or adjustments for customers, staff or dive site access • rental equipment and equipment workshops, for which operators need to ensure that all dive equipment remains functional and reliable • clean breathing-gas production, including safe handling of high-pressure equipment, filling dive cylinders and protecting divers’ health • accident preparedness, especially for those occurring in uncommon or unexpected locations or involving hazards that exist outside of typical dive settings • emergency action planning for dives and divesupport activities, which is essential for managing situations and limiting harm and damage as much as possible These safety tips, which have been published individually in various publications, are now available at www.dansa.org/operational-safety-resources ALERT DIVER LITE

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SCUBA EQUIPMENT CARE — THE SERVICE TECHNICIAN In this final part of the series of four articles, we discuss the role of the service technician. A technician is specially trained and certified to do maintenance on your dive equipment.

The user manual The equipment you purchased comes with a user manual. It can be a printed version or digital media on the manufacturer’s website. I know we are here for diving, not reading, but this manual has essential information. It will specify how to care for your equipment and explain when maintenance is needed to keep the warranty valid. Some manufacturers have specific requirements that you should be aware of.

The service technician This amazing person has gone through specific training with one or more manufacturers and is licensed as a doctor for your diving gear. She will take it apart, change faulty or broken parts, reassemble the unit and restore it to working order. Service 80

technicians usually work for a dive shop. They might not be able to service equipment from every manufacturer, but they will be able to point you in the right direction should they not be able to service your equipment.

Some of you may be service technicians, but most of you are probably not! To avoid any confusion, here are some guidelines to determine if you are one or not.

You are not a service technician if: • You don’t know how to assemble and disassemble your equipment.

• You think you know how to service gear but don’t have any training from the manufacturer.

• You fix problems with duct tape.

• You don’t have the appropriate tools or spares.

• You don’t have a valid service technician certificate from the manufacturer.

If one or more of the above applies to you, don’t service dive equipment—leave it to the pros.

Periodic maintenance Most people think regulators need to be serviced once a year. You may be surprised to learn that isn’t always true.

Maintenance schedules are written in the user manual.

Most manufacturers require annual servicing, but some use a longer time interval. And it isn’t only about time, but also how often the regulator is used. The manual might say you need service annually, or every 100 dives or diving hours, whichever comes first.

Although there are no requirements for periodic maintenance on a wetsuit or a simple mask, full diving masks, drysuits, and BCD are another matter. Check the manual to see if your equipment needs periodic maintenance and follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.

As pressure vessels, cylinders require visual and hydrostatic testing; national laws specify the exact maintenance intervals. Don’t forget that the same law applies to pony bottles and spare air cylinders. It is also worth mentioning that a technician should do valve

replacement. It is simple, but that doesn’t mean you should do it yourself. Threads and valves can be damaged as a result of improper disassembly and assembly. Finally, if your cylinder falls on its valve, have it checked by a technician as the valve or threads could be damaged.

Call in the technician Imagine you found a problem that you couldn’t fix yourself, for example, replacing a small o-ring in a low-pressure hose fitting. If you don’t know how to do it, are not trained, or have the right tools, you should bring it to a technician. If you don’t have the right tools, you can cause damage.

When we disassemble components, such as pressure release valves or replace them, there might be parts such as o-rings or seals that need to be replaced before reassembly. A leaking valve (dry suit or BCD) might need to be opened for cleaning or might need replacement. This is relatively easy to do, but again consult the user manual to see if you can do it yourself.

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Also, make sure the components you replace are from the same manufacturer as the old one.

The MacGyver do-it-yourself technician Be aware of this kind of technician. Fortunately, they are easy to recognise. Something breaks when you are about to enter the water, and you don’t have spare parts?

No worries; here he comes with strings, cord, tie wraps, and duct tape. Nothing is too complicated for him. If your drysuit or BCD keeps inflating, he will suggest you disconnect the hose when it’s not needed. He will do everything in his power to save your dive. It all seems too good to be true until you discover the problem is not fixed and you end up having an emergency. Take spares with you on every dive trip, but also be responsible —call the dive if you can’t fix a problem.

Have a dive centre and do the maintenance yourself?

That is fine if you are trained and certified for it. If not, then you have a safety and liability issue. And remember that the dive centre’s equipment is used frequently, sometimes daily. That means that service will need to be done more often.

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Proper servicing When a certified technician services your equipment, they typically give you the old or broken parts. It’s a way that a professional proves that they serviced and repaired your gear. It would be best to get a maintenance certificate that proves the service or repair was done by a professional.

Usually, the certificate lists the type and brand of item serviced and the serial number. This avoids questions when there is a problem, including possible warranty issues.

How to maintain the health of your equipment In this series, we looked at how we should keep dive equipment in good condition. If you want to know more, check with your Instructor or dive centre and ask if they have equipment speciality courses. There, you will learn more about how your equipment works and how to maintain it in a good (and safe) condition.

The value of your life and equipment is too high to underestimate the need for proper maintenance. The time and investment needed to maintain your gear correctly is relatively small and will ensure that you can dive with peace of mind.

NOT YOUR MAMA’S CARDIO Doing regular cardio can help to reduce high blood pressure, which is linked to cardiovascular disease – responsible for 30% of diving fatalities. Fit in these quick exercises to improve your health and safety underwater.

Aerobic exercise is the primary recommendation for reducing hypertension, which is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. One-third of all dive fatalities involve cardiovascular emergencies. Regular participation in aerobic interval training is a great way to proactively promote your enjoyment of the underwater world for years to come.

Aerobic conditioning through cardiovascular circuit training amounts to one-stop shopping for fitness: you gain a variety of benefits in a limited time. The premise is alternating between steady-state (consistent heart rate) cardiovascular training and a variety of higher intensity exercises. www.indigoscuba.com Try to fit in this 23-minute circuit two or three times info@indigoscuba.com a day, most days of the week. This may mean a single 083 268 1851 session each day or multiple sessions depending on your

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schedule and fitness level. The only rest period in the circuit is the transition from one exercise to the next. If you repeat the circuit, rest for two minutes in between.

Drink water throughout the workout.

1) STEADY-STATE CARDIO (5 MINUTES) Jog, swim or use any cardio machine in the fitness centre – elliptical machines, stationary bikes and steppers are all good options.

South Africa

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Tips: • To raise the intensity while keeping the impact on your joints to a minimum, increase the resistance or the incline rather than the speed.

• Never use your arms to support your body while using a machine. Handrails are for fall prevention, not leaning on. Leaning promotes poor posture, burns fewer calories and may increase the risk of injury.

• Mix it up; your body will adapt to the exercises you do. Incorporate a variety of cardiovascular activities to maximise effectiveness and eliminate boredom.

Vary the cardio within a workout or from one workout session to the next.

• Focus on your breathing – never hold your breath.

If you feel your heart rate increasing uncomfortably, take a few deep breaths to get it back under control.

You may surprise yourself by not needing to reduce the intensity, if you focus on the power of the breath.

the muscles of your core must function as stabilisers so that your limbs can propel you.

1. Lie prone (face down) on the floor.

2. Support your body with your forearms and toes. You may want to place a towel or mat under your forearms for comfort.

3. Focus your eyes on a point on the floor just in front of you.

4. Keep your spine straight.

Modification: Support yourself on your knees and forearms. Lie prone, bend your knees, moving your feet toward your buttocks, and support your body with your forearms and your thighs just above the knees.

Challenge: Add alternating leg raises.

3) STEADY-STATE CARDIO (5 MINUTES)

4) SWIMMING ARMS AND LEGS (1 MINUTE) 1. This exercise uses the muscles opposing those used in 2) PLANK (1 MINUTE) the plank to balance out the workout.

Many variations of the plank have been introduced in 2. Lie prone on the floor with your arms and legs fully previous issues of Alert Diver. The plank is a go-to move extended. because it activates your core muscles for stabilisation. 3. Continuously alternate lifting your right arm with your This is the natural function of your core in everyday left leg and your left arm with your right leg. activities, and it is of particular importance during in-water 4. If possible, do not rest any of your limbs on the floor activities, such as scuba diving. When you are submerged, during the minute.

5) STEADY-STATE CARDIO (5 MINUTES) 6) BODY-WEIGHT SUMO DEADLIFT (1 MINUTE) This exercise introduces the proper form for the sumo deadlift. Executing this movement using good form will teach your body to recruit the appropriate muscle fibres when you pick up your dive gear, minimising the risk of injury. It will also stretch your hamstrings, which tend to tighten up after some cardiovascular exercises.

1. Stand comfortably with your feet wider than shoulder width apart and your eyes looking forward.

2. Push your hips back, place your hands just above your knees (as if catching your breath), and keep your neck neutral.

3. Track your hands from inside your knees straight toward your ankles, trying to touch the floor while bending at the knees and hips.

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4. Stand up, extending your knees and hips, and squeeze your glutes at the completion of the movement.

7) STEADY-STATE CARDIO (5 MINUTES) You can repeat this cycle for two or three rounds or do each round as an individual training session – it all depends on your current fitness level and personal schedule. The best cardiovascular workout is the one that will become a regular part of your weekly routine.

Feel free to spice it up by substituting exercises that have been introduced in previous issues of Alert Diver.

Just be sure to focus on form and have fun.

To avoid an increased risk of decompression sickness, DAN recommends that divers avoid strenuous exercise for 24 hours after making a dive.

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BOESMANSGAT WOMAN’S RECORD ATTEMPT: THE DIVE

In the days preceding the record attempt, the dive team firstly placed the stage shot line in the cave and, over several dives, to different depths, placed stage cylinders with a variety of gas mixtures that would be needed for the record attempt dive on this line, with the deepest stage cylinders being set at 110m.

Once measured and verified by the impartial witnesses, the record line, with the necessary depth tags, was placed in the water, and no further diving was allowed before the main record attempt dive. One of the impartial witnesses put the tags on the line, and the event was filmed.

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The record dive was planned for 25 March 2021.

However, I fell ill with a stomach bug during the evening prior and had to postpone the record dive attempt.

I rested for the entire day and was feeling better that evening, and the following day was in better health and ready for the big dive.

Therefore, the women's depth record dive took place on 26 March 2021 in the Boesmansgat Cave, Mount Carmel Safaris Farm, Northern Cape, South Africa. The whole team had an early start, waking up at about 4 am that morning so that the dive could start as early as possible. This meant that the team descended down the

hole to the waters' edge whilst a beautiful dawn was breaking over the hole's rim. The atmosphere was tense yet quiet while everyone went about kitting up and getting ready for the dive.

In terms of the team, although not a hard-and-fast rule, the general premise was that only those busy with diving operations at any particular time were next to the hole, else they generally moved off to higher ground. However, on the record dive day, the Surface Coordinator, Jan Vorster, ran a tight ship. Only those who absolutely needed to be at the water's edge were permitted there; else, they had to move off until called upon by him.

Although Francois Bain acted as expedition leader, on the record attempt day, the reigns were handed over to our meticulous and stern surface coordinator, Jan Vorster, who made sure that each diver entered the water on time, and that information received from the support divers as they surfaced, was processed and relayed to DAN Head Quarters via Whatsapp. Since there was no cellphone reception at the water’s edge, a set of two-way radios were used to relay the message to a surface support team member (Quintin van der Walt), who then forwarded the information to DAN SA via Whatsapp. Any feedback from DAN SA would then ALERT DIVER LITE

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similarly be returned to the Surface Coordinator via the same route but in reverse.

All divers had to be searched by an Impartial witness before entering the water, including me, to ensure that no one was harbouring any fake tags or any other items that may be used to cheat on the attempt.

Once fully kitted and in the water, I took a few moments to gather my thoughts before starting my descent. The intention was to start the dive at 6.30 am, but it eventually got underway with my descent starting at 7.10 am that morning with Peter Reid, the deepest support diver, following a few minutes later. As soon as I started my descent, the nerves disappeared, and my sole focus was on the dive and the task at hand.

I descended to 30m, where I switched gases and then continued to 110m, where I again switched gases and dropped off stage cylinders. After switching gases at 110m, I finned over from the stage line to the record line and began my descent to 236m. On my descent, I passed 88

the first two tags (226m and 231m), and upon reaching the 236m tag, I hesitated briefly, considering if I should continue to the following tag but decided to stop at the 3rd tag of 236m. I clipped the 236m tag off the line and onto a D-ring attached to my dive computer strap for this purpose and then proceeded to inflate my buoyancy compensating wings to start my ascent.

However, when I inflated my wings, nothing happened; I was not starting to ascend. Something was not right. I then started to fin, trying to assist my ascent by swimming upwards and pulling myself up on the record line. I began to ascend slowly. However, exerting oneself at that depth is not a good idea. Due to the density of the gas, developing hypercapnia will occur very quickly with exertion. The exertion of finning and pulling myself up on the line did cause me to become out-of-breath, and I struggled to catch my breath again. I kept telling myself, “you need to slow your breathing, slow deep breaths”, but my body was not responding, and I was hyperventilating.

To make matters worse, whilst pulling myself up along the line, I got snagged on the 226m tag, which I had to unclip and drop to free myself. I was ascending but slowly, way too slow! When I reached 211m, I briefly stopped, and it was then that I felt the tug on one of my legs. At this point, I realized that my legs and fins had become tangled in what looked like a polypropylene line attached to something at the bottom of the cave. I managed to shake off the line and was then able to continue my ascent. Now that I was free from whatever was holding me down, I was ascending much too quickly, and it took me some time to deflate my wings and gain control of my ascent. My first support diver, Peter Reid, was waiting at 200m, and he later reported that he clearly saw me take the tag at 236m but did not see the loose polypropylene line until I had ascended back to 211m. We concluded that I must have become tangled in the line at 236m and then dragged it up with me to 211m.

Once back at 110m, I finned over to the stage shot line where I picked up additional cylinders and did my first gas switch for the ascent. I also met two extra support divers at 110m (Don Hauman and Michael Partridge), the support divers monitored my gas switch to ensure no signs of isobaric counter diffusion developed and took some of the stage cylinders no longer required from me. I then continued to ascend to the 80m mark, where I picked up additional stage cylinders. It was here where Don reached out and squeezed my arm, my nerves still on high alert from the events that had unfolded, and I turned and looked at him with a “what now” look, but there was no problem, it was just a “you got this” squeeze on my arm.

At 60m, I met another two support divers (Jakob Iten and Atish Dayal). First to meet me at 60m was Jakob to monitor my gas switch and check on the status of all the deep divers before making his way to the surface to deliver the first news back to the surface team. This was followed by the arrival of Atish, who would stay with me for the next 1.5hrs or so until I reached 30m. At 30m, I again met up with two support divers, firstly Joseph Birtles, to monitor my gas switch and check on the status of all the divers in the water before ascending to provide an update

to the surface team. This was followed by the arrival of Francois Bain, who would stay with me for the next 1.5 hours or so until I reached 18m. From 30m upwards, the support divers started bringing me warm fluids to keep me hydrated and warm. At this point, I realized that one of my dive computers had started malfunctioning and had started giving inaccurate depth readings – at just shallower than 30m, it was reading a depth of 1.7m and then started jumping to different depths and then back to the correct depth and then back to 1.7m. I decided to disregard the information that this dive computer gave me and completed the dive using my other computer. At 18m, I met additional support divers. First Hani Williams and then later Louis Henrico.

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The total dive time was 7hrs and 18mins, of which the first 15 minutes was spent on the descent to the maximum achieved depth. Once I had safety reached 3m, I was relieved, the dive was almost over, and I was safe, there had been no signs of decompression illness that had developed up to this point, and anything that did happen now would be much more easily managed by the support team. The last two hours of the dive spent at 3m were very challenging and went by very slowly! I was cold, hungry, my feet were numb from the squeeze in my drysuit, and the bright sunlight surface was just above me. However, you know that you can, under no circumstances, surface until the entire decompression obligation has been met.

On surfacing, I handed the 236m depth tag to an impartial witness, Theo van Eeden. This was also witnessed by both Frank Slabbert and Kevin Dolphin of CMAS South Africa, who were also impartial witnesses. I was tired, but overall felt pretty good considering I had just dived 236m and spent over 7hrs in the water. It felt unreal. With the support and assistance of a fantastic team, I had achieved an almost lifelong goal, which at times had seemed impossible. It has been an enriching journey of selfdiscovery and personal development, and I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people and develop life-long friendships along the way.

Written by Jill Holloway Photos by Gemma Dry & Allen Walker

BAITED DIVING WITH TIGER SHARKS

The shark is the epitome of an apex predator. With his lean sleek shape, he can cut through the water like a bullet to home in on the food.

He is programmed for fight or flight. He is either attacking and eating, or afraid and fleeing.

I’m just your average recreational PADI Nitrox diver.

Walter Bernardis is the ultimate Alpha Male. He doesn’t mince words, and he does not make allowances for girls that behave like girls. You fit into his world; his world does not fit around you. So when I made a date to interview him about diving in open water with Tiger sharks, he said ‘ I’d rather show you’.

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No coffee, no padded microphone, no voice recordings - a full on dive. In open Water full of food and Tiger Sharks, the ultimate opportunist predator. Thank you, Walter, what a great interview this is going to be.

I hardly slept the night before. This was my first solo dive adventure, and I was really nervous, nobody to check my gear, nobody to make sure everything worked, I was on my own.

It was fine, Walter’s guys did the necessary checks, filled my BC pockets with lead, and we loaded the gear onto his boat. He drove from his Guesthouse to the Umkomaas beach. He launches from a lagoon, into the ocean, DEPTH MAGAZINE

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through breaking waves. The launch itself was an adventureI’ve seen rubber cuks split in those waves. There were with 5 big macho Scandanavian guys on board and me, by this stage a rather nervous diving journalist who made amateur videos so I’d remember the details of my dives.

I sit at the back of the boat normally, it’s a smoother ride, and I don’t mind getting wet- but there was a whole disgusting mess of dead smelly sardines in a bucket under my nose, and I hastily moved forward.

Plenty of dive centers offer shark diving, and normally if they want to guarantee sharks, they must feed them. This makes for dramatic spectacular diving, and an adrenalin rush like you have never felt because it is dangerous.

Walter Bernardis of African Water Sports in Umkomaas South Africa dives a lot, and he really understands sharks.

He grew up on the beach, got a teaching degree,and weekends he spent driving divers to look at Aliwal Shoal.

He studied Ragged Tooth sharks, and he realized that not a lot was being done to protect the sharks on the coast.

Fishing competitions were taking out the big Bull sharls, 92

the Sharks Board nets were killing anything that got close to shore, and the shark population was being decimated by over fishing as by-catch.

To raise awareness of the nature of sharks and the need to protect them, he started offering dives with them, and the Tiger Shark Dive on Aliwal Shoal was born. To ensure that his guests would see sharks, he had to feed them.

I asked him what precautions are needed. My simple question unleashed a torrent of information.

You do not want him to think you are food and attack you. You do not want to sit on a short surfboard above an area where sharks hang out. You will look like a turtle and may attract the attention of a Tiger. He will not eat you, but he might taste you. You do not want to be tasted by a Tiger. His mouth can remove half your torso.

You do not want to frighten him, if you are a diver you want to watch him. Sharks are timid when confronted by things they do not understand. So, do not look like a threat. Do not swim horizontally towards them. Do not make any sudden movements.

Choose your equipment carefully. Nothing must look like food.

Wear black, no flashy fins with gleaming inserts (my bright yellow Mares Plana Avanti fins are not a good bet for this, but I wore them anyway) Wear a full body wetsuit with no bare flesh which could look like the white underbelly of prey. Wear gloves and sox. Full black.

You must not have any loose hair that will float up. It must be in a hoody or confined.

No loose shiny equipment make sure your dangling shackles are covered or hidden. No loose SMB or reels.

No shiny regs or other equipment. On a baited dive this briefing can take an hour while you prepare for the drop.

Once we got to the site Walter began the briefing, while Tiny his first mate prepared the bait. This was shoveled into a big plastic ball, that was attached to a 12 metre chain and a second drum. Each had a hatch cut in the top, and then they were lowered into the water. The smell was absolutely disgusting- ripe sardines, every shark’s dream banquet.

The whole assembly was attached to the boat, the briefing began, and we waited for the sharks to come.

Walter had already checked our credentials, and mine were good, I had more than 1000 dives, I had done a PADI advanced diving course in the days when the shark specialty was part of the course so I had dived with sharks before. But never in open water with food in the water. To me it was abundantly clear from the briefing that Tigers see anything as food. The Sharks Board in Umhlanga had done an autopsy on a dead Tiger, and found a small motor car tyre, some Zulu beads, and portion of a goat. I suddenly realized that I could be seen as a member of the shark food chain. I began to get that flutter in my solar plexus that tells me its time to bail. I had to ignore it because Walter was talking.

‘You guys are all advanced divers with more than 100 dives, and you should be strong confident swimmers. On the count of THREE we will all roll back together. If you miss the drop, you’ve missed the dive. We will do a negative entry and vertical descent to 15 metres immediately, DEPTH MAGAZINE

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and you must all do this together as a group. The entire group should remain vertical, with nobody hanging behind the group looking like a sick fish and becoming a target. All members of the group should hover at the same at the same depth. Do not start flapping your hands, and no slow descents below 15 meters. Food sinks, you do not want to look like food.’

I was beside a young guy from Sweden. He looked a little green, and he was diving with his dad. ‘How do you feel?’ I asked. He turned away- and lost his breakfast, fortunately into the sea, and away from me. Poor little guy, he had probably been scared from the minute he arrived.

The first signs of shark in the water appeared- a fin, a snout- and Walter stood up.

‘OK guys and girls, time to go.’ He shrugged into his gear, and so did we. ‘Three Two One Go’ and we dropped as a single unit.

This entire briefing prepares you for a baited dive with a Tiger shark. I was expecting one or maybe two Tiger sharks. Nothing prepared me for the frenzy in the water of 72 black tip, grey reef and white tip sharks fighting over the bait as we hit the water. Take a look at the video. https://youtu.be/aFUf0RMXTX0 These guys were hungry, and the DM started flicking 94

sardines out of the bait ball at the top. They rushed past, eagerly grabbing morsels as they flashed past towards the bait ball.

I had nothing to tie my hair with, and I was quickly in trouble. It floated above my head, and a black tip came barreling past above my head with his mouth open to grab a morsel of sardine. He got a strand got a strand of my hair stuck in a tooth. Luckily it was only a small bit- anything bigger and I could have been dragged away from the dive. The hair tore out, it hurt like hell, jerked me up and spoilt my shot. On the dive, watch that your bubbles do not spoil the shot of a photographer.

Below there was movement, and Walter made the signal- Tiger. We all stopped moving and formed our circle around the chain between the bait ball and bucket.

When the Tiger arrives the water goes cold, time stands still, and the other sharks veer off. His arrogance is just mind blowing. He looks and behaves as though he owns the ocean.

Walter made a descend signal, and he grabbed my gloved hand and indicated that I follow him. He slowly sank towards the bottom bait bucket- right towards where the Tiger was beginning to feed. I snagged my finger in one of the loops on his BC and followed him down, filming as we went. As we arrived at the bucket, so did the shark. It was not a male it was a huge female, 4.5 metres long, and she

flicked round and looked directly at me, then she moved towards us and sank her teeth into the rubber padded links of the chain holding the bait bucket.

Walter stretched out my hand towards her mouthwhere teeth 8 inches long were waiting to taste me.

I recorded myself squealing on camera as I backed off. My god, no way would I put my hand anywhere near those teeth. Incredibly in this terrifying moment my PADI training kicked in. DON’T TOUCH. So I hooked my fingers back into his BC and watched as Walter began to stroke the line of black dimples on the side of her mouth. She became strangely calm, stopped worrying at the bait bucket and flashed a lid across her eye. I let go of Walter’s BC and moved away, still filming. Walter moved slowly towards her and stroked her side, then he grabbed her dorsal fin, she moved away and he left with her.

That was the most fascinating interview I have ever done. Live on camera, with Walter Bernardis and a Tiger, under the sea, and under extreme adrenalin conditions.

If anyone tells you that diving is not an adrenalin rush, don’t believe them. My Scuba divers Uncensored Group all say diving is calming. Normally I would agree until you do that one dive in the company of a master that becomes the most exciting dive the strongest adrenaline rush and biggest adventure you can have.

What do you do if a hungry Tiger goes rogue, mistakes

you for prey and starts an attack? Well, he is programmed for speed and cannot be easily stopped. Walter suggests that you do not swim away. Make a loud noise with your reg in your mouth and stay vertical. Do not flap your hands or kick. Do not sink in the water. He will veer off.

Having seen the Tiger up close and personal, of course he won’t touch you, he’s only interested in savaging the rubber around the chain. I did not have to test this, but I for sure believe everything Walter tells me.

We all exited the water swiftly, and together. We did not hang about in the water looking like food, it could have been detrimental to our health. And the guy who was sick couldn’t wait to hear our adventures. He missed the drop, and Tiny kept him on the boat.

Umkomaas Tiger Shark Dive How to get there, where to stay: Fly to King Chaka airport Kwazulu Natal South Africa, rent a car and travel south Accommodation varied, but best at African Watersports/ Walter Bernardis Diving the Tigers African Watersports Walter Bernardis Diving with Tigers Blue wilderness Safaris, Ryan Johnson African Dive Adventures, Beulah and Roland Mause COSTS ZAR 1800-2400 1 week is enough, then go north to Sodwana

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SHIPWRECKS ALONG THE COASTS OF CAP DE LA HAGUE Written by Matthias Dufour

Today, we are heading to one of the most beautiful corners of France, often nicknamed “Little Ireland”, towards Cap de la Hague, in the north-west of Normandy.

This very small territory conceals a maritime history of great richness and an extraordinary underwater heritage.

Indeed, the seabed off Cap de la Hague is strewn with wrecks, some of which are pure marvels.

Presentation Saying that the Cap de La Hague is a land of shipwrecks is a no-brainer. Indeed, for centuries, this piece of land "sculpted by the wind" has witnessed many fortunes of the sea.

Today the Cap de La Hague and its surroundings are a genuine underwater cemetery. It has long been a busy place of navigation between England, France, and 96

the Channel Islands. It is also the entrance (or the exit…) of the Channel where practically all the transatlantic maritime traffic rushes.

One of the most important maritime traffic in the world The intense traffic was the cause of several accidents.

Like that of Spolanda, a 62-meter Dutch coaster built in 1958. On August 24, 1965, around midnight, the coaster passed the Raz Blanchard. On the deck, the captain saw the lights of a ship on his starboard side.

According to international maritime law, the Dutch ship must cede its priority and maneuver to avoid getting in its path. On its starboard side, came the Bruges freighter belonging to the Belgian shipowner Deppe from the port of Antwerp. The freighter was heading

to Miami. On deck, the lookout saw the Spolanda for several minutes. The latter being precisely on his port side, the lieutenant maintained his course.

On board of the coaster, the captain thought he could pass in front of the Belgian boat without disturbing it in its way. Therefore, it kept its course and its pace.

At 0:30, the tragedy occurred, the Spolanda has just spurred the Bruges on starboard before. The shock was very violent for the two ships, they were pushed against each other. As the water rushed through the bow, Sir Cirkel, the captain of the Spolanda, immediately understood that his ship was lost. He therefore gathered his entire crew on deck and launched the lifeboat. The first people on board were Madame Cirkel and her

daughter. Then the men jumped one after the other into the boat. Fortunately, thanks to the speed of the evacuation, all the crew were saved. Effectively, seven minutes after the accident, the coaster Spolanda sank into the waters of the Raz Blanchard.

On board the Bruges, Captain Malherbe ordered a rowboat to be put into the sea which immediately came to the aid. They are quickly hoisted aboard the Bruges and comforted. No injuries were to be deplored. Only Madame Cirkel, who was expecting, was severely concussed.

Then the Bruges headed for Cherbourg and docked quai de France at 5.20 am. The forepeak of the Belgian ship was flooded, but bulkhead n°1 was intact, which allowed it to stay afloat…

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Seven years after the Spolanda ’s wreckage, the shipwreck of the German coaster Stade on August 5, 1972 at 6 am was completely disastrous. Manfred Bloom, master crew of the Stade, was sleeping peacefully in his cabin. Suddenly, he is violently thrown to the ground. The ship had just been hit. Immediately, Bloom tried to reach the catwalk. But once on deck, the Stade capsized and the sailor was again thrown into the water. At this moment, Manfred Bloom has not yet understood what has happened about ten miles north of the Cap de la Hague.

The Ciudad de Manizales, a Colombian cargo ship of 15 000 tons, left the port of Le Havre the day before and was due to reach Venezuela. But an hour after daybreak, the freighter crashed into the Stade. The German ship was literally cut in half in shock. The stern sank very quickly, taking most of the crew with it. The Ciudad de Manizales had several damages. Its machines broke down. Captain Sanguino, commander of the Colombian ship, gave the order to put a boat in the sea to try to save potential survivors of the Stade.

Manfred Bloom, bathing in an oiled sea, managed to grab a life jacket that floated at the surface. Thanks to an almost superhuman effort of almost an hour, Bloom managed to reach the Ciudad de Manizales.

Enno Offermann, a Stade’s sailor, was lucky to be picked up by the Colombian ship after spending nearly two hours in the water. The Colombian sailors’ patrol allowed the bodies of Second Lieutenant Wilhelm Kuhl and Engineer Menzel to be recovered.

Despite of the imposing device put in place by the coastguards, nine German sailors will never be found.

The two survivors were shipped to Le Havre by the Ciudad de Manizales.

The upturned bow of the Stade drifted for nearly two days before it was sank by the French Navy. The bow went down a few miles from the rest of the vessel.

A Naval battle off La Hague The geographical and strategic location of NordCotentin convinced the King of France Louis XVI to create the military port of Cherbourg. The latter witnessed many naval battles of major importance.

The most famous remains the clash between the southern cruiser CSS Alabama and the corvette USS Kearsarge on June 19, 1864 which saw the loss of the former. With the Kearsarge within range, the Alabama opened fire at 11:10 a.m. The USS Kearsarge plunged immediately. The two ships then started making a series of circles. Despite equal firepower, The Kearsarge took a clear advantage. The salvos from Alabama had little effect on the hull of the northern vessel. After an hour of fierce struggle, victim of a waterway that continued to worsen, Alabama sent all its sails to reach French waters. But the Kearsarge quickly understood the maneuver and fired another salvo. It was then that Captain Semmes decided to evacuate Alabama. The canoes were launched then the three-masted barque sank from the stern. Captain Semmes, his mate and forty sailors were picked up by an English yacht whereas others by the USS Kearsarge.

The battle, which killed twenty-six sailors, was considered a worldwide event. Many onlookers gathered on the Cotentin coast to appreciate the show… Even the famous painter Édouard Manet immortalized the final scene on

one of his paintings. To date, the Alabama’s wreck is the only known American Civil War place outside of North America. The wreckage is dislocated and very silted, the highest point is the chimney still placed above the block of the four boilers. At the rear, the lifting screw is still standing. The rests lie at the bottom, 60 meters deep.

U-Boot attacks The Cotentin was also the site of many shipwrecks caused by German U-Boats during the fist and the second world war. The deadliest event was undoubtedly the torpedoing of the Belgian ship Léopoldville by the U-boat U 486, on the eve of Christmas 1944.

Today this shipwreck remains the deadliest maritime disaster in the entire Channel with more than 800 lives lost. The wreck, on the port side, is located at the bottom, 60 meters deep. The stern, well known and famous for divers, lies a few meters from the rest of the wreck.

We can still see on the side of the hell the impact of the torpedoes that caused the sinking.

The other great vestige of the second world war off La Hague is the Nazi auxiliary cruiser HSK Komet. On October

Private Collection CSS Alabama at anchor in Singapore

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13, 1942, he left the port of Le Havre, with several escort ships such as M-boots and four destroyers of the second and third T-flotilla , the T 4, T10, T 14 and T 19, heading for the Western Channel. The British admiralty, informed of the Komet ’s departure, decided to ambush the auxiliary cruiser off the Cap de la Hague.

A group of eight torpedo boats (MTB 49, 55, 56, 84, 95, 203, 229, and MTB 236 and five destroyers including three British (Albrighton, Cottesmore and Quorn) and two Norwegian (Eskdale and Glaisdale) attacked at 1:00 am the German convoy five miles north of the Cap de la Hague. The latter did not expect an attack so close to the coast, believing themselves to be under the protection of the coastal batteries. Very quickly, the Komet has been hit by two torpedoes launched by MTB 236, commanded

by Second Lieutenant Drayson. The cruiser only needed two minutes to sink into the sea with two hundred and seventy-four crew members on board. On the English side, only two men died…

Today, the Komet is the only vestige visible from above of this armada of « raiders » launched by the Third Reich. It is probably the most beautiful wreck off the coast of La Hague. The wreck, in good condition, is returned with the starboard side off the bottom.

Oriented at 60/240, it lies on a between 57 and 64 meters deep and rises more than 13 meters.

Tidal currents dangerous The “Raz Blanchard”, one of the strongest tidal currents in Europe, is another major cause of many shipwrecks in La Hague.

In recent centuries, several ships have been victims of violent sea currents, the best-known is the French submarine Vendémiaire.

On June 7, 1912, the 3rd squadron, attached to the port of Brest, joined Cherbourg to carry out major maneuvers there. So six battleships and three cruisers under the command of Saint-Louis headed towards the NordCotentin. Their enemies for a day were the submarines at the Cherbourg base. Therefore, three submarines left the large bay of Cherbourg on June 8 at 4:00 am, the Vendémiaire, under the command of lieutenant Prioul, the Méssidor and the Floréal.

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Les Épaves du Grizzly The Belgian liner Léopoldville

Éric Legigan A porthole on the wreck of the Komet

Les Épaves du Grizzly The submarine Vendémiaire at Arsenal de Cherbourg

At 5:00 a.m., the squadron passed the northeastern tip of Alderney. But the mist was thick and the visibility was very bad. The Vendémiaire was travelleding carefully and with discretion in periscope immersion.

On board, the presence of the battleships was felt by the roar of their powerful steam engines. According to the estimates of Lieutenant Prioul, the Saint-Louis had to be in its firing line.

Unfortunately, it was not. On board the battleship Saint-Louis, the watchmen saw the Vendémiaire appearing just in front of its bow. The battleship was indeed attempting an evasive maneuver, but it was already too late. The submarine was literally cut in half at

the kiosk level. The bow of the Vendémiaire immediately sank. The stern, after having emerged for a moment, sank in raging all the port side of the battleship. A boiling followed by a slick of oil destroyed any hope of saving any crew member. Twenty-four sailors were on board.

Rescue operations were impossible because of the depth of the maritime position. One member of the crew, Quartermaster Mechanic Caugan, escaped the disaster because he remained ashore for a supply chore.

Facing south, the wreck lies today more than 75 meters deep in the middle of the Raz Blanchard. It is placed on its keel with a slight inclination to starboard.

Despite the almost complete disappearance of the thin

hull, the wreck is well-preserved. The breach caused by the collision with the Saint-Louis is located just in front of the conning tower and is over two meters long.

What is more, this paper highlights the richness of La Hague submarine heritage. Many wrecks have not been yet discovered, therefore wrecks’ hunters have still a huge research work…

The only dive center that allows people to dive on all these beautiful wreck sites is the Hague Marine club located in front the port of Omonville la Rogue.

To finish with, if you are interested in the wrecks of La Hague, I invite you to visit the website: Les Épaves du Grizzly (https://epavesdugrizzly.fr) DEPTH MAGAZINE 101

PYGMY SEA HORSES AND OTHER TOOTHLESS CRITTERS

Written by Mike Scotland

The Pygmy Sea Horse is a tiny creature with a huge impact on divers. These brilliant little animals are one to three centimetres long. Occasionally a giant Bargibanti at four centimetres can be found. They are just as amazing as all the tropical Pygmy Sea Horses and have equally brilliant camouflage. We are in the middle of a new age of discovery. Great adventurers beneath the sea are finding so many new species. What a rich bounty of sea life we are discovering! Over the last twenty years, millions of scuba dives have led to the discovery of many new species, especially in the coral triangle. This is best illustrated in the Pygmy Sea Horses.

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Is the Pygmy Sea Horse a fish? Sure, it is. It has gills, a two chambered heart and it is cold blooded. However, they have many features that push the definition of fish to the side and stretched it to extremes. Here is another fish that does not conform to the norm. There is a long list of anatomical features that this family of fish possess that are simply a long way from the traditional idea of what a fish is. They bend the truth a long way. In fact, if humans displayed the same variation on a theme as Sea Horses do, we would have people with wings, body armour, pregnant men giving male birth. Sam the gadget man would not be the stuff of fictional children’s stories. It would be a fact!

Take the fact that fish have scales. This family have fused scales that make up bony rings and arches all over their bodies. It makes them quite inflexible. This sacrifice of flexibility and armour plating makes them unpalatable to most predators. It also gives them lots of protection from parasites, bacterial and fungal disease.

The big tail fin of normal fish is gone. Instead, most have a pointy tail because they do not need to swim fast. Some of the Pipe fish retain a tail. The Pygmy Pipe Horses and Sea Horses have gone to the extreme and developed a tail which can hold on to kelp. This prehensile tail is muscular and flexible. It holds on to

sponges and seaweeds so that its owner does not drift off into the current.

They have this ‘silly’ little dorsal fin that beats up to eighty times a second to propel themselves forward, one millimetre at a time. It is almost useless for serious motion. It is perfect for the fine motor movements that the sea Horse family need to feed and manoeuvre through sea grasses and kelp beds. The pectoral fins are similar. If you look at their lifestyle of plucking zooplankton from the reef, these very delicate fins give them excellent manoeuvrability in their 3-D world. They can orient themselves at all sorts of angles to get at krill.

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VIDEO TO GO HERE

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It is all about fine motor skills. The little fins are just right!

The big tail fins and streamlined shape has been sacrificed for the Sea Horse look. They do not do marathon swims. Rather, they will stay in one place for months.

Their lifestyle is based around feeding on swarms of tiny crustaceans that mill about the forests of sea grass and Kelp. Syngnatidae are highly specialised to feed on this prodigious never-ending banquet. They choose to locate a place where there is abundant food and hang about.

They like tidal areas where currents bring rich supply of nutrients and wave action is minimal.

As a matter of interest to those ecologically minded people, the sea grasses and kelp beds create a lot of marine compost called detritus. This is the basis of food chains and is broken down by marine bacteria and fungi as well as detritus feeders. Many shrimp species are detritus feeders and break down this marine compost to recycle it.

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A major cause of death in this family is rough seas.

During storms, Sea Horses go deeper and use their tails to hang onto kelp. Weedy Sea Dragons are frequently killed in big storms.

The name Syngnathidae refers to their fused jaw.

Imagine you had to eat through a straw with your hands behind your back. You would have to suck in food through the straw and swallow it whole. The sea is brim full of tiny shrimp, worms, and eggs. Sea Horses live in a sea filled with a constant supply of planktonic food. They literally must sit and wait for food to drift by.

They have a protrusile mouth which can be shot out toward prey. Water is sucked into the mouth and food items are plucked and sucked in one motion into the mouth. Sometimes, Weedy Sea Dragons will feed right in front of you. You can see their incredible jaw action in the wild.

Nearly all fish have their heads pointing in the same direction as their body and they swim horizontally. The Sea Horse’s head is at right angles to its body, and it has adopted a vertical stance. This posture probably gives it an advantage in feeding and in its lifestyle of hiding in the sea grass and kelp beds.

The reversal of sex roles in Sea Horses is legendary.

However, there is more to this. Females use an ‘ovipositor’ to place their eggs into a pouch of a willing male. Eggs pass down into this tube and she places the eggs into the male’s pouch. Zoologists sometimes refer to the penis as an ‘ovipositor’ which places male eggs (sperm) into the female’s reproductive system. An ovipositor is not normally called a penis. In the world of Zoology, it has a broader meaning of anything that is used to position eggs.

The question here is, does the female Sea Horse have a penis. No, it does not. The definition has become blurred

in this case even though it is a fleshy tube for depositing her eggs. Interesting!

Yes, that’s right! The female has a long tube which places her eggs into his pouch. Inside the male Sea Horse’s pouch, the skin has a conjunctival layer.

Normally, the lining of a uterus is conjunctival tissue, rich in blood vessels.

Eggs deposited into the male’s pouch cause the tissue lining to swell and become sponge like. Capillary blood vessels enlarge and multiply just like the formation of a placenta in the uterus of mammals. Each egg deposited into the spongy tissue forms a quadrangular compartment nourished by these blood vessels. Eggs that do not embed degenerate and die off. The lining of the male’s pouch contains blood vessels that help the eggs to develop. Tissue grows around the eggs and provides some nourishment and oxygen. Go figure it out!

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Sea Horses are known to have a swim bladder. They can suffer barotrauma when subjected to sudden changes of depth, especially in shallow water. They can use their swim bladder to make fine adjustments to their buoyancy just like most fish do. They have been protected for close to twenty years. Before that, people capturing them and taking them home most likely found that the swim bladder burst, and the Sea Horse died.

We are fortunate in Sydney to have resident Sea Horses. The two commonest species are the Big Bellied Sea Horse and White’s Sea Horse. The Big Bellied Sea Horse is Hippocampus abdominalis. I have seen these around Botany Bay for over thirty years. Occasionally they seem to disappear for a while and then they return. In Sydney, they grow to 10 to 12 cms. Down in Tasmania, they are more than double in size.

WEEDY SEA DRAGONS In the case of the Weedy Sea Dragon, the skin grows 108

around the eggs and supports and nourishes the eggs as well via a network of blood capillaries. Pregnant males can be seen from about mid-July right through to February and beyond in years when the water is cooler.

They stop breeding in Autumn as days get shorted and food supplies diminish.

Occasionally, I have found baby Weedy Sea Dragons that are about three centimetres long. These are just a few days old. When they are born, the baby Dragon is wrapped inside an egg a few millimetres in diameter.

On their birth, they unravel and are probably about 2 centimetres long. It is hard to imagine how the long thin baby fitted into the tiny egg. They do grow rapidly and triple in length in the first three weeks. Naturally, they lead a very secretive lifestyle clinging very close to the finer seaweeds on the sea floor.

It is very hard to sex a Weedy Sea Dragon in the wild. When the male is pregnant, it is a piece of cake. I

have noticed that there is a right-angle notch where the reproductive opening is on the female. Males have a slightly more angular shape here. As females age, they become bulkier in the body while young females are slender. Other than that, the sexes are virtually identical.

The scientific name, Phyllopteryx taeniolotus is worth looking at closely as it describes the animal.

Phyllopteryx refers to leafy wings and taeniolotus refers to ribbon like seaweed.

PYGMY PIPE HORSES Pygmy Pipe Horses are a total mystery. Nothing is known about their lifestyle. However, it is probably safe to assume that they do similar thing to their close relatives, the Sea Horses. I have observed what I think are breeding pairs over several years. I think that they live for 2 to 4 years and seem to pair up for long periods of time. I have observed pairs of them that remain together for months and up to two years. I have witnessed them

mating, a very rare event. They swim up into the water column excitedly and go belly to belly for about 2 to 3 seconds and quickly descend to the safety of their cryptic camouflage hideaway.

MIKE SCOTLAND Mike started diving in 1976. He has been a scuba instructor since 1982 and has done 6700 dives on the Great Barrier Reef and all over the Pacific. Favourite diving is near home in Sydney. He has written hundreds of articles mainly on Marine Biology, fish, and dive travel for many magazines. His two main passions are underwater photography and Marine Biology. Currrently, Mike is Editor of Dive Log Australasia, Australia’s premier online scuba diving magazine.

He is running a free Marine Biology course. www.divelog.net.au. Facebook Dive Log Australasia and Mike Scotland. His web site is www.mikescotland.com.au DEPTH MAGAZINE 109

Written by Greet Meulepas

WRECKS AS REEFS

ARE WRECKS UP TO THE TASK OF BEING ARTIFICIAL REEFS? 110

Mauritian history is filled with wrecks. From anchoring point on the Spice Routes to Pirate Island to Colony…; from the moment the originally uninhabited island of Mauritius came into contact with humans, it came into contact with ships. In addition, this Mascarene island is surrounded by a fringing reef and has a cyclone season. As a result “About a hundred wrecks from various periods have settled on the seabed around Mauritius”.

Some have been salvaged. Some are still lost and may never be found. As Carracks and Sloops were vessels made of wood, often only close to indestructible items like canons made it through the test of time and became the sole proof of wreckages that once were there.

Nowadays, most of the many dive-able wrecks here in Mauritius have been sunk on purpose.

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The oldest deliberate wrecks are four decades of age. Many others started their second life as artificial reefs less than ten years ago.

An artificial reef is a man-made structure placed (by accident or not) in the ocean to attract wildlife and for corals to grow upon.

They are currently very popular as ways to help save reefs around the world. They come in many shapes and sizes like iron structures, concrete blocks with holes in, old tires, statues and other forms of art and wrecks. The idea is that these structures get colonised and will eventually be covered by the same coral species and with a comparable biodiversity as the natural reefs in the area. In many cases corals, coming from a coral nursery, are planted on the structures to increase the success-rate.

Wrecks normally don’t get this coral-planting service and though they do get covered over the years with all kinds of life like algae, corals and anemones, they never reach the coral cover of a natural reef.

Nonetheless, wrecks can be a true wildlife magnet!

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Since the little wreck of the Tug II is close to where we live we have dived this charming site multiple times.

And though not all dives are equally exciting, most of the dives we have done here have been anything between great and A-MA-ZING! This wreck has treated us to multiple pink whiprays, leaf fish, dolphins, bait balls of thousands of fish being attacked by a small group of well cooperating predators…. We even saw two sailfish once, indeed, this close to shore!

Yet even the TUG II, while sunk in the early eighties, has not become a colourful and diverse reef.

The benefit of wrecks as artificial reefs lies in the fact that they attract wildlife and that they provide shelter for many animals. In that way they do act as a reef substitute. Thus they can divert some pressure away from natural reefs while still allowing visitors to enjoy the diverse marine life.

We should be careful though. Sinking ships comes with a risk. Especially when it is done close to a healthy reef. A newly sunk vessel can attract invading species that overgrow and suffocate the local reef. Diversity

will be lost and that is exactly what we do not want to happen when trying to improve reef systems.

Vessels and other structures aimed to become reefs should be deep cleaned and free from polluting chemicals. They cannot consist of toxic materials. Due to their hazardous potential the use of tires for example should be avoided.

An artificial reef is no synonym for ‘easy way to dump garbage that we can’t get rid of otherwise’.

Once there was a time I believed that reefs could recover on their own. If we adjusted our ways, controlled overfishing, reversed pollution….

Since it may be too late for all that right now, I am more of the opinion that we should do everything we can, including placing artificial reefs. Wrecks can aid in this by offering an alternative for divers and anglers while both artificial and natural reefs are left alone to grow and recover respectively.

Of all man-made structures placed in the ocean, including art sculptures, statues and the like, I find wrecks the most charming and exciting ones.

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Written by Jill Holloway

THE GLORIOUS CORAL WRECKS OF MAURITIUS

What happens when a ship sinks? It becomes part of the ocean, and it becomes a shelter for an incredible variety of marine life. Over 500 ships have been wrecked off the coast of Mauritius over the last 420 years since it was first occupied by the Dutch East India Company in 1598.

The World’s Largest Oceanographic State is part of the Mascarene Plateau, and on the transverse routes between Cape Town and the Red Sea, between Africa and India, and between Asia and Africa, and it’s surrounded by a fringing coral reef which can be deadly if you don’t know the passes through the reef.

Many of the early slavers that sank to oblivion with their human cargoes have completely disintegrated, and treasure ships have been gutted and pillaged while their treasure can still be seen in many private and public collections around Mauritius.

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The most recent shipping casualty is The Super ship Wakashio.

Built in 2007, weighing some 208 000 tons and 300 metres long Wakashio was a bulk carrier travelling from China via Singapore to Brazil, empty, but with a valuable ballast of 4000 tons of Low Sulphur Fuel Oil in its bunkers. It ran aground on the fringing Coral Barrier reef off Point d’Esny in the extreme South of Mauritius. The Coast Guard notified the various authorities, and I wondered who would get the vary lucrative salvage. The owners, Nagashiki Company said they would arrange a specialized salvage team to come from the Netherlands to deal with this enormous, stranded vessel. Super ships cannot be salvaged by normal means. This one required specialized expertise.

Why was it so close to shore?

During the COVID lockdowns mariners were not allowed to disembark for months at a time, and it’s believed that these men were desperate for Wi-Fi to contact with their families. There was a birthday party on board, and they wanted to get close enough to the Mauritius Wi-Fi towers to contact their families. Most ships do not have Wi-Fi coverage. They communicate by radio.

Tragically, this became the most expensive birthday ever held. Within a week the rough seas caused a rupture in the hull and breached one of the fuel oil bunkers. LSFO began to pour into the stunningly beautiful turquoise lagoon. It was shocking to see the effect of black smelly crude oil on our pristine ocean.

When there’s a national crisis the UK mobilizes the SAS. The US mobilizes the Marines. Mauritius

mobilizes the population. The response to the National Mobilization was absolutely unbelievable. A National Crisis Committee was formed which included the Mauritian Scuba Divers Association, and we worked on solutions to stop the oil from contaminating our corals and mangroves and our beautiful Blue Bay Marine Park.

Every day there were thousands of Mauritians from all walks of life filling hand stitched shade cloth snakes with sugar cane trash and bagasse. Fishermen used their pirogues to lay them down in the ocean as oil buffers.

Hairdressers in France were collecting hair to add to the bales. For days everyone in Mauritius, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, raced to the South of the Island to help make and deploy bales to stop the oil.

I was very lucky. Commissioner of Police Khemraj Servansing invited me to attend the National Crisis DEPTH MAGAZINE 115

Committee meetings and I was awed by the extraordinary focus of this team. The NCC met at 2 pm every day. The Prime Minister and the various ministers arrived at 4 pm. The meetings were focused, following the agenda and rapidly implemented the various specialist recommendations. It was like a Board Meeting on steroids.

Within days, specialists from 7 Nations were assembled from all over the world. As Mathew Summerville chief of Oil Spill containment quoted “when Mauritius needs help, we all want to help. Everyone loves Mauritius. I can’t wait to take time out to dive here.” They were all deployed as needed.

Since Mauritius was COVID free foreigners were subject to rigorous COVID restrictions. Lodged in empty 5-star tourist resorts, they were quarantined from the general population. They came to meetings masked and

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in hazmat suits, made their reports then went back to work. It was disciplined and extremely reassuring.

THE SALVAGE I asked Chris the salvor from the Netherlands how it compared with others he has done. “it’s a difficult salvage because of the rough seas, the delicacy of the reef and the size of the ship” he told me. The size of 4 soccer fields, the ship called for unique expertise. The ballast fuel oil was pumped off the ship and stored, but the diesel and the engine oil in the engine had to be pumped out then lifted out by Helicopter in 800 one-ton loads. 5 helicopters were involved and it took months.

The salvage team had to enter the engine room to pump but had to be stopped because it was too dangerous in bad weather. Booms were in place. They are moved according to need. Military operation.

Military style reporting. Precise.

THE SHIP Ship fell into two parts to the great relief of the salvage team, but its disposal is becoming a problem.

One can’t exactly tow an entire 300 m dead weight ship that size and it’s too heavy to lift.

They decided that the bow should be towed 30 km out to sea and sunk at more than 3000 m. The stern could be gutted dismantled and the remainder to go to Grand Bay or le Morn as artificial reef, but again moving it is specialized with a ship this size. But it would be a brilliant addition to Mauritius wreck diving and be an amazing dive.

THE AFTERMATH We can watch the transition in Mauritius from cold metal to glowing corals over time, through the ages of the wrecks we dive here. There were the notorious slavers of the 18th century that foundered with their

human cargoes off the coast of Mauritius. They are now just a shameful memory and a collection of artefacts in the National History Museum.

Treasure hunters pillaged many of the earlier wrecks until the Mauritius Government banned the removal of undersea artifacts and began sinking condemned ships in the North of the Island to create artificial reefs.

Most of these wrecks are within easy reach of the dive centres in the North, and a Safari trip to Coin de Mire makes a great day’s diving. You take 2 or 3 tanks each, the boat loads up with delicious snacks, water, or juice and often a light lunch. Coin de Mire Island, so called because it’s shaped like the wedge or quoin that gunners used to raise or lower the barrels of their cannons, is a National Park, and the breeding ground for the long -tailed Tropicbird. It’s a short 10–15minute boat ride. We had dived with Ocean Spirit,

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a small well equipped friendly diving centre in Pereybere, the village closest to the Northern reefs.

The Djabeda wreck lies at an average depth of 24 meters, from 20 metres on the mast to 32 at the keel, with dense shoals of fusiliers and blue banded snappers, scorpionfish, two massive Javanese Moray eels, rays in the sand and exquisite corals. It was sunk in 1967, and parts of it have scattered across the sand, offering additional hiding places for marine life. There is a pair of sling-jaw wrasses living and breeding there as well, worth looking out for them as they are uncommon. It is also rich in colourful corals and almost fully intact.

After 20 minutes on the wreck, you fin towards the Island and decompress for the rest of the 50-minute 118

dive time in Confetti Bay, an exquisite shallow site just off the Island, where you have snacks and prepare for the second dive. Bliss.

The Silverstar is 5 minutes from Pereybere, but its much deeper from 39 to 28 metres. It’s stunning, because it is in the deep blue, resting on the white, white sand, and looms out of the ocean like a fantastical pirate ship.

Wreck penetration is possible for qualified divers. You need a good torch and once you are into the hold, it’s almost sinister, but filled with crustaceans and morays.

Around the mast there are massive shoals, with a resident school of spade fish and orbicular batfish. This is a huge wreck, with an intact propeller at 40 metres, plenty of coral growth, and is best dived with Nitrox, but you need

to watch your computer. It was sunk away from the reefs, so this is a short but dramatic dive.

Stella Maru is an old Japanese fishing trawler was deliberately sunk in 1987 by the Mauritius Conservation Society to create an artificial reef, and it is almost fully intact. It has a businesslike silhouette, and a warlike presence. It’s full of shoals of blue banded snappers, giant morays, and scorpionfish, but it is also a fabulous photographic subject. We recently found a hairy frogfish there and huddled against a broken portion of the superstructure was a very small gurnard, that amazing little guy with wings and legs like a crayfish.

The Emily and Waterlily were sunk in 1981, and they lie in shallow water. They are a superb example

of how quickly soft corals can grow, and how rapidly they become home to a host of tiny sea creatures. Both wrecks are abundant with soft corals and tiny juveniles, creating a photographer’s paradise with white sand, blue water and lilac, purple, soft blue, and pink corals.

This is often done as a 2-tank dive, with snacks on the boat and a visit to one of the coral and reef fish infested sites in the area nearby.

And diving the Wakashio is a very real possibility in the future. You’ll just have to come to Mauritius to see it.

VIDEO LINK www.youtu.be/Jer5pfaTRf8 Writer Jill Holloway Pictures Ian Haggerty Jill Holloway Jean Lincoln DEPTH MAGAZINE 119

DIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE Written by Dr. Mike Marshall

Dr. Marshall discusses the symptoms and consequences of diving under the influence of alcohol and Class A or Class B drugs.

Here is a festive season reality check on finning under the fruits of fermentation and other intoxicating substances. Diving, just like driving, demands a clear mind and technical proficiency at all times. For the same reason, diving under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating substances is decidedly unwise – both for divers and for their dive buddies.

Recreational scuba diving is enjoyable, and it is meant to be so. However, there is a fine line between fun-seeking and hedonism and without an essential sense of responsibility and an awareness of the risks, diving can easily succumb to a potentially life-threatening culture of pleasure seeking and self indulgence.

Alcohol It is common knowledge that alcohol impairs one’s ability to perform various mental tasks. Reaction time, visual tracking, concentration, performance of simultaneous tasks, judgement and psychomotor ability are all reduced following the consumption of alcohol [1].

One would not expect any trained diver to deliberately dive while drunk yet diving the morning after drinking the previous night may still mean that the diver is under the influence with an appreciable blood alcohol 120

concentration (BAC). The liver has only a finite and individual-dependent capacity to metabolize alcohol.

So, while the diver may not believe that he or she is impaired, the reality may be different.

A study conducted on recreational divers doing shallow entry dives found significantly greater diving performance impairments with a BAC above 0.04% [2].

These impairments were captured on videotape and were confirmed by standard “dry” sobriety tests. This is not unexpected considering that cognitive impairment, including functions related to attention and concentration, can be reliably measured when the BAC is 0.02% and above [3]. Perhaps more concerning, however, is that the divers in this study were not aware of their performance impairments or of the increased risk of injury possible from diving while under the influence of alcohol.

A review of over 150 studies on the effects of alcohol on cognitive performance found a number of observations that have direct relevance to the scuba diver [4]. These include: • The ingestion of even small amounts of alcohol impairs performance – these effects are noticeable even after one drink.

•

The clearance of alcohol from the blood, at the predictable rate of about 0.015% per hour, does not necessarily equate to improved cognitive performance over the same time period.

• Increased reaction time and decreased co-ordination follow a dose/response curve. In essence, the more alcohol that is consumed, the more impaired these functions are.

• Persons who have been drinking alcohol consistently underestimate its deleterious effects on their performance.

• Alcohol affects multiple attention tasks (like scuba diving) to a greater degree than those tasks requiring a single focus of concentration.

In addition to impaired neurocognitive function, alcohol in excess results in a number of physiological changes that can endanger a diver. Acute alcohol intoxication can cause cardiac rhythm disturbances and can impair the heart’s ability to pump. Both are significant concerns even without the added problems of exercise or the underwater environment. Also, alcohol can directly increase the risk of diving accidents. Dehydration, a common consequence of alcohol excess, is a well-known risk factor for decompression sickness (DCS). Alcohol increases heat loss, by dilating blood vessels, which can lead to a diver suffering from hypothermia. Divers suffering from the effects of alcohol over-indulgence are also more likely to be nauseous and vomit during a dive; this not only ruins the dive, but can cause dehydration, impaired attention and an increased risk of a rapid uncontrolled ascent – all of which are known risk-factors for diving accidents.

Lastly, in common with the two drugs also discussed in this article, alcohol can also make the diagnosis of diving medical problems trickier. While underwater, the soporific effects of acute alcohol intoxication are indistinguishable from the signs of nitrogen narcosis.

However, upon surfacing, the common manifestations of alcohol intoxication, including Inco-ordination, sleepiness, nausea and a headache may either mimic or mask the signs of DCS and so delay its diagnosis and its early treatment or these may result in unnecessary medical interventions being taken.

Class A and B Drugs According to research conducted by the Diving Diseases Research Centre (now known as DDRC Healthcare), 22% of divers admitted to using one or more illicit drug(s) since learning how to dive and 21% of these divers admitted to using a Class A drug, for example cocaine, or a Class B drug, for example cannabis, between five minutes and six hours before a dive [5].

Cocaine is a stimulant, with effects that are apparent within five minutes of use and generally last for one to two hours, although the late phase effects can endure for a few days following a binge [5]. In simple terms, the acute effects of cocaine can be harmful to the diver in two ways: Firstly, the effects on the central nervous system include mood elevation, impaired judgement and increased risktaking behaviour. As discussed above, these effects are incompatible with safe diving. Secondly, the stimulation of the cardiovascular system increases the heart rate, blood pressure and the occurrence of abnormal heart rhythms. In the presence of increased physical exertion, these effects have been proven to be risk factors for sudden cardiac arrest.

Cannabis appears to be the drug of choice amongst divers [5]. The behavioral and physiological effects of cannabis commence within 10 minutes of use and, of significance to divers, can last for up to three to five hours [5]. These effects can significantly increase the risk of diving accidents. As with alcohol, cannabis causes altered perception, relaxes inhibitions, impairs judgement and causes mood changes, which can all be compounded by the effects of nitrogen narcosis.

Cannabis also causes vasodilatation of blood vessels, increasing the risk of hypothermia, and decreased motor co-ordination, impeding the ability to perform technical tasks. Smoking cannabis or tobacco increases the levels of carbon monoxide bound to hemoglobin in the blood, thereby reducing the body’s ability to transport oxygen by up to 10% [6]. This can reduce the diver’s capacity for exertion and so impair his or her physical ability to respond to an emergency.

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Medical

In addition to the acute effects of cannabis, longterm exposure can also present problems for the scuba diver. As with smoking cigarettes, chronic exposure to cannabis can cause respiratory problems like chronic bronchitis and sinusitis, which increase the risk of barotrauma and its potentially lethal consequences.

It is worth bearing in mind that the possession or use of Class A and B substances is illegal. Beyond the obvious threat of a criminal charge, the diver needs to consider how his or her medical funder might respond if such substance is thought to have played a role in the cause of a diving accident. It is not inconceivable that the payment for hospitalisation or recompression therapy may be refused.

So, although this advice may seem conservative or even prudish and at odds with the fun-seeking culture of diving, divers should steer clear of using drugs and rather avoid or certainly minimise alcohol intake during diving trips.

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The alternative is to put yourself and your dive buddy at significant risk of harm.

References 1. www.daneurope.org/web/guest/readarticle?p_p_ id=web_content_reading&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_ mode=view&p_r 2. Perrine, M.W., Mundt, J.C. & Weiner, R.I. When alcohol and water don’t mix: diving under the influence. J Stud.

Alcohol and Drugs; 1994; 55: p517-524.

3. Koelega, H.S. Alcohol and vigilance performance: review. Psychopharmacology; 1995; 118: p233–249.

4. Egstrom, G.H. Effects of alcohol consumption on aquatic performance. E&A News; 1996; 3: p2.

5. http://www.ddrc.org/uploads/DDRC_Drugs_ Leaflet_FINAL.pdf 6. http://www.divingmedicine.info/Ch%2037%20 SM10c.pdf

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