Scuba Diver #62

FREEDIVE GRENADA

LEXI FISHER EXPLORES THE ISLAND WATERS ON BREATH-HOLD

SUBLIME SOUTH COAST SAEED RASHID REVEALS HIS FOUR FAVOURITE SHORE-DIVING SITES

TREATED LIKE A VIP

STUART PHILPOTT HEADS OFF ON A WEEK-LONG RED SEA SAFARI

MAIN STAGE SPEAKER BOOK TICKETS TODAY!

Mother of

SHARKS

CRISTINA ZENATO CHATS ABOUT CAVE DIVING, SWIMMING WITH SHARKS, AND DONNING CHAINMAIL INDONESIA, PT II

GERMAN MINE DIVING

APEKS EXOTEC ISSUE #62

Underwater videography made easy Explore differently with Vaquita, a powerful and intuitive underwater camera packed with unique features for divers like you: Automatic Depth-Controlled Color Correction, Ultra Light-Sensitive Lens and 4K recording, integrated GPS, depth, and temperature log, two custom recording modes, waterproof down to 350 m / 1150 ft, and much more.

Don’t miss our Ready to Dive-in deal at paralenz.com or your local reseller.

Offer valid until June 30, 2022 or until supply lasts.

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Evans Tel: 0800 0 69 81 40 ext 700 Email: mark@scubadivermag.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION MANAGER Matt Griffiths Email: matt@scubadivermag.com CONTRIBUTORS Lexi Fisher, Saeed Rashid, Stuart Philpott, Kurt Storms, Alex Mustard 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

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

SUBSCRIPTIONS Never miss another issue! Sign up and get Scuba Diver delivered to your door.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES 12 month subscription: UK: £25 | Ireland: £30 | RoW: £43 To subscribe, simply visit the website: www.scubadivermag.com/subscription

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

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

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Grenada-bound... and the lure of Lundy As I write this, I am in the final throes of preparing for my first foreign dive trip in what seems like eons! I will be venturing to Grenada for the island’s rebranded Conservation and DiveFest event, along with BBC fave Miranda Krestovnikoff, and while I dearly love my UK diving, I am certainly looking forward to plunging into 28-29 degree C waters!

If all goes to plan, on my return from the Caribbean, I will then have also been to play with the friendly, charismatic seal colony on Lundy Island with my son Luke. This will have been our third attempt to get to the island after being thwarted twice in 2021 (in August and October). If we were successful with our endeavours, you’ll be reading all about it in the next issue! So here’s all our fingers and toes crossed!

Regardless of the Lundy situation, what will be happening is that the Clan Evans are heading down to Cornwall and Devon in a Ford Nugget campervan (thanks for the loan, Ford!) for a spot of ‘camp ‘n’ dive’ action. Porthkerris is our destination, and has to be one of the most-perfect locations for combining camping and diving. You literally fall out of your tent, camper or caravan and are on the water’s edge.

Camping - whether you are in a luxury touring caravan, a plush motorhome, a dinky campervan or a tent of some shape or form - is a quintessential British pastime, and it provides a cost-effective accommodation option for UK divers wanting to explore our local waters. We hope this will be the first of many such adventures around our shores - let’s just pray to the weather gods for sunshine, blue skies and calm seas!

Mark Evans, Editorial Director

3

®

®

®

®

FREEDIVE GRENADA

LEXI FISHER EXPLORES THE ISLAND WATERS ON BREATH-HOLD

SUBLIME SOUTH COAST SAEED RASHID REVEALS HIS FOUR FAVOURITE SHORE-DIVING SITES

TREATED LIKE A VIP

STUART PHILPOTT HEADS OFF ON A WEEK-LONG RED SEA SAFARI

MAIN STAGE SPEAKER BOOK TICKETS TODAY!

Mother of

SHARKS

CRISTINA ZENATO CHATS ABOUT CAVE DIVING, SWIMMING WITH SHARKS, AND DONNING CHAINMAIL INDONESIA, PT II

GERMAN MINE DIVING

APEKS EXOTEC ISSUE #62

Cover.indd 1

PHOTOGRAPH © CRISTINA ZENATO

19/05/2022 19:09

Regular columns

Monthly features...

10 News round-up

22 England

Divers help with flood clean-up in Africa, Blue Force and Aggressor launch new liveaboards, the Socorro Vortex runs aground, and Wheelsdan plans a world-record dive attempt.

18 DAN Europe Medical Q&A

The Divers Alert Network team discuss orbital implants and diving, and lung squeeze while freediving.

38 Mustard’s Masterclass

Alex Mustard offers some sage advice about lens and lighting for underwater photography.

74 Our World-Underwater Scholarship Personal introduction to the 2022 European Scholar, Hannah Douglas.

6

Underwater photographer Saeed Rashid lives a stone’s throw from the South Coast’s waters, and here he waxes lyrical about four of his favourite ‘local’ dives, with a bonus fifth shark experience thrown in for good measure.

28 Grenada

Lexi Fisher ditches her regulator and scuba cylinder to venture below the surface on a single breath and explore the reefs and wrecks of Grenada with nothing more than mask, snorkel and fins.

32 Q&A: Cristina Zenato

We chat to the ‘shark whisperer’, technical and cave diver – and GO Diving Show 2023 Main Stage speaker – about sharks, caves, the lure of the deep.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

...continued

Gear & testing

42 Indonesia

64 What’s New

As Indonesia reopens its borders to international tourists, Scuba Diver Australia and New Zealand Editor Adrian Stacey continues his whistlestop tour of the island nation to highlight what people have been missing out on the last two years.

48 Egypt

Stuart Philpott gets the star treatment during a week-long northern safari on the VIP One liveaboard out of Sharm el Sheikh.

58 TECH: Germany

Kurt Storms heads into Germany to explore the Nuttlar slate mine, which offers multiple routes for experienced cave divers, but also can provide a taster for those thinking of heading off down that path.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

We showcase new products coming to market in 2022, including the Apeks Halo spool, Fourth Element’s HALO AR undersuit and Tidal robe, the Paralenz Vaquita flip mount, Tecline’s VX regulator, the Mares Guardian and Grace Ergotrim BCDs, and the Sealife SeaDragon 3000SF Pro Dual Beam photo/video light.

66 Test Extra

Scuba Diver Editorial Director Mark Evans rates and reviews the brand-new Apeks Exotec back-inflate BCD, and Nigel Marsh gives his opinions on the SeaLife Sport Diver smartphone housing.

7

CHANGE THE WAY YOU DIVE FOREVER WITH MERIDIAN ADVENTURE DIVE Access to the most Dive Sites in Raja Ampat, Indonesia Best eco-conscious Dive Boats in the world Top of the range Aqualung Dive Equipment and Gear Fusion restaurant, Honest Food made to order Cleanest Barefoot Luxury hotel in the jungle Adventure Activities for all ages above and below the water On-Site Professional Dive Specialists Community Driven, eco-conscious, socially responsible hotel and diving facility At Meridian Adventure Dive Resort, the Raja Ampat you’ve dreamed of is waiting.

CALL US

E-MAIL US TEL:

+62 951 317 6120

MAIL:

info@meridianadventuresdive.com

WEB:

raja.meridianadventuredive.com

GOOGLE US

CHECK US OUT

BOOK NOW

MERIDIAN ADVENTURE DIVE

THE BEST WAY TO EXPERIENCE RAJA AMPAT

ONE PLANET ⅼ ONE COMMUNITY ⅼ ONE OCEAN

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

DIVERS STEP IN AFTER

FLOOD DISASTER

S

pecialist dive tour operator Scuba Dive Adventures run several diving trips to South Africa annually, but this year the divers arrived to find total and utter destruction to Kwazulu-Natal, which had borne the brunt of a natural flood disaster. More than 41,000 locals had lost their homes, plus there was an increasing death toll of 400 plus. Motorways had been washed away, with shipping containers and vehicles strewn across the highways.

Scuba Dive Adventures‘ Damian Groves said: “For us as divers, we could not only see the devastation to the land, but the trail of destruction as far as the eye could see, along the

10

beautiful Umhlanga beach. The visibility was so bad due to the floods we were unable to dive at all for the first few days.

“Not content with sitting around, our group were desperate to help the local community. We decided we would do a beach clean the likes you have never seen before – armed with several pick-up trucks and tractors, we headed down and began the mammoth task of clearing the debris.

“Our goal was to get the plastics off the beach, stop the microplastics going into the sea and protect our oceans.

“With our protective gloves on, we began the enormous task of rummaging through the jumbled piles of plastic

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

bottles, brooms, mops, nappies, tyres and other debris, carrying the full bags to the ‘backie›, and onto the skip.

“We finally conceded when we could put no more into the skip. There is still a long way to go, and this is just one beach, and with many other beaches in dire need of help. We’ve got such devastation with plastics in our oceans, that if we don’t look after them, we won’t have the beautiful diving and beaches to appreciate in future years. “The flood disaster will impact Kwazulu-Natal’s economy, which performs in sectors such as tourism, manufacturing and agriculture for many years to come.”

He added: “A massive thank you to all of our Scuba Dive Adventure guests, who made this happen. We have also set up a Just Giving page - www. justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kzn-floods - for anyone who would like to donate to the people of KZN, where thousands of people have lost their homes and possessions, and many are still without running water.” www.scubadiveadventures.co.uk

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

11

Follow us on our various social media @scubadivermag

WHEELSDAN PLANS SIX-HOUR ARMS-ONLY RECORD DIVE

Paraplegic scuba diver Dan Metcalfe-Hall hopes to establish a new category of Guinness world record later this year – by scuba diving a distance of 5km propelled by his arms alone at Stoney Cove in Leicestershire.

Nicknamed ‘Wheelsdan’, Metcalfe-Hall, 34, from Grantham in Lincolnshire, sustained severe injuries in two accidents just four years apart.

He was told that he would never walk again in the summer of 2014, after a crash while riding his motorcycle had left him paralysed from the waist down.

Handcycling played a major part in the gym instructor’s rehabilitation, to the extent that he progressed to being rated fifth in the UK. Then, in 2018, a car that had been hit by a truck ploughed into him – just 14 miles from the finish line in a 600-mile charity handcycle race.

This second accident left Wheelsdan with a serious neckcompression injury for which he still requires treatment, also causing reduced muscle strength in one shoulder. Around the same time he was diagnosed with PTSD and depression.

Wheelsdan had already tried scuba diving and says that it helped with his rehabilitation after the second accident, providing a ‘big release from being in a wheelchair’. He is now qualified as an Assistant Instructor. ‘Without scuba diving in his life, Dan doesn’t like to think what might of happened to him’, states his crowd-funding page, acknowledging the sport as a ‘life-saver’.

If Guinness World Records agrees to his proposed ‘Fastest Freshwater 5k Scuba Dive, Arms Only’ record category, Wheelsdan’s bid will take place on 28 September.

He expects to be submerged for around six hours to cover the distance non-stop at a depth of 6-8m.

The attempt will be a fund-raiser for volunteer groups

the Scuba Trust, which has supported Wheelsdan as it does many scuba divers with a range of disabilities; and MAGPAS Air Ambulance, which responded in his first accident and without which he says he was unlikely to have survived.

Remaining funds will go towards providing changing facilities for disabled divers at Stoney Cove. www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/wheelsdan

BLUE FORCE FLEET ANNOUNCES SECOND MALDIVES LIVEABOARD Blue Force Fleet is pleased and proud to announce the addition of their second liveaboard yacht in the Maldives, the Maldives Blue Force 3.

The well-known Red Sea Blue Force 3 will make her last cruise in the Red Sea on 19 November 2022. On 1 December she will sail to the Maldives, where she will join the Blue Force Fleet schedule from 25 March 2023, under the trade name Maldives Blue Force 3.

After than 26 years of experience operating in the Maldives, Blue Force Fleet offers the Maldives Blue Force One and the Maldives Blue Force 3, two of the best liveaboard vessels in the Maldives, designed for divers and non-divers, guaranteeing comfort and a ‘premium’ experience. www.blueforcefleet.com

12

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

EGYPT

EMPEROR DIVERS ON THE MOVE IN MARSA

Emperor Divers has a new home in Marsa Alam. With the Marina Lodge still closed, Emperor has opened a new shop located in the brand-new Port Ghalib Marina City complex. And, as locations go, it is the best yet for Emperor, who are this year celebrating their 30th anniversary of diving in Egypt.

Their new shop in Marina City is situated among all the retail, hotels and restaurants right on the Port Ghalib waterfront and is right next door to where the Emperor fleet is based. Emperor Divers Red Sea general manager Luke Atkinson said: “We have all the facilities you›d expect, from equipment rinse to luggage store, as well as a fully-stocked shop.

“Our boats – Emperor Skye and the larger liveaboards – can be walked to in a couple of minutes or, if you prefer, by zodiac tender! So, whether you’re joining us for daily diving trips, for courses or on week-long liveaboard safaris, it’s a must visit. “We are still offering our complimentary collection service from all hotels within 20km of Port Ghalib so, wherever you choose to stay, there’s every reason to dive with us. “It’s a new location but the same convenience and the same great team.” www.emperor.com

THE DIVER’S CHOICE FOR 30 YEARS AWARD WINNING SERVICE SINCE 1992

WEEK OF COMMEMORATION FOR HMS URGE

There has been a week of commemoration in Malta to mark the 80th anniversary of the tragic loss of HMS Urge. The British submarine and its 32 crew members and 12 passengers went down on 27 April 1942, and the Heritage Malta Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit co-ordinated the week›s activities.

Divers made the deep and difficult descent to the sub’s final resting place and unfurled a Royal Navy ensign in remembrance of the dead, and laid a memorial plaque on the wreck.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Emp2022_thirds.indd 2

15/01/2022 07:54

13

Follow us on our various social media @scubadivermag

GHOST DIVING TARGETS CALIFORNIA SHIPWRECK

Six volunteers from Ghost Diving took to cleaning part of the wreck of the USS Moody that in 1933 made its final plunge for the filming purposes of Hell Below. Since then, as with any underwater object protruding from the seabed, the wreck has been accumulating fishing nets – the deadliest form of marine plastic pollution.

It is estimated that 640,000 tons of fishing gear are lost or abandoned in the seas and oceans each year. It is plastic waste that does not biodegrade, remaining hundreds of years in the environment, all the while losing tiny particles called microplastics that end up in the food chain. The phenomenon takes the name ‘ghost fishing’ because the nets that are made to appear invisible underwater are trapping and killing all manner of marine animals, including turtles, fish, mammals and birds that get entangled, suffer and eventually die.

The project marked the USA launch for international non-profit Healthy Seas that already works in 12 countries in Europe, North Africa and New Zealand. To make it happen, they teamed up with the volunteers of the newly established Ghost Diving USA chapter. The clean-up took place off San Pedro, California, in the morning hours of 28 April, with divers descending to 45m. Despite bad visibility and a strong current, the well-trained Ghost Diving team successfully recovered 135kg of a mixture of tuna and squid nets during a single dive. The area is covered by kelp forests,

one of the ocean’s most-diverse and productive ecosystems.

When the nets reached the surface, they were treated by a dozen individuals, partners and friends of the organization that helped to release living organisms, like crabs, worms and sea anemones, that were entangled or growing on the nets.

“During the departure and arrival back to San Pedro, the sight of humpback whales, dolphins and playful sea lions acted as a living reminder of why we were there. These beautiful animals are often the victims of pollution caused by fishing waste. The enthusiasm that vibrated throughout the day made our USA kickoff more special than we could have ever imagined,” said Veronika Mikos, Healthy Seas director.

“Thanks to the support of Healthy Seas, we look forward to continuing regular sea clean-ups in the area and are already surveying the wreck of UB88 and Farnsworth Bank, a beautiful reef that is populated by the very rare purple hydrocoral,” said Norbert Lee, Ghost Diving USA co-ordinator.

Healthy Seas will ensure that the nets removed will become a new resource, supporting a circular economy.

Founding partner Aquafil will regenerate the nylon parts that together with other nylon waste will become ECONYL yarn, the basis for new products such as socks, swimwear, activewear, carpets and more. Bracenet will process some of the nets as well and turn them into beautiful handmade accessories. In addition, in a continued effort to raise public awareness about the ghost fishing phenomenon, Healthy Seas collaborates with artists that are encouraged to get creative by reusing the recovered materials. www.ghostdiving.org

© Sean Farkas

14

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

GREEK WRECK-HUNTER SOLVES 1959 MYSTERY

A dive-team have discovered the wreck of a Greek cargo vessel that disappeared 63 years ago, lying at a depth of 87m north-west of the Aegean island of Makronisos.

The 43-metre Tresi Ierarchai (Three Hierarchs) was a former Hellenic Navy boat. It had sailed from Piraeus on the evening of 13 February, 1959 with a cargo of corn and three GMC 6X6 army trucks, heading to Thessaloniki and Xanthi. The boat sank the following day, after running into a Force 8 storm.

The nine crew died in what was presumed, because no distress signal had been sent, to have been a sudden and rapid sinking. Some flotsam was later found, but the wreck’s resting place had remained a mystery. Greek diver and maritime historian Kostas Thoctarides and his team found the Tresi Ierarchai intact and listing 53° to starboard. Exploring the wreck for the first time using an ROV, they reported that the helm had been turned hard to port.

The three military trucks, which would have been supplied as aid to the Greek Army in the early 1950s under the US Truman Plan, were found in the debris field where they had fallen to starboard from the deck.

Since Thoctarides started working as a commercial diver in 1987 he says he has clocked up the equivalent of two full years under water. The former pilot and manager of the manned submersible Thetis, he started the company ROV Services and also the Planet Blue scuba centre, which he runs at Lavrio in Attica, south of Athens.

Makronisos, the biggest uninhabited Greek island and where the Tresi Ierarchai wreck is located, lies only 7km east of Lavrio. Thoctarides, who has previously discovered four other 20th-century shipwrecks off the islands of Mykonos, Skiathos, Kefalonia and in the Saronic Gulf, reckons that some 75% of vessels wrecked in Greek waters have yet to be identified.

SOCORRO VORTEX LIVEABOARD RUNS AGROUND

TIME TO CELEBRATE!

Maldives Egypt Spain & Canaries Thailand Oman Mauritius Japan

50 YEARS OF DIVING WITH FRIENDS © SPA Informa

The luxurious liveaboard Socorro Vortex is apparently a total loss after running aground in the remote Revillagigedo Archipelago, but all passengers and crew were evacuated. According to reports, the vessel ran aground on Socorro Island on 9 May and the crew radioed for assistance. On arrival at the scene, the Mexican Navy found 14 passengers – a mix of Americans, Britons, Belgians, Irish and New Zealanders – and 11 crew members in a liferaft, some apparently with minor injuries. They were all taken to Isla Socorro Naval Sector for medical evaluation, and were then subsequently transferred to San Jose del Cabo in Baja California Sur.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Since 1972 we turn your diving holiday into a safe and unforgettable underwater adventure worldwide.

Let´s celebrate together!

Find all activities around our 50 years Euro-Divers anniversary on:

www.euro-divers.com 15

Follow us on our various social media @scubadivermag

PHILIPPINES AGGRESSOR TAKES TO THE SEAS

Aggressor Adventures is pleased to announce its newest liveaboard yacht, the Philippines Aggressor, which embarked on its maiden voyage on 9 April.

While there are thousands of superb dive sites throughout the 7,640 islands, Philippines Aggressor’s guests will focus on the best-of-the-best, with scuba diving cruises to Tubbataha Atoll and Visayas/Cebu regions.

These islands and their surrounding waters have long been a premier destination for scuba diving, and now Aggressor Adventures will provide divers access to these remote areas while also providing legendary Aggressor service.

The beautiful new, 42-metre Philippines Aggressor yacht offers Tubbataha cruises departing from Puerto Princesa, Palawan exploring the Tubbataha Atoll. A sevennight cruise includes Tubbataha Reefs National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, protecting over 350 species of coral and almost 500 species of fish in an area of approximately 100,000 hectares at the centre of the Sulu Sea. Whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and Napoleon wrasse are among the species found here. This healthy reef ecosystem supports legendary diving and encounters often include hammerhead sharks, manta rays, Moorish idols, Napoleon wrasse, parrotfish, eels and more.

There are several Visayas cruise options departing from the Mactan/Cebu or Dauin/Dumaguete areas to experience some of the best diving in the region. The Visayas itinerary

will be available for either seven or ten nights. The area provides opportunities for divers to see thresher sharks, huge schools of sardines, and whalesharks, while Dauin is a photographer’s delight with macro, black sands dives.

Siquijor Island boasts endless visibility along soft corals walls. This signature 360-degree cruise includes a parade of exotic islands – Cebu, Cabilao, Balicasag, Sumilon, Pescador, Malapascua, Kalanggaman, Camotes, Pamilacan, and Panglao Islands.

The Philippines Aggressor liveaboard pampers 24 guests with 15 staff in the same luxury and signature amenities that Aggressor Liveaboards has been offering around the world for the past 38 years. Itineraries include diving daily, onboard accommodations, gourmet meals and snacks, soft beverages, and local alcohol. On the main and upper decks, seven staterooms have panoramic windows. www.aggressor.com

WHO DISTURBED ANCIENT MED AMPHORA SITE? Amphoras from a 2,300-year-old merchant ship discovered in the Bay of Cannes five years ago have been damaged and looted, according to French divers who recently visited what was regarded as a significant archaeological site.

The vessel is thought to have sunk or spilled part of its cargo near Sainte-Marguerite, one of the Lerins islands off Cannes, in the 3rd century BC. The amphoras, which would once have contained wine, were found at a depth of 20m by noted French archaeological divers Anne and Jean-Pierre Joncheray in 2017. Working in difficult conditions over three weeks, the divers uncovered 17 Graeco-Roman-style urns from the thick sediment that had protected them. They were © Olivier Cleynen described as being in a ‘remarkable’ state of preservation.

The Joncherays had continued to work on what was known as the ‘Fort Royal 1’ site, named after the fortress on Sainte-Marguerite island, until 2019. Jean-Pierre died in 2020. No traces remained of the vessel itself, but the amphoras’ positions suggested that it might have lost part of its cargo while overturning and could lie preserved elsewhere.

Archaeological divers arriving to continue the work of the Joncherays recently found that somebody had dived and disturbed the amphoras since the site was last visited. It was not clear how many of the urns had been taken and how many damaged, but the French culture ministry’s marine archaeology department stated that: “Well-conserved wrecks from this period are particularly rare… the losses of scientific and historical information are probably significant.”

The area has been placed off-limits to boat traffic while maritime police investigate the incident.

16

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

FROM THE FIRE A SEA LEGEND IS BORN

Last month we reported the unfortunate fire that took hold and ultimately destroyed the luxury Red Sea liveaboard, Scuba Scene, but now we can announce that the team have taken on a new vessel, the M/Y Sea Legend.

Thankfully, none of the 19 passengers onboard Scuba Scene were injured and were safely evacuated back to land, but sadly Scuba Scene now lies off the coast of Hurghada…

The managers of Scuba Scene have been searching the Red Sea to find a suitable replacement and now, less than a month since Scuba Scene sank, they have taken on M/Y Sea Legend, a liveaboard that offers the same highquality experience.

They are also adding a few of their own touches that made a holiday on Scuba Scene so special – two high-powered RIBs with ladders and equipment racks, the chefs that serve up sensational restaurant-quality food, washer/dryer and warm towels in the winter, to name but a few. Of course, the trips wouldn’t be the same without their managers and guides, Elke Bojanowski and Ahmed Fadel. Elke, aka ‘The Shark Lady’, and owner of the Red Sea Shark Trust, will continue with her famous ‘Red Sea Shark Weeks’, and Ahmed will resume his Tech Weeks and training.

Passengers who were previously booked on Scuba Scene have been transferred to Sea Legend on the same dates. The Scuba Scene team is confident that they can maintain the same high standards and deliver holidays that will be as good, if not better, than on Scuba Scene. www.oysterdiving.com

DIVER DIES ON ELPHINSTONE A diver is reported to have died at Elphinstone reef in the Egyptian Red Sea on 2 May. Susannah Rose was diving with a group from the liveaboard MY Blue that found the man’s body on 3 May. She said she understood him to have been a 58-year-old who had gone missing on the first dive from liveaboard Sea Serpent Grand the previous day. A tiger shark described as ‘very large’ was already on the scene when the group arrived. Susannah explained: “We came across the dead diver at the tip of Elphinstone, but he was too deep for any of us to assist. From what we could see, he had already passed.

“The assumption is that the shark found him at the point, or just before, we arrived. He was not mutilated and the shark was shaking the diver by the shoulder.”

The Blue group aborted their dive, and their dive guide informed the crew of Sea Serpent Grand that they had found their missing guest. The deceased was subsequently brought up from 67m back on to Sea Serpent Grand a few hours later. The coroner confirmed that this was the only injury, and that the diver died from drowning.

INCIDENT ON ZENOBIA

A male scuba diver was taken to hospital in what was reported to be a serious condition on 7 May following a dive on the famed Zenobia ferry wreck off Larnaca in Cyprus. The 60-year-old, described as a tourist, was diving from a boat with his wife, two friends and an instructor at around 11am, according to the Cyprus News Agency. He began to ascend, apparently suddenly, from a depth of around 20m, although it was not clear how far into the dive he was at that stage. The shallowest part of the 172m-long wreck is at around 18m.

The others in his group followed the diver to the surface and helped him out of the water. An ambulance responded to an emergency call and transferred him to Larnaca general hospital for treatment.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

COMMERCIAL DIVER TRAINING LTD

Working divers who train divers to work

The only assessment organisation approved by the Health and Safety Executive to undertake all commercial air diving qualifications in England and Wales HSE Professional Scuba, HSE Surface Supplied, HSE Offshore Top Up Careers in archaeological, media and scientific diving all start with the HSE Professional SCUBA

To find out more, why not visit us for Aptitude Day? Experience a Surface Supplied Dive, view the Facilities and meet the Training Team Please visit the website for more details 2022 Course Dates available www.commercialdivertraining.co.uk info@commercialdivertraining.co.uk 01726 817128 | 07900 844141

17

Ask DAN

DAN medical specialists and researchers answer your dive medicine questions

Orbital implant and diving

Q: I lost one of my eyes in an accident. I have an opportunity to learn how to scuba dive, but I have heard that I would not be allowed to do so because I have an orbital implant. Is that true?

A: It’s important to understand that people who have undergone enucleation and have been fitted with a hollow orbital implant are generally advised not to dive due to the risk of a pressure-induced collapse. These are known to occur mainly in hollow silicone orbital implants and can happen as shallow as 3m deep. Diving with vision in only one eye can be considered in the absence of associated problems that may affect dive safely and provided that visual acuity is sufficient.

Lung squeeze while freediving

Q: ls there any reason cold water might increase the likelihood of lung squeeze while freediving? I have experienced lung squeeze a few times, but only in cold water (around 7°C). l was shallower than 30m. In warm water, I can reach 50m, so I believe the squeeze is somehow related to the water temperature.

A: You described your condition as lung squeeze, but it sounds like your question is really about what might have caused you to cough up blood from your lungs (presumably) under the conditions you describe. Given the variable impact of depth on the development of the condition, you could be experiencing a form of immersion pulmonary edema (IPE). IPE is a multifactorial condition, largely a net effect of increased central blood volume, pressures within the chest and, for compressed-gas divers, increased breathing resistance. The squeeze is a primary component, but only part of the story. Immersion produces a shift in blood from

the periphery to the core, and this effect can be magnified in cold water or partially replicated by wearing a tight wetsuit.

Excessive fluid intake (hyperhydration) increases the risk. For compressed-gas divers, respiratory loading (most important, the effort to inhale) increases with water immersion, with breathing through a mouthpiece that adds resistance (particularly as gas density increases) and with exertion. Using compressed gas or freediving, if the net effect of the various stressors is a sufficient increase in the pulmonary artery pressure, capillary stress failure can produce a shift of blood into the lungs. Symptoms of IPE can include the perception of strain or stiffness in breathing, coughing and the coughing up of small amounts of blood.

While I cannot confirm that this is what you are experiencing, it may be that the central blood volume increase magnified by the cold water is the stressor that takes you over the edge that you skirt in warmer water exposures. IPE is most likely to appear when multiple predisposing factors are acting in concert. You may have found your own threshold.

I encourage you to consult with your medical monitors, keeping in mine! that the classic squeeze is not the only risk that freedivers face.

Join DAN to get a number of benefits, including answers to all your diving-related medical questions: www.daneurope.org

18

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

· GREAT BARRIER REEF · AUSTRALIA ·

Come visit the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef with the award-winning crew of Passions of Paradise.

Snorkel in pristine waters, go for a dive, or relax with a drink and enjoy the sailing. The best memories on the reef, no filter required. www.passions.com.au +61 7 4041 1600 email: reservations@passions.com.au Departing from Cairns, Queensland

WE CREATE LUXURY DIVE WATCHES which combine the practical elements of upcycled materials, to reduce waste and protect the oceans we love!

Straps made from upcycled wetsuits High specification diver watch Water resistant up to 300m/1000ft 5% of every sale is donated to the Marine Conservation Society

www.sdcwatches.com SDC-Watches_half.indd 2

#AWatchToDiveFor 21/03/2022 08:51

“We are thrilled to be returning in a few months! The reef systems here are the most unspoiled we have seen in our travels around the world and the resort is paradise. We can’t wait to see all our friends at Wakatobi.” ~ Robert and Barbara Hay

An experience without equal At Wakatobi, you don’t compromise on comfort to get away from it all. A private guest flight brings you directly to a remote island, where all the indulgences of a five-star resort and luxury liveaboard await. The Wakatobi dive team will ensure your in-water experiences are perfectly matched to your abilities and interests so your underwater encounters can create memories that will remain vivid and rewarding long after your visit is concluded. While at the resort, or on board the dive yacht Pelagian, you need only ask and the Wakatobi team will provide any service or facility within its power. This unmatched combination of world-renowned reefs and first-class luxuries put Wakatobi in a category all its own.

www.wakatobi.com

The sublime

SOUTH S

ometimes I forget how incredibly lucky I am living so close to the sea - a short 20-minute walk from my house and my toes touch the sand. Although I don’t often dive from my local beach, this makes me incredibly blasé about the wonderful diving that’s right on my doorstep with some stunning sites all along the coast. These are some of my favourites…

Swanage Pier

Located right on my doorstep, Swanage is probably the most-famous diveable pier in the UK. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve dived here. I suspect most British divers have visited the pier at least once, but for those that haven’t, Swanage Pier is located on the Isle of Purbeck on the south coast in Dorset.

The pier is perfectly set up for those like me that enjoy an easy life. You can drive right on to the pier and park close to steps down to the water. As you can imagine, this makes the pier extremely popular, so arriving early is key. There is a filling station and a dive shop, so all your diving needs are catered for.

Established in 1958, it boasts Britain’s oldest dive school, Divers Down. Pat and Pete the current custodians of the business have an absolute wealth of knowledge of the local diving and operate shuttle boat services to all of the top dive sites, including probably Britain’s most-dived wreck, the SS Kyarra. It’s always worth popping in for a chat while you wait for your cylinders to fill. They also sell a mean pie!

But it’s the pier that I love and over the years it has become an old friend. A short walk from your car with the help of free-to-use trolleys for your kit brings you to a platform halfway down the pier. A quick giant-stride entry drops you

into the middle of the action and you only have two choices - turn left into the shallows or turn right and head to the end of the pier and slightly deeper water. Being a photographer, I can spend hours within just a few square metres so I will rarely explore the whole pier on a single dive.

The relative safety of the pier is a magnet for all kinds of animals. As the water warms, giant spider crabs venture in to breed, while clouds of sand eels can get so big that they block out the sun with larger fish like bass and pollock in close pursuit. Wrasse can often be found busying themselves building nests and if you look carefully, nudibranchs can be found crawling their way around the sea floor. Then there is the critter that every diver loves - the tompot blenny. They are funny fish to watch and are in abundance here.

Often popping out from their hole to see who is invading their territory, they will escort you off the premises but then get in a fight as they venture into another tompot’s territory. If you disturb the sea floor by mistake the area fills with these charming little fish looking to see if you have uncovered a tasty little morsel for their lunch. The pier still uncovers new delights and only a handful of years ago a new shrimp was discovered, Periclimenes sagittifer or better known as the snakelocks anemone shrimp. These blue and white exotic-looking shrimp are more used to the warmer waters of Europe but have now made the pier their home. It’s very hard to get bored here and that’s probably what makes Swanage pier so popular.

A quick giant-stride entry drops you into the middle of the action and you only have two choices - turn left into the shallows or turn right and head to the end of the pier

22

The tompot blenny is a mediumsized, elongated fish with a large head and big eyes. It has distinctive frilly tentacles on the top of its head - for which it has been given the nickname ‘the fish with antlers’!

Underwater photographer Saeed Rashid lives a stone’s throw from the South Coast’s waters, and here he waxes lyrical about some of his favourite ‘local’ dives Photographs by Saeed Rashid

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

23

Who needs to go to the tropics for colourful shrimp?

Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but intelligent invertebrates related to the octopus, squid, and nautilus. These fascinating creatures can count, exert selfcontrol, and have numerous wily tactics to evade predators.

Spider crab on pier leg

Kimmeridge

I was in two minds whether to mention Kimmeridge to you because I really see this as my secret place. Yes, yes, I know it’s not really secret, but you don’t often see divers there except maybe at the weekend getting on a RIB and heading out to the famous ledges rather than shore diving the bay.

There have been so many times I’ve visited with my buddy and we have been the only people there.

Be prepared for a shallow dive even at highwater, which is the time I would recommend getting there. You will be lucky to find any water deeper than 4m, but this shallow sunlit water can be absolutely full of life, and being a nature reserve, makes it all the better.

The topography at Kimmeridge Bay is made up of shale and dolomite rock ridges that stretch from the shore for miles out to sea. In the summer months forests of bootlace weed spring up from the seabed stretching up to the surface. Although on a much smaller scale, swimming between it reminds me of the giant kelp that’s found in the temperate waters around the world. This is the type of weed

24

that used to terrify me as a child - one minute you’d be swimming along happily and the next minute it felt like a sea monster had leapt from the depths to grab your leg.

Now, as an avid diver, I know it’s an invaluable habitat for juvenile fish which you always see hiding in among the fronds, and if you look carefully you can often find a stalked jellyfish (Calvadosia campanulata). Unlike other jellyfish species these small little guys can be found clinging onto the weed where they spend their life waiting for their food to drift by. Although not rare, they are not found in many places, seeking out very sheltered shallow waters of the south west of England, and Kimmeridge Bay is a hotspot for them.

Kimmeridge is the sort of place where I want to spend all day. Go for a long dive then lay about on land, cook up some lunch on the BBQ then maybe get out the paddleboard for a gentle sweep around the bay. It truly is one of Dorset’s little gems but please don’t all rush down there at once, otherwise my partner will be very upset that I told you about ‘our’ spot.

Aerial shot showcases the clarity of Kimmeridge

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

They have green blood, three hearts and the ability to change both the colour and texture of their skin in a flash, more akin to something plucked from a sci-fi movie Exploring under Swanage Pier

Alien face-hugger, anyone?

Cuttlefish in mating dance Blennies and gobies are common subjects

Babbacombe

The small town of Babbacombe on Devon’s English Riviera has a secret. Each spring hidden from most locals and the holidaymakers sitting on the beach, there is a silent invasion happening. Just under the waves thousands of cuttlefish return to the shallow water to breed. After spending most of their short lives in depths of up to 150m, cuttlefish migrate their way back to the bay to find a mate and reproduce.

Cuttlefish are amazing creatures. They have green blood, three hearts and the ability to change both the colour and texture of their skin in a flash, more akin to something plucked from a sci-fi movie than the ‘cephalopoda’ family to which they belong. Shared with the octopus and squid and like their Cephalopoda cousins, they are also incredibly

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

intelligent. If you are lucky enough to dive with cuttlefish you will know what an amazing sight they are and sometimes you can tell they are trying to work you out. I’ve been on reefs where a cuttlefish has followed me around for the whole dive going where I go and looking at the things I look at. It followed me closer than my buddy at the time. Due to fishing pressures cuttlefish numbers have dropped in recent years, but you can still be lucky and get there just at the right time to witness one of the natural world’s great wonders, which is right on our doorstep. If you are after depth, then again like many of the places I mention here you are out of luck but what delights await you in the shallows. The diving here is incredibly easy with the car park right next to the beach and you can just kit up and stroll across the sand into the water.

25

Face to face with a seal at Lundy

Lundy

How can I talk about diving on the south coast without mentioning Lundy Island and its resident grey seal population. Up there at the top of all of my diving experiences anywhere in the world is swimming with the seals at Lundy Island. It’s like a drug that I need a hit of each year. I forget how lucky we are to have an abundant population around our coast estimated to now be more than 120,000 grey seals in Britain, representing 40% of the world’s population and 95% of the European population. So if you are a British diver and you haven’t seen a seal yet, it’s only a matter of time.

These playful marine mammals are just the most fun you can have under the waves. Growing up to two-anda-half metres long and 300kg in weight, it can be quite intimidating when they rush right up to you, but they are just like puppies, all happy and eager to play with their human friends. Like dogs, seals have so much character and it’s even possible to work out the individual personalities.

Some are very shy and will hide in the kelp or behind a rock darting away as you approach. Some like to play cheeky games like knock and run where they come up behind you, grab a fin then dart away, whereas others are all over you, climbing over your back, between your legs and even grab hold of you as if to never let you go.

I was very lucky to be on one of the first Hi Ho charter boats back to Lundy after the first lockdown and from the first moment we entered the water, we were completely mobbed. Very often you would have just one or two seals around you, but it was like all-out war on the silly playmates who seemed to have actually missed us. I’m pleased to say that my longest UK dive was at Lundy. Actually scratch that - my longest ever dive at just over two-and-a-half hours was here. There was no way I was getting out of the water when it was just so much fun down there. Apparently, there is a wreck at Lundy which I am happy to say I’ve never dived, because why would you when there are seals.

Seal ‘bottling’ at Lundy Island

Blue shark

Blue sharks have a slim, torpedo shaped body and are graceful swimmers.

They reach up to four metres in length and can weigh up to 450 pounds.

Very often you would have just one or two seals around you, but it was like all-out war on the silly playmates Blue sharks

I was asked just to tell you about four of my favourite dive sites, but I’m not going until I’ve told you to go and check out blue sharks along the south coast. They appear in the summer all the way along the south west and you usually are best to snorkel, not dive. I’ve had plenty of shark encounters around the world, but these blue sharks beat all of them hands down mostly because of how close you get to them. They are literally in your face and bumping you all around. It’s really hard to describe the experience so I recommend you drop what you’re doing, find a charter boat that’s going out to find them and book yourself on to see for yourself. You can thank me later. n

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

A°RGON™ BODYMAPPED THERMAL I N S U L AT I O N

P - VA LV E R E A D Y

EXCEPTIONAL WA R M T H

HIGH PERFORMANCE LOW BULK

4 - W AY S T RE T CH FA BRIC FOR A SNUG FIT

WAT E R P R O O F O U T E R L AY E R

Freedive

Grenada Lexi Fisher ditches her regulator and scuba cylinder to venture below the surface on a single breath and explore the reefs and wrecks of Grenada with nothing more than mask, snorkel and fins

M

Photographs by Lexi Fisher, Christine Finney/Ecodive, Keone Drew and Arthur Daniel

y first breaths underwater were here in Grenada, in the shallows off the beach in Prickly Bay with a scuba cylinder and regulator my Dad had gotten from a friend. I remember the sound the most, the deep gurgle of bubbles rushing past my tiny ten-year-old ears. A little ironic that now, over 20 years and a scuba instructor certification later, most of my time underwater is spent holding my breath.

With wrecks, shallow fringing reefs, and dramatic dropoffs easily accessible via a short boat ride from the capital of St George, coupled with the balmy ocean temperatures typical of the Caribbean (a steady 27 to 30 degrees Celsius throughout the year), it’s easy to see why Grenada has long been a scuba diving destination. Between the main island of Grenada and it’s two sister isles, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, there are about 50 dive sites ranging from beginner to advanced, wreck to drift.

It wasn’t until I had done scuba instructor training and spent a bit of time teaching scuba in all the recreational ways that my interests began to wander. It didn’t take me long to discover freediving and the personal challenge and fulfillment that it brings.

Maybe it’s the fact that your time beneath the surface is limited by how long you can hold your breath, garnering more

28

appreciation for every moment, but somehow the colours seem brighter, the patterns of light formed by the waters refraction dance more vividly.

My story is in no way unique, and many freedivers’ first introduction to the underwater world was with a tank on their back. They ditch the tank for many reasons; the quiet serenity, the unique interactions with wildlife it affords, the freedom of less equipment, and the personal challenge of apnea are among the most cited. Like in many parts of the world, freediving in Grenada is steadily growing and gaining popularity. PADI’s wide reach and their integration of the Freediver programme has been a major help, as up until a few years ago the only certification courses were scarcely available in the southern Caribbean. The closest training centre was Blue Element in Dominica, which is still operational and hosts an annual international competition.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Dive shops in Grenada are beginning to catch on. EcoDive, where I took my first freedive courses, is a long-established dive shop that now offers the PADI Freediver courses up to the Advanced level. They are taught by the shop’s owner Christine Finney, who was also kind enough to provide photographs for this article. Many other shops will organize excursions for groups of freedivers, including Incognito Adventures, a PADI-registered dive shop and day charter business that specializes in fully-catered sailing and diving tours of Grenada and Carriacou, captained and crewed by dive professionals. If you’re planning to visit or considering a trip to Grenada, here’s a glimpse of what to expect from some of my favorite local dive sites;

Exploring the Molinaire Sculpture Park

Grand Anse Pyramids (3m - 8m)

Grand Anse beach is a sweeping two-mile stretch of soft white sand and the island’s main beach destination. Home to a number of dive shops, the grassy bottom of the gentlysloping bay is worth exploring any day; from octopus in sandy burrows to flying gurnards and golden-spotted eels, snorkellers are often delighted by the marine life that can be found amongst the unassuming seagrass beds.

At the far south end of the beach, about 100 metres offshore, a single red buoy marks the location of the Grand Anse Artificial Reef Project (GAARP), which consists of concrete block pyramids in about 5m of water. This artificial reef ecosystem was started in 2013 by the nearby local dive shop, Dive Grenada. With the help of volunteers and donors, they have designed, built and installed 40 pyramids to date.

A recent three-month survey counted 30 species of fish and 11 different coral species. Many of the older pyramids are almost completely covered in hard and soft corals, with the holes in the concrete blocks providing cozy homes for lobster and octopus. Schools of French grunts dart between the protection of the towers and fireworms slowly make their way across the tops of blocks.

Veronica L (10m – 12m)

Veronica L, a cargo ship from Trinidad and Tobago, originally sank in 1993 just off the coast of Grenada’s capitol city, St George’s. When construction on the cruise ship terminal began, she was moved closer to Grand Anse bay, and now sits upright in about 12m of water. Set against the backdrop of Grand Anse’s two miles of white sand beach to the south and the colourful buildings of downtown St George’s sprawled up the hillside to the north, she is a pleasure to Grenada’s reefs are in a healthy condition

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Staghorn corals

explore. At 40 metres long, an open cargo hold and swimthrough under a mostly-intact crane structure make for an exciting dive. Schools of sergeant majors, Creole wrasse, and brown chromis often dance near the surface as blue runners dart between the coral-encrusted structures further down. Sergeant majors cascade into the open cargo hold as you duck dive below the surface, and light from the surface illuminates the bright orange corals that are scattered across the hull like confetti. Sometimes, a resident green moray eel can be found curled up between the beams of the crane, which lays horizontally across the deck.

Molinaire Sculpture Park (4m – 15m )

Just 4 km north of St George’s is the MolinièreBeauséjour Marine Protected Area, home to the world’s first underwater sculpture park. Originally installed in 2006, over 75 concrete sculptures sit in the reef-lined sand channels of a shallow, protected bay. Many are human figures, the most iconic being Vicissitudes, a circle of 28 children holding hands. Cast from local children from different backgrounds, the sculpture is intended to represent strength, resilience and unity. One of the more-recent additions to the park is the Nutmeg Princess, a character from a popular children’s folk tale. She reaches for the surface with a handful of nutmegs, one of the island’s main exports.

29

Sand chute through the reef Spotted eagle ray

Swimming down to peer under the gunnels sometimes reveals a lobster hideaway Freediving over the Grenada reefs

30

Over the years the sculptures have created the base of an artificial reef and taken on a life of their own, with sponges and hard corals sprouting from the concrete bodies like colourful alien appendages. Zig-zag your way up and down the sand channels and over the shallow reef, or the depth chasers can swim a little further out, where the gentlysloping reef drops off to a sandy bottom at about 15m.

Lizardfish rest peacefully on the hard corals of the shelf, camouflaged just enough to scare you as they dart away when you get too close. Trumpetfish hang vertically among the soft corals of the sandy bottom. Closer to the northern point, enormous boulders create a dramatic seascape and mark the transition to Dragon Bay.

Dragon Bay (5m – 20m)

Around the northern headland of Molinaire Point is Dragon Bay, where a wide sandy beach traces the outline of the bay, backed by sea grape and beach almond trees. One of the more-popular reef dives, the shallow southern coast, where soft corals sit atop the reef in about 3m, drops off onto a sandy bottom where garden eels retreat in their sandy dens as you approach. Visibility improves as you head out into the middle of the bay, where patches of sand and seagrass slowly transition into a vibrant reef, and mounds of hard and soft corals adorn the bottom.

In the middle of the bay, almost directly between the headlands in about 5m of water, lays the wreck of a small fishing boat. Completely overturned in a large round patch of sand, the smooth domed hull sits like a giant symmetrical rock.

Swimming down to peer under the gunnels sometimes reveals a lobster hideaway. Swarths of finger corals lead you a little further out to sea, where the gently sloping reef drops off. As the current picks up it and carries you along the edge, some days faster than others, when you can drop down to admire iridescent azure vase sponges, almost glowing in their blue cerulean luminescence, as butterfly fish flutter between soft gorgonians. The current here will often take you past Molinaire point, giving you the opportunity to swim in to see the statues, then back along the rocky coastline to Dragon Bay.

Black Bay (3m – 10m)

Travelling further north still, a small point between Calypso Island and Black Bay Point juts out from an uninhabited coastline. The reef that fans out from the point is spectacular; volcanic rock, full of cracks and crevices, creates overhangs and hideways for an array of creatures. Like conductors’ wands, the tentacles of Caribbean spiny lobsters peek out from under rocks, waving with curiosity at passersby.

Lionfish, unperturbed by your presence, sit quietly in wait for their next meal. Nurse sharks lay resting on the sandy bottom in the shadow of large overhangs. In the shallowest parts of the reef, swaths of sea fans undulate in the gentle surge.

Large porous boulders are scattered across the sand, their tops adorned with hard and soft corals, while the dazzling blue spots of juvenile yellowtail damselfish flash between the bright orange tips of fire corals. Time here stands still, as it often does for those who know the magic of freediving.

Like a portal into another world, slipping beneath the waves holds almost endless possibility - what will you find below the surface on a single breath? n

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

BOOK YOUR LIVEABOARD ADVENTURE NOW!

To book a truly memorable diving holiday on board M/Y Sea Legend, simply visit www.oysterdiving.com, who can build tailored packages from the UK, including flights and transfers.

And remember to mention ‘Scuba Diver’ to claim your

FREE LOUNGE PASS!

THE LUXURY RED SEA LIVEABOARD THAT SETS THE STANDARD There are many liveaboards plying the Egyptian Red Sea, but what makes M/Y Sea Legend stand out from the crowd is the quality of the vessel itself, and the attention to detail through every aspect of the luxury liveaboard experience.

The M/Y Sea Legend is 42 metres long and steel-hulled, which makes her extremely stable for long overnight crossings. She is spacious, comfortable, and beautifully laid out, with a maximum capacity for 32 diving guests but limited to 28 for extra comfort. Two large speedboats fitted with tank racks and dive ladders make life easier for divers.

A full refurbishment to a very modern spec has lifted the M/Y Sea Legend to the next level. There are lots of little details that make the trip better for divers – use of a washing machine and tumble drier, cubbyholes with charging points and full rental equipment for recreational and technical divers.

On the dive deck level, you will find a spacious dining area with a drinks bar. The upper decks offers the comfortable salon/lounge area with a big TV, as well as 3 sundecks. Two

of the sundecks are fitted with a bar and icemakers, and both offer shaded and sunny spaces to chill and relax between your dives. The M/Y Sea Legend is operated by two of the mostrespected dive guides in Egypt – Dr Elke Bojanowski and Ahmed Fadel.

M/Y Sea Legend operates all of the popular Red Sea itineraries, including Brothers, Daedulus and Elphinstone, North and Safaga, North and Tiran, etc.

The vessel embarks/disembarks in either the Sindbad Marina in Hurghada, or Port Ghalib, which means easy access to bars and restaurants on the final night. n

PROMOTIONAL ADVERTORIAL

GET FREE UK AIRPORT LOUNGE ACCESS!

Scuba Diver readers are entitled to a free UK lounge pass when you book your flight inclusive package with Oyster Diving. Mention ‘SCUBA DIVER’ when booking. Offer ends 30.6.22.

0800 048 7519 www.oysterdiving.com

CRISTINA ZENATO PART I

In the first of a two part interview, we chat to the ‘Mother of Sharks’, technical and cave diver – and GO Diving Show 2023 Main Stage speaker - Cristina Zenato about sharks, caves, and the lure of the deep.

Photographs courtesy of Cristina Zenato, Kewin Lorenzen, Amanda Cotton, Paige Colwell & Lucie Drlikova

Cristina in a rare moment out of the water

The Mother of Sharks with her ‘children’

Q: As we always do to kick off these question-and-answer sessions, how did you first get into scuba diving, and what ignited that passion for the underwater world?

A: My passion for the underwater world is as old as I am 50 years and counting. It is a passion for water, no matter the environment. I was lucky enough to be born in a family from the ocean, who always brought me to the ocean. My dad was a diver in the Italian special forces. His images and stories of the underwater world he explored back in the 50s gave me awe and the desire to experience it. I grew up swimming in the wild Atlantic Ocean of the Congolese coast and the Mediterranean basin around Italy and France, or the lake next to my family’s hometown in Italy.

I accessed scuba diving ‘late’ in life, at age 22, when I travelled to the Bahamas to become a certified scuba diver; before then, scuba diving was considered too dangerous and not adequate for a woman of my background and culture. That trip in 1994 would change the course of my life forever. In less than a week, I decided to make the Bahamas my home and scuba diving my life.

32

Q: The Bahamas has held a special place in your heart for many years. What is it about this island nation that makes it unique in your eyes?

A: My love for the Bahamas was at first sight. I fell in love with nature’s wilderness, the unchartered territories, the empty spaces, the people, and the freedom. After submerging in the crystal beauty of the waters surrounding this unique archipelago, I realized I had finally found my home above and below the water. My heart found the same peace and happiness I experienced while growing up in Africa.

In name and sight, the Bahamas trigger the thought of Paradise on Earth, and in a way, they are; living here for the last 28 years has taught me that they are also a harsh and demanding place, and yet I have to find a better choice. I cherish the simplicity of living, the caring hand provided by Cristina is also passionate about cave diving

Sponsored by

MAXSHOW LIMITED

OFFICIAL DISTRIBUTOR OF QUALITY BRANDS

anyone on the side of the road, the smiles and hello shared on any walk, and the eye contact with people.

I love being able to let my dogs run over endless empty beaches or through the forest. I love that in less than a half-hour, I can be diving with sharks or in caves and that exploration and expeditions are on my doorstep, not in a faraway land.

Cristina freediving with the sharks

Q: You are world-renowned for your work with sharks, but you are also well-regarded as a diving instructor (recreational – as a PADI Course Director – and cave and tech instructor). Which came first?

A: Being a professional, recreational instructor was the way I could live and work here; however, after reaching the level of Master Scuba Diver Trainer, I stopped my growth and entirely focused on expanding the technical side and my work with sharks. I continued to grow vertically and expanded horizontally. I started diving in 1994; by 1995, I was an open water scuba instructor and, by 1996, a cave diver, and in 1999 a cave diving instructor.

Cristina is all about the next generation of diving

Course Director training came ‘late’ in my career; I am glad it happened this way. By the time I decided to embark on that aspect of my training, I had been a seasoned scuba diving professional and cave and technical diving instructor for 20 years. I feel it helped me understand the responsibility of training professionals in our industry. The decision to take that final step happened during a single conversation with Mark Caney in 2014. I completed my CD course in 2016.

I accessed scuba diving ‘late’ in life, at age 22, when I travelled to the Bahamas to become a certified scuba diver WWW.MIFLEXHOSES.CO.UK | WWW.MIFLEXHOSESHOP.CO.UK

Q: Talking of the ‘men in grey suits,’ you are the ‘Mother of Sharks’. How did your affinity with sharks reach the pinnacle it is at now?

A: The same way we build a long-term relationship, with time, communication, and commitment or what I call ‘dive site fidelity’. I tried to understand their language and interpret it to facilitate encounters; I didn’t create expectations or pretend that they always behaved the same way. I base our relationship on mutual respect and trust. I travel to the site almost daily, and with time, I started to recognize the individuals, give them names,

33

Suited to both Divers and Snorkelers.

The Best Diving on the

Ribbon Reefs

Coral Sea & Great Barrier Reef!

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

Ribbon Reefs Suited to both Divers and Snorkelers.

New Special Expeditions!

Check out our website for details.

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

www.mikeball.com #spoilsportlive #mikeballdive

Your Buddies

Celebrate Summer!

Jump into the crystal clear waters of Bonaire. We have got you covered with everything you need for your trip to divers paradise. Treat yourself to the vacation you deserve and book your Drive & Dive package at Buddy Dive Resort!

RESERVATIONS: +599 717 5080 WWW.BUDDYDIVE.COM INFO@BUDDYDIVE.COM

and collect biological and behavioural data. Each shark has a personality that I learned to deal with and a distinct physical appearance; a folder where images, details, and measurements are registered every six months.

Q: You were the initiator of the movement, which resulted in the complete protection of sharks throughout the entire Bahamas. How did it feel to achieve such a momentous feat?

A: There is a beautiful and famous quote I live by from Baba Dioum (1968) ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught’. The day the Bahamas announced the complete protection of sharks in our waters, I felt that I had realized the quote. It was a mix of joy and excitement and a sense of relief and peace of mind, knowing that nobody could touch the sharks from now on.

Around 2009 the healthy shark population of the Bahamas became the target of international greedy and destructive

Deep inside a complex cave system

A kiss for a shark

I didn’t create expectations or pretend that they always behaved the same way. I base our relationship on mutual respect and trust WWW.MIFLEXHOSES.CO.UK | WWW.MIFLEXHOSESHOP.CO.UK

fisheries; that’s when I sprang to action and created a petition requesting the government consider protecting our sharks. United with The Bahamas National Trust and the PEW organization, the legislation came into act in 2011. It is comprehensive legislation; it does not leave room for any loopholes. Being part of the initial movement and watching the momentum it created among the population, their desire to protect sharks, and their work to make it a reality is one of the proudest moments of my career.

35

Cristina with reef sharks in the Bahamas

The best memories with the sharks and their personalities go hand in hand with the people I met along the way working with them Heading off for an exploratory dive

36

Q: You have worked with sharks worldwide, from South Africa and Fiji to California, North Carolina, and Mexico.

What are some of the best memories of these global encounters?

A: Of the many encounters, the best part is the moment I locked eyes with a specific shark in the group, as if, in that instant, there was a bridge of communication between the two of us. Sharks watch us and know us; their acceptance of our presence in their world is fascinating and a gift I cherish each time. I remember a blue shark approaching me repeatedly while freediving in Rhode Island, as well as a massive bull shark in Fiji looking straight into my eyes.

The best memories with the sharks and their personalities go hand in hand with the people I met along the way working with them. In South Africa, I sat on the boat listening to someone working with great white sharks, and I could swear it was a great white talking. I shared quiet moments with Rusi in Fiji, a precious person no longer with us who worked daily with bull sharks. Rusi invited me, welcomed me into his world, and shared without hesitation two people who could not be more different yet united without words by our love and work with sharks. n

WWW.MIFLEXHOSES.CO.UK | WWW.MIFLEXHOSESHOP.CO.UK

HYDROS PRO BCD

HYDROS X BCD

“CONFORMS TO YOUR BODY AND SUPER COMFORTABLE.” —PAUL, CINEMATOGRAPHER

Miami, FL

Jupiter, FL

S C U B A P R O . E U/ H Y D R O S

Mustard’s MASTERCLASS Alex Mustard explains the importance of lenses and lighting when it comes to getting decent underwater photographs Photographs courtesy of Alex Mustard / www.amustard.com

C

ontinuing the gear theme, I want to turn attention now to optics and strobes, which have always had far more of impact on the quality of underwater pictures than cameras and housings. I stress the point because photographers constantly get this wrong. Time and again new underwater photographers buy the most-expensive camera they can afford and then mistakenly try and skimp on lenses and lighting.

Underwater the biggest limitation on image quality is that we take photos through water and the more water (which is never as clear as air) we have to shoot through, the poorer our images. The right lenses, like wide angles and macro lenses, allow us to photograph big scenes and tiny details through as little water as possible, massively boosting image quality.

Compact cameras have zoom lenses, but most are neither wide enough nor close focusing enough. These cameras are really transformed by adding supplementary wide angle and close-up lenses, known as wet lenses, because they are fully waterproof and can be added and removed underwater. SLR and mirrorless cameras have interchangeable lenses (usually wide angle and macro), and can be used with some specialist wet lenses too (such as close up lenses used for supermacro photography). It is also worth mentioning that not all lenses are created equal and a quality optic will better resolve fine features and capture richer colours, so a little research is well worth the time.

Wide angle lenses usually cause the most consternation. For me the most-important underwater lens is the fisheye. These are the widest lenses available simply allowing us to shoot the biggest scenes through the least water. Fisheye lenses do create bendy images (known as barrel distortion), but in practice this is rarely noticeable with underwater subjects, and on the rare occasions it is, it can be corrected with the flick of a switch in processing software. A fisheye is also the perfect tool for closefocus wide angle, arguably the most-important type

of underwater photo (we’ll look at this technique in detail in a couple of month’s time). Fisheyes are great for scenery, divers, wrecks, fish schools and more, but for big animal shooting a wide angle zoom lenses is top. So most photographers end up owning both types of wide angle. In recent year, more serious photographers have gravitated towards watercorrected optics, like Nauticam WWL and WACP systems, as their wide angle zooms.

Which brings us to the second major impact on underwater image quality – that using a camera designed to work in air and shooting subjects in the water creates a host of optical problems. Fortunately, underwater equipment manufacturers have been tackling these for decades, and you don’t necessarily need to understand ‘virtual images’, ‘chromatic aberrations’ or ‘field curvature’, but you do need to aim your credit card at the right products for your system, which will include the correct spacer or extension ring behind your dome port, an appropriately sized dome port for your camera (full frame sensors require bigger domes) and even ports and lenses, like those mentioned above, that are specifically designed to work underwater.

As all divers know it gets bluer the deeper we go.

This is the other important effect of water on light - that water absorbs the different colours of light at different rates, with warm light disappearing first and blue light reaching deepest. This is the main reason we need to use artificial light underwater, because without it our pictures are not so colourful.

A common mistake is to think that powerful diving torches can be used instead of strobes. They cannot.

They are inferior in just about every photographic measure and although bright to our eyes, their power isn’t suited to cameras and they are only really useful in very dark places, such as caves, or on night dives. As such, serious underwater photographers should have two strobes, which allows us to create both natural, even illumination and a range of create lighting effects. If possible, buy a matched pair when

If you typically dive in dark places there is little need for big strobes

The wider the lens, the bigger the scene we can shoot from as close as possible

There is no perfect underwater strobe because conditions and the requirements of the shot vary, although some come far closer than others

you start, they will be much easier to balance than two totally different flashguns. There is no perfect underwater strobe because conditions and the requirements of the shot vary, although some come far closer than others. Most underwater photos are taken from very close range and this makes it critical to have sofwt light, especially for wide angle. Diffusers are very important, they spread and soften the light and help us achieve natural looking lighting, free from hotspots. Strobes produce white light, but different models are biased to warmer or cooler colours. In blue water warmer light is highly desirable and we can use warming diffusers to help.

Strobe power is an area of much confusion.

While it is easy to argue that if you have powerful strobes you can always turn them down, it often means dragging around bulkier gear than you need and big strobes can be hard to position when working close to subjects. If you typically dive deep or in dark temperate waters, there is little need for loads of power. The same is true if you are a macro specialist. However, if you like shooting big pelagic animals and schools of fish in bright tropical waters, then you will benefit from bigger, more pricey strobes. With this in mind, carefully consider the style of diving you will do and shop accordingly.

Whenever I ask a room of underwater photographers if they think light is critical in photography, all the hands shoot straight up. I hope that this article helps you appreciate that a reverence for light is also important when choosing our underwater camera gear. n

Accessory wet-lens have roles in both wide angle and macro

Two strobes give us soft, even lighting, even when our subjects are very close

3.0 16MP Resolution Flood Proof 4K Ultra HD Video RAW Image Capture

Micro 3.0 Pro 3000 Set

LCD

TM

WiFi Share 3 Dive Modes 100º Wide Angle Lens Hi Res Display

Micro 3.0 Pro Duo 5000 Set

www.sealife-cameras.com

SeaLifeCameras

SeaLifeCameras

Cenderawasih Bay on the northern coast of West Papua is off the beaten track and as yet not as famous as its neighbours, Raja Ampat. Still, this destination is gaining a reputation for fantastic diving

42

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

As Indonesia reopens its borders to international tourists, Scuba Diver Australia and New Zealand Editor Adrian Stacey continues his whistlestop tour of the island nation to highlight what people have been missing out on these past two years Photographs by Adrian Stacey

The North East tip of Sulawesi has one of the world’s best muck diving sites in the world boasting an endless expanse of unique marine critters. Many National Geographic documentaries have been filmed in this area, showcasing many unusual creatures that inhabit these waters.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

43

Cenderawasih Bay

Cenderawasih Bay on the northern coast of West Papua is off the beaten track and as yet not as famous as its neighbours, Raja Ampat. Still, this destination is gaining a reputation for fantastic diving. This is primarily due to the whalesharks that congregate around the fishing platforms. This considerable bay also has numerous World War Two wrecks, incredible corals and plenty of macro life.

Leaf scorpionfish

Triton Bay

Located on the southern coast of West Papua, this is another up-and-coming destination that is well off the beaten track. Described as the final frontier of diving in Indonesia, this bay offers some exceptional diving. Like its counterpart in the North, Triton Bay provides the opportunity to dive with whalesharks.

The corals are pristine and plentiful, as is the marine life.

Vast schools of fish, turtles, sharks, and many endemic species and macro critters call the bay home.

Surgeonfish

Halmahera

Slightly Northwest of Raja Ampat, Halmahera sits directly in the path of the Indonesian through flow and, as a result, can boast biodiversity to rival Raja Ampat. The diving here is rich and varied, from drift dives along deep walls to caverns and swim thoughts. Like much of Indonesia, the corals are excellent, and with new dive sites being located all the time, this destination feels like expedition diving.

Sulawesi

Sulawesi is one of the largest islands in the Indonesia archipelago, comprising of four main peninsulas and has long been known for its excellent diving. Most diving is located at either the northern peninsula or down the southeastern peninsula. Although the other peninsula also offers some superb diving. In the North, there is the Lembeh Strait, a world-renowned muck diving destination boasting a wealth of wired and wonderful creatures. The Bunaken National Park has its dramatic coral-encrusted walls and stunning marine life, including frogfish, sharks, schooling fish, and more.

Diver cruising over the reef

While the islands of Gangga and Bangka offer a quieter alternative to Lembeh and Bunaken, strong currents have facilitated the rampant growth of soft corals and a diverse line-up of marine life from dugongs to pygmy seahorses.

Diving at the southeastern peninsula is centred around the Wakatobi National Park. Here pristine reefs offer outstanding macro encounters on some of the mostdiverse reefs on the planet.

Kalimantan

Perhaps because it can be a bit difficult to get to the Kalimantan region on the island of Borneo is not as well-known as some of its neighbours, but it offers some outstanding diving.

Here pristine reefs offer outstanding macro encounters on some of the most-diverse reefs on the planet WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

45

Manta ray flypast

Due to its amazing camouflage and complex luring behaviours, the frogfish is considered one of the most complicated, efficient examples of aggressive mimicry.

Traditional fishing traps on the reef

Sulawesi is one of the largest islands in the Indonesia archipelago, comprising of four main peninsulas and has long been known for its excellent diving Swim-throughs galore await

The Sangalaki island just off the east coast is a feeding ground for mantas, which gather there in large numbers.

Other areas like Samana and Nabucco are excellent for critters, while Kakaban features drop-offs and pelagic action.

Palau Weh

This little-known dive destination is tucked away at the north tip of Indonesia, almost parallel with Thailand. Although it is not actually in the Coral Triangle, Palau Weh has some great diving. Popular with tech divers as there are some deep wrecks here, there is also plenty for recreation divers with nice coral and plenty of schooling fish and pelagic visitors.

Conclusion

Indonesia has been blessed with great diving; there are some stunning resorts and some genuinely spectacular liveaboard diving, including relocation cruises when the boats are moved from one location to another. It is fantastic that this diving wonderland is once again open for eager divers to explore. n Disclaimer: Although there is no quarantine restriction for Indonesia at the time of writing this article, some travel restrictions are in place. It is always best to check with your travel agent or on a reputable website for up-to-date information.

46

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED IN THE UK SINCE 1981

Barefoot luxury in the heart of Indonesia

All ROHO dry suits for men, women and children are available for MADE TO MEASURE AT NO EXTRA COST. The ROHO team are also available to help you bespoke your suit with size, colour and accessories to make your suit truly original and unique.

AFTER ALL THERE ARE NO TWO DIVERS THE SAME, SO WHY NOT HAVE A DRY SUIT THAT REALLY FITS YOU!

Contact our team on 01924 444888 dive@roho.co.uk

ROHO 1/2 new.indd 1

Bunaken National Marine Park w w w.s i l a d e n.c o m

half--88x262.indd 1 18/03/2022Siladen-UK 08:43

09/10/2019 09:04

Stuart Philpott gets the star treatment during a weeklong northern safari on the VIP One liveaboard out of Sharm el Sheikh Photographs by Stuart Philpott

48

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

W

here did the time go? I couldn’t believe my last trip to the Red Sea was five years ago. I had booked a week on VIP One liveaboard operating from Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and was looking forward to visiting some of the popular dive sites, meeting up with some old acquaintances, and hopefully making a few new friends along the way.

The airport transfer bus pulled up outside the familiar Travco Marina (now called Landmark), where hundreds of day boats and liveaboards reside. I was no stranger to VIP One, having booked a trip in the early 2000s. VIP One owner Alain Sobol greeted me at the marina entrance. Alain is a well-respected figure in the Sharm diving community and has probably been around since the Pyramids were built! The boat had mainly been chartered by a Belgian dive club, but there were still a few vacant cabins, so I booked a space alongside Alain’s wife, Stella ‘Nails’ Sobol, and Merci Madar, visiting from Sarasota in the USA. It was good to see Hooch, VIP

40% of the Red Sea is shallower than 100m, and 25% of the Red Sea is less than 50m deep. This means that a lot of the dive sites are within recreational limits – no wonder it’s so popular with divers of all levels of experience!

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

One’s resident instructor/dive guide. After working the ropes for more than 12 years, he can probably be classed as part of the furniture now. He led me to cabin number six, complete with en-suite near the bow. The Belgian entourage weren’t arriving until early morning, so I prepared my camera and crashed out for a few hours.

VIP One has quite a few repeater guests. Vincent, the group leader, had been on the boat several times before and had even booked another safari trip for later in the year.

The boat has to be one of the longest-running liveaboard operations in the Red Sea, topping around 1,000 safaris in its 26 years of service. The boat hadn’t changed much since my last visit. It still had the same classy-looking teak saloon and dining area, which led out onto the dive deck. Upstairs there is an outside seating area and bar, with a sundeck on the top floor. Trips run from Sunday to Sunday. All food, soft drinks and diving is included. Alcohol is extra. Guests can bring their own spirits aboard, or there’s always a beer available in the cool box.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather conditions.

Flat calm seas and a slight breeze. Hooch said the forecast was holding steady for the whole week.

This early in the season sea temps hovered around 22 degrees C, so I was wearing a full 5mm suit.

We moored up at Marsa Bareika for our warm-up dive. The underwater visibility looked a little murky, maybe 15-20 metres with some sediment floating about. This didn’t bode well for my pictures. I could see hours of post-editing work coming up!

Stella, complete with whalesharkpatterned suit and white Fourth Element mask and fins, had kindly offered to pose for my pictures. I couldn’t help but notice Stella’s scary-looking finger nails as we made our way back up the mooring line to the surface. I made a mental note not to mess with Stella!

The SS Thistlegorm has to be one of the top ten wreck dives in the world, maybe even top five? The last time I visited the site there were at least 20 other dive boats moored up with at least 16 divers per boat 49

Early next morning, we headed out to the Dunraven wreck lying upside down on the seabed at a max depth of 30m.

From a photographers’ perspective, the highlights are the prop swathed in soft corals and a huge shoal of glassfish lingering inside the hull. The visibility was still not the best, but we managed to swim back and forth through the glassfish shoal and spend some time posing at the propeller, so all-in-all a job well done.

Everybody sat around the long, stately looking dining table at breakfast time. Contemplating over heaped platefuls of pancakes and scrambled eggs, the Belgian group decided they wanted to see wrecks, and as the sea conditions were favourable, it was a unanimous decision to head for Abu Nuhas, the final resting place for the Carnatic, Marcus, Kimon M and the Giannis D. We had split into two groups. Team Karim was guiding the Belgian group on the bigger dinghy tender, and Team Hooch was looking after the stragglers, which included me, on the smaller dinghy.

One of Hooch’s many useful talents was to check out the other dive boats before we jumped in. Perfect timing meant fewer divers to negotiate at the dive site. On the SS Carnatic, we finned through the vast cathedral-sized cargo holds adorned with beautifully coloured soft corals.

The usual fish species were swimming about including butterflyfish, angelfish, scorpions, triggers and glassfish but alas we couldn’t find any wine bottles.

On the Marcus (Tile Wreck), I took some fun shots of Stella by a rope noose and then headed inside to get some pictures of the square floor tiles. I heard Stella bellowing through her regulator and then caught sight of a lone bottlenose dolphin. The dolphin stayed with us for a minute or two and then with a tail flick disappeared as another dive group jumped into the water.

Our final late afternoon dive on the Giannis D was a little murky. I did my best to get some shots of Stella hovering by the stern rail and then we went inside, swerving past a giant moral eel yawning by the doorway. On my last visit I remembered seeing a brass compass binnacle in the bridge, but this has now gone - I thought the CDWS had strict laws about removing items from wrecks?

Gorgonian seafan Stella exploring a wreck

Distinctive stern of the Giannis D

The Giannis D sailed under her original name until 1975 at which time she was sold and re-named the Markos. Interestingly, that name is still discernible on the vessel’s hull and there are those who insist on calling her by the misnomer ‘Markos D’!

50

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

HOLLIS. NO LIMIT. WE DON’T JUST SELL PRODUCTS, WE ENGINEER EQUIPMENT The best tech equipment under one brand.

Dive the Red Sea in style!

BCDS Our industry-leading BCDs are designed for all levels of cavedivers–beginner, advanced, and technical.

The Red Sea has always held a special place in divers hearts. With its stunning corals, chances for magical encounters and a year-round accessibility, it is a destination like no other.

Many have done their first tropical dives in the Red Sea’s warm and clear waters.

Many keep going back and back again...

What if it was time to REDISCOVER IT from a boat LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE?

REGULATORS

Launched in September 2021, with stunning sea view cabins, an audacious design and impeccable service, Alia brings liveaboard trips in the Red Sea to a whole new level of comfort and class.

READY TO TRY IT OUT?

Minimize breathing effort with first and second stage regulators to enjoy a stress-free and pleasurable dive.

Visit your local retailer.

LEARN MORE AT HOLLIS.COM.

@OFFICIALHOLLISUK #HOLLISGEAR

+62 811-3811-7585 booking@dune-world.com redsea.dune-network.com Dune_88x263mm.indd 1

10/05/2022 16:02

ICELAND TOURS & ADVENTURE HOLIDAYS CUSTOMISED ADVENTURE & SIGHTSEEING TOURS ALL OVER ICELAND DIVING • WHALE WATCHING • GLACIER HIKES • NORTHERN LIGHTS • SNOWMOBILES + MORE!

adventures.is • dive@adventures.is Arctic Adventures.indd 1

19/05/2022 14:06

NITROX ONLY DIVE CENTRE

MALTA’S 5 STAR TECHNICAL DIVING RESORT TECH DIVING PACKAGES AND INSTRUCTOR COURSES

PRIVATE FACILITIES AND PRIVATE BOAT CHARTERS WWW.TECHWISE.COM.MT INFO@TECHWISE.COM.MT

The SS Thistlegorm is famous for its wartime cargo and was fitted with light weaponry. It consists of a 4.7inch light anti-aircraft gun and an anti-aircraft machine gun.

Motorcycle in the Thistlegorm

My favourite moment of the day had to be pizza time. After our third dive the cook prepared some afternoon ‘snacks’. This was usually a pizza of some form or another and cakes, all washed down with a cold beer or two – unless, of course, I was going on the night dive.

The SS Thistlegorm has to be one of the top ten wreck dives in the world, maybe even top five? The last time I visited the site there were at least 20 other dive boats moored up with at least 16 divers per boat. This equates to a shed load of divers. I remember counting 24 divers passing through the holds in single file! When we arrived on site, I counted only four boats. Again, Hooch did his magic and we mostly had the whole wreck to ourselves for the next four dives.

The current was pumping hard as we pulled our way down to the deck. In these conditions it’s better to go inside.

I could see the water carriers of the two Stanier-class 8F locomotives perched on either side of the hold entrance. One was balancing precariously on the edge. Hooch took us on a tour of the munitions, which included row upon row of trucks Vibrant soft corals

The arid landscape contrasts with underwater

and BSA motorbikes. Bizarrely, he stopped briefly to point out a colourful nudibranch the size of my little finger! Most of the Wellington boots have now disappeared, but Hooch did manage to find half a boot with the sole still attached.

On dives two and three, we ventured outside, swimming over the mangled number four and five holds all the way to the stern guns. My main goal was to try and take an Alex Mustard-inspired picture of the motorbike. The plan was to place a light source on the other side of the front wheel and take a shot with the shards of light shining through. Sounds simple but Hooch only had a couple of low-power torches, so I couldn’t quite get the effect I wanted, but it was fun and frustrating trying! There is so much to explore on the Thistlegorm. Hooch has logged more than 1,000 dives at the wreck site and could still find something new to see.

Hooch has logged more than 1,000 dives at the wreck site and could still find something new to see WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Anemone at Anemone City

Hooch (Paul Winkworth)

Resident VIP One dive guide Paul Winkworth (aka Hooch) is an absolute Red Sea legend. Hooch learnt to dive in the UK during the late-90s, visiting Sharm El Sheikh several times on diving holidays.

For 14 years he worked for a printing company based in London and then one day woke up and decided to make some radical life changes. Within two weeks he had quit his job and hot footed it to Egypt.

He met up with Red Sea Diving College manager Guy Haywood, who gave him a job day boat guiding for two weeks. Fortunately he did such a good job, Guy asked him to stay on. In 2005, he was introduced to VIP One and began guiding one trip per month. By 2006 he hosted all the UK group safaris and in 2010, became a full-time guide.

He is planning to run his own liveaboard workshop in August 2023, maximum 12 spaces. Contact: info@ redseacollege.com for more info.

Just to finish off a spectacular round of dives, we watched a number of giant trevally swooping through a shoal of fusiliers picking off the stragglers.

At the Alternatives, I gave super model Stella an official warning. The pinnacles are covered in brightly coloured soft corals, including pinks, yellows and reds, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get some closeups of Stella sporting her new mask surrounded by fauna.

But I hadn’t noticed that her mask kept fogging up and she didn’t point this out to me until we got back on board VIP One. Foggy masked pictures are absolutely no good to anyone. I didn’t stop teasing Stella for days. Hooch’s bright idea was to remove the offending mask underwater and give it a good licking!

Shark and Yolanda Reef has always been a worldclass dive site for marine life, corals and sea fans. We started off at Anemone City for some close-up Nemo

Alain Sobol

Red Sea diving pioneer Alain Sobol has been associated with Egypt since the late60s. In 1968, his late father Paul owned a dive centre in Brussels and was the head of CMAS in Belgium. He sent Alain to Na’ama Bay to set up a diving base for club excursions. Alain drove an old Bedford truck loaded with compressor, dive kit, outboard and dingy all the way to Italy, sailed to Haifa in Israel and then drove to Na’ama Bay, just a deserted sandy bay with very few buildings.

For most of the 70s and early 80s ,Alain would travel from Brussels to Sharm running training courses and guiding dives. From 82 onwards, he stayed in Egypt and set up the world-famous Red Sea Diving College.

In 1996, Alain had VIP One built. There are still a few charter weeks left for 2022. Contact: info@redsaecollege. com for more information on bookings.

54

The guests on VIP One

pictures and then finned across the blue void towards the reef. There were literally millions of orange anthias darting in and out of the vertical wall. Predatory tuna, jacks and barracuda were swimming past us. It was still quite early in the season so the full regalia of marine life wasn’t around yet, but still, this wasn’t bad and the visibility was back to 30 metres plus! I could have stayed there all day just watching the action unfold. We explored the debris field from the Yolanda stopping to take some pictures of the toilets and bathtubs. I’m sure there used to be far more toilets? I heard a rumour that certain individuals were filling the toilets with air and sending them over the reef edge. Hooch swam over a leopard shark and managed to fire off a burst of pictures.

By the time I appeared, the shark had swam off into the distance. I gave chase, but couldn’t get close.

The overall mood seemed to be a little subdued when we reached Ras Katy and Ras Um Sid. I think everybody realised our wreck and reef fest was coming to an end. We definitely ‘smashed’ some of the best dive sites the Northern Red Sea had to offer, 24 dives in all. VIP One had really delivered. n

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

DIVERS ALERT NETWORK: EUROPE

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

WWW.DANEUROPE.ORG

TEAM AWARENESS AND POSITIONING

Audrey Cudel continues her House of Cards series, this time focusing on team awareness and positioning

H

ave you ever seen a murmuration? Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of starlings flying together in whirling, ever-changing pattern, twisting and changing directions at a moment’s notice.

How can a swarm of birds fly as one and co-ordinate such complicated choreography in perfect synchronisation?

It’s easy to understand how one starling knows to turn when its neighbour turns, since they’re close together and can see each other, but how hundreds or thousands of starlings manage to turn simultaneously, when birds at opposite ends of the flock are separated by space and hundreds or thousands of other birds remains a mystery.

Right? We are not starlings and ‘swarm of divers’ tends to be limited to a handful of individuals. But what if, beyond the beauty of the choreography, we managed to dive as one, mirroring one another or performing complementary tasks supporting one another in perfect position? Wouldn’t it be more enjoyable and safer to be able to position ourselves and communicate anticipating the plan and or mitigating risks if an unexpected situation came to happen?

Throughout our diving education, we transition from self-awareness focusing on managing our initially unsteady house of cards basics: breathing and buoyancy control, trim and propulsion techniques. Metaphorically, and in this case with another kind of wing, we learn how to fly. As mastery builds up through practice, we follow a guide and turn our attention outwards - enjoying more of the environment and the company of others, flying metres apart in a threedimensional underwater world. Team and awareness are two notions we have not yet envisioned. We are simply a group of individuals who dive in the same place at the same time, not having much clue about our ‘buddy’s’ equipment, skill level, or emergency procedures management, which might differ from our own training history.

Communications during the dive are a chain of reactions rather than anticipation, limited to some random ‘Ok’s’ ‘Look at this’, until someone’s pressure gauge rings the bell ‘It’s time for everyone to head back home’. Should one diver go missing on the way, we learned to search for a minute before surfacing. The whole picture is one of a poorly planned dive by a disorganised and unsafe crowd of divers. Hopefully, no one ends up kicking their neighbour’s

56

mask while turning unexpectedly to figure out ‘where in the underwater world’ their mate has vanished.

There are two main purposes for diving as a team: safety and complementarity. Safety is met when a reasonable number of divers (two to three maximum, four being two teams of two) join together as a safeguard to jointly address any problem such as equipment failure, intricate navigation or deal with environmental issues. The recommendation to have redundancy in diving does not only apply to the equipment, but also to the number of brains and pairs of eyes available to deal with any situation. Some dives, such as decompression dives, will require divers to mirror one another’s actions as part of the procedure they have learnt throughout training. Complementarity steps in when divers become dependent on one another and are assigned different roles and tasks in order to complete a mission.

Overhead environments are a good example where one diver who is in charge of line deployment might be the eyes forward and the other might look backward to spot any line trap, and provide support with lightning.

Whatever the dive configuration, the team plans the dive, visualises the plan, dives the plan and respects the fact that any team member can call the dive at any time for any reason. More than just a golden rule, it is a safeguard.

Team Awareness and positioning are essential to members’ safety and to enable the communication within the team. This awareness is driven by the combined cognition of its members i.e., their ability to perceive, understand and project events based on former experiences both as an individual and as a group. Needless to say, a team member’s awareness should not be distracted by poor buoyancy, trim or the inability to have a chat facing one another.

DAN Membership

Before taking the plunge make sure your DAN membership is still active. If it isn’t, join DAN or renew your membership at: www.daneurope.org Your DAN membership ensures the services of the biggest international network for assisting divers anywhere, during any emergency.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

Positioning is greatly supported by the ace cards: breathing and buoyancy control, trim, and efficient propulsion techniques, as we documented earlier in the House of Cards series. Being able to navigate side by side, at arm length distance, or half a body distance with one behind the other, enhances the speed of response when a problem arises.

Being able to locate team members visually by simply turning one’s head, or through passive light communication without needing to turn around constantly, is a safeguard that will prevent kicking in a team mate’s mask or damaging the environment.

The ability to face one another on ascents and descents, and to use the environment for the team’s safety, enhances communication procedures and enables an appropriate chain of reactions should one team member suffer from some sort of vertigo or any equipment failure.

Using the environment for potential physical support is also part of the team awareness: for example, using a shot line rather than drifting in the blue, positioning the team parallel to a drop off rather than turning one’s back to it, being able to deploy a SMB at depth to support the team’s ascent, while also notifying the surface, earlier than later, about the team’s location.

Communication within the team relies on a common language that needs to be learned, practised and validated before the immersion. After a number of practice dives, the team learns to speak one voice. Should the team change, the voice should be no different. This is paradoxically one of the major differences between the recreational and the technical diving world: while most recreational divers receive a briefing covering underwater communications, which typically varies from one location to another, for the most part, the technical diving community have settled on a common international language, independent of training agency. Once underwater, words are no longer spoken, but communication is enabled through other means; hand signals, writing, light signals and touch contact.

However, much of the real communication is implicit, which brings us back to the foundation of awareness. Most of us have a special buddy - the one we love to dive with because we know what each other is up to without having

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

to express anything. This ability to see beyond the mask, to read other team members, to use the environment and understand what the current situation is, and how to interact, does not come as a miracle - it takes time, practice and humility. Some critical skill circuits conducted as part of training sessions, highlight the team’s ability to cope with any challenging situation.

Most of the diving agencies offer a Solo diving course insisting on equipment redundancy and other safety procedures. Some divers will, of course, argue that it is sometimes safer to dive alone rather than in bad company, and that is perhaps wrongly true. The differences in perceptions between divers should be addressed on the surface, prior to the dive, in order to understand what made the company ‘bad’ at first sight. Most of the time the answer will relate to one of the diving foundations missing for one diver or another, and sometimes the answer will relate to poor communication, preparation and planning before anyone even dipped their fin tip in the water.

Diving is more about committing to a common goal of sharing, rather than about achieving greatness on our own. Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and diving as one, a success. Anthropologists admire starlings’ remarkable ability to maintain cohesion as a group in highly uncertain environments and with limited, noisy information. When uncertainty is present, interacting with a limited number of neighbours optimises the balance between group cohesiveness and individual effort. n

About the author

Audrey Cudel is a cave explorer and technical diving instructor specialising 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.

57

beyond technical

www.narkedat90.com

Kurt Storms heads into Germany to explore the Nuttlar slate mine, which offers multiple routes for experienced cave divers, but also can provide a taster for those thinking of heading off down that path Photographs by Kurt Storms

58

The slate mine (Schieferbau Nuttlar) is open from April to mid-November on weekends. In winter, the mine is closed due to the hibernation of the bats. Reservations are compulsory. A maximum of 12 cave divers can enter per day, and a day ticket costs €69.

We design, manufacture and retail scuba and rebreather equipment. We have fully equipped test and certification labs, and can pressure test large items in our vacuum chambers, as well as run fully automated leak test and dive simulations down to 400m. Our EMC and EMF lab is filled with state-ofthe-art equipment for testing electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic fields. We also have a large in-house laser for cutting and engraving on plastics and metals. www.narkedat90.com

It is an enormous labyrinth of mile-long tunnels and large spaces. After the closure, the electricity was turned off, causing the pumps to stop, so the water reached its maximum level after seven years

In the more than 100 years of operation of this mine, a truly unique and gigantic labyrinth of mines was created with kilometrelong corridors and huge halls on five levels and an extension of approximately 20 kilometres.

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

59

STREAMLINE WITH TECLINE Wherever you are on your diving journey, you’ll value the flexibility of our modular system. Tecline is the smart way to customize your own perfect configuration.

Aqua Active distributors of Tecline in the UK. To open a trade account contact: info@aquaactive.co.uk

Computers • O2 Cells • Gas Analysers Cables & Connectors • Rebreather Parts PathFinder Strobes • Sensors Tools • Solenoids A ladder to nowhere in the mine

After a few minutes, we arrived at a junction where several cars were shunted around, not knowing that they would never move from their places

Water clarity can be excellent

M

ine diving holds a special place in my heart, and just over three hours from my home lies a labyrinth-like slate mine in the depths of Germany which is well worth a visit whether you are an experienced cave diver, or a technical diver wanting to get a first taste of mine diving.

In the midst of Sauerland, Germany, there is a little town called Nuttlar. Nuttlar is a district of the municipality Bestwig in the northern Hochsauerlandkreis (North Rhine-Westphalia) and has about 1,700 inhabitants.

From the middle of the 19th century, Nuttlar lived mainly from slate extraction from the local mine. Five men founded the Gessner company in 1857 and through constant modernisation the business developed favourably, so that in 1878 it was approved for underground mining. This was the beginning of the Nuttlar slate mine.

The number of employees rose to about 100 in 1900; children and young people also worked there. Slate mining did not see any negative effects due to World War One, as the arms industry needed slate for insulating the electric moulds, but due to competition from cheaper slate from Spain and the use of Eternit, slate mining stopped in 1985.

Lighting adds an atmospheric effect

It is an enormous labyrinth of mile-long tunnels and large spaces. After the closure, the electricity was turned off, causing the pumps to stop, so the water reached its maximum level after seven years. Of a total of five floors, the two lower ones are flooded. These passages have a length of 12 kilometres and the maximum depth is 14m to 30m.

Diving Nuttlar

Together with my wife Caroline and my regular buddy Willem Verreycken, we left my home town at 6.30am for the dive site. The drive went smoothly, and once we arrived we were pleasantly received by the owner and got a briefing, about the operation, and told where the compressor was to possibly fill between dives. They offer air, nitrox, trimix, and O2 for the rebreathers.

Don’t want to dive the mine...

...but still want to visit? This is possible in the form of a dry tour in the non-flooded part. A two-hour tour costs €23, a four-hour tour costs €33 and a sevenhour special tour for photographers costs €65. These prices include a small snack and a drink. www.schieferbau-nuttlar.de

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

61

view all products online

www.narkedat90.com

The walls that covered this room were beautiful, which makes the link that these were made by sawing and not by blowing up black powder Once this briefing was given, we went back to the car to take the right road to the entrance of the mine, where there is parking for seven cars. The entrance to the mine can be easily recognised by the yellow container. Here we got our second briefing - what we had to pay attention to, where we had to sign in and out, etc. Once this briefing was over, we could get ready with excitement.

Wim and I put our bail-out on the waterfront, and here we took our first glimpse in the direction of the water. ‘Wow, how clear’ was my first thought and we continued to get ready. Wim and I both dived on our rebreathers. We spent some time getting the rebreathers – in my case a Divesoft Liberty SM - ready for diving and going over the tests.

Once in the water and having done our S-drill, we descended below the surface and our dive began. The agreement was that we would do a dive of about two and a half hours. After a few minutes, we arrived at a junction where several cars were shunted around, not knowing that they would never move from their places. It is a spacious corridor, but you have to be smart not to touch another wagon to avoid a silt-out. We followed the line where we had to place a ‘cookie’ in between. The water was cold at 8 degrees C, so I was obliged to put on my heating. The view was extremely clear. There were pipes and cables everywhere, so that light bulbs could be provided with electricity.

The mainline was clearly visible everywhere between all the stuff we came across. In between, Willem turned to take a photo. We had only just left, and we were already as happy

An abandoned cart

as a child. Willem swam in through a small passage and we ended up in a beautiful room as big as a house. The walls that covered this room were beautiful, which makes the link that these were made by sawing and not by blowing up black powder.

It is an enormous labyrinth, in which you can spend hours.

The splendor of the past is shown to its best advantage here. The carriages, the rails, this gives you even more respect for the people who once worked here. When we got back to the top after two-and-a-half hours, we had only seen the first part, but we were satisfied. Immediately we were making plans to explore the deeper part on a future visit. n

A first taste of mine diving

Would you like to go further down into the mine but don’t have a cave diving licence? Or do you doubt that cave diving is something for you? Here you can have a fantastic experience under supervision. Under strict guidance you can go further in a small group where there is no ascent possible. Floating above the rails, you dive along tubes, cables and old materials. The gas planning is conservative, the experience is great! However, there is a prerequisite for participation.

You have to have a preliminary technical basis, which means that you dive with a twinset, long hose and lights, but also that you have mastered all the procedures, such as gas sharing and valve turning. So it’s not for everyone, but an absolute must if you have the prerequisite level of experience. So you don’t have to go to France or Mexico for your first unforgettable cave diving adventure! Sport divers without a cave diving licence can also enjoy this underwater world under supervision. You will be accompanied by an experienced cave diver from the Nuttlar. It is compulsory to dive with equipment that is suitable for cold water, i.e. separate breathing systems, a suitable suit and some diving experience. There is no possibility to rent equipment on site. The cost is €69 per dive. Don’t forget to bring your valid medical certificate, your certification and a valid diving insurance, which will be checked before you dive.

If you already have your certification, and you want to dive with a guide, this can be done in addition to the normal entrance fee for €50 per person extra. You get a guide who dives with a maximum of three participants.

62

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

otterwatersports

The ACCLAIMED LEADER in

EXPLORATION GRADE DRYSUITS ATLANTIC DRYSUIT Discover the new Atlantic exploration grade drysuit - the choice of explorers worldwide. Whether you’re pushing the limits of exploration or just diving for fun, choose the tough and ultra-flexible drysuit that is a cut above the rest.

Limited Introductory Price

£95 Order today!

OTTER PONCHO Stay warm and dry out of the water in the new Otter Poncho. Our fetching new waterproof poncho is perfect for divers, wild swimmers or indeed anyone who just loves exploring the great outdoors!

WWW.OTTERDRYSUITS.COM l SALES @ DRYSUITS.CO.UK

CALL OTTER DRYSUITS TODAY ON 01274 379480

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

MARES ERGOTRIM GUARDIAN AND GRACE SLS BCDS | SRP: £674

Over 20 years ago, Mares was the first scuba manufacturer to introduce an alternative buoyancy system called Airtrim. This high-functioning power inflator was one of the most-innovative designs in BCD history, and many other equipment manufacturers quickly followed suit, however, none compared to the performance of the pneumatically balanced Airtrim. Although the Mares Airtrim is still the pioneer in power inflators, it has remained unchanged for many years. Over the past several years, Mares has been hard at work engineering, not just a ‘restyling’ of this vital product, but a new system altogether.

The Ergotrim is a revolutionary concept that will bring the BCD market to a new era. The Mares Ergotrim incorporates Airtrim 2.0 technology into an ergonomic configuration with pneumatic deflation. A rocker switch lies on top of the inflate and pneumatic deflate buttons to prevent operation at the same time and facilitate smooth airflow. Divers can use the Ergotrim to deflate the BCD no matter their diving position and inflate it at a 40% higher flow rate than original Airtrim.

The new Ergotrim also features a traditional oral inflation button - a quick-release clip allows you to quickly disconnect the system from the BCD for oral inflation use.

However, one of the most-exciting features is that the Ergotrim is conducive to scuba instruction. Dive pros can use the Ergotrim in the standard position while teaching to demonstrate skills to their students, and then put it into the lower position when pleasure diving.

The Mares Ergotrim is now available on the Guardian and Grace BCDs, which are typically well-specced jacket-style units, with SLS integrated weights. www.mares.com

64

FOURTH ELEMENT TIDAL ROBE | SRP: £169.95 First there was the Storm poncho, and now there is the Tidal Robe. Made from recycled material, this fullzip Tidal Robe has been built to keep the warmth in and the elements out.

Tested by hardy ocean users, this super soft fleecelined robe, with handwarmer pockets and an adjustable hood, is perfect for keeping cosy after time spent in the water.

Use it to warm up after a session in or on the water, or to cover up between dives. This robe is fully fleece-lined for after-swim warmth and is made using approximately 50 recycled plastic bottles.

It is available in vibrant orange and a more-muted green. www.fourthelement.com

APEKS HALO | SRP: £114 The Halo spool is the latest addition to the Apeks Lifeline Spool family and is a true innovation in the diving market.

The large diameter of the Halo fits perfectly in the hand and allows simple, controlled deployment of the DSMB, and rapid line retrieval, even when wearing thick gloves.

Once the DSMB is launched, it is extremely comfortable to hook three fingers through the Halo and ‘hang’ on the line to keep the marker buoy upright on the surface. Like the Apeks spools, it is made from anodised aircraft-grade aluminium, it comes with a stainless steel boltsnap, and the orange, high-visibility line is sewn instead of tied to increase strength. www.apeksdiving.com

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

FOURTH ELEMENT HALO A°R | SRP: £449 Over a decade in the making, Fourth Element have introduced their brand-new undersuit, HALO A°R. Incorporating highly advanced thermal technology and one of the most-insulating materials ever developed, the HALO A°R’s performance exceeds expectations of any diving undersuit.

Using technology originally created for space exploration and cryogenics, the HALO A°R features the extreme insulation material A°RGON aerogel in a compression resistant matrix.

With phenomenal insulation properties, this material enables the HALO A°R to achieve extreme thermal protection from a thinner, less-buoyant diving undersuit. With a wind and waterrepellent stretch outer layer, comfortable thumb loops and foot stirrups, this is a garment which can be worn in total comfort, all day. Fourth Element Director Jim Standing said: “Building on Fourth Element’s experience in thermal protection and bodymapping, we have extensively assessed the HALO A°R with thermal imaging cameras to improve and modify prototypes. It’s been a long process to get this right, but what we have now is the most-advanced technology you’ll find on the market.”

The offset chest zip and baffles ensure that heat lost from the torso is minimised when in horizontal trim. All the body from shoulders to knees is protected by a layer of A°RGON, while other critical areas also benefit from this enhanced insulation without compromising mobility or creating bulk.

Routing a valve in this diving undersuit is as simple as adjusting the two-way zipper in the fly and a zippered pocket provides a secure place to store keys, credit cards and cash.

The HALO A°R is available in sizes S-XL. www.fourthelement.com

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

TECLINE V1 ICE TEC II | SRP: £403.03 Tecline have been establishing themselves in the market when it comes to masks, fins, wetsuits and backplate-andwings, and now they are adding regulators to their resume.

The V1 Ice Tec II set-up is designed for single-cylinder diving, and they then have variants for sidemount and twinset diving. The V1 Ice is a neat-looking balanced diaphragm first stage which has two high-pressure ports and four low-pressure ports which are all arranged for optimum hose routing. This V-shape also means that the hoses are very streamlined when you are in a flat trim position. The V1 Ice is made from maritime bronze and features a dry chamber and cold kit, so you can take the plunge when the temperatures drop with no concerns about freeflows.The Tec II second stage is pneumatically balanced and has a large venturi lever and a cracking resistance control knob. The body is made of lightweight but robust materials, and it has an eye-catching outer ring of stainless steel on the front.

There is a Teflon coating of metal parts, and an additional heat exchanger for cold waters. The V1 Ice Tec II set-up comes in a distinctive red Tecline bag. www.teclinediving.eu

PARALENZ VAQUITA FLIP MOUNT AND MACRO LENS BUNDLE | SRP: €179

The Paralenz Vaquita is an easy-to-use point-and-shoot underwater camera that tracks your dive depth, temperature and GPS location. With the patented Automatic DepthControlled Colour Correction, you can focus on your dive as it adjusts the white balance relative to your depth. No filters, no housing needed down to 350m - a camera made by divers for diving. Paralenz has now released the Vaquita Flip Mount and Macro Lens Bundle. The included accessory macro lens which mounts on the Paralenz Vaquita Flip Mount can be clicked on and off during the course of the dive. It is perfect for shooting close-up images of fish, corals, textures and more. The macro lens magnifies the subject and enables the camera to focus on short distances for creating super-sharp images. In the box you get a flip mount, allen key, macro lens and a macro lens pouch. www.paralenz.com

65

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

APEKS EXOTEC | SRP: £747 an unparalleled ability to bend and twist into all sorts of positions you would not normally contemplate while wearing dive kit. Now we aren’t all going to be playing Twister when going diving, but in reality, what this innovation offers is a high degree of comfort both topside and in the water. For example, I could bend sideways to pick up my camera and the upper part of the Exotec went with me, while the lumbar support stayed solidly in place. Underwater, I was also able to bend and flex with no hinderance.

The comfort and performance of the Exotec on the surface was showcased as we walked through the car park to the water’s edge at Capernwray. My buddy in his BPW was bent slightly forwards as he walked, whereas I was upright, the weight of the cylinder comfortably sitting on the lumbar support.

So-called GripTek fabric helps keep the BCD in place as well.

Underwater, the Exotec is also extremely efficient, holding you in a nice flat trim position, but equally allowing you to turn on your side and hold that position without it overly Mark Evans: Backplate-and-wings are all en vogue right now, but many people do not want to go down that route and still like the feel and familiarity of more-traditional BCDs. Backinflate BCDs provide a combination of the better aspects of both jacket-style BCDs and backplate-and-wing set-ups – if you aren’t planning on heading down the technical route in the future (obviously BPW are modular and can be adapted for twinsets, etc), and want all the comfort and features of a jacket without the bulk, they are well worth considering.

Enter the Apeks Exotec. The Exotec represents an evolution from the long-standing Apeks Black Ice backinflate BCD, but thanks to its eye-catching orange anodised aluminium finishings and features – which seamlessly match with other Apeks products, such as the torches, spools, reels, etc - combined with slick, hard-wearing Armoguard bladder, it certainly looks ready for the modern era. You can get it with more-subtle grey anodised aluminium fittings if you are a bit of a shrinking violet.

While it has evolved from the venerable Black Ice, there is much that is brand new on the Exotec, chiefly the BioReact articulation point behind the lumbar support. We are all used to BCDs having rigid backplates, but with the Exotec, the upper part of the backplate can move independently to the lower part, pivoting on the BioReact joint. What this means is

66

trying to force you back into trim. Useful if you are swimming alongside someone or something and trying to photograph or video them. The bungee system on the bladder keeps it tucked in nice and snug to reduce drag, and the chance of snagging on hazards if you are ferreting around in a shipwreck.

Like the Black Ice, there is the ability to personalise the fit of the BCD – undo four nuts and you can adjust between medium and large around the waist, which is handy if you need to swap from bulky drysuit to rashguard and board shorts. The backplate also has three different height positions to allow for optimum fit. The aforementioned Armoguard is not only hard-wearing and looks cool with its slick finish, as I found out it also dries extremely quickly – very handy when you are abroad and want your kit bone dry before flying home. I have often had to balance the padded backpad of my Transpac II on top of a door in front of the aircon unit to try and eke the last bits of moisture out of it.

I also mentioned the nifty anodised aluminium fittings before too. There is a proliferation of D-rings as per the norm, but on the chest strap, there is a neat G-hook, which

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

allows for simple one-handed operation. There is another of these hooks on the upper tank retainer strap. They are simple to hook into place, but once there is a bit of tension on them, they will not undo unless you want them to.

While there are more than enough D-rings to attach all manner of accessories, you probably don’t want to look like a Christmas tree, so the Exotec also features two relatively large drop-down pockets on either side of the waist strap.

When not in use, these fold up and Velcro closed out of the way, but opened up, they are big enough for a spool and small DSMB, or a back-up torch.

The Exotec is fitted with Aqualung’s tried-and-tested Surelock integrated weight system, but even here, they have upped the ante. The Surelock pockets have anodised aluminium handles rather than the usual plastic ones which match with the rest of the fittings. The Surelock system is one of the most-secure on the market – a definite ‘click’ tells you the pocket is solidly in place, and then it will only release when you grab the handle and give it a good tug. There are also two non-dumpable trim weight pockets tucked neatly behind the Surelock holders.

Controlling your buoyancy in the Exotec is simple, as there is a pull dump on the right-hand shoulder, and two on the bottom of the wing on either side. At first glance this might appear overkill, but I like have the two dumps on the bottom of the wing as it means you can reach back and tweak your buoyancy with either hand if the other one happens to be occupied. These flat valves are very streamlined compared with normal dump valves, but they vent rapidly when needed. The Powerline inflator sits comfortably in your hand and can fill the Exotec swiftly.

The Exotec is well-made, looks great and performs exceptionally well. It isn’t too heavy, so would suit the travelling diver as well as those heading off to local waters.

This is a fully featured, high-spec back-inflate BCD, akin to the Scubapro Hydros Pro, and the price point reflects this, however, you do get a serious bit of kit for your money, so if you are hankering for something different to your jacket-style BCD, but don’t want to venture into the realm of backplate-and-wing, this is well worth some consideration.

You have all of the familiar jacket features – pull dumps, adjustable shoulder and chest straps, pockets, integrated weights – but with the benefit of less-clutter up front and all your buoyancy around the cylinder. www.apeksdiving.com

67

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

SEALIFE SPORT DIVER HOUSING | SRP: £295

Nigel Marsh: Underwater photography is extremely rewarding, but it can also be very frustrating. Wouldn’t it be great if underwater photography was as simply as using your smartphone? Well, it can be with the SeaLife Sportdiver smartphone housing. SeaLife is an American company formed in the early 1990s, with their goal being, as stated on their website – ‘to offer an easy and fun way to capture undersea wildlife and underwater memories in an easy, uncomplicated way’. And they have certainly achieved their goal with this smartphone housing.

When I first heard about this housing, I can honestly say I was a little dubious. I questioned who would want to risk losing their data and contacts if you had a flood and also how would a smartphone even work in a housing with its limited buttons? I soon discovered how SeaLife solved these problems when I was sent a Sport Diver smartphone housing by their Australian distributor Underwater.com to give it a test run. Straight out of the box I was very impressed with the simple and smart design of the housing.

It is rated to 40m, made of a tough polycarbonate and feels solid in the hand. And best of all, the one housing fits almost any make of smartphone.

The housing has only one O-ring, only four buttons to control the phone and a simply lever shutter release.

Opening it up, via the locking mechanism on the door latch, inside I found an adjustable cradle for the phone, and very importantly, a vacuum seal system. This vacuum seal, along with a moisture detector, keeps your phone safe from a potential flood. Issue one solved.

So how do you control the phone in the housing?

SeaLife solved this issue with an app, that is downloaded in seconds. Once downloaded, the app takes control of

68

your phone, making sure it doesn’t shutdown while in the housing. It also tells you its time to load it into the housing and do the vacuum seal. Three pumps, and three minutes later, the housing was ready to be used, with a green LED indicating the housing was watertight. A blue LED also told me the housing and phone were connected via Bluetooth.

The housing was now ready to go, displaying four icons on the left (photo, video, settings and preview/playback) and five on the right (phone power, housing power, video mode, zoom and Bluetooth). These are controlled by the four buttons on the back of the housing – mode, up-arrow, downarrow and OK. Very simple.

I had a quick play and found the buttons easy to use and camera settings simple to navigate. In the settings I was very surprised by the amount of control the system gives you. You can simply use auto, but the app allows you to set shutter speed, ISO, exposure, white balance, photo resolution, video resolution and a few other functions. The shutter release works smoothly and is used for both photos

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

AMBER NEW ORANGE COLOR IN SANTI E.LITE+

DRYSUITS

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

SEALIFE SPORT DIVER HOUSING | SRP: £295 and video. The only thing the Sport Diver app doesn’t allow you to use is the phone’s flash. This is actually a smart move by SeaLife, as it forces you to use an external light source, meaning less chance of backscatter and better images.

For my test dive I joined Scuba World for a double dive on HMAS Brisbane, off Mooloolaba, Queensland with the Sealife housing set-up with a small video light. Once underwater I quickly had the housing and smartphone running through its paces, snapping off images of stationary reef fish. With these subjects it performed well. It didn’t work quite as well with moving fish subjects, due to the slight shutter delay on the phone. But I still managed to get some acceptable images. I also found the zoom function worked smoothly and switching between photo and video mode was simple.

I avoided the auto settings and played with the shutter speed to control the light, and found it worked perfect with excellent exposure. The good thing with this set-up is the display shows you exactly what you will get, adjusting as you change the shutter speed, getting lighter or darker.

The main issue I found was due to the smartphone, not the housing, with the focusing a little out at times and not great on macro subjects. Downloading the images, I found around 20% were out of focus. I think this was more a case of me not giving it enough time to focus, and I am sure this would improve with practise. I only found two minor issues with the housing. For an old diver like me the display was a little small and hard to read, and holding the housing I found my palm pushed the rear buttons by accident. Both these things are easily solved - by me getting a prescription mask, and with a handle on the right to hold the housing.

I got some great images on my test dive that surprised even me. I found the SeaLife Sport Diver smartphone housing easy to use and would recommend it to any diver looking for a simple and cost-effective underwater camera. www.sealife-cameras.com

70

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

DIVE RETAILER WITH THE LARGEST STOCK HOLDING IN THE UK OF ALL MAJOR BRANDS

Why buy from us?

We service all major brands of regs, BCDs, cylinders & computers

All orders are shipped in bio-degradable packaging

All our staff are manufacturer trained in product fitting

We proudly partner Sea Changers, a UK marine conservation charity

3000 sq ft London showroom staffed by experienced divers

Premier Fourth Element Argonaut dealer with custom Biomap sizing

Earn Plankton points with every qualifying purchase

Best prices and carbon offsetting for purchases

Customer voted winner of dive retailer of the year!

+44 20 8994 6006 support@mikesdivestore.com

DORSET DORSET DIVING SERVICES 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

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

KENT 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

KENT KENT TOOLING DIVING PRODUCTS 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

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

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

LEICESTERSHIRE SCUBA 2000 (LEICESTER) t: 07724 412161 | e: info@scuba2000.org.uk a: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Leisure Centre, 50 Duns Lane, Leicester, LE3 5LX Learn to dive or build confidence, experience and skills. Family-friendly, small groups (2:1) and a ‘no-rush’ approach. 1:1 coaching available. www.scuba2000.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

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 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

ROTHERHAM 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 NORWICH CHRISTAL SEAS SCUBA LTD 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. www.scuba4me.co.uk

OYSTER DIVING 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

SUSSEX PLANET DIVERS 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

YORKSHIRE BELOW THE SURFACE 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

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

THE SEALS OF LUNDY ISLAND

Third time lucky for Mark Evans and son Luke on their quest to dive with Lundy’s seals.

Q&A: CRISTINA ZENATO PT 2

We chat to the ‘shark whisperer’, about the men in grey suits, as well as her mastery of cave diving.

SIMPLY CAYMAN

North America Editor Walt Stearns offers some sage hints and advice on how best to dive all three of the Cayman Islands, and top sites to visit.

CORNWALL ON A SINGLE BREATH

Beth Sadler sees in her 16th birthday with style on a freediving course with Andy Torbet in Cornwall.

TECH: DIVING THE BUDIGLIA

Leigh Bishop explores the magnificent ocean liner lying in the depths off Greece.

GEAR GUIDE: TEST EXTRA

Editorial Director Mark Evans dives the Tecline Peanut wing and Garmin G1 dive computer.

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 EUROPEAN SCHOLAR HANNAH DOUGLAS

I

am thrilled to have been selected as the 2022 European Our World-Underwater Scholar.

Growing up in the seaside village of Kilcoole on the east coast of Ireland, I had a childhood filled with adventure.

We spent our free time as a family, exploring rockpools, kayaking with the local club and hiking in the mountains. While snorkelling as a child, I found a tiny sea-gooseberry, a spherical comb jelly with lines of iridescent hairs along its sides beating in rhythm. The pulsating light that it produced hinted at the existence of a luminous, magical world in the deep sea. Seeing it floating just in front of my mask was like meeting an alien for the first time.

At 15 I completed my Open Water course with Willie Siddall from Ocean Divers in Dunlaoghaire, at the end of which I experienced my first boat dive off Dalkey Island. That dive changed my entire perspective on life. I realised that my experience of the airy, gravitybound terrestrial world was incredibly limited. Looking out to sea, I no longer saw a flat, barren expanse of water, but a transparent film separating this world from a vibrant underwater realm. There, I could glide weightless, soaring over boulders with one steady inhalation.

This connection between movement and the breath fascinates me. During my gap year, I spent time in India training as a yoga teacher and gained a deeper understanding of the importance of the breath in movement and mindfulness, also a fundamental concept in scuba.

My next experience of diving was in the crystal-clear waters off Gozo. On a night dive in Marsalforn Harbour, I was selectively approached by an inquisitive octopus. Looking into its eyes as it wrapped a tentacle around my finger, I felt more the observed than the observer. We encountered five octopuses on that dive and each one moved around my companions to reach out to my hand. Surfacing in the darkness, my instructor dubbed me the ‘Octopus Whisperer’.

I was completely in awe and baffled by the experience.

Later, I realised that as the only cold-water diver in my group, I had been the only one not wearing gloves and the octopuses were likely attracted to the heat from my hands.

The following year, having survived the rigours of Rescue Diver training in the November Irish Sea, I travelled to

74

Thailand to train and work as a Divemaster. In and around Koh Phi Phi Ley I saw not only the staggering beauty of tropical marine life but also the delicate balance of these ecosystems and the negative impacts of pollution and overfishing. I resolved to work towards the protection and conservation of marine areas.

Returning to Ireland, I began my Marine Science degree in NUI Galway and joined the university scuba club. From Galway docks, on calm days, we could take a RIB out to the Aran Islands to dive among the kelp forests that circle the sea cliffs. Last summer I worked as a science communications content creator for the Marine Institute and completed my Open Water Instructor training in Kerry.

During university I also was lucky enough to get to train as a Scientific Diver, subsequently using this training to conduct research on Fireworks anemones, Pachycerianthus multiplicatus for my thesis project.

I hope someday to conduct research into benthic ecology and marine microbiology. However, I have come to realise that many of the problems faced by our oceans don’t necessarily stem from a lack of scientific understanding.

For this reason, I intend to plunge into the world of science communication and policymaking and learn more about sharing the marine world with others and how to inspire the protection of it. However, right now, I am finishing my degree and starting the exciting process of planning for my year as the European OWUSS Scholar. n

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

NEWSeawing SeawingSupernova SupernovaFin Fin NEW

“Seawing Supernova Supernova “Seawing takes speed speed and andpower power takes to the the next next level.” level.” to —BRENT, SCUBAPRO SCUBAPROBRAND BRANDEVANGELIST EVANGELIST —BRENT,

Bimini Bimini

Bimini Bimini