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SCUBA News 49~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) Issue 49 - May 2004 http://www.scubatravel.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks you for sending your diving experiences last month. We've added most of your comments to the site, although some of the more detailed responses are taking a little longer to get up as we're giving them their own pages. Please keep sending your trip and dive centre reports - fill in the form at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/recommend.html We hope you enjoy the newsletter, 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: Cave Diving in Mexico - Bookshelf: A diver's guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife - Advice for planning a diving holiday in Bali - Creature of the Month: Blue-Spotted Stingray - Diving News from Around the World __________________________________________________________ What's New at SCUBA Travel? =========================== New Diving Centre Listings- Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Italy and Jordan This month you've recommended diving operators in Puerto Galera, Koh Tao, Aqaba, Western Australia and Sardinia. See the ratings at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/philippines/philop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/thailand/thaiop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/redsea/jordanop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/australia/ausop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/italy/sardop.html Diving Destinations- Malaysia, Greece and Mexico We've more on going diving around Sipadan (excellent diving but easy to get ripped off); Cozumel (drift diving in strong currents with good value for money) and Corfu. For details see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/malaysia/malaydive.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.html#Mexico http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.html#Greece Red Sea Photo Gallery Photos taken on Ras Samadia, Egypt are now in the photo gallery at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photo.html :ADV_____________________________________________________ Log data from GPS, sonar and other instruments to your database or mapping program with the free Windmill software. For diving, seafloor mapping, salvage, coral reef monitoring, etc. Download your free copy at http://www.windmill.co.uk/gps.html ____________________________________________________ADV: __________________________________________________________ Your Letters ============ If anyone has information for our letter-writers, please send it to news@scubatravel.co.uk and we'll pass it on. Alternatively, fill in the form at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/recommend.html -- Information Needed on Senegal, Sierra Leone, Brazil and Portugal Can you please forward me any contact details for diving in the following countries, as I am going to be visiting them in the near future and i want to organise some diving for when I am there. The countries that I will be visiting are as follows: Dakar, Senagal Sierra Leone Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Recife, Brazil Lisbon, Portugal Thank you once again for any help you can provide. Andrew Brown - Australia Recommendations? I've got a short stay in Oz that's just popped up and want to do a few days out of Cairns. I was wondering if you folks have any dive shops you've worked with that you particularly like? I've gotten a couple of shops to e-mail me and it seems there're quite a few who do 1-2 night liveaboards, just to avoid the long boat ride to the reef each day. Any help or hints you might provide would be very appreciated. Thanks - Alan - Cave Diving in Mexico Dos Ojos is an underwater cavern in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. They call it "The Cenotes". In the last ice age the Yucatan Jungle flooded due to mass rain fall. The sulphuric minerals in the earth together with the rain created underwater caves and caverns that span 200 km. You can now explore them with cave guides and an open water certificate. The caves create a wonderful show of natural light beams bouncing off the endless realms of forever. Jason Rabbow __________________________________________________________ SCUBA News Bookshelf: A Diver's guide to Underwater Malaysia, by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari ============================================ Andrea and Antonella Ferrari A diver's guide to Underwater Malaysia Nautilus Publishing, 2003 468pp. £40.00 983 2731 00 3 Although it's always exciting to see big animals underwater, it's the smaller stuff that can provide the most absorbing dives. These creatures are not always easy to identify, but this new photographic guide makes the task considerably easier. Not just for dive sites of Malaysia as the title suggests, you'll find it useful throughout the Indo-Pacific from the Maldives to Australia. As well as being an identification guide, the book gives tips on how to take a good photo of each animal. They've even included some previously undocumented species, with a plea to readers for any further information. With the exception of corals and sponges, most types of animal are covered from nudibranchs to fish, and a massive 600 species are described. Notes on the animals behaviour and habitat are given. There are some surprising entries and omissions from the book, until you realise that it is not size that is the deciding factor but the ability of the animal to be photographed with a macro lens. So a large octopus and crocodile fish make an appearance, but small active fish like fire basslets are excluded. Is it worth buying? Definitely. It's compact, well laid out with clear photographs - over 800 of them - and loads of information. ` Andrea and Antonella Ferrari have been regular visitors to Malaysia for many years. Andrea is a movie journalist and film critic whilst Antonella works at a publishing company. They have published several photographic books and diving guides. You can buy "A divers' guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife" from NHBS Mailorder Bookstore at a reduced price of 25 GBP for a limited time (+ 4 GBP Postage) http://www.nhbs.com/xbscripts/bksrch?r=89439;l=3 It is also available from Amazon.co.uk (30 GBP + 1.99 Handling) http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/9832731003/1286 and from Amazon.com for 45 USD __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Advice for planning a diving holiday in Bali ============================================ None of Bali’s best dive sites are located in or near the south of Bali (the major tourist areas) therefore you should not book anything less than a full day trip, unless you are happy with mediocre diving. On route to the better dive sites you travel through some very pretty Balinese countryside, seeing rice terraces, coastline, rural villages and Bali's most revered volcano Mount Agung on your journeys: take your camera. Roads in Bali are not up to western standards, therefore it takes longer to get from A to B than it would "back home" if you simply look at the miles/kms involved. A Safari (diving/hotel package) is a great way to see more of Bali, visit several sites and cut down on travelling time. The price includes accommodation and, because you are staying near the dive sites, you can do earlier and later dives which means you can dive before and after the day trips. It also gives different marine life and lighting as well as the opportunity to do more dives each day at the beach entry locations. Have a look at package deals to Bali. You can choose to split up the, say, 6 nights accommodation and fit a Safari/Day Trips and activities into the middle of your holiday; or simply extend the duration of the package from say 6 to 13 nights - and put the Safari in either the first or second week that you are there. The Rainy Season (south-east monsoon) is usually October - March. However, if you study the lunar calendar and the monsoon patterns along with the rich, cold upwelling to East Bali and Nusa Penida from the south of Bali during the south-east monsoon, you'll see that Sept-Nov is the best diving season, Apr-Jun is very good, Jul-Aug and Dec are okay but Jan-Mar are the worst. Although we generally see Manta rays year-round, manta season is said to be April/May; and Mola-Mola (oceanic Sunfish) are usually seen Sept-Nov. Please note that the above is only to be taken as general guidelines. Snorkelling is available at Tulamben, Amed, Padangbai and Menjangan so partners and children can often join day trips and safaris. Bali is a great place - it is a shame that some people come here to dive and are put into The Production Line. Who wants to dive in a large group of people you don’t know? To be limited in depth and dive time by novice divers, or pushed to do dives which are beyond your experience? As a general rule, western dive staff are employed seasonally and therefore may have less experience at the sites you visit. by Annabel Thomas AquaMarine Diving ScubaTravel@AquaMarineDiving.com Further Reading: Lonely Planet Diving and Snorkelling Bali and Lombok http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1864501294/1286 SCUBA Travel Indonesia Section http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/indonesia/ Aquamarine Diving Bali http://www.aquamarinediving.com/ __________________________________________________________ Creature of the Month: Blue-Spotted Stingray, Taeniura lymma ============================================= The Dasyatidae or Sting Ray family contains about 100 species, one of which is the Blue Spotted Stingray. These are common throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including in the Red Sea and the Great Barrier Reef. With their rounded shape and bright blue spots they are easy to identify. Lying on sandy bottoms the flick sand over themselves as camouflage, before preying on bottom-dwelling animals like crabs. Stingrays are so called because of the venomous spines at the base of the tail. They are not aggressive, but if you accidentally step on one the spine may be driven into your leg. This causes intense pain, increasing for around 90 minutes and lasting, if untreated, for 1 to 2 days. The pain is so great it may have a paralysing effect. Wash the wound with salt water and then plunge into water as hot as can be tolerated. When the pain eases, remove any piece of barb still in the wound. For photos of Blue Spotted Stingray see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/bluestingray.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/stingray.html __________________________________________________________ Diving News From Around the World ================================= RED SEA PETITION An Italian company are proposing to build an enormous hotel complex on Giftun Island in an area of the Red Sea decreed a national park and protected area. The development, off the coast from Hurghada, is opposed by the Red Sea Association for Diving and Watersports and the Hurghada Environmental Protection Association. They have set up a petition against the proposals which you can sign at http://www.petitiononline.com/GIFTUN/petition.html :ADV_____________________________________________________ To advertise here costs just 15 GBP! Reach a tightly targeted audience of divers and be exposed to our 16000 monthly web site visitors. For more details visit http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsad.html ____________________________________________________ADV: CORAL DECLINE ADVERSLY AFFECTS FISH BIODIVERSITY The worldwide decline in coral cover has serious implications for the future of reef fish. Marine reserves can protect fish from exploitation, but an 8-year study in Papua New Guinea shows that they can't protect fish numbers in areas of coral decline. Over 75% of reef fish species declined in abundance, and 50% declined to less than half of their original numbers. The greater the dependence species have on living coral as juvenile recruitment sites, the greater the observed decline in abundance. Several rare coral-specialists became locally extinct. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/101/21/8251 TITANIC DAMAGE TO BE ASSESSED Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic in 1985, is to return to determine how she has been damaged by salvage operations and submarine tours. As part of his campaign to preserve the Titanic and other shipwrecks as permanent memorials, he plans to map the ship and compare it to his first visit. http://www.blueworld.gabama.com/news.php?id=9 RESEARCHERS ASSESS MEDICAL RISKS OF BREATH-HOLD DIVING Breath-hold (free) diving is increasingly popular. Swedish researchers have studied the medical risks associated with free diving and concluded that health requirements for competitive breath-hold diving should follow essentially the same standards as used for SCUBA diving. http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;15045843 WHALES, SEALS AND FISHERMEN TAKE DIFFERENT PREY The first global study of its kind shows that marine mammals and fishing fleets rarely prey heavily on the same fish stocks. About 80 per cent of the world's fish catch comes from regions where there is very little overlap with marine mammals, she found, and 99 per cent of marine mammal feeding takes place where very little fishing occurs. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994983 OSLO CALLS FOR MORE WHALING TO PROTECT FISH STOCKS Norway's parliament has called for a three-fold increase in whale hunting quotas in a move it said would protect stocks of cod and other fish. The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) said Norway was blaming whales for its own over-fishing. Last week it warned fish quotas are unsustainable and cod could become extinct in 15 years. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/ $25000 PRIZE FOR IDEAS TO STOP "BYCATCH" Hundreds of thousands of dolphins, turtles, whales, birds, etc die each year because they become entangled in fishing nets. Now a large prize is being offered for the best solution to stop these accidental deaths. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/InNews/contestgear2004.html RESTAURANT CHAIN BANS SHARK The Wagamama chain of noodle restaurants has removed shark from its menu amid fears that many species be wiped out by 2017. Bite-Back, the marine conservation organisation, says that while the mako shark is not a threatened species, its inclusion on Wagamama's menu potentially promoted the misconception that eating all shark was all right. http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/ DOZENS OF WHALES DRAGGED BACK TO SEA IN INDONESIA 49 Whales were successfully pushed back into the sea after they became stranded on a beach in Java. One died from the heat and is thought to have lead the others astray to the beach. http://www.enn.com/news/2004-05-26/s_24253.asp WORLD OCEANS DAY Since first being announced at the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, World Oceans Day raises awareness of the World's oceans and their importance for wildlife and all life on Earth. This year it falls on the 8th of June. http://www.mcsuk.org __________________________________________________________ * Copyright SCUBA Travel Ltd - 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. CONTACTING THE EDITOR Please send your letters or press releases to: The Editor SCUBA News The Cliff Upper Mayfield DE6 2HR UK ADVERTISING Should you wish to advertise in SCUBA News, please fill in the form at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsad.html PUBLISHER SCUBA Travel Ltd, 5 Loxford Court, Hulme, Manchester, M15 6AF, UK Subscribe To SCUBA NewsOur newsletter, SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011), is absolutely free. It is a monthly publication, delivered by e-mail. To receive your copy fill in your details below. We will never pass your e-mail address to any third parties, or send you unsolicited e-mail. You will receive an e-mail confirming your subscription. If you don't receive this you have probably entered your e-mail address incorrectly - revisit this page and re-subscribe. Send us your Press Releases
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