Q&A: PATRICK WIDMANN
THE FAT OF THE LAND
BLACKWATER DIVING
WE CHAT TO THE RENOWNED CAVE DIVER AND INSTRUCTOR ABOUT EPIC EXPEDITIONS
NICK LYON TELLS DIVERS TO TAKE A LONG, HARD LOOK AT THEIR FITNESS TO DIVE
MIKE BARTICK REVEALS SOME OF THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE
HOW TO GET STUNNING IMAGES OF TURTLES
#45 | £1
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Papua New Guinea
‣ Florida cave country ‣ Garmin Descent MK2i
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Aqua Lung ocean ambassador and National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
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MAGAZINE
CONTRIBUTORS
Nick Lyon, Don Silcock, Mike Bartick, Walt Stearns, Patrick Widmann
As I write this, it is early January, and the UK is ploughing into a third lockdown, as the government struggles to keep on top of the newly found, moretransmissable strain of COVID-19. All hopes of hitting the New Year on a buoyant wave seem to have been dashed on the shores of the global pandemic. However, as 2020 ground to a halt, we had fabulous news that the AstraZeneca vaccine that was developed with Oxford University had been approved by the UK regulatory body, and is now being rolled out across the country. This vaccine could be the game-changer we need to start efficiently tackling COVID-19 and getting our lives back on track, as it is cheap, effective, can be stored in normal refrigerators, and it is expected can be rolled out quickly, with talk of up to two million people a week getting their first jab. Talk is talk, but predictions of most of the vulnerable and over-65s having their first injections by Easter do not seem too far-fetched, and neither does an approx date of summertime for the remainder of the UK population. Of course, this all relies on vaccinations getting up to mega-numbers, and quickly, but we have to remain positive. Travel may still be off the cards until at least the middle of the year, but it would be nice to think foreign diving could be happening by the autumn and beyond. Of course, local diving is on hold due to the lockdown, but why not use this down time wisely to get yourself dive-fit for when you can get back in the water - read Nick Lyon’s article The Fat of the Land on page 28 for more inspiration.
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Rork Media Limited Tel: 0800 069 8140 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, England, WC2H 9JQ Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily the views of the publishers. Copyright for material published remains with Rork Media Limited. Use of material from Scuba Diver is strictly prohibited unless permission is given. All advertisements of which the creative content is in whole or in part the work of Rork Media Limited remain the copyright of Rork Media Limited. is a registered trademark of Rork Media.
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SHELL Q&A: PATRICK WIDMANN
THE FAT OF THE LAND
BLACKWATER DIVING
WE CHAT TO THE RENOWNED CAVE DIVER AND INSTRUCTOR ABOUT EPIC EXPEDITIONS
NICK LYON TELLS DIVERS TO TAKE A LONG, HARD LOOK AT THEIR FITNESS TO DIVE
MIKE BARTICK REVEALS SOME OF THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE
HOW TO GET STUNNING IMAGES OF TURTLES
#45 | £1
01
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Papua New Guinea
‣ Florida cave country ‣ Garmin Descent MK2i
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PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: MARIO VITALINI
REGULAR COLUMNS
FEATURES...
8 News
20 Papua New Guinea
British Divers Marine Life Rescue see out 2020 and usher in 2021 with a busy time across the country, an 18th-century shipwreck gains additional protection from Historic England, while Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving purchase their first boat.
Well-travelled underwater photo-journalist Don Silcock is a long-time fan of Papua New Guinea, which is a short distance from Australia, and this time he focuses his attention on the diving opportunities in and around New Guinea Island.
28 The fat of the land
The team from DAN Europe answer diving-related medical queries.
Are you fit to dive? Have you overdone it during the first couple of lockdowns? Has your waistband started fighting your expanding waistline? Nick Lyon urges divers to take a good, hard look at their body shape and level of fitness, and take action to get ‘fit to dive’.
48 Divers Alert Network
34 Underwater Photography
18 DAN Europe Medical Q&A
Michael Menduno explains how DAN is ‘your diving support network’.
66 Wreck Hunter
Underwater photography guru Mario Vitalini turns his attentions to one of the perennial diver favourites - the turtle - and explains how best to shoot these charismatic creatures.
Mike Haigh discusses the recovery of objects from historic wreck sites.
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CONTENTS
...CONTINUED
GEAR GUIDE
38 The Philippines
58 Test Extra
Mike Bartick showcases some of the incredible imagery he has collated while blackwater diving in the abyssal waters off the coast of the Philippines - and urges divers to delve into this kind of diving.
44 Q&A: Patrick Widmann
We chat to the world-renowned cave diver and explorer about teaching technical diving, the attractions of the Yucatan Peninsula, exploring the wild, untamed cave systems of Madagascar, and what it is like to R&D dive equipment.
Scuba Diver Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans and Scuba Diver Australia and New Zealand Editor-at-Large Adrian Stacey rate and review the muchanticipated Garmin Descent MK2i dive computer and the Sharkskin Chillproof Titanium exposure protection clothing.
50 United States of America
Scuba Diver Destinations Editor-at-Large Walt Stearns stays close to home and waxes lyrical about the attraction of North Florida’s cave country, which boasts everything from open water dive sites, to well-lit caverns and full-on cave systems.
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Each month, we bring together the latest industry news from right here in the UK, as well as all over our water planet. To find out the most up-to-date news and views, check out the website or follow us on our various social media (@scubadivermag) www.scubadivermag.com/news
BUSY TIME OF YEAR FOR
BDMLR
British Divers Marine Life Rescue were kept busy at the end of 2020/ beginning of 2021 with a host of operations across the country PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF BDMLR, EMILY MAYMAN
SEAL PUP RESCUED FROM BUS STOP IN CORNWALL
A seal pup was rescued after seeking shelter in a bus stop in Cornwall during stormy weather conditions in mid-December. Members of the BDMLR and the Cornish Seal Sanctuary responded to calls about a seal being seen in Porthleven on Wednesday 16 December, and found a pup in a bus stop next to the harbour. The animal was found to be healthy with no injuries after being assessed by marine mammal medics, and after being given some fluids for hydration, was safely returned to the sea.
10 STRANDED SPERM WHALES DIE IN YORKSHIRE
Christmas Eve ended in tragedy as ten sperm whales which had become stranded between Withernsea and Tunstall near Hull in East Yorkshire died. HM Coastguard and BDMLR marine mammal medics arrived on site shortly after the whales were first seen at around 8.30am. The whales, which were said to be in poor nutritional condition – the shallow North Sea is far away from their normal habitat in waters over 2,000m deep, and thus would not provide necessary sustenance – were still far too big and heavy for the attending BDMLR medics to even attempt a rescue, especially given the stormy conditions. Sadly, with animals this size – sperm whales can grow to more than 20 metres in length and weigh over 80 tons – there is no safe and effective method available to put them to sleep, so those on scene were forced to stand by and watch things play out. Sea Watch Foundation ambassador and marine expert Robin Petch said that sperm whales are a deepwater animal and that younger males can end up confused in
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the shallower water off the east coast, adding that the loss of a large group such as this was catastrophic.
BDMLR HELP SEAL PUP ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
BDMLR marine mammal medics came to the assistance of a seal pup on the beach at St Ives on New Year’s Eve. BDMLR’s welfare development and field support officer Dan Jarvis said they were called to the scene after reports of a seal pup being harassed by people over the stroke of midnight. Dan said: “Many thanks to local residents and security officers who kept people and dogs away from the pup, and shielded it from fireworks with a windbreak while we were enroute. “Fortunately, all was well with the seal pup, who weighed in at 22kg and had one small injury on her head. She was relocated to a safer, quieter location, and marked in case she turns up again.” He added: “I guess with the timing, this is the first time we have had a call out take place over two years!”
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YOUNG ORCA RESCUED BY BDMLR IN THE ORKNEY ISLANDS
Members of the BDMLR were yet again in action today, this time assisting a young orca which had become stranded in the Orkney Islands. The Orkney BDMLR Marine Mammal Medics responded to reports of a live stranded dolphin at the Bay of Newark near Tres Ness, Sanday, this morning, but on arrival discovered that the animal in question was actually a juvenile orca, some three to four years old, and around three-and-a-half metres long. Thankfully, the mammal was in good condition, but lying on its side in the surf parallel to the sea, with the tide rapidly coming in. Local residents responded to calls for assistance, and together they managed to get the animal righted, to aid its breathing and ensure the blowhole was out of the water, and then as the tide came in, helping to lift the young orca, the MMMs were able to rotate it to face the incoming tide and get it on to their new dolphin stretcher. Once upright, the orca started lifting its head clear to breathe, and then, after about an hour, it suddenly took matters into its own ‘fins’ and made a move to swim off. Unable to hold the animal anymore, the team lowered the stretcher and the orca swam straight out towards the open sea. It was seen to roll a couple of times, and then submerged and continued straight out away from the beach. After monitoring for an hour, the Marine Mammal Medics were confident the animal was no longer in the location, and were hopeful it will stay out, but they will be checking the coastline over the coming days to be sure. Orca are seen fairly regularly around the Orkney Islands, but standings are incredibly rare, and it is thought this represented the first successful refloat of an orca by BDMLR in the UK. The BDMLR would like to thank MMMs Russell Neave and Imogen Sawyer, and Sandy residents Colin and Heather Headworth, Cath Swift and Simon Oldfield, Anna Halford and Martin Sawyer for all their assistance, as well as HM Coastguard for advice. www.bdmlr.org
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RNLI VOLUNTEERS RECOGNISED IN NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST A former lifeboat mechanic who now volunteers for the charity, a retired seagoing crew member who continues voluntary maintenance work, two volunteer Lifeboat Operations Managers who oversee the day-to-day running of their respective lifeboat stations and two fundraising branch Chairs who have raised vital funds to help save lives at sea, are among the RNLI recipients who have all been recognised for their incredible contribution to the charity. RNLI Chief Executive Mark Dowie said: “Following a challenging 2020, it is particularly pleasing to see these RNLI volunteers recognised in the New Year Honours list. Together, they personify the RNLI’s ‘One Crew’ ethos, representing the variety and diversity of roles from a former full-time mechanic to shore crew and fundraisers to station managers, who collectively deliver a shared vision to save everyone. On behalf of everyone at the RNLI, congratulations to you all for being recognised for your longstanding service, hard work and selfless commitment. And thank you for everything you do to help the RNLI save lives at sea.” Philip Eaglen, Shore Crew and Mechanic at RNLI Wells-nextthe-Sea Lifeboat Station has given 51 years to saving lives at sea and is awarded with a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services. Philip said: “I can’t believe it, being honoured for doing what I enjoy. I’m just one of a team of dedicated lifesavers, and have been for more than 50 years. We have a serious job to do but it’s very rewarding.” Michael Whistler, Southend-on-Sea Lifeboat Station volunteer for over 40 years, is awarded with a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services. Michael said: “I am pleased and delighted to receive the MBE for 40 years of voluntary service as a crew member of the Southend-on-Sea RNLI lifeboat crew. I’ve enjoyed all of my time with the charity and would like to thank all of my fellow crew members over the years for their friendship and support.” Richard Griffiths, volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager at Aberystwyth RNLI, has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in recognition of his charity work on the Wales coast after dedicating 47 years to saving lives at sea. Richard said: “I’m very surprised but honoured to be receiving a BEM – the news still doesn’t feel real. My Father was awarded a BEM in 1988 and I still have his medal at home, so to be awarded one myself for my work with the RNLI is a great privilege. I’ve been fortunate to work with a number of characters during my time with the RNLI – both at Borth and Aberystwyth – and continue to volunteer alongside a good crew today.” Edward Nuzum, volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager at The Lizard, has been awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in recognition of the efficient running of the station and the smooth implementation of changes over the last 15 years
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to help maintain and enhance the lifesaving service on the South West coast. Edward said: “News of this honour was a combination of sheer surprise and personal delight. It is also a worthy recognition and a big salute to the unwavering commitment and support I receive in my role from a marvellous team, almost 80 strong here at The Lizard Lifeboat Station. Collectively we’ve championed considerable change and overcome many challenges together over the past decade with astonishing enthusiasm and unquestionable determination from all our volunteers. I’m absolutely thrilled and I sincerely thank them all.” Weston-super-Mare Fundraising Branch Chair, Peter Elmont, has been involved with the RNLI for 26 years and has driven fundraising efforts and exceeded targets to achieve over £800,000 in three years. He has been awarded with a BEM. Peter said: “I am absolutely proud as punch. I’m ever so glad for the station at Weston-super-Mare that the entire
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fundraising team has been recognised for their effort during my time as Chairman over the last nine years. This award would not have been possible without the support of my wife, Bridget, who is also the Weston-super-Mare Shop Manager and my rock.” Mary Thomas has dedicated 45 years to the charity and has contributed to saving lives at sea by raising funds as the Chair at RNLI Cleethorpes Fundraising Branch and has been awarded with a British Empire Medal (BEM). Mary said: “One of the reasons I joined the RNLI with my late husband Ken was because my dad was a deep sea fisherman for 50 years. “Ken and I ran a voluntary rescue boat in the summer months at Cleethorpes for years in the 1970s before the RNLI station opened and the local council started their beach safety service, so I’ve seen how quickly people can get into trouble in the water. “It’s just wonderful to receive this honour and I’m so proud. I’ve met some lovely people fundraising for the RNLI since 1975 and it’s been a real team effort all the way.”
18TH-CENTURY THAMES SHIPWRECK GIVEN EXTRA PROTECTION
An 18th-century shipwreck lying in the Thames is among a host of historic sites that were granted additional protection by Historic England in 2020. The Old Brig is a well-preserved merchant ship that was believed to have been involved in smuggling prior to sinking. It has lain in the mug off Seasalter, Kent, for hundreds of years, and is periodically exposed by the tides. Wessex Archaeology conducted an investigation and believe there is the potential for more exciting finds to be found in the lower hull. Historic England’s chief executive Duncan Wilson commented: “Despite the challenges the heritage sector faced last year, 2020 saw many brilliant additions to the list.” Other sites included a Victorian railway station, post-World War Two towers, and Jacobean gardens.
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HEALTHY SEAS AND GHOST DIVING BUY THEIR FIRST BOAT Asset manager DWS has donated to Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving to help these important marine protection organizations buy their own boat. DWS has supported Healthy Seas since 2019, and as a result several sea clean-ups were organized in Europe in cooperation with Ghost Diving, one of the founding partners of Healthy Seas. DWS decided to donate to the organisations this year instead of buying end-of-year gifts for its clients. With the donation, Healthy Seas was able to buy its first own boat, which will be operated by Ghost Diving volunteers. The boat is now docked in the Dutch port of IJmuiden and will increase the organizations’ efforts to free the world’s oceans from so-called ghost nets and save the lives of countless marine plants and animals. It has already achieved a great deal during this time with numerous salvage missions in various waters. Pieter Furnée, Head of DWS Benelux, says: “We really wanted to intensify the partnership with the organization. So, we decided to not send end of the year gifts to our clients and instead donated the dedicated amount to Healthy Seas. This will ensure the organization can plan its future recovery missions with more flexibility and independence. We are very happy with the enormous amount of positive feedback we received from our clients on this special donation. DWS has always been an advocate for tackling environmental issues. Not only plastic is killing our marine life. Ghost fishing gear is haunting our oceans at a greater scale than most people realise.”
MAKO – A SHARK THAT FIGHTS GHOST FISHING
The boat is named ‘MAKO’, inherited from its previous owner and which was kept because it is considered bad luck to rename a boat. MAKO turned out to be the perfect name for this ghost net recovery boat as scientific research shows that mako sharks are among the creatures at the most risk of getting entangled in ghost fishing gear.
The MAKO is a Swiftline Swiftcat, which was built in 2010 and is nearly 11 metres long and four metres wide. It is powered by two Steyr 256hp diesel inboard engines, and has two 500-litre fuel tanks for extended range. Veronika Mikos, Director of Healthy Seas says: “The MAKO will serve multi functionally as a means for Ghost Diving volunteers to carry out surveys and recoveries of lost nets but also by taking part in events to engage fishermen in ghost net prevention activities. Furthermore, it will be used for awareness raising and educational purposes and overall help us become more efficient in our operations by increasing the number of the diving trips per year significantly. Having our own boat is a dream come true!” DWS and Healthy Seas want to raise more public awareness for the problem of lost or deliberately discarded fishing nets in the oceans. This collaboration should result in a sustainable contribution to the protection of the oceans and their creatures. With a boat crowned with a name like MAKO, it’s only fair that it’ll steam ahead in breaking the ghost fishing entanglement cycle and try to prevent any sharks and other creatures to fall prey to this marine life tragedy.
EMPEROR HARMONI TO PLY INDONESIAN WATERS She’s currently under construction and ready to launch in 2021 – the Emperor Harmoni is Emperor Divers Indonesia’s brand-new liveaboard, the second for Emperor Indonesia, and it is one of only a select few liveaboards in this region to have two engines. The 48-metre Emperor Harmoni is being built of Sulawesi Ironwood, and will be sailing the Indonesian seas in freedom, style, comfort and confidence with her two engines. Itineraries include Komodo, Raja Ampat and the Banda Sea. Emperor Harmoni’s three decks have six guest cabins on the lower deck and four on the upper. The main deck features a spacious restaurant, lounge area with a 49’ HD flat screen, digital movie and music library, board games, bar and a camera suite. Enjoy spacious diving and relaxation areas, or relax with a massage on deck; whatever your choice, she’s sure to bring harmony and joy. All diving is done from two large RIBs with outboards to get you to the perfect dive spot every time. She offers free nitrox, all diving and safety equipment, including SMBs free of charge and up to four dive guides. www.emperorindonesia.com/emperor-harmoni.php
PADI LAUNCHES MERMAID PROGRAMME PADI has launched a new programme aimed at giving all those women (and men) – who want to tap into their inner mer-person – the PADI Mermaid range of courses. Did you know that the word ‘mermaid’ is of Chinese origin and roughly translates to ‘human fish’? In many Asian cultures like China, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, the word ‘mermaid’ is not gender-specific and therefore, the words ‘man’ or ‘woman’ need to be added to specify to a particular gender. The PADI Mermaid programme is a stand-alone programme, and like the PADI Freediver programme, it doesn’t require scuba or freediver instructor ratings as an underlying certification. The PADI Mermaid programme consists of four student and three instructor level ratings:
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Contact reservations@ emperordivers.com We’re the team to help you go diving again!
PADI MERMAID STUDENT LEVELS • PADI Discover Mermaid Experience – no prerequisites • PADI Basic Mermaid Course – ability to swim at least 25 metres and float comfortably at the surface for at least three minutes • PADI Mermaid Course – ability to swim at least 50 metres and float comfortably on the surface for five minutes • PADI Advanced Mermaid Course – ability to swim at least 100 metres and float comfortably on the surface for at least ten minutes
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05/01/2021 18:58
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More than 40 Kids Sea Camps and counting
Woody Tinsley, rests after a long day of training at a Kids Sea Camp
A Kids Sea Camp Story by Woody Tinsley One of the most common questions asked of me by families is How did I connect with Kids Sea Camp (KSC)? It’s actually a fascinating story that encompasses a series of fortuitous events. I started diving in 1998 and still considered myself a rookie diver in 2004 when I first bumped into KSC. I just happened to be on my first dive vacation in Curacao, and as I tried to book some diving at Ocean Encounters, I was told that there was a big family dive event going on and they were fully booked for the next 4 weeks. I liked kids, but KSC had completely taken over the resort, restaurants and the dive shop! I dove with another operator, but watched from a distance thinking how much fun KSC divers were having, and how cool it would be to bring my future kids on a Kids Sea Camp adventure. Fast forward two years, and I was spending a great deal of time fossil shark tooth diving. I had written two articles for Shark Diver Magazine and also became a PADI
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Scuba Instructor. After writing my articles, I was invited to give a presentation at the annual Boston Sea Rovers Clinic (years later I would be accepted into their ranks, which was the proudest personal accomplishment of my life.) I threw together a Power Point presentation about ethical souvenir buying; you know No dead seahorses, sharks in jars, etc., and I created it to read like a nursery rhyme. Cristina Zenato attended, famous “shark whisperer”. She was The Shark Lady and instructor at UNEXSO in The Bahamas. Christina loved my presentation and invited me down to be a staff member at UNEXSO’s first Kids Sea Camp event. I couldn't believe it! My future kids had also been born, but were
not old enough to participate just yet.
My first Kids Sea Camp: I departed the U.S. for my first KSC adventure in 2007 on my own. Christina put me in charge of the PADI Seal Team. I was on an island paradise and teaching Aqua Missions to kids in a pool. Now if you know me, you know I'm not a “pool” guy, but honestly it was the most rewarding and fun week of my life (until later when I brought my own kids). On that trip I certified five little Seals including Natasha and Nay Nay, two 9-year-old locals girls who won the Kids Sea Camp scholarship that summer. At the end of the week, before the KSC poetry and Junkanoo
y e a r s GIVE THEM A WEEK THEY WILL REMEMBER FOREVER
celebration, I won my first Sealife camera in the talent show, pulling off an especially fantastic lip sync rendition of the Thriller dance. My first KSC week was amazing, but truth be told, it actually took Margo until Thursday to ask me to come to work for Kids Sea Camp! I’ve been to 40+ kids Sea Camp events over the last 14 years My favorite KSC adventures are the ones I've shared with my own 2 kids Rowen and Bryson Belle, and one of the most memorable ever was at Buddy Dive in Bonaire in July of 2019. Owners Paul & Michelle Coolen, along with Margo & Tom Peyton, helped me put together a special Woody family moment in the middle of KSC. I brought along my mom Barbara, girlfriend Sally, and her two kids Olivia and Mason. I planned to ask Sally to marry me underwater during the camp. Sally was just certified so I took her on our first couples dive just off the house reef. My mom had not been diving in 2 years, so Margo's son & instructor Robbie Peyton helped
“GIVE THEM A WEEK THEY WILL REMEMBER FOREVER”
803 - 419 - 2556
W W W. FA M I LY D I V E R S . C O M
(Marriage proposal) had the whole family underwater with my mom and it was so fantastic. I wrote on my slate to Sally "the question", and only hoped she would circle the YES instead of the NO, and she did.
with her and Rowen too. Both Sally's kids had just completed the Jr. Open Water course and this was their first dive. Margo jumped in to shoot photos with Tom and on July 25th, 2019, I proposed to my now wife Sally Tinsley at Kids Sea Camp, Buddy Dive underwater. I popped “the question” using a slate. and only hoped she would circle the YES instead of the NO, which she did. Sharing that moment with the family was fantastic! Why I love Kids Sea Camp I’ve watched my children grow up at Kids Sea Camp. I have also been delighted to introduce over 600 kids to our underwater world and certified them at Kids Sea Camps. According to a statistic I made up, one out of every three Kids Sea Camp divers will have been certified by me in the year 2035. I have loved watching kids from all around the globe grow as divers, and I am always inspired
at how much diving has impacted their lives in such a positive way. Some of my first Zombie Apocalypse Diver Students are now instructors, including Addie Benz, Lilly Blakey, Jen Peyton, Rob
803 - 419 - 2556
Peyton, Ryan Seltz, Max Lavinsky, and Grant Smith. My own family is the #1 reason I love Kids Sea Camp.You and I all know why Margo Peyton started her company.The exhilarating feeling of diving with your kids at any age is untouchable.Then when you add in parrotfish, flounder and brain coral, the things you and I take for granted become exciting again when you experience them through your children's eyes.That intentionally sunk rowboat, used to make an artificial reef, is like diving the Titanic to them. Sharing this sport with my own children and hearing them talk about diving with such zeal melts my heart every time. I love Kids Sea Camp because I am a part of something much greater than myself. It allows me to share life in a way I never imagined was possible, with my family and yours. So what’s next for my Kids Sea Camp story? To be honest I have no idea. I hope it involves years of fun with Family Dive Adventures
W W W. FA M I LY D I V E R S . C O M
at Kids Sea Camps all over the world, and I hope I will see you there! Join me in Dominica, Palau, Bonaire, and Fiji in 2021. From Margo and Tom Peyton It is unquestionable that Woody Tinsley has made our company and our lives better. Kids Sea Camp would not be the wonderful fun-loving company of today without Woody’s larger than life influence. Woody reminds us every day to laugh out loud at the bizarre world we live in, to embrace and love each other without limits, and to be gentle and kind as much as you possible with everyone you meet. Thank you, Lord, Doctor, Woody Tinsley, for the years of pouring your heart and soul into making Kids Sea Camp that much better.
FAMILY DIVE ADVENTURES
DIVING AFTER A FRACTURE
Q: I suffered a hip fracture and three weeks ago had surgery to insert a plate and screws on the neck of my femur. Is it safe to dive eight weeks after surgery, and is there a risk of decompression illness (DCI)? A: While you should seek a specific answer from a local physician trained in dive medicine, I can offer general guidelines. The industry standard for a return to diving after any fracture is for your doctor to release you for full and unrestricted activity, including contact sports, and then have an additional convalescent period of one-half the length of the regular healing time for the fracture. This extra time is to recover any lost physical fitness and aerobic capacity due to atrophy during the healing and rehabilitation process. If your doctor releases you for full and unrestricted activity after six weeks, for example, you should add three weeks for a total waiting period of nine weeks. These numbers are merely an example, and you should consult with your treating physician for a definitive answer.
DIVING AFTER OVARIAN CANCER
Q: I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in June 2019 and received six chemo treatments. I was cancer-free by 15 November, 2019, but a scan revealed I had a pulmonary embolism. An ultrasound showed deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my left calf and upper left arm and a third superficial DVT in my lower left arm. I have been on an anticoagulant since 17 November, 2019. When is it safe for me to dive again? A: Dive medicine experts consider the use of a blood thinner to be a relative contraindication to diving. You can start to consider a safe return to diving after finishing the anticoagulant therapy, and when both you and the treating physician understand and accept the risk involved. General risks are associated with diving while on anticoagulant medications. The greatest concern is the likelihood of severe bleeding and complications from even minor trauma such as ear or sinus barotrauma. There is also a theoretical risk of bleeding into the brain or spinal cord if decompression illness were to occur. Many dive physicians recommend using very conservative profiles to minimise this risk and making sure you can equalise your ears without difficulty if you decide to return to diving. It is important to consider, especially if you travel to remote locations, that you are at an increased risk for bleeding. If you sustain an injury, there is no easy way to stop the bleeding, and many hospitals or clinics in remote
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locations do not have some of the products that can stop bleeding in extreme circumstances. You should also discuss with your physician the reason for the anticoagulant prescription. Pulmonary embolisms and DVT have implications for fitness to dive independent of the issues associated with anticoagulant use. Your physician team will need to carefully assess the etiology of the DVT, location, associated medical conditions, resolution and the chance of its recurrence.
DIVING AND SEASICKNESS
Q: Every time we go on diving trips, my girlfriend has to take anti-seasickness pills to avoid vomiting during boat rides. These pills cause drowsiness and I was wondering if it is safe to dive under such conditions? Most doctors in clinics tell me that she should avoid heavy work because she is feeling drowsy. Is it dangerous to go diving when feeling drowsy? If not, what are other options available to present seasickness? A: Seasickness is a great menace, especially for scuba divers. Diving demands a clear head and feeling nauseous in the water is distracting and unsettling. Vomiting causes dehydration, which increases fatigue and the risk of decompression illness. Vomiting in the water with a regulator in the mouth can result in blockage of the regulator, inhalation of water and anxiety, which can lead to panic. It is advisable not to go diving if suffering seasickness. To avoid seasickness I recommend taking promethazine, a sedating antihistamine, the night before diving. Its antinausea effects last longer than the sedative effect. On the morning of diving, I then recommend taking hyoscine an hour before going out on the boat. This is generally well-tolerated but can cause drowsiness, dry mouth and blurred vision. It is important for each diver to trial these medications well before going on a diving trip to ensure that one’s individual reaction is not excessive. Any diver using these medications should avoid deeper diving as such medications can enhance the effects of nitrogen narcosis. It is important to be aware of this, and ascend to shallower depths if narcosis becomes apparent.
BURST / PERFORATED EAR DRUMS
Q: Do burst or perforated ear drums heal? A: Yes. Burst eardrums usually heal within a few weeks although in severe cases surgery could be required to repair a badly damaged eardrum. The diver should have the ear checked by a doctor before returning to diving.
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A unique opportunity to take part in the beginning of a diving archaeology programme is opening up in the summer of 2021* on the Caribbean island of Utila. The Wreck Hunters project is offering a onemonth, limited availability window for divers to be a part of the Season One team. This all-inclusive package (prices to be announced on the website) is about getting to the heart of the story of a wreck called ‘The Oliver’, its rich history and the life of 18th Century mariners. Learn the skills of undersea archaeology, from traditional to cutting edge techniques. If you’re a relatively experienced diver (PADI Advanced Open Water with at least 30 dives), or equivalent (See website for full details), this could be just what you’re looking for. Project Director Mike Haigh’s ideal candidates have a ‘good sense of humour’ and enjoy team work.
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*COVID restrictions may result in a change of operation dates.
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14/12/2020 10:13
New Guinea Island Don Silcock continues his exploration of Papua New Guinea, this time focusing his attention on New Guinea Island PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON SILCOCK
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The best dive sites are concentrated along the offshore and sunken barrier reefs, which involves a boat journey of up to an hour to access. A couple of those sites like End Bommie and Suzie’s Bommie are great places to see the both the elusive, but spectacular, Rhinopias and pygmy seahorses
Independence from Australia came to the eastern half of the island in 1975, when the country of Papua New Guinea was born, with the western half ultimately becoming the Indonesian province of West Papua.
THE CORAL TRIANGLE
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hen the 16th century Portuguese and Spanish explorers first arrived in the far-eastern part of what was then called the Malay Archipelago, they had no way of knowing they had stumbled upon the second largest island in the world. Neither could they possibly know that the island is one of the most-biodiverse places in the world, occupying just 0.5 percent of the Earth’s surface, but with almost 10 percent of its species - and that is just on the land! What they did note though was the similarity between the indigenous people and those of the Guinea region of Africa, which is how the island came to be called New Guinea. Once discovered, New Guinea became part of the ‘great game’ played by the European colonizing nations, with the Dutch taking all of the western half of the huge island, and England and Germany holding the eastern quarters until World War One, when they were amalgamated and handed over to Australia to administer.
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Equally certain is that those explorers knew absolutely nothing about what we now call the Coral Triangle - the area of the Indo-Pacific widely acknowledged as the richest-known area of marine biodiversity in the world. Encompassing the eastern parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, together with all of Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomons, the Coral Triangle’s marine biodiversity is simply stunning, with more than 600 species of coral and 3,000 species of reef fish. To put those numbers into perspective – the Red Sea has around 200 coral species and 1,000 fish species, while the Caribbean has 50 and 900 respectively! New Guinea island sits at the very heart of the Coral Triangle, with two of the most well-known global diving locations at its extremities – Raja Ampat on the western tip, and Milne Bay on the eastern tip. Numerous other marine biodiversity hot spots have been found around the vast coastline of New Guinea, but the sheer remoteness of it all means there must be many others just waiting to be discovered!
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DIVING EASTERN NEW GUINEA ISLAND
The Pacific Gas
There are three main diving locations on the ‘mainland’, as the eastern half of New Guinea is often referred to in PNG, and at the very top of that list is Milne Bay. Milne Bay is what first put Papua New Guinea on the radar of travelling divers and underwater photographers worldwide, largely as a result of the late Bob Halstead and his adventures on the MV Telita - the first liveaboard in the country. That was some 30 years ago and while much has changed since those exciting early days, Milne Bay is still as biodiverse as it always was and is an incredible diving experience! On the north coast of New Guinea is the wonderfully scenic location of Tufi, with its magnificent tropical fjords and vibrant offshore reefs. On the south coast is the less well-known, but equally excellent, diving around the capital Port Moresby.
DIVING MILNE BAY
The area of PNG referred to as ‘Milne Bay’ is a little confusing, because in reality there are two Milne Bays… The first is the large, sheltered bay on the south-eastern tip of New Guinea island, named after the British Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, and then there is the much larger province of Milne Bay. Milne Bay Province is roughly the size of New Zealand, but only about five percent of that area is dry land, and the rest are the waters surrounding the 600-plus islands that make up the province. Those islands fall into four main groups – the Trobriands, the D’Entrecasteaux Islands, Woodlark Island and the Louisiade Archipelago. Apart from periodic exploratory trips, diving is only really possible in and around the Milne Bay itself and there are two options available to do that – resort based in the north of the bay, or a liveaboard covering the complete area. Both are great options, and the perfect trip would be a combination of both because that would allow a real appreciation of the incredible diversity of the overall area.
RESORT BASED
Tawali Dive Resort is located on a limestone headland on the Solomon Sea side of the peninsula that forms the north coast of Milne Bay. The main lodge and accommodation is perched up on the headland, surrounded by dense rainforest and overlooking the house reef and main jetty, while to the west is a large bay where the resort’s service area is located.
Gorgonian sea fans
MV Chertan
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Swept as it is by the rich currents of the south coast, the wreck has become a beacon to large pelagics and because it is so intact, it makes for a really excellent dive!
Tawali’s location is both picture-perfect and ideally situated for quick and easy access to the best dive sites on the north coast. Plus, it is possible to day-dive some of the excellent sites at Nuakata Island near the mouth of the bay. The north coast has a tremendous selection of dive sites, which range from black sand critter diving to superb fringing reefs, plus there are a number of dynamic offshore sea mounts. My personal favourite on the north coast is Deacon’s Reef, located on a headland near the small village of Lauadi and swept by the nutrient-dense coastal currents. Those rich nutrients have created an astonishing array of beautiful hard corals, sponges and sea fans, which make the site a delight to dive and, because it is a relatively shallow dive, it is usually bathed in light and an absolute joy to photograph! Plus, the nearby deep waters mean that there is a good chance of seeing cruising hammerheads, whalesharks and oceanic mantas out in the blue.
LIVEABOARD
The big advantage of diving Milne Bay from a liveaboard is that you get access to the more-remote sites around the East Cape Reefs in the north, together with the excellent sites in the southern area of the bay around Samarai Island and the China Strait. In the south there are two really exceptional
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Coral, sponge and anemone growth is prolific
sites that are essential diving, starting with the manta ray cleaning station at Gona Bara Bara island, which is the best and most-reliable location in all of PNG to see reef mantas (Mobula alfredi). Then there is the jetty at Samarai Island, the former provincial capital under Australian colonial rule. The jetty has definitely seen better days… but it is a really excellent critter site where you can spend hours exploring the accumulated flotsam and jetsam! There are two liveaboards that operate in Milne Bay – MV Chertan, owned and operated by Rob van der Loos, who enjoys a particularly strong following with macro underwater photographers. Rob has been diving Milne Bay Province for nearly 35 years and simply stated, he knows the bay better than any other single individual. Based from Alotao, the main town and provincial capital, Chertan has itineraries that cover both the southern and northern areas of Milne Bay. The second option is the country’s newest liveaboard, the MV Oceania, which is skippered by Dan Johnson, another longterm PNG resident. The boat was launched in 2019 after being completely refurbished by Dan and in a word, it is impressive! Based from Kimbe Bay on the north coast of New Britain, Oceania relocates to Milne Bay in February and March as part of Dan Johnson’s plan to operate the boat year-round in the best locations in Papua New Guinea.
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Vibrant anemone
WHEN TO GO
Milne Bay is an all-year round destination as the shape of the bay itself and the many islands of the province mean that sheltered locations can always be found. But to dive Milne Bay at its very best, you should visit from November through to late January as that is the dry season for that part of Papua New Guinea and the minimal run-off from the rivers and streams means that underwater visibility can be exceptional. The only really viable option for getting to Milne Bay is by air from Port Moresby to Alotau’s Gurney (GUR) airport, which is served on a regular basis by both Air Nuigini and PNG Air.
DIVING TUFI
Frogfish
Located at Cape Nelson on the north-east coast, this area is without doubt one of the most-scenic and picturesque areas in all of PNG and Tufi fjord is the stunning epicentre! The diving at Tufi offers a pretty special combination of options, which range from critter hunting in the assorted debris and general junk around the main wharf to pristine offshore reefs rarely visited by anybody other than the resort’s guests. There are some interesting World War Two wrecks and fjord sponge gardens in between, and all are combined with the superb above-water scenery and interesting local village culture! There is only one real option for diving this part of New Guinea island and that’s Tufi Dive Resort, which is located on a ridge overlooking the main fjord and surrounded by dense rainforest which descends right down to the water’s edge. A typical dive day at Tufi will have you leaving the dive jetty at 8am for the trip out to the offshore reefs, with two dives on sites dictated by the prevailing weather. The journey out varies on the sites but is typically between 40 minutes and one hour. There are about 25 offshore reefs that are dived regularly, and they vary from seamounts to fringing reefs, but generally all are good dives, and several are truly exceptional! A third dive in the afternoon will be either in the main fjord or around the jetty, with night dives at the jetty. There are myriad shrimps in PNG waters
Milne Bay is an all-year round destination as the shape of the bay itself and the many islands of the province mean that sheltered locations can always be found WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM
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WHEN TO GO
Picturesque coral reef
The best time to dive Tufi is in October and November, during the doldrum period between the trade wind seasons when the diving conditions both offshore and onshore are optimum. As a result, the seas are calm, visibility is great and the water is cooler – which brings out the critters. The only way to get to Tufi is by air as there are no roads through the Owen Stanley range that separates the north coast from the south. The resort has built its own landing strip and is served by both Air Nuigini and PNG Air from Port Moresby.
DIVING PORT MORESBY
It has to be said that Port Moresby does not exactly enjoy a great reputation and there are definitely parts of POM, as it is known locally, that you should avoid like the plague! But is it the near-death experience it is associated with? Well, in my experience, it is not and what is more, there is some remarkably good diving to be had, including one of the best shipwrecks in the country. The best dive sites are concentrated along the offshore and sunken barrier reefs, which involves a boat journey of up to an hour to access. A couple of those sites like End Bommie and Suzie’s Bommie are great places to see the both the elusive, but spectacular, Rhinopias and pygmy seahorses. Located on Horseshoe Reef is the wreck of the Pacific Gas, a former LPG tanker that was scuttled in 1986. The wreck is completely intact and sits upright on the reef slope with the top of its bow in 14m and the stern in 43m. Swept as it is by the rich currents of the south coast, the wreck has become a beacon to large pelagics and because it is so intact, it makes for a really excellent dive! There are two options to dive Port Moresby, starting with Pro Dive, ran by long-term PNG resident John Miller with his boat MV Solatai, which operates from Tahira Marina. Alternatively, Loloata Island is the newly refurbished private island resort in Bootless Bay that also offers diving on all the Port Moresby sites. Pygmy seahorse
PNG is wild and untamed topside
WHEN TO GO
The absolute best time to dive Port Moresby is from mid-April through to the end of May in the doldrum period between the end of the wet season and the start of the dry season. Port Moresby is the only international gateway in to PNG and is well served by Air Nuigini , Qantas and PNG Air from Brisbane and Cairns.
CONCLUSION
Located as it is in the heart of the Coral Triangle, the huge island of New Guinea has some amazing diving generally and the eastern half, the ‘mainland of PNG’, has three key locations which all offer great diving. But each is different… Milne Bay has incredible biodiversity and variety, while Tufi has its critters and wonderful offshore reefs, plus scenery to die for, and Port Moresby has great overall diving and an incredible wreck. Tough to choose! The perfect trip would be three to four days diving Port Moresby then a short one-hour flight to Alotau and the same at Tawali. Then a seven to ten day liveaboard to experience the rest of Milne Bay. Back to POM and a connecting flight to Tufi for another three to four days of diving. What a way to cleanse the mind of 2020 and pandemic lockdowns! n
DON SILCOCK
In more normal times, Don is based from Bali in Indonesia, but is currently hunkered down in Sydney… His website www.indopacificimages.com has extensive location guides, articles and images on some of the best diving locations in the Indo-Pacific region and ‘big animal’ experiences globally. 26
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THE FAT OF THE LAND
As we launch into the start of a New Year, Nick Lyon urges divers to take a good, hard look at their body shape and level of fitness, and take action to get ‘fit to dive’ PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF NICK LYON
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H
ave you ever performed a rescue? Not in training, I mean for real. If not, you need to know that the genuine article is rather different from a simulation. A few years ago, during a dive near Plymouth, my buddy became unresponsive during the descent. At 16m, she rolled over and began to sink, unconscious. I caught up with her just above the 24m seabed and performed a controlled buoyant lift to the surface. She was recovered to the boat and was soon in A+E which, by a stroke of luck, was staffed by doctors recently trained at the Diving Disease Research Centre (DDRC) just next door. She was diagnosed with dysbaric vertigo (only one ear clearing) and sent home. It’s worth also pointing out that we got married the following year. That’s important because it’s quite likely that my adrenal glands have rarely worked harder than they did that day, and I was left utterly drained. That rescue involved hardly any swimming and no surface tow, yet I was left feeling as if I’d run a marathon with a fridge on my back (not that I ever have). Rescue is a very tiring business. That was in 2008, I was a regular runner and gym user and worked hard to retain the fitness I built for an earlier polar expedition, yet a couple of minutes bobbing about in Plymouth Sound had done me in. Fast forward to 2020. As I gazed around the busy hall at the GO Diving show, a random thought entered my head and I shared it with Scuba Diver editor-in-chief Mark Evans. “How many of the people in this room could rescue themselves, let alone their buddy?” To be brutal, there was not an elephant in the room, there was a sizeable herd, and I was one of them. This isn’t about ‘fat shaming’, this is a genuine concern about many divers’ ability to save a life, either their own or that of their buddy. Many of us will have noticed that regular diving improves various specific aspects of our fitness. As the dive season moves forward, that cylinder isn’t so heavy, our gas consumption drops, a bit of tide is less of a hindrance. But the reserves required to see us through a rescue are more difficult to build. That’s not say, however, that we can’t meet that demand halfway.
This isn’t about ‘fat shaming’, this is a genuine concern about many divers’ ability to save a life, either their own or that of their buddy WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM
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HEADING BACK
INTO THE WATER? Let our expert team of divers get you kitted out and ready to explore as you get back into diving. Shop online with the help of free live-streaming video calls with the team or visit our London store (by appointment only). With the largest stock of diving equipment in the UK at the best prices, we’ll have what you need. Despite everything that has been going on, we’re still here for you!
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I’m not suggesting for one moment a regime of dragging tyres across Dartmoor in order to be safe to have a 15m bimble in Vobster. But we have to admit that quite a few of us have let ourselves go somewhat. As a diving industry professional, I’ve seen some rather stark examples of this. Take, for instance, the diver who, when fully kitted, exceeded the maximum weight limit of the boat’s dive lift. This feat didn’t occur spontaneously. He had already demonstrated his ‘discovery’ that by cutting a scone into three, rather than in half, he could get more butter into it… While standing in for the boat’s chef, I witnessed what I can only describe as a bucket of chips disappear into a modest number of divers in under a minute. And the consumption of solid calories is not the only issue. There is, of course, a long-standing tradition of the après dive beer. Or two… I have witnessed a diver from Scandinavia relieving his lunchtime thirst with a whole bottle of prosecco, before kitting up and jumping back in. A while back, I dived with an accomplished diver who would plan his weekend trips according to how hungover he anticipated he would be. He died tragically young. Nick hitting But you don’t have to take my anecdotal claims for this the gym wobbly state of affairs. The previously mentioned DDRC have been looking at this issue for 30 years. In their 1990 survey into weight and health in divers, they found that 34 percent of of diving. I wasn’t a child when I started and I’m not ready the participants were overweight or obese. By 2019, that figure to hang up my fins yet. Having said that, I take my age into had risen to a sobering 69 percent. Of course, this is not just account when planning dives and that includes deciding not a problem affecting divers, and these figures are very much in to dive at all. If I do dive, my times, depths and mixes reflect line with national trends. Of particular significance is the fact my longevity. that the British figure is now the same as the American one, As for my general fitness (or lack of it), my wake-up call so the US no longer leads the world in the obesity stakes. came, of all places, on the Aberdeen to Shetland ferry. My Then there’s smoking. I’m still astounded when I see divers cabin happened to feature a large, well-illuminated mirror, smoking before kitting up. Without meaning to preach, it’s a and as I checked out my Adonis score on the way to the really bad idea. shower, I was horrified to see that something had gone All this is compounded by another factor - we’re not getting terribly wrong with where my muscles used to be. any younger. We are seeing an increase in the mean age of the average diver, and fitness has a tendency to decrease with Overweight and age. Since the obesity rates among divers diving do not are now the same as those in society mix as a whole, this points to the inevitable conclusion that divers are doing little, if anything, to reverse it. The question then arises, what should we do about this? Taking the last point first, there’s little we can do about ageing, and if there was, I’d be running a clinic providing it, probably in the Caribbean. I’m nearing my 40th year Think about what you eat
I didn’t have a beer belly, but it was certainly a Merlot mound and I cut back on wine consumption 31
As for my general fitness (or lack of it), my wake-up call came, of all places, on the Aberdeen to Shetland ferry Nick returning from a shore dive
Nick hanging with a jellyfish A spot of cave diving in Mexico
Time to pat the fat goodbye
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I have no intention of masquerading as a personal trainer and how you approach fitness is entirely a matter for you. What I will say is that my dog’s walkies became quite a bit longer, which he was happy about. I re-joined the gym and alternated workouts for strength and cardiac fitness. I was never a great consumer of junk food, but I looked more carefully at balancing my diet and practicing portion control. I didn’t have a beer belly, but it was certainly a Merlot mound and I cut back on wine consumption. Fat loss can be tricky to quantify, particularly when weight training, as muscle weighs more than fat. So, rather than relying on the bathroom scales, I used the fit of clothes as an indicator of progress. I’m by no means where I need to be yet, but I have a pile of trousers that would be too risky to wear in public for fear of indecent exposure. In case you’d forgotten your early training, the only way to abuse your physiology more than taking it diving is to put it into outer space. That fact makes me realise that throwing an unnecessarily unfit body into the depths is asking for trouble. Not all incidents end happily. I’ve dealt with the worst possible outcome to a diving accident and I can assure you that it’s heart-breaking. I can no longer, in all conscience, ignore the need for better fitness, for my own sake and that of my buddy. n
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UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY
HERE COME
THE TURTLES
Underwater photography guru Mario Vitalini turns his attentions to one of the perennial diver favourites – the turtle – and explains how best to shoot these charismatic creatures PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARIO VITALINI
T
urtles have undeniable charisma. These reptiles are among the most-fascinating animals you can encounter during a dive. From the seven species of marine turtles, you are more likely to see three of them - hawksbill, green, and loggerhead turtles. And with their passive attitude, they make for great subjects, but how to make your turtle shots stand out? These are my tips and tricks to getting a tip-top turtle shot.
A green turtle approaches to have a closer look
THE CHALLENGE
There are two main shots you can take of a turtle. One is a swimming shot, probably the more difficult to take, and the other one is the turtle on a reef. Reef shots can be easier to take, but require a lot of attention, particularly to the background. When they are on either resting or feeding, turtles are relatively easy to approach and the main challenge is to get a good composition. Distracting or busy backgrounds and poor eye contact is the main reason some turtle pictures do not live to the expectations. In the case of a swimming turtle, the greatest challenge is to get close enough without scaring the poor thing. I have seen hundreds of photos of turtles and on many occasions, they are swimming away or there is not good eye contact. You also need to pay attention to the sun position as it can produce overexposed images.
Turtles are one of the morechilled subjects
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
If you are diving a site where the chances to encounter turtles are high, try to visualize the shots before you get in the water. It always helps if you are familiar with the area, but if not a quick chat with your dive guide will give you plenty of information about kind of situations you will be likely to
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When photographing turtles on a reef, make sure the reef itself is not distracting but complements the subject
A hawksbill turtle rest on the reef in Komodo National Park
find and what pictures you can take. In order to get a great turtle shot, there are three main things to remember. First of all, never, never chase a turtle. They may look slow but if you have ever tried to swim after one you know they can be incredibly fast. If you chase them, they will get spooked and immediately swim away. Instead, let it swim to you, most of the time curiosity will drive them close enough for you to take a few shots. When you see a turtle on the reef, it normally is resting or feeding, do not rush towards it, you will only scare them away. Try to move in front of the turtle and fill the frame. Sometimes their own reflection on your housing dome port will intrigue them and will come for a very close look or even a tentative nibble. Whenever possible try to get the turtle from a slightly lower angle. This will reduce the amount of reef in your shot and potentially give a view of the surface adding to the sense of depth. However, be wary of the incredibly reflective underbelly as your strobes are likely to overexpose it. Reduce your flashguns power or move them further back. In order not to waste time setting your camera, try to anticipate the encounter and have your settings ready. When I’m swimming along a reef, I tend to take some test shots into the blue so I’m ready if something shows up. When you see a turtle, take a few minutes to see what it is doing, If it is swimming fast along the reef, chances are it won’t stop. In that case, I wouldn’t bother trying to get close, it’s clearly going somewhere and not interested in hanging around. If on the other hand, it seems relaxed, try to position yourself in a way that the turtle will move where you want it
to be. Remember they are likely to go the opposite way you do. So if you want it on a blue background, try to get close to the reef. Wait for the turtle to get in the position you want it before you take your shot.
SOME TECHNICAL TIPS
Whenever possible try to go for a wide-angle lens to ensure you can fill the frame with your subject. Macro and normal lenses work very well for portraits and details of the face and eyes. Regardless if you are shooting with strobes or ambient light make sure you control the background brightness, particularly if you are shooting into the blue. When shooting ambient light make sure the sun is behind you to have good lighting in your subject. You can also try to shoot silhouettes; ensure you expose perfectly for the background and position yourself right under the turtle. It is also essential you pay attention to the position of the flippers as they can make or break your picture.
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UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY When using strobes, I found that slightly crossing flashguns maximize the amount of light on your subject and minimize lighting the surrounding reef helping the turtle to stand out. And as I mentioned early be very careful not to burn the bright turtle belly with your strobes, be prepared to reduce the power output of your strobes.
Turtles help themselves to shoot beautiful silhouettes. When attempting one ensure the flippers are in a pleasant position
BEHAVIOURS TO LOOK FOR
Feeding: Some sites are excellent to photograph turtles feeding. Hawksbill turtles feed on soft coral and usually ignore what is going on around them giving you great opportunities for close up shots. Green turtles can be seen feeding on seagrass. These areas tend to be very sandy so be aware of particles in the water column as this will cause backscatter. Marsa Shona, in the Southern Red Sea, is a dive site I love for the reliable opportunities to shoot this behaviour. Breathing: As with all reptiles, turtles need to come to the surface to breathe. This will give you great opportunities to shoot silhouettes. Resting: Often turtles can be seen sleeping or resting on the reef, approach them carefully not to scare them. Turtle pulling a pose for the camera
WORD OF ADVICE
Remember that turtles are endangered and as a photographer it is our responsibility not to stress them or do anything that may harm them. Always give enough space to the animal to swim away, never trap it. When using strobes, avoid multiple shots that may harm the eyes of the turtle. If possible, take some test shots on a near part of the reef before moving on the turtle. With the travel restrictions in place to fight COVID-19, most dive hotspots around the world have been closed to tourists. Coral reefs and many marine creatures, including turtles, had a unique opportunity to recover from years of constant human presence. Some destinations are starting to welcome divers once again and the lucky ones able to visits these areas have been treated to incredible encounters. So, if you are willing to travel, there is no better time to pack your camera kit and head out to bag some amazing turtle pictures. n
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t’s late in the evening, our gear is set and our dive team is getting ready to pull away from shore. Most of the folks in our local community of Anilao are sleeping by now, but were just getting started. Blackwater diving keeps us up most nights running a reverse time cycle for weeks at a time. Departing well after sunset, we plan to hit the proper tidal flux in hopes that Mother Nature will reveal some of her best-kept secrets to us tonight as we drift the currents in the black night sea. Blackwater diving is unlike regular night diving for many reasons. The dives take place offshore in open ocean, often over very deep water where we free drift in the current using a lit downline to attract the various creatures of the night. This fact alone is usually enough to repel most divers from even considering blackwater dives, as the fear of some toothsome creature will suddenly lurch from the dark. However, this fear is immediately overcome by curiosity once a diver sees the magic happening with their own eye’s. The obsession for BW diving begins with the idea of being able to witness nature in its purest and most raw form. The chance of seeing something that no one else has and, of course, the opportunity to observe and photograph what we see. So for weeks on end, we happily endure the reversed time cycles and daily cat naps with baited anticipation. Over time, our dive team has developed a downline of lights which serves as a beacon for the divers to keep up and as a safety feature for the topside support team to follow. We attach the downline to a brightly lit orange buoy on the surface that we’ve named ‘The Pumpkin’, which gives our boatmen a direct line of site to our location at all times. With safety procedures in place, divers can concentrate completely on the dive and shooting photos while we leave the rest to the topside dive team.
The target subjects for blackwater divers are generally plankton, but not all planktons are small gelatinous creatures. Imagine, every single organism in the ocean with the exception of mammals, sharks and rays, spend a period of time developing in the water column prior to ‘settling’. Octopus, crabs, shrimps, snails, anemones, crinoids, sea cucumbers and of course fish, to name a few, will all spend a portion of their early life drifting, feeding and gaining strength before moving into their next stage of life either on the substrate or in the water column itself. The strategy of the lights is to create a plankton cloud which eventually draws in our target subjects and the predatory animals that feed on them. Hunting along the outside edge of the light seems to work really well for finding light-sensitive subjects, while many others are attracted directly to the lights themselves. Oddly enough, many of the subjects that are initially attracted to the lights, do everything they can to get away from them once they are there. Shooting photos of these unpredictable creatures is comparable to photographing a butterfly while running down the sidewalk at night. Some of the creatures’ movements are erratic and unpredictable and extremely fast, while others are not. Some are drifting and spinning or pulsing up and down, some so delicate that a mere fin kick will destroy them while others are robust, flying by and snatching fish small bait fish right before your eyes.
Mike Bartick showcases some of the incredible imagery he has collated while blackwater diving – and urges divers to delve into this kind of diving PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIKE BARTICK
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living in the
DARK
Darkness rules the night and transparency can go a long ways when it comes to protecting yourself if you live in this environment 39
Argonaut on Purple Jelly Fish
Darkness rules the night and transparency can go a long ways when it comes to protecting yourself if you live in this environment. It’s incredible to think that anything could survive such a gauntlet, but it does - nature is on full display here so keep your eyes open.
THREE BASIC TIPS FOR BLACKWATER DIVING
Dive skills – Safety first for BW diving. Be sure to have great buoyancy skills before venturing out. During the dive try to move slowly without flailing your hands, excessive finning and movement creates pressure waves that will disturb your subjects. Each movement creates turbulence and many of the delicate creatures could be destroyed outright or sent spinning away, curl up or dash off. Pay close attention to what your ears are telling you as depth changes occur quickly. Invest in a computer that is always backlit and can be read without pressing any buttons.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Developing an eye for small subjects first is encouraged as the larger stuff will always avail itself. ‘Look small and find big’ is one of my favorite mantras. Many of the small subjects have a huge story to tell and by paying close attention to the smaller creatures, the larger picture begins to crystalize more and more. Anything white or opaque is worth investigating. Drifting garbage, pyrasomes, salps and salp chains, sea grass, bamboo, etc. I basically investigate everything I see and it hasn’t failed me yet. Heterpods, or subjects with a single foot like this sea elephant are gelatinous, and seem to swim upside down. They often times have a small shell at the tail, and in some cases will also carry eggs there. Pterepods are subjects with two feet and quite often have a more-advanced design including some kind of casing. Pterepods make great platforms for male nautilus and small octopus as well as salps and salp chains. Snail veliger’s are named for the velum or foot that extends out like a satellite dish. They have a cute little face and the velum refracts light from the strobe flash. Jellyfish are some of the most-interesting animals on the planet and slip into place very easily as we advance along the spectrum. Jellyfish are the oldest recorded organisms on the planet with some that can actually live forever. The immortal jellyfish can reach sexual maturity then revert back to the benthic polyp stage. There are jellyfish that pulsate and jellyfish that use cilia to ambulate falling into the comb jelly category. It’s no secret that jellyfish can sting, in fact some can even kill humans. For that alone, I think many people have grown to dislike jellyfish without any further investigation. Jellyfish are incredibly beautiful animals that seem to lack certain things like a brain and a heart. However, they are perfectly equipped to survive and thrive. Some jackfish develop a symbiotic relationship with jellyfish starting at a very young age, growing with the jellyfish over an unknown period of time. The jackfish will select the jelly, then subject itself to the stinging tentacles to develop an immunity to the toxins. Pterepod
Photo skills – Many of the subjects are fast and reflective, yet timid. I suggest the following as your jump settings: ISO-400; ƒ-stop 18 and higher to dampen reflectivity; shutter speed 1/250 or at the fastest synch speed for your strobes; focus light with an adjustable beam and a soft broad cast of light, this will assist your autofocus. I prefer at least 3,000-plus lumens, in case I want to shoot video. Hunting skill – Hunting for your subjects in the water column during your BW dive is a skill that most of us don’t have initially, but develop pretty quickly. Using a torch with a tight beam will allow for better water penetration, even if the water is turbid. Using the torch in my left hand, I’ll search for subjects then work myself to it, at which point I allow my focus light to take over.
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Edgar and Jelly
Cotton Mouth Jack and Jellyfish
Squids are incredible creatures capable of great speeds, colour changes and are masterful hunters that work in packs. Their bodies seem to be made of rubber and like octopus, have eight arms, plus the added weaponry of two elastic tentacles used for striking their prey. Squids use several distinct inking patterns in different ways. Ink puffs to escape and evade, roping to confuse and distract, mantle inking to mask their presence and ink clouds for hunting are the most common. On most dives, we will see the ink of the squid long before we ever see them hunting around us. The diamond squid is an incredible deep sea squid that comes to the shallows during certain times of the year, perhaps to mate. They can reach upwards of 30kg, but as a smaller squid are quite ornate. The pelagic octopus know as the A.hians AKA paper nautilus were another one of the hidden treasures of Anilao that we uncovered. These gnome-like creatures are super cute, fast and very interesting. My first sighting of a large female riding a jellyfish was beyond anything I had ever seen at the time and I did everything in my power to remain calm, focus and shoot while swimming straight down as fast as I could. The stacking behaviour is seen during the spawning season when females stack themselves into chains. The male is only the size of a garden pea, but the female can reach the size of a baseball. She also produces a shell to protect her eggs which gives the Argonauta hians her nickname of paper nautilus.
CONCLUSION
Swimming with the jellyfish the jack pushes the jelly through the water, which in turn creates better water contact for the jellyfish and increasing its ability to feed. The jack feeds on the stunned fish and gains shelter in return. Other smaller fish might use the tentacles of jellyfish as a way of hunting by swimming in and out of the tentacles, attracting predators that are then stung. Other subjects like ribbonfish, pompano and soapfish to name a few have elongated appendages and pennants and are said to mimic the tentacles of jellyfish or even siphonophore’s to gain a little edge on surviving. The Wunderpuss, now one of the iconic subjects that makes BW diving in Anilao so popular, are a calm and cool customer. Their siphon is nearly transparent with the pigment of forming chromatophores just beginning to take form. Their eight arms stretch out once relaxed and have become one of the most requested subjects for our guests to see and photograph.
Blackwater diving is an incredible experience that promises a world of adventure for divers and a world of possibilities for photographers. Be sure to include blackwater dives on your next dive trip, or join us at Crystal Blue Resort for one of our Blackwater Safari weeks and learn the natural history of what is happening every night, just offshore. n Diamond Squid
MIKE BARTICK
Mike Bartick is an award-winning photographer, international public speaker, writer, educator and explorer, and admits that the next best thing to having the experience is sharing it. Mike is based in Anilao, the birthplace of diving in the Philippines and is a leading light in the discipline of blackwater photography.
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The currents of
Adrian Stacey waxes lyrical about the adrenalinefuelled drift dives that can be enjoyed in the wild waters of the Komodo National Park PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIAN STACEY
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THE US VIRGIN ISLANDS
he outboard motor on our speed boat wined in protest as a furious current tried its best to thwart us from reaching our destination. The texture of the water was another clear indication that this dive was going to be far from sedate. Resembling a fastrunning river rather than an ocean, in some parts the sea seemed to boil and performed an agitated little dance, in other areas whirlpools drifted along the fast-moving surface. In contrast, different sections of the sea were as flat as glass and, for a split second, we were afforded a brief glimpse of the utter mayhem below. Our experienced driver dropped us a little way in front of the reef, to give us some hope of reaching our target. We aimed to get down to 20-25m as fast as possible and to find a good place to secure a reef hook before the current swept us off the dive site. With this feat completed, it was now time to watch the show. Immense schools of fusiliers and yellow-masked surgeonfish had congregated where the current first hit the reef, known as ‘the split’. They, in turn, attracted the unwanted attention of a whole host of predators. Huge gangs of the thuggish-looking giant trevallies casually mingled with the fusiliers, grey
The US Virgin Islands are made up of four main islands - St Thomas, St John, St Croix and Small Water Island. St Thomas has some really nice wrecks but is not often visited by UK divers. Choices are limited to a handful of dive centres, including JJ Divers and Coki Dive Centre. Blue Island Divers has just closed down. Originally owned by a Brit, Aitch Liddle, they ran a friendly, professional service at the Crown Bay Marina Suite. In all there are 40 sandy beaches. Accommodation varies from selfcatering apartments to resort hotels. Dive centres usually offer pick up from hotels with water frontage, otherwise for all other accommodation it’s best to hire a car. There are more than 20 wrecks scattered along the south coast. Most are at a depth of around 30m and no more than 5km offshore (35 minute boat ride). Some even have portholes and brass fittings still attached. The WIT Shoal II is probably the best wreck dive on St Thomas. The 99-metre-long LST (Landing Ship Tank) was built in 1943 by Kaiser Co Inc. She saw intense action in the Pacific during World War Two and was involved in a number of the infamous beach landings. By the early 1980s she had become a non-functioning derelict and was sunk during Hurricane Klaus on 6 November 1984. She was re-floated in order to be scrapped but sank while being towed to her final destination. She now lies at a max depth of 28m, just 3km outside of St Thomas harbour. There are five deck levels to explore. The engine room is well worth a visit, although finding a way in can be quite tricky. The stern, wheelhouse and crane are the best areas. Two knot currents are quite common, but diving with some water movement does have its advantages. Monotone bulkheads transform into a blaze of colour when thousands upon thousands of tiny orange cup corals open up to feed. This wreck is perfect for night dives.
Stuart Philpott has dived around many Caribbean islands, and he has trawled through his archives to bring this round-up of some of the best shipwrecks in the region PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART PHILPOTT 22
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Byron Conroy heads to the Maldives in search of big-animal encounters – and he is not left wanting
have always wanted to visit the Maldives for its pure beauty of white sand, blue water and magical sunsets. Also, just hearing someone mention the Indian Ocean makes me start dreaming of a tropical underwater paradise. When starting to do some research on this place, I quickly found out that shark fishing has been completely banned in all Maldivian atolls since 2010, and ray fishing since 2014. I suddenly got even more excited for our trip. My partner and I arrived at the Dhigali resort in a tiny propeller-driven seaplane, some 45-minute flight from Male international airport. The island is located in the Raa Atoll in the northern part of the Maldivian archipelago. We got a warm welcome and a useful orientation briefing by manager Kate. My first impression of Dhigali was that the island was very green and jungle-like, creating an authentic and exciting atmosphere. The island is one kilometre long, which is quite big compared to many other resorts with similar guest capacity. This, together with the owner´s intention of keeping as much natural vegetation as possible, has created a very lush, genuine environment.
DOING THE JUNGLE WALK
While exploring the island, we stumbled upon the ‘jungle walk’. Here, 80 percent of the vegetation is preserved and joined by little wooden signs with interesting facts about the wildlife and the plants found here. As we continued along the jungle walk, a group of flying foxes landed in a fruit tree just in front of us. We could also hear many different species of birds around us. On the ground, a small lizard made its way into the bushes.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BYRON CONROY
The
However, the next moment I reminded myself that I actually get up at 6am every morning just to fit in three or four dives a day, and I suddenly felt a lot better! 28
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winter waters of the Arctic that even in midwinter the area can support the food-webs necessary to sustain a complete marine ecosystem. So, while the rest of the North Atlantic is practically barren at that time of the year, the Gulf Stream creates rich upwellings around the mountains and seamounts of the Azores that become fertile oases to which the large pelagic animals of the region aggregate. Come spring and rising temperatures, the Azorean waters burst into life with huge planktonic blooms and krill spawning events, creating the perfect feeding conditions for the hungry great whales of the northern hemisphere as they migrate to their Arctic summer feeding grounds.
THE GREAT WHALES OF THE AZORES LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION…
Swept by the warm tendrils of the southern Gulf Stream, rich in tropical nutrients and dissolved organic nitrogen, the Azores archipelago is far enough south from the frigid
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The deep waters, undersea mountains and overall ecosystem of the Azores make it an almost perfect location for sperm whales - deep-diving animals that hunt and feed on the giant squid that abound in the depths around the archipelago.
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Jill Heinerth waxes lyrical about the underwater delights that lie in store for adventurous divers off the coast of Newfoundland around the picturesque Bell Island
n the pale light of a wintery Canadian dawn, the Arctic blast persuades me to snug my hat securely down over my ears. Emerging from the neck of my parka, my muffled voice emits curly wisps of white vapour into the cold air. A barrel-chested John Olivero vaults clear of his truck in a long-sleeved T-shirt loudly announcing ‘let’s go diving!’ My sturdy Canadian resolve cannot hide my disbelief. “First, we have to get out of the driveway, Johnny!” I mumble. “No problem!” he smiles backs. “We have a secret weapon!” Who would have imagined that a diving expedition would require a snowplow? On this day, we need it to move the metre-deep snow that has accumulated overnight. But the list of necessary tools is even more peculiar. For months, John Olivero and Ocean Quest Adventure Resort (www.OceanQuestAdventures.com) owner Rick Stanley wrangled volunteers, convincing them to heft pickaxes and shovels to prepare for our visit. The group of selfless volunteers moved tons of iron ore, built decks and benches, and installed critical lighting in preparation for us to dive into the depths of the Bell Island Mine. February never deterred their dedication. On the contrary, there is plenty of time in the winter for projects and diversions. In Newfoundland, summertime is an orgy of outdoor activity – 18-hour days crowded with whales, World War Two wrecks, beach picnics and icebergs, leaving little room for manual labour. Winter is work time. Summer is for play.
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY JILL HEINERTH WWW.INTOTHEPLANET.COM
Newfoundland
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ention the words ‘wreck diving’ on a club RIB or a dive charter boat and it’s guaranteed to get a reaction. In the UK, wreck diving is king. Who doesn’t enjoy exploring shipwrecks? Some get their kicks from the historical aspect, while others are attracted by an oasis of marine life. There is another contingent I would describe as ‘trophy hunters’, but the shallower wrecks were stripped yonks ago, leaving only the sub-50m tech wrecks laden with brass. Back in the good old days, every wreck diver was tooled up with a lump hammer, chisel and lifting bag. I would like to think that today’s discerning wreck diver has a moreconscientious approach, with thoughts more on preservation rather than plunder, but I’m sure there are still a few divers out there that would disagree! Our whole coastline is littered with tens of thousands of shipwrecks at varying depths to suit every level of recreational and technical diver. The English Channel alone has more than 40,000 recorded wrecks! The Dorset coast has its fair share and, fortunately for me, this has been my stomping ground for many years. I have explored most of the favourites in the 0m-40m range and taken a few reasonable pictures along the way. There are far too many amazing wrecks to mention in detail, so I have skimmed across the surface, detailing a selection of the very best. Except for the Royal Adelaide, Nor and Landing Craft wrecks lying off Chesil Beach, all of the sites I’ve mentioned are boat dives.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DON SILCOCK
Sat as they are, roughly halfway between the edge of southern Europe and the tip of North America, the nine islands of the oceanic archipelago of the Azores offer the only shelter from the notorious seas of the North East Atlantic. Underwater, that archipelago sustains an incredible ecosystem because those nine visible peaks are just a fraction of the 100-plus underwater mountains and seamounts that are both a beacon to marine life and a catalyst for the interaction between the many pelagic species that aggregate there.
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Don Silcock made the long haul from Australia to the Azores in search of some big-animal encounters – and he was not disappointed
ike the tips of icebergs, the islands of the Azores archipelago are just the visible peaks of a remarkable chain of underwater mountains that rank among some of the highest in the world. They rise up from the Azores Platform, a huge area of nearly 6 million km2, which in itself is just a small part of the incredible Mid-Atlantic Ridge, that runs the complete length of the Atlantic Ocean - from the far north and the Arctic Ocean, to the deep south and the Southern Ocean. The Azores Platform is some 2,000m below the ocean surface, but the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is grounded on to the seabed another 2,000m below that, while the tip of Pico (the tallest island of the archipelago) is 2,350 metres above sealevel, making the mountain that is Pico about 6,500 metres high in total elevation.
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Up currents, down currents, washing machines, currents that do not go in the direction they are supposed to, and currents that just come out of nowhere, can all be encountered in the national park
These sites are well protected from rough weather which means virtually guaranteed diving throughout the year
It is also one of the few places in the world where, under a special permit from the Regional Environment Directorate, it is possible to be in the water with those sperm whales – which is what convinced me to undertake the marathon journey from Sydney! September is the optimum month as it has the best visibility, reasonable water temperature, most tourists have departed and it’s the end of the calving season, with the highest chance of curious juvenile sperm whale encounters. I based myself in Madalena, the main town of the picturesque island of Pico in the central Azores, which is dominated by the Mount Pico volcano - the highest point in the archipelago and in all of Portugal. Thankfully dormant since its last eruption in 1718, a drive up to the flanks of Mount Pico affords a view that seems to stretch to eternity and puts into perspective the sheer isolation of these islands. It is that very view, combined with the nature and tenacity of the Azorean people, that allowed a shore-based sperm
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Stuart Philpott takes a whistlestop tour of some of the most-popular wreck dive sites along the South Coast PHOTOGRAPHS BY STUART PHILPOTT
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Q&A: PATRICK WIDMANN We chat to the world-renowned cave diver and explorer about teaching tech diving, the attractions of the Yucatan Peninsula, and what it is like to R&D dive equipment PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF PATRICK WIDMANN AND PHILLIP LEHMAN
In 2006 I bought an ISC Megalodon, which basically consumed all of my savings of four years working in the Red Sea
Q: As we always do with these Q&As, our first question is ‘how did you get into diving in the first place?’. A: That was a long time ago. My father was part of the local Austrian search and rescue team and so he took me to do a try-out when I was some 12 years old. I felt instant love on that first try. I even remember how the wetsuit looked, and how the seagrass moved with the waves. Q: You are now well known around the world for your exploits as a technical diver and instructor, but what first attracted you to technical diving? A: Maybe a bit exaggerated, hahaha, but thanks for the compliment. To tell you the truth, it’s actually a very sad story. I had a mentor in my earlier career, the person who made me believe that being a diving instructor is the best thing on the planet. He had just done his technical training and was talking about it 24/7. A few months later, he had a tragic accident in his apartment and basically died in my arms. After that, it seemed like a mission for me to make him proud and to show him that he hadn’t wasted his time with me. So doing my first technical class using his equipment seemed like a logical step and also felt like a very special tribute. In fact, I still have his old drysuit in my flat, it goes wherever I go. After that, the depths of the Red Sea had an incredible pull on me, and therefore I spent pretty much every day off doing trimix dives.
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Cave diving is Patrick’s passion What no line? Patrick after an epic cave exploration
Q: You are qualified to use a multitude of closedcircuit rebreathers, including the Revo, JJ, Poseidon, AP and Pelagian. What is it about CCRs that caught your attention, and do you still dive open-circuit, or are you mostly ‘bubble-free’? A: My interest came straight from the deep dives in Egypt. I was never really interested to do bounce dives and so early on, I
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were all by far more complex. That all ended two years ago when I found the KISS Sidewinder CCR which, for me personally, has all the advantages of CCR diving with zero of its many headaches. Since than I have done only two OC dives I believe and I could not be any more happy! Having the counterlung of the Sidewinder so close to your actual lungs means very little to no change in buoyancy, nor head to toe trim between inhalation and exhalation, which give is it uncomparable stability to all other units. Add to that the incredible small size, weight, and low price and you have a winner on all levels.
Patrick has been on many expeditions
made the decision that if I couldn’t stay at least 20-30 minutes on the bottom then it wasn’t worth doing the dive to begin with. So with the common tank sizes in Egypt, that sort of limited me to 120m depth, meaning CCRs were the logical next step, which made me do a Buddy Inspiration class in 2005. In 2006 I bought an ISC Megalodon, which basically consumed all of my savings of four years working in the Red Sea, plus an incredibly generous contribution from my mother which was labelled Birthday/Christmas present. I came back to Mexico to do my crossover with Matt at ProTec Dive Centre and followed up with CCR Cave training after that, having completed the required hours in the ocean. My diving, however, was still predominantly OC sidemount due to my environment (Mexican cave diving). Most, if not all, CCRs are incredibly hard to dive in shallow water and so it just didn’t seem to be the right tool for the job. Plus, complexity of daily operation compared to OC sidemount diving didn’t seem logical as build time, weight, size, comfort and ease of diving
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Q: You are now part-owner of ProTec Dive Centre on the Yucatan Peninsula. How did you end up in Mexico in the first place, and what is the main attraction of the area for divers? A: Yes, I joined Matt as equal partner in 2009 and then together with Kim Davidsson we opened the Tulum shop in 2011. I ended up here on the search for the most complete training for cave diving. As the conditions are ideal (shallow, no flow, good vis, warm water) it’s simply perfect for the student to learn all procedures and protocols in an absolute perfect environment where they just have to focus on all the new skills that cave diving related rather having to fight with general conditions, such as flow or cold water, and we can stay for hours in the water to practice. So in 2005, after reading the book ‘Beyond the Deep’, where I realized that there was a sport that unites my two biggest passions in life (alpinism and diving), I jumped in a plane and spent two months here in Playa del Carmen to completely immerse myself in the sport.
Patrick is based in the cave-diving Mecca of Mexico
Cave entrance in the depths of the jungle
Patrick thrives on expeds to remote areas
Q: You have been actively involved with xDeep in developing their renowned Stealth 2.0 sidemount wing, and have been doing R&D work on their forthcoming regulators and drysuit. What do you like most about this process? A: Wow, that’s a very complex question. First of all, I absolutely love working with Piotr, the owner of xDeep. Designing with him is so much fun and is truly inspiring. My main job is to show him the issues of current designs that both my students and I face and then add my ideas and suggestions on how to fix them, which he follows up with truly ingenious solutions. Now of course for me, traveling to extreme remote locations to explore caves knowing I have the absolute best tools for the job is absolutely exhilarating. I also won’t pretend that seeing the success of our equipment and how many people love it doesn’t fill me with joy. I get a tremendous amount of messages on FB and Instagram from people who have rekindled their love for diving through our equipment or have finally found the comfort that they were looking for. On top of that, seeing so many world-renowned divers and explorers use our gear on very challenging dives, or to push the boundaries of exploration, makes me really proud. Patrick was an early adopter of tech diving
Patrick is a big fan of CCRs
Q: You have seemingly been instrumental in expeditions all over the world for many, many years. What are some of the greatest expeds you have been involved with, and why? A: Hands down, Madagascar. The things we found both from cave and paleontological point-of-view is simply next level. Besides that, for sure, the people there and the landscape and most certainly the waves on the days off. We had the chance to produce some epic material for BBC and NatGeo productions. We go there once a year since 2014, and every year marks a very special time for me. Away from all the stress of my usual 16-18 hour work days to spending time
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Heading into another system
Base camp does not look very glamorous
with some of my best friends and experiencing a truly harsh yet so beautiful environment. After that I would say the countless mayor projects in the Dominican Republic, both from a science point of view, as well as very challenging dives and accesses to the water. Q: What is your most-memorable moment in your diving career? A: For sure, the first dives in Malazamanga (Madagascar) when we realized the tunnels where in parts 100 metres wide and almost 40 metres high while exploring with 12W primary lights. I mean we literally felt like swimming into space. Phillip and I at that point have had a very long history as a team already with some amazing discoveries in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, but that place was something else. Then, of course, Anjanamba the currently longest submerged cave there (Madagascar), with over 10km of epic mega passages and the most epic preserved skeletons of crocodiles at the entrance! Besides that, for sure our multi-sump project called el Toro in the Dominican Republic, as well as Sonador, the sub-100m deep cave hidden in the mountains there. By now, to be honest, there have been so many that it’s hard to pick one. Q: On the flipside, what is the worst thing that has happened to you underwater? A: Hands down, body recoveries. When things happen to myself, I am usually very busy with trying not to drown and once it’s over, you feel amazing for having survived. But when you go to find a body and have all the time to prepare for it and plenty of time to think about it, it’s horrible. Even more when you are there and imagine how the last moments were, etc. I do get flashbacks every once in a while, which is unpleasant, especially while I am on a cave dive.
CCR - check. Dive dog - check...
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Q: What does the future hold for Patrick Widmann and ProTec? A: Right now, ProTec is in survival mode. We do our utmost best to make it through this COVID nightmare and hope that soon people will be able to travel again easier. Me personally, well, this has been a very interesting year and with it some truly amazing opportunities came along and so I will soon be immersed in yet another very big project within the diving industry, maybe my biggest yet, and I am incredibly stoked! Besides that, I’d like to slow down a little bit. The last almost 20 years of my life have been very intense and I can feel that I take longer to recover from injuries and also that my general energy level is lower. Besides that, I would like to spend more time with loved ones, who I have neglected horribly the last two decades while being on the chase of ever bigger goals and bigger achievements. Life is not all as good as FB makes you believe. n
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DIVERS ALERT NETWORK: EUROPE DAN Europe is an international non-profit medical and research organisation dedicated to the safety and health of divers. WWW.DANEUROPE.ORG
DAN EUROPE:
YOUR DIVING SUPPORT NETWORK As Michael Menduno reveals, it’s a lot more than just insurance!
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any divers think of DAN Europe solely in terms of the sport diving and professional liability insurance it provides. Most don’t realise that the diving research and safety foundation, which was founded in 1983, provides a lot more than just insurance. In fact, you can think of it as your diving support network, a network that offers a wide range of unique member services and information designed to aid and support active divers like yourself. Interestingly, DAN services may arguably be even more important now that international travel has been severely restricted as a result of the pandemic, and divers are turning to local dive sites to fuel their passion. The trouble is that even if your country has a robust public healthcare system, it almost certainly does not provide the specialised knowledge, consultancy and assistance required for diving injuries or planning, nor does it likely fully cover hyperbaric therapy should the need arise. In addition, many countries’ healthcare systems are currently overwhelmed in responding to the virus, making it even harder for divers to get the assistance they need, when they need it. Not to worry. You always have DAN Europe at your side. In fact, the organisation is now in the process of creating a ‘local diving’ insurance product that will exclusively cover you in the event of a local diving accident. More details will be announced soon. In the meantime, it’s useful to consider the many services and benefits that your DAN Europe membership affords you. Annual membership dues are 25€, which does not include insurance. Ironically, if you’re like most divers, you may not be fully aware and/or take full advantage of these offerings, few of which are available through insurance carriers. Here are some of the diving-specific perks that you may want to consider. All of these are accessible through the DAN membership line, DAN’s 24/7 medical hotline, and MyDAN, which is available on any of your devices.
THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP
Receive specialised medical consultancy for non-emergencies: DAN members can arrange to have a diving medical specialist who speaks their language, and address any dive-related questions they may have. Is the new medication that you’re taking contraindicated for diving? Or perhaps you’re wondering
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when it is safe to go diving having broken your foot in a skiing accident last month. Please contact us, we can help. Receive specialised medical consultancy in the case of an emergency Speak directly to a specialist who speaks your language in the event of a possible emergency. You can even speak to a specialist while you are on a boat. Access DAN’s specialists for ongoing care Need an Ear Nose Throat (ENT) doc who understands the language of diving, as well as your own language? How about a dive-savvy cardiologist or neurologist? You say you’re a freediver who’s planning to get a dental implant but worried it might impact your sinuses? Who are you gonna call? That’s right, DAN has you covered. Though there is only a small number of European medical specialists who dive, we know them all! DCI Risk Analysis Ever wonder how risky those local shipwreck exploration dives that you’re planning to conduct next week from a decompression illness (DCI) perspective? If you’re a member, you can find out. DAN Europe will analyse your dives, before or after the exposure, using their Diver Safety Guardian software and their Diving Safety Lab (DSL) database of more than 60k dives, and report the results back to you.
THE BENEFITS OF DAN’S DIVING INSURANCE
DAN Europe membership is included when you purchase an insurance plan. Coverage of medical and hyperbaric treatment not covered by NHS Though they are not the only ones, the DAN organisations are the largest providers of diving insurance with an international network of 180+ diving doctors assisting over 400,000 members worldwide. Specifically, DAN Europe’s diving insurance was designed for divers by divers and is the most comprehensive insurance on the market. And because it provides insurance through its own insurance subsidiaries, it is able to authorise the best care from a medical perspective while managing claims efficiently and according to industry laws and regulations.
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DAN members can arrange to have a diving medical specialist who speaks their language, and address any diverelated questions they may have
Management of Medical Emergencies DAN offers specialised diving medical support to local, regional and national emergency medical services (EMS) representatives, which are generally non-specialised. Some countries and regions even have standing agreements with DAN to call them first in the event of a diving accident. This is of vital importance especially in the case of decompressionrelated incidents in order to ensure better assessments and quicker resolution. Note that this support includes making referrals and organising medical transportation or transfers, when needed and NHS resources are not available. Coverage of Specialised Diving Medical Treatment Even if your initial expenses are covered by your NHS — it depends on the country — DAN is there to cover additional needed treatment, for example, a private visit with an ENT following a barotrauma incident, post-trauma rehabilitation, dermatologist visits following a marine life injury, additional specialised assessments, and even needed prescriptions. With DAN you’re not left to pay to play! Note that with the exception of its ‘Sport Bronze Plan’, DAN insurance covers treatment for diving medical emergencies for up to 30-days post-accident. In addition, Sport Silver, Sport Gold, and all PRO plans provide a daily allowance when hospitalised as a result of a diving accident (for up to 30 days). Sport and PRO Silver pay 50€ a day, and Sport and PRO Gold pay 100€.
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(PRO Only) Access to diving medical and legal professionals in the event of potential legal liability Again, DAN provides access and co-ordination with diving medical and legal experts, to help you protect your assets! Note that in addition to the benefits, a portion of the monies that DAN Europe collects for insurance goes to fund advancements in diving medical research, which serve as an important benchmark for the global scientific and diving communities. What’s more, members have the opportunity to contribute their diving data to help improve our collective knowledge. DAN Europe also develops and promotes safety campaigns which focus on increasing diving safety. These aspects are not true of other insurers.
WE’RE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU
As you can see, DAN Europe offers you a lot more than simply an insurance plan. It’s a comprehensive diving support network that will help you to safely pursue your aqua-fueled passion, whether its local or abroad, and take care of you if something goes wrong. As DAN Europe’s executive vice president Laura Marroni explained: “DAN›s mission is to make diving safer, to prevent injuries and to be there for our community when it needs us, wherever it needs us. Medical assistance and insurance are obviously an essential part of that, but I think it’s our passion for the underwater world and commitment to our members that makes the organisation special.” n
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Dedicated almost exclusively to cave diving, and for good reason, the Peacock system is one of the region’s most-expansive submerged cave systems, with a honeycomb network of passages that stretch for thousands of metres
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Fountains of Youth Scuba Diver’s US/Canada Editor-at-Large Walt Stearns waxes lyrical about the attraction of North Florida’s cave country PHOTOGRAPHS BY WALT STEARNS
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Diver in a narrow section of Peacock Springs
Here, a pair of narrow submerged entrances provide the technical diving community a highly coveted doorway to a massive subterranean river system
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faint but growing glimmer of light in the passage ahead signals the end of our dive. We exit a realm of eternal darkness into a circular basin of clear water. Above, the surface is as smooth and transparent as plate glass, and the pool’s surrounding tree line is clearly discernable. The transition from shadows into the illuminated pool borders on the surreal. This is why I never tire of diving Florida’s springs. And on that late-Fall day, the entire basin was ours. I’m always amused when people stop diving Florida’s springs when the weather changes, because the water temperatures in these sparkling pools are always the same 22-23 degrees C. It is this consistency and clarity that are the essence of diving North Florida’s fountains of youth.
SPRINGS OF PHENOMENAL MAGNITUDE
More than 700 springs well up across the northern end of the Florida peninsula. While more than half amount to little more than a trickle, 33 are of first magnitude, with another 191 in the second magnitude. A first magnitude spring releases water at a rate of 100 cubic feet or more per second — a veritable cascade. Florida’s Silver Springs is ranked among the world’s largest, disgorging some 500 million gallons of water a day. Comparatively, Devil’s Eye discharges about 46 million gallons a day, making it ‘middle of the road’ or a second magnitude spring. These flowing waters emerge from the state’s limestone substrate, which absorbs rainwater like a giant sponge, and is riddled with crevices and fissures that channel flowing waters into underground rivers.
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GINNIE SPRINGS – CAVER’S HEAVEN
This privately-owned, commercialized park north of Gainesville off Interstate 75 and US 27 plays host to one of the mosteclectic gathering of divers this side of the globe. Visit in summer and the park may feel more like a zoo - from paddlers with mask and snorkel to serious techies suited up in doubles to fully closed rebreather systems - giving credence to the expression ‘what separates the men from the boys is the size of their toys’. The attraction for divers is clear water, consistent conditions and vast underground possibilities. Lying beyond the sunlit world is a cave diver’s nirvana. Here, a pair of narrow submerged entrances provide the technical diving community a highly coveted doorway to a massive subterranean river system suitable for both training and exploration. Eons of water movement have sculpted a winding warren of tunnels. To date, more than 30,000 feet of this expansive network of submarine caves has been explored and mapped.
SUWANNEE RIVER BASIN’S WORLD WITHOUT SUN
The epicenter of Florida’s cave diving scene is the Suwannee River Basin. In fact, most of the world’s cave divers learn here. Whenever I visit Devil’s Eye and Ear, I also like to include a jaunt through the cave systems of the Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park. Prior to 2010, the park was known as Peacock Springs State Park. Shortly after Wes passed, the park was renamed to commemorate the life work of Florida’s famed cave diver and explorer.
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Ginnie Springs ia also very popular with nondivers and families
A diver descends through the aptly named Devil’s Ear
Dedicated almost exclusively to cave diving, and for good reason, the Peacock system is one of the region’s mostexpansive submerged cave systems, with a honeycomb network of passages that stretch for thousands of metres, creating multiple interconnection routes. For most cavers, the primary entry points into this system are Orange Grove Sink or the Peacock 1 basin. These entry points provide steps down to the water and systems with permanent guidelines. Water movement in Peacock 1 is much slower than Devil’s Ear, making it easier to penetrate the deep regions of the system. Upstream from the spring entrance, the lower portion of the system is crisscrossed with numerous tunnels. My personal favourite for photography is Peanut Tunnel (named for its narrow peanut-shape passage). I also like that it’s just 90 metres from the exit.
CAVERNS AND CLEAR-WATER BASINS
Not into cave diving? No problem. Sites like Ginnie’s main spring basin offers a different experience. The 4m-deep, 27-metre circular pool is a popular site for open water checkouts, along with cave and cavern courses which take place inside the cavern known as the Ballroom. Not to be confused with cave diving, cavern divers stay within constant visual contact of the cave’s entrance. As cavern dives go, the Ballroom is quite safe, open to anyone with an open-water rating and a dive light. Angling down 45 degrees to a depth of 15m, the large central chamber terminates at a large welded grate that prevents divers from entering the maze-like cave system beyond.
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Diver at the entrance to Catfish Sink
Several other springs off US Highway 27 between High Springs and Ocala are also worthy of a visit. Just up the road from Ginnie are Blue and Poe Springs. Both feature clear basins with white sand bottoms for snorkelling. Following US 27 south to Williston leads to Devil’s Den and Blue Grotto, followed by Paradise Spring in Ocala. All three spring/cavern combos are open to all certification levels, but Devil’s Den stands alone for its visually stunning impact. The name Devil’s Den came from the smoke-like appearance caused by the warm water spring mixing with cold morning air. The dive itself begins inside a 30-metre diameter dry cave. The eye-catcher inside this amphitheater-shaped cavern is the 12-metre diameter hole in the ceiling, which lights the circular pool below. Passages into the Den’s two underwater cave systems are blocked off, leaving plenty of swim-throughs to loop through.
MANATEE SPRINGS – A SERENE TREAT
Located just outside of the small west Florida town of Chiefland, Manatee Springs is the centerpiece of a state park. This spot is not promoted to entice divers to put a few more miles on the odometer. This site offers two very different venues for diving: a large spring basin and a neighboring sinkhole. The park’s namesake spring basin forms a pool some 24 metres across and about 7m deep. There is a narrow but obvious cave opening but there’s little danger of straying into the darkness beyond, as the outflow is quite strong. Adventurous types may be able to pull themselves a few feet down into the cave mouth, but this is not a good idea as
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The entrances to some of the springs are truly stunning
Rainbow River is also popular with kayakers
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The water in the cave systems can be crystal-clear
the buffeting currents could lead to a nasty head bump should you lose your grip. Because the upstream sinkhole draws particulate into the cave’s water flow, Manatee doesn’t deliver quite the bottledwater clarity of venues, such as Ginnie Springs. Instead, it’s more the equivalent of an afternoon summer haze in the mountains, giving substance to the sunbeams that filter down from above, while softening but not obscuring the far walls of the pool. Aside from the simple joy of being immersed in cool fresh water, one of the main attractions of the Manatee Spring basin is following the schools of fingerling catfish and mullet that patrol the headspring’s limestone headwall, and possibly venturing into the shallows of the run to search for turtles and bass among the cypress tree roots that line the bank. In winter, manatees may enter the spring to escape the colder water of the nearby Suwannee River, and if they reach the headspring, divers are not allowed to enter the water. Just a couple hundred feet from the spring basin is the sinkhole known as Catfish Sink. Were it not for the sturdy stairs leading down to the water’s edge, you might not guess this was a dive site, as its surface is typically covered in an enveloping layer of green duckweed. The plants that make up this layer of ‘pond scum’ are actually beneficial to water quality, as they block sunlight that would otherwise cause rampant algae growth. If the green stuff freaks you out, simply swish it away as you enter the water, and you’ll discover a layer of clear water just below. Once you submerge, the bubbles from your regulator will create a hole in the duckweed ceiling as they hit the surface. This phenomenon makes for some very interesting light patterns within the sinkhole. The open-water portion of the sink is a bit more than 30 metres in diameter, and some 15m deep. Divers who follow the bottom down and to the left will soon find themselves under a limestone ledge, and in a cavern zone that continues down to depths of about 20m. Cavern or cave certifications are required to carry lights, but intrepid open water dives might delve far enough into the shadows to see the faint white glow of the ‘Grim Reaper’ Ginnie Springs also has some cavern and open water dives auitable for all levels of diver
Perhaps the locals ages back were correct when they claimed these springs are the real ‘fountains of youth’
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Snorkelling in Rainbow River
A second dive in the spring basin will wash away the weed, and if you have decent air consumption, you should be able to make both dives on a single tank
signs that warn of the dark cave passages that lie beyond. Make Catfish Sink the first dive of the day because it is the deeper site, and because no matter how carefully you clear the duckweed away before surfacing, some of the small green globules will inevitably hitch a ride on your gear. A second dive in the spring basin will wash away the weed, and if you have decent air consumption, you should be able to make both dives on a single tank.
RAINBOW RIVER – LUMINESCENT WATERS ON THE MOVE Just off Highway 41 and the small town of Dunnellon is one of Florida’s true aquatic treasures. Rainbow River is a springfed stream that winds its way some 5.7 miles along a sandbottom channel. In addition to its headspring, Rainbow River’s flow is augmented by a two-mile-long progression of clearwater upwellings that issue from crevices in the limestone and boil up from the sand, collectively disgorging some 500 million gallons of fresh water a day. The underwater clarity of this river has to be seen to be believed. The channel alternates between thick beds of jadegreen eelgrass and expanses of white sand punctuated by the occasional limestone rock formation. Adding to the setting’s surreal underwater clarity are dappling rays of light created as sunlight plays through the water’s surface, giving the long blades of the eelgrass a hypnotic undulating tempo set by the river’s steady flow. Once accustomed to the view, you’ll start to notice the wildlife. While gar and largemouth bass generally take a slow deliberate flyby, other fish like shell crackers and bream can
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be seen hovering above nests they have set in the sandy areas between the grass beds. For sightings of bowfin (aka mudfish) and the freshwater turtles lurking among the grass beds, snorkellers will have the advantage over those with more-intrusive scuba gear. You may also be fortunate to see diving birds like cormorants and anhingas chasing fish to a river otter or two at play in the river. Several water taxi services give snorkellers and divers access to the river and for those with a mind toward independence, there’s also K.P. Hole park. Located about a mile downstream of Rainbow River’s headwaters, this countyowned facility offers a small swimming beach, changing rooms, picnic facilities and canoe rentals. From K.P. Hole, it’s about a mile upstream to the point where you would most want to roll overboard and start a drift dive or snorkel. From that point, you can ride the gentle currents using canoe and a requisite dive flag as your surface markers. Weekends can get extremely busy both under and in the water, and my preference is to go during the middle of the week. While some might consider using scuba to catch this experience, a more-sublime approach to do the river is on snorkel. While it’s possible to make the one-mile drift in 30 minutes if you swim a bit, I generally take a more leisurely pace stopping to look things over as I work on taking pictures. By the end, after two or more-hours of being in the water I exit feeling pleasantly waterlogged and yet renewed. Perhaps the locals ages back were correct when they claimed these springs are the real ‘fountains of youth’. n
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There are many moments like this in the future.
EUROPEAN MADE
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Test Extra
SHARKSKIN CHILLPROOF TITANIUM | SRP: £40-£215 Adrian Stacey: Sharkskin have recently launched their new range of thermal sportswear for divers, the Chillproof Titanium. Accompanying these new products have been phrases like ‘game-changing’, ‘revolutionary’ and ‘provides the warmth of a traditional 5mm wetsuit’. Like most people, getting in and out of a wetsuit is not something that I enjoy, so I was intrigued. When the opportunity came to test these garments on a recent trip to the Great Barrier Reef, I was genuinely excited to discover if these bold claims held any water! With the water temperature hovering around 25-26 degrees C, I would usually be wearing a 5mm wetsuit as I am prone to feeling the cold, especially when on a liveaboard doing multiple dives per day. On my first dive, I decided to put the claims by Sharkskin to the test and opted for the long sleeve zip-top and board shorts. The first thing that I noticed was how easy the fulllength zip made the garment to don and how comfortable the plush lining is. As this unique material does not compress, there is little need for compensation at depth, and as it is neutrally buoyant, there is no need for much additional weight to help you descend.
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During my testing of this fantastic product, I was very comfortable for the entirety of my first dive. It was only by the final dive of the day that I did find my body temperature was dropping and that I required additional thermal protection. I opted to use the sleeveless top under the zip-top, and with this extra layer, I was pleasantly warm. I used this configuration for the remainder of the trip and did not feel cold once. It is windproof and dries quickly when it has been worn, so if you have a long RIB or boat journey after your dive, you do not get cold. The Sharkskin Chillproof Titanium offers a range of apparel, including a long-sleeve zip-top, a sleeveless vest, long pants, hood and socks. All garments are black, and I have to admit that they do look very stylish, with subtle logos and minimal branding. They are also reasonably priced, with the long-sleeve top coming in at $299, which is only slightly more than the original Chillproof long-sleeve zip top. These garments do stretch a little when wet, so it is worth making sure that they are snug when trying them on. In this day and age, when luggage space and weight is always a consideration when travelling, having a product that weighs very little and takes up very little spaces is a massive bonus. The Chillproof Titanium is stylish, extremely comfortable and most definitely lives up to its billing. Game-changing indeed. www.liquidsports.co.uk
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GARMIN DESCENT MK2i (SRP: £1,399) AND DESCENT T1 (SRP: £349.99)
Mark Evans: First off, this is a good-looking piece of kit. It is a fairly chunky size, but thanks to the titanium build, it is quite lightweight. I never actually dived the MK1 Descent, but after seeing them on the wrists of other divers, and at various dive shows, I wasn’t particularly taken with it, I have to say. The screen seemed quite small within the body, and I just didn’t like the look of it. That all changes with the MK2i. Garmin have really nailed the aesthetics this time around, and the display is much bigger and clearer – it seems to ‘fit’ the size of the watch. Since having the MK2i on my wrist, it has garnered lots of positive comments from divers and non-divers alike, so that is a big thumbs up for Garmin. Talking of the screen, I have left it on the default watch-face setting as I find it nice and clean, but there are a whole host of different versions already in the MK2i for those who want to personalise their computer, and more can be downloaded. A neat feature for those who want to stand out from the crowd. Right, let’s talk diving. To get started into the diving menu is simplicity itself – you just press the top right-hand button and it brings you on to the screen where you can select the type of diving you are going to be doing – so either single gas, multi-gas, closed-circuit rebreather, gauge mode, apnea, or apnea hunt for the spearos out there. There is also a dive planning option. So far, I have only used it in the single-gas mode, so let’s focus on that. Another press of the top right-hand button gets you on to a screen where you can see what your nitrox mix is, what your maximum operating depth is,
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and what level of conservatism you have it set on. You can also see your surface interval. If you need to edit your gas mix or conservatism level, you just press the bottom left button and it takes you to a screen where you can go in and change these. At any time, once you are done, pressing the bottom right-hand button takes you back a screen. From that first dive screen, another press of the right-hand button takes you to a screen where it shows whether it is set for salt or fresh water, and what the safety stop timer is. Again, to edit you just press the bottom left-hand button. A third press of the right-hand button takes you to the ‘dive screen’ itself. I found this nice and clear, and easy to understand during the dive. You can clearly see the nitrox mix, the water temperature, your NDL, your current depth, and your dive time. The display up the left-hand side of the screen goes from green, to orange, to red, and the hand rises as your NDL gets nearer to zero, so as well as the actual digit display, you get this handy visual graphic as well. The display on the right-hand side is rather neat. If you are hovering motionless in the water, the hand remains at the 3 o’clock position, and if you start to ascend, it goes up, and if you start to go too quickly, it warns you with orange, and then if it goes into red, the entire screen alerts you to the fact you are ascending too quickly. So, a rapid ascent warning, nothing new there. But what I liked was the fact that the hand can go the other way, to show when you are descending. This may seem pointless to some people, but I can imagine this being very useful if you were out in the blue looking for sharks, for instance, with no point of reference.
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If you are at this stage and need to change your gas mix, you can just press the top right-hand button and it takes you to the gas select screen. As changing your gas mix is probably the most regular thing you will ever do, this makes it quick and easy to do. When you enter the water, the MK2i vibrates to let you know it has logged your position on GPS, and a big green arrow pops up on screen just to confirm you are starting diving. When you surface, it vibrates again to let you know it is finishing the dive and logging your position once again. One feature I liked here was that when you initially surface, it states on the screen that the dive will end in 20 seconds – this is useful if you had got lost, or become separated from your buddy, and were just popping your head up to confirm your location/find your buddy and then descending to continue the dive. As long as you do it within that 20-second window, you remain on the one dive. After diving, when you want to look at your logbook, you just press the bottom left-hand button and the first thing on the screen is the dive log. Top right-hand button press and you are into the log. On this first screen it gives you the time, depth and water temp of your last dive (and a scroll down goes back dive by dive). A further right-hand press, and after a quick loading screen, you get more details, including a graph of your profile alongside the time, depth and water temp info. This screen also appears on the MK2i when you first get out of the water and back on your boat/dry land. Scroll down with the bottom left-hand button and you can get all the stats for your dive, including time in and out, average depth, etc. You can also click on the map function, and this will show your entry and exit points. You also get the opportunity to save the location, so if you have done an awesome dive, you can log the position, which is pretty damn cool. At this point you can also get a more-detailed graph of your depth profile, the temperature profile, and any gas switches. I have mainly been diving on 32 percent nitrox, and have the Garmin set to low conservatism. I have been using it alongside my Shearwater Perdix and Teric, and the NDL was very close throughout the entire week on all of the dives. All three use the tried-and-tested Buhlmann ZHL-16c algorithm, so you would expect that to be the case. Ah, the Teric. The Descent MK2i goes up against various other wristwatch-style dive computers, including the Suunto DX and the Scubapro A2, but it seems to be most often compared with the Teric, so how do we think it stacks up against the competition?
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Well, let’s talk diving first. Both the Teric and the Descent MK2i are supremely capable dive computers, capable of multiple gas mixes, CCR, freedive and more, so when it comes down to the diving side of things, there is not a massive amount in it functionality-wise. Yes, the Garmin has the GPS ability, but actual diving, it is a pretty even match, in my opinion. Both have audible and vibration notification, and in both cases, the latter works very well – I could feel it through a 3mm wetsuit with no problem, and even though I was encased in a base layer, thick Fourth Element Halo 3D undersuit and my Otter Kevlar drysuit, I could still feel the vibration through my arm. While we are talking drysuits, the Garmin has a neat feature where you can swap out the straps quickly and easily with a clip system (similar to the Suunto D5). This lets you change to different colours if you so wish, but it also means you can change out the standard strap for a longer version designed to go over a drysuited arm (this comes with the computer). Much neater than adding an extension strap to the existing strap. I was in my Otter Atlantic Kevlar drysuit, which is fitted with the KUBI DryGlove System, but I also took it for a spin wearing Fourth Element’s 4mm neoprene lobster mitts. In both instances, I had no trouble pressing the buttons on the Descent MK2i to navigate through the menu on the surface before the dives, or scroll through the dive screens during the dives. However, I found that Garmin’s neat technology, which lets you cycle through the dive display simply by tapping on the screen, worked a treat in both pairs of gloves and was actually easier than using the buttons. Both the Teric and the MK2i are air-integrated, and this is where the Garmin steals a march over the Teric. Underwater, the Descent T1 transmitter uses SubWave sonar technology rather than the tried-and-tested radio
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GARMIN DESCENT MK2i (SRP: £1,399) AND DESCENT T1 (SRP: £349.99) frequency already on the market. This provides a solid connection between the computer and the transmitter once they are paired, but more importantly, it offers a much more impressive range - up to a staggering ten metres, according to Garmin. In reality, I think they are right on the money – we measured exactly ten metres before we lost the signal. It is phenomenal. On the surface, the Descent T1 pairs with the Descent MK2i using ANT wireless technology, which again is supposed to work up to ten metres apart, but I found I could be even further away and it was still picking up the tank pressure. The Descent MK2i can be paired up with up to five Descent T1 transmitters. This obviously gives you plenty of flexibility – if you were diving sidemount, you could have a T1 on each cylinder. If you were diving in a twinset with two stages, you could have a T1 on each first stage so you could monitor all of your tanks. If you were teaching, you could mount a T1 on the first stage of your student, or students, and then you would be able to see how much gas they have got left before you even ask them to give you a reading. If it is just you and your buddy, you can put a T1 on their first stage and throughout the dive you will be able to see, right alongside your pressure reading on your primary dive data screen, how much gas they have left. You can even put people’s names in so you know which transmitter refers to who. Great functionality, but again, as with the clip system on the straps, Garmin are not the first to offer this feature. The venerable Scubapro Galileo Sol let you pair up to four transmitters, and while three of the tank designations were intended for use when you were diving with multiple cylinders, the fourth was assigned to a buddy, and you were able to see their tank pressure on your main screen throughout the dive. You were not able to customise the name – they were just ‘buddy’ on the screen – but still, the concept was there. And of course, if you were an instructor, there was nothing stopping you putting two of the other transmitters on to student first stages as well. The Sol’s successor, the G2, can also pair
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with multiple transmitters in much the same way, but it can link with up to nine transmitters. Similarly, the Suunto EON Steel is able to communicate with up to ten Tank Pods, as Suunto call their transmitters. And the EON Core can connect with up to 20 Tank Pods! So this is more than enough to cover most eventualities, be that multiple buddies, or a whole horde of students. Where Garmin does stride out front is down to that SubWave technology. That ability to still be able to connect to a transmitter that is ten metres away from you is incredible, especially given that most normal radio frequency transmitters lose signal once you are two to three metres apart. OK, so if you are diving in a buddy team, you shouldn’t really be ten metres apart, but we
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F O UR T H E L E M E N T . CO M
GARMIN DESCENT MK2i (SRP: £1,399) AND DESCENT T1 (SRP: £349.99) know that in the real world, buddy pairs are often further apart than they should be, but with this technology, you should still be able to see their gas level even if they have strayed a little ways away from you. If you were an instructor, and you were working with students and a Divemaster, or another instructor, and were separated int two groups while running through some skills and drills, it would be handy to still be able to keep an eye on everyone’s gas consumption. One thing I have seen commented on online is the screen of the Descent MK2i, and some people saying it is hard to read. Frankly, that is a load of rubbish. Topside, I found I could read the display even when the backlight was not on, but once it was on, it is very easy to see. While diving, I had the backlight set for on all the time, and it made the screen nice and clear, even in bright sunlight in the shallows during a safety stop. I didn’t really notice a massive difference in brightness once I took it over 60-70 percent, I have to say, but suffice to say you can easily see the display either in watch mode or while on a dive. We did a fluo night dive while in the Maldives, and the Descent MK2i was clearly legible even in the pitch black with the backlight on full. One feature I did like was the ability to set the backlight to come on with activity – so if I am sat at the bar and turn my wrist to look at the screen, for example, the light comes on for a few seconds automatically. However, there is no escaping the fact that the OLED display of the Teric is vastly brighter both in watch and dive mode. The downside to this technology is that it eats battery power, so while the Garmin did a full week without needing to see its charging cable, I was putting the Teric on charge every other night. So, there are pros and cons – the Teric is undoubtedly brighter, but requires more-regular charging; the Garmin is nowhere near as bright, but still easy to read, and it can go a good week or so before needing a charge. On the subject of charging, the Teric sits in a cradle and recently it has become a bit of a chore getting it to sit in just the right position that it will charge. It could be that my cradle is on its way out – it used to just begin charging as soon as I sat the watch in it, so that could be the issue – but the Garmin method of charge, with a clamp system on to charging points on the back of the watch, is solid and secure. Where the Descent MK2i wins hand’s down is with all of the other features it contains within its svelte body. I am not going to go into all the ins and outs of each, but suffice to say, if you are an active person, the Garmin has you covered! Being based on the tried-and-tested Fenix 6, it has functions for running, biking, hiking, golf, swimming (both pool and open water), kayaking, stand-up
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paddleboarding, boating, triathlon, yoga, cross-county skiing, even jumpmaster for those who liking leaping out of planes! It monitors your heart rate and your blood oxygen level (when it is directly on your wrist), calories burnt, the list goes on. And as a smart watch, you also get your phone messages on the screen, and it can even handle your music choices, either from your phone or even stored in the unit itself. I have been playing with it since it arrived, and I still haven’t got to grips with all of the functionality yet! Wherever you are in the world, the price point of the Descent MK2i is high, there is no getting away from that. But when you consider that it is only a few hundred pounds or dollars more than the Teric, but adds all of the functions of a smart/fitness watch into the mix, that price tag suddenly doesn’t look so bad. If you bought a top-ofthe-line wristwatch dive computer and a smartwatch, you’d spend more combined than you would on the Descent MK2i. And I think this is going to be the clincher for many people. If you are an active person who does other sports, and you want a wristwatch that can handle a plethora of your activities including diving, then the Descent MK2i is the logical choice. The Shearwater Teric is an excellent dive computer, and people will still buy it for that famed Shearwater build quality, usability and that mega-bright screen, and not be bothered by the regular charging needed, but I think that Garmin have delivered, in the Descent MK2i, a top-flight all-rounder that satisfies many requirements all in one unit. And if it comes up in the bar on an evening whose dive computer has the most features, then you will win hand’s down! www.garmin.com
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BP/W OR JACKET-STYLE?
Mark Evans looks at the pros and cons of backplate-and-wing and jacket-style BCDs, and a third, hybrid alternative.
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Q&A WITH PASCAL VAN ERP
We chat to Pascal van Erp, found of Ghost Diving, which recovers ghost fishing nets, about what the future holds.
THE WORLD’S A STAGE
Cave diver and instructor trainer Jeffrey Glenn offers an insight into stage cylinder management procedures.
BIG ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS
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“I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!”
Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans saddles up for some serious scooter fun in the ripping channel currents in the Maldives.
GEAR GUIDE: TEST EXTRA
Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans and the Test Team have been playing with new kit, including Thermalution heated gloves.
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THE RECOVERY OF OBJECTS FROM HISTORIC WRECK SITES BY MIKE HAIGH, WRECK HUNTERS PROJECT DIRECTOR
T
he most-memorable events in the investigation of a historic wreck site tend to be the recovery of artefacts. Depending on the object being recovered, this can also become a high-profile event with media interest at some level or other. In this article, I will be looking at the recovery of large objects – both robust and fragile – from the seabed. In most situations where finds are recovered from the site, unless that material weighs less than a few kilograms, the object will have to be raised using some kind of assistance. In the UK, any person or company that owns, operates or has control over lifting equipment has to abide by the Lifting Operations and Lifting Regulations 1998, or LOLER for short. Although designed for the commercial environment, the four principles that LOLER set down for lifting operations should be followed by anyone involved in removing materials from the seabed. Namely: • Plan the operation properly • Use people who are sufficiently competent • Supervise them appropriately • Ensure that the ‘lift’ is carried out in a safe manner
NO SANE PERSON CAN ARGUE WITH THESE
To most divers, the instrument that would immediately jump to mind to use to raise objects would be a lifting bag. However, the operation of these tools can be fraught with danger, as a quick search on YouTube will demonstrate. So, we need to devote a little time to the safe use of lifting bags. Basically, lifting bags have two purposes, the lifting of an object or reducing the load of an object to a near-neutral state on the bottom - very useful if you want to move a heavy object a short distance. As we are here dealing with the recovery of objects, I will focus on the lifting process. The first matter to deal with is the size of bag to use. Ideally you want a bag 25-35 percent larger than is necessary. If the bag is too large, there is danger that it will break the surface, discharge its air and vanish back off into the depths, with whatever prize artefact is attached to it. This problem also occurs when the support crew attempt to recover the bag. It is a good idea to attach a length of floating rope to the bag so that two or three people can grab hold of it and pull it on board. Now under LOLER regulations, the recommendation for
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rigging strops is 7:1. So, if you want to raise something weighing 50kg, you will need a rope or strop with a safe working load of 350kg. For attaching the rigging to the bag, small shackles or stainless-steel, locking karabiners are the best choice. It is also useful to attach a ‘holding-backline’ to the lifting bag (remember to use knots that can be undone under load); this will not be able to arrest an uncontrolled ascent, but at least will allow you to relocate the bag (and object) should things go wrong. Give plenty of thought to the attachment points on your load and try to get the centre of gravity about right. Many lifting bags are fitted with dump valves which can be operated by a diver; okay for short lifts but not a great idea for any reasonable depth. You get bent. The bag does not. Finally, always use a separate air source to inflate the bag. If you use a three- to seven-litre cylinder with a blow gun attachment, you can clip the cylinder to the bag and inflate using the blow gun. If Boyle’s law catches you out, it is just the cylinder that is heading for the surface and not you. An alternative to lifting bags is to use solid plastic drums, or any other non-expansive object that will hold air. Again, you need to select the correct size of drum for the lift – but in this case, any excess air will just escape from underneath the drum, leaving the buoyancy constant. If the object is not too heavy, even ‘pot’ buoys can do the job. Other methods involve the use of powered winches or the use of cranes. A word on packing. If you are raising delicate objects, then it is obvious that you will need to protect them from damage during the lifting process. However, the same principle applies to any object that is being raised that is of historical interest. The techniques that we have covered so far work well for more-robust items, a list that can include anchors, cannon, amphoras and even lead and copper ingots. But what about more delicate large objects? As part of the Wreck Hunters course, we will be covering the recovery of artefacts so that divers gain some experience in this area. Next time we will be looking at the techniques used to recover smaller objects, techniques that vary depending on the type of material in question. www.wreckhunters.co.uk
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