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SCUBA News 47~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) Issue 47 - March 2004 http://www.scubatravel.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you very much if you filled in our survey last month: your responses have helped us decide the direction of SCUBA News. If you didn't complete the survey but would like to do so, it's not too late - go to http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scubanews46.html and let us know your thoughts. We hope you enjoy this issue of SCUBA News, but should you wish to cancel your subscription please do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html Contents: - What's new at SCUBA Travel? - Letters - Honduras: Spanish school and the best diving in the Caribbean - Creature of the Month: Cup Coral, Tubastraea aurea - Diving News from Around the World __________________________________________________________ What's New at SCUBA Travel? =========================== Indonesia: Bali For more on the dive centres and dive sites of Bali see: http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/indonesia/baliop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/indonesia/balidive.html Thailand Find which dive operators in Phuket have this month been recommended by readers: http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/thailand/thaiop.html :ADV_____________________________________________________ Moskito Diving, the first dive center on Phi Phi Island, established in 1987. A PADI 5 Star IDC Centre, catering to everyone from novices to very experienced divers. We use two custom built day boats & run our own liveaboard, MV Excalibur. For more details visit: http://www.moskitodiving.com/ ______________________________________________________ADV: Malaysia: Sipadan More of your comments on the diving around Sipadan are at: http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/malaysia/malaydive.html New Caledonia Brief notes on diving this Pacific island to East of Australia. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.html#NewCaledonia Top Ten Dives Thanks to your votes, our list of the top dives of the world has changed again: http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/topdives.html Diving Glossary We have updated our glossary of diving and marine biology terms. See http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/glossary.html __________________________________________________________ Your Letters ============ Hello I am staying in the Concorde El Salam Hotel in January 2005. Could anyone tell me what dive centre is attached to the hotel, or any other information? The hotel seems to be quite new and overlooks the Bay of Aquaba in Sharm El-Sheikh. Thanks Alistair Robertson E-mail news@scubatravel.co.uk if you have any information that could help Alistair. __________________________________________________________ Honduras: Spanish School, an Educational Addition to Dive Travel ================================================= by Bill Mashek A friend mentioned to me she was going to Mexico for Spanish language school, primarily because this particular school included surfing as part of the program. It was this conversation that inspired me to look into Spanish language schools in a country where I could dive, run rivers or go surfing. Not only would I have a possible tax write off, but also a chance to develop my Spanish language skills. After spending several hours on the Internet looking up language schools in different countries, I decided on Honduras. Honduras is a wonderful country. As stated in the Lonely Planet: Honduras is the original "banana republic". It is a democracy with a developing economy. The national language is Spanish. However, English is dominant on the Bay Islands. Honduras has incredible natural resources including world class whitewater boating and some of the best (and cheapest) diving in the Caribbean. "Central American Spanish Schools" seemed to have the most comprehensive program and a school on the island of Utila. They also were the only school to offer "medical Spanish" as my travelling companions, Viki, Dee and Lois, were emergency room nurses and needed the Spanish for work. Rafael, the director, answered all my questions. He responded to my e-mails the same day I wrote them. Best of all the price was right. Cost was $185.00 per week including room and board. (Room only on Utila). Our first week was in the coastal city of La Ceiba. La Ceiba is also the port for the Bay Islands and base for river trips in the Pinto Bonito National Park and Cangregal River. Every day we had different activities including: treks to the rain forest, river canopy (zip lines), dancing and classes on the beach. On Friday, we went to Oscar Perez’s Jungle River Lodge where we hiked through the verdant rain forest to a 600 ft (183 m) high waterfall. The next day we went rafting through the precipitous drops of the Cangregal river gorge. I am a whitewater outfitter in California; Viki, a class V guide and Dee a Class V kayaker: we were all impressed with not only the river but with Oscar's guides (Johnnie, Ricardo and Juan) and his entire operation. Unfortunately, Lois had torn ligaments and could not partake on our adventure. The next morning we caught the ferry to Utila. Utila Utila is the smallest and flattest of the three major Bay Islands, and is the closest to the mainland. The island is 9.5 miles long and 3 miles wide. Land transportation on Utila is limited to a few pickup trucks, a couple of unreliable taxis and a ton of old mountain bikes. Utila is not only renown as one of the best diving locations in the Caribbean, it is also known as the cheapest. From mid-February through March one can almost be guaranteed a whale shark experience. Consequently, the streets are lined with dive shops. Because certifications are so cheap, many shops have reputations as "dive master factories". For as little as $500 (including lodging) one can spend a month on the island completing a dive master course. My 12 dives cost me $160. I dived with Altons because that is the shop the school uses. They were fine. The dive masters were young, mostly inexperienced but competent and all were friendly. Dee did her certification course through Altons, they were able to work around her school schedule and she felt her instruction was proficient. I have also heard very good reports about Deep Blue Divers. This dive resort and shop is owned by an English couple who claim that Honduras is the cheapest place in the world to dive with the the world's second largest barrier reef. The best diving in Utila is in the morning. This is when most dive boats go to the "north" side. Also morning offers the best conditions. Unfortunately, I had school in the morning and dived in the afternoon. By doing this I missed two whale shark encounters. There are no bad dive sites on Utila. During my 12 dives, I encountered the largest lobster I have seen in the ocean (20-25 pounds) several barracuda, jaw fish, octopus, spotted drums, sea turtles, moray, scorpion fish, crabs, hog fish, lizard fish, large sting ray, eagle rays, corals, sea fans, sponges and much much more. The dive sites included a spectacular seamount at Black Hills; Rons Wreck - unimpressive as a wreck dive but lots of sea life, saw the green moray here; Airport reef (a good night dive); Blue Bayou, where I saw 2 turtles, barracuda and the "giant" lobsters; Black coral wall (2 deep dives here-good), Jack Neil; Big Rock and Cabanas. The visibility ranged from 20-30 m. Though I did a couple of deep dives (36 m) the best diving is between 12-20 m. Lodging and food in Utila are as cheap as Thailand. We stayed at the Colibri Hotel, a new hotel with the first pool in Utila. We had a large room with 2 queen size beds and hot water for $25. Per night. Most meals are under $3.00. A fancy dinner will cost about twice that. For non divers, Viki and Lois spent an afternoon on Water Caye (a small white sand island with palm trees and no sand flies) an afternoon snorkelling, a hike to Pumpkin Hill and explored some of the caves. There is also horseback riding, shopping and people watching. But be prepared, the bay islands are renown for some of the most aggressive no-seeums anywhere. Bring lots of repellent. In conclusion, my only regrets about my trip is that my travel was confined due to taking the classes. I would have really liked to visit the ruins at Copan but that was on the other side of the country. If you travel with Taca Airlines be prepared to have your luggage delayed. This is a common event of this airline. It was nice to have Rafael as an advocate to hasten the process of getting our luggage to La Ceiba. The cultural experience of not only getting to know, but become friends with the Honduran people I met was priceless. In addition we made many international friends with other students. The diving was extraordinary. The experience was phenomenal. by Bill Mashek rubicon@sonic.net http://www.rubiconadventures.com/ Contacts: Altons Diving: altons@hondutel.hn Deep Blue Divers: steve@deepblueutila.com Central American Spanish School: info@ca-spanish.com Jungle River Tours: jungle@televicab.com __________________________________________________________ Creature of the Month: Cup Coral, Tubastraea aurea ================================================== The cup coral Tubastraea aurea is the pretty, orange, tubular coral which you see growing beneath overhangs and on the walls of caves. It is at its most attractive at night, when the coral skeleton is hidden by ring of bright yellow tentacles. During the day the tentacles are retracted into the coral tube. The name comes from the Latin for tube (tubus) and the Greek for star (astron). The skeletal tubes measure 5-15 mm across and protrude by 10 mm or more from the coral surface. Tubastraea species occur from the surface to depths of nearly 1500 m. There are four or five species throughout shallow Indo-Pacific waters (Red Sea, Thailand, Indonesia, Hawaii, etc.). Until 1725 corals were classed as "stony plants". Then Frenchman Peyssonel discovered that corals were related to anemones and realised that they were really animals. His findings, however, were not accepted at the time. As Tubastraea grow in low light, they lack symbiotic algae (which require light to photosynthesise). This in turn means that they grow relatively slowly and do not contribute to reef building. For pictures of Tubastraea aurea see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/hardcoral.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/polyp.html __________________________________________________________ Diving News From Around the World ================================= NEW TORCH SHOWS CORAL AND FISH IN A COMPLETELY NEW LIGHT Many animals fluoresce underwater: when you shine blue light on them they emit another colour. A new torch uses the latest in high intensity LED technology for maximum excitation of fluorescence, letting you see a variety of creatures glow in the dark. http://www.nightsea.com/bluestar.htm WARSHIP SCUTTLED TO BECOME EUROPE'S FIRST ARTIFICIAL REEF Europe's first artificial reef was created this weekend, with the scuttling of Royal Navy frigate the HMS Scylla. The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth (UK) bought the ship from for £200,000. A series of explosions sent the vessel to 21 m. It's expected that conger eels, pollock, sea bass and many other sea creatures will move in. The first dives have already been logged there. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/ DIVING IN COLD WATER CAUSES HEALTH PROBLEMS Divers making over 100 dives a year in cold water to over 40 m may have long-term negative neurofunctional effects, according to a study recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine http://bjsm.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/38/2/ DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS INCIDENTS BECOMING MORE SEVERE A significant change in the incidence of type 1 and type 2 decompression sickness has been observed in Croatian divers. The proportion of the more serious type 2 DCS has increased from 47% of incidents to 63%. The change was attributed to the extensive use of dive computers and artificial gas mixtures which enable extended bottom times and deeper dives. Type 2 DCS involves the central nervous system or cardio-respiratory system. http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/ PILL COULD FEND OFF BENDS A scientific team has now shown that giving mice an NO-releasing drug reduces bubble formation, could the same be done for humans? http://www.newscientist.com/news/ SOUTH AFRICANS TO PAY FOR DIVING IN MARINE RESERVES South African divers are angry at government proposals to make them pay for permits to dive in marine reserves which they say will seriously damage the industry and do nothing to protect the underwater environment. They have also questioned why only divers have been targeted while there are no proposals to permit other recreational users of marine protected areas like surfers, windsurfers or yachtsmen. Divers have until May 8 to lodge comments on the proposed legislation. http://www.iol.co.za/ DIVERS RESCUE CAVING EXPEDITION British divers led trapped military cavers to safety from a flooded Mexican cave system. The cavers, however, were then arrested on suspicion of searching for illegal radiological material and breach of visa. The Mexicans were apparently not aware of British cavers' obsessions with mapping caves. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/ :ADV_____________________________________________________ Automatically count the customers entering your dive shop - by the day, by the hour, by the week - you choose. Use any Windows program for analysis and decision making. More details see... http://www.videoturnstile.com/ ____________________________________________________ADV: FISH THREATENED BY DEAD ZONES Sea areas starved of oxygen will soon damage fish stocks even more than unsustainable catches, the United Nations believes. The UN Environment Programme says excessive nutrients, mainly nitrogen from human activities, are causing these "dead zones" by stimulating huge growths of algae. Since the 1960s the number of oxygen-starved areas has doubled every decade, as human nitrogen production has outstripped natural sources. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3577711.stm DIVING AND NOT SEDIMENTATION HARMS CORALS A study into coral cover at Eilat in the Red Sea has found that nitrogen pollution and the presence of divers play a significant role in the death of corals, but sedimentation does not. http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;14972576 AUSTRALIA BANS FISHING IN THE BARRIER REEF Australia has passed a law, to come into force in July, which will make the Great Barrier Reef the world's largest protected reef system. The law will ban fishing in one third of the World Heritage Site, and leave tourism as the only permitted industry. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/barrierreef2004.html GO DIVING 2004 Part of the Outdoors Show at Birmingham's NEC on 2-4 April. Features equipment, travel and lectures. http://www.theoutdoorsshow.com/dive.php OCEAN FESTIVAL 2004 Dive and Adventure Sports Expo from 14-16 May, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. http://www.oceanfest.com/ __________________________________________________________ * Copyright SCUBA Travel - http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/ * Reprinting welcomed with this footer included. We are happy for you to copy and distribute this newsletter, and even use parts of it on your own website, providing the above copyright notice is included, and a link back to our website is in place. Previous editions of SCUBA News are archived at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING Visit http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html and add or remove your e-mail address. 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