POLDARKGUN-WRECK IN CORNWALL

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FEBRUARY 2017

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DEPTH ADDICTS
When the Red Sea was all
about record-breakers

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STEVE WEINMAN, EDITOR

FIRST IN
THE HISTORY
OF DIVING
IVE BEEN WATCHING THE FORTHCOMING film dramatisation about
Jacques-Yves Cousteau, The Odyssey, set for UK cinema release in May.
Its a subtitled French production, well-scripted, cast and acted. Shot
without the co-operation of the Cousteau Society (quelle surprise!) and
based on knowledge long in the public domain, it offers few revelations.
It is, however, a sensitive examination of the Cousteau legend, revolving
around this obsessive mans awkward relationships with his two sons
Philippe and Jean-Michel and with his wife Simone, queen of his ship
Calypso. Crucially, it contains many compelling underwater sequences.
Cousteau had no influence on my own involvement in diving (I guess
I didnt watch enough TV in the 1970s). In contrast, one of my colleagues
turned up at the screening
complete with red JYC
woollen cap and
Spirotechnique mask (he
was sitting behind me, but
I dont think he actually
wore them during the film).

ITS GOOD TO PAUSE,

GLANCE BACK AND
TAKE STOCK OF
WHERE WEVE BEEN

All I know is that, Hans Hass

apart, Cousteau and his
aqua-lung kick-started
diving as we know it. And as we all hurtle into an uncertain future,
sometimes it can be good to pause, glance back and take stock of where
weve been. We do so this month on several fronts.

The 50th anniversary of the British Society of Underwater Photographers

gives us the excuse to trip lightly back to when pictures were snaps, and
came on film-rolls that had to be left at the chemists to be developed.
Colin Doeg co-founded BSoUP with the late Peter Scoones in 1977, and
I was delighted when he agreed to revisit on our behalf the evolution of the
society and of underwater photography itself.
Even with the incredible democratisation brought about by digital
photography and high-quality compacts, its still only the most dedicated
practitioners who regularly turn out those special shots. Technological
progress only makes it more challenging for photographers to stand out
from the crowd, as Alex Mustards Be The Champ! column always reminds us.
We also revisit the turn of this century in the Red Sea. A collective craziness
had taken hold, with bored instructors vying with each other to dive everdeeper, and not necessarily using those expensive mixed gases considered
vital nowadays. Many non-professionals caught the bug, too, a mania that
were told resulted in some 300 bodies littering the floor of Dahabs Blue
Hole beyond the 100m mark.
Learning to dive deep and responsibly was a hard lesson for some, and
John Keans new book A Walk on the Deep Side records this period in diving
history through his own deep experiences and those of would-be recordbreakers he supported. Its a great read sample it through our extract.
More of a footnote in diving history comes with Tano Roles Maltese tale
from the 1980s, but because so many UK divers know Gozos Inland Sea,
I hope youll find the idea of trying to herd two dolphins out of it intriguing.
In News, meanwhile, today collides with yesterday as two
divers are fined for removing artefacts from century-old
wrecks in Scapa Flow, the conviction being a first in Scotland.
If history teaches divers anything, its that the past is often
best left alone so that we can all appreciate it.

FEBRUARY 2017 Volume 62 No 2

CONTENTS
FEATURES
24 Knocking Down Walls
for a better view BSoUP celebrates 50th year
24

32 Shark Corridor

Mono wreck shots its all here in black and white

43 A Walk on the Deep Side

The days of depth-record bids in the Red Sea

47 Japans Mainland Mecca

Home-waters favourite for Japanese divers

52 I Got the Blues

Rick Ayrton hunts for blue sharks off Cornwall

61 Chesil by Night (with JD)

Will Appleyard enjoys a night dive in Dorset
43

67 Cold Comfort
If exploring Iceland in a wetsuit is your thing

71 Your Strangest Dives

More eerie experiences, kicking off in Mexico

74 Getting Competitive
61

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Tel: 020 8941 8152

Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

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Steve Weinman [email protected]

Fijis finest dives to get the pulses racing

38 Be the Champ!

32

incorporating

Publishing Consultant
Tony Weston [email protected]
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after 30 years photographer Simon Yates

Reception
[email protected]

77 Dolphins of the Inland Sea

Invaders trapped at Gozos famous site

67

http://tiny.cc/b2uld

EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS
Archaeology Dave Parham
Biology Dr David Bellamy
Freediving Marcus Greatwood
Industry Dr John Bevan
Law Prof Mike Williams
Medicine Dr Ian Sibley-Calder
Photography Saeed Rashid, Brian Pitkin
Ships Richard Larn
Wrecks Rex Cowan

THE MAGAZINE THATS STRAIGHT DOWN THE LINE

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CONTENTS
REGULARS
3

First In
Editors view

10

News
Justice meted out to two Scapa scavengers

22

Beachcomber
The latest dive gadget an equaliser!

37

10

Trewavas
Skipper wars

57

Technique
Where theres muck, theres macro diving

80

Booking Now
All the latest holiday news

82

Diver Tests
Dryglove system, video light, dive-bag and BC

88

Just Surfaced
New but untested diving products

91

Dive Holiday Directory

92

Liveaboard Directory

94

Classified Ads

96

Dive Centre Directory

96

Advertisers Index

97

Subscribe Here

57

and get a free Apeks diving watch!

98

80

Deep Breath
Could your kit configuration do with a review?

Cover shot:
Whitetip reef
sharks, Beqa
in Fiji, by
Tom Vierus
The reproduction in whole or in part of any of the contents of divEr
is expressly forbidden without the written permission of the Publishers.
Copyright 2017 by Eaton Publications. divEr reserves the right
to reproduce on-line any articles that it has published in print.
The views expressed in FIRST IN are not necessarily those of anyone
but the Editor, and other editorial should be ascribed only to the
authors concerned. The publishers accept no responsibility or liability
for any errors, omissions or alterations, or for any consequences
ensuing upon the use of, or reliance upon, any information contained

82
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OFF GASSING

This months selection from the divEr inbox

CAM CLIPS AND TIPS

I have ranted in divEr before about the abundance
of GoPros and their like on dives around the world.
Ive also taken umbrage at selfie-sticks with cameras
attached being stuck in my face or, worse still,
entering unexpectedly from left, right, above or
below as Im about to take a carefully composed still
image.
The day may come when I own a miniature 21stcentury box of digital tricks, but at present I still fly
the flag for more traditional cameras. Thats not the
case for my long-time friend
and intermittent buddy
Gary, who recently
celebrated his 400th dive.
Dive 399 started as a
fairly standard earlymorning Red Sea dive, but
after a descent to the south
plateau followed by some
Zen-diving in the explosion
of colour that is the sunlit
Elphinstone reef at about
2m, we were visited by a
glorious oceanic whitetip
shark as we did a safety
stop below the Hurricanes
hull.
In such situations I admit
that GoPros are in their element extend the pole,
press a tiny button and point. So video recording
commenced in wide-angle Technicolor what
could go wrong? We were, after all, only three
minutes and 6m from a hearty celebratory
breakfast...
Back on the boat, tales of shark-spotting were
recounted and tiny GoPro movies viewed. I knew
that Gary would have recorded his own excellent
footage, including the sharks close pass illuminated

by the early-morning sun, probably with me

hanging majestically in the background!
The second dive of the day came to a pleasant if
uneventful conclusion, and Gary climbed the first
few rungs of the ladder. Pausing for breath, he was
distracted by excited screaming and shouting from
the dive-platform and decks above.
Dolphins or sharks, who knew? Gary turned
abruptly to discover the source of the excitement,
and his sudden movement caused the two-part clip

SIMON BENJAMIN, LONDON

Feeling queasy

that secured the extendable pole to the ring,

which in turn fastened via a karabiner to his BC, to
become, er two parts.
Neither part of the clips design had been up to
the job. Gary watched in horror as camera, pole,
a costly wide-angle lens and a small selection of
filters descended rapidly together to a depth in
excess of 70m.
Already too high up the ladder to return to the
water, and with no one available to chase the

SMS Karlsruhe, one of the wrecked ships named in the recent diver prosecution in Scotland.

divEr

Beachcomber feels that we face no great risk from

food poisoning if we return to Sharm el Sheikh, as
soon as the Government confirms that the security
situation is improved (Fussy Eater, December 2016) .
I beg to differ. Stomach upsets are, it seems, an
essential part of any visit to that area and it cannot
be accidental that we have the phrase gippy
tummy by which to refer to them.
I have had several very enjoyable holidays in
Sharm and very much enjoyed the diving there, but
have been banned (by my wife) ever since 2008,
when I suffered a particularly vicious bout of food
poisoning that caused me to faint and fall to the
floor of the restaurant, breaking my nose, my jaw (in
three places) and sustaining all three Le Fort
fractures to my face.
Investigations could find no cause for this, other
than the stomach upset. My daughter, visiting Taba
a few months later, suffered a stomach upset of
similar severity although, luckily, she managed to
pass out gently, without hurting herself seriously.

PETER NEALE, MILTON KEYNES

Scapa wrecks
justice done

I was pleased to see the authorities at last

appearing to take the problem of divers
pilfering wrecks seriously. I refer of course to
the large fines meted out to the pair who
were systematically removing artefacts from
German Grand Fleet wrecks in Scapa Flow
[see News this month].
As a diver who is passionate about visiting
wrecks, particularly off the UK coast, I want to
see them properly respected, particularly those
with wartime connections, whether military or

escapees down, there went all recorded evidence of

that superb 399th dive with the shark.
On the plus side, this incident shows that you
dont need a camera to remember major diving
landmarks. But if on your next Red Sea dive-trip you
happen to come across a GoPro complete with
accessories gently drifting away at depth from the
Elphinstone, do check to see if it has some really
good close-ups of an oceanic whitetip shark.
Here are three useful tips for those choosing to
view their dives through a tiny rectangular screen:
1. Back up your images as soon as you can.
2. Dont rely solely on the awful little retaining clip at
the end of certain camera poles. In fairness, the
product in question was not made by GoPro.
3. If youre using expensive cameras, poles and
accessories, probably all negatively buoyant check how theyre secured to each other, and
whether secured is the appropriate word.

merchant. I want to go on seeing fittings and

artefacts in situ as long as they are spared by the
sea thats one of the great privileges afforded
to divers, and one reason why were prepared to
invest so much in our sport.
Dont let anyone tell you that what lies on the
seabed is fair game for divers that way lies
the madness of those vanishing warships in
Indonesia, which have clearly been extracted
down to the last rivet by determined salvors.

ISABEL LAMBERT, LYDFORD, DEVON

Comment: Were sorry to hear about what sounds

like an extreme instance of food-poisoning and
even more sorry to hear that youre no longer able
to enjoy Red Sea diving.
With respect, however, we do believe that such
experiences can and do occur in any country
including the UK and that some people are more
susceptible than others.
We reckon a high proportion of divEr readers
would agree that where the standard of diving is
high such risks are worth taking and that in most
cases observing the basic precautions as regards
not drinking tapwater, being cautious with salads
and spicy foods etc will stand visitors in good
stead.
We somehow doubt whether Egypt would have
gone on winning the award for readers favourite
destination year after year if the problem was
quite as insurmountable as you suggest.
Got something diving-related you d care to
share? Email [email protected],
including your name and postal address
and please confirm that youre writing
exclusively to divEr

www.divErNEt.com

DIVINE GACT&IVITIES
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activity between January and March, when these gentle giants visit our shores. For further information,
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www.sthelenatourism.com

DIVER NEWS

Divers fined 36,000 for looting

I

MCS

N A LANDMARK PROSECUTION,
two divers have been fined
18,000 each for removing
artefacts from scuttled German High
Seas Fleet wrecks in Scapa Flow,
Orkney four years ago.
Gordon Meek, 67, a dentist from
Glasgow, and Robert Infante, 48, a
businessman from New Jersey, USA,
pleaded guilty to the offences at
Kirkwall Sheriff Court in November.
It is the first time in Scotland that
divers have been convicted for
removing artefacts from scheduled
monuments without lawful
authority, in breach of the Ancient
Monuments & Archaeological Areas
Act 1979.
The case had been scheduled as a
three-week jury trial until the guilty
pleas were lodged. Procurator Fiscal
Sue Foard accepted not-guilty pleas
from John Thornton, 61, from
Kirkwall, the owner of mv Karin, the
charter-boat used by the divers, and
Simon Ball, 47, from Poole in Dorset.

The artefacts were said to have

been taken from the wrecks of the
battleships SMS Knig, Kronprinz
Wilhelm and Markgraf, and the
cruisers SMS Brummer, Cln, Dresden
and Karlsruhe, between 8 and 12
October, 2012.

The court was told that the two

experienced divers had been diving
Scapa Flow regularly since 2007.
Infantes barrister described his
client as someone who has studied
and is fascinated by the wartime
history of the area and wishes it to be

known that he had never any

intention of selling the artefacts from
Scapa Flow on for a profit.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Andrew
Berry commended witnesses from
another charter-boat who reported
seeing a diver taking rusty items
aboard the Karin in a bag, and the
police for their prompt response.
Armed with a search warrant, they
had stopped the men when they
landed. They discovered a broken
bulkhead lantern frame on the boat
and, in Meeks car-boot, a rare breast
microphone, a Mix & Genest
telephone unit and a number of
bulkhead lanterns.
Twelve artefacts were recovered in
total, other items found including a
steam-pressure gauge, bell and
portable lamp. They will now require
complex and ongoing care to best
preserve them, according to Historic
Environment Scotland (HES).
If nothing else, I hope the fines
I am imposing will convince other

Above: The upturned hull of the

battleship Markgraf.
Far right: The Kronprinz Wilhelm.
Left: The inside of a steam-pressure
gauge.
Right: Mix & Genest ships telephone.
Below left: A bulkhead lantern.
Below: German imperial crown on the
back of a lantern.
Below right: Breast microphone.
PHOTOGRAPHS: HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND

divEr

10

www.divErNEt.com

DIVER NEWS

of Scapa wrecks
divers that to break the law in this
way might be an expensive exercise,
the Sheriff said.
Its almost 100 years since the
fleet was scuttled, in one of the most
dramatic events in naval history,
said Iona Murray of HES after the
verdict had been announced.
Since then the majority of those
wrecks irreplaceable aspects of our
WW1 heritage have been lost, piece
by piece. What remains is only a small
fraction of the original fleet, so it is
vital that we do everything in our
powers to protect it.
Our message is not to discourage

diving, however we want them to

enjoy the incredible, unique, diving
opportunity Scapa Flow has to
offer but when they do to be sure to
take nothing but photographs.
Anything more and it could be
one of the most expensive dive trips
you are ever likely to take.
I would also like to thank the
divers at Scapa who contacted the
police when they saw what they
thought was suspicious activity
taking place.
Without their vigilance it is very
unlikely that the guilty parties would
have been caught. n

The same level

of protection as
Edinburgh Castle

THE BIG QUESTION

Does your bag shout diver?
When travelling abroad do you carry your dive-gear in a purpose-made
dive-bag with branding that indicates its contents? Thats what we asked
you last month, and its close 47% of you do, and 53% of you dont. But
thats a lot of divers who prefer to keep the contents under their hat are
dive-bag manufacturers missing a trick with their often-loud branding?

YES
Only because its the correct size and shape for the gear. Robert Porter
Probably a bad idea to advertise, but it was bought when my travelbag ripped, and the only place open was the dive-centre. Clair Read
Aqua Lung logo and dive flag on it. James Sheward
Id prefer a bag without branding (less conspicuous) but my dive-bag is
the best option to carry all my equipment and clothes. Brigitte Heylen
Custom-made dive-bags are the best for carrying and protecting your
equipment. Its just a shame that the brands might warrant unnecessary
attention from would-be opportunists in some far-flung areas of the
world. Nicholas Ray
Its difficult to disguise, but its insured. The really expensive computers
and watches are with me in the cabin! Mike McLaren
Keep track of what youve got for insurance purposes. Dave Horton
Depends on how much gear Im carrying. If I have loads I carry a Fourth
Element backpack type of bag. If its just bits and bobs it goes with
other items in a general bag. Patrick Boyle

NO
ON 21 JUNE 1919, Admiral Ludwig

Von Reuter, Commander of the German

High Seas Fleet, which had been
interred at Scapa Flow since November
the previous year, gave the command
to scuttle the fleet, which numbered
74 ships of varying size and class,
writes Alan Bannon of Historical
Environment Scotland.
The battlecruiser Friedrich der
Grosse was the first to sink. By late
afternoon 51 more ships had sunk to
the seabed. The rest were either
beached or run aground. The captain
of the SMS Markgraf was shot dead
while scuttling his ship. He and seven
other officers and seamen became the
last casualties of World War One.
Between 1923 and 1939, Scapa Flow
became the scene of one of the most
outstanding marine salvage feats of
all time. Thanks to the ingenuity and
tenacity of salvage pioneers like Ernest
Cox and Thomas Mackenzie, almost all
of the wrecks were raised and towed
south to the Firth of Forth.
With the price of scrap iron
booming as WW2 neared, they were
broken up at Rosyth. Some salvage of
the High Seas Fleet for armoured
plating continued until 1979.
Today, seven large German High
www.divErNEt.com

Seas Fleet warship wrecks remain,

attracting up to 3000 divers to Orkney
every year. The three Knig-class
battleships SMS Knig, Kronprinz
Wilhelm and Markgraf; four lightcruisers, the SMS Dresden, Karlsruhe
and Cln; and the slightly smaller
minelaying cruiser Brummer lie at
varying depths, in the 20-45m range.
They have all been the subject of
targeted salvaging in the past, but
substantial portions of their hulls
remain, packed with large amounts of
ships machinery, lighting and
communications equipment, together
with some personal items left behind
by the skeleton crews stationed on
them before the scuttling.
The seven remaining ships were
designated as scheduled monuments
by Historic Scotland (now Historic
Environment Scotland) in 2001,
bringing them under the protection of
the Ancient Monuments Act.
Under the terms of the act, it is
illegal to remove or cause damage to
a scheduled monument without prior
consent. So significant is their
contribution to history, that these
wrecks are afforded the same level of
protection as Skara Brae and
Edinburgh Castle. n

The answer is not only no, but hell no! Using dive-labelled dive-specific
bags is essentially asking for your gear to be stolen. Robert Cook
A hard-case Samsonite suitcase. Andy Colls
Due to weight constraints we always use large wheeled hold-alls. They
weigh less than 2kg, which allows for extra items like clothes. We also
pick brightly coloured bags easy to spot on the carousel and no one
suspects expensive dive-gear. Theyre cheap at up to 20 and last about
12 holidays. Marie Jewkes
They are dive-bags but theyre not branded. Jon Tawn
Among the sea of brightly coloured and branded dive-bags I can find
my inexpensive and plain one at the airport carousel off the transfer
bus and at hotel check-out. TR Amp
Cheaper equivalent bags can be found at Costco! Clare Vincent-Silk
The only time I took a branded bag was the only time I ever had my
luggage broken into. Duncan Raynor
I have heard that it makes it a target for theft. Also, most of the
branded dive-bags are far too heavy. John Orr
You might as well stick a sign on the bag to say take me, Im full of
expensive goodies.
They all weigh too much. I use a cheap holdall with wheels that costs
15 and lasts about four trips. Seems like good value to me, and it looks
more like its owned by a backpacker than a diver. Chris Heywood
Why advertise the fact that your bag contains expensive equipment?
Nicholas Hassapis
For security purposes, no. Mike Bradley
Having too much visibility of whats in a bag is a major security issue.
No one apart from customs and airline staff need to be made aware of
what is in a bag. David Tillotson

Go to www.divernet.com to answer

THE NEXT BIG QUESTION

For a single-tank dive, do you prefer to use
a cylinder bigger than a 12-litre?
Please answer yes or no, and feel free to comment

11

divEr

DAVID GIBBINS

DIVER NEWS

David Gibbins with the gun.

View of the wreck-site off Gunwalloe in Cornwall.

MARK MILBURN

Divers explore 17th-century wreck

D

Exploring the reefs around the

guns, we saw other amazing artefacts
concreted musket barrels,
cannonballs, lead musket and pistol
shot, and even an iron hand-grenade,
the wooden plug for the fuse still
intact.
We knew that most of what we
were seeing was cargo carried from
the English colony at Tangier, making
the wreck a fascinating window into
a forgotten corner of history.
The Schiedam was lost in April
1684 while part of a fleet carrying
ordnance, tools, horses and people
back to England from Tangier in what
is now Morocco, as the English
evacuated the port following years
under siege by the Moors.
Originally a Dutch merchantman,
the Schiedam had been captured by
Barbary pirates off Spain the previous
year and her crew enslaved. Soon
afterwards she was captured again,
this time by a Royal Navy ship under
the young Cloudesley Shovell (later
noted as the admiral lost with his fleet
in 1707 in the Scilly Isles).
Shovell brought the Schiedam to

David Gibbins photographs musket barrels.

Tangier, where diarist Samuel Pepys,
then an Admiralty official sent to help
oversee the evacuation, wrote about
the ship.
In 2016 the divers managed to get
six days diving on the site.Quite often
when we get there its just too rough,
Mark Milburn told divEr. The wreck
is in the surf line at low water.

MARK MILBURN

IVERS HAVE REDISCOVERED

a 17th-century shipwreck off
Gunwalloe Church Cove in
Cornwall at the exact spot where
a shipwreck scene was filmed for the
TV series Poldark in 2014.
First seen by a local diver in 1971
and designated under the Protection
of Wrecks Act 1973, the Schiedam
wreck had long been buried
under shifting sands until it was
rediscovered in 3-6m by local divers
David Gibbins, an archaeologist and
novelist, and Mark Milburn of Atlantic
Scuba in Penryn, the licensee of the
wreck.
Wed searched the cove many
times for the Schiedam, but only seen
sand, the divers have reported in a
statement. Then the breakthrough
came one day after a storm.
Snorkelling north over the cove,
we saw not just one cannon, but
three. It was incredibly exciting. One of
the guns was among the longest wed
ever seen on a wreck, standing proud
of the seabed on a rocky ledge with
the muzzle poking out, almost as if it
were on a gun-carriage.

Ive been the licensee for six years,

and the wreck has only just started
showing itself this year. Before that
there were no records of it showing
for many years.
Wessex Archaeology did a survey
there and saw part of one cannon in
2009. The Archaeological Diving Unit
last saw any significant parts in 1998.

ARMCHAIR DIVES NOW AVAILABLE

Coronation cannon
at Station 4 in
authentically murky vis.

ITS AIMED AT NON-DIVERS, but if

you just want a taster before diving
the real thing, Historic England has
commissioned a virtual wreck

discovery trail for the protected

historic wreck-site Coronation.
The 90-gun second-rate warship
sank off Penlee Point, Plymouth in

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Best of Above & Below Water Travel

DAVID GIBBINS

A grenade on the seabed,

its wooden fuse plug visible.

at Poldark site
In 1987 the site was fully exposed
after a hurricane in October by the
following year, it was completely
covered again.
The big gun seen by the divers was
a demi-culverin, one of a number
recorded among the ordnance at
Tangier but the only one from the
colony known to survive.
The hand-grenade is one of the
earliest-known examples to be found
archaeologically.Hand-granadoes
had been used by English regiments
only for a few years but were among
the first weapons requested in Tangier
in 1662 for use in defending the port
against the Moors.
When the Moors captured an
outlying fort in 1680 they seized a
large store of hand-grenades and
other armaments, swinging the siege
in their favour and influencing the
English decision to abandon the
colony a few years later.
Although the Schiedam dates back
a century before the setting of Poldark
you would have seen local people
lining the shore just as the film crew
were that day in 2014, and flotsam

coming ashore at exactly the same

place, said Gibbins.
A letter written soon after the
wrecking to Lord Dartmouth, Admiral
of the Fleet, suggests that the locals
salvaged what they could but were far
from the murderous Cornish wreckers
of legend:All the guns and mortar
pieces may be saved, but palisades,
muskets, rigging etc are mostly
embezzled, though the justices and
gentlemen of the country are extremely
civil and save what they could; and the
country very kind to the poor people.
Historic England (HE) is responsible
for managing the wreck-site but the
divers say that their involvement
ensures that it is monitored.
We are delighted to work with
divers like Mark and David to help
ensure that Englands protected
wreck-sites are enjoyed and protected
for years to come, said HE Maritime
Archaeologist Alison James.
They are helping to ensure that
the story of the site is not lost and is
known to a wider audience. Further
exploration of the Schiedam is
planned for next year. n

ON PLYMOUTHS CORONATION
1691, and the virtual trail mirrors
the underwater trail created by the
Coronation Project Team in 2011.
Since then some 3500 divers
have explored the wreck through
its 10 numbered stations, says the
team, which it adds makes it the
most popular diver trail in the
country. Others include those on
HMS Colossus, Iona II, HMS/m A1
and Normans Bay.
Artefacts still in place at the
Coronation site include large
anchors and cannon. The

www.divErNEt.com

interactive dive trail, designed to

work on smartphone, tablet or PC,
includes a 3D site-plan as a plug-in,
and a Web-tour system.
Users can also hear information
about the site and each of the 10
stations as they pass through.
The virtual trail was produced by
the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust
(MAST) with Grant Cox of Artas
Media and Stuart Graham of
CyanSub, using photogrammetry
by Simon Brown of Deep 3D. Try the
trail at www.thisismast.org n

Off-the-hook
Mauritius
operator opts
for safety
A DIVE OPERATOR initially held
responsible for four clients and a
guide going missing for nearly five
hours in the Indian Ocean in June
has had its licence restored by the
Mauritius Scuba Diving Association
(MSDA).
DiveSail Travel has also elected to
start using an ENOS (Electronic
Rescue and Location System) on its
dive-boats, although the system's
German maker Seareq says that this
was not a condition of restoration of
the licence.
Three British and a German diver
were left drifting with French diveguide Christophe Nadaud after
losing contact with their boat in
stormy conditions off northern
Mauritius.
The operator alerted the
Coastguard and a search operation
involving 22 boats, two helicopters
and an aircraft was launched.
Eventually the divers were spotted
from a private fishing-boat and
recovered by helicopter.
The MSDA, which regulates diving
on the island, initially declared
DiveSail Travel negligent along with
boat-skipper Jean Bernard Brasse
and Nadaud, and suspended the
operators licence indefinitely.
That decision has now been
overturned, the association laying

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Stephane de Senneville.
the blame squarely on Brasse for
being inattentive and Nadaud for his
decision to swim away from the
shelter of an island into stronger
currents, and failing to use his SMB,
which he had reportedly lent to a
client.
DiveSail Travel is the first
Mauritius operator to opt to use
ENOS. The companys owner
Stephane de Senneville can be seen
discussing the incident and the
rescue system on YouTube. n

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13

divEr

DIVER NEWS

Great whites go
easier on humans,
reckons Ritter
GREAT WHITE SHARKS don't mistake surfers for
seals when they approach from below, grab and
bite them, according to a new study by shark
behaviourists theyre simply trying to work out
with their mouths what the human and the
board are.
This might not bring much comfort to the surfers,
or to all the divers who just know that being above
great whites at the surface is not the best idea.

However, the study does suggest

that because the sharks realise the
difference, a bite on a human is likely
to be lighter than it would have been
on a seal it plans to eat.
According to Dr Erich Ritter of the University of
West Florida and Alexandra Quester from the
University of Vienna, who have together just
published a paper in the Journal of Marine Biology,

EOS RZ FAMILY

the mistaken identity theory is the most common

assumption and is itself mistaken.
The researchers evaluated almost 70 incidents
that occurred on the USAs West Coast between
1966 and 2015, focusing primarily on the length of
the shark and the level of damage done.
If the attacks were down to mistaken identity,
they reckoned that the length of the sharks
attacking the pinnipeds (seals or sea-lions) would
be identical to that of those sharks that bit surfers,
and that the wound severity would also be
identical between the pinnipeds and the surfers
(boards and bodies).
This is because great whites need to be skilled
to catch agile pinnipeds, and it is only mature
sharks (at least 4m long) that tend to succeed, using
a massive initial bite to stop their prey escaping.
The sharks that bit the surfers tended to be
much smaller than 4m, and their bites were usually
too superficial to incapacitate a pinniped.
Should more than one bite occur, say Ritter and
Quester, the motivation may still be exploration
but could also reflect target practice, play or a
follow-up prompted by the surfers initial reaction.
Read Do White Shark Bites on Surfers Reflect
their Attack Strategies on Pinnipeds? in the Journal
of Marine Biology at www.hindawi.com n

Divers throat was cut

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A MALE DIVER WAS FOUND with his throat cut,

tied to a concrete post near Koh Lan island, off
the Thai resort of Pattaya, in December.
The man was still unidentified as divEr went
to press, but police believe he may have been
Russian. He was 5ft 6-7in tall, aged 45 to 50,
wearing a black Mares wetsuit and fins and
carrying 1500 baht (about 34).
The Bangkok Post reported that the diver was
tied to the post by his backpack presumably
his BC. Police divers retrieved a cutter, snorkel,
swimming-cap, goggles and other items from
the seabed near the post. The items were being
checked by forensic experts, and the body was
sent to Bangkok for an autopsy.
With no reports of missing persons, police
issued an appeal for anyone with information
to come forward. A dive-shop owner in Pattaya
reportedly told investigators that the man
resembled one of his clients. n

www.divErNEt.com

The barge, seen here shortly before the sinking, may not look much from the outside

DANISH DIVERS GET NOAHS ARK

UNDERWATER PLAYGROUND
AN ARTIFICIAL REEF for sports
divers was sunk in shallow water
in Denmarks capital
Copenhagen, not far from the

city centre, in early December.

The 20m barge, made from
materials such as concrete and
granite and dubbed Noahs Ark,

but its interconnected rooms are tastefully furnished.

www.divErNEt.com

was sunk in December in the

Oresund Strait, about 100m off a
pier in the citys north harbour.
The Nordea Foundation, an
organisation set up in 1989 to
promote good living in
Denmark, provided the 1 million
krone (about 114,000) required
to complete the project.Were
confident that the measure will
inspire and motivate more
people to try scuba-diving and
discover the fascinating wildlife
under the sea," said its director,
Henrik Lehman Andersen.
Divers and snorkellers will be
encouraged to swim inside the
custom-designed barge to
explore its various interior spaces.
Traditional wreck-diving is
often done in deep water in the
shipping routes, where the
treacherous mazes in an old ship
can result in tragic outcomes,
said Andersen.
"We have designed the boat
in such a way that it's
impossible to get lost, and
youre never more than 3m from
the nearest exit when you dive
into the wreck, said marine
biologist and project leader
Johan Wedel Nielsen, from local
dive-club Regina Maris.
He said that he expected the
wreck to be colonised quickly by
seaweed and mussels among
other marine life, and that grey
seals were likely to visit the
wreck. n

15

divEr

DIVER NEWS

GIANT MANTAS DIVE DEEP TO LOCATE THEIR PREY

ANDREA MARSHALL

A NEW SCIENTIFIC study into the

food sources of giant mantas in the
eastern Equatorial Pacific has revealed
that the rays get most of their
sustenance from the ocean depths
rather than near the surface, as
previously supposed.
The study by the Marine
Megafauna Foundation (MMF),
University of Queensland (UQ) and
Proyecta Mantas Ecuador focused on
the Isla de la Plata off Ecuador,
which seasonally hosts the worlds
largest aggregation of giant mantas.
As studying the contents of the
rays stomachs is impractical, stable
isotope analysis of manta muscle and
zooplankton were used.
This revealed that, while some 27%
of the rays dietary intake came from
surface feeding, the bulk derived from
the mesopelagic zone 200-1000m
below the surface.
MMF researcher Katherine Burgess
ran the project as part of a PhD at UQ.
Manta rays are one of the most iconic
marine animals, yet we still know very
little about their feeding habits, she
said.The study reports much-needed
information on the diet of this elusive

Giant manta at Isla de la Plata in Ecuador.

species. The giant manta (Manta
birostris) was first identified by the
MMFs Andrea Marshall. The species is,
in common with the reef manta ray
(Manta alfredi), on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species.
It is formally protected in Ecuador
along with other countries such as

Indonesia, the Maldives, Mexico, New

Zealand, the Philippines and parts of
the USA, but understanding of its
feeding habits is considered vital in
helping to identify and conserve
critical habitats and feeding sites.
The deep ocean is the next
frontier for open-ocean fisheries, and

Bonaire

Grenada

Curaao

we are only just realising the potential

reliance on this zone by threatened
marine megafauna, commented UQ
Prof Anthony Richardson.
The study Manta birostris, Predator
of the Deep?, published in Royal
Society Open Science, can be read at
rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org n

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16

www.divErNEt.com

MMO turns deaf ear to

dredging campaigners
L

OCAL CAMPAIGNERS in
the Falmouth area of
Cornwall have joined
Marine Conservation Society
(MCS) and Friends of the Earth
representatives to deliver 6550
protest letters to the Marine
Management Organisation
(MMO) in Hayle.
The letters are copies of
thousands sent to the MMO in
recent months but which remain
unanswered by the government
licensing body.
They were sent as part of a
campaign to stop plans for
dredging in the Fal & Helford
Special Area of Conservation and
to request that it safeguards the
marine wildlife in its waters.
The two charities teamed up to
launch the #SaveFalBay
campaign in September, when it
was revealed that the MMO was
conducting a scientific
assessment so that it could
advise Falmouth Harbour
Commissioners (FHC) on their
plans to dredge a channel
through the conservation area.
The letters have urged the
MMO to consider new evidence
produced in a peer-reviewed
report by local scientist Dr Miles

Maerl under threat in Cornwall.

Hoskin, as it highlights critical
flaws in the plans, says the MCS.
But there has yet to be any public
response to indicate whether the
MMO is taking this evidence into
account.
The conservation area contains
maerl, which resembles pink
coral, takes thousands of years to
grow and is very important for
young fish and the shellfish on
which they prey, says the MCS.
Live maerl would be destroyed if
the dredging goes ahead,
according to Dr Hoskins research.
The Harbour Commissioners

hopes to dredge in the Carrick

Roads section of this Special Area
of Conservation has been a dark
cloud hanging over Falmouth
and those who desperately care
for our seas for years, says Emily
Williams, MCS Campaign Officer.
Seven years on, isnt it about
time the MMO acknowledged
that these plans are incompatible
with the protection of this
precious site?
The Fal & Helford SAC is home
to absolutely incredible animals
and plants that cannot be
replaced. n

Black bream behaviour revealed

DIVERS DR MATT DOGGETT
and Martin and Sheilah
Openshaw have received the
annual Duke of Edinburgh
Sub-Aqua Prize for best
underwater scientific or
archaeological project, in
recognition of their filming
of shy black bream off Dorset
last spring.
Video footage obtained by
the divers revealed previously
unseen behaviour as the male
bream primed their nests
tirelessly to attract females,
and guarded unhatched eggs
from predators 24 hours a day.
Each year tens of thousands
of black bream arrive off
Dorset to breed attracting
many fishing-boats in the
process. According to marine

www.divErNEt.com

Matt Doggett.
biologist Doggett, who led the
Black Bream Project, a single
male can move up to 70kg of
sand and gravel down to
bedrock to form a large

protective crater around

its nest.
Divers have rarely
succeeded in observing the
bream, which tend to move
away while they are present,
but in this case succeeded, by
installing video cameras in
nesting areas between
Kimmeridge and Poole Bay.
Doggett and the
Openshaws went to
Buckingham Palace recently
to receive their award from
Prince Philip.
Their findings were already
claimed to be influencing seaanglers into returning return
male fish to the water during
nesting season.
See their footage at
www.mattdoggett.com n

17

divEr

DIVER NEWS

Young male whale sharks

like to stay close to home
G

FEFIONA 123

OOD NEWS FOR whale

sharks juvenile males at
least seem to stick close to
home, rather than wandering far and
wide to fall foul of the fishing industry
or ship-strikes.
Thats the conclusion of a team of
researchers who have been
processing the rapidly expanding
photo-identification database of
Indian Ocean whale sharks.
The new study centred on
Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia,
where young male whale sharks turn
up every March to be joined by large
numbers of snorkellers. Where they
go after July was previously unknown.
The sharks tend to aggregate
where food is seasonally abundant in
the Indian Ocean at Ningaloo, the
Maldives, Mozambique and the
Seychelles but what was previously
unclear was whether it was the same
population that migrated between
these sites.
The new research, published in

Royal Society Open Science, suggests

that the sharks dont go far at all, and
return to the same sites year after year.
Whale sharks have distinctive spot
patterns, and by running a database
of more than 6000 images through a
semi-automated matching program
the team of seven scientists, led by
Australia-based Samantha
Andrzejaczek and Mark Meekan,
identified about 1000 individuals.
Of these, 35% were seen at the
same Indian Ocean site in more than
one year, and none were found to
move across the ocean.
One shark was tracked between
Mozambique and the Seychelles, but
generally the populations appeared
to be isolated, with juvenile males
returning regularly to the same sites.
Juveniles photographed at Ningaloo
in 1992 were seen up to 19 years later,
with many sightings in between and
some returning in up to six
consecutive years.
Females and adult males were

rarely spotted at these sites, leading

to speculation that they dont
necessarily behave in the same way as
juveniles. It can take whale sharks up
to 30 years to reach maturity.
With the IUCN Red List status
recently upgraded to Endangered,
reliable information about whaleshark movements is regarded as vital
to efforts to protect them. The study
concludes that staying close to home
is good news for the sharks, because it
allows conservation and
management to be concentrated on
smaller, single-jurisdiction areas.
The scientists now want to increase
the number of study sites and
photographs taken to boost their
knowledge of migration patterns
further.
The report, The Ecological
Connectivity of Whale Shark
Aggregations in the Indian Ocean:
a Photo-Identification Approach,
can be read at rsos.royalsociety
publishing.org n

Young male whale sharks turn out to be the least adventurous.

GBR operators
at a loss after
serial deaths
GREAT BARRIER REEF tourism
operators have said they are at a
bit of a loss as to what we can do
following the latest fatality in midDecember. It was the fifth death of
a snorkeller or diver since early
November and the 10th of 2016.
A 75-year-old Japanese woman
on a day trip with Sunlover Reef
Cruises was recovered from the sea
at Moore Reef in Queensland, but
attempts to revive her failed.
Most recent GBR fatalities have
involved elderly people with preexisting medical conditions,
according to the Association of
Marine Park Tourism Operators.
While we are very proud of the fact
that we have the safest snorkelling
in the world, we've got to sit down
and have a really close look at all
these events and see if theres
anything we can do," its spokesman
Col McKenzie told ABC News.
He said that although a riskbriefing document highlighting
diving and snorkelling risks had
been updated, it contained no
substantive changes.
Were at a bit of a loss as to what
we can do, he conceded, adding
that maybe we need to tweak the
regulations somewhere.
McKenzie ruled out compulsory
medicals on grounds of cost and
reluctance of tourists to comply, but
thought it possible that visitors over
a certain age would be required to
acknowledge that they have been
told of the risks associated with
snorkelling and diving.
As reported in divEr News in
January, a 60-year-old British scubadiver died at Agincourt Reef and
two French snorkellers in their mid70s lost their lives after both
suffering heart at Michaelmas Cay.
In early December a 69-year-old
snorkeller was found unconscious
in the sea at Saxon Reef. n

Disabled diver says underwater chair will cost under 1000

A RUSSIAN DIVER who is partially
paralysed claims to be set to put
the worlds first affordable selfpropelled underwater wheelchair
into mass production.
Igor Skikevich, 51, from
Taganrog told the Daily Mirror that
the submarine-wheelchair he
divEr

18

invented would sell for around

70,000 roubles (860).
Disabled British artist Sue
Austin made an impact in 2012
when she invented the worlds
first self-propelled underwater
chair, but her invention is not
mass-produced for public sale.

Skikevich told the paper that

the idea of attaching motorpowered propellers to the wheels
of a chair to increase his range
under water occurred to him on
a dive-trip in the Sea of Japan in
2015. The air tank is mounted
onto the back of the chair, and

straps are fitted to secure the

diver.
Skikevich became disabled nine
years ago after doctors missed
a problem with a neck vertebra,
though their fears that he would
be left totally paralysed proved
unfounded. n

www.divErNEt.com

MCS

PLASTIC-BAG TIDE TURNS

ON UK BEACHES

Its not easy for a hungry turtle to distinguish a tasty jellyfish from a deadly plastic-bag.
THE NUMBER OF PLASTIC
BAGS discarded on UK beaches
to endanger wildlife dropped
by almost 40% between 2015
and 2016, presumably thanks to
the 5p charge now levied by
supermarkets on single-use
carriers.
The Marine Conservation
Society (MCS) has welcomed the
fall, describing it as fantastic
news for marine wildlife.
According to the MCS Great
British Beach Clean 2016 report,
based on surveys carried out last
September, in 2015 there were
on average 11 plastic bags per
100m of coastline cleaned by
MCS volunteers, but in 2016 that
figure had reduced to just under
7 the lowest in 10 years.
The charity began calling for
action on carrier-bags in 2008,
and says it was instrumental in
getting levies introduced in
Wales in 2011, Northern Ireland
in 2013, Scotland in 2014 and

England in October 2015.

The MCS also reported a drop
of almost 4% in the number of
litter items found on UK beaches
between 2015 and 2016 though
that still left 268,384 individual
items collected at 364 events by
just under 6000 volunteers.
There was also a 4%-plus rise
in the number of drinks
containers found, including
plastic bottles, plus an
astonishing rise of 53.5% in the
amount of balloon-related litter.
Turtles and other sea creatures
can mistake plastic bags and
balloons for jellyfish, and eating
either can cause a fatal blockage
in their digestive systems.
Meanwhile researchers from
the University of Exeter and
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
have studied findings from MCS
beach-litter surveys carried out
over a decade, and noted that
while overall levels did not
change appreciably, there had

been a sharp rise in types of litter

such as plastic food packaging,
wet wipes, polystyrene foam,
balloons and large fishing nets.
They also revealed a neardoubling of plastic fragments,
a trend likely to continue as items
enter the sea and break down.
The research was based on
a database covering 2.4 million
items of litter collected through
over 73,000 volunteer hours from
2005-14. The beaches of the
South-west of England and south
Wales were the most littered.
MCS says it is seeking to
combat the growing sources of
litter with targeted campaigns to
establish bottle deposit schemes,
and to raise awareness of the
danger to the environment from
discarded wet-wipes. The
research is published at
www.sciencedirect.com
The next MCS Great British
Beach Clean 2017 takes place on
15-18 September. n

Russian instructor bordered on perfection

DAN MASTERTRIM 2016,
claimed to be the first
international competition for
scuba buoyancy control, has
been won by Russian diving
instructor
Alexandra Sasha
Karnilovich.
Karnilovich, who
works at Urpeko
Gasteiz Buceo in
Vitoria-Gasteiz,
Spain, beat eight
other finalists at Y-40 The Deep
Joy in Padua, Italy, said to be
the worlds deepest pool. The
contest offered prizes totalling
10,000 euros in value.

www.divErNEt.com

Safety Guardian logbook.

Karnilovich put in a
performance that bordered on
perfection, with two Italian
instructors, Daniele Vasselli
and Stefano
Paludetto,
finishing second
and third.
Maintaining a
stable, horizontal
Sasha Karnilovich maintains near-perfect buoyancy. position can help
reduce fatigue
and air consumption, learn
recorded on their own divenew skills more easily and
computer and on one provided
even protect the marine
by DAN Research. Profiles were
environment, said Massimo
analysed and the final score
Pieri of DAN Europe. n
calculated using the Diver
The divers, winners of three
qualifying rounds, carried out a
day and a night dive, following
a precise dive-profile created
by DAN specialists. Data was

19

divEr

The diving
adventure
starts here
Into the
Squeezy
Passage

divEr has been intrigued to follow the phreatic

experiences of Marcus Greatwood and his NoTanx
Freedive Club in recent times the term describes
diving on a single breath of air in often
inaccessible and enclosed environments, and
admittedly its not for everyone.
Now at LIDS you can get the chance to meet the
team and get a taste of this new sport that
combines freediving with caving and abseiling,
but do so in a way that wont have Health & Safety
drawing sharp breaths.

divEr

20

Take the NoTanx Phreatic Diving Challenge:

after a test of your flexibility, strength and selfcontrol youll get a brief safety talk before being
kitted out. Youll attempt to wriggle along
Squeezy Passage (a replica cave), ascend a 25m
anti-abseil (or prusik) and test your relaxation
skills in a final Static Apnea (breath-hold).
Prizes of Anchor dive-lights and accessories
are promised for fastest times each day. The
experience is free, but please book your slot in
advance email [email protected].

ONDONS EXCEL CENTRE aims

to bring the outdoors indoors over the
four days from 16-19 February, with
entrance to four activity-based shows for
the price of a single ticket.
The Outdoor Adventure & Camping
Show, London Bike Show and Triathlon
Show are joined this year by the Oceans
Festival, supported by divEr. This is the
fourth element likely to appeal to
anyone interested in the underwater world.
But 2017 is aimed firmly at newcomers
to the sport which potentially includes
any of the 50,000 or so visitors expected to
attend who arent already divers so
please make the most of the opportunity
if you wish to introduce friends or familymembers to the sport while also enjoying
countless other diversions.
The more hardcore divers among you
might wish to hold fire and wait for DIVE
2017 at the National Exhibition Centre.
Promising to be bigger and better than
ever, this will be the UK Show of the Year
for divers at all levels and, with its central
location, very much the place to be in
late October.
Back at ExCeL, the
enlarged Try-Dive Pool will
provide a major focal point
for visitors who fancy a trydive or just to watch the
action. Expert LSD instructors
will be on hand to offer
visitors of all ages a gentle
introduction to scuba,
free of charge.
Then there are exciting
crossover LIDS attractions
such as the Phreatic Diving
Challenge (see panel left). Its
all about getting involved!
When youre ready to sit
down, youll find an inspiring
array of special guest speakers in the
Oceans Theatre.
Many of them will have the sort of
crossover appeal that comes with their TV
fame, with divers such as Paul Rose and
Marcus Greatwood looking to enthuse a
mixed audience with the pleasures of the
underwater world.
And of course there will be more
celebrity presenters throughout the hall,
amid a range of attractions from the
Adventure Theatre and Adventure
Playground to the Discovery Zone,
Wetsuit Testing Pool, Superbloc climbing
wall and much more.
Oceans also includes the Incredible
Oceans Live project run by Whalefest and
the World Cetacean Alliance dont miss a
visit to its blue-lit marquee.
The combined shows run from 11-6 on
Thursday, 16 February, from 10-5 on the
Friday, from 10-6 on Saturday and 10-5 on
Sunday 19. For details and to book tickets,
go to www.oceansfestival.co.uk n

www.divErNEt.com

SHOW PREVIEW

Visit the Show and be the lucky diver to

Win a 10,000 dive holiday

for two in St Lucia!

Where theres a Dive Show

theres always a Grand Prize
Draw, and that means that
someone stands to win free
tickets for a fantastic holiday for
two people.
This time the Caribbean island
of St Lucia has stepped up with a
tasty 12-night, two-centre
package that will appeal to
existing and new divers alike.
Seven nights B&B
accommodation in a deluxe
pool-view room awaits at Bay
Gardens Beach Resort in the
islands entertainment capital
Rodney Bay Village.
Diving comes in the form of
10-dive packages with Dive
Saint Lucia (DSL), and youll
find it a relaxing experience

exploring the islands turtlepopulated coral reefs.

For non-divers, an Open Water
Diver referral with London
School of Diving is included
existing divers can opt to do an
Advanced Scuba Review.
Youll move on for a five-night
half-board stay at the Anse
Chastanet Resort, with a six-dive
package provided by Scuba St
Lucia.
This great prize includes
international flights, courtesy of
the St Lucia Tourist Board, and
transfers, plus various day-trips
and special dinners.
Just think, all you have to do
is turn up at ExCeL, and keep
your fingers crossed! Terms and
conditions apply.

PHOTOS: BY NIGEL WADE

www.divErNEt.com

21

divEr

BEACHCOMBER

ANOTHER ITEM YOU DIDNT KNOW YOU NEEDED

Mismatched
Conversation overheard on a diveboat somewhere overseas:
Dive Guide (Who looks about 14 and
hasnt even been at the resort long
enough to get a tan): You cant go
that deep on a single cylinder!
What happens if an O-ring blows?
Diver (who clearly doesnt give a damn):
I bottle-off, feather the valve and
we come up when you run out of
gas, OK?

Reverse marketing
Christmas is long past, but if Santa brought
you all the lovely shiny new stuff you
needed, what did you do with the old stuff
you no longer need?
You have only two options. Option A is
to hang on to the old stuff in case you ever
need a back-up, which sounds reasonable
but is really just a way of cramming the
attic with even more useless junk. Option B
is to stick it on eBay.
Amy Cooks husband opted for Option A.
Amy put up with his decision for a while,

The Eq-Tool is a gadget that you use to blow

air up your nose to gently open your Eustachian
tubes and make your eardrums vibrate.
It has a sensor to measure the air pressure its
producing, and uses Bluetooth to connect to an
app on your tablet or smartphone so that you
can monitor exactly whats going on.
Battery life is said to be a month and a half if
you use your Eq-Tool for an hour a day, during
which time you can use the included training

and then decided that Option B was a

better bet and listed Steves Scuba Crap
and Why it Has to Go.
This idiosyncratic description really
seemed to appeal to the punters, who bid
themselves silly.

Late vintage
Maybe Amy could give another seller
some help on the advertising front.
He listed his surplus kit as Vintage
Scuba Gear, but thoughtfully advised
prospective purchasers to have it
professionally inspected before they
actually used it.
Fair enough. Except that the BC was
actually 10 years younger than my
Buddy Commando, which I fully
expect to become a cherished family
heirloom and in regular use into the
next millennium.
Vintage? B*gger that!
Mind you, that listing was better
than another I saw that advertised an
aluminium cylinder that was way out
of test but had been stored full with
no loss of pressure, which the seller
suggested meant that it was OK.
Er, no. Just no.

Now thats a swim

We all like to think were a bit rufty-tufty.
Well ard enough to look after ourselves if
the worst ever happens, and an Aussie
diver has just proved the point for us.
He was diving from a moored boat but
the boats anchor broke and the vessel
drifted away and he surfaced to a boatless
ocean. Still, land was a mere 10 miles away,
so he swam ashore.
Search and rescue teams
were alerted when the diver
became overdue, but were
unable to spot him in choppy
seas and darkness, later
realising that they must have
passed close by a number of
times.
A bit sniffily, they later
Selection of Steves scu
ba crap
declared that the divers boat

22

schedules to develop
a better and more
efficient earclearing technique or
play games, also
included.
No,
I am not
making
this up.

hadnt been appropriate for the conditions.

Even Aussies can have a sense-of-humour
failure on occasion.

Over the top

Its tough for photographers or writers
to get any sort of audience for their
work in a world in which the Internet
allows us to access huge amounts of
information without doing much
beyond tapping a screen.
Thats probably why so much
online material on the Internet is so
over-blown. Everything is fantastic or
amazing, or one of the five things you
have to do before you get to 30 or die,
or whatever.
Lars Korvald has taken underwater
pictures of the remains of farm
buildings submerged in 1908 when a
landslide in Norway blocked off a
valley and created Lygnstoylsvatnet
Lake, and theyre great shots. The
water looks crystal-clear and theres
one shot of two divers swimming
above a sunken road thats just magic.
It looks quirky and fun, and Id love to
pop over to Norway and do the dive.
But, and its a reasonably large but,
I was nearly put off because the blurb
calls it Norways Underwater Atlantis.
Big it up by all means, but Atlantis?
Still, I really did like the road picture!

69 or 70?
The Lincolnshire Echo recently announced
that a scuba-diving pig-farmer and her
adventurous daughter had helped to
organise the UKs biggest-ever all-female
group dive, with almost 70participants.
The event was a series of try-dives
under the This Girl Can banner, and raised
money for breast-cancer research, so was
totally and absolutely praiseworthy.
But why did we need to have the pigfarmer reference? What is it about pigfarmers that makes a diving pig-farmer
more noteworthy than a diving electrician
or nurse or anything else?
And why is writing nearly 70

UBA PROJECT

It seems not a month can go by without a piece

of inventive and innovative scuba kit being
crowdfunded into life.
This month its the Eq-Tool, a device to help
you train to perfect your equalisation
technique. You know, what you do when you
pinch your nose and blow and your ears pop?
The bad news is that the Kickstarter project
will have closed by the time you read this, so if
you missed it, heres what you failed to back.

participants better than using the exact

number, 69?
I know 69 is nearly 70, but it isnt 70, its
69. And anyway, 70 is nearly 100, so why
not write nearly 100?
I think it may be time for some deep
breaths and a nice cup of tea.

Early to freediving
And then theres the video advertised
with the line Meet the 3-Year-Old Boy
that can Hold his Breath Under Water.
I really hope he can hold his breath
when hes under water, and regardless
of depth, otherwise it isnt going to be
a very pleasant video to watch.
To be fair, he could breathe out a
bit. But not in. Definitely not in.

Lust to lift
Underwater archaeologists in Israel have
discovered a 600kg stone slab inscribed
with seven lines of ancient Greek that
contain information dating back to the
2nd century AD and the revolt of Simon bar
Kockba, one of the most iconic moments in
Jewish history, including the name of the
Roman ruler of the province of Judea at
that time, Gargilius Antiques.
This hugely important artefact, one of
many discovered at a site called Tel Dor, is
thought to be the plinth from a lost statue.
Now, the team that discovered it have
decided to lift the slab from the sea to
prevent damage to the inscription.
Damage? What damage? The things
been down there for 2000 years and its
still readable, so why bring it up? We know
what it says.
Scientists, dont you just love em?

Unfair advantage
Almost. The Emirates Woman site
wants to know Are You Brave Enough
To Swim With Sharks On An
Underwater Scooter?
I know Im brave enough to swim
with sharks, but I dont know how Id
feel if the sharks were using DPVs.

www.divErNEt.com

020 8995 0002

[email protected]

www.londonschoolofdiving.co.uk

Start your journey

into diving here

The premier dive centres in the UK and the Caribbean

together we look after your whole diving journey!

and continue here!

+1 758 451-DIVE (3483)
[email protected]

www.divesaintlucia.com

KNOCKING DOWNWALLS
The British Society of Underwater
Photographers, better known as BSoUP, was
one of the first underwater photographic
societies in the world. Now in its 50th year,
co-founder COLIN DOEG guides us through
half a century of photographic evolution

Above: Photographers
clamber over rocks
festooned with slippery
seaweed to enter the water
at one of the first Splash-ins
at Fort Bovisand in the early
1970s.
Right: A photographer in
action in clear, well-lit water
near Newton Ferrers, Devon,
in the 1960s.

divEr

24

N A COLD, DARK NIGHT in

November 1967, sixteen people
crammed into the front room of
a house in north London. They had a
common interest underwater
photography and already enjoyed
varying levels of success at obtaining
images from beneath the waves.
The group included two Kodak
employees, the colour print manager of
what was regarded as the best
photographic laboratory in London,
the assistant editor of the worlds largestcirculation evening newspaper at the
time, people from advertising and public
relations and a widely respected GP and
diving doctor.
Two hours later the British Society of
Underwater Photographers had been
created, officials elected, objectives set and
a meeting arranged for the following
month, so that we could each show and
discuss some of our pictures.
Not bad when you consider that it all
happened because slides intended for
Peter Scoones had been sent to me in
error. But that was how we met,
discovered that we each had the idea of
forming a photographic society, and

ended up circulating diving clubs telling

anyone interested that we were arranging
a meeting to discuss the idea.
That first meeting and many others
were held in Peters house where, because
of the limitations of the room in which we
met, slides could at first be projected only
at a small size.
We never thought more about that

until the next meeting, when we found

ourselves gathering in a much larger area.
Peter, the original secretary, had knocked
down one of the walls so that our images
could be bigger. We were impressed.
He began by knocking a hole in the
wall and projecting some slides through
it, but the pictures were still small.
So he kept enlarging the hole until,
finally, he had demolished the entire wall.
www.divErNEt.com

PHOTO DIVER

FOR A BETTER VIEW

Only then did he realise that it was a

supporting wall!
The shops were closing, so he rushed
out and bought a baulk of timber strong
enough to stop the house falling down.
Those were the good old days. We were
not hampered by rules and regulations.
The meeting also discussed the need
for a logo. The late Kendall McDonald,
assistant editor of the long-gone London
Evening News, offered to approach one of
the papers artists for ideas.
The artist drew a
few lines on a scrap
of paper and produced the logo that has
remained largely unchanged ever since
(above). He was rewarded with a packet of
10 cigarettes we had been warned not to
be too generous!

BJECTIVES AGREED AT THE FIRST

meeting where I was elected
chairman included fostering and
promoting underwater photography in all
its aspects, both as an art and a means of
illustration, as well as to encourage and
make known research and development
of techniques and equipment. A forum
was set up to discuss ideas and problems

www.divErNEt.com

of common interest.
The annual subscription was three
guineas, payable in advance. Thats just
over 3, about the cost of a 35mm film.
More meetings were arranged for the
winter, because we would be too busy
diving and taking pictures in the summer
in British waters.
It was also suggested that the society
find a photographic agency to handle
members work, but Gillian Lythgoe went
one better. She started Seaphot, which
became world-renowned.
We ran print and slide clinics to help
members with advice. These worked well
for years but, as BSoUP grew, members
became reluctant to expose their faulty
images to the ever-larger audiences.
Core-members of BSoUP were from
London Branch of the British Sub-Aqua
Club. Indeed, if you were keen on
underwater photography, you really had
to be a member of that branch, and it was
a select group from there that provided
the societys formidable technical base.
Rather than do National Service, Peter
Scoones signed up to the Royal Air Force
as a regular so that he could learn
something useful. He was trained as a

photographer and became adept at stills

and cine as well as repairing cameras.
Coming from a sailing family, he was
active in the RAFs sailing club in
Singapore, where he was stationed. To
speed up the cleaning of the hulls of the
boats, he started snorkelling and diving
underneath them.
Fascinated by the colourful marine life
and scenery, he began making housings
for his cameras from Perspex scrap, and
helped to form a diving club. It had to
create its own training programme and

Above: Divers ascending the

shot line after a dive with
Club Med in 1963.
Below: Yes we know
you wouldnt get away with
a photo like this now, but
times were different in the
Mediterranean in 1965.

25

divEr

Above, this page from

left: Tim Glover (right) and
Peter Dick carefully ease a
Rolleiflex camera into its
housing back in 1959; Glover
festooned with cameras and
other equipment during a
dive off the Italian island of
Giglio in 1962; a band
performing for Peter
Scoones in the early 1970s.

Below, this page from

left: Colin Doeg and
cameras at Eilat, Gulf of
Aqaba, in 1994; more now
non-PC behaviour as Geoff
Harwood feeds fish from a
broken sea urchin in Giglio in
1962; taken in 1979, this
display shows the wide
variety of equipment already
designed, made or modified
and used by Warren Williams
for his photography.

divEr

26

was helped very unofficially by Navy

divers to use oxygen rebreathers, before
changing to air with home-made demand
valves and oxygen cylinders discarded
after use in aircraft.
Tim Glover worked in Kodaks research
division making, among other things,
prototype cameras that soon went on sale.
His colleague Geoff Harwood was a
technical advisor whose job was solving
customers problems, and even building
special equipment to meet their needs. He
was also the author of Kodaks definitive
leaflet about underwater photography
and how to take successful pictures.
The pair were responsible for the
creation of the BSoUP data book. A blue
folder packed with regularly updated
technical information, it was the classic
reference source, especially for members
unable to attend the meetings in London.
As well as working for an international
advertising agency, Mike Busuttili had a
keen eye for a good image. As London
Branchs diving officer, he trialled a new
training programme so successful that it
was adopted by the club, with Mike in the
specially created post of national training
officer. Later, after 11 years as managing
director of Spirotechnique UK, he moved
to France as marketing director of La
Spirotechnique.
Tim, Geoff and Mike were believed to
be the first British divers to venture to the
Red Sea and return with successful
pictures. They were sleeping on the beach
and just walking into the water. Others

used to hire cars, park on the beach, sleep

in them and wade in with their cameras.

HE CONTRADICTION OF my interest
in underwater photography was that
I did most of my National Service in
Egypt, within 100 miles of the Gulf of
Suez, but never owned a camera.
I was a member of the Buckshee
Wheelers, a Forces cycling club. Riding
bikes donated by the UK cycling industry,
we held club runs and races often chased
by packs of wild dogs with slathering jaws
and teeth as fearsome as any shark.
Subsequently I learned to dive and,
because of my background in newspapers
and PR, realised that there was a demand
for words and pictures about the new
realm capturing everyones imagination
following the success of films on TV and
in the cinema about the exploits of the
two great pioneers: Hans Hass and
Jacques Cousteau. So I bought a 7s 6d
paperback and attempted to teach myself.
Another original member was Phil
Smith, a professional photographer based
in Dorset. Later we were joined by Ley
Kenyon, a photographer and film-maker
who also enjoyed fame as the forger
involved in one of the biggest escapes
from a prisoner of war camp in Europe,
by prisoners concealing themselves inside
a huge gymnastic horse.
Warren Williams joined about two
years later. Out of curiosity he used to
swim in ponds on Hampstead Heath
wearing goggles and using a crudely

waterproofed torch to see what was

there. By the time he was 16 he was trying
to make his own breathing apparatus.
After National Service he faced the
dilemma of deciding whether to join
Vogue magazine as a trainee photographer
or return to his trade as a scientific
instrument-maker.
In the end instrument-making won,
and he brought a new standard of
workmanship to the housings and other
equipment being made by those fortunate
enough to have their own workshops.
Otherwise, you had to find someone to
make a housing for your camera or buy a
commercially made outfit. The supreme
housing was the Rolleimarin. Developed
by Rollei in conjunction with Hans Hass,
it was a delight to use, especially in clear,
well-lit water. However, it was expensive
and took only a 12-image film just think
of that, all you memory-card users!
A housing was also available for a
Leica. That wasnt cheap either, but the
camera took a 36-exposure film.
Then the CalypsoPhot came on the
market. I remember seeing one in a shop
window in France. It cost 46.
After two years of dismal results using a
10 camera in a crude housing, I bought
one in a last, desperate attempt to
produce a decent image.
They were exciting times. Gill Lythgoe
calculated that only one in a million
people in the UK was an underwater
photographer. So we were special. We
were pioneers. We were an inspiration to

PHOTO DIVER

each other. We buzzed with excitement

and ideas. Life was enormous fun, and
I hope it continues to be that for everyone
who takes a camera under water.

URING ONE GLORIOUS period,

committee meetings continued until
the last bottle was emptied, and we never
kept any minutes. This had the great
advantage that we could discuss the same
topics every month, because no one could
remember what had been said previously.
Nevertheless, much came out of that
period that is taken for granted these
days. In the battle to photograph a fulllength diver in British waters, the likes of
Peter, Geoff and Tim ground wide-angle
lenses from pieces of Perspex.
At the same time, dome-ports started
to be made. They were a cheaper solution
to overcoming the way light bends due to
refraction when it passes through the airwater interface. To do this, Perspex sheet
was warmed and softened in an ordinary
oven before being clamped in a special rig
so that compressed air could be used to
gently form it into shape.
Electronic flashguns of all shapes and
sizes began to be protected in housings of
various types to replace flash-bulbs,
which tended to burst into light only
when connections were perfect. Todays
flashguns are smaller, often more
powerful and much more reliable.
Soon it was realised that different ports
could be created for different lenses,
provided they all fitted a standard-sized

aperture in the body of the housing. So

interchangeable ports were created.
The two features missing in those early
days were the automatic-exposure
features of cameras and flashguns. These
transformed picture-taking.
There was an enormous thirst for
knowledge in those days. In many ways, it
was more inspiring to learn by meeting
people at talks and lectures than, as we do
these days, by trawling websites, even
though they are a source of much more
information.
Nevertheless, it was encouraging to
learn that a leading commercial
photographer earning thousands of
pounds a day would have to send his
darkroom staff home and work from
dusk to dawn, albeit with the help of a
bottle of Scotch, to finally produce the
one image he knew his client required.

SOUPS LEGENDARY SPLASH-INS

started soon after our formation.
Initially we met somewhere convenient to
London, usually Shoreham in Sussex, to
dive as we wished and meet the following
week to show each other our results.
Subsequently the venue moved to
Swanage Pier then little more than three
hours drive from central London.
Images taken under the pier or in
nearby Kimmeridge Bay regularly won
prizes in competitions. Both sites offered
the essentials for good pictures they
were easy to reach and we knew what
was there.

Indeed, the area became so familiar

that we could envisage potential images
and plan to take them. If one visit failed,
we knew we could return repeatedly until
we had perfected the shot. We treated pier
and bay like a photographic studio.
Phil Smith, the first to win the coveted
title of British Underwater Photographer
of the Year at the film and photographic
festivals organised for many years by
divEr magazine, took his winning
image of a tompot blenny under the pier.
Some years later Martin Edge, author
of the acclaimed The Underwater
Photographer series of books, even
arranged for several divers to position
flashguns round a blennys hole for his
own version.
Martin regarded our meetings as so
important that he drove from Dorset to
London every month. He is now one of
the most respected gurus on underwater
photography, teaching divers how to take
pictures as well as arranging expeditions
and dive trips.
The idea developed of everyone diving
in the same area on the same day for a
specific period of time and afterwards
meeting to see who produced the best
images. We called it a Splash-in, and so
the idea of a one-day shoot-out was born.
We suspected that it was from our idea
that these popular competitions spread
throughout the world.
After some years we were invited to
move the Splash-in to Fort Bovisand
Underwater Centre in Plymouth, and

Above, this page from

left: Bromley BSAC play
Murderball, their version of
underwater rugby in the
early 1980s; Peter Scoones in
2007 demonstrates his latest
video outfit to Warren
Williams (centre) and Tim
Glover (right).

Below, this page from

left: A classic fish portrait
taken in 1963 by Colin Doeg
near Tilly Whim Caves,
Dorset; 1970s fashion shoot
by Peter Scoones. Today
freedivers are popular as
models, but in those days
models were usually tied
down to the seabed and fed
air by standby divers.

27

divEr

Above: Careful use of flash

produced this dramatic
image, a Splash-in winner
for Warren Williams in 1972.
Right: Use of a polecam
basically a camera attached
to a pole enabled Williams
to reveal these unexpected
colours in a river in 2016.
Peter Scoones was the first
wildlife underwater
cameraman to conceive the
idea of videoing killer
whales in Norwegian waters
and great white sharks off
South Africa in this way.
Today sophisticated versions
are universally used by
cameramen, who do not
need to be trained divers.
Right: Rays of the Spectrum,
the first photograph taken in
British waters to win an
open underwater
competition. It was taken in
Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset, by
Colin Doeg in 1967 and his
prize was a complete
Nikonos outfit.

divEr

28

it remained in that area until being

replaced by the British and Irish
Underwater Championship in 2015.
The original event was held every year,
come rain or gale. Often the weather was
so bad that everyone queued at nearby
rock-pools for their turn to wade in and
try to produce a winner. Competition was
intense. Many went to Plymouth a week
early to check out the area in advance.
Competitors collected one marked
35mm colour film to be exposed in the
vicinity of Plymouth. The films were
processed the same evening, so that
competitors could select their entries
for judging by the waiting audience of
photographers, friends and local divers.
Processing as many as 70 or 80 colour
films by hand within a few hours once a
year didnt always go to plan. Some years
lights were switched on at the wrong
moment, or chemicals not changed at the
correct time, but such problems were
usually overlooked by photographers
and audience alike, especially as the hours
and the drinks dragged on.
Those were the days when it was a huge
advantage to have a darkroom. Otherwise
you had to wait until dark and convert a
kitchen or bathroom into a temporary one.
In summer, when you were struggling
for hours to produce competitionwinning entries, it didnt leave much time
for sleep. I used to convert the bathroom,
and then wake my wife every hour to ask
her which version of a print she preferred.
Eventually we moved, so that I could
have a darkroom and we could both could
enjoy a better nights sleep.

F COURSE, THE biggest revolution

was the introduction of digital
photography and computers. Suddenly
you could check that your images were
coming out while you were still under
water. You didnt have to bring your
exposed films back from a trip and have
them processed before you knew if they
were OK. You didnt need a darkroom any
more. You could do just about everything
in daylight, anywhere you liked.
If your camera took RAW files you
could do so much more to save badly
exposed images. If you were computerliterate and could use programmes such
as Photoshop you could do far more with
images than all the darkroom technicians
and photo-retouchers.
Its interesting that this revolution
came from attempts to make it easier and
quicker for press photographers to take
their pictures and transmit them back to
their newspapers. Previously they would
have to drive like crazy back to their
offices or use dispatch-riders to get their
films to the darkrooms.
But all that was still many years after
BSoUPs inception, and long after we had
www.divErNEt.com

PHOTO DIVER

AN IMAGE THAT MADE HISTORY

been invited to speak at meetings of the

Royal Photographic Society and stage a
major exhibition of our work at its HQ.
In those early years we also staged two
major film and photographic conferences
in London, inviting leading photographers
and cameramen from other countries.
Today BSoUP continues to thrive,
especially with ambassadors such as Alex
Mustard, for my money one of the worlds
most outstanding photographers.
His images continually improve, yet he
is always as generous with his knowledge
and advice as the original members. He
would have had such a ball if he had been
with us at the beginning.
We have also had three particularly
successful lady chairs in Linda Dunk,
Martha Tressler and Joss Woolf were
not sexist, we just want the best people for
the job while president Brian Pitkin has
made a greater individual input to the
society over many years than any other
member. Roll on to our full century.

www.divErNEt.com

Above: Golden butterflyfish

in the Red Sea in the 1970s.
Balancing ambient light and
flash to produce such a
natural effect required
complex calculations; today
it all happens automatically.
Below: Is this the world's
first underwater selfie? Mike
Busuttili took this photo of
himself and an angelfish in
Marathon Key, Florida in the
1970s.

What are BSoUP

members getting
up to nowadays?
See Alex Mustards
Be The Champ on
page 38 and Simon
Yates winning
Beginners Portfolio
on page 74

AKEN IN THE LATE 1980s by Peter

Scoones, this triple-exposure won

the main award at the International
Blue Aqaba Competition in Jordan, and
subsequently featured in cultural
programmes for the benefit of UNICEF.
World in Our Hands consisted of
three images superimposed on each
other within the camera. Peter had
returned to shore each time to rewind
the film and change the lens so that the
combined photographs produced the
final effect. Typically, he pushed the
boundaries by combining three shots
rather taking a more conventional
double-exposure.
The colourful soft coral was taken
with a circular fisheye adapter on a
wide-angle lens to reduce its size. Then
the film was rewound to a different
position in the camera and another
competitor posed with his hands held
aloft to cradle the pre-exposed globe.
Finally, Peter returned to shore,
rewound the film yet again and fitted a
different lens before returning to find
and photograph a shoal of anthias.
Some years later, he reshot the
image with the hands of his wife,
Georgette Douwma, cupping the globe.
This second shot is used for the Peter
Scoones Trophy which goes each year

to the winner of the new British & Irish

Underwater Championship (BIUC).
The competition replaces the
longstanding Splash-in, is held in
Plymouth and attracts up to 80
competitors. Inspired by the current
chairman Paul Colley, it takes
advantage of the new opportunities
made possible by digital imaging.
Photographers can take their
pictures anywhere in British or Irish
waters within a specific period, and
submit them by email. Some use secret
locations; others make the day a special
club or group occasion and retain the
social aspect of the original Splash-ins.

29

divEr

We operate to worlds best

practice; conservation is
always key. Explore
unpopulated beaches,
or scuba dive the
pristine waters of
Ningaloo in our
small groups.
Exmouth is Natures Playground,
where emus roam the streets,
manta rays play with divers, and
turtles delight snorkellers.

Come and enjoy the unique

PHOTO: KRISTIN ANDERSON

PHOTO: KRISTIN ANDERSON

PHOTO: KATIA BENINI

Ningaloo Reef, where the outback

meets the turquoise waters of the
Indian Ocean.
Tick off your bucket list with
swims with the elusive
whaleshark the only place in
the world with a 100%
guarantee or let us open
your eyes to the most
wonderful Humpback Whale
Swim encounters in Australia.

PHOTO: LUIS OHL

PHOTO: KRISTIN ANDERSON

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

EXMOUTH DIVING CENTRE is located at

Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth, Western Australia.
Being a small town of about 2,500 people,
situated just north of the Tropic of Capricorn,
approximately 1270km north of Perth, it has
an average winter temperature of 28C
perfect for that winter getaway and a
Whaleshark Swim or scuba dive on the
Ningaloo Reef. Summer temperatures
average 35C.
Exmouth Diving Centre
has been operating for
many years on the
Ningaloo Reef and is
Exmouths original dive
centre. We specialise in
scuba diving, snorkelling,
Whaleshark Swim Tours,
Humpback Whale Watching
and Humpback Whale Swims
and having a great time on the
Ningaloo Reef!
What makes this such a special place?
Well, we have the most consistent aggregation
of adolescent whalesharks, which allows us to
Whaleshark Swim every day from March to
August and guarantee it!
Big fish, manta rays, turtles, dugong and
humpback whales are in abundance too. Lets
not forget the great scuba diving all year
round, and snorkelling you would not believe!
Dont forget the complimentary Nitrox!
Our long-term commitment to this area of
the Ningaloo Reef allows us to know where to
find the very best snorkelling and diving and to

have the most reliable and exciting

interactions on our Whaleshark Swim, with the
myriad of creatures that call this area home.
Exmouth Dive is the only PADI 5 Star
Instructor Development Centre (IDC) on the
Ningaloo Reef, offering a complete diver
training service, from Open Water to
professional-level Dive Master & Instructor
training. We are open 7 days a week for sales
and service, dive tours,
equipment hire, air fills
and PADI diving
courses, and have four
boats to get you out
on the reef.
Dont just come for
the fun of a Whaleshark
Swim, as there are
many other seasonal
visitors to the Ningaloo
Reef. Humpback whales are in
the area from June until November
and manta rays can be seen along the
Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth from May
to November. As summer arrives, so do the
green, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles that
begin their nesting season after mating during
October and November, and can be seen on
the beaches right up until March.
Add the bio-diversity of 250 species of
corals, a great assortment of nudibranchs and
more than 500 different species of fish,
including local reef sharks, into the mix, and it
makes Exmouth an impressive destination all
year round.

PHOTO: JESS HADDEN

Complim
entary
Nitrox

Exmouth Diving Centre

Exmouth, Western Australia
Tel: + 61 8 9949 1201
[email protected]
www.exmouthdiving.com.au

PHOTO: KRISTIN AND

ERSON

PHOTO: ALAN TOU

GHER

PHOTO: KRISTIN AND

ERSON

PHOTO: KRISTIN AND

ERSON

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS IN
It has the reputation of being one
of the greatest shark spectacles
on Earth. Can it really be that
good? TOM VIERUS has visited
Fijis Shark Reef to find out

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32

SHARK DIVER

SHARK CORRIDOR
I

TS 7.30 ON A SATURDAY

morning, and weve just found the

base of Beqa Adventure Divers (BAD)
on the outskirts of Pacific Harbor on Viti
Levu, Fijis main island.
We have come to experience what has
been hailed as one of the worlds greatest
shark dives with some impressive apex
predators just us and the bull sharks.
Were met at the entrance by Mike
Neumann, one of the three BAD owners,
who after more than 10 years there still
joins in on almost every dive.
Were soon ready to board one or other
of the two dive vessels, Predator and
Hunter. Our equipment is already aboard,
with our cameras each in their own basket.
There are some 20 people on the two
boats today, the maximum set by the divecentre. The organisation level immediately
impresses its efficient and professional.
As we slowly cruise along the
mangrove-fringed channel towards the
open ocean, Tumbi, one of the main
feeders, delivers an in-depth dive-briefing.
With luck, we could see up to eight shark
species, from the mighty bull and maybe
tiger sharks to the smaller reef predators
such as whitetip and blacktip reef sharks,
and the possibility of less-frequent visitors
such as lemon and nurse sharks.
A 20-minute boat-ride brings us to the
reef at the heart of the Shark Reef Marine
Reserve. The boats are tied in to preinstalled buoylines, and we get ourselves
ready to dive.

Left: A group of bull

sharks approach the bin
only the fastest gets a
tuna head.

Above right:
Anemonefish and bull
sharks in 30m.
Below: Descending to
the Arena, divers kneel
behind a man-made
dead-coral wall.expng Sil.
Right: The hand-feeding
is about to begin.

to stick to the rules. To avoid surprises, its

vital that this protocol is consistently
observed sharks, after all, are predators
and potentially dangerous to us humans.
As I watch the most-dominant bulls
approaching and swallowing the heads
whole, I recall that Tumbi had told us
earlier that in peak times up to 80 sharks
join the divers during the feeding.
Today there must be some 35 in the
arena, and I can hardly imagine what

JULIAN CLARKE

E DESCEND TO OUR first stop at

30m, where the main attractions are
waiting. In the Arena the BAD staff have
built a wall of dead corals. We kneel
behind it as Tumbi and the other divemasters and feeders position themselves.
Four of them literally stand behind us,
each armed with a blunt metal pole that
can be used to remind the sharks that its

up to here and no further! Another

three prepare the feeding in front of us.
Large bull sharks circle patiently just
metres away in anticipation.
Unnoticed by most of the divers,
a sicklefin lemon shark passes behind our
backs, some 20 yellow-striped trevally
swarming around it. Dozens of freeswimming remoras and other smaller reef
fish join us in this prelude to the spectacle
to come. The sheer abundance of marine
life in this protected area is striking.
The show is about to start. Tumbi
opens the lid of a metal construction,
grabs the tuna-heads it contains one by
one and hand-feeds them to approaching
sharks. He is flanked by Fabiano and
Manoa, who act as bodyguards and also
wield metal poles.
Over the years the feeders have
established a protocol in which only
sharks closing in from the left side are
rewarded with food, while those coming
from the right are reminded by the poles

www.divErNEt.com

33

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double that number must look and feel

like.
Sharks can be very cautious animals,
and dont swim mindlessly towards the
bait and grab it. Like us, their personalities
vary: some are bold and rather aggressive,
while others prefer to keep their distance
and observe. Some appear shy.
Similar to lions or wolves on land,
sharks establish hierarchies among
themselves. It tends to be the dominant
(or very daring) individuals that
immediately cruise in and take the bait.
A few tuna-heads later the procedure
changes. The team moves from handfeeding to bin-feeding, with slightly
modified trash-cans used to deliver an
impressive and intimate experience for
the divers.
Fabiano grabs a rope attached to the
bin and slowly ascends to around 15m. By
pulling the rope he manoeuvres the lid to
release some of the tuna-heads while
swimming parallel to the dead-coral wall.
This ensures that every diver gets an

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34

up-close experience as the predators

follow the bin and its fishy smell. The bins
look bizarre 30m down, but they do work
in getting the sharks in your face!
After 17 minutes bottom time with the
large bull sharks (some as big as 3.5m), the
divemasters bang their steel tanks, giving
the signal to ascend towards the Den, a
shallower feeding site at 15m.
Attention now switches to the smaller
blacktip and whitetip reef sharks and very
agile grey reef sharks. More than a dozen
smaller sharks and hundreds of small fish
swarm energetically around Mavoa, the
designated feeder today.
While the bulls were fed in an arenalike setting, Den is different. Mavoa is
located on our right in a 5m-wide channel
between the steep reef slope and another
small man-made wall of dead corals
behind which we kneel.
The sharks swoosh in and out of the
Den. Some use the channel, but the more
audacious take a route directly over our
heads. Hundreds of reef fish and other

Above: A sicklefin lemon

shark.
Above right: The two
vessels from Beqa Adventure
Divers.
Below: A pair of blacktip
reef sharks.

smaller predators are joining in, not

wanting to miss out on the excitement.
For another 20 minutes we enjoy the
spectacle, before ascending to what they
call the best safety-stop in the world.
They have a point. At 3m depth, a rope
has been installed right at the edge of the
fringing reef, allowing divers to hold on
(which were thankful for, considering the
swell and current in the shallows that
could otherwise sweep you away into the
Pacific) as more feeding continues.
This is now dominated by the whitetips
and blacktips, which seem so small and
somehow cat-like after you have spent
37 minutes with the massive bulls and
grey reef sharks.
Their small, slender bodies are perfectly
adapted to life in the structurally complex
reef, allowing them to reach virtually any
fish hidden in its cracks and crevices.

HILE WE SLOWLY OFF-GAS the

nitrogen (usually one of the more
unexciting parts of a dive) another
spectacle is presented to us: an explosion
of colour as the sunrays penetrate through
the water column and dance on the
thriving shallow reef.
The whole scene seems almost unreal,
too beautiful to be true. After another
exciting 10 minutes we head back to the
boat. Many of us need to be careful not to
lose regulators because of our huge smiles
wow, that was an intense 50 minutes!
During the 60-minute surface interval
the boat is manoeuvred to calmer waters
and I have some time to talk to Mike
Neumann. With a big grin, he tells me the
story of Shark Reef Marine Reserve, Fijis
first national marine park and officially
recognised since 2014.
Everything started in 2004 with the
idea to create a self-sustaining tourism
project that would do two things: offer
divers an unforgettable experience and
protect the resident sharks, says Mike.

www.divErNEt.com

SHARK
MARINEDIVER
LIFE

Today, more than 10 years later, we

have accomplished both and much more.
We have created a win-win situation for
everyone.
Not only are the sharks and other
marine species protected by the marine
sanctuary, but the local population
benefits from the international tourism
revenues. Weve made arrangements
with several villages owning the
traditional fishing rights to the area we
wanted to protect, says Mike. Every diver
pays a levy of about US $10 which goes
straight to the respective villages, who in
turn refrain from fishing in the area.
This approach has led not only to
establishing one of the worlds most
famous shark dives but contributing
substantially to protection of the resident
sharks. By 2007 the Shark Corridor (in
which shark-fishing is banned) had been
established. Today it covers a 30-mile
stretch off Viti Levus coast.
This is no paper park. Fish wardens
actively patrol the area, looking for
poachers and illegal fishing activities.
Not only are sharks thriving in the
reserve but it appears that other marine
animals are benefitting from protection it
affords too.
This in turn leads to the spillover
effect as the fish population inside the
park has increased, populations have
extended to areas outside its boundaries,
boosting fishing yields in adjacent areas.

Above: A sicklefin lemon

shark about to swallow a
tuna-head.
Right: A bull shark shows
its flexibility as it
approaches the bin.
Below: Bull shark.

sustainable shark-diving. Besides the

safety of the divers and the protection of
sharks, we put a strong emphasis on the
continuous support of shark research and
conservation, Mike tells me.
Each shark-dive is attended by at least
one trained local marine biologist, who
records individuals and environmental
parameters to feed a long-term database
documenting changes within populations.
BAD also supports an international
team of scientists researching species
movements and population genetics. Its
shark-feed dives provide an opportunity
to find out more about hierarchies,
migration routes and general as well as
mating behaviour.

E PREPARE FOR the second dive.

I check my underwater housing
enough space on SD card, settings right,
flashes working Im good to go!
This dive is a little different to the first.
Were at the same site, but this time we
approach another feeding area at 15m.

HIS IS HOW Marine Protected Areas

or MPAs can be a win-win situation
for everyone nature-lovers, fishermen,
conservationists and economists alike.
This park is a major conservation
success, and shows that small-scale efforts
do make a difference, says Mike.
BAD was also a founder-member of the
Global Shark Diving Alliance, a worldwide
initiative by operators to set international
standards for responsible and long-term

www.divErNEt.com

35

divEr

SHARK DIVER
And instead of kneeling, we lie flat on our
bellies behind a much shallower wall. We
have already been reminded not to stick
out any hands or arms, as the sharks will
come even closer than on the first dive.
When were positioned, Fabiano takes
the ropes and starts ascending with the
binful of tuna off-cuts. Some 30 sharks are
soon as close as they can be! Again and
again, seemingly out of nowhere, large
bulls appear from the sides and pass us,
with sometimes less than a metre to spare.
It feels unreal to be side by side with
these fascinating animals, the earliest
ancestors of which roamed our oceans
more than 400 million years ago.
I note their curiosity and how they
observe us as they chase behind the bin for
the next 30 minutes. Then the signal
sounds and we ascend towards the reefedge to enjoy another 15 minutes offgassing at the best safety stop in the world.
Speechless, I climb the ladder back onto
Hunter. This has been by far the most
exciting dive of my life, and the closest
I have been to any sharks. We return
exhausted but exhilarated to the base in
Pacific Harbor.
It would be hard to sell people the story
of sharks as mindless killing machines if
they had just spent two hours face to face
with them. Many divers leaving Fiji for

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36

FACTFILE

GETTING THERE8 Several options from

Heathrow to Nadi (Fiji), for example with Air
New Zealand via Los Angeles and Auckland.
DIVING8 Shark Reef Marine Reserve with Beqa
Adventure Divers, www.fijisharkdive.com
ACCOMMODATION8 The Pearl Resort (www.the
pearlsouthpacific.com), Uprising Beach Resort
(www.uprisingbeachresort.com), Lagoon Resort
(www.lagoonresort.com.fj) in Pacific Harbour.
WHEN TO GO8Any time. Peak season (winter) is
April-October with 22-25C water, and the rainy
season runs from November-April (28-30).
CURRENCY8 Fiji dollars (FJD).
PRICES8Beqa Adventure Divers offers Shark
Week Diving packages with several options,
such as seven nights B&B at the Uprising Beach
Resort, five days of two-tank diving (two days
shark-diving, three days Beqa Lagoon reefs) and
transfers for 2575 FJD (approx 970).
VISITOR INFORMATION8 www.fiji.travel

their home countries will become shark

advocates willingly or unwillingly as
they tell friends and families about their
incredible encounters there.
Only when people understand sharks
will they start caring about them and their
existence. People only protect what they

understand and love. Which is what Beqa

Adventure Divers is about not only in
facilitating safe and exciting encounters
for thousands of tourists every year, but
also in educating the public and pushing
for the conservation of these important
ocean regulators.

www.divErNEt.com

TREWAVAS
SKIPPER
WARS
THEY SAY NO MAN IS AN ISLAND, but a man who is skipper of his own
boat is surely the closest that you can get. A mans garden shed might be
a one-person world, but being afloat on the vastness of the sea makes a
boat into a one-person universe. A skipper is the star of his own show.
His rules apply. His authority is absolute.
Divers have frequently found out the hard way that when you step
onto a mans boat you are entering his domain. Do not mistake your
status as that of paying customer, you are there on suffrance.
At best you might be regarded as a mildly incompetent spare
deckhand. Mostly you will be regarded as a hazard and a liability.
As a diver, your list of possible crimes and misdemeanours is infinite.
Arriving late or faffing about with your kit so that slack is missed. Failing
to tie your kit to the bench properly, and chipping the paintwork with a
clumsily dropped cylinder or weightbelt.
Ignoring instructions about entries, run-times and deployment of
SMBs these are all keelhaul-worthy offences. Just dont commit the
ultimate cardinal sin and block the head.
For many skippers, the temptation to jettison the inconvenient
cargo of divers overboard is tempered only by the realisation that an
awful lot of paperwork, and an unwelcome visit from the authorities
is likely to ensue.
There is only a hairs
breadth distinction (and
about 100 years) between
a dive-boat skipper and a
buccaneer. And a modernday lack of cutlasses and
cannon means that taking
on the authorities is
nowhere near as much fun
as it used to be.
So I found myself pretty
much awestruck to read
that one of the long-standing Scapa skippers had been in trouble with
the authorities after divers using his boat had nicked bits off the historic
wrecks. The charges against the skipper were dropped, but the divers
involved were heavily fined.
Whatever your opinion on the weight of the fines, the aspect that
most caught my attention was that the incident had initially been
reported by the divers on another vessel operating in Scapa Flow.
The Orkney islands are tiny. A harbour is a confined space. On a small
island with limited resources, it's hard enough to accommodate the
boats, let alone the egos.
Winters are long, daylight is scarce. At most, there are only 9000
people based in Kirkwall, the heart of the Scapa dive-boat community.
Everyone is going to end up drinking in the same bar.
Its real-life Scandi Noir.
Skippers are a breed apart. You do not mess with a skipper. Unless, of
course, youre another skipper. And then its a case of two star-players in
conflict. Two opposing worlds colliding. And in this case, somebody is
clearly Rogue One, and the Empire is striking back.
In the 1970s we had Cod Wars with Iceland. For those who are too
young to remember, Iceland won. It was kind of a prequel to their victory
at Euro 16, but with live ammunition. The trophy? They got to keep their
fish stocks.
But Skipper Wars in Scapa this is serious. I cant see how anybody
will go home with the fish.

A SKIPPER IS THE
STAR OF HIS SHOW.
HIS RULES APPLY.
HIS AUTHORITY IS
ABSOLUTE.

LOUISE TREWAVAS
37

divEr

In January ALEX MUSTARD

considered the new black for
underwater photographers its
black, by the way and he stays
with that theme this month as
he considers the use of black and
white when depicting wrecks

BE THE
CHAMP!

The photographic challenge is that these big scenes

are too large to illuminate with strobes

RECKS SIMPLY SUIT black

and white photographs.
Monochrome creates a
timeless atmosphere that certainly
communicates a suitably historic
ambience. But even more valuable is the
way that processing an image in black
and white cuts through the murk of the
sea and helps us to show the scale of
shipwrecks.
Were spoilt rotten these days as
photographers. A decade or so ago, if we
wanted to produce a black and white
picture of a wreck we had to decide long
before the dive and load the correct film
stock into our camera.
We had to select just one ISO for the
whole dive and even choose between
negative or positive (slide) film before

divEr

38

excuse for not trying to shoot wrecks in

black and white.

STARTER TIP
Although you can convert images to black and white in
post-processing, try switching your camera to black-andwhite mode on your next wreck-dive.
On my workshops, photographers find that making this
switch on the camera helps them to make the appropriate
switch in their brains when it comes to using the light.

getting wet. And we were stuck with this

choice for the entire dive.
Now we can switch to black and white
under water, and change ISO, even for
just a single frame. Perhaps even more
beneficial, we also have the ability to
switch any image to black and white
when processing. There really is no

Below: Converting an
image to black and white
opens up a larger view and
allows details to stand out
from the haze.
Taken with a Nikon D4 and
Sigma 15mm fisheye. Subal
housing. ISO 400, 1/100th
@ f/11

BIGGEST IS USUALLY best when it

comes to photographing wrecks. The
pictures that tend to chime with viewers
are the grand scenes, which show as
much of the wreck as possible.
With smaller wrecks this can be the
whole boat, while with bigger ships we
are usually focusing in on large
recognisable features. The bow, the stern,
the bridge all tend to look fantastic.
The photographic challenge is that
these big scenes are too large to
illuminate with strobes. Rather than try
to spray strobe light over such a large
area, and end up just lighting up the
backscatter in the water, we should turn
our strobes off and shoot using

www.divErNEt.com

PHOTO TECHNIQUE
Pictured: Wrecks suit
black and white, with
strong shapes and
shadows that look
great in monochrome.
Taken with a Nikon D5
and Nikonos 13mm
fisheye. Subal housing.
Magic Filter. ISO 800,
1/160th @ f/14.

39

divEr

PHOTO TECHNIQUE

available light.
Almost every camera has a black and
white mode, allowing us to see our
images in monochrome as we shoot
them. But becoming an effective blackand-white photographer has little to do
with switching our camera far more to
do with switching how we use light.
Colour pictures are, unsurprisingly,
all about colour and detail, which we
reveal by shooting with light coming
from behind us and onto the subject,
illuminating it completely.
Such shots will usually convert into
OK black-and-white images, but they
will be far from the best black and
whites possible with that subject.
Great monochrome images are about
shapes, shadows and the contrast

MID-WATER TIP
In black-and-white modes your
cameras LCD screen will show you
monochrome images, but if you
shoot only RAW files, these will still
be in full colour on most cameras.
Either shoot RAW+JPG or accept
that you will be converting the RAW
files after shooting. Videos shot in
black and white mode will, like JPGs,
be recorded in monochrome.

divEr

40

Above: Shooting across

or against the light works
best for monochrome.
On wrecks, consider
dropping to the seabed
and shooting up.
Taken with a Nikon D700
and Nikon 16mm fisheye.
Subal housing. ISO 400,
1/80th @ f/11.

between light and dark areas.

This means using the light in a
different way, shooting across or against
the light, to capture both areas of bright
and areas of shadow. Once these image
are converted into monochrome, the
shapes of these areas make for a much
more powerful composition.
PROCESSING SOFTWARE provides lots
of options for converting files to black
and white, but before picking one its
important that we think about the type
of image were trying to produce.
Most important, we want the subject
to stand out from the background,
which means that we must process the
photo so that the wreck is a different
tone of grey to the water behind it. It can
be a dark wreck against light water, or a
light wreck looming out of dark water.
The two most popular ways to
convert images are in the Black and
White menu in Lightroom or with the
Silver Efex Pro Plugin.
In Lightroom, we can use the different
colour sliders to brighten or darken the
different parts of the image. The colours
refer to the colours in the original image,
so use the Blue Slider to lighten or
darken the background water.
In Silver Efex we have to apply a filter

ADVANCED TIP
Boosting contrast invariably
transforms black-and-white
underwater images. In the days of
film, photographers would achieve
this same effect by underexposing
their black-and-white film and then
over-developing it.
The tools may have changed, but
we should still use post-processing
to get the most out of black and
whites.

to the image to do the same. We should

use a blue filter to lighten blue
backgrounds and an orange filter to
darken blues, using the slider to control
the strength of the effect.
The final factor that always helps a
wreck stand out from the water is
de-murking the image, which means
adding contrast.
Normally when processing images the
mantra less is more is very sound
advice. However, when we want a black
and white image to pop, very often the
more contrast we add, the better.
We should use both with the general
Contrast slider and also boost detail
contrast with Clarity or Structure, for
the best results.

www.divErNEt.com

MTX-R
MILITARY GRADE
ENGINEERING

Image APEKS. All Rights Reserved

THE NEW
REGULATOR
FROM APEKS

BUILT TO PERFORM
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www.apeksdiving.com | [email protected] | facebook.com/apeksdiving | instagram/apeksdiving

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DEEP DIVER

A WALK ON THE

DEEP SIDE
It is an unfortunate truth that the
greater your accomplishments,
the greater the opposition and
animosity. Jim Bowden
Worlds Deepest Diver 1994

ARK RANG ME IN THE UK

while I was on holiday. Can

you take something out to
Sharm for me when you fly back?
Sure, what do you need?
I regularly picked up accessories like
dive computers, reels, floats or even
wetsuits. Perhaps Mark had extracted
a couple of lighting systems from the
sponsors. Maybe its just a packet of
O-rings:
I need my new 18-litre steel twin-set
brought out for the record attempt.
It wasnt exactly hand luggage!
The parent company of Ocean College
owned the flights between Gatwick and

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JOHN KEANs new book A Walk On The Deep Side is an intensely

readable account of deep diving. Its centred on his experiences in
the early part of the 21st century when some divers became
obsessed with the idea of breaking depth records, whether on mixed
gases or air especially in the Red Sea, where John was and still is
based. In the chapter extracted here, we find out more about two of the prime
movers, both of whom would encounter an avalanche of setbacks in their
attempts to set world records Leigh Cunningham and Mark Andrews

Above: Leigh Cunningham

in full Gatling gun mode.

Sharm. With a letter of introduction and

a quick chat with the tour rep I was
through. I entered the luggage hall at
Sharm el Sheikh Airport to watch Marks
giant, blue steel tanks curling their way
around the carousel wedged between
various items of Samsonite and Gucci.
I hoisted them up before they flew off
the corner, placing them onto my
trolley while holding my breath and

contemplating my imminent brush

with customs.
What are these for?
Im on a diving holiday in the Red
Sea.
But we have tanks here.
My air consumption isnt very good,
Im afraid.
After three and a half thousand miles
and multiple conveyor belts, there

43

wasnt a scratch on the tanks.

Leigh was waiting outside in the car
park in an old Peugeot 504 taxi. He had
some news:
Were starting in July. Mark is coming
over to live here. No more seven-day
visits; hell get used to the heat if he stays
for a few weeks.
And the food.
Mark Andrews arrived in early July,
laden with more newly acquired
sponsored dive-kit. In the months away
from Sharm his deep-diving celebrity
status had earned him a slot on Channel
Fours Superhumans TV show.
Strangely, Mark was reluctant to talk
about it but Leigh eventually forced the
details from him. We gathered around in
the cabin of New Age and listened:
The producer had six of us lined up
on exercise bikes for an endurance test.
It was a joke and we barely broke into a
sweat. So, I was sat there happily
pedalling away when the studio doctor
came up and told me to stop. My
readings tell me youre about to have a
heart attack and die, he announced.
Youve got to be joking? I do this
every day walking the dog; my own
mother cycles faster.
The doctor reached over and pulled
out the power lead of Marks bike.
I was furious. I climbed off the bike,
pushed him over a railing and sent him
crashing into some TV equipment. The
cameras were still running; his legs were
in the air and his laptop went flying.
Mark stormed out of the studio still
trailing wires from the ECG machine,
with the directors following him. I
managed to boot the laptop against a wall
and shove a videographer to the floor.
Mark rarely lost his cool, but to avoid
any escalation he headed straight home.
They rang me to ask how they could
make amends and get me back in the

studio. The first thing to enter my head

was my newly repaired motorbike sitting
in the garage.
You can pay the mechanics bill for
my bike.
How much?
212 quid.
Done.

ARK RETURNED the next day to

finish filming but noticed in the

line-up of athletes an extra person with a
very pale and bald scalp.
What are you doing here, I didnt see
you yesterday?
Im an actor. They pulled me in at the
last minute because they didnt think
youd come back. They needed a bodydouble; I got paid 50 quid to shave my
head.
The In Deep support crew erupted into
hysterics and quickly left the cabin.

Above: The new In Deep

project is announced, from
left: Paul Doozer Close,
Leigh Cunningham, John
Kean, Valentina Cucchiara,
Mark Andrews and Iain
Paris.
Below left: Mark Andrews
on deep-dive training in
colder UK waters.

The normally cool and controlled

Mark Andrews had suffered a shortcircuit but it made me wonder: what
exactly did the doctor see? Mark had
proved doctors wrong before. Did
medical expertise and extreme deep
diving simply not overlap enough for
accurate forecasts? Mark had an answer:
Short of having an autopsy, which Im
in no hurry for, its very difficult to say
precisely how the extent of tissue damage
affects gases. Were moving into an area
where studies and stats are virtually nonexistent. All we have is best guess.
Marks route through diving was long,
slow and calculated; a fanatical
researcher, few doubted his commitment
to safety and risk reduction.
He probably takes his books and
manuals to bed with him, quipped Leigh
early on, while coming to terms with his
studious new co-diver.

EIGHS ROUTE INTO scuba-diving

couldnt have been more different

and, like many professionals, he stumbled
into the industry by chance.
I began on a building site in Tel Aviv.
After a few weeks I took a trip by bus and
taxi across the Egyptian border and down
to Dahab. I snorkelled the Blue Hole and
nearly freaked out at the seemingly
bottomless blue water.
Five weeks later it was time to return
but Leigh had spent all his cash,
overstayed his visa and couldnt pay the
fine at the Taba border gate.
I was only a week late but they took
everything we had down to the last
English pound. I even lost my shoes. I
walked into Eilat barefoot and found a
hostel that gave me a weeks credit.
Leighs financial salvation was
construction site work at fifty dollars
a day, but after a couple of weeks the

44

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DEEP DIVER
novelty of new shoes and digging holes
wore thin. One day I went for a walk
around the big marina and noticed
several foreigners working on the boats.
My nautical experience was next to
zero, so I took a job on a glass-bottom
boat serving soft drinks and handing out
life-jackets. I lived on board in a cabin the
size of a shoebox.
Three months later Leigh got wind of a
position on a safari-boat; one of the long
range multi-berth vessels that travelled to
the outer reaches of the Red Sea. They
needed a chef but Leighs experiences in
the kitchen stretched little beyond
toasters and electric kettles.
A friend taught me how to knock up

five dishes. Incredibly I got the job and

went to sea but the owner wanted fish
every day.
In January 1993 Leighs boat moored
up for a month in Eilat marina to
undergo its yearly maintenance.
Go see my brother-in-law on the other
side of town, said Shimshon, the six-foot
five, 20 stone skipper of the Sun Boat.
He runs a dive-centre and will teach
you to scuba-dive. The course is on the
house but choose yourself a set of diving
equipment and Ill deduct it from your
salary.
Looking back, the course was
diabolical but great fun. I remember over
the four or five days of training having
three different instructors, none of whom
spoke particularly good English.
We were four students and during
one of the dives the instructor bolted to
the surface, leaving us under water until
we got fed up and went for a swim.
When our air ran out we surfaced in
the middle of nowhere. Back at the divecentre they informed us that our missing

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instructor had suffered a serious toothsqueeze and was with the dentist.
They really didnt seem to give a
damn about us.

ONE THE WISER but with a diving

licence and a set of scuba equipment,

Leigh set off on the Sun Boat for his first
safari. Shimshon wanted us to have
diving licences to spear fish and fill up his
bank of large chest-freezers. Once back in
port he could sell the fish to local
restaurants in Eilat.
He taught me how to use oversized
triple rubber harpoons and shoot fish.
Decompression and safety information
was a joke.
Just shoot as many big fish as you

a wake-up call. By the time I took my

PADI training Id already done 300 dives.
Two hundred of them were below 50m.
My new instructor asked me if I wanted to
do the deep wreck course.
Sure, I said, How deep do we go?
I was expecting something like 100m, as
Id already been there many times on the
Sun Boat. I burst out laughing when he
said the course limit was only 30m.
Leigh left Eilat and settled in Dahab,
becoming a scuba instructor in 1996.
The 100 Club was in full swing and the
Blue Hole and Dahab Canyon its
deadliest venues.
When I arrived two big stories were
circulating around town. The first was a
multiple fatality incident in the canyon
when an instructor and three guides went
for a deep night-dive; none came back.
The owner of the dive-centre panicked
and informed friends of the missing
divers that theyd left on a camel-riding
safari and he hadnt seen them since.
After about a week, with pressure
from friends of the missing, he cracked
and told them about the night-dive. Two
local divers quickly went in search of the
bodies but only one came back; five dead
in one incident, its the biggest single loss
in the Red Sea even to this day.
The other big story was about an
instructor and the student he took for a
night dive under the arch of the Blue
Hole; apparently they had only one torch
between them. The instructor came back,
the student didnt.
His remains are still there today at
115m on the left-hand side. I was told the
instructor did a runner and nobody has
seen him since.

NDETERRED, LEIGH BEGAN

Above : Leigh
Cunningham catches up
with his old employer
Shimshon Machia of the
Sun Boat. The amiable
giant and Red Sea legend
towers over his 6ft former
student as he recalls the
crazy old days.

can, Leigh; best to hang out at around the

50 to 60m mark. Once youre down to a
quarter of a tank ascend to 5m and stay
there until you run out of air.
I did two seasons on the Sun Boat and
developed a real passion for scuba-diving,
especially deep diving and spearfishing.
Shimshon kept a mini-arsenal of
spearguns, one of which was 8ft long.
One morning Leigh dropped to depth
and fired the aquatic Howitzer, sending
the sharp piece of spinning metal into a
giant grouper. The enormous fish was big
enough to feed the whole boat twice over.
The grouper swam off, pulling out the
entire line from my gun. The next thing
I knew I was at 70m, flying through the
water with a freeflowing regulator.
Shimshon was delighted with the fish but
it nearly drowned me.
Sailing the high seas days from
civilisation on a privately chartered safariboat one could get away with anything,
but resort tourism and its well-regulated
diving community was something of

work at the Dahab Canyon divecentre and continued his quest of nearsuicidal deep diving. Restricted by the
parameters of his working activities, he
needed a window for the deep. There was
only one choice.
My deep-diving buddy was Penny, an
instructor and colleague. Our daily plan
was to meet in town first thing and jump
in a truck to the canyon, where wed kit
up and dive down to 75m.
Then it was time for breakfast and
a full days diving work. By 1996 things
were getting out of control and I had a
number of near-death experiences.
One particular dive convinced me that
I was living on borrowed time. In our
wisdom I dropped to the bottom of the
Blue Hole under the arch and sat down at
90m with my friend Dean.
Our master plan was to inflate our
buoyancy jackets full and go flying up to
30m. We figured by stopping at the final
third of our depth and progressing slowly
from there we wouldnt suffer the bends.

45

DEEP DIVER
Well, it sounded like a good idea
and what could possibly go wrong?
I remember reaching 30m, dumping all
the gas from my jacket and sinking again
but rapidly and out of control.
I became agitated, realising that I was
returning to the bottom; I kicked hard
and then, totally overwhelmed by narcosis
and carbon dioxide, I blacked out.
The next thing I remember was being
shaken and opening my eyes staring at a
wall; I was hanging onto the wall, near the
bottom of the Blue Hole with my reg
pressed against it.
Dean saw me plummet back down
and came to help. He found me clinging
for dear life way past 100m and he woke
me up. I felt him inflate my jacket and
drop my weight-belt.
I remember thinking: Why the hell
did he drop my belt? So I caught the
weight-belt on my foot and ascended
with it dangling around my fin until
stopping in shallow water to replace it
around my middle.
Both of our Aladdin Pro computers
displayed huge decompression penalties.
We cleared as much as possible until
running out of air and surfacing.
Id developed a huge passion for the
deep but I realised that death was

46

imminent unless I stopped altogether or

took formal decompression training.
A year later Leigh became a trimix
diver, finally witnessing the deeper
recesses of the Blue Hole with a clear
head. He continued deep trimix dives
until reaching 150m with Belgian diver
and friend Ben Reymenants.
Wed planned to jointly break the Red
Sea record of 202m, but injury forced me
out. I became his support and logistics coordinator instead.
I remember feeling very disappointed;
I had the tools for the job and the ability
to make a serious attempt. I was very
excited; I wanted to reach my potential.

READ
THE
BOOK

QUALIFIED DAHAB tec instructor,

Leigh soon built a healthy client base

of eager new deep-divers in this maverick
Red Sea resort. Adding equipment to his
inventory and filling his diary through
word of mouth, Leigh was never short of
happy customers.
Two local tec divers decided that Leigh
had achieved his success at their expense.
They filed a labour report with the local
authorities and tried to run me out of
town. A short while later I bumped into
Mr Tim of the Ocean College. Destiny
perhaps.

John Keans new book A Walk on the Deep Side is out

now on Kindle, price 8.99. His four previous titles,
Lost Wife, Saw Barracuda; The Great Buoyancy Scam;
ss Thistlegorm and Sharks, Fights and Motorbikes are
also available on Kindle, www.amazon.co.uk

www.divErNEt.com

JAPAN DIVER

JAPANS
MAINLAND MECCA
Dodging typhoons, MELISSA HOBSON
still has to brave rough seas to find
out what macro treats Wakayama has
to offer visitors to Japan

OU COULD BE FORGIVEN for

thinking that Okinawa is the only
place in Japan to go diving. The
island-group renowned for its reefs and
abundant marine life draws a certain
number of international divers, but
could they be missing out on other highquality Japanese locations?
The small town of Kushimoto in
Wakayama, on the mainland island of
Honshu, does draw divers from all
over Japan. Most foreign tourists have
never heard of it, but this mainland

www.divErNEt.com

Pictured: Hashigui-Iwa rock

formations.

mecca of diving is a popular alternative

to Okinawa for the Japanese, especially
when typhoons cause flights to the
western islands to be cancelled.
So I jumped on the Bullet Train from
Tokyo to Osaka before taking local
trains down to Kushimoto to see if we
Brits might be missing out on anything.
On arrival I met Kumiko-san, my
guide; Aki-san, my dive instructor; and
Mr Shimano, the owner of Nanki
Seamans Club, where I would be diving.
All were keen to show me what

Kushimoto had to offer.

The best time to dive
Kushimoto, I was told, is from
late September to the end of November,
when the visibility is at its best at
around 15-25m, and average water
temperature is a balmy 27.
While conditions are also good
during the summer months, July and
August are when hordes of Japanese
divers head to the small town for their
summer holidays, so its best to avoid
this peak period, particularly because,

47

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of the 25 or so dive-shops in the town,

only a couple can currently cater for
English-speaking visitors.
During the rest of the year, the water
temperature drops to around 15C. While
the Japanese consider this far too cold,
British divers willing to travel with their
own drysuits (Japanese sizing is very
small!) could enjoy clear waters and good
conditions from December to April.
Unfortunately, my own timing wasnt
ideal. The week before I arrived, several
typhoons had hit Kushimoto and all
dives were cancelled for a couple of days.
So I was understandably nervous about
the weather forecast.
Thankfully, by the time I arrived it was
possible to dive again, and the visibility
was improving. However, another
typhoon was brewing, due to head
straight for Taiwan, and there was no
telling whether it might deviate from that
path and hit us instead.
All we could do was keep a close eye on
the forecast and hope for the best.

LIGHT RAIN BEGAN TO PATTER on

the windscreen as we drove down to
the dive-school. Within five minutes it
was a total downpour. As we huddled
inside waiting for more news on the
weather, it didnt look promising.
While we waited, I admired the
underwater photography framed around
the dive-shop, all taken by students of
Aki-san and Mr Shimano.
After a sly glance at my, admittedly,
basic camera, Aki-san was kind enough
to lend me his Olympus Pen according
to him, most Japanese underwater
photographers preferred the Olympus
brand.
After lots of dusting, wiping and
polishing (the Japanese are particularly
neat and clean definitely no spit in lieu
of defog!), we were ready for a tutorial.
I was anxious that Id find the camera
difficult to use or that I might break it,
but it took only about 30 seconds to show
me all the settings and, after a quick play,
the Olympus Pen was mine for the week
if the rain eased off enough for us to
take the boat out.
Eventually the deluge began to ease and
we got the all-clear. The weather was too
bad to visit the open ocean so we were
diving Bizen, closer inland.
We could barely see the sky through the
sheets of rain slamming down, and the
sea was a thick, inky grey.
The boat was thrown around so much
by the huge waves that we dropped down
the descent-line straight away to avoid
being swept away in storm-tossed seas.
Given the grey sky, rolling waves and
hammering rain, I was surprised by how
clear the water was just a few metres
down. Yes, it was darker than the azure

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48

Clockwise from above:

Pair of harlequin shrimp
with starfish; strawberry
grouper; long-nose
hawkfish; nudibranch.

Caribbean in which Id been diving a few

weeks before, but we had crystal visibility
of about 15m.
Landing on the seabed, we saw what
looked like an expansive lunar landscape,
with huge boulders as far as the eye could
see. There was plenty of life around the
rocky outcrops longhorn cowfish,
yellowtail parrotfish, lionfish, a huge
pufferfish, a shoal of bright pink and
orange sea goldies and an enormous
strawberry grouper.
Aki-san summoned me over to where a
sailfin goby sat by a burrow, waving its
dark, dotted fin from side to side. Behind
it, just out of sight, was the almost-totally
blind shrimp with which it has a

symbiotic relationship, the goby sharing

its home in return for warning of
approaching predators.
A special sighting was a tiny juvenile
emperor angelfish, its navy body and
circular white markings almost
unrecognisable from the blue and yellow
stripes it would develop as an adult.

ITH SO MUCH TO SEE we stayed

down as long as we could, but it
seemed like no time at all before it was
time to ascend.
After a quick lunch we returned to
nearby dive-site Sumisaki, which was
similarly crammed with life: long-nose
hawkfish, Japanese butterflyfish, sunburst
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JAPAN DIVER

Above: Nudibranch and

emperor shrimp.
Right: Nudibranch egg
casing.

(its customary to bathe completely

naked!), I eased my tired limbs into the
soothing mineral water and enjoyed the
spectacular view over the Hashigui-Iwa
rock formations along the coastline.

anthias, Japanese spiny lobster and the

bright red petals of a nudibranch eggmass wafting gently in the current.
From a distance we glimpsed a ray
darting past and caught the silhouette of
a turtle surfacing way above us.
Many of the organisms were clearly
regular sightings, as the crew knew
exactly where to find them: they would
fin purposefully towards a specific
section of coral and, sure enough, there
would be a depressed spider-crab or a tiny
goby hiding.
Yet even the other instructors were
jealous that we had caught a rare glimpse
of a small pink frogfish.
It had been fairly calm at around 20m
www.divErNEt.com

Above, clockwise from

top left: Lauridromia
dehaani crab; pink frogfish;
depressed spider-crab (that
is the name, its not a
diagnosis); juvenile emperor
angelfish.

so Id almost forgotten how rough it was

at the surface. After being jerked up and
down by the descent line during our
safety-stop and battling the waves to get
back on the boat (narrowly avoiding a
ladder to the face), I was overwhelmed by
a wave of nausea.
Thanks to typical Japanese efficiency, it
was just a few minutes before we revved
our engine and sped back to shore, the
breeze on my face immediately relieving
my seasickness.
I was ready to relax back at the
Kushimoto Royal Hotel where I was
staying, which has its own onsen a public
bathing pool heated by natural springs.
Once I had psyched myself up to enter

HE NEXT DAY WE WERE TO revisit

the same areas as the day before,
because it was still too rough to venture
out to the open ocean. Yet, thanks to the
expert knowledge of Mr Shimanos team,
our dives were packed with different
sightings.
Back at Bizen we found what looked,
at first glance, like a piece of purple coral.
On closer inspection I saw peeping out
from underneath the eyes and pincers of
a Lauridromia dehaani crab, which carries
coral on its back for camouflage.
Nearby, we found a Calvactaea tumida
crab about the size of a quails egg, with
skin disturbingly close to the colour of
human flesh and bulging, orange eyes.
There was also an emperor shrimp
clambering across the back of a large red
nudibranch.
We swam past a small midnight
snapper with pretty black and white
markings and long fins trailing in the
water before spotting a black combtooth
blenny sticking its head out of a hole,
seemingly bemused as to why five huge
lumbering divers were all peering at it.
A cleaning station was swarming with
fish of all shapes and sizes, but it was the
transparent, pin-size emperor shrimp
cleaning each of them in turn that held
our attention until the end of the dive.
Back at Sumisaki we found a large
nudibranch the colour of autumn leaves,
with white dots thickly outlined in black
and egg ribbons spiralling out from it.
However, most of the group missed it,
preoccupied as they were with a dragon
moray posing for pictures metres away.

49

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JAPAN DIVER

Above: Dragon moray.

Right: Nachi Waterfall.

Below: View from

the onsan baths.

An arresting pair of harlequin shrimp

with vivid blobs of colour on their shells
were guarding a starfish snack. They were
clearly regularly sighted here, because
Aki-san knew exactly where to find them.
The same applied to the tiny squat
shrimp he picked out easily from the
background of its sea-anemone home.
Again the dive seemed to fly by too
quickly, and just as we were beginning to
ascend another bright orange dragon
moray popped its head out to snap its
jaws at us.
Good Wrasse World was our next divesite. Here we found fewer crabs and
shrimp but a wider variety of fish:
a painted sweetlips, a tiny juvenile
golden damselfish flitting about and
several red firefish gobies with distinctive
long dorsal fins.
Moving onto a patch of sand, we saw
a handful of tiny gobies with yellow faces
swimming near the seabed.
As soon as we got too close they darted
back into their burrows, faces poking out
slightly to try to work out who we were
and what was going on.
Back on the boat the drizzle had begun
again with a vengeance and, above the
rolling ship, the sky was a murky grey.
Although not usually affected by
seasickness, the swell was too much, and
I suddenly had to run to the edge of the
boat to vomit. Knowing the Japanese

propensity for cleanliness, I was

mortified.
Thankfully the nausea passed as
quickly as it had arrived, and within a few
minutes we were back on shore to warm
up in the hot showers.

VER A LUNCH OF BENTO BOXES

and miso soup, we discussed the
approaching typhoon. Id been really
unlucky with the timing of my trip;
although Japan is affected by typhoons in
July, August and September it was rare to
have this many approaching one after
another in such a short space of time.
The forecast for my last few days was
only getting worse. Disappointingly, after
a jam-packed couple of days of enjoyable
macro experiences, the approaching
storms left us no option but to cut short
my dives for the week.
On the plus side, we didnt have to
worry about an early start the next day.
Kumiko-san, Aki-san and
Mr Shimano took me to
a local izakaya tavern

for sushi and sake before moving onto a

karaoke bar to sing our hearts out over
a bottle of bourbon until the early hours.
OK, we were slightly fragile the next
morning but there was so much to see
above ground that we were sure to make
the most of our final days.
The great thing about diving from the
mainland is that there is so much to do
during your no-fly time. Kushimoto is
just a short drive from the spectacular
temples at the Kumano Kodo a
pilgrimage walk paired with the
renowned Camino de Santiago in Spain
and one of the best known waterfalls in
the country, Nachi.
Whats more, tourist hotspots Osaka,
Kyoto and Tokyo are only a few hours
away by train.
Japan is such a fascinating country
with so much to experience above sea
level that it was hard to be disappointed
even amid the persistent typhoons.
My first snapshot of this lesser-known
dive destination only made me want to
return to Kushimoto for more.

FACTFILE

GETTING THERE8 Finnair flies daily

to Osaka via its hub in Helsinki,
www.finnair.com
DIVING8Kushimoto Dive Station,
www. kushimoto.com. Nanki Seamans Club,
nankiseamansclub.com. Kushimoto Diving
Association, www.divekushimoto.com
ACCOMMODATION8Kushimoto Royal Hotel,
www.daiwaresort.jp
WHEN TO GO8 Late September to the end
of November.
CURRENCY8Japanese yen
PRICES8Return flights to Osaka from 695.
Room for two at Kushimoto Royal from 8550
yen (67). Two boat dives from 15,000
Japanese yen (120)
VISITOR INFORMATION8en.visitwakayama.jp

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www.divErNEt.com

DIVERS GUIDE
TO INDONESIA

Choose the destinations that offer the

style of diving you love with our range of
Asia based dive safaris.
Weve handpicked locations that can
be seamlessly mixed and matched over a
multi-centre trip. Create your own adventure in
Indonesia, get in touch to start planning today.

01 Raja Ampat
02 Bali
03 Komodo
04 Alor
05 Sulawesi
06 East Indonesia

05
01

06

02

Papua Paradise Eco Resort

Raja Ampat Rich and healthy reefs are the order

of the day in Raja Ampat. We love the abundance
of soft corals in the southern regions whilst central
areas boast big congregations of sh life and
exhilarating diving. Topside the islands and beaches
are simply stunning. Multi centre trip with 2,5

Alami Alor Resort

Alor New destination on the Indonesia scene, Alor is

quickly becoming a top spot for the region. The island
offers the best of both worlds with superb critter
diving and pristine fringing reefs in near proximity.
Time to escape the crowds at this off the beaten
path location. Multi centre trip with 2,3

03

04

Scuba Seraya Resort

BALI Bali is a destination that has a lot to offer if you

know where to look for it. Good quality muck diving
can be found along the eastern coast, theres the
Liberty Wreck covered in soft corals also. Islands to
the east offer good chances of mantas and beautiful
reefs to match. Multi centre trip with 3,4,5

Siladen Resort

Komodo Resort

Komodo Head to Komodo for excellent chances of

mantas, reef sharks and big sh. A top spot for reef
lovers theres an abundance of soft and hard corals
to be found among the islands of this vast archipelago.
A trip to see the legendary Komodo Dragons is
highly recommended. Multi centre trip with 2,4

Amira Liveaboard

North Sulawesi With rich and healthy reefs ideally

suited to all levels of experience North Sulawesi
makes for a perfect gateway destination to
diving in Indonesia. Bunaken Island offers a mix
of healthy reefs and diverse critter life.
Multi centre trip with 1,2

EAST INDONESIA Explore the remote islands of Indonesia

by liveaboard to destinations like whaleshark hotspots
Cenderawasih and Triton Bay. The Forgotten Islands
offer virgin reefs and masses of marine life or opt for
the beautiful regions of Komodo and Raja Ampat.
Multi centre trip with 1,2,3

0800 955 0180 | divesafariasia.com

Canningford House | 38 Victoria Street | Bristol | BS1 6BY | [email protected]

I GOT THE
BLUES!
You dont have to travel far to go
shark-diving in the UK just 20 miles
off Cornwall, in fact, with some fishing
on the side. RICK AYRTON gets a taste

HE SUN IS SHINING. Im peering

into the water and suddenly I can
see it a shape that must be a blue
shark is lazily moving towards the boat.
It morphs into a definite shark shape,
its upper surface a dappled mix of aqua
and royal blue, with hints of purple and
lines of bright sunlight criss-crossing its
slender body. The sunshine makes it
difficult to be certain, but as I strain to
look into the reflections as they come off
the glassy-smooth water, I see it again.
The clumsy humans are then sent into
a frenzy of kitting-up, some grabbing
masks and snorkels, others with full
dive-kit trying to make sure that
everything is OK.
In what seemed like an eternity but
was probably two minutes, I was
standing on the lift of the dive-boat
Wave Chieftain, waiting for the signal to
jump in. A touch of apprehension
crossed my mind: what if I was met by
a mature 3m specimen would I be as
comfortable as Id like?
Entering the water as noiselessly as
possible (difficult) I finned away from
the boat and did a quick 360. All I could
see were bits of herring in the water. Had
I frightened the sharks off already?
Youll be reading this in the depths of
winter, but Im writing it back in an
autumn that has been very benign, with
October giving me some of the best UK
diving experiences Ive ever had.

divEr

52

Last summer the mainstream press

often carried sensationalist reports of
big sharks Man-Eaters Spotted off the
Coast headlines most likely being the
result of confused identification of a
basking shark, or even a dolphin. But
interest has also been building in the
presence off our shores of the
charismatic blue shark.
The blue is designated Near
Threatened on the IUCN Red List.
Commercial fishermen in the North-east
Atlantic thankfully dont target the
species, in part because of EU regulations
preventing the horrific practice of
finning, and Im hoping that the postBrexit UK Government will happily
accept this sensible piece of European
legislation into law.
Unfortunately, each year throughout
their range many blue sharks are
accidentally landed as bycatch.
The blue is a very wide-ranging fish,
found in tropical as well as temperate
waters. Tag studies in the Atlantic have

shown that these sharks ride the Gulf

Stream from the south-eastern USA to
Europe, then go south before returning
to the Caribbean using the North
Equatorial Current.
Travelling this route only in a
clockwise direction, the sexes separate,
and British waters contain more females
than males. The whole North Atlantic
population of blues is considered to be
a single entity.

NECDOTALLY, OVER THE PAST

10 years sightings off the Cornish
coast seem to have been increasing,
which might be due to bycatch of other
species jettisoned from trawlers
providing easy pickings for the blues.
I had wanted to see some blue sharks
for myself, and Nigel Hodge, who runs
Wave Chieftain from Falmouth, regularly
runs trips to find them. The season lasts
from late June to October, and he had
some spaces free in early October.
www.divErNEt.com

SHARK DIVER

Pictured: The blue sharks

stayed around for three
hours at one point one
made a detour to investigate
a jellyfish but quickly moved
away when it realised what
it was.

Although Nigel runs divetrips at all levels, its fishing that is

his first love. For a number of years
before the diving community started
seeking out the blues he had been
running sport-angling trips to catch
these beautiful creatures.
Dont be alarmed. Nigel is very much
aware of the conservation issues
surrounding blue sharks, and just as
interested in the success of the species
as we all are.
To this end on his fishing trips the
sharks are caught with non-barbed
hooks, and they are tagged and released,
where possible without being removed
from the water.
Nigel is currently involved in a joint
venture with the Scottish Shark Tagging
Programme (tagsharks.com) to tag and
www.divErNEt.com

record data on blues he comes across.

There is no UK-wide research into blue
sharks, something he is keen to address.

E HAD LEFT FROM picturesque

Mylor Yacht Harbour. Not having
to worry about slack water for this sort of
trip, Wave Chieftain could be loaded at a
very civilised 8.30 for a 9am ropes-off.
As everyone was loading their own
gear onto the boat, Nigel had brought
several boxes of frozen herrings
onboard. We would be travelling about
20 miles south of Falmouth, and did have
a couple of stops on the way to try to
catch some additional fish though not
very successfully as it turned out.
Snorkelling is often the best way to see
the blues, and although Nigel does allow
scuba, his modus operandi is that once

on-site the engines are stopped so that

the boat is just drifting with wind and
current. Chum is then set up he fills
perforated bins with the frozen herring
and positions the bins so that water
surges over them with the normal
movement of the boat.
Once thawed, Nigel will mash the
herring up to add to the chum trail.
He also sets up an early-warning
system. A number of bait-fish are tied to
the end of a fishing-line, though no
hooks are used.
The bait is set at a depth of about 5m
with a small buoy at the surface, and the
whole lot is attached to one of Nigels
monstrous shark rod and reel
combinations. Its then a waiting game.
For participants safety and so that
Nigel doesnt need to start engines to

53

divEr

SHARK DIVER
pick up drifting snorkellers (potentially
disturbing the chum slick) he deploys a
loop of about 100m of floating rope
attached to the bow and stern of Wave
Chieftain. All participants have to swim,
snorkel or dive within this loop, ensuring
that everyone stays close to the boat.
Droplines are attached fore and aft,
giving the scuba-divers a reference point
and something to hold onto after all,
the water we were in was more than
80m deep!
The beauty of Nigels large
offshore 125 is that there is
room to move around,
and he has all the
creature comforts
and provides
hot lunch.

On this trip it had taken a good two

hours for the sharks to materialise. The
first indication that they were around
had been the buzz of the ratchet on the
shark-reel, as a blue took the earlywarning fish snack.

OW I WAS IN THE WATER, I decided

to find a good observation point.
The bright sunshine meant that looking
towards the sun produced a lot of glare in
the water and actually limited the
visibility, a bit like driving in fog with
your high beam on.
With the sun behind me, it all was so
much better. As well as better visibility,
the sunshine was producing beams in the
water that resembled a rock bands lightshow dancing before my eyes.
Once established at the vantage point
I didnt have to wait long before a couple
of blues materialised at the edge of
visibility then slowly cruised past me,
effortlessly gliding through the water.
They passed in a large arc, then
disappeared again. After two or three
minutes they were back, making the
same casual swim past.
I was sure they were trying to work
out where all the bits of herring were
coming from were they leading to
a metaphorical shark pot of gold?
They continued to make their passes,
each time a bit closer until finally a blue
passed so close that I could have reached
out and touched it.
Its cold eye watching me, just as I was

divEr

54

watching it, I felt very much a visitor to

its realm.
The individuals separated. One
would go under me, one to the side,
and they would disappear for a minute
or two before returning individually
or together.
On one pass a compass jellyfish was
drifting past and one of the blues took a
distinct detour to check it out, quickly
veering away once it realised what it was.
The sharks remained onsite for a full
three hours while those on the boat got
in, snorkelled and dived with them, then
had a break and went in again.
I was able to get out to change camera
lenses, which enabled me to get some
varied shots.
The trip was blessed with sunshine,
light winds and good surface vis, the only
essential being the light winds.

Right: Chum buckets at

the ready.
Below: Wave Chieftain.

N ADDITION TO THE BLUES, it was

interesting to see numerous garfish,
a barracuda-like fish, also attracted by
the chum trail. They would come in and
feast on the small chum particles close to
the surface.
These fantastic wild creatures are
there just a few miles from our
coastline, and a number of Cornish
dive-boats offer trips to try to find and
observe blue sharks.
This experience should be on every
UK divers bucket-list it was a long
day out but a memorable one, and I
fully intend to do it again next year.

For eight-hour shark-diving days for groups

of up to 12 divers, Wave Chieftain charges 600, including hot
lunch and refreshments. Overnight accommodation is
available on the boat for 10 a night (it sleeps 10), with toilets,
showers, laundry, secure parking, bar and restaurant nearby at
Mylor Harbour. Nigel Hodge also promises some night dives
with the sharks this year! www.divefalmouth.com

www.divErNEt.com

Phil Jane - Working with the French Antarctic Expedition

Built for the extreme...

No you go rst... youre wearing
the OThree!

Phils kit list:

Ri 2-100 Drysuit
PBB Extreme Base Layers
ECM - Extreme Condition Mitt
7x5 Extreme Semi-Dry Hood

The water temperature might be falling, but

with the right dry suit, diving can still be
enjoyed no matter how thick the ice is.

...Come in from the Cold

www.othree.co.uk | +44 (0) 1305 822820 | Osprey Quay Portland Dorset UK DT5 1BL

Six good reasons for choosing

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TECHNIQUE
How sharpeyed are you?
SIMON
PRIDMORE
explains muckdiving and
describes techniques for
getting the most out of it

OU ROLL OFF THE BOAT

somewhere in the Indo-Pacific and
dip your head below the surface to
get a hint of the wonders that await you
on the dive. But whats this? Where is the
reef? Wheres the beautiful coral? All you
can see is a grey, featureless seabed.
Here and there are scattered piles of
debris, washed off the beach by recent
rains. You must be in the wrong place.
Fortunately you trust your guides, and
an hour and a half later you ascend with
your mind reeling and your cameras
memory-card full of pictures of some
unimaginable marine life.
Welcome to muck-diving, a highly
addictive type of underwater excursion
thats part treasure hunt and part a game
of hide and seek, with some very clever
opponents.

THE GENESIS
While the first few generations of
recreational scuba-divers were marvelling
at the beauty of coral reefs and hanging
out in the blue watching for whale sharks
and mantas, a whole universe of amazing
creatures were going about their business
under the sea unnoticed.
How could they have remained
undetected for so long? Well, first they
were small. Second, they had developed
the art of concealment to a very high
degree. And third, they lived in places that
were not particularly pleasing to the eye.
Primarily, however, they stayed unseen
because nobody was looking for them.
Then a few things happened to bring
these little creatures into the limelight.
First, the big fish became fewer in number
and harder to find. Second, divers became
www.divErNEt.com

older and a little lazier. Third, there were

significant advances in underwater
macro-photography.
Most importantly, a few enterprising
individuals in Papua New Guinea,
Indonesia and Malaysia started looking
for marine life in unusual places where
nobody had looked before, and began to
find some astonishing animals.
The era of muck-diving had begun.

Above: Bottled octopus.

Below: Jewelled bobtail
squid in the muck.

WHERE TO GO
The best muck-diving seems to be found
in places where there is a shallow bay, a
river mouth, human habitation,
significant current movement outside the
bay, shelter (in the form of a pier or jetty)
and natural and human debris, such as
rotting tree-trunks and tin-cans.
So far, the location that offers the best
combination of these ingredients is
Lembeh Straits on the north-eastern tip
of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Other locations
discovered to date that also deserve
honourable mention include the whole of
north Bali, Indonesia; Dumaguete in the
Philippines; Pulau Mabul off the coast of
Malaysian Borneo; Ambon and Alor in
the eastern Indonesian archipelago and
Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea. New
places are being discovered all the time.

HOW TO MUCK-DIVE
Move slowly and carefully, staying as near
to the seabed as possible without
disturbing it. The bottom is likely to be
silty, and a misplaced fin can ruin
visibility and send rare marine-life

57

divEr

SHOW CONSIDERATION

flying. Look closely at everything and be

patient. This is hard work!
However, what can at first seem an
impossible task becomes far easier with
experience, and the time you put in to
learn your craft rewards you in wonderful
ways. The thrill when you find something
rare and exotic is hard to beat.

TECHNIQUES
Be aware of the movement of your arms
and legs, especially when youre excited, as
this is the time when your appendages are
most likely to move of their own accord,
without purpose or conscious direction.
As soon as the initial adrenaline has
subsided a little, make it a habit to carry
out a little review of where you are and
what your limbs are doing before settling
down to study or photograph your latest
find.
Develop a fin-kick that doesnt shift the
water powerfully downwards, such as:
1 A modified flutter-kick, where you
move only your feet and fins, pivoting
from the ankles and with knees bent so
that your fins are above you. You wont
make fast progress with this technique
but it ensures that the water you
displace when you flutter your fins
remains within the water column

divEr

58

rather than being directed downwards.

Above: Another octopus
makes itself at home.

2 A modified frog-kick, where you move

your legs apart slowly then bring your
fins together more quickly to provide
forward propulsion. Again this should
be done with the knees bent, so that the
fin movement takes place above your
body rather than behind it, and the
water displaced is directed horizontally
behind you.
A
3 reverse modified frog-kick, as above
but beginning with legs together, then
moving them apart simultaneously in a
single movement so that the result is
reverse rather than forward movement.
This is an excellent technique to deploy
if you need to remove yourself from a
tight corner without using your hands
or turning your body.

These are fragile animals and touching

them can damage them. Removing them
from their carefully chosen camouflage
can also draw them to the attention of
the very predators from which they are
hiding and, once you have taken your
picture and departed in a puff of sand,
you may leave them very vulnerable.
Resist the temptation to pick up any
trash you find and take it ashore for green
disposal. Your heart might be in the right
place, but the trash is likely already to
have been recycled in the best possible
way, and may now be the home of a
creature that needs all the protection it
can get. So place a temporary curb on
your environmental instincts.

EQUIPMENT
Get a critter stick! This is a simple 30cm
pointer made out of stainless steel that
you can either thrust into the sand for
balance as you float looking for animals,
or deploy to gently guide a piece of
intruding weed out of the frame of the
photograph youre taking, without
disturbing your subject.
Most muck-diving takes place in
shallow water near the shore, and you will

www.divErNEt.com

TECHNIQUE
spend your time close to the seabed. Keep
all your hoses and BC fittings tucked in
tight, so they dont hang down and scrape
along the bottom while youre horizontal.
Make sure that you have a cutting tool
accessible surgical shears are ideal
because much muck-diving is under or
close to jetties and there is likely to be
fishing-line around. With your attention
focused on looking for the cool stuff, you
might inadvertently become entangled.
Always take a light with you. An animal
that is almost invisible can be much more
obvious when you restore its true colours
with your beam.
Think about getting a pair of shortbladed fins so you can manoeuvre more
easily without disturbing the seabed.

a rock could be a baby hairy frogfish.

4 Ornate ghost pipefish are often found
concealed in the fronds of featherstars.
Look for a frond that is not attached to
the star. That will be the pipefish.
5 Robust ghost pipefish, on the other
hand, hide among seagrass. Look for
the leaves moving in the current and
try to find a leaf that is not moving
in rhythm with the others.
6 Search for camouflaged predators such
as leaf scorpionfish and frogfish around
rocky outcrops with small caves where
schools of small fry hide. You will spot
moray eels and lionfish in such places,
but dont be satisfied with them.
7 Look for the less obvious motionless
predators too. They will be there,
though it may take a while to find
them. Be as patient as they are.
8 Cans, bottles, coconuts, juice cartons,
pieces of bamboo and discarded clam
shells are just a few of the things that
the veined octopi (Octopus marginatus)
may choose to adopt as their residence.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

You are looking for what muck-divers
commonly call critters. This is an
Americanism and derives from the
word creature.
The stars of the muck-diving
firmament are rare fish with evocative
and poetic names such as rhinopias,
fingered dragonet, pegasus sea moth,
flying gurnard and clown frogfish;
fascinating invertebrates such as blue ring
and mimic octopus and flamboyant
cuttlefish, and tiny and brightly coloured
shrimps, slugs and crabs of all types.

EXAMINE EVERY ONE

MARCEL HAGENDIJK

HOW TO FIND THEM

There is no substitute for a sharp eye, but
you can increase your chances of success
by understanding the behaviour of the
animals youre seeking so that you have
an idea of where to look and what to look
for. Here are a few tips and tricks that the
spotters use:
1 Look ahead as well as beneath you so
that you see the octopus or eel thats
poking its head out of a hole before it
sees you and beats a retreat.
2 Watch for peripheral movement as you
pass. Something may have been
spooked into burying itself. Move on,
turn and wait. It will re-emerge in time.

Above: Diver, critter-stick in

hand, shining a light on a
rhinopias.
Below, from left: Robust
ghost pipefish in formation;
zebra crab in fir urchin.

3 Examine everything closely. Two

pieces of weed that are bobbing and
weaving simultaneously but out of
synchronisation with the waves might
be Ambon scorpionfish. What looks
like a detached piece of sponge next to

Read more from Simon Pridmore in:

Scuba Confidential An Insiders Guide to Becoming a Better Diver
Scuba Professional Insights into Sport Diver Training & Operations
Scuba Fundamental Start Diving the Right Way
All are available on Amazon in a variety of formats.

Look closely at common creatures that

you might normally ignore. For instance,
sea cucumbers can host colourful
emperor shrimps that live commensally
with them.
Swimming crabs also live in folds they
make in the sea cucumbers flesh. Seastars
sometimes have harlequin shrimps
feeding on them, while sea urchins are
often home to shrimps and baby fish that
seek shelter between the spines.
Zebra crabs live on fire urchins, small
harlequin swimming crabs live on the
trunks of tube anemones and porcelain
crabs live between the fronds of sea-pens.
Many of the creatures being discovered
by muck-divers are new to science and,
even where the animals were previously
known, new behaviour is being observed
all the time. Even now, were just
scratching the surface.
Its exciting to imagine what surprises
remain to be discovered by someone with
patience, a sharp eye and a pointer.

MARCEL HAGENDIJK

www.divErNEt.com

59

divEr

th

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NIGHT DIVER

CHESIL
BYNIGHT
(WITH JD)
Its November, and there are
rumours of exciting underwater
activity at Chesil Cove in Dorset.
WILL APPLEYARD decides to
make an exception and dive after
dark. Pictures by DAMIAN BROWN

O BE HONEST, Ive always had

Above: A persistent
John Dory.
Below: Chesil Beach
before nightfall.

www.divErNEt.com

night diving filed in the liveaboard

diving box, and even then
I would probably only make the effort to
take part in one or two token immersions
during my time at sea.
So when I was invited to go on a UK
night-dive with my regular dive-buddy
Damian Brown, my yes, Id love to was
uttered with some hesitation.
Damian, who has a penchant for both
macro photography and rather large
sharks, had learnt through the diving
grapevine that there was some great postseason diving to be had at Dorsets
Chesil Cove, with reports of octopus and
ray sightings doing the rounds.
So, night-dive or day-dive, I just had to
go along for the ride.
I might be a stranger to UK nightdiving, but Im no stranger to diving in

the dark in the UK or indeed Chesil Cove,

having dived there many times over the
years during the spring and summer
months.
In fact, we did attempt a night-dive at
the cove back in summer 2015, but the
sun just didnt seem to want to set and
the Cove House Inn pub, situated mere
metres off the beach, eventually became
just too much of a draw.
Ive dived quite a few UK wrecks in
total darkness during daylight hours too,
so I guess I was qualified for what lay
ahead!

HESIL COVE IS DIVEABLE at any

state of the tide, and any currents
found there are usually weak and, at
most, just swell.
The site is sheltered from both north
and easterly winds, but anything coming
in from the south or the west will make
your entry or, more importantly, your
exit from the water nearly impossible.
Not only that, but the visibility will be
grim to say the least after a spell of, or
during, questionable weather.
Chesil Cove sits at the end of the
18-mile-long Chesil Beach, where the
pebbles eventually stop and Portland
limestone begins.
A couple of wrecks lie quite close to
each other, with the sparse remains of
one (the Preveza) residing just a few
metres from the shore.
The skeletal remains of the James
Fennell and the Gertrude wrecks can

61

be found in the area too, but they

definitely require a boat to reach.
Damian and I made for the classic
Chesil Cove entry-point an hour before
sunset for a visibility check and to have
all our gear in place for the dive before
darkness came. A concrete slipway
situated by a small car park allows
reasonably easy access to the start of the
beach proper, which, at its highest point,
peaks at 11m above sea level.
This of course is no problem for those
descending to the shoreline with weights,
cylinders and other assorted
cumbersome clobber, but just wait until
you have to do it in reverse!

62

We werent the only guys heading for

the beach that November evening. Chesil
has a following of hardcore local divers
who will be in the water whenever theres
a spell of good visibility, day or night.
Unlike the failed night-dive a year or
so before, the glorious sunset came and
went quickly, and we waded into the flatcalm water just after dark.
The temperature of the water at that
time of year is around the 13C mark,
so although not super-cold by UK
standards, for me its winter undersuit
and Arctic hood time for sure.
Once we were far enough out to no
longer feel our fins on the sea floor, we

Above from left:

Colourful four-lined
nudibranch; unfazed cat
shark; common lobster.

dumped our air and sank below with

torches ablaze. Its rare for me to dive
without a camera anywhere these days,
but from time to time I will leave it
aboard the boat or in the van in order to
take back only mental memories and
absorb myself in the diving experience.
This was to be one of those dives, so
I left Damian to the camerawork while
I scouted out potential subjects.

NCE YOURE SUBMERGED the

seabed remains stony with a slight

swell, and at the 6-8m marks, stones give
way to sand and patches of rock. The 815m regions provide the best habitat for

www.divErNEt.com

NIGHT DIVER

all the good stuff, where the rocks

become bigger and further apart
providing more shelter for those that
choose to live there.
First up on the list of night-time
visitors to our torchlight would be a
dainty little sea-slug hanging from a
piece of flora. This striking example we
later identified as Polycera
quandrillineata or the four-lined
nudibranch, which refers to the four
lines found on its back.
Those not familiar with UK diving
may be surprised to learn that quite
a variety of sea-slugs can be found in
home waters, with new species being

Below from left:

Otherworldly-looking
cuttlefish; red mullet.

identified all the time.

We moved on, and with our torchbeams sweeping the seabed I wasnt
surprised to greet a couple of cat sharks
sprawled out on the sand.
These little fellas are plentiful in the
UK, but make for excellent subjects
photographically as they dont appear to
be too fussed by approaching divers.
We passed plaice and several flounders
on the sand, but no undulate or
thornback rays. The common lobsters
were out in full force, with the blue hue
of their shells ever more impressive
under torchlight.
I was delighted to eventually find a

lone John Dory after the 10-minute

mark. I had dived with them there during
the summer and observed them feeding
on juvenile fish species, but really only
through my camera lens when I think
back on it.
Theyre not that bothered about divers
either, and appeared even more
inquisitive during the night than during
the day perhaps they were interested in
their own reflection in our camera or
mask lenses?
The markings on this species are
particularly striking and its believed that
the large dark dot on its side is used to
flash an evil eye if danger approaches.

THE 8-15m REGIONS

PROVIDE THE BEST
HABITAT FOR ALL
THE GOOD STUFF

www.divErNEt.com

63

NIGHT DIVER

Nobody really seems to know the

origin of the name John Dory, which is a
shame because its quite specific, but we
do know that these fish grow to a
maximum size of 65cm and are solitary
hunting creatures.
Their olive colouring against a pitchback background I think accentuates
their almost prehistoric appearance, and
Im sure they must be a fearful sight for
any unfortunate critter in their path.
One of the advantages Ive decided
that UK night-diving offers over
liveaboard night-diving overseas is that
youre not constantly finding yourself
being flashed by other divers
torchbeams apart from your buddys,
of course. Not having to think about
being pierced by approaching lionfish
makes for a more relaxing night-time
adventure too, in my opinion!
We left JD to it and finned further
west into slightly deeper water still.
Navigation is easy when diving at Chesil
Cove simply remember that out is
west, home is east and, providing you
remembered to bring your compass, you
wont go far wrong.
One creature that always captivates
me under water, and one that we met on
this evening, is the cuttlefish. Im always
struck not only by how cuttlefish look
like something from another time, but
surely theyre also from another planet?
They belong to the Cephalopoda
family that includes squid and octopus,
and its said among divers that if you
hold your hand out and mimic their
tentacles with your fingers, they
will approach you as if investigating one
of their own.
I have yet to see this theory work in

64

practice, but I like the idea! As with

octopuses, how such creatures are able to
change their colouring and texture to
match their surrounding is difficult to
comprehend.
We approached our agreed halfway
point of 20 minutes and consulted our
compasses. At this point we turned to
head east for a slow fin back towards the
shore, with thoughts of local ale and logfires beginning to register.

D PUT IN AN appearance again, as

did several more cat sharks. Its
usually at this point during a camera-free
dive that I begin to wish I had brought it
with me when the cold starts to creep
into the bones, and fiddling with camera
settings and strobes can often help you to
focus on something other than shivering.
Damian drew my attention to a tiny
shrimp poking out of its rocky home and

Above: A tiny shrimp

provides a photo
opportunity on the way
back.
Below: Cuttlefish.

I hovered just above the sand while he

fired off a few shots.
For me, the intensity of a dive becomes
amplified at night, and though your field
of view is far more restricted than in
daylight, you feel that the environment is
alive with unseen creatures.
As the water grew shallower, a slight
swell began to increase and sand began to
turn back to stones. We hadnt found the
octopus or any of the rays, but we had
embarked on an adventure, and surely an
adventure isnt an adventure if youve
successfully completed all your
objectives? The missing objectives only
make you want to come back for more.
I just love Chesil Cove, and I know for
the local hardcore divers I mentioned
earlier that its a very special place
indeed. If you want to dive among the
critters we encountered and more, then
really the best time to visit is during the
summer, and at that time its even
possible to dive with non-native
triggerfish.
Our experience does however go to
show that its possible to grab some
fabulous UK diving opportunities well
after the official season has come to an
end, in this case in late November. Im
looking forward to visiting the area again
in the springtime, when the cycle of
underwater life starts all over again.
To reach Chesil Cove, head for
Portland on the A354 / Portland Beach
Road, drive up Chiswell and unload gear
at the top of Brandy Row, where the
ramp to the beach begins. Kit hire and
air-fills from Underwater Explorers,
www.underwaterexplorers.co.uk or
Dive Beyond, www.divebeyond.co.uk

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FREE DIVER

COLD COMFORT
Would you go north to within miles of the
Arctic Circle just to dive in a wetsuit?
Our freediving correspondent MARCUS
GREATWOOD thinks that after reading
this youll answer yes. Were not sure

N 2011, AFTER READING a short

article about Icelandic scuba-diving,
I decided to organise what turned out
to be the first-ever freedive expedition to
the island.
Eight of us travelled 66N and
explored what was then a destination off
the tourist radar. Along with hikes up to
bathe in hot springs and adventures in
lava-tubes, we dived the Silfra rift the
crack between tectonic plates, full of
glacial meltwater so clear that you can
see for more than 100m, and so pure that
you can drink it.
Surely this must be a site on any
divers bucket-list?
Spin onto 2016, and 23 NoTanx
Freedive Club members, inspired by our
YouTube video from five years before,
insist that there is a gap in our
programme for a return trip.
The original eight places sell out in
under an hour, so we arrange a further
trip two weeks later.
Since our original trip, tourism in
Iceland and freediving had both grown
exponentially. Birgir Skulason started
a freedive school in Reykjavik in 2012,
revealing several exciting new dive-sites
that the tourist industry was pleased to
help us access.
On our drive from the airport to Little
www.divErNEt.com

Silfra, locally known as Bjarnagj, or

Bear Crack, we check out the spectacular
ice decorations in the Raufarholshellir
lava-tube.
Our extreme-location freedive team
have been working hard on their cavingskills for a couple of years, so these are
easily accessed, and well worth a visit.

S REMOTE AS ANYWHERE in

southern Iceland, the short off-road

drive to Mini Silfra is mercifully dry and
leads us to some tiny, post-apocalyptic
industrial units hidden away on the
volcanic coast.
The rocky moonscape doesn't seem
the most likely location for an incredible
dive-site, but turning the final hairpin
bend reveals a sharp, deep gash in the
ground filled with tranquil water.
Only 20m long and 2m wide, it lives up
to its nickname the worlds smallest
dive-site and it looks inviting. Kitting
up excitedly, sheltered by a derelict
building just 45 minutes drive from the
international airport, we share the hot
scoosh blagged from the airport coffee-

shop earlier that day.

Any doubts evaporate as we drop into
the vertigo-inducing water. The crystal
clarity absorbs our senses. Nobody dives
for several minutes as we take in the
locations beauty.
A hydrocline that had formed between
the saline seawater and glacial meltwater
hides ancient whalebones, discarded by
the fishing industry and picked clean by
shrimps over the decades. Were eager to
explore.
A tight horizontal shaft drops a little
past 15m, giving way to an awe-inspiring
central pit and the entrance to a
swimthrough. The vertical exit is the
highlight of the dive. As the sun shines
directly into the 15m-deep shaft, the
clarity of the water makes it feel like
flying as positive buoyancy guides us
gently to the surface.
We spend more than an hour
exploring, the tight rift, revealing several
of the megalithic bones for which the site
is famous, as well as four or five amazing
swim-throughs.
A decent flight and two adventures

67

are quite enough for the first day, and we

move north to spend an evening in a hot
tub stargazing and watching the
Northern Lights. Unfortunately nature
gets the better of us, and the overcast
evening denies us the sight of either.
The next is a perfect day to dive in
Iceland, crisp and cold but with bright
sunshine, and were off to experience
classic hot and cold water.
Our first dive is in the centre of the
Thingvellir National Park, an impressive
location that was home to the original
parliament of Iceland in 930.
Silfra is easily the most famous and
popular dive-site in the country, a crack
in the ground along the fault-line
between the American and European
tectonic plates. Its glacial meltwater wells
up after a 30-mile underground journey
that is reputed to take 100 years.
The best way to explain this dive is to
quote Birgir Skulason Silfra is more
beautiful than it is cold. One of our
number, Adam, adds the caveat but not
by much.

K, SILFRA IS COLD 2C above

freezing means tough diving.
Luckily we have come prepared with
decent Elios freediving wetsuits and new
socks and gloves, and hope to get 40
minutes in the water.
We arrive early to avoid the crowds of
snorkellers, but there is a group of scuba
try-divers there already not sure thats
such a good idea for them!
Thingvellir National Park runs a tight
ship when it comes to diving. The areas
around the rift are roped off and the
entrance has sturdy steel stairs were
not used to such luxuries.
The final dive allows us to investigate
Kleifarvatn lake in the south 95m deep,
it is reputed to contain a giant maneating worm. But were not there for
depth or mythology, as were looking for
volcanic hot vents, a unique geological
wonder.
Sitting on the active mid-Atlantic
ridge, the lake area changes every time

volcanic activity occurs. All water enters

and leaves through underground
tunnels, which also change on a
reasonably regular basis.
This dive is smelly the sulphorous
outpourings hit the back of your throat
as soon as you leave the minibus. This
doesnt dampen our enthusiasm, and the
dive continues out into the lake,
following the tell-tale underwater sounds
of bubbling and hissing.
At first there is nothing but streaked
white soil on the lake-bed, but this is
accompanied by bubbles and a milkywhite texture to the water.
Eventually we find the vents, holes in
the lake-bed from which super-hot water
pours out. Of course, when the
surrounding water is 1C above freezing
the discharged water cools pretty quickly.
The haze of the temperature difference
is mesmerising. The cold and the smell
(which even seems to penetrate mask
rubber) quickly saps our energy, and as
our dive-times decrease we decide to call
it a day. What a trip!

Pictured: The colours of

Silfra.
Below: Enjoying a bimble.
Right, clockwise from
top: Stopping at the hot
vents; the team; exploring
Silfra.

SILFRA IS MORE
BEAUTIFUL THAN
IT IS COLD BUT
NOT BY MUCH
68

JULIAN CLARKE

FREE DIVER

69

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STRANGEST DIVES
Readers tell us about the dives
that linger in their memories as
being distinctly offbeat. Have
you got one to share?

YOUR
DIVES

LITTLE ANGEL
by Bill Weddle
ANGELITA, SHES VERY SPECIAL. Im
not talking about some game bird but
a cenote in the middle of the jungle in
Mexico.
The Cenote Angelita was created long
ago when the jungle floor collapsed into a
subterranean cavern. The vegetation fell
down along with the jungle floor and
ended up at a depth of more than 30m
where, over time, a cloud rich in hydrogen
sulphate has formed at the halocline that
marks the boundary between the fresh
water above and the salt water below.
Apart from our dive leader, it was just
myself and my youngest son Will set to
dive, and our Angelita adventure started
with us getting kitting up in the local

www.divErNEt.com

Above and right: Descent

through the sulphur layer
into Cenote Angelita.
Below left: The hired
dive-wear left something to
be desired.

jungle car park. We were using

hired equipment that had
obviously seen much better
days. The wetsuits were so
worn that, to me, it looked as
if Will had just survived being
savaged by a dog.
Anyway, once fully kitted
up (apart from mask and fins,
obviously, because that
would be silly in a car park)
we were led through the
jungle to the access point for
the cenote.
Getting in was easy, just a
giant-stride jump. Getting out
after the dive wasnt to be as
straightforward, and involved
dragging ourselves up a rope
while still fully kitted up! But
we didnt know about that yet.
The visibility in the cenote
was amazing, the cloud of
hydrogen sulphate 30m below
us clearly visible. Our guide was
eager to push on with the dive, in order
to get to depth before any other divers
arrived on site, so down we went.
We paused just above the cloud, which
was punctuated by trunks and branches
from long-dead trees that had fallen from
above. We did a check of our kit, lit our
torches and descended into the cloud.
The visibility went from more than
30m to almost zero! The light coming
from above slowly reduced to a glimmer,
and then to almost to nothing.

After about 3m of descent, we emerged

from the bottom of the cloud into crystalclear water, our torch-beams cutting
through the darkness like light sabres.
Once again we exchanged OK signals
and then continued to descend, the wall of
the cenote on one side and the slope of the
fallen jungle floor on the other.
We passed 40m and were closing in on
50m when our guide stopped and started
to play with some of the vegetation
resting on the sloping bottom. We asked if
he was OK, by describing a circle with

71

divEr

MAINTAINING HER IDENTITY

by Ian Callum

greenish 3m visibility. I picked up a laminated ID

card and shone my torch onto the photograph
of a pretty, smiling blonde girl.
She had waited all winter to be found, and
that flimsy card had stayed there through the
winter gales of the Kent coast.
Slipping the evidence into my cuff for safekeeping, we returned ashore.
A telephone call elicited a swift police
response, and the card was taken away to be
copied and collated.
It was subsequently returned to the family,
and is now in the two little girls memory-box
for their mother.

NILFANION

OUR WINDOW-FITTER looked stressed and

exhausted. Concerned enquiries brought forth
a sad tale of his stepson, who had been accused
of killing his young Polish wife.
The police suspected a calculated action
because her documents, mobile phone etc were
missing, possibly thrown into the sea.
They were never found, and the stepson was
jailed for manslaughter, leaving two small
children parentless.

Fast forward six weeks and I get a phone-call

from regular dive partner Ian Goodban.
A Deal man born and bred, Ian wanted to film
below our local pier. Would I accompany him?
This is a site that neither of us had previously
visited because of concerns about poor visibility
and underwater obstructions, but mid-July
promised some very neapy tides and favourable
winds.
We were under water by 6am, Ian using his
GoPro to film the scour around the pier-legs
while I kept one eye on him as I investigated the
shallow amphitheatres that this created.
Suddenly, a flash of white penetrated the

the torch-beams. This seemed to bring

him back to himself, because he promptly
checked his computer and indicated that
we should start to go back up.
The ascent was just as impressive as the
descent. Passing through the cloud and
emerging into the brightness above was
a magical experience. Even from this
depth we could see another group of
divers leaving the surface and starting
their descent towards us.
We stayed awhile at the 30m level and
performed a few dives into and out of
the cloud before ascending to perform a
safety stop. We all arrived back at the
surface after a very memorable experience
and hauled ourselves out of the water.
Our dive-guide freely admitted that he
had been well and truly narked when
we were watching him playing with the
flora at the bottom.

than-tropical temperatures, but we

couldnt resist the chance to dive where
there is visibility of more than 60m (only
the Weddell Sea in Antarctica is clearer).
As we arrived at the spring after a
somewhat self-conscious plod along a
boardwalk nature trail in our dive gear,
we discovered a catch. The pond we were
about to enter was only about 20m wide
and 6m deep.
The second catch was that we would be
restricted to two 15-minute dives. The
springs are sacred to the Maori people, so
that was fair enough.
However, the final peculiarity of this
site was that the pond had a large
observation periscope so that visitors
could peek down and view what was
happening beneath the surface.
As still somewhat inexperienced divers,
we were initially delayed by a runaway

Below: The gin-clear waters

of Te Waikoropupu the
Place of the Dancing Sands.

cylinder, having neglected to wet the camstrap. Our red faces were clearly
observable through the periscope.
Undeterred, we descended once again
into the crystal waters, only to pop up
ignominiously a few minutes later after
discovering the strong jets of current
that shoot up through the gravel from
springs below.
It was then that we fully understood
why the site is called Te Waikoropupu, or
the Place of the Dancing Sands.
Once wed got over the initial shock of
the water jets, it was actually pretty cool
to watch the gravel on the bottom literally
jumping about. Even so, it was hard to get
over the feeling of swimming around
inside a giant fish tank, complete with
aerated water, bright green weed, and
faces peering at us from above.
After enjoying our allotted time in the

SPRING-LOADED
by Vanessa Charles
& Martin Hynd

divEr

72

PSEUDOPANAX

IT WAS OVER A DECADE ago that my

partner and I learned to dive in Malaysia,
during a mid-life gap year of travelling.
We quickly followed our scuba training
with a liveaboard trip on the Great
Barrier Reef, and were feeling pretty keen
and confident as we moved around the
globe to New Zealand.
Even so, nothing had quite prepared us
for our first fully independent dive trip.
We rented gear from a South Island
dive-shop and headed down to the
charmingly named Pupu Springs, an
inland dive-site with an amazing
reputation for some of the clearest water
on the planet.
We had never tried freshwater diving
before, and were still adapting to lesswww.divErNEt.com

STRANGEST DIVES
springs, we completed our visit with the
recommended drift-dive down a nearby
river.
Unfortunately, there must have been a
recent dry spell, because it was only a few
inches deep in places. Consequently, our
drift ended up being more of a crawl.
Strange though it seems, I think all of
this probably helped us on our way to
becoming better divers!

MERMAID REHEARSAL
by Cecilia Thwaites
BUOYANCY. AIR. Releases, chest-clip,
shoulder-clip. Garter no. No one is
releasing my garter. Put on mask. Attach
veil. Pick up plastic bouquet. All present
and correct.
But this is to be no ordinary dive. This
time next week I will have exchanged my
drysuit for a wedding dress and will be
wearing a better-quality garter (blue, as
a matter of fact) and carrying a real
bouquet of flowers.
Today I have gathered my diving
girlfriends and done what any selfrespecting lady diver should: organise
a Mermaids Dive.
Down the shot towards the Lyme Regis
wreck the Baygitano. A few metres down
myself and my (mer)maids of honour,
Pat and Pippa, pause. I must pose for
the camera, flaunt my bouquet and flash
my garter.
We return to the boat to return the
camera to our obliging (if bemused)
skipper. Oh, no, a sawtooth profile!
This time we drop all the way to the
wreck. Fish dart around us. I point at
a slate-blue conger eel staring out of its
hole, then realise that my bouquet will
not shed much light. Youre not stealing
my flowers, Mr Conger! But he retires
within the wreck, quite uninterested.
Too soon, our mermaid dive is over.
I clamber aboard, still bearing veil, garter
and flowers, and settle down to some
post-diving refreshment. Chocolates

www.divErNEt.com

WEIRD, MAN
by Graham Sands
SO I BIMBLED across the sand, in little more than swimmingpool depth, and saw the usual flatties the size of a fingernail,
snail-shells that sprouted legs and lumbered off at my
approach, filigrees of sunlight playing across the ripple
pattern.
Gradually the bay deepened, and after 10 minutes it
became a riot of colour: greeny-yellows, purple tweeds,
yellowy-greens, and the kelp convoluted into ruches and
furbelows, as if interior designers had got at it. Just what
I was looking for, and expecting to find.
But this is bizarre, its happened yet again, when even the
once was beyond strange
Less than an hour ago, I just happened to park on a quiet
Scottish lane, with easy shore access, on a calm summer day
with the tide coming to the full.
And when I opened the car boot, lo! Yet again, it just
happened to contain my full set of dive-gear, suit and weights,
cylinder gassed up and ready to go. How weird is that?

obligatory phallic-shaped strawberries

and sparkling wine. We dont usually
drink bubbles after diving, but on a
Mermaid Dive, it doesnt count.

ME AND MY DIVEMAN
by Dave Peake

Below: Heres hoping the

wedding photography a
week later was better!

I MAY BE WRONG but I think the device

that first appeared in the UK 15-20 years
ago was called Diveman. It boasted the
ability to allow the user to swim and dive
under water to a depth of 6m without
a scuba tank and regulator.
It was all plastic and consisted of a
shaped container worn on the chest.
From the top came a single hose with a
mouthpiece and non-return valves to
exhaust CO2 into the water. The bottom
of the container reservoir was open, but
had connected to it a flexible plastic bag.
Connected to the bag were two straps
with loops worn over the feet. Connected
to the container was a single 6m plastic
hose, which was attached at the surface to
a floating buoy. Basically that was it.
I was somehow given the device to try
out, and may have been the first to do so
in the UK. The secret was in the operating
procedure, and the first attempt was in an
indoor pool.
Don the equipment and enter the
water. Water pressure pushes the plastic
bag up into the container. At the same
time, bend the knees up towards the
container and stretch the legs fairly
forcibly outwards. This action pulled air
down from the buoy, which filled the
container and allowed a welcome breath
of air to be taken.
Relax the legs, bend the knees up and
the bag is sucked into the container. By
adopting a sort of breaststroke arms and

legs action, progress could be made

without surfacing. So far so good it was
time to try this in the open sea.
A secluded beach in south Cornwall
was my testing area. Of course, in the
tropics or an indoor pool no wetsuit was
required, but here extra lead was, to
compensate for the suit and also for the
buoyancy of the container on my chest.
I breaststroked around the shallows
to a depth of about 4m and gazed at the
reefs. It became apparent that continual
movement was necessary. If I stopped, it
was a little more difficult to work the legs
to draw down the air from the buoy.
However, it worked. I know this
because I am able to relate this story to
you. I survived. I have never seen this
apparatus since, so it obviously never
caught on. This dive was for me the
strangest I have ever experienced.

Share your
Strangest Dives
BILL WEDDLE WINS an 88 Apeks
Professional Diving Watch for sharing
with us her Strangest Dive experience
in Loch Ness.
This selection
might have
reminded you of
underwater
experiences of
your own,
times when
something
was just that
bit out of
kilter with
normality.
If you feel like
sharing, there could
be a similar
timepiece in it for you.
Please email your Strangest Dive to
[email protected] and if you
have a photo to go with it, so much
the better. Please write soon!

73

divEr

GETTING COMPETITIV
This month we look back at 50 years of the British
Society of Underwater Photographers, but where
does the society go from here? BRIAN PITKIN reports
on the latest BSoUP Beginners Portfolio competition
and hears from winner Simon Yates who, despite
having been diving for 30 years, has just become
a name for the future!

HE ANNUAL BEGINNERS
PORTFOLIO competition is
held in November and is
open to British Society of
Underwater Photographers
members and non-members
alike provided that they have
not come first, second or third in
a national or international
competition, such as BSoUP's
Open and Beginners Portfolio
Competitions, Image,
Underwater Photographer of the
Year, Wildlife Photographer of
the Year and so on.
The objective of the
competition is to identify
photographers who can
demonstrate a range of skills.
The portfolio should convey
an overall impression of variety,
not necessarily of subject but
certainly of approach and
technique. It has to comprise six

74

images, set out in two rows of

three and not overlapping.
Each image may, or may not,
have a border.
All the entries were projected
at the November BSoUP
meeting, having been judged
in advance by underwater
photographers Martyn & Sue
Guess. The winner was Simon
Yates (pictured below), who won
a BSoUP Trophy and a 100
courtesy of divEr.
Ive been diving and a
member of BSAC for over 30
years, having learnt in my
university days a long time ago,
says Simon, who manages an
engineering company in the
Midlands, and has two sons.
My wife and I have been
active members of several clubs
over the years, including Totnes,
Taunton and Wellington, and
are now both
committee members
of Worcester BSAC.
I am currently an
Advanced Diver /
Advanced Instructor
and Diving Officer for
the club.
Simon pays tribute
to the high standard
of underwater
photographers in the
club, which includes
among its members
Trevor Rees, Charles
Erb and Anita
Sherwood.
Although Ive had
various underwater
cameras over the
years, from an original
Nikonos 5 to compact
digital cameras,

Shot at the Manacles in Cornwall with my previous camera, a Canon

Powershot S90 in Ikelite housing (1/50, f4, with twin YS110 strobes). The
model is my wife Janet, who was very obliging with aiming the torch in the
slightly murky conditions..

Cuckoo wrasse, shot as part of the last BSoUP Splash-In competition on

Eddystone reef, Plymouth (Olympus 12-50mm, 1/80, f9).

I havent really treated it

seriously until the last few
years. he says.
This year I took the plunge
and upgraded to a mirrorless
four-thirds system, and now
have a system that covers

fisheye to macro, all in Nauticam

housings. I rarely find that Im
diving without my camera setup accompanying me under
water. This year Ive really got
the bug, as Im now entering
images in both BSoUP monthly
www.divErNEt.com

PHOTO DIVER

VE AFTER 30 YEARS!

Long-clawed squat lobster taken in Loch Carron, Scotland in August

2016. As with all of the following images it was taken with my Olympus
OM D EM 10 Mk 2, this one with 60mm macro lens (1/80, f8). This was our
second visit to Conservation Bay, and it will definitely be an annual
pilgrimage.

Flame shell taken at Strone Point, Loch Carron (60mm, 1/80, f9).

BELOW: Yarrells blenny, another shot from Conservation Bay

(Olympus 60mm, 1/80, f8).

Diver inside the wreck of the Doyle, taken on a 2016 club trip to Scapa
Flow. The diver is fellow-photographer buddy Darren Ashford. (Olympus
12, 50mm, 1/80, 5f).

competitions and have also

joined the Bristol Underwater
Photographers Group.
Simon says that his favourite
diving is in the UK, especially the
West Coast of Scotland.
Having recently purchased
www.divErNEt.com

a VW Campervan, were often

away on dive trips, he says. We
still have a long list of UK sites
earmarked for trips next year as
well as several overseas trips
the last trip to the Red Sea was
particularly enjoyable.

"I liked this portfolio the

minute I saw it, said judge
Martyn Guess, although we
wrestled a little with the
positioning of the images, with
the larger Yarrells blenny image
in the bottom right.

It hovered around the first

three places all week, but In the
end the vibrancy and colours and
clarity of the images won the
day a great set of images that
work extremely well together as
a portfolio. www.bsoup.org

75

UIF
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UP
TFF

536,
-"(00/
 ,QFOXGHVDOOPHDOVEHYHUDJHVDQGtransfers
 )UHHNitrox
 THFKGLYLQJavailable
 1LQHVSDFLRXVsuites



XXX5SVL0EZTTFZDPN

BECAUSE ITS ALWAYS

WHALE SHARK
SEASON
IN SOUTH ARI ATOLL
MALDIVES!

-All year round whale shark encounters

-Dive with experienced locals
-Over 30 different spectacular dive locations to choose from
-Beginner to advance dive courses available
-Accommodation can be arranged upon request

[email protected]
www.islanddivers.mv

@www.islanddivers.mv

JOGP!USVLPEZTTFZDPN

RESCUE DIVER

DOLPHINS OF
THE INLAND SEA
The Inland Sea in Gozo has long been a favourite
with British divers, but did you know that 30
years ago it provided a temporary home for two
dolphins? TANO ROL was one of the divers who
came up with an escape plan

ANY UK DIVERS WILL BE

familiar with Dwejra. The area
draws thousands of divers to
the small island of Gozo, and many will
have dived the tunnel at the Qawra, the
Maltese name for the Inland Sea.
This is a shallow, semi-circular pool of
sea water about 100m across and only
some 5m at its deepest. It is connected
to the sea by a narrow tunnel passing
through a cliff face, navigable only by
small boats.
More than 30 years ago, between 20
June and 1 July 1984, a unique event
occurred in Dwejra, Gozo. Two
dolphins were stranded in the Inland
Sea, apparently unable to return to the
open ocean.
www.divErNEt.com

I received a call from Tony Lautier,

a good friend and a champion of the
marine environment.
Tony ran the dive-centre at the Comino
Hotel and we often buddied up to dive
around the island on his day off. So it
wasnt surprising to hear from him on
a Saturday; I expected him to have plans
for a couple of dives over the weekend.
What surprised me was that he was
thinking of a rescue attempt for the
Dwejra dolphins. They had been in the
news all through late June, and by then
had been trapped for 10 days and become
a considerable tourist as well as local
attraction.
Several groups had tried to rescue
them, including the Armed Forces of

Malta Task Force and the Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but the
dolphins had merely danced around the
would-be rescuers.
The unfortunate aspect of this
accidental circus at Dwejra was that the
dolphins were showing increasing signs
of distress, ignoring the dead fish that
some kind-hearted people had been
trying to feed them.
I assumed that everyone would jump at
a chance of trying to find a solution, so
I called Mario, another dive-buddy, and
asked if he would like to join us.
His response was as enthusiastic as
mine had been, and we promptly drove
up to Marfa, where Tony was waiting with
his aluminium dive-boat.

77

divEr

We might have had noble intentions,

but what we needed was a plan. How
could we get a pair of dolphins out of the
Inland Sea while causing the least possible
stress to the animals?
I came up with a brilliant idea. We
would dive at night and illuminate the
way out with our underwater torches. The
dolphins would just follow us through the
passage to the sea piece of cake!
There was just one tiny flaw in this
plan. Wild dolphins are not pet dogs that
trot along in your wake. It was worth a try
but my hopes were dashed when we got
under water and all we could see were
a couple of swirling grey shapes in the
distance. They refused to come anywhere
near us, let alone follow us to salvation.
We reverted to plan B. Tony had made
a net from stout nylon rope and, using
this, we tried to herd the dolphins towards
the passage to the outer sea.
I held one end while Mario, Tony and
several snorkelling volunteers held up the
net at various points.
Of course, the dolphins were uncooperative, running circles around us.
They swam below the net, above it, and
around the sides. Well, at least we were
providing them with an evening of
entertainment how painfully slow and
ungainly divers are under water!

E GAVE UP SOME TIME around

1am. We were cold, exhausted and
getting nowhere. The torch batteries had
given up, so we were working in the dark,
and it was getting increasingly dangerous.
The snorkellers had started getting
cramp too. We retreated to the pebble
beach and slipways, got out of our
wetsuits and hung them up in the vain
hope that they would dry before morning.
I remember waking at 6am, still tired
and aching from having slept on a pebble
beach, but I must have been made of
sterner stuff in those days.
I wondered how mosquitoes had
managed to get inside my sleeping-bag to
drink half my blood.
Gazing across the Inland Sea, I was
surprised to see the dolphins playing with
the floats that buoyed the net that they
had so masterfully avoided all evening. I
pointed this out to Tony, who was making
coffee, and he just grunted.
Saviour, one of the snorkellers, had
slept on the slipway of one of the
boathouses and was trussed up like an
Egyptian mummy. He must have suffered
from mosquito bites as well, and had
drawn the zip of the sleeping bag all the
way over his head. Two elderly gentlemen
stood over him.
Tony handed me a cup of coffee and
asked the fishermen why they were
waiting. In hushed words, they explained
that they were waiting for the young man

divEr

78

to get up so that they could get their boat

down the slipway, because they didnt
want to disturb him.
Tony went off towards his boat and
returned with a pressurised air horn. He
opened the sleeping-bag zip, inserted the
trumpet, closed the zip for maximum
effect and let loose a blast that echoed
between the cliff walls of the Inland Sea.
I have heard of peoples hair standing
on end when theyre startled, but poor
Saviours beard was also standing on end.
Up like a shot, he was too stunned to
speak and hurl abuse, but he really didnt
appreciate this wake-up call.

FTER A QUICK improvised breakfast

we were back in the water. Tony had
extended his thick net by weaving another
few metres, and we hoped this would
make all the difference.
At this point a fishing-boat entered the
Inland Sea and we asked the fishermen if
they would deploy their fine-meshed
trammel net and help us to corner the
dolphins. This net was paid out, but I was
upset to see that there were a couple of
large holes in it that would have allowed
the dolphins to escape.
I freedived down, and as I was trying
to tie up the edges of one of the holes I
could hear the high-pitched calling of the
dolphins. The trammel net had separated
them, and they were getting restless.
One of them approached the net, and
I dived down to place myself, spreadeagled, in front of the gaping hole.

Top: The Inland Sea from

the air.
Above: The Inland Sea
passage to the open sea,
well-known to British divers.

The dolphin merely sidestepped me

and tore through an intact part of the net
with no apparent effort. I couldnt believe
it I still remember the zipping sound as
the net tore away.
I was awestruck but also felt foolish.
We were dealing with wild animals, after
all, and this dolphin could easily have
head-butted me out of the way. It avoided
hurting me and risked getting caught in
the net. I had thought it impossible for
me to respect dolphins more, but this
took it to another dimension!

OMEHOW, WITH ALL THE splashing,

nets, boats and swimmers, we
managed to herd the dolphins into the
shallow waters on the northern side of
the bay. Confined to shallow water, we
realised just how big they were.
We didnt measure them, but we do
know that one was smaller than the other
and that both were female.
www.divErNEt.com

RESCUE DIVER
water is pretty deep there, starting from
32m just outside the tunnel and dropping
off to 60m just a few metres further out.
I had to watch my depth, and hovered
in open water just 5-10m below the
approaching boat with the dinghy in tow.
It was a wonderful sight, and I eagerly
switched on the camera. I framed the boat
against the surface and waited impatiently
for the first dolphin to be released. Unlike
modern video cameras, film lasted only
for a few minutes and I wanted to save it.
It was the larger dolphin that was
released first, and it headed straight at me
as I kept filming.

This tended to support the explanation

of how they got into the Inland Sea. We
were told that one of the dolphins had
become entangled in nets and was towed
behind a fishing-boat into the Inland Sea.
This would have allowed the fishermen
to wade in the shallow water and release
the dolphin without tearing their nets.
The other one had just followed the boat,
possibly because they were mother and
daughter.
With the dolphins effectively corralled,
we devised a plan to tow them behind
Tonys aluminium boat on a half-inflated
dinghy. While preparations were being
made, I had the privilege of holding the
larger dolphins head in my lap as
I squatted on the gravel beach.
Mario took care of the other dolphin

www.divErNEt.com

Above: Trying to reassure one

of the dolphins but how to
get them into the open sea?

we held them so that they wouldnt thrash

about against the nylon net or scrape
their skin on the gravel.
I kept splashing water on my
dolphins back to keep it cool and shaded
its eyes. I also stroked it gently to reassure
it, bearing in mind that excessive handling
could cause damage to the protective film
over its skin.
I could also monitor its heartbeat on
my thighs; the initial 160 beats per minute
came down to 80bpm after 10 minutes,
and subsequently stabilised at 120 beats.

Below: Trying to manoeuvre

a dolphin proves a difficult
task.

LL THIS I REMEMBER as if it was

yesterday not 30 years ago. They
say that smell is the sense that sticks most
readily in the memory. If thats the case,
the smell that characterised the dolphins
exhaled breath still monopolises a large
part of my memory. Its blowhole was just
under my face and, as it breathed out, I
kept getting a heavy dose of fish-breath!
Meanwhile, Tony got a pair of pliers
and cut away some rope and fishing-lines
that had got caught at the base of his
dolphins tail flipper.
These lines must have been there for
some time, as they had left deep scars.
Preparations completed, we gently
moved the dolphins onto the half-deflated
dinghy and started towing them out
through the passage. Tony asked me to
film the final release, and handed me his
Eumig underwater Super8 movie camera.
I put on my scuba gear and headed
outside the tunnel into the open sea. The

N THE INLAND SEA they had kept a

healthy distance, but this dolphin now
circled me within touching distance,
sometimes rubbing against me. I would
like to think that she recognised me as the
fellow who was cradling her head on the
gravel beach, and realised that we were
only trying to help.
Meanwhile she was communicating
with the other dolphin and I could feel
their high-pitched calls resonating
through my body. The second dolphin
was finally released and my dolphin
rose up to greet her. Then they were both
by my side, circling me a few times as I
kept filming. I was in underwater heaven!
It was over far too quickly. They both
dived and disappeared from view but,
from my location 10m under water, they
seemed to have headed back towards the
Inland Sea tunnel. My heart missed a beat.
Weve all heard about beached whales
and dolphins heading back towards the
beaches from which theyve been saved,
and on surfacing I asked the boat-crew if
they had seen the dolphins again.
We even went back into the Inland Sea
to make sure they had not returned, but
were eventually satisfied that they were
now free in the open sea.
We were elated. As we headed out of
the Inland Sea again, we saw a small
flotilla of boats travelling from Malta to
see the dolphins. Some of the crews were
quite upset with us for having released
them, and let us know all about it.
I was still so happy that I didnt care. In
fact, I was even more convinced that we
had done the right thing. All those
propellers in a restricted pond were a
recipe for disaster. Sometimes our love for
dolphins comes at a heavy price for these
lovely creatures.
There is an epilogue to this event.
Tony was on the way to a dive-site about
a week later when two dolphins
approached his boat and kept pace with
him for some time.
He recognised them from the scars that
one of them had at the base of her tailflipper. I like to think it was their way of
saying thank you.

79

divEr

HOLIDAY NEWS

BOOKING NOW

USGS

Gateway to the
Great Blue Hole
Remote Turneffe Island Resort,
newly renovated for its 15th
anniversary, lies on the southern
tip of the Turneffe Atoll in Belize,
35 miles off the coast from the
capital Belize City.
Be warned, this is a gamefishing resort as much as it is
about diving, but it does offer
multiple dives daily at more than
70 sites, including the 30-mile trip
to the famed Great Blue Hole.
This collapsed 1000-year-old,
40m-deep oceanic cave comes
complete with stalactites, a shark
population and a worldwide
reputation among divers.
The resort has 22 beachside
guest-rooms plus villas. A sevennight diving package starts from
US $3290pp (two sharing).

8turnefferesort.com

Professional marine-life photographer

and marine biologist Doug Perrine
(watch out for his amazing fin-whale
photography in next months divEr) will
be the guide and naturalist for the
Oceanic Societys 2017 expedition to
swim with humpback whales in the
Kingdom of Tonga.
Guests will stay at a luxury resort on a
private island in the Vavau group of
Tonga from 13 to 22 September, and go
out daily on what is described as a
comfortable catamaran to search for
whale mothers and their calves in the
clear protected waters of the island
cluster.
The expedition price of US $4995
includes hotel, boat and meals, though
not the air-fare. For more information,
check out Expeditions and then
Wildlife Encounters at

8www.oceanicsociety.org

Set course for Komodo

Between May and November Siren Fleet is offering 10-night trips to
Komodo from 4290 euros pp. Leaving from Bima on Sumbawa island,
the itineraries take in the Gili Islands, Komodo National Park including
the island itself, Batu Balong, Kusa Node, Torpedo Alley, Yellow Wall and
Manta Alley, which Siren Fleet promises has earned its name.
The waters of the Sunda Sea teem with life, from reef sharks and
mantas to bobtail squid (right) and pygmy seahorses, says Siren
Fleet, and sites vary from sloping reefs and dark volcanic sand to
submerged pinnacles and steep reef walls. Be prepared for currents!

8 sirenfleet.com

Southern Maldives
big-animal drifts

TAMARA

New for 2017 from Emperor Maldives are Deep

South & Southern Sharks itineraries in remote
dive-sites between Huvadhoo and Laamu.
From February to April it says you can avoid
the crowds and dive Foammulah and Huvadhoo
on the look-out for tiger, silvertip, hammerhead,
silky, grey reef and whale sharks.
Guests can travel from Male to Huvadhoo or
vice versa to join their liveaboard or from
Huvadhoo to Male, diving from Emperor Virgo or
Emperor Leo. The emphasis is on swift channel
drift-dives, and the itinerary is best suited to
experienced divers looking for away from it all
and different diving.
Full board, free nitrox and local
transfers are included in
the price for a
seven-night
trip of
1979pp
(sharing a
twin-berth
cabin and excluding
flights). Ten-night trips
are also available.

8 maldives.emperordivers.com

80

DOUG PERRINE

Finning with humpbacks

www.divErNEt.com

HOLIDAY NEWS

BOOKING NOW

Saeeds back In Focus

SAEED RASHID

Bangka & Lembeh is the title for blue o twos next

In Focus Indonesia itinerary, a photo-workshop hosted
by photo-pro Saeed Rashid this summer in North
Sulawesi, Indonesia. This one will switch between the
Murex Resort on Bangka Island, and Lembeh Resort.
The dates are 29 June to 10 July, and Rashid
promises to guide guests through the underwater
photography process from start to finish from
composition to post-production.
Lembeh truly is a wonder and is surely on the
bucket-list of every photographer, as this small stretch
of water contains some of the weirdest critters you will
ever be lucky enough to see, he says. And with its
calm shallow water, it is also as good a place as any for
photographers to hone their skills.
The host describes Bangka as the perfect contrast
to Lembehs muck-diving, with clear turquoise water
and lots of small gulleys, pinnacles and swim-throughs
to explore. The price of the trip is 3299pp, including
flights.
More suited to a lower holiday budget, Rashid will
also be running two Red Sea photo-workshops this
summer, one in June priced at 1099 and the other in
September at 1199.

8blueotwo.com

Plenty of everything
dives for
set-jetters
on Gan
Many scenes from Rogue One, the
latest Star Wars movie, are based
on the planet Scarif which is in
reality two Maldivian islands.
Dive Worldwide says it can
transport divers to this galaxy not
that far away by providing a stay
on Gan in Laamu Atoll.
Gan was chosen as a location
partly because it is populated by
local people and has only one
guesthouse-style hotel, giving it a
more authentic feel than a resort
island. Reveries Diving Village is
the beachside hotel and it has 25
rooms and a villa, plus restaurant,
bar, gym, pool and spa.
Grey reef and nurse sharks and
manta and eagle rays are among
likely diver-sightings. A 10-day
Untouched Maldives break priced
from 2375pp (two sharing)
includes seven nights half-board,
nine boat dives and all return
flights from the UK.

8 diveworldwide.com

www.divErNEt.com

The 40m Samambaia, a two-masted

wooden phinisi schooner, is a recent
arrival on the diving scene in
Indonesia. An experienced crew of
18-22 are said to cater for a maximum
of 14 guests, who are accommodated
in seven en suite, air-conditioned
staterooms, including a master cabin
with 180 sea-views on the main deck.
The Samambaia has two 6m divetenders, a camera-room with separate
work-stations and a huge diving
deck with hot showers.
Every major item of equipment is
said to be either dual or redundant,
from generators to GPS.Nitrox is free,
just like the beer! says the operator.
The liveaboard takes in Raja Ampat,
the Banda Sea, Alor and Komodo.
Eleven-night trips are priced from US
$4730pp, and seven days from $3010.

8samambaia-liveaboard.com

Mirihi experience
Mirihi Island in the Maldives South Ari Atoll is one
of the few places in the world that offers guests the
chance to spot whale sharks year-round, according
to the barefoot luxury boutique hotel located there.
The resort organises five-and-a-half-hour whaleshark excursions on its 17m sailing yacht to give
guests the chance to snorkel with them if located
manta rays too if your lucks in. The trips cost from US
$125 including lunch. Mirihi is a 30-minute seaplane
transfer from Male and nightly B&B rates start from
$600 per villa (two sharing).

8 mirihi.com

81

WELL AND TRULY

TESTED

Game-changers thats what we like

and what we hope for when new
products arrive for test, and NIGEL
WADE reckons he has found one to
see him through cold winters

DRYGLOVES

KUBI SYSTEM
HOWEVER COLD THE WINTER, it doesnt
necessarily mean that we have to pack our
dive-gear away and wait for spring sunshine
or a tropical holiday before it sees the light of
day again.
We can still get wet and enjoy the advantages
of coldwater diving, as long as we have the
correct exposure protection.
Particularly vulnerable to frigid water
temperatures are the hands. This month we
share the results of a long-term test and a
possible solution to the problem of freezing
digits in the form of a dryglove system.

The Design
The Kubi dryglove system comprises two sets of
aluminium rings, one for the exposure-suit cuff
and one for the latex outer gloves. These marry
together and are sealed with a series of largediameter O-rings.
The rings are available in 70, 80, 90 and
100mm diameters with M (size 7.5), L (size 8.5),
XL (size 9.5) and XXL (size 10.5) standard rubber,
latex or textured latex outer gloves.
Insulating inner gloves are available in either
Standard thermal, Sub Zero Factor 2, Merino
wool or Alpaca in sizes from S to XL. There is also
a zipped bag to store the inner and outer glove.
The system can be retrofitted to the cuffs of
virtually any standard trilaminate or

The Kubi Dry Glove System in use.

divEr

82

neoprene
exposure suit.
Im told that
its a simple
operation,
although
I havent been
able to verify
this because the
system Ive had on
test was factory-fitted
to a custom-made
Neoprene drysuit.
Once the inner
cuff-ring has been
fitted, a male version
with the outer
glove installed
simply pushes
into the cuffring and is
sealed via a
substantial
O-ring.
I can confirm that
removing and replacing the outer glove
from the glove ring is a simple operation, taking
less than two minutes
even with my ham-fisted
approach.

Kubi latex glove fitted to the

glove ring and thermal glove.

In Use
The first
consideration was
how to allow the
gloves to equalise
as depth and
pressure increased
during the dives.
When I first took
them for a South Coast scalloping
excursion I didnt have the confidence to
permanently break the suits wrist-seals,
aware as I was that if the glove system failed
I would not only have wet, cold hands but could
possibly end up with a flooded drysuit.
Without a way to balance pressure, the outer
gloves compressed onto my hands at depth,
though when the stretchy latex collapsed it still
allowed unhindered movement and didnt
affect my dexterity. What I did experience,
however, was a reduction in thermal protection
as the insulating air gap diminished.
On subsequent dives and with newly found
confidence in the Kubi ring system, I put the
thermal under-gloves on before donning the
suit and allowed the glove-cuffs to sit beneath
the wrist-seals.
This allowed air to migrate slowly to and
from the gloves on ascent and descent,
relieving any compression or expansion as the
depth changed.
The latex outer gloves are slender and
stretchy, which allows for a full range of hand
and finger movement. The thin(ish) pair of
thermal under-gloves didnt lessen that allimportant sense of touch, and I found this
extremely useful when handling complicated
camera controls, or making adjustments to
computer settings while under water.
www.divErNEt.com

DIVER TESTS
Donning and doffing the gloves and locating
the ring-seals is actually simpler than putting on
normal wet gloves. This is because the outer
gloves dont stick to the skin as damp Neoprene
gloves do, and permitted each individual digit
to find its home at the end of its corresponding
finger-pocket.
The latex outer gloves appeared a little flimsy
at first glance so they didnt fill me with
confidence, which is why I didnt have the bottle
to compromise my drysuit wrist-seals on the
initial dives.
However, I can report that after a series of UK
wreck-dives, plus more dives scratching around
sharp stones and gravel collecting scallops, the
gloves proved to be more durable than I had
anticipated.
Thicker rubber gloves are available from Kubi
should the standard latex versions prove undergunned for even more demanding underwater
operations.

Conclusion
Kubis is the only dryglove system to use
aluminium rings, and plastic rings can, I find, flex
and break the seals, causing leaks. This is why
I reckon the system is a winter-diving gamechanger. Its robust construction, ease of use and
versatility has placed it at the top of my list of
must-have gear for coldwater diving.

SPECS
PRICE8 Standard system with latex outer
gloves 156. Thermal under-gloves 8-30

RING SIZES8 70, 80, 90 and 100mm

OUTER GLOVES8 Rubber, latex, textured latex,

The Kubi ring system fitted

to a Neoprene drysuit.

in sizes M, L, XL, XXL

INNER GLOVES8 Standard thermal, Sub Zero
factor 2, Merino wool and Alpaca thermal
CONTACT8 www.kubistore.com

DIVER GUIDE

VIDEO LIGHT

EXPOSURE MARINE
ACTION 100

elevated temperatures. The light can be handheld, mounted on a Neoprene hand-strap, or

attached to a 1in ball-bracket for integration into
underwater camera lighting systems.

In Use
WEVE NEVER BEEN MORE SPOILED FOR
CHOICE or more confused when looking to
purchase, upgrade or replace a dive-light. The
lighting technology juggernaut seems to be
unstoppable, with outrageous outputs and
run-times being promised for the next generation
of units.
Most of the latest lighting equipment seems to
originate in the Far East, so it was nice to see some
home-grown lamps arrive at the divEr Test
centre in the form of Exposure Marines latest
range of compact Action underwater lights. I took
the Action 100 model to put through its paces.

The Design
The Action range comprises three variants, each
delivering 1000 lumens of white light with 90minute burntimes at full power but offering the

The Action 100 is compact and packs a punch with

1000 lumens of light.

www.divErNEt.com

choice of either 9, 16 or 100 beam angles. The

Action 100 featured here is designed as a flood
video light.
The light source is a single Cree LED set against
a polished reflector to distribute the wide-angle
beam evenly. The body is crafted from aerospacegrade aluminium and has a black, hard-anodised
finish with rubber shock absorbers at either end.
All internal components are factory-sealed to
give the light a depth-rating of 100m. An internal,
rechargeable 3100mAh li-ion battery powers the
Action 100, which boasts a recharge time of three
hours and capacity to provide up to six hours of
constant light at its lowest setting.
The Action 100 has three output settings, high
(1000 lumens), medium (500 lumens) and low
(250 lumens). Each is accessed via a rear push
switch and the makers TAP Technology, whereby
a single tap of the light body allows you to scroll
through the output range.
Battery status and power-output levels are
displayed using a traffic-light
system of green, amber and
red LEDs positioned at the
rear of the light body,
along with gold-plated
charging terminals and
a stainless-steel plate
to accommodate the
magnetic USB charginglead connection.
The Action 100 also
features a flashing SOS and double-flash strobe
mode and an intelligent thermal management
system; this clever electronic circuitry controls the
temperature of the LED to keep it as efficient as
possible by preventing it from losing output at

I took the light under water in the UK to see how

it performed. The first thing to strike me was the
overall size of the body, because at just over
100mm long and 32mm in diameter it is truly
compact.
It sat in the palm of my hand perfectly as I used
it to light the way, but really shone (pun intended)
on the top of my camera rig, set on a clip and ballmount. The bright, even beam performed
perfectly in assisting the cameras focus system to
work its magic.
On a few of the dives I set the DSLR to record
video, using the Action 100 as the only light
source. It worked OK, although Im not sure
I managed to get the best from it.
The DSLR video game is new to me and the
final moving images were, Im sure, poorly
captured thanks to my inability to get to grips
with the camera settings and techniques required
for this genre of photography.
Using the Action 100 to
light the scene

83

divEr

for GoPro footage was a different ballgame. This

genre of camera lends itself to easy use, and didnt
tax my grey matter.
As in all underwater photography, the closer
you get to the subject the better the results, and
this was apparent with the Action 100.
The 1000-lumen beam dropped off noticeably
as subject-to-camera distance increased,
although I still came back with some pleasing,
well-lit footage.
The traffic-light system worked extremely well.
Its easy to see, especially with the light mounted
on a camera rig.

SPECS
PRICES8 180
BURNTIMES8High 1.5hr, Med 3hr, Low 6hr
DISPLAY8 Traffic-light system for output and
battery status
BATTERY8 Factory-sealed, rechargeable
3100mAh li-ion
CHARGING8 USB cable via gold-plated
contacts
CHARGE TIME8 3hr
TAP MODE8 Off, high, medium and low
sensitivity settings
SIZE8 107mm x 32mm diameter
WEIGHT8 113g
CONTACT8 www.exposurelights.com

DIVER GUIDE

features, output, runtimes and ease of use. The

100 beam is wide and provided an even pool
of light without a central hotspot.
Maximum output might not be enough for
discerning DSLR video-shooters but I found it
more than adequate for action-cam use.
The distinctive TAP system was a joy to use,
and not only makes these lights stand out from

The Action 100 integrated into a camera rig.

the crowd but proved an excellent feature when
changing levels.
The lack of a travel lock might be an issue,
but I hope the clever technicians at Exposure
Marine will quickly incorporate this feature into
their series of Action lights.
When they do, they will be perfect
companions on overseas trips.

BAG
Power switch, charging terminals and traffic light system.
The battery-status indicator takes precedence
over the output indicators and is constantly
displayed. When the output level is changed, its
corresponding colour code is lit for a few seconds
before the display reverts to battery status.
The TAP system can be disabled or the
sensitivity adjusted through three levels, but
when enabled with the light mounted on the
camera rig, it worked like a charm.
This was especially the case at its most sensitive
setting when wearing gloves. In fact it was by far
the easiest way to change or scroll through the
light-output levels, and places this light in a
league of its own.
In hand-held mode I expected the light to
constantly change its settings as inadvertent
bumps or knocks became an issue.
In reality this wasnt the case. It takes an
accurate and reasonably sharp strike to the body
to activate the system, but should it become an
issue the system can easily be turned off.
The Action 100s SOS flashing mode is entered
via a long press on the rear power-on button. It
will, Im told, flash away for a minimum of six
hours from a fully charged battery.
The strobe mode is entered in the same way
and provides a series of twin flashes; this has
the advantage of being instantly recognisable to
onlookers.

Conclusion
This delightfully small, beautifully constructed
underwater light packs a punch with its many
divEr

84

OVERBOARD
PADDED CAMERA
ACCESSORY BAG /
30l DRY TUBE
TAKING TOPSIDE CAMERA GEAR onto the
beach or onto small dive-boats has always been
problematic for me. Sensitive imaging tools
dont take kindly to knocks or saltwater spray,
and are definitely averse to total immersion
when out of an underwater housing.
In the past Ive used bubble-wrap and
polythene Ziploc bags in a vain attempt to
protect my expensive equipment, but have
mostly erred on the side of caution and left it in
my hotel room or at home.
Sports-bag maker Overboard has a padded
camera case and a range of waterproof bags
that could make this dilemma a thing of
the past.

The Design
The camera-bag system comprises a
zipped, padded bag with hook-andloop mounted padded dividers. The bag
is made with a water-resistant Nylon
outer layer and padded internal walls,
base and lid to protect gear from knocks

DIVER TESTS
applications: prolonged submersion,
submersion deeper than 1m or high water
pressure applications.
The Dry Tube is built from 600-denier
Nylon-coated PVC tarpaulin with highfrequency welded seams. It has a top carryhandle and is supplied with a removable
adjustable shoulder-strap and an alloy
karabiner clip. It weighs 660g and is 42cm
high with a 29cm diameter.

In Use

The camera bag should stay dry inside the 30-litre Dry Tube.
and bumps. Four small and one large divider are
supplied to tailor the internal space and create
individual compartments.
A large mesh zip-pocket positioned under
the lid and a webbing carry-handle complete
the package. The 36 x 36 x 13cm-deep bag
weighs 420g and is compatible with the makers
range of 30-litre waterproof bags.
For the test I partnered the camera accessory
bag with Overboards 30-litre Dry Tube. Rated
to Class 3-IP66, this delivers, and I quote:
waterproof capabilities so tight it floats or can
withstand quick immersion. The product could be
permeated by water in any of the following

Ive been using this set-up for a few months

now and found it to be extremely versatile.
The big advantages have been the
lightness of the two bags, the shockprotection provided by the zipped
bag and the fact that when combined
with the Dry Tube the package is fully
waterproof.
Ive been able to take a spare camera and
lens combo plus alternative ports and lenses
with me on full-day excursions in the
knowledge that my gear is as safe as can be
expected in the camera-hostile marine
environment.
The camera-accessory bag ate my DSLR rigs
and lenses, plus an alternative underwater
dome-port, spare battery-packs and ancillaries
with room to spare. Getting the padded bag in
and out of the Dry Tube was easy, and once the
top had been rolled up and clipped off, the
contents felt secure.
The Dry Tube has other uses it can be filled
with ice to keep post-dive beverages cold, or
with fresh water to provide a personal rinsetank for mask, regulators, camera housings and

SPECS
CAMERA ACCESSORY BAG

PRICES8 30
DIMENSIONS8 36 x 36 x 13cm
WEIGHT8420g
COLOURS8 Black/red
DIVER GUIDE
DRY TUBE

PRICES8 27.49
CAPACITY830 litres
DIMENSIONS8 42cm x 29cm diameter
WEIGHT8660g
COLOURS8 White, black, blue, red, yellow
RATING8 100% waterproof to Class 3-IP66
CONTACT8 www.over-board.co.uk
DIVER GUIDE
strobes. It can then be emptied and turned
inside-out to air dry.
The tarpaulin material is also sand and gritproof for beach entries, and wipes clean with a
damp cloth after use.

Conclusion
There isnt much more to say about such a simple
pair of bags but in combination they provided
exactly what I needed. The padded bag also
proved useful tucked inside my travel dive
holdall with a set of regulators, mask and divecomputer securely nestled inside, adding extra
protection from baggage-handlers, while the Dry
Tube was handy for keeping wet dive-kit and dry
clothes apart.

BC

SEAC PRO 2000

SEAC HAS NOW DEVELOPED THE FOURTH
generation of its flagship Pro 2000, the original
version of which was launched last century,
heralding a new era for the Italian dive-gear
maker.
The second incarnation, the HD model, was
reviewed in divEr in 2013. I had a few dives with
it not long afterwards, and was mightily
impressed by its hybrid bladder design.
The third generation saw the light of day in
divEr Tests in July 2015 and to bring the set up
to date Ive been out and about with the latest
rendition.

The Design
This Pro 2000 has a newly designed 3D, wedgeshaped bladder with an expanding underside to
provide lift and thrust from below. The bellows
section has elasticated webbing-straps to aid
deflation. Also new is the backplate-adjustment
system, featuring Seacs Frame to Back and
www.divErNEt.com

Adjustment Harness systems.

The BC also has a redesigned
backplate with a pre-shaped padded
cover, and a drop-down cargo pocket
and stainless-steel knife grommets
have been added.
The integrated-weight system
has been modified too, with
new pre-inclined weightpouches and rear trimweight pockets.
The BC is made
using 1000 Denier PUcoated Cordura with a
420 Denier PU-coated
Nylon inner bladder. It
has five 50mm curved
and two 25mm straight
black anodised-alloy
D-rings, three pull-operated
dump-valves and two
zipped side-pockets.

85

divEr

DIVER TESTS
The package weighs in at 3.9kg and delivers
a lift of just over 18kg (size L).

Under Water
After spending a bit of time adjusting the
harness and backplate to fit my profile and
the added bulk of a drysuit, I placed 5kg of
block-weights in each of the integratedweight pockets but left the trim-weight
pockets empty (Id be diving with a steel
cylinder and felt I didnt need them). I was
ready to go.
Under water the Pro 2000 positioned me in
my ideal orientation, slightly head up but with
my body almost horizontal.
While adopting this trim I was aware that air
had migrated to the highest point, and had to
swivel my body slightly and move to a position
where I could easily dump it for the ascent.
The three dump-valves (excluding the inflator
hose) were well-positioned, with long pull-cords
enabling me to efficiently eject any unwanted
air in virtually any other orientation.
Inflation was quick and easy at the surface,
with the bladder holding me vertically without
pushing me face-first into the water.
The integrated weights felt very secure in use,

and pulling them free was a single-handed

operation. They were also very easy to
replace.
The D-ring placement appeared to be
ideal; there were certainly plenty of them to
choose from to provide optimal positioning
of my gauge, octopus and ancillary stuff
such as reel, DSMB and primary light.

Conclusion
This latest Pro 2000 seems a worthy
successor to the previous models and pays
homage to its forerunners. Seac has kept all
the best bits and improved on backplate,
harness system and integrated weights.
Like its predecessors this model was
comfortable, easy to adjust and to wear.
However, its the new wedge-bladder
design that sets this BC apart.
Im sure its not unique but it works very
well and held me perfectly under water
and bolt upright at the surface.
The materials used and the
workmanship are top-notch, giving
a feeling of quality with typical Italian
design and styling. I found that a very
pleasing combination.

In use the Seac Pro 2000.

SPECS
PRICE8 399
SIZES8 XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
WEIGHT8 3.9kg, Size L (including weightpockets)

The redesigned integrated-weight pocket (left) and the one-handed pull to release the integrated-weight pouch.

INTEGRATED WEIGHTS8 Yes

TRIM WEIGHT POCKETS8 Yes
DUMP VALVES8 Three
D-RINGS8 Seven, black anodised aluminium
POCKETS8 Two zipped, one drop-down
COLOURS8 Black
CONTACT8 www.seacsub.com
DIVER GUIDE

Dive with

Explora Madeira
Maximum 4 divers per guide
Courses always available,
from Try-dive to Instructor
Group discounts & free
places
For more
information call:
+ 351 962 672251
or + 351 291 220184

Explore the undiscovered Solomon Islands. Enjoy 4 to 5

dives daily from our huge dive deck with nitrox, rebreather
support and unlimited hot showers. Relax in air-conditioned
comfort in the spacious salon or one of our 12 well-appointed
cabins. Discover the most intense bio-diversity worldwide,
along with WWII history and unique cultural experiences.

[email protected]
www.exploramadeira.net

divEr

86

For more information or to make a reservation:

[email protected]
www.solomonsdiving.com

www.divErNEt.com

DEEPER COMFORT.
FOX

Where comfort meets the depth of the sea, the Seac Fox mask is born. The Fox mask has been designed with passion in Italy
culminating in a modern striking design that is unrivalled in comfort to enhance your desire for exploration. The Fox mask is
extremely versatile and utilizes an innovative Comfort Silicon in different thicknesses and a foldable buckle. Seac is synonymous
with quality: all of our products are rigorously tested to the highest standards strictest quality controls.
seacsub.com | | |

NEW BUT

UNTESTED
The latest kit to hit the dive shops

Scubapro Mk25EVO / S620Ti Regulator 6666

The S620Ti second stage is said to embrace the best features of
Scubapros renowned S600 in an upgraded design. It is smaller and
lighter but uses the same-sized diaphragm and delivers excellent
performance, says Scubapro, with the work of breathing apparently
reduced by 40% over its predecessor. It can be partnered with
the chrome-plated MK25 EVO or the all-titanium MK25T EVO
first stages expect to pay 585 and 1379 respectively.
8 www.scubapro.com

Muvi K2 Action Camera 6666

The UK-designed Muvi K2 action camera boasts 1080p @ 60fps video capture, and
up to 16MP stills capture at bursts of 10 shots per second. It is available in an NPNG
bundle that includes a detachable LCD rear screen, 100m waterproof housing,
a series of mounts, 8GB micro SD memory card and a USB charging cable, supplied
in a rugged case with solid foam inserts.
The bundle costs just under 250.
8 www.veho-muvi.com

Fourth Element Proteus II Wetsuit 5555

The Proteus II comes in both 3 and 5mm thicknesses and features
Glideskin wrist-seals and a Hydrolock inner neck-seal. All seams are
watertight blind-stitched, taped and double-glued. The suits have
Thermaflex linings throughout with additional Hexcore panels on the
body core to provide additional thermal performance. They come in
mens and womens styles and size ranges, and you can expect to pay
220 for the 3mm and 260 for the 5mm.
8 www.fourthelement.com

Exposure Action3-100 Light 6666

The latest light from UK-based Exposure Marine is designed as a flood
video light, and is supplied with a 2.5cm ball-mount. Three CREE XPL LEDs
deliver a tested 2000-lumen output through a 100 beam. The Aerospace
aluminium with marine-grade anodising body is depth-rated to 100m.
There are three brightness levels and burntime on full power is a claimed
60 minutes. Features include through-case USB charging, tap control and
a rear OLED display for control and battery status. The price is 350.
8 www.exposuremarine.com

Aqua Lung i750TC Computer

4444

This wrist-mounted instrument features a

highly visible OLED colour display and has
multi-gas capabilities with up to three nitrox
mixes. It has a durable Physical Vapour
Deposit (PVD) black and grey finish and
a choice of polymer strap and buckle or
technical bungee wrist-mounts. Suitable
for hoseless gas integration using optional
transmitters, the i750TC has Bluetooth Smart
wireless connectivity, a three-axis digital
compass, is powered by a user-replaceable
standard battery and costs 650.
8 www.aqualung.com/uk
divEr

88

JUST SURFACED

Bonex
Aquaprop Travel Scooter 5555
Described as the first travel-friendly underwater diver propulsion
vehicle (DPV) to meet the demands of both scuba-divers and
swimmers, the Aquaprop scooter weighs 6kg, can be controlled with one or
both hands, and has two speeds 38 and 50m/min and claimed run-times of
up to 200 minutes from its ni-mh batteries. The depth-rating is 80m. Expect to
pay 1700.
8 www.sea-sea.com

Overboard 40l Pro-Sports Waterproof Duffel 6666

This roll-top waterproof duffel bag is claimed to offer
full protection against water, dirt and
sand, and easy access through
a wide mouth opening. The
40-litre capacity bag is made
from tough PVC tarpaulin
and has a large internal
wet/dry pocket,
external weatherproof
front zip-pocket, a
hook-and-loop mesh
pocket and removable
padded backpack straps.
It weighs 1.05kg and comes in
blue or yellow colour schemes
for under 53.
8 www.over-board.com

4444
Si Tech has launched a
new, short-cuff, thin and flexible inner glove for
use under its range of modular drysuit gloves. The
Kleven is knitted using hollow polyester fibre with
3% Spandex, and said to be designed for optimum
heat insulation and quick drying. Available in
colour-coded sizes of M (green), L (blue) and XL
(grey), these Kleven gloves are deemed suitable for
use in water temperatures down to 10C. Prices
have yet to be confirmed.
8 www.sitech.se

DANNY KESSLER

DIVING
WITH FIN
WHALES

Si Tech
Kleven
Inner Glove

NEXT ISSUE
BENEATH BUDAPEST
Cave-diving in the warm heart of the city

TALE OF TWO SITES

Unforgettable dives in the Philippines

3 SLACKS, 2 WRECKS
How Eastbournes unusual tides benefit divers

KICKING BACK
From a rewarding Red Sea peninsula

Two top photographers

knew the task would be a
challenge, but found it
very, very difficult

www.divErNEt.com

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+
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DONT FORGET
You can take out
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Not to be used in conjunction with any other
divEr subscription offer.

CYPRUS
LARNACA
RECOMPRESSION CHAMBER
24/7 professionally manned and fully computerised,
privately owned and operated 14-man recompression
chamber, internationally approved and the DAN
Preferred Provider for the island. If in doubt SHOUT!
Poseidonia Medical Centre, 47a Eleftherias Avenue,
Aradippou, Larnaca 7102, Cyprus.
24hr Emergency Dive Line: +357 99 518837.
E-mail: [email protected] www.hbocyprus.com

TO ADVERTISE
YOUR DIVE CENTRE
HERE, CALL
020 8941 4568

To advertise in the divEr Holiday Directory contact Alex on 020 8941 4568 e-mail: [email protected]

HOLIDAY DIRECTORY
FACILITIES
INCLUDE:

Hotel or guesthouse

Self-catering

Equipment for hire

Dive boat charter arranged

Suitable for families

Packages from UK

Compressed Air

Nitrox

Technical Gases

BSAC School

PADI Training

NAUI Training

TDI Training

SSI Training

DAN Training

Disability Diving

PAPHOS

INDONESIA

CYDIVE LTD
Myrra Complex, 1 Poseidonos Avenue, Marina Court 44-46,
Kato Paphos. www.cydive.com Tel: (00 357) 26 934271.
Fax: (00 357) 26 939680. E-mail: [email protected]
PADI 5* CDC. First Career Development Centre in
Cyprus and Eastern Mediterranean.

ALOR
ALOR DIVERS
Jl. Tengiri N. 1 Kalabahi, Alor Island, NTT, Indonesia.
Tel: (00 62) 813 1780 4133.
E-mail: [email protected] www.alor-divers.com
Pristine. Diving. Exclusive. Covert. Destination.

PHILIPPINES
THRESHER SHARK DIVERS
Malapascua Island, Daanbantayan, Cebu 6013.
Tel: (00 63) 927 612 3359. www.thresherdivers.com
E-mail: [email protected]
British, PADI 5* IDC, IANTD.

SOUTH COAST
UNAWATUNA DIVING CENTRE
No. 296 Matura Road, Pellagoda/Unawatuna, Galle.
Tel: 0094 (0)77 44 36 173.
E-mail: [email protected]
www.unawatunadiving.com PADI 5* Dive Resort, S36133. Open 15 October to 10 April daily, 8am-6.30pm.

THAILAND
DIVE POINT
Parmenionos St. No4, Tombs of the Kings Rd, Kato
Paphos, Cyprus 8045. Tel/fax: (00 357) 26 938730.
E-mail: [email protected]
www.divepointcyprus.co.uk
British BSAC/PADI instructors.

MALAYSIA
BORNEO, SABAH
THE REEF DIVE RESORT
(Mataking Island), TB212, Jalan Bunga, Fajar Complex,
91000 Tawau, Sabah. Tel: (00 60) 89 786045. Fax: (00 60)
89 770023. E-mail: [email protected]
www.mataking.com PADI 5* Dive Resort.

PHUKET/SIMILANS

SPAIN
BALEARIC ISLANDS MENORCA
BLUEWATER SCUBA
Calle Llevant, Centro Civico Local 3, Cap DArtrutx,
07769 Ciutadella de Menorca.
Tel/fax: (00 34) 971 387183. www.bluewaterscuba.co.uk
E-mail: [email protected]
Dive the famous Pont Den Gil cavern!

SHARKEY SCUBA
363/10 Patak Road, Karon, Muang, Phuket 83100.
Tel: (00 66) (0)89 725 1935, (00 66) (0)86 892 2966.
E-mail: [email protected]
www.sharkeyscuba.com Fun and smiles with Sharkey, the
British company with the personal touch.

MALTA (inc. GOZO & COMINO

GOZO

SALGAR DIVING

GOZO AQUA SPORTS

Paseo Maritimo, SAlgar, Menorca.

Tel: (00 34) 971 150601. www.salgardiving.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: menorcasalgardiving PADI 5*, BSAC Resort
families, groups, fun & tec = all welcome!

Rabat Road, Marsalforn, MFN9014, Gozo, Malta.

Tel: (00 356) 2156 3037. www.gozoaquasports.com
E-mail: [email protected]
PADI 5* IDC & DSAT Tec Rec Centre, BSAC Dive Resort.
Premier Technical Diving Support Service.

PAPHOS/PISSOURI
CYPRUS DIVING ADVENTURES

SURAT THANI/KOH TAO

Makedonias 40, Shop 1, Pissouri Village, 4607.

Tel: (00 357) 97 661046. www.cyprusdivingadventures.com
E-mail: [email protected]
PADI 5*. TDI. UK trained professionals.

DAVY JONES LOCKER (DJL DIVING)

9/21 Moo 2, Mae Haad, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Surat
Thani, Thailand 84280. Tel: (00 66) 77 456126.
Mob: (00 66) 79 700913. www.techdivethailand.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Recreational, reef, tech, deep, wreck.

MALTA
AQUAVENTURE LTD
The Waters Edge, Mellieha Bay Hotel,
Mellieha MLH 02. www.aquaventuremalta.com
Tel: (00 356) 2152 2141 Fax: (00 356) 2152 1053
e-mail:[email protected]
PADI 5* Gold Palm. Watersports available.

GREECE

SRI LANKA
NORTH EAST COAST
NILAVELI DIVING CENTRE
Ward 1, 9th Mile Post, Nilaveli, Trincomalee, at the High
Park Beach Hotel. Tel: 0094 (0)77 44 36 173.
E-mail: [email protected]
www.nilavelidiving.com PADI 5* Dive Resort, S-23912.
Open 1 April to 30 September daily, 8am-6.30pm.

CRETE
CRETE UNDERWATER CENTER
Mirabello Hotel, Agios Nikolaos, P.O. Box 100,
P.C. 72 100. Tel/fax: (00 30) 28410 22406.
Mob: (00 30) 6945 244434, (00 30) 6944 126846.
www.creteunderwatercenter.com
E-mail: [email protected] IANTD Nitrox
training. Groups, individuals & dive clubs welcome.

TO ADVERTISE
YOUR DIVE CENTRE
HERE, CALL
020 8941 4568

Please remember to mention divEr Magazine when replying to any of these advertisements

91

LIVEABOARD DIRECTORY
AF

Aqua-Firma

DWw Dive Worldwide

HD

Holiday Designers

RD

Divequest

Oonasdivers

STW Scuba Tours Worldwide

OD

Original Diving

bo2 blue o two

DQ

CT

Emp Emperor

Crusader Travel

CT DWw
STW UD

AUSTRALIA Cairns
Spirit of Freedom

www.spiritoffreedom.com.au
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

26
11
Y
37m
steel

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

240V
Y
Y
Y
N

www.mikeball.com

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

16
8
Y
32.3m

Scuba Travel

DWw
DQ RD
AF STW
Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

26
15
Y
30m
alum

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

CARIBBEAN St. Maarten & St. Kitts

DWw
Caribbean Explorer II
www.explorerventures.com
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

DQ

18
9
Y
35.1m
alum

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

RD

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

DWw

20
10
Y
37.8m
alum

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

www.seaqueenfleet.com

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

CT
20
10
Y
27m
wood

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

220V
Y
Y
Y
Y

HD

EGYPT Sharm el Sheikh

VIP One
www.vipone.com

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

220V
Y
Y
Y
Y

CT DWw
STW DQ
AF
www.worldwidediveandsail.com
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

14
7
Y
30m
wood

16
8
Y
40m
wood

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

220V
Y
Y
Y
Y

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

MEXICO Socorro, Guadalupe

AF
Nautilus Belle Amie
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

28-30
16
Y
41m
steel

MEXICO Socorro, Guadalupe

AF
Nautilus Explorer
www.nautilusexplorer.com
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

25
13
Y
35m
steel

18
8
Y
29m
steel

16
9
Y
38.2m
Steel

UD

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

240V
N
Y
Y
Y

DQ UD
DWw STW
Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

220v,110v
Y
Y
Y
Y

DWw UD
AF STW

PALAU
Ocean Hunter Palau

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

240V
Y
Y
Y
Y

RD CT DWw
STW AF DQ
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

16
8
Y
40m
wood

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

220V
Y
Y
Y
Y

AF
RD

CT DWw
UD DQ
STW
www.worldwidediveandsail.com

PHILIPPINES
S/Y Philippine Siren

220V
Y
Y
Y
Y

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

16
8
Y
40m
wood

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

220V
Y
Y
Y
Y

SOLOMON ISLANDS Honiara

Taka
www.solomonsdiving.com

120V
N
Y
Y
Y

TSP UD
bo2 DQ
Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

16
8
Y
31m
steel

www.worldwidediveandsail.com

220V
N
Y
Y
Y

TSP UD
bo2 DQ
Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

PALAU
S/Y Palau Siren

www.scubascuba.com
12
6
Y
26m
wood

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

240V
Y
Y
Y
N

STW

MALDIVES Mal
M.V. Sea Spirit

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

TSP

http://nautilusliveaboards.com bo2 DQ

www.oceanhunter.com
Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

www.maldivesdivingadventure.com
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

MEXICO Socorro, Guadalupe

AF
Nautilus Under Sea

240V
Y
Y
Y
N

MALDIVES Mal
Eagle Ray

www.nautilusbelleamie.com
16
8
Y
29.5m
wood

RD

FIJI
S/Y Fiji Siren

20
10
Y
38.2m
wood

Ultimate Diving

www.trukodyssey.com
Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

STW DWw
DQ AF
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

UD

MICRONESIA Truk Lagoon

M.V. Odyssey

www.explorerventures.com

110V
Y
Y
Y
N

EGYPT Sharm el Sheikh & Hurghada

South Moon

21
11
Y
37.5m
GRP

MALDIVES Mal
Carpe Vita Explorer

110V
Y
Y
Y
N

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Silver Bank

DQ
Turks & Caicos Explorer II
www.explorerventures.com

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

Sportif

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

MALDIVES Mal
Adora

240V
Y
Y
Y
N

TSP The Scuba Place

N
Y
Y
N

www.maldivesboatclub.com
Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

92

GALAPAGOS
Humboldt Explorer

www.explorerventures.com

CT DWw

AUSTRALIA Cairns
Spoilsport

ST

Regaldive

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

24
12
Y
33m
steel

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

240V
Y
Y
Y
Y

DWw
DQ

TURKS & CAICOS

Turks & Caicos Explorer II

www.explorerventures.com

120V
N
Y
Y
Y

Please remember to mention divEr Magazine when replying to any of these advertisements

Pax
Cab
EnS
Lth
Hull

20
10
Y
37.8m
alum

Elec
Cour
A/C
Ntx
CCR

110V
Y
Y
Y
N

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02/17

CLASSIFIED ADS
CHARTER BOATS
Scotland (Scapa Flow)

Lymington - Wight Spirit. Diving West Wight, East

Dorset, English Channel. Beginners to technical and small
groups. Electric lift. Easy access, easy parking. Owner/
skipper Dave Wendes. Tel/Fax: (023) 8027 0390, e-mail:
[email protected] www.wightspirit.co.uk
(70242)

DI
V

DIVE 125
E1

25.CO.UK

OUR W

07

764

58 53

53

07764 585353

Custom built
42' dive
vessel, huge
deck space,
Diver lift,
large wheel
house +
separate
toilet.

Air + Nitrox

Onboard Compressor

WEEKEND SPACES SEE WEBSITE

www.dive125.co.uk Eastbourne Charters

Wales
With full shelter deck for all weather, six spacious double
cabins with hot & cold water, two showers, two toilets,
large saloon, central heating throughout, galley with all
facilities and two dry changing areas. Long established,
high standard of service. Nitrox, trimix & onboard meals
available. Reduced off-peak season rates.

201 SPACESAVAILABLE
Tel: 01856 874425 Fax: 01856 874725
E-mail: [email protected]

Anglesey. Hard boat diving aboard Julie Anne and

Empress. Diver Lift. Visit: www.julie-anne.co.uk or Tel:
(01407) 831210, mobile: 07768 863355.
(68768)
Quest Diving. Hardboat with lift. Diving Anglesey and
North Wales.
Tel: 07974 249005. Visit:
www.questdiving.co.uk
(69799)

North East

SO V

EREIGN

DIVING

Seahouses

Dive the Farne Islands aboard Sovereign II & III

Seals, scenic and wrecks. Own quality B&B. Fully stocked
dive shop and air station. Air to 300bar and nitrox available.
Tank hire also available. Ailsa, Toby & Andrew Douglas.

Tel/fax: (01665) 720760 or www.sovereigndiving.co.uk

South West
Venture Dive Charters. For quality diving from
Plymouth, visit: www.venturecharters.co.uk or Tel: 07948
525030.
(70027)

LUNDY DIVING
Dive or snorkel with friendly seals at Lundy Island aboard our
modern vessels (both with diver lift), and dive many of the
exquisite sites around Lundy with the areas most experienced
skippers and crew, now in our 16th season. New for 2017 we
are offering spaces and small group bookings on some dates.
Contact: lundydiving.co.uk or 07971 462024.

South
Dive Littlehampton, Final Answer. Shallow to deep,
we cater for all. Skipper and crew on board, availability
7 days a week. Maximum 10. Now taking bookings for
2017. Tel:(01243) 553977 or 07850 312068. Email:
[email protected] www.ourjoy.co.uk
(69876)

DIVE BRIGHTON
www.brightondiver.com
10m cat with dive lift.
Individuals and groups. All levels,
novice to technical. BSAC
Advanced and trimix skipper.
Call Paul: 07901 822375

Bovisand Lodge Estate, Plymouth. 4* Gold Award self

catering holiday park, 2.5 miles from Mountbatten Diving
Centre. Range of quality accommodations. Free parking
for RIB's. Indoor heated pool. Weekend and part week
bookings available. Tel: (01752) 403554
www.bovisand.com

Want to sell unwanted kit

or pick up a bargain?
www.divernet.com/free-small-ads/

NOW BOOKING 2017

www.channeldiving.com Midweek diving for

individuals. Tel: (07970) 674799.
(69564)
www.sussexshipwrecks.co.uk Sussex Eastbourne. Fast
Cat, lift, O2, toilet, tea/coffee. Groups and individuals.
Diver/Skipper Mike mobile: 07840 219585, e-mail:
[email protected]
(70601)

Looking for last minute

spaces on a UK dive
charter boat?
Then click on
DIRECTORIES:
UK Boat Spaces
@ www.divernet.com

ITS FREE!

divErNEt.com

DIVING MEDICALS
Diving Medicals - Midlands (Rugby) - HSE, Sports
Medicals and advice at Midlands Diving Chamber. Tel:
(01788) 579 555 www.midlandsdivingchamber.co.uk
(67949)
Dr Gerry Roberts and Dr Mark Bettley-Smith. HSE
Medicals and phone advice. Tel: (01202) 741345.
(68193)
Diving Medicals - Nottingham. Sport Diving medicals:
55. HSE Commercial Diving medicals: 120. OGUK
Offshore medicals: 110. HGV/PSV medicals 55. Student
and Group discounts. Combine any two medicals and
pay only 5 extra for the cheaper of the two. Tel: (07802)
850084 for appointment. Email: [email protected]
(70397)
Diving medicals: London. HSE, Sport and phone advice.
Tel: (020) 7806 4028 www.londondivingchamber.co.uk
(66531)

RESEARCH
SEAPRO - SUBSEA
MODULES

ACCESSORIES
Your diving memories deserve
the best dive log

are HOUSINGS for

SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT
and VIDEO SYSTEMS
Special Packages on
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Great stock designs

or create your own

See web site:

www.greenawaymarine.com
PACKAGE DEALS

GREENAWAY MARINE
Tel: (01793) 814992

Compact and
light weight binders

REPAIRS/SERVICES

Logbook
Stamps

WET & DRY SUIT

REPAIRS
All makes, all types

Custom Dive Slates

Scuba
Tags

0161 304 8471

com

dive - logs
And lots more: www.dive-logs.com
9 Waterloo Court
Waterloo Road
Stalybridge
Cheshire SK15 2AU

email: [email protected]

www.gybe.co.uk

INSURANCE

WANT TO
ADVERTISE?
Email: Jenny Webb,
[email protected]

CLASSIFIED ADS

CLUB NOTICES

FREE OF CHARGE. (Max 25 words).

Non-commercial clubs, no sales.
Active and friendly BSAC club. All year diving in local
lake. New and qualified divers of all agencies welcome.
Own clubhouse with 7m RIB and compressor. For further
information visit www.mksac.co.uk
(64403)
Alfreton (Derbys) BSAC 302. Welcomes new members
and qualified divers. A small but active club with own
RIB, wreck diving a speciality. Contact Charlie on (01246)
236328.
(68370)
Banbury SAC. Friendly, active club with weekly meetings
and training sessions, own boat, compressor and
equipment. Welcome divers/non-divers. www.bansac.org
or call 07787 097 289.
(69308)
Bracknell Sub Aqua Club welcomes new and experienced
divers from all agencies. Meets poolside at Bracknell
Sports Centre, Thursdays from 8.30pm. Diving, training
and social calendar: www.bracknellscuba.org.uk or tel:
07951 855 725.
(65792)
Braintree Riverside Sub Aqua Club based in Braintree,
Essex. A friendly club, we welcome divers of all abilities
and have an active diving and social programme. Come
and join us! email: [email protected]
www.braintreeriversidesac.co.uk
(69397)
Bristol Scuba Club meets at Kingswood Leisure Centre,
BS16 4HR, every Friday, 8pm - 10pm. Diver access to a
large pool. www.bristol-scuba-club.co.uk or call: 07811
374944.
(63812)
Bromley/Lewisham Active divers required. Full
programme of hardboat diving throughout the year.
Check out Nekton SAC www.nekton.org.uk or contact
Jackie (01689) 850130.
(68537)
Buckingham Dive Centre. A small friendly club
welcoming all divers and those wanting to learn. We dive
throughout the year and run trips in the UK and abroad.
www.stowesubaqua.co.uk Tel: Roger 07802 765366.
(69433)
Chelmsford and District SAC meet at 8pm every Friday
at Riverside Pool. New and qualified divers are welcome.
See our website for details: www.chelmsforddiveclub.co.uk
(68620)
Chingford, London BSAC 365. Friendly and active club
welcomes divers from all agencies and trainees. Meet
Wednesday 8pm, Larkswood Leisure Centre E4 9EY.
Information:
www.dive365.co.uk
Email:
[email protected]
(69208)
Cockleshell Divers, Portsmouth, Hants. Small, friendly
club welcomes new and experienced divers from all
agencies. Meets at Cockleshell Community Centre, Fridays
at 8pm. Email: [email protected]
(64762)
Colchester Sub-Aqua Club welcomes experienced divers
and beginners. Sub-Aqua Association training. Diving at
home and abroad. Meets at Leisure World Friday
evenings. Contact Tony (01787) 475803.
(68263)
Cotswold BSAC, a friendly club based at Brockworth
Pool, Nr Cheltenham, Fridays 8pm. Regular inland diving
and
coast
trips.
Tel:
07711
312078.
www.cotswoldbsac332.co.uk
(68577)
Darwen SAC, in Lancashire, with an active diving
programme. Own RIB. new members welcome regardless
of agency/training. We provide BSAC training. Weekly
pool sessions. www.darwensac.org.uk
(69161)
Eastern Sub Aqua Club SAA 1073. We are a small friendly
dive club and welcome new and experienced divers alike.
We are situated north of Norwich for training. For more
information please see out website: www.esacdivers.co.uk
(65879)
Dream Divers. Very friendly dive club in Rotherham
welcomes divers of any level/club. Meet at the Ring O
Bells, Swinton, last Thursday of the month at 19.30.
Email: [email protected]
(69699)
Ealing SAC, BSAC 514. Friendly, active club, own RIBs;
welcomes new and experienced divers. Meets Highgrove
Pool, Eastcote, Tuesday nights 8.30pm. www.esac.org.uk
(68413)
East Cheshire Sub Aqua. Macclesfield based BSAC club.
Purpose-built clubhouse, bar, two RIBs, minibus, nitrox,
compressor. Lower Bank Street, Macclesfield, SK11 7HL.
Tel: 01625 502367. www.scubadivingmacclesfield.com
(65609)
East Durham Divers SAA welcome new/experienced
divers of any agency. Comprehensive facilities with own
premises half a mile from the sea. Contact: John: 07857
174125.
(68663)
East Lancs Diving Club based in Blackburn. Friendly
and active club welcomes new members at all levels of
diving from all organisations. Tel: 07784 828961 or email:
[email protected] www.eastlancsdivers.co.uk
(69411)
Eastbourne BSAC; RIB, Banked air (free) to 300bar,
Nitrox, Trimix. Enjoy some of the best diving on the
South Coast, all qualifications welcome.
www.sovereigndivers.co.uk
(65695)
Ellon Sub Aqua Club, Aberdeenshire, welcomes
newcomers and experienced divers. We dive year round
and meet on Thursday evenings. Contact
www.ellonsubaquaclub.co.uk
(65523)
Flintshire Sub Aqua Club based in Holywell, Flintshire,
welcomes new and experienced divers from all agencies.
Full dive programme. Meet Wednesdays. See us at
www.flintsac.co.uk or call 01352 731425.
(64293)

Hartford Scuba BSAC 0522, based in Northwich,

Cheshire. A friendly, active diving club. Compressor for
air and Nitrox fills. RIB stored in Anglesey.
www.hartfordscuba.co.uk
(67287)
Hereford Sub Aqua Club, is looking for new members.
Regular diving off the Pembrokeshire coast on own RIBs.
Training
and
social
nights.
Contact:
[email protected]
(69146)
HGSAC. South Manchester based friendly, non-political
club welcomes newcomers and qualified divers. Lots of
diving and social events. Family. Three RIBs and
compressor. www.hgsac.com
(68501)
High Wycombe SAC. Come and dive with us - all welcome.
Active club with RIB on South coast. Contact Len: 07867
544 738. www.wycombesubaqua.com
(69131)
HUGSAC - BSAC 380. Experienced club, based around
Hertfordshire, with RIB on the South coast. Members
dive with passion for all underwater exploration. All
agencies welcome. www.hugsac.co.uk
(63275)
Ifield Divers. Crawley-based club. Twin engine dive boat
with stern lift in Brighton Marina.Training for novices,
diving for the experienced - all qualifications welcome.
www.ifield-divers.org.uk Email: [email protected]
or tel: 01883 345146.
(64514)
Ilkeston & Kimberley SAA 945, between Nottingham
and Derby, welcomes beginners and experienced divers.
We meet every Friday night at Kimberley Leisure Centre
at 8.30pm. Contact through www.iksac.co.uk (68559)
K2 Divers, covering West Sussex/Surrey. A friendly BSAC
club, but all qualifications welcome. Training in Crawley,
boat at Littlehampton. Email: [email protected] or
tel: (01293) 612989.
(68335)
Kingston BSAC, Surrey. Two RIBs , clubhouse and bar,
active dive programme, two compressors, Nitrox, Trimix,
full training offered at all levels. All very welcome.
www.kingstonsac.org or tel: 07842 622193.
(69176)
Leeds based Rothwell & Stanley SAC welcomes new and
experienced divers, full SAA training given. Purpose built
clubhouse with bar, RIB, compressor. Meet Tuesday
evenings: 07738 060567 [email protected]
(69371)
Lincoln - Imp Divers. Small, friendly, non-political diving
club with our own RIB are looking to welcome new and
experienced divers. Contact Richard: 07931 170205.
(69383)
Lincoln and District BSAC. Active club with own RIB,
compressor and other facilities. Regular trips and training.
www.lincolndivingclub.co.uk
(69336)
Llantrisant SAC, two RIBs, towing vehicle, welcomes
new and experienced divers. Meet at Llantrisant Leisure
Centre 8pm Mondays. Contact Phil: (01443) 227667.
www.llantrisantdivers.com
(68519)
Lutterworth Dive Club, active, social, friendly. Own RIB,
regular trips. Welcomes qualified divers, any agency.
Training at all levels. Most Tuesdays, Lutterworth Sports
Centre. www.lsac.co.uk
(70040)
Mansfield & District Scuba Diving Club, SAA942,
Mansfield. Family dive club, diving and social members
welcome. Own clubhouse with licenced bar. Regular dive
trips and holidays. www.scubamad.co.uk Tel: (01623)
622130. Facebook.
(65219)
Manta Divers. Norfolk wreck & reef diving. Small,
friendly, experienced club. All agencies welcome. SAA
training. www.mantadivers.org
(64088)
Mercian Divers (BSAC 2463) Active & Friendly club.
New, experienced & junior divers welcome. Own RIB.
Based in Bromsgrove, West Midlands. Tel: 01905 773406
www.mercian-divers.org.uk
(65391)
Millennium Divers. Active, friendly club for all levels
and certifications of diver, based in Portland, Dorset. UK
diving and holidays. Club social nights
www.millenniumdivers.org
(68351)
Mole Valley Sub Aqua Club. Surrey based SDI club, own
RIB, active diving UK & Abroad, training and social
events. Trainees/crossovers welcome. Contact: 07552
498558 or email: [email protected]
(68691)
Monastery Dive Club (Dunkerton Branch). New divers
welcome to join our club. Trips to Plymouth and NDAC.
GSOH is a must. South Wales area (Crosskeys, Risca.)
Please text me: Flinty 07971 432803 or email:
[email protected]
(65305)
Nekton SAC. Based in Bromley, we are a friendly and
active SAA Club that welcomes experienced and new
divers alike. [email protected] or call Steve: 020 8467
4599.
(68387)
Nemo Diving Club. Small friendly dive club offering dive
trips and training for non/experienced divers in Retford
and surrounding areas. Contact: www.nemodiver
training.co.uk
(69640)
North Glos BSAC 80. Friendly, active club welcomes new
and experienced divers. Own boat and equipment with
weekly pool sessions, Thursdays, 8.30pm at GL1
Gloucester, (Gloucester Leisure Centre). www.nglos.co.uk
(68483)
North Wales Sub Aqua Club. Llandudno based and open
to new and experienced divers. Fun, friendly and active
SAA affiliated club. Training every weekend.
www.nwsac.wales
(70685)
Nuneaton. Marlin BSAC welcomes experienced divers
to Pingles pool every Thursday. Active training, diving,
social programme in a flourishing club with no politics
allowed. www.marlinsac.com
(69322)
Orkney SAC. Small, friendly active dive club, based in
Kirkwall, welcomes divers of any level or club. Own RIB
and compressor. Contact Craig: 07888 690 986 or email:
[email protected]
(69735)

Preston Divers SAA 30. The friendliest dive club. Come

and meet us at Fulwood Leisure Centre, Preston on
Monday nights between 8.00pm - 9.00pm.
www.prestondivers.co.uk
(64198)
Reading Diving Club. Experience the best of UK diving
with a friendly and active club. All welcome. Tel: 01183
216310 or email: [email protected]
www.thedivingclub.co.uk
(69447)
Richmond (Surrey) SAC welcomes new and experienced
divers to join our active diving, training and social
calendar. Meet Mondays 8.30pm at Pools on the Park,
Richmond. Tel: 07825 166450 (Gemma) or email:
[email protected]
(67103)
Robin Hood Dive Club. Yorkshire based and one of the
most active in the country with a full 2016 calendar of
trips. All agencies and grades welcome. No training or
pool, just a growing bunch of regular divers.
www.robinhooddiveclub.com or find us on Facebook.
(59245)
Rochdale Sub-Aqua Club. Beginners and experienced
divers welcome. Full training provided. Pool session every
Wednesday. Club has two boats. More info at
www.RochdaleDivers.co.uk or call Mick 07951 834 903.
(65103)
Ruislip & Northwood BSAC. Friendly, active club, RIB,
welcomes new and qualified divers. Meets Highgrove Pool
Thursday nights 8.30pm. www.rnbsac.co.uk Tel: 07843
738 646 for details.
(69469)
Scotland Plug Divers. Small, friendly dive club welcomes
newly qualified and experienced divers to join us. Regular
hardboat diving around Bass Rock/Firth of Forth/
Eyemouth and trips abroad. Tel George: 07793 018 540.
Email: [email protected]
(64638)
Selby Aquanauts SAA 1117. Family friendly club,
welcomes new and qualified divers. Regular trips UK &
abroad. Meet every Thursday, Albion Vaults, Selby at 9pm.
Contact Mark: 07831 295 655.
(69261)
Sheffield BSAC36. Friendly, social and active dive club
welcomes newcomers or qualified divers. Trips, socials,
weekly pool and club/pub meetings, club RIB. See
www.bsac36.org.uk
(69191)
Slough 491 BSAC; small friendly club welcomes divers
at all levels. Meet at Beechwood School Fridays 19.30.
Diving holidays and South Coast. Email: [email protected]
or tel: Tony (01344) 884 596.
(69722)
SOS Divers (SAA 263), Stourport, Worcestershire.
Founded 1979. Friendly family club welcomes qualified
and trainee divers. Own RIB. Contact Althea by email:
[email protected]
(57542)
South Coast Divers (SAA 1150) Portsmouth. A friendly
and active club welcomes new and experienced divers
from all agencies. Email: [email protected]
or call Darren: 07449 794 804.
(69224)

South Queensferry SAC, near Edinburgh. Two RIBs, gear

for hire. Pool training during the Winter; trips &
expeditions in the Summer. Pub meeting at Hawes Inn.
Call Warren: 07980 981 380. www.sqsac.co.uk (64861)
Steyning Scuba Club, West Sussex. All divers welcome.
Steyning Pool , Monday evenings at 8.30pm. Contact
Andy Willett on 07786 243 763. www.seaurchin
[email protected]
(63956)
Sutton Coldfield SAC, friendly BSAC club, welcomes all
divers from trainee to advanced. All agencies. Own RIBs
and compressor. Meet every Wednesday, 8.15pm at
Wyndley (3.4m pool). For free try dive call Alan: 07970
573638 or Mark: 07787 106191.
(64974)
The Bath Bubble Club SAA777 seeks new members. New
and qualified divers of all agencies welcome. Weekly pool
training, every Wednesday at 9pm, Culverhay Sport
Centre, Rush Hill, Bath. Regular diving programme from
club RIB. www.bathbubbleclubuk.co.uk
(68429)
Totnes SAC (Devon). We are an active multi-agency club
and welcome new members and qualified divers from all
organisations. Two RIBs and own compressor/nitrox, plus
club 4WD. Diving all round South Devon and Cornwall.
Visit www.totnes-bsac.co.uk for details.
(68319)
Wells Dive Group. Friendly, active club in Somerset
welcomes new or experienced divers. Meeting/training
at The Little Theatre or the pool on Thursdays, try dives
available. Regular RIB diving, trips around the UK and
abroad. Visit: www.wellsdivers.co.uk or Tel: Rob, 07832
141250.
(69653)
Wiltshires newest Scuba Diving Club - JC Scuba Dive
Club. Friendly active dive club based in Swindon, all
affiliations welcome. Pool sessions, UK & Worldwide
trips, shore, boat & liveaboard diving, regular socials.
Affiliated training school, fully insured. Exclusive member
benefits. www.jcscubadiveclub.co.uk
(68279)

WANT TO
ADVERTISE
YOUR CLUB?
Email:
Jenny Webb,
[email protected]

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DIVE CENTRE DIRECTORY

FACILITIES
INCLUDE:

BSAC School

PADI Training

SSI Training

Cylinder testing

Regulator servicing

Equipment for hire

IDEST approved

DAN Training

Dive boat charter arranged

Compressed Air

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Technical Gases

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NORFOLK

HAMPSHIRE

PORTHKERRIS DIVERS
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TR12 6QJ. Tel: (01326) 280620. www.porthkerris.com
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62 Whiffler Road, Norwich NR3 2AY.

Tel: (01603) 485000. E-mail: [email protected]
www.scuba4me.co.uk Open: Mon-Sat 0930-1800. Dive
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IANTD
DAN

DAN

IRELAND

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DAN

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CORNWALL

DAN

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ENGLAND

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WEST SUSSEX

OCEAN VIEW DIVING SERVICES

DAN

DAN

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TO ADVERTISE IN THE

LEICESTERSHIRE

DIVE CENTRE
DIRECTORY

STONEY COVE
THE NATIONAL DIVE CENTRE

DEVON
DIVERS DOWN
139 Babbacombe Road, Babbacombe, Torquay TQ1 3SR.
Tel: (01803) 327111. Fax: (01803) 32463.
E-mail: [email protected]
www.diversdown.co.uk Open Mon-Fri 1000-1730; Sat
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Leicester, LE9 4DW. www.stoneycove.co.uk

www.underwaterworld.co.uk Sales & service: (01455)
273089; The Dive School (PADI 5* IDC): (01455) 272768;
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AGGRESSOR FLEET

DORSET
IANTD

The Pier, High Street, Swanage, Dorset.

Tel: (01929) 423565. Mob: (07977) 142661.
E-mail: [email protected]
www.diversdownswanage.co.uk Open 7 days a week
during the dive season. The UKs oldest dive centre.

DAN

DAN

MERSEYSIDE
WIRRAL SPORTS & LEISURE
164-192 Cleveland Street, Birkenhead CH41 3QQ.
Tel: (0151) 666 6629.
e-mail: [email protected]
www.wirralsports.co.uk Mon-Fri 0900-1730; Sat 09001700. Air to 300bar. Diving, watersports, mail order and
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IANTD
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ADVERTISERS INDEX

DIVERS DOWN SWANAGE

DAN

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41

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42
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15/17/19

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DEEP BREATH

Time to review the way

we set up our equipment
We dont always bother to analyse
the effectiveness of our dive-gear
layout unless we add a new bit of
kit, says instructor DR DAVID LISK,
setting out the principles that guide
his approach to kit-configuration

ITH THE VAST ARRAY of dive-gear on

the market, its unusual to find any two

divers using identical set-ups (unless
theyre following DIR/Hogarthian principles). There
are however a number of basic principles that can
be applied to anyones set-up in particular layout
and configuration of regulators and supplementary
hoses, and the attachment of other ancillary items.
Divers who have qualified and gained experience
may wish to develop their diving skills, for example
by using nitrox, or undertaking more adventurous or
deeper diving. Its at this stage that additions to, and
configuration of, the basic kit needs thought.
Adding a pony cylinder is one option many sports
divers consider at this stage. This often requires a
rethink as to how hoses and gauges are configured
and positioned.
So what needs to be taken into account when
configuring a scuba set-up or adding a pony? The
additional kit consists of the cylinder itself, a method
of securely attaching it to the divers equipment,
first- and second-stage regulators, a pressure gauge
on a hose and a clip/attachment for the regulator.
The set-up should be kept as streamlined as
possible. This involves locating gauges in easy-toread positions, and keeping the extra regulators in
accessible places, free from risk of entanglement
and allowing easy identification.
A pony cylinder is usually attached
to the diver by clamping it to the
main cylinder. The aim is to keep it as
close to that cylinder and the back of
the BC as possible to keep the
configuration streamlined. Adding a
pony set-up can increase drag by up
to 10%, research shows.

THE MAIN SECOND STAGE runs

from the first stage to the divers right side, as does
the drysuit inflator hose. The BC inflator connects as
usual to the inflator feed on the left side.
The high-pressure gauge for the main tank is
taken to the left side along with the octopus
regulator. Routeing the alternative air source to the
left means that it is correctly orientated to allow
another diver to breathe from it in a face-to-face
position, or to swim alongside on the left of the
donating diver. If a pony is to be added, its

98

positioned on the divers right, with the pressure

gauge and regulator hose running to the same side.
If required, the diver can breathe off the pony
regulator in the same fashion as the main regulator.
The diver now has three regulators and two
pressure gauges that need to be positioned and
distinguished from each other. There are a number
of ways of doing this.
In my set-up, my octopus is yellow with a yellow
hose. The primary regulator is wound with a green
hose protector and my pony regulator retains its
standard black hose.
The main tank pressure gauge is incorporated in

the BC with a steel karabiner. Additional regulators

can be clipped to the BC or wing set-up, but they
should be releasable simply by pulling on them.
I favour the method whereby additional
regulators are stored below the chin with a
necklace-style lanyard. This is made up from hollow
latex surgical tube (my dive-shop stocks it).
I attach the lanyard to a mouthpiece-holder that
allows the regulator to be held in place but comes
free when pulled on.
Both the lanyards for the octopus and pony
regulators can then be placed around the neck, in
easy reach throughout the dive. I find that having
the additional regulators in mouthpiece-holders also
reduces the chances of them freeflowing when
back-rolling off a RIB.

MOST DIVERS REQUIRE additional kit such as a

Pictured: Pony tank clamped to main cylinder a green

hose-protector distinguishes the main regulator.
Below left: Torch with bolt-snap and cutaway rubber
connection. Above: Back-up reg, with surgical-tube lanyard
attached to the mouthpiece-cover and worn around the neck.

a double console while my pony-cylinder gauge is a

single unit. Both gauges are fed under my arms and
clipped above waist level to ensure that they can be
easily read at all times, the main one on my left and
the single pony gauge on the right.
Its important that the regulators are located
where they are accessible both to me and to other
divers who may need air in an emergency. Im always
surprised to see divers stow an octopus where they
or their buddy would have difficulty accessing it.
In some cases the hose is captured and clipped to

knife, compass, torch, reel, SMB, slate, computer, flag

or camera. Some also take back-up kit, such as a
spare mask and an extra torch. Thought needs to be
given to where each item will be located, keeping in
mind the principles of streamlining, accessibility and
minimising the risk of entanglement.
Most BCs have pockets that can store reels and
masks, and some have a dedicated SMB pocket.
Knives, traditionally attached to the leg, are now
available to fix to the BC, the arm or a hose.
Where equipment such as a torch, reel or camera
is to be clipped to the diver, it should be capable of
being cut free should it become entangled and trap
the diver. Direct metal-to-metal connections should
be avoided. There should be a weak link in the form
of a lanyard or rubber connection capable of being
cut to release the item in an emergency.
Use bolt-snaps to clip on items. The advantage is
that they have to be physically
operated to make a connection,
unlike the carabiner-type of clip
which can, unknown to the diver,
accidentally clip to a rope or line. The
bolt-snap should be big enough to
allow operation when wearing gloves.
Why not examine your own setup could it be more streamlined? Are
gauges and extra regulators close to
hand? Is equipment attached with the correct type
of clips, and can attached items be cut free easily if
required?
Its a good idea to practise, in the pool or shallow
water, the deployment and restowage of any new
items and to become familiar with any changed
configuration of gauges or regulators.
Most divers have settled on an equipment set-up
customised to their own requirements or taste but
paying attention to these basic principles could
make your diving that much safer.

THERE ARE LOTS

OF HAND SIGNALS
IN DIVING
WHEN IT COMES
TO YOUR HEART,
THIS SHOULDNT
BE ONE OF THEM
Book an appointment with a healthcare
professional or diving doctor and check
that your heart is up to it.

FIND OUT MORE AT RNLI.ORG/DIVESAFE

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea
Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a charity registered in England and Wales (209603)
and Scotland (SC037736). Registered charity number 20003326 in the Republic of Ireland.