FORGED BY FIRE T H E S M O K I N G - H O T D I V I N G O N VO L CA N I C C RAT E R S , S E A M O U N T S A N D AT O L L S
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Holiday Gift Guide P3 9
PLUS
Swept Away by Current — Now What? P 49
No Limits: How Diving Changed My Life P8 4
N OV E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 VO L . 2 5 N O . 8
GIVE THEM A WEEK THEY WILL REMEMBER FOREVER
Photo by Brad Holland in the Sea of Cortez on the Quino El Guardian liveaboard.
DANCING WITH THE SEA LIONS /MHW 7IE 'EQT´W ½ VWX ±'MXM^IR 7GMIRGI² I\TIHMXMSR SR XLI XLI 5YMRS )P +YEVHMER PMZIEFSEVH [EW E FEPPVSSQ FPMX^ By Brad Holland
Brad Holland started diving with Kids Sea Camp in 2013. Mr Holland is a PADI dive master, underwater photographer and world traveler.
Dancing with sea lions is not a normal practice of mine — not anyones really, except with kid sea campers on the Quino El Guardian. But, in the Sea of Cortez, you need to learn the in steps as soon as you get on this ocean’s dance loor. A week of diving in the Sea of Cortez is a week spent dancing with the stars and that’s what it’s like diving with sea lions. he sound of your bubbles is their beat and they are eager to get you kicking to the rhythm. Juan’s dive brieing included the sea lion dance instructions. He said they will mimic you and if you roll to your right, they will mirror you and so-on. It was the irst Kids Sea Camp “Citizen Science Trip” on Quino El Guardian and the senior dive guide on day one, gave me: 6 teenage girls, a 12-year old boy and Sport Diver’s Linda Sue — the perfect team to waltz our dance. No wall lowers here, we were fully engaged with rolls and spins. here’s quite a lot of instant action. As soon as we rolled in, the entire colony came jetting over. Juan’s dive brieing was instantly put to the test. here were sea lions dancing in every direction. I had a back-lipping diver in most of my shots. I observed the kids mimicking the sea lions. Which kind of blew the whole diving brieing, and then the sea lions were mimicking the kids too! hat totally made it one of the more memorable moments of my diving career. I could not tell who
was having the most fun on this dive the sea lions or the kids. We learned about sea lions before diving with them from our Citizen Science Marine Biologist, Dr. Robert Rubin from UC Davis. Dr. Rubin has been studying marine mammals longer than most of us have been alive. he sea life in the Sea of Cortez was both abundant and diverse. We encountered super pods of 2018 Kids Sea Camp Educational Live aboard Adventures July, 15th-22nd: Galapagos Islands December, 27th to Jan 4th: Rocio Del Mar in the Socorro Islands dolphins, snorkeled with whale sharks, and saw a in back whale come right up under the boat. We met daily on the swim deck performing plankton tows and gathering ield data. We studied our samples under a microscope and then observed the whole basis for ocean life zipping around in a petri dish, narrated by Bob. hroughout the trip, when I asked what the families would like to do ater dinner, there was always one answer — “A Bob Talk!” he most requested information was whatever awesome marine life we could encounter the next day. here were several evenings of marine presentations, and Bob made us all eagerly await the next day’s dives. here were even whales sharks!
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As luck would have it, the best place for snackin’ on plankton was in slightly choppy waters, but none of that really mattered. When it’s time to swim with the whale sharks, the boat unloads so fast that you would have thought the last person in the water had to do dinner dishes. For one week, the ocean is a classroom and the Quino El Guardian is our home. he crew were more like brothers and sisters instead of a crew. I have never felt so at ease and welcomed on a liveaboard in my life. he food was excellent and the service even better. he water was warm and the subject matter superb. Linda Sue Dingel from Sport Diver Magazine handed out SeaLife cameras provided by Kids Sea Camp to use each day. Our dive logs and photo cards were illed with all the big stuf, and loads of unexpected macro life, such as: Sea horses, jaw ish, blennies, gobies, some fancy nudibranchs, a horn shark and even a great white shark tooth! As for me, all the diferent corals kept my 100mm lens busy on most days and I brought home gigs of new-to-me marine subjects. Personally, I learned far more than I had imagined about the ocean and marine mammals during the irst Kids Sea Camp Citizen Science Week, and the next time I dive with a sea lion, I’m bringing my dancing ins. To see more photos and video of the trip: www.familydivers.com/
W W W. FA M I LY D I V E R S . C O M
FAMILY DIVE ADVENTURES
Contents
Features
56 Forged from Fire Ancient volcanic activity shaped these sites forever, making them magnets for big animals, thrilling drifts and adventure-loving dive travelers.
November/December 2017 Vol. 25 No. 8
P56 Batu Tara towers over the small island of Komba and its host of prime dive sites in the Flores Sea.
BY TRAVIS MARSHALL
70 Siren’s Song Humpback whale season might draw you to Maui, but its buffet of first-class dive experiences will make you want to stay. BY BECCA HURLEY
80 A Century Under the Sea Scars from one of history’s most famous naval battles can still be seen on the seafloor, more than 100 years after the Battle of Jutland unfolded. BY RENÉ B. ANDERSEN
84 No Limits Take inspiration from these divers, who refuse to be held back by their various challenges. BY BROOKE MORTON
92 Baja’s Beautiful Sea From frolicking sea lions to mesmerizing schools of jacks, the characters off Baja California deliver nonstop fun. BY ANDY ZUNZ
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Dive Briefs The future of DCS prevention; curious facts about the butterflyfish; how to make it through customs ASAP; diving for icy treasures; and more.
Gear It’s that time of year. Keep your whole list of dive buddies happy with these gear picks that include everything from watches to wetsuits.
Training Current: It’s a real drag. Take control of any situation — however unexpected it may be — with these pro tips for handling heavy current.
Travel Uncover the Galapagos’ epic encounters; discover the best of the Caribbean; explore a quarry-turneddive-haven; and make the most of Martinique.
4 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 | SPORTDIVER.COM
On the Cover A female green sea turtle drifts through the ocean off Lhaviyani Atoll in the Maldives. PHOTO BY ALEX MUSTARD
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Our thoughts are with those impacted by Irma and Harvey ur “Best Caribbean Islands for Diving” article on page 104 was meant to showcase our favorite “true” Caribbean getaways (technically, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos are in the Atlantic). The feature was planned long before Hurricane Irma blasted across the Atlantic, battering and destroying a number of islands in its path. This story showcases what these wonderful islands have to offer once they are able to fully recover from this storm’s devastating impact. We ourselves were affected, as we live in central Florida. Many of our staff suffered property damage, but thankfully, everyone is safe. A great way to help the islands most impacted — the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Cuba, the Florida Keys, Saba and others — is to plan a dive vacation there as soon as resorts
are up and running again, and to ask ahead if they need any supplies. I’d like to add one note about our “No Limits” feature (see below), which profiles four extraordinary divers. Their poignant stories reminded us about the transformative power of the sport we love. — Patricia Wuest, Editor-in-Chief
Four inspirational divers share how their
passion for the sport helped them overcome a lifechanging personal challenge (“No Limits,” page 84). Below, Zach Stovall photographs veteran Shane Yost. View their video interviews at sportdiver.com.
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EDITORIAL
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Elizabeth Fleener ART DIRECTOR Chelsea Pomales PHOTO DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTORS
René B. Andersen, Brandon Cole, Melissa Gaskill, Emily Krak, Travis Marshall, Andy Morrison, Brooke Morton, Alex Mustard, Edgardo Ochoa, Becky Kagan Schott, Karl Shreeves, Richard Smith, Ted Alan Stedman, Alexa Ward DIGITAL
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Tomas Franzén CHAIRMAN Lars Dahmén HEAD OF BUSINESS AREA , MAGAZINES Eric Zinczenko CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Joachim Jaginder CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER David Ritchie CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Elizabeth Burnham Murphy CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Sean Holzman CHIEF DIGITAL REVENUE OFFICER John Graney VICE PRESIDENT, INTEGRATED SALES David Butler VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL OPERATIONS Perri Dorset VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLIC RELATIONS Jeremy Thompson GENERAL COUNSEL All contents copyright 2017 Bonnier Corporation. No use may be made of materials contained herein without express written consent. For inquiries, please contact us at Bonnier Corporation, 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789. Publications Mail Agreement Number: 40612608 Canada Post Returns: IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. Box 25542, London ON N6C 6B2 Canada Printed in the USA Retail single copy sales: ProCirc Retail Solutions Group, Tony DiBisceglie For reprints, email reprints@bonniercorp.com. Occasionally, we make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services we think might be of interest to you. If you do not want to receive these offers, please advise us at 515-237-3697.
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FISH FACTS / P12 CRUISE THROUGH CUSTOMS / P18 SUNKEN TRE A SURE / P24 DOCS FOR DIVERS / P26
Dive Briefs
The people, places and events making headlines underwater
Profile
Dawn Kernagis How a biomedical researcher is making the future of diving safer BY BROOKE MORTON
awn Kernagis never set out to be a biomedical researcher, but 14 years into a cavediving career, she had questions. Namely, why did some of her friends suffer from decompression sickness while others seemed virtually untouched by it? “It’s a self-selecting community; if you get the bends on a dive, you are less likely to do anything more aggressive,” says Kernagis, who began cave diving at age 16. “But why are some people more susceptible to decompression sickness? What is filtering people out? I wanted to find a marker that shows when my body is responding to decompression stress and tells me that I’m on my way to developing DCI.” And it turns out that marker is not the
D
COURTESY NASA
Kernagis worked in a submerged base at 62 feet for 16 days as part of a NASA research project.
IN DEPTH
Not Quite 9-to-5 If being an astronaut is out of the question, Kernagis might have found the next best thing. She and a group of five other aquanauts took part in the 16-day NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 21 expedition in 2016, living at 62 feet to perform studies at the world’s only undersea research station. The goal: “explore tools and techniques being tested for future space exploration,” per NASA, including Kernagis’ study on the effects prolonged submersion has on gut bacteria.
SPORTDIVER.COM | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 9
developing DCI. She and her team will continue to narrow their research until they home in on one or two genes that can predict DCI risk or decompression-stress development. The goal is to be able to test the blood via a pinprick following a dive to determine if a diver has DCS. But her research is also more far-reaching. At IHMC, she and her co-workers also study how nutritional approaches and better training might not only keep divers safe, but also help them perform better. And her work will benefit anyone, including astronauts and high-altitude pilots, who works in extreme environments. For this reason, she was selected in 2016 as one of six chosen to participate in NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO 21, living 62 feet deep in the underwater Aquarius Reef Base off Key Largo, Florida. One area of study that she focused on at the time was the effect that prolonged submersion has on gut bacteria. “A lot of this is forward-thinking — we won’t be using it tomorrow. But it’s possible that we will be working toward personalized dive tables based on genetic makeup.” And if personalized tables are possible, then so is a dive computer that predicts each diver’s risk to prolonged exposure. Says Kernagis, “This is so far into the future, but we have to start somewhere.”
COURTESY NASA
presence of bubbles in the bloodstream. Says Kernagis, “There is a lack of correlation between bubbles and DCS. Bubbles tell you that a diver has bubbles, not necessarily DCS.” Instead, her research, starting with her doctoral work at Duke University, led her to find those markers in genes. Genes identify hair and eye color, but that’s a fraction of the story. “Every process in our body, from growing fingernails to when we bleed, is regulated by genes,” says Kernagis, who now works with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola. “For example, when we are sick, certain genes ramp up to activate our immune system.” When Kernagis started, she was looking at 14,000 data points across the whole spectrum of genes. Her work so far has led her to narrow that number significantly, initially to 700 genes. She adds, “Now, we’ve found 350 genes that are strongly turned on and off from decompression stress, namely in inflammation, coagulation and the body’s stress responses. Our body has increased stress responses to pretty much everything we do — daily stress, exercise, eating certain types of food and drinking alcohol.” And just as our genetic makeup can influence our risk of DCI, Kernagis and her team found there are changes that can occur in the way those genes are read — called ‘epigenetic’ changes — which could impact a diver’s risk of
Kernagis and her fellow crew members at the underwater Aquarius Reef Base in Florida.
Dive Briefs
1.
bonds, but others form aggregations hundreds strong.
The family Chaetodontidae — a combination of the ancient Greek words for “hair” and “tooth” — to which butterflyfishes belong, is named after their special comblike teeth. These fishes also have a protruding mouth, which helps them feed in crevices.
11.
There are more than 130 species of butterflyfish throughout the world’s oceans; many live on coral reefs, but they also inhabit deeper waters.
12.
Species
The Butterflyfïsh
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A quarter of butterflyfishes are obligate corallivores, meaning they only feed on living coral polyps.
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Certain rare deepwater butterflyfishes are highly sought after in the aquarium trade. Wrought
These ornate, entertaining fishes are residents of coral reefs worldwide BY DR. RICHARD SMITH
iron butterflyfish, found only around Japan’s Izu Islands, reportedly sell for $3,800.
5.
Hybrids are rare in nature, but butterflyfishes are the most likely reef fish to breed with other species. The threadfin variety has been recorded hybridizing with at least seven other butterflyfishes.
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Butterflyfishes make several sounds that can be used to ward off members of the same species and aid communication between a pair.
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Butterflyfishes that feed on coral polyps tend to be monogamous; the male defends the pair’s territory, allowing the female to feed.
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The barberfish is a tropical eastern Pacific butterflyfish that cleans other fishes of their parasites. Its client list
12 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
includes sharks and mantas.
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The newest species of butterflyfish to be discovered was Basabe’s, found living at 180 feet off the northwestern Hawaiian Islands and named in 2016.
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Many butterflyfishes form pair
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If you see a large number of butterflyfishes on a dive, that’s a good sign for the coral reef. These fishes require large areas of healthy coral for food, and changes in their populations can be indicative of wider issues. Follow Richard Smith’s underwater adventures at oceanrealm images.com
ILLUSTRATION: EMILY S. DAMSTRA. PHOTOS: ISTOCKPHOTO (3)
Butterflyfishes love snacks with a little crunch. Five thousand fishes are recorded from coral reefs, but only 41 feed directly on hard corals as their primary source of nutrition. Sixty percent of these are butterflyfishes.
Many butterflyfishes have a black stripe through the eye, to conceal it, and a fake eye spot near the tail. These both act to confuse would-be predators about which end is the head of the fish.
Dive Briefs
Dive Life
See the World through a Different Lens Meet PADI AmbassaDiver Chelsea Yamase, aka @chelseakauai BY E M I LY K R A K
Palau and the Red Sea are among the dive destinations on Hawaii native Chelsea Yamase’s bucket list.
s a diver, climber, surfer, model and all-around intrepid traveler, Chelsea Yamase has seen and explored parts of the globe that many of us only ever dream of. With more than 425,000 followers on Instagram, the native Hawaiian has become a popular photographer, captivating many with her shots of picturesque landscapes and stories of underwater adventures. Whether diving lava tubes in her backyard of Kauai or venturing to untouched mountaintops in Iceland, her adventurous spirit will inspire you to escape the ordinary and get out and experience this beautiful Earth.
A
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself
Q: You are both an avid freediver and
scuba diver. How has diving impacted your life, and do you prefer one over the other? CY: I can’t imagine not diving now. It’s made me more intimate with the ocean and my own mind. Unlike surfing or boating, diving allows me to be 100 percent immersed in a different world where things don’t work quite the same as we’re used to. I prefer freediving over scuba. I
enjoy scuba, but I don’t feel quite the same level of connection or satisfaction as when it’s just me and my own breath. I also don’t like carrying tanks — ha! — so that was always a struggle. Q: What are the top five places
you’ve visited for diving? CY: The top five that I’ve been to so far
are Fiji, Wakatobi in Indonesia, Rangiroa in French Polynesia, Blue Hole and Ambergris Caye in Belize, and Greece. Q: What do you think about when
you’re underwater? CY: I try not to think too much. It’s one of
the few places in the world where I don’t feel like I’m being inundated with information and distractions. I focus a lot on the way that light looks underwater; the way it dances and plays in caves is one of my favorite things. On deeper dives 14 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
where I’m pushing myself freediving, I picture a square transforming into a circle then back into a square. Sounds weird, but it works for me. Q: What’s your most memorable diving experience? CY: One of my favorite memories was when I first started freediving and a friend and I went swimming on Oahu’s north shore. It’s an area where you see dolphins and a lot of fish, but for some reason the ocean was remarkably quiet. Instead, we spent the morning collecting trash and any bits of fishing line floating around. Just when we were on our way in, we came across a huge baitball. The oama were docile and would part just wide enough to swim through, surrounding me as they slowly swam. I remember lying at the bottom as they crossed inches from my mask, thinking, This is so cool.
JUSTIN DAVID BALUCH/COURTESY PADI
and your background. What was it like to grow up in Kauai? CY: Growing up on Kauai shaped so much of who I am. It’s a place that invites you to be outdoors and explore, but also one that can be quite rugged and unforgiving. Overall, it’s just magic. My father is a commercial fisherman and my mom is a triathlete, so I spent the bulk of my childhood outdoors or doing some kind of activity. My favorite part of growing up on Kauai is how in tune people are with nature. To me, it was normal to know more about the wind and ocean patterns and what plants are edible than what new cool clothes I should be wearing.
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Dive Briefs
Behind the Shot
DOLPHIN TALE TEXT AND PHOTO BY ISABELLA MAFFEI
Off the northern Italian fishing village of Camogli — in the Ligurian Sea — local fishermen use a centuries-old traditional fishing method called the tonnarella. From April to late September, the fishermen use a maze of nets handmade from coconut fibers that extend from the surface of the water to the seabed and are placed to force tuna and other species into a central closed net. Their method has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages: The net is raised three times a day — at dawn, during the morning and in the afternoon. Colonized by marine organisms, the nets can be difficult to detect by migratory ocean species. Once, tuna was
the main catch; today, the haul is a mix of mackerel, Atlantic bonito, saddled sea bream, amberjack and small tuna. Sometimes noncommercial species are trapped, but as far as I know, this was the first time someone documented dolphins caught inside. According to tradition, the animals that are not of commercial value are lowered back into the sea and are expected to find their way to freedom. These dolphins did not seem frightened by their situation. One pushed down the net using its nose, and the other freed itself rolling around on its belly. I took this photo just after they both escaped. Other trapped animals, sadly, are not as fortunate.
Dive Briefs
Travel Tips
Cruise through Customs If you — like everyone on earth — hate waiting in long lines, be sure you’re making all the right moves after landing B Y T R AV I S M A R S H A L L
explanations. Chances are they’ll ask a question or two, stamp your passport and wave you onward without much hassle.
To Declare or Not to Declare
Pick Your Seats Strategically The biggest delay going through customs and immigration is the line of people because your entire flight, and possibly others, all go through at the same time. Pick your seats with an eye on being among the first off the plane. You can do this by looking up your flight on a service like seatguru.com to see where the doors are and which seats in your section are closest. Then
check in to your flight online as early as possible to pick your preferred seats. Once you exit the plane, move quickly to snag a spot in the front of the line.
For U.S. citizens coming back into the States, there are some modern tech solutions to help you get through U.S. Customs and Border Protection more quickly. The first is Global Entry, a pre-screening program that allows you expedited entry into the country. It’s open to U.S. citizens, visa holders and citizens of a handful of foreign countries, but Global Entry membership requires a background check, pre-screening interviews, fingerprinting and an application fee, so it’s best for frequent travelers. A simpler — and free — option is downloading the Mobile Passport app for your smartphone. You can use the application to fill out your paperwork and answer questions electronically, then snag a spot in the — usually much shorter — Mobile Passport lines that are available at 24 major U.S. airports.
Do Your Paperwork on the Plane On almost all international flights, the flight attendants will hand out the necessary paperwork on board before landing. Keep a pen and your passport easily accessible in the bag under your seat so you can get everything filled out before you deplane.
Be Courteous and Direct at Immigration Once you reach the immigration desk, have your paperwork and passport ready to hand to the immigration officer. Answer any questions honestly and briefly, without any long-winded 18 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
ILLUSTRATION: THOMAS BURNS
fter a long flight, the prospect of standing in a line as travelers trickle through customs and immigration can seem exhausting. It’s an unavoidable part of international travel, but smart travelers do have some strategies for getting through quickly. Here are five ways to speed your way through customs and immigration.
A
You encounter customs after passport control, and the officers have a few primary roles: looking for illicit items, such as drugs, collecting taxes on certain goods and preventing the spread of pests that might be piggybacking on items like fresh produce. In most cases, you only need to declare certain things on the customs declaration form, like agricultural products, commercial merchandise, large quantities of cash or high-dollar items purchased abroad. It’s a good idea to write down any food you’re carrying, just in case, but otherwise, the average dive traveler won’t need to declare anything and will get waved through without a second look.
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Dive Briefs
KIDS DIVE & STAY FOR FREE
Marine Conservation
Ghost Busters Sixteen years after finding a destructive ghost net, this conservationist returned to extract it from the ocean
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Otoque Island, about 27 miles southwest of Panama City, with great underwater topography. It was a healthy ecosystem and a perfect training site. On my first exploration there, though, I found something I never wanted to find: A huge abandoned fishing net had come to rest on the seafloor, smothering a considerable portion of the
The author untangles an abandoned fishing net that he helped retrieve from the reef off Panama.
RAMON LEPAGE
BY E D G A R D O O C H OA
rocky reef. Ghost nets are commercial fishing nets that have been abandoned at sea, either lost or deliberately discarded. Carried by currents or tides, they traverse the world’s oceans, snaring fish as they drift. These nets do not discriminate, capturing endangered species (such as sea turtles), all manner of small fish and countless pieces of marine debris. Throughout the 2000s, I continued to use Otoque Island for training, scientific collections and photographs. Time passed, things changed and I accepted a position with Conservation International. My work took me to projects all over the globe, but I always hoped to go back to Panama and get rid of that net. The plan began with recruitment of a local nongovernmental organization
and government agencies: Autoridad de los Recursos Acuaticos de Panama (ARAP), Ministerio de Ambiente (MiAmbiente) and Servicio Aeronaval de Panama (SENAN). Last year, I traveled to Panama, met with our newly formed Ghost Net Removal Team and explained the plan. The team took a few exploratory dives, planned logistics and shared concerns. On our last dive, I cut off a little piece of the net and hung it on my whiteboard back at CI headquarters as a constant reminder of the plan. The day came — September 9, 2016 — and a team of crew and divers, including me, set out to Otoque. As we sailed, a few whales breaching in the distance raised our hopes of success. After gearing up, we jumped in, and there it was. Removing an immense, heavy net is not an easy task. You can’t just rip the whole thing out in one try or you’ll risk potentially doing more damage to the reefs. Also, you can’t just drag it away with a boat; the team had to use inflatable lift bags to elevate sections of the net off the reef. It was arduous work: exploring and filming sections first; cutting and pulling sections of the net; adding air to the lift bag; and communicating with the other divers to avoid any of us being ensnared in the net itself. Finally — nearly two decades after the net was discovered there — we managed to raise a portion of it to the surface. We repeated this same operation at least three more times before having to change our scuba tanks. Flush with the success of our first dive, the second one went even more smoothly, and we worked to remove nearly the entire net. In the end, we extracted 90 percent of the massive net. After we boarded our boats from our final dive, one of the SENAN divers said, “For the next mission, we need a support boat and more divers.” I was elated — having seen the destruction that this net caused, they were eager to find and remove them entirely. We aim to monitor the comeback of marine life on this rocky reef, and as more ghost-net-removal efforts gain support from the environmental ministry and other partners, I hope Panama can lead the way in ridding the ocean of these destructive threats.
Dive Briefs
A Slime for War The U.S. Navy’s latest technology is derived from an unlikely source: the bottom-dwelling hagfish BY CHASE BRUNTON
f you play word association with the phrase hagfish slime, it may take you about a million tries before answering “cutting-edge military technology.” But that’s exactly where the U.S. Navy found inspiration. A biochemist and an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Florida, managed to
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re-create the slime of the Pacific hagfish, an eel-like spineless fish that releases a sticky substance to defend itself from predators. They believe the fish’s slime, which when combined with water forms a strong and elastic sheet, can be used by the Navy’s ships as an extra layer of defense. The hagfish is an eelshaped, spineless scavenger.
In response to attack from predators, the hagfish releases slime from its glands that clogs the gills of its attacker and has mechanical properties similar to Kevlar. “The synthetic hagfish slime may be used for ballistics protection, firefighting, anti-fouling, diver protection or anti-shark spray,” says biochemist Josh Kogot in a Navy statement.
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That’s quite a few potential applications. As of now, there aren’t many details on how far it will go, but the main uses being considered at the moment seem to be protection against projectiles and the prevention of biofouling, which is when organisms — typically barnacles — attach themselves to ships, a multimilliondollar nuisance.
Odds & Ends From under the sea
CORAL COVERAGE It seems like you can insure just about anything these days — weddings; exotic vacations; celebrities’, ahem, assets. Now you can add nature to that long list. Beachfront businesses that benefit from a 40mile stretch of coral reef in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, have started contributing to the Reef & Beach Resilience and Insurance Fund, an insurance policy that will pay out if the reef is damaged by a large storm. The money will go toward restoring the reef and help cover loss of income from tourism.
DIVE INTO THE DEEP Our walls are draped in drama! Dive deep into the crystal clear waters on the quiet side of Nassau, and discover some of the most dramatic drop-ofs in the Bahamas. Our nutrient-nourished walls resplendent with lush corals and lively marine life plunge deep into the heart of the ocean…and the hearts of our divers. Come and join us for some amazing bottom time on our walls. We have an abundance of underwater treasures to share with you at Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas.
Waste Water
U.S. NAVY. OPPOSITE, FROM TOP: RON NEWSOME/U.S. NAVY; TOM MCHUGH/SCIENCE SOURCE
Researchers from the University of Minnesota found microplastics in more than 80 percent of the tap water they sampled. And in the U.S., that figure rose to 94 percent. The scientists who performed the study believe that much of the particles can trace their roots to clothes that released them into the water via washing and drying.
DEEP DISCOVERY One of history’s most infamous wrecks — the USS Indianapolis — was discovered in the Pacific Ocean. Seventy-two years after a Japanese torpedo sank the warship near the end of World War II, a team of researchers led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen discovered the wreck about 18,000 feet deep. The ship gained fame for its part in delivering pieces of an atomic bomb, and its dramatic end. More than 300 sailors survived the sinking after many braved shark attacks.
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Local Diving
Divers enter the icy St. Clair River. Opposite: Rich Synowiec cleans a bottle from the Detroit River; a half-hour’s haul.
Another Man’s Treasure Diving in the icy Detroit River presents challenges and simple pleasures BY A N DY M O R R I S O N
all it sweet redemption — selling that Prohibition-era whiskey bottle for $15 at our annual garage sale. While a fair price for that particular bottle, one wouldn’t think it was much to get excited about. Heck, it’s barely enough for a couple of air fills. So why was I so exited that warm spring day? Because when I hauled that bottle — and a dozen others — from the bottom of a near-freezing Detroit River the previous December, my lovely wife looked at me and said, “You’re crazy. Nobody is going to want that junk.” Not only did that whiskey bottle sell, it was the first item sold. Sweet redemption. It gets cold in Michigan during the
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winter. Really cold. And most sane people hang up their fins some time in early October. Few people around these parts dive year-round. Fewer still dive the rivers during the winter months, hunting for bottles and other discarded items. But winter is when the rivers are free from the thousands of pleasure boats that normally ply these waters, making it safe — at least from boaters. Detroit was a bootlegger’s dream during Prohibition. The Detroit River was a major thoroughfare for smugglers, and rumrunning quickly became the secondlargest industry in Michigan, after the auto industry. Seventy-five percent of the liquor supplied to the United States 24 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
during Prohibition came from Canada, transported across the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair or the St. Clair River. And many of those bottles still lie on the bottom, having been chucked into the water either by law enforcement during a bust or, more commonly, by residents who openly ignored the law. While it’s illegal to take artifacts from shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, discarded trash from yesteryear is legal to take, so long as it’s not sitting on or near a shipwreck. Small groups of divers meet regularly during the winter to don a drysuit, pick up a crowbar in one hand, lobster bag in the other, and hop in, hoping to find something cool. Where are the popular
ANDY MORRISON (3)
spots? How does the casual diver with a passing interest give it a try? Well, that’s where it gets interesting. Getting a bottle diver to give up their secret dive location is akin to getting a fisherman to give up the location of their honey hole. It ain’t easy, so it helps to know someone. Diving for bottles and other treasures can be about as difficult as it gets. You need some serious dive credentials. First, there is the cold. There is no escaping it. Air temperatures can be in the teens or 20s, with water temps just above freezing. Keep your gear serviced and up to date. Regulators can free-flow easily in these temperatures, so make sure yours is rated for ice diving. And be prepared for the rest of your gear, bolt snaps and zippers to freeze post-dive when they hit air temperatures. Then there is the current. That’s where a small crowbar comes into play. It makes an excellent tool for dragging yourself across the bottom. Overweighting is necessary to help sink in the fast-moving water. Sink to the bottom as fast as you can and try to stay there. I prefer to descend and pull my way up the river so I can drift back to my starting point. Diving in shallow water means you can pop your head up and take a look around to see where you are. Dives are usually conducted in less than 10 or 15 feet of water, but along with the current, which can be considerable at times, 5 feet of viz is considered excellent. It can be lonely at the bottom, so you’d better be a confident diver comfortable in crappy conditions. There are plenty of dive shops in Michigan that offer the River Diver, or an equivalent, specialty course. A few of those shops dive the rivers in winter. Find someone with some experience and ask for help. It’s also a good idea to keep someone on shore to help divers get in and out of gear, watch for trouble and help haul treasures to the surface. So why do it? For starters, it gives us divers something to do in the winter. Michiganders, and our friends from across the river in Ontario, Canada, are a hardy lot. We like winter. And for me, it’s not very time consuming compared to my summer diving, which necessitates a charter boat located several hours away. I can don my drysuit in the comfort of my home and travel to my favorite dive sites in a few minutes. After the dive, I hop back in my car, still suited
IN DEPTH
Before You Go Here are some drydiving tips for your icy adventures. Layer Up The suit may keep you dry, but undergarments keep you warm. Layering is a great way to increase your insulation. Wicking materials are a good choice for your inner layer, and garments that maintain their insulating properties when wet help in the event of a leak. Weight Gain Drysuits require more weight to counteract the positive buoyancy of the gas in the suit. You can distribute lead between a weight belt and a weight-integrated BC to make the load less cumbersome. Seal the Deal Dusting your suit’s seals with talcum powder can make it easier to don and doff. It also reduces wear and tear on these vital parts. Keep It Clean Rinsing the outside of your drysuit is common sense, but don’t forget to clean the interior as well. — Robby Myers
up, and head back home to undress in the relative warmth of my garage. I’m gone less than the amount of time it takes to play a round of golf. This gives me more time with my young family, and at this time of year, I don’t have to worry about getting run over by a pleasure boat. But mainly it’s the thrill of finding something cool — a 100-year-old spoon, a Champagne bottle from the 1800s, tin toys, anchors, you name it. Vintage beer, soda pop and dairy bottles are also relatively easy to find because Detroit was home to numerous soda pop and beer S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 25
companies. If someone once sat on the bank of the river or seat of a boat and had a drink, chances are the bottle is still at the bottom of the river. In June 2012, a diver found a message in a bottle in the St. Clair River. “Having a good time at Tashmoo,” the message reads in cursive. Tashmoo was a popular amusement park at Harsens Island. It was dated 1915. I’ll likely never find something that cool, and it’s OK. I’m happy selling a few bottles for air-fill money at our annual garage sale — and proving to my wife that I’m not completely crazy after all.
Dive Briefs
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Entertainment
With the Stream Knock out your next surface interval by watching one of these ocean-centric documentaries on Netflix Chasing Coral filmmakers set up in the Coral Triangle.
ivers are doers. But if you get in the mood for a relaxing night on the couch — or four — you may as well be watching one of these informative and beautifully shot documentaries. Let legends like David Attenborough and Sylvia Earle take you on a journey, or see firsthand the damage being done to our precious coral reefs worldwide.
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Chasing Coral
Mission Blue
Planet Earth
The numbers are startling, but the images will break your heart — this recently released documentary cuts to the core with startling visuals of coral bleaching in real time. Chasing Coral follows a team of photographers and researchers as they take timelapse footage of reefs around the world to see how they are affected by increasing water temperatures. Divers will love the behind-the-scenes look at underwater filmmaking and be moved by the footage from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, which serves as a call to action for humankind.
Want a little bit of inspiration? See the story of legendary diver, conservationist and biologist Sylvia Earle in this Emmy Awardwinning film. It follows Earle’s illustrious career and attempts to convey her passion for the ocean and its residents. And the film succeeds in providing a wake-up call for viewers who may not realize how our actions affect critical marine ecosystems. Mission Blue provides a revealing look at what drives someone like Earle, who has done so much for our oceans for so long, and gives insight into the current threats she aims to fight.
Nature lover or not — this landmark BBC documentary series will blow you away. Shot after shot, the viewer is left wondering, How did they get that on film? But divers will be especially keen on Episode 9, which focuses on shallow seas around the globe. From stunning footage of nursing humpback whales in tropical waters to riveting shots of banded sea kraits hunting in tandem with reef fishes, this documentary provides plenty of highlights — and all in crystal-clear high definition. Like what you see? Come back for Episode 11: “Ocean Deep.”
4 The Blue Planet This David Attenborough-led documentary series made a major impact when it was released in 2001, and it’s still fascinating for divers and nature lovers today. The film — which takes a comprehensive look at the history and makeup of the ocean — won Emmys for outstanding cinematography and music composition. Its depiction of coral spawning, the deep ocean and marine predation was groundbreaking when it was originally released. Get familiar with this flick because a sequel will debut this year.
Newsmakers The people trending in dive news headlines
FROM TOP: ISTOCKPHOTO; CAL SPORT MEDIA/ALAMY. OPPOSITE: XL CATLIN SEAVIEW SURVEY/THE OCEAN AGENCY/AARON SPENCE
Metropolitan Fishes The iconic Sydney Opera House wants to help restore the native marine life in and around Sydney Harbour, so it’s teaming up with local universities to build apartment blocks for fish. The goal for the 3-foot-long fiberglassand-concrete modules is to bring back some of the native life that was disrupted by construction. Lovely idea — if only there were some sort of massive natural habitat for fish off the eastern coast of Australia that humans could help restore next. Wayward Whales Mass whale-stranding events often puzzle scientists, but one team has a cosmic explanation for an uptick in sperm whale beachings last year. Researchers from Germany’s University of Kiel believe the whales might have gotten lost while trying to use Earth’s geomagnetic field during a solar storm. An interesting thought — who knew that even cetaceans can fall victim to a faulty GPS?
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Jewelry Lovers Atlanta Falcons star receiver Julio Jones called upon scuba divers to help him out in a pinch. The All-Pro wideout lost a $100,000-plus earring while jet skiing in Georgia’s Lake Lanier. The pricey piece of jewelry was never found in the murky lake. So, who wants to take a dive trip to Georgia? Internet Hucksters Devastating hurricanes Harvey and Irma made way for one of the world’s most unsavory figures: the Photoshop prankster. Fake photos of great white sharks swimming on freeways and mislabeled snapshots of flooded city centers made their rounds on the Web as these deceptive folks racked up the retweets and likes. Keep your eyes peeled and BS detectors on.
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Dive Briefs
Travel Tips
Savvy Shopping Avoid these popular souvenirs to help protect marine species BY MELISSA GASKILL
Fastest liveaboard in the Maldives 3 dives per day PADI 5-Star Dive Centre with Nitrox On-board marine biologist 3, 4 and 7-night cruises start at USD 850 per person, all inclusive
For reservations, contact your travel consultant, Four Seasons at 1-800-819-5053 or visit fourseasons.com/maldivesfse
Advance reservations required. Offer is subject to availability at time of reservation. Rate listed is per person, per night and does not include service charge and applicable taxes.
ravelers love to buy mementos of special trips — and divers are no exception. But sometimes, we unwittingly contribute to the destruction of habitats or the extinction of species. Some might even break the law. Here are souvenirs to avoid on your next trip.
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Turtle Shell The colorful shells of hawksbill sea turtles are polished and carved into jewelry and trinkets. Hawksbills are critically endangered, and extremely important to the health of coral reefs, says Brad Nahill of Too Rare to Wear, a campaign to end turtle-shell sales. The organization identified Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Cuba as hot spots for this trade, although it occurs worldwide. Real turtle shell is brown, orange, amber and yellow, with irregular patterns throughout. Items carved from coconut shell make good alternatives.
Coral Shops carry coral jewelry just about anywhere reefs exist. The health of the entire ocean ecosystem depends on coral reefs, which face serious threats around the world. “We have a responsibility to help protect these ecosystems for generations to come to enjoy,” says Sara Walker, executive director of U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance. Trade in coral hurts people who depend on reefs for their livelihood, she adds. Some countries restrict trade in coral, so buyers also could find themselves in legal trouble.
Seashells Many tropical destinations sell seashells as-is and made into jewelry. Slowgrowing queen conchs, found throughout the Caribbean, are particularly susceptible to unsustainable harvest. Most Caribbean countries regulate the export of seashells; travelers should research laws before buying. Also avoid buying packaged shells; it is hard to determine their source, so the animal might have been alive when collected or the shells might have been traded illegally. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: HAL BRINDLEY/TRAVELFORWILDLIFE.COM; ISTOCKPHOTO
We know where the best dive sites are and where other divers aren’t.
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Dive Briefs
Project AWARE
Pipe(line) Dreams A dedicated conservationist educates younger divers to protect his favorite dive site B Y A L E X A WA R D , C O M M U N I T Y R E L AT I O N S S P E C I A L I S T , P R O J E C T AWA R E F O U N D AT I O N
Scuba divers have a natural affinity for environmental protection. We experience the underwater world in a way so few others do. We don’t just witness the wonders of our ocean, we participate, fully immersed in the experience. With a deep appreciation for our big blue planet, it’s inevitable that many of us are drawn to marine conservation. Project AWARE is proud to lead and empower a global movement of scuba divers around the world to engage in ocean protection. As part of our initiative in the fight against ocean trash, Adopt a Dive Site, Project AWARE’s dive volunteers are conducting monthly marine-debris surveys and other on-the-ground waste-reduction efforts in dive centers. It’s an effort that is helping to make an immediate positive impact on our underwater world. Join us as we celebrate the individuals who help power our movement.
TOP DIVES
Ian Craddock Wimborne, Dorset, U.K. Scuba diver since: 1998
Growing up on the south coast of England, Ian Craddock was always in or around the water. A scuba diver for more than half of his life, he’s witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of marine debris on underwater habitats across Europe and the Middle East. Compelled to take action, Ian began working with a local university and its students on Dive Against Debris surveys in areas heavily impacted by debris. One of their first local sites was shrouded in a high volume of fishing nets, killing marine life and endangering divers. With their help, the site has been restored to its natural, debris-free state. The group also released some of the trapped
wildlife and guided it to safety. Ian hopes to expand his efforts and inspire the local youth dive community to become involved in helping to keep Dorset’s English Channel waters clean and healthy. What’s your favorite dive site?
The Pipeline at Shore Road, Poole, in Dorset, United Kingdom. The site entrance is from a very popular tourist beach, and most people believe that all that’s out there is sand. In fact, it’s a hidden gem. The pipe is a disused sewage outlet that has largely been filled with concrete. The area is a local haven for wildlife. Why does the Pipeline need protection?
It’s located near one of the busiest beaches on the U.K.’s south coast and is an attraction for lots of fishing and watersports. With heavy human traffic, marine life is often more likely to suffer the impacts of marine debris, pollution and disrupted environments. Strangest piece of trash found underwater?
A boat trailer — over a mile from the shore! How do you adopt a dive site?
I conduct monthly Dive Against Debris surveys and also involve local youths. By educating these young divers, I’m able to help empower them to continue our work for years to come. 30 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
Dorset, U.K. With bountiful reefs and historic shipwrecks, the waters off the Dorset coastline (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) boast some of the most popular English Channel dive sites. Aeolian Sky Five miles south of St. Aldhelm’s Head A Greek freighter built in 1978, the Aeolian Sky collided with another ship near the Channel Islands. After a failed salvage attempt, the freighter sank off Dorset in a storm in late 1979. Divers can find parts of Land Rovers and pipes that were among its cargo, as well as explore companionways and railings where schools of pollack and pouting shelter. Chesil Cove Southernmost section of Chesil Beach An easy, idyllic shore dive that, during the summer months, offers encounters with squid, crabs and lobster in just 30 feet of water. Tenants Reef West Bay This reef is adorned with delicate pink sea fans, sponges and soft corals — what? In the U.K.? Yep. It’s a fragile 60-square-mile habitat where commercial fishing is prohibited.
COURTESY IAN CRADDOCK
SPOTLIGHT ON DEBRIS ACTIVIST
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The Islands of Hawaii
DON’T MISS THIS
DIVE MAUI Featured Dive Site: 1st Cathedrals We lead small groups of divers to the Island of Lanai to dive sites teeming with marine life. 1st Cathedrals is a huge underwater cavern, with rays of light from a hole in the center of the roof of the cavern that illuminates the cavern floor. A large lava rock fell from the roof of the cavern, creating the hole, and we refer to it as the “Altar” on the floor of the cavern. The entrance to the cavern is 50’ at the bottom, while the top of the archway is at 25’–large enough for us to drive our boat through. The many small holes in the porous lava rock walls allow light to enter the cavern, giving the walls a stained glass effect. You may see turtles, sharks and multitudes of fish with typical visibility of 80’-100’. As you swim under the archways, look for juvenile frog fish and nudibranchs hidden among the pink and orange cup corals.
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Seasport Divers
Jack’s Diving Locker Join the friendly crew of Jack’s Diving Locker on the Kona Coast of Hawaii with healthy coral reefs, lava formations, and big animals – dolphins, whales, sharks, and manta rays!
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Full service dive shop specializing in SCUBA tours and Certification Courses. We are located on the south shore of Kauai. We offer 2 dive charters 365 days a year while also running seasonal trips to the Forbidden Island of Niihau.
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PRO TIP SHOOTING IS CHALLENGING ON NIGHT DIVES — MACRO IS EASIER THAN WIDE ANGLE.
Images
Everything an underwater photographer needs
to shoot amazing images
ALEX MUSTARD
Get your camera low and frame subjects against open water to incorporate a strong black background.
NIGHT DIVES
s the ocean transforms from bright blue to inky black, a host of nocturnal creatures emerges and provides A photo ops that simply don’t exist during the day. This is especially true in muck-diving destinations, where shooters even make two-tank night dives because this time is so productive. The first hurdle of night photography is actually going! Too many choose to spend their evenings in the bar rather than the ocean. T E X T B Y A L E X M U S TA R D
S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 33
Images
Photography Tips
Light in the Dark
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Soft and Wide A focus light is essential for enjoyable and productive nocturnal photography because, unlike a standard dive light, it gives a wide, soft beam that is easy to aim and less likely to startle critters. Avoid a really bright light; you won’t need one once your eyes are used to the dark. Dimmer lights won’t halt behaviors, and they give you more time to shoot before a subject scuttles for cover. Always mount the light on your camera rather than occupy a hand by holding it. If planktonic worms are plaguing you, attach the light on a long strobe arm above the housing.
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Red Zone Red light does not penetrate water well, and the eyes of many marine species are not sensitive to these wavelengths. Therefore, a focus light with a red-light mode can be close to invisible for many subjects, and allow you to focus and frame. Red lights tend to be most effective with shrimps and crabs, and less so with fish, especially those that live in shallow water. The downside of a red light is that it is harder to spot critters in the first place, and the scene you see is monochrome, which hampers composition. Choose a light that allows you to switch between red- and white-light modes during the dive.
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Wide-Angle Challenge Night dives provide plentiful subjects but also challenges in focusing and framing. When in doubt, shoot macro. But if you get to night-dive regularly, challenge yourself to try wide angle at night. Wide angle suits many larger nocturnal subjects, such as basket stars and stingrays. However, at night your strobe lighting needs to be exemplary, because you don’t have any ambient light to cover mistakes in aiming. When including divers, slow the shutter speed to make the beam of their light show. Don’t be afraid to go slow; there is no ambient light to cause blur. 34 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
ALEX MUSTARD
S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 35
Images
Many subjects — like this bobtail squid found off Anilao in the Philippines — shine at night.
Night Moves TIP Beginner
Excuse the name-dropping, but recently I chatted with a keen diver named Kate — although, given the formal occasion I used a different title: Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge! She told me that she loves night dives because the colors look so intense and all the smaller creatures appear. Focusing on these two aspects is great advice for any night-diving photographer. Night dives should always be slower.
Work your way around the site at a nudibranch’s pace, taking time to look for tiny critters. Photographically, it is more productive to keep techniques simple — I set up my strobes for standard front lighting and leave them alone. Since there are often shrimps, crabs and other beasties emerging everywhere on the reef, you can boost the color of your shots by first searching for bright corals, sponges or anemones and then hunting for subjects there. When you find
something interesting, you will already have a vibrant background. TIP Intermediate
Mini beasts emerge at night, which makes it a popular time to shoot supermacro. The good news is that supermacro is no more challenging in the dark. The bad news is that it is a tough technique! I’d definitely recommend waiting for benign sea conditions before going super, and
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trying it for a few dives in a row to really get in the zone. Supermacro rewards those with exemplary in-water skills, and while there is often a need to steady the camera with a two-finger hold, there is no reason or justification to lie on the reef to shoot these shots. When I am shooting supermacro I like my camera to be slightly negatively buoyant so it holds my head down and makes my legs pivot up away from the reef. Next, look for a small dead area on the reef
TODD BRETL. OPPOSITE: ALEX MUSTARD
Night dives offer some unique diving experiences and stock your image collection with subjects you won’t find during the day
Black-water diving is a relatively new trend in underwater photography that has swelled in popularity in the past five years.
on the right-hand side of the subject and hold this with a finger and thumb from your left hand. Your left forearm will now be across your chest and will provide a perfect support for the port of the housing, giving maximum stability to shoot while your legs float free.
Post-Processing Tips
Black in Back The right choices in Lightroom will get the most from your night-dive photos The highest-quality images that your camera can produce are RAW files, but these require some post-processing to look their best. It means that — unlike the days of shooting slides — post-processing is now an unavoidable part of photography. Many night-diving photos have black
backgrounds, which really make a subject jump out. To achieve this look, you want the subject to be bright and colorful, and set against a clean black. If you’ve taken the image well, all you usually need to do is make global image adjustments (the standard sliders that affect the whole frame)
by increasing the Contrast or reducing and intensifying the Blacks. My example image this month is a snapshot showing a Moorish idol in its nocturnal color pattern swimming over the reef. The original image illuminates the fish, but because I was shooting slightly
TIP Advanced
Black-water diving is a relatively new trend in underwater photography that has swelled in popularity in the past five years. It is a unique experience in inner space, involving drifting in midwater with only a light, suspended at depth beneath the dive boat as a point of reference. The attraction is seeing the rare and bizarre animals that migrate up from the depths under the cover of darkness to feed. Popular subjects include fish and crustacean larvae, jellyfish and cephalopods. Finding and framing subjects is tough, so select a wider macro lens and be prepared to crop. Autofocus can struggle with constantly moving tiny, transparent creatures, so use a fixed manual focus and try to fire off a series of frames when the subject is in range. Angle your strobe in from the side to help pick out translucent subjects.
THE AUTHOR
After
down on the subject, I captured light on the reef behind the fish too, lessening the impact. In this case, making global adjustments would darken both the fish blend and the background, so instead, I must use the Brush Tool, painting the area behind the fish and then reducing the Exposure and Blacks to selectively darken just the background. Press “O” when brushing to see where you have brushed and selected in Red. I start by roughly painting over all the background and then tidying up the selection by pressing “ALT” to change the brush to an eraser and deselect the areas I don’t want (like the fish). I use Auto Mask (a tick box at the bottom of the Brush Tool menu) when erasing, which looks at the image and cleverly stops the brush at the edges of the subject.
Before
Dr. Alex Mustard is a marine biologist who has been a full-time photographer since 2004. His latest book, Underwater Photography Masterclass, is out now. To see more of his work, visit amustard.com.
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Gear We get gear wet so you don’t have to — here are this month’s Editor’s Picks GIFT GUIDE
Dive Holiday It’s the time of year when visions of dive gear start dancing in our heads. Here are some gift ideas to help make the diving days jolly. BY RO G E R ROY A N D ROB BY M Y E R S
1.
JON WHITTLE
PROSPEX SSC017 SE I KO This watch is powered by all types of light — no battery change required. Once fully charged, its reserves will last up to six months. Sporting a stainless-steel case, one-way rotating bezel, and luminous hands and markers, this watch has a flawless function and look that says dive even when you’re far from the water. $425; seikousa.com
2.
HyFlex Switch
JON WHITTLE
T USA This versatile open-heel fin delivers speed and power without sacrificing comfort. The blade — set at a 20-degree angle to the foot pocket — has a wide water-scooping pocket supported by progressively flexing side rails that make the most of every kick. The supportive foot pocket and supple bungee strap — with five adjustment positions that can be changed without tools — provide a stable, comfortable fit for easy all-day kicking. The blade also unbolts from the foot pocket in minutes for a travel package less than 16 inches long. $199; tusa.com
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3.
Dry Bag DB-20L
Marine Rescue GPS NAUT I LUS This small device is an unobtrusive addition to your dive kit that you’ll be happy to have if you ever get swept away from the boat. The Nautilus sends out an SOS signal and your coordinates (accurate up to 5 feet) to all AIS-equipped vessels up to 34 miles away. It’s waterproof, depth-rated to 425 feet, has a five-year battery life and requires no registration, subscription or service fees. $239.99; nautilusgps.com
I ST SP ORTS Nothing ruins a good day of diving quite like finding out all of your stuff has been soaked while you were blowing bubbles below. You can keep your clothes, phone, wallet, camera and other water-averse items nice and dry with this lightweight dry bag from IST Sports. This 20-liter bag is constructed with 500D PVC and is fully waterproof. The bag’s double-roll-top opening also functions as a carrying handle, and it comes with an adjustable 1½-foot-long cross-body strap in case you want to keep your hands free. $20; istsports.com
4.
ProPlus X
6.
OCEANI C This Oceanic console computer is easy to read both above and below the water thanks to the large, legible characters and bold, color-coded data displayed on its low-energy thin-film transistor screen. The logical menus are a breeze to navigate with the four-button interface, especially with the aid of the helpful on-screen prompts. The computer runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and features a digital compass, four-gas capability, a quick disconnect, Bluetooth connectivity and dual algorithms. $1,449.95; oceanicworldwide.com
Agua
Soverin Alpha TUSA The Soverin Alpha fits snugly and securely thanks to enhanced lumbar support, a comfortable back pad and a harness that is isolated from the air cell. The adjustable waist belt helps to further fine-tune the fit. Rails along the back of the harness stabilize the tank and hold it closer to the body to prevent it from rolling, and the two-position cam band is a nice touch that makes setup much easier. This jacket-style BC has 34 pounds of buoyant lift and features a new integrated weight system, zippered trim weight pockets, and a series of D-rings and snap hooks that can be repositioned easily and quickly. $499; tusa.com
CR ESSI This full-foot fin puts the base of the blade at the top of the foot pocket and stiffens the rear of the blade with two buttresses on the bottom, near the toes. The soft foot pocket is comfortable, and the lightweight fins — less than 1 pound each in a size 10-11 — let you kick long and hard without wearing yourself out, a perfect feature for surface swimming. The Agua’s soft blade requires a steady pace to maintain speed when wearing a full set of scuba gear, but its lightweight, low-stress design, comfortable foot pocket and attractive price make it perfect for snorkelers. $39.95; cressiusa.com
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8.
9.
Snap-It Salt Lightweight SPYD E RCO This dive knife features a snap shackle on the pivot end of the handle so it can easily be clipped to a D-ring or another attachment point when closed. The H-1 stainless-steel blade is corrosion-proof and features an oversize hole to provide leverage for one-handed openings. The textured panels on the handle ensure you can get a solid grip on the knife, even when wet. $139.95; spyderco.com
T-Stick U LTRA LI G H T CO N T RO L SYST E M S How can you improve the muck stick? It’s tough to enhance such a simple tool. Well, how about a comfortable handle? Honestly, it’s such a simple and welcome addition, it’s a little surprising nobody thought of it sooner. Not only does this stick from Ultralight Control Systems give you a better grip to help stabilize yourself in the sand, but the end of the T-handle is threaded for a ball mount so you can easily mount your camera to it. There is a hole on the other end so you can add a lanyard as well. $22.50; ulcs.com
Steel 34 Roller Bag STAHLSAC There’s plenty of space for your gear inside this 148-liter bag. It’s designed with a waterproof compartment to keep your wet and dry gear separate, and also features quick-access frontzippered pockets and a breathable compartment that allows damp objects to air out. A replaceable internal metal frame and abrasion-resistant materials on stress points help this heavy-duty bag stand up to lots of wear and tear. $359.95; stahlsac.com
11.
12.
Perdix AI Computer
GoPro Lens-Removal Tool
SH EA RWAT E R The simplicity of the Perdix’s two-button operation and crisp, easy-to-read display makes it stand out among other, more complicated devices. Despite its ease of use, this air-integrated computer features advanced capabilities, such as closed-circuit and trimix compatibility. Users can customize the color of the display and the data it shows. The user-replaceable AA battery is icing on the cake. $1,175 (with transmitter); shearwater.com
BACKSCATTER Divers using the GoPro Hero5 must first remove the square lens from the front of the camera before putting it into an underwater housing — this is often easier said than done. To aid underwater videographers in this surprisingly difficult task, Backscatter has developed this simple tool. Just slide it between the Hero5 and the lens, then twist to remove the lens. You can get it by itself or as part of a FLIP5 filter kit. $4.99; backscatter.com
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13. AC10V Master Cromo
JON WHITTLE
C R ESS I Its brushed-titanium faceplate may be an eye-catcher, but the Master Cromo’s design is all about performance and comfort. Take the elliptical second-stage diaphragm; the shape provides a large surface area for quick breathing response, while keeping the second stage compact and lightweight to prevent jaw fatigue. The piston first stage has five LP ports and a 360-degree rotating turret for perfect hose alignments, and the ergonomic metal adjustment lets you fine-tune breathing resistance. $449; cressiusa.com
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14. AQUA LUN G The vibrant, full-color OLED display, air integration, three-axis digital compass and Bluetooth compatibility may be the headline features on the i750TC. But what makes it so satisfying to dive with is the way those features mesh with its intuitive operation, logical menu paths and a display that’s crystal-clear, not just visually but also in the presentation of data. Its three-button interface is so simple you’ll be tempted to skip the instructions, but don’t: The full-color manual is one of the best we’ve read. $999 (transmitter $399 to $425); aqualung.com
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JON WHITTLE
i750TC
15.
F1 S Fin
MK25 EVO/S620 Ti SCU BA PRO Scubapro’s MK25 EVO first stage and the air-balanced S620 Ti second stage make quite a pair. This regulator is an easy breather — even at depths of more than 300 feet — and has been designed to be freeze resistant. The second stage was made lighter and smaller than previous versions and features an ultralight titanium inlet tube, a large purge and a newly designed exhaust tee. $819; scubapro.com
SEAC The blade of the F1 S is designed with rigid sections connected by a web of rubbery elastomer. The result is a soft tip that stiffens toward the toes, providing a powerful kick without wearing out your legs. The fin’s comfortable foot pocket features a bungee strap that makes donning and doffing a breeze. The fins are efficient in flutter kick and provide good acceleration when you let big square-tipped blades work up to speed gradually. They come in a variety of colors, including black, black/blue, black/yellow, black/red, white/pink and white/ aquamarine. $129; seacusa.com
17.
16.
Promaster Diver BN0085-01E CI TI Z EN ISO-compliant and depth-rated to 300 meters, the Promaster is made of stainless steel, with a polyurethane strap. It features a unidirectional bezel, and the dial — covered with an anti-reflective mineral crystal — has three hands with a date calendar. This timepiece has a screw-back case and screwdown crown. You’ll never need to open up the watch to replace the battery, because it runs on Eco-Drive technology, which allows it to turn natural and artificial light into energy. $350; citizenwatch.com
Sea Dragon Fluoro-Dual Beam
18.
Titanium Shorty CA M A RO This incredibly flexible, versatile 2 mm shorty can be worn as a base layer or by itself. The waterproof seams and thin layered neoprene provide a tight fit and good insulation. It also can be worn on both sides — the silver titanium-coated inside adds extra warmth; when worn on the outside, it is water repellent and incredibly quick drying. That means no more putting on cold, damp suits, and no more funky smells. $99.95; camaro.at
SEALI FE The Fluoro-Dual uses blue LEDs and a dichroic filter to shine a blue 65-degree floodlight that is primed for exciting marine life to emit fluorescence. You can easily switch between the fluorescent flood and a white 15-degree spotlight with a single button. The light also comes with yellow barrier filters for your mask and camera so you can see the biological light show through the blue hues. $499; sealife-cameras.com
19.
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20. Collapsible Folding Utility Wagon M AC S P O RTS Work smarter, not harder, with this handy heavy-duty wagon. It can handle up to 150 pounds, and the roomy 35½-by-20-by-22½inch interior can fit most — if not all — of your kit. Minimize the number of trips back and forth to your car, and save your arms from hauling tanks, weights, coolers and other cumbersome items. It’s so handy you’ll never want to leave it behind, and thanks to its compact size — you’ll never have to. $69.99; macsports.com
21.
22. Italia Mask
AquaFlex Jumpsuit
SEAC The soft silicone skirt of this mask — made in Italy — is built using different thicknesses in order to make it as comfortable as possible and to keep a watertight seal. The mask has a wide field of view and 3 mm-thick ultraclear tempered-glass lenses. The mask can be outfitted with optical lenses ranging from -1.0 to -6.0 diopter. The Italia comes in a variety of colors, and a mirrored-lens version is also available. $69; seacusa.com
AQUA LUN G The AquaFlex’s super-stretchy neoprene makes this suit very flexible and incredibly easy to get in and out of. The stretch also makes the suit very comfortable and ensures a great fit. The cuffs are designed to minimize fraying, and the liquidrubber-sealed seams increase durability. The suit is available in a number of styles and thicknesses. 7 mm $399; 5 mm $369; 3 mm $299; aqualung.com
24. Nautilus GLH
Delta 5
I NDI G O I N DUST R I ES What diver doesn’t want to fly across the reef using an underwater jet pack? This tank-mounted DPV runs on two 35-watt motors and can reach speeds up to 4 miles an hour. It can go forward and backward, and is controlled by a handheld remote. It weighs 20 pounds and is depth-rated to 120 feet. The rechargeable and replaceable batteries have a run time of 45 minutes at full power. $2,299; indigo-industries.com
OCEANI C The latest Delta regulator has gotten a visual update, and it has the performance to match its stylish new look. Ribbed heat exchangers have been added to both the eDX diaphragm first stage and the second stage for improved cold-water performance. This scuba regulator is a smooth and reliable breather with a precise breathing adjustment and an effective purge. $499.95; oceanicworldwide.com
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JON WHITTLE
BC1
25.
ATOMIC AQUAT ICS High-tech abrasion-resistant, nonabsorbent materials; ratcheting tank cam band; self-sealing zippers; titanium-coated stainless D-rings; harness like an easy chair; integrated weight latches that open and close like a luxury-car door — the BC1 has all the goodies. But get Atomic’s first-ever BC in the water and its stability and comfort will convince you that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. $1,399.95; atomicaquatics.com
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Training
The latest best practices, tips and advice to make your dives safer and more fun
At sites with heavy current, reef hooks allow divers to maintain their position, conserve energy and enjoy the dive.
Rough Going Here’s how to stay safe when diving in current B Y PAT R I C I A W U E S T
n a liveaboard trip in northern Indonesia, a colleague made a dive at a current-prone site known for big marine life. “During the briefing, the cruise director told us the site had medium current,” recalls Becca Hurley, online editor for Sport Diver and Scuba Diving. “But after descending, I realized it was the strongest current I’d ever been in.” The group hooked into the reef at the edge of a channel at about 85 feet, and was greeted by a school of barracuda. “As soon as we unhooked, we got into difficulty,” Hurley says. “One of
ILLUSTRATION: ALEXANDER WELLS/FOLIOART.CO.UK
O
the underwater photographers was swept up and away from us. My buddy and I were fighting to ascend on the reef’s slope by grabbing dead rock.” They managed to get shallower, but the pair was running low on air. After a few moments of little progress, unable to overcome the current’s flow, Hurley’s buddy signaled to let go. “When we surfaced, we were only a few yards from the photographer. We immediately inflated our safety sausages and the dinghy crew spotted us and picked us up,” says Hurley. “But what kept running through my mind as we ascended, with the force of the current pushing us, was that we were being swept out to sea.” When it’s calm, the ocean is a place of refuge for just about anyone who loves being on the water. But eventually,
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every diver will face a stiffer-thanexpected current, an extreme tidal shift, an up- or down-current, or a tumultuous drift dive. Here are our best tips for dealing with these.
Heavy Current Assuming you’re not doing a planned live-boat drift dive — with your exit down-current from your starting point — follow these strategies for beginning and ending in the same place. 1 Pay attention to the briefing. If there’s surface current, the boat crew will have specific instructions for getting into the water, including hanging on to a tag line so that you can descend together as a group. These lines trail off the stern of the boat. Losing contact with the line, even momentarily, could
Training
result in you being swept away. In very heavy current, and if you’re descending down a mooring line, they’ll most likely also use a granny line. These lines either run alongside the boat and are tied off to the mooring or anchor line, or are tied off to the tag line and lead to the site. 2 Be aware of your surroundings. At depth, you can tell which way the current is running by observing the marine life. Soft corals are pushed in the direction the current is moving, and schools of fish face into the current. Start the dive by swimming into the current so that once you turn the dive, you’ve got an easier swim back to your starting point.
4 Stay together as a group. If others in your group are lagging behind, look for a coral outcropping or some sort of shelter so that stragglers can catch up. “You want to make sure all the divers can make it back to the boat safely,” says Liz Parkinson, an instructor with Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas. “Air consumption can be a problem.” That’s because as you kick more vigorously to make progress, you also breathe harder.
Where’s the Boat? If current has forced you to surface away from the boat — due to being swept away from the exit point, exhaustion or a low-on-air situation — make yourself visible at the surface so the dive-boat crew can spot you.
5 Call the dive, if necessary. If the current isn’t manageable, abort the dive. If you’re in a group, don’t be surprised if the dive leader calls the dive. “The dive guide has to make the call as to whether the dive site is safe enough and if it falls within the certification, ability and comfort level of her divers,” says Parkinson. Skipping a challenging dive is not the worst thing that can happen to you.
Follow instructions to exit the water. In heavy current, use the anchor or mooring line to make your safety stop and use a granny line to get back to the boat’s ladder. Grab on to the tag line and wait until it is your turn to exit. 6
Vertical Currents Currents that are strong enough to push you up or down can be unnerving — and dangerous. You can be forced shallower
E Inflate your surface marker buoy. If you have a delayed surface marker buoy, deploy it while you’re underwater, especially if you’re still being carried away by the current or there’s boat traffic. E Establish buoyancy and stay afloat. Inflate
your BC, and if needed, drop your weights.
E To increase your chances of being seen easily at sea, carry an array of surface signaling devices — both visual and audible — such as an air horn, whistle, signaling mirror, and flashing strobe or dive light.
E Once you have the boat crew’s attention, signal that you’re OK. Keep your mask on and regulator in place. E If you’re with your buddy or group, stay together. The boat crew can spot you more easily, and it can help you remain calm.
ILLUSTRATION: ALEXANDER WELLS/FOLIOART.CO.UK
3 Drop down. If the current picks up, changes direction or pops up unexpectedly during a dive, you can descend a bit, to where the effect of the flow is hopefully not as strong. Generally, current is strongest at the surface or in midwater.
or deeper quickly, often within seconds. “I was leading a group of eight people on a wall dive,” recalls Parkinson. “We had beautiful conditions, no surface current, clear blue water. We got down to the edge of the wall at 40 feet, and I noticed that larger schools of fish were swimming up onto the reef and hiding behind huge rock structures. It did not take me long to realize that a down-current had picked up and we were being pushed out and over the edge. Luckily, I didn’t have a large group, and they were all experienced. I hugged the wall as closely as I could and led them to a different part of the reef until we no longer felt the pull.” If you find yourself in a situation like Parkinson’s, follow these tips. Down-current 1 Reverse your direction and swim parallel to the wall. Often, if you realize it quickly, you can avoid a more dangerous situation. Down-currents are like waterfalls, so moving even just a few feet to either side can greatly change the strength of the current. 2 Add air to your BC and dump your weights, if necessary. You might need to inflate it completely. If that doesn’t work, try to reach the wall and pull yourself up. If the current is too strong, try to pull yourself horizontally. Once you are able to get out of the down-welling, re-establish your buoyancy. 3 Ride it out. If the above fails, stay calm. A down-current diminishes in strength as it goes deeper. Once it weakens, move either left or right to get out of it, and then ascend. As you make your ascent, check your dive computer and make all required safety stops.
Up-current 1 Reverse your direction, and swim parallel to the wall. Just as with a down-current, it’s possible to escape the clutches of an upwelling if you realize it before you enter it fully. Empty your BC bladder of air. This will help slow your ascent and help prevent a decompression injury. If you do find yourself on an express elevator to the surface, flare out your arms and legs to slow the ascent. Continue to deflate your BC, and don’t forget to exhale. 2
3 Deploy surface signaling devices. Once the boat crew spots you, stay calm. They might need to pick up other divers before reaching you.
Gear Considerations
Tidal Currents
1 Streamline. Dangling items can create drag — plus, that expensive gauge or octo can be damaged.
These travel from the open ocean toward shore on a rising tide, or from shore to open ocean on a falling tide.
Read the local tide tables. Consult a tide chart and make a dive plan that’s based on when to enter and exit the water. If you’re not experienced with tidal currents or the local sites, dive with a local guide. “Local knowledge is always a great source of information,” says Parkinson. Local guides can let you know the easiest entry and exit points, where to find marine life and the best place to grab a post-dive beer. Always dive during a slack tide — slack high tide and low tide occurs when the tide reaches its highest and lowest point, respectively. During these periods, you’ll experience less current. 1
2 Carry the proper gear. “It’s important to dive with a timing device, SMB and audible signal device,” says Parkinson. “Plan for a couple of exit points, in case you mistime your bottom time.” 3 Tell someone your dive plan. Make sure someone knows your precise dive plan. Better yet, have someone waiting for you on shore. That way, if you get swept away and miss your planned exit time, a search team can begin looking for you as soon as possible.
Washing-Machine and Vortex Currents These unpredictable currents are quite rare, but they can be handled. 1 Swim out horizontally. As with upand down-currents, try to kick out of the current horizontally — the current will be weaker on the edges.
Hang on to your gear. The force of these currents can dislodge gear, especially regulators and masks. 2
3 Go with the flow. It will dissipate; once you’re out of the current’s grip, establish buoyancy and end the dive safely. S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 51
These recommendations are useful any time you dive, but are imperative when you dive in current.
2 Don’t be overweighted. Although extra weight can help you descend quickly when you’re making a negative ascent in current, it can work against you when you’re having to fin against it. 3 Carry multiple signaling devices. You can tuck a safety sausage, mirror and whistle in a BC pocket, or attach to a D-ring. If you dive regularly where currents are present, you might want to consider purchasing a Nautilus GPS. W hen activated, the GPS emits a GPS-specific distress signal to boats within an 8-mile radius.
Stop, Think, Act If you’re caught in a powerful current, remember the training mantra “Stop, think, act.” You’re in a self-rescue situation, and you’ll need to make decisions and take steps to end the dive safely. IN DEPTH
LIVE-BOAT DRIFT DIVING Not all current is dangerous — in fact, at some dive sites and in some corners of the world, such as Cozumel, Tobago and Jupiter, Florida, it’s the norm. Here’s how to relax and enjoy the ride. Streamline your gear. Don’t damage the reef with your dangling octo or gauge. Be properly weighted and neutrally buoyant. Flying along the reef like a sports car is fun, but if you’re carrying unnecessary extra weight, you’re going to feel like an out-of-control Mack truck. Use the reef to your advantage. Need to let a buddy catch up, take a photo or just stop for a moment? Look for a big coral
mound or reef structure and position yourself in the current’s lee. If you need to hang on to something, look for a rock to grab or stick your finger into the sand. In milder current, you should be able to turn and face it while kicking slowly and steadily to maintain your position. Make sure you carry multiple surface signaling devices. Even when the drift dive is planned, the boat crew needs to be able to spot you for easy pickup.
Training
Dive Safety
A Mile to Malpelo One diver shares his story of disaster, resolve and survival BY BROOKE MORTON
Editor’s note: The story of five divers lost at sea while on a liveaboard trip to Malpelo Island, including the heroic effort of the three survivors, made its way around the dive world in late 2016. Below is Peter Morse’s account, as told to Sport Diver contributor Brooke Morton. His story illustrates the danger of strong current, the importance of communication and emergency planning, and the life-saving power of quick thinking and perseverance.
he red flags appeared as soon as Peter Morse arrived in Buenaventura, Colombia, from Australia. The town is the meeting point for boats leaving for the island of Malpelo, a spot known for schooling hammerhead sharks. Morse had traveled all night by bus from Medellin to catch M/V Maria Patricia, and his first interaction with the crew was watching them hoist his bags into a truck bed filled with a few inches of rainfall from an afternoon shower. But he’d traveled this far, so he literally asked himself, “What’s the worst that could happen?” The concern diminished slightly when he met the dive leader, Carlos Ji menez , who c a me across a s “extremely professional, humble and knowledgeable,” says Morse. It was during the last dive of the last day of the trip when disaster struck. That dive started at 3:30 p.m., and even as the group entered the water, Jimenez was shivering. Morse learned after the incident that Jimenez had been fixing a mooring deeper than 150 feet earlier that day. Had he known at the time, Morse says that he would have questioned Jimenez about his risk of decompression sickness. But on that day, it was only possible to observe that Jimenez was exhausted. The group Morse had been diving with, which included Jorge Morales, Dario Rodriguez and Erika Vanessa Diaz, had faith in Jimenez. And so they followed him, even as he switched up the dive plan. After they got in the Zodiac, Jimenez deviated from the planned site, Arrecife Reef, and elected instead to dive at the Cathedral. Whether that was communicated to the
T
dive boat, Morse will never know. What Morse realized immediately was that, on that day, the currents were especially strong. At 3:50 p.m., after a 20-minute encounter with silky sharks, Jimenez shot to 15 feet. He signaled it was time for the safety stop, which the group performed. As they did, they drifted. Around 4 p.m., they came to the surface, roughly 30 minutes earlier than the Zodiac was expecting them. All the while, they could see the boat, 900 feet away. Nobody was on deck. Knowing they had time to kill before the Zodiac was scheduled to pick them up, Diaz and Morse dropped back down to spend more time with the sharks while the others signaled the boat with their surface marker buoys. Ten more minutes 52 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
passed, then Diaz and Morse resurfaced. This time, Morse turned his head. The boat had become a speck on the horizon. The current was taking them farther out to sea — and quickly. In that moment, Morse realized he had a problem. There was nothing else on the horizon, save for the island of Malpelo. Theirs had been the only boat there that day. Suddenly, Morse’s mind became very clear. Instinctively, he went into decision-making mode. “We need to start swimming closer,” he said. Jimenez had a different plan. “No, we need to stay together and conserve energy.” Morse told Jimenez he would swim to the boat and alert the crew to the group’s location. And he left.
Initially, Morales tried to swim alongside, but he couldn’t keep up. The current was that strong. Morse kept tacking, swimming at 45-degree angles to the current. He changed strokes. But mainly, he faced the water and kicked as hard as he could. With Malpelo as a landmark, he could tell he was making progress, but it was much slower going than he’d expected. Still, he was confident he could reach the boat. To stay motivated, Morse pictured what he would do when he reached the boat. Take a shower. Have
Instead, he forced it from his head. He put his regulator in his mouth and started performing a full-on crawl stroke, wearing all his dive gear. He went as hard as he could until the tank emptied. Then he ditched it, along with his weights. And he kept swimming. At 7:30, he watched as the boat moved north, into the current — farther from him and where he last saw the others drifting farther south. A Zodiac had never been sent in their direction. At this point, the night had grown so
looked as if they’d have purchase. The cliffs ripped his thighs and the palms of his hands — he still has scars — but didn’t yield a foothold to rest upon. By 3 a.m., the left side of his body was numb. His wetsuit was ripped to shreds, and he could not stop bleeding from his hands and legs. Silky and Galapagos sharks were following him. Still, he swam, kicking his fins. He hadn’t ditched his BC either, which buoyed him enough to keep exhaustion at bay. Then he found it. Finally, a break. A ledge of rock just wide enough for his
FROM LEFT: COURTESY PETER MORSE (2); F1ONLINE DIGITALE BILDAGENTUR GMBH/ALAMY
From left: A still from a video taken before the group’s dive; Morse and his sister after his rescue; Malpelo Island.
a beer. But he also made backup plans. He knew there was a ladder and radio on the island. Around 6:30 p.m., darkness began to fall. The lone swimmer was roughly a mile from Malpelo. Fear took hold as he thought about the fact that once all light disappeared, he would no longer be able to see land and stay on course. That night, there was no starlight, no moon. Only clouds looked down from overhead. He couldn’t imagine worse conditions as he bobbed over 13-foot swells. But every 15 seconds, he saw a flash of hope. A tiny lighthouse on the rock beamed a signal, which he could see only from certain angles. Panic started to trickle in. But he knew if he let it, he wouldn’t survive.
black that he saw nothing, but he could hear waves crashing against rock. So he changed his plan, deciding to aim for the ladder and try to get on land. Around 9 p.m., he reached the spot where he had seen a ladder. He reached it only to find that the ladder had been pulled up — by the lone military member and park ranger stationed there, he later learned. His stomach was heavy with dread. Malpelo has sheer cliffs on all sides, and he hadn’t seen any other way up the rocks. He didn’t have it in him to swim all night against the current. This is when it first sank in that he might die lost at sea, alone. But he wasn’t ready to give up. He spent the next few hours swimming and attempting to climb up any rocks that S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 53
feet. He could stand and wait. But he couldn’t sleep. He was too cold, and his mouth was caked with salt from all the seawater consumed. He must have drifted off, because, just after dawn, the hum of an engine roused him. Frantically, with what energy he had left, he yelled and waved. But the passengers only waved back, which made him wonder if he was hallucinating. If it was real, he couldn’t miss the chance of rescue, so he leapt from the rock and swam once more. Seeing this, Sten Johansson, of M/V Yemaya II, deployed a Zodiac and rescued Morse. Johansson alerted authorities, who scooped up Morales and Rodriguez, both alive, 48 hours later. Diaz’s body was found one week later, 140 miles southeast of Malpelo. Jimenez was never found.
S P E C I A L P RO M OT I O N A L S E C T I O N
Dive Health
Ask DAN What is decompression sickness? BY D I V E R S A L E R T N E T WO R K
As a new diver, I’m always asked by my nondiving friends if I’m scared of the bends, or if I can get an air bubble in my brain from diving. I understand the concept of safely ascending during a dive, but I don’t know how to adequately explain decompression sickness. How do you explain DCS?
Decompression sickness can be a tricky subject to understand. Not to be confused with decompression illness, an overarching term that includes DCS and lung-overexpansion injuries, DCS is one of the primary hazards of diving. Most divers have had a cursory introduction
to the risks of DCS and some education on how they can avoid it, but their knowledge typically stops there. A functional understanding of DCS is critical to making safe diving decisions. Causes
As we dive, we expose ourselves to environments with pressures that are greater than what we experience on the surface. In these environments, the external pressure of the water around us compresses the gas we breathe. The deeper we dive, the greater the pressure we are exposed to becomes, and with
it increases the pressure of the gas we breathe. On the surface, the concentration of dissolved inert gas in our body’s tissues is a function of ambient pressure. These gases are not used by our body’s metabolic reactions, and they exist in our tissues in equilibrium with the inert gases found in the air around us. This equilibrium is described as tissue saturation. As we dive and the pressure surrounding us increases, the amount of inert gas, and the rate at which we can absorb that gas, is increased. The deeper we dive, the more gas we can absorb and the faster we can absorb it. As we ascend and external
Dive Computers and You It’s hard to find anyone who dives without a computer these days. We’ve come to trust dive computers to keep us safe too, and that’s not necessarily wrong, but there are some hazards. Push the right buttons Computers are all unique, and using them to plan your dives safely requires that you completely understand how to use your computer well before you dive with it. Read your user manual, get trained by a professional and get to know your new computer gradually. Tune in, and turn on Forgetting to turn on a computer before a dive can cause real problems. No computer can calculate repetitive dives if it hasn’t been on, so if you forget to turn on your computer before your first dive of the day, break out the tables and calculate your repetitive dives manually. Computers are not perfect Dive computers are excellent tools for dive safety, but they can fail, and there is an endless number of dive-related risks for which they can’t account. A dive computer is a tool for you to use, not a guarantee of your safety. DCS can still occur even if your computer says your dive is safe.
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pressure decreases, gas absorption and uptake reverses. Surplus gas is carried by the blood into the lungs and exhaled outside of the body. If we ascend too quickly, there is no time for gas to be washed away, and excess inert gas may injure tissue where it comes out of dissolution (in areas like the spinal cord and joints), or it may be carried away by the blood and cause symptoms in areas like the brain or inner ear. We classify DCS as mild (formerly called Type 1 DCS) or severe (formerly Type 2 DCS). Mild DCS (Type 1 DCS)
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DCS cases that present with joint or muscle pain, skin rash, mottling, or swelling and without affecting the nervous system are classified as mild. DCS may sometimes start with mild symptoms but worsen with time to include neurological symptoms. Mild symptoms that last for hours without getting worse have a good prognosis and do not have permanent effects on health. Recompression treatment speeds up resolution of symptoms, but in cases when recompression is not available, these injuries can be treated with normobaric oxygen and medical interventions.
COURTESY DAN
Severe DCS (Type 2 DCS)
DCS is classified as severe if it includes neurological, cardiorespiratory or innerear symptoms. Symptoms of severe DCS are caused by inert gas bubbles becoming lodged in the brain, spinal cord, pulmonary system or ears. Neurological symptoms may include numbness, tingling in the extremities, muscle weakness, difficulty walking, paralysis or a change in mental status. Inner-ear symptoms most often include hearing loss, vertigo, nausea, impaired balance and tinnitus. Cardiopulmonary symptoms are frequently the result of extreme bubble loads and can include a dry cough, chest pain behind the sternum and difficulty breathing. Severe DCS may progress quickly and result in permanent impairment or, in extreme cases, death. Because of the severity of these symptoms, it is imperative that divers who suspect they have DCS seek immediate treatment before their condition has a chance to decline further.
For more information on decompression sickness, visit dan.org/health.
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E A R T H ’ S F I E R Y V O L C A N I C PA S T B I L L I O N S O F Y E A R S A G O G AV E R I S E T O S O M E O F T H E P L A N ET ’ S B E S T D I V I N G T O D AY — C O R A L AT O L L S , P I N N A C L E S , S E A M O U N T S A N D V O L C A N O E S
olcanoes have the power both to destroy and create. For those who live on their slopes, an eruption can be terrifying, but volcanoes have also formed much of our landscape. Islands like Hawaii are built by the constant flow of lava, slowly pushing land from the seafloor up. And as divers, we get to see these formations from a unique perspective. All around the world, volcanoes have created the pinnacles, walls and lava tubes of some of our most iconic dives. Here we explore 25 of our favorite volcanic dive sites, from the languid lagoons of South Pacific atolls to the openocean seamounts of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
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BY T R AV I S M A R S H A L L
LIZ HARLIN
F R O M
Mahengetang Banua Wuhu INDONESIA
For a truly special — and unusual — diving experience,
Barren Island
Garove Island
ANDAMAN ISLANDS
PA P U A N E W G U I N E A
Beneath the clear blue water around this active volcano in the Andaman Sea are vibrant, coral-laced walls alongside fields of black volcanic sand and freshly formed lava rock. The island rises from the open ocean, topped by a smoldering volcano and ringed by dramatic formations. Divers can explore a lava rock cavern at the dive site Purple Haze, while Manta Point has a current-swept precipice that hosts cleaning stations for traveling manta rays. Liveaboards to Barren Island operate from Port Blair on South Andaman Island.
In Papua New Guinea’s Vitu Islands, a collection of volcanic peaks north of New Britain, liveaboard boats can sail into the caldera of Garove Island’s volcano, a near-perfect circle at the heart of the island that is nearly 1,000 feet underwater at its center. The black volcanic-sand seafloor inside the caldera makes it one of PNG’s legendary spots for muck diving. Underwater photographers scour these sandy sites looking for alienlike critters, from leaf scorpionfish to blue-ribbon eels. Dive sites like Dicky’s Place offer long bottom
times and enough surprises for multiple dives, especially at night when a new cast of critters emerges.
Batu Tara Volcano INDONESIA
Motoring to the remote Komba Island, in Indonesia’s newest frontier of diving east of Flores Island, intrepid divers can witness the smoke and pyrotechnic displays of Batu Tara, a stratovolcano that has frequent bursts of geothermal activity. These topside displays are mesmerizing, but the view underwater is equally stunning, with profusions of soft corals, schools of fish
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MARK STRICKLAND; RENEE CAPOZZOLA; DOUG PERRINE
VO L C A N O E S
such as barracuda and dogtooth tuna, and a healthy collection of macro critters. The region is renowned for oddities like frogfish, mimic octopuses and seahorses hidden among brilliantly colored fans and soft corals.
look to Indonesia’s Banua Wuhu, off Mahengetang Island near North Sulawesi. Unlike many other volcano dive sites, Banua Wuhu lies completely underwater, with its sulphur-covered peak rising to about 20 feet below the surface. The rocky substrate bubbles with the gases released by geothermal activity below, and the water temperature hovers at roughly 100 degrees around the volcano, creating an experience akin to scuba diving in warm Champagne.
Molokini Crater MAUI
One of the most popular diving and snorkeling spots in Hawaii is the volcanic cinder cone off South Maui called Molokini. This crater was created by the same hot spot that formed the island of Maui. Over the eons since it was formed, the north side of the crater eroded, leaving a crescentshaped island that nurtures shallow reefs on the inside,
and a dramatic 300-foot submarine wall on the backside. These shallow reefs are filled with fish such as the endemic banded angelfish. The back wall offers opportunities to spot pelagics, such as manta rays and humpback whales, cruising the Alalakeiki Channel.
Gordon Rocks G A L A PA G O S
The Galapagos Islands were formed by volcanoes, and the famed Gordon Rocks dive site was a volcanic cone that arose to the east of Santa Cruz Island, its caldera eroding away with eons of wind and wave action. Today, you can make out a faint crescent shape from the air, but at boat level it looks like three rocks protruding from the water. The channel between the north and south rocks passes over the caldera, creating a shallow area with heavy surge. Around the edges, the seamount drops into the depths. It’s here you’ll find the star attraction: massive schools of hammerhead sharks sweeping across the blue backdrop like squadrons of fighter jets. It’s also a good spot for rays, Galapagos sharks and schooling barracuda.
Superman’s Flight S T. L U C I A
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Dark volcanic substrate contrasts with the brilliant colors of the reef off Barren Island; Komba’s volcano towers over the waters of Indonesia’s Flores Sea; a colorful porcelain crab perches on an anemone off Garove Island.
Enjoy a powerful drift dive in the shadow of one of the Caribbean’s most iconic volcanoes. Superman’s Flight lies just offshore at the base of Petit Piton. The sloping wall is the underwater extension of the volcano’s flank, extending more than 1,000 feet underwater. Situated at the westernmost point of the mountain, the site is buffeted by strong currents, giving divers a thrilling ride as they sweep past immense barrel sponges and filterfeeding corals.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Do you know the difference between a bommie and a seamount? Here’s a quick guide to the most common underwater formations that divers encounter. Atoll A seamount that grew into an island, developed a ring of coral around its waterline, then eroded below the water’s surface, leaving the circular reef intact with a shallow lagoon in the middle. Bommie An outcrop or column of coral reef that rises above the surrounding reef or seafloor. Bommies can have a pinnacle-like shape, but they are generally reef structures rather than rock formations, and they’re not created by volcanic activity. Giri A Maldivian term for a thila that nearly reaches the surface. Pinnacle A form of seamount, the name pinnacle is generally given to formations that stand isolated in deep water and have a very narrow profile. Seamount Technically, any underwater peak that rises more than 3,280 feet from the seafloor without breaking the water’s surface. For divers, the term is used more loosely to describe any undersea peak that drops quickly into the deep on all sides. Thila An island or pinnacle that is completely submerged, as referred to in the Maldives. Volcano Any mountain that contains a vent into the planet’s crust, through which lava, rock, gas or ash can erupt. Many islands and underwater formations are formed by volcanic activity.
SEAMOUNTS Gordo Banks BAJA, MEXICO
The entire Baja Peninsula is geologic history written into the land. Once part of mainland Mexico, it split off as the Pacific and North American plates spread apart along the same tectonic boundary that includes the San Andreas Fault. The resulting rift caused volcanic activity — part of the Ring of Fire that runs around the Pacific — creating a dramatic underwater landscape of canyons and seamounts. Among these are the Gordo Banks, which lie just off the tip of the peninsula. These seamounts rise from thousands of feet
to just within recreational diving depths. The shallowest point on the banks is 125 feet, so this is openocean, bluewater diving for advanced divers — you make a descent, and the seamount slowly becomes visible around 60 feet. Any divers lucky enough to drop in on these deep peaks might find themselves finning alongside schooling hammerheads and congregations of mobula rays, as well as fish such as tuna and marlin.
Roca Partida SOCORROS
The Revillagigedo Islands, also called the Socorros, are
four volcanic islands 240 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. They’re also a big-animal lover’s dream destination. The region is still volcanically active: San Benedicto had a major eruption in 1952, and an underwater eruption happened in the 1990s. But for divers, some of the best action happens around the seamount Roca Partida. The tip of the underwater peak rises just above the water’s surface, and at recreational diving depths it’s possible to circumnavigate the rock in a single dive. But you’ll never get bored watching the endless parade of pelagic species, including hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, schools of tuna, and pods of bottlenose
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dolphins. It’s not out of the question to see whale sharks or orcas, and during the winter season, divers may even spot humpback whales cruising around.
Hin Daeng THAILAND
In the Andaman Sea, accessible by liveaboards and day boats from Phuket, Thailand, the Hin Daeng seamount is visible from the boat, its rocky peak breaking the surface of the water and its base resting about 230 feet down. The name means “red rock,” and it serves as an open-ocean gathering spot for big animals. Jacks
FROM LEFT: Whitetip reef sharks rest in a group at Roca Partida, the smallest of the Revillagigedo Islands; two sicklefin devil rays glide by Princess Alice Bank in the Azores; a large sea fan paints the reef with color at Papua New Guinea’s South Emma Seamount.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BIOSPHOTO/ALAMY; RON STEINER/ALAMY; TOBIAS FRIEDRICH
YOU’LL NEVER GET B O R E D WATC H ING THE ENDLESS PA R A D E O F PELAGIC SPECIES, I N C LU D I N G HAMMERHEAD S H A R KS .
and barracuda swirl around the soft-coral-covered walls, where reef fish frolic en masse among sea fans and anemone gardens. Don’t spend all your time looking down at the reef, however, because manta rays and whale sharks frequently swoop in, buzzing the seamount like bomber planes. Hin Daeng also has a sister site, a pinnacle called Hin Muang, known for blankets of purple corals on its walls.
South Emma Seamount PA P U A N E W G U I N E A
Sitting within the biodiversity-blessed Coral
Triangle and along the Pacific Ring of Fire, Papua New Guinea offers the best of both worlds, with dramatic underwater formations that are blanketed by the world’s greatest biodiversity of coral and marine-life species. And of PNG’s myriad underwater hot spots, the South Emma Seamount, in New Britain Island’s Kimbe Bay, is arguably among the best. This open-ocean seamount is accessible both by day and liveaboard boats from the Walindi Plantation Resort. The top of the seamount reaches about 40 feet deep, where batfish swim in formation. Cruising around the perimeter, divers can find their fill of everything from schooling
jacks and reef sharks, to mind-bending critters like the legume-size pygmy seahorses that cling to gorgonians and psychedelic nudibranchs.
Princess Alice Bank AZORES
The volcanic Azores sit on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the longest mountain range in the world, which runs along the seam that separates the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. These cracks in Earth’s crust are sites of constant volcanic activity as the plates move away
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from each other, creating cracks in the seafloor where magma pushes up and forms a long line of mountains. A three-hour boat ride from Pico Island takes divers to an underwater mountaintop called the Princess Alice Bank, which rises from 8,000 feet deep to about 100 feet at the shallowest point. Called the “meeting place of the mobula rays,” the Princess Alice Bank is renowned for congregations of Atlantic manta rays, which flock to the banks to feed on the upwellings of nutrients brought by oceanic currents. Divers can also hang midwater to swim in the blue with schooling tuna, marlin, dolphins and sharks.
VOLCANOES
SEAMOUNTS
AT O L L S
Daedalus Reef RED SEA Like the Sea of Cortez, the Red Sea is a rift zone, this one between the African and Arabian tectonic plates. As these plates drift apart, slowly widening the space between them, they allow volcanic activity to arise from within Earth’s crust, forming islands along the fault. This is how open-ocean seamounts like Daedalus Reef arose in the deep waters of the Red Sea. It was likely a small island that amassed coral around its shores as the top eroded below the waterline. Today, it’s an oasis of coral rising from the depths where divers can drift along seemingly bottomless walls. Pristine technicolor corals stretch their arms into clear blue waters where large pelagics roam. It’s possible to spot anything from manta rays to thresher sharks at this bluewater outpost, but Daedalus is perhaps most renowned for frequent encounters with barrel-chested oceanic whitetips flanked by their entourages of convict-striped pilot fish.
PINNACLES
EIKO JONES
AT O L L S Ari Atoll MALDIVES
The entire Maldives island chain is perched atop the peaks of submarine volcanoes in the ChagosLaccadive Ridge, which stretches north to south across the Indian Ocean. These volcanic peaks accumulated coral reefs around their shores, then slowly eroded away, leaving a chain of atolls behind. The abundant reef structures and remote ocean location make the Maldives one of the most sought-after diving destinations in the world. And Ari Atoll — one of the country’s
26 natural atolls — is a great place to start. It comprises dozens of small islands with numerous distinct reefs creating bommies, pinnacles and barrier formations where divers can find a multitude of big animals, including manta rays and whale sharks. “Ari Atoll has some of the greatest channel dives; there are frequent shark and big-fish sightings,” says Angela Gitaprasaka, dive manager for the Four Seasons Resort Maldives. “Some of the underwater pinnacles there are flourishing with soft corals and an abundance of fish, though strong currents can make the dives challenging.”
Bikini Atoll MARSHALL ISLANDS
Bikini Atoll’s name recognition comes not from its pristine reefs but from the United States using the island for nuclear-bomb testing, along with the Castle Bravo hydrogenbomb test. Bikini Atoll’s remote location and the deepwater lagoon inside the atoll made it an ideal spot to test the effects of these bombs on warships. And to this day, the lagoon holds a stunning collection of wreck dives, including the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and the Japanese battleship
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HIJMS Nagato. It was only in 1996 that the radiation levels dropped enough to allow divers to finally visit these wrecks.
Clipperton Atoll FRENCH TERRITORY
Little-known Clipperton Atoll is an oddity given its location in the eastern Pacific. It’s located about 600 miles southeast of Socorro Island, and though it’s closest to Mexico, the barren, uninhabited island is a territory of France. It’s also not technically an atoll, even though it looks like one, because
FROM LEFT: An aerial view of Clipperton Atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean; it’s believed that Fakarava is the site where the highest density of gray reef sharks — shown here at night — ever was recorded; sea fans sway in the light current off Belize’s Turneffe Atoll.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHILLIP COLLA, BY PERMIT HC/1485/CAB (FRANCE); RENEE CAPOZZOLA; STOCKTREK IMAGES; INC/ALAMY
THE ABUNDANT REEF AND R E M OT E O C E A N LO C AT I O N MAKE THE MALDIVES ONE OF THE M O S T S O U G H TAFTER DIVING D E S T I N AT I O N S .
the lagoon is stagnant fresh water rather than seawater. Few divers have visited Clipperton, but the liveaboard Nautilus Explorer has begun offering trips here along with the Socorro Islands. The lowlying island has a barrier reef that drops to about 175 feet deep and is home to an endemic species, the Clipperton angelfish, and sees visits from sharks and rays.
Fakarava F R E N C H P O LY N E S I A
Fakarava is the quintessential atoll: A ring of reef topped by white sands and
coconut palms, with a lakecalm saltwater lagoon in the volcano’s crater and deepblue South Pacific waters on the outside. The lagoon is the second largest in the remote Tuamotu Islands of French Polynesia, and the entire atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Divers can hit the water at Tumakohua Pass, a narrow channel connecting the ocean to the lagoon where the tidal exchange creates a screaming-fast, 4-knot drift dive. Divers start in the open sea and swim toward the mouth of the pass, right into a veritable wall of reef sharks that hang out at the mouth of the channel.
The flow takes you through the channel, sweeping past vibrant coral walls packed with Napoleon wrasse, before popping you out the other side in the calm waters of the lagoon.
Turneffe Atoll BELIZE
The Caribbean Sea atoll formations in Belize are the only ones in the Western Hemisphere, but they didn’t form around volcanic islands like those in the Pacific. These unique atolls are karst limestone structures shaped by the rise and fall of
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sea levels during the last ice age. The result was a handful of atoll-like structures like Turneffe Atoll, which comprises numerous small islands around a shallow lagoon, with steep drop-offs on the outside. Turneffe Atoll sits in the open ocean, on the outer edge of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, where large pelagics such as jacks cruise in from deeper water. At its current-swept southern tip, the Elbow is a favorite wall dive, where divers can find seasonal aggregations of snapper and grouper. And throughout the protected atoll, divers enjoy encounters with turtles, rays and eels.
VOLCANOES
SEAMOUNTS
AT O L L S
Tubbataha PHILIPPINES The remote Tubbataha Reefs in the Philippines’ Sulu Sea are true atolls, formerly the peaks of volcanoes along the undersea Cagayan Ridge. The Tubbataha region is both a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, accessible only by liveaboard during the March-to-June dive season. Diving at Tubbataha offers a vast buffet of everything the Coral Triangle has to offer, from steep walls and bluewater dives with sharks and schooling barracuda to shipwrecks and macro diving with tiny critters like pygmy seahorses and ghost pipefish. At the renowned Shark Airport dive site, on the North Atoll, a shallow plateau drops into the blue at 80 feet, where whitetip reef sharks cruise the ledge among jacks, rainbow runners and sea turtles. And lava formations dominate the scenery at Black Rock, with huge Napoleon wrasse poking around for crabs and sea urchins.
PINNACLES
ALEX MUSTARD
P I N NAC L E S Eye of the Needle SABA
The volcanic origin of the tiny Caribbean island of Saba is quickly apparent above and below the water, with sheer rock cliffs plunging into deep blue waters, creating stellar undersea walls alongside an underwater playground of peaks and spires. The decades-old Saba Marine Park rings the entire island, reaches to a depth of 200 feet and encompasses about 30 dive sites, many of which feature dramatic vertical walls and open-ocean pinnacles. One of Saba’s most impressive pinnacles is the Eye of the Needle, a rocky spire that peaks 90
feet underwater. To reach it, divers drop down at the site Third Encounter. “Just a few kick cycles from the Third Encounter plateau, the Needle emerges from the blue,” says Lynn Costenaro of Sea Saba Dive Center. “Every inch is covered with life — sponges, corals, juvenile spotted drum, burrowing eels, banded coral shrimp and perhaps a resident turtle.”
Sisters Rocks TOBAGO
Just outside Tobago’s picturesque Bloody Bay, Sisters Rocks are five rocky islets that rise from about
200 feet, breaking the surface like shark’s fins above the blue water. The area is divided into two sections for divers, the Inner and Outer Sisters, with sheer rock faces on the outer sides. This collection of pillars is swept by currents, making them one of the few places in the Caribbean where divers can enjoy frequent encounters with big animals such as manta rays, hammerheads and whale sharks. The rocky terrain also offers ample hiding places for smaller creatures such as lobsters, crabs and octopuses, and you can also spot beautiful reef species like the flameback angelfish among the swaying sea fans and gorgonians.
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Scott’s Head DOMINICA
The island of Dominica is part of the Lesser Antilles, a north-to-south chain of volcanoes that marks the eastern edge of the Caribbean. And the “Nature Island” has plenty of geothermal activity — including its famous mountain lake that boils and steams within the rainforest — and dive sites that bubble as volcanic gases escape from the seafloor. Of all Dominica’s dive sites, Scott’s Head Pinnacle is one of its most famous, a spire along the edge of the undersea caldera that forms Soufriere Bay on the island’s southwestern end. The dive
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Divers explore Steve’s Bommie on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef; soldierfish dart about the reef on Scott’s Head in Dominica; small fishes and colorful corals seemingly fill the ocean at Watu Balu in Indonesia.
such as nudibranchs and anemone shrimp, to big animals, such as sharks, tuna and mola mola, cruising the blue water. Look for frogfish — master ambush predators camouflaged among the corals — and sea kraits, a type of venomous sea snake.
Steve’s Bommie
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BRANDON COLE; REINHARD DIRSCHERL/ALAMY; RENEE CAPOZZOLA
AUSTRALIA
often starts at a spot called Swiss Cheese — named for its caves filled with soldierfish — then crosses a saddle to the pinnacle, which is packed with sponges and gorgonians where you can find sea horses, frogfish and turtles.
Maaya Thila MALDIVES
The underwater terrain of the Maldives is so varied that there are local names for the different types of formations divers will find. A thila is an undersea pinnacle that sits completely below the surface of the water, while a giri is a pinnacle
that rises to the surface, and a faru is a small atoll that extends above the surface. Thilas are often exposed to strong currents, offering great chances to spot big animals cruising by in the open ocean. One of the most renowned thilas in the Maldives is Maaya Thila, located near Ari Atoll (see page 64). This pinnacle rises to about 30 feet below the surface of the water, where brilliantly colored coral gardens wave in the currents. Overhangs and swim-throughs pockmark the sides, creating a stepped formation with ledges and varying depths. Sharks are regular visitors here, including gray reef sharks and elusive oceanic whitetips.
Watu Balu INDONESIA
In the remote East of Flores region of Indonesia, volcanic formations dominate the scenery, including the highly active peak of Komba Island (page 58). Near Rusa Island, there’s a small rocky islet that can be pummeled by strong currents, but the reward is staggeringly rich reefs feeding from the strong flow. Named Watu Balu, this rock seems nondescript at the surface, but slip below and you’re immediately greeted by massive swarms of anthias. There’s something for every diver on this pinnacle, from the tiniest macro critters,
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Steve’s Bommie is an iconic Great Barrier Reef bommie in the Ribbon Reefs, north of Cairns. This isolated pinnacle rises from 100 feet to 15 feet below the surface, and it attracts an abundance of both large fish and small macro species. Sharp-eyed divers can look for ornate critters like glittering pipefish, clownfish in their anemone homes and a wide array of colorful nudibranchs. Also keep an eye out for wobbegong sharks. These ambush predators have tassels on their faces to help them blend among the rocks and seaweeds. Divers can make a circular dive around the bommie. Start by descending to the bases, where you can see the memorial plaque to “Steve” embedded in the reef. Then make a slow spiral upward, exploring cracks and crevices while circumnavigating the bommie. Cap off the dive with a safety stop amid the coral gardens at the top of the bommie.
The humpback whale’s haunting call draws you in, but unlike the sirens of myth, Maui and Lanai still deliver, with unrelenting dive highlights BY BECCA HURLEY
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am not in Maui for an hour before I see my first humpback. I catch a glimpse of it breaching out of the corner of my eye — just off the beach its tail smacks down on the ocean’s surface. This is a good sign, I think as I drive down the highway to Kaanapali Shores in my silver Mustang GT rental. Within minutes of completing that thought — smack! — two more whale tails pound the water’s surface. It’s February in Hawaii’s Valley Isle, and humpbacks are on my mind. I’ve been told that these waters are like whale soup this time of year and that you’d be hard-pressed to miss a whale if you’re within sight of the ocean. The humpbacks migrate to the Maui area every year between November and May, with February being peak season — with luck I might even see one on a dive, so I’m told. Thanks to the hilly drive from the airport to the Aston Kaanapali Shores, I’ve had my first few sightings, but certainly not my last. This condo-style hotel room overlooking the ocean will be home for the next few days as I dive with Hawaiian Rafting Adventures Inc./Dive Maui. Although Maui is in the name, this
operation merely docks and operates out of the Lahaina Harbor area. The real treat is zooming over to Maui’s sister island, Lanai, in a military-style RIB each day to experience some of the best dive sites these waters have to offer. The trip across the Auau Channel to Lanai takes about 45 minutes to an hour depending on what sites you dive. “This boat was built for comfort,” says owner Steve Juarez. He wasn’t lying. As much as I love to dive, I often find the boat experience to be a bit uncomfortable — but not on Hoku. Juarez even created a custom tank-storage system that doubles as a cushioned backrest. No sore backs or bruised bums on this boat. The ride goes by too quickly this time of year; we pass the time Clockwise: A by looking out for the humpblackside hawkbacks that fill the channel. fish on its coral We watch cow-and-calf perch; divers enter Second Cathedral pairs playing at the surface, off Lanai; and Capt. Steve stops for a Haleakala Crater. bit so we can get a closer look, but not too close because these whales are protected in Hawaiian waters. Boats must maintain a safe distance and refrain from approaching. We arrive at our first stop, Steve’s Cave — the site is fittingly named after Juarez himself, who’s been diving Lanai’s sites and maintaining their moorings for more than 35 years. The visibility here is excellent, ofto explain this to my boss? That’s all I can ten exceeding 100 feet, and a huge school think about in between the seasickness of snapper greets us upon descent. With a on our ride back to Maui as we spot whale depth around 50 feet, it’s easy to extend after whale playing in the chop. It hasn’t your bottom time at this site where you been scientifically proven, but my theory can consistently see two giant yellow is that the choppier the surface, the more frogfish, octopuses, squirrelfish and enactive the whales are — and the more acdemic milletseed butterflyfish all while tive my stomach is. Despite a rough start cruising in and out of swim-throughs. to the trip, I was determined to stick Next stop: First Cathedral, arguably to my itinerary and make my whalethe most famous site in the Lanai area watching dinner-cruise reservation that and the site I was most eager to explore. night. Back on land, I did the exact oppoUnfortunately, I couldn’t keep my site of what my gut told me and boarded lunch down in between dives and skipped the Pacific Whale Foundation vessel for out on our second dive. How am I going an evening of cruising near shore to learn 72 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DAVID FLEETHAM (2); ISTOCKPHOTO
more about the humpback migration to Maui each year. We’re lucky to see quite a few whale tails and pec slaps as well as mom-and-calf pairs showing off in the sunset. It’s a perfect evening spent admiring the beauty of the coastline and marine animals that call it home. On Day Two, my prayers are answered. Calm seas allow the crew to run the boat farther than normal, all the way around to the southernmost end of Lanai to dive Lighthouse Point. It’s on this side of Lanai that Juarez claims they’ve seen a whale shark cruising by in the past. (continued on page 76)
Sunrise at Haleakala For those who are willing to sacrifice a little bit of sleep, catching the sunrise at the summit of Haleakala — one of the two volcanoes that form Maui — is a signature experience. Skip the group tour and drive yourself to the summit at 10,023 feet. Make sure to apply for a permit online; this allows you access to the national park in the early hours to park your car and make the short walk up the observatory steps to the highest viewing location. It will be cold, regardless of the season, so layer up. A warm hat and gloves will be your best friend. Don’t let this list of tips deter you — watching the sun rise on top of a volcano will be one of the most magical experiences of your life. And be sure to arrive early so you have time to stargaze.
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DAVID FLEETHAM
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TIPS FOR DIVING MAUI To maximize your Maui experience, keep these tips in mind when planning your trip. Rent a car Having the freedom to drive yourself to and from the dive shop on your own terms is worth it, but having a rental car on Maui also opens up the door to great topside activities. Cruising the coastline in your convertible is an experience in itself, and driving the Road to Hana is a must. Stay in a condo Most of the hotels double as condo properties. When you are traveling with dive gear, it’s nice to have the extra space as well as the amenities of a kitchen and laundry room. Beat the breeze Although Hawaii is known for its sunshine, the trade winds between islands can create quite the breeze on the dive boat. Make sure to pack a boat jacket or warm clothes to wear during surface intervals. For more info, go to sportdiver .com/hawaii
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Endemic Marine Life of Maui
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It’s estimated that more than 20 percent of Hawaiian reef fishes are endemic. Spend enough time diving here, and you’ll find your favorites. 1] Hawaiian milletseed butterflyfish This fish is so curious it will swim right up to your camera’s dome port. These easily recognizable fish are seen at most Hawaiian dive sites.
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I hope it’s here that I get my chance to see a humpback — a diver can dream, right? This site is full of life, featuring sea turtles, sleeping whitetip reef sharks, octopuses, three different species of eels and, of course, the Hawaiian milletseed butterflyfish. I surface from the dive, ready to find out where we are off to next as I hear my fellow divers talking about the songs of the humpback whales. Did we just dive the same site, or am I hard of hearing? It’s on our next dive that I have my chance for redemption — we are headed back to First Cathedral. I back-roll in, the anticipation building up to this moment. The site is every bit as ethereal as I imagined. I see where the site got its name with the way the light shines through holes and cracks in the ceiling of the lavatube formation. I feel a complete sense
2] Hawaiian tiger cowry This subspecies of the tiger cowry is abundant in the waters surrounding Hawaii. Some of the world’s largest tiger cowry shells — which were used as currency at one point — are found here. 3] Hawaiian sergeant major It is common on dive sites throughout Lanai and Maui to find male Hawaiian sergeant majors defending purplish-red patches of eggs, usually laid on a bare rock.
of calm as I snap photo after balcony while taking in the Slate pencil sea photo, trying to get the posisunset and whale action on urchins protrude from hard corals tioning of the light reflecting my last night before heading as black triggerfish off a silhouetted diver just to Wailea. swim about a right. The lava-tube cavern My third and final day Hawaiian reef. is just the main attraction — of diving off Lanai was full of the site is full of busy marine life, more endemic species, such as from hungry turtles to sponge crabs, the tiger cowry shell that was particnudibranchs and even a frogfish approularly abundant at the Shark Fin Rock priately named Big Red by Juarez. At my site. The lava that once flowed through safety stop, I see an eel has formed an each site carved a different path, making alliance with a trevally to hunt around the topography of every site unique. The the reef — watching the pair is a very endemic species and almost guaranteed entertaining way to pass the time. turtle sightings are just the icing on the Back at the dive shop, I take Juarez’s cake. I round out my Lanai diving at Secadvice and stop at the local Food Lion for ond Cathedral — the cathedral that’s less the freshest Hawaiian poke on the island. famous but arguably just as spectacular. The local grocery store carries at least 10 A large cavern makes it feel as if there different types of poke — a raw-fish salad are multiple levels to this site. If you — seasoned from sweet to spicy. This will enter the cavern near the ocean floor be the perfect meal to enjoy from my you’ll get a sense of grandeur that doesn’t 76 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
DAVID FLEETHAM/ALAMY. OPPOSITE, FROM TOP: DESIGN PICS INC/ALAMY; MARINUSE UNDERWATER/ALAMY; DAVID FLEETHAM/ALAMY
THE ENDEMIC SPECIE S A ND A LMOST GUA R A NTEED TU RTLE SIGHTINGS A R E J U ST THE IC ING ON THE CA K E . exist near the top, where the rock snakes back and forth in an underwater maze. I take my time going through the cavern filming the different entryways and squirrelfish tucked away in the cracks. Back at Dive Maui, we watch a slide show of the week’s photos on Juarez’s monitor. He’s an avid photographer, with the largest stock of underwater camera gear I’ve seen on island. He makes a point to photograph each diver, his or her souvenir from Maui. We chat for a bit about his weekend plans to take his grandkids out for ice cream, and we promise to keep in touch as he hands me a USB drive full of photos from the week. I walk away
without seeing a humpback underwater but feeling as if I’m part of the Dive Maui family. With the cozy shop in my rearview mirror, I head down the coast to Wailea, a popular resort area and the launching point for dives to Molokini Crater. It’s at the Aston at Maui Banyan — another condo-style resort — that I realize if your room doesn’t come with a picturesque balcony, full kitchen and supplies for the ultimate beach getaway, you’re staying in the wrong place. I head out to have dinner with another local dive legend, Ed Robinson — owner and operator of Ed Robinson’s Diving Adventures. Over pizza and beer he tells me the story S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 77
of how he came to Maui from Southern California in 1971 and just never left, a common tale on island. Robinson makes sure to dive with the crew of Sea Spirit weekly. On my first morning out with the crew, Capt. Joe and divemaster Dave gush about the humpback whales they saw just last week at the site we are headed to — Enenue, an advanced partial-drift dive that runs along the corner to the backside of Molokini Crater. This site is famous for its shark condos that sit down around 120 to 130 feet where resting whitetips like to hang out. We stop briefly, but since we’re
DI V ING THIS SITE IS LIK E A N U NDERWATER EASTER EGG HU NT — I COULD R ETU R N AGA IN A ND AGA IN A ND STILL FEEL I’ M MIS SING SOMETHING . diving on air we continue to drift along, spotting big spiny lobsters, anemones and large trevally, all while listening to the mesmerizing sound of humpbacks singing — the first time I’ve heard the unforgettable sound. It gets so loud at one point, I think a whale is going to appear right in front of me. I’m smiling so big that my mask starts to leak. I’m not hard of hearing after all; this is what they sound like! Back on Sea Spirit, Lorraine — a A couple of diver from Toronto — recalls a time green sea turtles in her past 12 years of diving with relax as they’re cleaned by a the Ed Robinson’s crew that she group of goldring was lucky enough to encounter a surgeonfish. mother humpback and calf underwater. “I could have wept. It was such an amazing experience,” she says. A sandy bottom with lava rocks and nudibranchs galore greet us at Red Hill. The sounds of the humpbacks are even louder here, and Dave shows us four frogfish gathered on one rock. I try every angle possible but can’t fit them all in one photo. Diving this site is like an underwater Easter egg hunt — I could return again and again and still feel I’m missing something. Since the sites around Molokini are a short distance from the small boat ramp from which the Ed Robinson’s crew launches, we are back to the dock before lunch, leaving almost a full day for exploring topside. As the crew cleans the boat, Dave shares his story. “I traded in my climbing pack for a scuba BC and never looked back,” says the climber from Colorado. That was 14 years ago. Maui got another one. It’s easy to see why divers and travelers are drawn to the island. My last day of diving includes two more dives at the backside of Molokini, a manta ray sighting, a gray reef shark cleaning station, and more nudibranchs and eels than you can count. Unlike many of the people I’ve encountered during this trip to Maui, I’m returning home. I didn’t get that elusive underwater encounter with a humpback, but its song will haunt me until I return. 78 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
DAVID FLEETHAM
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Divers shine a light on the steam turbine of the SMS Lutzow, a World War I wreck from the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea.
A CENTURY UNDER THE SEA More than 100 years af ter the Battle of Jutland unfolded in the Nor th Sea, a team of divers sur veys the remnants of WWI’s largest naval conflict
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY RENÉ B. ANDERSEN
F I N A L LY D O W N A T T H E A N C H O R , W E A R E LY I N G I N T H E M I D D L E OF THE HMS DEFENCE. ong rows of artillery from both sides still point out over the railing as though they are scouting for the enemy. But in reality, it has been lying on the seafloor for more than a hundred years after going down with 903 men in what is still described as the world’s largest naval battle.
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The Battle of Jutland took place May 31 through June 1, 1916, in the thick of World War I, when the English and German navies squared off about 80 miles from the coast of Jutland, Denmark. The Germans’ goal was to break the English blockade for good, while the Royal Navy wanted the Germans completely out of the war. Two-hundred forty-nine ships took part in the battle, which lasted two days. Twenty-five ships sank and 8,500 sailors died during the battle. Both sides claimed victory. Though the German fleet was outgunned by its British adversaries, the Germans succeeded in sinking more ships. The British, however, had a strategic victory: the German fleet retreated to harbor for the remainder of the war and never mounted another serious challenge. THE EX PEDITION
It was Stef Teuwen, from the World Underwater Federation, who organized the expedition to draw attention to the Battle of Jutland’s centennial. They booked Commandant Fourcault to get us there, a diver’s dream. The ship is 180 feet long, with a helicopter, pressure chamber, three RIBs, two cranes and the ability to accommodate up to 32 tec divers. We took full advantage of the amenities during the first three days, exploring the SMS Frauenlob, SMS Lutzow and HMS Queen Mary. While a flooded computer, faulty RIB and unfavorable viz thwarted
From left: One of seven turrets that stand on the HMS Defence; divers look at a blueprint of the HMS Queen Mary.
WA R -T O R N W R E C K S Dozens of ships sank during the Battle of Jutland, and we were fortunate enough to explore four other wrecks other than the Defence. Here are the highlights. SMS Frauenlob We head down the descent line and reach the wreckage around 155 feet, but the conditions are totally disappointing. It’s dark, and with visibility at less than 10 feet, it’s difficult to get an overview of the shipwreck. It doesn’t help that 25 of us are swimming around a mud bottom, but we’re able to see large guns, ammunition and portholes. SMS Lutzow This former battle cruiser looks terrible during the first 65 feet, but then we see the remnants of war: ammunition everywhere, either loose or stacked in three to four layers. We pass through the steam turbines and a recoil absorber to one of the big 12-inch guns in the stern, and see one of the propeller shafts.
HMS Queen Mary We swim along the railing for some time when we finally see the 13.5-inch turret lying upside down, though you can’t see the barrel. Throughout the rest of the dive, we see parts of the propellers. The best way to describe the wreck is that it’s the sum of its parts — loose iron parts and twisted plates. HMS Invincible The squadron’s flagship battle cruiser now lies on a sandy bottom at 165 feet. The visibility is good, so we follow the others over the wreck, out against the stern. Suddenly, the turret appears, out of which jut its twin 12-inch gun barrels. The gun still stands, the top of its turret blown off. We swim toward the bow, and the only things we see are the ship’s boilers.
some of the diving, we enjoyed surveying the wrecks and were pleased to see propellers and layers of ammunition frozen in time after decades on the ocean floor. But the highlight of the trip, and the wreck that best represented the epic battle, was the HMS Defence. THE CROW N JEW EL
A British battle cruiser built in 1907, the 490-foot HMS Defence was the final armored cruiser built for the Royal Navy. It was supposedly designed to sail after ships of weaker naval powers to protect British world interests, so speed and firepower were its key attributes. During the Battle of Jutland, it was part of the first cross group with three armored cruiser groups. Its commander made a mistake when he went for the crippled SMS Wiesbaden, which was stationary without engine power but still able to fire torpedoes. Maneuvering at high speed, the ship nearly had several collisions, but even worse is that it was exposed to the advancing German first reconnaissance group and battle fleet. The ship underwent a full-on assault, and the inevitable happened — the Defence burst in a fiery explosion and sank with 903 men on board. The wreck looks impressive on the sonar image, and with 82 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
improved visibility and light conditions, we’re very excited to dive. The descent line is tied amidships, so we almost descend on top of a 7.5-inch turret. It’s impressive to swim along the deck and see one turret after another on both sides. On some of the turrets, the top is blown off, and inside there is still ammunition standing along the walls ready to be loaded into the heavy naval guns. We see a large portion of the wreck — ranging from 145 to 165 feet — including the location where the rear magazine ignited during the battle, leaving messy wreckage for us to explore. Farther down the stern, we reach the double-barreled 9.2-inch gun of which the top and one of the barrels was blown off. After the dive, there’s much enthusiasm on board, and when the organizer suggests we stay here an extra day, there are no objections. On the second dive, we use scooters to get around and see the whole wreck, plus save some time to find photo subjects. Down on the wreck, we reach the bow and instantly see the boilers and lower part of the 9.2-inch double-barreled gun turret. Right in front of it, there’s a large hole in the wreck that leads right down to the seabed. Both capstans are pressed slightly up, and we can peer into where the chain is. Swimming around the bow, we see the ship bottom is torn up, so the gears from
the capstan are free — great forces that have been unleashed by the explosion. We see it much more clearly here because there’s good visibility compared with our other dives. We return the next day for dive No. 3 at the Defence. Loose objects — portholes, lanterns, china, ammunition — are strewn across the wreck. Now it’s time to see what else is hidden. Below deck at the stern cannons, the wreck is broken at both ends, so there is good light and space, letting us penetrate the wreck and find remnants of machine tools, lantern glass, lamps and portholes. We find a tunnel under the deck, where space is a little more cramped, but it’s littered with bottles of all kinds. On the starboard side lies one of the shafts and propellers. I find a tunnel with several boxes the size of suitcases. We’re later told that they were used to transport ammunition. After swimming around and looking into holes and cracks, we discover many wolffish on the wreck. Other than the dead man’s fingers fungus on the high points of the wreck, this is the only life we see. After four dives on the wreck, I still don’t think we’ve seen it all. Even after all of these years on the ocean floor, these historic ships still have a story to tell.
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The fireman: Amputee Paul Zanelli, whose story continues on page 86, used diving with his kids as motivation for recovery.
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NO In the face of life-changing ordeals — an amputated leg, spina bifida, paralysis caused by a rare disease and post-traumatic stress disorder — these four divers overcame more than the usual set of challenges associated with getting scuba certified. Now, diving provides an escape and outlet for giving back. Paul Zanelli, Ryan Chalmers, Cody Unser and Shane Yost are inspirations to all divers.
STORY BY BROOKE MORTON P H O T O S B Y Z A C H S T O VA L L
THE FIR EM A N “THE DOCTOR SAID TO ME, ‘YOU NEED THIS,’” says Paul Zanelli of the
advice that tipped him in favor of following through on a Kids Sea Camp Dominica reservation he and his family had booked for spring 2017. An accident weeks earlier resulted in the amputation of Zanelli’s right leg below the knee. Immediately after, all he had were questions. “Did I need two legs? Could I swim with one? Yeah … I was scared.” Zanelli and his wife, Cindy, of Tewksbury, New Jersey, had a history of diving together before having two children. With the young ones finally old enough to get certified, they’d only recently become a family that dives together. And the thought of diving again inspired Zanelli. “Once I had a plan, my life was back on track. I said to myself, ‘Let’s move on. Let’s go.’” Zanelli, a fireman and EMT for 36 years, returned to what he knew how to do: overcome obstacles. Step one, after physical therapy, was to find a prosthesis that would work underwater. Check. He calls it his “cool leg.” Next Step Orthopedics makes the model designed to flex like his other foot does. “I press the button and it moves my ankle to a 75-degree angle.” Zanelli also had the foresight to replace some of his old gear he’d used when drysuit diving. Gone were the thick, heavy fins and back-plateand-harness-style BC. Along with lighter fins, he chose a full BC, which would allow him to drop weights in case of an emergency. He also bought webbed gloves, and Margo Peyton, founder of Kids Sea Camp, arranged for a divemaster trained in adaptive scuba to dive alongside Zanelli. “I felt safe — but almost too safe, like I was in a bubble,” says Zanelli of the moments leading up to his first attempt to re-enter the water. Five minutes later, Zanelli knew he’d be a diver still. “Once my buoyancy was good, the feeling was euphoria,” he says. “And I couldn’t help but think, Damn, this is easy. I had to switch a few things, but it was like riding a bike. I don’t think there has been a happier moment in my life.” That euphoria was shared by the whole family. Says Cindy, “It was a big high for us to feel like we were a family that could dive together again. And some of Paul’s doctors had said there was no way he was going diving.” But as Zanelli says, “I was taught a long time ago that no is not in my vocabulary. Now, the hospital wants me to start a program for people with amputations. Most people don’t recover from an amputation well. Some people in wheelchairs are given a prosthesis and are too afraid to use it.” Zanelli knows a lot about recovery. Out of the hospital, he started physical therapy and lost 67 pounds. With little muscle left, he could barely walk. “I was scared to fall, but if I can succeed, you can succeed,” he says. “To anyone with an amputation, I ask you to just take that first step on your prosthesis. And from there, there really are no limits.”
T H E F O U N DAT I O N
Ocean Wishes When Margo Peyton, of Kids Sea Camp, heard about Paul Zanelli’s accident and ensuing amputation, she worked to make sure he could attend his scheduled trip to Dominica, making arrangements for an accessible room, Handicapped Scuba Association instructor and underwater scooter to help with his mobility. She helped make this happen through the not-for-profit foundation Ocean Wishes, which supports a variety of marine-conservation and dive-related causes and organizations. oceanwishes.org 86 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
IT WASN’T UNTIL PARALYMPIAN Ryan
Chalmers, born with spina bifida, started his Rescue Diver training that he found the sport of scuba challenging. Specifically, it was the drill of bringing an unresponsive diver from 30 feet to the surface and onto a boat. “My feet were floating, and it was taking forever to bring the person up,” says Chalmers. “But I couldn’t just say, ‘I’m giving up on this.’” To adapt, he started first with 1-pound ankle weights to keep his legs beneath him. “But I knew I didn’t want to use those on a regular basis. I don’t like to use any equipment that would be different in any way [from other divers].” That scuba is a great equalizer — regardless of physical ability — is, in large part, what connected Chalmers with the sport when he was 15.
NO LIMITS
T H E F O U N DAT I O N
StayFocused When Roger Muller’s brother Bobby came home from the Vietnam War a paraplegic at age 22, the result of a gunshot wound, it wasn’t until the two went diving that Muller saw relief and freedom on his sibling’s face. After that dive, Muller founded a public charity specializing in taking people with paralysis diving in Grand Cayman. The organization, based in New York, focuses on teens between the ages of 13 and 19 because, says Chalmers, “at those ages, participants can build a lot of confidence with diving.” stay-focused.org
THE PA R A LY MPI A N
Chalmers was born with spina bifida, which often results in an inability to walk. Chalmers was also born with an inner drive to win, leading him to complete a 3,500-mile wheelchair push across the United States. As a child, he’d been relegated to using crutches when playing baseball and a host of other sports, so when he began diving, what he noticed first is that “it was a sport I could do that required no adaptive equipment. Yes, I dive with my arms and others dive with their legs. But other than that, I am doing the exact same thing that they are. The moment I realized that changed my life.” Chalmers was recruited to the scuba world by Roger Muller, founder of Stay-Focused, an organization introducing teenagers with physical disabilities to scuba. Muller had attended
one of Chalmers’ sporting events and recognized immediately that the teen would be a good match for the program. “I knew when I first met Ryan that he was potentially going to be the person who was very much involved in the organization,” says Muller. “Lo and behold, 12 years later, here we are.” Currently, Chalmers works as Muller’s right-hand man, prepping to take over Muller’s position when he retires in the distant future. Until then, Chalmers stays heavily involved in the program, buddying with participants and helping them feel quickly at ease thanks to his knack for inspiring others to keep going — namely because he has never been a quitter. Someone else might have been content using ankle weights to get a passing mark on that rescue drill, but not Chalmers, S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 87
who represented the United States at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. “I needed to have the dive instructors involved in Stay-Focused be confident in me without them needing to look over my shoulder, so I knew I had to figure out a way to adapt.” And so he kept at it. “I worked on my breathing, and I found that if I exhale more than I normally do, my legs sink underneath me,” says Chalmers. “If I do a shallower breath, my legs shift downward, and I’m able to help in that scenario. It’s all about keeping my balance.” But beyond learning a lesson in balancing, Chalmers sets a powerful example. He adds, “Scuba isn’t for everyone, but because it’s such a great way to challenge yourself, nothing else compares when it comes to building confidence.”
THE GI V ER CODY UNSER, DAUGHTER OF RACE-CAR driver and
two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr., lost the use of her legs at age 12, when she was suddenly stricken with transverse myelitis. This neurological condition inflames the spinal cord, resulting in symptoms including loss of motor skills in the limbs. Unser struggled to adjust upon returning home from rehab. “I was angry, confused and really upset all the time,” she says. “I didn’t want to live in this paralyzed body. They’d been teaching me how to live in a wheelchair, but it felt like they were teaching me how to live in a box.” Her brother Al Unser III hated seeing her like that, and stepped up to motivate her. “I still knew she could do anything she wanted,” says Unser III. “There was just going to be a different way that she had to do it.” To show her what he already knew, he brought her poolside, then tied his own legs together and swam. Then, he says, “I grabbed her and said, ‘C’mon.’” And so she did. The next step was for Cody to try scuba. Unser III, already scuba certified, encouraged her every step during a trip to Cozumel, Mexico. “I hated it at first,” she says. “The wetsuit is really annoying to put on. And I don’t have abs or sensation in my trunk area, which makes it much harder to know if I’m neutrally buoyant.” It took her an extra beat to feel confident in her skills, including clearing the mask. “But the frustration of doing the skills in the water took me out of the frustrations of being paralyzed,” says Cody. “And from there, I started to see that diving is a really cool thing to do.” Says Unser III, “This one thing improved her whole outlook on life. She could have chosen to just travel everywhere she wanted to dive, but that’s not Cody. When Cody was in the hospital [when she first was diagnosed], she always had all kinds of stuff — flowers and teddy bears — from being my dad’s daughter. She was always sharing as much of it as she could with other people who were going through what she was going through.” That’s how she is with scuba too. She formed the Cody Unser First Step Foundation initially to raise awareness for her little-known disease, then expanded the focus to include teaching participants with physical challenges, including paralysis in all four limbs, how to scuba dive. Says Unser III, “I was proud when she got certified, but I feel a much bigger sense of pride when I see how selfless my sister is in showing other people the thing she has come to love so much.”
T H E F O U N DAT I O N
The Cody Unser First Step Foundation Based in Cody Unser’s hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico, this foundation strives to integrate kids and adults with disabilities into the world of diving. Known as Cody’s Great Scuba Adventures, each trip is to a different warm-water location. On every one, participants bring a loved one to get certified with them, alongside a PADI instructor and a Handicapped Scuba Association course director. Unser’s foundation also certifies therapists working with Johns Hopkins University so that they too can begin to understand the physical-healing aspects of scuba, and then incorporate it more readily as a modality of therapy for more patients with disabilities. codysfirststep.org
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NO LIMITS
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NO LIMITS
THE V ETER A N SHANE YOST WAS TERRIFIED of the water.
His ankle bears a tattoo of a line with the words Do not fill above this line. He wasn’t comfortable exceeding that depth, and he lived by it. But on a day out from the Aspire Center, a veteran residential rehabilitation treatment program based in San Diego, he put aside that fear when a girl meekly asked if someone could join her boogie boarding. “One of my weaknesses is when someone asks me to do something,” says Yost. So he crept into the ocean — and stayed there. Thirty minutes passed, and the post-traumatic stress disorder survivor realized he’d started having fun. Next came an invite from a friend to go snorkeling. One taste of swimming with seals and sea lions and Yost was hooked, devoting every weekend to his newfound hobby. “I started buying extra gear off Craigslist and inviting other Aspire Center people, and 30 people would show up,” he says. “I wanted these guys to find something that they enjoyed in life.” Then, in October 2016, Yost learned about the Wounded Warrior Project when another graduate of the Aspire Center suggested he give scuba a try. “I got in the pool and the fear came,” says Yost. “I started freaking out in the shallow end just breathing underwater. “But I hate having fears. Fear pisses me off.” And so he consented to trying scuba in the ocean. Luckily, something clicked. “As soon as we went in the ocean, the fear went away. I was in a different world. It wasn’t dark and scary. There was no boogeyman. It’s a wonderful place, and I was so in awe.”
Now, Yost is an instructor in the Diveheart program, working toward having 30 adapted dives under his belt, which would greenlight him to teach, passing the gift of diving to other vets. “For me, scuba is a reset button. I can have all this stress and anxiety, and sometimes when I reach the ocean, part of me wants to just sit there and be miserable,” says Yost, who struggled with depression and other symptoms after returning home from serving in Iraq. “The PTSD manifests as anger or aggression or depression, so there have been a lot of ups and downs,” Yost says. “I lost my mind, and I’ve had suicide attempts.” But Yost knows what’s waiting for him under the water’s surface, so when he sets aside time to shore-dive, he makes it a point to follow through. “Scuba helps me center all of that. It’s like meditation. I’m a really high-strung guy and can’t sit down,” he says. “But underwater, I can stop and just be in my own world, just feeling the water surge flow back and forth. It’s like an out-ofbody experience.” And maybe, in a way, he has left the body of the person he was after returning home from the Iraq War. Says Travis Adams, who introduced Yost to scuba, “When I first met Shane, he was close-minded to pretty much everything. He can be very intense, but after he started diving, he was always smiling, joking and laughing. “And now he’s putting himself out there, encouraging other people to see scuba as a form of self-care that shuts off all the noise.” The words inked on his ankle no longer seem to fit. Says Yost, “Now, if I’m not by or in the water, I don’t feel right.”
T H E F O U N DAT I O N
Diveheart Working with any child, adult or veteran with a disability, Diveheart provides educational scuba diving programs to foster emotional, psychological and physical well-being. Founded by Jim Elliott, this nonprofit is based in Downers Grove, Illinois, and run entirely by volunteers. One of the largest adaptive-scuba organizations, Diveheart is able to offer trainings throughout the country, including weekly ongoing programs in several locations in Illinois, as well as monthly trainings in South Florida. diveheart.org
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baja’s beautiful sea At the end of Baja California Sur lies a point
where the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez converge,
and the personalities that frequent these waters
make a lasting impression on visiting divers
Ă— by andy zunz
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: FRANCIS PEREZ; CHRISTIAN VIZL/ TANDEMSTOCK; BRANDON COLE; CLAUDIO CONTRERAS KOOB
Before I could e ven see them , I could he ar them . And , oh boy , could I smell them . Arf! Arf! Arfs fill the air as we slowly pull up to the San Rafaelito sea lion colony, a 20-yard-wide rocky islet off the coast of La Paz, Mexico, that’s home to a gang of unruly sea lions, a small lighthouse and, apparently, a sizable amount of bird poop. Just as I’m considering whether it’s about time to relieve my stomach of its growingly burdensome breakfast, we make our way around to the opposite side of the colony — downwind — and all is well with the world once again. The smell is gone, but the sea lions yap away, growing our group’s excitement with each melodic squeal. I’m hesitant to approach a pup, unlike my camera-toting companions, who are loving every second spent with these attention-seeking models. But that’s not an issue — before I can get within 20 feet of the rock, a sea lion singles me California out. Ready or not, it’s time to play. sea lions come together It zips toward me as I cowardly hold out my GoPro in colonies along — as a filming device or sacrificial gift? Either works. the rocky coast of Just as I tense up and brace for a collision, the pinBaja California for breeding and niped bolts to the right and up. Splat. It smacks the birthing. surface of the water just in front of me. It comes back around, flips upside down and swims three laps around me as I try to keep up and film the action. Is it putting on a show for me or making me the dunce for its own entertainment? I’ll never know, but each second spent with these sea lions proves to be a thrill ride, and just another unforgettable experience off the beautiful Baja California peninsula. Majestic Mexico At Secrets Puerto Los Cabos Golf and Spa Resort I’m given a quick lesson on this region’s allure. Situated at the southeastern tip of the Baja California Sur peninsula, in the town of San Jose del Cabo, this all-inclusive resort overlooks the Pacific, its infinity pools providing a seamless connection with the sea. With my dive bag in tow as I head toward the shuttle van, I pause to envy those soaking in the sun poolside with a drink in hand. That side of Cabo has a strong pull, but it’s time for me to visit the wild side — and there’s no better place to see this region in its natural state than Cabo Pulmo National Park. This 17,500-acre protected area — covering both marine and coastal areas — is a straight shot up the coast from San Jose del Cabo, but getting to the town of Cabo Pulmo is not that simple. We drive north through desert mountains and cross the Tropic of Cancer, getting a taste of what it must be like to traverse parts of Mexico’s mainland as we move farther away from the tequilaand-sunscreen-soaked Cabo coast. As we round a curve, our driver stomps on the brakes. Rubbing my neck, I look out the front window to find a cow casually crossing the mountain road. “Those guys always have the right of way!” shouts our driver. This survey of Cabo’s rugged side seems right, and it’s only 94 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | S P O R T D I V E R . C O M
Ă—
Cabo Pulmo Marine Park
CLAUDIO CONTRERAS KOOB
In 1995, the 60-mile stretch from Pulmo Point in the north to Los Frailes was designated a national park. The ban on fishing inside the park and efforts from the local community helped the reef rebound, along with the rest of the marine life. But biomass increase is not just what excites Gulf of California Marine Program director Octavio Aburto these days. He has been tracking an increase in top-level predators such as bull sharks off Cabo Pulmo, a great indicator for the health of a marine ecosystem.
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Many consider Cabo Pulmo the world’s most successful marine protected area after seeing a 463 percent increase in marine biomass in a 10-year period.
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heightened as we make the last 6 miles of the trek on a dirt road. Locals are serious about environmental protection. Cabo Pulmo has no power pumped in; the self-sufficient village is run by solar power. We peek over a crest, and the payoff is clear: beautiful, seemingly virgin coastline stretches out in front. This is why we’ve come. School Shopping At Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort, Claudio, our guide, stands in front of a painted dive-site map on the side of the shop and takes a poll. “What are your expectations?” he asks, tempering our hopes by noting that we shouldn’t ask to see mermaids or Godzilla. Someone quickly pipes up from the back of the group: “A big school of jacks.” No one contests.
A g roup of jack s , thou sand s st ron g, blot s out the sun above . We a scend to about 20 fe et and spend the remainder of the dive
BRANDON COLE
me smeri ze d by the sheer si ze and mo vement of the school . Claudio charts a course for the sites El Cantil and Los Morros, and soon we’re back-rolling into the water from our 22-foot boat. It takes a moment to get my bearings underwater. May is not Cabo’s best time for visibility — that comes later in the year, especially around November — and the current is blowing back my cheeks with its force. But the marine park’s reputation becomes clearer when I see the life: The fish just seem bigger here. Vibrantly colored angelfish dart about, and porcupinefish the size of a beach ball — twice the size of any I’ve seen elsewhere — lurk behind ledges. But the real highlights come at Los Morros. Not long into the dive, I do a double take. There’s a massive fish inches away from Claudio, and the two seem to be old friends. The fish is suspended in the water sideways, seemingly buddying up to Claudio like it’s a fellow diver. As I get closer, I realize it’s a 4½-foot gulf grouper saying hi to a diver it’s seen many times before. As we swim away, we see commotion near the surface: A legion of jacks performs its uniform ballet. But that’s not a huge school. In fact, it’s two: Beyond the glob of jacks, mobula rays move en masse just beneath the surface, with some members breaching high into the air above and crashing back down with a belly-flop. We’d love a close encounter with the rays, but they’re too fast. After exploring the reef, finding moray eels, hawksbill sea turtles and smaller grouper, our big wish is granted. A group of jacks, thousands strong, blots out the sun above. We ascend to about 20 feet and spend the remainder of the dive mesmerized by the sheer size and movement of the school. My photographer dive buddies are ecstatic, snapping photo after photo of the big collective model. We hop back onto the boat with wide grins. It certainly feels like we just had the quintessential Cabo Pulmo experience. Like a Dog with a Bone Being unilingual among a culturally rich group of divers is a bit like riding in the Tour de France with training wheels. Sure, S P O R T D I V E R . C O M | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7 97
everyone — with journalists from Brazil, France, Germany, Japan and Spain — knows plenty of English to accommodate the silly American, but it makes me feel pretty ignorant. So I concentrate, picking out words and phrases that may ring a bell. “Lobos del mar.” Ah, yes — sea wolves. Those high school Spanish courses were good for something. My buddy from Madrid is excitedly discussing our upcoming visit to the San Rafaelito sea lion colony — we’ve relocated to La Paz, a two-hour drive north from San Jose del Cabo and a 15-minute boat ride from the sea lion colony. But after some thought, I wonder why the term sea lion wouldn’t translate directly to león de mar — which is how I might take a stab at the name on a midterm exam. It turns out these folks found the perfect description of the creatures that are more marine puppy dog than fearsome lion. When our boat initially pulls up, the biggest sea lion of the bunch jumps into the water and charges the boat as he barks furiously. Our captain, Allen, points out that every colony has one alpha male who’s surrounded by a harem of females. “Just keep an eye out for the male. He’ll let you know if you’re getting too close,” says Allen. And how will I know which one is Big Papa? “You’ll know it’s him.” I don my gear and slip into the water. The outcrop is like a magnet for all of our divers. Instead of getting straight to business and starting our dive at San Rafaelito Wall — a 40-minute tour around the colony — we spend some time at the surface with these infectiously joyful creatures. It really is like letting loose a pack of puppies at the pet store — the lobos del mar dart toward each diver, getting just close enough to make you nervous before whipping left or right at the last moment. They swim in rapid circles around me, floating upside down, spinning and performing graceful loop-the-loops. They jostle and fight with each other like young boys let loose on the first day of summer vacation. They gnaw at each other’s rear end, spinning and spinning, locked in a perfect circle like a yin-yang until one gets dizzy and darts away. Eventually, we pry ourselves from the fun at the surface and begin our dive at San Rafaelito Wall. We descend quickly to what will be our max depth at 60 feet. It’s fairly dark, and the viz is questionable at best. As I focus in closely on the diver in front of me, I almost lose my regulator in shock. Two swift, shadowy figures dart in front of me and quickly behind, gnawing at each other as they glide through the water. It’s something from a dream — I whip around, catching a glimpse of the sea lions roughhousing in the murky water. After a moment of play-biting, they dart away and out of sight forever. They didn’t seem real, like dementors from Harry Potter’s realm gliding in and out of my life. We make our way to sunnier and clearer water as we move toward the east side of the islet, taking notice of a resident spotted stingray, a nudibranch adorned with orange-and-purple spikes, a stealthy scorpionfish and starfish on every other rock. The current picks up as we end our dive, signaling that it’s time to rid ourselves of this scuba gear in favor of a snorkel and ample sea lion exposure at the surface. Big Papa’s House Hours go by as we play spectator to this wonderful sea lion show. The process never gets old: You wait at the surface, slowly approaching a sea lion or two. When it notices your presence, it
either darts away or decides to play. I’m amazed by how graceful and quick they are in the water — these pinnipeds have the ability to reach 25 mph in the water at top speed. They seem so powerful, like they could take you out in a moment with their deft movements and sharp teeth. But when you’re face to face with the sea lions, there’s no fear. Well, mostly. I find myself among a group of six snorkelers with no real action to speak of. A pair of sea lions thrashes in the water about 20 yards away — jackpot. Seizing the moment, I quickly fin toward the pups, and just when I get about 5 yards away, my heart leaps out of my chest. Charging at me with the speed of a train — barking ferociously all the way — is the alpha male of San Rafaelito. I
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Clockwise: Fan corals, Mexican hogfish, the Salvatierra wreck and Panama porkfish call the Sea of Cortez home.
Shipwreck Central A few well-placed artificial reefs help you get your wreck fix off the coast of La Paz. Here are two highlights. C-59 This former American military ship — which was donated to the Mexican government to be deployed as an artificial reef — features a fully intact propeller that’s great for photo ops. Explore the length of the ship for run-ins with plentiful snapper, angelfish and starfish.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CLAUDIO CONTRERAS KOOB; GREG LECOEUR; KADU PINHEIRO; FRANCO BANFI
Fang Ming This Chinese vessel was confiscated for transporting illegal immigrants into Mexico and later purpose-sunk. The 177-foot wreck has wide openings, allowing you to easily penetrate and explore its inner structure. Look out for the resident sea turtle, and keep an eye out for moray eels hiding on the exterior of the ship.
quickly retreat, letting Big Papa know he’s the top dog around here. Once he sees me move away, he mercifully turns back to the rock to continue keeping the peace. It takes a while for my heart rate to slow down, and I’m a bit gun-shy at first — but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the afternoon with the sea lions. Hasta Luego The next morning, I groggily pack my belongings and tumble into my airport transfer to head home. On the two-hour drive from La Paz to Los Cabos International Airport, my driver helps me pass the time by telling stories of his childhood in Baja California Sur. Throughout the ride he prods me, peppering me
with Spanish quizzes. “What did I say?” he asks after ripping off a turn of phrase. I surprise my dopey self, earning a low passing grade from my chatty companion. He talks of adventures with his younger brother, whom he explored the countryside with as they walked up the coast, diving into the water to discover the marine life along the way. “This is a special place,” he says, with his hand outstretched, starting with the mountains to the left and ending with the Pacific Ocean on the right. I know I could never share the bond he has with this coast, but after just a few days, I have an idea of just how special it is. I can only smile and nod, but I think, Preciosa mar — pronto regresaré.
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Dive Travel Whether you’re a world traveler or stay-at-home dreamer, these trips are sure to entice
DIVE PLANNER
Marvel in the Muck Lembeh, Indonesia: Go now, or plan for November 2018
uck diving is known for unappealing, muddy ocean habitats and for some really crazy critters. The mimic octopus is one of the many oddities that can be found in Indonesia’s Lembeh Strait. Thaumoctopus mimicus does more than just blend into its silty surroundings — it can change its appearance and behavior to impersonate other animals. The small octopus, which grows up to 2 feet, has brown and white stripes when out of costume. It can swim with its arms spread wide to imitate a lionfish or bury itself, leaving two arms exposed, sporting the black and yellow bands of a sea snake. Stranger yet, it can hold its arms together and undulate across the bottom like a flatfish. Some of the mimic’s forms are more subjective, and divers love to try to interpret which of Lembeh’s weird inhabitants are being portrayed. — Robby Myers
M
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Muckin’ It Up T H E G R E AT G A L A PA G O S / P 1 0 2 • B E S T O F T H E C A R I B B E A N / P 1 0 4 SPRING FEVER / P110 • TOP 10: MARTINIQUE / P112
These popular muck-diving destinations are sure to scratch your itch for critter hunting.
Ambon, Indonesia Maluku is home to another Indonesian hot spot for muck divers. You may be lucky enough to spot a rare psychedelic frogfish — which was discovered here in 2008 — and the painted frogfish (shown above).
Blue Heron Bridge, Riviera Beach, Florida Go muck diving closer to home, where balloonfish (above), flying gurnards and frogfish are just a few of the locals at this shore dive.
PLAN WELL
Water Conditions Temps range from 77 to 83 degrees, and viz from 16 to 60 feet.
What to Bring A focus light to avoid spooking skittish photo subjects.
What You Need to Know Visibility during a muck dive can be poor.
When to Go Year-round, but mimic octopuses have been seen mating Jan.-July.
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Where to Go Lembeh Resort lembehresort.com
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: ISTOCKPHOTO (3); EJ MORALES/ALAMY
Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea The black-sand beaches of Milne Bay are filled with long-nose hawkfish (shown above), stargazers, ghost pipefish, weedy scorpionfish and more. This is the birthplace of the term muck diving, which was coined by PNG diving pioneer Bob Halstead.
Dive Travel
Journeys
Enchanted Islands The Galapagos Islands’ underwater offerings make it an unquestioned bucket-list destination BY BRANDON COLE
y active imagination can easily envision marine iguanas crawling forth from the volcanic hot spot below. Or sharks riding riotous currents from far-flung seas to these islas encantadas. But how to explain the UFO wobbling in front of me now? From whence cometh this freakish object? Larger than my kitchen table, the gentle-gazed mola mola with puckered lips defies understanding. Even here in the Galapagos, it is so spectacularly weird that my brain lurches and I forget about the invigoratingly cool water. That’s the only thing I’ll be forgetting. The rest of our adventure aboard the Galapagos Aggressor III luxury liveaboard is indelibly seared into memory. Fist DIVE pumps and happy dances celebrated IN seeing Mrs. Big (a 30-foot-long whale shark) at Darwin’s Arch. Hearts thumped When to Go Galapagos is and eyes bulged courtesy of strong cur- superb year-round. rents and a wall of hammerhead sharks January to May is warm season at Wolf Island’s Landslide. Red-lipped the and sometimes batfish grimaced at our cameras at called manta seaFernandina Island. Sea turtles soared son. In December, more plankton above us everywhere we dived. Dizzying means big animals, arrays of yellowfin surgeons, barracuda, including hammerand a high creolefish and bigeye jacks enveloped us heads, chance of whale into their schools. Each time we back- sharks at Darwin. rolled off the pangas into the blue, our logbooks couldn’t help but fill themselves with tales of the extraordinary. Granted, it wasn’t any more ordinary when we gave our gills a break during surface intervals. Mobs of iguanas were piled atop lava flows, soaking up the sun. Blue-footed boobies proudly displayed their fancy footwear. And no trip to Galapagos would be complete without giant tortoises. Musing in Aggressor’s hot tub, replaying the images winging around my head like the frigate birds currently wheeling gracefully above, I can’t help but feel sorry for Charles Darwin. Without scuba, he only saw half the show. Even such a progressive thinker couldn’t have imagined the wonders waiting below.
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IN DEPTH
Practice Stewardship Conservation is key to preserving this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Respect the rules and wildlife, travel green and support conservation efforts.
Look for Macro Critters Famous for big animals, Galapagos’ macro subjects are often overlooked. There are horn sharks, cleaner shrimp, scorpionfish, seahorses, nudis, etc.
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ITINERARY
AG G R
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Layered up for cool 65-degree water, we enjoy a phenomenal dive with feeding marine iguanas at Cabo Douglas. Punta Vicente Roca delivers sea lions, seahorses, sea fans and sea freaks (molas).
OUTE ER
Day 6
We earn our stripes at Wolf Island, braving strong currents and surge for an elasmobranch extravaganza. We see hammerheads, reef whitetips, Galapagos, silkies and eagle rays, then snorkel with false killer whales!
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Day 3
Mellow morning dives deliver at Punta Carrion and Punta Martinez along volcanic terrain smothered in yellow-black corals. We take an afternoon hike up Bartolome Island, then a panga ride to see penguins.
OR III T
Day 2
SS
Day 1 We kick things off with a meet-andgreet at Ecuador’s Guayaquil airport, fly to Baltra and board Aggressor. The checkout dive in Itabaca Canal yields new critters for first-timers to the eastern Pacific Ocean region.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BRANDON COLE (2); COURTESY AGGRESSOR; ISTOCKPHOTO (2). OPPOSITE: ISTOCKPHOTO (3)
Clockwise from left: A marine iguana feeds on algae off Fernandina Island; a 6-foot mola mola — aka oceanic sunfish — ventures closer to the Galapagos to visit a cleaning station; Galapagos Aggressor III, at anchor.
THE BOAT Galapagos Aggressor III Total passengers: 16 Cabins: 8 Total crew: 9 Length: 100 feet Beam: 22 feet Number of decks: 4
Make Topside Treks Don’t miss terrestrial wildlife viewing opportunities. Add several days for excursions to Puerto Egas, North Seymour, South Plaza, Punta Suarez and Volcan Chico.
Come Prepared Galapagos can be challenging. Strong current, surge, cold water and limited viz are possible. Prior experience in such conditions and an appropriate level of fitness are crucial.
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Dive Travel
World’s Best
Caribbean Islands for Diving They’re favorites for a reason, but the sunken cruise ships, schooling sharks and offshore pinnacles that you know about are just the beginning BY BROOKE MORTON
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Though technically not a onesport destination — deepsea fishing is also popular — Roatan’s guests primarily travel to let their inner dive flag fly.
1.
FROM LEFT: PETE NIESEN/ALAMY; STEVE SIMONSEN
Roatan Among the diving community, there is no greater paradise for extroverts than the island of Roatan, Honduras. Though technically not a onesport destination — deep-sea fishing is also popular — Roatan’s guests primarily travel to let their inner dive flag fly. This means no shortage of buddies for a shore or night dive, and come happy hour, talk is certainly tending toward the 110-foot visibility at West End Wall, or the rowdy school of grouper on the 230-foot wreck El Aguila. mayanprincess.com
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2. St. Croix Rare is the Caribbean destination that offers wall, reef and wreck diving in the same day, but St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, delivers this and more. Start on the north shore for the day’s deepest dives along the wall. Picks like Cane Bay or Twin Palms allow easy road access, leading to a 10- to 15-minute swim to the wall’s edge. There, water clarity of 100 feet and greater opens most divers’ eyes to a host of life, from hawksbill sea turtles to shoals of squid. Opt next for the wrecks of Butler Bay, just outside the town of Frederiksted on the west end of the island. Of the five, the shallowest three offer the safest profile, and can be accessed from shore by fit divers or via an afternoon boat-dive excursion. End the day with a night dive, staying out west, where the reef slope is gentle, allowing longer bottom times. Shallow sites, such as the Aquarium, can bring sightings of lobsters, eels and seahorses — a strong ending to a scuba diving trifecta. stcroixscuba.com
Dive Travel
The middle of the west coast tends to be preferred by newer divers honing buoyancy skills as they ride the conveyorbelt current.
3. Cozumel Beyond its reputation as a rite of passage for just-certified divers, Cozumel poses challenges to even the most experienced divers. The middle of the west coast tends to be preferred by newer divers honing buoyancy skills as they ride the conveyor-belt current. It’s the southern tip where things truly get wild. Devil’s Throat offers a narrow tunnel in the wall, swallowing divers only to spit them out at 130 feet, pushing the limits of recreational diving. Farther south still lies Maracaibo, where a rock arch at 115 feet leads to one of the island’s most memorable wall dives, down a sheer face frequented by spotted eagle rays and Caribbean reef sharks. presidentecozumel .com
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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JOSE ALEJANDRO ALVAREZ; CEES TIMMERS; CONSTANTINOS PETRINOS/NPL/MINDEN PICTURES
Bonaire
4. Saba Sure, every dive is the chance to encounter unexpected wildlife. But Saba, a satellite island of St. Maarten, stacks the deck. Start with the island’s offshore pinnacles, each like an underwater mountain: deep, and far enough offshore to serve as a beacon, attracting hammerheads, dolphins and any other passers-by. Plus, like the junglecovered island above, where vines and air plants fight to claim every square inch, so too is the environment below the waterline. Sponges jam themselves in between corals with intensity, creating a habitat irresistible to seahorses and frogfish. The only catch: Consider this an excellent proving grounds. Divers must navigate currents to drop in on the pinnacles. To spy a frogfish, you’ll need a trained eye. Luckily, those still working toward advanced diver certifications need not count this island out. Though dive guides can’t help you with the currents, they can pick an itinerary that takes advantage of nearshore reefs, and they’ll certainly point out any camouflaged critters, be it a flying gurnard or scorpionfish that you might overlook. seasaba.com
BRING THIS
5. Grenada Off the Lesser Antillean island of Grenada, there’s a bottleneck — but not of traffic. The entire Gulf Stream surges through this narrows, creating the big-fun currents this island is known for and making nearly every dive a drift dive. “You’re nearly always diving alongside a shark,” says Gerlinde Seupel, co-owner of Aquanauts in the town of Grand Anse. The island is also famous among wreck divers as the home of M/V Bianca C, a 600-foot former passenger liner sitting between 100 and 165 feet of water. In fact, Grenada is a wreck lover’s dream; more than a dozen wrecks lie offshore. aquanautsgrenada .com
That Bonaire ranks as the No. 1 shoredive location in the Caribbean — and beyond — isn’t news. Here’s what is: Buddy Dive Resort just added six Aquaprop underwater scooters to its rental-gear inventory. “A lot of people have been coming here for years and know all the dive sites, but these scooters change everything,” says Augusto Montbrun, dive operations manager for the Kralendijkbased resort. “Most divers who’ve done the Salt Pier do one dive and see only half of the pier. With a scooter, you can cover the whole pier.” Divers who prefer boat diving to shore diving can be dropped at one site, then head back to the Buddy Dive house reef with their scooter. With the one-way drop, guests have been able to do up to five dive sites — Andrea 1 and 2, Petrie’s Pillar, Small Wall and Cliff — before returning. Adds Montbrun, “People don’t expect how powerful the scooters are, or how far they bring you — for most divers, they really end up being a wow.” buddydive.com
Vivid-Pix Land & Sea Scuba level, and it features a souvenir postcard creator for easy social sharing.
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Dive Travel
Tobago “Off Speyside, you get the merging of a sea and an ocean — the Caribbean and the Atlantic — and that fosters a lot of current,” Tian Watson, manager of Blue Waters Inn Div’n, says of the town located on the northeast tip of the island. And these currents reach up to 1.5 knots. “You jump in, and it’s action time,” says Watson. “We also have relaxed diving — fluffy diving, as we call it.” Fluffy dives carry divers above lush sponge gardens, resulting from the island’s population of hawksbill turtles. “They’re messy eaters, so those messy bits drift a bit and you get new sponges,” says Watson. “That’s why they’re so prolific down here.” If a diver has time for just one site, Watson endorses Japanese Gardens. “It starts off nice and relaxed, and then it picks up, and in the current, there are tarpon, bar jacks and occasionally a manta or shark. You really can see anything on this dive.” bluewatersinn.com
8. Statia The biggest reason to dive Sint Eustatius, aka Statia — a Dutch island roughly in the middle of the Caribbean arc from the Dominican Republic to Trinidad — is the artificial reef known as Charles L. Brown, a 300-foot cablelaying ship lying in 100 feet of water. And the smallest, at least in terms of size, might be the blue beads, once the currency used by slaves to buy their freedom, now scattered across the sand of several dive sites and free to keep among finders. facebook.com/goldenrockdivecenter
9. St. Lucia
“This island is very good for people who don’t like long, rough boat rides,” says Charlotte Faulkner, adventure sports manager at Anse Chastanet Resort on St. Lucia, where most of the dive sites lie clustered on the leeward side of the country. The honeymoonerfavorite destination also ranks high among underwater photographers who prefer shooting landscapes or macro images. “We have a high density of corals and huge sponges — I’ve never seen any bigger,” she says. Adds Faulkner, “What you won’t find are big pelagics, like sharks or mantas.” But among all the corals lies a vibrant community of tiny life, from frogfish and jawfish to nudibranchs and octopuses. caradonna.com
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CHARO GERTRUDIX/ULTIMA FRONTERA
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“We have a high density of corals and huge sponges — I’ve never seen any bigger.”
The Cayman Islands are as close to a sure thing as one can find in the sport of diving.
10. Cayman Islands
With record-setting visibility, thriving reefs that support a resident population of sharks and a variety of underwater attractions, the Cayman Islands are as close to a sure thing as one can find in diving. Grand Cayman is the most visited of the trio, famous as much for wall dives and the 251-foot artificial wreck of the USS Kittiwake as it is for the East End, where sharks are encountered daily. The highlight of the neighboring island of Cayman Brac is the M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts, the only divable Russian warship in the Western Hemisphere. Little Cayman, a favorite among marine biologists, is prized for “an extremely high level of biodiversity that’s exceptionally healthy,” says Neil van Niekerk, with the Southern Cross Club, a resort on the outpost island. Moreover, with its lack of development, Little Cayman can steer guests to expect isolation on land and in water. Other than fellow boat mates dropping in together, divers won’t see another soul on the reefs. Says van Niekerk, “It’s a level of tranquility that’s truly hard to find.” southerncrossclub.com
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Dive Travel
State of Diving
Dutch Springs Head inland to one of the United States’ best freshwater diving destinations T E XT A N D P H O T O S BY B E C KY K AGA N S C H O T T
s a professional underwater photographer and tec instructor, the question is almost unavoidable: “You live in Pennsylvania? Where can you dive there?” My response: “Let me tell you about a place called Dutch Springs.” When I moved to Pennsylvania from Tampa, Florida, 10 years ago, I heard of this Disneyland for divers, and I couldn’t wait to dive it. After the National Portland Cement DIVE Co. stopped mining the limestone quarry and went IN out of business in the 1970s, the pumps were turned off, flooding the site and creating a 50-acre spring-fed Water temperatures lake, which gets as deep as 100 feet. can vary I made the trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, over depending on the time Memorial Day weekend and was shocked to see that of year, but the visibility was so good in the cool water. I could expect high see about 50 feet and enjoyed following the different 40s in early spring and 70s routes from the submerged platforms to the many in summer at attractions, such as a school bus, a fire truck, a crane the shallower depths. Bottom and a few types of sunken boats. I saw several species temperatures of fish, including koi, bass and trout, along the wall below the and under the docks. Zebra mussels are prevalent on thermocline stay around the rock wall and wrecks. They were somehow intro50 degrees duced to the quarry, and they keep the water clear by year-round. A drysuit or 7 mm filtering it. On our way back, we swam along the rock wetsuit, hood wall, looking at the beautiful sunbeams shining down could talk via hard-wired communications inside the and gloves are through the water. helmet. It was a blast to bounce around like an astrorecommended. After our dive, I learned that a group called the naut on the surface of the moon on the rocky quarry North East Diving Equipment Group was offering bottom. Going from scuba to hard-hat diving in the the chance to try out their vintage and modern-day hard hats. same day was a really wild experience, and I’ve gone back every This is a one-of-a-kind experience that this group of collectors year since to either try a different hard hat or photograph others offers to the public twice a year (Memorial Day and Labor Day doing it. Visiting Dutch Springs isn’t just about diving, it’s about weekends). I jumped at the chance to try one, so they suited me the experience. I’ve met some wonderful people there, and we’ve up from head to toe and educated me on how to operate it. We shared some fun dives, laughs and adventures together.
IN DEPTH
Aqua Park Kids and adults can try out the aquatic toys and attractions to keep cool. The park’s biggest attractions are the Blob, a rock wall, slides and a water trampoline.
Watersports Dutch Springs also allows kayaks and stand-up paddleboards — and offers rentals — in the quarry, and you’ll frequently see freedivers practicing in the area as well.
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BOTTOM, FROM LEFT: COURTESY DUTCH SPRINGS; ISTOCKPHOTO
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PENNSYLVANIA
Dutch Springs
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DIVE SITES
1) Jet The Bombardier Challenger 600 business jet — suspended in 30 feet of water toward the center of the quarry — appears as if it’s still flying. Swim through the fuselage to check out the cockpit and then drop down to 65 feet to capture a unique silhouette.
2) Pump House When National Portland Cement Co. operated here, water had to be continuously pumped out of the quarry. Koi and other fish like to hang out in this area under the staircase or swim around the pipes and structure.
3) Cessna The plane is sitting at 25 feet on top of a flooded island. The water is usually clear and warmer at this depth, and it’s a great place for photography. You can get there by following the ropes from the school bus or from the crane.
Clockwise from right: A rebreather diver after exiting the Bombardier Challenger 600 jet; a school bus sits in 50 feet of water; the pumphouse structure is popular with fish and divers.
Camping One of the most popular places to stay
Barbecue There’s nothing more fun after a day of
in the area is at Dutch Springs. Camping is allowed on-site, and during the summer months the hills are covered in tents.
good diving than to barbecue with friends and watch the sun set over the water. Visitors can bring their own gas grill or camp stove to Dutch Springs.
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Dive Travel
Perfect 10
Martinique With lush mountain rainforests, fishy reefs and a dollop of French Creole culture, this Caribbean department of France has its own distinctive je ne sais quoi BY TED ALAN STEDMAN
explore, and there’s plenty of action with abundant critters such as kingfish, Java moray eels, barracuda, jacks and rays.
Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, the “world championship of wine and spirits.” rhumjmusa.com
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Created as a 17th-century colonial sugar refinery, the sprawling estate today is a biological reserve in the shadow of Mount Pelée. Explore its rainforest along a shady streamside trail, then enjoy the island’s best organically inspired menu at Habitation’s restaurant. habitation-ceron.com
When Mount Pelée erupted, the blast sank a number of ships docked in the bay, and today, 14 wrecks at depths up to 180 feet are on the diving circuit. Most divers get plenty of grins dropping in on the Raisinier, a transportation barge that’s profuse with resident marine life.
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On the island’s northern coast, divers thread a natural maze of canyons, caves and passages. For a sense of intrigue, check out the remains of a submarine wreck whose anonymity is the subject of local yarns.
There’s no better way to spend your last deco day than sailing the jagged Atlantic Coast in Francois Bay on a catamaran, with swim stops at several knee-deep “white shoals,” such as Josephine’s Bath, where the crew provides rum punch to half-submerged guests surrounded by inquisitive tropical fishes. catamaran-martinique.com
Le Sous-Marin
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Towering 3 miles off the southern coast, the 574-foot rock is the island’s marquee dive site. Follow a series of steep ledges dropping to a geologic fault at 52 feet, then fin through the rock tunnel leading to jumbled boulders encrusted with anemones, sea fans and hard corals.
The “Pompeii of the Caribbean” is known for its 1902 eruption that killed 40,000 island inhabitants, but climbing the 4,583-foot fern- and cloud-smothered caldera has a way of tempering its infamous history. Take the popular 7-mileround-trip Aileron route to the crater rim and its top-of-theworld 360-degree views.
Diamond Rock
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Pointe Burgos Reef and Wall
The colors and textures of this 40-foot plateau evoke a flourishing fairyland choked with barrel sponges, sea whips and a riot of hard corals. Drop over the ledge to the 180-foot wall and ride the current while eyeballing snapper, stingrays and turtles.
Mount Pelée
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Nahoon Shipwreck
One of the island’s best wreck dives, this three-masted schooner was purpose-sunk in 1993 and lies at 120 feet. The ship’s hold, main deck, forward cabin and well-preserved wheelhouse are accessible to
Saint-Pierre Bay Shipwrecks
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Caravelle Peninsula
Want to experience an unspoiled slice of the Caribbean? Lace up your hikers and see gorgeous beaches, a unique dry forest, chattering birds, mangroves, 18-million-year-old volcanic geology and stunning views along the hilly trails of this protected 6-mile peninsula.
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Rum at Rhum J.M
If you’re a rum lover, you can’t miss a spirited visit to Martinique’s most celebrated heritage brand, whose sweet elixir recently won top honors among 10,000 entries in the
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Island Hopping
DIVERS GUIDE Average water temp: High 70s to low 80s What to wear: Shorty to 3 mm fullsuit Average viz: 80 feet When to go: Year-round More info: us.martinique.org
ILLUSTRATION: ANTOINE CORBINEAU/FOLIOART.CO.UK
Habitation Céron
Should Be! Experience the best diving the Turks & Caicos Islands have to offer. Call our reservations office or go online for full details.
1-800-234-7768 www.diveprovo.com
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Learn from This Close calls and how to handle them
Where’s My Air? An experienced diver learns that even the most reliable gear is liable to malfunction BY KARL SHREEVE S
Both Mark and Jorge were checking their air periodically throughout the course of the dive, and had more than 1,500 psi left in their air cylinders when the unthinkable happened — Mark’s air shut off abruptly. Shaking off momentary astonishment, he signaled, “Out of air. Share air.” Equally surprised, Jorge blinked, then handed over his alternate second stage. Breathing again, Mark signaled, “OK, up.” They ascended, intercepting the anchor line. Jorge had ample gas for their safety stop. They exited without further incident. What They Did Wrong
INCIDENT REPORT DIVERS: Mark (rescue diver, 500-plus dives) and Jorge (master scuba diver, 500-plus dives) SITE: Gulf of Mexico, trawler wreck CONDITIONS: 82˚F water, visibility 100-plus feet, calm seas
Mark simply was not staying up to date with his gear maintenance. His regulator had not been serviced for five years. Professional servicing found a key first stage part had been slowly shifting. Cylinder pressure had offset the shift, but this dive was the tipping point. The part had moved just far enough that high cylinder pressure kept gas flowing, but couldn’t below about 1,800 psi. Regulators are designed so they aren’t likely to cut off air if they fail, and with recommended servicing, this never would have happened.
Five Tips from This Incident
1. Gear maintenance is not just a suggestion. Dive gear is remarkably robust and reliable, but you must care for it as stipulated by the manufacturer. This incident would not have happened had Mark done so.
2. Stay close to your buddy. Things might have ended differently had Mark and Jorge strayed apart. A good rule of thumb: Stay within two seconds of your dive buddy.
3. Reserve your reserve. Jorge had ample gas, but what if they’d been pushing things and had only 300 psi when it happened? Always save some gas for handling problems.
4. Expect the unexpected. Diving has a good safety record, but like anything, if you do it enough you’ll eventually have a situation. Be alert, dive conservatively, keep your skills sharp and have good habits.
What They Did Right
A
They responded properly. They dived close, so Mark had immediate help from his buddy. Jorge secured his alternate properly, so he didn’t have to waste time groping for it. They ascended safely and reasonably assessed that they could still make a safety stop.
5. Continue your training. Divers at any level should maintain good habits. One way to stay on track with them is continuing your education under instructor supervision.
Sport Diver (ISSN 1077-985X) is published 8 times per year (J/F, March, April, May, June, J/A, S/O, N/D) by Bonnier Corp., 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789. Basic rate $19.97 for one year. (Canada residents please add $12 per year for postage; all other foreign residents please add $24 for postage, U.S. funds only.) Periodicals postage paid at Winter Park, FL, and additional offices. Contents copyright 2017 by Bonnier Corp. For subscription information or questions, email PADcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com. Contributions: Editorial comments, articles, photography or artwork should be addressed to Editor, Sport Diver, P.O. Box 8500, Winter Park, FL 32790. The editorial staff can also be reached via the Internet by addressing electronic mail to editor@sportdiver.com. Not responsible for solicited or unsolicited material. Advertisers: UPS and overnight delivery to 460 N. Orlando Ave, Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789. Information and media kits are available by calling 407-628-4802. The contents of this publication, including diving techniques and use of diving equipment, reflect the individual experiences of the writers and are not necessarily the recommended practices of Bonnier Corp. and are not intended for the sole purpose of diving instruction. Individuals seeking to participate in activities described in this publication should be properly trained and/or certified for such by a qualified professional diving instructor. Diving or use of diving equipment by untrained individuals can lead to serious injury or death. Neither Bonnier Corp., Sport Diver magazine nor its contributors shall be liable for any mishap claimed to result from use of such material. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sport Diver magazine, P.O. Box 6364 Harlan, IA 51593-1864. CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement Number: 40612608. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Printed in the USA.
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ILLUSTRATION: THOMAS BURNS
fter diving for 20 minutes while exploring an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico, Mark and Jorge made their way 60 feet down and about 100 feet from their boat anchor. Jorge was shooting with his underwater DSLR camera, with Mark shadowing closely.
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