Scuba Diving MagazIne - The magazine divers trust! Featuring in-depth scuba equipment comparative reviews, dive travel destination reports and feature articles on diving environment, aquatic life, diver nutrition and health.
The magazine serves as a ‘Consumer Reports’ for divers. Their gear recommendations are top notch; but more importantly they stress good technique and training. Their “Lessons for Life” column, where they detail the anatomy of a diving accident, is very useful in keeping divers focused on the fact that although diving is a heck of a lot of fun, it also carries with it some substantial, but mostly preventable, risks.
If you dive at all, you need to be reading this magazine. … However, like EVERY dive publication, I wonder if they can’t keep from raving about any dive destination enough. It makes me wonder if the dive destination (especially the Cayman Islands!!!) isn’t paying the reporters’ way. Trust them for gear, technique, and lifesaving tips. Verify the vacations.
US Divers looking for tropical fish, reefs and seaweed wraps don’t have to fly off to Fiji - not when there are scuba and spas a couple of hours south of Miami.
The Caribbean is a fail-safe diving destination, thanks to its warm, crystal-clear water, colorful marine life and mix of reefs and wrecks. The islands also cater to upscale travelers and honeymooners, so many properties offer full-service spas, fine dining and other luxuries. What’s tougher is the flight-time restriction, since some Caribbean islands require two plane changes or hours-long layovers (Tortola, for example). But in many cases, you can be in the water by afternoon or early evening. Below are Butler’s recommendations for dive-and-indulge destinations and resorts:
- The Little Palm Island Resort and Spa (1-800-343-8567, www.littlepalmisland.com) sits on the five-acre, private Little Torch Key, a three-hour drive south of Miami’s airport. The resort has a swank spa, dining and dives to the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary and nearby wrecks.
- In the British Virgin Islands, Butler recommends Peter Island Resort (1-800-346-4451, www.peterisland.com) on Peter Island, which is accessible from Tortola by ferry, helicopter or the resort’s private yacht; and Little Dix Bay (1-284-495-5555, www.littledixbay.com) on Virgin Gorda. On Peter Island, divers flock to the RMS Rhone, a British mail steamer wreck where the 1977 film “The Deep” was made. Virgin Gorda is known for its reef diving and the Chikuzen, a 246-foot Korean refrigerator ship.
- On Grand Cayman, choose from more than 159 dive sites - or a full menu of spa treatments at the Westin Casuarina (1-345-945-3800, www.starwoodhotels.com). Butler says Grand Cayman has the world’s best wall diving, which allows divers to swim along the dramatic reef drops and feel suspended in the deep blue.
- The B and C of the ABC islands (the A is for Aruba) are good picks because of their diving reputations, and because they are situated on the southern end of the hurricane belt (so they are less likely to get hit by a storm). Bonaire, in the Netherlands Antilles, has numerous diving resorts, including the Harbour Village Beach Club (1-305-567-9509, www.harbourvillage.com), which offers low-key luxury. Scuba fans enjoy the Bonaire Marine Park, and reef and shore diving. On neighboring Curacao, the Habitat Curacao Resort (1-800-327-6709, www.habitatcuracaoresort.com) has “house diving,” which involves a dock and a long guide rope. Guests can dive the reef 24 hours a day, with tanks available around the clock.
STLToday
Since my site here at the Dive Herald is so new - I decided to hop out on the net to see what other underwater bloggers I could find in the blogosphere… lo and behold they’re out there alright - here’s three interesting ones I’ve found on my surfing this evening:
There’s Jack at Optical Ocean who recently won a brand new Apollo AV-2 scooter at the Dive Fair at Underwater Sports annual sale. Luck seems to always shine in the opposite direction than me - congrats, Jack!
Wet Pixel is a pretty comprehensive site about diving. Good stuff!
Scuba Gypsy has some really interesting posts about the sport we all know and love so well.
These guys aren’t bloggers, but they run a decent Scuba equipment site on the web - Scuba.com . . . AND, did you know that if you put a link to their site on yours and then let them know about it they’ll give you a FREE hammerhead shark tshirt? - it’s true, I got mine in the mail last week!
Wreck Valley, A Record of Shipwrecks off Long Island’s South Shore and New Jersey - We’re always looking for fun and interesting dive sites in the US for when we’re unable to plan a full, tropical dive vacation. The US has many interesting dive sites to offer within it’s borders - and wreck diving seems to take the spotlight!
Book Description
Wreck Valley Vol II is the most comprehensive, accurate, illustrated collection of information, photographs, sketches and stories ever written about the wrecks that lie off the Long Island, New York, and New Jersey shores. This book is a completely new updated, expanded and enhanced edition of Daniel Berg’s original Wreck Valley book. Wreck Valley Vol II covers the history, legend, present condition, aquatic life and pertinent dive information on over 90 shipwrecks. This text includes over 265 illustrations comprised of 137 color photographs, 97 black and white historical images, 32 sketches, plus one map. The collection of historical photographs alone would take years of archive research to locate and would cost a small fortune if purchased separately. Many of these rare photographs have never before been published. Vol II also includes a Loran “C” List of accurate shipwrecks locations. Divers, fisherman, marine historians, armchair sailors or anyone with a general interest in history, diving or the sea will surely find this book informative, facinating and the perfect addition to their library.
Five hundred pounds of plastic explosive sent this 32,000-ton aircraft carrier to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in May, forming the largest intentional man-made reef in history and marking the inauguration of a Navy program to turn old ships into coral reefs. To meet EPA standards for sea disposal, the 888-foot carrier was stripped of oil, paint and asbestos, at a cost of $8 million. It worked: The scuttle didn’t even leave a slick on the surface. The hull of the craft now rests at 212 feet, too deep for casual scuba divers, though the higher superstructure should be fair game. You have plenty of time to plan your trip—the Oriskany won’t disintegrate for hundreds of years.
The retired U.S.S. Oriskany is now host to fish and divers. Click here to see the 32,000-ton hulk sink
UK tourist dies after scuba diving accident off Devon coast
A tourist died during ascent after diving on the wreck of the Poulmic off the Devon coast.
Richard Lewis, 57, from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, stopped breathing during a routine safety stop at a depth of five meters.
Other divers among a group of 14 diving with Aquanauts Dive Center pulled Lewis aboard their dive boat where the crew initiated CPR and called for help.
Brixham Coastguard scrambled a RNAS Culdrose helicopter to the scene of the accident and airlifted the unconscious diver to Derriford Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The accident is under investigation by the Coastguard, Devon police and Cornwall police.
Wow. I wonder what went on there? Lung expansion, perhaps? Eesh - poor guy, and his family.
