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% [?]

The pacific coast of Costa Rica is very often thought of as a place for Pelagics. This is very true and we are currently in the middle of one of out 2 whales seasons. Whilst we see dolphins throughout the year whales tend to visit specifically during 2 time periods. The first season is from December through to April, and the second season is August through to October.

There are 70 species of dolphins and whales in the world and it is estimated that approximately 25 visit the waters of Costa Rica. This is for a variety of reasons, whether they are migrating, mating, birthing or feeding, the warm waters with currents bringing plentiful food are an obvious attraction. Some of the more frequent visitors are false orcas, spinner dolphins, pan tropical spotted dolphins and the humpback whale.

One of the most prolific and recognizable of the whales species is the humpback whale which is also Costa Ricas most frequent whale visitor. With a size of up to 50ft and a weight of approximately 24 – 40 tonnes that are incredible to behold and here in Manuel Antonio we are lucky enough to see them during both seasons. Whilst not being lucky enough to have seen them underwater whilst diving, I have been lucky enough to be serenaded by them on numerous occasions. Not what you expect to hear,sometimes, the mixture of long deep bellows, and high pitched singing is eerie yet beautiful. The hardest thing when you start hearing them, especially when it is a faint sound, is communicating to your fellow divers what they are listening to as many, won’t immediately recognize the sound.

On the surface intervals and trips to dive sites we can be lucky enough to run into humpbacks, for example just 4 days ago. On our way through the park our captain noticed some spray off of the bow. It was a group of 3, 2 adults and 1 calf. They then proceeded to travel pretty rapidly away from us, but not before the calf decided to breach a couple of times. I’m sure he knew he had an audience!! Before my battery ran out  managed to get a sneaky shot of a disapearing tail!

Dolphins are also a regular visitor to the Manuel Antonio National Park and the pacific coast in general. Pretty much every afternoon we will get to see a school of the Pan Tropical spotted dolphins feeding just off of the coast. Pan Tropical spotted dolphins are one of the smaller species of dolphin and when they are feeding, they target one of their favourite foods, flying fish. Easiest way to spot a group is to watch for the brown booby birds who like to hang out above the hunt and pick off any unfortunate escapees! Diving at Cano island, which has  many whale and dolphin visitors, I have been lucky enough to dive with dolphins. One of my mos memorable encounters was at the deep sea pinnacle Veinte Seis. Hearing them throughout the dive, we headed up the down line for a safety stop. Diving offshore is always fun as you are diving in blue, blue water with nothing around. Out of the distance, a group of around 10 dolphins appeared and they took an interest in us and decided to hang out with us throughout the safety stop, which we subsequently decided to extend to around 15 minutes to enjoy their company!

As the humpback season is drawing to a close next month I need to make sure I get as many encounters as possible before the lull!

Popularity: 5% [?]

“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% [?]

I know I make a big deal about knowing what you see “down there,” studying books, knowing what fish are where, hang out with who, are in what abundance normally. And I’m hoping that all I’m doing is collecting baseline data by counting fish when I do REEF surveys, that I’m not actually going to find a lionfish, or that I’m not actually going to see something that makes me pause and say “well, that can’t be right…” But every once in a while, something like that happens.

I’ve been doing some traveling, had the fantastic opportunity to travel and dive from St. Thomas all the way up through to Miami. Dove some beautiful places that not many other people can claim to have dove – Cay Lobos for one (if you ever have the chance…GO!) and saw a huge range of species, lionfish included unfortunately, but only from Puerto Rico north (though I hear they’ve been sighted in the BVIs!). Another thing I noticed is pictured to the left. Which, as I said, made me pause.

Flamingo Tongues (Cyphoma gibbosum) are gorgeous, people can’t really argue with that. It’s pretty interesting how little we know about them. We know that they are a gastropod, or a snail of a sort; we have a good idea that they like to feed on soft corals like the gorgonian pictured above and the sea fan below; the spotted pattern you see is not the shell, but the soft mantle of the organism living in the shell; personally, I think that octopus like to snack on them as I often see the shells scattered about the openings of known octopus dens in Saba. Other than that I can find very little on what else eats them.

Technically speaking, flamingo tongues can be categorized as parasites, munching on soft corals and giving nothing in return, though not necessarily killing the entire colonial soft coral. But then again, it depends on your definition of the soft coral. If you see the soft coral as one organism unto itself, the flamingo tongue is a parasite. However, if you see the soft coral as a collection of individual tiny organisms called polyps (which it also is), then the flamingo tongue becomes a predator, killing its prey as it goes.

But that’s a debate for another time. My concern is the over-abundance of them on certain dive sites around the Caribbean. I first saw this kind of “infestation” in St. Eustatius (Statia), in the Netherlands Antilles – otherwise known the island next door to me. It was on a weekend dive trip last July (2009) and according to the dive shop it had just started a few months back. When we had visited the previous June (2008) we saw nothing like this at the exact same dive sites. I’m currently waiting on some photos for documentation and additional details.

Like I said, I spent 3 weeks diving over 1000 miles of ocean, USVIs, BVIs, Hogsty Reef, Turks and Caicos, all up the Bahamas, and no where did I see any of this – except Mona Island off Puerto Rico. From the what I’d heard from others who’d dove there more often than me, it was isolated to two dive sites (the names escape me – but 40-60 ft / 12-18m depth on the south side). These sites are where the posted pictures came from. And on doing some research, I’ve discovered they’re also having some concerns in Bonaire, enough that they’re asking divers to do volunteer surveys to track the problem.

According to an article posted on the CEII Research station in Bonaire, the problem may be traceable back to either a) loss of predators due to overfishing that caused a chain reaction and a decrease in predators OF flamingo tongues (doesn’t mention what those predators are…), or b) run off or otherwise addition of chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorous which act as fuels for algae and “disease-bearing pathogens such as the fungus Aspergillosis sydowii” which has been known to cause Caribbean sea fan mortality. Why the flamingo tongues are more apt to predate on sick sea fans I’m not sure – its not likely that the sick sea fans are less likely to be able to run from the snails. More importantly, the flamingo tongues can also help spread the Aspergillosis.

My question to the diving world is: where else is this happening? Does anyone have any information on flamingo tongue predators? What do you know?

Popularity: 4% [?]

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% [?]

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

Popularity: 80% [?]

Cano island is  on the south pacific coast of  Costa Rica. From my base in Manual Antonio it is around a 2 hour boat ride south, but that is going to reduced soon, thanks to the arrival of speedier transport.  Cano island is a national park in itself so is subject to certain rules and regulations when visiting. You have to make reservations to start with , no rocking up the day of, and even when you are there you have to check before you dive, as there are limits to only 10 divers per sight. The north side of the island is the side that is open to the public and home to a ranger station and some very basic facilities. The reef runs all around the island but there are 7 specific dive spots that are drop points for diving. Saying that, most of the diving seems to focus around 4 of the sites, specifically, Bajo, Barco, Ankla and La cueva (yes the cave but nothing like the movie!).

The south side of the island is out of bounds to visitors , but supposedly open to study etc. The idea being that the island can remain as much as possible a marine sanctuary. The rangers that live on the island are very vigilant and an excellent job, tough as it is.

Apart from Bajo, the dive sites at Cano are between 30 and 60 ft (9 and 18m) , rock reef ridges with sand patches and coral spread out as far as you can see. One thing you are pretty much guaranteed to see when visiting Cano island is sharks. At almost every dive site you will find white tip reef sites lounging around on the sand patches.  This is what draws so many people to the island. They are always photogenic and as long as you practice good buoyancy, (which is a must rule for any diver in general) they will allow you a slow approach and snapshot.  One of the best memories to keep I think….you and one of the most beautiful creatures underwater.

One of the most popular snorkel spots  is a lesser visited dive spot, El Jardin. Translated as the garden, which when you visit it you will see why. The general depth of this dive sit is 25 – 45 ft hence the popularity for snorkelers. Spread out as far as you can see is some of the most beautiful hard coral formations that I have seen.   Whilst Costa Rica does not have the soft coral forests of the indo-pacific and caribbean the garden of hard coral, different yellows and browns does look impressive. It is also home to many cleaning stations for all the different species of fish. WIth the dive being so shallow we can extend our dive time and just cruise through the garden, watching all the interactions between different creatures and fish, fascinating. On my trip there last week as we came up for our safety stop, we were given the extra treat of coming across three green turtles, checking out the bottom and feeding. The safety stop extended to around 10 minutes as we hovered above them watching. Another rare treat from Cano Island!

Thank you!

Popularity: 11% [?]

When you have been diving somewhere for a while you start to become very familiar with all of the local reef residents.

Whether its butterfly fish, angel fish, sharks!!(oohhh eehh!!) or even some of the smaller visitors e.g. nudibranchs and blennys (love those big googly eyes ) you can even start to judge depths and specific areas of the reef by seeing what is floating around. On the pacific side of  Costa Rica if you float above 30ft you start to see a lot of panamic fanged blenny which gives me an idea immediately that I’m heading towards the shallows.
And contrary to his name he does not look vampire like even though that seems to be the trend for everything right now!?

As an eager fish finder I do have my head buried in the Fish ID book on a regular basis, more so until I ma familiar with an area. Because of this I find that even if you see something you have never seen before on the reef you are able to at least pick out a family , or have a “vague” idea where in the general fish ID chain it falls.

Now one of favourite fish, and call me strange if you will because of this, is the ToadFish. I have very strong reasoning behind this so hear me out. Firstly, they are in all truths pretty bloody hard to find. After spending a couple of years diving in the carribean and listening to them “singing” I managed to find them only on 2 occasions. Secondly, their singing, which is compared by some people to the sound of a motorbike revving. And thirdly, they always look soooo grumpy! Its like the scrooge of the reef fish I think?!

When I used to live in the Carribean, I started to be able to seek out their hang outs after a while and became pretty good at finding them , but in Costa Rica, it has taken me 4 years!!! But finally….success!! My first indication that they were around was about a month ago when I heard the all to familiar to me once sound of motorbikes under the water. I eagerly began looking under rocks and looking for san chutes but alas.

Then just last week with some divers who had just finished their open water I had to do a double take because sitting out load and proud in between some rocks was non-other than a toad fish. Smaller than their caribbean cousins, the toadfish here have protruding eyes on the top of his head and was unfortunately missing one of my favourite features, the beard. Luckily one of my divers had a camera so I was able to grab a couple of quick pictures for formal ID.

I enthusiasticly was waving my hand under my chin at them and pointing, but as you can imagine, the thrill of a toadfish find is not the most incredible thing to a new diver.  I think though from my over zealous description they got the idea of how important it was. That completely made my week, and now to find the batfish ; )

Popularity: 71% [?]