Scuba Diver Destinations #8

WRECK CENTRAL

WALT STEARNS HEADS FOR NORTH CAROLINA’S FAMED OUTER BANKS

GREAT BARRIER REEF WE LIST THE TOP 10 DIVE LOCATIONS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ICON

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ MIKE BARTICK EXTOLS THE VIRTUES OF WEST COAST SCUBA DIVING

EXPLORING THE CENOTES OF MEXICO’S YUCATAN PENINSULA

FOURTH ELEMENT HYDRA

GARMIN DESCENT MK2S ISSUE #8

with Amigos del Mar Best boat fleet on the island ranging from 28’ to 62’ Private Charters Available Diving and Snorkeling trips along the Belize Barrier Reef Offshore Dive and Snorkel excursions to the Lighthouse Reef “Blue Hole” and Turneffe Atoll Conveniently located in the heart of San Pedro Town Equipment Rental Nitrox Available Fishing Trips Dive Courses Mainland Tours WIFI

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EDITOR IN CHIEF Mark Evans Email: mark@scubadivermag.com EDITOR-AT-LARGE (North America) Walt Stearms Email: walt@scubadivermag.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION MANAGER Matt Griffiths Email: matt@scubadivermag.com PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Ross Arnold Email: ross@scubadivermag.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Penney Evans Email: penney@scubadivermag.com CONTRIBUTORS Byron Conroy, Mike Bartick, Deborah Dickson-Smith

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No matter where you go, here you are

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hile international travel restrictions linger in many destinations, all signs are showing the light at the end of tunnel is looking much brighter. By the time you read this, the Cayman Islands has most likely moved into Phase 4 of its reopening plan, which means vaccinated travelers can enter without quarantine post-20 November 2021.

Further afield the Philippines government has dropped its quarantine requirements for travelers entering from ‘green’ listed countries as of 14 October.

North American and European travelers are waiting for those countries to be added, and expectations are that soon this too will pass.

Following suit in mid-October, Indonesia reopened Bali, including a short list of 19 countries, but not including all European countries and North America. Within a short period of time the government dropped the quarantine period from eight to five days, and then even further to just three days. The three-day quarantine is for double-vaccinated travellers, while those who have had just one shot will be required to quarantine for five days. While this may not yet sound so great given that airlines (and hotels) must prepare, all is likely to change very soon so we can comfortably ditch the never-ending doldrums.

On another note, our issue is packed with energizing articles to influence your travel plans. Deborah Dickson-Smith has provided a sampler of the best dive sites on the Great Barrier Reef - yes, Australia is expected to open soon. And be sure to delve into an overview of a deep south liveaboard adventure in the Maldives. Also check out my piece on diving in North Carolina.

A close friend and awesome UW photographer, Mike Bartick, happened to find himself stuck in Southern California and made the best of it by creating a feature on the diving there. He also made it down to Cozumel and is sharing his experience in this issue. We’re now on the starting block for ready, set, travel!

Walt Stearns, Editor-at-Large (North America)

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WRECK CENTRAL

WALT STEARNS HEADS FOR NORTH CAROLINA’S FAMED OUTER BANKS

GREAT BARRIER REEF WE LIST THE TOP 10 DIVE LOCATIONS ON THE AUSTRALIAN ICON

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ MIKE BARTICK EXTOLS THE VIRTUES OF WEST COAST SCUBA DIVING

EXPLORING THE CENOTES OF MEXICO’S YUCATAN PENINSULA

FOURTH ELEMENT HYDRA

GARMIN DESCENT MK2S ISSUE #8

Cover & Spine.indd 1

10/12/2021 08:03

Cozumel

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JASON BROWN

Uni ted States Belize

GET ONLINE! CAN’T WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT ISSUE OF SCUBA DIVER DESTINATIONS? THEN LOG ON TO THE WEBSITE: WWW.SCUBADIVERDESTINATIONS.COM You’ll find all the latest diving news from around the world, in-depth travel reports, unbiased and comprehensive equipment reviews, hints and advice on diving techniques, underwater photography and videography, insights into diving medical issues, articles on conservation initiatives, Q&As with industry icons and legends, exciting competitions, and much, much more!

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NEWS IN BRIEF

BonaireTEK a huge success, Darkwater Group take on KISS rebreathers, the sad passing of Joe Porter, new sales manager for Shearwater Research, a newly relaunched website for the Bahamas wins gold in Magellan Awards, and a 900-year-old sword discovered off the coast of Israel.

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Scuba Diver North America’s Editor-at-Large Walt Stearns stays relatively close to home for this issue and heads for North Carolina’s Outer Banks in search of historic shipwrecks and sand tiger sharks.

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DIVERS ALERT NETWORK

In this issue’s DAN column, the team look at the link between experience and risk, explaining that experience is not just repeatedly exposing yourself to diving, it’s learning from that exposure, responding to unusual situations, and developing sound judgement.

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Great Barrier Reef T he M aldives

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AUSTRALIA

Want to know the best spots to dive on the worldfamous Great Barrier Reef in Australia’s North Queensland?

Deborah Dickson-Smith asked Master Reef Guides to choose their top 10 dives on this iconic dive location.

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MEXICO

A few months ago, Mike Bartick answered a call which had him quickly booking a flight and packing his gear. What happened after that was surprising, reviving and nothing short of inspiring as he escaped to Cozumel, Mexico, in search of fun and freedom..

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THE MALDIVES

Bryon Conroy got his first taste of diving in the Maldives ten years ago and it set him on a path to working in the diving industry. Now he returns, and heads for the Deep South in search of sharks.

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Underwater photographer Mike Bartick waxes lyrical about the diving opportunities off the coast of California, which can be highly rewarding and, above all, adventurous.

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AGGRESSOR ADVENTURES: BELIZE

Belize is located on the northeastern coast of Central America, bordering Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

Here we look at the top 5 dive sites in the country, and offer some useful hints and advice.

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GEAR TEST EXTRA

Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans and his teenage son Luke rate and review the Garmin Descent MK2S dive computer and the Fourth Element Hydra neoprene drysuit.

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PADI TEAMS UP WITH PATRIOTS FOR DISABLED DIVERS

© Rosemary Lunn / The Underwater Marketing Company

REMEMBERING WRECK DIVING MAGAZINE’S JOE PORTER

The diving industry is in mourning over the loss of Joe Porter, the founder and publisher of Wreck Diving Magazine, who has sadly died on Monday 6 September after losing his battle against COVID-19.

Joe was a regular fixture at dive shows across the USA, and his publication garnered worldwide praise for its inspirational, educational and entertaining content. In 2008, the magazine won the inaugural EUROTEK Media Award.

Joe was a loving father and grandfather. He married his High School sweetheart Heidi in 1976, a year after they graduated, and they were together for 45 years.

PADI members around the world are helping veterans heal, both physically and mentally, through the techniques learned in the PADI Adaptive Support Diver and Adaptive Techniques Specialty courses, and during the summer, PADI teamed up with Patriots for Disabled Divers.

“We are committed to increasing access to the underwater world for everyone and believe that the transformational power of learning to dive can benefit the emotional and physical well-being of all humanity,” says Kristin Valette Wirth, Chief Brand and Membership Officer of PADI Worldwide.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are around one billion people on the planet who are living with some sort of disability, mental or physical. PADI’s courses have always allowed and encouraged adaptive techniques, but with the launch of PADI’s Adaptive Techniques Specialty Course in 2018, the inherent flexibility of PADI courses for people with disabilities was better highlighted.

This summer, PADI teamed up with Patriots for Disabled Divers, a non-profit organisation founded by Jeff and Merial Currer, who own PADI Five-Star Instructor Development Centre Patriot Scuba in Virginia, USA, to certify retired US Army SGT Bryan Anderson as a PADI Open Water Diver.

Anderson completed his course in Catalina Island, California on the 20th anniversary of his deployment to Iraq, where he was injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that resulted in the loss of both legs and his left hand.

“You always have that thought in the back of your head, ‘Well, maybe you’re not going to get there. Maybe something will limit you,’” says Anderson. “But I worked through it, didn’t panic, and being a triple amputee, I completed everything that I needed to become a certified PADI Open Water Diver. If you’ve had the thought like you might want to try diving and you’re stopping yourself because your mind is stopping you and you think you can’t, I want to show you that you can.” www.padi.com

THE DARKWATER GROUP OFFICIALLY ACQUIRES KISS

Almost one year ago, KISS rebreathers and The Darkwater Group agreed terms, and now the transition is finally complete.

This acquisition gives KISS access to new technologies, extensive logistics and capital for growth. The Darkwater Group – which manages three brands in the diving industry now, xDEEP, Seal Drysuits and now KISS – was formed in 2020 by passionate technical and cave divers, explorers and investors. Darkwater aims to provide the most-innovative and high-quality dive equipment and technologies to the diving community.

Mike Young, Kim Mikusch and Lynette Qualls remain as part of the KISS team, and will be the US representatives. Manufacturing remains US-based, with improvements to some component manufacturing (e.g counterlungs) in Poland, but no major changes are planned to the current KISS units or portfolio. Regarding EU product availability, Darkwater begins the CE approval process in May 2021 and expect to complete this mammoth task in time for a mid-2022 launch of KISS on the EU market.

In addition, in the first half of 2022, they expect to launch the new KISS Training Portal, an e-learning tool that will revolutionise how instructors interact with KISS, facilitating information, evaluation and examinations globally. In early 2022, expect to see a new Factory Approved Training Programme with updated training standards being developed by Patrick Widman, the new Training Director. Free workshops for instructors and instructor trainers will be available across the globe to unify how divers learn to dive with KISS CCRs.

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DIVER FINDS 900-YEAR-OLD SWORD OFF COAST OF ISRAEL

© Lorenzo Mittiga

A one-metre-long sword thought to date back 900 years and possibly wielded by a crusader knight has been found by a diver off the north coast of Israel. Shlomi Katzin was exploring a natural cover near to the port city of Haifa off the Carmel coast, which was known to provide shelter for ships in the Mediterranean during storms for many centuries.

The sword, which is heavily encrusted with marine growth, is thought to have been uncovered by shifting sands. Other finds included shards of pottery, and a number of stone and metal anchors. He recovered the sword as he feared if he left it, it would be stolen.

Katzin handed over the weapon to the authorities, and the Israel Antiques Authority (IAA) said that once it has been professionally cleaned and analysed, it would be put on public display. The eagle-eyed diver was rewarded with a certificate of appreciation for good citizenship.

SIMON MORRIS APPOINTED AS SALES MANAGER FOR SHEARWATER RESEARCH

BONAIRETEK 2021 A GREAT SUCCESS

BonaireTEK 2021 – the 10th anniversary edition of this technical-diving-focused event – has wrapped, and has been declared a major success.

The event, hosted at Buddy Dive Resort, sees technical divers flying in from all over the world for seminars, technical dive demonstrations, presentations and training. But it is not just for tech divers – if you are just showing an interest in technical diving, BonaireTEK is the perfect place to find out more, and there were CCR and sidemount trydives for those who had yet to sample this type of diving.

Organiser German Arango said: “What a week… amazing energy and vibes from all BonaireTEK 2021 participants.

Tireless divers hungry for more! It was great to play an important role by reconnecting the community after such a long time. In other words, I couldn’t ask for a better event in 2021. Thanks to every single person involved!”

Manufacturers and agencies supporting the event included Dive Rite, Divers Alert Network, Subgravity, Halcyon Dive Systems, Shearwater Research, and InDepth.

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Shearwater Research has announced the appointment of dive industry stalwart Simon Morris as Sales Manager.

Gabriel Pineda, Director of Sales and Marketing for Shearwater, commented: “The process to select our next Sales Manager was done carefully and selectively. It is of extreme importance for us to bring individuals that will not only be compatible with the Shearwater culture, but that will be able to embody and propagate the qualities that have made our organization so successful. We are looking forward to working with Simon further strengthening the strong bonds that we have with the scuba community.” www.shearwater.com

2021 TRAVEL WEEKLY MAGELLAN AWARDS HONOR BAHAMAS’ NEW WEBSITE

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation took home Gold in the ‘Destination Marketing Website’ category during the 2021 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards for its newly relaunched website.

“Travel Weekly is an influential provider of travel industry news, research and analysis, and to be recognized by esteemed industry experts is a great honour,” said Deputy Prime Minister The Honourable I. Chester Cooper, Bahamas Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation. “We are so proud to be acknowledged among the best in the industry.”

Highlights of the redesigned website, which is now available in six languages, include an ‘Itinerary Planner’ that allows travelers to build a custom itinerary, and in-depth ‘Experiences’ pages that leverage the power of storytelling to showcase the islands’ most-unique experiences. www.bahamas.com

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Scuba Diver Senior Travel Editor Don Silcock ventures to the Bahamas to dive with three of the world’s mostspectacular sharks - the magnificent oceanic whitetip, the awe-inspiring great hammerhead, and the majestic tiger Photography Don Silcock

In the first of two parts, Walt Stearns and Mike Bartick delve into the world of open ocean diving by night, and offer some hints and advice on the art of blackwater photography Photography Walt Stearns and Mike Bartick

Tiger sharks

Tiger Beach is firmly established as one of those global diving destinations that almost everybody has heard of, with that fame largely derived from the many published images of its most-celebrated visitor Galeocerdo cuvier, the tiger shark.

Tigers are considered one of the ‘big three’ mostdangerous sharks and, along with the great white and bull shark, are believed to be responsible for the vast majority of unprovoked attacks on humans.

They are renowned for their inherently predatory behavior where, much like their terrestrial namesakes, they close in on their intended prey slowly and silently before pouncing with deadly efficiency.

They are also infamous for consuming almost anything and are often referred to as the ‘garbage cans of the sea’ after inspection of dead tiger stomach contents have revealed everything from sheep, goats and even horses to bottles, tyres, license plates and (believe it or not) explosives!

Tiger sharks are one of the ocean’s largest sharks

and typically grow to between ten and 16 feet in length and weigh in at around 700lb-1,500lb.

They are formidable creatures with an intimidating reputation – so how can it be that week after week in the season, dozens of divers enter the waters of Tiger Beach for open-water, eyeball-to-eyeball encounters?

Tiger Beach isn’t a Beach…

Physically, Tiger Beach is about a square mile in overall size and is located on the western edge of Little Bahama Bank, about 30km west of the town of West End on the north Bahamian island of Grand Bahama. And… the first thing you need to know about Tiger Beach is that it isn’t one – it is actually a shallow sand bank that looks like there is a beach nearby. The general area used to be known locally as Dry Bank and was first dived by Captain Scott Smith, of the Dolphin Dream liveaboard, back in the late 1980s.

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Many animals will reside within 10 inches of the water’s surface. It can be very productive to spend some of your dive in just 5ft-10ft of water looking up!

Tiger sharks are often referred to as the ‘garbage cans of the sea’ as bizarre items found in their stomachs include licence plates!

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The marine life we regularly see in this realm of darkness takes on an almost-unimaginable litany of shapes and forms, the majority of which are seldom larger than a fingernail. We never know what the lights will bring in, which is part of the attraction to this type of diving

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The density and scope of the life that surrounds this lonely, ocean pinnacle is remarkable

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n the world of exotic diving, Thailand stands out, with an amazingly diverse array of dive locations and marine life. It also has great topside excursions, romantic getaways… and among the planet’s mosthedonistic nightlife. Thailand’s long, mountainous peninsula, where most diving is located, separates the Gulf of Thailand to the east, from the Andaman Sea to the west.

Thailand is a year-round diving The coastlines are dotted with thousands of jungle-covered, destination, but the season oscillates white-sand fringed islands, which rise up steeply out of clear, tropical from coast to coast. From May to waters rich with coral reefs. For an article like this, choosing ‘the best’ of November, the best diving is found Thailand’s dive sites or areas has proven a wonderfully difficult task on the west coast in the Andaman there are simply so many to choose from.

Sea, and from December to We’ll start in the country’s southwest, in the area around Krabi April, the best diving is found Province, where Koh Lanta (‘Koh’ is Thai for island) edges the Andaman on the east coast in the Sea. From there, we’ll head northwards up the coast to Koh Phi Phi, Gulf of Thailand. with its two main islands and scores of deserted islets. Then, moving to the northwest some 46km, we’ll reach Phuket, not only one of Thailand’s exotic hotspots, but also the epi-centre of Thailand diving, with dayboats and liveaboards reaching sites in virtually every direction. To finish up, we’ll head across the peninsula to the Wherever there are corals, the fish that offshore island of Koh Tao, known live and feed among them are sure to be for its remarkable collection of unique found, creating one underwater world dives and its extensive dive training community. after another to be explored

Stuart Philpott has dived around many Caribbean islands, and he has trawled through his archives to bring this two part round-up of some of the best shipwrecks in the region Photography Stuart Philpott

The Caribbean is chock full of shipwrecks of all shapes and sizes. Many of them are genuine shipwrecks from martitime incidents, but several islands have also purpose-sunk shipwrecks as marine-life habitats and as attractions for scuba divers.

The 236-feet-long Hilma Hooker lies at a max depth of 95ft. Her intriguing story made international headlines. She lost all engine power and was towed to the main town pier. During a routine search 25,000lb of marijuana was found hidden behind a false bulkhead

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or fished.

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Raja Ampat is renowned for its epic beauty, pristine nature, endless stretches of empty beaches and lots of space, but this is probably due to the fact that while there are some 1,500 islands in the archipelago, there are only 50,000 inhabitants!

Richard and Hailey from Black Manta Photography had ‘great white sharks’ on their bucket list for years, and finally ticked it off on a memorable voyage on the Vortex liveaboard Photography Richard Stevens and Hailey Elisabeth Black Manta Photography

These cunning creatures like to take their prey by surprise. They usually position themselves underneath their unsuspecting victims before swimming up and… chomp! They often burst out of the water in a leap (called a breach) before falling back in with their meal in their mouth.

Jean-Pierre Nathrass showcases seven of the top dive sites in Raja Ampat, and presents a list of creatures large and small you should expect to encounter Photography Jean-Pierre Nathrass

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North Carolina’s

OUTER

BANKS 12

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Scuba Diver North America’s Editor-at-Large Walt Stearns heads for North Carolina’s Outer Banks in search of historic shipwrecks and sand tiger sharks Photographs by Walt Stearns

The Wright Brothers’ first-ever flight (and first powered flight) took place in the Outer Banks (the former in Kitty Hawk, the latter in Kill Devil Hills). The Outer Banks are actually a sandbar, not an island, and the soft sands make the perfect testing ground as the impact would be lessened in the event of a crash.

KS

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Commanded by Admiral Karl Donitz, Germany’s U-boatwaffe historically proved to be one the most-effective offence weapons on the high seas during the first two years of World War Two 13

PREVIOUS PAGE You can barely see the wrecks for the fish life BELOW The well-preserved wrecks are a favourite for photographers BELOW RIGHT Large stingrays are commonplace RIGHT Penetration is possible into many of the shipwrecks

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here is a kernel of truth to the coastal waters of North Carolina’s ownership to the title ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’. Going as far back as the formation of the Nation’s original 13 colonies, waters off North America’s coast have seen the end to a great number of ships.

Around 700 in all, give or take a dozen. Then again, large numbers of ships have perished in other places too. Even the Great Lakes can boast about having more wrecks than the Carolina coast. Lake Huron alone holds 1,100 documented wrecks in its belly. What makes the number of wrecks off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, from Cape Hatteras south to Cape Fear, so interesting is that while half were victims befallen to nature’s whims (namely storms), the other half were sent to the bottom by human confrontations. I don’t think there is an East Coast Atlantic wreck diver who is not unfamiliar to just how many wreck sites were created by the ‘Battle of the Atlantic’. The most infamous in US history was the onslaught created by Germany’s marauding U-boats right on our doorstep.

Torpedo Alley

Commanded by Admiral Karl Donitz, Germany’s U-boatwaffe historically proved to be one the mosteffective offence weapons on the high seas during the first two years of World War Two. History can also account for their first series of strikes against American shipping, in 1941, with operation Paukenschlag (Drumbeat), comprised of five type-IX class boats. Between their arrival in US territorial waters, 27 December 1941 and 6 February 1942, the drumbeaters had sunk 25 ships.

By the close of that same year, U-boat operations had swelled in rank along the US continental shelf (between Maine and the Florida Keys), and their effectiveness could be measured by close to 100 kills with only 21 losses of the own.

Topping the list of historic war casualities that divers come to North Carolina to explore is the wreck of the WE Hutton. Like many of the better wreck dives off this coast, the 36-mile boat ride due south out of Morehead City can take the better part of an hour and a half.

For the most part, its appearance is more like a monstrous sausage cracked open in several places, with the highest part of the wreck rising 30ft off the bottom at the stern

The peak scuba diving season for all of North Carolina is MayOctober with June- August being the most popular for calm conditions. Visibility generally spans 50 feet/15 meters, sometimes more throughout the year.

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Along the coast of North Carolina are multiple reefs consisting of beautiful sea fans and abundant marine life. Huge groupers, lobsters and giant stingrays make an appearance in the clear, warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

I can see the light

Lighthouses and the North Carolina coast go hand-in-hand.

Bodie Island Lighthouse was built a total of three times – first in 1847, then again in 1859 after being demolished, and finally in 1871 after being destroyed during the Civil War. Cape Hatteras boats the tallest lighthouse in the US at 210 feet (it is also the second tallest in the world). On the opposite end of the scale, Ocracoke has the shortest lighthouse in North Carolina, at just 65 feet – it is also the second oldest in the US.

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Torpedoed by the German U-boat U-124 after rounding Cape Lookout on the night of 18 March 1942, the 435foot tanker lies upside with her superstructure crushed into sand at a depth of 130ft. For the most part, its appearance is more like a monstrous sausage cracked open in several places, with the highest part of the wreck rising 30ft off the bottom at the stern. Entry into the hull is possible through several wide openings, though penetration should be left to those both highly experienced and equipped. Back in the mid-1970s, salvagers managed to raise the propeller after blasting it loose from the shaft, leaving a large void between the stanchion and rudder.

When this wreck was first found, it was first assumed to be that of the Papoose, an equally similar size tanker measuring 412 feet in length. And like the Hutton it too was sunk by U-boat U-124 that same night of 18 March 1942, a half hour apart. Adding to the mystery, the wreck everyone assumed to be the Papoose never gave up a single item to clearly identify which wreck was which until the remains of the real Papoose (located off Cape Hatteras) were confirmed in 2008 after years of having it identified as the 463-foot tanker San Delfino, which was sunk 10 April 1942 by the U-203.

This type of confusion is just one example in having so many shipwrecks so close together.

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Not all the wrecks of North Carolina met their end due to tragic events. The USCG Cutter Spar is one of the many ships sent to the bottom as part of the North Carolina artificial reef project.

Diving the U-352

After a year of terrorizing the coast, the United States and Allied forces improved shipping through organized convoys with naval escorts while homeland defense put out more long-range aircraft patrols, cruisers armed with depth charges and improved methods of detecting submarines with active sonar systems, radio triangulation and coded message intercepts. Breaking the enigma code soon made work for U-boats suicidal.

By the end of 1942, U-boat causalities rose to 64. In the first months of the following year, 94 boats were sunk, peaking in May, which became known as Black May, with 41, one of them being the U-352.

At 218 feet long, the U-352 was a VIIC design, which included an 88mm deck gun mounted forward of the conning tower. Surprisingly, the U-352 had not one kill to her credit, worse yet the last ship she fired two torpedoes at on 9 May 1942 was the US Coast Guard Cutter Icarus. Dogging the salvo, the Icarus made her own attack run, firing five depth charges, which severely damaged the U-boat internally, wrecked the conning tower and blew off its deck gun. Two more depth charge attacks forced the U-352 to the surface, where its commander KL Rathke ordered his crew to scuttle and abandon the ship. In the end, 17 of her crew were killed, with the rest taken into Charleston, SC, as prisoners of war.

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Sir Walter Raleigh founded the first English colony in the US on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks in 1585. Bizarrely, that same colony mysteriously vanished just a few years later, between 1587 and 1590.

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For a battle so well recorded, for a while nobody knew the exact whereabouts of the U-352 until Captain George Purifoy, owner of Olympus Dive Center and three close friends – Rod Gross, Dale McCullough and Claude Hall (who started the search through extensive research of World War Two naval archives) - decided to seek the downed sub. The hunt lasted ten years before it was found in April 1975, a full mile and a quarter from the original coordinates of her sinking logged by the Icarus.

Today, it is one North Carolina’s signature wrecks and the one that most coming down to Morehead City want to dive. My first impression of it as we follow the descent line was that the wreck, sitting on its keel, with a 45-degree list to starboard, looked small. Life on most medium-size attack-class warships was anything but luxurious. Life on a U-boat with a max 20-foot beam is, in a nutshell, close! While still largely intact, most of what you see on the bottom is the remains of the pressure hull, as the majority the U-boat’s outer casing has rusted away.

For experienced NC divers, the biggest challenge of the U-352, as well as 99 percent of the wrecks here in waters over 70 feet, is waiting for the boat to hook up on the wreck. The procedure here is a member of the crew has to go down manually to tie into the wreck - in the U-352’s case, 120 feet

to the bottom - before anyone else can enter the water. Depending on conditions the drill can take 15 to 20 minutes. To expedite this more effectively, Olympus Diving Center’s divers are equipped with underwater communication gear. From the bottom, the diver can advise the captain if he needs to move the boat, pay out more line as well as give a detail report of conditions from top to bottom. Well today, if you were an underwater photographer, visibility wasn’t great. Instead of the 60- to 80-foot clarity one could expect around the corner in mid-June, 30 feet was what we had. Through the years I had the opportunity to dive large number of wrecks, most victims of storms, collisions with reefs to even a few, yes, sunk by German U-boats. However, being able to actually rest my hand on one of these predators was uniquely special.

LEFT Some of the wrecks include submarines BOTTOM The coral growth on the wrecks is phenomenal BELOW Diver next to a conning tower on a submarine

‘Shiver me timbers’

Edward Teach, better known as the infamous Blackbeard, roamed the waters around the Outer Banks in his ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. In fact, he held a large pirate gathering in Ocracoke in October 1718, and in November 1718, was killed by the Royal Navy in Ocracoke Inlet. There are tales of his treasure still buried somewhere in the sands of Ocracoke…

The hunt lasted ten years before it was found in April 1975, a full mile and a quarter from the original co-ordinates of her sinking logged by the Icarus WWW.SCUBADIVERDESTINATIONS.COM

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Barefoot luxury in the heart of Indonesia

Bunaken National Marine Park I had a fantastic time at Siladen Resort. The resort itself is a quiet and idyllic oasis, the food was outstanding, but it’s the fishes that will have me coming back. The dive crew were some of the friendliest folk I have met. Always smiling, and so happy. I can’t wait to dive there again.

Dr. Richard Smith

w w w.s i l a d e n.c o m

The Outer Banks has been brought to the attention of an entire new audience through the Netflix show of the same name, but interestingly, the TV program was not actually filmed in the Outer Banks!

Unless a diver were to do something stupid, like grabbing hold of it, or waving a speared fish in its face, the chances of being attacked are less likely than getting struck and killed by a falling coconut For marine life watchers, the wreck provides a fascinating palette from large schools of spadefish, jacks (from jack crevalle to greater amber), African pompano to, of course, plenty of sand tiger sharks, and get this - lionfish! Turned loose into tropical Atlantic by aquarium owners, the tropical Pacific native has made itself quite at home on most of the wrecks and deep water ledges off the Outer Banks.

Sand tigers, overlords of the wrecks

Not everyone who comes to dive North Carolina are here specifically for the wrecks. Others come to see sharks, namely sand tigers. Going face to face with one of these brutish-looking creatures is something not easily forgotten. Beneath their conical-shaped snout, jaws held partially agape brandish a nightmarish collection of long, prominently erect, spike-shaped teeth.

Belonging to the Family Odontaspididae, sand tigers were once a widely distributed species - found not only in North and South American waters, but

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Australia, South Africa, India, China and Japan. Even the Mediterranean was once known to have them, before excessive fishing practices wiped them out.

When it comes to who has a healthy supply, that honor goes to North Carolina. And to find them best means going wreck diving, and just about every wreck below 60ft - WE Hutton, Aeolus and Spar has got them. Recently it was discovered that the sand tigers like to aggregate around U-352 during November. The further out from shore, the higher their presence. It is because of them that North Carolina’s most-signature dive is the Papoose wreck.

What makes the sharks fun is their slow, unperturbed demeanor coupled with their nightmarish, snaggle-toothed appearance. As they glided leisurely past, they looked all the more freakish by their deliberately slow sweep of the tail, appearing to float rather than swim. Despite their fearsome-looking persona, these animals’ reputation for being dangerous – ranked ninth on the list of the ten most dangerous species of sharks in the

ABOVE Sand tiger sharks inhabit many of the shipwrecks

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

North Carolina, USA Getting there

You can fly into Charlotte/Douglas International Airport to get to North Carolina, or it is well served with highways to drive to the State from neighbouring States.

When to visit TOP Spadefish ABOVE Rebreather diver and sand tiger shark RIGHT North Carolina has many historical lighthouses

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world - is highly questionable. Since the beginning of the 1900s, there have been only eight, maybe nine recorded incidents involving sand tigers in US waters. While five implicated divers - most participating in spearfishing - none were fatal. From an interview I had with Alexia Morgan, Assistant Director of the International Shark Attack Files back in 2000, in the past 100 years there have only been 65 attacks globally by sand tigers – which includes South Africa’s ragged-tooth and Australia’s gray nurse. That translates to a global average of .65 attacks by this species per year. Unless a diver were to do something stupid, like grabbing hold of it, or waving a speared fish in its face, the chances of being attacked are less likely than getting struck and killed by a falling coconut. n

You can visit North Carolina all year round, but March to May and September to November are often touted as prime periods.

Currency

US dollar, and credit cards are widely accepted.

Entry Requirements

If coming in from abroad, then an ESTA and valid passport with six months left to expiry.

Electricity

Usual North American two-pin 120volt 60 Hz supply.

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DIVERS ALERT NETWORK

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THE LINK BETWEEN EXPERIENCE AND RISK

o often, it’s inexperience or going beyond one’s training that leads to diving mishaps, injuries, accidents, or even death. In diving, it is often stated that experience will help keep you and your buddy safe. The more experience, the better equipped you’ll be to make wise choices in all situations.

But experience can be hard to measure, especially because every diver learns, behaves, and progresses differently. Experience is not just repeatedly exposing yourself to diving, it’s learning from that exposure, responding to unusual situations, developing sound judgement, and never faltering in safety practices.

What’s experience?

Experience is often measured in the number of dives, hours accumulated underwater, frequency of dives, locations dived, and types of dives completed.

Classes taken and certifications earned also add to experience level. Another layer to defining experience is the diver’s personality and world view, as those also can determine if they feel experienced enough for particular dives.

As a diver gets more comfortable, they begin to perfect certain skills and skill sets. Experience and skill set are not synonymous; experience is earned over time through repeated exposure, while skills are learned. Experience enhances a diver’s level of comfort in the water; fine-tuned skills are a diver’s ability to perform certain tasks. A highly skilled diver who has read manuals and watched instructional videos may not have the in-water experience to fully flex those skills. And a plethora of certs with few dives to back it up can indicate that the diver may have extended themselves beyond their experience.

Risky business

Inexperienced new divers are more prone to injuries and mishaps because of their lack of familiarity with gear, techniques, water conditions, etc. Recently

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certified divers may exceed their abilities or training and get into a dangerous situation. For these reasons, it’s great when new divers can pair up with experienced buddies who can assist with predive safety checks and help out if things go south. And of course, even the most-experienced divers can’t solve everything on their own.

Just because a diver has years of experience and hundreds of dives doesn’t mean they’re invincible.

As comfort levels increase, mental shifts can occur, and complacency may set in. A diver may cut corners on important safety procedures to save time or effort. It can be easy to overlook something or even skip a quick check. And, as a diver ages, dive medicine experts are concerned with cognitive decline, which could ultimately interfere with preparation of dive equipment, dive planning, problem solving, and quick thinking. How the body responds to physical tasks, different environments, etc, also changes, so it is important to adapt.

Although more common among inexperienced divers, accidents can happen at any experience level. The best advice to always stay alert, don’t cut corners, and continue to hone safety practices. n

ABOVE Experienced divers can help novice divers when buddied up together.

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ENJOY DIVING WITHOUT GETTING COLD SANTI HEATING SYSTEM

HEATING SYSTEM

Queensland’s tropical north is the place many of us first discovered the Great Barrier Reef. From Cairns or Port Douglas, this is the closest jump-off point to the outer reef for a day trip or liveaboard expedition

THE TROPICAL NORTH’S

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With almost 3,000 individual reefs, 900 islands, and stretching for 2,600km there is no denying the reef is massive. If you want to get an idea of size, then imagine the country of Italy lying just off the coast of Australia and you begin to get an idea of its vastness.

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Want to know the best spots to dive on the Great Barrier Reef?

Deborah Dickson-Smith asked Master Reef Guides to choose their top 10 dives on this iconic dive location Photographs by Michelle Barry, Lily Buchanan, Andrew Watson and Deborah Dickson-Smith

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ueensland’s tropical north is the place many of us first discovered the Great Barrier Reef. From Cairns or Port Douglas, this is the closest jump-off point to the outer reef for a day trip or liveaboard expedition. From Norman and Saxon Reefs out from Cairns, to Agincourt Reef out of Port Douglas, and further north to the Ribbon Reefs and Coral Sea. There are literally hundreds of dive sites to choose from, so how do you choose?

We asked the experts, Master Reef Guides working in this region, which reefs offer the best diving, to put together a list of the Top 12 Dives on the Great Barrier Reef.

The Point. Agincourt Reef No. 3

Master Reef Guide: Dr Glenn Burns (and Dive Instructor Haylie Bennett) Dive it with: Quicksilver and Silversonic ‘The Point’ is at the northern-most point of Agincourt 3, on a section of the Reef that sits on the very edge of the continental shelf around 21 miles offshore. It is separated from Agincourt 4 by a narrow channel.

These two geographical features combine to create a spectacular site for lovers of pelagic action.

Strong currents sweep plankton-rich waters from the surrounded deep sea into the channel attracting predators, with large schools of striped and yellow tail fusiliers patrolling the coral wall, and chasing them, larger predators such as big-eye trevally and barracuda.

Outside the lagoon, divers frequently sight larger pelagics, including gray reef sharks and the occasional bull shark, while inside the lagoon, whitetip and blacktip reef sharks.

The best way to dive The Point is a drift dive, dropping in on the outer wall just outside the channel, drifting swiftly around the Point itself into the channel, passing forests of enormous gorgonian fans along the way before being sucked into the lagoon, where you’ll likely meet Donut, the world’s friendliest, giant Maori wrasse.

When conditions allow, you can also dive along

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The reef is home to an incredible diversity of species, including 30 species of whale, dolphin and porpoise, six species of turtle, 17 species of sea snake and more than 1,w500 species of fish!

Incredibly, 10% of the world’s fish inhabit the Great Barrier Reef.

Outside the lagoon, divers frequently sight larger pelagics, including gray reef sharks and the occasional bull shark the outer wall, where you can expect visibility between 100-150 feet as the reef wall drop down, in stages, 165ft, 330ft, 3,280ft.

PREVIOUS PAGE Anemonefish are always a diver favourite

Nursery Bommie. Agincourt Reef No. 3

TOP LEFT Shoal of yellow snapper

Master Reef Guide: Dr Glenn Burns (and Dive Instructor Haylie Bennett) Dive it with: Quicksilver and Silversonic, Nursery is a relatively shallow dive, starting at 82ft depth at the base of the bommie itself which sits on a sloping reef wall. Drop in on the deeper side of the bommies and gradually circle your way to the shallows. The marine life changes as you ascend, passing reef sharks, large schools of drummer, the occasional reef shark and other pelagics in deeper water, and in the shallows, clouds of purple anthias.

Divers often see pods of dolphins and in winter, minke whales are occasionally sighted.

As you follow the reef wall into shallower water, you’ll pass a huge garden of staghorn coral in shades of brown, purple, blue and green before

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MIDDLE LEFT Reef sharks swarm round a bait box BOTTOM LEFT The reef is pristine and healthy ABOVE Seemingly endless table corals LEFT Snorkeller with giant clam

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Help the reef to return

Protection of the Great Barrier Reef is a top priority for the Australian Government and conservationists with measures being taken to help protect this natural wonder. Tourism can play a part in the reef’s problems but it is also a part of the solution. With over 2 million visitors a year, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the most popular attractions in Australia and money from reef tourism contributes massively to reef protection.

ABOVE Freediving over hard corals ABOVE RIGHT Hard and soft corals with sponges ABOVE MIDDLE Moray eel on the reef TOP RIGHT Classic tropical reef awaits RIGHT Vibrant soft corals

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ending your dive in ‘Fishbowl’, a bowl with a white sandy bottom, surrounded by staghorns, and brimming with pretty reef fish of all colors, including neon blue chromis, orange and purple anthias and damsels.

Dr Glenn Byrne explains: “One of the reasons I love this dive is that it’s so versatile, it has something for divers of all levels, from beginner to hardcore.”

Helm Deep Drift. Agincourt No. 2

Master Reef Guide: Dr Glenn Burns (and Dive Instructor Haylie Bennett) Dive it with: Quicksilver and Silversonic Helms Drift is channel between two Agincourt reefs, namely 2A and 2B, where strong currents carry you along the outer wall and suck you into the channel where you drift and an incredible pace until the current peters out inside the lagoon.

“On this drift dive, you fly,” according to Haylie.

And while you’re ‘flying’ you’ll pass turtles, gray reef sharks and barramundi cod, before you reach

the gentler pace of the reef surrounding the mooring and the macro features to be found there, such as tiny pipefish and nudibranchs. Near the mooring you may also come across a couple of cheeky residents, Agro, a camouflage cod and Colin, a Malabar cod.

Three Sisters, Milln Reef

Master Reef Guides: Russell Hosp and Kirsty Whitman Dive it with: Passions of Paradise, Pro Dive Cairns The Three Sisters are three enormous bommies that sit on the very edge of Milln Reef, where the current brings in large amounts of plankton, a food rich environment for schooling pelagics such as fusiliers, red bass, drummer, and larger marine life including turtles, reef sharks, several species of rays including large smooth rays and cowtail rays.

The Sisters’ position at the edge of the reef assures excellent visibility, upwards of 65 feet, perfect for shark and ray spotting!

Start at the third sister and swim a figure eight

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It’s the only place on Earth where two UNESCO World Heritage Sites meet.

And while you’re ‘flying’ you’ll pass turtles, gray reef sharks and barramundi cod, before you reach the gentler pace of the reef surrounding the mooring and the macro features to be found there pattern around the second and third sister before heading to Sister No. 1. Reef fish you’re likely to see along the way include fusiliers, damsels, purple and orange anthias, bright blue chromis, yellow spotted and diagonal banded sweetlips and parrotfish.

Club 10, Milln Reef

Master Reef Guides: Russell Hosp and Kirsty Whitman Dive it with: Passions of Paradise, Pro Dive Cairns Good for snorkelers and divers, this shallow dive (so named for its deepest point: 10m, or 32ft), has vibrant coral cover and several species of anemones in one of the largest fields of anemones you’ll ever see. Just beneath the mooring there are large clusters of blue and brown staghorn corals, and huge boulder corals.

In the surrounding shallow coral gardens you’ll find a wide variety of reef life: damselfish, blue tangs (Dory), cuttlefish, butterflyfish, turtles and several species of sharks, including epaulette sharks, tawny nurse sharks and reef sharks.

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Cairns: Twin Peaks, Saxon Reef

Master Reef Guide: Michelle Barry Dive it with: Divers Den Saxon Reef is one of the best Great Barrier Reef dive and snorkel sites. Set between Norman and Hastings Reefs, there are calm lagoons ideal for snorkeling – as well as the famous Twin Peaks coral ‘mountains’ where a deeper scuba dive offers the chance to spot species like reef sharks, trevally, large cod, and moray eels.

City Hall, Moore Reef

Master Reef Guide: Pablo Cogollos Dive it with: Sunlover Reef Cruises Located about 650 feet from the Sunlover Pontoon, City Hall is a large pinnacle, festooned at depth with giant gorgonian fans and healthy, vibrant and diverse coral cover in the shallows. It is surrounded by at least ten swim-throughs where you might find wide-eyed red cardinal fish, here and there clouds of glassfish and the odd coral trout darting in and out.

Turtles are almost guaranteed at this site, with 18 individual resident turtles identified: two hawksbill and 16 green sea turtles. As you circle and ascend the pinnacle, you’ll see lots of damsels fluttering about the thick outcrops of branching coral and huge schools of yellowtail fusiliers darting scaling the coral wall at high speed.

Coral Gardens, Flynn Reef

Master Reef Guide: Pablo Cogollos Dive it with: Passions of Paradise, Silverswift, Pro Dive Cairns Flynn Reef has some of the best coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef, in fact Master Reef Guide Pablo Cogollos compares it to Lady Elliot Island for its coral density and diversity. Huge boulder corals fight for space with plate corals, branching and bushy corals, and this diversity attracts a diversity of fish life.

Exploring the gardens, you’ll come across coral trout, sweetlips, trumpetfish, several different angel fish, damsels, chromis and anemonefish.

Soft Coral Wall, Osprey Reef

When conditions are right, often after a full moon, the incredible phenomenon of coral reproduction takes place.

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Master Reef Guide: Michelle Barry Dive it with: Spirit of Freedom, Mike Ball Dive Expeditions This drift dive runs along the outer edge of Osprey Reef, dropping down to unimaginable depths.

Normally a tender will drop you at the start of the drift where you descend to about 100-130ft. Drift along past huge gorgonian fans and soft corals of all sorts, and in all sorts of candy colors – yellow, pink, orange, blue, red… populated by clouds of reef fish.

About halfway along the drift, wall becomes inverted, transforming into an overhang, while everything below you falls away and you find

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Volunteer on the Great Barrier Reef

Destinations such as Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island and Lady Musgrave Island are award-winning for their eco-sustainable accommodation and on-site research and volunteer programs.

Ensuring facilities and guests leave no footprint, you can be beachside one day, rehabilitating a baby turtle or learning about coral health the next.

PREVIOUS TOP Anemonefish on the reef PREVIOUS MIDDLE Healthy brain coral front and centre PREVIOUS BOTTOM Aerial shot of the fringing reef ABOVE Vast shoal of snapper RIGHT Turtle swimming over the reef

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yourself in a candy-colored hanging garden. The inversion adds drama to this beautiful underwater landscape, the kaleidoscope of colors further enhanced by all colorful reef fish including fusiliers, chromis and damsels.

Be sure to look out into the blue for sailfish, hammerheads, dogtooth tuna, eagle rays and big schools of big-eye jacks, barracuda and herds of bumphead parrotfish.

Crystal Plateau, Bougainville Reef

Master Reef Guide: Pablo Cogollos Dive it with: Mike Ball Dive Expeditions Bougainville Reef is on the ‘Fair Weather’ Coral Sea itinerary for Cairns’ based liveaboards, being one of the more-remote reef systems in the Coral Sea. The reef here is one of the healthiest in the Coral Sea, and even in the shallows you can expect to see large schools of drummer, trevally and barracuda.

There is a fantastic drift dive here between the western reef wall and a row of five or six pinnacles where you’ll drift by large schools of fish before reaching the end of the slipstream to be greeted by the friendliest (yet to be named) potato cod. n

Great Barrier Reef, Australia Getting there

It is possible to fly direct into Cairns, or you can get a flight into Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide and get an internal flight up to Cairns.

When to visit

You can visit North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef all year round.

Clarity on the Reef is optimum between December and February (Aussie summer).

Currency

Australian dollar (US$1 = AUD$1.41).

Credit cards are also accepted.

Entry Requirements

US citizens will require an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) or valid Australian visa to travel to Australia.

CHECK CURRENT COVID RULES.

Electricity

Type I plug, which is the plug with three flat pins in a triangular pattern.

The voltage is 230V, so you will need an adaptor for US devices.

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The Best Diving on the Coral Sea & Great Barrier Reef!

Dive with giant potato cod, explore deep walls, witness shark action at Osprey Reef.

Ribbon Reefs Outstanding fish and coral biodiversity.

New Special Expeditions!

Check out our website for details.

T: +61 7 4053 0500 E: resv@mikeball.com

www.mikeball.com #spoilsportlive #mikeballdive

Cozumel

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think it’s safe to say that many of us in the diving community are feeling the travel pinch like never before.

Quarantines have turned our colorful world into a black and white environment with one day bleeding into the next, shifting plans, shifting policies - all of this sitting around is exhausting!

One place that hasn’t closed its borders though, and is welcoming guests from all over the globe is Mexico. So if you’re ready to exchange your face mask for a dive mask and overdue to get wet, than pack your gear, book your trip and ‘go go go’!

Cozumel is a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea that sits off the eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, just across from mainland Mexico, in the state of Quintana Roo. Getting there is easy to do with a small on-island airport that has regular flights arriving and departing daily from all over the US. The seaside resort town has an active and thriving dive community full of ex-pats, great restaurants, all-inclusive dive resorts and private hire lodging like condos, apartments and houses. In addition, many of the ocean-front accommodations are also serviced by private hire dive operations which makes Cozumel an even easier choice for diver/non-diver travel. While shore diving is an easy entry from almost anywhere, accessing the reefs and protected

dive parks will require a boat for several reasons, the main being the current. Cozumel is synonymous with drift diving, which attracts divers of all skill levels of course, but also plays a significant roll in the ecology of the marine life found. From the tip of Maracaibo, Punta Sur, where the prevailing current first moves through the Cozumel channel, all the way to Barracuda Reef, the magic of the moving waters are evident. The current plays a key role in keeping the underwater habitat colorful and thriving by transporting nutrients and refreshing the reefs with fresh, cool water. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the abundance of unusual sponges and the cavernous topography shaped by centuries of water movement.

At first, the reefs seem featureless and the colors dull, but as the current carries you closer, the colors begin to emerge and the details of what’s at work here come directly into focus.

Jutting pinnacles, cuts, swim-throughs, massive sponges, Gorgonian sea fans, with greens, oranges, yellows and of course the piercing blues - to say I wasn’t ready for this would be a huge understatement. Gratefully, our dive operation supplied us with large (100/120cf) steel tanks jammed with nitrox to ensure that we could soak up as much of the beauty as we could on each dive.

The current plays a key role in keeping the underwater habitat colourful and thriving by transporting nutrients and refreshing the reefs with fresh, cool water.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was the abundance of unusual sponges

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A few weeks ago, Mike Bartick answered a call which had him quickly booking a flight and packing his gear. What happened after that was surprising, reviving and nothing short of inspiring as he escaped to Cozumel, Mexico, in search of fun and freedom Photographs by Mike Bartick

Canary blennies (also known as the canary fang blenny) are one of the few blenny species that possess enlarged fangs with associated venom sacs which are primarily used as a retaliatory defense and serve as a deterrent to predators.

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Most depths ranged above the 90ft mark, averaging around 60ft-65ft, longer dives were easy to do and well appreciated. For some reason though, even with the extended bottom times, the dives passed by way too quickly and had me thirsting for more.

I suppose when folks hear the words ‘drift diving’, they think of flying by the reefs without the ability to slow down or stop. Despite the moving water, we found the reefs offer respite in many places that are easy to tuck into, relax and explore.

My favorite reefs to explore, like the Palancar Reef network, always included a deeper area and a shallow section with a sandy bottom, which are two totally different dives. The sandy area with small bommies tend to be a bit more fishy and usually hid more macro subjects but once the current was moving, hard to stop and shoot photos. The deeper, ocean-facing sections offer a kaleidoscope of colors and dramatic vertical relief with the trademarked Caribbean blue water as a backdrop - it’s easy to get spoiled here. Reef systems like Palancar Bricks, Garden and Horseshoe, Cedral Deep and Columbia Deep are breathtaking and beg for exploring.

I was also surprised at the amount of macro life that can be found around the island. Nudibranchs, interesting crustaceans, and if you like blennies, then you’re in for a treat! The corals, rocks, sponges and seagrass beds are filled with tiny photogenic critters that help to balance out the trip’s portfolio. Some of my favorites are certainly the sailfin blennies. These guys are fast and very challenging to shoot but the

Its all in the name...

The name Cozumel was derived from the Mayan name for the island, ‘Ah Cuzamil Peten’. Translated to English, this means ‘island of the swallows’.

Because of this, the swallow is an important symbol to Cozumel’s identity and can be spotted in many motifs, from imprints on sidewalks to artwork originating on the island.

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Life’s a beach Cozumel is home to three of the seven remaining species of sea turtles, including the loggerhead turtle, the hawksbill, and the green sea turtle.

rewards are high. Take your time and be sure not to crowd them as they can be very shy and will only become active once they feel they are safe.

I prefer a longer lens for the greatest resolution and detail of the sailfins. There are a couple of different varieties here so move slow, watch ahead and look for rapid movements. In addition to the sailfins, I was easily charmed with the bulging eyes and erratic movements of the rough head and spiny head blennies. Nearing the end on one of the dives, the guide called me over pointing ahead in the seagrass, signaling me to get low.

Watching ahead, we spied a pike blenny extending itself up and bobbing its head, aggressively posturing by flaring its gills and flushing with color. I find most blennies to be photogenic and entertaining but this little guy also had a major attitude, especially when it came to other pike blennies.

In the downtown area of Cozumel, the dive site which is aptly named ‘2-boats’ sits just offshore.

Although they aren’t the type of wreck that would attract tech divers, they are fantastic to polish up your wreck photography skills. The two-boats or

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Cozumel is home to some stunning beaches, including Playa Bonita, Playa El Mirador and Playa de San Martin. One particular beach that deserves a visit is Punta Molas on the northeastern tip of the island. This beach can only be reached with the aid of a 4x4 vehicle, and is also home to the island’s lighthouse.

wrecks rest in about 40ft of water on a sandy seabed surrounded by eel grass and concrete blocks adorned with coral and sponge growth.

The colorful blocks lay in daisy chain fashion allowing divers to move from one to the next eventually arriving at the first wreck. The sand around the boats also provides some of the best night diving on the island. The wrecks are relatively small vessels which makes them a snap to navigate and on most days, a diver can see from stern to bow unhampered.

A main goal of the trip was to explore the Cozumel channel for blackwater diving locations and to train one of the dive operations on how to conduct blackwater dives safely. Blackwater diving, which involves drift diving in open ocean at night, enables divers and photographers to get a glimpse of the area’s most-hidden secrets while providing an overview of the ecology in the area.

During blackwater dives, most of the subject matter encountered are gelatinous planktons like salp chains, various types of jellyfish, cephalopods and larval fish which will eventually settle to the

PREVIOUS PAGE Up close and personal with a canary blenny MIDDLE You can find three species of turtle in Cozumel waters ABOVE Blue skies, calm seas, white sands and palm trees perfection!

FAR LEFT Dive boat at anchor LEFT Cozumel is a great location for blackwater diving

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There are various tales that Jacques Cousteau filmed a documentary in Cozumel in the 1950s and 1960s, helping usher in scuba tourism to the island, but it appears there is no evidence this actually happened. However, the legend persists to this day.

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Created in 1996, the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park protects a part of the Meso-American reef system – at 700 miles in length, the world’s second largest barrier reef - and its waters host more than 26 species of coral and more than 500 species of fish.

One of the ‘can’t miss’ opportunities to take advantage of while visiting the state of Quintana Roo is diving in the vast networks of the Cenotes substrate either in deeper water, on the reef or remain nektonic. Our team managed multiple dives and encountered some really promising subjects, from male argonauts and diamond squid and some deepwater subjects like dragonfish too. The blackwater diving in Cozumel shows promise and should be added to every diver’s plan while visiting there.

One of the ‘can’t miss’ opportunities to take advantage of while visiting the state of Quintana Roo is diving in the vast networks of the Cenotes.

Cenotes are natural sink holes that dot the landscape interconnected by a slow-moving river of water. While most of the diving is done ‘cavern style’ and being able to see light from almost anywhere throughout the dive, some of these can be true caves, leading divers through a maze of incredible limestone formations. Most of these natural sink holes have

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been well developed with stairs and dive platforms that locals and visitors use to escape the heat with a cool dip in the gin-clear pools of fresh water.

While many divers visit this area primarily for cave diving in Tulum, staying for days or longer, we wanted to make a single day of it. The ferry system runs people back and forth between Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen every hour, making the adventure possible with the right dive operation.

We co-ordinated with the manager at Scuba Playa, who supplied us with everything we needed including being picked up at the ferry port, lunch, tanks, transportation and, of course, a great dive guide, Davide. After a little paperwork, Davide described the cave system that we would visit while considering our skill levels and timing, The Dos Ojos cave system.

TOP LEFT Cozumel also boasts a few shipwrecks MIDDLE LEFT Arrow crab in case sponge LEFT The cenotes are a must-dive location MIDDLE Cozumel’s reefs are vibrant and colorful TOP RIGHT Pike blennies face off ABOVE Sailfin striking a pose

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Cozumel, Mexico Getting there

Toadily true

The splendid toadfish (Sanopus splendidus) is entirely endemic to the island of Cozumel. Unlike other toadfish, the splendid toadfish is known for its bright colors – its head is patterned with black and white stripes, and its fins are a vivid yellow.

ABOVE Expect crystal-clear waters in Cozumel RIGHT Topside scenery is stunning

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Dos Ojos which means ‘two eyes’ offered two separate circuits for us, with each dive lasting 60-70 minutes, The Barbie Line and The Bat Cave. After Davide gave us a solid on-site briefing we prepared our gear and before long we were cruising through crystal-clear, 74 degrees F water among towering stalactites, stalagmites and formations that appeared as melting rock. Both trails lead us through a series of small swim-throughs, huge cavernous rooms, canyons and even a cavern inhabited by bats where we surfaced, had a look and a quick chat before continuing our journey.

For a neophyte to this kind of diving, I found the experience to be remarkable, the photography challenging and the guided dive in this particular system to be totally safe. My only regret was not planning this as a three-day trip so we could explore even more of what the area’s cave systems offer. n

Numerous daily flights fly directly into Cozumel from Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Charlotte and Miami, or connect through nearby Cancun.

When to visit

You can dive in Cozumel all year round, but be conscious of the hurricane season in September and October and keep an eye on the weather forecast.

Currency

The Mexican peso - (US$1 = 21.95MXN), but the US dollar is widely accepted across the island.

Entry Requirements

You must have a valid passport, but only need a tourist visa if you are going to be in-country more than 180 days.

Electricity

The standard voltage is 127V - all US appliances and devices should work without a power converter.

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Scan to find a dealer near you www.shearwater.com/products/teric

Bryon Conroy got his first taste of diving in the Maldives ten years ago and it set him on a path to working in the diving industry. Now he returns, and heads for the Deep South in search of sharks Photographs by Byron Conroy

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lmost ten years ago to the date I was working and living in the UK working a 9-to-5 job and following a very traditional career path. I was 28 years old and had recently achieved a career goal that I had been working towards for the last few years. Upon achieving that goal, I had a feeling of emptiness, a feeling of ‘what next’? I had achieved what I had set out to, but the job itself gave me no satisfaction.

So I decided to take a vacation. Little did I now that would be one of the most-affirming moments of my life and one of the best decisions I ever took. The whole point of this trip was to try scuba diving - for many years, I had been interested in marine life keeping aquariums at home. But now after many years of hard work to achieve my career goal, I thought it was time to go and see all of these colorful marine species in their natural environment. My destination of choice was the Maldives, and my first dive in the clear, calm blue waters of the Maldives really did change my life. The experience was so overwhelming it bought things into perspective, there really was more to life than cold damp mornings in the UK and monotonous meetings repeatedly discussing the same things.

Upon returning to the UK, I handed my six-month’s notice in from my job, sold all of my possessions and made a plan to leave the UK to become a professional diver. The journey took me all over

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So I decided to take a vacation. Little did I now that would be one of the mostaffirming moments of my life and one of the best decisions I ever took. The whole point of this trip was to try scuba diving

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While there are roughly 1,200 islands stretched out over the archipelago, only around 200 of them are inhabited.

Lowest nation in the world

On average, its 1,200 islands are around seven feet above sea level. Even at its highest natural point, the Maldives is still only eight feet above sea level, which is still lower than every other nation in the world.

My home for my seven-day trip would to be Blue Force 1, a luxurious 137-feet vessel that offers ten cabins, all of which are to a very high standard the world, living in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and now to my new home in Iceland, where I moved six years ago to work in diving. I have dived all over the planet over the last ten years, but much of that I owed to that very first dive in the Maldives.

The Maldives are a small island chain in the Indian Ocean, they are world famous for their beautiful islands and incredible diving. There are many different islands resorts all offering stunning over-water villas and relaxing spas. These make for fantastic honeymoon-style holidays with a few dives thrown in here and there. However, if you really are going to get the most of the diving in the Maldives, by far the best option is a liveaboard. A liveaboard will take you over a much bigger area as you don’t need to return to the same place each evening.

My home for my seven-day trip would to be Blue Force 1, a luxurious 137-feet vessel that offers ten cabins, all of which are to a very high standard and come with ensuite bathrooms. The boat won ‘Best Maldivian Liveaboard’ in 2018 and from looking at the pictures before I went, it is easy to see why.

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Whaleshark encounters

The Maldives is a hub for all sorts of diverse marine life, but the most remarkable has to be the whaleshark. These enormous beasts of the deep can grow up to 20 feet long. Despite their size, they pose no danger to humans and live off a healthy diet of plankton.

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Underwater cabinet meeting

In 2009, then Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed held a somewhat unorthodox cabinet meeting.

The location? Not in a stuffy board room or boring government building. It was held at the bottom of the sea. While down there, the 11 ministers signed a document calling for global cuts to carbon emissions.

The objective of the company was to compete with the resorts, offering you the very best in luxury while also offering the best diving.

After some research and having been to the Maldives several times since my first dive experience ten years ago, there was one itinerary I had always wanted to try. ‘Deep South’ during the months of February and March. The Maldives is not famous for its reefs, but for its pelagic encounters. Google ‘Maldives diving’ and you will see a plethora of different images of manta rays, whalesharks and different types of reef sharks.

The Deep South itinerary though is extra special.

For two months of the year the conditions are perfect. Visibility is increased in the channels and weather makes for calmer surface conditions, making these challenging dives primed and ready for experienced divers. The diving is channel diving, big currents and is for experienced divers only.

Conditions are tricky, but the rewards are rich, with walls of sharks to be found on the outside of the channels.

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Anyone who regularly dives liveaboards will be used to the dive equipment being kept on the back deck of the main vessel and some tenders being used to ferry divers around. In the Maldives it’s a little different - and for the better. A separate dive boat called a Dhoni is used, this is a very spacious separate boat that is only used for diving and nothing else. All equipment is kept on the vessel for the duration of the trip, this makes both the diving better as small tenders are not needed and also gives the main vessel a much-more-luxurious feeling with a nice open back deck.

Our diving began with a nice reef dive with a small amount of current, and then after a leisurely breakfast, guide David gathered us around for the Channel dive briefing. Channel diving is what this trip is all about, and while we were diving in the Northern end of the Deep South, it would be two channel dives before a more-relaxed dive in the afternoons.

Channel diving is when the current is pushing in from the open ocean into an island or atoll. At some points there are deeper channels in-between

PREVIOUS PAGE Turtles are often encountered in the Maldives TOP LEFT Healthy hard coral reef LEFT The mythical ‘wall of sharks’ MIDDLE TOP Night diving with a whaleshark MIDDLE BOTTOM Sea fan ABOVE Anemonefish

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TOP Paddleboarding on an evening ADOVE Happy divers in a channel RIGHT Mass of hard corals

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islands where the current can flow into the channel.

In order to dive in this way, you get dropped off by the dive Dhoni in the blue water maybe 300 feet from the island, you then descend down in the open blue water to around 80ft, the current will be gently pushing you towards the islands. As you get pushed closer to the wall the channel bottom will begin to appear in the distance and the current will intensify.

This is when the guide will make the sign to ‘hook in’. Using reef hooks is relatively simple, you to hook one end into a rock or dead area on the reef wall and then attach the other end to the BCD. You can then add a little air into the jacket and you can float up six feet from the reef and relax in the current.

When hooked in you will be on the edge of the wall at around 100ft, with the vertical drop-off in front of you and the islands behind. At the end of the dive you unhook and relax in a crazy high-speed ride over the reef through the channel.

We were soon in the groove with daily boat life and the ways of channel diving and feeling pretty

relaxed going into each dive. On this particular day, the channel of choice was Vilingilli Kandu. We all jumped off the Dhoni together and began our decent into the blue water, visibility was exceptional at 130 feet and the water was a rich dark blue as the dive was very early and the sun was not fully up yet.

We reached the top of the reef wall, and while there was current it did not have its usual punch, making for an easy hook in. As we kicked back the show began, the usual routine, one, two, 10 sharks… then 20, 30. At this point I looked over to David, who was visibly excited - our usual cool and calm dive guide knew the game was on and this time we had tickets for the Hollywood blockbuster.

The shark numbers continued to rise, 40, 50… and after ten minutes or so there were more sharks than you could even count. They were moving effortlessly in the current and emerging from over the reef wall and into the lighter blue water above. The sun continued to rise, and became a backlight for the wall of sharks we were engulfed in.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Maldives Getting there

International flights arrive at Male’s Hulhule Airport, which is on an island of its own. Transfers from the airport to your resort or liveaboard are either by boat, seaplane or a domestic flight.

When to visit TOP Blue Force One and diving dhoni ADOVE Blue Force One’s spacious sundeck

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When we returned to the boat the screaming of guests and the shouting of how many sharks they had seen was infectious, groups were comparing notes and pictures between them and everyone was claiming their group had seen the most. The reality was that everyone had been lucky enough to see one of the greatest wildlife encounters left in nature.

After cracking up my laptop, I was able to count over 65 sharks just in the one frame.

Blue Force offers kayaks, SUPs and also some shore time. Every trip, one afternoon is spent on a desert island. My favourite excursion was the island BBQ. The local staff put on a real show, make sculptures in the sand and prepare a whole host of different foods.

Walls of reef sharks, shipwrecks, whalesharks and healthy coral reefs all within seven days. I have moved far and wide over the whole world, and seen for myself the devastating affects of overfishing of shark populations. It was a real pleasure to dive the deep South and see how no shark fishing for ten years has resulted in such a large and diverse shark population - just how nature had intended. n

The Maldives has two distinct seasons – dry season (northeast monsoon) and wet season (southwest monsoon). The northeast monsoon usually extends from December to March/April. The southwest monsoon usually runs from May to November.

Currency

The Maldives currency is the Rufiyaa, but many resorts and liveaboards accept payment in most major currencies by credit card.

Entry Requirements

A 30-day travel visa is granted on arrival, you just need to have a valid passport with at least six months remaining and a return air ticket.

Electricity

230-240 volts, 50 cycles AC, and you will need an adaptor for your US-style two-pin plug.

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WE ARE DIVING IN THE RED SEA AND MALDIVES RIGHT NOW! Contact us for the latest updates on new flight arrivals

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Underwater photographer Mike Bartick waxes lyrical about the diving opportunities off the coast of California, which can be highly rewarding and, above all, adventurous Photographs by Mike Bartick

The Pacific Ocean touches all 1,000 miles of the Californian shoreline and is the deepest ocean, reaching over 6 1/2 miles deep. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.

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Diving in California can be enjoyed all year with some obvious considerations that the winter months (DecemberFebruary) will be cooler than the summer months (June-August).

Diving in California should be on every diver’s roster of locations to visit.

There are few things in life that can compare to gliding through a kelp forest, getting buzzed by sea lions or being stalked by friendly giant black sea bass

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y shore or by boat, diving in California can be a mix of extremes. California is known for its mild weather conditions year-round, with hot summer nights that can stretch well into the winter months while the rest of the nation has plunged into freezing temps and snow.

But in a strange twist, while the topside temps reach their peak, the water is also at its coolest.

Diving in California should be on every diver’s roster of locations to visit. There are few things in life that can compare to gliding through a kelp forest, getting buzzed by sea lions or being stalked by friendly giant black sea bass.

On a wider overview, California is the third largest state in the US, which makes it feel like its own country. The 800-mile coastline stretches from the US/Mexico border all the way to Oregon, with much of it accessible to divers.

The plankton-rich waters attract big animals too, and much of California is a migratory corridor for cetaceans like the majestic blue, humpback and gray whales, an occasional orca, super-pods of bottlenose dolphins and even risso dolphins. Of course, the macro life also has its bragging points and, although the bio-density might not be as prolific as the Philippines or Indonesia, there is certainly enough to keep a diver busy exploring for a lifetime.

California is certainly a world-class dive destination, though the cool turbid water, surge, waves and swell just don’t appeal to the masses. In fact, the prevailing conditions don’t even appeal to most of the divers that learn how to dive in California.

For those of us that are enthusiastic enough - or who are just dumb enough not to notice - diving in California can be highly rewarding, photogenic and, above all, adventurous.

School of jellyfish?

A large group of fish are called a school, but what do you call a large group of jellyfish? Technically, it’s called ‘a smack’, but I just call it awesome! For a few months a year, sea nettles bloom and drift through the Monterey Bay area, which makes the diving otherworldly. The emerald-green water and giant jellyfish tell their own story and are uniquely California diving.

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Diving Southern California

HMCS Yukon

The HMCS Yukon is a sunken Canadian destroyer and is one of San Diego’s more-popular dives.

It was sunk intentionally in 2000, and lies about two miles off the coastline of San Diego. Almost all of the ship is within easy reach of the weekend diver, and she lies in about 100ft of water.

For the most part, the community of divers throughout the San Diego area is strong in nearly every location or beach city along the meandering coastline, generally anchored around dive shops.

Tank fills are easy to obtain, dive boats are easy to book and finding a local dive buddy is usually an easy task.

San Diego’s La Jolla shores, Point Loma and Wreck Alley all attract divers from every skillset and are well worth spending the time to explore. La Jolla is a local favorite for shore diving, with easy access, and is known for great macro while offshore, the Coronado Islands offer a different experience.

In Laguna Beach, Shaw’s Cove is synonymous for dive training and macro shooters with somewhat easy access to shore diving. Shaw’s has a great dive shop right at the top of the street that offers dive training, rentals and tank fills in addition to local dive reports. Other hot spots for shore entry include Newport Pier and Vet’s Park.

For a truly distinctive experience, the offshore oil platforms form a unique marine habitat and are one of the few places where divers can actually dive under oil platforms.

Accessible only by boat, these massive structures are basically man-made reef systems that have both macro and wide-angle options.

California is certainly a world-class dive destination, though the cool turbid water, surge, waves and swell just don’t appeal to the masses PREVIOUS PAGE Mantis shrimp can be found in Californian waters TOP Colder waters do not mean less color on the rocky reefs FAR LEFT Vibrant anemones can reach spectacular sizes MIDDLE LEFT Playful sea lions LEFT The La Jolla shore line, showing the easy access to the water

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BELOW LEFT Pier legs smothered in marine growth BELOW RIGHT ‘Smack’ of sea nettles RIGHT Blue-banded goby BOTTOM RIGHT Various species of seastar inhabit Californian waters

There are three platforms that are dive-able in SoCal - Elly and Emma, which are connected, and Eureka.

They bottom out at approximately 700-1,000ft and usually have schooling fish and baitballs under the main platforms. The beams and pillars are encrusted with colonial corynactis, hydroids and anything else that has found its way to this open ocean oasis, including the state fish, a bright-orange damsel called the Garibaldi.

There are seven Channel Islands in Southern California - San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa to the west, and Santa Catalina, San Clemente and Santa Barbara further south. All are rugged and rocky and have their own sense of personality and marine life. Only Catalina is inhabited year-round, while some of the other islands are used for camping, day hikes or military exercises.

San Miguel is a haunting, windblown and very exposed tiny island at the western tip of the archipelago the protrudes outward from the ‘California Bite’. Quite often, San Miguel is a destination for overnight or weekend LOB trips that fail to reach San Mig’ due to weather, which only adds to the mystique of actually diving there.

Underwater, San Mig’ rewards its divers with pinnacles and channels, schools of rockfish, colorful reef systems and a chance to dive in an area that rarely sees divers. Anacapa island is one of my absolute favorite places in California to dive. Much of the front of the island is protected by state ‘fish and game’ laws, which allows the marine life here to thrive without overfishing.

The island is home to sea lion rookeries. The sea lions have become very accustomed to divers and the boats that bring them there. The dive boat Spectre uses an underwater car alarm that signals the sea lions, which then rush the boat like a herd of puppies. They love to play with divers, and this is one of the few places that I know of that offers this kind of experience.

In addition to playful sea lions, there are also mischievous harbor seals that love to tease divers with their aloof attitude. They will tug on your fins, push on your head, even grab ahold of your tank or leg vying for your attention. But as soon as you turn around, they bolt away pretending it wasn’t them.

Waiting and pretending to ignore them seems to work the best to capturing photos of them.

Massive smacks of sea nettles, wolf eels, toothy lingcod, colorful anemones, supersized nudibranchs and blennies are typical on almost every dive site

California is the birthplace of the internet. In 1969, the first ARPANET message was sent from a UCLA site. That first message? ‘Lo’. He meant to say ‘login’, but then the system crashed!

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Useful information

How to dive in California – Dive with a local for the best insights. Diving can be done from shore or by boat. Large dive boats run Friday through Sunday. Six-pack charters are also available for custom itineraries.

When to dive it – September-November usually offers the best visibility. Year-round diving is also possible, but weather dependent.

Exposure gear – Prepare for full coverage, year-round average water temps can range from mid-40s-60s.

7mm with gloves and booties, hood and/or hooded vest. Most locals opt for a drysuit year-round for maximum comfort.

How to shoot it – California is one of the few remaining places globally to experience diving in giant kelp, so bring your wide-angle lens but be prepared to shoot macro.

Take your time, get set up and wait for them to come to you for the best results.

Anacapa offers wonderful macro year-round as well, with a plethora of nudibranchs and other small critters to be found. Go slow, explore the seabed and rocky outcroppings and see what you can find.

Diving Central California

Top tips to hiking safely in California

• Cell connectivity in many state parks is limited or non-existent.

Tell a responsible person back at camp or at home where you are going and when you plan on returning.

• Do not walk off-trail or enter closed areas otherwise you risk the chance of getting lost or injured. Best to stick to the marked trail.

• Take plenty of drinking water with you. Leave the natural stream, river and lake water for the park wildlife.

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I have to admit that even though I grew up diving in Southern California and cutting my teeth in the Channel Islands, Monterey has to be the most quintessential of all of California diving. Monterey Bay is in Central California only an hour south of San Francisco. The nutrient-rich green water backdrops the kelp beds in an undersea setting that is unlike anywhere else. Massive smacks of sea nettles, wolf eels, toothy lingcod, colorful anemones, supersized nudibranchs and blennies are typical on almost every dive site. Despite the hearty cold water conditions of Monterey, the dive community here is very active, with dive boats and local charters readily available. Shore diving in Monterey is also a local favorite, with easiest of all being the breakwater.

Other shore dive spots include Monastery Beach, Point Lobos and Lover’s Point. All of these are weather dependent, of course, and best dived with a local.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

California, USA Getting there

What’s in a name?

The name ‘California’ comes from a mythical island paradise written about in an early 16th-century Spanish novel. There are now many nicknames for the state – The Golden State, The Land of Milk and Honey, The El Dorado State, and The Grape State.

TOP Wolf eel, also known as a wolf fish ABOVE A bright orange Garibaldi

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Conclusion

California is a huge state with several divergent micro-climates. The best way to dive here is probably a ‘Drive and Dive’ style strategy that would also provide ample time to explore a little topside.

Because most boats run exclusively ThursdaySunday, it also allows visitors the travel time to get from one place to the next, defrost, get tank fills and to get the full California experience.

Diving in California certainly isn’t for everyone but it should be on all diver’s radars. With the proper planning and preparation, a visit to nearly any location mentioned will certainly create a memorable experience in addition to images that will certainly match the occasion. From shore or by boat, wrecks, reefs or rigs, California diving is like striking gold! n

You can fly into San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego easily from many countries. California is also well served by highway networks.

When to visit

You can dive California all year round, weather dependent.

September-November usually offers the best visibility.

Currency US dollar.

Entry Requirements

If you are driving, you don’t need a passport. If you are flying in from abroad, check the entry requirements for your country of origin.

CHECK CURRENT COVID-19 GUIDELINES.

Electricity

110 volt, two-pin socket – standard US plug.

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TOP DIVE SITES Belize is located on the northeastern Belize Aggressor III coast of Central America, bordering Length: 110 feet | Beam: 22 feet | Passengers: 18 | Staterooms: 9 The Belize Aggressor III is a spacious power yacht that was built for Mexico to the north, Guatemala comfort, safety and stability. Diesel-powered, she can cruise at 10 knots to the west and south, and the and has 110-volt power onboard. Accommodations include one master Caribbean Sea to the east stateroom, and eight deluxe staterooms (seven having a double and

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Aquarium

Every location seems to have a dive site named ‘Aquarium, but this one certainly lives up to its name. A sheer drop-off begins around 30ft, with an abundance of fish life at the upper portion. About 40-60ft are large barrel sponges, sea fans and a rich collection of deep-water gorgonians.

Giant elephant ear sponges, vase sponges and tube sponges complete the colorful collection. The corner of this reef is a good spot to see reef sharks, grouper, turtles and shoals of horse-eye jacks.

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The Blue Hole

The Blue Hole, a collapsed freshwater cave system approximately 1,000 feet across and over 400ft deep, was made famous by ocean pioneer Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it

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single berth, and one having two single bunk-style beds). All staterooms have climate controls, private bathrooms and showers. The Belize Aggressor III features a roomy, air-conditioned salon and dining area, sundeck complete with a hot tub, lounge and deck chairs, shaded cocktail deck, grill, and a computer for photo-editing for guests. www.aggressor.com one of the top ten dive sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to chart its depths.

Once descended into the Blue Hole, guests will see beautiful vertical stalactite formations.

The first shelf of this collapsed underground cavern begins at 110ft. Here stalactites descend from the ceiling. A healthy reef exists around the edge of the hole itself and is home to an abundance of juvenile sea life, as well as schools of parrotfish, squid, flaming scallops and angelfish.

ABOVE The Belize Aggressor III at anchor RIGHT Delicious Belizean food FAR RIGHT The liveaboards boast luxurious cabins

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Hints and advice

Most major airlines fly into Belize City - American, Continental, Delta, US Airways, United and Taca.

There are many direct flights from the US, and several connecting flights for the UK and Canada.

The Belize Aggressor III and Belize Aggressor IV depart from the Radisson Ft George dock located in the heart of downtown Belize City, and seven-night charters run from Saturday to Saturday. You can clock up 27 dives on seven-night charters (including night dives), and all dives are conducted from the liveaboard. If you opt for a tennight charter, that dive tally can rise to 42 dives! The charter schedules take in some of the best dive sites at Lighthouse Reef and Half-Moon Caye, not to mention the iconic Blue Hole.

Weather permitting, the Belize Aggressors anchor just off HalfMoon Caye. Guests are shuttled to the island and enjoy a relaxing walk along the beach to the bird sanctuary. Here you can observe red-footed booby birds and frigate birds from the observation deck built into the tree-top canopy. Located on the east end of the island is an historic lighthouse built in 1848, which is the lighthouse for which the atoll is named.

While the diving may be the main draw for many, Belize also offers a whole host of tours and adventures to choose from when you are back on the mainland, including a trip to the Lamanai Mayan temples – thought to be the largest Mayan ceremonial site in the region – or, for the more daring, zip lining through the rainforest, and even tubing through cave systems!

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Belize Aggressor IV

Length: 138 feet | Beam: 26 feet Passengers: 20 | Staterooms: 10 The Belize Aggressor IV is a luxurious power yacht that was built for comfort, safety and stability. Diesel-powered, she can cruise at 12 knots and has 110-volt power onboard. Accommodations include two master staterooms, and eight deluxe staterooms (with two twin beds or one king bed). All staterooms have climate controls, private bathrooms and showers.

The Belize Aggressor IV features a large air-conditioned salon and dining area, sundeck with lounge and deck chairs, shaded cocktail deck, grill, and a computer for photo-editing for guests. www.aggressor.com

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Tarpon Caves

A tall reef buttress rises straight up from the whitest powder sand to within 30-35ft of the surface and is honeycombed with caves and cuts. This vertical wall is covered with huge yellow tube sponges, black coral trees, and monster barrel sponges projecting from the many small ledges. The sand areas are rich in garden eels, midnight parrotfish, razorfish, and southern stingrays. Tarpon patrol the inside edge of the reef. This dive site features several tunnels and chimneys in which tarpon and grouper like to hide.

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West Point 1 and 2

The visibility at these sites is highly dependent on winds and tides, but the labyrinth of reef buttresses makes this site great even when visibility is diminished. The walls are vertical and start in only 20-25ft of water. Black coral and deep-water gorgonians abound, as do giant barrel sponges and red finger sponges.

You are likely to see mangrove tunicates here. The shallow sandy area is alive with garden eels, peacock flounder and southern stingrays. In the sandy areas, bluethroated pike blennies can be found.

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Angelfish Wall

Friendly gray angelfish give this site its name. The top of the wall teems with small fish. Eagle rays and an occasional shark also cruise the wall. n

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Each issue, the Scuba Diver Destinations test team bring you the latest product and equipment releases from the dive industry. Cannot wait for the next edition? Keep up-to-date with all the latest gear news and reviews by heading over to the Scuba Diver YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/ScubaDiverMagazine

GARMIN DESCENT MK2S | SRP: $999.99 Mark Evans: When Garmin launched the Descent MK2, it picked up where the innovative MK1 left off. It rectified the few issues with the original version, notably with a bigger, better display and overall better aesthetics. There was more functionality – both for diving, and a plethora of other sporting activities – and this made it a tidy package. The release of the MK2i, which offered all of this with the addition of airintegration capabilities, was a crowning glory for a supremely efficient unit.

Never one to rest on their laurels, Garmin then looked at their potential market, and released there was nothing out there in the wristwatch dive computer market that was designed for smaller builds, be that women, youths or just smaller blokes. Not everyone wants a whopping big dive computer on their wrist for daily wear – my wife Penney loves her D4, but only wears it for diving as it swamps her wrist and is not practical for daily watch wear. And that is where the Descent MK2S comes in.

Available in carbon-gray with black silicone band, light gold with light sand silicone band, and as tested here, mineral blue with sea foam silicone band, the MK2S is significantly smaller than the MK2 or MK2i. It has a 1.2-inch sunlight-readable sapphire display, and 43mm case. It looked right at home on

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my wife’s wrist, and on my teenage son Luke (though he said he would want the carbon-gray colorway!).

The Descent MK2S boasts Garmin’s full suite of diving features as well as encompassing all of the company’s smartwatch and health features, including activity tracking, smart notifications, stress and energy tracking, and Garmin’s industry-leading women’s health features, such as menstrual and pregnancy tracking.

As with the MK2 and MK2i, the diving side of things is easy to get used to. To get started into the diving menu is simplicity itself – you just press the top right-hand button and it brings you on to the screen where you can select the type of diving you are going to be doing – so either single gas, multi-gas, closed-circuit rebreather, gauge mode, apnea, or apnea hunt for the spearos out there. There is also a dive planning option.

Let’s focus on single-gas mode, which is what most users will be doing. Another press of the top right-hand button gets you on to a screen where you can see what your nitrox mix is, what your maximum operating depth is, and what level of conservatism you have it set on. You can also see your surface interval. If you need to edit your gas mix or conservatism level, you just press the bottom left button and it takes you to a screen where you can go in and change these. At any time, once you are done, pressing the bottom right-hand button takes you back a screen.

From that first dive screen, another press of the right-hand button takes you to a screen where it shows whether it is set for salt or fresh water, and what the safety stop timer is. Again, to edit you just press the bottom left-hand button.

A third press of the right-hand button takes you to the ‘dive screen’ itself. I found this nice and clear, and easy to understand during the dive. You can clearly see the nitrox mix, the water temperature, your NDL, your current depth, and your dive time. The display up the left-hand side of the screen goes from green, to orange, to red, and the hand rises as your NDL gets nearer to zero, so as well as the actual digit display, you get this handy visual graphic as well.

If you are at this stage and need to change your gas mix, you can just press the top right-hand button and it takes you to the gas select screen. As changing your gas mix is probably the most regular thing you will ever do, this makes it quick and easy to do.

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Penney is a warm-water-loving diver, and with the restrictions on travel from COVID, while we had this unit for test, we have not been abroad, so she graciously said she’d test it from a daily watch point of view, leaving myself and Luke to don our drysuits and go and dive it in UK waters!

While we are talking drysuits, the Mk2S has a neat feature where you can swap out the straps quickly and easily with a clip system (similar to the Suunto D5). This lets you change to different colours if you so wish, but it also means you can change out the standard strap for a longer version designed to go over a drysuited arm (this comes with the computer).

Much neater than adding an extension strap.

One thing I have seen commented on online is the screen of the Descent MK2S (and the MK2 and MK2i), and some people saying it is hard to read. As I said in my review of the MK2i, that is a load of tosh. Topside, I found I could read the display even when the backlight was not on, but once it was on, it is very easy to see. While diving, I had the backlight set for on all the time, and it made the screen nice and clear, even in bright sunlight in the shallows during a safety stop. I didn’t really notice a massive difference in brightness once I took it over 60-70 percent, I have to say, but suffice to say you can easily see the display either in watch mode or while on a dive. As we said before, all dives on the MK2S have been in the UK, and a few dives in particular, the vis was, shall we say, marginal at best, yet the Descent MK2S was clearly

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legible even in these grim conditions with the backlight on full.

The Garmin Descent MK2S is rechargeable, and I am a big fan of the method of charge - a clamp system on to charging points on the back of the watch, which is solid and secure. A full charge only takes a few hours, and then you can get several days of daily watch-wear out of it before it needs another boost of juice. You get a solid 30 hours of dive time out of a charge too.

Where the Descent MK2S wins hand’s down against the competition – although, as we have said, there are not really any ‘smaller’ wristwatch dive computers on the market - is with all of the other features it contains within its svelte body. I am not going to go into all the ins and outs of each, but suffice to say, if you are an active person, the Garmin has you covered! Being based on the tried-andtested Fenix 6, it has functions for running, biking, hiking, golf, swimming (both pool and open water), kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, boating, triathlon, yoga, cross-county skiing, even jumpmaster for those who liking leaping out of planes, as well as new modes for surfing, mountain biking, indoor climbing and even a recovery advisor which recommends how long to rest before another big effort in activity.

It monitors your heart rate and your blood oxygen level (when it is directly on your wrist), calories burnt, the list goes on. And as a smart watch, you also get your phone messages on the screen, and it can even handle your music choices, either from your phone or even stored in the unit itself. Let’s just say there is a lot to get to grips with!

The MK2S comes in just under a grand, which might seem pricey, but if you bought a top-of-the-line wristwatch dive computer and a smartwatch, you’d spend more combined than you would on this. If you are an active person who does other sports, and you want a watch that can handle a plethora of your activities including diving, but not look massive on your wrist, then the Descent MK2S is the logical choice. www.garmin.com

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Each issue, the Scuba Diver Destinations test team bring you the latest product and equipment releases from the dive industry. Cannot wait for the next edition? Keep up-to-date with all the latest gear news and reviews by heading over to the Scuba Diver YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/ScubaDiverMagazine

FOURTH ELEMENT HYDRA | SRP: $1,399 Luke Evans: Let me just start by saying I am not a massive fan of cold-water and drysuit diving. I like warm water, good visibility, 3mm wetsuits… All that extra weight, the bulkiness, and the hood and gloves just puts me off. I did a bit of drysuit diving in December as I wanted to see some of the underwater attractions in some of the inland dive sites, especially the airplanes and military vehicles, but I got chilly in the cold freshwater as I was wearing a miss-match of my Dad’s undersuits, and my own winter base layers. In the sea off Anglesey in North Wales during summer, I did better.

The water was in the 45-55 degrees F range, and there was so much life to see – everything from crabs and lobster to blennies, pollock, wrasse and jellyfish. I really enjoyed those dives.

What put me off the most was struggling to get in and out of my drysuit. I had an Aqualung Fusion Sport as my first drysuit, and it fit me well, but the design – kind of an inner ‘bag’ and an elastic ‘outer skin’ – meant it was hard work to get on, and just as hard to get out of. That was probably my main reason for avoiding doing more UK diving.

I am nearly 15 and growing fast, as teens do, and so I was out of my Aqualung and in need of a new drysuit. I wanted to be able to get in and out of it easily, as my Dad does in his Fourth Element Argonaut. It used to annoy me that he could be in it and zipped up ready to dive before I had even got my legs in properly!

At the GO Diving Roadshow at NDAC, I met up with the Fourth Element team and they sized me up for a drysuit. Not an Argonaut, but a Hydra. The Hydra is their neoprene drysuit, and it looks more like a wetsuit to me than a drysuit. I was a little dubious as to how easy it would be to get on, but I was amazed how quick I was able to put it on all by myself. The only time I needed Dad’s help was to zip it up, as the YKK plastic zipper is across the shoulders. I fit into a size small perfectly – it was almost like a made-tomeasure, with a little bit of growth room in the legs and chest. I am a teenager, after all!

No more miss-match undergarments for me, now – I got a J2 base layer and a Xerotherm top, trousers and socks. The Xerotherm is Fourth Element’s staple base layer, made from Polartec Powerstretch material, which was originally developed for NASA! How cool is that! It is comfortable, warm and super-stretchy. The J2 base layer is very thin, so I can wear it under my Xerotherm for additional warmth, but as Dad said, it has great anti-microbial performance thanks to the use of silver ion technology, so it can handle long, repetitive wear without the risk of skin infections developing – or a sweaty teen, apparently!

I was so excited to try it all out, we headed off for a dive into NDAC immediately.

It felt good to have undersuits that fit me properly, and with the Xerotherm under my drysuit, I was warm and comfortable, but amazed how easily I could bend and stretch around. I did not feel too bulky or restricted as I had in the past, it was almost like wearing a 5mm wetsuit. I much prefer the neoprene neck seal and wrist seals to the latex on my Fusion Sport, much more comfortable.

According to my Dad, the Hydra is made from high-density neoprene, which is compressed from 7mm to 4mm, which is a great combination of the thermal protection afforded by neoprene but with a greater consistency of buoyancy at all points of the dive.

He said the outer surface of the high-density neoprene is laminated with a hard-wearing fabric, which offers superior abrasion resistance, while the inside has a smoother lining to aid donning and increase general comfort. I can definitely say the smooth lining works!

One thing I really hated about the Fusion Sport was the fact it only had soft

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socks, and I needed to wear wetsuit booties over these. It was such a hassle! The Hydra has Fourth Element’s excellent 4mm compressed neoprene dryboots fitted as standard, and their combination of double-layer reinforcement, good grip and ergonomic footbed make them very comfortable. So much nicer to put on!

In short, I love my Hydra! It looks awesome, with some massive Fourth Element graphics on the back, and I like the subtle colour scheme. I did a 51-minute dive in NDAC in 60 degree F water in just the Xerotherm undersuit under the Hydra and was warm as toast. I think as the winter draws in, I will still want to be diving now I have this drysuit, and with the J2 base layer as well – and maybe my Dad’s X-Core vest for when the temperatures really drop – I do not think I will feel the cold as I did last winter.

The Apollo Bio-Dry valves were completely new to me. I had only used inflators with a push button on the front, but I soon got used to the hinged side-inflate button on the Hydra, which fell under my thumb nicely.

Same with the shoulder dump. Instead of twisting the entire thing to open and close it, there was just a small slider to move to render it open or closed.

The Hydra comes with a Hydpro Smooth Pro low-pressure hose, which is a braided hose encased in a polyurethane coating, a 5mm neoprene Fourth Element hood, and a Hydra bag, which doubles up as a changing mat. This nifty drysuit bag is also available separately.

I still hanker for warm, clear waters to dive in, but now, I am relishing doing more cold-water diving in my Hydra. Being in a comfortable, easy-to-get-on-and-off drysuit is key, I think, and I can’t wait for more UK dives. In fact, by the time you read this, I will have been diving with the seals off Lundy Island! I wonder what they will think of my Hydra? www.fourthelement.com

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UNITED STATES THE SCUBA SCHOOL LLC

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t: (989) 486-3627 e: diveandglide.midland@gmail.com a: 600 Cambridge Street, Suite 3, Midland, MI 48642 Since 1997, we’ve been Mid-Michigan’s premier dive shop for diving, snorkeling, and travel. Two locations to serve you! www.diveandglideinc.com

t: 803-257-5103 e: instructors@scuba360adventures.com a: 1450 Georgia Ave, Unit 7191, North Augusta, 29861-3049, SC We are a training facility with one primary goal - Scuba Training. We provide diver training from entry-level to advanced technical diving. www.scuba360adventures.com

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SUMMIT DIVERS & WATERSPORTS t: 928-556-8780 e: info@summitdivers.com a: 103 S Milton Rd, Flagstaff, 86001-5516, AZ We have a great selection of scuba and water sports gear. We offer scuba certification from beginner instructor. www.summitdivers.com

DIVERS COVE LLC t: 860-767-1960 e: info@diverscove.com a: 7 Essex Plaza, Essex, CT 06426 Full service shop – well trained staff – fun trips – exceptional dry suit repairs. www.diverscove.com

FIN-TASTIC DIVING, LLC t: 203-605-9590 e: gotair@fintasticdiving.net a: 4 Brushy Plain Rd, Suit 516, Branford, CT 06405 Full service dive shop, offering equipment sales to fit your budget, scuba certifications for all levels and exciting dive vacations. www.fintasticdiving.net

t: (989) 892-5771 e: diveandglide.baycity@gmail.com a: At the I75/M84 Interchange, 6185 West Side Saginaw Road, Bay City, MI 48706 Since 1997, we’ve been Mid-Michigan’s premier dive shop for diving, snorkeling, and travel. Two locations to serve you! www.diveandglideinc.com

DIVIN’ DAWGS SCUBA t: 252-638-3432 e: divindawgs@yahoo.com a: 801 Cardinal Road, New Bern, NC 28562 We train divers – we do not sell certifications. www.divindawgs.com

DUTCHESS SCUBA DIVING t: 845-444-9015 e: chris@dutchessscubadiving.com a: 1164 Route 9G, Suite 3, Hyde Park, NY 12538 We are a full service scuba diving center catering to all your diving needs. www.dutchessscubadiving.com

DIVER’S WORLD OR ERIE, INC. t: (814) 459- 3195 e: info@scubaerie.com a: 1111 Greengarden Rd, Erie, PA 16501 Northwest Pennsylvania’s premier Scuba Diving facility since 1975. www.scubaerie.com

ALPHA DIVERS t: 865-951-0691 e: info@alphadivers.com a: 2001 N. Broadway, Suite B, Knoxville, TN 37917 PADI & RAID recreational and technical training facility. We offer open water through Full Cave, Tec Trimix and more. We are located in Knoxville, TN. www.alphadivers.com

SAINT CROIX SCUBA AND SNORKELING t: 715-381-5300 e: twnooner@aol.com a: 596 Outpost Cir Ste K, Hudson, WI 54016 PADI 5 Star Dive Center providing training and gear for recreational, public safety, and underwater research scuba diving and snorkeling. www.saintcroixscuba.com

CANADA COJO DIVING INC t: (855)-646-2656 e: cojodiving@gmail.com a: 158 Garden Grove Road, Lincoln, NB E3B7G8 PADI 5 Star Dive Center located in New Brunswick, Canada. Training, Retail, Rentals, Air/Nitrox/Trimix fills, Servicing, Charters. www.cojodiving.com

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