Scuba Diver #57 by scubadivermag

VOBSTER SANTAS

WE DON OUR SANTA SUITS FOR THE ANNUAL FUNDRAISING EVENT

MUCK DIVING – IN SCOTLAND

LAWSON WOOD EXPLAINS HOW YOU DON’T NEED TO TRAVEL TO SE ASIA FOR MACRO CRITTERS

HERE BE GIANTS

DON SILCOCK GOES IN SEARCH OF THE GIANT CUTTLEFISH

WE SHOWCASE THE STUNNING UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE AMERICAN ICON GRIBSHUNDEN

DIVERS ALERT NETWORK

WHAT’S NEW ISSUE #57

S-TEK PRO System 30 S-TEK PRO System 30

“Better Fit, Adjustability “Better Fit, Adjustability & Comfort” & Comfort” —CHRIS, DIVE GUIDE —CHRIS, DIVE GUIDE

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S C UB A P RO. E U S C UB A P RO. E U

EDITOR IN CHIEF Mark Evans Tel: 0800 0 69 81 40 ext 700 Email: mark@scubadivermag.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION MANAGER Matt Griffiths Email: matt@scubadivermag.com CONTRIBUTORS Lawson Wood, Walt Stearns, Don Silcock, Phil Short, Jason Brown PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Ross Arnold Tel: 0800 0 69 81 40 ext 701 Email: ross@scubadivermag.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Penney Evans Email: penney@scubadivermag.com

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PUBLISHERS Rork Media Limited 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.

is a registered trademark of Rork Media. ISSN 2514-2054

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Festive frivolities to see in the New Year The sight of hundreds of divers dressed as Santa Claus - with the odd reindeer and elf thrown in for good measure - can mean only one thing: the annual Vobster Santa event, raising money for the RNLI and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. This year, I headed down to Vobster with my son Luke in tow, and I have to say, it was the perfect tonic for the end of a very challenging year. There was lots of laughter and smiles from the assembled throng, and the fact that once we got into the water in all of our Santa finery, the visibility was absolutely stunning, easily approaching 15 metres or more, was the icing on the cake. If you have never done the Vobster Santa event, then get it in your diary for 2022 - it is a great way to wrap up the outgoing year, and see in the New Year with a bit of festive cheer! Turn to page 42 for a full report. Also in this issue, we have a bit of inspiration for the coming year. Don Silcock heads off in search of the Australian giant cuttlefish, and reckons this aggregation is one of the most-spectacular wildlife events in the world. Lawson Wood shows that you don’t have to venture off to Southeast Asia for world-class muck diving, revealing some fantastic sites off his native Scotland. In this issue’s Q&A, we chat to Walt Stearns, the Editor-at-Large of Scuba Diver Destinations about CCRs, blackwater diving and Golaith grouper. Last but not least, Phil Short takes us behind the scenes of the Gribshunden project, which sees divers employing technical diving equipment and techniques on an excavation of one of the world’s most-preserved ancient wrecks - it caught fire and sank in 1495. Mark Evans, Editor-in-Chief

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VOBSTER SANTAS

WE DON OUR SANTA SUITS FOR THE ANNUAL FUNDRAISING EVENT

MUCK DIVING – IN SCOTLAND

LAWSON WOOD EXPLAINS HOW YOU DON’T NEED TO TRAVEL TO SE ASIA FOR MACRO CRITTERS

HERE BE GIANTS

DON SILCOCK GOES IN SEARCH OF THE GIANT CUTTLEFISH

WE SHOWCASE THE STUNNING UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE AMERICAN ICON GRIBSHUNDEN

DIVERS ALERT NETWORK

WHAT’S NEW ISSUE #57

Cover.indd 1

PHOTOGRAPH © WALT STEARNS

STEARNS

20/12/2021 16:06

Regular columns

Monthly features...

10 News round-up

18 Scotland

16 DAN Europe Medical Q&A

24 Q&A with Walt Stearns

The formation of the UK Ghost Gear Coalition, Virgin Pure partners with PADI AWARE Foundation, the resurrection of Divernet, and RAID announces no membership fees.

The Divers Alert Network experts answer more queries, including about air consumption.

40 Divers Alert Network

In the first of a five-part series, Audrey Cudel asks ‘are you missing any of your foundational diving skills?’.

66 Our-World Underwater Scholarship

The return of the regular Scholarship column, introducing this year’s Scholar, Arzucan Askin.

Lawson Wood explains how you don’t need to travel around the globe to exotic locations to find quality ‘muck diving’, and shows what can be found in Scotland’s sea lochs.

Underwater photographer and writer Walt Stearns has been a staple on the diving scene for decades, and is Editor-atLarge on our North American title, Scuba Diver Destinations. We chat to him about the challenges of blackwater diving, his affinity for Goliath grouper, and why he loves his CCR.

30 Underwater Photography

If you want to get an impressive wide-angle photo, there are a few compositional elements you can always rely on. The Snell’s window is one of them, but what is it?

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...continued

Gear & testing

34 Australia

58 What’s New

Scuba Diver Senior Travel Editor Don Silcock ventures off South Australia in search of breeding aggregations of giant Australian cuttlefish.

42 Scuba Santa

Hordes of Santa-suit-wearing divers heading towards frigid waters can mean only one thing – the annual return of the Vobster Santas event. This year, Mark Evans and his son Luke ventured to Somerset to join in the festive fun.

48 TECH: Sweden

Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans looks at new products to market, including the Ammonite System T-valve, DivePro S17 LED dive light, the Fourth Element Storm poncho, the Nautilus strobe, and Scubapro’s S-Tek range. Plus, a sneak peek of the Fourth Element Scout mask!

60 Test Extra

Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans and his son Luke put the Fourth Element J2 baselayer to the test as water temperatures head into single digits.

Phil Short has been involved in the major archaeological project revolving around the Gribshunden wreck in the Baltic for a number of years. Here he recounts what it is like to dive into history.

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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

UK GHOST GEAR COALITION FORMED FROM FATHOMS FREE, GHOST DIVING UK, NARC AND SEA SHEPHERD

bandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), otherwise known as ghost gear, are the deadliest form of marine plastic pollution, killing millions of marine animals, and thankfully, there are many organisations working to combat this problem, which has now led to the creation of the UK Ghost Gear Coalition (UKGGC). In a bid to reduce the response time to reported sightings of ghost gear and to widen their geographical reach within our waters, Fathoms Free, Ghost Diving UK, NARC and Sea Shepherd Ghostnet Campaign have formed this new coalition to combine their extensive resources and improve efficiency. From now on, when members of the public report ghost gear sightings on the platform of one coalition member, the data will become immediately available to all members of the UK Ghost Gear Coalition. This will ensure the quickest and most-efficient response, minimizing travel times by using the closest resources available. Retrieving ghost gear is demanding in terms of logistics, and the coalition aims to meet these demands in the best way possible. By utilizing divers who are most closely located to the reported sighting, response times will be dramatically reduced, and the carbon footprint will be significantly reduced. As well as these improvements in efficiency, UKGGC members will work together to ensure safe practices and use each other’s experiences in a program of continuous development. The coalition also aims to build awareness of marine pollution and the ghost fishing phenomenon by participating in school programs and public events. The UKGGC is open to working with other organisations dedicated to removing ghost gear from the sea before it harms marine life or reaches our shores. If there are any other organisations who would like to join the coalition and work with them, then contact Tony Land at: tony@seashepherduk.org

Who makes up the coalition?

Fathoms Free - Formed in 2014 by conservationists to address the issue of marine plastics and debris around the shores of Cornwall. Fathoms Free has now evolved to a team of volunteer divers dedicated to dealing with ALDFG and marine debris. With their own RIB for faster responses from any coastline and a great relationship with charters in the area, they›re tackling the issue head on by cleaning up the wrecks and reefs of ghost fishing gear around Southwest England. Ghost Diving UK - Ghost Diving UK is part of a global organisation founded in 2012, run by volunteer scuba divers who are specialised in the removal of lost fishing gear and other marine debris. They carry out innovative and challenging nature conservation projects independently or together with other common goal organisations. Through significant clean-up results and inspiring underwater photography, they have been instrumental in bringing the phenomenon of ‘ghost fishing’ to the attention of the public. In the UK, they operate in the north from Tynemouth and target wrecks in the North Sea and soon on the southeast and west coasts.

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NARC - Neptune’s Army of Rubbish Cleaners (NARC) is an award-winning charity formed in 2005 by local diver Dave Kennard. The charity is entirely run by volunteers who are passionate about having a positive impact upon the marine environment. Since inception NARC has carried out over 2000 underwater clean-ups and worked with a number of partners in the UK and abroad. Along with clean-up diving, NARC focuses on raising awareness of the impacts and working on collaborative solutions along the Pembrokeshire coastline. Sea Shepherd Ghostnet Campaign - As part of a global effort by Sea Shepherd to combat the issue of discarded fishing gear, Sea Shepherd UK launched its Ghostnet Campaign in January 2018 to concentrate on known problem areas around UK coastal waters. The campaign will operate out of Grimsby and focus on the East Yorkshire/North Lincs coastline during 2022.

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VIRGIN PURE PARTNERS WITH PADI AWARE FOUNDATION

To help hammer home the severity of the issues of plastic pollution, home water filtration system Virgin Pure – which has made it a mission to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles we consume in the UK – has partnered with marine conservation charity PADI AWARE Foundation to reimagine four classic fish recipes as they might be in 2050, by including one incongruous ingredient: plastic. Imagine tucking into a hearty portion of fish and chips, or a comforting fish pie, but instead of eating fish, you’re confronted with dirty, discarded plastic. The starkly damning image of whole fish replaced by plastic waste could well be a reality by 2050, when research predicts there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. It may seem an extreme image, but it is already happening, albeit invisibly; studies continue to reveal how much we consume in the form of microplastics in our food and water. The average Londoner still buys more than three SUP water bottles every week, an eye-watering 175 bottles every year per person. In total, some 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought across the UK each year, resulting in substantial amounts of single-use plastic waste. Data from PADI AWARE Foundation, which works with scuba divers across the world to remove plastic waste from the seas, also reveals there are over 8 million pieces of plastic entering the ocean each day – it estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic in the ocean for every square mile, with the majority (80%) of that plastic coming from the land. Virgin Pure has recreated four recipes as a wake-up call to all bottled water buyers: Golden Beer-Battered Fish with Chips, a seafood Linguine, a traditional Fish Pie and a Seafood Paella to the same quality standard but with one additional standout ingredient replacing the majority of the seafood in each: plastic. All the plastic used in the dishes has been retrieved from the ocean by PADI Aware Foundation, meaning it’s the exact plastic rubbish that’s being dumped into the world’s oceans which causes serious issues for marine animals and the environment. These plastics are not only ingested by animal

life, but through the water we drink and the food we eat. In fact, researchers believe that between 10 and 30% of fish in any sample will be contaminated with microplastics. Tom Stazicker, CEO of Virgin Pure, comments: “None of us want to be consuming plastic, visible or not. Our products filter out harmful substances like chlorine, rust and microplastics that are commonly found in regular tap water, giving a better reason than ever before for people to stop buying bottled water. We’re delighted to be supporting the work that PADI AWARE Foundation does by partnering them, and proud to be able to offer a solution for those who want to kick the plastic bottle habit for good.” Danna Moore, Global Director, PADI AWARE Foundation adds: “We hope this campaign helps bring to life just how severe the problem is, and encourages people to do better, get involved in ocean conservation and cut down on singleuse plastic bottles. Whether you are a certified diver, a fisherman or a small child building a sandcastle at the local beach, the declining health of the oceans affects us all. One of the benefits of Virgin Pure is that it provides clean-tasting, filtered drinking water on tap, making it that much easier to stop buying bottled water altogether. The devices also filter out microplastics from tap water, the same microplastics that are also commonly found in fish and other seafood.

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THE RESURRECTION OF DIVERNET

Divernet is one of the longestestablished diving websites out there, first hitting the ’net in 1996, and so it was a crying shame to see this valuable resource set to vanish as the Diver Group went into liquidation, one of the latest industry casualties of COVID-19. So Rork Media, the dynamic team behind the global Scuba Diver brand and the GO Diving Show are pleased to announce that they have purchased Divernet and the website is now back up and running. The team are also excited to reveal that long-standing and well-respected Diver magazine Editor Steve Weinman has agreed to return to the fold and will be taking over adding News and other content to Divernet in the near future. Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans said: “When I first entered the diving industry way back in early 1999, at one of the first shows I attended as the newly minted Editor of Sport Diver magazine, I was warmly welcomed into the diving world by Bernard Eaton, the co-founder of what became Diver magazine. He was charming, funny and asked me with a wry smile whether I truly knew what I was letting myself in for. These are words I have often remembered! “Alas, Bernard passed away many years ago, and it was another sad day when the Diver Group went into liquidation a couple of months ago. COVID-19 has been tough for many companies, and it was the final straw for the business.” He added: “Myself and the rest of the team at Rork Media are delighted that we have been able to salvage some of this rich heritage with the resurrection of the Divernet website, and that in the near future it will be maintained by Diver magazine’s long-standing Editor Steve Weinman.”

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NO RAID MEMBERSHIP FEES - EVER

RAID shook the dive industry to its roots in early December by announcing Zero FEe-Membership* to all its professional members and dive centres. The industry norm is to charge instructors and dive centres an annual fee to do business with them. RAID has torn up the status quo and once again offered something new and unique in the diving marketplace. At a time when the diving world is still reeling from the ravages of COVID and its impact on the adventure travel industry, the benefit of not charging a fee to teach for the agency is obvious and far-reaching. RAID Zero FEe-Membership is the latest initiative from the industry’s lead innovator and follows its FREe-Learning programme and other businesssupport programmes released in 2020. FREe-Learning opened all RAID academics to divers, dive pros and dive centres free of charge, and issued a wake-up and follow us call to the industry. CONTACT info@diveraid.com or your local RAID Regional Office for full details and for instructions on how to remain in status for 2022, or cross your instructor membership or business over to Dive RAID International. *To maintain active status in 2023, RAID instructors will be required to certify five (5) divers during 2022. Should this not be achieved, instructors will be required to do an online update which will detail all the changes at RAID during the past year.

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BALI RESORTS HOUSE REEF THRIVES DURING LOCKDOWN

While the ‘Island of the Gods’ battened down the hatches during the pandemic, an emerging reef off the shores of a Bali resort has deepened its roots and flourished — so much so that the Siddhartha Oceanfront Resort & Spa is ringing the bells on the success of a reef restoration and house reef project, with the launch of two new diving and snorkeling packages for its April 2022 re-opening. The creation of an immense artificial reef, spanning 100 metres near the shoreline of the property, and the expansion of the existing reef are passion projects of onsite Managing Directors and owners, Stefan Brand and Barbara Ebel. Over the last several years the couple have worked tirelessly to develop the area in front of the resort, known as Kubu Marine Park, as a marine sanctuary, sometimes spending several hours a day underwater. “We never wanted to break anything to create something new so the project has taken a long time to get to the stage where it is now,” explained Brand. To create the house reef the couple collected broken stone corals and soft corals that had separated naturally from other reefs – from strong current, for example – and have successfully used discarded man-made materials as a foundation for growth. “Some corals that we didn’t think would even work on the reef have flourished during recent times,” said Ebel. “Just this month we spotted a coral that we didn’t think would take and it’s already grown over a square metre.” The house reef might have been slow to grow but the increase in fish happened quickly. With limited people frequenting the spot due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the area is teeming with even more coral growth and marine life. Such sea life as turtles, trumpetfish, batfish, schooling snapper, sweetlips and fusiliers, along with leaf fish, lionfish, and even the occasional reef shark or eagle ray can now be found in the waters outside Siddhartha. Also accessible from the property is the Boga Wreck, a 50-metre-long ship that was purposely sunk in 2012 and has since been claimed by nature. Remnants inside the

Boga, ranging from Buddha statues to a VW Jeep, can also be discovered by more advanced divers. The famous USAT Liberty Wreck, a US cargo ship that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during World War Two, is only a few minutes by car or boat from the oceanfront property. With a fully equipped SSI (Scuba Schools International) dive centre on site, Siddhartha has rolled out two new packages that cater to a range of underwater enthusiasts, from the curious to the advanced. “Discover East Bali” is a ten-night stay package that includes two guided one-hour house reef dives (by scuba or snorkel) and two 60-minute Balinese style massages at the resort’s Six Elements Spa. Rates start from USD1,130 per room. “Explore Diving Bali” is a new seven-night stay package for certified divers featuring six guided dives that take in the house reef along with other famous nearby shore dive sites. Starting rates are from USD900 per room. Both offers include airport transfers and daily breakfast and are available until 1 December 2022. Free yoga classes are also on offer each day in an open-air Balinese-style pavilion near the shoreline.

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KEMP’S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE RESCUED FROM NORTH WALES BEACH

EMPEROR PRICING MEANS NO HIDDEN EXTRAS

A Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle – the rarest and most-endangered species in the world and normally found in the Gulf of Mexico – that was found barely alive on a North Wales beach is making a remarkable recovery at the Anglesey Sea Zoo. The turtle was found on Talacre Beach by Ash and Samantha James, who were out walking their dog. They initially thought the animal was dead, but decided to report the finding to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR). They returned to the beach with their son Gethin and relocated the turtle for the BDMLR, and we amazed when it moved slightly when gently prodded. The turtle, which was initially named Raphael by the couple but is now known as Tally after the beach it was found on, was collected by staff from the Anglesey Sea Zoo and taken for treatment for cold-water shock. Tally was placed in a specially adapted incubator to help regulate its temperature, and after a very gradual increase, it is now approaching its normal rate, moving out of critical care and into the recovery stage. Tally is currently housed in a shallow tub in a purpose-built igloo-type construction to enable close monitoring and hand’s-on treatment and will be moved to a larger tank over the next few weeks. Ms Frankie Hobro, Director and Owner of the Anglesey Sea Zoo, said: “We are seeing regular burst of activity and we are gradually increasing the depth of water in Tally’s tank. The turtle is still on rehydration therapy, vitamins and antibiotics, but so far, there do not appear to be any underlying conditions of concern as a result of its cold-stranding and these early stages of recovery are currently going well and looking extremely promising.” It is thought the turtle was pushed way off course by Atlantic storms which affected the jetstream. Sadly, two other juvenile Kemp’s Ridley turtles were found on beaches in Scotland but had already died. Ms Hobro added: “We are extremely grateful for the amount of public support we have had since announcing Tally’s arrival and we would like to thank everyone for the well wishes and encouragement we are receiving. “We are very pleased with Tally’s progress so far and we are now becoming hopeful that if this continues, the turtle may make a full recovery so that he or she can be flown back to Mexico and released into warmer waters where it belongs.”

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Ask DAN

DAN medical specialists and researchers answer your dive medicine questions

Q: Does a physically fit (athletic) diver consume air faster on a dive than an average person with a sitting lifestyle? I have been working as a dive instructor for over ten years now and I noticed that throughout the years, the more physically fit I became, the more air I consumed. I was always fit but constantly been doing more exercising. Does physical fitness affect it? Does it maybe depend on a type of exercise? A: Physical fitness level is one of the factors that can influence the oxygen requirements of the body and so your breathing rate during a particular exercise/effort level because a higher aerobic fitness (cardiovascular endurance) means an increased efficiency of the body in its ability to deliver oxygen to your muscles. VO2 is the usual index of the body’s efficiency at producing work and the measurement of VO2max is an indicator of one’s aerobic fitness. However, many other factors influence breathing gas consumption during a dive, such as physical size, work load, water temperature, use of drugs, stress and anxiety, excitement, general physical and emotional state. Also, as

the Boyle’s law applies, there is increasingly less volume of gas available to the diver as the diver descends in the water, as you are aware, the actual volume of gas within a scuba cylinder does not decrease as the tank physically does not shrink under pressure. However, gas being delivered to the diver is at ambient pressure. This increased pressure means there are more gas molecules per unit volume as the gas is more dense and the diver consumes more molecules per breath, resulting in the gas in the scuba cylinder lasting a shorter time than at a shallower depth. In conclusion, your gas consumption rate will change based on your personal comfort during that dive, your actual physical fitness and health on the day, and your personal experience as well as the dive conditions themselves, such as dive profile, temperature, currents, etc. Join DAN to get a number of benefits, including answers to all your diving-related medical questions: www.daneurope.org

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‘M

uck diving’ is now a recognized broad term for (generally) close up and macro/micro photography, often in terrible visibility, resulting in low light, back-scatter problems with photographs, and some disorientation with depth resulting in finding deep-water critters in much shallower water due to the cut in natural light, whether it be from dark or non-reflective substrate to tannin-stained waters above. It is only in the last 15 years or so that the ‘muck diving’ term was first coined in the Lembeh Straits and, more specifically, with the original staff of Kungkungan Bay Resort, who discovered a wealth of hitherto rarely seen or unheard of species in staggering numbers, hidden in the garbage-strewn seabed nearby a major sea port in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Deciding to do an ‘eco’ clean-up of the seabed, the developers discovered that the trash that they wanted to remove was already inhabited by all manner of weird and wonderful beasts. However, many of us had already experienced forms of muck diving in many areas of the world - underneath the Town Pier and Salt Pier in Bonaire, Frederikstad Pier in St Croix, Dodd’s Narrows off Vancouver Island, Southern New Zealand and the Norwegian Fjords, Tulamban Beach in northern Bali, Blue Heron Bridge in Florida, Papua New Guinea and especially Loch Fyne in Scotland. Now new and exciting areas have become popular such as Tasmania, Raja Ampat in Irian Jaya, Ambon, Mabul and many other exotic locations in the South China Sea. Many would argue that muck diving was actually invented in Scotland and now, as we have discovered and fully appreciate, muck diving need not be confined to tropical waters, as I personally have enjoyed exploring the muddy depths of Loch Long, Loch Fyne and Oban in Scotland for over 50 years, where I am able to find weird and exotically coloured

dragonets, gobies, shrimps, starfish, sea cucumbers, molluscs and anemones (one of which I photographed and was credited for it to be the first-ever record of the beast in British inshore waters). Now, with many years of diving and underwater photography in all of the world’s oceans and over 50 books published, it is very apparent that there are massive similarities in marine species in all of our seas. So much so, in fact, that the parallels in critters being found at almost opposite ends of the globe give us an insight into the marvellous spread of marine life from the ancient Gondwana Land millions of years ago, to the land masses and far reaching oceans that we have now. Undoubtedly the area of this original golden triangle is the centre of Indonesia, now referred to as Wallacea after Alfred Wallace, the Scotsman whose work on natural selection was used by Darwin for his now-world-famous treatise. Wallace discovered that there was a massive divide in distribution between the

MUCK 18

Lawson Wood explains how you don’t need to travel around the globe to exotic locations to find quality ‘muck diving’, and shows what can be found in Scotland’s sea lochs Photographs by Lawson Wood

DIVING

Tiny sea spiders can be found

Decorator crab

Shrimps and prawns can provide some of the most-colourful critter shots - they are often bedecked in vibrant shades of red and green. But they can be a challenge to photograph as they are usually on the move all of the time.

Do not let the name muck diving fool you, it is one of the best and most-rewarding dive/ photography trips that you can do… species of the Indian Ocean and Australasia even when the waters were only a short distance apart, yet many of the species were actually distributed in most of the rest of the world’s tropical waters. Now, since the opening of both the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal and the trans-migration of species in the holds and on the hulls of the world’s supertankers, this big wide world seems so much smaller nowadays. With such a very strong Scottish connection, it seems fitting that our Scottish history in underwater photography has its origins in the deep water sea lochs that cut for kilometres into the Scottish west coast. As the name implies, you are searching in a ‘mucky’ or ‘murky’ environment, moving slowly with additional lights to try and spot all of the weird and wonderful critters that we used to miss in the search for larger, weird and wonderful beasties. Do not let the name muck diving fool you, it is one of the best and most-rewarding dive/photography trips that you can do to obtain quite unique photographs in probably the most-unhurried dive profile style you will ever have. This form of scuba diving and underwater photography encompasses all of your skills, particularly buoyancy as you will be working close to the seabed if not on it and by its very nature, the muck does get everywhere and special

care must be taken with cleaning all of your equipment after every dive. Consideration must also be taken with all of the critters which inhabit this environment, particularly if you are settling on the seabed. Always make sure that the area beneath you is clear and critter-less! Always remember that your diving buddy may also be following in your fin strokes, so you may actually make the visibility worse and spoil the experience for your buddy for your own selfish gain. Also check which way the current is flowing as you may actually spoil your own photographs, so try and orient yourself facing into the current. I and many others know that there are weird and colourful critters in colder waters, but finding and photographing these is also one of the main problems which we have to deal with. The Scottish sea lochs in the winter and spring have a lot of freshwater run off which lies as a thick layer of dark stained, peaty water which cuts out virtually all available light into the depths, similar to the fjords in southern New Zealand or south-western Tasmania. Every dive can be a night dive and additional lights are always necessary to make life a bit easier. Unlike the often-poor visibility in tropical water muck diving, the Scottish sea lochs in winter are usually crystal clear once you get below the

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Muck diving etiquette

Remember that other photographers diving with you may also have spent a fair amount of money and time to reach their desired destination and many can be quite aggressively eager to get as much – if not more - from the trip than anyone else. These same rules also apply even if the dive site is just a short drive away from your home.

Do not monopolize a subject, as the subject may be light sensitive and other divers may well be waiting in the side-lines to photograph the same subject, particularly if a guide has discovered this critter in the first place!

Similarly, if you find another photographer in the midst of a ‘shoot’, do not intrude on the scene, as you may destroy the visibility and this is not only extremely bad manners, you may also spook the subject creating potential harm and therefore really annoy the other photographer! So stay well away, have patience and wait your turn, better still, find another subject nearby to be more individually productive rather than just copying someone else.

3 Crinoid

Be careful of your buoyancy at all times as kicked up particulate may drift away from you and can spoil someone else’s scene. Some areas have heavy sand or rocky substrates, but many have fine sand or mud which acts like waterborne talcum powder and gets absolutely everywhere. Treat your exit from a photo opportunity the same way as you enter the scene, with great care, awareness and empathy of the critter and your fellow photographers.

Gurnard

Many of the muck diving favourite locations are also keen conservation areas and have strict rules of conduct, particularly about feeding or handling subjects. Unsurprisingly, you may find that some guides may be less than scrupulously subtle about inducing behavioural responses from subjects in the quest for greater kudos and gratuities. Please do not encourage this behaviour as it totally makes a mockery of any conservation logic in place and should leave a rather sour taste when viewing your so-called hard-won photographs. I know of one photographer who so stressed a particularly rare critter to perform that the poor thing was left so weak that it was ultimately in a very vulnerable position – great photography!

Never ‘over-shoot’ the subject as many species found in low light zones are particularly sensitive to strong light. Flash photography by its very nature is very intrusive and often alarming for these subjects that may be forced to leave their safe habitat and increase the threat from predators. Perhaps three or four photographs should be enough of any subject, as opposed to dozens or even hundreds, where quantity will just never outshine quality. Every subject is special and sacred and should never be stressed by a photographer’s zeal!

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peaty tannin-stained freshwater halocline. The Scottish sea lochs are known for their steeply sloping muddy inclines that drop well below the safe scuba diving limit. The eastern shore of Loch Long is fairly featureless except for a couple of places where the bare rock strata juts into the loch creating small caves and crevices for squat lobster, conger eels and small blennies. The uniform muddy slope has seacucumbers, scallops, various species of crab, squat lobster, dragonets and burrowing anemones. The next sea loch over to the west is Loch Fyne, which has very similar topography. This sea loch also has Inverary Pier, where a night dive amid the old harbour trash is essential. Pipefish, nudibranchs, brilliant anemones, octopus, starfish and various shrimps are all evident. As the dive depth is only around 7m at high tide, you have plenty of time to explore and photograph amazing critters to your heart’s content (A couple of abandoned supermarket trollies make for an amazing habitat!) Down the small slipway opposite Puffin Divers in Oban is another great mucky, rummage dive, usually only ever dived by newbie trainee divers. You can find spider crabs, various snails, small queen scallops, camouflaged spider crabs, burrowing anemones and sea cucumbers, very similar in fact to almost-identical species found in Indonesia or the Caribbean. Further north into the sea lochs around the Isle of Skye, there are huge fluorescent fireworks anemones, langoustine (scampi prawns), three different species of sea-pen, individual coral polyps, small cold-water coral seafans, fire clams and colonial zoanthids and amazingly, huge fields of an incredible hard calcareous algae called Maerle (Phymatolithon calcareum) or ‘Scottish Coral’, which creates a unique habitat for dozens of other marine species. This is absolutely unique in British waters, yet very similar to species and habitats found in tropical seas. Most

Anemones and clams are a favourite Hermit crab

Octopus

obvious are the true coral reefs. Muck diving can, as the name suggests, be rather mucky and as mentioned earlier, backscatter can be a problem both in your own efforts as well as stirring up trouble for any other photographers in the vicinity. I like to use it as part of the photograph and accept the backscatter as a necessary element in the composition. In fact ,in many instances, the addition of backscatter can enhance the composition. Muck diving by far is one of the most-rewarding styles of diving and opportunity for underwater photography. The potential for discovering weird and wonderful critters is certainly higher than average and by slowing down you will get so much more out of the dive experience. Quite often the experience is akin to night diving and all of us who love night diving, appreciate that there is a much greater variety of marine critters out and about for our pleasure. Home diving in areas not normally associated with British (Scottish) diving is so much more rewarding than ever imagined. Thankfully you do not need to travel to the other ends of the Earth to experience all of these wonders, but should you do so, then the same rules apply in the search for those weird and wonderful critters which are almost identical no matter where you travel. n

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Underwater photographer and writer Walt Stearns has been a staple on the diving scene for decades. We chat to him about the challenges of blackwater diving, his affinity for Goliath grouper, and why he loves his CCR so much. Photographs courtesy of Walt Stearns

Goliath grouper aggregation

Q: As we normally do with these Q&As, how did you first get into diving? A: While I come from that generation where The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau was the big documentary series on TV, growing up in South Florida, I plenty of other influences that drove me into diving. In addition to having the Florida Keys literally in my back yard, my father was one of my first mentors in that he had been very active in scuba diving since the late-1950s till the early 1970s, so it was pretty natural for me to fall into it. Q: What came first – diving, or photography? Were you a land photographer before heading beneath the surface? A: Oh, definitely diving, starting first with collecting tropical fish for my saltwater aquarium at the age of ten, and then getting my first scuba certification by age 16 in 1976. I didn’t pick up a camera till my senior year in high school. At that point I started borrowing my dad’s Nikonos I underwater camera, since he was no longer using it. Q: You have been in the diving industry for a very long time, and over that period you have been involved with several different magazines around the globe. What do you look for in images when shooting for magazines? A: To me, having an image that can tell a story. I found this to particularly true when penning a feature for a magazine, the images that would accompany it needed to not only support what I was describing, but also convoy the excitement, beauty and hopefully the intrigue of it.

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Amorous turtles

As I somewhat mentioned earlier, when I was learning dive, I pretty much cut my teeth diving from Miami down through the Florida Keys Q: You were an early adopter of closed-circuit rebreather technology and still dive your unit regularly. What is it about CCRs that lend themselves to underwater photography? A: Time. The first thing anybody should get out of their head when looking to get into diving with a rebreather is that you are not going to be able to sneak up on anything, except maybe your buddy. What it does give is more time to work. In addition to having longer dive durations at your disposal, when diving silent, you are far less obtrusive to your intended subject, resulting in a more-natural behavioural response like they would have to any other sea creature. From their perspective, I must look like a pretty f***ed-up sea turtle, so perhaps they are taking pity on me. Q: Over the years, you have spent a lot of time on the road visiting exotic locations. What are some of your favourite destinations, and why? A: I could be glib about a question like that and say preferably someplace in the water. But, if had to pick two regions in the world based on first-hand experience, than it

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would be both the Eastern Pacific from Mexico down to the Galapagos for its extensive collection of megafauna (sharks, manta rays, marine mammals, marlin, etc), and the IndoPacific from the Philippines down through Indonesia for its massive biodiversity. Q: You live in Florida, and so have some awesome diving right on your doorstep. What are some of the best dive sites near your home? A: As I somewhat mentioned earlier, when I was learning dive, I pretty much cut my teeth diving from Miami down through the Florida Keys. As I progressed in my interest, I started exploring both the east and west coasts, as well as several of the springs and caves up in the northern half of the state. But by far my most-favourite local site are the waters off Palm Beach County on Florida’s southeast coast. It has just about everything I could want, reefs and wrecks with lots of marine life, including sea turtles, sharks and Goliath grouper.

Walt was an early adopter of CCRs

Q: You are an ardent supporter of Goliath grouper and their continued protection. What is it about these monstersized fish that draws you in? A: You kind of answered your own question there. Yes, they are monster-size fish, but they are no monster. In fact, they can be rather big babies. The number of encounters I have had with these big goofy fish going back to early spearfishing days to now where the only thing I shoot them with is a camera is well into the high hundreds. Never once I have felt threatened by one. If anything, they were the ones that sometimes felt threatened by me, leading the fish to take a defensive posture, entailing a false charge or two while emitting a few loud booming noises in the process. But, in the end, they generally retreat and even run for cover when they realize their bluff has been called. Another thing to keep in mind is that as big as they (a full-size Goliath will weigh more than 450lb) they are also very fragile. During the 1970s and 1980s these were wiped out throughout most of their natural range in the western Atlantic, including Florida. Even after they were put under Federal protection in 1990, it took a considerable number of years before anyone began to see these fish return in enough numbers to form a spawning aggregation. In the middle of a shark feed

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Bottlenose dolphin

Turtle with remoras

Vibrant sponges and corals

Crocodile

More than three decades to be exact, for the first one to take place on Florida’s east coast at one lone site called the Hole-in-the-Wall off Jupiter. Now Florida (Palm Beach County on the east coast and the Southern Gulf of Mexico on the west) is the only place on Earth where anyone can see this event. We lost it once, damned if I will let it happen again because a few greedy people only want to envision this fish as a trophy to how many grouper sandwiches (with a side of mercury) they will make. Q: You regularly extol the virtues of blackwater diving, which seems to be gaining in popularity. What are the main challenges of this form of underwater photography? A: Well… when you get past the idea of jumping into a really big piece of open water in the black of night to hunt for a myriad of small (many the size of a fingernail) creatures. The exciting part is you never know what you find next. The challenging part is photographing what you have found, because in addition to you essentially floating in space with a subject that is not sitting still, the dicey part is properly lighting it up. Q: What is your most-memorable diving experience? A: I have had quite a few, so it’s hard for me to say which was the most memorable. If I had to draw on one, it would be during a trip to the Socorro Islands where my wife got to meet her first giant manta. One in particular was a true giant with a five-and-a-half metre wingspan, that we both got the enjoyment of swimming with the last two days of the trip. Q: On the flipside, what is your worst diving memory? A: Short answer, the ones that I have mostly forgotten. Q: As we emerge from the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic, what does the future hold for Walt Stearns? A: Stay calm and dive on. n

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SNELL’S - A WINDOW TO THE SKY

If you want to get an impressive wide-angle photo, there are a few compositional elements you can always rely on. The Snell’s window is one of them, but what is Snell’s window? Mario Vitalini explains Photographs by Mario Vitalini

nell’s window is an effect caused by light from the sun being refracted when it passes through the waterline and the underwater scene being reflected on the surface. It is named after the Dutch mathematician Willebrord Snellius, who discovered the refraction law we know today as Snell’s window. When underwater, if we look upwards, we will see a circle of light with darker sections on the sides. Effectively what our eyes see is a 180 degrees image of the surface, the brighter area. The darker edges are the reflection of the bottom.

How to achieve a Snell’s window

The most-important tool you need to achieve a perfect Snell’s window is a fisheye lens. In order to get that circle of light, your lens needs to cover a very large angle of view. A 15mm fisheye lens on a full-frame or an 8mm on a micro 4/3 (mirrorless) camera will do a perfect job. If you point the camera directly to the surface you will get almost a complete circle, however you can get partial windows by shooting at a lesser angle. The closer to the vertical axis you aim your camera the greater the section of the circle of light you will get.

Exposure considerations

The surface conditions are also important. When there are a lot of waves, most of the sunlight will bounce on the surface limiting the available light underwater. If the conditions are calm and the seas are flat, the results are great. Technically you want the sea to be as flat as possible however I do prefer when there are a few ripples to add some texture in the background. You will be shooting upwards and will see the sky, for this reason, I prefer to shoot Snell’s windows when the sky is clear and there are some fluffy clouds.

Diving considerations

When framing your shot bear in mind you will have to look to the sky, and this creates a series of problems. A well-fitted mask will solve the first one. By tilting your head up, you will force any water in your mask into your nose and eyes. Make sure you clear it properly before you compose. Is also a good idea to think about your breathing. Shooting upwards will get your bubbles on the frame. Always time your breathing so your bubbles have reached the surface or are out of the picture.

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Technical considerations

Another issue you will have to deal with is the fact you are likely to be shutting towards the sun and therefore will need to deal with an incredibly bright background. To reduce the risk of overexposure you can use a very high shutter speed and a small aperture but you may end up making the rest of your shot very dark. I do prefer to cover the sun with a subject, it can be a fish, a boat, or a diver, to create a striking silhouette. Just ensure the subject is in the middle of the Snell’s window and no parts go over the edge of the circle.

Composing for Snell’s window shots

You do not have to point the camera straight up in order to benefit from a Snell’s window in your composition. An angle of at least 45 degrees to the surface will be enough to get a fraction of the circle in your frame. I particularly like to use the Snell’s window when shooting table corals. If you plan to give this a go, please do pay attention to how you position yourself, and under no circumstances try it if you can’t get the shot without damaging other corals around.

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To get a good Snell’s window you will be shooting upwards and that means you will have a huge amount of ambient light getting into your lens Once you have tried this, why not try to get your dive buddy to pose next to the coral? The result can be an interesting play of curves. When trying to compose shots with multiple subjects you need to be very careful, if you do not position them properly in your frame you may end up with a slightly busy and cluttered picture.

Lighting your Snell’s window picture

To get a good Snell’s window you will be shooting upwards and that means you will have a huge amount of ambient light getting into your lens. Controlling the exposure is key and the situation normally calls for a fast shutter speed and a small aperture to expose for the bright background. If you decide to shoot using only ambient light then you can push the shutter speed, if on the other hand, you want to use strobes, you need to pay close attention to the subject distance. Because you will be using a small aperture you will have to crank up the power on your flashguns, but if you are too close to your subject, you may overexpose it. Next time you find yourself on a dive with a fisheye lens on your camera have a look at the sky and start practising some Snell’s windows shots, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. n

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he first ones start to appear in early May, as the southern hemisphere autumn fades away and the winter months loom. Initially they just blend in with the abundant seagrass and, to the casual observer, there is little to indicate what will happen over the next three to four weeks… But as June approaches and the water temperature drops below 17°C, things change rapidly as the full aggregation is triggered. And, by the middle of month, tens of thousands of Sepia apama will have gathered in the only known ‘dense aggregation’ of spawning cuttlefish in the world. One that has been called the ‘premier marine attraction on the planet’. And this all happens just off from a rocky beach, in an area of about 1km², on the western side of South Australia’s Spencer Gulf. Various scientific studies indicate the ‘density’ in that small area can

reach as high as one giant cuttlefish per one square metre! It certainly is unique, and at a personal level, is probably my favourite marine animal aggregation in the world and this year was my sixth trip there. It is that special, after all… where else can you shore-dive in less than 8m of water with tens of thousands of incredibly photogenic creatures all completely focused on one single thing – sexual reproduction.

The giant Australian cuttlefish

Sepia apama is the world largest cuttlefish and when fully-grown can reach up to half a metre in total length and weigh in at up to 11kg. Solitary animals, they are found all around the coastline of southern Australia – from Central Queensland on the east coast, right around the bottom of the continent and up to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia.

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They are truly fascinating creatures and have an amazing ability to instantaneously change their colour and skin texture - a skill they use to great effect as camouflage when they are hunting or being hunted, to communicate with other cuttlefish and as part of the amazing displays they use to great effect during the mating season. Giant Australian cuttlefish are also remarkably intelligent and are said to have the largest brains of all marine invertebrates. Both male and female cuttlefish have relatively short life cycles of between one and two years and interestingly, Sepia apama are polymorphic… Which means they

Scuba Diver Senior Travel Editor Don Silcock ventures off South Australia in search of breeding aggregations of giant Australian cuttlefish Photographs by Don Silcock have two alternate development cycles, with the first cycle using a ‘growth spurt’ over their initial seven to eight months to reach maturity by the end of their first summer and be ready to mate at the start of winter. The second cycle involves much slower growth where they don’t reach maturity and mate until they are in their second and final year. Although not scientifically proven, the most-probable reason for the alternate cycles is that it is nature’s way of hedging bets. So that if a catastrophic event occurs one year, there is a backup population that can still breed the following year.

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Nature’s swingers…

Come winter, most of the cuttlefish abandon their solitary lifestyle and aggregate together to mate in small groups of up to ten individuals, with females greatly outnumbered by the males who have to compete for her attention. Outside of the winter mating season the ratio of males to females is around 1:1. Why it changes so dramatically when they do mate is not known, but the end result is one of the reasons the Spencer Gulf aggregation is so spectacular. The correct term for cuttlefish mating is polyandry – which means that each female cuttlefish will have multiple male partners to ensure better genetic variability of the species. All of which makes sense from a somewhat dry scientific perspective. But when observed in practice with so many cuttlefish gathered together and the females outnumbered by as much 11 to one, it takes on a completely different dynamic. ‘Spectacularly promiscuous’ would probably better describe the almost-wanton behaviour! Adding to that dynamic is the fact that those mature bull males in their second year of life will be dead by the end of the aggregation. Whether they know that is not clear, but they certainly act like they do! I know you should never assign human characteristics to animals but, as a male who has much less time in front of me than is behind, I cannot help but to watch all this interaction with a deep sense of irony…

The cuttlefish are impressive creatures

…the young males take advantage of their similar size to the females and use the Cephalopod equivalent of cross-dressing by changing their displays to look like a female Cuttlefish mating dance

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In the midst of the action

completely ignore you! So fixated are they on the task in hand and dealing with the numerical imbalance between them and the females. For the females, the somewhat-promiscuous nature of polyandry makes it all rather easy. They have their choice of the males and will often swap partners and engage in a ‘quickie’ with a new arrival! Cuttlefish eggs

Immersion

Unless you are lucky enough to know someone locally with a boat, all dives with the cuttlefish are from the shore, which involves entering the water from the rocky beaches of the area. Typically, you will be in a drysuit, because of the cold water and long dive times - so fully weighted up... Add a big camera and the usual struggle to get your fins on can make it all a bit challenging. But once you are in the water, all is forgotten because within ten metres of entering you will see the first cuttlefish and by about 30 metres from shore you will feel that you have stumbled on the underwater version of Sodom and Gomorrah! Sepia apama seem to be everywhere and it quickly becomes very clear they all have the same thing on their minds… Settle in, get comfortable and you will soon be drawn into what is evolving if front of you. For me, the most amazing thing about it all is the way the male cuttlefish almost

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Strategy and tactics – cuttlefish-style!

The intense competition created by up to 11 males chasing one female produces some wonderful strategies among the various cuttlefish. Being almost completely ignored, while able to observe and photograph it all so closely, is the really amazing thing about the annual aggregation. For the older, fully mature, male cuttlefish – the bulls – their basic strategy is to impress with their size and ‘displays’. If it works and he has an interested female, the bull will try and keep her out of sight from all the other males which, when successful, makes the pair look like a bit like a happily married couple content in their own company. But when other males do come calling, the bull has to judge the situation and respond in a way that intimidates the challenger and sends him on his way. That usually leads to both males engaging in quite spectacular ‘face-off’ displays of aggression, with rapid changes of colour and body movements that are believed to send specific messages. These ‘bouts’ can go on for up to 20 minutes or so, but while they appear hostile and violent there is rarely any real physical contact. Stony Point is the best entry point

Love, cuttlefishstyle

Cuttlefish posing for a portrait

HMAS Whyalla is a land-locked museum ship

They have their choice of the males and will often swap partners and engage in a ‘quickie’ with a new arrival! It seems to be more like a cross between shadow boxing with a bit of mild wrestling and I sometimes wonder if the real purpose is to impress the female! Often the confrontation will attract other mature males who will make their presence felt but rarely enter the fray and it does seem like they are just trying to catch the female’s attention. All of which brings another wry smile to my face as my memory drifts back through time to my teenage years in the northwest of England, but the less said about that the better…

Where does it all happen?

The annual aggregation is concentrated along a 6km long stretch of the eastern Spencer Gulf generally called Point Lowly. However, because over a third of that area of the coast is occupied by a gas treatment plant and out of bounds, the 3kms between Black Point and Stony Point is where all the encounters take place. The easiest access point is at Stony Point, which is usually referred to as the Fence Line because of the boundary fence to the gas plant. To make it all much easier for visiting divers, the local council have built a car park with a nice area to kit up and a very welcome toilet facility. They have also created a much safer pathway down into the water so there is much less chance of stumbling and falling. The nearest town is Whyalla, which is a 25-minute

drive to the south and has lots of options for food and accommodation. The local dive shop, Whyalla Diving Services, is very well equipped for tank rental and fills, plus anything else you might need. And the owner Tony Bramley has done a tremendous amount of work to raise the overall awareness of just how special the annual cuttlefish aggregation is.

Final words…

South Australia’s annual aggregation of giant Australian cuttlefish is truly unique… Being able to shore dive in about 8m of water with so many interesting, photogenic and totally committed creatures is really pretty special and something that will stay with you for a long time afterwards. It happens at Point Lowly like it does because the substrate and sea grass provide the perfect place for the females to safely deposit their eggs. But cuttlefish are a valuable commodity and it’s not that long ago that greedy fishermen almost wiped out the aggregation. It now looks like the wheel has turned and the incredible value of so many wonderful creatures gathering has been finally been recognized! Each year, more and more people come to Point Lowly to see the aggregation, which should keep the local and state governments engaged and protect the event. Let’s hope so – it’s very special! n

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HOUSE OF CARDS PART ONE

In the first of a five-part series, Audrey Cudel as ‘are you missing any of your foundational diving skills?’

aving good foundational diving skills is essential for divers to be comfortable and have fun in the water, and more importantly to be safe for themselves, their dive buddies and for the underwater environment. All of the training agencies seek to address and instill these skills in students through their courses in various ways and to varying degrees. Yet in practice, it’s fair to say there is still a considerable margin for improvement of these foundational skills in the sport diving community as a whole. Now in this first article, veteran technical and cave diving instructor, and underwater photographer extraordinaire, Audrey Cudel introduces her new five-part series, House of Cards, which explores these foundational skills and their importance in diving with the help of several well-respected explorers and educators from the international diving community. Are you missing any of your foundational skills? Find out. Most difficulties encountered in diving are due to poor foundational skills. Often not enough attention is paid to these skills during one’s initial recreational training; they require a commitment from both the instructor and student to spend the time and effort to build proper awareness and practice. Students often assume that learning to dive is as fast and simple as jumping in the water and enjoying the feeling of floating in the blue. Some divers encounter these skills again at a later stage when they enrol in technical diving training and struggle to unlearn the wrong way or bad habits, when learning the right way to conduct the skill from the beginning would have made their journey much more enjoyable. As the proverb says: ‘Don’t try to run before you can walk’. At first, the mastery of these fundamentals might seem hard work, intimidating and potentially require an additional financial investment. However, building a solid foundation from the beginning actually empowers divers to analyse, understand and take charge of what is happening during each immersion and build solid experience. From that point they can better consider their future training objectives. The desired outcome is the definition of what a ‘good diver’ is all about — being prepared, in control, and safe for themselves, for their team and for the environment they intend to explore.

The challenge and achievement to master diving, is a matter of mastering each foundational skill. If one is unable to easily perform one or more of these skills, your House of Cards, will collapse, and in this case unlike your certification cards, none of the cards are made of plastic! So how do divers create a solid foundation and structure for this House of Cards? Though all of these foundational skills work together synergistically, there is an order or importance, which form a kind of pyramid with one building on the others. These foundational skills are: • Breathing and Buoyancy Control • Trim • Efficient Propulsion Techniques • Team Awareness and Positioning • Situational Awareness Mastering each, but most importantly synchronising these skills is the path to safe diving, and building a solid foundation that one can rely on, so that they can begin to focus on other tasks at hand. There is nothing as difficult as getting rid of bad habits, particularly if one doesn’t realise they are often the source of the problem. Whether through pressure or ego concerns, simply rushing to get more certification cards when the basics are not in place, only makes advancement more hazardous and difficult to achieve. As mentioned above, these foundational skills are often ignored during one’s initial recreational training. The subsequent discomfort experienced by divers often leads them to take specialty courses to address their deficiencies, when those skills should have been addressed as a core component of

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Most difficulties encountered in diving are due to poor foundational skills. Often not enough attention is paid to these skills during one’s initial recreational training

their very first diving course. There is a saying, ‘Keep It Simple and Safe rather than Stupid!’ Safety is the ultimate sophistication. It is not reached when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Being consumers in a gear-intensive sport, divers also tend to want to collect ‘toys’ i.e. equipment, as if this will make them better divers, and this inclination can sometimes be reinforced by some instructors wanting to sell more gear. However, personal equipment and configuration choices should be the outcome of mastering the fundamentals and not the opposite. Only then can more planning parameters such as gas, navigation, and the ascent plan be fully appreciated to prepare for a safe and controlled dive. Is buoyancy a matter of control or comfort? Is wrapping a

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heavy, ill-fitting weight belt around a diver’s waist smart? To what extent can this reduce diver safety? Does a diver’s trim really matter, and how does it correlate to buoyancy? Why is it that so many divers discover appropriate propulsion techniques like back kicks or helicopter kicks only after they get interested in technical diving, even though these techniques are appropriate and most efficient for recreational diving as well? Is there a magic pair of fins that is better than all the rest? What is really involved in diving as a team, and why is it that a group of divers in the water is not necessarily a team? Why does individual mastery of buoyancy, trim, propulsion techniques make a team perform better and more safely? Finally, is situational awareness about weather or sea conditions... seriously? In this House of Cards series we aim to address and answer each of these questions with common sense, illustrations, and experience rather than treat them as an academic exercise. In doing so, we will review each of them in detail, discuss what they are all about, how they interact with one another, and how they will benefit your diving. n

About the author

Audrey Cudel is a cave explorer and technical diving instructor specializing in sidemount and cave diving training in Europe and Mexico. She is also renowned in the industry for her underwater photography portraying deep technical divers and cave divers. Her work has appeared in various magazines such as Wetnotes, Octopus, Plongeur International, Perfect Diver, Times of Malta, and SDI/TDI and DAN (Divers Alert Network) publications.

2021 Hordes of Santa-suit-wearing divers heading towards frigid waters can mean only one thing – the annual return of the Vobster Santas event. This year, Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans and his son Luke ventured to Somerset to join in the festive fun Photographs by Jason Brown

Luke and Mark in their Santa finery

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any things failed to materialise in 2020, but thankfully, 2021 saw the welcome return of the Vobster Santas event at popular inland site Vobster Quay. And this time around, Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans and his son Luke decided to get involved in the festive frivolities. Santa suits to hand, they loaded up and headed south to Somerset from the frozen north (well, Oswestry, but it was ruddy cold…). The Vobster Santas event is all about having lots of fun, but also raising money for the RNLI and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, two extremely worthy causes. Previously, all the assembled Santas – and snowmen, Christmas trees, elves and sundry – would head for Vobster’s inviting waters at the same time, but this year, given the spectre of COVID-19 still looming over us all, the Vobster team made the decision to allow the ‘Santa diving session’ to run over a five-hour period, so that the divers could space out their entries and exits.

CCR Santa!

Becoming a Scuba Santa

If we were going to take part in the event, we needed to look the part, so our first mission was to purchase a couple of Santa outfits. We went for spacious sizing, mindful of the fact we would need to get them on over our drysuits, and figuring that any extra would be held in place by our BCDs. Our Santa suits were budget affairs, given they were going to be submerged in an inland dive site, but we made a few modifications for prime Father Christmas performance. First up, I cut around our shoulder dumps, to ensure that we could easily locate and operate the valves. The suit material was very porous, and I daresay we could have got A Santa sack for a twinset

Rudolf the reindeer goes diving

Money-raising raffle

Another highlight of the Vobster Santa event is the star-studded raffle, which is well supported by the diving industry, and this year the prizes included an Apeks Lifeline guide reel worth £220, a Fourth Element 120-litre duffle bag, an Otter Drysuits changing robe, an Ammonite LED Two torch, a KUBI duffel drybag, XDEEP boltsnaps, a Human Factors training bundle, a Tribal beanie, an Expedition Britannic book, an Action Camera Underwater Video Basics book, a Wild and Temperate Seas book, Vobster Quay memberships, a Nammu Tech lock nut reel, and a Nammu Tech hand mirror.

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CCR Santa heads off on a dive

Santa SMB anyone?

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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

A charity close to every scuba diver’s heart, RNLI lifeboats protect hundreds of communities around the UK and Ireland through their 24-hour search and rescue service. RNLI crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives since 1824, but they’re more than just a rescue service. Visit them online: RNLI.org It is a little bizarre encountered red-andwhite suited divers throughout Vobster Santa buddy checks Luke just before the dive

away with just leaving our exhausts open and not cutting the suits, but I preferred to err on the side of caution. To keep our Santa hats in situ and not shooting off to the surface full of exhaled air, we employed Mum Penney to sew some elastic ‘chin-straps’ on. These modifications made, we were ready to take the plunge at our very-first Vobster Santa event.

Santas everywhere!

We arrived at Vobster Quay bright and early, but the lower car park was already filling up nicely, and people were busy kit-fettling on the various benches strewn around next to

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the water’s edge. Photographer Jason Brown, a regular at Vobster, advised us to get in the water sharpish to make the most of the epic visibility, so we took his advice, getting our gear ready in double-quick time. Then it was time to don our Santa suits. Now getting into a fancy dress costume is normally a simple matter, but trying to put on our Santa trousers over our drysuits was comedic! Anyone videoing our efforts could definitely have got some YouTube gold-level footage! I managed to finally get mine on, but Luke stuck his foot straight though the thigh of one leg! Our tactic of buying cheap was maybe not the best option… Finally both of us were in our trousers, and I managed to do a bush-repair to the trouser leg by nicking a bit of red cord from the waist-tie and then knotting and tying the material. It wasn’t going to win any fashion awards, but it did the trick! Thankfully, the tops were much easier to don, and once we made sure the exhaust valves were poking through the arm hole, we got into our wings, which held our spacious Santa suits in place. The crotch straps were essential to ensure we didn’t end up with our troublesome trousers round our ankles mid-dive! Once at the entry point, we pulled on our hoods and our masks, and then donned our red-and-white hats, and our

Then it was time to dive! We set off for the new helicopter, and as promised, the vis was superb

A horde of Santas

This was our first time at a Vobster Santas event and it was great fun! There were lots of smiles all-round, and it was nice to be out and about at a dive site and having a laugh, while also raising money for two worthy causes fluffy beards. Getting the reg mouthpiece through the beard was fun, especially when they were a bit wet, and there was much spitting trying to get the odd errant hair out of our mouths! The chin-strap on the hats was a winner – later in the day, there was the sad sight of several Santa hats forlornly floating around Vobster… Then it was time to dive! We set off for the new helicopter, and as promised, the vis was superb – we saw the heli from about 15 metres away, and after a quick circuit, we made our way past the eerie jesters to look around the impressive crushing works, and then mooched to the airplane fuselage, the glider trailer and lastly, a Mk3 Ford Escort that has seen better days, before we made our way to the exit point.

Conclusion

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is a registered charity that provides critical care and evacuation for patients in Dorset and Somerset. Since it flew its first rescue mission in 2000, the charity has been tasked to thousands of incidents and have helped to save many thousands of lives. Visit them online: dsairambulance.org.uk

This was our first time at a Vobster Santas event and it was great fun! There were lots of smiles all-round, and it was nice to be out and about at a dive site and having a laugh, while also raising money for two worthy causes. Site manager Tim Clements doing the rounds with a huge bowl of mince pies also helped keep the spirits up! Keep an eye out for the 2022 event in December – it is a proper laugh and a great way to round out the year. As for Luke and I, we will be upgrading to slightly morerobust Santa suits for the next event, although we were contemplating how we could make a pantomime-horse-like reindeer costume… What could possibly go wrong? n

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Barefoot luxury in the heart of Indonesia

Your Buddies

Welcome you to a festive 2022! Looking for a good way to start the new year? Just book your next dive vacation to Bonaire! Check our website for all 2022 specials; www.buddydive.com/specials

Bunaken National Marine Park RESERVATIONS: +599 717 5080 WWW.BUDDYDIVE.COM

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

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beyond technical

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My first dive off the island of Stora Ekon, the site of the Gribshunden wreck, was in March of 2019 as a site recognisance dive with Dr Brendan Foley, the sea was flat calm and the visibility was exceptional

EXPOSING KING HANS’ SHIP GRIBSHUNDEN 48

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Phil Short has been involved in the major archaeological project revolving around the Gribshunden wreck in the Baltic for a number of years. Here he recounts what it is like to dive into history Photographs by Brett Seymour

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lowly through the clouds of spiralling silt, a shape emerges, grey-brown, smooth and curved - is this the side of another barrel? No, too small. The archaeologist’s paint brush gently sweeps away 500 plus years of sediment as I carefully aim the water dredge to take away only the disturbed floating sediment and the object slowly takes form. Another piece of the ‘Gryphon Hound’ wrecks story unfolds. We let the dredge clear the water around the excavation site and wait as slowly the visibility clears and a woodenlidded drinking tankard appears, the lid held in place by a leather hinge and clear carved markings on the side. After photographing extensively for a photogrammetry model while in-situ, Dr Brendan Foley gently eases the vessel from its resting place, hands it to me and I place it in an artefact crate and pad around it with hessian bags so it can be safely lifted to the conservators aboard our support vessel and, at days end, moved to the conservation storage lab set up ashore at our project base. Who drank from this marvellous artefact, maybe even King Hans himself, another piece of the jigsaw, but another mystery - the nature of an archaeological project. I am not an archaeologist, although I have a passionate interest in Maritime and Industrial Archaeology and have completed my Nautical Archaeological Society (NAS) training, I am a professional diver and as such I have ‘worn many (diving) hats’ throughout my career. One of my ‘hats’ is that of Diving Safety Officer (DSO) and Diving Operations Manager (DOM) for a variety of Scientific Institutions, including Lund University, on archaeological projects on sites dating from 200 BC to 1945! My first dive off the island of Stora Ekon, the site of the Gribshunden wreck, was in March of 2019 as a site recognisance dive with Dr Brendan Foley, the sea was flat calm and the visibility was exceptional, but being April in

Survey work is a painstaking business

the Baltic, a little chilly at 4 degrees C. Descending the short anchor line to a concrete mooring block in just 12m of water, we could see the majority of the site laid out before us. There is no wreck as such as most of the ship lies beneath the muddy seabed, preserved. As we swam around the perimeter of the site and across the centre, however, recognisable features started to emerge and align to give a clear mental image of what lies beneath that seabed. Here a bow hawser, there a wooden gun carriage, then a row of timber ribs and parts of the rudder. From that first chilly but exciting glimpse, the excavation season of 2019 was planned and prepared for a multiThe wreck is extremely well preserved

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Computers • O2 Cells • Gas Analysers Cables & Connectors • Rebreather Parts PathFinder Strobes • Sensors Tools • Solenoids Divers are finding all manner of treasures

Measurements and photos need to be taken

This was lifted in 2015 and after a lengthy conservation process is now on display at the regional museum

institution team to work on surveying and excavating a permitted portion of the site in August and September (much warmer!) that same year. Our base for the project was a ship craft museum and boat yard on the outskirts of Ronneby, an incredible place full of beautiful hand-crafted small wooden vessels. The main boat shed was converted into an on-site temporary conservation area with water tanks for lifted artefacts, a room next to this was our briefing room and a covered open area became our gas blending/filling area with supply

Tech gear allows long working shifts

cylinders of oxygen, booster and compressor set up for the duration of the project. Here over the first few days, we assembled diving gear, half the team would dive doubles open circuit and the other half JJ-CCR, neither really needed in 9-12m of water, but used for extended working bottom times of up to three hours to increase productivity. We also prepared and built all the archaeological equipment, including a steel scaffold grid frame on legs that would be placed over the site in 2 x 3 metre sections to give a stable fixed working platform over our permitted ‘trench’ site for the season (The parts were even spray painted silver/grey to make them stand out in poor visibility and in the photos of the site). Once diving began from our support vessel Swan, a catamaran giving a large working platform, we started with orientation dives on site for the archaeologists and ‘guardian’ divers (used to partner and assist the archaeologists) prior to the rigging teams building the grid, dredge and placing all other working infrastructure on the site. Actually for me, a DSO and Rigging Diver for the project, this working ‘set-up’ dive and the reciprocal ‘tear-down’ dive at the project’s end are my favourite dives on jobs like this... I love to be busy and face a challenge underwater! To ensure the safety of the artefacts and the unknown nature of what lays beneath the mud seabed, wooden pads are placed at the measured leg points to increase the footprint of the grid and prevent sinkage. the frame is

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www.narkedat90.com then assembled from 12 pieces to give two 2 x 3 sections, giving us the dimensions of our 2 x 6 metre trench. The tools, lights, water dredge and other equipment can then be hung on the frame and the archaeologists can work from the frame reaching down into the trench to reduce impact on the site. The site is then surrounded by a perimeter base line running between the four external concrete mooring blocks and a 50-metre non-stretch archaeology tape is run through the centre of the site from bow to stern. The finally rigging job is the set up and assembly underwater of the water dredge and feed/egress hoses and we are ready to begin archaeology. As with any science documentation is critical and with archaeology context is extremely important so in addition to daily photos of finds in-situ, hand drawn sketches of finds and ship structure combined with measurements and survey, the site was to be modelled with photogrammetry by team members Evan Kovacs and Brett Seymour from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the US National Parks Service Submerged Cultural Resources Group respectively. This meant that as each day the seabed was lowered centimetre by centimetre to reveal the buried ship and her contents, a permanent model in 3D would be created and saved. In 2013, archaeologist Niklas Eriksson, who specialises in medieval ships, dived the site and confirmed that King Hans’ ship Gribshunden lay here beneath the mud and realised the vast importance of this ship and the knowledge that could be acquired from studying her. The confirmation that this was the Gribshunden was extended when the wreck was dived, surveyed and studied, leading to the finding of the stupendous figurehead, a carved wooden Gryphon Hound with a human head in its jaws. This was lifted in 2015 and after a lengthy conservation process is now on display at the regional museum. Much of the wreck is under the silt

Carefully removing silt from the wreck

In addition on these early dives when the ship was identified, numerous wooden gun carriages were found and several recovered and fully conserved. They are now on display in the regional museum. The guns were iron breach loading cannon and what is of interest is that no sign of the guns or any other iron has been found on the site. The primary goal of the 2019 season was to establish the style and type of ship construction employed while the secondary goal was to determine the ship’s contents, as it was known to be the Danish King Hans’ flagship, marvellous things were expected! The area chosen was on the starboard side of the vessel just forward of the stern castle position, slowly the trench deepened and both ship structure and contents began to appear. Initially after clearing 500 years of surface detritus, numerous barrels appeared which were interesting as the staves were not pressed together to seal the barrels with metal bands as we know today, rather they were held together with wet woven tree root strands (withies) that shrink as they season and dry to tighten. These barrels were, if you like, the ‘tin can’ of that age and would of carried water, wine and food, for example. As with much of our work as the dive team, many answers come long after the divers have departed and the gear is cleaned, dried, serviced and stored and one of these barrels yielded such a find by research in that small bones located around one barrel were studied at Lund University and found to be a complete set of bones from one sturgeon (a fish no longer found in the Baltic and at the time of the Gribshunden, reserved for royalty and nobility.). Many pieces of barrel

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Computers • O2 Cells • Gas Analysers Cables & Connectors • Rebreather Parts PathFinder Strobes • Sensors Tools • Solenoids

A well-preserved find from the wreck

including staves, lids and bases along with a permitted section of ship’s timber were recovered and sent to Lund University for dendrochronological analysis to date the wood and locate its origins. As with most archaeology projects, the finds simply produce more questions and having merely glimpsed a small piece of the wreck in our permitted trench, we needed to learn more! So while the ‘real work’ continued with multiple disciplines of research underway into coins, armour, weaponry, foods and ship materials, the search for funding and planning continued amid the pandemic and all aligned to see us back on site in a bigger than ever way during May and June of 2021. The 2021 season saw us establish a pontoon over the wreck, held on site by four enlarged concrete mooring blocks off site to position us on a four-point mooring. The pontoon had a dive ladder and an equipment container shed, plus a full-size container fitted out as office/kitchen/dry changing area. We transferred out and back from the land base back at the boat yard with a small dive boat which also acted as our safety vessel. As previously in 2019, the grid frame was reassembled in location and the new agreed 2 x 6 trench site, the water dredge assembled and we were ready to begin the

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Artefacts are carefully put into boxes

archaeology. Again with a mixed team of archaeologists, guardians and riggers split between open circuit doubles and JJ-CCR equipment, work and discoveries progressed rapidly. The nature of finds here in 2021 was incredible even to a lay person like myself - cloth shoes, food stuffs including pepper corns and saffron (at that time weight for weight more valuable than gold!), beautifully engraved sheets of birch bark (one with a peacock clearly recognisable) and multiple crossbows in immaculate condition. Continuing from the gun carriages recovered prior to our 2019 project fully conserved and on display in the museum, an additional gun carriage also for a breech-loading iron gun and also with the gun or any trace of it was recovered during the 2021 dives for conservation. More exciting however, was the finding of a significantly larger carriage with the breech intact and present just off the wreck site. It’s clear that the time capsule of royal and maritime life from 1495 buried beneath the mud of the island of Stora Ekon is a phenomenally preserved slice of life from that era and in two seasons on the wreck as DSO, it is obvious to me that we have only just scratched the surface and I can not clearly enough express the excitement of what else will be found on future projects over the next few years. n

THE DIVE EVENT OF 2022 The GO Diving Show has merged with The Dive Show to create one mega-exhibition in March 2022 Photographs by Jason Brown / www.bardophotographic.com

he ‘new kids on the block’, the GO Diving Show, and The Dive Show – set to celebrate its 30th anniversary that year – are merging to put on one super-event in early March which will offer plenty for all levels of diver, from those interested in getting started, novices, experienced divers and veteran technical explorers.

WHEN?

The GO Diving Show is being held from 4-6 March 2022, with the Friday being trade-only, and the Saturday and Sunday open to consumers.

WHERE?

This mega-event is taking place at a brand-new venue, the NAEC Stoneleigh, located pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the country. This location offers purpose-built exhibition halls, is close to major transport links (the M6 and M40 motorways are close by, it is just five miles from Warwick Parkway and Coventry train stations, and only one-hour travel time from London Euston) and, perhaps best of all, has 19,000 complimentary car parking spaces.

WHO?

Iconic TV presenter, author and adventurer Steve Backshall returns as keynote speaker, and will be joined on the Main Stage by fellow TV personalities Andy Torbet and Monty Halls, as well as multi-award-winning underwater photographer Alex Mustard, who will be announcing the winners of the prestigious Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.

WHAT?

EVENT SPONSORED BY

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This spectacular diving exhibition is bursting at the seams with interactive elements, VR experiences, hand’s-on workshops, myriad booths from manufacturers, travel agents, tour operators, resorts and liveaboards, and much, much more. n

Buy your tickets now!

So, whether you’re a non-diver looking to experience the underwater world for the first time in the try-dive tank, a freshly minted student looking to learn more from the workshops, or a salty seadog meeting up with the dive club for a social, the Go Diving Show is for you. Weekend tickets are only £15, with group discounts available – check out: www.godivingshow.com for more details.

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REPORT ON THE DEPTHERAPY MIKE CLARK EXPLAINS HOW PHY OGRA TRIP TO THE SPICE ISLAND SILENT PHOT TO FIND AND SHOOT BACK IN THE RED THE 2AM ETERNAL D-CIRCUIT OFTT GRENADA ELUSIVE CLOSE HOW LAWSO SETS HIS N WOLF WOODFISH

THE RESCUE

COLIN GARRE ALARM FOR AN EARLY MORNING DIVE

JILL HEINERTH ON THE NEW NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY

WELL S GO REBREATHER CELEB RATES RED TING SHOO WITH UW SEA ANEMONEFISH

TECH: AZOTH O’DIVE IS THIS PIECE OF TECH A GAME-CHANGER FOR

Q&A:TECHNICAL ANDY FORS TER DIVERS?

WE CHAT ABOUT THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE AMBITIOUS DIVE PROJECT CORNWALL

TECH: MINE DIVING

KURT STORMS HEADS INTO THE CARRIERE MINE IN BELGIUM

BEHAVIOUR

TECHEICON PHIL SHORT GOES SUN SHINES ON INAUGURAL DIVCOMM ERCIA DIVING IVANA ORLOVIC TALKS ABOUT BEING INLFRONT L AT NDAC STIVA FE OF, AND BEHIND, THE CAMERA

MINE DIVING

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The currents of

Adrian Stacey waxes lyrical about the adrenalinefuelled drift dives that can be enjoyed in the wild waters of the Komodo National Park PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIAN STACEY

THE US VIRGIN ISLANDS

Stuart Philpott has dived around many Caribbean islands, and he has trawled through his archives to bring this round-up of some of the best shipwrecks in the region PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART PHILPOTT 22

he outboard motor on our speed boat wined in protest as a furious current tried its best to thwart us from reaching our destination. The texture of the water was another clear indication that this dive was going to be far from sedate. Resembling a fastrunning river rather than an ocean, in some parts the sea seemed to boil and performed an agitated little dance, in other areas whirlpools drifted along the fast-moving surface. In contrast, different sections of the sea were as flat as glass and, for a split second, we were afforded a brief glimpse of the utter mayhem below. Our experienced driver dropped us a little way in front of the reef, to give us some hope of reaching our target. We aimed to get down to 20-25m as fast as possible and to find a good place to secure a reef hook before the current swept us off the dive site. With this feat completed, it was now time to watch the show. Immense schools of fusiliers and yellow-masked surgeonfish had congregated where the current first hit the reef, known as ‘the split’. They, in turn, attracted the unwanted attention of a whole host of predators. Huge gangs of the thuggish-looking giant trevallies casually mingled with the fusiliers, grey

The US Virgin Islands are made up of four main islands - St Thomas, St John, St Croix and Small Water Island. St Thomas has some really nice wrecks but is not often visited by UK divers. Choices are limited to a handful of dive centres, including JJ Divers and Coki Dive Centre. Blue Island Divers has just closed down. Originally owned by a Brit, Aitch Liddle, they ran a friendly, professional service at the Crown Bay Marina Suite. In all there are 40 sandy beaches. Accommodation varies from selfcatering apartments to resort hotels. Dive centres usually offer pick up from hotels with water frontage, otherwise for all other accommodation it’s best to hire a car. There are more than 20 wrecks scattered along the south coast. Most are at a depth of around 30m and no more than 5km offshore (35 minute boat ride). Some even have portholes and brass fittings still attached. The WIT Shoal II is probably the best wreck dive on St Thomas. The 99-metre-long LST (Landing Ship Tank) was built in 1943 by Kaiser Co Inc. She saw intense action in the Pacific during World War Two and was involved in a number of the infamous beach landings. By the early 1980s she had become a non-functioning derelict and was sunk during Hurricane Klaus on 6 November 1984. She was re-floated in order to be scrapped but sank while being towed to her final destination. She now lies at a max depth of 28m, just 3km outside of St Thomas harbour. There are five deck levels to explore. The engine room is well worth a visit, although finding a way in can be quite tricky. The stern, wheelhouse and crane are the best areas. Two knot currents are quite common, but diving with some water movement does have its advantages. Monotone bulkheads transform into a blaze of colour when thousands upon thousands of tiny orange cup corals open up to feed. This wreck is perfect for night dives.

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Byron Conroy heads to the Maldives in search of big-animal encounters – and he is not left wanting

have always wanted to visit the Maldives for its pure beauty of white sand, blue water and magical sunsets. Also, just hearing someone mention the Indian Ocean makes me start dreaming of a tropical underwater paradise. When starting to do some research on this place, I quickly found out that shark fishing has been completely banned in all Maldivian atolls since 2010, and ray fishing since 2014. I suddenly got even more excited for our trip. My partner and I arrived at the Dhigali resort in a tiny propeller-driven seaplane, some 45-minute flight from Male international airport. The island is located in the Raa Atoll in the northern part of the Maldivian archipelago. We got a warm welcome and a useful orientation briefing by manager Kate. My first impression of Dhigali was that the island was very green and jungle-like, creating an authentic and exciting atmosphere. The island is one kilometre long, which is quite big compared to many other resorts with similar guest capacity. This, together with the owner´s intention of keeping as much natural vegetation as possible, has created a very lush, genuine environment.

DOING THE JUNGLE WALK

While exploring the island, we stumbled upon the ‘jungle walk’. Here, 80 percent of the vegetation is preserved and joined by little wooden signs with interesting facts about the wildlife and the plants found here. As we continued along the jungle walk, a group of flying foxes landed in a fruit tree just in front of us. We could also hear many different species of birds around us. On the ground, a small lizard made its way into the bushes.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BYRON CONROY

The

However, the next moment I reminded myself that I actually get up at 6am every morning just to fit in three or four dives a day, and I suddenly felt a lot better! 28

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winter waters of the Arctic that even in midwinter the area can support the food-webs necessary to sustain a complete marine ecosystem. So, while the rest of the North Atlantic is practically barren at that time of the year, the Gulf Stream creates rich upwellings around the mountains and seamounts of the Azores that become fertile oases to which the large pelagic animals of the region aggregate. Come spring and rising temperatures, the Azorean waters burst into life with huge planktonic blooms and krill spawning events, creating the perfect feeding conditions for the hungry great whales of the northern hemisphere as they migrate to their Arctic summer feeding grounds.

THE GREAT WHALES OF THE AZORES LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION…

Swept by the warm tendrils of the southern Gulf Stream, rich in tropical nutrients and dissolved organic nitrogen, the Azores archipelago is far enough south from the frigid

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The deep waters, undersea mountains and overall ecosystem of the Azores make it an almost perfect location for sperm whales - deep-diving animals that hunt and feed on the giant squid that abound in the depths around the archipelago.

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BEYOND TECHNICAL

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Jill Heinerth waxes lyrical about the underwater delights that lie in store for adventurous divers off the coast of Newfoundland around the picturesque Bell Island

n the pale light of a wintery Canadian dawn, the Arctic blast persuades me to snug my hat securely down over my ears. Emerging from the neck of my parka, my muffled voice emits curly wisps of white vapour into the cold air. A barrel-chested John Olivero vaults clear of his truck in a long-sleeved T-shirt loudly announcing ‘let’s go diving!’ My sturdy Canadian resolve cannot hide my disbelief. “First, we have to get out of the driveway, Johnny!” I mumble. “No problem!” he smiles backs. “We have a secret weapon!” Who would have imagined that a diving expedition would require a snowplow? On this day, we need it to move the metre-deep snow that has accumulated overnight. But the list of necessary tools is even more peculiar. For months, John Olivero and Ocean Quest Adventure Resort (www.OceanQuestAdventures.com) owner Rick Stanley wrangled volunteers, convincing them to heft pickaxes and shovels to prepare for our visit. The group of selfless volunteers moved tons of iron ore, built decks and benches, and installed critical lighting in preparation for us to dive into the depths of the Bell Island Mine. February never deterred their dedication. On the contrary, there is plenty of time in the winter for projects and diversions. In Newfoundland, summertime is an orgy of outdoor activity – 18-hour days crowded with whales, World War Two wrecks, beach picnics and icebergs, leaving little room for manual labour. Winter is work time. Summer is for play.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JILL HEINERTH WWW.INTOTHEPLANET.COM

Newfoundland

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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.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON SILCOCK

Sat as they are, roughly halfway between the edge of southern Europe and the tip of North America, the nine islands of the oceanic archipelago of the Azores offer the only shelter from the notorious seas of the North East Atlantic. Underwater, that archipelago sustains an incredible ecosystem because those nine visible peaks are just a fraction of the 100-plus underwater mountains and seamounts that are both a beacon to marine life and a catalyst for the interaction between the many pelagic species that aggregate there.

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Don Silcock made the long haul from Australia to the Azores in search of some big-animal encounters – and he was not disappointed

ike the tips of icebergs, the islands of the Azores archipelago are just the visible peaks of a remarkable chain of underwater mountains that rank among some of the highest in the world. They rise up from the Azores Platform, a huge area of nearly 6 million km2, which in itself is just a small part of the incredible Mid-Atlantic Ridge, that runs the complete length of the Atlantic Ocean - from the far north and the Arctic Ocean, to the deep south and the Southern Ocean. The Azores Platform is some 2,000m below the ocean surface, but the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is grounded on to the seabed another 2,000m below that, while the tip of Pico (the tallest island of the archipelago) is 2,350 metres above sealevel, making the mountain that is Pico about 6,500 metres high in total elevation.

Up currents, down currents, washing machines, currents that do not go in the direction they are supposed to, and currents that just come out of nowhere, can all be encountered in the national park

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

It is also one of the few places in the world where, under a special permit from the Regional Environment Directorate, it is possible to be in the water with those sperm whales – which is what convinced me to undertake the marathon journey from Sydney! September is the optimum month as it has the best visibility, reasonable water temperature, most tourists have departed and it’s the end of the calving season, with the highest chance of curious juvenile sperm whale encounters. I based myself in Madalena, the main town of the picturesque island of Pico in the central Azores, which is dominated by the Mount Pico volcano - the highest point in the archipelago and in all of Portugal. Thankfully dormant since its last eruption in 1718, a drive up to the flanks of Mount Pico affords a view that seems to stretch to eternity and puts into perspective the sheer isolation of these islands. It is that very view, combined with the nature and tenacity of the Azorean people, that allowed a shore-based sperm

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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NEWS • HINTS AND ADVICE • IN-DEPTH TRAVEL • INTERVIEWS • GEAR • PHOTOGRAPHY

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

AMMONITE SYSTEM T-VALVE FOR HEATED SUIT SYSTEMS | SRP: £315

Ammonite is a brand most well-known for its robust range of dive lights, but now it has launched a compact T-valve designed for use with heated suit systems. www.nautilus.uk

DIVEPRO S17 | SRP: £199

The DivePro S17 is a company primary LED dive light, which via its CREE XHP35 LED pumps out 1,700 lumen at full power. You get 120 minutes of run time at full power, and a whopping 2,400 minutes at low power, which still pumps out 85 lumen. It takes six hours to charge up, and is charged via a USB cable. The DivePro S17 is depth-rated to 100m and the light functions are operated via a stainless-steel push button. www.nautilus.uk

FOURTH ELEMENT STORM PONCHO SRP: £143.50

This all-weather poncho is warm, fast-drying and packs down small, enabling you to take it anywhere. Throw it on to get changed into your wetsuit at the beach or on the boat. Use it to warm up after a session in the water, or to cover up between dives. The waterproof, fleecelined fabric is lightweight, cosy and manufactured using an environmentally friendly, fluorine-free waterproofing treatment. With side vents secured by poppers, getting changed is simple, with generous hand warmer pockets adding to the comfort factor when warming up. The adjustable hood features a peak, providing excellent protection even in the worst of weather, making this a piece of gear you’ll never want to be without. Using fabric manufactured according to the Bluesign standard, the Storm Poncho is produced using innovative, resource-conserving and environmentally friendly techniques. The fleece backing contains 37% recycled yarn with S.Café technology, derived from postconsumer plastic bottles. The S.Café process embeds coffee grounds into the recycled yarn surface, changing the characteristics of the filament and provides faster drying times along with increased odour resistance and enhanced reflection of UV rays. The existing burgundy and black versions have now been joined by an eye-catching blue colour scheme. www.fourthelement.com

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TEASER – FOURTH ELEMENT SCOUT SRP: £79.95 – AVAILABLE LATE-JANUARY

Available later this month, Fourth Element’s Scout mask is the company’s first foray into diving hardware. With a choice of four lenses, designed for different diving conditions, this single lens mask features super-soft silicone skirts and a further choice of four different mask straps, all made from recycled nylon and recycled plastic from the auto-industry. So you can create your own mask, whether you are taking photos, diving in temperate waters or snorkelling in bright tropical seas. We’ve tried them - full review coming soon. www.fourthelement.com

NAUTILUS STROBE | SRP: £119

The Nautilus strobe is a high-end option for use as either a personal or marker strobe. Ideal for divers and shot lines, it emits an extremely bright flash, which can be seen a considerable distance underwater. Made from aircraft-grade aluminium alloy, it is equipped with a CREE XM-L2 U2 emitter, and has a brightness from 0-2,500 lumens. It is depth rated to 100m and is operated via a magnetic rotate switch. www.nautilus.uk

SCUBAPRO S-TEK RANGE The new S-Tek Technical Diving programme re-invents the classic backplate and wing system with a clever design focused on adjustability, fit and comfort. A comprehensive line of accessories rounds out the collection offering a unified programme for technical divers. The revolutionary design combines premium materials and durable construction with purist features and technology - 3D formed backplates with fully radiused edges, softened organic shape and recessed wingnut socket increase diver comfort; angled webbing slots optimise webbed harness threading, offering greater comfort and reduces webbing abrasion over time; and durable S-Tek donuts feature rounded profiles, allowing for smooth, controlled air migration and a new best-in-class Scubapro-designed K-Style inflator. The S-Tek is available as a Pro System, with molded Monprene pads that cushion shoulders, waist and back for increased comfort, and highly adjustable TEK LOK shoulders that contribute to a snug, individualised fit, and as a Pure System, with a continuous webbing harness and a stainless-steel waist buckle that provides a custom, individualised fit. A comprehensive line of accessories rounds out the collection offering a unified programme for technical divers, including single tank adapter, bungee regulator necklace, low profile or cold-water stage kits, trim weights kit, pro fluid form weight system, expedition thigh pocket, expedition Reels, spinner spools, cookie monster and arrow monster markers, glide, D-ring and bolt snap hardware and exclusive colour kits. www.scubapro.eu

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FOURTH ELEMENT J2 BASELAYER | SRP: £84.95 EACH Mark Evans: There is nothing worse than feeling cold when you go for a dive, and if you want to keep diving right here in the UK through the winter months, then some proper, effective thermal protection is essential. I tend to dive in my Fourth Element Halo 3D all year round, and even in the depths of winter, I have generally been able to last for a full dive, but call me nesh, I had taken to wearing a basic base layer under it for that little bit of extra core warmth when it got really cold. Son and heir Luke was keen to rub in the fact that along with his Fourth Element Hydra neoprene drysuit and Xerotherm undersuit, he also had a J2 baselayer – and I didn’t! – but that was rectified in the run up to Christmas and so we were both able to head off for dives properly bundled up with our J2s under our respective undersuits and drysuits. Now some people might baulk at the thought of shelling out nearly £170 for a base layer top and bottom, when you can pick up a basic base layer set for under £15 in your local supermarket, but they say you get what you pay for, and in the case of the J2, that certainly holds true. This is not your ‘normal’ baselayer, it is an extremely advanced garment. The J2 baselayer was developed specifically for the US Deep Caving Team’s 2013 expedition to explore the Cheve cave system in Mexico. Keeping the skin dry can be critical to success on an epic exploration such as this, whether it is staying warm, or preventing infections, and the J2 baselayer was designed to wick perspiration away from the skin and maintain a dry zone next to the skin. Air is a better insulator than water and consequently, the baselayer ensured better thermal protection. The J2 baselayer system takes this performance further with triedand-tested anti-microbial silver ions embedded within the fibres of the fabric, which enables long, repetitive wear without the risk of skin infections developing – this was critical during the 2013 expedition. The J2 wicking performance also comes into its own when the fabric gets wet. Water is wicked away from the skin, and with the right combination of drysuit underwear, further away though the fibres of the undersuit. Even in the event of a suit flood, the J2 will retain some of its performance. Silver ions are incorporated into the fibres when they are manufactured, ensuring that the bacteriostatic and antifungal properties of the fabric last. This cannot be washed off. The silver ions prevent the formation of bacterial cell membranes, preventing most bacteria from growing in the fibres of the garment. However, this will not adversely affect the naturally occurring bacteria on the skin itself. A simple, close-fitting design with flat seams for next-to-skin comfort offers the perfect solution under any drysuit underwear. This top is not only easy to don, it has good aesthetics and is extremely comfortable thanks to excellent all-way stretch fabric and flat seams.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Mike’s Dive Store! Why buy from us? Largest stock holding in the UK of all major brands

3000 Sq Ft London showroom staffed by experienced divers

Online stock availability with extended returns until 31st of January

Earn Plankton points with every qualifying purchase

Best prices and carbon offsetting for purchases

Customer voted winner of dive retailer of the year!

020 8994 6006 support@mikesdivestore.com

FOURTH ELEMENT J2 BASELAYER | SRP: £84.95 EACH

We found that you do have a fetching ‘waffle’ pattern left in your skin after wearing it, but it is incredibly comfortable. You would not think adding a thin baselayer under your undersuit could make such a difference, but it really does – the additional warmth from the J2 was immediately obvious, and even more so towards the end of hour-long dives. I tested the works-when-wet claim when I forgot to adequately treat the zipper on my plastic T-Zip and got a constant trickle into my drysuit for the entire dive. I was wet, but the J2 – and the Halo 3D – kept the water away from my body and I only realised I had suffered a leak when I got out of my suit at the end of the dive. The thing about the J2 is that it can be employed for many different uses – I have already worn it when walking the dog on frosty winter days, and when mountain biking in North Wales when the temperatures dropped to single figures. It is so comfy, you can even lounge around in it at home! www.fourthelement.com

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DORSET

KENT

DORSET DIVING SERVICES

KENT TOOLING DIVING PRODUCTS

t: 01202 122006 e: info@dorsetdiving.co.uk a: 25A Ringwood Road, Poole, Dorset, BH14 0RF 5 Star PADI Dive Centre offering PADI Courses, Kit Sales, Servicing, Air Nitrox and Trimix Fills. In house IDEST test station and workshop for on site repairs. www.dorsetdiving.co.uk

t: 01227 700374 e: sales@divingproducts.co.uk a: Windgates, Church Lane, Waltham, Near Canterbury, Kent, CT4 5SS Kent Tooling Diving Products produce the widest range of rebreather and diving supplies and accessories in Kent and the UK. www.divingproducts.co.uk

UNDERWATER EXPLORERS t: 01305 824555 e: info@underwaterexplorers.co.uk a: Unit 1, Maritime Business Centre, Mereside, Portland, Dorset, DT5 1FD Leading Dorset dive centre stocking all major brands, air, nitrox, trimix fills, rentals and servicing beside Portland Marina and across from Chesil Beach. www.underwaterexplorers.co.uk

ESSEX BESPOKE SCUBA DIVING LIMITED t: 01708 837032 e: contact@bespokescubadiving.co.uk a: Becontree Heath Leisure Centre, Althorne Way, Dagenham, Essex, RM10 7FH Our mission is to provide quality & professional scuba training in a relaxed friendly environment. www.bespokescubadiving.co.uk

BLACK WATER DIVING t: 07841 561680 e: info@blackwaterdiving.co.uk a: 18 Lower Park Road, Loughton, Essex, IG10 4NA PADI Dive training focussed on beginners. Try Scuba Diving for £20. Private swimming pools. Learn to scuba dive with 1:1 instruction at Blackwater Diving. www.blackwaterdiving.co.uk

DIVERSE SCUBA t: 01375 892444 e: info@diverse-scuba.co.uk a: Ye Old Plough House Motel, Brentwood Road, Bulphan, Essex, RM14 3SR Diverse Scuba are one of the leading 5 STAR PADI IDC dive centres in the UK providing scuba diving courses and services to the Essex region. www.diverse-scuba.co.uk

ORCA SCUBA DIVING ACADEMY t: 01268 520111 e: info@orcascubadivingacademy.co.uk a: 17 Repton Close, Burnt Mills Estate, Basildon, Essex, SS13 1LN Established in 2007 the Academy a vision of Gary to deliver the very best Scuba Diving School in Essex. www.orcascubadivingacademy.co.uk

HARROGATE DIVESHACK UK t: 07779 605863 e: tim@diveshack.uk.com a: 17 Station Parade, Harrogate, HG1 1UF Harrogates number 1 dive store.

BLUE OCEAN DIVING t: 01622 212022 e: scuba@blueoceandiving.co.uk a: West Park Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 7AF 5* PADI scuba diving courses and training, organised diving trips and events, scuba equipment and friendly advice based in Maidstone. www.blueoceandiving.co.uk

GO DIVE t: 01332 665353 e: sales@godive.net a: Nottingham Road, Spondon, Derby, DE21 7NP Take your diving to the next level with GoDive, the UK’s first fourth element concept store. Start shopping with us today! www.godive.net

PLYMOUTH AQUANAUTS t: 01752 228825 e: info@aquanauts.co.uk a: 88 Vauxhall Street, The Barbican, Plymouth, PL4 0EY Waterfront full service centre with direct access to the best wreck and reef diving the UK has to offer. www.aquanauts.co.uk

www.diveshack.uk.com

ROTHERHAM LANCASHIRE CAPERNWRAY DIVING AND LEISURE LTD e: info@dive-site.co.uk a: Jackdaw Quarry, Capernwray Road, Over Kellet, Lancashire, LA6 1AD The UK’s finest inland dive site... Welcome to Capernwray, the beautiful diving venue on the edge of the Lake District. www.dive-site.co.uk

EAST LANCS DIVING e: info@eastlancsdiving.co.uk a: Daisyfield Pool, Daisy Ln, Blackburn, BB1 5HB East Lancashire’s only PADI approved Dive Centre - Undertaking all PADI courses and Specialities from Try Dive to Professional. www.eastlancsdiving.co.uk

MILTON KEYNES MK SCUBA DIVING t: 07957 710334 e: contact@mkscubadiving.co.uk a: Unit 50A, I-Centre, Howard Way, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes, MK16 9PY Friendly, professional and patient PADI, SDI and TDI scuba instructors, we proudly offer you high quality service, equipment and facilities. www.mkscubadiving.co.uk

NORWICH KENT

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

DREAM DIVERS LTD t: 07976 526050 e: info@dreamdiversltd.co.uk a: 18-20 Greasbrough Rd, Parkgate, Rotherham, S62 6HN PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centre based in Parkgate, Rotherham. Our instructional team has been teaching PADI courses together in the Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and surrounding areas of South Yorkshire since 2005. www.dreamdivers.co.uk

SHROPSHIRE SEVERN TEC DIVING t: 01939 291303 e: severntecdiving@gmail.com a: Seventec Diving, Unit 1J, Leaton Industrial Estate, Shrewsbury SY4 3AP We are a Scuba Diving Training Center with over 20 years experience with a multi-agency approach to scuba diving. www.severntecdiving.com

SOMERSET DIVE ACADEMY t: 01935 353525 e: info@dive.academy a: Unit 7-8 Boundary Avenue, Commerce Park, Yeovil, Somerset, BA22 8UU Somerset’s Premier. Scuba Diving Centre. Book a lesson. www.dive.academy

SUSSEX

CHRISTAL SEAS SCUBA LTD

OYSTER DIVING

t: 01603 485000 e: info@scuba4me.co.uk a: 62 Whiffler Road, Norwich, NR3 2AY We are Norfolk’s Premier dive centre with our own on-site swimming pool and well stocked shop with the latest equipment.

t: 0800 699 0243 e: info@oysterdiving.com a: Maritime House, Basin Road North, Portslade, E. Sussex, BN41 1WR PADI 5-star IDC centre in London and S.E. Holidays around the world, active club and local dives. Exclusive lake in Surrey. www.oysterdiving.com

www.scuba4me.co.uk

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SUSSEX

YORKSHIRE

PLANET DIVERS

BELOW THE SURFACE

t: 07889 883232 e: info@planetdivers.co.uk a: Planet Divers, The Angling Club, Royal Parade, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 7AA A Friendly Crew, Great Diving all year round. Excellent, Fun trips UK & Abroad for all levels, non-divers welcomed. www.planetdivers.co.uk

t: 07967 733764 e: info@belowthesurface.co.uk a: 26 Albert Street, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 8AH A PADI 5 star centre with over 30 years’ experience, we teach in small groups & at your pace. www.belowthesurface.co.uk

DIVEWORLD

WEST MIDLANDS AQUASPORT INTERNATIONAL t: 0121 706 6628 e: info@aquasportonline.com a: The Dive Centre, 50 Lincoln Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands, B27 6PA The only purpose built diver training centre and dive shop in the West Midlands and the only PADI Dive Centre in the whole of Greater Birmingham and Solihull. www.aquasportonline.com

t: 01142 332995 e: info@learn2dive.co.uk a: 185 Holme Lane, Hillsborough, Sheffield, Yorkshire, S6 4JR Welcome to Diveworld, dive school, dive club, dive retail and servicing, dive travel and more, the complete scuba package. www.learn2dive.co.uk

Your diving memories deserve

the best home www.divelogs.com

Recreational, Instructor, and Technical Dive Logs Custom Dive Logs Log Book Stamps Gear ScubaTags Compact Lightweight Binders Custom Dive Slates Dive Maps Fish Identification Certification Card Holders

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WILTSHIRE DM SCUBA TRAINING t: 07920 556116 e: instructor@hotmail.co.uk a: Filton leisure Centre, Elm Park, Fiton BS34 7PS DM Scuba hold pool training sessions in Bristol, Swindon and Bath giving you plenty of choice. www.dm-scuba.co.uk

CELEBRATE THE HUMBLE ANTHIA Richard Aspinall showcases the anthia, a ubquitous sight on the Red Sea reefs.

Q&A: BLUE HORIZON DIVING

Mark Wynne and Holly Wakely talk about their inspirational diving YouTube Channel.

UNEXPECTED PHILIPPINES

There is an amazing diversity of diving at Puerto Galera, as Roni Ben-Aharon explains.

TECH: THE MT HAVEN

Kurt Storms explores the massive supertanker lying off the coast of Genoa.

SHOOTING FOR THE TELLY

Hamish Harper gives us a behind-the-scenes peek at the challenges around planning and filming water-based shoots for TV programmes.

GEAR GUIDE: TEST EXTRA

Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans dives the Scubapro Hydros X BCD.

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The Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society is a non-profit, educational organisation whose mission is to promote educational activities associated with the underwater world. It has offered scholarships for over 35 years. owuscholarship.org

INTRODUCTION TO THE SCHOLARSHIP – AND ZUZU Photographs by Ahmet Hadedy and Tord Karlsen Want to spend a year of your life working on your diving qualifications, experience and meeting and working with some of the most-influential figures in the underwater world? Want to use the latest in dive equipment and visit the projects that you only read about? Who wouldn’t? If you are under 26, or know someone who is, read on. For nearly 50 years, the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society has supported the development of careers of upcoming, passionate divers from the USA and on the last 20 years, Europe and Australasia. Each year, three academic scholarships are offered to divers who are driven by a desire to contribute to the underwater world whether in marine sciences, conservation, education, archaeology or media. Armed with a network of contacts, dive gear from Fourth Element, Suunto, Halcyon, Shark, Light and Motion and Reef Photo and Video and fund to cover travel expenses thanks to the generosity of the principal sponsor, Rolex, the scholars are challenged to work on their skills and their experience at the same time as looking ahead towards a career that they would like to build so that they can give back to the underwater world. Previous scholars have gone on to work at Pinewood Studios, teaching James Bond to dive, worked for the British Antarctic Survey, design cutting edge dive computers and film and produce episodes of the BBC’s Blue Planet series. Sound too good to be true? It really isn’t. Meet this year’s scholar, Arzucan Askin. Arzucan known as ‘Zuzu’ to most - is a Fellow of the RGS-IBG, a sailor and PADI Divemaster, deeply passionate about scientific exploration and marine conservation. As a child of the Mediterranean and with a lifelong dedication to the protection of the world’s oceans, she has assisted in the monitoring of coral reef health in Hong Kong, the tracking of illegal fishing activities in Malaysia and ghost gear removal in Turkey. She was selected as a 2019 UNLEASH Innovation Lab Talent for SDG 13 (Climate Action) and has been shortlisted as one of the 12 ‘Women and the Ocean Changemakers’ by the Economist Group’s World Ocean Summit 2020. She holds a graduate degree from the University of Oxford in interdisciplinary conservation science, where her research examined the intersection of human-ocean relationships, covering a variety of topics from trafficking of endangered wildlife to law of the seas, all the way to underwater cultural heritage and the

Elvin Leech

impact of human disturbance of marine megafauna. Being awarded the OWUSS EU Rolex Scholarship represents a transformational step in her career. She is excited to use her scholarship year to ‘skill up’ by stepping into the world of commercial diving and technical diving, as well as underwater film and photography. These opportunities represent important steps towards her big dream: to run highly specialised media and science operations onboard her own sailing vessel in remote corners of the world in the future. You can follow her adventures on: www. owusseurope.org and find out more about Arzucan on: www.arzucan-askin.com How do you apply for this scholarship? Visit: www.owuscholarship.org for details.

Farewell Elvin Leech

The European and Australasian Scholarships were made possible by the work of Elvin Leech MBE, who retired this year. A former police diver, who ran the scholarship programme in Europe for more than 20 years as well as serving as chairman of the board for more than a decade, Elvin saw scholars go on to become leaders in diving education, underwater filmmaking, polar sciences, maritime archaeology and awardwinning BBC wildlife documentary film-making. The team, and our industry as a whole, owe him a huge debt of gratitude for all his dedication and hard work. n

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Photo: Bastien Soleil

WINDOW TO ADVENTURE a new vision launching soon fourthelement.com

Scuba Diver #57

Articles inside

Our-World Underwater Scholarship

Test Extra

Scuba Santa

TECH: Sweden

What’s New

Australia

Q&A with Walt Stearns

DAN Europe Medical Q&A

Underwater Photography

Scotland