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SCUBA News 60~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) Issue 60 - April 2005 http://www.scubatravel.co.uk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to the sixtieth edition of SCUBA News. This month we have an entertaining description of a "first dive from Hell", courtesy Bart Fried. We also have had several letters asking for information. Can you help our letter-writers? As well as our regular features, we have an exclusive interview with diving mystery author Kathy Brandt. We hope you enjoy this issue, but should you wish to cancel your subscription you can do so at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html If you would like to reprint any of this newsletter you may do so, see the conditions at the end. Contents: - What's new at SCUBA Travel? - Your Letters - First Dive - Interview with Diving Mystery Author Kathy Brandt - Creature of the Month: Sea Fan - Diving News from Around the World __________________________________________________________ What's New at SCUBA Travel? ============================ SCUBA Diving Posters We've discovered some fantastic posters featuring SCUBA divers, and so have added a new gallery featuring these underwater prints. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/posters3.html Recommnendations for Diving Operators You've been recommending more diving diving operators in Thailand, the Philippines, Italy and Malaysia. Find which give the best service and value for money. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/thailand/thaiop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/philippines/philop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/italy/sardop.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/malaysia/malayop.html SCUBA Bestsellers Discover the last 3 months' best selling SCUBA books, videos and DVDs. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/bestsellers.html Diving in the Commonwealth of Dominica Ever thought of diving in the Commonwealth of Dominic (not the Dominican Republic)...pristine reefs, incredible sponges, loads of rare creatures all on an island that looks like they could film Jurassic Park. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/scuba.html#Dominica Maldives Diving - The Amazing Manta Point "Shoals of Giant Mantas make the Maldives' Manta Point one of the best in the world." So says one of our readers - read more and let us know if you agree. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/pacific.html#Maldives New Underwater Photos of Coral in the Red Sea We've updated our Photo Gallery with more Red Sea coral pictures. http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/photo5.html __________________________________________________________ Your Letters ========================================================== Honduras does have some great marine life and wonderful reefs. Spent 4 days at the CocoView Resort (an almost all inclusive divers resort). The staff were professional and courteous, and the diving was very, very good. In 3 and a half days, we made 15 dives and could have done more. On our last day, we drove around the island and visited other potential dive sites - which would have been nice to see from under the surface. Of the 3 of us that went to Honduras - one had over 1,000 dives, one had about 200 and one completed his qualification dives while there - the diving was able to satisfy all 3 experience levels. Many of the people at the resort were on the 10th or more visit. Joel Steadley -- I am trying to get some one who is intrested to run a diving centre here in Maldives. Can anyone help? Iqbal Hameed -- Went on Rum Runner to Holmes reef in Nov 2004, the boat sprang a leak and had to turn around! We were all refunded but on returning to the UK it hasn't gone on my credit card--are they still trading? Jacqui Symons -- Is it possible to find out where padi instructor Farag Sedky Rzaik padi instructor no OWSI-608289 is working, as I would like to team up with him to do my advanced divng? He used to work for Camel Diving in Sharm. Top class instructor. Brian Worthington -- Could anyone tell me more about a diving school/centre in hotel Sofitel Timi Ama in Villasimius? Quality? Experiences? etc. Jean Diop -- If you can help any of our letter-writers, let us know at http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/webmaster.html ADVERT:__________________________________________________ POSTERS AND PRINTS: Save money on a vast selection of posters and prints - Doubilet's Red Sea, sharks, Great Barrier Reef, whales...browse the offers at http://www.allposters.com/ __________________________________________________:ADVERT __________________________________________________________ First Dive ========== After reading Julie Christie's report of her first dive debacle (SCUBA News Issue 59), I thought I'd share a similar report. This was my third check-out dive but my first true open water dive, the others being shallow beach dives. The weather was poor, with mild rain & 0.5 to 1 meter chop. I had some nausea before the dive, mostly from bending over to don gear while the boat rocked. My buddy Ed was seasick on the boat and again on the surface while waiting for me. For the record, Ed proved that M & M's will pass through a regulator when expelling lunch. I had equipment problems right from the start. I took my giant stride into the sea and took a breath while popping back to the surface. It was straight salt water! I had the reg in my mouth and reached to purge it but it was gone ... only the mouth piece was in my mouth. The tie holding the mouthpiece to the reg was loose and I had failed to hold the reg as well as my mask when striding in. The instructor signalled to go back to the boat and fix the problem. I looked around and thousands of tiny jellyfish surrounded the boat. I was in a shorty, but fortunately I wasn't stung. I climbed back on the boat immediately and replaced my faulty reg. with a borrowed regulator with a hose that was too short for me. I couldn't look left very far. After striding in again (now alone - everyone else was at the bottom of the mooring), I had trouble equalizing at 7 meters. I resurfaced and came down the mooring line again. Fortunately, after such a poor start, the rest of the dive was pleasant and uneventful. It was a very healthy reef dive, with a large white-tip reef shark and lots of nice coral. On the ascent, I forgot to add a safety stop, and when I was back on board, I noticed that I had received some minor stings from hydroids on the line. Thus ended my first dive ... the dive from Hell! I've since logged 59 dives over the next four years, in the Atlantic, Carribean and P acific oceans. Bart Fried, New York -- Did you have a memorable first dive? Tell us about it - http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/webmaster.html 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 __________________________________________________________ Interview with Diving Mystery Author Kathy Brandt ================================================== Kathy Brandt is the author of the Underwater Investigation series featuring SCUBA diver and underwater crime scene investigator, Hannah Sampson. The books have an strong environmental themes. "I think that addressing environmental issues in the mystery allows me to reach a wider audience than someone who is writing a strictly environmental piece. I love the ocean. This extraordinary place is packed with life. And stunning. The idea that thirty percent of the world's coral reefs has already been destroyed, that if the trend continues, sixty percent will be decimated by 2030 is frightening. And what a horrible loss. Species are being wiped out -- turtles, whales, sharks, dolphin. A lot of it is just senseless slaughter. My first book talked about the damage being done to the reef, the second deals with the killing of shark for their fins." Kathy's favourite dive site is the wreck of the Rhone in the British Virgin Islands, and any site that is rich in sea life. She likes the Rhone because it is blanketed in colour -- encrusted in coral and sponges. You almost always see turtles and barracuda and it's teeming with fish: sergeant majors, angelfish, parrotfish, durgon. It's a popular dive site for other reasons as well. It is the wreck of a 310 foot steamer that went down in a hurricane in 1967. She's in two sections. The bow is about 150 feet long and at about 20-25 m of water. You can see the bowsprit, foremast with crow's nest, a cannon and can swim inside. Stern is 10 m with a huge propeller Her most exciting dive was in the Sea of Cortez when she encountered a school of some 25 hammerheads which promptly ignored her and her buddies. Kathy is an avid diver and sailor and taught writing at the University of Colorado before deciding to write full time. Her articles have appeared in Cruising World, Sailing, Yachting, Diver and many other publications. Her new book, Dangerous Depths, is published in May. It is the third mystery in the underwater investigation series. The environmental focus this time is sea turtles and their nesting grounds. Her other novels are Swimming with the Dead and Dark Water Dive. Kathy's books are available from Amazon Swimming with the Dead http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451210204/1286 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ Dark Water Dive http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451212525/1286 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ Dangerous Depths http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451214935/1286 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ You can visit Kathy's website at www.ksbrandt.com _________________________________________________________ Creature of the Month: Sea Fan Coral, Gorgonia =============================================== For photographs of sea fans, see http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/seafanaus.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/fancoral.html http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/seafan.html Sea fans are gorgonian corals. They grow at right angles to the prevaling current, their tentacles straining microscopic particles of food from the water. They are common and conspicuous - and a favourite with underwater photographers who often pose their buddy behind one. The design of gorgonian corals requires a small amount of surface area for attachment, but provides a large surface area for feeding. Gorgonians must avoid being damaged by currents but, at the same time, must remain erect in order to feed effectively. These two requirements have produced a compromise between rigidity and flexibility, with colonies typically having the elasticity of stiff rubber. When currents threaten to damage a colony, the colonies have the ability to bend and then spring back into their original position. Depending on species, gorgonians reach their maxium size in 10 to 15 years. Gorgonians habour many animals including gobies, snails, and bivalves. They are extremely common in the Caribbean with over 1,200 species of Gorgonian recorded. They occur around the world though, even in the British Isles - although these are without the lattice structure of many of the warm water species. Gorgonians inhabit a wide variety of depths, but the majority are found in deep water. Further Reading: ---------------- Invertebrate Zoology, by Robert D Barnes, Brooks Cole, 2003 ISBN 0-0302-6668-8 http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/asin/0030259827/1286 Australian Institute of Marine Science http://www.aims.gov.au/ __________________________________________________________ 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 automatically updates you with the latest SCUBA news via your web site, e-mail or any news feed reader. New Research Finds Unexpected Increase in PFO Prevalence A group of divers was re-examined for the presence and size of patent foramen ovale (PFO) 7 years after their initial examinations. Unexpected but significant increases of PFO were found, suggesting a possible increasing risk for decompression sickness in these divers over time. (A PFO is a tiny opening between the heart's two upper chambers.) http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;15781033 Scuba diving with diabetes mellitus: No Problem 11 Year survey shows that in a group of well-controlled diabetic divers, there were no serious problems due to hypoglycaemia when they dived. Data have been gathered from 323 diabetic divers and 8760 dives over 11 years. Two fatalities were reported, both in non-insulin dependent divers. One incident of hypoglycaemia underwater in an insulin dependent diabetic diver has been reported. http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;15796312 Top Fish Populations Being Replaced by Smaller Fish Shark, tuna, marlin and other top undersea predator populations are being replaced by smaller rays and other fish, according to a new study published in Ecology. Researchers found that top-of-the-food-web fish are half the size and their populations 80 percent smaller in numbers than they were 50 years ago. http://www.enn.com/aff.html?id=517 Fifth of Coral Reefs Destroyed A fifth of coral reefs and a third of the mangrove forests have been destroyed in recent decades. The diversity of animal and plant species has fallen sharply, and a third of all species are at risk of extinction, according to a 4-year UN sponsored study involving 1360 scientists from 95 nations. Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests, fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks over the next 50 years, it said. http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7436 Surin Islands' Coral survived tsunami battering An assessment of the damage to the coral reefs of the Surin Islands Marine National Park, a group of five islands about 60 kilometres off the western coast of Thailand, reported that while some sites suffered severe damage, overall, only 8% of the coral coverage before the tsunami will ultimately have been lost, even if all of the tsunami-damaged coral dies. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050411/full/050411-3.html Camouflaged octopuses 'walk' on two tentacles If you are using your limbs to disguise yourself, how do you flee danger without giving yourself away? The answer, when you have eight arms, is to use six arms for disguise and to walk across on the seafloor on the other two. That is the extraordinary behaviour observed for the first time in two species of octopus. Defying the notion that bipedal motion requires muscles attached to a rigid skeleton, the octopuses used the strong, flexible muscles in their back arms to walk across the seabed when pursued by camera-wielding biologists. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7194 Undersea Restaurant Opens in the Maldives The world's first undersea restaurant has opened at the Hilton Maldives Resort and Spa, Ithaa. Diners sit 5 m down and have panoramic underwater views. http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4022883.html Sea Level Rise To Outpace Temperature Increase Even if all greenhouse gases had been stabilized in the year 2000, we would still be committed to a warmer Earth and greater sea level rise in the present century, according to a new study by a team of climate modelers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2005/change.shtml Oceans Getting Louder High-profile whale beachings have been linked to sonar blasts and sparked fierce public debate over the military's use of sound in national defense. But a broader concern for scientists is rising levels of ocean background noise, much of it generated by commercial shipping, and whether it interferes with the way the entire sea has operated for eons. http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=7554 Oil Rig Shut Down After Another Arctic Oil Spill Oil exploration drilling from the offshore rig Eirik Raude has been shut down after its third spill into ecologically fragile Arctic waters in just over two months, Statoil ASA announced. The Norwegian parliament has allowed oil companies to search for petroleum in the Barents Sea off northern Norway on the condition that there are no emissions into the Arctic waters. Reactions to the latest spill were strong. http://www.enn.com/biz.html?id=462 Prolonged Exercise Increases Drowning Risk in Breath-Hold Divers Hyperventilating increases the risk of a blackout during breath-holding swimming or diving. Recently, a number of cases of near-drownings has been reported in which the swimmers did not hyperventilate before breath-hold diving. These individuals had engaged in prolonged exercise prior to breath-hold diving, which resulted in a lower production of CO(2) per amount of O(2)consumed. http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;15778900 Does Competitive Breath-Holding Diving Have a Long-Term Risk? New study finds that competitive apnea diving over a period of 2 to 3 years might carry a chronic cardiopulmonary risk. http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;15782054 Problem with SCUBAPRO MK-20 First Stage Regulators NOAA are recommending their divers discontinue diving with SCUBAPRO MK-20 first stage regulators. They say cracks have been known to occur on the high pressure side of the regulator body where the scuba yoke assembly attaches to the first stage regulator. Should such a crack occur during a dive it would result in a total loss of gas supply to the second stage regulator. http://www.ndc.noaa.gov/pdfs/sb05-01.pdf __________________________________________________________ * 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 web site, providing the above copyright notice is included and a link back to our web site 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, The Cliff, Upper Mayfield, DE6 2HR, 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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