Scuba Diver #41

GEAR GUIDE: REGULATORS

UK’S TOP 5 WRECK DIVES

TECHNICAL: INDONESIA

TOP-OF-THE-LINE REGULATORS ARE RATED AND REVIEWED BY THE SCUBA DIVER TEST TEAM

STUART PHILPOTT SELECTS HIS FAVOURITE SHIPWRECKS OFF THE SOUTH COAST

PART TWO OF THE EPIC QUEST TO FIND NEW CAVES IN SULAWESI

Military MUSEUM EXPLORING AQABA’S UNIQUE ARTIFICIAL REEF SYSTEM

#41 | £1

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Q&A: ORKNEY AND SHETLAND CHARTERS

‣ THE PHILIPPINES

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EDITOR’S NOTE STAYING POSITIVE IN THE FACE OF COVID-19

Times are changing, and to keep the magazine free, we’re asking dive stores to cover their own postage costs. If you enjoy reading the magazine, think about helping out your centre with a small donation to help cover their costs.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Mark Evans Tel: 0800 0 69 81 40 ext 700 Email: mark.evans@scubadivermag.com

DESIGN & PRODUCTION MANAGER Matt Griffiths Email: matt@scubadivermag.com

To stock Scuba Diver in your centre, email: subscriptions@scubadivermag.com

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Mark Evans, Editor-in-Chief

MAGAZINE

CONTRIBUTORS

Maria Bollerup, Rasmus Dysted, Pete Mesley, Stuart Philpott

As I write this, the COVID-19 pandemic is still wreaking havoc around the world. Just when you think there is light at the end of the tunnel in one respect, something happens which puts a dampener on everything.

Take travel, for instance. All the Scuba Diver team gave a little cheer when dive-hotspot countries began to open up their borders. Regular contributor Byron Conroy headed to Malta as soon as flights resumed (and his feature on the tech-wrecks will be in the next issue), and we were looking forward to more Caribbean destinations joining the likes of the Bahamas, etc.

Then ‘boom’! The Bahamas, near-neighbours Turks and Caicos, and now Malta are among those locations that have all been added to the 14-day quarantine list for when people return to our shores, which effectively puts the brakes on those heading away on a family holiday.

It just seems a case of one step forward, two steps back...

On the plus side, I have been hearing that UK coastal dive sites have been well attended with divers keen to get in the water, with many locations boasting numbers they haven’t seen in many a dive season, The inland sites - which from the end of October will be rejoined by NDAC, which has decided to open this season - have also been welcoming plenty of visitors eager to get wet.

As I write this, we are remaining upbeat in the face of adversity, and I remain hopeful that these quarantine periods will be removed sooner rather than later. In the meantime, stay safe and if you can get underwater, dive safe!

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PUBLISHERS

Rork Media Limited Tel: 0800 069 8140 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, England, WC2H 9JQ Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the views of the publishers.

Copyright for material published remains with Rork Media Limited. Use of material from Scuba Diver is strictly prohibited unless permission is given. All advertisements of which the creative content is in whole or in part the work of Rork Media Limited remain the copyright of Rork Media Limited.

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ISSN 2514-2054

3

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GEAR GUIDE: REGULATORS

UK’S TOP 5 WRECK DIVES

TECHNICAL: INDONESIA

TOP-OF-THE-LINE REGULATORS ARE RATED AND REVIEWED BY THE SCUBA DIVER TEST TEAM

STUART PHILPOTT SELECTS HIS FAVOURITE SHIPWRECKS OFF THE SOUTH COAST

PART TWO OF THE EPIC QUEST TO FIND NEW CAVES IN SULAWESI

Military MUSEUM

Military MUSEUM

EXPLORING AQABA’S UNIQUE ARTIFICIAL REEF SYSTEM

#41 | £1

9

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Q&A: ORKNEY AND SHETLAND CHARTERS

‣ THE PHILIPPINES

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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: MARK EVANS

21/08/2020 12:13

REGULAR COLUMNS

FEATURES...

10 News

22 United Kingdom

Survey of the Solomon Islands coral reefs, beluga whales flown from China to Iceland, Emperor Divers back in the Maldives and Egypt, the DiveViz app, the launch of Young Divers International, and a BDMLR dolphin rescue.

20 Medical Q&A

Dr Oliver Firth from Hyperdive answers more questions from readers.

46 Divers Alert Network

The DAN Europe team looks at various considerations regarding dive insurance.

66 Conservation Corner

The Ocean Conservation Trust plants the first seeds in the National Marine Aquarium’s innovative seagrass lab.

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In the first of a two-part series, dedicated British-waters fan Stuart Philpott embarks on a whistlestop tour of some of the most-popular South Coast of England wrecks, from experimental tanks to shipwrecks of all shapes and sizes.

28 Jordan

Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans ventures into Jordan’s Military Museum, which comprises of a convoy of armoured vehicles and even a couple of attack helicopters sunk on the sandy seabed out of Aqaba in some 20m-30m of water.

34 Underwater Photography

Underwater photography guru Mario Vitalini turns his attentions to one of the most-charismatic of underwater creatures - the dolphin and explains the best ways to capture these inquisitive, sometimes extremely fast-moving mammals.

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CONTENTS

...CONTINUED

GEAR GUIDE

38 The Philippines

54 What’s New

Mike Bartick extols the virtues of the Filipino diving destination of Anilao, which is a Mecca for those wanting to go in search of macro critters, but also has plenty of shoals and bigger marine life.

42 Q&A: Orkney and Shetland Charters

The hallowed grounds of Scapa Flow arew rightly considered a diving Mecca for wreck fanatics. We chat to seasoned Orkney skippers Hazel Weaver and Helen Hadley about German battleships, expeditions to the Shetland Islands - and scrumptious food.

48 TECHNICAL: Indonesia, part two

Crack cave diving team Maria Bollerup, Rasmus Dysted and Pete Mesley continue their search for undiscovered and unexplored cave systems in remote parts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and are once again let awe-struck by what they find beneath the jungle interior.

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New products, including the Fourth Element OceanPositive face masks, Santi Diving apresdivewear, Mares Pure Wire mask, Aqua Lung Omni BCD, Scubapro’s A2 wristwatch dive computer, and Aqua Lung’s new DS mask range.

56 Group Test

This issue we return with our latest group test, and we are looking at top-of-the-range regulators from all of the major manufacturers.

64 Long Term Test

Mark Evans gets his hands on a brand-new Shearwater Research Peregrine dive computer, which provides an entry-level priced unit into the Shearwater family.

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www.aqaba.jo

Each month, we bring together the latest industry news from right here in the UK, as well as all over our water planet. To find out the most up-to-date news and views, check out the website or follow us on our various social media (@scubadivermag) www.scubadivermag.com/news

SURVEY OF SOLOMON

ISLANDS’ CORAL REEFS The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation releases their latest findings from the largest coral reef survey and mapping expedition in history

S

cientists at the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) have published a report on the status of coral reefs in the Solomon Islands.

The Global Reef Expedition: Solomon Islands Final Report summarizes the foundation’s findings from a monumental research mission to study corals and reef fish in the Solomon Islands and provides recommendations on how to preserve these precious ecosystems into the future.

Over the course of five years, KSLOF’s Global Reef Expedition circumnavigated the globe collecting valuable baseline data on coral reefs to address the coral reef crisis. In 2014, the Global Reef Expedition arrived in the Solomon Islands, where an international team of scientists, local experts, and government officials spent more than a month at sea surveying the reefs and creating detailed habitat and bathymetric maps of the seafloor. Together, they conducted over 1,000 standardized surveys of coral reefs and reef fish in the Western, Isabel, and Temotu Provinces, and created maps for over 3,000 km2 of coastal marine habitats in the Solomon Islands.

What they found were impressive reefs covered with abundant and diverse coral communities, but few fish.

Most of the big fish were gone, and many of the nearshore reefs appeared to be overfished. There was also evidence of damage to reefs from a prior tsunami, and scars on the reef from predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, which had eaten away large patches of living coral.

“Our most alarming finding was the overall lack of fish, particularly on reefs near coastal communities,” said Renée Carlton, a Marine Ecologist at the Living Oceans Foundation and lead author on the report. “Overfishing not only impacts on the amount of fish on the reef, but it also impacts the

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Photography © Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation

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coral community as well as people who rely on the fish for food and income. By prioritizing local management and taking steps now to protect the reefs and reduce fishing pressure, the long-term sustainability of the reefs in the Solomon Islands can be improved to be used well into the future.”

Although several years have passed since the expedition, the data from this research mission will be critical for monitoring changes to the reefs over time.

Data from the research mission can also inform management plans to conserve critical marine habitats in the Solomon Islands and help marine managers identify which areas may require additional protection.

Many of the sites visited on the expedition were remote and under-studied, so not much was known about the state of these reefs before this research mission.

Because Prince Khaled bin Sultan donated the use of yacht - the M/Y Golden Shadow - for the Global Reef Expedition, the research team was able to access remote and otherwise inaccessible research sites far from port. These remote reefs in the Solomon Islands were generally healthier and in better shape than those near coastal communities and had some of the highest coral diversity observed anywhere on the Global Reef Expedition.

“The coral communities on reefs surrounding the Solomon Islands were simply stunning. It was a privilege for the Living Oceans Foundation to visit them and collect a broad portfolio of data, in the field and from satellite, which can be used to set a baseline condition for the country’s reefs against which change can be tracked,” said Dr Sam Purkis, KSLOF’s Chief Scientist as well as Professor and Chair of the Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Dr Purkis and his team used a combination of satellite data, depth soundings, and field observations to make detailed maps of the reef down to a two-square-metre scale. These are some of the highest-resolution bathymetric and habitat maps ever created of the Solomon Islands. They identify the location and extent of reefs surveyed by KSLOF in the Solomon Islands, as well as other important coastal marine habitats such as mangrove forests and seagrass beds. These maps can be explored on the foundation’s website at LOF.org, and can also be used by marine managers, scientists, and conservation organizations to track changes to the reefs over time.

“This report provides the people of the Solomon Islands with relevant information and recommendations they can use to effectively manage their reefs and coastal marine resources,” said Alexandra Dempsey, the Director of Science Management at KSLOF and one of the report’s authors. “Our goal at the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is to provide people with data and scientific knowledge to protect, conserve, and restore their marine ecosystems.

We hope this research will encourage the Solomon Islands to consider robust marine conservation and management efforts to protect their coral reefs and nearshore fisheries before it is too late. Global Reef Expedition: Solomon Islands Final Report was published online at the end of June 2020. Detailed shallowwater habitat and bathymetric maps of coral reefs in the Solomon Islands can be viewed on the foundation’s website, lof.org

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12

BELUGA WHALES – FROM CHINESE AQUARIUM TO FREEDOM IN ICELAND Two beluga whales have been transported from a Chinese aquarium to a new open-water refuge in the clear waters off Iceland.

Little Grey and Little White were on show at Ocean World in Shanghai for nearly a decade, and before that were at a Russian research centre.

Now, after being rescued by UK-based charity Sea Life Trust, they have been shipped some 6,000 miles to a new home in the seas off Iceland – the first time the beluga whales will have swum in open ocean for years.

Sea Life Trust said in a statement: “Little Grey and Little White are now in their bayside care pool and will need a short period of time to acclimatise to their new natural environment and all the outdoor elements before their final release into the wider sanctuary in Klettsvik Bay in the Westman Islands off the south coast of Iceland.

“The expert team and the independent vets were with Little Grey and Little White throughout the move and said they are healthy and are feeding after the short trip from their landside care facility back to the sea.”

EMPEROR DIVERS BACK IN EGYPT AND THE MALDIVES Emperor Divers have been working hard to prepare for the arrival of guests on their liveaboards and dive centres.

Following the strict regulations laid down by the local authorities and WHO, Emperor Divers are pleased to say their boats and centres have now been certified to begin operations again.

“We’re pleased to have met all the requirments needed to operate and passed the Egyptian Health Authorities thorough inspections,“ said Luke Atkinson, Emperor’s General Manager in Egypt. “But to ensure we had got it right, we decided to go one step further and ran a trial trip for a few lucky guests who managed to fly in from Switzerland. It gave our crews the opportunity to train and learn best practice with a limited number of guests, which we feel was very useful.”

“With flights returning to the Maldives and foreign offices easing restrictions, we ran a trip on 9 August and are now ramping up from there. Our guests can be confident our teams have been working hard to ensure best practice is being adhered to when they dive with Emperor,” said Alex Bryant, Area Manager for the Maldives. Emperor are keen to work with their guests to try and provide the best diving experience possible but admit that, in the near- to mid-future, some compromise may be required while they combine trips to ensure as many people as possible can be catered for. As Clare Armstrong, Emperor’s Commercial Manager, pointed out: “Flight arrival days may have changed so we may have to re-route some trips to pop back into port to pick up guests but our guides will make sure no dives are missed.”

For more information, visit: www.emperordivers.com

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GET UNDERWATER DIVE CONDITION FORECASTS FROM THE DIVEVIZ APP

Innovative new DiveViz App seeks to bring consistent and accurate ocean visibility reports and forecasts.

The DiveViz App is now live on both Apple and Android – head to your App Store and search ‘DiveViz’ or click on ‘get the app’ from the website: www.diveviz.com The goal of the DiveViz team is to provide the most-accurate representation of what a dive site would be like, before having to enter the water, therefore ensuring that the millions of scuba divers and snorkellers know when to plan their dives for the most-enjoyable experience and highest safety.

DiveViz is an app and algorithm to communicate accurate real-time and forecasted ocean visibility reports. The platform is a prognostic tool that will lead to more co-ordinated and timely responses to high-visibility events for the recreational, commercial, scientific, and military diving communities and improve advanced activity planning for all ocean activities. DiveViz is working to use predictive analytics and machine learning to address the numerous influences that must be accounted for in visibility forecasting, including physical factors like currents, wind, waves, storm patterns, near-shore rainfall, upwelling strength, and thermohaline circulation, as well as biological factors including algae blooms, nutrient inputs, and human activity, but without any historic ocean visibility data researchers cannot begin this analysis.

DiveViz will be engaging with the recreational diving community to crowdsource the first dataset of visibility reports and, in collaboration with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, begin refining the forecasting algorithm.

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14

NDAC BEGINS PHASED RE-OPENING FROM 31 OCTOBER After initially stating NDAC was going to remain closed for the rest of 2020, it has now been announced that a phased re-opening will begin from 31 October.

The National Diving & Activity Centre will open for scuba diving to start with, on Saturdays and Sundays. Number will be limited, and visitors will have to prebook their dive slots. The View Cafe Bar and the Gas Room will be open, as will the Wooden Wigwam accommodation, though this will have a minimum of a twonight stay in place. There will be no cash payments, everything is contactless.

Other activities on site – such as the Wire Zip Slide, Atlantis Aqua Park and Giant 3D Swing – will remain closed at this stage.

You can book your dive slot via NDAC’s new scuba booking system. It will not be possible to enter the site without a booking. www.ndac.co.uk

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BDMLR RESCUE STRANDED DOLPHIN IN CORNWALL BDMLR were involved in an epic five-hour operation to rescue a stranded dolphin in Cornwall in early August. On Monday 10 August, a call was received on the BDMLR (British Divers Marine Life Rescue) hotline regarding a common dolphin in the shallows at Mawgan Creek in the Helford Estuary, near Helston. The area is well known as a strandings trap for dolphins, with many tidal muddy creeks, and a team of Marine Mammal Medics led by Cornwall Area Co-ordinator Dan Jarvis were dispatched immediately. © Dan Jarvis and Polly Ford On arrival, accessing the dolphin proved to be something of a workout. It was stranded about 100 metres along from the nearest access point and getting to it required climbing over or ducking under a number of fallen trees along the edge of the riverbank. It was being supported on the water’s edge by the local builder who had found and reported it, and they had been there for three hours with it already. As more Medics arrived, they took over care of the dolphin and began first aid and initial assessment. BDMLR’s Veterinary Support Co-ordinator Natalie Waddington also arrived and began a full health assessment too, finding it to be just under two metres long, in moderate nutritional condition.

Based on the veterinary assessment it was decided refloatation would be appropriate. Luckily a nearby family out for a walk had offered use of their boat early on in the incident, so they were contacted and the boat launched quickly before the outgoing tide prevented it from being able to get out. The dolphin was carefully loaded on board, sat on a couple of wooden boards padded with a tarpaulin and stretcher, with Medics knelt astride it to support it in place. A sheet was kept over its back to help it stop drying out and protect it from the sun too, as four of the team headed seaward with their skipper.

Finally, once the boat had reached point south of Rosemullion Head and facing the open sea of Fal Bay, the dolphin was carefully put overboard in the stretcher and held in place to acclimatise to its new surroundings. Encouragingly, it quickly showed signs of wanting to swim, and was supported for just a few minutes to be sure before the stretcher was let go and the dolphin released.

The dolphin drifted slightly for the first few seconds before findings its fins again. After some time of swimming back and forth and one close swim past of the boat, it was last seen heading back out to sea strongly.

BDMLR would like to thank all Medics involved with this incident, as well as the local builders Simon and Leon, who found and reported it, and of course to Rodney Thomas, Lyndsey Thomas and Matt Small, whose boat was instrumental in this animal’s rescue.

FATHOMS FREE AND SEA SHEPHERD UK RECOVER ABANDONED LOBSTER POTS Volunteer divers from Fathoms Free and Sea Shepherd UK have recovered 16 abandoned lobster pots and associated rope from East Narrows in Cornwall.

After one of the divers, Luke Bullus, came across the pots during a recreational dive, he contacted Fathoms Free and Sea Shepherd UK and a small team was swiftly assembled. Thanks to spot-on co-ordinates being supplied by Atlantic Scuba, the RIB Casper ended up being the fullest it had ever been with the haul of 16 lobster pots and rope. www.fathomsfree.org

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THE REEF-WORLD FOUNDATION FINALIST IN 2020 CON X TECH PRIZE

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The Reef-World Foundation has announced it has officially been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2020 Con X Tech prize. The Con X Tech prize provides opportunities for seed funding to anyone, anywhere, to turn their bold new ideas for conservation into reality. The current round of the Con X Tech Prize attracted 167 submissions from around the world – including Uganda, Malaysia, Cameroon, the Philippines, Brazil and more – and the Reef-World Foundation has been named as one of the 20 finalists with the potential for exponential conservation impact. The Grand Prize Winner will be announced by Conservation X Labs after finalists complete a 12-week prototyping period Reef-World’s entry is the development of The Green Fins Global Hub, a digital global solution to help dive professionals protect fragile coral reefs. This first-ofits-kind online support system will motivate marine tourism operators to improve their everyday environmental practices. This product will leverage innovation to meet increasing consumer demand for sustainable tourism practices by empowering tourism organisations to minimise environmental impacts associated with their business and protect their natural assets. The potential cumulative impact of this on global coral reef health is significant.

Each of the 20 shortlisted teams have received $3,500 to turn their idea into a prototype over 12-weeks. At the end of the prototyping period, one project will be awarded the $20,000 grand prize to support the future of their project. www.reef-world.org

YOUNG DIVERS INTERNATIONAL FACEBOOK GROUP IS LAUNCHED

Discover Worldwide Destinations Indonesia. Maldives. Socorro.

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26/08/2020 18:22

A brand-new Facebook page has been launched aimed at supporting and inspiring young divers – Young Divers International. And 20-year-old dive professional Robert Thomas is calling on youthful divers to flood social media with positive scuba images and stories.

Scuba Diver magazine has been running its The Next Generation section, aimed at children and teenage divers, for a few years now, as well as providing a full-page platform every issue of its UK and Australia/New Zealand publications to the Our-World Underwater Scholarship Scholars, and the team have long championed anything that brings in fresh blood into the industry, so we welcomed this new initiative.

Young Divers International came about as a result of a conversation at a 2018 dive show. Robert Thomas, Grant Cook (Cobalt Diving), Greg Parker (Hidden Depths) and two of the OWUSS Scholars (Mae Dorricott and Danny Copeland) were chatting over a beer when TDI’s Mark Powell joined them.

The conversation, as always, was about diving. Underwater cameraman Danny Copeland had just moved to Bristol at that time, and he was asking about people he could go diving with. Mark Powell observed that scuba diving has not always been an older person’s sport. Today’s leading lights in the industry were regularly organising shore or boat-diving trips when they, too, were young divers.

Robert Thomas picked up on this idea – and the result is YDI. He stated: “I have got a number of plans, including a website. This is an inclusive group – it doesn’t matter who you learned to dive with. The most-important thing is the diving.”

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HEADING BACK

INTO THE WATER? Let our expert team of divers get you kitted out and ready to explore as you get back into diving.

Shop online with the help of free live-streaming video calls with the team or visit our London store (by appointment only). With the largest stock of diving equipment in the UK at the best prices, we’ll have what you need.

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Dr Oliver Firth is a diving doctor with over 22 years of diving experience. He is an Approved Medical Examiner of Divers for the UK HSE and a medical referee for the UK Diving Medical Committee, performing many hundreds of diving medicals a year. As the senior doctor at London Diving Chamber for the last 13 years, he has supervised the treatment of hundreds of cases of decompression illness. He has now set up Hyperdive (www.hyperdive.co.uk) to continue his diving medical work with a global audience. With his accumulated experience, he has seen most things a diver might come across, but remains eager to hear from anyone with a medical conundrum they need a solution to! divingdoctor@scubadivermag.com Q: My husband and I are both keen divers and our daughter is showing an interest already, even though she’s only five. She’s been quite unlucky with ear infections though, and the ENT doctors are recommending she has grommets to stop her getting them so often. Obviously we are going to do what’s best for her, but will this stop her diving in the future?

A: Firstly, a few words about the humble grommet, essentially a tiny artificial tube inserted into the eardrum. Smaller than a match head, they’re used to create a deliberate perforation, so that air can get in to the middle ear, and more importantly, mucus and pus can get out. The simple reasoning is this: the pain and misery of middle ear infections is mostly due to the pressure build-up in a confined space. Put a hole in one of the walls of this confined space, and the pressure won’t build up.

Hence no pain, fewer infections and a happy kid. And it works. The grommets eventually fall out by themselves after a while (a few months to a few years) and the perforation left behind heals up by itself. By that stage the child is older and bigger and hopefully has grown out of infections, so quite a neat procedure all round. Luckily, once the eardrum has healed, it’s perfectly safe to dive with, although it always seems to be slightly more fragile than an undamaged one, so they need to take extra care with their equalising.

Q: Two years ago I passed my Open Water course on holiday in Turkey.

I am now 55 years of age, rather rotund and I don’t do any regular exercise. Last year I went diving in Egypt. Before undertaking the scuba review, I filled out a medical form telling them of my hiatus hernia plus

the medical history of my father, who suffered from angina and also had a heart bypass. Taking my age into consideration as well as those facts, they took me for a medical. My blood pressure and pulse were taken, then I was asked to squat up and down for a minute while supporting myself on the doctor’s desk with my hands, and then my blood pressure and pulse were taken again. The doctor informed the dive centre that I was alright to dive, but to keep me clear of strenuous dives. I am now worried about future dive trips. I am using a treadmill at home and am on a diet, but what I need to know is what should my blood pressure and pulse read to enable me to sail through the next medical?

A: There is a wide variability of ‘exercise testing’ carried out in dive resorts, and these days, there is a lot of discussion about what sort of exercise test is best, or in fact, whether a test is necessary at all. The main reason for doing them is simply to emphasise the fact that physical fitness is important for safe diving. It also enables some sort of comparison of fitness from year to year, acting as a motivating tool for health promotion. I digress from your question however. In your case, before you jet off, you would be best seeing a diving doctor in the UK, who can assess your blood pressure and cardiovascular health in a properly controlled environment. Nebulous suggestions such as ‘keeping you clear of strenuous dives’ are sometimes difficult to apply practically. Incidentally, if you look at diving fatality statistics, very few could have been predicted from known medical conditions; most are accidental and involve inappropriate diving beyond the diver’s experience levels.

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Barefoot luxury in the heart of Indonesia

TOP SOUTH COAST WRECKS

Stuart Philpott continues his exploration of some of the most-popular shipwrecks lying off the South Coast of the UK.

Q&A: PETE MESLEY

We chat to Pete Mesley, who has carved a niche for himself running his epic Lust4Rust and Shock and Awe diving adventures.

KICKING BACK IN KOMODO

Adrian Stacey is blown away by the rich diversity in the nutrient-rich waters around the Indonesian island of Komodo.

AMAZING AZORES

Don Silcock has some truly mermorable biganimal encounters in the deep blue waters off the islands of the Azores.

TECH: MALTA’S DEEP WRECKS

Byron Conroy headed for Malta as soon as flights resumed, and ventured on to many of the deeper wrecks that lie await.

GEAR GUIDE: BUDGET MASKS

Bunaken National Marine Park

The Test Team has been busy rating and reviewing masks priced under £35 from all the major manufacturers.

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M

ention the words ‘wreck diving’ on a club RIB or a dive charter boat and it’s guaranteed to get a reaction. In the UK, wreck diving is king. Who doesn’t enjoy exploring shipwrecks? Some get their kicks from the historical aspect, while others are attracted by an oasis of marine life. There is another contingent I would describe as ‘trophy hunters’, but the shallower wrecks were stripped yonks ago, leaving only the sub-50m tech wrecks laden with brass. Back in the good old days, every wreck diver was tooled up with a lump hammer, chisel and lifting bag. I would like to think that today’s discerning wreck diver has a moreconscientious approach, with thoughts more on preservation rather than plunder, but I’m sure there are still a few divers out there that would disagree!

Our whole coastline is littered with tens of thousands of shipwrecks at varying depths to suit every level of recreational and technical diver. The English Channel alone has more than 40,000 recorded wrecks! The Dorset coast has its fair share and, fortunately for me, this has been my stomping ground for many years. I have explored most of the favourites in the 0m-40m range and taken a few reasonable pictures along the way.

There are far too many amazing wrecks to mention in detail, so I have skimmed across the surface, detailing a selection of the very best. Except for the Royal Adelaide, Nor and Landing Craft wrecks lying off Chesil Beach, all of the sites I’ve mentioned are boat dives.

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These sites are well protected from rough weather which means virtually guaranteed diving throughout the year

Stuart Philpott takes a whistlestop tour of some of the most-popular wreck dive sites along the South Coast PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART PHILPOTT

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Many of these shipwrecks have a tragic story to tell, which makes them all the more interesting, but also means they should be respected, especially if the wreck is a designated war grave. Most charter boats have a no-take policy, so don’t bring anything up from the wreck. But some divers have been known to hide ammunition in their BCD pockets. HMS Carentan is a good example. But walking around Swanage town centre with live hand grenades and 20mm cannon shells is not the brightest thing to do! In the case of the SS Kyarra, I have seen glass cabinets full of trinkets on display at homes around Dorset. It’s a shame they are not in a museum somewhere for everyone to see.

At the beginning of the dive season and during the winter months, it’s the shallower wrecks that are more popular. The most unusual ‘wreck’ site has to be the top secret World War Two amphibious Valentines tanks of Poole Bay, sitting upright at a max depth of 16m. There are seven individual tanks in all. Unfortunately, in the late 1970s, live ammunition inside the tanks was deemed unsafe, so Navy clearance divers blew the turrets off six of the tanks, leaving only one intact.

This six metre by three metre AFV is permanently buoyed and regularly visited by the Swanage and Poole charter boats (journey time around 30 minutes). In the 2000s, some thoughtless individual tied a mooring line to the gun barrel, which snapped off a section. Some of the tank crews drowned during war time exercises, so this site is technically a war grave. There are always lobster, prawns, blennies, crabs and conger eels on show, as well as a huge shoal of pouting. A guide rope running across the seabed connects to one of the decapitated tanks lying about 200 metres away. Being able to explore two tanks makes this a really enjoyable 45-minute dive. Not widely known, but close by there is the remains of a Supermarine Seafire. This crashed into the sea on 9 July 1946, killing Sub Lt Barlow. The wings, cannons, Griffon engine, and machine guns are still intact.

A trip to Swanage Pier wouldn’t be complete without visiting the 16-metre-long wreck, Fleur de Lys, lying in Swanage Bay at a max depth of 13m. This purposely sunk wooden fishing boat is regularly used as a ‘first’ wreck dive for inexperienced divers or for diver training. It’s well broken up but has plenty of marine life on show, including a large shoal of pouting. Both Divers Down and Swanage Boat Charters offer daily excursions.

Penetration is possible on some

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Some of the wrecks are shallow...

...others lie in deep waters Marine growth can be prolific

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The iron sailing ship Royal Adelaide’s most-prominent feature is the starboard bow, anchor, foredeck winch and chain

It can sometimes be hard to identify features because of the growth Edible crab

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Five miles east of Swanage (45-minute boat ride) lies the Betsy Anna at a ’comfortable’ depth of 24m. The 62 metre, 880-ton cargo ship was built in 1892 and mainly used to transport coal around Europe. On 12 October 1926, while being towed to port for repairs, she took on water and eventually sank. This is a perfect nitrox dive with ample no-deco time for a thorough exploration. The Betsy Anna is fairly broken up and in poor visibility it’s possible to come off the wreck, so always carry a delayed SMB. The bow and the stern are the only ‘overhead’ sections. There are also one or two ghost nets to negotiate. Marine life consists of lobster, edible crabs, wrasse, pollock and pout. Conger eels are often found peering out from the darker recesses and clumps of dead man’s fingers cover the four-metre-high hull sections.

Portland near Weymouth is another popular staging post for inshore and offshore wrecks alike. There are a number of charter boats and dive centres operating in the locale, including Skin Deep, Dive Beyond, Old Harbour Dive Centre and Underwater Explorers, all offering shuttle boat services to the harbour wrecks (depending on dive centre choice boat journey time is just five minutes). These sites are well protected from rough weather which means virtually guaranteed diving throughout the year. The paddle steamer, Countess of Erne, lying at 16m, is probably the most-popular site. The wreck sits upright and is totally intact. Her bow rises ten metres from the seabed and still retains its classic V-shape. Most of the deck area is at a depth of 8m-10m and there is easy safe access to the cargo holds.

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Anchor capstan

The only real negative is the fact that it can get very silty.

The Bombardon unit and Landing Craft sit close by at a similar depth. The Dredger lies outside the harbour in Balaclava bay at 12m. The wreckage is spread out parallel to the harbour wall, making it virtually impossible to get lost.

There is one ‘slight’ overhead section, otherwise it’s very broken up. This is another perfect site for a ‘first’ wreck dive and for diver training. Regular marine life encounters include wrasse, blennies, lobster, piles of spider crabs and cuttlefish.

On the west side of Portland at Blacknor Point is a wreck called the HMT James Fennel lying at a max depth of 18m. The 35-metre-long, 215-ton auxiliary patrol vessel foundered on the rocks while navigating through thick fog. The wreckage is scattered among the boulders and kelp, making it difficult to find. There are one or two ‘tight’ overhead sections, otherwise it’s well broken up. The stern rising about five metres from the seabed is probably the most-photogenic spot. Regular fish sightings include conger eels, blennies, wrasse and pollock, with seasonal visitations from cuttlefish, rays and john dory.

Crustacean-wise edible and velvet swimming crabs are always on show, as well as lobster and crawfish.

Chesil Beach is definitely one of my personal favourites.

The cargo on some of the wrecks is intriguing

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You never know what you will find

There are multiple wrecks to explore at a max depth of 18m and it’s a shore dive! Unfortunately, the walk in full diving kit up and over Chesil Beach seems to discourage most divers, but I can guarantee it’s worth the pain. There are three wrecks in all, the Landing Craft, Nor and Royal Adelaide. Kit up in the car park next to the Fine Foundation Chesil Beach Centre (follow the road towards Portland, over Ferry Bridge and then next right). Entries and exits can be awkward and, at times, currents can be quite strong. The wrecks are constantly being eroded by millions of grinding pebbles. The freighter Nor is just a mass of broken metal plates, propeller and boiler. The iron sailing ship Royal Adelaide’s most-prominent feature is the starboard bow, anchor, foredeck winch and chain. The Landing Craft has a few small overhead sections. The engines and a giant winch usually have crabs and lobster hiding inside. Around the end of August, this is a good spot for triggerfish sightings if the hordes of anglers don’t get to them first!

Rounding off the shallow wreck sites is the Black Hawk near Kimmeridge Bay. Journey time is about 45 minutes from Portland, or small RIBs can be launched from the slipway at Kimmeridge, reducing boat journeys to around 15 minutes.

Also in the vicinity is a rarely dived landing craft hugging the rocks at 15m and the remains of a World War Two Messerschmitt ME-109. Apparently the plane was flown by a famous German fighter pilot. A local fisherman rowed him back to shore where he was picked up by the home guard and sent to a POW camp for the remainder of the war. The 134-metre-long, 7,191-ton US transport ship Black Hawk was built in 1944. She was blown into two pieces by a German U-boat. The remains of the bow were towed into Worbarrow Bay. Many years later she was broken up to make way for a new pipeline. Most of the wreckage now lies at 12m. n

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Military MUSEUM Aqaba’s unique Military Museum adds another dimension to the sunken attractions off the Jordanian coastline, as Mark Evans found out when he took ‘the tour’ PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK EVANS

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Marine growth on the armoured car turret Inside the Spartan SPC

There are several Ferrets and Samaritans Khalid main battle tank

This installation, which sits in 15m-28m, features no less than 19 individual military vehicles, carefully arranged on the seabed 30

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A

qaba in Jordan has been at the forefront of sinking artificial reefs for some time. This Red Sea diving hotspot is blessed with colourful coral reefs and myriad varieties of marine life, but with only a short stretch of coastline, the powers that be soon realised they need to do something different to make their ‘patch’ stand out from its near-neighbours.

So began a long-term plan to sink a selection of artificial reefs. These fulfil various roles – one, they provide habitat for marine life in areas where coral growth was sparse, and two, as attractive dive sites in their own right, they take some of the pressure off the natural reef sites.

The picturesque 74-metre shipwreck of the Cedar Pride was the first, when it was sent to the bottom in 1985, and this was followed by the M42 ‘Duster’ anti-aircraft vehicle in September 1999. The Al Shorouk came next, going down into technical depths in 2008.

The next attraction was the C-130 Hercules airplane, which was scuttled in November 2017 to much fanfare. It sat on the seabed with its front wheels just off the bottom, looking like it was about to take flight. After two years on the seabed, it was getting a healthy coating of soft corals, particularly beneath the wings, but sadly, in March 2020, fierce storms ripped through the region and tore the Hercules apart. It is still an interesting dive site, but it looks more like the location of a crash landing now.

A huge Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was added to Aqaba’s underwater ‘fleet’ in 2019. It was sunk in an area with little coral growth to help stimulate and support the marine environment, and its vast fuselage is already becoming covered by algae growth.

However, perhaps the most-fascinating purpose-sunk attraction for divers was put down in 2019 before the TriStar – the Military Museum.

Ratel IFV Exploring inside the Spartan SPC

Chieftain ARRV

Inside a Bell AH-1 Cobra

THE MILITARY MUSEUM

This installation, which sits in 15m-28m, features no less than 19 individual military vehicles, carefully arranged on the seabed, on a sandy ‘road’ between two areas of coral, and as you descend it looks as if they are driving along in ‘battle formation’. It makes an intriguing site – you can explore around the first row of vehicles, and then the next set emerge from the blue as you venture deeper.

The Military Museum comprises a variety of military vehicles and aircraft, namely tracked M42 ‘Duster’ anti-aircraft guns, Scorpion light tanks, Khalid heavy battle tanks (modified versions of the trusty Chieftain), armoured cars (an imposing six-wheel Ratel IFV and numerous Ferrets and Samaritans), a medical Spartan SPC, a Chieftain ARRV (armoured recovery and repair vehicle), M155 203mm field guns and even two Bell AH-1 ‘Huey’ Cobra attack helicopters.

Coral growth has already started on the military hardware, and many marine species have taken up residence on, inside and around the vehicles. When I dived it, they had only been

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Scorpion light tank

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M42 Duster anti-aircraft gun

Scorpion light tanks

Porcupine pufferfish already at home

down a few weeks, but they had already attracted various reef fish, including squirrelfish, damselfish, parrotfish and butterflyfish, and even an extremely territorial pufferfish that had decided two of the Scorpion light tanks were its home turf‌ Some of the vehicles have open doors and turret hatches, so it is possible to have a look inside, where most of the controls have been left in-situ.

CONCLUSION

The Underwater Military Museum is a truly unique artificial reef, and the military vehicles are perfect as a back drop for photographers wanting something a little different underwater, but they will also be of huge interest to any diver wanting to sample something completely different in an underwater environment. n

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UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY

SUBJECTS WITH A SMILE Underwater photo pro Mario Vitalini explains how best to capture dolphins on camera PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARIO VITALINI

I

t feels like a long time since we have the opportunity to travel and pursue our love of diving and underwater photography. Fortunately, things are slowly starting to move in the right direction and some destinations are beginning to reopen. Although many of us have returned to local waters, many of our usual photo hotspots remain off-limits for a bit longer.

But 2020 has been the ideal time to go through the back catalogue and review old pics. For me, one subject that has caught my attention - and one that is guaranteed to make everyone smile – are the images of dolphins.

Let me take you back a year or so. We’ve just finished a dive on the Carnatic, one of the popular wrecks of Sha’ab Abu Nuhas in the Northern Egyptian Red Sea, when suddenly a bottlenose dolphin breached next to our RIB. Our driver carefully started circling, making ‘RIB doughnuts’. That did the trick and soon we had about seven dolphins swimming around us. Mask, snorkel and fins back on, I grabbed my camera and rolled in. The next ten minutes produced one of the most-exciting encounters I have with these creatures and I managed to get some good shots. So, what is the secret to getting great dolphin shots?

A small pod of spinner dolphins in black and white

STOP, THINK, BREATHE

If you have never seen a dolphin in the wild, it can be an overwhelming situation. These are amazing creatures with tons of personality, and they are on the top of most underwater photographers’ wish list. If being in the water with a dolphin is on your bucket list, try to stay calm. It is easy to get over exited and lack the focus you need to take good shots. In this case, simply put your camera down and enjoy the encounter. There will be other occasions.

When dolphins are in a good mood, they will swim around you for several minutes. Stop, think and, most importantly, breathe. Try to predict how the action will unfold and where the dolphin will be, so you can prepare the shot. Do not bother chasing after a moving dolphin or pod. Believe me, they are way faster than you. Dolphins will come as close as they want.

And sometimes are not in the mood to pose.

Best of Bunaken

After a dive on Abu Nuhas Reef in the Northern Red Sea, a group of bottlenose dolphins started following the RIB. We grabbed mask, snorkel and fins and rolled back. The pod were in a playful mood and stayed around for some time

Dolphins are famous for their friendly smile, but do not be fooled, they are apex predators and have to be treated with respect. On a late afternoon dive at Daedalus Reef, I once saw one catch a fully-grown dogtooth tuna! They are generally friendly, but you do want to give them a bit of space and allow them to swim towards you. This is especially important if there are juveniles around.

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SNORKEL VS SCUBA

Dolphins can be seen almost everywhere in the world and encounters are relatively common in many areas, but the Egyptian Red Sea and the Bahamas are some of the best destinations to see these animals in large pods. They love to ride the wake of a moving boat. But never be tempted to drop into the blue to swim with dolphins. Sharks have been known to follow dolphin pods. Encounters should always be on or close to the reef, in particular if you are snorkelling.

Occasionally, dolphins will come up to divers underwater and there are key sites where the odds of seeing a dolphin on scuba are relatively high (Sha’ab el Urg, Bluff Point and the Ulysses are all excellent spots in the Northern Red Sea).

However, some of the best interactions I have had over the years have been snorkelling. Dolphins tend to spend a lot of the time in the shallows as they need to come up to breathe.

Not having the drag of a full dive kit, snorkelling makes it easy to move around change direction and duck down as need. It is always a good idea to pack a snorkel and practice your skills.

GO WIDE

Dolphins are big animals, and as is the case with any other large subject, a wide-angle lens is essential. On my last Red Sea trip, I had my macro lens when a dolphin showed up and swam around us for ten minutes. My only option was to put my camera down and enjoy the experience.

A wide-angle lens will allow you to fill the frame with your subject and, to keep the image sharp and contrasted, get close to the action. The further away you are from your subject, the poorer the image quality will be. A fish-eye lens will have a greater field of view, but you will need to get even closer to your subject and remember, a fisheye lens will create barrel distortion, making the centre look larger in the frame and narrowing on the edges.

A rectilinear lens is a more-practical solution if dolphins are not passing close to you, as these types of lenses are not as wide and will let you work from a slightly greater distance.

A couple of bottlenose dolphins do a quick pass during a safety stop

This pod of dolphins was moving fast. I had my camera already set so I did not waste any time choosing the right aperture and shutter speed

SPEED IS KING

Have you ever tried to keep up with a dolphin? If so, you know very well that it is a waste of energy. They are incredibly quick and agile. The fast pace requires a fast shutter speed, something above 1/200 of a second. Do not be tempted to use a slower speed with your shots unless you want the effect of motion blur.

If you chose to not shoot in Manual mode, you can use to Shutter Priority. This mode is normally labelled TV or S. When selected it will let you choose the shutter speed while the camera selects the adequate aperture. In order to achieve a correct exposure when using Manual mode, remember to pen the Aperture to allow enough light into camera when using a fast shutter speed.

LIGHTING

As mentioned, my best dolphin shots have been taken snorkelling. Being so close to the surface, strobes are not necessary and I tend to use ambient light. When using ambient light, try to keep the sun behind you so your subject gets most of the light. This is not always easy when dolphins are swimming all around you and when the sun is in front, I tend to gently tilt the camera slightly downwards. This helps to control too much bright sky creeping into the top half of the image.

If you are using strobes, make sure they are wide apart and behind your dome to prevent backscatter. I tend to position my strobes a bit high, in the 10-2 position (think about a clock face) and aim them slightly downwards to avoid overexposing their pale underbelly. The same as I do with when photographing sharks.

Even if you are using strobes, try to keep the shutter speed as high as your camera allows to avoid blurred images.

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UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY A couple of spinner dolphins diving down. By keeping the sun behind I was able to get a good amount of light on the subjects and not over expose the background

The calm water of Sataya lagoon created a beautiful reflection that complements very well this classic pic of a spinner dolphin

NOISE OR SHARPNESS

If the light conditions are not optimal, you may not have an aperture wide enough to get a good exposure using fast shutter speed. At this point you have two options - end up with a blurry picture, or would increase the camera ISO. This will generate additional noise, but I rather have a slightly grainy dolphin picture than a grey blob.

If you are in a situation when you know you will encounter dolphins, you can set the camera before you jump in the water. If you are not familiar shooting in Manual mode, have the ISO set to Automatic and assign an upper limit to avoid excessive noise caused by higher ISO values. Shutter Priority mode will let you choose a shutter speed and the camera will then select the correct aperture. That way if the dolphin encounter is brief, you will have a good chance to get a shot.

COMPOSING

There are a few things to consider when shutting dolphins.

Because they tend to hang around in shallow water, I try to use the surface as a compositional element, the texture of the waves works beautifully in the background and, if you are right under the surface, it is possible to archive very striking reflections.

LOOK FOR THE EYES

As it is with any animal subject, a great picture can be let down because of poor eye contact. When your subject is looking directly at the camera, the resulting image will create a strong connection between the viewer and, in this case, the dolphin.

Whatever you do, always pay attention to the edges of the frame making sure you don’t accidentally clip a fin or a fellow diver. Dolphin pics are full of feel good factor. Elegant, friendly, on beautiful blue (or green) backgrounds, they are engaging subjects and is well worth keeping your cool in the water next time you have the chance to swim with them. Be prepared for fast-moving action and try to use the surface as a compositional element. n

Dolphins can work very well in black and white

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Anilao Crystal Blue Resort’s Mike Bartick extols the virtues of Anilao as the ultimate diving destination, especially for underwater photographers in search of elusive critters PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE BARTICK

J

ust a few hours away from the bustling mega city that is Manila, exists a place that is tranquil, quiet and red hot for divers. Anilao is not only the birthplace of scuba diving for the Philippines, but it is also the place where many new divers from Manila finish their check-out dives.

The sandy, shallow dive sites have spawned thousands of divers over the years, learning their essential skills and how to breathe underwater for the first time.

The irony of this is that the same divers then spend the rest of their dive careers travelling outside of the Philippines in search of that one special dive destination.

Anilao is one of those unique places that offers divers a perfect mix of healthy coral reefs teeming with colourful fish, pinnacles, small walls, coral gardens and yes, some of the finest macro diving one could ever hope for. One of the questions I field a lot is what camera gear should I bring, wide angle or macro, and my usual answer is ‘bring it all’. And why not, with direct flights to Manila from almost anywhere on the planet, the generous international luggage weights of most carriers allow for this. When visiting Anilao, there are no more connecting flights to worry about, no ferries, no hassles, no problem.

The name Anilao comes from a very small township. In the ‘old days’, Anilao was where people would go to hire a local boat, park their cars and head to their private house or maybe one of the few dive resorts that existed at that time. Eventually, the road further extended and became a national highway which snakes along the ridge-line of the peninsula. The entire area is now known as Anilao, which basically covers all of the 45 or so dive sites within reach of the Balayan Bay, Batangas Bay and Maricacaban Island.

What makes the Anilao peninsula so unique is a perfect storm of natural elements combined together in great geological proportions - the combination of the nutrient rich ocean driven currents of the Verde Island Pass, which are fed from the Western Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, seasonal wind and ancient volcanic activity. These abstract components come together, fusing something seen in very few places on the planet, and is continuously changing.

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Anilao is one of those unique places that offers divers a perfect mix of healthy coral reefs teeming with colourful fish, pinnacles, small walls, coral gardens and yes, some of the finest macro diving one could ever hope for

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Anilao’s reefs are teeming with life

Consider the Verde Island Passage as the massive pumping heart of a complex marine bio-system. This massive pumping heart is fed by the arteries of ocean driven waterways. These strong tidal flows pump the blood that exchanges gases, with the two deep-set bays as if they are massive lungs. Slowly inhaling at every incoming tide bringing in fresh oxygenated water, then exhaling the excess of nutrients back into the main arteries of the pass to be blended back together and circulated once again.

Both of the bays (Balayan and Batangas), being deep set, create a massive eddy system allowing the different planktonic subjects the opportunity to settle, shelter, feed and gain strength, further populating the reefs. Both of these bays play an important role by providing the needed shelter for larval fish, spawning and other crucial developmental needs of marine life both in and outside of the bays.

Strong trade winds also come into play here blowing from the east for approximately four months of the year and then the west for another four months, pushing the top layers of water against the current, enhancing the already present upwellings. These natural elements work together to mix the nutrients of the colder deeper waters with the warmer surface layers transforming the VIP into a huge blender, distributing eggs, spawn and other free drifting organisms throughout its path. These combined elements makes Anilao rugged during the off season, but helps to keep the reefs healthy and vibrant all throughout the year.

Verde Island sits at the east end of the pass (not considered as a part of Anilao) and Sombrero Island sits at the west end of the pass. It is here at Sombrero that several current lines converge and where the divided waterways of the VIP once again reunite and combine with the tidal flow of Balayan Bay, creating some very strong current lines during the full and new moon cycles.

Diving at Sombrero will remind you of diving in a magazine cover, as so many of them have been shot here. The sunlight penetrating the shallow waters and current swept walls.

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Schools of small triggerfish moving from one place to the next with some unknown urgency. Small barracuda, big mouth mackerel, colourful anthias feeding in the current, busy cleaner wrasse, yellow snapper, sea turtles, flamboyant nudibranchs, pulsing xenia coral. Wow, it is impossible to explain it all - and even harder to photograph.

Beatriz, is another area of the Sombrero island reef complex that is fully exposed to the intersecting currents. The main wall area and fingered canyons can create a swirling vortex-style current - caution should be exercised when diving here but it is well worth the effort.

The entire Verde Island Passage is at the centre of the coral triangle and both Beatriz and Sombrero are the perfect place in Anilao to get an example of what this actually looks like.

While much of the Earth’s shallow reefs have been effected by global warming and coral bleaching, the cooler waters that wash over the reefs in Anilao have so far protected them.

Kirbys is an all-time favourite of mine. It’s basically two pinnacles, one of which protrudes from the surface. The lower pinnacle is more like an underwater island, sloping away to the depths. The area is covered with bright yellow sea cucumbers which seem to thrive here and no place else.

The current runs along the wall and through the tight space created by the underwater island, the reefs are thriving, with every inch of space covered in life.

While the coral gardens are certainly nice to drift through, it is the sandy substrate that holds the real secrets of Anilao.

These seemingly featureless sloping seabeds nestled between the reef systems offer some exciting, if not legendary, critter experiences. Consider first that this tiny little peninsula is home to more than 1,000 described nudibranch species on its own, and you will begin to get a picture of the interesting fauna that exists here. What really makes the macro sites such a favourite is the abundance of ornate subjects that

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are camouflaged so well within their habitat that a guide is nearly mandatory for finding them.

Some nudibranchs appear as nothing more than a wad of white thread, while others are so large that they resemble hard coral. The slug known as the Miamira alleni has become one of the must-see subjects when visiting Anilao.

At a glance, the hairy frogfish seems as innocuous as a ball of algae. Nevertheless, their appearance allows them to ambush their prey by remaining perfectly motionless. Once a victim enters into the strike zone, the hairy frogfish deploys its oversized lure. The movement excites the fish with the promise of a quick meal and as it moves in for the kill, the hairy frogfish inhales the fish using a quick gape strike. The mouth of the frogfish is so large and opens so quickly that it creates a vacuum of water, pulling in its victim entirely, before they are even aware of being in danger.

It is subjects like the hairy frogfish that are so difficult to find that have made the dive guide’s services such a necessity in Anilao. Over the years, Anilao has developed its own society of ‘Macro Spotters’ to ensure that quality guides are well trained in the art of critter hunting. The guides assist divers and photographers to locate and observe the subjects that

Beneath the dive boat

they want to see or photograph. The best dive guides in Anilao are all locals, born and bred, and no one knows these dive sites better than they do. If the critters on the substrate aren’t enough for you, then stay up late and try a little of the local nightlife - blackwater diving.

Recently, blackwater diving has become yet another layer added to the diving element in Anilao, offering photographers the ultimate in photo-ops. Imagine drifting in the night sea, using a downline of lights to attract some of the ocean’s most-guarded secrets. Planktons and their predators, larval fish and settling subjects use these two bays as a nursery. If the coral gardens aren’t quite enough, then the blackwater dives will certainly send you into overload. Get up early, stay up late, dive, eat, sleep, repeat.

Timing is everything for Anilao and the best diving can be seasonal. Plan to visit from mid-September through mid-June for the best topside conditions. The water is the coolest (22 degrees C) in February, while May is considered the high season, also offering the warmest waters (29 degrees C).

Resorts can be hard to book last minute, so plan your trips accordingly and don’t forget, when you’re trying to decide which camera gear to pack, bring it all! n

Recently, blackwater diving has become yet another layer added to the diving element in Anilao, offering photographers the ultimate in photo-ops

Vibrant crinoid on the reef

Scorpionfish

CRYSTAL BLUE RESORT

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Q&A: HAZEL WEAVER & HELEN HADLEY The hallowed grounds of Scapa Flow are rightly considered a diving Mecca for wreck fanatics from around the world. We chat to seasoned Orkney skippers Hazel Weaver and Helen Hadley about German battleships, diving outside the Flow, trips to Shetland – and scrumptious food PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ORKNEY, SHETLAND CHARTERS AND JASON BROWN

Q: You seem to have been a permanent fixture on the Orkney diving scene forever, first with Valkyrie, and then with Valhalla joining ‘the fleet’. What’s your story, and how did you end up in the Orkney Islands?

Helen: I first arrived on a diving holiday, much like so many people who end up living up here. We dived the North Isles as well as Scapa and I fell in love with the islands. I was on the look out for a change in direction when Hazel began to look for crew for her first boat, the Stormdrift - I jumped at the chance.

Q: The Valkyrie and the Valhalla are both impressive vessels – tell us a bit more about their heritage and how they ended up with Orkney and Shetland Charters.

A: The Valkyrie was built in 1967 by Rory Forbes of Sandhaven, just to the west of Fraserburgh. She was unusual in the fact that she was built to a standard, not to a budget. This meant that she was much heavier and stronger than similar boats being built at the time. She has fished all over Scotland and has even visited New Zealand.

The Valhalla was originally a Royal Navy Fleet Tender, starting out as HMS Vigilant in Northern Ireland - she acquired several bullet holes in her upper works! She became Maevy, and then Sultan Venture, run by Serco Denholm. We bought her in 2014 and began the task of stripping her out and making her into the boat she is today.

Q: Running dive boats, particularly liveaboards, in the far north of Scotland, must be extremely testing at times. What are some of the most-challenging aspects of the business?

A: The weather is what limits us, primarily the wind. Direction and force of wind can lay waste to the best-laid plans, even within the shelter of Scapa Flow. We can also be very remote, which you have to factor in, with an added delay for any help needed for diving incidents. It was this that was the driving force behind us becoming Diver Medic Technicians.

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Q: Scapa Flow has a reputation as being deep, dark and dangerous, and like me, you do your upmost to dispel this myth. Why should those new to the joys of Scapa Flow dive with Orkney and Shetland Charters?

A: Scapa is very much what you choose to make it. You can do deep and dark and scary if you wish, but you don’t have to.

All of the wrecks have easier and very satisfying dive options, allowing you to see fantastic snapshots of history, if you are told where to look! A dive brief should be a balance of history and wreck orientation, and we pride ourselves on getting this balance right.

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by the hot, lots and quality approach, using home-bred lamb and venison as often as possible. We only have domestic appliances on board the boats, so learning to cook a starter, main course and pudding in a galley that can sometimes lurch to 25 degrees takes a little getting used to. Our main complaint is that people find their trousers are a touch tight by the end of the week.

Q: Diving is a hungry business, and you want nothing more than a good feed when you have been exploring the depths. The food offerings on Valkyrie and Valhalla are the stuff of legend – tell us more!

Helen: I began to cook on board the Stormdrift on a single gas burner, making huge pans of soup to help fill up hungry divers.

After we bought the Valkyrie, we decided that we could offer evening meals to allow people ultimate flexibility with their holidays. My first few years involved a lot of phone calls to my mother asking how to cook various things. I tend to stick

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After we bought the Valkyrie, we decided that we could offer evening meals to allow people ultimate flexibility with their holidays 44

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Q: As well as Scapa Flow, you operate out of the Shetland Islands for a time each year. What is the attraction of the Shetlands, and what makes the diving there different to that around the Orkneys?

A: Shetland is an amazing place. The further north you get, the more extreme things seem to become. Coastlines here take a true battering over the winter, effectively stripping the life back to bare rock, meaning that you get an explosion of biomass in the spring. Couple this with a plethora of wrecks to satisfy every taste in rust and extraordinary visibility, it makes Shetland a very popular destination.

Q: You have also run trips to Norway. What is the attraction for divers in the cold waters off the Norwegian coast?

A: Norway was somewhere we had always wanted to visit, indeed we built the Valhalla with visiting Norway in mind. The fjords are peppered with virtually untouched wrecks, with the authorities having a very strict ‘look but do not touch’ policy you can find even the most-delicate and fascinating items still in place, each one an underwater time capsule. During World War Two, Norway was bombarded by the Banff Strike Wing, who decimated the shipping around the coasts, meaning there is a wide breadth of variety of diving to be visited.

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Q: As we always do in our Q&As, what is your mostmemorable moment (can be diving, or more-related to the business side of things).

Helen: I would say one of mine was having what we suspected to be the wreck of the Parkmill be proven beyond doubt with the raising of the ship’s bell on the first dive. We had searched for many years to find it, and it put a full stop on the end of a fascinating story.

Q: On the flipside, what is your worst memory?

A: When a diver loses their life in an accident, even on other boats in the Flow. It brings home your own mortality, and the fact that the sport is not without risk.

Q: Thanks to COVID-19, 2020 has turned out to be a bit of a damp squib on the diving front. Are you getting slowly back on track now, and what does the future hold for Orkney and Shetland Charters?

A: We are back to running with divers in Shetland to start our 2020 season. With many weeks having to be rescheduled to next year, this means we will be busy in 2021 also.

We are returning to Norway in 2022, and have other plans beyond that in the pipeline, but I’m afraid you will have to be patient for those! n

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DIVERS ALERT NETWORK: EUROPE DAN Europe is an international non-profit medical and research organisation dedicated to the safety and health of divers.

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ARE YOU COVERED?

CONSIDERATIONS ON DIVING INSURANCE Everything you wanted to know about diving insurance but were too busy diving to ask. Alert Diver.eu contributing editor Michael Menduno asks ‘are you covered financially if you are injured on a dive trip?’

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e all know and expect that if you get bent, your DAN Europe insurance will pay for your treatment. Right? But what about if you had to spend an extra five days at a hotel and book new flights home as a result of the treatment.

Would those be covered too? How about if post-treatment rehabilitation were required?

What if the dive was a technical dive? Or a freedive? Are you covered for those? Instead, what if you and a friend decided to test your machismo aquatic and you made a deep air dive to 70m and got decompression illness (DCI)? How would your coverage fare? This assumes, of course, that you have diving insurance. If you don’t, you are subject to the largesse, and of course, the restrictions, of your national or private health insurance, if they cover diving at all, which is why DAN Europe invented diving insurance in the first place.

Now suppose that you slipped on the stairs on a diving liveaboard while headed to the dive deck and broke your leg. Is that considered a diving emergency? Are you sure? How about if you slipped and were injured after you had geared up?

What if that liveaboard was in Papua New Guinea, and you contracted dengue fever, or got in a motorbike accident on the way back to the boat, and had to be hospitalized. Would your DAN Europe insurance cover that, and if so, would the coverage be sufficient? How about if you were hospitalized in Mexico or in Egypt? Does it make a difference from a coverage perspective where you were injured and received treatment?

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The point is that there are many considerations, and a number of options with DAN Europe insurance depending upon the kind of diving you do, and where you do it. One size does not fit all!

Unfortunately, if you are like me before I began working on this story, you may not be aware of exactly what you are covered for, what you are not, and the extent of your coverage.

Given the potentially high cost of medical care, however, it is arguably in your financial interest to understand exactly what your options are. That way there won’t be any surprises.

Perhaps the best place to start is to examine the origins of DAN Europe’s diving insurance and the various options that are available under its programmes. Note that this article focuses exclusively on DAN Europe’s Sport insurance. We will address DAN Europe’s Pro insurance for diving professionals, which includes liability, and Dive Centre and Club insurance in separate articles.

NOTE ON DIVING INSURANCE

DAN Europe’s insurance packages were designed to address unexpected and acute emergencies, they are considered secondary insurance and are not meant to replace your primary health insurance, such as National Health Service insurance. In addition, they do not cover pre-existing conditions or injuries resulting from pre-existing conditions. The policies also exclude motorbike or quad bike accidents, along with mental illness, cancer and HIV. If you already have DAN Europe insurance, you can find out about the details of your coverage by logging into “My DAN” at https://daneurope.org

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In 2007, DAN Europe established its own insurance subsidiaries, based in Malta

INVENTING DIVING ACCIDENT INSURANCE

Originally called International Diving Assistance (IDA), DAN Europe established the first worldwide diving accident insurance with a third-party provider in 1982, to supplement IDA’s 24/7 hotline which provided medical assistance to travelling divers in need. Founder and president Dr Alessandro Marroni realized that in addition to medical advice, divers needed assistance covering the costs of expensive hyperbaric treatment.

In 2007, DAN Europe established its own insurance subsidiaries, based in Malta. That way the organization could be free to cover what it chose and be autonomous in its decision-making regarding claims. “We knew the field so well that we could be profitable and still pay claims,” explained DAN Europe’s senior vice president Laura Marroni. Not all DAN organizations have inhouse insurance.

DAN Europe also added its own supplemental ‘non-diving emergency’ travel insurance, so that members were covered while travelling no matter what the emergency. Note that from 2016-2018, 57 percent of members’ accidents were divingrelated, while 43 percent were non-diving related.

Finally, DAN Europe established recommendations for extended range and technical diving, limiting the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) at a maximum of 1.6 ATA and nitrogen pressures to a maximum PN2 of 5.6 ATA for air dives, the equivalent of an ‘air dive’ to 60m-66m. It recommends divers maintain a PN2 of 3.95 ATA or less for mixed gas dives (the air equivalent of 40m). Note that 1.6 ATA is regarded as the maximum level for oxygen during a dive, and is reserved for shallow water decompression. Divers who knowingly exceed these recommended limits could risk their coverage.

BACK TO BASICS

is the most basic package that covers the initial acute phase of a recreational diving injury up to €50,000. For example, it would pay for the initial treatment for an ear barotrauma on an Egypt dive vacation, but would not cover subsequent doctor visits with a specialist back at home. It does not cover travel disruption as a result of the emergency.

Bronze was designed for recreational diving, i.e. diving with air and nitrox mixtures, whether open circuit, a recreational rebreather, or breath-hold diving to depths of 40m. It also includes the use of normoxic trimix (an oxygen, helium, nitrogen mix) to minimize the effects of nitrogen narcosis. It does not cover technical diving.

In terms of non-diving medical emergencies, Bronze does not pay for treatment. It is limited to covering the cost of medical evacuation in the case of life or limb-threatening situations, and up to €50,000 for medical repatriation, for no more than 60 travelling days per trip per year. You would not be covered, for example, were you hospitalized for dengue fever or had another non-diving accident under the Bronze package. n

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Finding the appropriate diving insurance to protect yourself financially in case of emergency not only depends on the kind of diving that you are doing, but where you are planning to do it. Priced at €60 per year, DAN Europe’s Sport Bronze insurance

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SI’S

Robin has been extremely careful to develop the area for cave divers with the utmost respect for the local traditions and culture

Our crack team of cave divers continues their epic adventure to seek out the cave systems beneath Sulawesi in Indonesia, and as Maria Bollerup explains, there are some stunning sights awaiting underground PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETE MESLEY, RASMUS DYSTED AND MARIA BOLLERUP

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t was decided to have a go at some of the caves that Robin had previously marked out on his GPS on the island Pulau Muna. It needs to be said that an expedition like this could not be done without Robin. He has spent a long time familiarising himself on how to get things done appropriately.

Politics play a large role and it’s all about respecting the people, the land and the customs.

On Pulau Muna, we had to visit the chief of the villages to ask permission to dive in their caves. On a handful of occasions, we sat down and had coffee and food with ‘the right people’, exchanging pleasantries (and, of course, posing for selfies). Robin has been extremely careful to develop the area for cave divers with the utmost respect for the local traditions and culture. It was his hard work that got us the permission we needed to dive in the caves in Pulau Muna, and for future cave divers to enjoy.

Pulau Muna had a different feel from Pulau Buton. Robin had already laid line in quite a few different caves on the island, and he had a list of GPS marks that was just waiting to be explored. The prospective cave highest on Robin’s list was stunning and deep in the dry cave section. Robin was certain that this cave had massive potential due to the sheer amount of water that was obviously running through the cave.

The nearby village had already established an elaborate piped water system, running up through the steep and deep entry, out through the jungle and down to the town. For this reason, we had to do the diplomatic ‘walks and talks’ to gain Climbing skills came in access, and still stay low to make sure that no one would be necessary upset that we were going to dive in their water supply.

While negotiations were taking place, we had time to prospect another possible site. This one was a logistical their farming lands, the monkeys were forced to retreat nightmare. Getting to the cave was interesting in itself. Early deeper into the jungle. This meant that the python, who eat morning, we arrived at a local village, where we would wait monkey, had to settle for the old lady that was nursing her for some local men to join us. They’d be showing us the way. land. They showed us pictures of the incident - it was horrible.

It didn’t take long before the audience of chickens, kids and So with this monster, man-eating python on my mind, I villagers had gathered to follow the action. Quite a handful followed the troop (very closely) into the bushes. Pete, who of the ensemble followed us up to the end of the farmer’s grew up in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, was entertaining me fields, where we would proceed on foot into the jungle on the way, with how he was taught jungle survival as a kid armed with machetes. As we prepared to gear up, the men in the their schools. Pete is blessed with a brilliant sense of enthusiastically told us how an old lady had been swallowed humour and is a great storyteller. He even had me forgetting whole by a python in one of the nearby fields. We were all about that python right up until he exclaimed ‘… and informed that due to increased human presence extending there’s some fresh python shit right there’ on our track. I have to say that crawling down into the crevice in the ground, after having been told that Access to some this is perfect python estate had me quite tense. nces entra of the This cave ended up being the most-challenging one was hairy to access. To get to the water, we had to lower down all gear and team members through a narrow crack in the ground with a free drop of over 20 metres to

While negotiations were taking place, we had time to prospect another possible site. This one was a logistical nightmare WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

COMPUTERS • O2 CELLS • GAS ANALYSERS CABLES & CONNECTORS • REBREATHER PARTS PATHFINDER STROBES • SENSORS TOOLS • SOLENOIDS get to the entry. Rasmus, who is an experienced climber, set up anchors (with rope, karabiners and knots I never knew existed) on the cliffs above, so Pete and I could load Robin, Rasmus and gear down and up. I was well content with staying up topside. It looked beautiful down at the bottom, with rays of sun cutting through the darkness, lightning up this great cave… but, a few days earlier, I was introduced to the skill of ‘prusik’, which is when you climb up and down a rope in your climbing harness. But being too enthusiastic, and perhaps a little eager to impress the guys, I quickly climbed myself away up the rope (which we had set up in a palm tree) without giving them time to explain how to get down again.

This resulted in an embarrassingly long hang while trying to figure out how to return back to Mother Earth! And even though I afterwards had Rasmus train me in another palm tree (where I totally perfected the act, mind you!) 20-odd metres felt like a bloody long way up and down, especially if the cave did not go. So, the boys explored, and unfortunately it didn’t… ‘go’, I mean.

Now we were getting really low on days, and we only had one proper shot left, if there was still to be time to do proper surveying. Our top contender was the cave we were still waiting for permission to dive in. We were pinning all of our hopes on this one, spending the afternoon pumping up our reels with more cave line, certain that we would be able to lay it all, soon. Just as a side-note, knotting cave line beats the IKEA test by miles! Reeling out hundreds of metres of line, just to put it back on a reel while adding knots for every three metres is a two-man job. Not a husband/wife job. Luckily, I was saved by some girls who wanted to show me their village.

And then, just like that… we had it. Permission to dive the cave. The huge, massive promising dry cave, with the large pond at its bottom, became a reality.

Preparing to explore

With the help of extra local muscle, we got our gear to the bottom of the concrete stairs that had been thrown in for easy access to the water pipe. Splitting up in two teams, Pete and Robin went ahead on the main tunnel. Rasmus and I followed all initial side tunnels, jumping left and right. The side tunnels kept spinning back round to the main tunnel, but showed some bloody mind-blowing scenery along the way.

This cave was huge! This cave was no doubt the one that we had hoped for. The one that we built the entire expedition on, but not daring to actually trust we would find it. It was the cave that Robin had hoped existed in his area, the cave that would open up for extensive mapping and exploration.

And… it was stunning! The cave was bright white, completely untouched, with unspoiled walls and ceiling of the finest fossils of corals and crustaceans I have ever laid eyes on. I have always found the Mexican caves fascinating because of the fossils and the formations of stalagmites and stalactites, but this was just five steps up the ladder.

The topography was amazing

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To get to the water, we had to lower down all gear and team members through a narrow crack in the ground with a free drop of over 20 metres to get to the entry

Massive fossils of brain-coral, table-coral and stag-horns were sitting side by side with large banks of fragile shells with patterns as intricate and sharp as if they were still alive.

But what got me dropping my jaw completely were the giant clams. They were enormous, and they were everywhere.

To start, the cave was shallow, just a few metres in depth, sometimes it was completely submerged, but for a fair bit, it was running as a crystal-clear underground river through a huge dry cave, beautifully decorated with stalactites from the ceilings high above. Later on, Pete spent almost an entire dive in one of these great chambers, climbing around on the dry banks of the cave, photographing the beauty of this coliseum of a room, with the calm broad river running through. I was dumbstruck, we all were (A little disclaimer - I don’t want you to worry! Where Pete was walking, the floors were made of hard cave from the stalactites dripping down from the ceiling, so conservation of the cave was intact).

After the cave had been running shallow through the high halls, ever-changing between white corals and shells to crystal formations of stalactites and stalagmites, it dipped down deep. Completely submerged, it continued winding its way for kilometres under the jungle. On my very last dive in the cave, armed with extra stage tanks, I was laying line down the main tunnel, Robin was following me with the Nemo tool (a little device you put on the cave line to measure distance and compass heading). He was following me at a distance of one tie-off behind, to make sure the line was laid and fixed for accurate measurements. This had me swimming off into the cave, following the obvious main vein, passing tunnel upon tunnel branching off to the sides. We had found it, and we wanted to see how far it would go.

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On the previous dive, Rasmus and Robin had managed to lay 1.5km of new line into the cave. Robin and I were bringing stages on this dive and halfway into the dive, we had pushed beyond the point where they had finished emptied their reels the day before. And that was what we were doing now, emptying reels faster than we could fill them. While all this was happening, Pete had built a dry enclosure to keep the compressor dry and out of the rain while filling tanks between dives. Others were knotting more line, and adding it to the reels, sheltered from the rain by the cave itself.

When Robin finally signalled me to turn the dive, he had reached our turn pressure, I was completely immersed caught up in the pursuit, drinking in the cave. I was in the middle of the best dive of my life. The freedom I felt, when I was swimming into unknown territory, laying line that would provide information and proof of this wonderland, was very humbling. Finding cave that goes is one thing, but a cave of this calibre is a dream come true!

Not to sound like a cliché, but I thought I needed to pinch my arm myself to see if I was in a dream, when my equipment did just that… Just a few fin-kicks after we turned around, and with a lengthy swim back out, I heard a blast, and felt the force of gas rushing out of the cylinder underneath my right arm. The high-pressure hose had exploded and I was losing gas fast. I switched to my left post, as I shot shut down the tank on my right, and signalled Robin. A situation like this, is one out of many that we trained for, and I quickly went through the plan in my head, as I changed place with Robin. I would now exit the cave in front of him, allowing him to keep a better eye on me. The situation was not critical, we had stages dropped on the line further back, and I had plenty of gas to get there, but only because we had strictly kept to our plan and not exceeded any limits. I am an experienced cave diver, and I feel comfortable handling stress underwater, but on my exit, I sent a few warm thoughts to my training and my team for keeping it super professional and safe.

We checked out lots of prospect caves, and eventually laid several kilomentres of line, spread between the five caves that went further than just cavern. The exploration of the last cave is still ongoing. The whole area of South East Sulawesi remains highly unexplored, but also rather inaccessible, unless you team up with Robin on his quest to uncover the ancient systems that are found underground. But be wary of the maneating pythons - and be prepared for selfies at all times! n

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What’s New

AQUA LUNG OMNI (SRP: £607)

Created for anyone who wants to fully customize their dive gear, the Omni is a revolutionary jacket-style BCD designed to fit your specific style and size.

Using the ModLoc technology popularized by the Rogue and Outlaw BCDs, the Omni allows you to choose from three universal sizing components: for your back, your shoulders and your waist, allowing for dozens of size combinations.

It has the GripLock tank band for securing the BCD to your cylinder, and SureLock II integrated weight system. A threeposition bladder retraction system pulls in the sides of the bladder during deflation, keeping the unit streamlined and reducing drag.

Continue your customization by choosing from multiple accessory options and six colour kits. This is the ideal platform to create your perfect fit and you’ve got an infinity of possible configurations. The colour kits comprise the following components: back pad, reusable mesh bag, Sureloc II weight pockets, octo pocket, console holder, inflator hold down, zipper pulls, and chest strap slider. www.aqualung.com

MARES PURE WIRE (SRP: £63)

The Pure Wire mask features an extremely comfortable silicone skirt which is suited to a variety of face shapes.

The soft wired skirt portion provides support and enhances grip when fitting the mask.

It comes in a selection of colours, but thanks to the design, the user can opt to switch out elements of the bi-material frame to give themselves new colours/looks. www.mares.com

SANTI DIVING T-SHIRTS (SRP: £19.50)

The new apres-divewear collection includes two men’s T-shirts and two women’s T-shirts. One features a cool mashup of a technical diver and an angler fish, and the others have eye-catching Santi logos. www.santidiving.com

FOURTH ELEMENT OCEANPOSITIVE MASKS (SRP: £12.95) Fourth Element has released OceanPositive face masks, which are designed to offer protection and comfort using Econyl regenerated nylon, made in part from lost fishing nets.

Fourth Element’s new face masks are made using off-cuts from their already recycled swim-wear fabric, meaning waste is dramatically reduced. So wearers can keep themselves and others safe without adding to environmental damage.

Available in four colourways, the masks are secured with a double cord and knotted around the back of the head to avoid discomfort on the ears, but can be easily converted to ear loops if needed. Each mask comes with three PM 2.5 filters, which have five layers of filtration, includ-ing an activated carbon core layer. www.fourthelement.com

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AQUA LUNG DS MASK RANGE (SRP: £86) Aqua Lung has launched three new diving masks – the Profile, the Horizon, and the Mistique. All three masks are fitted with Aqua Lung‘s easy-touse flexible joint buckles and silicone 3D strap, and all come packaged in a luxury zippered Aqua Lung-branded EVA case.

The Profile is a super-comfortable frameless mask.

It has superior vision due to the design of the lens in both vertical and horizontal angles.

The Horizon is a hard-frame twin-lens mask that offers a great field of vision. It is low volume and has a stylish teardrop shape.

The Mistique is a hard-frame single-lens mask that offers an uninterrupted field of vision. It is low volume and has a stylish dragonfly shape.

Aqua Lung has two lens options for the new masks - the Plus and Blue HD Mirror lenses. Both technologies block out harmful HEV light that could damage your retina.

The Plus HD lens allows a moderate level of light into the eye and provides some glare protection while enhancing warm colours underwater. It’s a practical lens technology for changing conditions.

The Blue HD Mirrored lens provides excellent vision in both high and low light environments. In low level light, this lens technology offers a clearer vision, amplifies the light and provides higher contrast. In high light levels, it also reduces glare. www.aqualung.com/uk

SCUBAPRO ALADIN A2 (SRP: £495 COMPUTER ONLY / SRP: £765 WITH TRANSMITTER) The new A2 is designed for advanced divers and technical divers who appreciate the compactness and convenience of a wristwatch-style dive computer, but demand the kind of features and functions that enable them to excel in their sport. For daily topside use, the A2 offers full timekeeping functions and a Sport mode. When it’s time to go diving, the A2 offers everything an advanced recreational diver wants, and everything a technical diver needs.

It has a high-resolution hybrid matrix display with large numbers that are easy to read under water, even in adverse conditions, wireless air integration that can monitor multiple tank pressures and provides true remaining bottom time, while the digital tilt-compensated compass provides easy navigation under water or on the surface. The A2 lets you choose from six Dive modes – scuba, gauge, apnea, sidemount, trimix and CCR - and the predictive Multi-Gas ZHL16 ADT MB algorithm accommodates eight gases (21-100 percent O2) and two in CCR mode.

Plus, because it’s designed with Scubapro’s Human Factor Diving, it incorporates cutting-edge biometrics.

Whatever type of diving you do, the A2 is ready to go there with you. www.scubapro.com

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THIS ISSUE: HIGH-END REGULATORS Each month, the SCUBA DIVER test team assembles to rate and review a selection of dive equipment from a range of manufacturers. Products are split into price categories and are then evaluated for performance, comfort, ease of use, build quality, looks and value for money. The Test Team comprises Editor in Chief Mark Evans and a squad of volunteers, whose dive experience ranges from a couple of hundred dives to well over 7,500.

TOP-OF-THE-RANGE REGULATORS

This issue, we round out our reviews of one of the most-vital pieces of the modern divers’ kit bag regulators, or more specifically, top-of-the-line regs.

Without a solid, reliable reg, you aren’t going anywhere underwater, as this is your true life-support system.

As many of our readers dive all year round, we always test regulators in February and March, when water temperatures are at their lowest in the inland sites much to the chagrin of the Test Team members. This year, due to COVID-19, we ended up in the water in July.

We push the units to their max by extensively purging them underwater and topside, over-breathing them underwater to simulate a panic situation, breathing them in every orientation, working any Venturi and/or cracking resistance controls, and various other trials - if they can handle this over-the-top usage, they can handle a normal diving situation.

A large array of manufacturers produce regulators, and our aim here at Scuba Diver is to give you the widest selection in each review, and here we have regulators from the majority of the big players.

ON TEST THIS MONTH • APEKS MTX-RC • AQUA LUNG LEG3ND ELITE • ATOMIC AQUATICS Z3 • HOLLIS 200 LX/DCX • MARES EPIC ADJ 82X

• OCEANIC ZEO FDXI • SCUBAPRO MK25 EVO D420 • XDEEP NX700 LS200 • ZEAGLE F8

Location: Tested at Vivian Dive Centre, Llanberis www.viviandivecentre.com Date tested: 10/07/20 Water temp: 11 degrees C 56

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APEKS MTX-RC | SRP: £670 (STAGE 3 SET INCLUDING OCTOPUS) The Apeks MTX-R was the civilian version of the military-spec MTX (it was developed in accordance with the United States Navy Experimental Dive Unit’s extreme cold-water test), and this regulator featured a first-of-its-kind over-moulded first stage end cap and environmental diaphragm to prevent ice build-up, a forged body with five low-pressure ports and two high-pressure ports, and was equipped with a double-swivel braided hose.

However, the second stage had no dive adjustment controls, and that is where the MTX-RC comes in the second stage has a venturi lever, and a cracking resistance control knob. It also comes in a subtle gun-metal grey colour rather than the bright white of the MTX-R. All of the Test Team were complimentary about the construction and looks of both the first and second stages of the MTX-RC. While it performed well straight out of the box, we liked the ability to tweak the breathe to our liking - the venturi and the cracking resistance control were both large and easy to locate and operate while wearing gloves.

Thumbs up for the comfort of the ComfoBite mouthpiece as well. It breathes well in all positions. As you expect, all of the regulators in this price bracket performed well, but the MTX-RC was ultra-smooth in all orientations and however you are breathing through it, making it a clear favourite. www.apeksdiving.com/uk

TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: Well made, durable, smooth breathe, comfortable mouthpiece.

CONS: Perhaps a little on the heavy side for travelling.

SCORE

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AQUA LUNG LEG3ND ELITE | SRP: £650 The venerable Legend - now Leg3nd - is back in an all-new guise, and the Elite is the pick of the pack. The chromed overbalanced diaphragm first stage offers total environmental protection, giving it phenomenal cold-water performance, and the new heat exchanger, which has a bigger surface area and a co-moulded end cap, gives it excellent resistance to freezing. It has two highpressure ports and four low-pressure ports. It is equipped with Aqua Lung’s ACD (Auto Closure Device), which keeps corrosive water out of the first stage inlet by automatically closing as the reg is removed from the cylinder valve.

On the second stage, the soft co-moulded purge button is effective and easy to locate and operate even with thick neoprene gloves, the Comfo-Bite mouthpiece is still one of the best on the market in my opinion, and the comoulded exhaust tee efficiently vents exhaled bubbles either side of your face.

The Leg3nd Ultra has a venturi lever and a cracking resistance control knob, for complete independent control over the ease of the breathe. Again, regardless of thickness of exposure protection on the hands, the controls were easy to use, especially the cracking resistance control knob. It gave a silky smooth breathe in all orientations and is a good-looking unit to boot. www.aqualung.com

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CHOICE 2020 GROUP TEST

REGULATORS

TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: Eye-catching looks, smooth breathe, comfortable mouthpiece, build quality.

CONS: Perhaps a little on the heavy side for travelling.

SCORE

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ATOMIC AQUATICS Z3 | SRP: £479.95 Atomic Aquatics are renowned for producing high-end, high-performance regs, but with the Z3, they have managed to bring all this workmanship and technology into a well-priced package.

The Zirconium - that’s what the ‘Z’ stands for - delivers corrosion-resistance apparently three to four times that of conventional chrome plating, and the second stage lever, orifice and spring are titanium, as with the higher-spec (and price) models. It is equipped with a factory sealed first stage, huge purge button, comfort swivel, and no less than seven low-pressure ports and two high-pressure ports. As with all Atomic products, the reg benefits from a limited lifetime warranty - not contingent on proof of service and boasts a two-year/300 dive service interval. The Z3 scored very highly with the Test Team and it is a keenly priced way to get on the ‘Atomic’ ladder. It looks good with the chrome second stage surround, is extremely well made, boasts a silky smooth breathe and has some neat features like the Automatic Flow Control (AFC), which does away with a manual venturi lever and offers full control through the single knob, and a black PVD-coated comfort swivel on the hose. www.atomicaquatics.com

BEST VALUE 2020 GROUP TEST

REGULATORS

TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: AFC | CRACKING RESISTANCE: AFC | PROS: Well-made regulator with neat control system. Twoyear service interval. Lifetime warranty.

CONS: First stage is fairly heavy.

SCORE

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HOLLIS 200LX DCX | SRP: £524.95 Hollis continues to forge a path into regulators, and the flagship 200LX DCX is well worth a look.

The 200LX features a braided hose, large venturi lever, chunky cracking resistance control, and has a big purge. It can also be converted from right-hand to left-hand if you so wish.

It has five low-pressure ports and two high-pressure ports on its DCX first stage.

All metal components are have a PVD coating for added durability.

As with all Hollis regulators, it comes with a lifetime warranty, only requires a service every two years - and you get service kits free-of-charge for the life of the regulator.

As we noted with the 150LX last month, the super-comfy mouthpiece, which is soft but has harder inserts in the ‘bite’, is very reminiscent of Atomic Aquatics. The breathe on the 200LX is smooth and dry in all orientations, and the big, chunky venturi lever and cracking resistance control are both easy to use even wearing drygloves, as is the huge purge, which is effectively the entire front of the second stage. It looks good too, in an understated way with the PVD finish inserts, and I like the red-andblack colour scheme. www.hollis.com

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TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: Good-looking regulator with well-designed controls.

Two-year service interval. Lifetime warranty.

CONS: DCX is not the lightest of first stages.

SCORE

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MARES EPIC ADJ 82X | SRP: £584 Mares gave their regulator line-up a serious overhaul for 2019, and the Epic Adj 82X still represents a formidable unit.

The first stage is a solid piece of kit, with natural ‘dynamic flow control’ on all lowpressure ports, which are mounted on a swivel turret, and tilted so you can find that perfect routing.

The all-metal second stage has a unique pivoting purge valve, lightweight braided Superflex hose, and a neat ‘twist’ control to boost the flow rate from natural breathing to power breathing, all of which was seen on the Fusion reg. However, the Epic also has a cracking resistance control knob for further fine-tuning of the breathe. Both the first and second stages have an eye-catching PVD coating, which not only looks great but also adds another degree of protection. The Epic Adj 82X put in a strong showing in this Group Test, and if anything, the Test Team felt we had to dial down the air flow it was so powerful. The pivoting purge and ‘motorcycle throttle’ venturi control was again well received, and the Team also liked the cracking resistance control, which although quite small compared with others here was still operable with thick gloves on. Good-looking, great-performing regulator. www.mares.com

TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: Good-looking regulator with well-designed venturi lever. Two-year service interval. Lifetime warranty.

CONS: Hefty solid first stage.

SCORE

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OCEANIC ZEO FDXI | SRP: £549.95 Oceanic are making inroads back into the reg market, and the Zeo is their range-topper.

The FDXi first stage is small and compact, yet is still a pneumatically balanced and environmentally sealed diaphragm design, with four lowpressure ports and two high-pressure ports.

The Zeo second stage is also pneumatically balanced and features a large venturi lever and big cracking resistance control knob to finetune the breathe. The oval face has a decent-sized purge, and a swivel aids comfort in use.

The Zeo also benefits from Oceanic’s limited lifetime warranty and ‘free servicing parts for life’.

The Zeo certainly stands out from the crowd, thanks both to its unique ovalshaped second stage and its bold white finish (a black version is also available).

It is lightweight, so ideal for travelling divers, but equally coped well with this cold-water test, making it a good all-rounder. The large venturi lever and cracking resistance control knob were easy to use with gloved hands, and the purge was effective. A great little reg - and don’t forget that superb limited lifetime warranty. www.oceanicworldwide.com

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TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: The Zeo FDXi is light enough for travel but great in cold water too. Free service parts for life. Lifetime warranty.

CONS: Effective purge, but quite small.

SCORE

••••••••••

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SCUBAPRO MK25 EVO D420 | SRP: £695 Scubapro has brought back the venerable D-series of regulators. The D420 is reminiscent of previous D-regs, with its unusual shape of second stage.

It has a balanced valve which delivers abundant airflow regardless of depth, and the pivoting purge is highly efficient. The dive/pre-dive lever is mounted on the top, and is easy to find and operate even when wearing thick neoprene gloves.

For this test it was paired with the proven MK25 EVO flow-through piston first stage, which is fully insulated from the environment by the XTIS (Extended Thermal Insulating System) and has numerous innovative design features to aid cold-water performance. It has two high-pressure ports and five low-pressure ports.

The MK25 EVO and the D420 make a solid pairing. The tried-and-tested MK25, now in its improved EVO guise, is compact, durable and efficient, and its works well with the relatively compact and robust D420 second stage. It has to be said, that odd-looking second stage takes some getting used to, but there is no doubt that it provides a very smooth, easy breathe in all orientations.

The mouthpiece is also very comfortable. www.scubapro.com

TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: No | PROS: Superior performance, great purge, easy to use dive/pre-dive control, comfy mouthpiece.

CONS: Odd looks may put some people off.

SCORE

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XDEEP NX700 LS200 | SRP: €580 Polish company xDeep has really earned itself a solid reputation for its robust, well-made and stylish backplate-and-wings, and it has now released its NX700/LS200 regulator.

Let’s talk about that first stage. The NX700 is the definite show-stopper when it comes to this reg. It has two high-pressure ports and five low-pressure ports. The forged body is protected by a shiny chrome finish. It is an environmentally sealed overbalanced diaphragm design, with a heat exchanger ‘wrapped’ around the HP valve, so perfect for cold-water diving. So far, so normal. Where it all goes xDeep is the design of the body. The two high-pressure ports and two of the lowpressure ports come straight out of the main body, as per the norm, but on the front of the first stage is a large circular addition, which has another three low-pressure ports. This is a unique swivel, mounted on the face of the first stage instead of the top. It can be locked in place, or allowed to move freely, depending on whether you are diving a single cyliner, a twinset or sidemount. The second stage is more-traditional, with a cracking resistance control and venturi lever.

The xDeep regs provided a smooth breathe, and the controls were simple to find and use. That first stage is certainly an eye-catcher. www.xdeep.eu

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TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: Eye-catching regulator (especially the first stage), good performance. Easy to use controls.

CONS: Some people might be phased by the first stage.

SCORE

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ZEAGLE F8 | SRP: £539.95 Zeagle have worked with Atomic Aquatics to produce a solidly constructed regulator.

The F8 has an environmentally sealed balanced diaphragm first stage made from durable brass, and featuring a precisionmachined neoflon seat.

The second stage has a tough nylon case and has a seat-saving orifice, zirconium-plated inlet tube and heat sink for superior corrosion resistance, and a new inhalation diaphragm. The redesigned front cover and cracking resistance control use co-molded components that provide high levels of grip.

Zeagle have long been producing topquality BCDs and wings, and now they are well-established in the world of regulators after teaming up with the knowledgeable team at Atomic Aquatics.

The first stage of the F8 is a compact but well-made unit, but we have to say that the second stage doesn’t actually look as eye-catching as its cheaper sibling, the Onyx II (which scored well last month). No doubting the performance of the F8, though - the breathe was nice and smooth in all positions, the cracking resistance control is large and easy to use, as is the venturi lever, and the mouthpiece is comfortable. www.zeagle.com

TECH SPECS & VERDICT VENTURI: Yes | CRACKING RESISTANCE: Yes | PROS: Overall a decent regulator. Large, easy to find and operate venturi and cracking resistance controls.

CONS: Not as eye-catching as the Onyx II.

SCORE

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VERDICT Regulators are something we rely on underwater, so you want to know you can count on it, and none of these regs was found wanting, despite some, shall-wesay, robust testing!

When it to the Best Value Award, it was a close-fought battle between the Hollis 200LX, Zeagle F8 and the Atomic Aquatics Z3. All three regulators performed admirably and coped well with all of the stresses we put them through, but the Z3 just nudged ahead thanks to its good looks, great performance and outstanding warranty and service interval.

The Choice Award was another battle royale, with several regulators in the running. The Mares, xDeep, Apeks, Aqua Lung and Scubapro units all put in a sterling performance, but in the end the Leg3nd just nosed ahead. All effortlessly delivered air whatever we put them through, and all impressed the Test Team in different ways. After much debate, we ended up giving the Choice Award to the Aqua Lung, but it was a seriously close-run thing.

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There are many moments like this in the future.

EUROPEAN MADE

www.xdeep.eu

SHEARWATER RESEARCH PEREGRINE | SRP: £447.60 Mark Evans: Canadian company Shearwater Research has rapidly carved itself a niche for high-performing, robust and, perhaps most importantly, user-friendly dive computers. The Petrel 2 gained a legion of followers, as did the Perdix AI, and then the Teric wristwatch unit. The innovative NERD II HUD also went down a storm.

Now one of the things I particularly liked about the Perdix AI and the Teric was that while they were supremely capable dive computers, with abilities and features that would sate the desires of even the most-hardened technical diver, they were also so easy to use that even novice divers could happily put them into recreational mode and go diving.

The fact that as the diver progressed in their diving career, the computer could easily ‘grow’ with them, was a major plus point in my eyes, and that ability to cope with recreational and open circuit/closed circuit technical diving could offset the purchase cost of the unit.

However, there are plenty of people out there who just want to pootle along a pretty coral reef and never stray out of recreational depths. For them, the outlay for a computer that is capable of doing far more than they will ever dream of just isn’t worth the investment.

That’s where the Peregrine comes in, with a very keen price point. It is still a very-capable decompression computer, with four diving modes - straightforward air mode, single nitrox (up to 40 percent), three-gas switchable nitrox (up to 100 percent) and gauge for the techies. This means it can still easily deal with entrylevel technical diving, and beyond - in gauge mode - if necessary. It has a vivid 2.2-inch LCD full-colour screen - with a user-customisable display - utilises the tried-andtested Buhlmann ZHL-16C algorithm with gradient factors, features an intuitive dive planner, and uses a simple twobutton control system for navigating the menus. Like the Teric, it can be wirelessly charged up - via the supplied USB wireless charging station - with each charge giving approximately 30 hours on medium brightness level.

As with previous Shearwaters you can upload dive logs via wireless data transfer, and get free firmware updates. I have long extoled the virtues of my Perdix AI and Teric computers, so I was keen to get my hand on the Peregrine. Shearwater duly obliged and sent me a unit soon after the official global launch.

First reactions? It exudes the quality we have come to expect from Shearwater. It comes in a zippered protective case like the Perdix AI and the Teric. On opening it, in a zippered section in the ‘lid’ you find the charging cable, a quality checklist card with hand-signed checks, and a short cheat-sheet explaining how to charge the unit, how to attach the strap, etc.

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In the main compartment, you find the Peregrine nestled securely in a dense foam surround. Lift it out, and you find the rubber wrist strap coiled around the outside, and the spindles and attachment tools in cutouts on the rear. Inside this foam, between the Peregrine itself and the tools you find the charging station.

At the very bottom, you find the shock cord - an optional way to mount the computer on your wrist - along with a spare screen protector, and two Shearwater stickers.

I opted to fit the rubber strap, as I have never been a fan of shock-cord straps, and it was doddle to attach. No fiddly spindles here - you get chunky units that use two (supplied) fat Philips-head screwdrivers to tighten into place. The rubber wrist strap is comfortable and holds the computer securely in place on your arm, but I have to be honest, I still prefer the elastic-and-pinch-clip straps on my Perdix AI. Switch on the computer, and the familiar blue-and-white colour scheme appears. For anyone who uses a Perdix AI, the screen display will be instantly recognisable - I tend to use my Perdix predominantly in Rec mode, as it is more than sufficient for most of the diving I am doing, and the screen display on the Peregrine is basically the same.

All of the relevant information is right there in front of you - depth, dive time, the active gas, your max depth, time, water temperature, your NDl and tissue loading, and then your safety stop. As with my Perdix, it is extremely clear to read underwater, even when it is gloomy, and in fact, my buddy could read it from a few metres away!

The navigation system on the Peregrine is just the same as on the Perdix AI, apart from the fact this time around you

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get stainless steel buttons that have a nice ‘feel’ to them. Easy to use even with thick drygloves on.

As with the Perdix, the menu on the Peregrine is very intutitive and even a new user could be happily bouncing around through the different areas in just a few minutes. I particular like the visual and vibration alerts from the Peregrine. I tend to switch off audible alarms (not that it has any) anyway as they just bug me, but the vibration is great - you can easily feel it through a wetsuit or even a drysuit.

So what is the major difference between the Perdix AI and the Peregrine? Well, other than the aforementioned tech diving features, the big two are no compass, and no air integration. But look at that price. If you want air integration and a compass, as well as the additional tech options, go for the Perdix AI - or the Teric - but if these two features are not vital to you, then the Peregrine makes a solid choice. If you want to ‘pimp’ your Peregrine, optional colour wrist straps are available in Ocean Blue and White. www.shearwater.com

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Ocean Conservation Trust plants first seeds in National Marine Aquarium’s seagrass lab

National Marine Aquarium’s seagrass lab

T

he Ocean Conservation Trust has planted the first seeds in its seagrass cultivation laboratory at the National Marine Aquarium – the largest aquarium in the UK - as part of a major £2.5 million habitat restoration project funded by EU LIFE and led by Natural England.

The laboratory, which was unveiled for the first time in early June to coincide with World Oceans Day, has now been filled with the test batch of around 60,000 seeds, marking an important milestone in the three-year LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES habitat restoration project.

As part of the project, the Ocean Conservation Trust will be cultivating up to 360,000 plants a year in the new laboratory, to help restore up to eight hectares of lost seagrass meadows.

A germination rate of around 25 percent is expected within the test batch over the next 50 days, resulting in around 15,000 Zostera Marina plants that will remain in the National Marine Aquarium’s public seagrass exhibit until next spring.

Once the cultivation process has proven successful, three further rounds of planting will take place, with volunteers set to be recruited to help with the planting of around 600,000 seeds in each. The plants will help to restore over eight hectares of lost seagrass meadows within Special Areas of Conservation in waters around the UK. The laboratory is now open for public viewing at the National Marine Aquarium, with visitors having the

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opportunity to see the plant cultivation in action whilst learning more about the importance of seagrass.

As well as restoring huge areas of lost habitats, the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project aims to protect vital seagrass meadows located in Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) around the UK’s coasts by providing advanced mooring systems, voluntary boating codes, and targeted training. The Ocean Conservation Trust is also delivering the educational element to the programme within schools around the South West, alongside project partner, the Marine Conservation Society.

Mark Parry, Seagrass Ecologist and Project Manager at the Ocean Conservation Trust, said: “We’re delighted to have reached this next important stage in what is an incredibly significant project in the conservation and regeneration of the UK’s seagrass meadows. At the Ocean Conservation Trust, we’ve been studying and working with seagrass for many years now, and so it is amazing to have the chance to put our expertise by leading on the cultivation and replanting elements of the project.

“Seagrass meadows have become increasingly under threat in recent years due to a combination of factors including human activity and climate change, and so it is vital that we take steps now not just to protect those we still have, but to regenerate those that have already been lost. Seagrass meadows are one of the most-ecologically important habitats in the UK, supporting our fisheries and helping to prevent coastal erosion, as well as absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, so looking after them is not just in the interests of the Ocean, but ours, too.” n www.national-aquarium.co.uk

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