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SCUBA News 59

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011)
Issue 59 - March 2005
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We hope you enjoy SCUBA News, but should you wish to 
cancel your subscription you can do so at 
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html

Contents:
- What's new at SCUBA Travel?
- Your Letters
- First Dive
- PADI v SDI: Different Training Approaches
- Creature of the Month: Bull Ray
- Diving News from Around the World 
__________________________________________________________

What's New at SCUBA Travel?
===========================

Subscribe to Commercial Forum Now and Escape Price Rise
  The commercial forum is for companies to advertise 
  last-minute deals and special offers on a range of 
  SCUBA stuff. It currently costs just £1.95 a month 
  to post messages here, but this is rising for new 
  subscribers to £2.49 ($4.67).  Subscribe now and lock 
  into the old price for life! 
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=5

PADI v SDI: Two Different Training Approaches
  PADI produces more certifications than other training
  organisation.  But are these certifications producing 
  divers who actually remain divers?  Former PADI
  instructor has strong views on the drawbacks of the 
  PADI teaching system.
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/padivsdi.html

Diving in Malaysia: Sipadan, Tioman and Labuan
  We've had so many comments about the diving in 
  Malaysia, especially Sipadan, that we've given it 
  its own section at
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/malaysia/  

Diving Koh Tao, Thailand
  Information on the diving around Koh Tao is now 
  included in the Thailand section of the site.
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/thailand/thaidive.html  

Equivalent Diving Qualifications from Different Bodies
  There are many different bodies around the world which 
  award diving qualifications. This newly updated table 
  gives a rough guide to equivalent qualifications.
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/qualifications.html

Diving in the Turks and Caicos
  Fancy diving in the Turks and Caicos? Get first-hand, 
  independent information before you go.
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.html#Turks

New Underwater Photos of the Wreck of the Umbria
  More photos of the Umbria (Sudan Red Sea) have been 
  added to the photo gallery.
  http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photoumbria.html
__________________________________________________________

Your Letters
============

We are looking for the diving operators in Pulau Paya 
Marine Park. 

M. Rawat 

--

I read with some interest the article on diving in Oz, 
especially Cairns (Issue 58 of SCUBA News, 
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scubanews58.html). Having been 
over there in November 04 I thought I'd drop a few notes to 
you on the joy of diving the Great Barrier Reef.

A small group of us took an almost new, and purpose-built, 
boat out from Airlie Beach crewed by a very knowledgeable 
team of cheery individuals, for a 3 night dive extravaganza!

We took in the SS Centurion and then on to the Yongala.

The boat an crew more than excelled themselves. The food 
was excellent and the diving hassle free and enjoyable, 
without the masses of first-timers kicking the coral. 
We dived around the Whitsunday Islands and what we saw 
was awesome. 

If anyone is planning a trip in that region, it is easily 
accessed from Sydney via Brisbane to Proserpine Airport. 
Taxi to Airlie is 20 minutes. The dive boat is the 
SS Centurion, 5* (centurion@centurioncruises.au).

Thoroughly recommended. Have Fun

Fred Chinley

__________________________________________________________

First Dive
==========

As first dives go mine was one I would rather forget! It 
was in Kenya in extremely choppy water. I had been fine 
in the pool sessions but panicked when I got into the water, 
so my instructor decided the best thing to do would be to 
get me under as quickly as possible and dragged me under 
whilst I was in full panic. Needless to say the dive was 
aborted. My husband dragged him off me and helped me back 
out onto the boat! 

For 2 years I couldn't face the thought of trying again, 
but an Instructor called John Fleming in Crete got me 
through my OW with minimum fuss. Since then I have dived 
all over the world in varying conditions, I even did the 
advanced OW last year. So anyone out there who has tried 
and failed - don't give up, with the right instructor and 
a real will to succeed, you can do it. My kids have now 
qualified so after applying for a second mortgage to fund 
the kit purchases, and all the dives, we can all 
dive together. 

Julie Christie

--

Why not drop us a line about your first dive, and any 
changes you've seen since then?  Fill in the form at 
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/webmaster.hmtl

ADVERT:__________________________________________________

  LOW COST TRAVEL INSURANCE: World Nomads offers 
  divers low-cost travel insurance which doesn't limit 
  the depth to which you can dive. For more details visit
  http://www.worldnomads.com.au/
__________________________________________________:ADVERT
__________________________________________________________

PADI v SDI: Different Training Approaches
==========================================================

An extract from an article by Matilda Jean Duffy, former PADI 
Instructor and current SDI instructor.

For the full version see 
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/PADIvSDI.pdf. 
Comment on the article at 
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73

The McPADI concept of marketing
-------------------------------
This comparison came to me by virtue of a discussion on 
a scuba board forum. The discussion was started by a 
NAUI instructor, not me. PADI, is arguably the largest 
recreational dive organization and has sought to provide 
the dive community with a safe predictable dive experience 
for this class of diver. It is a large corporation and to 
that end limits corporation liability. PADI lives and 
breathes liability containment, and here lies its flaw 
in providing innovation to the dive community.

The NAUI Instructor's position was: 
  "PADI to me is like McDonald's Hamburgers, you can't 
   deny the ability for McDonald's to provide a specific 
   average quality of burger world wide. The same is true 
   of PADI anywhere in the world you can find a PADI 
   facility that will provide you a predictable type of 
   dive experience." 

My position on this is that this is not an insult, only 
the acceptance, that, if you teach towards a certain range, 
your divers and instructors are for the most part going 
to lie within that range. This could open the perception 
that the problem with the PADI motto, To teach the world 
to Dive" is clearly not everyone in the world is capable 
of diving, nor should they. Do you by attempting to teach 
the world to dive actually prevent the sport from developing 
to a form were it remains fun and challenging? Does teaching 
the world to dive means you focus on the average person, 
which leaves you to dropping the poor diver and limiting the 
experience of the above average student? Does focusing on the 
average person lead to a higher profit return? Yes, focusing 
your money making efforts on the average will reward you with 
higher short end return.

As an SDI instructor I feel no pressure to provide a specific 
number of certification per month unlike when I was a PADI 
instructor. I found by experience that the successful PADI 
instructor is not so much the best instructor at teaching 
divers, but the instructor who produces the most certifications.

-

Do you agree? Tell us at 
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73
_________________________________________________________

Creature of the Month: Bull Ray, Myliobatis australis
==========================================================

For a photograph of this ray, see
http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/bullray.html

This large ray has a wing span of up to 150 cm and can 
reach 240 cm in total length.  It occurs  in Australia 
from southern Queensland around clockwise to the 
south-western coast of Western Australia. It also occurs 
in New Zealand. 

It is often found resting in hollows in the sand in 
shallow water, and occurs offshore down to 85 m.  It feeds 
mainly on crabs and shellfish.

Part of the Eagle Ray family (another name for it is 
Southern Eagle Ray) it has a long slender tail armed with 
a sting at its base.  The young are born fully developed.

Further Reading:
----------------
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?id=8687
__________________________________________________________

Diving News From Around the World
=================================

If you would like to read the diving news as it happens, 
without waiting for this newsletter, then grab the SCUBA
News feed from http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/newsfeed.html
It's free and updates you with the latest diving news via 
e-mail, your web site or any news feed reader.

Diving Strains the Heart
  New research suggests that SCUBA diving involves a 
  mechanical strain on the heart. Scientists monitored a 
  hormonal marker of cardiac dysfunction in 10 military 
  divers before, during and after a dive.  The results 
  showed cardiac wall stress during the dive and 5 hours 
  after surfacing.
  http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/medline/record/MDLN.15742826  

ADVERT:__________________________________________________

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 http://www.allposters.com/
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Remains of ancient Egyptian seafaring ships discovered
  The first remains of ancient Egyptian seagoing ships 
  ever to be recovered have been found in two caves on 
  Egypt's Red Sea coast, according to a team at Boston 
  University in the US.
  http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7190  

Divers Rescue Whale Caught In Fishing Nets
  Divers off of Baja California, Mexico, freed a 
  humpback whale caught in fishing nets. Humpback whales 
  migrate from cold polar waters during winter to breed 
  in warmer waters, then travel back to colder waters 
  in the summer.
  http://www.nbc4.tv/news/4293706/detail.html  

Whaling Moratorium Likely to Be Dumped, New Zealand Official Warns
  The 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling 
  is likely to be rescinded in the next few years, 
  New Zealand's commissioner to the International Whaling 
  Commission has warned. 
  http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7330

Feds sue divers over artefacts
  The federal government has sued a group of divers to 
  demand the return of artefacts recovered from the wreck 
  of a U.S. Lighthouse Service ship that sank more than 
  60 years ago, taking four lives.
  http://www.boston.com/news/  

Divers Protest over Pair Trawling
  Environmental campaigners attempted to stop two vessels 
  pair-trawling off Devon (UK) by dropping divers in their 
  way. Two divers entered the water with buoys carrying 
  banners saying, "Stop killing dolphins".  Greenpeace says 
  dolphins die in the huge nets strung between the boats as 
  they fish for sea bass.  The campaigners say flares were 
  fired near Greenpeace inflatables.
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/ 

Mystery Squid Discovered
  It took only a minute for scientists to discover a new 
  deep-sea species with an experimental infrared camera built 
  in Southern California and light-emitting artificial lure. 
  http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7244  

New Research into Middle Ear Barotrauma
  Eustachian tube dysfunction measured by the nine-step test 
  and a small size of the mastoid cell system seem to be 
  risk factors for symptomatic middle ear barotrauma in 
  otherwise healthy sport scuba divers.  Evaluation of these 
  factors in the predive examination of diving candidates may 
  be useful in the determination of fitness to dive.
  http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/medline/record/ 

Phuket governor told to halt destruction of coral
  Local fisheries officials in Thailand's southern resort 
  province of Phuket yesterday promised to closely monitor 
  the activities of trawler vessels, following the discovery 
  that trawlers are destroying coral reefs which provide 
  essential monsoon shelter for dolphins.
  http://www.mcot.org/query.php?nid=37010

Petition to close captive dolphin facilities in Sharm el Sheikh
  The Marine Connection are campaigning to close two captive 
  dolphin facilities in Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt).
  http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=1677

Divers find Bronze Age treasure
  Archaeologists have discovered a treasure of Bronze Age 
  objects during a diving expedition off the south-west 
  coast of England, a spokesperson for the British Museum 
  said.
  http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12489790-23109,00.html  

__________________________________________________________

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