in the issue you are just reading (because I believe that at least some of you are reading, not only leafing through) we publish a dozen different articles accompanied by great photos.
The first one concerns spectacular discoveries on a global scale. A group of Polish archaeologists, in agreement with the Guatemala authorities, flew to Central America to explore the region of the last Mayan bastion. Among the team was also our editorial colleague, Mateusz Popek. The underwater archaeologists dived in Lake Petén Itzá, and at its bottom they found well over 800 artefacts, including a mask and an obsidian knife. Amazing… Arousing curiosity and imagination… A story worth reading, I do recommend it.
Staying in the climate of archaeology, it is worth noting that in Italy, between the towns of Baiae and Pozzuoli, on the Bay of Naples, today there is a sunken city. It is available to recreational divers and it is extremely interesting because we can see there lots of monuments dating back to the time before Christ. The text was written by Marcin Trzcinski and his photographs are included.
We also have some amazing destinations for you on the world map. The kingdom of sharks in Fiji in a very well written account of Sylwia Kosmalska-Juriewicz and the amazing and unique Lembeh Strait in Indonesia, which is the dream of all the fanatics of macro photography. With this article Klaudyna Brzostowska made her debut, and her text was enriched with always very good photographs of Jakub Degee.
We have of course a lot more. There is the whole truth about dolphins and important information for freedivers. There are caves and wrecks. For naturalists, we have a fish from the Baltic Sea and everything about herons. At the end, a few words from DAN in the text #whywedoit and two new reports from nice events.
I also remind you that the electronic version of the magazine is free, so I encourage you to support us with any amount of donation: PayPal.Me/perfectdiver
I cordially invite you to read, and wish you a safe dive in the Perfect Diver magazine.
Last Maya Bastion
Archaeological Park Baiae
Fiji, kingdom of sharks
Lembeh Island
Toyapakeh Nusa Penida, Indonesia A
Plan your Um El Faroud diving in
Escape
„Alcatraz”
Wojciech Zgoła
Irena Kosowska
Mateusz Popek
Agnieszka Kalska
Jakub Degee
Agnieszka Gumiela-Pająkowska
Arleta Kaźmierczak
Lawyer Joanna Wajsnis
Brygida Jackowiak-Rydzak
(Ascender Fonts)
Type)
He often repeats that he travels by diving and that is his motto. In 1985 he obtained a yacht sailor's license, and only in 2006 began to dive. In the following years he improved his skills by obtaining the Dive Master degree. He completed nearly 650 dives in various climatic conditions. Since 2007, he has been taking photographs underwater, and since 2008 he has also been filming. As an independent journalist, he published dozens of articles, mainly in journals dedicated to diving, but not only. Co-author of photo exhibitions in Poland and abroad. He is passionate about and propagator of diving.
Since 2008 he has been running his own website www.dive-adventure.eu. On the basis of extensive experience, in August 2018 he created the new Perfect Diver Magazine
"My passion, work and life are under water." He has been diving since 2009. Since 2008, he's walking in caves. Underwater archeologist by education. He participated in numerous projects in Poland and abroad. He has been engaged in professional diving since 2011. In 2013 he obtained the qualifications of a 2nd class diver. Has experience in underwater work both at sea and inland. Since 2013 he has been diving in caves, especially in the mountains, and since 2014 he is a diving instructor CMAS M1.
Regional Manager Divers Alert Network Polska, diving and first aid instructor, technical diver and cave diver. In love with all flooded, dark, cold, tight places and invariably from the beginning of the diving route – in the Baltic. Implementing the DAN mission, he conducts a series of lectures "Dive safely" and Diving Safety Laboratory, so field research of divers for scientific purposes.
Polish photographer, winner of awards and distinctions in world underwater photography competitions, has already dived all over the world: with sharks and whales in South Africa, with orcs behind the Arctic Circle, on Galapagos with hundreds of hammerhead sharks and humpback whales in the Tonga Islands. He participates in specialist photographic workshops. He has been diving for 27 years, he started at the age of 12 – as soon as it was formally possible. He was the first in the world to use the Hasselblad X1d-50c camera for underwater macro photography. Recently, in the remote Chincorro archipelago on the border between Mexico and Belize, he did it again, taking a successful attempt to photograph the eye of a crocodile with a macro lens with an additional magnifying lens, which is the world's largest photo of the crocodile's eye living in the wild (in terms of pixel count, print size, quality).
"I can not imagine life without water, where I experience freedom of the spirit in my free body."
● founder of the first freediving and swimming school in Poland – FREEBODY,
● freediving instructor Apnea Academy International and PADI Master Freediver,
● record holder and multiple medalist of the Polish Championships, member of the national team in freediving 2013–2018,
● finalist of the Freediving World Championships 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018,
● a Polish national championship champion and a member of the national team in swimming in 1998–2003,
● passionate about freediving and swimming.
Wojciech Zgoła
irena kosoWska
jakub degee
agniesZka kalska
MateusZ popek
Since I was a child, I had dreamed of becoming a marine biologist and I managed to fulfill that dream. I did a degree in oceanography, where I recently started my doctoral studies. My diving adventure began when I was 12 years old. I love observing the underwater life up close and I try to show other divers how fascinating the underwater, Baltic creatures are.
Dreams of close and distant trips have accompanied me since my childhood years… The desire to see the world was so great that I changed the corporate office for the freedom which me travelling, sightseeing and diving in the most remote parts of the world.
The reports from my trips are on the divingandtravel.pl blog, and I invite you for a joint trip with the Dive-away.pl travel agency of which I am a co-founder.
A traveler, an enthusiast of diving and underwater photography who has dived on five continents and the remaining ones are on his bucket list. He always repeats: "The best is still ahead of us" and looks ahead with optimism.
Diving instructor, author of the blog about diving, social activist. He has been diving for almost twenty years, mainly in Poland, has been a trainer for six years and also a member of the Group Exploring Diving Sites near to Warsaw – a group promoting diving and protection of the water world.
Underwater archaeologist and cultural anthropologist at the University of Warsaw. Participant and coordinator of numerous underwater archaeological expeditions, both seaborne and inland. Loves to put a lot of effort in popularization. Participant of many noteworthy conferences, since 2014 organizer of the Warsaw Seminar on Underwater Archaeology. Author and editor of many articles in the field of underwater archaeology (e.g. the monograph Just Add Water. Underwater Research at the University of Warsaw). Vegetarian and enthusiast of all living creatures.
A graduate of the University of Warsaw. An underwater photographer and filmmaker, has been diving since 1995. A co-operator at the Department of Underwater Archeology at the University of Warsaw. He publishes in diving magazines in Poland and abroad. The owner of the FotoPodwodna company which is the Polish representative of Ikelite, Nauticam, Inon, ScubaLampcompanies. www.fotopodwodna.pl m.trzcinski@fotopodwodna.pl
NAUI dive instructor, first emergency aid EFR and DAN oxygen first aid instructor. An actress and a vocalist. In everyday life she combines the passions for her jobs with the mission of helping people in different ways in many, seemingly distant fields. Recently, she was strongly involved in the co-creation of the Dive for Life project for clean seas and oceans. The owner of the Xdivers.pl diving school. Trymix and cave diver. Her greatest underwater love are the caves. And the diving priority – safety.
"There is nothing in the world more supple or delicate than water; and yet there is nothing that exceeds it as far as toughness and force are concerned…" Lao-tse, Chinese tao master
Margita "Mermaid" ŚliZoWska
agata turoWicZ
robert łaWrynoWicZ
jakub cieŚlak
Marcin trZciński
MałgorZata MilesZcZyk
sylWia kosMalska-jurieWicZ
Diver from 2008. Passionate of the Red Sea and pelagic ocean predators. Devoted to the idea of protecting dolphins, sharks and whales. He dives mainly where you can meet these animals and monitor the level of their well-being. Member of Dolphinaria-Free Europe Coalition, volunteer at Tethys Research Institute and Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit, associate of Marine Connection For 10 years he has been involved in research on wild dolphin populations and audits dolphinariums. Together with the team "NO! For the Dolphinarium" he prevents dolphins from captivity and promotes knowledge about dolphin therapy unsaid or concealed by centers which make money on this form of animal therapy.
A graduate of two Poznan universities, the Academy of Physical Education (coaching specialization – handball) and the University of A. Mickiewicz, Faculty of Biology (specialty of experimental biology). He connected his professional life with this first university trying to influence the direction of development of future professionals on the one hand, and on the other planning and implementing research, pushing laboriously in the right direction of the stroller called science. In his free time he spends his time actively – his main passions are sailing (sea helmsman), skiing (downhill skiing instructor), riding a motorcycle, recreational diving and many other activities, as well as photography, mainly nature.
The owner of Seashell Diving Centre in Malta, has been diving for the past 20 years and teaching divers of all levels from his own base in Mellieha Bay. Hubert is an SSI and PADI Tec Trimix Instructor and regularly enjoys the best deep wrecks of Malta. In 2012 Hubert has helped to set up and hosted the first SSI Service Centre in Malta, giving the way to this new for Malta diving agency at that time. Hubert's diving centre is one of the few in the Maltese islands continually offering comprehensive diving services for those who would like to experience some of the worlds top diving.
Technical Diving Instructor and renowned Underwater Photographer whose style is famous within the Technical Diving community. She is specialised in Sidemount, Technical Sidemount & Cave Diving Training. She is based in Gozo but operates worldwide both for training and exploration purpose. Beyond her adaptive teaching recognition and her dedication to making each student a better diver, she is a passionate underwater photographer complementing each training and diving session with numerous shots which became famous within the diving industry and through social medias. Her work has been published in various magazines, Diving agencies websites, training materials & dive shows.
Being a PADI and SSI Instructor she is travelleling, living and teaching since over 10 years through Asia. The last 5 years based on Nusa Lembongan/Bali she is running Dive in Culture together with her german partner, 2 laptops, 2 smartphones and a reliable team of local balinese partners. Staying away from normal "package bookings" they create a unique concept of individual travel.
Dive in the culture of Bali with diving, relaxing, road trips, culture, nature treks, canyoning and remote camping. You state what you want and specially what you don't want and get a ready-made selection of offers in the mailbox in the evening or at the weekend, where you can then browse in peace.
A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in the field of Fashion Design in Łódź and Film Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. A seamstress by profession, a passionate lover of natural beauty and a high doses of adrenaline. Her adventure with diving tourism began from a backpacking trip around the world. During her stay in Thailand she dived for the first time and from then on she got hooked on at this sport. Spending the last years and most of her days under water, teaching and showing the beauty of the underwater world in Asia, she believes that diving means unity – unity with own mind, nature and unusual creatures. Currently, a diving instructor and 1/4 of the female Activtour crew. With great commitment, she prepares amazing diving trips to the parts of the world close to her heart. www.activtour.pl, klaudyna@activtour.pl
hubert borg
jakub banasiak
Wojciech jarosZ
Marianne aalders
audrey cudel
klaudyna brZostoWska
Last Maya Bastion
a morning on Flores i sland. the air temperature will soon rise to over forty degrees celsius. the scuba tank burns your hands, and the thirty-degree water does not bring relief. i n the air you can smell the jungle stretching on the other side of the lake but there is something else…
text MateusZ popek
Photos petén itZá project – underWater archaeological expedition to guateMala
This smell comes from other times, from another world. It is the scent of the mystery left here by the Maya, and we are about to break into their underground world to learn about these secrets.
Our expedition started about a week ago. After overcoming an infinite number of administrative problems, travelling the ocean and a long journey to the city of Flores lying on an island on Lake Petén Itzá, we are finally there. This is a charming, colonial town with countless bars, hotels and hostels, where backpackers from all over the world rest before moving on. The goal of our expedition is almost at our fingertips. Actually, you just need to cross the street to stand on the shore of the lake, the bottom of which we wish to penetrate, looking for the Maya secrets. Although our goal is so close, we cannot start work, because the compressor that was supposed to serve us from the first day of the project got stuck in the Guatemalan Customs Chamber and we cannot get it back. There is hope, however, because the local firefighters have promised that they would find a way to recharge our scuba tanks and bring them to us in the evening, which is still
a few hours away, so we have some time to contemplate the beautiful lake.
The city of Flores was built on the ruins of Maya Nojpetén. When the Spanish dominance already covered the greater part of Mesoamerica, the Maya bravely resisted and defended the independence of the capital located on Petén Itzá Lake – their last bastion. However, even this place was not saved from the devastating power of the conquistadors. In 1697 (as many as 172 years from the beginning of the conquest), the Spaniards led by Martín de Ursú y Arizmendi set up camp on one of the shores of the lake. Preparing for the battle, they built a ship, which was to facilitate their landing on the island. On March 13th, the conquistadors set off towards Nojpetén. When their passage was blocked by the flotilla of the Maya boats, the commander of the Spaniards began a speech that was aimed to force the defenders to surrender on supposedly peaceful conditions. At one point, the defenders of the Nojpetén fortress could not bear it any longer and shot arrows at the Spanish ship. Two European soldiers were injured. One of them fired
a musket in revenge. A chain reaction was started and the slaughter of the natives could no longer be stopped. The conquistadors occupied the city in a few hours and thus finished their conquest without losing a single soldier of the Spanish garrison.
In the Maya culture, water has always been of great importance and associated with the world of the dead. The Mayan glyph och ha' means "enter the water" which symbolically refers to death. Cenotes were gates to the underworld in which sacrifices were made, including the human ones. Water in the culture of Maya appeared in every aspect of life and was extremely important… My reflexions on history and culture are interrupted by the entrance of smiling firefighters who are coming with good news. The scuba tanks are full. Tomorrow we can dive.
We start the morning activities by packing the equipment on our boat, which is controlled by experienced and smiling Pedro. His lancha, this
is how they call their local boats, has a roof that at least protects us from the relentlessly burning sun. When everyone is ready we set off towards the planned area of the lake. The day before, the whole team gathered in the base to choose places that we would explore. It turned out to be the north side of Flores Island.
The first divers enter the water. After the jump we are surprised by the high temperature of the water. The thirty-degree water does not cool down even below twenty meters. Unfortunately, only the temperature is tropical, because the transparency is more like in a European lake and does not exceed two meters. From the very edge of the lake, the bottom is strewn with stones, which end somewhere around ten meters and there, less than a minute after the immersion, the divers team encounters the first artefact. The buoy emerges from the water causing anxiety among the surface crew. Have they come across some historical
Each dive brings new discoveries and buoys shoot like crazy from underwater. The bottom of the lake is strewn with Mayan relics.
objects so quickly or has something happened?
To everyone's delight, after a while, two divers emerge, bringing out a huge vessel. We just need one shot from the GPS so that the first Maya artefact could be documented. But there is more. Each dive brings new discoveries and buoys shoot like crazy from underwater. The bottom of the lake is strewn with Mayan relics. None of us has seen anything like this…
We end the work day in the base, where the artefacts should be washed, inventoried and photo-
graphed. The number of objects we have extracted forces us to work on documentation almost every day until late at night. Having done the work, we can choose another area for exploration…
The team working on this project consists of underwater archeologists and Mayanists from leading Polish universities, as well as excellent divers –enthusiasts. Everyone is equally committed to the success of the expedition. Although there are only six of us, the work goes smoothly. Everyone has an assigned task that he or she carefully carries out. In addition to the diving itself, there are plenty of other duties to fulfill. Supplying, transporting scuba tanks to and from firefighters, documenting, photographing, drying the equipment. We spend the whole day working and only after dark, when the temperature drops significantly, we can sit on the terrace in our favourite restaurant with refreshing drinks.
However, not every day is a success story, there are also days when we go in the water and find
An underwater archeologist must show some kind of intuition, because the shape protruding from the bottom, which at first glance does not resemble anything, can be something special.
nothing. There are also days when we are shivering underwater. Local lancheros (helmsmen and boat owners) warn us that you can meet a crocodile in this lake. We try not to think about it while diving, hoping that we will be unattractive to this reptile. Emotions are elevated while searching for objects in deep mud. You never know what a diver's hand will encounter and what the object will be extracted from. During such a search, one of the divers hit a round object sunk in silt.
Thinking that this could be a Spanish cannonball, he got down to extracting it with a great deal of excitement. However, in the course of this operation some gases were released from the bottom, hitting him in the face and raising pressure. What a big surprise it was when the "cannonball" turned out to be the shell of a dead turtle, and the bubbles were the gases resulting from the decomposition of its body. However, this did not stop us from further searching.
An underwater archeologist must show some kind of intuition, because the shape protruding from the bottom, which at first glance does not resemble anything, can be something special. This was the case when one of the crew members saw a slightly rounded shape at the bottom, giving no clue what it was in reality. After unveiling the top layer of stones, a round outline of a vessel appeared. Similar to what we got every day a dime a dozen. However, the removal of further layers of sand and stones uncovered three small bowls, inserted into one another. After placing them in the basket for
the artefacts, it turned out that under them were two delicate, beautifully made bowls, on three legs. The biggest surprise though was the obsidian knife between them. A cry of joy scared the nearby crabs. After extracting such an object, it was necessary to check what else was inside of those vessels. Delicate examination of several hours allowed us to find there fragments of obsidian, burnt wood or shells with an opening, things that probably used to be beautiful jewelry. What was that find? We can assume that it was an offering for one of the Maya gods. The bowls with the content and the blade were probably closed and placed together in a net, so we found them in one place. For which god was this sacrifice? What was the intention of the givers? We will probably never find out.
Our expedition lasted a month. During this period, we made dozens of dives, finding more than 800 artefacts. They were found not only around Flores Island once inhabited by the Maya, but also around two other smaller islands. It turned out that the lake has an amazing archaeological potential. Everything points to the fact that it was extremely important for the Maya who lived there, and we only discovered the tip of the iceberg that is hidden at the bottom of this dark lake.
At the end – the whole team would like to thank the main sponsor, sebastian lambert and Ida Snopek, without whom this expedition would never have taken place.
MeMbers of the teaM: Magdalena KRZEMIEń, Sebastian LAMBERT, Iga SNOPEK, Małgorzata MILESZCZYK, Jakub MACIEJEWSKI, Mateusz POPEK
Archaeological Park BAiAe
text and photos Marcin trZciński
this story began long, long ago – at a time when entire g aul was covered by dense forests crossed only rarely by r oman roads.
aqueducts and amphitheatres were just beginning to be built and the glory of r ome was disturbed by only one small village. a small settlement in which the druid p anoramix mixed his secret potions, and o belix with a sterix, in the breaks between sparrings with legionaries, stuffed themselves with roasted wild boars.
Further north, no one thought about Brexit yet, because the Brit-in project was just being implemented. In the east, however, due to partisan disputes, we had to wait more than a thousand years for the construction of Mirmiłowo to begin.
It was in those times, a little more to the south, that five years after the famous "Alea iacta est" (The die is cast) Julius Caesar whispered "Et tu Brute contra me?" (Even you, Brutus?), thus completing his collection of famous quotes and beginning a period of successive internal wars within the borders of the Roman Empire.
In 37 BC during the civil war between Octavian Augustus and Sextus Pompey, the construction of a large port for the imperial war fleet began in the Bay of Naples. The work initiated by Marcus Agrippa, Augustus' trusted friend, consisted of connecting with a navigable channel the lakes Avernus and Lucrinus and the waters of the bay between the small towns of Baiae and Puteoli. The presence
of the fleet caused the rapid development of the region, the construction of warehouses, cisterns, docks and workshops. However, quite soon, that is in 12 BC, the army left the region, making it available for civilian purposes. The proximity of the port and the picturesque location of neighbouring towns, combined with the presence of warm thermal waters in the area, led in the following years to the development of the region recognized as a "resort" for the well-known patrician families. On the slopes of the mountains, beautiful villas, bathhouses and numerous temples were created. Here stood the "second homes" of the gens Claudia and Piso (in later years, for conspiring against Nero, their property was forfeited to the emperor), while Cicero and Horace were known to visit.
In 39 AD, by order of emperor Caligula, to whom a fortune teller predicted that "Caligula has no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae", an over two-mile
long pontoon bridge was constructed across the bay linking Baiae with Puteoli. And the emperor duly rode over the bridge on horseback… When on July the 10th 138 AD the ailing emperor Hadrian was dying in Baiae, he could not suppose that the empire that was then at the height of its power would cease to exist within a few centuries… But it did. The fall of the Roman Empire, barbarian invasions and the plundering of the area in the 8th century by a Muslim army, which after gaining control of the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia launched invasions on the mainland of the Apennine Peninsula, triggered the demise of the region. Tectonic
activity occurring in this part of the Mediterranean basin caused gradual slide of the tectonic plate deep into the sea, so that now the neighbourhood of the former patrician villas is located about five metres below the surface of the water…
Finally, it was going to begin! Eating a pizza in a bar located on a beach, empty at this time of the year, I could not wait for the afternoon dive. The deeper dives in the morning enabled me to "warm up" and take a few photos. Now we were about to make much shallower dives, but in what a place! In the Underwater Archaeological Park of Baiae! In the
ruins of a villa from 2,000 years ago! So what if the water was not yet the best and the clouds were still obscuring the sun? In a few dozen minutes I was going to reach our destination and to "touch" history again.
Kair confirmed that the most spectacular part of the excavations, ie. Ninfeo di Claudio, would be the first place to go to. That was where there were beautiful floors and sculptures that I had seen on the few pictures available on the net. It was so cool! But first you had to pull on the wetsuit (still wet af-
Tectonic activity occurring in this part of the Mediterranean basin caused (…) that now the neighbourhood of the former patrician villas is located about five metres below the surface of the water…
ter the morning dives). Brrr! Fortunately, we did not have to go far, so after two minutes we were at the foot of the rock, in the shadow of which we were to dive. I glanced down over the RIB's side, but the water was so muddy that even though the sunken villas were located at a depth of only five metres, nothing was visible. At the bottom it will certainly be better, I thought. So I slipped into the water and after getting the photo equipment, I began to descend towards the bottom. The water was cool and not very clear, but there was no need to panic. The visibility reached a few metres.
After a while Kair, Wojtek and Adam arrived. We were all together and we could move on. In a broad line, a metre behind our guide, we moved towards the still invisible ruins. Invisible? I looked more closely at the small hill on the left. Its shape was too regular for Mother Nature to have created it. Undoubtedly, it was manmade and a few centuries ago it was the foundation of a house. Looking around, I noticed more and more fragments of the old residence. We swam between two walls which stood some five metres apart and once were probably tall and ornate, but now they were rising only fifty centimetres above the bottom. Though… The situation clearly changed in the front. Because of the poor visibility, it seemed that the corridor we were in all of a sudden changed into a wide hall –nymphaeum. On both sides there were statues of gods and members of the gens Claudia. I swam to the bottom, to the feet of the figure of Dionysius,
the god of wine and grapevine. I waved at Kair so that she would go around the figure from the back and swim up to it from the left. She looked nice in the full-face mask she used for her frequent underwater work. A few camera flashes later I asked her to repeat the whole scene from the beginning with the approach from the back. I wanted to be sure that at least a few photos will be ok.
Moving from figure to figure, I photographed with passion. The king of Ithaca, Odysseus, and the statue of Antonia Minor, the mother of the emperor Claudi-
us. The time was running out relentlessly, and our weather window did not give us a chance for lengthy exploration of the excavations. Therefore, rushed by our guide, I followed her towards the next rooms of the villa. Stop! Kair turned cautiously over the gritty, pebble-covered bottom, and began to brush the outer layer with her hand. She stirred up so much mud that after a while there was almost nothing to see. But the gentle current began to move the cloud obscuring the view somewhere to the side and, while initially vaguely, with every second I could see the exposed floor better. It was beautiful, made of
tiny white pebbles. The fish attracted by the movement began to spin over the bottom, searching for food. I wanted to wait a bit longer, but Kair moved on, leaving the site unveiled. She gave us a sign that we would be back there in a moment.
She was right, we had to let this dust settle a little. Especially as we did not move far, only to the neighbouring room, not even using the door for this purpose, but by swimming over the wall. The bottom of the room was covered with thick mats pressed by big stones. We removed a few and after uncovering the material… I was speechless. A smooth floor was made of beautiful marble. Damaged, indeed, in some places, by the passage of time and the action of water, but still preserved in a surprisingly good condition. Several more photos and we had to go
back. But first you had to tidy up after yourself, covering both floors.
That evening was very successful. Not only because of the fact that the diving put us in a great mood, but also the food served in the "Da Bernardo" trattoria at via Montenuovo Licola Patria turned out to be very tasty. The beginning was excellent, when the owner of the restaurant, grim as a Neapolitan mafioso served us a platter of bruschetta wonderfully smelling of garlic, olive oil and fresh tomatoes. Such a starter "on the house". And then it was even better. No wonder that when I finally found myself in bed, I could not sleep for a long time. Despite the fatigue, my full stomach (at Wojtek's insistence we finished the feast in an adjacent ice cream shop, eating large portions of gellato) and the prospect
The excavated sculptures are presented in a museum located in the castle towering over the bay. And in the water, exact replicas of the monuments were set up, made with the same technique, the same material and with damage corresponding to the originals.
of subsequent dives kept me awake. But in the end I fell asleep…
Sunshine! There was not much sunshine coming through the closed shutters, but enough to say that the day was going to be great. Like a fish on the ice, I began to bustle around the room, preparing the photo equipment for the tasks ahead. Finally, after breakfast, we headed towards Centro Sub Campi Flegrei. Kair was already there, so we did not hesitate to get our diving equipment out of the base building. I really felt like diving. The smooth sea and the clear sky made us feel optimistic. It was definitely our day! The first place to see according to the plans of our guide was Portus Julius. Founded in the thirties BC, the port was the result of the war led by the emperor Octavian Augustus against Sextus Pompey. At the request of Marcus Agrippa, Octavian's adviser, the lakes Avernus and Lucrinus were connected by a navigable channel, and the huge naval base created in this way was named after Julius Caesar. It was a nice plan, but I had to intervene. Especially after I learned that there would be a patch of bad weather in the afternoon. Portus Julius was incredibly interesting, but on the available pictures it did not look even in a quarter so good as the flooded villas located in the northern part of the gulf. It took a while before the approved plan of diving (and the issued permits) could be changed, but persistence sometimes pays off. According to the new plan, we were to start with Ninfeo di Claudio, seen yesterday, so that for a second dive we could swim to the nearby
Villa Protorio. The port was relegated to the third place, and to the fourth the Smokey Reef, a geological phenomenon, a place where gases from the rocks of the tectonically active interior of the earth are released outside. Oh, such a natural jacuzzi.
We set off and after a moment we were there. I jumped into the water first to check the dome port that I installed in the morning on the wide-angle converter. It had fogged up the day before and I wondered if it would be better now. Unfortunately, it was not. Already at two metres deep, it began to fog up until it fogged up completely. Eh… I swam to the bottom and having chosen a large mooring stone for my workshop, I reached into the jacket for the hex key that I wisely had brought with me. I loosened the screws and then carefully, so as not to lose any, I started to take them out of the converter case. Phew, ready. The only thing left to do was to remove the converter but it was stuck to the port by water pressure. I wrestled with it for a moment, nervously glancing at the divers hovering nearby. They were waiting for me, and I was taking their precious time. Well, that nonsense was pointless. I swam upwards, pulling at the converter, and at the depth of two metres I finally succeeded. The water poured into the dome, and I could separate it from the UWL-H100. I fell to the bottom, packed all the "toys" and we could move on. First, as we had already agreed on the surface, we swam towards the floors. We were going to reveal the sculptures and wait for the water to clear.
However, before we completed cleaning the sculptures, Kair stopped above the floor and began to search through it. I did not hurry, but it took far too long. And in addition, Wojtek, who so far stayed in the back, lay down in front of her at the bottom and snapped pictures. What was going on? I descended to them and I was surprised to see a small octopus hidden under a stone. Well, yes. How silly of me! Now I had to try hard to capture something in the shot, as Wojtek already took the best position for photos. Hugging to his side, I tried to capture something. One close-up, another one. Okay, maybe a wide angle? Both the octopus and Kair hanging
behind it? I screwed on a wide angle lens, which I had taken off just a moment earlier, and put the camera to my eye. A trial photo to set the parametres. I checked. It was ok, though the frame was too tight. I put the camera back to my eye again and this time framed the photo differently. Oh yes, great! I started to press the shutter button when I saw a sudden movement in the viewfinder. The nervous cephalopod got fed up with us and took off. And I was left without a photo. Eh… Well, It was time to move towards the sculptures waiting for us in the next room.
Hopping into the water over Villa Protiro I was already cold. But it was here that the most beautiful floors in the whole excavation site were to be
found. Using the method from the first dive, we started unveiling them. In this case, however, what I saw was even more impressive. I looked at the beautifully decorated floors, with mosaics arranged in white and black stone. How beautiful it looked! In fact, wherever I moved, something interesting appeared. A fragment of a cobbled street running between the villas, or a floor, or fragments of heating systems in the bath.
The first finds in the Baiae region took place in the 1950s. When a few years later, as a result of a storm, the front of Punta Epitaffio slipped into the water, works were carried out, as a result of which the first of the statues,e.g. Odysseus, were discovered. But it was not until the eighties that fur-
ther works began, which resulted in finding more statues in the apse. The excavated sculptures are presented in a museum located in the castle towering over the bay. And in the water, exact replicas of the monuments were set up, made with the same technique, the same material and with damage corresponding to the originals. However, all other elements of the underwater landscape remained antique. Floors, buildings, heating systems, etc.
That was all I knew about the underwater wonders of the Baiae Underwater Archaeological Park. And I saw little more. Just one extra afternoon dive in the already rough waters at Portus Julius. I was not able to convince myself to do the next one on the Smoky Reef. It was too choppy. Only Wojtek and Adam went there as I watched the RIB leap on the waves towards the centre of the bay. The sky was dangerous and steel-blue again. In a few hours it was sure going to rain…
When we were leaving the hotel on Saturday morning, it was raining cats and dogs. Or even worse. The grey, autumn landscape outside the window was not what we wanted to see. Well, such a whim of nature. Of the planned sixteen dives, I only did six. There was not enough luck. But it was not all bad. After all, we had our own weather window. And we made the best of our time.
Fiji
kingdom of sharks
text sylWia kosMalska-jurieWicZ Photos robert łaWrynoWicZ
a Zen proverb says: " the paradise bird only lands on the hand that does not catch it". Be a good observer of the underwater world, watch carefully, enjoy what you see, learn and absorb as much as possible. co-exist, but do not touch anything, and you will experience a lot more than you can imagine…
Iam in a paradise in which not only do I recharge my batteries, but also two spare power banks. Fiji is the greenest, most remarkable and remote place I have ever been to. A large area of the island is occupied by evergreen tropical forests, which create a unique microclimate here. Huge ferns sprout over the trees, and slender lianas hang free and entwine everything they encounter on their way.
Our hotel is located by the Pacific Ocean in the heart of the paradise garden… one hour by bus from the capital – Suva. Every day in the morning I run to the ocean to admire the sunrise, a golden-red shield slowly emerging from the water and coloring it orange. I love the peace of the morning, only birds and the hum of palm leaves remind me that I am not alone here, that everything around me is alive and that I am happy for the coming of a new day.
This is an extraordinary process that repeats itself from the beginning of the world and gives our life
a peculiar rhythm… the joy of every morning is given to everyone, especially to the people of Fiji and from the morning I hear the joyful word "BULA", which is our "hello", only in the local language. Literally translated, it means "life".The natives use this greeting all day. The positive mood is imparted to literally everyone, we also very quickly "go to the light side of the Force" of Fiji and pay homage to the morning, saying the joyful word BULA
Every day after breakfast, a bus arrives and we drive to a diving center just twenty minutes from the hotel. I love the moment when the car drives off the main asphalt road and starts slowly going into the tropical forest. The road is narrow, winding and bumpy, completely out of the comfort zone, but the views… the views are indescribable. On the right side there is a gorge, filled with trees to the horizon. After rain, a small group of men cuts with machetes the plants that overgrow the narrow side roads
at an incredibly fast rate. The expansion of greenery in this area is almost unbelievable. Even the air here is different, moist and saturated with the scent of flowers, earth and forest. It is a pity that I cannot lock it in a bottle and bring to my country.
Never before had I seen a diving center located in such a paradisiacal place. The rainforest surrounds us from all sides, colorful flowers and bushes are blooming everywhere, and white birds are circling over our heads. The view is as from the best wildlife film but seen with your own eyes.
In the diving center we are greeted by Jane, the manager and a diving instructor. We go inside, fill in the necessary documents and are ready for the first descent into the water, encounter with sharks. Before this happens Jane invites us for a long briefing, which aims to show us what the whole shark dive is about. What are the risks, how we should
behave in the presence of sharks and who are the people who care about our safety during the dive.
In Fiji, around the island of Beqa, divers from all over the world come in for one purpose, to dive with sharks of many species at the same time. The population of these unusual creatures, unfortunately, is decreasing day by day. The statistics are alarming. According to American scientists, about 100 million of these creatures are killed annually by the hand of man.
The main reason for the tragic tendency is the Asian "delicacy", shark fin soup. Until a few years ago, this dish was very expensive. It was served only at sophisticated parties to sharpen the guests' appetite. The situation changed dramatically when the Chinese people began to get rich. Currently, the shark fin soup is widely available and can be eaten in second-rate bars or restaurants.
When fishing for this predator, fishermen cut off the main dorsal fin of the animal when the shark is still alive. They throw the rest of the body back into the sea, where the creature dies in terrible torment.
The biggest paradox of this world is the fact that huge poverty affects people who live in the most heavenly places on earth, such as the Fiji Islands. It is the lack of prospects and hunger that drive people to disastrous behavior. My friend, who for many years has lived on one of the paradise islands, says: "poor man, he is capable of everything, especially the one who is hungry".
Before the Shark Reef underwater reserve was created in this part of the world, many of Fiji's inhabitants were fishing sharks for profit, and now that they have found employment in the broadly understood tourism industry, they take care of sharks, protect them and care for their safety.
What is the idea of shark diving in the reserve? Above all, each of us must realize that we are diving
with wild, potentially dangerous predators. We dive without cages and very close to sharks that can attack us at any moment. The diving center has developed a number of procedures that should ensure our safety during a dive. The rules are changed and modified on the basis of shark research and observations that are carried out on a regular basis.
Before dawn, two scuba divers sail to the place where they dive with sharks. They leave a basket full of fish heads and entrails, which are designed to attract sharks from the whole area. Thanks to this, scientists can study the behavior of many species of sharks at the same time, and divers enjoy their presence.
We sail to the dive spot for about thirty minutes in a speedboat. It is a beautiful sunny day, perfect for meeting sharks. The boat slows down in the middle of the ocean, the captain turns off the engines and announces that we have arrived. It is so quiet and peaceful, it is hard to believe that more than one hundred sharks are underwater. I have
i t is so quiet and peaceful, it is hard to believe that more than one hundred sharks are underwater.
(…) i start to wonder what i am doing here.
always felt a great respect for the water and for all the creatures that live in it. Today, however, I feel everything with twice as much strength, fear mixed with excitement and I start to wonder what I am doing here. Maybe I should focus more on yoga, it is such a safe and peaceful activity, but I love the world and sharks so much…
"The whole group must follow the same dive profile and bottom time" – Jane reminds us, thus dispelling my yogi vision. "Please remember," she adds, "that no one individually explores the
reef, we swim in the group, and one more thing, all the retro-reflecting elements of the diving suit are strictly forbidden". So why have I taken a pink mask and the fins of the same colour?! (In my thoughts I am punishing myself for my vanity.)
Am I the only one who has dressed up for sharks today? "Relax," Jane smiles as she sees consternation on my face – this color is not one of the favourite colours of sharks, so you can easily wear fuchsia. And the last very important information, keep your hands close to the body during the dive. This requirement was introduced after a shark bit off a diver's hand when he was pointing at something with his finger".
We jump into the water in the middle of the ocean and slowly descend to a rock ledge located a few meters below us. Suddenly I forget about my fear, yoga and other matters that were bothering my thoughts, when on the horizon the sharks wellknown to me appear: tawny nurse shark, whitetip reef shark, blacktip shark and sicklefin lemon shark. Despite their impressive size, they turn out
i can see him clearly, his spots, eyes and shiny skin, he flows right next to me, agile and classy, as if he was the king of this herd.
to be gentle and completely uninterested in human presence. The latter stands out against the group, because it has an incredible "smile", a sneering smile, appreciated by the creators of children's tales, where it is usually cast in the role of a bad character. I had the pleasure of diving with these sharks earlier in various places around the world, but never with all of them together and in such a large number. Usually I could see only single individuals or small groups of sharks.
The number of sharks increases by the minute and those that are considered very dangerous to humans are coming too. Paradoxically, it was them we wanted to see the most. Tiger sharks, grey reef sharks, silvertip sharks and bull sharks. I grit my teeth on the mouthpiece of the scuba regulator and close my eyes when the largest representative of the shark family, the five-meter tiger shark appears on the horizon. I can see him clearly, his spots, eyes and shiny skin, he flows right next to me, agile and classy, as if he was the king of this herd. It is difficult to take my eyes off him, despite the fact that a group of forty bull sharks, also of impressive size, is approaching. How could I think about yoga even for a second? I would not trade this moment for the world.
During our two-week stay in Fiji, we dived for four days with sharks, and the remaining dives were done at nearby reefs. The visibility of water at the
turn of April and May exceeds 40 m, and the water temperature varies between 26°C–28°C. During the dive we met impressive schools of fish, turtles, moray eels, stingrays and dolphins, which always make me smile.
Unprecedented. Only in this way I can define these unusual, emotional encounters that teach humility and respect to all creatures on our planet. I feel great gratitude for the fact that I could meet amazing people, enthusiasts who love and protect sharks, who contribute to the fact that their population is growing from year to year.
Kava ceremony
During the traditional welcome ceremony in Fiji, a piper methysticum root broth is served, also known as kava. However, it has nothing to do with the well-known morning taste of espresso. To prepare a Fijian drink you need a plant root, which you have to grind to obtain a paste. Then you mix with the paste with crystal clear water in a special wooden vessel. A brown, slightly bitter drink with a relaxing and euphoric effect is served to the participants of the ceremony in a coconut cup. The ritual ends with a dance together while playing local music.
The Republic of Fiji – an island state (over 800 islands and islets), located in the southwestern part of the Pacific, about 2800 km east of Australia and about 2000 km north of New Zealand. The islands are of volcanic origin and are surrounded by coral reefs. State capital – Suva. Tropical rainforest climate. Time zone UTC+12.
Fro M the e ditor
Lembeh island
the variety of diving destinations in i ndonesia inspires those who have had the opportunity to see at least a bit of this country. thousands of islands and an area of 93,000 km 2 of inland waters provide a huge array of underwater experiences. there is one absolutely unique place that attracts lovers of marine fauna and flora as well as underwater photographers.
text klaudyna brZostoWska Photos jakub degee
Asmall but irresistible strait in the heart of the Coral Triangle. The Lembeh Strait, since we are talking about this spot, is a special place in terms of macro diving and muck diving (dirty diving). The one who has dived at least once there is bound to return there regularly.
The area around the Lembeh island has been known for many years to biologists and divers from all around the world, luring them with thousands of unusual species of animals living in the local waters. It is considered the world centre of macro diving, thus being the Mecca for photographers who want to capture the camouflage masters.
According to the researchers of the underwater fauna and flora, this area is characterized by the greatest biological diversity in the world and it was found that it is in the Lembeh Strait that extremely rare colonies of marine animals live. The channel separating Celebes from Lembeh island is full of places vibrant with life developed at the volcanic bottom of the sea. Diving in this type of a bottom is
called 'dirty diving' (muck diving). However, nothing is dirty there and the name just refers to the colour of the sand. While immersing you are looking at the grey and black bottom covered with kind of poppy seeds and wondering what you are really doing there. After a while, you have no doubts. In front of your eyes appears the first strange creature, after a while another, and you instantly get hooked on this type of diving. Muck diving is characterized by shallower submerging and spending time on the sandy bottom, where you entertain yourself finding hidden strange creatures. Diving sites in the strait are mostly sand substrates with handfuls of scattered coral structures, sponges and sea anemones. It is thanks to the rich in nutrients volcanic waters that such lush marine life developed here. Residents of the local waters perfectly blend in the topography of the landscape. Some of them are ultra-predators, who, thanks to dazzling colours and adaptive shape, have a guaranteed high position in the food chain. The kaleidoscope of the amazing creatures of this region is stunning – cuttlefish, scorpionfish, nudibranchs,
cotyledons, Hippocampus bargibanti seahorses, Metasepia pfefferi, young pinnate spadefish (Platax pinnatus), ghost pipe fish (Solenostomus) and various species of octopuses. Most of these creatures can be admired already at the first dive. The essence of local dives is the chance of meeting unique species. In the Lembeh Strait, the guides ask very specific questions: What type of seahorses do you want to see? Have you seen the mimic octopus yet?
Muck diving in Lembeh is a guarantee of a brilliant portfolio. i t surprises with the unique multitude of species that are hard to find anywhere else.
What is worth noting, are the night dives available in the vicinity of the strait waters. Each diver in mystical concentration, in the beam of flashlight, can observe the wonders of nature. During the night muck dive we are witnessing the high activity of sea creatures. It is at night that you can find the Metasepia prefferi cuttlefish, which in a place named Jahir have their breeding place. Here they spawn in the shells of coconuts. Sometimes hatched young or freshly laid spawn can be observed. Another creature that uses the shell in an interesting way is octopus, specifically Amphioctopus marginatus. Commonly known as coconut octopus, it took a liking for the coconut shells as a mobile place of refuge in case of danger. An interesting thing to observe is the way this invertebrate moves with a shell. This sea creature travels using elongated tentacles, hiding the coconut shell under the trunk. This is the first recorded invertebrate using a tool in a planned way.
The Lembeh Strait has been made famous as the world centre of extraordinary creatures and has been attracting renowned underwater photographers for over ten years. Due to its potential, around the strait have been developed facilities dedicated to divers and underwater photographers. Some of the centres offer training and regular photography events. Compared to others, the Lembeh Resort is particularly distinguished with a diving centre, a rental shop and photo and video equipment service. It is here that conferences, photo workshops and meetings of enthusiasts from all over the world take place. Grey and black sand is the perfect background for capturing creatures living there. Muck diving in Lembeh is a guarantee
riously or want to try their hand at taking pictures, the Strait of Lembeh is unmatched.
(…) warm waters, moderate currents and relatively shallow dives make it an ideal destination for both amateurs and professional photographers.
of a brilliant portfolio. It surprises with the unique multitude of species that are hard to find anywhere else. I mean such specimens as: Rhinopias scorpionfish, mimic octopus and creatures of Hapalochlaena type and Antennariidae family, pipefish or Ambon scorpionfish. In addition, warm waters, moderate currents and relatively shallow dives make it an ideal destination for both amateurs and professional photographers. Each of us, after dozens of diving hours, finds their own diving path. For those who treat underwater photography se-
The adventure at Lembeh does not finish at muck and macro diving. Those looking for diversity will certainly not be disappointed by the rich structures of table corals, walls full of gorgonias and the Mawali wreck from the World War II. The wealth of the northern Sulawesi, however, offers much more than that. Not far away, to the west of the narrow strait, there is the Bunaken National Marine Park. It is an ideal destination for lovers of steep walls of soft and hard corals, strong currents and pelagic animals, in particular reef sharks and green sea turtles. Beyond the park's borders is the Bangka Island. It is a point on the open sea that lures divers with a group of spears reaching above the surface of the water. Around the spears a lot of schools of horse mackerel, barracudas and Caesionidae can be observed.
For several years Indonesia, including the north of Celebes, has been extremely popular. However, it
is this narrow and dark strait that particularly attracts enthusiasts of diving and sea creatures. It is not surprising, therefore, that after Lembeh experiences it is difficult to find a place that will satisfy the curiosity of muck- and macro-diving fans. Maybe it is worth coming back every now and then?
jakub degee – our editorial colleague at Perfect Diver, best known for shark photography, for which he won prizes in competitions in England and Germany, returns to the roots and invites to macrophotography workshops in Indonesia. Lembeh gives you the greatest opportunities to expand your portfolio thanks to the largest number of species, the most photographer-friendly substrate and small depths. Check out the Activtour.pl offer.
toyapakeh Nusa Penida
text Marianne aalders Photos juergen koch indonesia
When people ask me what is my favorite dive site, I find it so hard to give just the one answer. I live in Nusa Lembongan, a small island of the coast of Bali. Here the diving is amazing; every spot has its own beauty to offer and changes with every dive.
In the dry season we get cold currents (April through to October) and warm water currents the rest of the year. This also brings in different fish life! Sometimes we have very strong currents, then other times we have no currents at all which makes the way you are diving a dive site very different!
Or you are flying and looking at the general view, or you are turning every stone, looking under all the overhangs to see what little stuff there is to be discovered.
So if I would have to make a decision about the dive sites, it will be Toyapakeh. This dive site is just in the mouth of the channel between the two islands Nusa Penida and Nusa Ceningan. This also makes it sometimes impossible to dive as there can be some very scary, tricky currents. But when it is at its best, I want to have a holiday home there and spend the weekend.
There are impossible amounts of different corals and just way too many fish, not even to speak of all the small stuff hiding between the stunning coral. The coral is made out of both hard and soft corals; there are schools of small fish, but also the occasional big stuff surprising you!
When I’m diving there and it is at its best, I’m always disappointed when I need to go up because my customers are getting low on air! When you are passionate about diving, you just want to stay down there forever. I’ve dived this site so many times (think 5 years… maybe minimum 2 times a week).
Here the diving is amazing; every spot has its own beauty to offer and changes with every dive.
Still my heart skips a little beat when the conditions are good and we get to dive here!
When you want to come and see for yourself! I’ll be happy to guide you to this amazing place and let you have your own opinion about Toyapakeh dive site.
escape from „Alcatraz”
text and photos jakub banasiak
Dolphinarium owners fear like the plague the news and stories of dolphins, which despite their years spent in a dolphinarium, coped well in the ocean. over the last few decades, the cases of dolphins taken from dolphinariums, prepared again for life in freedom and successfully restored to the environment have been described in detail. h owever, the most interesting and spectacular stories are of dolphins' escapes, where the animals themselves decided to abandon the allegedly good and friendly living conditions.
Itis worth recalling these stories, because the spectre of another dolphinarium, or another prison for animals, is haunting Europe. The Hungarian investor, the owner of the marine aquarium “Tropicarium” in Budapest, wants to expand his tourist attraction with swimming pools with dolphins. And like many other investors, he uses the argument that animals will not be harmed, be-
cause they will only be dolphins born in captivity who do not know life in the sea and which cannot be released. After all, they would not survive on their own, without human care… This is a very convenient argument, used in the dolphin business, also as an excuse for the reproduction of dolphins in captivity. The cases of the return of enslaved dolphins to life in the sea put a lie to this argument.
And what is more, the stories about escaping dolphins are so attractive to the media that they help to publicise widely how things really are.
Particularly intriguing is the story of the escape from "dolphin Alcatraz" of a female bottlenose dolphin named Bahama Mama. This dolphin was kept in a marine pen at Treasure Island. There were a total of 9 dolphins, caught in local waters, to offer tourists the opportunity to swim with these sea mammals. Bahama was separated from freedom by a wire net (a double one in places), overgrown with algae and reaching to the bottom. The dolphin spent there 17 years, repeatedly hearing the sounds and calls of wild animals passing nearby. Sometimes, especially at night, the wild relatives swam very close to the fence. Ken Balcomb and his wife, marine biologist Diane Claridge, who had studied the bottlenose dolphin population in this region in the Bahamas for over five years, often observed such visits.
One evening something unforeseen happened. Without any help from outside, Bahama Mama pushed through a loose part of the net and fled into the open sea. Everyone was convinced that the bottlenose female would not be able to cope on its own in the wild. And how amazed and delighted the marine researchers Ken and Diane were when they met Bahama Mama, safe and sound, with a group of dolphins six months after her escape. There could be no mistake. Any doubts were dispelled by the identification of the dorsal fin and by a short film shot by the scientists. The evidence was so obvious that the dolphinarium owners did not even try to argue against it.
Even more important from the point of view of fighting the arguments of the bosses of the dolphin business seems to be the story of another escape –the dolphin female Anessa, which had never before experienced a life of freedom. Ken Balcomb wrote in his report: "Annessa, a bottlenose dolphin born
(…) it is not necessary to be born in the wild to know and feel that a dolphin's place is in the ocean and not in a container of glass and concrete or in a marine pen with humans.
in captivity, kept at Dolphin Research Center in Florida Keys, disappeared and was declared missing during a hurricane in 1992. Annessa survived the hurricane and was adopted by a herd of free living dolphins. She was then repeatedly seen – healthy and looking for food on her own."
According to the Ceta Base data, Annessa escaped on August 23, 1992. The "perpetrator" of this event was Hurricane Andrew. The unusual thing is that she survived two more hurricanes, which swept
through the area after her escape: Hurricane Katrina (August 25) and Hurricane Rita (September 20).
When this happened, Annessa was 11 years old. Long 11 years spent in captivity. Previously, she was described as timid and withdrawn. A reporter from The Pittsburg Press reported on his visit to the dolphinarium in 1990: "…About 5 other people stood in the waist-deep water, hoping to make friends with Nat or Annessa, a female dolphin who also lived in the centre. It soon became clear to us that Annessa was shy, swimming in the margins of the herd, even when her guardian Armando "Mandy" Rodriguez threw fish snacks into the water and briskly clapped to encourage Annessa and Nata to stay close."
The Dolphin Research Center is a dolphinarium operating under the guise of scientific research in Grassy Key, Florida. Here, in saltwater lagoons of 90,000 square meters, 8 different dolphin encounters are organized daily, none of which is educational or scientific-based. The Dolphin Research
Center presents its dolphins on its website, with only one mention of Annessa: "During a strong hurricane, the safest option for our family of dolphins can be an open ocean. They can look for shelter in deeper waters away from the coastline, where shards and strong waves can be extremely dangerous. However, our dolphins are not familiar with the world outside their lagoons. They can easily lose their orientation and get lost. We found out about it the hard way, when our beloved Annessa went missing during Hurricane Andrew and never came back. Images of our little girl who cannot find her way home haunt me to this day. We need to find a way to ensure the dolphins are safe during the storm, so that we can quickly find them and bring them home when the storm is over."
Contrary to the DRC's information, Ric O'Barry, a well-known dolphin welfare activist, and earlier a dolphin trainer, says the opposite: "Annessa is constantly seen between Key Largo and Tavernier."
The United States Marine Mammal Inventory, on the basis of the available data, also recognizes An-
nessa (NOA0004389) as a dolphin born in captivity, which has been successfully released. Annessa's example proves that it is not necessary to be born in the wild to know and feel that a dolphin's place is in the ocean and not in a container of glass and concrete or in a marine pen with humans.
references:
CETA-BASE dolphin list
Erin Elizabeth, How one captive-born dolphin escaped captivity and joined a wild pod?
Ken Balcomb, Cetacean Releases
The United States Marine Mammal Inventory
A freediver's suitcase
Freedivers are often said to be divers "without gear". Quite right, as they do not need any equipment to be able to dive. this does not mean, however, that we do not use any equipment…
text agniesZka kalska Photos PIoTR STóS
In comparison with scuba diving, the basic equipment of a freediver includes very few elements, namely: a mask and a tube, fins, a wet suit and weight belt with ballast. Anything else, including a diving computer, a buoy with a rope and a lanyard or a knife and a torch are accessories that are helpful and sometimes significantly increase safety, but not always and not in every situation.
Freedivers aim to dive with as few gadgets as possible. If we can, we choose the thinnest wetsuit –just enough not to get cold. That makes it possible to take a smaller amount of ballast, which we also want to keep as low as possible, and gives comfort and freedom while diving. If we dive using a rope, we can leave the tube on the surface, and often even remove the mask and replace it with the nose clip, as the eyes can be closed during the entire immersion. Of course, provided that the thermocline allows us to reveal the face and sinuses without
thermal shock. While diving using a buoy, we can also get rid of the fins and pull ourselves underwater using the rope or with the help of our own hands and legs exercising breaststroke style. This basic range of equipment, however, must be somewhere close at hand in case of emergency or to attend another freediver.
It is in order to increase safety that freedivers use all this equipment. The diving computer will confirm the depth at which we are and will summarize the diving time which helps to estimate the appropriate length of the surface interval and the appropriate moment of immersion of the diver's attendant. A buoy and a rope with the lanyard are other elements that allows us to dive deeper and safer. However, none of the above elements will replace or provide such protection as attendance of a partner. So we should take a partner with us –maybe not necessarily in the suitcase;)
Photo Agnieszka Kalska
s o W hat to pack into a suitcase for our freedI v IN g TRIP ?
● a wet suit – our own or borrowed, but the right size – not to tight or too big, with a zipper or hood that don't pinch us; a freediving suit will be the best, but only if it fits properly; the most comfortable is the one tailor-made, but you have to order one for at least 6 weeks before the trip,
● fins – for the first training good, swimming pool fins are enough and easier to fit into the suitcase; and when we dive deeper, it is worth to chose longer, specialised freediving fins. They do make a difference – just how to put them in a suitcase? I will write a few words about it below…
● a mask and a tube – preferably your own and tested at least once at the swimming pool – to se if they fit, do not leak and whether the tube can be easily attached and detached,
● weight belt – made of rubber, special for freediving, because not all diving centres have such to rent,
● a webcam or underwater camera – it's always worth taking, but we must be prepared that we won't be able to take it with us into water every time – this depends on the diving instructor, and sometimes on the weather conditions,
● a cap – even if we are going to Egypt, besides a baseball cap we should also take also a winter cap; why? Because it will warm our ears and sinuses, shielding us from the wind and this will help to avoid the development of infections of organs, which must be if full health to function efficiently during pressure equalization,
● vitamin C – supports immunity in the first phases of infection and it is worth taking it preventively during this trip,
● a dive computer – if we have to take it; and if not, then let's ask if someone from the team takes one with them – one for a team is enough,
● neoprene glue – if we have a freediving wetsuit, which is made of a delicate neoprene
without a protective layer of fabric, the chance of tearing it during the whole trip is like 50:50; the glue doesen't weigh much, and the repair is very simple, so you can save a few coins in case of failure.
What is not W orth taking:
● ballast – if near the place we are going to is a diving centre, it is usually not worth carrying our own ballast, because it can cause various problems on the way; the belt itself is, however, light and made of rubber and as such is a much safer solution, so do not forget to take it,
● a buoy with a rope – if we are going to training with an instructor, he or she will take care of it, and if we are going with friends, let's think whether we will actually use it; if we plan to dive in places with beautiful reefs, caves and a long distance from the shore, it may be worth focusing on recreational diving and take only a small inflatable signal buoy; maybe there is an on-site diving centre that rents us in a buoy with a rope and a ballast – freediving is really quite popular in the world now,
● a spare equipment – if we are travelling to places focused on diving tourism – it is very likely that there is also a local store there, better equipped than our "inland" stores; prices are often also affordable and sometimes lower than in online stores with shipping costs included; so if we lose the tube or break the mask, we can buy a new one on the spot or rent it at the diving centre.
Everyone who dives regularly and travels a lot, probably has a lot of "airport" stories. I have already met with so many different situations that it is hard to say what is currently the rule. The most common problem for a freediver is – what to do with fins/a monofin? There is no answer to this, because there are many variables. From my own experience I can just say: try to take with you on plane, then we have the best chance that our be-
loved equipment will arrive in one piece with us to the destination. You should be prepared, however, that at some point someone will not allow you to bring fins or a monofin aboard and you will be forced to give it to the baggage compartment. Pack the equipment so that it will be stiffened in some way. Even if we return the fins or the monofin at the very entrance to the plane, in some situations we will see them only on the conveyor belt among the registered luggage.
It all depends on the airport from which we leave, and often even from the service stuff and also very much from the airlines. Different information may appear at different stages of airport control points
Everyone who dives regularly and travels a lot, probably has a lot of "airport" stories. i have already met with so many different situations that it is hard to say what is currently the rule.
and check-in. We must be prepared for every situation, and this will save us stress, which is of course highly unhelpful for freediving…;)
A MAgicAL rEgion in frAncE
l ot and Dordogne are for us, divers, magical places in France, full of beautiful karst caves, hidden between mountains and picturesque villages, in the area of the Dordogne, l ot and cele rivers.
text irena kosoWska Photos audrey cudel
This area is the cradle of French cave diving, a paradise for cave divers. There are about 30 dive sites in this area, not always easily accessible, but certainly worth visiting.
Among such a number of diving sites, each cave diver will find something for themselves – from broad passages, huge corridors or wells, to tight, narrow passages and molings; from visibility comparable to that of the Red Sea to the vibe of ominous flooded mines or forts.
To reach most places, we have to exercise patience and be fit. Not only is the way to water demanding, often requiring overcoming considerable distances through fields, thickets, or dealing with dry parts of caves and transporting equipment through low corridors at great distances, but also while diving we have to go fight the current of the stream or swim towards the entrance up the river. In some places, it's good to know the rope techniques – especially for transporting equipment.
fontaine de saint george Montvalent, Lot
The karst cave is located near the village of Montvalent. At the distance of about 10 meters from the entrance to the cave, the corridor takes the shape of a low, but wide, steeply sloping passage. After reaching a depth of about 30 metres, the corridor gets shallow and at the same time much wider. The ground in the cave is mostly sludgy, with rocks just here and there.
Geographic coordinates: N44,53367, E1,37137
source de la finou Montvalent, Lot
The karst is located on private premisses, and finding it might pose some difficulties. A way through the dry bed of a stream leads us to the entrance lake. The lake is very small and shallow, and at its bottom there is a small entrance to the cave. The
corridor falls steeply to the depth of about 30 meters. To reach the main passage we have to overcome a narrowing. However, the passage itself is spacious and stretches horizontally at a maximum depth of 33 meters.
fontaine du truffe Lacave, Lot
The entrance to the cave leads through a small lake, with a narrowing at the bottom, but it is possible for divers to pass through it with a gear on their back. The cave has two siphons, both 12–14 meters deep. Fantastic visibility prevailing in a much tighter, second siphon, often enables taking beautiful pictures.
Geographic coordinates: N44,49495 E1,33042
source de landenouse
Cadrieu, Lot
The entrance at the outflow of the Landenouse stream is unusual, taking the form of a large rectangular well. The descent down the ladder is about 5 meters and to lower the equipment it is good
to use the rope techniques. The entrance to the cave itself leads through a rather narrow gap in the bottom of the well, and a wide passage starts at a depth of 12 meters. With each meter passed the passage lowers and widens, and the meandering corridor gets shallow reaching a depth of about 10 meters, just to drop down again to 30 meters.
Geographic coordinates: N44,29263 E1,51939
The cave is located on private premisses and the latest news is that diving there has been forbidden.
gouffre de lantouy
Saint Jean de Laur, Lot
A cave seemingly "easy", but sometimes very treacherous. The entrance is located in a small lake at the depth of about 8 meters. The passage descends steeply, low and wide, and the silt-gravel floor causes quick loss of visibility when the water is stirred. Especially below the 25th meter we encounter narrowings, with quicksand, where it's very easy to lose visibility. The maximum depth of the corridor is 50 meters, but it is necessary to be
well prepared for diving due to frequently occurring strong current or reverse current turbulence.
trou M ada M e Cenevieres, Lot
The direction towards the cave is marked on the clearing – a large stone with an arrow and a path next to it. This path leads to the cave entrance. From the stone you have to go through the forest and along the bottom of the stream some 200 m slightly upwards. A huge entrance of the cave will be visible. The beginning of the first siphon is at a distance of about 50 meters inside the cave. The corridor is wide but very low, so it causes some transport problems. The water is usually very transparent. The maximum depth of the cave is 17 meters.
Geographic coordinates: N44,27120 E1,45110
e M ergence du ressel Marcilhac-sur-Cele, Lot
The opening of the cave is located at the bottom of the river, about 50 meters up the river from the
place of entering the water. The entrance to the cave is large, as is the corridor for the first 150 meters. At 170th metre the cave diverges, the main passage running straight leads to the deep part, while the main corridor stays shallow, at a depth of about 12 meters. In the main corridor, on 22nd metre, we find a huge well, whose depth increases with each threshold reaching the corridor at the 50th metre and extending to a depth of 80 meters. The shallower corridor ends with a vertical gap that connects to the main passage at a depth of 24 meters.
Geographic coordinates: N44,33713 E1,46327
gouffre de cabouy Rocamadour, Lot
A large Caboua karst, in which a path to the water leads through the bushes, is a heavily overgrown lake with steeply falling walls. The entrance to the cave is a huge opening at about 20th metre. The passage descends steeply to a depth of about 33 meters; a big corridor with huge spaces gives the opportunity to admire huge boulders on the floor. The average depth of the corridor is about
20 meters. About 900 meters from the entrance we reach the Gouffre de Poumayssen opening.
gouffre de pou M ayssen Rocamadour, Lot
A path leading to a rock wall runs from the Cabouy karst east. At the foot of this wall there is a small lake. It's Poumayssen. The entrance lake is actually a hole in the ceiling of the cave. If we go down from here, we will reach the Caboua karst. If we go up – we will see that the depth is a dozen or so meters, and the cave slowly gets deeper, up to about 20 meters. The passage will be still wide. The Cabouy/ Poumayssem system is at least 2 km long.
sources:
https://cave-diving.pl/ http://www.lotcavediving.eu Andrew Ward, Underwater Guide to the Lot & Dordogne France
The location and logistics of dive sites is often not obvious, so it is best to go with a good, experienced guide for the first time.
It's a good idea to choose Gramat for the base, because most caves are located within a radius of 20–30 km from this place. There is no problem with access to equipment or gas filling.
Apart from diving, it is worth visiting other beautiful places in the region, such as the town in the rock –Rocamadour, or taste French wine and cheese.
Anyone who has dived once in the caves of the Lot region will definitely want to return there.
Plan your Um El Faroud diving in Malta
text and photos hubert borg
the Um El Faroud is one of the m editerranean’s most popular wreck dives and one of the top 5 best selling dive sites in m alta. awesome in size (10,000 tons!), yet accessible from the shore in most conditions. i n 1998, it was sunk following a tragic accident during a refit that killed 9 dock workers. i t now provides a challenging site in what has become one of Europe’s premier wreck diving locations.
Wreck history
Um El Faroud was built in 1969 at Smith Dock Company in Middlesborough (England) and was owned by the General National Maritime Transport Company in Tripoli. It had been operating between Italy and Libya carrying refined fuel up to the 1st of February 1995. On the 3rd of February 1995 it was docked at Malta dry docks. Nine workers were working on the Um El Faroud, when a massive explosion late in the evening rocked three cities and cast Malta into mourning. The explosion is believed to have been caused by an accumulation of gas.
The vessel suffered structural deformation and following inspection was considered a total writeoff. It had been occupying this dock ever since the explosion until it was decided that the best option to utilize its remaining value was to scuttle her as a diving attraction and to start her new life as an artificial reef.
The diving community chose Wied iz-Zurrieq as the best site to accommodate this vessel. An impact assessment was carried out over the seabed, and the site was marked. On the 2nd of September 1998 Um El Faroud was towed out off the Grand Harbour towards its final destination. After the ship was anchored on location, Um El Faroud sank after nearly a four-hour wait for the ship to fill up with sea water from 8 purposely fitted 4” sea valves. This scene was witnessed by thousands of people.
Wreck location
Today the Um El Faroud wreck can be found in Wied iz-Zurrieq, near Qrendi. It is 110 metres long, it weighs 10,000 tons, the beam is 15.50 metres and the height of the vessel from the keel to the funnel top is approximately 22 metres with a maximum depth of 36 meters. This site is dived most when other sites are dangerous, since it is sheltered by the valley of Wied iz-Zurrieq.
The wreck is dived mostly from shore, specifically from a small jetty just down from Wied iz-Zurrieq. Divers need to swim out about 150 m at a bearing of 240° whilst watching out for boat traffic. A surface swim can be very tiring here, so descending down a few meters may be an easier option. This swim can considerably reduce available time to explore the wreck itself, so multiple dives, a twinset or enriched gas mix are advised, if you want to explore the wreck in its entirety.
The bearing will point you towards the stern of the wreck, which in good visibility can be an amazing sight as it comes into view. The intact propeller and rudder can be found at a depth of 36 m and is an ideal photo opportunity, the deck level is around 25 m and begins with the bridge superstructure. For divers keen on wreck penetration the Um El Faroud offers a lot of passages with relatively easy
f or divers keen on w reck penetration the Um El f aroud offers a lot of passages with relatively easy exits.
exits. Such passages include the bridge hatches, cabins and galleys, hatches on the hull just below deck and for the more adventurous, stairs down to the engine room, a shaft that goes straight down from behind the chimney right to the engine room, and a passage from the engine room to a frontal compartment which leads above deck and out of the bridge front. The holds are easily accessible following the blast that wrenched open the deck when the vessel was still in the docks.
Wreck diving
As the ship is so big, you can easily lose track of time. Therefore, regular checks on your remaining deco time and air consumption are required!
Just forward of the bridge superstructure the wreck has split in half during November storms in 2006. This now makes the wreck a much more interesting dive, as it offers much easier access into the forward holds. The forward half is now twisted around 20° north towards the shore, and the area in between the two sections is prone to strong currents.
Reaching the bow you'll find a raised deck with access into the bow, which can be exited by heading straight forward and vertically up a ladder shaft onto the bow deck, making a nice swim through. The bow itself has a large anchor winch and mooring bollards, another common photo spot for visiting divers.
Divers might come across some squid and barracudas at the stern. The port side is usually teeming
with large schools of sea breams, parrotfish and silversides. Sometimes one can come across the occasional scorpion fish, amberjack and tuna. The wreck can be entered fairly easily, but due to its size, this should be restricted only to divers with advanced wreck diving training.
As the ship is so big, you can easily lose track of time. Therefore, regular checks on your remaining deco time and air consumption are required! After leaving the wreck you might come across some strong current opposite direction, so make sure you have enough air for your return to the shore.
A sExy divEr, is iT possibLE?
text Margita „Mermaid” ŚliZoWska
Photos Wiktor ZdrojeWski
Diving and taking care of the looks? w hat does one thing have to do with the other?
Is that what you think? Men, perhaps think exactly this, but ladies… After all, nearly everyone wants to look good and feel comfortable in pleasant moments of one's life, right? So, if you think about it, taking into account aesthetics in diving makes a lot of sense. And it certainly is not pointless. The widely understood "aesthetics" is not an obstacle compromising mastering our diving skills nor it reduces our mental or physical ability underwater. What's more, it can make us feel even more confident while being a well-trained diver. Especially in a situation when we are unexpectedly charmed by someone's joyous eyes. Or when we meet on land someone, with whom we would like to get a closer and spend longer moment in our life…
Recently I heard a friend say with dismay: "And again, we put on those horrible clothes, in which you can't feel either slim or sexy." I looked at her with curiosity and saw a nice, neat and… sexy girl. Absolute denial of what she had just mentioned. After all, sexiness is not only a shapely figure of a fitness or crossfit fanatic. Sexiness comes mainly from our interior – no diving undersuit can spoil this "something". So, ladies and gentlemen, let's do it. Do not let your being a scuba diver deprive you of your charm, aesthetic appearance and a sense of psychophysical comfort.
Here are a few short and practical tips on the subject to keep in mind… Nails. Clipped short and pro-
tected with conditioner or hybrid nail polish (for ladies). Hangnails. Greased – protected against cracking. Hair. Combed, stapled, with moisturized endings. Protected by a diving hood. Hands. Protected with diving gloves and after the dive moisturized with a hand cream. Face. Cleaned after diving and moisturized with cream. Body. Properly hydrated (isotonic drinks). Mask. Made of opaque silicone – concealing the physiological secretions from the nose and sinuses.
There is also another subject I have to mention, unfortunately. It touches us not only in the context of diving – but also in public transport on hot days… Remember that diving underwear, warmers and socks should also be washed, dried and ventilated. The fact that this wardrobe serves us mostly underwater – does not exempt us from this obligation. Don’t let yourselves "change" over the weekend from elegant and well-groomed people into messy and smelly diving "beasts". Let the deodorant not be our abandoned friend of a previous weekday…
Finally, half-joking and half-serious… Makeup. And why not? More than one woman feels uncomfort-
able with no makeup. Dear Ladies, scuba diving doesn't have to deprive us of this little luxury. But let's use waterproof products and put them in moderation. So that after getting out of water our make-up does not flow down with picturesque streaks from under the mask, turning into a "repellent"… How about permanent make-up…?
To sum up: Dear diving Ladies and Gentlemen: even if you have planned your dive in the smallest details and performed it perfectly, you cannot predict one thing. You cannot predict the Amor's Arrow, which can be waiting for you under the shade of the equipment assembly table, when you pour talcum powder into the cuff, while you struggle putting on new fins with too-tight springs, or when you struggle trying to turn the neck seal in the dry suit. Make sure that your habits related to aesthetics and hygiene will not make you unpleasant surprises when a Beautiful Brunette gives you a dive computer you forgot from your dive box, or when the Handsome Blond will offer you to rinse the mask that you have just splashed… After all, everything can be done with class and grace. Especially if we have adopted some useful habits before…
Not so scary as it is seems
text agata turoWicZ
While diving in the Baltic Sea, we most often admire sunken shipwrecks, but hardly anyone knows that a real monster hides in the wrecks or between stones: the shorthorn sculpin itself. Myoxocephalus Scorpius, as it is its Latin name, it is a unique fish, beautiful in its ugliness. It is a cousin of a red scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa), common in the Mediterranean Sea, and of a tassled scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis oxycephala) inhabiting the Red Sea.
The shorthorn sculpin is a predatory fish, with a characteristic large head, on top and sides of which are even sharp "horns". The body of this fish is covered with smooth skin without scales. It lives at the bottom, surrounded by rocks, stones and underwater structures. It feeds on small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. It is a very voracious
fish, attacking its victims unexpectedly. In the Baltic Sea it reaches a length of up to 30 cm, however, in the North Sea you can meet much larger individuals, even up to one meter long. If you happen to meet a fisherman who fished the sculpin out of water, it is worth approaching and listening to the sounds it produces. Some say that the characteristic buzzing is aimed at scaring off a potential enemy. However, this is probably just a side effect of getting rid of excess air from the mouth through the gill covers (operculum).
In spring, summer and autumn, the shorthorn sculpins have a grey-brown colour and hide in the apertures of the Baltic Sea bottom. In the winter, however, the shorthorn sculpin becomes a real star of the underwater world, wandering to a depth of about 20–30 meters. In December its mating sea-
Photo Adam Deco
son begins meaning a real festival of colours. During spawning the belly and the lower part of the male's body takes on a very intense, orange colour that cannot be overlooked. This means that even untrained divers will certainly notice its presence.
What is more, males of this species are extraordinary fathers. From the moment the spawn is laid, until the young hatch out, the male is guarding his offspring sitting motionless in the nest. This is the best moment for all divers to look at it carefully from all sides. Even a large number of air bubbles and close presence of a human being are not able to scare him away, thanks to which he becomes a grateful object for photographing.
The next time you explore the Baltic wrecks, look around to see this amazing and unique fish.
Photo SKNO
Photo SKNO
heron
the Waterside Gentility
text and photos Wojciech jarosZ
Everything herons do, they do with flair or even grace (though sometimes, seemingly, somewhat heavily), whether they hunt, rest or fly, slowly flapping their wings. the impression of gracefulness give them, primarily, their well-known, slim silhouettes (although there are also herons with a slightly more chunky built). their gentility, however, should not be perceived as unequivocal with the lack of agility – when they find their prey, they attack instantly.
Herons are birds naturally associated with both, fresh- and seawater. Being ardent piscivores, they look for food in water. They do not ignore other vertebrates (small mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles) or invertebrates (eg. arthropods, molluscs), but fish is always their first choice. Their love for fish meat (actually, not only meat, as herons swallow the whole fish, and what they cannot digest, they get rid of in the form of pellets) does not make them popular among anglers, and certainly not among the owners of fishponds. Pescivorousness of herons, together with their not quite 100% hunting efficiency ending sometimes in lacerations of a would-be prey, has caused a conflict of interest, which resulted in significant declines in the number of many heron populations. In Poland, unfortunately, it is still quite easy to get permission to hunt grey heron (Ardea cinerea) within the fishponds. Historically, there was one more reason for shooting these birds. Their feathers were eagerly used to decorate garments, in particular women's hats. At the
end of the nineteenth century, a group of women, a United Kingdom citizens, recognized such use of birds as unethical and established in their own circle that it could not continue. So they founded an organization actively fighting the fashion for any ornaments derived from birds. This initiative finally evolved (we are tempted to say "hatched") into the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, RSPB is one of the largest organizations of this kind in the world today. Fortunately, it turns out that the suffering of the heron in the past times did not go into vain – the birds living now on the Islands (and not only there) can count on over a million members of the society involved in their protection.
A heron can be easily distinguished from other wading long-legged birds by observing it during flying. It is during the flight that these birds arrange their necks in a characteristic shape, unlike cranes or storks which fly fully erect, as if they swallowed a broomstick. Herons lay their necks as if
Grey heron
they swallowed an eel at the most, which, by the way, happens to them from time to time. It's as if they folded their necks for the time of the journey. Should that suggest that they don't need such long necks? Quite to the contrary, they use this part of the body efficiently while hunting. Instead of engaging the whole body in the attack hitting the fish under the surface of the water, they shoot only a sharp beak – like a chameleon its tongue. The folded neck straightens up like a spring, providing high speed and precision throughout the operation. During hunting, herons can patiently wait for the most appropriate moment. Sometimes they even use a bait, and this is a kind of behaviour classified as “a use of tool”. The birds in certain situations, therefore, turn out to be quite bright compared to other vertebrates, which should make us think twice the next time we want to use the term "birdbrain" to summarize someone's lack of intelligence. Representatives of at least nine species of herons were observed to use a bait during fishing. Sometimes these were pieces of bread or
popcorn, but it happened also that herons lured the fish using dragonflies they had caught, pieces of sticks or even their own feathers. What adds spice to these observations is the fact that they were made in different parts of the world (both Americas, Asia, the Pacific Islands), both for birds in contact with a man and for birds living in natural ecosystems, where they could not see people feeding ducks with bread. An interesting technique is used by the little egret (Egretta Garzetta), which uses its own toes to lure the fish. These toes are yellow, while the part called tarsometatarsus is black. Perhaps, by natural selection, this feature has been preserved in this species by favouring in the race to transfer the genes these individuals with a more eye catching colours of their toes as being more effective hunters. An extraordinary behaviour during hunting demonstrates the African black heron. It spreads the wings like an umbrella or a cloak to create a shadow that attracts fish used to hide from attackers under the overhangs of banks or trees. For those with more imaginative mind, a hunting
Little egret
The Ardeidae family (Ardeidae) belongs to the p elecaniformes and consists of 62 species. i n the past there were more families but five species are considered extinct.
black heron can also resemble a classic lampshade in the Batman's favourite colour, and for lovers of the adventures of Baltazar Gabka (a Polish cartoon) it looks like mysterious Don Pedro, a spy from The Raincoats Land. Herons hunt during the day, with the exception of the black-crowned night heron. These medium-sized herons with stocky bodies took their name from a crow-like croak on the one hand and from their nocturnal lifestyle on the other. The Latin generic name Nycticorax means the night crow, and the Polish name stems from the suspicion that throughout the day the bird remains hidden because it is blind. The night herons do fly off from their hiding places to the feeding grounds in the evening, but while feeding the nestlings they also look for food during the day. Night herons that seek food during the day can also be found in rainy weather. In the beliefs of the Slavs, due to their night activity, the night herons acted as guides between the worlds of the living and the dead – the so-called psychopomps, like Hermes in the Greek or Valkyries in the Norse mythology.
The Ardeidae family (Ardeidae) belongs to the Pelecaniformes and consists of 62 species. In the past there were more families but five species are considered extinct. Morphological diversity is quite large, because the largest of the family, the Goliath heron (Ardea Goliath) has a mass of approx. 4–5 kg and wingspan up to 230 cm, while one of the smallest – the little bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) weights only 60–150 g with the 40–60 cm wingspan. The little bittern can be found in Poland, and the Goliath heron lives by the Red Sea or in the West Africa. When it comes to the body built, an interesting example is certainly the boat-billed heron (Cochlearius Cochlearius). It is a Central- and South American
Goliath heron
heron resembling the silhouette of night herons (medium-sized, shorter with quite thick neck), which is equipped with a beak of a unique shape. In English, the name of this bird is a boat-billed heron, which quiet well illustrates the shape of a flattened beak, the upper part of which looks like a boat with its keel turned upside down. Hunting for small fish, amphibians and invertebrates among the adventitious roots and pneumatophores of trees forming mangroves, the so-called boat-billed heron performs perfectly thanks to this very beak. This bird is also characterized by quite unique, as fore heron, behaviour. Defending its nest, the bird becomes aggressive and actively fights against
predators, including men. Most herons simply run away, but when they are driven into a corner, they can defend themselves. They use their beak as a dagger and try to stab the invader, most often aiming at the eyes (so watch out!). There are more interesting facts about the built and behaviour of herons. The great bittern (Botaurus stellaris), for example, does not fold its neck during the flight, has short legs and, what's more, gives a booming call in the reeds. The bittern’s calls are very characteristic, because they resemble the sound of blowing into an empty bottle and they do carry far away. The best imitation of the bittern sound is produced by blowing at an angle, from under the upper lip,
Striated heron
(…) when they are driven into a corner, they can defend themselves. They use their beak as a dagger and try to stab the invader, most often aiming at the eyes (so watch out!).
into a half-liter glass bottle – which was tested by the author; sometimes it happened that the bitterns reacted to this kind of imitation. As a rule, it is easier to hear the bittern than to see it, because it is not very active during the day, and it has a perfect camouflage – it's impossible to see it when it stands among reeds with its beak raised up to resemble the reed. The whistling heron (Syrigma sibilatrix), similarly to the great bittern, also has its neck outstretched during flight. And as for a heron, it flies strangely, because it flaps its wings not with a slow dignity, but quickly and nervously, more
like a duck. Its name is related to the characteristic whistling. You could write a whole novel about the noises herons make, as there are far more of them than the mentioned above great bittern or whistling heron. I encourage you to visit the xeno-canto. org site, where fans of eavesdropping on birds post their recordings. It is a real treasure trove of birds’ sounds from all over the world.
In Poland and Central Europe, you can meet the grey heron, the, more and more often breeding here, white heron (Ardea alba), the night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), the great bittern and the little bittern. With a bit of luck, in the season you can meet the purple heron (Ardea purpurea), the little egret and the cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), although these are just guests from the south. The last of these species appreciates a lot the closeness to large herbivores mammals, in the presence of which it is easier to hunt for insects. At the mouth of the Rhône River in the south of France, on the Camargue backwaters, you can easily spot the cattle egret sitting on white horses. Look out for herons, they are beautiful birds!
Grey heron
#whywedoit
the deep blue attracts, calls and invites us to explore it, but the calling is different for each of us. Everyone feels and experiences it in a different way.
We are all unique in looking for the sense and the reasons why we dive. That is why some time ago an idea for a campaign was born, in which divers can share their motivations and experiences – a DAN campaign called #whywedoit.
In this movement, we celebrate and inspire divers from around the world. #Whywedoit ambassadors talk about themselves, about their own experience of passion. They share achievements, the great and the small ones. They show us their everyday work, which is their passion, or they rather show us their passion which is at the same time their work. DAN Europe with a camera is looking for answers to the question what "being a diver" means to different people, trying to get to the bottom of the search for the answer to the question: Why are we doing it? Diving is a beautiful passion, and in the #whywedoit campaign, each of us can share his or her own answer.
DAN #whywedoit ambassadors are very different people – diving safely, loving water, caring for the
oceans… We can find among them diving instructors, freedivers, sculptors, doctors, glacier researchers… and all of them have their own stories, the paths they have gone to be where they are now. All stories can be viewed at https://wwdi.daneurope.org/
When I found out about the campaign, I asked myself why I actually dive. The first answers that came to my mind may seem trivial – calmness, silence, the beauty of nature, communing with the ocean… but when we want to get to the bottom, to the bottom of our own sense of passion, there is more to it – in any case, there is more than the answers given by any diver contain.
The path that I have gone is not a typical one. Maybe because I am a perfectionist, and I put my whole body into everything I do. It started by accident, on a holiday intro, after which the instructor said –"You will come back here again". And I was back. From that moment I have come back constantly and to still new places, but also to the same and
favourite ones, because underwater you can have your own piece of the ground. It started with trainings, many trainings, continuous improvement. I met many wonderful teachers on my way, and each of them opened my eyes to things I did not know yet.
Recently, one of my instructors has called me a "cave cat" – I think that today it is the essence of what gives me the most joy. I started in the green of lakes, the incomparable emerald of the Baltic Sea, then I continued in the blue of the oceans ending in the depths of flooded mines and caves. Today, that is what I love most – closed space, rock drilled for hundreds of years by flowing water, showing its power most vividly. Constant dripping wears the stone, rivers dig out tunnels and cave corridors, some of which can be admired only by us – divers.
Today, still going this way, I combine my passion with work. I take care of spreading the rules of safe diving, I try to be a divers' diver, an adviser for those who ask questions. I hope that together we will join the European movement #whywedoit – for each of us finds something different in diving.
diving Festival of Power
text jakub cieŚlak Photos anna bogacińska
Atthebeginning there was just Tomek with one brand of lighting and heating systems powering, and an idea how to promote this brand. Diving Festival of Power. The event is another version, extension or supplement to the Diving Farewell to Summer, a cyclical event organized by divers from Olsztyn. Everything, however, revolved around one place – Kulki, and more specifically, the "Nemo in Kulka" centre located at Łęsk Lake near Szczytno. A centre is hidden among trees, cut off from civilization. Two steps to the lake and a beautiful view of the lake stretching from the panoramic windows of the dining room in the centre. So you can come in, take your urban layer off yourself and along with the car keys throw it somewhere in a dark nook, as you are not going to use it all weekend. Everything you need is here or not far away. Diving equipment is left under a tent and can stay there, no one is
going to touch it. After diving, you just drop equipment, hang up your suit and you can go for a delicious dinner right away. A perfect place.
The first editions of the festival focused on one brand of equipment and were organised for closer and further acquaintances of the host, Tomek. These were rather low-key meetings based on simple invitation: come to Kulka, let's dive together, test this equipment and have a drink in the evening. But when Tomek started the subject with me, we were talking about something a little more serious and official. The elements of the Festival have evolved, presentations, lectures and demonstrations have been added, we started to invite interesting people. Other suppliers of equipment to be tested appeared. It started from the leading manufacturer of dry suits, then more brands joined and finally the
event opened wide to the entire industry. The only criterion for selecting and inviting the supplier was a wide concept of power – the tested equipment should be "powered" – it has to be an electrically powered device: starting from diving computers, through powered heating sets, batteries for them and ending with lighting all sorts. Among the guests we had the pleasure of announcing people like Marcin Bramson, Kamil Iwankiewicz, Michał Kosut, Igor Nicolaos and Piotr Piórewicz. A very interesting formula was the discussion panel, in the first edition of which Kuba Janowicz and Piotr Piórewicz discussed the use of heating systems by recreational divers. Concluding the fourth edition in 2017, we were already planning another one feeling that we were going the right direction.
We opened the event on Friday. We did not plan any official events of that day – most guests left for the festival after work, we expected them rather late in the evening. Late dinner and drinking a pint of beer together, or a cup of tasty mulled wine next to a fireplace radiating a pleasant warmth, was a perfect introduction to a charming weekend away from civilization. And as the guests were arriving until midnight, conversations which seemed to have no end took place in the circles of friends forming here and there. In the morning, the next day the festival began. Immediately after breakfast the equipment to be tested appeared in the main hall. Divers began to appear unhurriedly and select offers. What quickly caught my eye was a completely different relationship between suppliers and divers. It's rather elusive, but I got the impression that the very
fact that suppliers participate on equal terms with divers-guests in the whole event organized for the weekend, builds unique atmosphere. There are many opportunities to talk with users, to integrate, build relationships, exchange opinions and comments on both sides. So the scooters, lighting and heating set off to work under water and the divers emptied the tables from the equipment to be tested.
In the afternoon was time for lectures, presentations and entertainment. The equipment of most divers was drying under the tents, the cylinders were being filled, the batteries were charging, and the divers were resting. After dinner there was time to relax and to "feed" our souls.
The first speaker was fantastic Kamil Iwankiewicz. An extraordinary character, a true volcano of enthusiasm and an incredibly interesting storyteller. Once Kamil led a project "Crown of the Lakes of the Earth" (of which he was also the main performer),
p iotr showed us how to deal with many common problems using such specialized "service tools" as water, dishwashing liquid and vinegar.
within which he had to dive in all the highest located lakes on the entire globe. The project was interrupted for personal reasons, but Kamil managed to dive into several magical places and he has been talking about it for several years now. I myself had the pleasure of listening to Kamil for the first time in Baltictech and I found that he is a gifted storyteller, fantastically talking about the things he saw and felt. I remember the first time I contacted him to ask if he would like to join the group of speakers during our first event in Kulka. I was quite anxious and I expected everything, but not that Kamil would get fired up for the idea in three seconds and accept my invitation without any special resistance. During this edition of the festival, Kamil focused on the issues of planning mountain dives. Although the topic was not easy and of course there were still threads and photos from the presentation about the Crown of the Earth Lakes, neither me nor people who had already listened to Kamil, were bored at the new presentation and it didn't bother anyone that Kamil exceeded significantly the time frame
assigned for this part. It was impossible to resist the magic of his stories about places inaccessible to most mortals. We could also see that Kamil has a huge theoretical and practical knowledge, which allowed him to prepare well for diving at altitudes quite absurd from the point of view of the average recreational diver. The magnitude of challenges waiting for those who plan such diving is downright overwhelming, starting from such trifle as the amount of ballast – three times greater than for the same suit used at "normal" heights – and how to transport it to the top. Those performing after Kamil had a really tough task, but they got the best out of it.
Karolina Jakóbczak appeared on the stage. Karolina is a deaf person. Of course, she is an active diver with extensive experience. Karolina, however, is not a mute person, and additionally she can read lip movements and is also a volcano of positive energy. She introduced us into the world of deaf divers with a sense of humour and zest, showed how such diving looks from their point of view, how deaf people can enrich diving and how to approach diving with such people. Virtually everyone had a great time during the lecture of Karolina, who made the audience interact. I hope that I'm not betraying now Kamil by saying that he was still present on a considerable part of this presentation, which he liked so much that he stayed longer, though he had told me earlier he
was supposed to run back home. Karolina showed us how the rich sign language can improve the way of communication underwater. What's more, she corrected our erroneous assumption that sign language is an international language – it turns out that virtually every nation has its own sign language, hence it is not at all obvious that two deaf divers from different parts of the world will get along immediately during the dive. Nevertheless, being a partner of a deaf person has many advantages. Deaf people are extremely sensitive to all visual stimuli and certainly faster spot a lot of curiosities that would usually be passed unnoticed. At the end, Karolina introduced us to the basic principles of communication with deaf people, which was rewarded with thunderous applause (of course in the sign version).
Immediately after Karolina, Piotr Piórewicz entered the stage. Piotr comes from the Tri-City, so he is a very experienced wreck diver, a diving instructor, a specialist in servicing diving equipment and a born storyteller with a great sense of humour
and distance towards everything. His task was to bring us a bit closer to the subject of servicing diving equipment with focus on a few specific details and elements of the diving equipment. A dry suit, it would seem – virtually maintenance-free: put on, take off, grease at the most a zipper and dry well. If something happens, take it to service and that's it. And yet, it turned out that we can do a lot ourselves, and the best we can do is counteracting various phenomena and processes that will naturally lead to a failure. Piotr showed us how to deal with many common problems using such specialized "service tools" as water, dishwashing liquid and vinegar. Well, it will also be useful to use some simple dental tools stolen from a dentist's office, but these can also be replaced by something more common.
The official part of the festival was finished. Piotr was the last speaker, the time of dinner was approaching, and then only the time for integration and diving talks on different subjects was planned until late at night.
The crowning of the evening was the concert of "Grom" i.e. Tomek Paciorek. Tomek performs mostly shanties, which might seem a strange choice for a concert for divers. Tomek, however, very quickly found a common language with the audience, skilfully choosing his repertoire, colouring his concert with various anecdotes often associated with diving. It's enough to say that it was very funny, hearty and loud evening. The most perseverant participants of Saturday's fun held Tomek up until late at night, snuggled down around the fireplace, falling into a nostalgic mood every now and then.
And I could finish the report from the fifth Diving Festival Power, as the next morning before noon was a repetition of the testing part, although the turnout among the divers was much lower (for reasons incomprehensible to me…), but I should mention the awards that were funded by both, the suppliers present at the festival, and other promi-
nent representatives of our diving world. I only allow myself here to thank Irena Stangierska, whose beautiful calendars went again to several happy participants of our festival.
And just a brief summary. Despite the rather extreme outdoor weather, the festival again excited tremendous interest. However, we have an appetite for more. Hence the idea that the next edition will take place earlier – in October. We would like to have diving conditions allowing enjoying diving not only the hard-core maniacs, but also more moderate recreational divers. Perhaps a milder aura will allow us to plan more outdoor events. I really would like the event to maintain its less formal formula and to be treated more as a form of integration of clubs, diving centres and independent divers, on the occasion of which it is possible to test some equipment and listen to some interesting lectures. I hope that this year we will meet in Kulka in October to feel this POWER together.
3rd warsaw Seminar on Underwater archaeology
17 th –18 th January 2019, University of Warsaw
the life cycle of an archaeologist? l oads of paperwork, far less fieldwork, some analyses, and back to the office – both to work on further grant proposal and to conclude the season or project with the thesis, article or monograph. the latter might and should be interrupted by the participation in the very enjoyable social meetings. those we call the conferences, basically to mislead ourselves.
text MałgorZata MilesZcZyk
Photos Magdalena sugalska
Obviously, the conference does not happen in the instant, it has to be prepared in detail by some poor guys called the Organization Committee, thank you very much. Secondly, there is also a group of prominent and influential scholars, who agree to watch over the proper level of the presentations, papers and discussions (we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the best Scientific Committee). Thirdly – and probably most importantly – a conference needs keen Participants. Daring, skilful and… captivating. Stir, shake a bit… and we have a perfect recipe for a fruitful and inspiring time, during which the ideas are exchanged, applauded and criticized, the hypotheses discussed, the hard work rewarded.
What took place at the University of Warsaw this year was a top level experience, especially due to our dear guests and great archaeologists. First and foremost, the keynote speakers: Professor Iván Negueruela Martínez form the Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática in Cartagena, who has
stirred our imagination with the research project as deep as 1000 meters, Professors Finn Ole Nielsen and M. Nicolas Caretta from the Bornholm Archaeological Research Center of the Bornholm Museum, who have presented the secrets of the Bornholm’s underwater heritage and, last but not least, the most experienced underwater archaeologist of eastern Europe – Professor Vladas Žulkus from Klaipėda University, talking about the Lithuanian expeditions at the Baltic Sea. Our beloved guests arrived from as far as Senegal and Taiwan, and as close as Szczecin, Gdańsk and Toruń. European underwater research was represented by the colleagues from Iceland, Greece, Montenegro, Italy, Ukraine and Slovakia. The topics were organized in four panels, truly covering most continents!
The conference was the third of the name, becoming the biannual event in the field, the only one in Poland reaching international level. It was a pleasure receiving such celebrities and good friends in Warsaw; we hope that all the Participants, including
Photo Jakub Stępnik
the audience, had a great time. Now it is time to get back to our studies so that the next volume of the excellent monograph (series “U” of “Światowit” periodical) might be published, including the articles of the Seminar speakers.
Hereby we are pleased to invite you to the 4th edition of the Seminar, which will take place in Warsaw in January 2021! More information soon, please follow us on Facebook (Archeologia Podwodna Underwater Expedition Instytut Archeologii UW) and our website http://underwaterexpedition. uw.edu.pl/3rd-warsaw-seminar-on-underwater-archaeology/
We are also most grateful to the Polish Chapter of The Explorers Club, which was of a great assistance during the organizing process! Thank You, and apologies for any inconvenience!
As always, we were supported by the one and only Museum of Diving in Warsaw. Thank You, you are the best!
„3rd Warsaw seminar on underwater archaeology” – the conference was possible due to the funding from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (959/P-DUN/2018) as well as the Vice-Rector of the University of Warsaw and the Director of the Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw.
It was patronaged by His Magnificence Rector of the University of Warsaw, Professor Marcin Pałys.
head of scientific committee: dr hab. Bartosz Kontny, prof. UW
scientific committee: dr hab. Radosław Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski, prof. dr hab. Iwona Modrzewska-Pianetti, dr hab. Waldemar Ossowski, prof. UG, dr hab. Andrzej Pydyn, prof. dr hab. Mariusz Ziółkowski
organizing committee: Aleksandra Chołuj, Małgorzata Mileszczyk, Magdalena Nowakowska, Artur Brzóska
