Scuba Jedi and Paradise In Fiji are happy to invite you to the best scuba vacation in the world…. you and your best friend / partner or dive buddy can enjoy the most amazing and luxurious holiday in the world.

7 Nights in the most amazing resort in Fiji – FREE…..

You and your friend / dive partner / boyfriend or girlfriend… staying in a 5 Start Fijian Bure: Enjoying and relaxing here:

Eating the most fantastic Fijian Cuccine… feasting like Kings…

Relaxing from the 9 to 5…. with spa treatment….

Happy to cover ALL activities, ALL dives, ALL Spa treatments, ALL food, ALL non-alcoholic beverages, internet, laundry. All they pay for is alcoholic drinks and gift shop items, plus tickets for 2 from Nadi to Taveuni !!!!

These are the rules of the Best Scuba Holiday

To get involved in the contest you need to loooove writing and Diving…
During your amazing stay at Taveuni, we expect you to blog your experiences and write about staying with us…. so mainly you need to be able to write about diving.

That’s why we want to be sure the winner of this amazing package can actually WRITE , DIVE and have the BEST time.

We want the winner to be someone with a great personality , generous enough to invite his best diving buddy…. and have a great, great personality.

So…

to be part of  the contest you need to write 2 Articles about Scuba Diving.

1 article about General diving … things you love about diving…
and 1 specific article about:

Why You deserve the win the Best Scuba Vacation in the world.

Each article needs to be unique, original and contain at least 400 words.
These articles need to be submitted to team@scubajedi.com

If you need ideas and inspiration about The Best Scuba Holiday in the World, check
www.paradiseinfiji.com and just imagine yourself enjoying the best

The Winner will be the best Writer… so don’t forget that to be part of this contest… you need to be write about it !

Bula from Allan & Terri in Paradise,

We want to let you know about the BEST holiday / vacation destination around.

Paradise Taveuni is our resort and it has the best of everything – great weather, excellent food, luxury bures, spectacular ocean views and water sports and the friendliest people in the world looking after you. Not only will you fall in love with Taveuni, you will fall in love with the people and their culture.

When we decided to build Paradise 3 years ago, we wanted our Guests to experience ‘Real Fiji’. So when you stay with us in Paradise, you will enjoy the ‘traditional Fijian’ ways of doing things. On arrival you will welcomed with a fresh salusaslu (floral lei) and big BULA from our team. Then you receive a chilled green coconut and refreshing towel to cool you down after your trip. Once you are checked in, we show you around the grounds and familiarize you with the resort facilities, so you don’t miss out on anything. Once you arrive at your Fiji Bure, our delightful massage girl will give you a welcome foot rub to ensure total relaxation. From then it’s up to you want you want from your holiday / vacation.

We built the 10 Fijian Bures with the Fijian architecture in mind and you will find thatched bure roofs with intricately woven ceilings. The local village of Vuna supplied the manpower and know-how for these, ensuring the bures are cool with plenty of airflow though the wooden louvers and stay cool with tiled floors throughout. With king beds in all private bedrooms, spacious lounge and modern bathroom, you cannot forget the Fiji essential – out door shower in a private tropical Garden. All Oceanfront Bures also have a Jacuzzi – perfect for Honeymooners or those who just want to relax. Each bure has a sun deck complete with Fiji Daybed to enjoy a good book or have an afternoon nap.

There is so much on offer – scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, fishing, jet skiing, boat trips, hiking tours, cultural walks, Waterfall day trips, village visits, rainforest hikes, mountain treks, wild boar hunting, horse riding, bird watching and of course there is the Oceanfront Spa, designed to relax and rejuvenate you. Don’t forget the countless deck chairs and hammocks for your enjoyment.

You will also experience ‘Fiji night’ during your stay which is a cultural day / night dedicated to the people of this island. Weave a basket with Maikeli, our local guide, which later we use to put the Fijian Feast in when it is taken from the ground. See our grounds team prepare the lovo (earth oven) and wrap the fresh meats and local vegetables and place them on the hot stones. This is then covered with leaves to lock in the heat to smoke and steam the food. During the day you can learn to speak Fijian, learn to tie your Sulu (colourful cloth) and later watch as we take the food from the lovo, were it is placed into the kitchen for service to your table. Join us for the Fijian Feast with our Guests and Managers on a long family table and get to know each other. During dinner, Maikelli will show you how to slice flesh from a coconut and tell you interesting facts about the preparation of the food.

After dinner you are invited to the Paradise Meke (dance) performance by our local staff and nearby villagers. This lively presentation gives you an insight into the culture of the Taveuni people. Family and friends of our will join you for the performance, singing and dancing. A Kava ceremony follows and you are again invited to try this local drink – if you dare.

The food is another highlight of your stay as Allan is an internationally trained Chef and insists that the menus include fresh, local, mostly organic produce. Incorporating the local styles of cooking into his more traditional methods has proved rewarding and Paradise is known to have one of the best Restaurants in the South Pacific. Dietary requirements are catered to and Allan will design a dish to meet you specifications, should you wish. Don’t forget about our Indulgent Seafood dinner! A 4 course seafood delight featuring fresh Taveuni Lobster for your mail course.

We know that your holiday / vacation in Paradise will be one of the best times you have had and once you discover the beauty of the land and it’s people, you will return again and again.

Looking forward to welcoming you to Paradise soon.

Vinaka,

Allan & Terri

PARADISE TAVEUNI

http://www.paradiseinfiji.com

Out of the way! Out of the ordinary!

Popularity: 17% [?]

So… I’ve been on land for some time and I’m bored out of my skull. Obviously I don’t have much to write about since all I’ve done is recovering from my sinus infection. Anyways; I’ve had some time on my hands and a few thoughts has passed through my head even though I’ve been trying to avoid brain activity all together. One of those thoughts was of mathematic nature. Now, when I resort to philosophy in mathematical terms it’s normally a supreme sign that I need to get something to do, not to turn into something like John Nash in “A Beautiful Mind”.

Anyways; what was going through my mind was how much my income actually was compared to what I could earn elsewhere, or rather; what I would have to earn elsewhere to be able to get for my funds there, what I get for my funds here. And this is how I calculate. I divide the compared price with my salary and then I take the price for the same thing in Sweden and multiply that with the sum from the when I divided my Egyptian wages and badabim badaboom; I’ve got the salary I’d need in Sweden to get the same value for money as I do here. Now imagine doing the same calculations compared to London, Los Angeles, Paris or some place that is really expensive…

The dive industry is not making you rich. It won’t get you a fat number account on the Caymans… (Well it did get me the Cayman number account but it’s slimmer than the book listing successful peace-negotiations in the Middle East. And I don’t even remember the PIN-code to my Cayman bank-card so I can’t use the money anyway.) You don’t earn that much on diving. It puts bread and butter on the table, but there are no extra benefits like dental or retirement funds. However my life is richer than if I would earn twice or even five times the money sitting in an office or working the floor in any plant. I don’t work to be able to afford to do what I like during a few weeks holiday. I get paid to do what I love and for me that is more rewarding than all the money I’d potentially earn from a 9-5 job.

My basic salary is 900€ plus what I get in tip and commission; around 100€/week. This adds up to around 1.300€/month. For this money I can live like a prince in Egypt and I seldom have to say: “No I can’t afford that”. On top of this I eat for free on the boat 6 days a week. If I would have the same salary living in Sweden as I do here in Egypt I would probably consider myself fairly well-off. Though, how much that would be depends on how you count. Lets just for fun make a few calculations.

To get the same amount in my bank account after tax as I get in my hand here my salary before tax in Sweden would be around 2.000€. That’s not a lot of money so here comes a few additional calculations. All of these numbers are calculated salary after tax!

If I would spend the same percentage of my funds on food in Sweden my salary would have to be better. I can go out and get myself a whole BBQ chicken with rice, salad, a coke and a smile for 7 Egyptian pounds. That’s less than 1€. If I go to Mac Donald’s I get a large size menu for 25 Egyptian pounds. That’s less than 3:50€. I can go out and have a luxury dinner at a nice restaurant and the bill will not exceed 120 Egyptian pounds. That’s less than 17€. I made a quick calculation of the top of my head that I would have to earn about 4.000€ after tax in Sweden to use the same volume of my monthly wages compared with the food prices we have here.

To have the same sized part of my pay check go to accommodation/rent my salary would have to be even better. I have an 80m2 penthouse with 100m2 balcony/roof terrace, sea view, two bedrooms and living room in an absolute prime location. I’m not sure how much one of those would cost in Sweden and of course that would depend on location, but with an educated stab in the dark I’ll put a 1.000 € price tag on a equivalent accommodation along the coast in Sweden. And then I think I’m careful. This means that I would have to earn around 6.000€ after tax for that to be the same percentage of my income.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Until recently, many people had never heard about or seen pictures of a massive floating patch of discarded plastic waste larger than Texas floating in middle of the Pacific Ocean. Victims include sea birds, fish, sea turtles, ocean mammals, and ultimately humans, creators of the “Throw-away Society.”

Kate Bradshaw, writing for Maui Time, estimates the massive floating plastic patch is twice the size of Texas:
The Great Garbage Swirl http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-i-2009-01-29-68584.113117_The_great_garbage_swirl.html

Please invest seven minutes to watch this riveting presentation concerning this deadly problem by Captain Charles Moore, who is credited with having discovered this symptom of a planet gone mad: Captain Charles Moore’s Presentation http://www.ted.com/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html

The article below, by Jacob Silverman, provides additional information, and links to numerous sources illustrating how humans have turned the world’s largest ocean into the world’s largest “landfill”.
Pacific Ocean = World’s largest “Landfill” http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm

Finally, this Wikipedia link provides detailed diagrams of how the ocean currents distribute out plastic waste into massive patches:
Wikipedia Link To Ocean Plastic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch#Plastic_photodegradation_in_the_ocean

What We Can Do:

1. Become informed. Read the above links or explore on your own.
2. Support conservation efforts toward recycling plastics.
3. Use less plastic! For example, don’t purchase water in those small bottles, which clog landfills or end up floating in the ocean. Instead, fill re-usable containers, and/or install home-based water purification systems.

This Chris Jordan photo (http://www.chrisjordan.com), showing a dead albatross on Midway Atoll, illustrates the point. Clearly seen in the decayed bird’s stomach are a plastic cigarette lighter, bottle caps and miscellaneous plastic trash.

Albatross, killed by ingesting floating plastic

Popularity: 52% [?]

“Hi, I’m Florida. I heard you were looking for some diving.”

Many divers across the Northern Hemisphere, especially in these cold winter months (as I write this, I am in shorts and a t-shirt ), are thinking, “I’m getting pretty sick of this low-visibility quarry and this dry suit.” Their diving fantasies are reaching fever pitch, imagining a place where the sun is shining, the only temperature they can find in the 30s is that of their mixed drink, and the underwater world provides rich, colorful vistas, chock full of coral and teeming with tropical fish.

Welcome to my home. Believe it or not, I am not describing the Bahamas, or even the Mediterranean. In fact, most of you reading this don’t need a passport or to spend a full day on a plane to get here.
Welcome to Florida.

Most divers know there is some diving here, and have probably heard of the Florida Keys- North America’s only barrier reef, and the third largest in the world.

What you may not know is that Florida is home to a wide variety of diving environments and attractions.
From the world famous Molasses Reef in Key Largo (great for snorkelers, too!), to 3 of the largest artificial reef shipwrecks in the world (the Oriskany, Vandenberg, and Spiegel Grove), to the excellent spearfishing of the both east coast and the Gulf Coast, we have it all.

Then there are the crystal-clear freshwater springs of North Central Florida. The next time you pick up a room-temperature bottle of spring water, imagine diving in that. With that visibility and temperature. Year round. Add in some manatees, a gentle-giant type mammal, or even some real life mermaids (don’t believe me? Search for Weeki Wachee Springs)!

If you’re a technical diver you will love the aircraft carrier Oriskany with the flight deck at a depth of 145 feet. It has a fitting home off the coast of the Panhandle city of Pensacola, near the Navy’s flight school. Or there is always the hundreds-of-miles-long Wreck Treck – a veritable all-you-can-dive buffet stretching the entire length of the Florida Keys from Key Largo to Key West.

In Florida, you can’t get farther than 100 miles from the ocean, and that doesn’t even consider any of the plethora of natural freshwater springs scattered around the state. And from snorkelers to experienced cave and technical divers, we have something for everyone.

So come on down, we’d love to have you. And bring the family- with plenty of zoos, museums, malls, and theme parks all around the state(there’s a mouse and some of his friends that are fairly popular with children who live around here) there is plenty to keep divers and non-divers alike of all ages happy.
——————-

Article Written by:

FloridaDiveTravel.com is owned and operated by Devon Grimmé, a dive instructor based in Gainesville, Florida. He has logged hundreds of dives in Florida waters, and knows the state like the back of his hand. Realizing that there was not a single place where divers could find reliable information and help for planning vacations here, he saw an opportunity to showcase his home state. Replicating the successful DiveConcierge.com model for international dive vacations, FloridaDiveTravel.com is the local expert for everything underwater in Florida. Visit our site, and visit our state!

The Ocean Awaits,

Devon

Popularity: 13% [?]

To have a sinus infection and a hero from Madrid

The boat turned the bow to the sea again and I was sitting on the sundeck thinking that I could have had use for more than a day in between the trips. I had left Marsa Alam around 1:30pm so arriving in Hurghada later the same evening there was no use in wasting time. Go directly to the Dive Pro’s local waterhole. There I got together with Henrik and a few other people in a desperate attempt to kind of socialize.

You definitely need to spend some time with people who are neither guests on your boat nor co-workers in between trips. I often think of the dive industry in general, and Hurghada in particular, as an “Upgrading Facility for Nuclear Family Waste”. Maybe it’s the only place where we, the people who does not fit into the norm of normal society can and find a space where we don’t have to be the outsiders, even be useful. For this to work there has to be others of the same kind to hang out with. The dive industry provides that, a world within the world, a society outside society that accepts the outcasts.

I knew that I’d have the chance to sleep in the morning so there was no panic to get to bed early. But you know how it is when you finally get a sleep in morning… I woke up at 7am and could not get back to sleep to save my life. I got up and since I had some stuff to do I got started right away.

Hisham (owner of the liveaboard boat) had called me the night before and told me that he’d be picking me up at 6pm so I calculated that we would be in Marsa Alam around 9pm. I then entered that information into the part of my brain that’s converting and adjusting to Egyptian reality and concluded that it was more likely to be: Picked up at 6:30pm and arrive in Marsa Alam around 9:30. At 9:30 we had not yet left Hurghada. That’s actually about the time Hisham decided that getting the car washed before getting out on a 3 hour drive through the dusty desert would be a good idea. Now we could finally get on our way into the arid region. Luckily I was alone in the back seat so I could stretch out and sleep.

As sure as last time was a track record this time was not. We stopped at every little village on our way to pick up this or leave that or to just stop for God knows what reason. Though I was still comfortably spread out in the rear I started to feel like I could have taken a taxi on my own just to be sleeping in my cabin on the boat already. Finally we drove into the port area around 2am. The guests were already vast asleep so without further postponement I hit the sack to get a few hours of rest.

So, there I’m sitting on the sundeck looking at the sea trying to figure out what to do about my sinus infection that keeps bugging me and make my ascends scrutinizing painful. I’ve made three dives on this first day of the safari whereof one being a night dive and I can not remember that I’ve ever been in such pain before. This including the time I broke my collarbone, the time I stepped on a nail and got my foot penetrated right through and the time I busted my eardrum during a stupid apnea attempt in Greece. It’s not only that I’m supposed to dive when I work. I also miss two out of three dives on Little Brother Island. This is annoying as it’s the dives I love the most in Egypt. Well… Gray reef sharks, Silky sharks and a Hammer head shark on the first, and for me only, dive has to count as a good day on any report…

Next day we dive Big Brother Island. There are two wrecks on the north tip of Big Brother; The Aïda and Numidia. Of course I’m still not fit for diving in the morning so I miss also the dive on Aïda. I do get in the water for the second dive. The wreck of Numidia but as my head is about to explode on the way up I decide that it has to be dry duty for me for the rest of the safari. When I get back to Hurghada I’ll get an appointment with a specialist doctor to get some proper treatment. This can’t go on. Bearing in mind that I’ll make the same trip the week after next and then next again and again, there’ll be plenty of opportunities for me to dive those sites then but it’s boring to sit on the boat waiting… On the same token; I’m used to accept and deal with boring situations, hence I take the opportunity to write this Status Report during those unwelcome breaks.

The weather conditions won’t allow us to go to Daedalus Reef. Instead we head towards Elphinstone for our forth day. Obviously we (the staff) know that the guests will be happy with the dives there since it’s an extraordinary dive site with corals in extremely good condition and sharks to meet any requirement. Although, as long as the dive magazines back in Europe keep writing about the diving in the deep south of the Egyptian Red Sea, people will come here with their minds set on a certain route whish they’ve red about. Then it might be hard to convince them that this is a better option. Still, if you’ve got the gift of making people believe that it’s actually their idea and their decision… then you’re home safe… Present and plant the right facts that can only lead to one suggestion and that’s the suggestion that’ll come up. Result: “Ok, so you’d rather go to Elphinstone? No problem! If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get”. Badabim badaboom… Bob’s your auntie… Everybody’s happy!

I’ve already been up for a while when we moor up to Elphinstone around 6am. I’ve had my coffee, made the map for the briefing and knocked on the cabin doors to wake the guests up. Everybody is sitting on the upstairs sundeck and the sun is quickly mounting the slight overcast of the early morning. An Oceanic White Tipped Shark comes cruising around the boat, then one more, and another one. All three of them comes up close to the dive platform as to say “Good morning and welcome to Elphinstone. We’ll make sure you’ll have a pleasant dive.” And I know that I’m not going to get into the water because of a stupid sinus infection.

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who can dive and those who can not dive. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with certification. One of our guests is Rafael. He belongs to the latter category. On land he’s as sweet as can be. In the water this guy is a nightmare! First of all he’s got absolutely no buoyancy control. He weighs around 110 kg (a wild but respectful guess) and measures around 170cm tall, the type of person that’s easier to climb over than to run around. He’s wearing 14 kg of led and a 3mm full suit. He can’t get off the surface but he can’t stay up. When he deflates his BCD (and finally stops fining up) he shoots to the bottom, back first, and crash-lands like JAS 39 Gripen, then he’s rolling around on the corals like caterpillar. When he finally finds his inflator he inflates and rockets back to the surface. All this he manages to do during the first few minutes of the check-dive the first day. Second dive is similar even though both I and Hisham had a talk with him and his buddy about weights, buoyancy and preserving the marine life. Result: Rafael is not diving, at least not on the walls where we don’t have bottom on a lifesaving depth. Most of the dive sites on this trip you end up on near to 1.000 meters if you persist to go all the way to the bottom. We take him for a dive a day; one-on-one-style on merely DSD-level just to give him the chance to see some of the Red Sea Wonders but it’s an ordeal bordering unfeasible proportions. Rafael is a CMAS*** diver with 160 dives under his belt. Knowing that, you don’t really expect any problems from him. Maybe with the exception that he might want to go a bit too deep.

However, Rafael is like a big Teddy bear, the nicest person you’re ever likely to meet and he’s totally ok with our decision not to let him dive the more challenging dives. I would like to meet the instructor who certified Rafael as a CMAS***, even as a CMAS* actually. I often hear from CMAS divers how PADI is an organisation that spews out crap divers that are dangerous for themselves and others. Well… Yeah… What ever… On top of all this Rafael managed to fall down the stairs on his way to his cabin, bang his head in a doorpost so bad that he almost passed out plus getting a stomach infection so bad the last day that we had to go back to shore before we had a chance to make the last dive to get him to the hospital. For a while I was convinced that unfortunate Rafael had boarded our boat to die. Well, he survived but I think it’s safe to say that this was not Rafael Cordoba Almela’s week.

Even when he wanted to buy some T-shirts as presents for his kids we didn’t have them in the right sizes… I almost started crying! One good thing happened to him during this eventful holiday. The topic of Champions League came up and different guests supporting different teams were debating which team was the best and all the usual football crap. Rafael was sitting silent and calm for a while and then he went to change his T-shirt… Coming back with “Real Madrid – 29 Victories” all over his impressing wide chest and a big smile all over his equally impressing wide face. The saloon went quiet. Then and there, Rafael was my hero.

All in all we’ve had a wonderful week and a rather dramatic last surface interval. When I get back to Hurghada I’ll go to a specialist doctor to get my sinuses taken out and replaced with brand spanking new oil-filled-titanium-computer-guided-artificial-ones…

O.A.O.
Samaka

Popularity: 10% [?]

Trelleborg AB is a multinational industrial company based in the town of Trelleborg, Sweden. Historically they produced a variety of rubber products; including tires, boats and assorted leisure goods. However, these products are now available far cheaper from Asia and so Trelleborg, instead, focuses on advanced products such as protective suits, high-pressure vaults, and specialised tubes for submarines and airplanes. From their own History page:

Trelleborg products are found in a wide variety of contexts worldwide. They seal, damp and protect, both in everyday settings and under extreme conditions.

A Viking wearing a Viking: Robert Hedin, Commercial Diver

If, like my friend Rob, you are a commercial diver (or indeed a hazmat, military, fire & rescue or law-enforcement diver), then you will likely be intimately familiar with at least a couple of Trelleborg’s range of Viking Drysuits, as these are now the industry’s standard. They are impermeable, durable suits that can be used in a wide range of environmental conditions where there exist set standards for safety—they are extremely abrasion-resistant, will protect a diver from any contaminants in the water and can be easily washed down and decontaminated afterward.

If, on the other hand, you are simply diving for pleasure and not intending on exposing yourself to any toxic waste, you should still be aware of the existence of vulcanized rubber suits^*, particularly those with the Swedish Viking brand and specifically their old Sport and new ProVSN drysuits. The EPDM rubber of these suits is amazing stuff. If you cut one of the suits across its seam, you will see that there is actually no seam: the manufacturing process bonds the two separate layers so that they become one, which for you and I means… no leaks!

Viking Sport Drysuits

During the 1980’s Trelleborg introduced their Viking Sport drysuit, aimed at light technical and recreational divers. Although similar in appearance to their red and black commercial siblings, they are made from a lighter-weight rubber. These are no longer in production but can be purchased reasonably cheaply secondhand and, unlike crushed neoprene suits from the same era, will require little repair beyond new neck and wrist seals, if any, to get them back in action. Any repairs that you do need to make are as simple as patching the hole in the inner tube of your bike tire and can even be done hastily and temporarily in the field.

Viking ProVSN Drysuits

Towards the back end of 2009 Trelleborg released their new Viking ProVSN drysuit. I can’t say enough good things about these suits. The armatex nylon layers that sandwich the rubber central layer are stretchy and create a great-looking, comfortable suit that is available in front and back entry versions, with a variety of customisable features. Perhaps the only drawback of the suit is that the outer layer is permeable and so it is “problematic to decontaminate”—for most though, that is unlikely to be a problem.

What’s this about The Vulcans?

Vulcanization is a process best explained by someone else! So here is a link to a Google search: What the hell is vulcanized rubber?! The process makes rubber more durable and as far as a drysuits go this is great news; not only are vulcanized rubber suits incompressible (and so do not become less buoyant with depth) but they are also extremely hard wearing.

Who doesn’t like to see fellow human beings wearing rubber (or is that just me?)

Popularity: 13% [?]

When someone finds out that I photograph sharks for a living, they invariably ask two questions: Have I ever been bitten and where is the best place to dive with sharks.

I’m pretty good at answering the first question: “No, I haven’t. In fact, most sharks want nothing to do with me. I have to hold my breath and avoid eye contact just to get close to them”.

This often leads to a period of confusion and disbelief followed by a funny look of disappointment. Then they generally walk away nursing their shaken preconceptions. I can’t be sure but I think a lot of them are thinking; what does he know? He just photographs them. I’ve seen Jaws. This guy is an idiot.

The second question is vastly more difficult to answer because I have never been able to decide where the best place to go shark diving is.

It really depends on your expectations. Do you want to see lots of sharks or just big sharks? Great white shark encounters at Guadalupe Island, South Africa or Australia can be pretty amazing.

But, beyond Guadalupe there are so many outstanding shark dives. There is Cocos Island off the coast of Costa Rica where scalloped hammerheads school in their hundreds and where other omnipresent species like silky and Galapagos sharks cruise above every reef top. Then there is Tiger Beach in the Bahamas where tiger shark and lemon shark sightings are virtually guaranteed. Fish Rock in Australia is high up on many diver’s bucket list due to its colorful wobbegongs and squadrons of grey nurse sharks. And what about the whale shark spots at Ningaloo, Holbox, La Paz, Utila and elsewhere. There are also chumsicle feeds in the Bahamas, wild rides through the entrances of current swept South Pacific atolls packed with reef sharks and places where you can wrestle with an ocean full of spiny dogfish sharks. You see the problem. There are simply too many amazing choices.

I generally try to gauge my audience’s interest level before launching into a monologue about all the different encounters they could enjoy. Some people are just vaguely curious but others want to know all the details. If they really want to talk about sharks I don’t hold back. Sometimes I can see the excitement building behind their eyes. Those people walk away not just with information but with plans and if I can be the catalyst that leads to their first shark encounter then I will sleep well because I’ve never met a shark diver that didn’t want to help protect sharks and in the 21^st Century, sharks need all the help they can get.

Unfortunately, I can’t talk to everyone personally so if your interest is starting to peak I have one bit of advice; don’t worry about Jaws materializing out of the abyss at the first sign of blood, become a shark diver. Once you spend some time in the presence sharks you’ll soon develop a new appreciation of their intelligence and grace. And then after a few years (once you’re as addicted to shark diving as me) get back to me on that second question and tell me where the best place to dive with sharks is.

For the sharks,

Andy Murch

Popularity: 8% [?]

PUT SEA TURTLE FLYING OVER SANTA ROSA WALL HERE

All sea turtle species (green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerghead, and olive ridley) are officially classified as either “threatened” or “endangered.” They are in trouble for many reasons. One is natural predators: Turtles are menu favorites for tiger sharks, and hatchlings are devoured by sea-birds as they scamper across the beach seeking safety in the waves.

Hawksbill Turtle Flying Over Santa Rosa Wall

But their most significant threat is from earth’s number one apex predator: humans. Coastal development destroys nesting and foraging habitats. Shore lighting confuses turtles’ navigation ability, since they rely on moonlight and starlight. Commercial fishing gear (gillnets, baited long-lines, trawl nets, etc.), kill thousands of turtles every year as wasted “bycatch.” Finally, tens of thousands are taken directly by humans annually for eggs, meat, and decorative jewelry.

For more about threats to sea turtles, visit this link:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/threats.htm

Sea turtles have been called “Ambassadors of the oceans” because these world-wide travelers migrate thousands of miles during their long, estimated 80-year, life spans. Since they cross both coastal and deep sea environments on their journeys, they are an important indicator of the ocean’s health. Females return to the same beach on which they themselves began their perilous life, to lay their eggs. Odds of reaching sexual maturity are against them: only about 1 in 1000 will survive to breed.

One of the many benefits sea turtles provide for other reef residents is food, in a symbiotic relationship. For example, this 30-second YouTube clip I shot in Cozumel shows two buddies, a hawksbill turtle and a French angelfish, enjoying a sponge lunch together. As you watch the turtle chew a chunk of sponge, one of its favorite foods, the angel fish snaps up the floating crumbs.

As divers, we feel privileged to visit these magnificent creatures in their home environment. Check out this short YouTube video and watch a friendly hawksbill spend a few moments with our lucky dive group in Cozumel.

Think back to your last dive, what could have gone wrong?  If something did go wrong would you have known exactly what to do? When was the last time you practiced diving emergency drills – has it been since your open water class 10 years ago?   The point of the exercise is to get you to think about the unexpected, a diving emergency.

Sooner or later with enough dives something will happen, it probably will be something minor but are you prepared? Consider getting some training as a Rescue Diver.

Rescue training is sometimes referred to as the “ultimate dive buddy training” because you learn to become a self-reliant, and competent diver. The main focus of training is to learn how to deal another diver in the event something goes wrong.  Remember back to your basic scuba class you were taught to “stop, think and then act”.  Did really understand the “act” part?  Rescue training will teach you the “act”: locating a missing diver, surfacing an unconscious diver and providing in-water resuscitation, getting the victim back to the boat or shore and accident management.  You also learn to be prepared for other problems, how to plan for and how to prevent problems from occurring.

Many additional skills are gained that make you a better overall diver.  For example you will become more observant of other and your “global awareness” will improve.  Recognizing pre-dive stress in others and how to best handle those situations is a key skill on the prevention side of the equation.  As your awareness increases you will understand common causes of diving incidents and more importantly, how to properly deal with them correctly.

Every diver will benefit from this training for the simple fact of understanding physical demands of rescuing another diver, especially in the ocean.  Think of your regular dive buddy, could you tow them a couple hundred yards while simultaneously providing in-water resuscitation?  Now add a little current, get the picture?

Diving is a safe and fun activity.  Serious accidents are rare, but an underwater adventure can turn to tragedy in a flash. Rescue training helps you develop an awareness to anticipate potential problems before they strike. The ability to recognize and prevent problems is a very valuable skill, one that could save a life.

So as you think back to the beginning, put yourself in the picture and ask yourself ‘If something were to go wrong am I prepared, am I confident in my rescue abilities?  If your answer is anything but an enthusiastic “yes” contact your local dive shop and get into the next rescue course.

The old saying goes:

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”

To learn more about rescue training visit www.NAUI.org and learn more about the author visit www.scubajax.com

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Teaching diving is something that I don’t often get a chance to do in this day and age, with the exception of the occasional Nitrox course. Then again, that is more theoretical- than practical application and doesn’t really include any “in water skill training”. Hence the smile on my face when I received the news that I was to teach the Rescue Diver Course and the Dive Master Course to an English girl called Ashleigh. My only concern was how I would manage to fit in the training parallel to guiding certified divers on liveaboard trips.

Fortunately we had a week on land due to lack of bookings, so the theory and confined water training was easily completed with help from Theresa (my colleague on the boat) acting as a victim. We had a great time and since Ashleigh worked as a life guard at a swimming pool, prior to coming out to Egypt, she also had some interesting input for us to pick up.

The next week we were taking a group of 13 divers from a Dutch Harley Davidson bikers club to dive the wrecks north of Hurghada plus a few days spent on Brothers Islands and Elphinstone. I thought to my self: “How difficult can it be to get these people to act as victims for an 18 year old, very cute, English girl and get the final scenarios acted out?” And as I expected every one was happy to help out. The first day on Abu Nuhas the group was diving with Theresa on all the four wrecks while Ashleigh and I was finishing the preparation training. As I had planed the whole thing we could after this have some divers go “missing” and divers popping up “unconscious”.

First dive went excellent and I have to say that Ashleigh is a dream-student who is really keen on learning this stuff as well as clever enough to understand what’s going on. We exit the water and as we are climbing up the ladder to the dive deck I see three Zodiacs on top of the reef. This is worrying because when the wind is strong from the North the waves are breaking over the reef right next to the wrecks and this to get swept over the reef is potentially very dangerous.

Due to the distance I couldn’t make out if it was our Zodiacs or if they were from some of the other liveaboards moored up next to us. This question was answered within minutes when Imad, one of our crew members, and Ian one of our guests, came speeding towards the boat. As it turns out, a massive random wave had taken, not only our Zodiac drivers; Imad and Montassar with surprise but also one from the next boat, and sent the three inflatables over the edge of the reef and landed them in a big pile. Imad was swept overboard in the pandemonium and had cut a piece of flesh out of the bottom of his foot when trying to regain his balance in addition to the control over his bumping vessel.

Ian had been the first one out of the water and had managed to stay onboard. Montassar stayed to wait for the remaining guests to resurface while Imad and the guest now were back on the boat. To be served this kind of action on a silver plate while teaching a Rescue Diver course is not common. Consequently Ashleigh got some really good hand-on experience taking care of Imad’s wounded foot. Even if you never wish for things like this to happen I have to admit I give fate at least 10 points for the timing… Excellent!

Having put this behind us together with our lunch break, it was now time for the second dive. The group headed out in the Zodiac (after a fairly explicit briefing on the subject of avoiding getting swept on top of the reef) to make the second dive for the day, this time on the wreck of the steam-sailor Carnatic.

At the same time Ashleigh and I kitted up and this time we were going to practice “Respond to Unconscious Diver on the Surface”, “Exiting the Water with an Unconscious Diver” plus “Treating Decompression Illness – Administration of Oxygen”. Everything goes according to plans with the in-water skill practicing but as we’re hanging on the surface, debriefing the dive, one of our Zodiacs are back with only one guest (Ian again) onboard… Hmmm… I look up and Montassar, who is driving the Zodiac, gives me a look that in a nano-second tells me:

“Hey Mr. Samaka, Can you come back to the boat please. We have a problem”.

I’m thinking “Huston, forget that other thing”! Ashleigh and I are both back on the platform in 20 seconds. It turns out that the poor guy (read clumsy guy) got entangled in the line while deploying his Surface Marker Buoy and got dragged to the surface from 5-6 metres with a speed way quicker than the recommended 18 metres/min. This is not a life-threatening situation but tagging along the modus operandi “better safe than sorry” we administrate oxygen. Ashleigh gets to participate in a sharp situation that we otherwise would have to act out. Even if you never wish for things like this to happen I have to admit I give fate at least 10 points for the timing… Awesome!

Diving is not a forgiving sport and we do enter a hostile environment every time we jump in the water. There is also an infinite well of more or less likely problems to scoop from.

This can include easily handled situations as cramp, badly trimmed buoyancy or simple equipment failure. The more serious problems can embrace passive- or active panic or out-of-air-situations. While Theresa took our guests for the third dive of the day, on the wreck of Giannis D, Ashleigh and I had planned a dive with a combination of skills to practice such circumstances as malfunctioning equipment and out-of-air. We jump into the water and start our descent. After a few seconds I turn to look at Ashleigh and notice a vast amount of bubbles surrounding her. She still acts unruffled and aware of the fact that her alternate air source is free flowing. Normally this problem is solved simply by turning the mouth piece down and let the membrane fall back in to the right position but this is clearly not working. Hmmm… Slightly discombobulating…

Tapping the regulator with her hand she still gets no result and as I look at her pressure gauge I see that she already lost about half of the air in her cylinder. This is not yet a life-threatening situation but tagging along the modus operandi “better safe than sorry” we start our ascent. I am holding my alternate air source up in front of her face as to say “No worries Ash. I’ve got plenty of air… for sale…” We turn her air off and practice the use of the alternate air source. To get this action during your Rescue course is of course not usual and even if you never wish for things like this to happen I have to admit I give fate at least 10 points for the timing… Blinding!

We move on to Brothers, sailing over night. The weather is not too bad and we have a smooth ride. 05:30 we wake the guest up and Theresa goes out in the Zodiac to make a current check. Considering the conditions we decide to go for a dive on the wreck of Numidia on the north tip of Big Brother. On this dive I ask Ashleigh to observe my behavior and spot small problems that might grow into bigger problems and that she take actions accordingly. Just as we reach the point to roll in and I’m asking the group: “Everybody ready?” I feel my tank fall out of the strap that’s holding it to my BCD but there is no time to fix it now so I continue: “Roll in on three then… One… Two… Three” and we all roll in simultaneously. We make a negative entry, swim down, and regroup on 5-6 metres… Before I even get a chance to turn around and see if Ashleigh has noticed my tank swinging above me she’s on it and has reattached it to my BCD. Normally I would have just taken my BCD off and fixed this myself but this time it fitted quite well with what was planned for the Rescue Course. Of course you never wish for things like this to happen, but I have to admit I give fate at least 10 points for the timing… Brilliant!

In the early morning hour the next day we move to Little Brother where we look forward to to dive with sharks. Two Oceanic Whitetip Sharks, size 180 cm, had been playing around the boat most of the night and the enthusiasm amongst the guests to get in the water was obvious. We wake up at 05:30 to beat the other boats to the north plateau, where most of the shark action normally goes on at a depth of about 40 metres.

However, the wind has now picked up to the point where the north plateau is no longer an option and the current will give us no option than to drift the north east side where the waves are breaking over the reef with such ferocity that it would be very difficult, if not impossible to get back in the Zodiac. I decide to cancel the first dive, tagging along the modus operandi “better safe than sorry”. All guests agree with me after I explain the situation and we sit down for breakfast. The wind keeps picking up and after serious consideration involving a discussion with the guests Captain Mustafa and the crew let the moorings slide and we head towards more merciful dive sites closer to land. I feel that there is no need to push our luck. The scenario that might be the outcome of diving in these conditions could be a little bit more than we desire for the Rescue Course. It’s time to leave The Brother Islands, 10 points to me for good timing.

Situations like this are exactly why the rescue course is so important. To know that you can handle potentially dangerous circumstances and make decisions according to conditions. This will make your diving safe and more relaxed. Ashleigh completed her Rescue Course with flying colours. There is no doubt in my mind that she is capable of handling a sharp situation. Maybe it’s not 100% according to PADI Standards to give credit for real incidents as oppose to acted scenarios but hey… What happens in Egypt stays in Egypt… It’s like Las Vegas… It’s like the bloody Bermuda Triangle!

You can run out of air… and die.
You can go to deep… and die.
You can ascend too fast… and die.
You can slouch on your couch… and die.
Get off the couch!!!

Samaka
Dive Instructor/Philosopher/Dirty Old Man

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