Roth Regatta

Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology embarked on an underwater mission last month as they spent ten days in the Aquarius underwater laboratory as part of a study to find out how seaweed-eating fish affect coral reefs.

Image by : PMC 1stPix, on Flickr.

The team of researchers lived 50 feet below the surface of the ocean for a 10-day period from 13th September where they spent the time scuba diving and working in the scientific laboratories at the world’s only un

derwater research station.

The laboratory is located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary which is one of the most popular scuba diving destinations in the United States.

During the scuba diving mission, the scientists gathered information that can help them protect and even restore coral reefs in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

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Aqaba in Jordan is a beautiful coastal city that attracts thousands of scuba diving enthusiasts each year with its artificial reef which is home to an array of marine species such as sea horses, turtles and butterfly fish.

But, these spectacular marine creatures are under threat as beach visitors and tourists taking scuba diving holidays ignore the important litter laws.

Abdullah Momani, a 31-year-old former marine biologist and the head of the Aqaba Diving Association, has bee

n involved in several voluntary beach and sea clean-up campaigns and is concerned about the marine environment in Aqaba.

He explained: “Unfortunately, we have a problem with litter particularly after the Eids and holidays. There are soda cans, white plastic cups and plastic bags and at times you can even see diapers under the water. When I lead a group dive and see trash, I change the group’s direction to prevent them from seeing it.”

He explained that despite the volunteers’ best effort

s, visitors taking beach and scuba diving holidays are still ignoring litter laws. He added: “When you clean a dive site and return a month later, the rubbish is back. It is killing the corals. Plastic bags cover them and block off sunlight. There are species that grow by one centimetre a year. Turtles have also been decreasing.”

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An amateur diver scuba diving beneath the waters of the Bay of Tallinn, Estonia, last month found an antique merchant’s chest that sunk around eight centuries ago.

The Estonia diver was exploring the bay’s underwater beauties last August when he came across a mysterious-looking chest lying among the rocks, not very far from Tallinn’s waterfront, at an exact depth of seven metres.

Andrey Ossiptshuk found the peculiar long-lost treasure during his recreational scuba diving hol

idays in the Baltic region, Estonia’s national broadcasting corporation reported.

The interior of the chest contained yellow brass scales, several leather knife sheathes, a set of tin weights, knife handles and various 13th-century coins. All true relics from a long gone era.

And this particular find happens to be a very original treasure, as revealed by Maili Roio, an advisor at the Heritage Board who said the chest was very unique and amazingly well preserved.

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Choosing a diving destination can be a tricky decision for many passionate scuba divers because the world is full of underwater delights. During the selection process, most divers opt for crystal clear warm waters, colourful marine life and a warm tropical climate.

Some divers, however, are ditching exotic scuba diving destinations such as the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, to brave the chilly waters of Montreal in Canada, in a quest to discover some of the best fresh

water diving sites in the world.

Darcy Kieran the owner of Total Diving, explained: “Water is very popular in Quebec, when you land at Dorval you can see that everybody has a pool and you rarely see that anywhere else in the world. So people like water around here, but they just don’t think about diving because they associate diving with the Caribbean.”

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From being an activity that supports scientific research, scuba diving has increasingly become a staple activity in nature tripping and holiday destinations. It is an exhilarating activity that allows people to visit an entirely different world, to experience a different kind of thrill and to see awesome new vistas and life forms. Scuba diving affords people with a chance to see some of Mother Nature’s most magnificent sights.

Diving can be an awesome adventure, although it requires

quite a bit of physical training and skills acquisition before it can be fully enjoyed. This is not surprising since diving takes the body into extreme conditions in the deep, where it must continually battle and adjust to be able to properly perform its functions in deep water.

People who want to plunge into the deep can take lessons under licensed diving instructors in special instruction centers. This will prepare the guests to properly handle the differences between breathing and moving on

firm ground and underwater. Both the instructors and the lessons are also available in holiday destinations that offer scuba diving activities to its guests. Those interested in such lessons can just approach instructors and sign up for classes.

Aside from proper instruction, those interested must have the proper scuba diving equipments that will allow them to move underwater. These can be rented at holiday destinations by recreational divers who seldom dive. Serious divers who regularly dive,

though, might be better off buying their own scuba gear in order to get the equipment that best suit their specific requirements. These are the following:

The self contained underwater breathing apparatus, or scuba, unit is the most basic of all scuba diving gear. It allows the diver to breathe underwater even under intense pressure. It also lets divers float, hover, descend and rise with minimal effort. The unit includes a regulator, a tank, a buoyancy control device and accompanying instruments and harness. Carefully consider the specifications of unit, especially the tank, so that its size and make will let the diver stay as long and as deep underwater as he needs to be.

A snorkel is a must, too. This allows divers to breathe while still near the water’s surface, conserving the regulator tank air which will be of much better use in deep dives. A snorkel helps keep water out of the body, as well as assists in pumping air in and out of the body.

It is also necessary to have a scuba mask, to let divers see clearly underwater. This must fit over the eyes well and have a wide vision span and comfortable pads, to ensure that no seawater can seep through to ruin a perfectly good view of sea life and sea scenery.

Another basic scuba diving gear is the exposure suit, or the dry/wet suit, which also includes the diving booties. It helps regulate the diver’s body temperature by retaining the heat that the body normally produces. It also protects the body from getting cut or scraped, and serves as an additional barrier between various poisonous organisms that may be thriving in deep underwater environments.

Swim fins are also helpful tools in diving. With their large surface area, they help the diver swim and paddle freely underwater without expending too much energy.

Aside from these, other scuba gear are weights system, dive computers, dive watch, monitors and gauges, dive lights, dive knife, dive float or flag, and an underwater camera to help save the memories for posterity.

You decided to take a memorable diving trip. Now it’s time to read up on the top 5 Sipadan diving sites.

(1) Barracuda Point. This diving site gets its name from the whirlwind of different types of barracudas that you will find yourself in. This is for intermediate to advanced divers only, a site that can be explored all year long. The dive starts off with a 10 meter wall, where there is a bit of a current, meaning there’s plenty of food, therefore a high chance of seeing schools o

f various types of butterflyfish and triggerfish. You’ve got a high chance of seeing grey reef sharks hunting for food, as well as dogtooth tuna. You can continue cruising beside the wall and dropping to a max of 40 meters at your leisure. However, you should be careful with the strong undercurrent on the North side. Sipadan diving would be incomplete without the amazing tornado of barracudas, so put it on your list.

(2) The Drop Off. This is the emblem of Sipadan Island diving, just 600 mete

rs from the beach. As soon as you enter the water you will be surrounded by several hundreds of jacks and bump headed parrotfish. These will keep the ever-present “white tip” and “grey reef” sharks preoccupied. This intermediate to advanced site can also be explored at night.

(3) Midreef. As with all the other Sipadan diving sites, you should be careful about the very strong current that tends to thrust you upward. This site is famous for the amazing large green turtles that will escort yo

u along the vertical dive wall. Idly swimming beside the wall, you’ll have plenty to explore, like soft corals, navy knotted sea fans and orange gorgonian fans hanging from the ledges. You’ll also see gobies, Forster’s hawk fish and a unique type of blenny, which can only be found in the waters of the Sulu Archipelago.

(4) Staghorn Crest. If you are diving in Sipadan, then you cannot miss this amazing site, which is the photographers’ delight, with great lighting in the afternoons. You start with a moderate descent along the drop-off, followed by a steady descent lengthwise the wall. A wonderful garden of staghorn corals waits for you at the shallow end. The corals have matured to astounding proportions of 2 meters wide, at the depth of 15 to 40 meters. The fish you’re likely to come across are groupers, nudibranchs, angelfish, gobies, grunts, shrimps and triggerfish.

(5) Turtle Patch. This Sipadan diving site is suitable for beginners, with a gentle current, best known for its low calm waters and coral gardens. The main attractions are the giant turtles that eat the sponges. The reef has an amazing array of staghorn, leather and small table corals. You can also see spotted sweetlips and pufferfish, as well as lionfish and moray eels, maybe even an Asian leaffish reeling gently in the current.

Have you booked your trip yet? You need a minimum of 10 days so you can enjoy the many amazing Sipadan diving sites.

May 24, 2011. Author: Drew Collins

Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington is a very large and beautiful park; actually it’s one of the largest urban parks in the United States. At 702-acres, the park includes Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Rose Garden, Rhododendron Garden, Camp 6 Logging Museum, trails, long stretches of beach, a boardwalk, a boathouse, Fort Nisqually, an off-leash dog park, the ferry dock and terminal to Vashon Island, and most notably a stand of old-gro

wth forest. More than two million people visit it each year. The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is one of the finest in the entire northwest. The zoo was founded in 1905; the aquarium was founded in 1935, and then was relocated to the zoo in 1963.

One of the primary attractions from the cliffs above the park overlooking the sound, just south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge are Eagles, Heron, Whales, Dolphin, Sea Lions, and many other fascinating and wonderful creatures, and that is outside the

zoo and aquarium. Scuba divers find this to be an amazing location to drop in just below the surface and bear witness to much more of natures wonders.

On a recent trip to the south sound, a group of us decided to dive the North Wall. The weather was good for spring in the Northwest, cool air but calm winds, making for calm seas. Upon entry at our dive site, with very little current, less than 1/4 knot, we were greeted by a very curious Sea Lion. Although he did not make himself visible underw

ater, we knew he was there.

Typically in May and June when the water temperature increases to an average of 46 degrees, the algae begin to bloom. This year the bloom is exceptionally heavy. The emerald green waters of Puget Sound become cloudy with the bloom, resulting in very poor visibility on almost all dives through July and perhaps August. My buddy and I descended to around seventy five feet and found the visibility was much better at that depth. Although the visibility was better, the light was diminished making it much darker than usual. The algae above was blocking out most of the light. With my Canon T2i and Aquatica Housing, and our flashlights we began our dive.

The first creature we encountered was a very large Grunt Sculpin.  These are very curious little critters that are shy and a little clumsy. They don’t swim like a typical vertebrate, instead they hop along the bottom or on a rocky ledge as this one was doing. When startled, they dart away very, very quickly. Grunt Sculpins have a long snout in front, almost pig like, and on the sides their pectoral fins are not webbed like a typical fin. These fins are ribbed, allowing them to act more like feet. If a diver stays calm and listens closely, they can hear this small fish producing quiet vibrations, hence the name Grunt. Typically they have a beautiful alabaster white, and brown speckled coloring. At the North Wall, Albino Grunt’s have also been spotted. We came across an Albino Grunt Sculpin on this dive. We also witnessed a few other species of Sculpins on this dive; Long Fin Sculpin, Fringed Sculpin and Scalyhead Sculpin.

The North Wall is also home to a large number of Hermit Crabs. We must have seen hundreds in the 57 minutes we were submerged. Anemone’s, Nudibranch’s, Giant Barnacles, many species of Rockfish, and Kelp are also in abundance at this spot. The rock formations and structures are interesting.  The very soft rock wall is home to Clams that like to burrow into the rock and build there homes.  The wholes provide plenty of shelter for other small life such as Crab and Sculpins.  This was only my second dive at this particular location. I plan to return a few times this summer and will bring my camera each time. Diving the North Wall at Point Defiance Park is similar to diving at Deception Pass where the Puget Sound meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca. You can read my article about my recent dive at http://photographyunderwater.net/deception-pass-–-current-intensive-diving-beyond-belief/” target=”_blank”>Deception Pass by clicking on this link.

 

Cozumel Mexico is one of the great dive spots in the world and only 6 hours from Seattle.  I have vacationed in the Yucatan a few times, primarily Cancun, but had never taken the ferry from Playa Del Carmen across the bay to Cozumel Island, an east 40 minute trip.  Cozumel is just off the east coast of the Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and is Mexico’s largest island,  around 300 square miles, but the town with less than 100,000 residents may receive as many as fourmillion visitors ea

ch year.  Unlike Cancun, Cozumel is not a touristy location. 
In recent years some tourist shops have sprung up to feed the hunger of the cruise ship guests, but two blocks from the town center and you’re in avery quaint and a wonderful old world area.

The beach is the main attraction in Cozumel. The clear warm waters of the Caribbean are perfect for a wide range of aquatic activities from swimming, to snorkeling, to sport fishing, and finally to diving. Cozumel is also home to the second l

argest coral reef in the world which attracts divers from all over the world, and with amazing beautiful blue rich water with 100
feet of visibility on an average day anyone will cherish diving in Cozumel.

Most of the dive sites are rocky teeming with plenty of rich, beautiful Coral.  Large and small sea fans are present everywhere and the area is home to more than 200 species of tropical fish representing every color in the rainbow.  It’s simply bursting alive with huge schools of fish;

Turtles, large Surgeonfish, Barracuda, Blue and Gold Snapper, Triggerfish, Moorish Idols, bright blue butterflies, and huge Parrotfish.  I was also fortunate enough to get a shot of
a Dolphin passing by on my first visit, but that is very rare.  I have captured shots of morays; Green, Jewel and Stripped Morays.

A very appealing time to dive for me in Cozumel is twilight.  Many of the nocturnal creatures begin to hunt and present themselves for great photographic splendor.  I have taken many night shots of small to large octopus, lobster and varieties of crab.

Snorkeling is a popular activity and small underwater scooters are available for rent to
help you cover the miles of reef which make Cozumel famous. There are also numerous opportunities to swim with dolphins, manatees or sea lions.

The ungles of Cozumel can be a fun way to spend a day also.  Whether guided tour by jeep or a rugged ATV on our own, there is much to see in the Jade Caverns.  You will encounter dramatic waterfalls and ool lagoons for swimming as well as ruins from the Mayan civilization.

Cozumel s a great spot to charter a fishing boat too. The waters around the island are
an excellent spot to catch Sailfish and Blue Marlin. If fishing is not for you, there are glass bottom boats and submarines that will take you out to let you see the beauty of the area.

When I am in Cozumel I will only dive with Aldora Divers.   This dive charter company
not only has the reputation of being the most professional and the most knowledgeable, but they also provide steel 120 tanks on each dive, much larger than a typical dive company.   Everyone from Memo Aldora himself to Steve who manages the Villa, to the Dive Master’s like Javier, Raul and Liang who will take you to the best places to dive.  Palencar Reef is the main attraction on the south west side of the island.  But most other dive companies
will only dive a few of the more shallow areas repeatedly.  Aldora DM’s are so familiar with the reef; they know where to dive, even if it’s a few hundred feet north or south.  They want you to explore the less traveled, but more interesting areas.   I cannot say enough about the Aldora, they are simply the best dive company providing wonderful professional service in a
beautiful place to dive.

Dip ‘N Dive, leading US online diving gear store, has announced great offer for scuba packages designed by Scuba Diving Center instructors team. All packages will provide the best possible performance for divers needs and will fit in their budget requirements.

Basic wetsuit packages include a wet suit, boots, gloves, and hood. Offer is suitable for all divers that trying to decide which equipment options or products to purchase, depending from conditions they will be – in warm tropi

cal water or in cold water conditions, or maybe in both.

Customers can select items in each of three most popular categories: Scuba Gear Packages, WetSuit Packages and Snorkel Packages, to make the decision much easier. Chosen combinations of scuba diving packages will work properly together and give the best possible performance to eliminate customers having to try to figure out what works best with what.

Offer 15% discount off for first purchase of all scuba goods is valid for first-time n

ew customers, is non-transferable and can only be used once per customer. All the prices of dive gear equipment can be reduced up to 15 percent for all scuba brands when discount coupons will be applied and order is placed.

The offer excludes shipping & handling, sales tax and can only be applied to the first shipment of items. Discount coupon cannot be applied or combined with other coupons or offers. Dip’N Dive Scuba Store reserve the right to cancel orders when unexpected coupon system

errors occur. Customers can get discounts in all categories of Scuba Gears as Dive Masks, Scuba Fins and Snorkels, Buoyancy Compensators, Regulators, Octopuses and Diving Computers, in Scuba Diving Wear such as Scuba Wetsuits, Diving Boots, Hoods and Glove, and other products like bags, knifes, lights and endless list of accessories for everyone’s scuba diving needs.

Established 35 years ago in 1976, Dip ‘N Dive is a full service SCUBA Diving and snorkeling retail store with all the necessary equipment: Scuba Gears as Dive Masks, Scuba Fins and Snorkels, Scuba Bags and others, and Scuba diving traning and instructional center located at 500 Niagara falls boulevard Buffalo, NY. By partnering with our major manufacturers Dipndive.com carries many major brands of popular SCUBA diving and scuba dive packages, Snorkeling equipment including Aeris, Akona, Genesis, Henderson, Neosport, Ikelite, Mares, Oceanic, Princeton Tech, Sealife, Seaquest, Sherwood, Suunto, Tusa, Innovative, Zeagle and many more.

If, however, conditions are suitable for diving, you should then get all your equipment together, check that you have everything and assemble your aqualung before putting on your wetsuit.

Before entering the water you should re-examine some aspects of the plan. For example, who is going to lead the dive? The important factor here is not each scuba diver’s certification or experience, but how well a diver knows the site. Go over the standard and special signals you will need on the d

ive, the depth and time limits, the route and the emergency procedures, etc. Check that all the communication systems are working correctly (radio, telephone or mobile phone).

It is obvious that you need to agree on all of the standard signals with your buddy or group. Depending on the type of dive, there are also other signals, such as those you became familiar with on your first level course. How did you instructor tell you to “repeat the exercise”, “OK”, “the exercise has finished”,

“well done”? Other special signals can be established by knowing the exact three-dimensional route of the scuba diving. For example some of the special signals used on a wreck dive may be: “engine room”, “meeting point”, “pass from route A to B”, etc. You became familiar with various non-standardized signals during your first level course. For example, in the briefing before each dive your instructor undoubtedly showed you signals that would be used to indicate that you should perform a p

articular exercise or technique.

Making the dive

Once you are actually in the water, you must follow all the plans you made exactly. This is not always as easy as it seems, even though you probably think that it is not difficult to respect the limits you have established. This is true, and when planning the dive you also agreed on various procedures for solving possible difficulties that may arise during the dive. These procedures can be divided into two general categories: “curative” and “preventive”. Obviously preventive measures are much safer than curative ones because they prevent a situation from becoming potentially dangerous and evolving into a serious incident. In order to establish any type of procedure or action to take, it is not enough to just repeat what others do or study just the “theory” of the topic in great detail. You also need to develop the ability to foresee what may happen in a particular situation. In fact, the main difficulty lies not in identifying a risky or dangerous situation and deciding on which of the preventive procedures you had previously established to put into action, but realizing that “something is going wrong”. Doing this in a tense or even dangerous situation requires a clear head. This means the brain must be well supplied with oxygen. Therefore remember that in cases of danger or problems (either real or perceived), the first thing to do is breathe calmly and deeply so your lungs exchange as much air as possible. Do not rush into the situation, but stop and think while breathing slowly and calmly.

The worst enemies in diving are recklessness, typical of young people, or disregard of danger (not to be confused with courage, that enables you to face dangerous situations after having evaluated and understood the risks). By paraphrasing a saying from the Air Force, we can say “There are old divers and there are bold divers, but there are no old, bold divers”.