KOMODO TO RAJA AMPAT
RATED AND REVIEWED
THE BEST OF… WRECKS
ADRIAN STACEY CONCLUDES HIS EPIC 19-DAY LIVEABOARD TRIP THROUGH INDONESIA
AQUA LUNG STORM FINS AND BEUCHAT VOYAGER XL DIVE LUGGAGE
WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE BEST WRECK DIVES THROUGHOUT THE REGION
WHY THIS WRECK MECCA SHOULD BE ON ALL DIVER ‘WISH LISTS’
+
Shoot Like A Pro
‣ Scholar ‣ Photographing fish shoals
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EDITOR’S NOTE WHALE WATCHING AND ARTIFICIAL REEFS The harsh Australian winter is almost behind us and the summer months are well and truly on their way, with aboveaverage temperatures scorching the country. While divers can look forward to warmer waters and, in some areas, an increase of marine activity, the end of the winter also signals the end of the whale migration. Every year between April and November, thousands of humpback whales make the journey from their Southern Ocean feeding grounds to warmer waters to mate and calf. It is estimated that the number of whales making the journey increases by around ten percent each season, a tribute to the positive effect of gobal conservation efforts. It is just a shame that as whale populations are starting to bounce back, Japan has resumed commercial whaling. Whale watching along both the east and west coast of Australia has been a popular tourist attraction for years. In recent times, it has become possible to snorkel with these majestic giants. So far only a handful of locations offer this unique opportunity. One such location is Hervey Bay, which is often touted as one of the best places to watch the migration. The whales may come and go at Hervey Bay, but one new resident that is definitely here to stay is the wreck of a huge, ex-Australian Navy heavy landing ship. In the next issue of the magazine, we will be featuring the Ex-HMAS Tobruk, the newest addition to the many impressive wrecks already scattered in the coastal waters of this huge country. The Tobruk had a bit of an ignominious start to life as an artificial reef, as its scuttling did not go quite as planned. Whatever its start to life as an artificial reef, I am sure it will make an excellent dive site. Another new, and completely different artificial reef, is also been planned for the Gold Coast. Although the final design has not been decided on yet, funding for the pyramid-shaped reef has been approved and work is expected to begin next year. The completion date expected to be around June 2021.
Adrian Stacey Editor-at-Large (Australia and New Zealand)
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Mark Evans Email: mark.evans@scubadivermag.com
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Adrian Stacey Editor-at-Large (Australia and New Zealand) Tel: +61 422 611 238 Email: adrian@scubadivermag.com
Martyn Guess, Byron Conroy, Adrian Stacey
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KOMODO TO RAJA AMPAT
RATED AND REVIEWED
THE BEST OF… WRECKS
ADRIAN STACEY CONCLUDES HIS EPIC 19-DAY LIVEABOARD TRIP THROUGH INDONESIA
AQUA LUNG STORM FINS AND BEUCHAT VOYAGER XL DIVE LUGGAGE
WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE BEST WRECK DIVES THROUGHOUT THE REGION
ON THE COVER
WHY THIS WRECK MECCA SHOULD BE ON ALL DIVER ‘WISH LISTS’
+
Shoot Like A Pro
‣ Scholar ‣ Photographing fish shoals
ISSUE 16 | FREE MAGAZINE! WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: BYRON CONROY
REGULAR COLUMNS
FEATURES...
6 News
20 THE BEST OF... wreck diving
14 Medical Q&A
28 Underwater Photography
Great Barrier Reef health downgraded to ‘very poor’ but there is some positive news too, intriguing news about manta rays, and a devastating dive boat fire in California.
Dr Oliver Firth answers a reader question about dealing with cramp.
16 Dive Like A Pro
This issue, our panel of experts offer useful hints and advice on things you should consider before heading off for a dive.
66 Scholar
Joanna Smart has another busy month, trying her hand at underwater videography, and then completing her GUE Fundamentals course.
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After last issue’s piece on wall and drift diving, this time around we focus our attention on wreck diving, and select some of the very best wrecks in our region that should be on your ‘to-dive’ list, including locations in the Solomon Islands, Palau and Vanuatu.
Seasoned underwater snapper Martyn Guess is in the hotseat this month, and he focuses his attention on how to shoot effective and eyecatching shots of large shoals of fish.
32 Shoot Like A Pro
Our panel of underwater photography experts - Martyn Guess, Mario Vitalini, Paul Duxfield and Phil and Anne Medcalf - explain why they use the equipment they do, from actual camera systems and housings to arms, strobes and other accessories.
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CONTENTS
...CONTINUED
GEAR GUIDE
38 Indonesia
54 What’s New
46 TECHNICAL: Truk Lagoon
56 Group Test: Test Extra Special
Adrian Stacey concludes his epic 1,300-mile Indonesian liveaboard adventure, spending 19 days travelling and diving through legendary hotspots such as Komodo, Alor, the Banda Islands and Raja Ampat. In this third and final installment, he checks out the diving - and topside attractions - of Raja Ampat.
Byron Conroy waxes lyrical about some of the most-famous wrecks in the legendary Truk Lagoon, including the destroyer Fumizuki, the Betty Bomber, the San Francisco Maru and the Fujikawa Maru, and explains while some lie within experienced recreational diver depths, having some form of technical training will definitely improve your experience.
New products recently released, including the Mares Dual 15x and Dual Adj 52x regulators, Aqua Lung Bali 3mm wetsuits, Fourth Element Shark Invested T-shirt, and SeaLife Sea Dragon Mini 1000F dive light/video light.
A collection of in-depth Test Extra reviews, on the Aqua Lung Storm fins and i200C dive computer, Beuchat’s Voyager XL dive luggage, and the SeaLife Sea Dragon Mini 1000F.
64 Long Term Test
The Scuba Diver Test Team reviews a selection of products over a six-month period, including the Mares Epic Adj 82X regulator, Suunto D5 dive computer, Apeks XL4+ regulator, and the Finnsub Comfort Harness and 20D bladder.
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Each month, we bring together the latest industry news from the Asia-Pacific region, as well as all over our water planet. To find out the most up-to-date news and views, check out the website or follow us on our various social media (@scubadivermag) www.scubadivermag.com/news
GREAT BARRIER REEF
HEALTH DESCRIBED AS ‘VERY POOR’ DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE
I
t has long been said that climate change is causing serious damage to the Great Barrier Reef, and now its long-term outlook has been officially downgraded from ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’. The latest report by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) has said that rising sea temperatures due to global warming is the single biggest threat to the UNESCO World Heritage Site – to the extent that the committee is considering adding the reef, which was added in 1981, to its list of sites that are ‘in danger’. In a report published in 2009, GBRMPA scientists commented that the sprawling, 1,400-mile reef was ‘at a crossroads between a positive, well-managed future, and a less-certain one’. A second report five years later in 2014 said it was ‘an icon under pressure’ and that efforts were needed to fight key threats. The most-recent five-year report by GBRMPA states ‘the region has further deteriorated and, in 2019, Australia is caring for a changed and less-resilient reef’.
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With rising sea temperatures causing mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 that wiped out huge swathes of coral, the report said that ‘threats to the reef are multiple, cumulative and increasing’, and that ‘the window of opportunity to improve the reef’s long-term future is now’. Environmentalist groups have been calling for greater global action to tackle the climate crisis in the wake of the latest report, with Imogen Zethoven, director of strategy for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, saying: “This is now the third Outlook Report. We’ve had ten years of warnings, ten years of rising greenhouse emissions and ten years watching the reef heading for a catastrophe”. The GBRMPA’s chief scientist, David Wachenfeld, agreed the reef’s problems were ‘largely driven by climate change’, but remained upbeat, commenting: “Despite that, with the right mix of local actions to improve the resilience of the system and global actions to tackle climate change in the strongest and fastest way possible, we can turn that around”.
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...BUT THERE’S A RAY OF HOPE FOR THE GREAT BARRIER REEF While the news that the GBR’s health has been downgraded to ‘very poor’ by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is a body blow, there is a ray of hope for this UNESCO World Heritage Site. A research team from Griffith University has been exploring the genes of four different species of crustose coralline algae (CCA), which are considered one of the major factors in the structure of coral reefs, and their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. Griffith PhD candidate Tessa Page explained that there had never been any serious research into the genetic make-up of CCAs and said: “CCA have really long, diverse evolutionary histories, and one of the species we work with which is really old, evolved and diversified during previous periods of high carbon dioxide and temperature levels. These evolutionary linkages might make them better adapted to future changes.” Explaining how CCAs actively attracted coral to reefs – other forms of algae actually encroach on reefs in areas where the coral has died off – she said: “CCAs form calcified ‘skeletons’ that coral can attach to - they are the building blocks of the reef. They come in and support the carbonate framework of the reef, and induce the settlement of coral larvae and other invertebrates, like abalone.” The Great Barrier Reef has endured back-to-back mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, and while there have been areas that have made some form of recovery, the entire reef as a whole is still under huge stress – and Page reckons CCAs might aid with the recovery process. She commented: “We’re hopeful they will be instrumental in bringing coral back to reefs that have been damaged by cyclones, or from environmental stressors. “We are now concentrating on pinpointing the settlement cues and interaction between CCAs and coral.”
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Keep your eye on the dive, not your dive computer.
‘CHEETAHS OF THE SEA’ – MAKO SHARKS – GAIN PROTECTION FROM CITES Mako sharks – known as the ‘cheetahs of the sea’ due to their phenomenal speed – have gained protection from CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). The proposal for 18 threatened species of sharks and rays, which also included wedgefish and guitarsharks, was passed on Sunday 25 August. It was tabled by Mexico, with its representative saying ‘mako shark populations are on the verge of collapse, and that is no exaggeration’, and supported by some 102 countries, though disappointingly, 40 – including the US, China, Japan and New Zealand – opposed it. Matt Collis, director of international policy at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said: “In the past, the US and others have supported listing other shark species under CITES, but not so in this case, with commercial interests at stake. For a lot of these countries, they were happy to list shark species when it was ones they weren’t so heavily involved in fishing. Suddenly, when you’re being asked to be responsible, rather than asking other people to be responsible, they’re less keen to take it on board.” The demand for shark-fin soup is rapidly depleting the amount of sharks in our oceans, and this proposal means that the identified species can no longer be traded unless it can be proven that their fishing will not impact the possibility of their continued survival. Mako sharks have virtually vanished from the Mediterranean, and their numbers elsewhere are shrinking quickly.
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STUDY SHOWS MANTA RAYS FORM SOCIAL BONDS WITH EACH OTHER Manta rays form social relationships and actively choose their social partners, a new study has revealed. Research published today by scientists from the Marine Megafauna Foundation, Macquarie University, the University of Papua, and the University of York is the first to describe the structure of social relationships in manta rays. Sharks and rays are often thought to be solitary creatures, but reef manta rays typically form groups at shallow-water feeding and cleaning sites. The researchers studied the structure of more than 500 of these groups over five years, in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat Marine Park, one of the mostbiodiverse marine habitats on Earth. They found two distinct but connected communities of rays living together. These social communities were quite differently structured, one being made up of mostly mature female rays, and the other a mix of males, females and juveniles. “We still understand very little of how mantas live their lives, but we know they are socially interactive, and these interactions seem important to the structure of their populations. Understanding social relationships can help predict manta ray movements, mating patterns and responses to human impacts. That’s essential for conservation and ecotourism efforts,” said lead author Rob Perryman, a researcher for Marine Megafauna Foundation and PhD student at Macquarie University. The study, published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, used social network analysis to show that manta ray communities contain a web of many weak acquaintances, with some stronger, longer-lasting relationships. Though they do not live in tight-knit social groups, the team noticed that female mantas tend to make long-term bonds with other females, while males did not have many strong connections. This could be due to different reproductive strategies or dispersal patterns. “Like dolphins, manta rays are intelligent and perform collective behaviours such as foraging and playing. They are curious, often approaching humans, and individuals appear to have different personalities. It turns out that reef manta rays actively choose to group with preferred social partners,” Perryman added. To identify social structures, the researchers took identification photos of all rays present in each group, and monitored whether individuals were more likely to be seen
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Photographs courtesy of Rob Perryman
together (at different times and in different locations) than expected if encounters were random. The locations used by the rays seemed to be important to their social relations. Manta rays form groups at cleaning stations where they are attended to by cleaner wrasse and other small fish. The team observed that certain social groups were regularly seen together at these sites, and so may be using them as social meeting points. Some rays had very strong affinity to certain cleaning stations. The researchers were surprised to find this given the close proximity of all sites and that mantas are generally mobile and wide-ranging animals. They concluded that the rays left and returned to preferred sites where they formed groups through a ‘fissionfusion’ social process. Like many sharks and rays, manta rays are internationally threatened animals and population declines have been reported in various locations worldwide. They are hunted for their valuable gill plates used in traditional Chinese medicine. Other anthropogenic threats include injuries or entanglement in discarded nets and lines, pollution and habitat destruction.
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DIVING WORLD ROCKED BY FATAL LIVEABOARD TRAGEDY IN CALIFORNIA
© Ventura County Fire Department
The global diving fraternity has been shocked to the core by the tragic liveaboard disaster that unfolded in California at the beginning of September. The cause of the incident is not yet known, but what is certain is that the 22-metre dive charter vessel Conception was engulfed in flames in the early hours of 2 September while at anchor near Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park. A mayday call was heard at 3.15am, sparking a massive search and rescue operation utilising helicopters and naval cutters. Crews from the Coastguard, Santa Barbara Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department and Vessel Assist rapidly responded, and the fire departments present were busy battling the fierce blaze when the vessel sank some 20 metres offshore in 20m of water, with just a portion of the bow sticking up above the surface. Of the 39 people onboard, the five crew escaped on an inflatable boat and made it to a ‘good Samaritan’ pleasure craft, The Grape Escape. They were all soaking wet, in their underwear and the captain had apparently broken his leg. According to the owners of The Grape Escape, Bob and Shirley Hansen, two of the crew returned to the water in the inflatable to search for any other survivors, but their mission proved fruitless. Sadly, that left the other 34 people aboard the Conception – part of a fleet of vessels operated by Santa Barbara-based Truth Aquatics – unaccounted for. It was feared the passengers may have been trapped below deck given the fire broke out in the middle of the night. These worst fears were soon realised, as on 3 September the authorities confirmed that 25 bodies had been found. As we went to press, one person was still missing. According to Coastguard Lieutenant Commander Matthew Kroll, rescue and recovery teams had recovered 20 bodies from the sunken vessel on 3 September, and the remainder once the remains of the boat were deemed safe to enter. He added that four bodies that were recovered in the midst of the initial rescue operation had injuries consistent with drowning.
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DEPTHERAPY GUIDES CORAL REEF CONSERVATION IN MICRONESIA
© Dmitry Knyazev
A team of military veterans from the charity Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education, supported by Coral Cay Conservation (CCC), set out in August 2018 to Chuuk Lagoon, Micronesia, to collect critical ecological data from the Shinkoku Maru, a shipwrecked World War Two vessel, and now the fruits of their labours have been released. Following extensive training at ROOTS Red Sea in May 2018 with CCC members, the Deptherapy team set out to undertake preliminary data collection protocols through scuba to ecologically map the fauna and benthic community residing on the Shinkoku Maru. This expedition contributes to a wider effort by Deptherapy following the launch of their ‘Protecting our Oceans’ campaign, where Deptherapy members ‘give back’ to the oceans that have given so much to them. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the plight of the world’s oceans, and for Deptherapy programme members to make their own practical contribution to environmental protection. The resulting scientific report from the expedition, authored by CCC’s Head of Science, Tom Dallison, and Deptherapy member Ben Lee, highlights, notably, that personnel suffering from various physical and mental ailments hold the ability to undertake such studies and that efforts to conserve our oceans are accessible to all; overcoming the
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barriers associated with the demands of undertaking scientific data collection through scuba. Ben Lee said: “Completing the study was a massive achievement for the Deptherapy team, not only because we had accomplished our set aims in Truk (Chuuk), but also proved to the world that we, as disabled veterans, missing limbs and having mental health issues, can conduct our own conservation-orientated studies and help in the protection of our oceans. “For me it was a challenging task to achieve, not only for the guys involved but for Tom Dallison at Coral Cay Conservation, having to train and educate seven injured veterans that had no knowledge of the marine biology world or any idea of how the coral reef ecosystem worked underwater. To then hand that knowledge down to more of our team and complete the task of mapping the life of the Shinkoku Mary wreck proved that we had the power to use the knowledge to educate others on Deptherapy programmes, and we will continue to do so on our future courses.”
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NEW WHALESHARKS IDENTIFIED OFF THE COAST OF DONSOL IN THE PHILIPPINES More than 100 new whalesharks have been identified off the coast of Donsol in the Philippines between January and June 2019, in a report from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). A total of 104 new individuals were noted – whalesharks can be identified based on the pattern of spots behind its gills, which are as unique as a human fingerprint – which brings Donsol’s tally since monitoring began in 2007 to 676. Only 22 new individuals were spotted in the area between 2017 and 2018, so this latest number is great news for the Philippines whaleshark population. As well as the 104 new sharks, there were also 64 re-sightings of other whalesharks, and some extremely young juveniles were among those seen, which reinforces ideas that the Ticao Pass serves as a ‘pupping ground’ for whalesharks. WWF-Philippines Donsol project manager Manual Narvadez Jnr said: “These whalesharks that pass by Donsol aren’t just important due to their value to local tourism, they play an important, systemic role in providing resilience to the local eco-system.” WWF-Philippines has been active in Donsol since 1998, and has actively co-operated with the local government for more than two decades for the conservation and protection of the Ticao Pass and its local whalesharks.
LEGENDARY SHIPWRECK OF RMS TITANIC ‘RETURNING TO NATURE’ The legendary shipwreck of RMS Titanic is succumbing to a combined assault of rust, corrosive salts, metaleating bacteria, strong currents and colonies of deep-sea creatures, with some of the most-iconic areas already gone. A team from US-based Triton Submarines were making the first visit in nearly 14 years, and over the course of five dives in the 4.6-metre DSV Limiting Factor submersible, were shocked at how parts of the vessel had deteriorated. The crow’s nest has vanished. The forward mast has collapsed. The captain’s cabin has collapsed, burying the bathtub that had been visible on past expeditoons, and the poop deck has also given way.
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MEDICAL Q&A Dr Oliver Firth is a diving doctor with over 22 years of diving experience. He is an Approved Medical Examiner of Divers for the UK HSE and a medical referee for the UK Diving Medical Committee, performing many hundreds of diving medicals a year. As the senior doctor at London Diving Chamber for the last 13 years, he has supervised the treatment of hundreds of cases of decompression illness. He has now set up Hyperdive (www.hyperdive.co.uk) to continue his diving medical work with a global audience. With his accumulated experience, he has seen most things a diver might come across, but remains eager to hear from anyone with a medical conundrum they need a solution to! divingdoctor@scubadivermag.com
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Q: I’ve been diving for a few years and am progressing to longer, more technical dives with significant decompression obligations. I find that occasionally I get quite severe cramps in one or both calves. Although I can generally keep myself stable underwater, it’s painful and I would worry about my ability to respond to an emergency at the same time, or manage it through a stop of tens of minutes. I also find that soreness/tenderness in the calves can persist for several days afterwards, if the cramp was bad. Do you have any advice for things I can do to avoid it in the first place, or manage better underwater? I’ve known of people taking quinine in the past - is that a potential option to discuss with a GP?
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A: On a conference in the USA last year, during a particularly tedious lecture in a stiflingly hot auditorium, a fellow delegate sitting next to me suddenly yelped in pain and apologetically told me he had an acute case of ‘Charley horse’. Intrigued (as I always am by the history of these unusual medical idioms), I discovered that the term first arose in the 1880s, from the American sport of baseball. One story states that the expression was first used to describe a lame horse named Charley that pulled the roller at the White Sox ballpark in Chicago. A second origin theory gives the credit to a baseball pitcher of the 1880s named Charley Radbourne, also known as Old Hoss, who suffered a muscle cramp during a baseball game. Whatever the truth is, these sudden, unpredictable and involuntary muscle contractions are a perennial problem and there isn’t an easy fix I’m afraid. Despite exhaustive research over
22.01.19 12:00
many years, there is still no consensus on what causes muscle cramps in otherwise healthy adults. They are, however, particularly common in divers, and they can be quite difficult to manage underwater. The reasons they occur more frequently in divers are many, but are usually a combination of dehydration, fatigue, electrolyte imbalances, and constriction of peripheral blood vessels due to immersion, which reduces the blood flow to the muscles of the legs and arms. Sometimes deficiencies of certain minerals and vitamins can contribute as well. It does seem as though cramps become more common with advancing age too. So, my top tips for preventing the onset of cramps would be: • don’t get old, or at least if you have to, age gracefully (and with tongue firmly in cheek); • keep yourself well hydrated prior to dives - this means making sure you are peeing clear 24 hours before the dives, not just necking a cup of tea before giant striding into the water; • do some leg stretches before the dive, as a simple routine of a few minutes will warm up the muscles and get the blood flowing to the area, reducing the chances of cramp; • take some bananas with you (and eat them) - these supply most of the minerals and vitamins that you need to avoid cramp. Quinine sulphate is usually used for night-time cramps and can be beneficial in this context, but doesn’t really tackle the underlying causes I’ve mentioned above. There’s also some data that suggests quinine may cause some rare but serious side effects. You’d be better off trying other measures first.
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This issue, our panel of industry experts discuss what important considerations need to be analysed before you go for a dive PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK EVANS AND GARRY DALLAS
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hen venturing out for a dive, be that at your local inland site or at some coastal location, there are certain vital considerations that need to be made before you get wet. Having the right kit, checking on tide times and weather conditions, even just knowing where you are going, all need to be looked at and processed. Let’s see what our industry pros say… BSAC’s Dai Atkins said: “Have you been out there in the middle of the sea, bobbing about on a RIB ahead of that longawaited weekend fun dive, only to have that lurking thought… ‘Did I pack my ******?’ (*insert missing item(s). “We’ve all done it – I’ve forgot my mask, my sunhat, even the keys to the boat (luckily, our club has someone whose nifty with the old ignition bypass trick) – but how could we try and avoid it, and what sort of things might constitute ‘essential items’ when you’re preparing for the weekend? “Personal kit - Checklists are a great way to help you remember all your personal gear - mask, fins, gloves, suit, cylinder, spare cylinder, weightbelt! Oh, the shame of forgetting one’s weightbelt and having to try and share one on a RIB (this is where your slick dive management comes into play!). If you have a prescription mask like me, it’s all the more important you try and remember these things. If you don’t use a checklist, build up the muscle memory of what items you normally use - mentally picture kitting up on the boat and clipping all your dangly bits on – reel, compass, DSMB, torch, spare torch (did you charge it?). “Boaty stuff - If you’re part of the crew getting the boat ready maybe you need a more-comprehensive list – did we get fuel? Is there enough oil? Do we have all the ropes, shots, buoys, flags and ships’ biscuits? Lesser thought of items might be spare fuses for when one pops as you’re haring it back from the headland off Salcombe, leaving you cast adrift. Don’t ask how I know! If something breaks, will you have the right-sized spanner to fix it? “Dive Manager - the boss of the day. This person has a very responsible job. If anything goes wrong, they’re responsible. So you need to be uber-prepared when Damocles hands you that sword of his! Did you check the weather? The tides – are you going to hit slack? Can you launch and recover the boat? Do you know where you’re going? Did you provide the Coxswain with a route plan? Have you
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delegated the job of the VHF to someone. You have command of a crack team of divers! So don’t do it all yourself. You’ll burn yourself out and you deserve a fun weekend too. “Other stuff - The Bank Holiday weekend was a gorgeous time for most branches around the coast, and a fair few lobster were seen getting off RIBs in Plymouth. So don’t forget to protect yourself – bottles of water, sunhats, shades, suncream, and those all-important sea-sickness pills if you need them (and take them the required hour before too, or they’re pretty worthless). “Going diving requires a lot of preparation. It’s only a quick five minutes to return home and get my shuttlecock when I pop to the leisure centre for a quick spot of badminton. However, when you are miles offshore and you’ve forgotten your cylinder, it’s an expensive and long day out for nothing. And it’s often no one else’s fault, I’m afraid. “So, the moral is Dib Dib Dib – be prepared! Okay, so you didn’t heed my advice and you still forget something. Don’t fret, this is where the club comes in handy - someone somewhere will have a spare. Yay!
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tides, wind direction and speed, temperature and wave height, etc, at specific times and forecasts for that day by the hour. These are all considerations to making your entry and exit safer. “Even then, preparing for any eventuality should not be dismissed. Signalling devices, an SMB to make other water users aware of your position underwater, and making it known to surface cover or authorities your position and how long you intend to be submerged is a trait of a safety conscious diver and their team. On exit, contact those people to state you are safely back and prevent any unnecessary worry. “The use of a compass is usually mandatory when diving. Bearings out and inbound, taking into account direction changes in current, require competency, so please don’t leave this to chance. Arriving back exactly where you began your dive is a very satisfying notion, leaving your buddies in awe at your navigation skills!” PADI’s Vikki Batten said: “Planning a dive is often a balance between precision planning and flexibility. The first thing most divers want to know is the depth and water temperature.
And that person becomes a life-long dive buddy.” RAID’s Garry Dallas said: “Those of you who simply adore diving as much as I do, will understand that the urge to dive at any given opportunity, even to take a day off from the mundane daily work is insuppressible. Quarries tend to be most accessible in any conditions, except when your truck can’t get up that icy hill to the dive site. However, the sea is where the adventure is at! Every dive is a lottery of what you may find underwater, but unfortunately, so are the weather conditions. “Impulsively, tomorrow is the day to go for a dive! It might have been a few weeks, months or just yesterday! Our oceans change on an hourly basis, therefore we need to adapt and understand when is the right time to get wet or not. “From my army days, the 7Ps are burned in my mind - Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents P!ss Poor Performance! Our RAID courses offer a detailed insight into adventure diving from shores and boats. So, before you go, check the weather and tide times around your dive location first. You can seek more local area knowledge from internet local reports, maritime coastguard and specific apps for your phones like MET Office and Windfinder. Be aware of spring and neap
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These form the basis of the type of dive you’ll be doing and the equipment you’ll need. Environmental conditions such as weather and tides are also key. Gaining a bit of knowledge in this area will help you optimise your dives and give you confidence in your judgement. A bit of research into the dive site can make a massive difference, so check out the local currents and underwater geology plus the history, if it’s a wreck, or other divers reports/videos, not to mention the skipper or guide’s briefing. The more info you have the more fun the dive becomes. “Finally, if conditions are not favourable don’t dive, even if other divers do and even if you lose the cost of your dive. If you are uncomfortable with the conditions, yours is the only opinion that matters.” PADI’s Jason Sockett said: “I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be rushed before a dive. I always like to arrive at the dive centre with plenty of time to say hello to everyone, get my gear ready and just enjoy the days diving. My preparation starts the night before as I pack the dive bag, I have a check list in my head of what needs to go in. I pack the bag in reverse order so that if I am on a small boat the next day, the first piece of kit I need is not at the bottom of the bag. As the kit goes into the bag I am also checking for any wear and tear of my kit - nothing worse than getting to the dive site and find that the mouthpiece looks like the dog has chewed it. I also always have a small dive box with my own ‘save a dive kit’, various O-rings, Leatherman, range of small spanners, Allen keys, one adjustable spanner, spare mask strap, mouthpiece and various bits and pieces that I have collected over the year.” GUE’s John Kendall commented: “One of the joys of being in the UK is that if you don’t like the current weather, you just need to wait an hour or so. This does tend to cause issues
when it comes to dive planning. Between the wind, the tides and the rain it can make it tricky to make decisions. However, this should definitely not stop you from going diving. “If I am diving off the coast, I like to call the boat skipper a couple of days prior to the dive and ask about the wind. The skippers are the experts when it comes to their local regions and will know what the sensible limits for diving are. If you are shore diving, then again, seek out local knowledge regarding weather and how it effects conditions. Find out what state of the tide the site should be dived at, and then make sure you know when that occurs. There are some sites that can be dived at any time, but many around the coast can be dangerous to dive when the tide is flowing. Always have a contingency plan in place (even if that is to simply skip the dive and head to the pub) in case you find conditions are not what was predicted. Remember, anyone can stop a dive at any time - and often the best time to do that is before even getting in the water.” n
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Following on from last issue’s focus on the best wall and drift dives in the region, this time we look at some of the most-outstanding wrecks that should be on your ‘to-do’ list PHOTOGRAPHS BY GERALD RAMBERT, DAVID KIRKLAND, JACK MCKEE, KLAUS OBERMEYER, EMMERSION UNDERWATER, MATT KRUMINS PHOTOGRAPHY, AND JESSE ALPERT
The Coolidge is abandoned
The Coolidge swarms with life
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The wreck can be penetrated through the hole caused by the aerial bomb and divers can see the remains of the engine room and artefacts such as an array of sake bottles
Vanuatu
The SS President Coolidge is commonly referred to by divers as the world’s largest and most-accessible shipwreck, located on the island of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu - a tropical paradise in the South Pacific! The former cruise liner was converted to a troop carrier in an effort to bolster the fleet of the American forces in the midst of World War Two. As part of the conversion, the vessel was modified to carry 5,000 personnel, vehicles, weapons, artillery and medical supplies. It was also painted gun-metal grey and fitted out with guns and cannons. On 26 October 1942, in an attempt to enter the Segond Channel safely, she struck friendly American sea mines, strategically positioned as part of the defence against Japanese submarines which frequently patrolled the islands of New Hebrides, now known as Vanuatu. The captain ran her aground with plans to salvage and repair her in mind, however in a matter of just hours, the Coolidge started to take on water and eventually toppled over into the depths of the warm, clear water below. She now lies just 150 metres offshore in a slanted position on her port side, The bow rests at a depth of just 20m, with the stern an astounding depth of 65m. The wreck itself is very much intact and has become an incredible and WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM
unique dive site allowing divers to fully explore not only the external part of the ship, but large parts inside too. It a perfect site for divers of all experience levels, from Open Water right through to the most hardcore of technical divers. The beauty of this wreck is its mix of pre-War days as a luxury liner and its short life as a troop carrier. With Pacific Dive (www.pacificdive.net), you can visit places like the doctor’s office and swimming pool, not to mention ‘The Lady’, while also seeing remnants from its military life, including Jeeps, guns, drop tanks and personal supplies like uniforms, helmets and gas masks. At least eight to ten dives are recommended to encounter as much as possible, and the night dive is an experience not to be missed. It is quite possibly the best night dive in the world!
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Military cargo on the Coolidge
Coral and sponge growth smother the Coolidge
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The sheer size of the Coolidge is impressive
It a perfect site for divers of all experience levels, from Open Water right through to the most hardcore of technical divers
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Palau
From fishing boats, Zero fighter planes to massive Japanese World War Two wrecks, Palau offers some of the best wreck diving in the Pacific. With its prime strategic position in the Pacific, Palau was the key Naval Support Post of the Japanese fleet during World War Two. During the Operation Desecrate on 30-31 March 1944, the US Navy bombed and torpedoed nearly all of the Japanese vessels remaining in Palau. The Japanese had scattered their fleet close to the Rock Islands, which means that the wrecks are mostly protected by the barrier reef that surrounds Palau. According to Melanie Oborski, the wreck of the IJN Iro is a favourite of the Sam’s Tours Palau (www.samstours.com) dive guides, and a prime example on how the ocean takes over, once given the chance. You can see beautiful coral growth on the top of the Iro as well as a variety of reef fish. The ship was first damaged by a submarine torpedo when returning to Palau from the Philippines, but finally sank during Operation Desecrate, when hit by an aerial bomb. The wreck can be penetrated through the hole caused by the aerial bomb and divers can see the remains of the engine room and artefacts such as an array of sake bottles. It also has two 80 mm HA guns on platforms on the bow and stern of the ship.
Another example of beautiful coral overgrowth is the Teshio Maru, a former Japanese Army cargo ship that was hit by bombs fired from American USS Bunker Hill SBDs (single-engine fighter plane). After being beached for a few years, it slipped off the reef and sank. It now lies on its starboard side and offers a prime dive site for wreck enthusiasts and underwater photographers. A more-unusual wreck from the World War Two era is the Jake Seaplane, a Japanese Aichi E13A1-1 Navy Floatplane, built in 1941 and destroyed in 1944. It lays shallow in approximately 15m and due to its protected position is in great condition, which makes it a favourite for underwater photographers. It is fully encrusted by a variety of different corals and home to batfish, tomato clownfish, sixbanded angelfish and many other marine creatures. Palau’s amount and variety of wrecks makes it a relevant destination for all wreck enthusiasts.
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The Solomon Islands
These include the ‘big six’ World War Two wrecks, and Dive Munda (www.divemunda.com) have some special dive packages available. The company has also laid commemorative plaques on the wrecks, including one on the Wildcat placed with Mark Roche (see the box out for his incredible tale).
…a penetration dive to check out the fantastic, completely intact engine room, one of the best and most-preserved engine rooms in a shallow-water World War Two wreck anywhere in the world!
The Dauntless – This Douglas SBD-4 Dauntless dive bomber was hit by AA fire during a raid on Munda, on 23 July 1943. Pilot Jim Dougherty put his plane down in Rendova Harbour, where she still rests at 13m. There is an amazing story of the pilot coming back on the 50th anniversary, at a ripe old age, diving his actual plane with Dive Munda and their very own guides Sunga and Brian. The Airacobra – Recently discovered in April 2011, little is known about this American P-39 fighter, but Dive Munda believe it is one of two aircraft lost by the USAAF 68th Fighter Squadron during a raid on Shortland on 6 September 1943. She lies in about 27m of water on a sandy bottom and hosts schools of sweetlip, lionfish, coral trout and thousands of tiny baitfish. Japanese Zero fighter – Recently Dive Munda staff (Jack and Sunga and guest Barbara) uncovered that near the tail on the port side of the plane on the fuselage there is some stencil in Japanese writing. It is ‘the plane is an A6M2 Model 21 Zero Fighter, with the manufacture number 5455’… It was manufactured by Nakajima, likely in November 1942. This mostly intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane rests
on a sandy bottom at 17m near Kolombangara, where the Japanese had a stronghold and airstrip in 1943. The plane has recently been rediscovered by the Dive Munda team after its precise location had been lost many years ago. Now home to sweetlip, coral trout, schools of baitfish, and varieties of shrimp and invertebrates, the colours of the soft coral growth makes this wreck a terrific photographic subject. Fish swarm around the airplanes
An engine on the seabed
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Located on the island of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, we are known as one of the premier recreational and technical diving facilities in the South Pacific • Private, exclusive beach allowing access to the world famous SS President Coolidge. • We cater to all levels of divers from non divers to OC trimix and CCR divers. • SSI training facility teaching a variety of learn to dive programs and specialty courses. • We dive other amazing sites such as Million Dollar Point, USS Tucker and Dany Island!
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Some of the airplanes are in intact condition
MARK ROCHE AND THE WILDCAT
Anemonefish
Navy Reserve Lt j.g. Irvin E Rink, 25, of Wichita, Kansas, killed during World War Two and accounted for on 10 July 2017, was buried on 16 April 2018 in his hometown. On 4 August 1943, Rink was a member of Fighting Squadron Twenty Seven (VF-27), when eight pilots flying F4F-4 Wildcat aircraft took off from the Russell Islands, Solomon Islands, to escort a Catalina seaplane on a mission to Enogai Inlet, New Georgia Island. As the seaplane attempted to land at Enogai Inlet, the escort aircraft were attacked by Japanese fighter planes. Following the battle, the element returned to the Russell Islands, however Rink did not return. He was reported missing in action on 4 August 1943. Based on a lack of information regarding his whereabouts, he was declared deceased on 8 January 1946. In March 2008, Mark Roche, an American diver, photographed an F4F-4 aircraft inverted on a reef approximately 14m underwater off the northwest coast of New Georgia. He recovered human remains and material evidence from the wreckage and transferred them to the US Consulate in Honiara, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. In February 2013, a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (predecessor to DPAA) team travelled to the Solomon Islands where they received possible remains from the crash site. The remains were sent to the laboratory and consolidated the remains found in 2008. To identify Rink’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and autosomal (auSTR) DNA, which matched his family, as well as anthropological analysis, which matched Rink’s records, and historical evidence. In June 2019, Mark and team Sealark joined Dive Munda in laying commemorative plaques on the ‘Big Six’ World War Two wrecks (Wildcat, Jap Zero, Dauntless, Kashi Maru, Corsair and Airacobra).
Massive table F4F-4 Wildcat – Close by the Kashi Maru, this US coral fighter plane rests in 14m on a spectacular coral reef named Alice in Wonderland. The plane lies upside down and bears the marks of shrapnel and AA gunfire prior to being shot down. Dive Munda explore the wreck for 10-15 minutes then slowly work their way along the gently sloping reef admiring massive plate corals hundreds of years old, elephant ear sponges, and the teeming lifeforms they support. Unfortunately, Dive Munda can’t always take guests to the Wildcat if they are doing a single day of diving. Kashi Maru – This Japanese freighter was caught by USAF bombers on 2 July 1943 while unloading a cargo of trucks and fuel to nearby troops based on New Georgia Island. She lies at 17m in Mboroko Harbour, 45 minutes boat ride from Munda. Her artefact-filled hold is easily accessible to all levels of diver and areas of the hold are penetrable. The wreck now hosts abundant corals, clams, moray eels, octopus and masses of juvenile tropical fish and crustaceans. This is a truly spectacular dive for World War Two enthusiasts and wreck divers. There may For those experienced divers (proof required), Dive Munda can be times that the Kashi Maru would not be diveable due to offer this as a penetration dive to check out the fantastic, completely intact engine room, one of the best and mostKastom Land issues and disputes. Unfortunately, as with the preserved engine rooms in a shallow-water World War Two Wildcat, Dive Munda can’t always take guests to the Kashi wreck anywhere in the world! n Maru if they are doing a single day of diving.
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UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY
SHOOTING SHOALS
Following his last article on fish portraits, Martyn Guess provides some tips on how to get the best pictures of fish shoals PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTYN GUESS
M
y fellow Dive Pro at Scubatravel, Mario Vitalini, wrote recently about photographing fish aggregations and getting yourself in the best position to take great images. In this article I want to expand the discussion and look at different approaches and the photographic techniques to get the perfect shot. Shoals of fish are amazing to behold underwater and go to the heart of the underwater world and can therefore make stunning images. Pictures of shoals are always popular with non-divers and can be very successful in competitions if taken carefully and imaginatively. It is therefore important to get the basics right. The first thing to get into your head is, it is far better to get back from the subject rather than the established underwater photography adage to get close. Shoals can be huge and therefore if you want to photograph the whole thing, you simply have to get back. Successful shoal images tend to be those that show the whole shoal with the fish in a tight and orderly shape. You are more likely to achieve this if you are back from the fish and not frightening them into moving or changing direction. If you are taking images of the whole shoal, then in all probability this will be an ambient light shot with no strobes and with a fish-eye lens. The reason being simply that the distance that the strobe light will have to travel, assuming you are well away, is far beyond your strobe’s lighting distance. A fish-eye lens will give you the most coverage. Sometimes it can therefore be quite liberating to take your strobes off. You will be able to move around much more freely and fire off rapidly without having to wait for your strobes to recycle. When I know that there is a large shoal on the next dive (maybe a repeat dive), I will remove my strobes. One of the first things I do underwater is check where the sun is. Ideally you want this on your back and to shoot with the light. Time of day and the relative position of the sun is therefore very important for shoal photography. At roughly the depth I intend to shoot the shoal from, I will what I call ‘shoot the blue’. I will shoot into the background water column and alter the camera speed and ISO to get the
Best of Manado
In dark or overcast conditions experiment with slow motion shots
blue I want. As long as you stay at roughly the same depth and shoot in the same direction, then the background blue in your images will be what you wanted. Too fast a speed, then the water column becomes dark blue or black. Too slow a speed then the surface can easily become white and uninteresting, or even burn the highlights out. Shoal photography where the subject is relatively shallow and where you are shooting with ambient light only, is an ideal time to use filters, such as the Magic Filter invented by Alex Mustard. These filters will give you a very natural colour of the background water and the fish and in post-processing no colour casts on the shoal. If the shoal is not too big, or maybe if it is really tightly packed, then it can be possible to get slightly closer and with a more open aperture and strobes on a relatively high power, throw the light out further, so to be of use lighting some of the fish. Beware though, fish are very reflective and if you get
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BIOGRAPHY: MARTYN GUESS
Ambient light is liberating as you can take the strobes off
Martyn has been diving for over 30 years and taking underwater images for over 25 years. He has been very successful in national and international competitions and regularly makes presentations to camera and photography clubs and diving shows as well as the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSOUP)and other underwater photography groups. Today he shares his passion and knowledge - as well as teaching underwater photography courses, he leads overseas workshop trips for Scubatravel.
With the sun directly overhead shoot straight or slightly down
You can get close and shoot the entire shoal where it is compact and tightly packed but beware of strobe power/burning highlights
too close you will easily burn the highlights out. Also, if you get too close with a fish-eye lens the shape of the shoal and some of the leading fish can get distorted. The middle of the day and the sun directly overhead will give you problems with the surface burning out too easily. This is because often a large shoal will cover quite a bit of depth, from close to the surface and down into the depths and ideally, we want to shoot slightly upwards, to include some of the under-surface texture created by waves and ripples and give a point of reference in the image. With the sun directly overhead, it is impossible not to overexpose the top part of the picture in this scenario, so it is best to shoot straight and not up to the surface. In a previous article I wrote about the use of Histograms and they are essential to review in these types of images, where the contrast between the surface and deeper down is considerable. They will tell you graphically if you have overcompensated the exposure for the surface, making the rest of the image too dark. In the speed of the action, it is easy to keep shooting, resulting often in disappointment when back on the boat!
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UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY Divers add perspective and processing in Black and White can be very effective
Where the shoal breaks up or is messy, go in tight for a frame filling image
If the sun is high and you have no choice but to dive at that time, then you can consider shooting the shoals with sunball type settings and your strobes on high power (Small apertures and higher speed), but you do have to be very critical of the camera-to-subject distance, as the light will fall off extremely quickly. If you process an image that has issues with the surface being too bright then more often than not a black and white image will work better than colour. In high sun situations, I prefer to go close and just fill the frame with a section of the shoal - at least you avoid the issue with the surface burning out. Sometimes the shoals will not pack together tightly and just look messy. There is little you can do, if anything frankly, so it is best to go in tighter for frame filling images. Shoal images often look better with a diver in them. A diver will give some perspective to the scene and an impression of how big the shoal actually is. It is unusual to dive on the sites where large fish shoals are common, with nobody else
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Want to learn how to take or improve your underwater images? Why not come on a photo-specific trip? These trips are meticulously planned to the best destinations at the best time of year where the conditions should be perfect for building a portfolio of great images. The workshops, which are for all levels of experience but mainly aimed at people with a few trips under their belts, include classroom sessions and presentations as well as in-water help and guidance, all done in a relaxed and non-competitive friendly environment. As I sit here writing this article I am about to depart to Bali with a group. There is a Northern Red Sea trip in November and again in July 2020 with open deck policy, so great for photographers. There are also trips to Lembeh/Bangka and Dumaguete Philippines in 2020. Please contact the Scubatravel team or check out their website for details. www.scubatravel.com around you. Hang back and wait and I guarantee a diver will come into the frame. If I am diving with a group, we often will organise a model, normally the guide, who is otherwise bored out of his brains, waiting for everyone to finish their seemingly endless snapping! In darker overcast conditions or maybe on a dive later in the day, try shooting at very low speeds and panning your camera for some slow-motion blur. My go-to settings will be a speed of around 1/8th sec to 1/10th sec, and then smaller aperture and perhaps if needed a lower ISO to ensure a good exposure. If the shoal is moving along but not too quickly, then with the camera held still use rear curtain sync (normally found in the flash settings of the camera). The strobe light will flash at the end of the shot freezing the moving fish but will have a streak of blur behind their bodies, giving the impression of movement. If the subject is moving faster, then you will want to use an accelerated panning of the camera from head to tail. In this situation change the flash mode to front curtain sync, where the strobe will flash at the beginning of the exposure and the panning affect will produce a streak of blur behind the subject. I mentioned it earlier, but shoal images can look stunning in black and white. I use a bespoke software Silver EFeX Pro2, as I like the contrast of black and white tones that can be created. There are several other software packages on the market, which are all well worth considering. It can otherwise be difficult to get really strong contrast images, in Lightroom for example. n
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There is an almost endless amount of underwater photography gear out there, so we asked our panel of experts ‘What equipment do you use, and why?’ PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARIO VITALINI, MARTYN GUESS, PAUL DUXFIELD AND ANNE AND PHIL MEDCALF
For the last five years I have shot underwater (and on land) with a PAUL mirrorless micro four thirds system DUXFIELD camera. I was an initial early adopter, moving over from a DSLR, and despite some of my peers scepticism about the 4/3’s format, which has now matured, I could foresee the undoubted benefits of a smaller, lighter and less-expensive underwater camera rig. Mirrorless cameras save size and weight by dispensing with the bulky mirror box assembly of traditional DSLRs, whilst maintaining quality by utilising larger than compact camerasized image sensors. My current camera is quite old now, and is a Panasonic GX7, and I mostly use it with an Olympus 8mm f1.8 fisheye lens, or a Panasonic 45mm macro lens. I house this inside a Nauticam housing with the oh-so-reassuring vacuum leak detector sensor. I’ve used a variety of strobes recently, from my pair of trusty Inon s2000s, which have been incredibly reliable and have kept the travelling size down, to Sea and Sea YSD1s more powerful but bigger and bulkier - and also a pair of borrowed Retra strobes, which were my favourites for a combination of output power and simplicity, but were unfortunately quite big also. I also use a range of wet lens diopters that increase my macro capabilities when muck diving. And other cameras that I get to test like the Canon G series inside Fantasea housings, and Olympus TGs and, of course, the ubiquitous GoPro.
I controversially (among my peers) prefer to use a flexible strobe arm system made from Loc-Line with a 1” ball and clamps to terminate, giving me speed of adjustment while incorporating the solidity of a clamp. It’s essentially custom made, and is a difficult one for any retailers I work with to recommend over the much-more-widely adopted 1” ball, clamp and rigid arm systems in use out there, as it’s more difficult for them to sell it, as it’s fairly bespoke. However, I no longer have to faff about as much moving my strobe arms into position, and personally prefer the simplicity. But I’ve never been one to bow down to peer or commercial pressure, as I like to literally put my money where my mouth is.
Master Macro 9th May 2020 £2895 excluding flights ESCORTED BY MARTYN GUESS
Holiday highlights... 10 nights in resort, full board divers plan & 24 boat dives – FREE Nitrox Join pro photographer Martyn Guess in the critter mecca Dumaguete. With 24 boat dives plus free nitrox (3 dives/day plus 1 day Apo reef) and Martyn’s workshop throughout, this workshop packs a real punch. Additional travel options available, ask for details.
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Am I a mug for carrying a huge amount of camera MARTYN equipment in my baggage and always GUESS struggling, with the meagre allowance you get these days from the airlines? I use a Nikon D5 DSLR in a Nauticam housing. The camera weighs in at 3.5kg on its own! Then there are the strobes, ports, lenses, arms and Snoot, plus a load of toys for my students to try out. The reason I persevere is that the image quality I get from my camera is superb. The tonal range that the camera’s sensor will allow means that in darker environments like caverns or at dusk, the images produced show so much more detail than lesser cameras. The focus system is second to none and is simply rapid. This means in difficult underwater situations the camera will find focus where many others won’t. I have this week been teaching students in Bali and being next to them taking the same subjects, I repeatedly see some of the mirrorless system cameras struggling to find focus. In addition, when using increased ISO settings, the camera will perform almost equally as well from 100 ISO to 2,000 plus without much, if any, deterioration in image quality/evident digital noise. This morning on the Liberty wreck in Bali I was shooting at 1,000 plus ISO without any issue. The camera’s battery will also last for two to three days diving, which is amazing. For lighting macro subjects, I use my trusty Inon 240s. I have quite a few of these which I take on workshops to provide back up when a student’s strobe fails – almost always
not an Inon. There is a newer model, the 330, but frankly it is too powerful for macro use without the ND filter attachment and even then, many of my fellow photographers complain about the brightness. I followed a recommendation by Alex Mustard some years ago and warm up the light produced by my Inons with a Gelcoat home-made filter, easily purchased online from stage lighting suppliers - it’s called Courtauld 444 and is very cheap for a sheet, which will last for many years. Check out the article Alex wrote on Wetpixel. I regularly use a Snoot with the Inon 240 and for me, the only choice is the one made by Retra. It simply works, where others let you down with bits going missing on a dive. I also use wet lenses made by Nauticam, the SMC 1 and 2 – amazing bits of glass. For wide angle I use Subtronic 270s with batteries in the float arms. They produce a nice warm light and are very powerful. They will light anything from large coral bommies to shark action in the Atlantic. I found my Inons good but not powerful enough. I will be interested to read the reports on the new Retra strobes when they emerge later this year as they might save me some of my valuable luggage allowance.
ESCORTED BY MARTYN GUESS
11th July 2020 £1495 excluding flights
Relaxed Red Sea
Holiday highlights... 7 nights onboard Whirlwind, tanks, weights and open dive deck at least once a day! Photographers can go at their own pace on a photography itinerary that is as relaxing as it is productive. Welcome to the world of the Red Sea Relaxed Photo Finish. Dive a host of incredible Red Sea dive sites with an open deck policy, chosen by our photo pro based on their reliability as top notch photo-worthy dive sites.
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Our underwater photography professionals have, between them, literally thousands of hours of dive time and countless hours spent travelling the world shooting underwater images and teaching workshops. If you have a question you’d like them to address, email: mark@scubadivermag.com
For the last seven years I have been using the mirrorless system, first with MARIO an Olympus EM5 and more recently the VITALINI EM1 and EM1 MkII. The image quality on mirrorless cameras is incredibly good and, in many cases, equal to what can be achieved with the more-expensive and heavier DSLR systems. Currently I use two different systems, the Olympus OMD EM1 MKII with a couple of macro lenses, a fisheye and my favourite, the Nauticam WWL1 wide wet lens. This is the setup I take on trips were baggage weight is an issue. Early this year, I went back to an SLR rig with Nikon D500, which I got after much consideration. It was not easy to go back to a system I abandoned many years back. However, the most-recent developments in the micro 4/3 range are more expensive and heavier than the equivalent DSLR option. Mad but true. In terms of lighting I use Inon strobes. Over the years they have proven some of the most-reliable units I have owned. For wide angle I use the Z330. They are incredibly powerful for their size, and the light beam guarantees a good coverage. However, they are too powerful for macro photography and for that reason, I use Z240s, which also have a slightly narrower beam. The light has sharper edges making them great for inward lighting. For macro photography I also carry a selection of accessories, such as Perspex colour backgrounds, snoot and a narrow beam torch for backlighting.
Corals and Caves on
Hurricane 21st May 2020 ÂŁ1425 excluding flights ESCORTED BY MARIO VITALINI
Holiday highlights... Mario Vitalini will teach you to work with natural light and wide angle photography, as well as the secrets of amazing fish portraits and using strobes. He will help you build a stunning selection of classic Red Sea images, from the decks of the stable steel hulled Hurricane. There are 18-21 dives over the workshop, as well as all park fees included, 12lt tank/weights and FREE Nitrox.
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We both use the same basic set up, an Olympus OMD EM10 Mk II in a Nauticam housing. Using a mirrorless camera with the micro four-thirds sensor gives us the best of both worlds as it and the lenses are smaller and lighter than a DSLR or even another mirrorless camera with a larger sensor, while still having the benefits of having interchangeable lenses. As travelling underwater photographers, packing within weight limits is always fun but having a smaller camera means a smaller, lighter housing, which makes this more manageable. The big plus is being able to use interchangeable lenses and although you may have to make a decision between whether the next dive will be a wide-angle or macro shoot, the prime lenses we use are more suited to getting the shots we are looking for. We don’t use the 14-42mm kit lens that came with the cameras when we bought them at all underwater. Instead for wide angle, we use the Olympus 8mm fisheye lens with a small dome port so we can get very close to subjects when shooting wide angle, and for macro we have a choice of either 45mm Panasonic or 60mm Olympus macro lenses plus several different macro wet lenses. Even though we use quite small cameras once the whole rig is set up with tray, arms and two strobes it weighs in at over 5kg, so it is still quite heavy and bulky to carry around but once underwater it is easy to manoeuvre into smaller spaces that fellow divers with big DSLRs cannot get into. It is also easier to hold with one hand if you need to and if there is some current there is less drag with a smaller camera. We also get the opportunity to dive with cameras and housings provided by distributors and manufacturers for us to test. This means we get to play with all kinds of kit from action cameras through compacts up to interchangeable lens cameras. It’s always nice to take small cameras in the water and a compact camera can get into places our own cameras can’t get to, and it also means not having to carry a heavy weight around! We spend a good amount of time on most trips trying lighting set-ups and wet lenses with different cameras to get an idea of what suits which camera and learning how to optimise the settings. This makes it easier for us to teach and advise our customers from first-hand experience. We have four EM10 MkII camera bodies between the two
ANNE AND PHIL MEDCALF
of us, so we always have a spare in case the worst should happen and it is easy to take a spare in hand luggage as it takes up so little space. When on a dive trip it is also helpful to have the spare camera with a telephoto lens ready in case we see something topside, so we can still take pictures of birds or dolphins during the surface interval without having to take a camera out of the underwater housing. n
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11th Sept 2020 £1295 excluding flights
Photo Finish
Malapascua
Holiday highlights... Join photo pro Mario Vitalini on this Philippines workshop to hone your images of the biggest sharks to the smallest critters. The workshop includes 20 nitrox boat dives plus daily presentations covering all aspects of underwater photography. Your holiday package includes 7 nights in a deluxe room on an full board basis – optional room grades available. Airport transfers are included.
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BEST PLACES TO GO
SNORKELLING
IN THE SOUTH
PACIFIC
Looking for a dive destination you can take your non-diving partner? Or maybe the kids? Here’s our guide to the best dive resorts for snorkellers in the South Pacific PHOTOGRAPHS BY HARRIET SPARK, AUSTRALIA’S GOLD COAST AND TRACY OLIVE
AUSTRALIA
Clearly there are lots of great snorkelling spots around Australia’s vast coastline, so here’s a few of our absolute favourites, starting with Lady Elliot Island, which is great for turtle action, octopus and pretty schools of convict surgeons. Lady Musgrave Island has been a Green Zone for over 30 years, so the marine life here is diverse and abundant. On a good day you’ll see mantas, turtles and schools of fish. Ningaloo Reef on the Coral Coast in northwest WA is famous for its annual aggregation of whalesharks, which is closely followed by the humpback whale migration.
FIJI
In the Yasawa Islands, between May and September, visit Barefoot Manta Resort to snorkel with… manta rays. The house reef has coral gardens worth exploring on snorkel, but for soft corals, head north to Taveuni and the Rainbow Reef.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Direct flights from Brisbane to Munda make the Solomon Islands’ Western Province much more accessible. Island resorts such as Fat Boys in Gizo or Uepi Island Resort have fantastic snorkelling from the beach or jetty and nearby islands. In Munda, join the divers on the dive boat and follow them around beautiful fringing reefs such as Mbigo Mbigo.
VANUATU
On the main island of Efate, snorkel the anemone gardens surrounding Hideaway Island, and on Tranquility Island Eco Resort, join the turtles on Turtle Reef and check out the amazing coral gardens of Owen’s Reef.
COOK ISLANDS
On the Cooks’ main island of Rarotonga, the best spot for snorkelling is directly opposite the Big Fish Dive Centre, a spot known locally as the ‘Fish Bowl’ and on the idyllic outer island
of Aitutaki, a snorkel in the lagoon to see giant clam gardens, colourful damsels, butterflyfish and Picasso triggers.
INDONESIA
With over 13,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago, there are countless snorkelling opportunities. In Bali, Menjangan Island in the northwest and Lembongan Island to the east both have beautiful coral gardens, and you can snorkel with mantas in Nusa Penida, and you’ll find plenty of turtles while snorkelling the coral walls of Bunaken in North Sulawesi.
PALAU
Palau’s mushroom islands are each surrounded by pretty fringing coral, but the island nation is famous for one of the world’s most-famous snorkelling spots: Jellyfish Lake, a saltwater lake home to thousands of non-venomous jellyfish.
PHILIPPINES
Much like Indonesia, there are countless snorkelling sites in the Philippines. Some of the best include the lakes of Coron’s limestone islands in Palawan, or the opportunity to snorkel with dugongs in Busuanga. The coral gardens of Apo Island, near Dumaguete are also a stunning snorkelling location. n If you’d like more information on a snorkel-friendly dive trip, contact the team at Diveplanit Travel for help – www.diveplanit.com, email: enquire@diversiondivetravel.com.au, or FREECALL 1800 607 913 (+61 7 4039 0200)
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Indonesian
EXPEDITION Komodo to Raja Ampat PART THREE
Adrian Stacey’s epic voyage so far had taken him from the magical waters of Komodo, along the beautiful north coast of Flores to Maumere, onto Alor via an erupting volcano, then across the Banda Sea to the Banda Islands. Along the way there had been encounters with manta rays, hammerhead sharks, fin whales and much, much more PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIAN STACEY
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Whale Rock consists of a steep sloping reef with elaborately decorated coral pinnacles at each end. Huge seafans of every description litter the site, apparently home to pygmy seahorses
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W
Massives shoals characterised the trip
e were almost two weeks into our 19day expedition when we arrived at the picturesque Banda Islands for our final restock and land visit day. Once again the fantastic captain and his excellent crew stayed on board to make sure enough food, fuel and water was delivered to last us for the rest of our journey. While this essential task was carried out the rest of our party went on shore to explore. The Banda Islands are steeped in history. In the 17th century they were fiercely contested between the Dutch and the British. At the time, this small group of islands were the only source of nutmeg in the world, hence the nickname the Spice Islands. They are also the location of perhaps one of the worst property deals in history. The British gave the Dutch the tiny island of Run and, in return, received Manhattan. The Colonial influence is everywhere on the main island of Banda Neira. First we paid a visit to the Dutch fort that overlooks the harbour, then we strolled through the streets of the town to a traditional nutmeg plantation. Finally we retired to a beautiful Colonialstyle hotel on the waters’ edge, past its prime, but certainly not lacking in character. Even more importantly it was not lacking in the local brew, Bintang. The rest of the afternoon was spent in this magnificent setting drinking beer, admiring the view and watching the world go by.
Idyllic landbased stop off
Water erosion has created two large apertures in the reef wall just below the surface and these huge holes are framed by sea fans and soft corals 40
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After spending a culturally enriching day on land it was time to discover what the Banda Islands had to offer beneath the surface. The most-memorable dive was at the spectacular Batu Kapal (Ship Rock). The entire site was shrouded in juvenile redtooth triggerfish. Steep walls sprouted a profusion of huge sea fans; orange soft corals clung to the reef, creating a vivid palate for the triggerfish to dance rhythmically above. They in turn were joined by fusilier trying to escape the unwanted attentions of rainbow runners and blue-finned trevallies. The diving in the area is rich and varied. Pulau Ai is a great wall dive that produced yet more schools of redtooth triggerfish. Hard coral gardens inhabited the shallows and barracuda and sharks roamed in the blue. Lava flow consists of endless terraces of mostly acropora and plate coral. This vast, hard coral expanse has formed on top of the lava that flowed in to the sea from the volcanic island of Gunung Api in 1988; the rate of its growth is staggering. For macro enthusiasts, Banda harbour is muck at its best, black sand, no coral and litter everywhere, but in among the rubbish are critters galore, pipefish, bobtail squid, nudibranchs and even the elusive mandarinfish. The Banda Islands had been terrific both above and below the water but we still had hundreds of miles to cover before reaching our final port of call. With only three days of diving left it was time to move on. Our first dive of the day was at Pulau Koon followed by a dive at Pulau Madorang. These two sites were very similar, typified by sheer walls and immense table corals on the flinging reefs. Both of the dives were very
Pristine coral reefs
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The underwater topography is spectacular
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Gorgonian seafan
good and at Madorang we encountered eight or nine blacktip reef sharks racing up and down the reef, several metres below us. With another long overnight crossing ahead of us, we had to press on, no time for beach visits or dawdling of any sort. Everyone was eager to get moving and make the most out of our two remaining days of diving in the holy grail of dive destinations, Raja Ampat. We would only have time to scratch the surface of this massive marine park. The island of Misool Colourful is the southernmost island of Raja tunicates adorn the reef Ampat and the area boasts some of the most-spectacular coral reefs anywhere in the world. It is not just the amount of coral that can be found clinging to almost every available surface, but it is also the sheer variety of species. Boo Rocks is one of the most-famous dives and a favourite of photographers. Water erosion has created two large apertures in the reef wall just below
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the surface and these huge holes are framed by sea fans and soft corals. The rest of the dive site is equally spectacular. A ridge covered in every imaginable colour and type of soft coral drops into the depths, its summit a swirling mass of marine life, which includes numerous types of snapper, fusilier, trevallies, rainbow runners and more. A stone’s throw away is Nudi Rock, and Tank Rock. These two dive sites are actually connected by a submerged ridge and can actually be done in one dive, but this would do them a disservice. Both have their own unique topography and both display a staggering diversity of both soft and hard corals in a dazzling array of colours. Grey reef sharks, huge grouper and the usual parade of reef fish make for unforgettable dives. Whale Rock consists of a steep sloping reef with elaborately decorated coral pinnacles at each end. Huge seafans of every description litter the site, apparently home to pygmy seahorses. The sheer size of the fans made finding these tiny creatures like looking for a needle in a haystack, refusing to admit that I need glasses also did not help. The next day we were hoping to dive at another one of the area’s signature dive sites, Four Kings, a reputedly stunning submerged reef. Unfortunately choppy seas meant getting on and off the boat would have been dangerous. Instead we dived at the more-sheltered Pulau Nubul, and any lingering disappointment soon evaporated; the site hosted the largest
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Experience Raja Ampat BAREFOOT LUXURY DIVE RESORT Free GoPro Footage and all high quality dive equipment included, whilst you enjoy our air-conditioned resort with international restaurant and bar.
www.meridianadventuresdive.com
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+62 951 3176120
Whatsapp: +62 822 485 40774
Expedition:
The Ring of Fire MAUMERE - KUMBA - ALOR - WETAR - NIL DESPERANDUM - GILI MANUK BANDA NEIRA - FORGOTTEN ISLANDS - MISOOL - RAJA AMPAT
Bu
gD
ream
ta ga nO oha er.com | Marcelo J
#mikumbadiving
school of silversides I have ever seen. Watching them constantly morph into different shapes was almost hypnotising. It just goes to show that it is nearly impossible to find a bad dive site in Misool. Our final dive was at the fabulous Goa Farondi. This site has an ever-changing topography with coral-covered boulders, overhangs, caves and sheer walls. It was also home to literally hundreds of blue dragon nudibranch. With the diving finished we spent our final few hours in the magical Misool region, exploring a stunning hidden lagoon full of jellyfish. After 19 days, 1,250 miles and 43 dives, we arrived at our final destination, the port town of Sorong on the northwest tip of Papua. It had been an amazing and unforgettable voyage. I had also been lucky enough to be on the boat earlier in the year when she had made the crossing from Raja Ampat to Komodo in April, but for most people it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This journey is not for everyone though. Spending almost three weeks on a 27-metre sail boat with 12 guests, five dive guides and eight boat crew can become a little claustrophobic. Bad weather meant dives had to be dropped sometimes; on some days only one dive was possible. Visibility was sometimes very low and on the reverse journey, in April, there were no hammerheads. Going into this experience with an open mind and an ability to go with the flow is essential. A willingness to join in is also helpful. With no TV or internet access, we had to amuse ourselves in the evenings or during long crossings. This would involve quiz nights, card games and on one occasion after dinner, the trip leader, Steve, organised a talent show. Guides and guests alike had been roped into thinking up an act and after being given a few days to practice, had to perform in front of everyone. At first most people were reluctant, but on the night everyone got into the spirit and it turned out to be a hilarious evening. Fortunately I was a judge and did not have to embarrass myself. This voyage is not just about the diving, but about the whole journey. Visiting deserted beaches, experiencing local cultures, or just watching the scenery drift by. It is important to embrace this trip for what it is. It is not a dive holiday it is an expedition, full of adventures that few people will ever have the privilege to experience. n
The reef is healthy and vibrant
Soft corals smother the reef
Topside is just as stunning
It is not a dive holiday it is an expedition, full of adventures that few people will ever have the privilege to experience
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BEYOND TECHNICAL
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Byron Conroy was able to sate his lust for rust during a ten-day liveaboard voyage diving the famous wartime wrecks of Truk Lagoon PHOTOGRAPHS BY BYRON CONROY
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We design, manufacture and retail scuba and rebreather equipment. We have fully equipped test and certification labs, and can pressure test large items in our vacuum chambers, as well as run fully automated leak test and dive simulations down to 400m. Our EMC and EMF lab is filled with state-ofthe-art equipment for testing electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic fields. We also have a large in-house laser for cutting and engraving on plastics and metals. www.narkedat90.com
Fuji plane
Gosei drone shot
The remaining crew were unable to open the air valves to push the water out of the ballast tanks, leaving the submarine marooned on the bottom of the lagoon with its crew trapped inside
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S
ome 90 minutes before sunrise, on 17 February 1944, the people of the Truk islands (that is the westernised version, it is known as Chuuk) woke up to the sound of bombs falling from the sky. A total of 500 aircraft along with five fleet carriers and support ships descended on these small Pacific islands in an early morning surprise attack. The Japanese radar station on Truk was not capable of detecting the American’s lowflying planes, and therefore had no chance of responding to the attack until it was too late. Due to the lack of warning many of the Japanese ships were caught at anchor within the lagoon. The vessels trying to escape by steaming towards Japan were attacked and bombed by US submarines. Over the next two days, 250 Japanese aircraft were destroyed, over 50 ships sunk and more than 4,500 people killed. This military strike on the Imperial Japanese Navy become known as Operation Hailstorm, sometimes referred to as the United States’ answer to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour a few years earlier. The consequences of the attack have made Truk Lagoon the largest graveyard of ships and aircrafts in the world. For decades following the attack, the ghost fleet of Truk Lagoon remained untouched and unexplored deep down below the surface. It was not until 1969 that diving pioneer Jacques Cousteau and his team put together a two-month expedition with the goal to discover, explore and map the wrecks resting at the bottom of the lagoon. In his documentary Lagoon of Lost Ships, you can be seen how Cousteau and his team dived on dozens of the wrecks, discovering not only the position of the sunken ships and aircraft, but also an astonishing amount of artefacts, along with the human remains of hundreds of Japanese sailors.
TRUK TODAY
Situated in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by nothing but ocean for 1,200 miles is the state of Chuuk. Together with Yap, Pohnpei and Kosrae, it creates the Federated States of Micronesia, an independent republic although associated with the United States. During World War One and World War Two, Chuuk served as Japan’s largest and most-important forward naval base, including five airstrips, seaplane bases, a torpedo boat station, submarine repair shops, a communications centre and a radar station. In the aftermath of Operation Hailstorm, the United States claimed the Micronesian islands and they remained under their administration until 1979. Chuuk is the chuukese word for ‘mountain’. It’s made up by an archipelago of mountainous islands with the area known as Truk Lagoon in the middle. Here rests warships, auxillary ships, merchant ships, aircraft, submarines, trucks, guns, torpedoes and artefacts at the sandy bottoms of a turquoise lagoon. Today, Truk Lagoon is a wreck diver´s Mecca. A place you, as a dedicated wreck diver, simply have to visit at least once in your lifetime.
Artefacts in the Shinkoku
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COMPUTERS • O2 CELLS • GAS ANALYSERS CABLES & CONNECTORS • REBREATHER PARTS PATHFINDER STROBES • SENSORS TOOLS • SOLENOIDS The stern on the Gosei
Inside the Betty Bomber
Today it’s open for any wreck diver to explore and experience the history and mystery of Truk Lagoon. Some items, like the ship’s bells, have been salvaged from the wrecks, and the remains of the lost sailors have been recovered and brought back to Japan. Yet, over 70 years after the attack, there are incredible amounts of artefacts, vehicles, guns, ammunition and personal belongings to observe on the wrecks today. Getting to Chuuk is a little bit of an adventure in itself, although nothing compared to the excitement of diving 50 of the best wrecks in the world once you get there. There are direct flights to Manila with various airlines, and from Manila you want to get yourself to the island of Guam, a US territory located in the Pacific Ocean 1,200 miles north of Papua New Guinea. From there you catch the island-hopper towards Honolulu, with Chuuk (luckily) as the first out of six stops.
DIVING ONBOARD THE TRUK MASTER
Prop on the Heian Maru
Bottles in the Heian Maru
Although Truk Lagoon is a relatively small area, a liveaboard is still the best option for your stay. While the resorts here typically offer two dives a day, you can from a liveaboard easily complete four dives each day, still with plenty of time to relax and eat in between. And trust me, in Truk you will have the urge to do as many dives as possible. Many of the wrecks here are huge, and it takes several dives on each one to explore the deck, holds, engine room, bridge and propellers. The Truk Master (www.blueotwo.com), run by British captain Martin Cridge, has many years of experience from cruising this lagoon. The vessel is fully equipped for recreational diving as well as technical OC/CCR divers, including redundant oxygen generators, supply of helium and Sofnolime, twinsets and allocated tanks for sidemount or rebreathers. Captain Martin is a dedicated wreck diver and skilled underwater photographer who knows all there is to
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BEYOND TECHNICAL
www.narkedat90.com The bow of the Fujikawa
The gun on the San Francisco
know about this place. Throughout the trip, Martin briefed us in detail about how to get the most out of each dive, along with the history and tech specs of each wreck we visited.
THE MANY MARUS
Most of the wrecks in the lagoon and on our dive itinerary were named ´Something´ Maru. In most cases, this means that the wreck was once a merchant ship. The Japanese suffix Maru is often applied to words representing something beloved, and so Japanese sailors often apply this to their ships. Warships on the other hand are never called Maru, but instead named after objects such as places, weather phenomena, months or animals.
Although it’s a relatively easy and shallow dive, we found it was a challenge to plan as there are just so many points of interest!
FUMIZUKI
On the second day of our ten-day trip onboard the Truk Master, we got the unique opportunity to dive one of Truk´s few warships. The IJN Fumizuki or ‘July’, is a 101-metrelong destroyer sitting intact and upright on the bottom in 27m-30m of water. It was spotted and sunk by a torpedo bomber on the second day of the attack. Apart from being a beautiful wreck, she is also home to quite a few turtles and many schooling fish, making her an amazing dive site.
BETTY BOMBER
Although many of the aircraft in Truk got badly destroyed during the attack, some are still more or less intact and dive-able. Just a short distance from the former airstrip of Eten island rests a Mitsubishi G4M3 Attack Bomber, a model known as the Betty Bomber or The Flying Cigar due to the shape and its tendency to catch fire. This specific aircraft is thought to have missed the airstrip, and instead landed in the water. It is unknown if this happened during the Operation Hailstorm attack or at another time. It´s a nice and easy dive
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Gas masks in the Nippo
THE MILLION DOLLAR WRECK
The deep wreck highlight of our trip is the San Francisco Maru. Also known as the Million Dollar Wreck, thanks to the worth of her cargo. She sits upright in 48m-60m of water. My partner and I planned this dive thoroughly and decided to make three stops on the wreck in order to fulfil our ‘most wanted’ sightings. The Truk Master was moored up just in front of the wreck and as we descended, we soon saw the iconic bow gun on the deck. We were saving this shot for later and continued towards Hold two, which was the deepest part of our dive at around 60m. In the hold are two huge tanker trucks, a staff car, fuel drums, ammunition and aircraft bombs. Back up on deck, we made our next stop at the three tanks, still intact with their guns. Our last photo stop before it was time to start our ascent and deco stops was the bow gun. The gun is in such good condition, it´s hard to imagine it has spent the last 70 years on the seabed.
providing some great photo opportunities while penetrating the aircraft. The engines were torn off during the crash and can now be found 55 metres from the body of the plane. Some great artefacts such as the pilot´s chair and other items and equipment from inside the aircraft can still be seen at the site.
FUJIKAWA MARU
By far the most popular and beloved wreck in Truk is the Fujikawa Maru, and after three dives here we totally get what the Fuji-hype is all about. Once an impressive merchant ship used for transporting armed aircraft, she now sits upright and intact at the bottom 30m below the surface. Although it´s a relatively easy and shallow dive, we found it was a challenge to plan as there are just so many points of interest! A sixinch gun and a telegraph in good condition are found on the bow. Gas mask, bottles and porcelain on the deck. A memorial stone on mid-ship deck. In hold two, there are several zero fighter airplanes plus lots of spare airplane parts. Directly above the engine room is the infamous workshop, home to a celebrity – the R2D2. If you only seen a couple of underwater photos from Truk, chances are that you´ve seen this robotlooking compressor in at least one of them.
TEC OR REC?
During our ten-day trip, the fellow guests onboard were a mix of recreational single tank divers, technical OC divers and CCR divers. My partner and I did most dives on a twinset with a 12-litre stage of 50 percent. For the deeper wrecks such as the San Francisco Maru, we used 20/20 Trimix, which with a conservative plan gave us 25 minutes of bottom time and 30 minutes of deco. While we were definitely jealous of CCR divers’ profiles, we still appreciated having the technical training and experience to be able to enjoy the deeper wrecks, although somehow limited in time. Many of the wrecks in Truk are within recreational limits and there is still a lot to see and explore even on a single-tank set up. It is however worth keeping in mind that when doing up to four dives a day, it is tempting to rack up some deco time. Although not required or mandatory, I would recommend recreational divers planning a trip to Truk to invest in a technical certification prior to the trip. It will give you the opportunity to dive a little bit deeper into the notorious history of Truk Lagoon. n Inside the wheelhouse of the Nippo
The Betty Bomber
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What’s New
MARES DUAL 15X AND DUAL ADJ 52X
As well as the Ultra, Fusion, Loop and Epic regulators, Mares also offer the Dual range. The Dual 15x has a compact balanced diaphragm first stage with a sand-blasted finish, four low-pressure and two highpressure pre-oriented ports, with one being a Dynamic Flow Control port which minimises intermediate pressure drop during inhalation, thus maximising gas delivery, especially under extreme conditions. The second stage is made from a lightweight abrasionresistant and affordable technopolymer and features an oversized silicone purge button, high air flow, and a superflex braided hose. The Dual Adj 52x has a balanced diaphragm first stage that utilises Natural Convection Channel technology – which increases cold-water performance by creating a flow of water across the regulator - and has a pearl-chrome finish. It has pre-oriented low-pressure (four) and high-pressure hoses (two), with two of these being Dynamic Flow Control ports. The ultra-light technopolymer second stage has an oversized purge button, superflex hose and high air flow as per the Dual 15x, but it has a pneumatically assisted design and features a chunky knob on the side for adjusting the cracking resistance. www.mares.com 54
AQUA LUNG BALI 3MM
The Bali suit (available in male and female cuts) is designed for warm-water diving and its thoughtful features – such as the flatlock stitching and V-shaped collar – give it additional comfort. Printed designs and panels help the Bali resist abrasion, to keep your suit looking good, but also have a deeper meaning – they are based on a photograph taken of a coral reef in Flores, Indonesia, by Martin Colognoli, cofounder of Coral Guardian (www.coralguardian.org), which works to preserve coral reefs in Indonesia and has been an Aqua Lung partner since 2013. It is eco-friendly not just in looks, either – it is made from 3mm non-petroleum-based neoprene. It also has O-ring seals at the wrists and ankles to limit water entry, and Supratex knee panels that offer excellent abrasion resistance. An optional hood matches the suit for when water temps need that bit more insulation, and there is a hook on the right thigh for attaching the hood when you are out of the water. www.aqualung.com WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM
FOURTH ELEMENT SHARK INVESTED T-SHIRT
Shark finning is a business, driven by consumerism and greed. All over the world, there are humans profiting from the sale of shark fins either directly or indirectly. The real sharks are those on land, and if we don’t act fast, perhaps they will soon be the only ones left. Hand-printed with water-based inks on 100 percent organic cotton, and packaged without plastic, with each purchase of one of these crew-necked T-shirts, Fourth Element will donate £3 to Bite-Back Shark and Marine Conservation. www.fourthelement.com
NANIGHT CHARGING PORT
SEALIFE SEA DRAGON MINI 1000F
SeaLife has introduced the Sea Dragon Mini 1000F light. Featuring 1,000 lumens, the compact imaging and dive light offers users tremendous brightness and a wide 130 degree beam. It can be handheld, or mounted to an arm or camera adaptor with its included YS-adapter mounting accessory kit. All light functions are easily accessible with one-handed operation, to cycle through five light modes – full power, half power, quarter power, one-second flash signal, and emergency SOS signal. The light’s power and mode button also features a battery charge level indicator, which illuminates from green, to amber, to red when the battery’s charge is depleted. It is depth-rated to 100m, and will give 65 minutes of runtime at full power from the included 18650 rechargeable Li-ion battery. www.sealife-cameras.com
FOURTH ELEMENT MINI-GULPER
Nanight has released a feature that allows charging of their dive light without disassembling it. “We want it to be easy to use our products”, said Ulf Backudd, R&D Manager at Nanight. “Our new connector makes charging really smooth, and reduces the risk of wear and tear. The connector is sealed with a bayonet-locked lid and the depth rating is 500m.” The charging port is available as an option for all Nanight torches. Divers already in possession of a Nanight light can upgrade their product with the new device. www.nanight.se
Designed in a smaller, moreeveryday 500ml size, the MiniGulper is more than just a trusty alternative to the single-use plastic bottle. Stainless-steel double wall vacuum insulation means that iced drinks stay cool for up to 24 hours and a hot drink will stay that way for up to 12 hours. Every time you refill this bottle instead of buying bottled water (look out for refill stations cropping up everywhere), you are helping to reduce the production of plastic waste, which may end up in landfill or our oceans. The versatile lid means you can drink on the go thanks to the twist and sip valve, and the wide aperture makes filling and cleaning quick, simple and spill-free. www.fourthelement.com * = check pricing with local suppliers/centres in your area
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Test Extra
AQUA LUNG STORM
Mark Evans: When you are travelling abroad to dive, you are faced with that horrible battle to get all of your dive kit into a bag weighing less than the ever-decreasing baggage allowance from your chosen airline. There are cracking lightweight BCDs and wings, and regulators, on the market these days that can help keep the weight down, but fins are an awkward one. By their very nature they are generally heavy lumps, and if you did find something megalightweight, it often didn’t have the thrust and propulsion of chunkier fins used back home in the UK. The Storms could be exactly what you are looking for. The Storm is made from Monprene, and this single-material construction helps keep the weight down, while also giving the fin durability and strength. Available in black and white currently, it is a good-looking piece of kit, too. The ergonomically designed foot pocket comfortably surrounds your foot in the manner of a full-foot fin, but it has an open heel with a silicone bungee strap, so is dead easy to get on and off. Obviously, it is designed to be worn barefoot, but you can also wear Storms with a pair of booties, or at least neoprene socks. The bottom of the fins boasts superior grip built in, which works well on wet and slippery boat decks. The compact blade is plenty stiff enough to generate a surprising amount of propulsion, especially given their size, and the grooves running the length of the blade efficiently direct the flow off the end of the fin and reduce spillage off the sides. Don’t get me wrong, it is never going to be able to go toe-to-toe with your RK3 HDs, but it is light years ahead of the old Hotshot travel fins. The stumpy size not only helps keep the weight down, but it also makes them perfect for wreck diving and other confined areas. You can back-kick, frog-kick and helicopter turn with ease in these fins.
And before you all get excited about colour-coding your fins to match other bits of kit, you can’t. The coloured inserts into the fin itself in front of the foot pocket, and the protector covers on the bungee strap, signify the size of the fins, and are not interchangeable. Finally, that price! This money for a pair of travel fins of this calibre is an absolute steal. www.aqualung.com * = check pricing with local suppliers/centres in your area
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Test Extra
AQUA LUNG i200C
Mark Evans: Dive computers from Aqua Lung just keep on coming, and the i200C represents fantastic value for money for a well-equipped and durable wristwatch-style unit. It uses the tried-and-tested Z+ algorithm, and has a segmented LCD display, which is easy to read – for low-light conditions, it has a push-button-activated back light, which is handy on night dives. It has got four operating modes – Air, Nitrox, Gauge (with run timer) and Free Dive. Handily, the latter tracks calculations to allow unrestricted switching between free and dive modes. In Nitrox mode, it can handle two gas mixes, up to 100 percent oxygen, so will cover the vast majority of divers for all of the diving they will ever want to do. It has a user-replaceable battery, so no sending it off to the manufacturer when it runs low, which is a bonus with a wristwatch unit, as many people will use this as a day-today watch. It comes in six funky colours, from the more-subtle Grey and Dark Grey to in-your-face Bright Pink, Aqua, Blue, and
Hot Lime, and in the box you get the unit itself, plus a lens protector and a battery compartment opening tool. We tried out the Hot Lime, and it certainly stands out as a daily wear watch, often eliciting comments from even nondivers. It feels solid on your wrist, but is not what I’d call heavy. The best thing about the i200C is how easy it is to use – it literally takes a couple of minutes to get your head around the menu and navigation and then you are away. I let several of the Deptherapy divers have a trial dive with it in Egypt a couple of months ago, and they were all happily using it within a short time. It was also brought out for Ryan Arnold to use when he was doing his entry-level RAID course. However, one of the i200C’s greatest attributes is down to how well it works with the Diver-Log+ app (which is available for iOS and Android). The i200C seamlessly interacts wirelessly via Bluetooth Smart technology, and you can control all aspects of the computer from your phone or computer. I found it easy to jump into DiverLog+ and adjust all the settings – gas mix, salt or fresh water, * = check pricing with local suppliers/centres in your area
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FOR EVERY ADVENTURE.
The Proteus has consistently been rated as the warmest wetsuit in its class for the last 8 years. Where will it take you?
Image by Alfred Minnaar
fourthelement.com
Test Extra
AQUA LUNG i200C
alarms, etc – and then it is a simple matter to just fire that over to the i200C and, you are ready to dive. Far quicker and easier than doing it all manually on the com-puter itself, to be honest. On completing your dive, you can then throw over all your dive data from the i200C into your DiverLog+ app logbook. Your dive profile, time and date, water temperature, etc, are all brought over from the i200C, and you can then add additional information, such as what gear you were using, your location, buddy’s name, any photographs or videos you took, and so on. You can even get your buddy to digital ‘sign’ your logbook. Once complete, you just hit the ‘share’ but-ton and can send it out via all the usual channels – email, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, etc. The DiverLog+ app has many features beyond those described above – you can build up a file of buddies, locations, ‘gear bags’ for different conditions, and much more. Like the i200C it-self, it is very intuitive and easy to use. With a decent range of capabilities, and coming in at a bargain price, it represents excellent value for money and is a nice user-friendly piece of kit, especially as it works so well with the DiverLog+ app. www.aqualung.com * = check pricing with local suppliers/centres in your area
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FUSION 72X
The Ideal Regulator for all Dives, even in cold water
Certified Performance At 200M Using Our Ansti Machine 1St Stage
2Nd Stage
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4 Vertical And 4 Radial Lp Ports (Pat. Pending)
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Twin Power System
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Ideal For All Tech And Recreational Diving Configurations
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Metal 2Nd Stage With Pearl Chrome Finish
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Natural Dfc On All Lp Ports
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High Air Flow
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Pre-Oriented Hp Ports
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Wide Pivoting Purge Button
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Ast - 1St Stage Dry System
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Superflex Lp Hose
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Pearl Chrome Finish
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Compact Dimensions
CERTIFIED PERFORMANCE AT 200 M, PROVEN TECHNOLOGY AT 400 M
Test Extra
BEUCHAT VOYAGER XL
Mark Evans: All travelling divers need a good dive bag to transport all of their precious diving equipment – and a few clothes – but you don’t want something that screams ‘I have expensive dive kit in-side’, and you don’t want something that eats half your luggage allowance when empty. The Beuchat Voyager XL is a two-compartment roller bag with an adjustable telescopic handle that is ideal for transporting all of the dive kit needed for a warm or even temperate water loca-tion, along with clothes and essentials, but it is emblazoned with subtle logos, and it only weighs 3.5kg. It is made from ripstop 600 denier and 1000 denier nylon/ PVC – the light but tough ripstop material is coated with polyurethane to make it waterproof. It has a semi-rigid thermoformed EVA back shall, which is lightweight but provides an extra degree of protection for your equipment. The main compartment has a mesh side pocket and drainage vents, and it is more than capable of swallowing a whole host of kit. The secondary compartment is designed for your dry gear, and has a lower pouch and interior retaining strap. There is an outer compression strap to keep everything tight and in place, and a handy outer document holder with a coated zip and carry strap. There are foam-filled handles on the top and side to aid with lifting it in and out of your vehicle, etc, and there are even removeable rucksack-style straps if you really feel the
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need to hoist something this size on to your back! We have used it on several trips now, and it rolls nice and easily on the red over-moulded wheels. It appears to be withstanding the rough and tumble treatment of the airlines very well, with no discernable marks or damage. www.beuchat-diving.com
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SEALIFE SEA DRAGON MINI 1000F Mark Evans: SeaLife describe this compact little unit as an LED photo/video/dive light, and it really is a Jack of all trades. It has a 130 degree wide beam (which equates to about 98 degrees underwater) from its Luxeon V LED, which makes it great for lighting up a pretty vast area. This is handy on a night dive in the tropics – though I’d knock the power down to a half, or even a quarter so as not to destroy the ‘night diving ambience’ – and when you use the Mini 1000F as a video light, when it lights up a decent amount of your subject matter despite how small it is. It also works as a photo light if you are doing close-up work, but once you start looking to wide-angle, as with most lights, it doesn’t have the punch of a powerful strobe to illuminate like that. However, most people who buy this will either be using it as a handy size back-up dive light, or as a video light. As the latter, it comes into its own, and is supplied with a YS adap-tor with mounts for AquaPod and GoPro cameras, as well as fitting nicely on to the SeaLife arms and cameras. This would be perfect to sit atop a mirrorless or DSLR system, giving you light when you want to shoot video, but being small enough to not get in the way when you are shooting wide-angle and using strobes on extended arms. As a dive light in the UK, perhaps a better option is the SeaLife Sea Dragon Mini 1300S – currently in Long Term Test – as this has a narrow beam which slices through the detritus often present in UK waters. The 1000F, due to its wide beam, lights up all of the floating particles, especially on full power.
The Mini 1000F is operated via a push-button, and you can cycle through the power settings (100 percent, 50 percent, 25 percent, blinking, SOS) by just pressing this button. There is a nifty battery indicator light around the push button – green for full power, yellow for half power, and red for when you are on low power. It is depth-rated to 100m, and is small enough to fit in a BCD pocket. The kit includes, as well as the aforementioned camera mounts, the light itself, a 18650 3.7-volt 2600 mAh Li-ion battery, charger and charging cable, a lanyard with BCD clip for when you are using it as a dive light, and two spare O-rings and O-ring lube. www.sealife-cameras.com
* = check pricing with local suppliers/centres in your area
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Long Term Test AQUA LUNG AQUAFLEX Mark Evans: The 5mm Aquaflex is made from superstretch neoprene with liquid-sealed seams, and it is exceptionally easy to take on and off. We have got two suits on test - a male and a female version - and both have seen action in the Middle East since arriving in the office. The male suit is blue and grey, and the female suit is black and what Aqua Lung call ‘galaxy’, which certainly adds a spark of colour to the suit. www.aqualung.com
INFORMATION Arrival date: April 2019 Suggested retail price: * Number of dives: 20 Time in water: 18 hrs 50 mins
SUUNTO D5 Mark Evans: The Suunto D5 accompanied the Scuba Diver team to Aqaba in Jordan for our #experienceaqaba assignment, and Publishing Director Ross Arnold put it to good use. Ross has used a D6i in the past, but he was instantly at home with the D5, navigating around its menu - which is more like the EON series, with no problems. www.suunto.com 64
MARES EPIC ADJ 82X
Mark Evans: Last month we looked at the high-pressure ports on the 82X, this issue I am focusing on the swivel for the low-pressure ports, which includes one in the top, which gives you masses of variations when it comes to hose routing, so whether you are tech diving, INFORMATION Arrival date: February 2019 sidemount diving or Suggested retail price: * recreational diving, you are Number of dives: 19 covered for best routing. Time in water: 17 hrs 40 mins www.mares.com
APEKS TECH SHORTS
INFORMATION Arrival date: April 2019 Suggested retail price: * Number of dives: 17 Time in water: 15 hrs 55 mins
Mark Evans: The Tech Shorts will be off to Egypt in a couple of weeks when I head out with Deptherapy. I previously wore them over a 5mm, but this time I will be in a 3mm full suit. Thankfully, the design of the Tech Shorts means that the adjustments around the waist - both INFORMATION Arrival date: March 2019 Velcro straps and a pinchclip ‘belt’ - allow them to fit Suggested retail price: * Number of dives: 16 both suits. Time in water: 15 hrs 15 mins www.apeksdiving.com WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM
OTTER WATERSPORTS ATLANTIC Mark Evans: Guest tester Jason Brown has been logging plenty more dives in his Otter Watersports Atlantic. He is enamoured with various elements of the suit, but the spacious thigh pockets are worth checking out in more detail. A bellows-type, they expand when in use, but stay relatively flat and streamlined when empty. Under the large Velcroclosing flap, there is the main pocket, complete with bungee retainers, and a flat pocket at the back with a D-ring. www.drysuits.co.uk
INFORMATION Arrival date: February 2019 Suggested retail price: * Number of dives: 26 Time in water: 25 hrs 35 mins
SHEARWATER RESEARCH TERIC
Mark Evans: The Shearwater Research Teric headed off to warmer waters once again, this time on our family diving trip to Egypt. Again, it was a joy to use on a daily basis, both as a watch and as a dive computer. The fullcolour screen was clear to read even in the shallows when the sunlight was extremely bright - some full-colour computers can struggle in bright sunlight - and I am increasingly becoming a fan of the vibration INFORMATION Arrival date: January 2019 function. That little buzz Suggested retail price: * when I end my safety stop Number of dives: 45 is great. Time in water: 44 hrs 25 mins www.shearwater.com
APEKS XL4+ Mark Evans: The Apeks XL4+ was used on our Egypt trip by my 12 year old son Luke, who did his Junior Advanced Open Water Diver course at Roots Red Sea. He clocked up six days of diving on the regulator, and found it nice and light in his mouth - the second stage weighs nothing, it is very small and compact, and combined with a braided hose, there was little to no pull on his mouth/strain on his jaw. Being totally comfortable with the regulator meant he could concentrate on his course and not worry about his INFORMATION Arrival date: February 2019 breathing, and he was soon Suggested retail price: * modelling like a pro on the Number of dives: 40 later dives. Time in water: 38 hrs 55 mins www.apeksdiving.com
FINNSUB 20D AND COMFORT HARNESS Mark Evans: The Finnsub 20D and Comfort harness has reached the end of its six-month stint in Long Term Test, and it has proved more than worthy. It is a robustly constructed wing system, made of heavy-duty materials and built to last. It is no lightweight by any means, but if you are after a durable wing with an extremely comfortable - it lives up to its name - harness set-up, then this is well INFORMATION Arrival date: December 2018 worth considering when Suggested retail price: * you are in the market for a Number of dives: 28 buoyancy system. Time in water: 27 hrs 35 mins www.finnsub.com * = check pricing with local suppliers/centres in your area
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SCHOLARSHIP DIARY
The Our-World Underwater Scholarship Society is a non-profit, educational organisation whose mission is to promote educational activities associated with the underwater world. It has offered scholarships for over 35 years. owuscholarship.org
SEEING RED, AND GETTING DOWN TO FUNDAMENTALS PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JOANNA SMART
O
ne great aspect of the Rolex Scholarship is the amazing number of courses and training opportunities on offer. I have subsequently spent the last few weeks improving my diving and underwater video skills in Sydney. Through this process I was fortunate to meet some fantastic and dedicated instructors who have expanded abilities underwater and passed on some great skills that I can carry forward with me on my Scholarship year. I started off in Sydney’s southern beaches with Peter Lightowler of Down Under Aquatic Imaging. Peter took me through a number of different underwater video workshops. The first of these was the set up and use of a RED digital video camera in a Gates underwater housing. These cameras are frequently used by large video production companies such as the BBC and National Geographic. After I got over my fear of dropping some of the expensive key components, I had the privilege of taking one underwater on a dive at Lilli Pilli dive site and was able to practise filming underwater. These cameras were incredibly fun to use, and I had a great time filming cuttlefish, leatherjackets, blennies and all manner of critters that call this dive site home. After working with the gates housing, Peter took me through workshops in video editing and colour correction. This was incredibly useful as I have no previous experience underwater videography. I can’t wait to utilise the new skills on upcoming projects and throughout the rest of the Scholarship year. After my time with Down Under Aquatic Imaging I headed to Dive Centre Bondi to undertake a Global Underwater Explorers fundamentals course. This course provided the opportunity to advance basic diving skills such as trim, buoyancy and propulsion. I also had my first taste of twin tank diving as well as diving with a long hose configuration. This course was challenging, but incredibly fun. There is something in this course for everyone and I recommend it no matter how much diving experience you have. I look forward to taking these new skills with me as I move forward on the Scholarship year. n
Joanna Smart
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