SCUBA News 130

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SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 131 - March 2011
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
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Welcome to SCUBA News. This month we have an exclusive interview with Dave Blackmore, author of "Dive as Deep as you Dare" which was published last month.
I hope you the newsletter, but should you wish to cancel your subscription you can do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html

SCUBA News is published by SCUBA Travel Ltd, the independent guide to diving around the world.

Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Letters
- SCUBA Bookshelf: Interview with Diving Author, Dave Blackmore
- Diving News from Around the World

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What's New at SCUBA Travel?
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Diving Dominica

Dominica is a beautiful, little-dived, island in the Caribbean. You can read more about it at our newly updated Dominica section at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/dominica/

Diving New Zealand

Many more diving centres in New Zealand are now listed on the SCUBA Travel site at
Diving Singapore

We've a new page about the diving and dive operators in Singapore
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/pacific/singapore.html

More...

For regular announcements of what's new at the SCUBA Travel site see the Diving Board at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=2

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Letters
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Top Dives in the World

Hi - I love using your list (http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/topdiveslong.html) to plan my dive travel. I notice that sometimes you have duplicates on your list - for example right now your #9 and #13 are the same. and #90 and #98 are the same...

Also, I think you should definitely add Manuelita Coral Night Dive (or "the Dinner Bell") in Cocos Island Costa Rica to the list - hundreds and hundreds of white tip sharks swarming in crystal clear ebony coloured water weaving gracefully through the nooks and crannies of the coral below searching for a meal. Little fish hiding behind rocks and even divers, hoping not to be spied. Then - CRACK!!!! - a shark finds a morsel and send the hundreds of other shark into a frenzy of movement. Thirty seconds later, the slow graceful ballet of movement resumes as if nothing had happened. What a rush!! And by the way, Dirty Rock (44)is unbelieveable - we dove it 5 times on our liveaboard trip, and not once did it disappoint - schooling hammerheads, silkies, eagle rays, swarming white tips, and even a friendly dolphin. Definitely a top 20 dive, not a top 50.

Rebecca Ramaley

Editor's note: Thanks Rebecca for pointing out the mistakes: all corrected now and the list updated with recent votes.

Diving Group in Jeddah

Does anyone knows any Filipino diving group in Jeddah. I am certified PADI Advance Open Water Diver. I am interested to join the group. Thank you.

Simon Ramos

Diving Taiwan

I wish to dive in Taiwan but question are when is the best time or season to dive? Is there any monsoon period? Which are the places?

Roy

Can you help either Simon or Roy? E-mail news@scubatravel.co.uk or post on the Diving board at
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/

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SCUBA Bookshelf: Interview with Diving Author, Dave Blackmore
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What prompted you to write your book "Dive as Deep as you Dare"?

After reading a multitude of diving books over the years, I began to search for some original, back to basic diving adventures and it looked like I had read most of them already! Discussing this with my wife, over dinner one night, she suggested that maybe I could write one, well it got me thinking. As they say there is a potential book in all of us. As I reflected back, I realised I had some great stories to tell, and had met some great charismatic people along the way. As my old technical dive instructor Rich Bull would say, "There are old divers and bold divers but very few old, bold divers" and I thought I had better put pen to paper, whilst I could still remember the past 28 years I had spent progressing my diving passion.

How long did it take you to write?

I began writing the book on my laptop in January 2009, I had spent a few weeks earlier gathering together old log books, photos and casting my mind back to the early 80s when it all began. I spent that year tapping away on the key pad most evenings. The progress was slow at first but gathered speed as my memory found its way back to more recent events of the early 90s. It was a very thought provoking journey through my diving career. As I drew near to the final chapters I had in mind the title and cover photo, but none of the colour illustrations that made it to the final book. These were selected from a vast amount of random photos I had taken over time and were chosen as a direct reference to the stories in the book. I was very fortunate with these because I was the diver with the camera!

I finished the manuscript in February 2010 and spent the rest of the year finalising and proofing it. In November 2010 I printed 10 books as a pilot and sent them out to some good friends for some constructive feed back. This came back, in due course and after a bit of tweaking it was sent to print and the first few hundred copies rolled off the press in January 2011. With the first 70 copies sold generating some great feedback.

Which writers have influenced you?

I have been inspired and influenced by a number of writers, Peter Benchley who wrote THE DEEP, later to be made into the classic dive film. Goldfinder, by Keith Jessop (who salvaged the gold from the wreck of the Edinburgh) and Kevin F Mc Murray, Author of Deep Descent. True tales of life and death situations whilst diving the wreck of the Andrea Doria. Whether its fact or fiction it doesn't matter as long as it draws you in and has that magic to make you feel you are there with them on their adventures. That to me makes the difference between a good read and a great one.

Which is your favourite dive site and why?

One of my favourite dive sites is Scapa Flow. I have been visiting this location for 20 or so years and the variety of dives available will suit any diver. Yes, it's a bit of a trek and you need to take a week to do it justice, but the wrecks are classic and are at a reasonable depth, in a sheltered expanse of water so you are rarely disappointed, it certainly ticks all the boxes for me.

Where would you like to dive next?

At present we are in the depths of winter and I have spent the last few months in and out of a variety of quarries, as my eldest son progresses his BSAC diver training, ready for our dive trip to Egypt this April. I will be soaking up the rays in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada diving 3 times a day in clear Blue water. Fantastic!

What is your worst diving experience?

One of the worst diving experiences happened when I was diving in a 3 and was the second diver descending to a 45 meter wreck in Scotland. As I reached 28 meters I lost sight of the first diver, I could feel the pull of the current as I held tight on to the shot line. We appeared to be slightly early for the slack water we planned to dive in, if I lost my grip on the shot line I would be swept away and by the time I surfaced I would have been a quarter of a mile from the wreck and the boat cover!

I pulled myself closer to the shot line and became aware that my weight belt had slipped from my waist and was now making its way to rest across the back of my legs. I needed two hands to attempt to pull it back into place to re-secure it. I made a quick decision to abort the dive, get back to the surface and either sort the belt out and drop back down or return to the dive boat. As I ascended, weight belt hanging from my lower legs and 1 arm hooked around the shot line, I came upon the 3rd diver at 18 meters, he had rope coiled around his head, first stage and tank. The situation was dire, I managed to untangle the coils around his head but we were descending and there were now coils of loose rope floating all around us, I had to take evasive action to keep clear, in case we both got caught up. Within a split second I was at 15 meters and the tangled diver was disappearing from sight, pulling the rest of the coils of rope down with him. As I avoided the remainder of the rope from above, I made a very hard decision and headed for the surface to refit the weight belt and get back in the water to assist. On reaching the surface in a rough sea I felt the small buoy being pulled from my hands, this was the only thing now connecting me and the diver below. I knew he was descending deeper as the small buoy became harder to keep hold of.

I waved my arm and shouted as the dive boat made its slow turn towards me through the rough sea, it was taking ages and I could barely keep hold of the buoy that was my only means of locating the diver. I felt my stomach churn as the buoy was finally pulled from my hand, the dive boat came along side and I was pulled aboard weight belt in hand. I quickly brought the others up to speed on the situation, but it looked hopeless, the only buoy marking the wreck and diver was nowhere to be seen. The girls were crying and I felt as though I was about to throw up. It was a surreal situation and there was silence on the deck of the dive boat. We had half the divers in the water and half now in silence on the deck, peering out in to the rough grey sea, the silence was broken by a shout, "There they are!". It was my 2 other buddies, it turned out that the troubled diver had reached the sea bed, still partly tangled, to find the first dive waiting for both of us at the bottom and had managed to finish off untangling him and then safely made their way to the surface. It still evokes that feeling of despair even as I write this.

What's the biggest change in diving since you started?

Since I started diving the equipment has changed considerably. We used to dive in wetsuits, buoyancy aids like the old ABLJ that sat around your neck like some orange toilet seat. These have now been replaced by warm, made to measure drysuits, stab jackets and wings that can lift the average diver and 4 tanks with ease. My first drysuit leaked like a sieve and was only ever dry for the first 3 or 4 times I used it. Compressed air was the only choice gas, now there are Rebreathers, Trimix and Nitrox to choose from and a wide range of quality underwater lights with 100 watts of power. I made mine from a piece of plastic soil pipe, 3 alarm batteries and some old underwater torch, with a 50 watt display lamp wired in. It worked fantastically until it imploded at 65 meters deep in a quarry, the top of the torch went off with a sound like a shotgun right above my head, where the torch was mounted. That was the end of the dive and my home made torch ! These days new technology is available for anyone who wants to use it.

If you could dive with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

If I could dive with one person it would be Sheck Exley. He pioneered cave diving through the 70s 80s and 90s and if I was going to get deeply involved with cave diving I would want to dive with the best. He had logged over 1000 cave dives by the time he was just 23 and explored some of Florida's best underwater cave systems. Pioneering new techniques as he pushed the envelope in pursuit of his passion, over 29 years he logged more than 4000 cave dives. He lost his life in El Zacatan Mexico on 6th April 1994 aged 45. It's worth remembering you only have so much luck and I like to remind myself of that fact from time to time.

Dive as Deep as you Dare is available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0956811507/scubanews-21 and also direct from Dave Blackmore: e-mail daveb.bristol@gmail.com.

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Diving News From Around the World
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Naval sonar drives whales from feeding grounds

Blainville's beaked whales swim away from good hunting grounds when the US navy begins sonar operations in the area, leaving them hungry.

Shark tracking reveals impressive feats of navigation

Some shark species are able to navigate to specific locations up to 50 km away, a new study has found. Ecologists found that some sharks such as tiger sharks can at times hunt for prey or mates by using "directed walks", accurately navigating long distances across open ocean, often at night.

Pollution-trawling voyage finds ocean's plastic 'soup'

Trawl a fine mesh net through any of the globe's five subtropical gyres and you'll haul in a generous sprinkling of plastic particles, expedition finds.

Study provides new tool to monitor coral reef health

University of Miami scientists have developed a new tool to monitor coral reef vital signs. By accurately measuring their biological pulse, scientists can better assess how climate change and other ecological threats impact coral reef health worldwide.

Pollution forms an invisible barrier for marine life

Over 60 percent in the world live in coastal areas. Rapidly growing human populations near the ocean have massively altered coastal water ecosystems. Species like sea stars can adapt to local pollution, but can't move to differently polluted areas. Human beings are thus directly affecting the ecological and evolutionary trajectory of a species that is otherwise relatively free of any direct human impacts.

National Ocean Observing System to see marine animal migration

For the first time, data from electronic tags attached to marine animals will be incorporated into the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. The addition of this biological component will help scientists better understand how marine animals move with the flow of tides and currents and provide insight into how they may alter their behaviour or migration patterns in response to climate change.

Urchins Depend on Sea Temperature

The water temperature is of major importance for how well young sea urchins grow, new research reveals.

Arctic sea ice ties for smallest ever

Even at its biggest, Arctic sea ice extent this winter was among the smallest ever seen, tying with 2006 for the least amount of ice covering the region around the North Pole, US researchers report.

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