Scuba Diver November 17 - Issue 9

WIN ‘WINTER WARMER’ PACKAGE FROM FOURTH ELEMENT WORTH NEARLY £500!

BREATH-TAKING SHOTS:

MALTA TECH EXCLUSIVE:

DAAN VERHOEVEN ON THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A FREEDIVING PHOTOGRAPHER

FIRST AUTHORISED DIVES ON NEWLY DISCOVERED JUNKERS88 WARPLANE

WORLD EXCLUSIVE PRODUCT REVIEW!

AP E

KS

XL4

The Sky’s THE LIMIT Why Dorset’s AEOLIAN SKY is a favourite for South Coast divers

ISSUE 9 | NOV 17 | £3.25

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Indonesia ‣ Above 18m: Moray Firth ‣ Maldives ‣ Turks & Caicos WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

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An experience without equal “The diving and snorkelling at Wakatobi is outstanding, that’s well known. But also important is the excellent customer service of every staff member. Wakatobi can teach customer service to any industry or organization. You feel at home the first day, and it just gets better every day after that.” ~Steve and Cindy Moore

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EDITOR’S NOTE New dive gear is like buses...

NOTHING FOR MONTHS THEN TWO AT THE SAME TIME!

Even after nearly two decades in the diving industry, I always get excited as we near the end of the year, as it means that manufacturers will be unveiling any shiny new pieces of dive equipment. I like new toys as much as anyone, and many manufacturers choose to give their fresh ‘bling’ its first public outings at the Dive show at the NEC and at the massive DEMA trade show in the United States.

This year, among the raft of new products that will undoubtedly be surfacing, two stood out from the crowd, and Scuba Diver got a sneak peek at both of them, including a world-first exclusive test dive on one of them.

Apeks are renowned for their regulators, and the XL4 is sure to continue this tradition. Not only is it an extremely lightweight travel reg, but it is also cold-water rated, meaning this could be the only regulator you ever need to own if you travel abroad and also dive off our shores. I was able to secure a unit to take to Iceland, where it seriously impressed in the very cold waters of the Silfra rift.

Read my exclusive first-dive report on page 8-9.

Long-time contributor Jason Brown got his hands on a Suunto EON Core dive computer at a special preview session at Wraysbury at the end of September. The Core wraps all of the technology and appeal of the EON Steel but puts it into a smaller package, with a few cost savings on materials that means the company can offer it at a more-attractive price than its more-expensive sibling. Read his firsthand report on page 82.

MARK EVANS Editor-in-Chief

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Mark Evans Tel: 0800 0 69 81 40 ext 700 Email: mark.evans@scubadivermag.com

DESIGN

Matt Griffiths Email: matt@griffital.com

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WIN ‘WINTER WARMER’ PACKAGE FROM FOURTH ELEMENT WORTH NEARLY £500!

BREATH-TAKING SHOTS:

MALTA TECH EXCLUSIVE:

DAAN VERHOEVEN ON THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A FREEDIVING PHOTOGRAPHER

FIRST AUTHORISED DIVES ON NEWLY DISCOVERED JUNKERS88 WARPLANE

ON THE COVER

WORLD EXCLUSIVE PRODUCT REVIEW!

AP E

KS

XL4

The Sky’s THE LIMIT Why Dorset’s AEOLIAN SKY is a favourite for South Coast divers

ISSUE 9 | NOV 17 | £3.25

+

11

Indonesia ‣ Above 18m: Moray Firth ‣ Maldives ‣ Turks & Caicos

p001_ScubaDiverNov17.indd 1

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PHOTOGRAPHER: JASON BROWN

19/10/2017 09:37

REGULAR COLUMNS

FEATURES

Exclusive first dives with Apeks XL4 reg, plus 3D photogrammetry of the SS Thistlegorm.

Stuart Philpott find an oasis of marine life in the Mediterranean marine reserve of Spain’s Medes Islands, including sizeable grouper which are more than happy to pose for photographs.

8 News

30 Dive like a Pro

A panel of experts from all the main training agencies offer advice on kit maintenance.

40 Underwater Photography

Paul ‘Duxy’ Duxfield looks at the allure of different diving destinations for UW photographers.

62 Industry News

Up-to-the-minute news and information from the main dive training agencies.

98 The Zen Diver

Tom Peyton explains how to stay calm and enjoy yourself when flying around the world.

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24 Spain

34 The Maldives

Stuart Philpott and Mark Evans explain why the Bahamas is the undisputed shark-diving capital of the world, offering the chance to get really up close and personal with these mighty apex predators.

44 Dorset

Jason Brown finds himself blessed with amazing conditions when he dives one of his favourite South Coast shipwrecks - the monster cargo vessel Aeolian Sky, which lies on its side in 30m.

50 Indonesia

Underwater photojournalist Gavin Anderson is enthralled by the myriad varieties of fish life - large and small - that inhabit the nutrient-rich waters in and around Ambon.

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CONTENTS

58 FREEDIVING: Focus on Daan Verhoeven

Freediving underwater photo-specialist Daan Verhoeven takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of his world, explaining how he captures such amazing images while diving breathhold himself.

64 ABOVE 18M: The Moray Firth

The Above 18m series continues, and this month Gavin Anderson stays in his native Scotland to venture out on a shallow dive in the picturesque Moray Firth.

68 Turks and Caicos Islands

Jeremy Cuff - and his family - head out on a luxury liveaboard to dive around the Turks and Caicos Islands, encountering Caribbean reef sharks, bizarre underwater TV ‘sets’, and many other colourful species.

74 TECHNICAL: Malta

A raft of new airplane and shipwrecks have been discovered off the coast of Malta and Gozo. Stuart Philpott logs the first authorised dive on the wreck of a World War Two Junkers88 German warplane.

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GEAR GUIDE 82 What’s New

New products recently released or coming soon to a dive centre near you, including a special report on the brand-new Suunto EON Core dive computer.

84 Group Test

The Scuba Diver Test Team looks at one of the diving essentials this month - masks - focusing on products under £45.

90 Test Extra

Aqualung Explorer Roller bag and Fourth Element’s BIOMAP process.

94 Long Term Test

The Scuba Diver Test Team gets to grips with a selection of products over a six-month period, including the Aqualung Outlaw BCD.

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News

Each month, we bring together the latest industry news from right here in the UK, as well as all over our water planet. To find out the most up-to-date news and views, check out the website. scubadivermag.com/news

EXCLUSIVE FIRST TEST: Apeks XL4 regulator

Blackburn-based Apeks have redefined the regulator market, creating a lightweight travel-friendly unit that is also cold-water rated. MARK EVANS took the XL4 for an exclusive first test in the chilly waters of Iceland Photographs by MARK EVANS and BYRON CONROY

A

peks are past-masters when it comes to designing robust, high-performing regulators. The TX series was a classic, as was the ATX range, and the current XTX family is a solid favourite with cold-water divers around the world. The MTX-R pushed really cold-water performance to new extremes. And with the Flight, they produced the world’s lightest travel regulator.

However, the latter reg never quite hit the heady heights of its siblings. Yes, it performed more than adequately, and it ticked the box of being very light, but it just didn’t have the durable, bulletproof reputation that all other Apeks regulators enjoy.

The design team at Apeks have always wanted to remedy that, and with the XL4, they have created the travel regulator they intended with the Flight. When the Flight was initially being made, the team wanted it to be cold-water rated as well, but it just never came to pass. The XL4 from the outset was going to be a cold-water-rated, lightweight travel regulator, and after diving it in the chilly waters of Silfra in Iceland, I can say that they have well and truly achieved their goal. It never missed a beat, even when I breathed rapidly through it and also extensively purged it in 3-4 degrees C water. In fact, it was so good, I forgot I was diving a new regulator and not my usual MTX-R or Black Sapphire.

In looks, the second stage is reminiscent of the Flight, with a wide exhaust tee to direct the exhaled bubbles either side of your face, but the cover is very different, emblazoned with a large ‘A’ on the big purge button. It is a simple aesthetic, but it works. The first stage is completely different to the Flight, being based on the triedand-tested DS4 platform, and while being a solid metal unit, its compact design ensures that the weight is kept to a minimum.

Hose-routing is perfect, with everything falling where it should, and fully rigged for cold-water diving with primary, secondary, SPG, drysuit hose and BCD hose, it comes in at a luggage-friendly 1.90kg. Thanks to its high performance and cold-water rating, Apeks are also promoting the XL4 as an ideal stage regulator.

With its simple good looks, wallet-friendly pricing and ability to handle warm and cold waters with aplomb, while also tipping the scales at under 2kg, the XL4 is sure to be another popular Apeks regulator for both hardcore UK divers and warm-water travel divers.

Apeks XL4 (SRP: £339) FIRST STAGE

• Compact machined first stage based on the expedition-tested Apeks DS4 platform • Break-through, innovative over-moulded first-stage endcap and environmental diaphragm helps prevent ice build-up that can cause first stage freeflow in extreme circumstances, as well as protecting the first stage from impact damage • Large surface area heat exchanger diaphragm clamp helps increase the gas temperature inside the first stage, resulting in improved cold-water performance • Unique over-balanced diaphragm design – as the diver descends, the over-balancing feature allows the medium pressure gas in the hose to increase at a faster rate than ambient. This results in superior performance at depth

SECOND STAGE

• Compact and lightweight second stage improves comfort and helps reduce jaw fatigue on long-duration dives • High-performance pneumatically balanced lever-operated poppet valve • Large, over-moulded self-flushing and controllable purge button • Ergonomic venturi lever is easy to use and locate • Flexible nylon-braided hose has better cold-water performance than traditional rubber hose • Standard metallic hose connection for interchangeability • Comfo-bite mouthpiece, with re-useable mouthpiece clip that makes it simple to change mouthpieces in the field • Durable and flexible rubber exhaust tee provides excellent bubble diversion

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News The SS Thistlegorm as you have never seen her before Find out more about a luxurious holiday in one of the world’s premier diving destinations... +44 1926 421100 www.bunakenoasis.com info@bunakenoasis.com

• Luxury air conditioned cottages with sea-view balconies • Fresh water infinity pool • Cocktail bar and panoramic restaurant • Custom-built spa • PADI dive centre • Dive boats with showers, toilets and space • Dedicated camera room • Full range of hire equipment

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Seventy-six years to the day since the iconic SS Thistlegorm was sent to the seabed

by German bombers in the Egyptian Red Sea, a ground-breaking 3D virtual-reality project presented images of the shipwreck as you have never seen her before.

The website – thethistlegormproject.com – went live on Friday 6 October, and is part of a wider maritime archaeology study called Presence in the Past, which is a Newton Fund project directed by Dr Jon Henderson, from the School of Archaeology at the University of Nottingham, in partnership with Al Shams (Cairo) and Alexandria Universities in Egypt.

Visitors to the site will be able to explore the wreckage of the SS Thistlegorm through stunning 3D photogrammetry images and amazing 360 video.

The Thistlegorm, a British merchant steam ship carrying military supplies for the Allies that was sunk in 1941 during World War Two in the Gulf of Suez, needs no introduction to divers – it is one of the most-visited shipwrecks in the world – but this new project will bring it to the attention of the general public, who are able to explore the wreck through stunning 3D photogrammetry images and 360 video.

The photogrammetric survey was one of the largest-ever carried out on a shipwreck and records over seven acres of wreck through a staggering 24,307 high-resolution photos taken on 12 dives on the site (representing just 13 hours and 43 minutes in the water). As well as the outer shell of the site, its internal decks and cabins were also recorded, including its rich cargo of trucks, motorcycles, ammunition, rifles, rubber boots and more.

“The thing about underwater sites and the importance of underwater cultural heritage is that the only people who’ve ever seen it are divers,” says Dr Henderson.

“However, we are now at a point where we have the technology to reconstruct these sites. We can survey them in photo realistic detail and we can create models that people can explore and interact with form the comfort of their own homes.”

The underwater archaeological project was also one of the first to utilise 360 video.

“This was one of the most-exciting things because with 360 degree video, we can now do guided tours around the wreck, so you can actually experience what it’s like to dive it. For me, 360 video is a big step forward as it recreates the diving experience. You can get the impression of swimming over it and through the internal parts of the wreck.”

Dr Henderson continued: “The Thistlegorm is an amazing resource, it’s a remarkable snapshot in history, it’s got all this material from World War Two sitting on it and so there is a lot to learn from the wreck.

“As it’s a really popular dive site, there is a problem with the amount of divers on the site at the moment, because it’s not policed or managed. Aside from looting, the main issue we have is a lot of the dive boats that go out there are actually mooring on to the wreck itself because there is nowhere else to go. Dive boats weighing 50 and 60 tonnes are tying ropes directly onto the vessel. This isn’t such a problem for the parts of the vessel which are quite strong, but equally we have seen some boats tying on to more fragile areas, including the guns, the bridge and the railings, which can cause damage. So we need to protect these sites.

To take an underwater tour of the SS Thistlegorm, visit: www.thethistlegormproject.com

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News New look for Emperor Orion liveaboard in the Maldives

Emperor Orion, always a favourite in the Maldives, has a new look. Having listened to guest feedback, Emperor Maldives has given her a new look that compliments the great service from their experienced team of dive guides.

With a ‘facelift’ both inside and out she is brighter, lighter, fresh and ready to sail those magical Maldives dive sites. Sun and dive decks flow into spacious living and dining areas, where photos taken by guests and dive team adorn the walls to give a flavour of what awaits. Built with the diver in mind, she equally offers a welcome attraction to the non-diver. All six Emperor Maldives liveaboards offer fine accommodation and service. Included is full-board, free nitrox and local transfers. Seven-night trips start from £1,322 per person sharing a standard twinberth cabin. Prices do not include international flights. Up to four free places are on offer for group bookings. Emperor Maldives consistently offers value, variety, quality, service, professionalism, easy booking, enviable local knowledge, flexibility and fast responses to guest requests. www.emperormaldives.com

Cayman’s Kittiwake shipwreck rolled over by Tropical Storm Nate

5* PADI Resort British family run business

The USS Kittiwake, one of the most-popular dives in the Cayman Islands, has been toppled on to its port side by Tropical Storm Nate, and it is not yet known what damage, if any, has been caused to the vessel.

The 76-metre decommissioned submarine rescue vessel Kittiwake has been a top destination for all levels of diver (even snorkellers could see the upper parts of the superstructure) since it was sunk upright in 2011, but now it lies some 6m deeper, having been shifted some 18-20 metres towards the adjacent dive site Sand Chute and rolled over next to the reef.

It is not yet known the full extent of the damage caused to Caribbean dive sites by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and now it appears the first confirmed casualty didn’t fall victim to either of these monsters, but Nate as it was in the process of growing from being a tropical storm into a hurricane.

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CLEAN UP THE WORLD DAY

On 17 September, Prodivers Maldives and Kuredu Island Resort celebrated Clean up the World Day with great results. Among 14 snorkellers cleaning an uninhabited island, 15 divers cleaning the house reef and 20 hotel staff cleaning Kuredu island, they collected an astounding 50kg of garbage consisting mainly of plastic bottles, fishing lines, plastic drifting in the ocean and small bits and pieces. Ending the day in unity, everyone was welcomed for cake and drinks at the beach, thanking them for their great efforts in trying to keep our planet clean on this momentous day. www.prodivers.com

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Lumbadive PADI 5 star Harvey Vale, Tyrell Bay, Carriacou Phone: +1 (473) 443 8566 dive@lumbadive.com www.lumbadive.com

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Scuba Tech Calabash Hotel, Grenada Phone: +1 (473) 439 4346 info@scubatech-grenada.com www.scubatech-grenada.com

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News NUPG September Splash-In results MANADO

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The freshwater quarry at Capernwray, Lancashire, was the venue for the 2017 NUPG Splash-In, and on the day the group welcomed the 11 people who had registered to take part in the event. The divers were from different clubs and agencies, such as BSAC, PADI and SSI. NUPG Chairman Yo-Han Cha, Elaine White, and Caroline and Nick Robertson-Brown then had a very busy day giving advice on how to take a better underwater photograph with the various cameras and video recorders brought along as well as advice on post-processing images using various software. The cameras included GoPros, Compacts, Micro 4/3rds and DSLRs. The day remained dry and fairly warm, so everyone was able to get underwater and get lots of practice. Following the dives, everyone got together where all the images were judged and the result was very close.

A massive congratulations to Richard Burke for his winning shot of a diver with torch reflected in the Apeks Van wing mirror, a clever and original shot. The camera he used was a Sony RX100 Mark II. He was awarded his prize by Nick Robertson-Brown of Frogfish Photography, who had sponsored the trophy.

Joint runners-up were Glynn Phillips for his macro shot of mussels with a fine eye to detail and the shallow focus giving a nice ‘Bokeh Effect’, with the mussels in the background. His camera was an Olympus EPL5, while the other runner-up Matthew Boa was using a Nikon D7000 with a Tokina 11-16mm lens for his wide-angle black-and-white shot of a diver and wreck.

Once again, the NUPG would like to thank all those that turned up on the day as well as those that assisted with the preparation and running of the competition. http://www.nupg.org.uk

Pro Dive International Dominican Republic correction

In last month’s article on the Dominican Republic, the gremlins meant that the text in the box out on Pro Dive International Dominican Republic was incorrect. We apologise for any inconvenience. It should have read: Pro Dive International Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic operation of PADI CDC Pro Dive International, which also has highly rated centres in Mexico, offers reef, wreck and cave diving, not to mention the opportunity to snorkel with humpback whales, as well as dive training from beginner through to dive professional. www.prodiveinternational.com/dominican-republic/ Catalonia Gran Dominicus Bayahibe This luxurious all-inclusive resort is located on a pristine International Blue Flag Beach in the southeast of the island. There are a large selection of restaurants and bars, and a multitude of land and water activities on hand. www.cataloniacaribbean.com/en/our-hotels/catalonia-gran-dominicus/

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News Scuba diving fatality in Scapa Flow

A diver who was pulled from the water on Friday 6 October some 90 minutes after being reported missing by his dive vessel was tragically pronounced dead a short while later.

The alarm was raised at 4pm after a boat located northeast of Cava Lighthouse reported that one of its divers was 15 minutes overdue.

A mayday call was made and teams from Stromness and Kirkwall Coastguard, a search and rescue helicopter from Sumburgh and the Longhope RNLI lifeboat all commenced a search of the area. At 5.30pm, the lifeboat recovered the diver from the water and transferred him to the Scottish Ambulance Service, but he died soon afterwards. Police confirmed the next of kin had been informed.

New Red Sea liveaboard, Emperor Echo, joins Emperor Divers’ fleet Emperor Echo, sailing from Hurghada and Marsa Ghalib Port, is the newest arrival in the Emperor Red Sea fleet and now takes the number of Red Sea liveaboards to four.

As the latest addition, Emperor Echo promises exceptional value for money for the ‘eat, sleep, dive repeat’ diver. Simply designed with the diver in mind, she has a spacious dive deck and easily accommodates 24 guests with two professional guides and free nitrox. All cabins are ensuite with individual air-conditioning, two cabin towels, one deck towel and bathrobe for each guest. She sails the popular Simply the Best, Famous Five, Southern Sharks, South and St Johns, Safaga, Brothers and Elphinstone, Reefs and Wrecks routes when the weather and sightings are at their peak, giving the diver more variety and chances to explore the Red Sea at an affordable price.

Fine food is served as standard, along with free red wine with dinner. She has a bar on the upper deck, limited free WiFi and free nitrox.

Prices for seven days start at just £597 in a shared cabin with six days diving, local transfers, guide, 12-litre tanks, weights, full board and soft drinks, red wine with dinner, environmental tax, Marine Park fees and port departure fees.

Emperor Divers also has a number of liveaboards in the Maldives and Indonesia. www.emperordivers.com

Seahorse spotted in Studland Bay for first time in three years

Studland Bay in Dorset has been known as a hotspot for spiny seahorses, with some 40 specimens recorded back in 2008, but none had been seen since early 2015 – until now. The Seahorse Trust is delighted to report that a lone female spiny seahorse has been sighted in Studland, however, that still only brings the total of spiny and short-snouted seahorses recorded off the UK in 2017 to just 14.

Neil Garrick-Maidment, director of The Seahorse Trust, has given the seahorse the name ‘Hope’, as he said: “Hopefully, she is a positive sign for the future”.

The Seahorse Trust carries out two surveys a month at Studland, and is still fighting for the bay to be given Marine Conservation Zone status, having identified the damage being done to the delicate seagrass breeds by boat moorings dragging on the seabed. www.theseahorsetrust.org

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News

THINK DIFFERENT Over two tonnes of marine litter removed in Malta for Our Ocean

BECOME DIFFERENT diveRAIDuk.com

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Global leaders were in Malta on 5-6 October at the Our Ocean conference (http:// www.ourocean2017.org) to commit to new actions to ensure sustainable fisheries, to mitigate climate change impacts, to announce new marine protected areas and to fight marine pollution.

Healthy Seas and its partners organised various side events in Malta, linked to this important global event, including sea clean-up action by volunteer divers at Marine Protected Areas around Malta, Our Ocean, Our Life public engagement event and school programme, and a ghost net exhibition at the Malta National Aquarium.

A group of volunteer divers from Ghost Fishing and Maltaqua Dive Centre departed between 1-3 October every day early in the morning to remove marine litter, more specifically lost fishing gear and ghost nets from ecologically important areas around Malta.

Despite rough weather, the divers were determined and collected over 500kg of lost fishing gear, thus making the seas around Malta a cleaner and safer place for marine animals to live. Lost fishing gear can cause a lot of problems for marine wildlife and marine ecosystems, but also for the maritime industry, navigational safety, beach quality, local communities and fishermen too.

At the same time, a coastal and shore clean-up combined with an educational and information event took place on 1 October in Balluta Bay, targeting the general public and schools. About 50 volunteers were working hard and within a few hours managed to collect 1.5 tonnes of marine litter.

The ghost nets and other marine litter collected from the coastline and seas around Malta have been used for an eye-catching sculpture of Poseidon (King of the Seas) created by a local artist Jennings Falzon. The Ghost Net Exhibition was opened at the Malta National Aquarium on 4 October, on World Animal Day. This sculpture is a tribute to all those animals who died and suffered because of lost fishing gear and ghost nets. www.healthyseas.org

Intact World War One German U-boat found in the North Sea A virtually intact German U-boat from World War One has been found lying in just 27m somewhere close to the coastal resort of Ostend, Belgium.

The 270-ton, 27-metre-long German sub, which is lying on its starboard side, is thought to have the bodies of all 23 crew on board, as all of the hatches are closed. It is not yet known how it was sunk – either by a mine, an Allied ship or an Allied airplane – but part of the sub’s bow is missing. It is thought to be one of the best-preserved of its kind in the North Sea, and the exact location of the wreck is being kept top secret to deter trophy hunters.

The exciting find came after underwater scans indicated a wreck of some form lay in the area, and now work has begun to formally protect the submarine and identify which U-boat it is. It could potentially be U-Boat 27, 29 or 32, all of which were sunk in 1916 and 1917 by Allied forces.

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MEDICAL Q&A

News

Dr Oliver Firth has gained considerable experience in the field of diving and hyperbaric medicine since joining LDC in 2006. He is an Approved Medical Examiner of Divers for the UK HSE, and a medical referee for the UK Sport Diving Medical Committee. He is involved in the management of all types of diving-related illness, including recompression treatment, as well as providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy for non-diving conditions.

He remains a passionate diver and has participated in various expeditions and conservation projects throughout the globe.

Q: After a nasty eye injury, I had an orbital floor fracture repair about four months ago. The surgeon had to cover a hole that was around 2cm in diameter, and in excess of 50 percent of the orbital floor. The material used was titanium mesh.

A complication arising from the initial trauma, however, was that it was not possible to correctly reposition a portion of the eye tissue at the back of the orbit. This tissue remains trapped behind the titanium sheet and in the maxillary sinus. It has been decided that any further operation would be too risky to my sight. Can you please advise if there would be any contraindications for my diving.

A: Blimey, that’s a big hole. The orbit is the cavity in the skull which accommodates the eye. Orbital floor fractures commonly result from blunt objects (balls, car dashboards, fists) impacting on the eye socket, which then breaks.

What actually happens is that the object in question squishes the incompressible eyeball inwards. The rapid increase in pressure in the socket then causes it to ‘blow out’ at its weakest point, the floor. The fatty tissue around the eye then drops through the hole, often pulling a couple of eye muscles with it, resulting in double vision.

In a victim without visual disturbances, one option is to leave the area alone and treat with steroids and antibiotics. In your case, however, surgery was undertaken, repositioning the disrupted bony fragments and patching up the fracture with a mesh.

One issue with this type of repair and diving is whether there is any possibility of trapped gas within the tissues. I would assume that any gas introduced would by now have diffused safely away, but it would be worth checking with your eye surgeons. A second issue is whether the tissue trapped in the maxillary sinus will obstruct your ability to equalise. I would imagine that as long as the sinus can drain normally you would be OK on that score.

20

I can’t see any reason you shouldn’t dive once you’re fully recovered. But as usual, best get a fit-to-dive assessment performed by a diving doc.

Q: Could you please give me some advice after having pneumonia and a pleural effusion. I went to A&E after breathing difficulties and coughing up blood (only small amounts in a tissue over 12 hours). I was kept in for four nights and treated with antibiotics, then sent home. At a follow-up appointment I was told that I had a pleural effusion and had 660 mls of clear fluid drained from my right pleural cavity. I was told that there was still fluid present but that they would like me to try and get rid of it naturally over time.

I was told that providing my fitness was OK then there would be no problem diving. Would it be possible for you to confirm this please?

A: The pleurae are the membranes that cover the inside of the chest cavity and the surface of the lungs, forming one continuous lining. The space in between the two layers usually contains a small amount of fluid (3-4 teaspoons or so) to lubricate the movement of the lungs against the chest wall with breathing. If the equivalent of two cans of soft drink accumulates in this space, it will effectively squash down the lung tissue, so reducing the surface area over which gas exchange can take place. So less oxygen makes its way into the blood, and if you factor in the increased work of breathing at depth, then it’s easy to become dangerously low on oxygen.

Before you dive again it would be important to ensure that all of the fluid has been reabsorbed, and there is no significant scarring of the lungs. This is probably going to mean some X rays to ensure the lung fields are clear, and a set of lung function tests.

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ST ABBS

Eyemouth

St Abbs and Eyemouth are two of the most-popular dive spots in the UK, and GAVIN ANDERSON checks out the options for both shore and boat diving Photographs by GAVIN ANDERSON

L

iving in central Scotland, I’m spoilt for choice when it comes to dive locations. Whether it’s just 20 minutes drive southeast to my closest wall and wreck dives off Burntisland, a boat trip to the Island of May off Anstruther a little further east, a drive west to Loch Long and Loch Fyne, or a little further Oban and the Sound of Mull, or perhaps a sortie to the northeast and the Moray Coast, or even further North to the legendary Scapa Flow. But one place I used to dive lots that I have really overlooked is St Abbs and Eyemouth.

I dived here back in the late-1980s. Then it was always shore diving for me and my buddies, as that was all we considered. Sites like Cathedral Rock and Weasel Loch were regulars for us, but I fell out of love with St Abbs when it became mobbed at the weekends. So as I drove into the harbour a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find a space right close to the water.

What wasn’t quite so pleasant was the £7 charge for parking, but that’s inflation for you!

Now the question was, should I shore dive or jump on a boat? Well, call me a wimp since I’m now diving with a rebreather, it was nearly low tide and there was a bit of a swell, I chose the boat option. Although it is possible to turn up and find a space on a boat on any given day at the weekend, it’s really advisable to prebook. There are three dive boat charter businesses working from St Abbs now - Shore Diver, run by Paul Crowe, Pathfinder by Paul O’Callaghan, and Stingray (Peter Gibson’s old boat) run by Barry White. All three guys also run their own B&B business and they all seem to get on really well and help each other, which is very refreshing. If one is full up or busy, they will direct divers to the boat that has spaces, which is really helpful. Also great are the trolleys they provide to push your gear down to the boat, and what’s even better is the crane that lowers bottles and, in my case, my rebreather carefully down into the boat.

Onboard the Shore Diver, I found loads of room to set up my gear up my kit up and do final checks. My friend Max Ruffert

and I were on the 2.30pm shuttle - the third trip of the day - and not the last, as there was a 5.30pm to the Glanmire to follow. In summer, the guys work really hard and often can be seen dashing back to work at the B & B if there any spare time between dives.

Max is definitely a fan of shore diving, and whereas I’m seen with a camera in my hands, he has a Garmin GPS which he uses to help map the dives sites he visits.

Within just ten minutes we were kitted up and jumping off just south of Horsecastle Bay into a site called Black Carrs. It’s one of the most-popular sites in St Abbs due to the high chance of spotting wolf fish. Free falling down to 12m along the main reef wall, we quickly reached a boundary bottom interspersed with sandy gravel patches. Dahlia anemones burrowed into the gravel offered a splash of colour, and prawns and little squat lobster darted one way and the other as we slowly finned over the bottom.

We were soon heading east over a vast expanse of brittlestars, but eventually reached large boulders and gullies in about 20m adorned with dead man’s fingers, bottlebrush hydroids and little anemones, and it wasn’t long before we spotted a huge conger eel and then a wolf fish. Both were rather shy and stayed firmly in the safety of their rocky homes.

I once saw a wolf fish crushing and gorging an urchin in its mouth while diving at the Bass Rock, but sadly never since. I remember how perfectly adapted to coping with the urchin it was, with its powerful jaws and its skin as tough as leather protecting it from the urchin’s spines. The conger and wolf fish were the definite stars, but supporting acts included several Yarrel’s blennies, leopard spot gobies, prawns and beautifully coloured tiny squat lobster and loads of velvet swimming crabs. Looking deep under the crevices and boulders we also spotted several small lobster, one no bigger than our hands! Time soon marched by and we headed to the boat, joined occasionally by inquisitive ballan wrasse.

Max and I discussed staying for the Glanmire, but it was cloudy and beginning to rain, so we said our goodbyes. I’d have to wait a full day and a half before driving back south to St Abbs again.

A DIVER’S

18m

ABOVE

In this issue, JEREMY CUFF takes up the Above 18m mantle and visits the South Coast of Devon to dive at the popular and iconic BABBACOMBE BAY SITE Photographs by JEREMY CUFF (WWW.JA-UNIVERSE.COM)

B

abbacombe Bay had been on my ‘dive radar’ for quite a while. My previously planned visits didn’t happen for reasons of adverse weather, but this time I chose a weekend (11-12 May), booked some accommodation and hoped that the weather would turn out fine. As the weekend approached, the unfavourable easterlies subsided, and the weather itself was forecast to be good, but most importantly there was a light westerly.

Easterlies can kill the vis.

Winding the clock back to early March, I made a point of visiting Babbacombe while on a motorcycling weekend in Devon; the reason for this was to check out the logistics of what is involved with diving there (access, parking, availability of tanks/fills, food/ drinks and so on). I was glad I did that, as it gave me the knowledge of how best to plan the trip.

Babbacombe itself is a pleasant clifftop town located within the English Riviera of the Torbay area, on the north-eastern side of Torquay, sheltered behind a series of headlands including Hope’s Nose. It boasts hotels and apartments, pubs, restaurants and cafes, a funicular railway, a famous model village, a theatre and (most usefully for our reason of visiting), a dive centre. In terms of the setting, the clifftop gardens offer fine vistas over the bay itself, and if the weather is very clear it’s possible to see all the way to Lyme Regis, West Bay and even Portland, many miles to the east.

In the diving community, this sheltered bay (unless there’s an easterly wind) is known primarily as a springtime hotspot for cuttlefish, that gather there to court, mate and lay eggs, though there are plenty of opportunities for other encounters and sightings. At this time of the year, it could be renamed as ‘Cephalopod Central’.

My friend Simon, who hadn’t dived in the UK for many years, would be my buddy for the weekend; it would be a chance for him to re-acquaint himself with the type of conditions in which he learned to dive as a teenager. On the Friday evening, enroute south and west along the A303 from Wiltshire, I collected him from his home near Honiton, and we sped determinedly down to Babbacombe, highly motivated by the thought of a pub meal!

to the car park, to ensure that we got a space. If the car park is full, it’ll turn your pleasant day of diving into a frustrating palaver. Though we were early, a number of divers were already there, including some that had travelled all the way down from Cardiff. Nabbing a parking space is the key to the day.

DIVE BRIEFING

As Babbacombe Bay is a shore dive, you have three basic choices. You can climb down the steps onto the tiny pebble beach in front of the cafe and choose your entry point from there, or head past the café to the boat slip and try that. Alternatively, it’s also possible to walk out onto the stone jetty and climb down the steps to enter from there. If choosing the boat slip or the jetty from which to enter and exit the water, great care should be taken with any slippery seaweed that could cause a nasty fall.

You can decide to dive at any time regardless of the tide, as there’s very little in the way of current, but it’s much easier to get in and out of the water during the higher tide periods. At low tide, it can be tricky keeping your footing while navigating slimy and unhelpfully located boulders with heavy dive kit.

Wherever you choose to enter the water, there’s a wide area that you can cover once you’re on a dive. You can choose to stay in the immediate shallows among the boulders, or head out into deeper areas to explore underwater rockeries, weed beds and sandy expanses.

As the diving, even at the deeper points, is relatively shallow (expect not to exceed 10m), it’s a very good idea to use an SMB due to the presence of boats. In most areas, there’s also a lack of distinctive landmarks, so it’s easy to get disorientated and end up swimming out to sea rather than back to shore. Dusting off your underwater navigation skills is very helpful here. Visibility can also vary tremendously, so buddy pairs must keep close to one another to avoid getting separated.

One landmark that is distinctive and worth looking out for is Mushroom Rock; it’s resemblance to a toadstool is immediately apparent if you find it while heading into the bay from the pebble beach or slipway.

ARRIVAL AT THE SITE

Babbacombe Bay is accessed by a very steep single-track road next to the theatre, with a tiny car park at the bottom. It’s the sort of road that freaks out panicky drivers, and during the weekend we witnessed an amusing ‘high-revving burning-clutch incident’ after a driver stalled on the hill and rolled backwards into a wall.

Mike and Michele, who used to operate Divers Down Dive Centre, up on the main road, now run the Babbacombe Beach Café next to the car park and are a mine of information on the diving front, as well as being handy for copious amounts of tea, coffee and snacks. We found them to be very friendly and helpful, and this being on-site made everything a lot easier.

On both days, we were up quite early to drive my pick-up down

L

LANZAROTE LOWDOWN

OASIS

“There was no shortage of pugnacious spider crabs that can rear up at the perceived threat of an underwater photographer invading its personal space with a camera”

anzarote is a popular all-year-round holiday destination with a surprising amount of Brits either owning or time-sharing apartments. Flights are offered from most major and regional UK airports, and the journey time is a bum-bearable four hours. On previous trips I had bypassed Lanzarote’s number-one tourist town, Puerto del Carmen, but fourth time lucky I was back (if only for a brief spell) ready and willing to soak up the lively atmosphere and sample some of the top local dive sites.

Usually I hire a car at Arrecife airport as it’s relatively cheap and convenient. Puerto del Carmen is only a short 10-minute drive, but long story, I ended up spending a stressy couple of hours searching for my hotel. This inadvertently meant I got to see just about every building, road, sign post, etc, in the whole densely populated conurbation.

I passed row upon row of white-washed apartments with pubs, nightclubs, shops and restaurants strung out along the entire 6km stretch of the seafront. The whole place had gone completely sport’s bar bonkers. Everywhere I looked there were chalkboards advertising live daily football matches.

There are around 18 dive centres in the Puerto del Carmen area, all owned and managed by different nationalities. I was with Manta Diving (www.manta-diving-lanzarote.com), owned and managed by Brit couple Rachel Parry and Ben Hutchinson. Six years ago, Ben and Rachel bought the PADI five-star resort centre when the Irish owners decided to retire. Rachel now manages the bookings and internet site, while Ben sorts out equipment maintenance and day-to-day staffing issues, among other tasks. They presently employ five instructors and use Aqualung and Apeks dive kit. I could see the staff had a good rapport with punters. Throughout the day, all sorts of colourful characters would just pop in to say hello and have a chat. Some would even go diving!

The dive centre logo got me wondering - are there any manta sightings in Lanzarote? I had seen devil rays at El Bajon on El Hierro, which is similar to a manta, so maybe this is where the name had stemmed from? Rachel said they had inherited this legacy from the previous owners, choosing to stick with the old name. I bet it’s not the first time they have been asked this silly question, either!

Rachel said they had the perfect set-up for divers that didn’t want to spend the whole day away from their families. In a matter of hours, they could be back by the swimming pool lapping up the sunshine. Manta Diving offer two guided dives in the morning and focus on training in the afternoon. This ramps up to four daily guided dives throughout the summer months. Opening hours are from 8.30am until 5.30pm Monday to Saturday all year round. Rachel said that the e-learning packages were proving to be very popular. All the theory is completed online in the UK, just leaving the in-water skills to do in Lanzarote.

The bay at Playa Chica was a hot spot of diving activity.

Most of the dive centres in Puerto del Carmen used this stretch of promenade as a kitting-up area, with entry points via the steps or the adjacent sandy beach. The place was absolutely choc-a-bloc with dive vans coming and going.

STUART PHILPOTT checks out a selection of the top recreational dive sites in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote’s number-one tourist hotspot Photographs by STUART PHILPOTT

“Abi had put her blonde hair in a subtle ponytail for our first few dives, but this time around we were going for a full-on bouffant 1980s retro-style”

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MAGICAL

Medes T

his year, Illes Medes in Spain celebrates 34 years as a protected marine park. Strict no take laws have allowed many fish species to thrive. Common sightings include rays, scorpionfish, moral eels, shoals of barracuda, striped saupe and saddled sea bream. Dive sites vary from deep walls, caves and swim-throughs to huge gorgonian forests in hues of purple, red and yellow mixed with giant boulders swathed in orange cup corals. Dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus) are the local celebrities. Some super-sized individuals measure more than one metre long and weigh over 50kg.

The town of L’Estartit is the hub of all diving activity. This is located at the northern end of the Costa Brava about 60km from the French border. I booked a cheapie flight to Girona Airport and then took a 45-minute (30km) taxi ride to the resort. Silly season for tourists starts in July and ends in August, making mid-September a good time for a visit when there are less crowds and the water temperature is still warm.

Unisub, owned by twins Tony and Sean Murray, is one of the oldest-established dive centres in town. Their father, Tony Senior, opened the centre almost 50 years ago. Sean said that in the good old days, his father used to swim over to the islands in full scuba. I’m keen, but not that keen! I much preferred to cover the 1km journey comfortably sitting on a boat.

August had been one of the best on record with sunshine and calm seas nearly every day. As usual, I arrived just as the weather was taking a turn for the worst. The wind had whipped up and the rain was hammering down. I booked into the Hotel Medes II.

The rooms were extremely art-deco with wooden flooring, black furniture and plenty of mirrors. There was even a sofa and desk so I could spread out all of my camera equipment. The hotel sits in a quiet suburb and not on the main drag. I noticed that the Hotel Les Illes was much closer to the seafront. This seemed to be an out-and-out diver’s hotel (complete with wetsuits hanging/dripping over the balconies). The hotel lift actually opens up inside the dive centre reception area - now that really was forward thinking! Kit is loaded onto vans and then transferred to the boats while divers walk down to the marina located just a few hundred metres away. Unisub’s flagship, Triton, originally started life as a glass-bottom boat. It’s licensed for 50 people, but Tony said: “We limit numbers to 40 max”. They also have another boat, Paraguay II, licensed for 20 divers, which is the perfect size for visiting dive clubs. The boats usually go out at 9am, 11am, 3pm and 5pm, depending on bookings.

Tony had paired me up with Yvonne Emerson from Ireland. My first dive was at marker buoy C1, known as El Salpatxot. This site is located at the northern end of Meda Gran. I followed Yvonne around the rocky wall. There were masses of silvery saddled bream and I caught site of a big 30kg grouper flanking us. Yvonne pointed out a scorpionfish but it was too awkwardly placed for a photograph. We kept following the rock face on our right shoulder until we came to an explosion of colourful gorgonians. I stopped to take some pictures of Yvonne surrounded by sea fans, but unfortunately 20 divers descended on me all at once. There was no chance of getting a clean shot among a mass of bodies, fins and exhaled bubbles. We found another grouper peering out from

The Medes Islands are an oasis of marine tranquillity in the midst of the Mediterranean. STUART PHILPOTT examines how this protected area has developed over the past 34 years Photographs by STUART PHILPOTT

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“They were actively monitoring the coral condition, fish and crustacean stocks, sea grass and algae levels”

between two large boulders, but again the following entourage of divers ruined my chances of a decent shot.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of life and the colours on display.

The dive boat was packed solid with Belgians, Dutch and Italians. I was hard pushed to find any Brits, but in among the group I spotted two older guys sitting quietly in the corner. They reminded me of Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show. Roy and Richard were holidaying with their wives, or should I say ‘diving widows’. They had already completed 22 dives before I caught up with them.

Roy said this was their sixth visit to the islands. They were very happy with the dive sites and the professionalism of the dive centre. Roy said: “It’s nice to see the same faces year after year”. They thought all of the sites were different. La Vaca was their favourite (also the deepest at 55m).

My next dive was at Dolphin Caves South, located on Meda Petita, marker buoy C7B. I took some pictures of Yvonne by the cement dolphin statue and then we entered the cave. I guess going inside a pitch-black cave without a torch wasn’t my brightest idea. We went as far in as the air-chamber, but didn’t bother surfacing or carrying on through. I tried to get some blue water-dark cave silhouette shots, but somehow screwed up my camera settings (maybe because I couldn’t see!).

I popped into the marine reserve office located at the marina for a quick chat. They were actively monitoring the coral condition, fish and crustacean stocks, sea grass and algae levels. There seemed to be concerns about the amount of marine life reaching a saturation point. Fish stocks had steadily risen over the past 30-odd years and now the small archipelago couldn’t sustain any more

growth. There are two no-take zones. The first zone, covers an area of 500 hectares, is open to traditional methods, i.e. only rod and line. At the second smaller zone of 52 hectares, fishing is strictly forbidden.

There are around 14 dive centres regularly visiting the Medes Islands, which is high number for a small marine reserve. The 400 divers a day quota is shared out among the dive centres. The more-established centres get more spaces. The seven bigger centres are allocated 37 divers a day, whereas the small centres only get 16 per day. This leaves 50 spaces for private divers. The marine reserve regularly checks the dive sites and issue fines if the centres go over their quota.

Standard dive packages also include some ‘off-island’ diving, but marine life levels are quite disappointing in comparison. Altogether there are 11 permanent moorings located around Meda Gran (1.8km sq) and Meda Petita (0.24km sq). They are allocated to the dive centres on a rotational basis, so everyone gets the opportunity to dive at different sites every day. Ultra-long freediving fins are banned - divers don’t need them, and there’s more chance of damaging the corals. The marine reserve has been checking the coral damage since imposing the ban and this has reduced significantly. Each diver is charged a small fee per dive. This money goes towards the upkeep, i.e. moorings, and is also spent on educating people about the importance of the marine park.

One afternoon I managed to wangle a dive on the marine reserve RIB. They wanted to check the whereabouts of a rare triton (Charonia tritonis), a huge sea snail, located in the sea grass at La Vaca, marker buoy C6, on Meda Gran. This gave me an opportunity to explore the big cave located nearby. I found three grouper at the entrance and they were totally unaffected by my presence. I spent the next 30 minutes playing a Mexican stand-off. Maybe they were watching their own reflection in my dome port? Octopus is their favourite food (this must be the only species that

is not thriving at Illes Medes) and by mimicking an octopus with my hand, I managed to draw them closer. Anything white seems to attract them, so my plastic strobe diffusers got nudged several times. This really was a truly memorable dive and I got some great shots. There are scores of ‘friendly’ grouper at nearly every site. I didn’t have to go looking for them, they would always find me.

Local dive instructors said illegal fishing was rife. Grouper is worth a substantial amount of money on the black market, which outweighs the risks. There are limited night patrols around the islands and very few spot checks made. Because of the difficulties, night diving is not allowed.

On another outing, I managed to hop aboard Unisub’s smaller boat, Paraguay II. Again I teamed up with Yvonne and this time headed south to Carall Bernat, marker buoy C8. The boat had been mobbed by a London BSAC group. There were plenty of colourful characters and no shortage of banter - I stayed firmly in the background trying to deflect any derogatory comments coming my way.

This area was extremely active with marine life and at times there were strong currents both on the surface and underwater.

Tony had recommended dropping down to a ledge at 30m to meet up with a friendly grouper and then slowly ascend back into the shallow rocks underneath the boat. The ledge was indeed active with grouper, but it was an early morning dive so light levels could have been better. Moray eels were everywhere, some even free swimming. We also saw a shoal of 100 or more barracuda and an even larger shoal of yellow striped saupe.

The boats all used the numbered yellow mooring buoys provided so anchors were not necessary. Most divers tended to linger under the boats and not stray too far away. I guessed they weren’t confident enough with their navigational skills. This was confirmed when half a dozen ‘blobs’ popped up some distance from the boat. For safety reasons, all the dive boats had RIB tenders to pick up any stray divers.

There was a little wreck dive located 25 minutes drive away (40km) at Palamos. Toni, the owner of Palamos Dive Centre, said the old fishing trawler was around 35 metres long and sitting at a maximum depth of 32m. Toni paired me up with Ramon, one of the PADI Divemasters. Ramon was not so hot on speaking English,

but this didn’t matter underwater. Huge shoals of damsel fish were darting between us on the mooring line. Ramon’s integral weights decided to eject themselves as I passed below him. I managed to dodge one and then the other hit me square on the head!

We started at the prop and then worked our way forward. The stern hold had collapsed and didn’t go anywhere. Ramon popped his head up into an air pocket. It seemed strange to be talking to each other at 32m. We went through a bulkhead door down into the engine room where there was a nice big conger eel staring out at us. Although the wreck was quite bright and airy below decks, it was better to take a torch (I had learnt my lesson from earlier). Ramon then guided me into the forward hold. There was a row of brass portholes open and not a single lump hammer in sight. The floor was caked in powder fine silt with plenty of dangly wires to negotiate. The site was just about big enough to keep my interest for the whole dive. Taxi fares are around 40-50 euro from L’Estartit to Palamos Dive Centre one way, and for peace of mind there is a 24-hour recompression chamber at Palamos Hospital, which also served L’Estartit.

Illes Medas has to be one of the best diving destinations in Spain. I thought most of the sites were better suited for experienced divers. There are some great caves, deep wall dives and at times strong currents. I enjoyed the variety and there was no shortage of marine life. Strict no-take laws really have made a difference. But by the end of the week I began to develop a nervous twitch. Every time I looked over my shoulder, there was a huge grouper staring back at me! n

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DIVE LIKE A PRO Our panel of experts offer some useful hints and advice on how best to maintain and look after your DIVING EQUIPMENT PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARK EVANS AND GARRY DALLAS

A

s the traditional British dive season draws to a close – though there are those hardy souls who continue to dive all year round regardless of the weather – it seemed a good time to look at equipment maintenance and care. Whether you are cleaning, drying and storing your kit till spring, or just aiming to keep it in tip-top condition after each and every dive, our expert team has some pointers on what you should do to prolong the life of your gear: Phil Alberts, BSAC HQ Team, said: “Your diving equipment is your life support system, so it goes without saying that if you look after your dive kit, your dive kit will look after you. A good kit maintenance routine not only enables you to dive safely and enjoyably, but it also ensures you can get the most out of your investment.

“Good dive equipment is not cheap… and we all know that the spending continues as you progress with your diving. So maintaining your kit is essential if you want to keep getting the best out of your equipment – and your investment - for many years to come.

“The key to a good kit care routine is to know what you can do yourself and when to call on the professionals. And prevention is undoubtedly better than cure when it comes to potential kit problems.

“Start with the calendar on your mobile phone and diary in the ‘non-negotiables’ – your cylinder testing due dates and annual reg servicing, etc. Then step back and look at your typical and future diving plans so you can start your dive year with a clean bill of health for your kit. At the start of the season, run through all your kit, from your fin straps to the drysuit zip, and check for signs of wear and tear. Simple fixes now can save you lost dive time, but don’t forget to try out any repaired or replaced kit in the pool or sheltered water first if you can before heading open water.

“And when your dive season is up and running, make sure you get into a good routine of checking kit before each dive or trip to ensure everything is ship-shape and dive ready. This includes the box of essential spares you have in your kit bag… spare batteries can leak, latex seals can deteriorate, lids can come off and seawater can corrode.

“However, if your kit needs repairing and you are in anyway unsure, leave it to the professionals. A few missed dives may be irritating, but a bad repair job can shorten a dive… or worse.

“And lastly, how you pack and store your kit at the end of your dive season - waxed zips, rinsed regs, cylinders and BCDs, drysuits stored in a dry area, etc - will get you off to a sprint start next year and back in the water.”

Matt Clements, PADI Regional Manager UK and Malta, said: “I still have kit from the 1990s which is still in great working order (albeit a tad faded and possibly more serviced than Trigger’s broom). I put it down to my training from centres who made sure kit is looked after. You need to properly clean and dry (possibly re-lube) everything that gets wet. After replacing vast amounts of faded gear, I would be careful of leaving things in the sun to dry. Once dry, try to hang or store the items as your centre or the manufacturer suggests, I have half my garage filled with racking and big boxes which are left open to allow air to circulate.”

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Emma Hewitt, PADI Regional Manager, UK and Ireland, said: “Don’t leave your equipment to be serviced only when you need it, be sure to keep it regularly serviced to avoid unnecessary additional damage. When taking care of your equipment, remind yourself that it is a life support!”

Alex Griffin, PADI Course Director and Trimix Instructor Trainer, commented: “While it’s tempting to throw all your gear into the boot of a car and hope the servicing pixies see to it overnight, it’s essential that you actually maintain your equipment. One method is to seal yourself in a darkened room until you have learned to strip and rebuild your regulator by touch alone in under ten minutes all while repeating the mantra ‘This is my regulator. There are many like it, but this one is mine’. Alternatively, rinse everything in fresh water (discovering that your kit has grown an attractive coating of fungus over Christmas is a bad surprise), hang or roll your suits up rather than ball them into a bag and remember that as well as your regs, you’ll need to get your BCD and drysuit serviced too. Get your local dive centre to sort them out as DIY disasters aren’t great in the context of life support equipment.”

Emily Petley-Jones, PADI Regional Training Consultant and Course Director, said: “This is the time of year when many divers put their kit away to hibernate over winter. Ensuring your kit is completely dry before you store it should go without saying. When you are thinking of storing your drysuit, in particular, you should always check if there are any special recommendations from the manufacturer for this. Tips such as leaving the zip open to help prevent it from ceasing, and putting some talc on latex seals to stop them from sticking, can help to lengthen the life of your suit. Consider getting your kit serviced now so that you know it is ready to go for your next trip.”

Vikki Batten, PADI Examiner and Training Supervisor, said: “Your washing machine is a part of kit maintenance! I once had a Divemaster who turned up to help with a very stinky undersuit. I mentioned to him that he was a one-man exclusion zone and he explained that the undersuit came with instructions not to use washing powder! That may be true, but they didn’t say ‘don’t wash’, they just gave guidelines on washing the garment while maintaining wicking effi-

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ciency, so check with the manufacturer on how to wash your thermal protection. Wetsuits can be even worse if (like 99 percent of divers) bladder control escapes you the moment you put on a wetsuit. You can buy specific washing liquid to combat the issue.

I just put mine in the washing machine, I know it probably reduces the lifespan of my wetsuits (and maybe also my washing machine), but they smell nice and I don’t suffer from salt or sand abrasion when I next use it.”

Garry Dallas, Director of Training RAID UK and Malta, said: “Scuba diving is quite an equipment rich ‘sport’, agreed. We almost have/should have a symbiotic relationship with our equipment, meaning that, for our kit to take care of us underwater, we need to take care of it above water.

“Unfortunately, not unlike our relationship with our vehicles, when our kit loses its lustre, sometimes we lose the appeal to spend the time looking after it as much in detail. This is where things go downhill… just rinsing the salt water off your kit is not always enough care, but it will help.

“A common issue is to assume as it worked perfectly yesterday, therefore it will also today! I generally assume that equipment will at some point fail, so this gives me the mind set to want to check things very regularly.

“You don’t need to be a service technician to maintain your kit well, but some good tips to assure good working order before submerging will make your dives more pleasant.

“As with all your kit, rinse with clean fresh water and dry regardless, then check…

“Tanks/valves: for corrosion, O-ring failure, damage to valve and clean threads. Valve wheel getting stiff. Store with some pressure (50 bar).

“Regulators: general wear and tear, anything that swivels must swivel freely, SPG needle present, zeroed and working, SPG free from orange/brown stains and water droplets, quick-release connectors work freely when pulled and twisted, suck on the second stage while blocking the first stage inlet to create a vacuum - there should be no air leaks, mouthpiece secure and not split. Rinse with dust cap on the first stage.

“BCD/wing: Rinse inside bladder with sterilising agent, check dump and inflator valves for correct operation, store partially inflated. Check plastic clips and adjusters for cracks (they help support your tank and weights on your back).

“Drysuit/wetsuit: zips, neck and wrist seals, suit tears, inflator not stiff, dump valve and P-valve.

“Accessories: especially piston clips for seizing. Lines are not frayed. DSMBs operational. Mask cracks, pinholes and seal tears, fin straps. Finally instruments!” n

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“One method is to seal yourself in a darkened room until you have learned to strip and rebuild your regulator by touch alone in under ten minutes all while repeating the mantra ‘This is my regulator. There are many like it, but this one is mine’”

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A EURO-DIVERS’ MALDIVES QUARTET AL HORNSBY island-hops around four very different, but equally appealing, resorts in the magical Maldives and finds that each has much to offer visiting divers Photographs by AL HORNSBY

T

here are simply few places in the world as beautiful as the Maldives. Set in the cobalt-blue expanse of the warm, clear Indian Ocean southwest of India, the island nation is nothing less than a long string of glistening pearls sprinkled over an expanse of 90,000 sq. km, the atolls, lagoons and islets of the chain adding splashes of aquamarine, turquoise and glistening white to the rich ocean hues that extend to the horizon in every direction.

And, fittingly, along this tapestry, there are also few places that are equal in how well they welcome tourists, from the exquisite service to the luxury of the resorts to the incredible array of water and beachside activities available everywhere. And this is especially true for the diving, which is always considered among the world’s finest; as well as for the dive operators – among the most well-known, the Maldives-born Euro-divers dynasty.

Among their 12 Maldives locations, it’s impossible to say which ones are the best, but it’s quite easy to pick a bunch of them that are truly magical. This time, we’ll stick with four.

KURUMBA

Just a 15-minute boat-ride from the Male international airport, Kurumba is a small island and resort that can be walked around in a less than half-hour stroll on powdery, white sand, the bright, clear waters inside the fringing reef lapping at the shore. The coconut palms and other vegetation part here and there for glimpses of quiet, luxury villas, wonderful for both their privacy and nearness to everything a visitor would want to do on holiday, whether it be snorkelling just out the back door, relaxing by a pool or, of course, diving.

One of my favourite dives at Kurumba was also among the most unique I had ever experienced in all my years of Maldives’ diving. The site’s unusual name, Tuna Factory, actually fits well. Just minutes from the resort is a small island bordering a narrow channel. At water’s edge, a local tuna processing plant prepares freshly-caught tuna for commercial use. Every few minutes, the carcasses are dumped into the channel’s brisk current.

A rock-studded, sandy slope tumbles down steeply from the shore, the scene a somber but surprisingly clear, green-tinted, soft world. The moment a load of tuna parts rains down, hundreds of cowtail and black-blotched stingrays explode upslope from deeper water, completely enveloping the lucky divers lying about the sand. Not to be outdone, a horde of morays spotted, giant, yellow-margined and green-hued undulateds - emerge from hidey-holes, swarming about for their own scraps. In moments, it’s over and the normally strange, quiet scene settles back over the seascape. In a few moments more, it all repeats, over and over.

Nearby, Nassimo Thila is a remarkable example of classic, Maldives’ diving. Along a coral-covered slope, schools of longfin spadefish, oriental sweetlips and bluestripe snapper meandered everywhere, and green turtles lay about the coral bottom. In one rugged part of the reef, deep, cavernous overhangs were practically full of bluestripe snapper, exquisitely–patterned white-collar butterflyfish and whitetip squirrelfish, among colorful soft corals.

Even with all this, our most re-told dive story from Kurumba happened just off the beach from our villa. My regular snorkelling buddy (my ten-year-old daughter, Juliet) and I swam the 50 metres or so from shore to the fringing reef. Within 15 minutes, we had close passes from a small whitetip shark; a huge black-blotched stingray; a mobular ray; a small green turtle; and a beautiful, two-metre blacktip shark. Now, that’s what I call snorkelling.

FREE NITROX

MEERU

The small islet of Meeru is one of those places divers dream of, fitting every bit one can imagine of a pristine, tropical paradise.

Only a 55-minute boat ride from Male, it’s a comfortable journey that takes you to an isolated, green island fringed with white sand and swaying palm trees, which arises out of a bright, aquamarine sea that stretches away in every direction.

At the destination, the Meeru Island Resort and Spa not so much solely occupies the island as emerges from it… with most every section of villas basically secluded from every other, with only near-neighbours in sight, whether snuggled beneath the tropical forest, scattered along quiet beaches or stretching out over the water on wooden walkways.

One of my first dives in Meeru remains a favourite. I was kneeling at 18m in a rough-bottomed channel. At my back, a rounded mound of coral rose up, swarming with wrasses and butterflyfish - creating a perfect manta-cleaning station, known as Lankan Manta Point. On an outgoing tide, we were facing down-current toward the pass to open sea. Mantas would tend to come in against the current, mouths open to feed, at times stopping to hold position near the mound.

It was a pleasant, patient wait, in a perfect spot, as I knelt on the sand and rubble bottom, camera and strobes set and ready, confident that mantas could appear at any moment.

After a few minutes, my reverie was interrupted by our guide, who had moved over to stop in front of me. He slowly raised a hand and index finger, pointing up slightly above my head.

Curious, I turned – the three, motionless mantas hovering just at my back seemed to be staring, curiously, as if thinking, “Hmm…I wonder what he is looking at?”

EURO-DIVERS

Euro-divers was born 45 years ago in the Maldives, the dream and brain-child of a small group of Swiss divers. They now have 21 resort dive centres in the Maldives, Egypt, Spain, Croatia, Japan, Mauritius, Thailand and Oman, a number of them associated with Club Med locations - an affiliation of premium partners that has lasted for 17 years.

For Euro-divers, its corporate slogan has always been ‘Diving with Friends’, which clearly – and quite correctly, from my repeated experiences – defines their pleasant, customer-service and repeat business approach to taking people diving. But, commitments aside, it’s preparation, training and methodology that produces successful outcomes. For Euro-divers, the consistent methods utilised by all locations; thorough staff training; extensive PADI dive course offerings; modern, well-maintained equipment and boats; and EANx as their standard gas, are among the many reasons for their continuing growth and sterling reputation. www.euro-divers.com

Thus began one of those joyful underwater experiences that mantas can so uniquely bring… the huge, gentle creatures would hang over the mound being cleaned for a few moments, then pass over our heads, turning and soaring with apparent exuberance, then circle back for more cleaning, sometimes alone, sometimes two or three at a time.

Another favourite spot is called Miyaru Faru, where the dive begins on the outer reef, with the current running down toward a channel entrance. The steep slope is home to green turtles, whitetips and lots of reef tropicals, with large anemones and their resident Clark’s anemonefish scattered here and there. Descending toward 30m, you begin seeing grey reef sharks patrolling the drop. As the current increases, you hook in and watch the parade, also spotting dog tuna, other big pelagics and eagle rays.

VILAMENDHOO

Near the Vilamendhoo Resort’s snorkelling boat, a big, three-metre manta sweeps by the excited crowd of snorkellers, giving a thrill most people will never even hope to experience. The group follows, but my wife Christine, my ten-year-old daughter, Juliet, and I stay put, and, as hoped, the manta turns and comes straight back, to within metres of us. Christine is filming on her Go Pro, capturing incredible footage of the manta passing closely by just under the surface; then turning again to pass just under her fins.

Vilamendhoo Island, South Ari Atoll, reached by a 25-minute seaplane flight south from Male, sits amid other small islands in one of the country’s most-celebrated diving areas. It features clear water, profuse coral growth, large groups of schooling fish of many species, sharks, mantas, eagle rays, turtles, and more. What makes it ultimately special, however, is its proximity to Maamigili

“Then, just on cue at the end of the first dive, there it was – a six-metre whaleshark, its lovely, deep-charcoal skin patterned with brilliant white spots, swimming steadily along the reef slope” Whaleshark National Park, one of the few places where whalesharks are not seasonal, but are seen year-round.

The Vilamendhoo Resort and Spa, which solely occupies the 900-metre-long, 250-metre-wide island, is a casually-luxurious place, with lovely, white sand beaches, calm, clear water, beautiful accommodations, and a famous house reef, which runs all along both sides of the island – the entry is a walk across the beach a few metres from your room and a swim of ten metres to a waist-deep, coral-covered reef.

As for dive sites, my favourite was Maamigili, an incredible place for whaleshark encounters – the water is very clear, you ride a gentle current, and the coral-packed reef slope is lovely, extending down to a flat coral plain at about 20m. There were lots of fish – large Napolean wrasse, schools of unusual crescent-tail bigeyes, many different butterfly and angelfish – and, several green turtles and a beautiful hawksbill.

Then, just on cue at the end of the first dive, there it was – a six-metre whaleshark, its lovely, deep-charcoal skin patterned with brilliant white spots, swimming steadily along the reef slope. I got three quick shots, then could only hang there, gazing at this magnificent creature as it gradually disappeared into the blue distance.

FALHUMAAFUSHI

Though having dived a lot in the Maldives over the years, I had never been to the deep south, to Havadhu Atoll. Because there are few dive resorts and liveaboards there, the area hasn’t been dived all that much, and it is usually described with words like ‘unexplored’ and ‘undiscovered’. And, consider-

ing that the atoll covers some 2900 sq. km, with depths of more than 91m, this is no great surprise.

Our base was Falhumaafushi, a small, green-topped sand island, home to The Residence, an exquisite collection of water and beach villas. Its house reef lies just offshore, and there are many dive sites found nearby, plus a resident school of spinner dolphins (which were encountered every day).

My first afternoon’s diving was at a spot named Dahaadoo. It’s a steep, coral-encrusted wall with lots of big gorgonian fans and sponges, riddled by overhangs and crevices. The dive is a drift along the wall on the incoming tide, ending in an exciting rush into and through a pass, on the rising current.

Most special, however, was the incredible array of life we encountered on every dive there. We saw green turtles, trevally, dog-tooth tuna, white-tip sharks and big nurse sharks. Once inside the pass, leopard sharks and huge marbled rays could always be found. What really kept bringing me back, however, was the surprising number of eagle rays. On that first dive, we saw several schools, but they weren’t close enough for good images (eagle rays are notorious for turning to get out of photographic range as they approach divers).

However, I quickly learned that I shouldn’t have worried – on my next dive, after swimming only a short distance along the wall, a big eagle ray came gliding in, giving me an image like I had never made before. And, that wasn’t the last.

Several evenings later, I was invited on another special dive (or snorkel), a ‘Flo Dive’, conducted on the house reef. While I’d heard of fluorescent corals, I’d never had the opportunity to experience them. Many corals and creatures on a reef, under an intense blue LED light and viewed through my mask (and camera) with a yellow filter, went ultra-fluorescent, changing a reef into a wild, unimaginable scene, like something out of the movie Avatar. And, once I figured out the settings, the photographic images were amazing.

Aah, the Maldives. The dive life just doesn’t get much better. n

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

PAUL DUXFIELD takes a look at a selection of very different destinations around the world which offer visiting photographers all manner of subjects PHOTOGRAPHS BY PAUL ‘DUXY’ DUXFIELD

A

s the cold dark nights start to draw in, and the UK diving season becomes much less of a draw except for the hardiest souls, for a lot of us the idea of escaping to sunnier climes with warmer, clearer waters is a very attractive proposition. If you’re keen on underwater photography, then this can also be a factor when choosing an overseas trip, as different parts of the world offer very different photo opportunities.

So this month’s column will build upon last month’s edition of the mag, which had a supplement (the cover of which had one of my pictures of the Ghiannis D in the Red Sea, he said proudly) focused upon the Red Sea and Oman, so I’m going to look at a few destinations in the world that have given great photo for differing reasons. And I’m going to save my favourite all-round location for last.

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS

Underwater photography like all hobbies has its sub-genres, the two main ones being wide-angle and macro. These in turn can be divided into those that really love wrecks, or reef scenes, or those that really love nudibranchs over shrimps, crustaceans and other little critters.

Personally I think variety is the spice of life and I like a bit of everything, which is handy as a big part of my job is showing others how to shoot specific subject matter, so I’m as happy doing some extreme super macro, photographing the horns of a nudibranch, as I am shooting the Thistlegorm at 5.30am.

And I do find that people fall into broadly three camps, the largest of which appears to me to be the macro lovers, followed closely by those that love to shoot wrecks, and the remainder being a bit like me and having no particular preferences.

This has shaped and formed my choices of destination for underwater photography workshops.

And the good news is that in most places around the world, if you have good eyes, or better still a local guide who is responsive to your needs, then macro photography is pretty much a given, and while some places are better than others, it’s nearly always possible to find teeny tiny beasts to shoot worldwide.

It’s trickier, however, to always find good wide-angle choices, particularly if you also want better vis to shoot in and so a bit of research and background into your choice is vital, so I am going to first look at one of my favourite destinations, which I believe is a winner for most, and that’s the Philippines.

FILIPINO PHOTO FUN

The Philippines covers a huge area of different-sized islands in the Far East, and one of my favourite spots for the workshops is the area around Moalboal, as it has short transits to dive sites, a good variety of sites too, with out-andout muck diving spots, alongside great coral-strewn mini walls with shallow well-lit soft coral gardens, with everything from frogfish to turtles, and more varieties of nudibranch and weird crustaceans than you can shake a pointer stick at.

And even the spots that aren’t full-blown muck dives always have a wealth of small life to keep the macro hunters happy, so for me it’s a win-win.

If you’ve never been further than the Red Sea before, you’ll be amazed by the differences in types of corals - the fan corals look different, the hard corals are different, it’s like being on a different world. And I think it’s astonishingly good value for money too, most resorts are full-board with great food.

Different spots across the Philippines have good pelagic encounters with sharks, mantas and other bigger creatures, but for a good introduction to the area, which will add loads of great new pictures to your portfolio, then I think the area around Moalboal takes a bit of beating.

MEXICO

My first trip to Mexico was, for me, a revelation, I had been to the Far East many times and just sort of assumed that the Yucatan Peninsula would be a bit like the familiar Red Sea, but with more of our American friends. How wrong could I be.

Like the subtle differences in types of coral I had become aware of in the East, I experienced a totally different backdrop to my shots. Mats of disorientating sea grass swaying in the current, two-toned purple sea fans, and statues!

The statues were very specific to the island of Isla de Mujeres, where we were staying, and if you want a Mexican trip away from the crowds, I would wholeheartedly recommend it.

It also happens to be one of the best places in the world to see whalesharks at certain times of the year. I’ve seen them on both times I’ve visited, and the second time there were apparently over 200 at the spot we were at, hungrily gorging on the upwellings of plankton that draws them to the area. This also has the disadvantage of compromising the visibility, so you really need to be close to them with preferably a fisheye lens to do them justice.

Back to the statues, Just offshore is an underwater museum set up by a fellow Brit, Jason deCaires Taylor, who has become famous for placing unusual monuments and artworks in the shallow areas rarely more than five minutes offshore. Over time they have become havens for all manner of marine life that have set up home within the shelter of everything from circles of spooky figures to concrete Volkswagen Beetles and miniature houses.

The island and the surrounding uncluttered reefs were plenty enough, but for me the icing on the cake was when we moved back to the mainland a short ferry ride away. As this part of the Yucatan Peninsula is not only steeped in Mayan history providing fabulous topside photo opportunities, but is also like a Swiss cheese full of flooded caverns and caves which provide some of the most-stunning photography and diving that I had up until then experienced.

And the good news is that the more-photoworthy cenotes, as they’re called, are also some of the easiest to negotiate, so even if you’re a total novice they are very achievable, and so your initiation to this almost-supernatural realm is very smooth and not in the slightest bit claustrophobic. Definitely a better destination for those keen to broaden their wide-angle skillset.

INDONESIA

I have been to Indonesia many times from Ambon to Bali, Lembeh and Bunaken. And I never tire of the place, it specialises in specialising.

What I mean by this is that whilst it looks a lot in appearance like the Philippines, with a similar variety of corals, fish and smaller life, different spots are known for very distinct styles of photography. The most famous of these is probably Lembeh, which has become a mecca for underwater photographers firmly lodged in the macro camp.

Called the ‘weirdest square mile on earth’, the underwater world here is a very bizarre contrast of rubble, and rubbish-strewn brown ugly sand bottoms, but it also happens to be populated with an incredible density of the smaller marine life, an enormous selection of cephalopods, with wonderpus, blue-ringed octopus, mimic octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish and even the very odd hairy octopus.

It’s beyond the scope of this article to list the quite frankly bewildering array of the weird and wonderful, colourful critters that abound in the dull, less-than-spectacular surroundings.

So it’s very much a spot to hone your macro and super macro skills,

BLUE DUCK PHOTOGRAPHY

Duxy has added some more strings to his bow. He is still continuing to carry out his popular Escorted Trips and has added Dive Safari Asia to his expanding repertoire recently, however, he has just started an exciting new venture with a couple of friends. He was getting lots of kit enquiries, what to buy, etc, and so it made sense for him to get back into retail as a way of serving people with the very ‘best advice’, which were his watchwords when he worked as Sales Manager for two of the biggest underwater photo retailers in the UK in the past 15 years. They are combining his past experience in this area, with a more scalpel-like approach to underwater photography equipment sales, by making sure that each and every customer gets tailored advice, based upon asking and answering lots of questions to ensure that people get exactly what they need. This is being accompanied by photo and video editing tuition at dive clubs and centres the team are supporting countrywide. Duxy and the gang - Phil and Anne Medcalf - can be contacted on: info@blueduckphoto.com

THE EGYPTIAN RED SEA and underwater photographers and those that love the odder creatures in the sea really love this place.

If all that muck and rubbish is not for you, or you want to mix it up a bit, then just a couple of hours away by road and a short boat ride, are the spectacular clear waters and walls of Bunaken just offshore from Manado, the capital of Sulawesi, the Indonesian island these two very diverse places are situated.

THE MALDIVES

This iconic travel destination is a bit of an odd one for underwater photographers. People new to the hobby of diving often put these famous Indian Ocean islands at the top of their must-see list.

Mantas, turtles, sharks and, of course, the huge whaleshark are regular visitors to these waters.

And it’s understandable that people want to see these impressive beasts, and are more likely to be impressed by these than they are by nudibranchs and shrimps et al.

One of the reasons these large pelagic creatures frequent the Maldives, though, is because the islands are doused with sometimes very big currents which bring the food they like to eat, this can make the photography a little tricky at times, not to mention the diving, and I’m always reminding newbies to prepare for the potential of powerful currents.

Also a lot of the places that attract the bigger creatures don’t always have the crystal-clear visibility that the travel brochures might hint at.

And if you’re on a mixed dive boat, the necessary discipline of guided diving is important for the guides to maintain safety as I have never seen such a cross spread of abilities that the guides have to deal with, often managing wide-eyed divers just out of an open water course, while also giving a great dive to those more experienced, so don’t expect the same level of freedoms usually afforded to the more experienced, and to be honest, as an ex-guide myself, I take my hat off to the guides here having to manage all this.

However this doesn’t mean it’s not a great photographic dive spot, and I am in talks with operators about formulating a dedicated photo trip here, that delivers the best of what I have experienced in these waters, without it being too difficult to handle.

BIOGRAPHY

Ok, I have left my favourite all-rounder to very last, and it’s no wonder I’m fond of the place - I lived and worked in Sharm el Sheikh for a good chunk of my life and consider the place something of a second home.

And I know it has experienced its troubles over the last decade, but I still think all round it is one of the best places to visit for divers and underwater photographers, particularly from the UK. It’s a relatively short flight by comparison to the other spots we’ve looked at, and offers for me the best value and most diverse diving within a short boat ride.

And in the 25 years I have been going there, never has it looked so good, vibrant and full of life, without the huge crowds that used to visit in times past.

It has great dive sites for newbie divers, which also happen to be great for underwater photographers, being shallow, often current free, and packed with loads of photo subjects from the big to small.

For me this is photo and diving Nirvana, and has proved very popular over the years, I’m even starting to get people finishing their Open Water courses on board with no compromises to the regulars.

And as the area is very familiar to me, I can show you some Northern Red Sea dive sites that you may well have never visited on a regular Wrecks and Reefs trip. So it’s become popular with all divers, who like to be treated like adults. Not just the photographers. So it’s a win-win all round.

SUMMING UP

Wherever you choose to go in the world, there is sure to be plenty to see and shoot, and to suit all budgets too, but I will always maintain a special place in my heart for the Egyptian Red Sea. I have new trips planned to Komodo and Alors, alongside Sumbawa, so check out Dive Safari Asia for dates and times.

I should also have some new Red Sea trips appearing soon too, and am keen to get a new Maldives itinerary sorted as soon as possible, so keep up to date with my trips on my Duxy Trips Page on Facebook too. And please check out my Insta feed @takeiteasyduxy for pics from around the world.

Since returning from Egypt working as a guide in the early noughties, Duxy has been at the forefront of underwater photography technology and how it has changed the way we all now take underwater photographs. Working as sales manager for the two leading underwater photography retailers, and more lately as the photography travel specialist for a multi-award-winning dive travel agent, his light-hearted take on the diving world and underwater photography has resulted in him being a regular speaker at the Dive Shows and at clubs up and down the country, sharing his knowledge and experience with all levels and abilities of underwater photographer.

He likes nothing better than to get a beginner started on the route to rewarding pictures, and approaches the subject with an inclusive, rather than exclusive, manner.

He now has more than 40 escorted trips under his belt and is continuing to develop new ways to pass on the knowledge and share the love. He can be found on Instagram and Twitter as @takeiteasyduxy and Facebook as Take iT Easy.

Exquisite Accommodation.

Worldclass Diving.

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ŠJavier Sandoval ŠJavier Sandoval

Reachin THE SKY...

A mid-Channel collision, toxic barrels washing up on nearby beaches and millions of pounds worth of foreign currency mysteriously missing. JASON BROWN discovers that even in the best vis, there’s a lot more to the Aeolian Sky than meets the eye…

Photographs by JASON BROWN

ng for E

ver had one of those dives where everything just seemed to come together?

You know the type - sea conditions are flat calm with not so much as a ripple in sight, the vis seems almost endless and even the skipper’s post-dive tea is, dare I say it, almost drinkable. It doesn’t happen too often, of course especially the skipper’s tea - but when it does, it’s on days like this that you realise just how good UK diving really can be.

Looking back through 2017, June was a good month for UK diving. Often less than charitable at the best of times, the weather gods were extremely kind, granting us what seemed like an uncharacteristically warm spell of great weather which seemed to coincide with a spell of uncharacteristically good vis. Like many divers across the country, there was no way I was going to miss out on this freak of nature. With kit loaded into my car and a space booked on my favourite dive boat, I headed down to Portland in Dorset for a dip on one of my favourite wrecks - the Aeolian Sky. Heading towards Weymouth, topside conditions certainly looked promising and I even managed to bag a parking spot and kit trolley on arrival at Portland Marina. Everything really was coming up Millhouse.

The Aeolian Sky has been one of my favourite South Coast dives for more years than I care to mention and with good reason, too. First and foremost, she’s a big wreck. And when I say big, I mean over 10,000 plus tonnes of Greek freighter big. She may not have enjoyed an illustrious military career or played a significant part in this country’s rich and varied maritime history, but her sheer size, state and the variety of her cargo – much of which is still in place – makes her a dive worth adding to anyone’s log book.

You might expect such a big wreck to be in deep water, but the Sky is relatively shallow – at a depth of around 30m, she’s accessible to most divers.

As bad luck would have it, the Aeolian Sky was just a year old when she met her unfortunate end on 4 November 1979. Built in the Hashihama Shipyard in Japan just the year before, she was a modern freighter with comfortable crew quarters and even her own derricks (cranes) for loading and unloading cargo. On the day before her unfortunate sinking, she was sailing from Hull, via Rotterdam, enroute to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania when she collided with the German coaster Anna Knueppell in dense fog 20 miles off the coast of Guernsey.

Gdynia Poland

Despite initial efforts to tow her to a French port and then later into the Solent, an attempt was finally made to tow her into Portland Harbour. With the weather at gale force and huge seas taking their toll, she began to take on water and sank five miles off St Aldhelm’s Head – 12.5 miles from the sanctuary of Portland Harbour.

Like most wrecks, the story of the Aeolian Sky’s loss has an intriguing twist. Ten weeks after she went down, a firm of loss adjusters contacted the local Dorset Police to inform them of a mysterious addition to the cargo manifest – a consignment of 600,000 Seychelles 100 rupee bank notes with a sterling value of about £4.5 million! Despite efforts by a specialist team of divers to recover the bank notes from the ship’s sick bay, the strongboxes containing the money were never recovered. All that was ever found were a very small numbers of bank notes which it was claimed had either washed up on local beaches or had been recovered by passing fishermen. Even to this day, the mystery of what happened to the missing millions remains unsolved.

For divers hoping to stumble across a lost fortune, the Aeolian Sky is well served with shuttle boats running regular trips out to her from Weymouth, Portland and nearby Swanage.

Transfer to the Sky doesn’t take long – most dive boats can make the leisurely transfer in about an hour from Portland, or just 45 minutes from Swanage.

When the Sky first went down, the wreck was so big that sections of the wreck came within just 9m of the surface, making it a hazard to larger vessels. Explosives were later used

“They’re quite a surreal sight and – in good vis – you almost feel like you’re diving on the Thistlegorm. All that is missing are a few aircraft parts, a few racks of Lee-Enfield rifles and a slightly different hue to the surrounding water and you’d be there”

DIVERS DOWN SWANAGE

Dive the Aeolian Sky with Divers Down, the UK’s oldest diving establishment, operating on Swanage Pier for 60 years. The centre has three purpose-built catamarans visiting all the area’s dive sites, and it offers air and nitrox, training and kit hire, while the shop can supply a large variety of equipment, including masks, snorkels, clips, bungees, hoods, gloves, boots, reels, SMBs, etc.

For booking and information, phone or text: 07977 142661, or email: medina@madasafish.com www.diversdownswanage.co.uk to reduce her shallowest point to a more-reasonable 18m. Salvage operations carried out to recover her cargo took their toll on her bow section too, which now lies separate from the main section of the wreck. Despite this, the Aeolian Sky remains a surprisingly intact wreck, especially around the more-interesting stern which – like most container ships – is home to the imposing bridge castle.

Most boat skippers will drop their shot lines around the stern section, giving single cylinder divers the opportunity to explore the most-interesting part of the wreck in a single dive. At just over 145 metres long, the Sky is a big wreck, so it pays to plan your dive wisely. If this is your first dive on the Sky then I’d recommend you focus on the large bridge castle located at the stern. With the wreck lying on its port side on a limestone and chalk seabed, the bridge section is quite an imposing sight if you’re lucky enough to dive the wreck in good conditions. Looking up from the seabed, the massive bridge castle section casts an imposing shadow that calls out to be explored. Even the roof area offers much to see, with its large funnel and what I can only assume is the encrusted remains of a fourpronged marine radar.

For the more adventurous, there’s plenty of opportunities to penetrate the wreck with large windows and open companionways ushering you inwards. A word of caution, though – even in the very best vis, penetrating the Aeolian Sky is not to be undertaken lightly.

Even with the correct training and proper line laying, the wreck pre-

sents a multitude of hazards, including tangled cabling hanging loosely around you, unstable metalwork, the disorientating effect of the wreck’s orientation and – of course – easily-disturbed silt. If in doubt, stay out.

No visit to this part of the wreck is complete without rounding her stern. Just past the bridge castle, you’ll encounter a massive winch with cables still attached.

Further on, drop over the back of the stern and you’ll find a massive anchor still in place offering photographers a great photo opportunity, and the ship’s sizeable rudder now lies angled down toward the seabed. Don’t bother looking for the props, though – they were salvaged long ago. That said, the spare prop can still be found if you know where to look within the labyrinth-like innards of the wreck itself.

Running back towards the bow section, the holds have fared far worse, with much of it collapsed and tangled. Following the Sky’s twisted shell, the vessel’s various masts and loading derricks lie flat on the seabed having long collapsed from their original positions. If you’ve got the bottom time, I’d recommend swimming out to explore these massive structures – the large winches and lifting gear still attached to them is quite a sight! There’s plenty to see in the tangled debris - keep your eyes open for the scattered remains of the ship’s cargo, including large steel pipes, perfume and Marmite bottles and even car parts. For the more eagle-eyed, you may even stumble across the remains of several Land Rovers, trucks and tractors. They’re quite a surreal sight and – in good vis – you almost feel like you’re diving on the Thistlegorm. All that is missing are a few aircraft parts, a few racks of Lee-Enfield rifles and a slightly different hue to the surrounding water and you’d be there.

Sadly, bottom time and gas supply is always going to limit your exploration of the Aeolian Sky. It’s one of those wrecks that no matter how many times you dive her, there’s always more to discover. All too soon, you’ll hit the limit of your bottom time before popping up an SMB to start the journey back to the surface – usually just as the tide starts to run. As you bubble off below your surface marker, all that remains is to hope that the skipper’s tea isn’t too stewed when you step back onboard. For the record, the tea served up after my dive was reasonably drinkable… n

“Even with the correct training and proper line laying, the wreck presents a multitude of hazards, including tangled cabling hanging loosely around you, unstable metalwork, the disorientating effect of the wreck’s orientation and – of course – easily-disturbed silt”

SCHOLARSHIP DIARY

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BREAKFAST WITH BULL SHARKS PHOTOGRAPHS BY MAE DORRICOTT

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e descend into the arena and before we’ve settled on the bottom, we could see them circling. Bull sharks. A dozen, huge and hefty, their girth three times the size of me. And you know what? There wasn’t an inch of fear. It could have just been the adrenaline…

But even after asking others, the feeling we all agreed on when diving with the sharks was pure amazement.

Beqa Adventure Divers (BAD) put on one of the best shark experiences in the world based in the Shark Reef Marine Reserve, Fiji. Once settled at the bottom, we line up side by side and watch the show. The BAD boys head on in and attract the bulls closer with bait. Some of the bulls would come in low and take bait from the feeder’s hands.

Others would wait for bait to be dropped down from a feeder swimming high with the bin, and swoop in to take their prize. It was unbelievable how close we were getting to these wild beauties.

I struggled sometimes to keep my head still as I never knew which way to look as there were so many.

On one dive, I was so distracted by sharks in front of me I didn’t notice one large female shark swam right over my shoulder. I did, however, notice that as she turned to grab the bait, her powerful tail pushed me over, and I had to fumble my way back onto my knees again!

BAD use this time with the sharks as an opportunity to learn more about them. Every dive, data is collected and compiled into a very comprehensive and thorough data base. With the help of external scientists from various institutions, a picture is being generated that goes against the nay-sayers of such an operation.

Mike Neumann, founder of BAD, suggested the analogy of a restaurant to explain the patterns.

The restaurant will always have costumers; some are regulars and some you see rarely. But like a restaurant, the sharks don’t rely on the BAD feed as a primary food source. Instead, tagging data shows that the sharks still travel far and wide to hunt throughout the waters of Fiji. So, the BAD way of conducting their feeds is resulting in no long-term effect on the population of bull sharks in Fiji.

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It’s obvious that without the bait, divers would never see so many bull sharks aggregate or get so close to them, and the benefits of the tourist attraction is having positive knock on effects. With 70 percent of the 75 species of sharks and rays in Fiji threatened with extinction, shark conservation is muchly needed. Subsidies are taken from divers payments and is given to the local villages to deter them from fishing in the reserve. Subsequently, there has been a huge spill over of healthy fish stocks in surrounding reefs, which the villages can fish from. An amazing dive with even better impacts for the shark populations of Fiji. n

Mae Dorricott

A divers’

PARADISE GAVIN ANDERSON encounters a plethora of weird-and-wonderful critters in the lesser-known Indonesian diving destination of Ambon Photographs by GAVIN ANDERSON

T

hey came one by one, through shafts of shimmering sunlight, launching themselves off the pier legs like overweight parachutists jumping out of a plane! Three of the most-bizarre-shaped and coloured fish you could imagine. The leader was slightly fatter than the other two, but the most colourful with speckled orange and beige blond markings over a pale stone-coloured body. The other two following behind were a tangy orange colour with almost no other markings, and a deep black one with dirty white speckles. Watching them swim through the water was quite comical, they were like cartoon characters on a mission. In all my years of diving, I’d never seen anything like this.

I’ve seen plenty of frogfish hobbling along the bottom or sitting motionless on a sponge waiting to catch some unexpected passing fish, but swimming in open water was really special. Finning slowly backwards, I watched them come towards me one behind the other. As they neared the bottom, they formed a line as if to make a perfect landing altogether in one co-ordinated group. Then they touched down. I wondered what relationship these three bizarre and very differently coloured guys had. Were they brothers and sisters, lovers or just friends on holiday visiting the local pier to go fishing!

I was spending a few days holiday on the island myself before heading off to West Papua to explore Raj Ampat. I’d been recommended to stay and dive with Dive into Ambon, managed by Kaj and Barb, who previously managed the famous Kungkungan Bay Resort on Lembeh, after having worked and lived in many other fantastic places around the world, including Malaysia and Fiji, to name just a couple. Kaj, an accomplished macro film-maker observing and capturing tiny, tiny creatures living their lives in stunning detail and colour, was a pleasure to meet and listen to his stories, and see first-hand what a great dive resort he was running. He is a modest guy with exceptional talent - many of his videos are snapped up for various amazing wildlife documentaries. Barb herself is a very talented underwater photographer and one of her book creations sits proudly in the dive centre - all her amazing photos were taken in the nearby dive sites, one which I was currently on.

MBO

We were diving underneath a busy jetty not far from the airport and the other main dive centre on the island, Maluku Divers, and I couldn’t be more excited to be in this weird dive site. I was concentrating so heavily on the amazing frogfish that all the other amazing tropical fish and marine life on the pillions seemed to right now be just supporting acts. But if the frogfish hadn’t caught my attention, then something else equally incredible would have, such is the diversity of marine life in this part of Indonesia.

Ambon Island lies within the Indonesian Maluku Archipelago, southwest coast of the much-larger Seram island in the north part of the Banda Sea. The island has a strange shape, in fact it’s more like two islands. One large one some 32 miles long and one much shorter one, joined on the south coast at its eastern end. On one side is Babuala Bay, the other the much-larger Ambon Bay where we were currently muck diving. The island is very scenic, with mountains stretching to over 4,000 feet. There are also hot springs and solfataras, and with most of the island’s 450,000 population living in or around Ambon City, the rest of the island is filled with lush rainforest and miles of unspoilt coastline.

With its jetties and variety of other interesting muck-diving sites, Ambon Bay is known as one of the best muck-diving locations in the world. It’s home to some very special creatures, critters such as the famous Ambon scorpionfish, mimic and wonderpus octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin and Coleman shrimp, and a huge variety of incredible nudibranchs. Most divers would be thrilled with what’s available just within Ambon Bay - this island isn’t all about muck for in the south side of the island are some fantastic coral reef sites.

These are less well known and less often dived, but there are some great dropoffs, caves, arches, walls, swim-throughs and stunning reefs, where the only hard decision to make is whether to keep the macro lens on or go wide-angle.

Yes, because the reefs are scenically stunning, but so is the variety of critters hiding within it!

I was only going to have three days diving in Ambon and I was hoping to get to explore some of the many excellent sites on the coral reef side, but right now we were spending day one within the bay, hoping to see the famous Ambon scorpionfish.

The frogfish had touched down in perfect formation all in a line. Nestling into each other they stayed right in front of me as if posing, it was quite a surreal moment. I stayed firing off a few shots at them as a procession of fish passed by behind checking us out, including a liar tail grouper and trumpetfish, a coral grouper, damsels and several butterflyfish. Seeing these guys so uniquely marked and coloured all bonding together was really neat and possibly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but I knew there was a lot more to discover so eventually left them to explore the rest of the pier. As I did I found myself swimming alongside a shoal of batfish, then a free-swimming moray eel as

MALUKU RESORT AND SPA AND DIVE INTO AMBON

The Maluku Resort and Spa and Dive Into Ambon are located in Baguala Bay, about a 30-minute drive from town and the airport, not too far away from Ambon Bay for muck diving, and with the perfect access to coral reef dives from its own jetty. The dive centre’s boats are roomy, covered and equipped with hot water, charging stations, toilets and sun deck.

Accommodation is in a main block with comfortable air-conditioned ensuite rooms, or in ten bungalows which are nestled amid a mango tree plantation.

In spite of the resort’s remote location, everything you could need can be found here. Each bungalow has a large living area, high ceilings and modern decor and the ensuite bathrooms are spacious, stocked with complimentary toiletries and have hot water showers. Each bungalow has a large wooden terrace and glorious views over Ambon Bay. www.diveintoambon.com

I made my way back to the pillions. There I found yet more frogfish but only singles, sponges and some huge feather stars.

Down below me I suddenly noticed a lot of movement - some fish scraps thrown from the boats above had attracted all manner of tropical fish, which were attacking the bony skeletons with relish.

It was a real scrum and it lasted just a couple of minutes before the little flesh on the bony scraps was gone.

All good dives have to come to an end and after some 70 minutes under the jetty, we moved a little north just past Rhino City to a spot called Laha Three.

Here the reef consists of a slope from 2m deep, with a several simple corals and rubble, featherstars, fire urchins and sea squirts, on a sandy seafloor. The slope levels off a little at 12m before continuing down to much deeper depths. There were specular doric and black ringers, cerberilla nudibranchs, beautiful cowries, a stunning pair of banded pipefish, a snake eel, a neat corallimorph decorator crab, but my favourite of all, a coconut octopus, so called for their ability to search for and use empty coconuts to hide in.

Back at the dive resort I enjoyed the great facilities, including on-site pool with ocean views and comfortable accommodation, before a delicious locally sourced dinner hosted by Barb and Kaj, who joined us and other guests to chat about the day’s excitement.

Breakfast at 7.30am the next day was a buffet spread, and at 8.30am we were on a boat right at the dive centre this time, no need for the 40-minute car journey across to Ambon Bay as we were going coral reef diving straight from the resort jetty. The sun was out and as we cruised up the coast past a few local fishermen in basic canoes, I felt really lucky to be in such a beautiful place.

I enjoyed my first site so much I asked to return to it the next day! It was at a place called Hukurila Caves, a simply stunning dive site where a maze of arches and caves offer a thrill ride of underwater magic, with awesome gorgonians and soft corals and sponges. The arch led to a steep wall where not only did we

have stunning soft and hard corals, but gorgeous barrel sponges. From beautiful coral fish species to awesome nudibranchs, there was so much to take in and see, but one little guy drew our attention for quite a bit of our dive, a tiny seahorse called H pontohi. Discovered by and named after Hhence Pontoh, a local dive guide, it’s a beautiful little guy and I mean little at only a few millimetres in size. It’s also great at blending into the reef.

Being on the wall in 20m and in current, it was somewhat challenging to get a photograph of this little seahorse, but nothing compared to how long I would take to photograph the minute Kuro sapsucking slug on our second dive. Nicknamed Sean the Sheep, this little guy or slug is one of the coolest things you’ll see, the only problem is it’s really tiny, I mean a fraction of the size of your pinky nail. Some can supposedly grow to the amazing size of a nail, but the specimens we found were minuscule! This was my first introduction to super macro and a fair degree of water movement made photography very challenging, if not almost impossible, but I preserved and after 25 minutes of searching for the subject and another 25 minutes to get a shot in focus, I was exhausted!

The diversity of marine life here is quite amazing. I can’t wait to return to dive at some of the other brilliant sites we didn’t have time to explore, such as Pulau Tiga, where I believe you can get lost inside the fish schools! Napoleon wrasse, eagle ray, blacktip reef sharks, and huge shoals of triggerfish and butterflyfish can be encountered here. Other sites include a deep ocean vent that comes right up to the shallows. There are so many sites to mention - there’s even a 137-metre-long shipwreck, the Duke of Sparta in 35m. She was sunk during the Cold War in 1958 by the CIA as part of an operation against Communist Indonesian rebels! n

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WIN a ‘winter warmer’ package from Fourth Element worth almost £500!

Scuba Diver has teamed up with extreme exposure protection experts Fourth Element to offer one lucky reader the chance to nab a ‘winter warmer’ package of thermal goodies – an Arctic Expedition undersuit (£291.80), a 120-litre Expedition Series duffel bag (£89.95), and a brand-new X-Core vest (£99.50). To be in the running to win this ‘hot’ prize haul, simply visit our website: www.scubadivermag.com/competition and fill in your contact details. It’s as easy as that!

NB: The closing date is 15th December 2017. The editor’s decision is final.

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EXPEDITION SERIES DUFFEL BAG Inspired by discussions with some of Fourth Element’s more-intrepid dive team members, reporting that looking for a piece of black dive kit inside a black bag is never easy, but even more frustrating if you are at base camp in a cave system. The Expedition Series Duffel Bag was a solution to this problem. The orange colour makes it easier to find your kit, bright enough to be found more easily in low-light conditions and distinctive enough to stand out among the bags of your fellow divers. The bag is made from tough and enduring heavy-duty mesh PVC and the base is double lined for durability. It comes with shaped and padded rucksack carry straps and high-quality clasps. Buckles and compression straps complete a rugged specification. A removable ID card makes it even easier to label and identify your gear.

ARCTIC EXPEDITION UNDERSUIT The Arctic Expedition undersuit is available as either a unisex one-piece, or a male or female two-piece. The one-piece Arctic Expedition features zipped handwarmer pockets and elasticated waist portion to ensure a snug, comfortable fit.

Fourth Element brought the two-piece undersuit concept to diving in 2002 and it has been adopted by almost all other manufacturers since. The two-piece Arctic Expedition allows optimum fit to be achieved by mixing and matching top and leggings to get the correct size combinations. Ease and speed of donning is also maximised by the two-piece design.

The top combines biomapped enhanced insulation with practical considerations for the dive. A windproof chest panel eliminates the rush of cold air when pressing the chest inflate valve, and bungee cord thumb loops ensure that the sleeves do not ride up when donning the drysuit, but retract to prevent them becoming trapped in the wrist seals. The leggings are designed with the utmost performance in mind.

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X-CORE VEST The physiological response to cold stress is to reduce blood flow to the periphery and look after the body core, where it can often just be a matter of time before cold becomes the limiting factor in the safety and enjoyment of a dive. X-Core provides extreme thermal protection to the core, enabling longer, more-comfortable dives. Designed to be worn under an Arctic, Arctic Expedition, HALO 3D or any other drysuit undergarment, X-Core augments thermal protection to the extent that electric heating can be avoided in many instances. It performs best over a lightweight baselayer, such as J2 or Xerotherm, but the X-Core can also be worn as a next-to-skin garment for critical core protection.

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FREEDIVING PHOTOS PHOTOS THAT CLICK

DAAN VERHOEVEN explains how he seamlessly blends freediving and underwater photography, and the unique challenges he faces on a daily basis Photographs by DAAN VERHOEVEN

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hen preparation meets opportunity, we call it luck, and in our minds, it comes with its own sound effect. It clicks. If you are really lucky, you get a couple of these clicks in your life. I had a literal ‘click’ moment once - it was the first time I used a DSLR underwater. It was in Dean’s Blue Hole, in the Bahamas, and I borrowed a friend’s Canon 20D, in a Subal housing. At that point, I’d been making a part-time living as a photographer for a couple of years, and I’d been freediving for about seven years. Of course, the thought of combining these passions had occurred to me, but like my dad said: ‘I like mayonnaise, I like liquorice, I don’t necessarily like a combination of the two’. I’d tried some freediving photography with a compact, but it was nothing like what I had in mind, or what I could do on land. It hadn’t ‘clicked’ yet.

Not till that moment in Dean’s Blue Hole. I remember it vividly. I was very nervous about taking somebody else’s expensive piece of equipment down in the water, so I didn’t go that deep, maybe 10m, but soon as I lined up my eye to the viewfinder, my nerves calmed and something else took over.

Being able to frame this way, the way I was used to on land, already put me at ease, and the lens itself was a 16mm equivalent, which offers a field of view that covers pretty much exactly what I’d hoped for.

So I’m looking through that viewfinder to the surface, where my friend is breathing up, about ready to dive, and I know how they’re going to turn for the duckdive, so without thinking or effort, I adjust my position to be in front of them when they swim by, and I wait. They dive, do a couple of strokes and soon as they are in position, I pull the little lever that triggers the shutter, and the camera clicks.

I felt the click resonate through my body - I can still hear it to this day. Maybe it has something to do with the contact points of my mask on the housing, maybe the 20D has a loud click that is augmented by the aluminium housing, maybe I’m ‘bigging it up’ post-facto, but that click sent a shiver down my spine. My whole being clicked with it. It was in that moment, with that sound, that I finally knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. Took me 37 years, but that moment, where everything lined up, literally, and clicked, physically and metaphorically, was one of those rare defining moments that you recognise as such when they happen. That dive was my baptism as an underwater photographer.

DeeperBlue.com is the World’s Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. We’ve been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

“It was in that moment, with that sound, that I finally knew what I wanted to be when I grew up”

Once you know where you want to be, you have to figure out how to get there. I asked the two people whose work I admired most - Fred Buyle and Julie Gautier - which camera they’d recommend. Both said the same thing - the Canon 5D mark II, with a 16-35mm lens. Both of them were also using Hugyfot housings at the time, so that’s what I decided to go with too.

Then it was just a matter of saving up enough money to buy the gear. I was lucky in that I was working for my girlfriend, who owns a landscaping company, so I could also get the occasional photo gig and safety freediving job. She is a freediver as well and really supports me, and with her help I saved up enough to buy the camera and lens after six months, and with a loan I also got the housing.

Soon as I got the housing, the most-expensive piece of equipment I’d ever owned, I - of course - instantly messed it up by putting in a battery the wrong way around and frying the board. This meant it still worked but wouldn’t indicate if there was a leak, which made its maiden dip a rather nervous one. I soon learned how to work around it and then I hit the ground running - or the water finning, as the case would be. Turns out that I had been preparing for this job for years, completely by accident. Between an obscene amount of photography

FREEDIVING PHOTOS topside (I pretty much didn’t put the camera down from 2007 till 2012) and a ridiculous amount of diving (I’ve been more or less soaked since 2005, both as a competitor and as a safety diver), I was ready to start the new job instantly.

In a way, the best preparation for the job had been safety diving, where you spend long days in the water, doing repeats to 30m to meet the athlete coming back up. Both being a safety diver and a freediving photographer are endurance jobs - the athletes are more like sprinters, we do the marathon. For each athlete I tend to dive twice - once just before they start, so I can get down to 10m-15m and photograph them on the way down, and then again on their way up, so I can record the last phase and the celebration on the surface. Competitions usually have anywhere from 15 to 150 athletes, so I do a lot of dives during a comp day. I’d say on average 40-50, and the most I ever did was 83. The tricky thing is not so much the number of dives in a day, it’s that you have to do it again the next day.

The bigger comps tend to last more than a week, and on day two you can already have concrete in your legs. Day three is worse.

Since I’m giving you the hard sell, there’s also the odd fact that 90 percent of athletes will do their subconscious best to turn their back on you, and face away from the sun. If there is sun. Visibility can go from 40 metres to 40 centimetres overnight, temperatures I’ve worked in range from 4-32 degrees C, and the colours can be blue, green, yellow, brown, silver, orange, white, black, purple, and a combination of them all. Enjoy trying to white balance that. Sometimes you’re in a completely different world at 20m than the one you were in at 10m, and when the sea changes her mind, she can go from calm to storm in a matter of a minute.

I’ve seen a lot in the last five years of photographing freediving, but I still feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface, so to speak, of experiencing the sea, of witnessing the aquatic potential of people. My few colleagues say the same thing. Last year, a Finnish photographer and I saw not just one, but two athletes, touch the magic 300 metre wall in a pool. This year at the world championships in Roatan, for the first time there was a team of three photographers all working together to document the event, all benefitting from each other’s presence, not to lighten the workload, but to add perspectives; we have a whole other dimension to play with underwater. And as we edited our work together, we would marvel over the footage shot by the Diveye drone - for the first time, whole dives, even to 126m, were being filmed.

“As these new technologies emerge, and camera sensors are getting more capable of working in such a tricky environment, freediving is growing exponentially”

Check out more of Daan’s work at:

www.daanverhoeven.com

DeeperBlue.com is the World’s Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. We’ve been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

As these new technologies emerge, and camera sensors are getting more capable of working in such a tricky environment, freediving is growing exponentially. That’s not only noticeable in competitions, but even more so in schools. I co-founded a freediving school with my partner Georgina Miller, Aquacity Freediving, and every year we are getting more students, more freedivers who don’t necessarily want to just go deeper and further, but to experience the ocean on her conditions. A lot of my friends have schools and they are saying the same - recreational freediving is growing fast. I enjoy competitions, and will never bore of the line, not even in a pool, but I can see the point of people just wanting to explore a reef, or a wreck. Some of my favourite diving is through caves and cracks, and though wetsuits are pretty cool, nothing beats the aesthetic of light on skin underwater.

Which are some of the millions of reasons I love working in water. The sea is such a paradox: both a home and a completely alien space, as familiar as my own salty tears and as strange as my dreams. Her sheer diversity is a challenge and its own reward.

Combine that with the joy of freediving, the pleasure of being able to move through space with minimal effort, the relative freedom of gravity, and the beauty and grace of humans underwater, and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity capture it.

Cement legs and soggy ears are a small price to pay for something that clicks. n

Dive Agency News Each month, we invite all the main dive training agencies to showcase new courses, forthcoming events, staff changes and promotions, and so on. scubadivermag.com/agencynews

MERSEYSIDE BRANCH BSAC DIVERS MEET THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE

Scuba divers from the Merseyside branch of the British Sub Aqua Club met The Duke of Cambridge as part of a special visit in his role as the President of BSAC. The Duke took over the BSAC Presidency from his father The Prince of Wales in May 2013 and followed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather to become the third generation of the Royal Family to take the helm of the UK’s governing body for scuba diving and snorkelling.

During a recent tour of Liverpool and the Wirral, The Duke visited Mersey Divers, and talked to a group of members of different ages about their passion for the sport and various achievements in the club’s history.

Alistair Reynolds, 71, has been diving for 50 years, holds an impressive list of BSAC accomplishments and is currently Mersey Divers’ lead instructor. A former BSAC national instructor and Technical Manager for the organisation, Alistair

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has trained thousands of people of all different ages and backgrounds to learn the sport over four decades.

Other members talked to The Duke about various historical artefacts including a cannon raised by a Mersey Divers team from the 1883 wreck of the SS City of Brussels. The ship set a record for the fastest Atlantic crossing in its heyday and sank in January 1883 after being struck by another vessel near the end of its voyage from New York to Liverpool, resulting in the tragic death of ten of the 167 people on board.

BSAC Chief Executive Officer Mary Tetley said: “It has been a great pleasure to welcome The Duke of Cambridge to our Merseyside branch and I know members such as Alistair have enjoyed sharing the history of the club and its varied stories and achievements with him.

“It’s been an important day for everyone concerned and will form another very special milestone in BSAC’s and the Merseyside club’s history.” www.bsac.com

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PADI staff were honoured to welcome Deptherapy’s Dr Richard Cullen and the service personnel his charity endeavours to support to the PADI HQ in Bristol.

Dr Richard Cullen took time out of his schedule to teach PADI staff firsthand, along with the help of the Deptherapy divers, about the horrors of the injuries sustained, both mental and physical, and how through scuba diving, they are able to breathe a new lease of life. The truly inspirational speakers left PADI staff in awe at how they have turned the impossible into the possible.

The English charity, Deptherapy and Deptherapy Education, registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales, operates within two distinct areas: Deptherapy, where they seek to rehabilitate injured UK Armed Service personnel and veterans who have suffered life-changing mental and/or physical challenges through the medium of scuba diving.

Deptherapy Education, where they train instructors and Divemasters to work with those who have mental and physical challenges. Deptherapy Education is also a campaigning organisation that seeks to raise awareness throughout the dive industry about disability and diving, and making diving accessible to those who have mental or physical challenges. www.deptherapy.co.uk www.padi.com

RAID UK AND MALTA ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE A NEW RECREATIONAL INSTRUCTOR TRAINER IN MALTA - AND A MOVE TO THE UK FOR ANOTHER. For over two years, Olivier Van Overbeek has been flying the flag for RAID in Malta. His time has been extremely productive – not only has he been delivering high-quality RAID training, he has also helped to boost the number of RAID Dive Centres and Professionals in the region.

Oli is now moving to the UK to further develop Diving Matrix and continue supporting RAID activities. Although Oli will be based in the south, he will provide training all over the UK, plus Malta will still feature as one of Diving Matrix’s Technical Training locations of choice. Oli is a RAID Recreational and Technical Instructor Trainer who specialises in sidemount and rebreather training.

He leaves a pioneering RAID footprint on the islands and RAID congratulate him on his efforts over the last two years. Stepping into Oli’s position is Toby Van Pooss. As an experienced Instructor Trainer and owner of New Dimensions Scuba, RAID feel that Toby’s background will further develop and support members in Malta and Gozo.

Toby recently joined RAID as a Recreational IT. He will support and deliver RAID Instructor programs for professionals and dive centres. Being able to deliver crossovers at the right time, at the right price, to the right people will continue to increase RAID’s ‘fin print’ in Malta.

To further assist the growing infrastructure in Malta, RAID also welcomes Steve Wilkinson, one of the island’s top Technical Instructors. Steve will offer recreational and technical training and will be supporting the Maltaqua team with the RAID product.

RAID continue to grow rapidly with their unique blend of quality online training and modern in-water techniques. All Dive Centres and Professionals interested in standing out from the crowd are encouraged to contact the RAID UK and Malta head office to discuss the transition further. www.diveraid.com

WWW.SCUBADIVERMAG.COM

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN WHEN THE SAA IS ASKING FOR NOMINATIONS FROM MEMBERS FOR POSITIONS ON BOTH THE EXECUTIVE AND NATIONAL COUNCIL. THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS IS FRIDAY 22 DECEMBER 2017.

Regional Representatives The success of the SAA is thanks to the work the Regional Representatives put in. Their role is critical to the structure of the SAA providing the communication link between independent clubs and the Executive. Involved in supporting Diving Officers and clubs, the Regional Representative is an active person in the region, managing regional finances and offering advice to members. As well as organising courses in their region for the continued development of members, the Regional Representatives have an important voice on the National Council, attending two National Council meetings each year.

Executive Positions There are various positions available on the National Executive and we welcome nominations for forward thinking SAA members who are able to help shape the association.

As a member of the Executive you will be involved in all elements of the SAA and we’re looking for individuals who are dedicated to helping grow the association.

If members are interested in any of the roles, please complete a nomination form available from Head Office or on the website. www.saa.org.uk

Scientific diving is an activity used in various underwater research fields, such as ecology, biology, geology, maritime history and archeology. In the absence of a world legislation the scientific diver profile varies from country to country.

Therefore scientific diving can be done by professionals, researchers or volunteers, depending on local regulations. Within the scientific community there is a growing interest in the development of citizen science initiatives. Such initiatives have the intent to raise public awareness on environmental issues and to maximize scientific data acquisition.

Global Underwater Explorers, a non-profit organisation focused on diving education aquatic exploration and conservation, has been supporting citizen science activities since its creation. With a growing number of collaborations between research institutes and organised groups of GUE divers, came the need for the development of a formal Scientific Diver class. The Global Underwater Explorers Scientific Diver class was created to distinguish scientific diving from other diving activitiesand to increase divers’ knowledge and capacity in scientific data acquisition.

The GUE Scientific Diver class follows the standards of the European Scientific Diver Panel and adds to it the meticulous training method already known for GUE classes. The class is focused on scientific team diving strategies, project planning, execution and report. The programme is designed to be done in six days, including seven dive sessions and six theory classes. Class topics covers: the history of scientific diving, citizen science, scientific method, ethics, underwater sciences, underwater tools, project planning and data management.

To enrol in the GUE Scientific Diver class, students must be GUE certified at any level with 25 experience dives. For more information: diogo@gue.com

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18m

ABOVE

The Moray Firth is renowned for marine mammal sightings, but also boasts some great shallow diving as well. GAVIN ANDERSON heads off to see why the dolphins and seals find the area so appealing.

Photographs by GAVIN ANDERSON

C

overing some 500 miles of coastline from Duncansby Head in the North to Fraserburgh in the East, the triangular-shaped Moray Firth is Scotland’s largest inlet. A mixture of stunning windswept cliffs and rocky shores, broad sandy bays and long sheltered inlets, it is one of the most-important places on the British coast for observing dolphins and whales. The most-common species sighted are bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoise, but common dolphins and minke whales can be seen too. Tourists flock to the coast to places like Fort George just to the east of Inverness, where the dolphins can often be spotted from the shore. Others jump in boats and head out for a closer encounter. But the Moray Firth isn’t just about its dolphins, it is also home to some great scuba diving.

There are several excellent reefs and many firstclass shipwrecks, but while most of the reef dives are relatively shallow, the majority of wrecks, such as the San Tibercio, Verona, Unity Moray and the Tantivity submarine, are all found well below 18m. However, there is one wreck which lies above 18m - in fact, an even-shallower 12m – and that is the SS Narr.

The SS Narr was on her way from Sunderland to Burghead carrying a cargo of coal when she ran into bad weather on 13 December 1904. She floundered on a reef off Garmouth and sunk within sight of locals onshore, who were unable to do anything to help rescue those onboard. The water would have been very cold, the sea very rough, and it’s not surprising no one made it to the shore.

Today, despite being well broken up, many parts of the wreck remain recognisable, including her large boiler, various winches, plates, capstans and a large section of the bow. Last time I dived the Narr was some 20 years ago with Bill Ruck off Top Cat. He is no longer taking divers out, preferring to concentrating more on commercial stuff, including ROV work, so this summer I joined Cathy and Chris off North East Dive, along with some of their regular divers, on their well-appointed RIB Aquasition.

Meet time was on a Saturday morning in the harbour car park at a respectable 9.30am, which wasn’t so bad as I only had to leave home at 6.15am.

It was a lovely summers day and the sun was shining, however during the week it had been windy so I wasn’t expecting conditions to be perfect. Sure enough, as we jumped off the boat just a ten-minute ride out from Lossiemouth harbour and descended on to a sandy bottom, we had a fair bit of water movement to contend with.

At first I wondered where the wreck was, but soon I noticed a faint outline of something familiar, the huge boiler. Totally covered in dead man’s fingers and plumose anemones, it’s also home to some ballan wrasse and grazing urchins. Virtually intact but for one section where the plates have eroded away, revealing a view into some of the internal tubes, the boiler stands a good two to three metres high off the sandy bottom. Swimming right around as our eyes completely adjusted to our surroundings, we left the boiler and looked around for more of the wreck.

All that was visible was a small line of wreckage heading south and to our right a small piece of wreckage beyond a large capstan. We explored here first. The capstan seemed to have been a perfect place to tie off anchors, as it had two chains around it, one very new and one much older. It seemed strange why this recent chain had been left here. Perhaps it was some fishermen who couldn’t release it, but how did it get tied around the capstan in the first place? Was it just a lucky loop, or perhaps the visibility had been so good that day they had managed to loop it around but failed to unloop!

Anyway, mystery unsolved we headed off along a line of wreckage past a large winch to what is the largest and most-intact section of the wreck, which rises a few metres from the seabed. It’s what is left of the ship’s bow and it was covered in dead man’s fingers, plumose anemones and several ballan wrasse, which weaved in and out of various holes.

“Virtually intact but for one section where the plates have eroded away, revealing a view into some of the internal tubes, the boiler stands a good two to three metres high off the sandy bottom”

THE NARR, MORAY FIRTH WHAT TO EXPECT TYPE OF DIVE Boat

DEPTH 12-14m

MARINE LIFE

Bib, saithe, conger, ling, cod, ballan wrasse, goldsinny, rock, dogfish, lobster, swimming crabs, spider crabs, flatfish, scorpionfish, Yarrel’s blenny, starfish, nudibranchs

VISIBILITY

Five to 25 metres on exceptional days, average is around ten metres

SEABED

Sand, reef, kelp, boulders and wreck

HAZARDS None

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR Conger, ballan, dogfish, Yarrel’s blenny, scorpionfish and you never know, a seal might just show up to say hello

Just past the bow were more ribs and more flattened wreckage, home to a shoal of bib, some saithe and a large cod which didn’t hang around too long. There were loads of hiding places within the Narr’s wreckage and we were lucky enough to find lobster, crabs, ling and a conger eel throughout the rest of our dive, along with a dogfish swimming over a weedy section of wreck. Diving on this wreck is a bit like diving in an aquarium, such is the diversity and amount of marine life - and I haven’t even mentioned nudibranchs!

The Great Channel in the Inner Moray Firth was dredged by engineers in 1917 for the safe passage of ships that wanted to avoid the long and dangerous passage around the north of Scotland, by transiting the Caledonian Canal. The Channel went from the entrance of Munlochy Bay to the Meikle Mee Starboard Hand Mark, but was not maintained and filled in very quickly, which is probably a good thing for the marine life and the healthiness of the nearby reefs. One such reef is the brilliant Queens Street reef.

It’s usually the second dive after the Narr or Unity shipwrecks.

At a depth of around 14m, it’s a perfect shallow dive among many small boulders and rocky outcrops, complete with tall animal turf and areas of kelp surrounded by sand and gravely areas. The reef offers a great variety of habitat, with many crevices and ledges winding one way then the other, and it is home to an amazing variety and number of fish.

Within minutes of us descending, we found ourselves right alongside a huge shoal of saithe. They swept past us and disappeared into the kelp – it was a fantastic start to the dive, as it is

“The reef offers a great variety of habitat, with many crevices and ledges winding one way then the other, and it is home to an amazing variety and number of fish” always special to see a large shoal of fish in our waters.

As we swam along the side of the reef, our attention turned to a pair of large ling hovering outside a large hole in the reef.

They watched us closely, slowly manoeuvring themselves a little deeper into the shelter of the reef overhang as we got closer. A bit further, a small group of Centrolabrus exoletus - better known as rock cooks - were busy searching for food. Their markings were particularly stunning, on a par with the male cuckoo and corkwing wrasse for colour and detail. Not far away were another couple of colourful wrasse, this time some goldsinny showing their brilliant white teeth which they use to feed on small crustaceans and barnacles. Other fish included scorpionfish, Yarrel’s blenny and some poor cod.

Like the wreck of the Narr, the Queens Street reef is very rich in fish life but there’s more than just fish. On the sand we found swimming crabs and and a stunning octopus, and at the base of the kelp, spider crabs and various starfish, including common sunstar, spiny and bloody henry, and on the kelp itself tiny nudibranchs.

Sixty minutes is just not enough time here and it was with reluctance we finally sent SMBs to the surface and returned to our air-filled world, leaving our magic underwater one behind for another day. Our last view was of a lobster completely out in the open enjoying his crab dinner!

On the way to and from the dives, dolphins can sometimes ride the bow wave of the RIB, and on the dives themselves, seals are occasional visitors. n

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A Caribbean

DIVE ADVENTURE JEREMY CUFF and his clan embark on a luxurious ‘family week’ liveaboard cruise around the Turks and Caicos Islands Photographs by JEREMY AND AMANDA CUFF/WWW.JA-UNIVERSE.COM

D

ive liveaboards provide that perfect opportunity to get completely immersed into the diving lifestyle, if only for a week, where you literally dive, eat, relax and sleep. Previously, we’d enjoyed the Cayman and Belize Aggressor’s Family Weeks with our son Zac, as well as travelling on several other liveaboards, including the Kona Aggressor in Hawaii. The success of our previous Caribbean trips was instrumental in attracting us to the Turks and Caicos Islands, again onboard an Aggressor Fleet vessel. It was our passport to another dive adventure…

It’s always been preferable not to go straight from a plane onto a liveaboard after a long journey (having tried it a couple of times), so we were glad of a couple of days to ‘rest up’ after our trans-Atlantic flight. This gave us a chance to get onto local time, check out a few of the shops, bars and eateries of Providenciales, and have a couple of wanders along Grace Bay, dipping our toes in the calm, turquoise shallows.

Like our aforementioned Cayman and Belize trips, this charter was also one of the Aggressor Fleet’s ‘Family Weeks’, unique in that children of six years or older are welcomed onboard. The family week itinerary is based on the normal ‘grownups’ trip, but with a few subtle tweaks to make it more child friendly both onboard and in the water. The difference this time was that Zac (aged 11 at the time of the trip) had achieved his PADI Junior Open Water Diving certification, so he could do some of the dives with us as a ‘real’ diver.

We arrived early at the Turtle Cove Marina to meet the boat and settled into the nearby Tiki Bar for conch fritters and fish sliders while we waited for the time to board. Having regularly checked out the Aggressor Fleet’s website on the lead up to the trip (the ‘Meet the Crew’ and ‘Captain’s Log’ sections), we were fairly certain that Lowel, one of the crew who looked after us on our 2009 Cayman trip and who Zac especially remembered, would be onboard.

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The excitement of seeing the Aggressor moored up, getting cleaned, stocked and ready for our week, was too much for Zac, so we wandered over to see who was about, and to his delight, Lowel was there.

After all the divers he must have seen since our Cayman trip (when Zac was only six), it was nice that he remembered us, despite Zac having grown a lot in the several years that had passed. He would say to Zac later in the trip ‘we’re reunited and it feels good’.

Once onboard, we were able to meet the rest of the crew and get checked into our cabin. We found them to be a great bunch of enthusiastic dive professionals captained by Amanda Smith from the UK. During the week, Amanda and the crew would provide endless enthusiasm to the visiting divers – not that we needed the enthusiasm bit as we had plenty of that anyway, but it’s always good.

We found the boat very similar to the Cayman and Belize Aggressors, so the routines of liveaboard life soon came back to us. And as with all liveaboards, it has its own unique quirks and onboard highlights, such as abundant crisps and a ‘promise fulfilled’ of endless Oreo biscuits!

Somehow, despite many years of diving in all sorts of places, Amanda and I had managed to avoid doing a nitrox course, but it was suggested that if there’s a good place to do it, it would be onboard the liveaboard here in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The reason for the recommendation was the topography of many of the dive sites, where the reef tends to start deeper than in other locations, sometimes at a depth of 12m or even 15m. Repeated dives like this would make any air breathers very tight and marginal on bottom time (especially as the week progressed) unless we wanted to spend lots of time anxiously watching computers in the mid-water while others remained happily exploring the reefs.

We decided to do the course while onboard, and found it very helpful for the diving we encountered. With the safety briefings, introductions and diving overview done, we could start the trip in earnest. Captain Amanda confirmed that the weather outlook looked good for the week, and that we would be able to do the planned itinerary. So, with everyone onboard and eager to get started, she navigated carefully out of Turtle Cove (a very tight exit and entry for a vessel as large as the Aggressor) and into Grace Bay for the check-out dive at a site called Pinnacles.

Amanda and I set off on our own to explore the reef slopes and to get back into ‘diver and underwater photographer mode’ while Zac would do his first dive of the trip with Lowel in the shallower parts of the reef. Later in the dive, we found them on the reef top following a turtle (they later said they had

two with them at one point), all ‘okay’ signs and underwater smiles. Zac looked very happy and comfortable on the dive – it was a nice start to the week.

Next, we headed to Northwest Point, to dive the Thunderdome (often called just ‘the Dome’ locally) and Chimney sites, which are popular with day boats though we thankfully had them all to ourselves.

Once the site of some daft French television quiz show (apparently called Escape from Pago Pago Island, in case you wanted to know!), the remains of the Thunderdome provide an excellent ‘wreck’ dive in easy conditions. It’s very photogenic to keep the photographers happy, it’s got plenty of life living on and around it, there’s little or no current and it’s great for new divers like Zac who really enjoyed going under the most-intact part of the structure to see the resident school of snapper up close. After a later dive at Chimney, we returned to ‘the dome’ for an excellent night dive, with Rob (crew member and Captain Amanda’s husband) using a ‘black light’ to show everyone that lizardfish fluoresce under these conditions.

The Chimney is more typical of the sites we would visit during the week, with a flattish reef top, steep drop-off and wall that are regularly patrolled by sharks of the Caribbean reef variety. For macro fans, the crew pointed out numerous golden crinoids, which if observed very closely, are home to tiny shrimp.

After getting into the groove at Grace Bay and Northwest Point, most of the week is spent at West Caicos and French Cay (pronounced ‘Key’). Here, most dive sites are combinations of spectacular walls, steep slopes and drop-offs cut with swim-throughs, fissures and overhangs that are adorned with sponges and corals, and other assorted reef growth. There are also reef flats and sandy expanses, sometimes with seagrass beds which provide a nice balance to the reef diving.

At West Caicos, Driveway and Magic Mushroom were active and enjoyable sites, where lobster, channel clinging crab, scorpionfish, peacock flounder and

“We opted to potter about among the seagrass looking for pipehorses, sea slugs, baby lionfish and other macro life, while the occasional stingray and shark cruised past”

jawfish could be found by looking carefully up close, while down by the wall the local Caribbean reef sharks tirelessly cruised the reef edges, sometimes granting us with a close pass, along with the occasional eagle ray.

The Anchor site was next on the schedule, where we were able to view an old coral-encrusted anchor that had snagged in a cut in the reef. It is thought to originate from the 17th century. Rob waited for each diver to pass through the gulley, recording an underwater ‘holiday snap’ of everyone posing alongside the anchor. Many little things could be found here, such as blennies and arrow crabs. Nearby, resident stingrays could be seen grubbing around on the sandy expanses looking shrimp and garden eels.

As already alluded to, the Turks and Caicos Islands are good place to visit for shark action, with some great encounters possible with the local Caribbean reef and nurse shark populations at sites such as Half Mile, Rock and Roll and G-Spot. On occasions, other shark species can sometime be glimpsed or encountered such as hammerheads, though their appearances are random and unpredictable. On our trip, they stayed clear of us.

Zac’s underwater competence meant that he could participate in the shark dives, which he really enjoyed, taking his GoPro to get some footage at the Rock and Roll site, as reef sharks cruised around him and a small nurse shark investigated the reef around the diver’s fins.

G-Spot is a great place to dive, night or day. We really enjoyed the night dive here, which guarantees (as much as it’s possible to guarantee in diving) encounters with nurse sharks. We weren’t disappointed, as these magical sharks hunted tirelessly for prey during the hour that we were underwater.

Other life that caught our attention included a large channel clinging crab and some lobster out for a night walk.

Past the halfway point of the trip, we headed back to West Caicos with a visit to another ‘shark mecca’ called Gullies. Here, we encountered a good number of Caribbean reef sharks, including a large female that frequented the site. At the end of the dive, I lingered below to get a few more images, as other divers began their ascent. While on my own, this shark came in very close and circled me a few times, which was somewhat intimidating. I was told afterwards that this sometimes happens, especially if the diver is ‘alone’ (even though I wasn’t really!).

Elephant Ear Canyon was a nice contrast to the reefs and hugely enjoyable. We opted to potter about among the seagrass looking for pipehorses, sea slugs, baby lionfish and other macro life, while the occasional stingray and shark cruised past.

Try as we might, we couldn’t find the batfish (the

bottom-dwelling variety) that had been reported from the site during previous trips.

Rock Garden Interlude proved to be one of my favourite sites, with a nice wall and plenty of shark action to keep everyone happy, and also yielded one of my favourite night dives (ever) with Caribbean reef sharks coming in and out of the lamplight, hunting jacks, lobster, a slipper lobster, scorpionfish and even a pair of flying gurnards among the sightings.

After a late-night voyage back to Northwest Point, we would do our last dives in the morning at Stairway. As I failed to get up for the early morning dive, Amanda and Zac colluded with everyone to say that they saw a hammerhead (which they later admitted that they didn’t) which I had no option but to believe until their guilt got the better of them! Later in the morning, we would do our final dive, watching the change of shifts as the ‘day fish’ follow each other to their favourite parts of the reef as if commuting to work.

Were there any negatives, you may ask? Well, certainly not from our onboard or diving experiences, but you can’t help but be aware of the ‘invasion of the lionfish’ which has happened at an incredible pace across the Caribbean, as this non-native species establishes itself in any suitable habitat. We spotted some big specimens during the week and where there are big ones, there are small ones. Efforts to eradicate them are almost certainly futile until nature restores a balance.

Our week onboard the Turks and Caicos Aggressor was a great liveaboard experience, hugely rewarding for us as individuals and as a family. The weather had been great, we’d been attentively looked after by the Aggressor crew, and we’d enjoyed great dives. We had indeed had ‘a Caribbean adventure’ – Turks and Caicos style. n

PLEASE

REMEMBER

As this trip was taken prior to the recent an d damaging hurricanes of Irm a and Maria, some features of th dive sites describ e ed may have change d as a result.

APOCA

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FAMILY DIVE ADVENTURES

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“Hovering a few metres above I got a great plan view of the entire surroundings. The plane was upside down. The wings were pretty much intact apart from one dislodged aileron�

PLANE

CRAZY!

Recent side-scan surveys around Malta and Gozo have revealed more than 100 new wreck sites. STUART PHILPOTT was the first authorised photo-journalist to dive one of the sites, a Junkers88 bomber Photographs by STUART PHILPOTT

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P29 PATROL BOAT, MALTA Mgarr ix-Xini, Gozo This shallow dive in a sheltered bay is suitable for all levels of diver, but is particularly andsandy was then purpose-sunk as a dive attraction in The P29with is one of the most-popular artificialwho reefs popular underwater photographers, comb the bottom and seagrass August 2007 after being decommissioned. off the coastline of Malta, critters not leastlike because it is seahorses, pipefish, cuttlefish and for weird and wonderful sea moths, octopus.

BeCirkewwa careful with your buoyancy you don’t kick up the sand or disturb any situated off Point, close to otherso dive She now sits upright in around 33m, with the of the delicate marine life. hotspots like the Rozi and the Double Arch.

There are also a couple of caverns that can be explored, andportions it makes stunning upper of aher superstructure reaching to photograph to shoot from inside the cave outwards, where the blue of the sea Penetration takes A 52-metre Kondor I-class minesweeper originally within 12m of the surface. is possible on a vivid sheen. built in Germany in 1969, she was used as a patrol for those suitably trained, and she is already well It is quite a walk up and down some steps between the car park and the entry/exit boat bybut thethe Offshore the Maritime by you marine only being down for point, dive isCommand more thanofworth the effort. Justcolonised make sure uselife thedespite handrail Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta from 1997, ten years. as it can get slippy.

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F

or the past few years, Malta has been carrying out extensive side-scan sonar surveys of its coastal waters. With only 30 percent mapped, they have already discovered more than 100 new wrecks, including a 700BC Phoenician merchant ship, World War Two planes and Cold War jet fighters. This was absolutely massive news - over 100 new wrecks! Faster than a speeding tuna, I was packed and winging my way over to Malta’s sunny Mediterranean climes eager to get the full low down. Simone Brinch-Iversen from Maltaqua booked me a room at Sands apartments and Alan Whitehead at Divewise supplied me with equipment, gas and a Biryani or two!

Simone arranged a meeting with prominent marine archaeologist Dr Timmy Gambin at his office in the University grounds. Dr Gambin, who is heading up the project, was directly involved with every aspect from initial side-scans, ROV searches and creating 3D models to formulating and imposing new dive site regulations and restrictions. Dr Gambin had just returned from a two-week trip to Gozo diving at the 300BC Phoenician wreck site. This is one of the oldest ships ever found and could give archaeologists a unique insight into early life. His hand-picked team created 3D maps and collected amphora samples to analyse. At 110m to the seabed and only one dive per day, the actual time spent exploring the historical site was very limited.

I was grateful that Dr Gambin could spare me an hour of his time. I’m sure that managing the entire project, lecturing at the university and keeping the peace at home was a difficult juggling act. Dr Gambin said the plan is to open up some of these historical sites to divers, but with damage to the wrecks being a significant concern, he wants to document the original condition of the finds before allowing access. Once systems are in place, the need to monitor wear and tear and deter any treasure hunters would be minimised. Dropping and retrieving anchors is another major issue. One misplaced shotline could have disastrous effects, especially on fragile plane wrecks, so there will be designated anchor zones. Dr Gambin has also

discovered that some wrecks have been damaged by ghost netting. He is working with a team of divers to find a way of cutting off the tangled mess, thus making the wrecks a safer place to explore.

The new wreck guidelines may well include the installation of satellite receivers on dive boats so that authorities can check where they are at any time. Only dive boats and dive centres with the proper licenses will be allowed access to the new wreck sites. He said: “The idea is to make the dive centres partly responsible for the preservation and management of the sites”.

Dr Gambin is considering monitoring the sites from a computer screen rather than police ‘in the field’. After each dive, groups will be encouraged to submit video footage for scrutiny. If anything is found amiss, steep fines could be imposed. The new guidelines will hopefully improve the quality of the sites, so that divers have a more-memorable experience and see the wrecks in an untouched state.

There are also plans for an online museum offering virtual reality experiences for non-divers.

The majority of dive centres I spoke to, although excited at the prospects, were also frustrated with the amount of time it was taking to open up the new sites and unhappy with some of the restrictions and regulations likely to be imposed. I didn’t envy Dr Gambin, trying to keep everybody happy must be a tough job.

During our conversation, Dr Gambin revealed a soft spot for World War Two plane wrecks. He showed me some ROV footage of a vast array of planes at depths ranging from 50m-155m, including a Blenheim at 80m, Fairey Swordfish at 75m, Wellington bomber at 130m, Messerschmitt 109 at 140m and a Lancaster at 155m. Some were in exceptional condition. Dr Gambin may also have found the remains of a Gloster Gladiator at 50m. This could well

“Dr Gambin said there can’t be many places in the world where you can explore such a broad range of World War Two planes from German, British, Italian and American airforces” be one of the planes nicknamed Faith, Hope and Charity. I’m sure there were far more impressive finds. My sneaky suspicions were confirmed when support diver Dave Gration scrolled through some images on his iPhone skipping past the shots I was not allowed to see! Dr Gambin said there can’t be many places in the world where you can explore such a broad range of World War Two planes from German, British, Italian and American airforces and spanning early biplane technology through to the more-advanced Spitfires and Messerschmitt 109s.

Dr Gambin in collaboration with the Aviation Museum at Ta’Qali is extensively researching the background history of each plane, finding out details about the crew, squadrons, where stationed, etc. In some cases, the wrecks are war graves, so there is a need to tread carefully and sensitively, informing any living relatives and liaising with foreign governments.

Among the wrecks soon to be released is a twin-engine Junkers88 bomber lying at a maximum depth of 56m. This will be one of the shallower tech sites on offer. Dr Gambin’s initial proposal is to release 15 new wrecks at varying depths from 50m-130m. An official release date has yet to be finalised, so I was dead chuffed when Dr Gambin offered me the opportunity to go and see the plane for myself. As well as being the first dive magazine to officially be allowed access to the site, this would also be my first-ever German World War Two plane wreck, so not a bad coup all round.

The Junkers88 mid-range bomber entered service in 1939. More than 15,000 were built from 1936-45 in many different variations. The plane had a top speed of around 280mph, which was fast for a bomber. The main wingspan was 20 metres, with a fuselage length of 15 metres, including a huge tailfin. I did some background research and could see there were black cross decals on the upper and lower wing surfaces and a swastika on the tail fin. There was also a squadron badge located under the cockpit. The money shot had to be a diver shining a torch onto the tail fin swastika, consolation prize would be a black cross on the wing shot. I had already worked out camera angles and optimum diver position before leaving for the dive boat rendezvous.

Over the past few days, I had been diving with Divewise located at the Westin Dragonara Complex, St Julians. Alan and his wife Viv probably own the best tech set-up in Malta. I noticed a variety of rebreathers, including JJ, Inspiration and Poseidon, as well as a huge choice of twinsets, stages and regs and banked trimix. In no time at all, Alan had me kitted out and even loaned me a really nice membrane Otter drysuit. I did a quick shallow check dive with tech instructor Lee Stevens just to show I could use a stage, offer a long hose and isolate

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cylinders. We then embarked on a number of deeper dives in the 50m-65m range using both Alan’s ten-metre RIB and his 12-metre catamaran with hydraulic lift. I made a few stupid mistakes under Alan’s watchful eye, but by dive four was completely back into the fold. For a change, I was using an OSTC dive computer and liked the set up even more than the Shearwater.

Simone drove me down to the jetty to meet up with Dr Gambin and some of his team. I shook hands with Dave Gration, Kari Hyttinen and Jack.

With only five of us aboard Kevin Vella’s charter boat Galaxy, there was plenty of room to spread out even with so much tech kit. Kevin said the boat could comfortably carry 12 tech divers. Dr Gambin told me to turn off my phone as we left the jetty. He didn’t want me to record the position of the plane so I could pass on the co-ordinates. Everything was still under tight wraps and completely hush-hush.

Alan had provided me with a 19/40 trimix back gas and a 50 percent stage for the dive. My planned run time was one hour 30 minutes, which gave me roughly 30 minutes bottom time with an hour TTS. Because I was new to the team and they didn’t know my abilities, Jack was assigned as my guide. This meant I had a guaranteed model for my pictures, so I wasn’t complaining. He didn’t communicate much, but stayed close to me throughout the whole dive. As per briefing instructions, I kept him informed about my stops and durations during the ascent.

Kari and Dr Gambin were busy 3D mapping the main fuselage and didn’t want my flash guns affecting the process, so I began with a tour of the tail section, which lies some 50 metres away from the main wreckage. This had probably sheared off when the plane crashed into the sea. The whole tail was sitting upright, but the all-important top piece with the Swastika was missing. I wondered whether someone had already taken it, but Dr Gambin said the top section was made of wood and had probably snapped during the crash. This meant it could still be lying somewhere close by. I noticed there was a compartment just in front of the tail wings. Dr Gambin said this was used to store the life raft.

We headed back to the shotline, which had been dropped very close to the main wreck site. Hovering a few metres above I got a great plan view of the entire surroundings. The plane was upside down. The wings were pretty much intact apart from one dislodged aileron. There was no sign of any bombs. The JU-88 could either carry two wing-mounted 500kg bombs or 28 x 50kg on racks inside the fuselage. Both of the engines had come out of the mounts and were lying at obtuse angles. There were a few discarded fishing nets wrapped around the engines and wing, so I guess there had been some drag damage. I could see one of the undercarriage wheels way off in the distance and what looked like an engine cowling. The cockpit, being made of glass, had obviously completely shattered on impact. I took some shots of the other divers, the bright video lights making the scene below look very atmospheric. On closer investigation, there was no sign of any black crosses, which was a disappointment, but a ghost net obscured part of the wing so maybe there was something hidden beneath.

I moved towards the cockpit area and found one of the 7.92mm machine guns complete with rubber housing for collecting the discarded shell casings. The Junkers88 carried up to four machine guns forward and aft of the cockpit area. Not including the pilot, all other crew members i.e. bombardier, navigator and radio operator, had to operate a gun. I’m certain that the instrument gauges, etc, were still inside somewhere. It’s impossible to tell whether the crew bailed out

or if they died on board but I didn’t see any remains. I’ve often wondered how I would react if I ever saw a skull staring back at me, but Dr Gambin said that the bones may well have been eaten by marine organisms. I got a few shots of the 1300hp Jumo engines. I couldn’t see any propellers. Apparently, some versions had wooden props, so they may have come off or rotted away. There was just enough time for a quick shufty at the fuselage and then we headed back to the shotline for the long haul back to the surface.

It was a real privilege to dive on the Junkers88. My sincere thanks to Dr Gambin and his team for allowing me to photograph this incredible plane wreck, hopefully my images have done it some justice. During the dive, I tried to imagine how the crew must have felt. Bombs dropped and heading for home, then either hit by Ack Ack guns or shot down by Allied fighter planes. Fatally damaged, the only option was to ditch into the sea. I’m sure Dr Gambin will come up with a workable plan for all parties involved. Putting politics aside, the main concern is to preserve these historical wrecks for divers and even non-divers to see and enjoy not just for a few years but for a lifetime.

There can’t be many dive destinations in the world that offer such an exciting selection of wrecks from ancient history right through to Cold War era, all within two hours boat ride of the coast, and with the addition of hot sunny conditions and clear waters, this has to be a winning combination. Malta may well be seeing an influx of technical divers next year, me included! Funding for the wreck project has so far come from the Ministry of Tourism (MTA), Ministry of Gozo, the Honor Frost Foundation and the University of Malta. n

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What’s New

SUUNTO EON CORE | SRP: £599

Jason Brown reports on the launch of a brandnew computer from Finnish masters Suunto.

What do you do when you’ve got one of the most popular – and feature-packed – dive computers on the market? You take all the best bits and stuff them into a new model available for a lot less money – or at least, that seems to be the thinking behind Suunto’s latest dive computer, the Suunto EON Core. Based on the same technology pioneered in the EON Steel model, but at a price point that makes it a far-more-attractive proposition for recreational divers, the new Suunto EON Core costs just £599.

Despite the £200 saving on its big brother, the new EON Core packs in many of the same features.

What has changed, though, is the size and weight of the unit. By using a reinforced plastic rather than stainless steel body, this new model is notably smaller and over 50 percent lighter without sacrificing the size and quality of the gorgeous full-colour EON screen. The unit’s attractive on-screen controls are operated via three chunky chrome buttons that run down one side of the unit’s plastic casing.

For the style-conscious, it’s also available in three different colours. Take your pick from black, white or lime green.

Naturally, something had to give to achieve such impress savings in size, weight and cost – the depth rating is down from 150m to a still ‘way beyond most of us’ depth limit of 80m and the unit’s rechargeable battery is 50 percent smaller too, delivering on average between ten to 20 hours of use. While the EON Core uses the same wide, clear always-on LED backlit screen as the Steel, a mineral-glass front is employed in preference to the Steel’s more-robust Sapphire glass. A handy stick-on scratch guard is provided in the box.

What hasn’t changed is the great feature set. Like its more-expensive sibling, the EON Core packs an impressive spec list which includes bluetooth connectivity to the Suunto Movescount mobile App, wireless tank pressure monitoring with support for up to ten Suunto tank pods, updateable software, a built-in tilt-compensated digital compass and support for 17 different languages. For divers with less than 20:20 vision, the EON Core also sees the introduction of a new ‘Prominent’ dive mode, which displays key dive information using large, easyto-read numbers. With air, nitrox and gauge mode available out of the box, the unit can be upgraded

to support trimix and fixed-point CCR at no extra cost via the Suunto Dive Manager application.

From what we’ve seen so far, the EON Core is an attractive proposition that offers a good balance of price v performance. Like its big brother, what really sells the Suunto EON Core is that big, beautiful screen and the very attractive dive screens which put the design and functionality of many of its rivals in the shade. The lighter and more-compact body will certainly appeal to many while the added bonus of trimix and CCR compatibility may even tempt budding techies to take a look. We think Suunto may be onto another winner. www.suunto.com/eoncore

FOURTH ELEMENT X-CORE | SRP: £99.50

The physiological response to cold stress is to reduce blood flow to the periphery and look after the body core, where it can often just be a matter of time before cold becomes the limiting factor in the safety and enjoyment of a dive. X-Core provides extreme thermal protection to the core, enabling longer, more-comfortable dives. Designed to be worn under an Arctic, Arctic Expedition, HALO 3D or any other drysuit undergarment, X-Core augments thermal protection to the extent that electric heating can be avoided in many instances. It performs best over a lightweight baselayer, such as J2 or Xerotherm, but the X-Core can also be worn as a next-to-skin garment for critical core protection.

X-Core is also OceanPositive. More than eight million tonnes of plastic are dumped in our oceans every year, endangering marine and bird life and creating almost-unfathomable areas of pollution, from local water courses to vast plastic gyres. Reducing the plastic we discard is part of the solution to improving the health of our oceans. X-Core is made with Repreve® - a fibre that is made from recycled post-consumer waste, including used plastic bottles. Plastic is removed from the waste stream and prevented from reaching the ocean. 76 percent of the fibre composition of X-Core is recycled polyester. The Polartec® fabric used in X-Core is manufactured to the highest environmental standards. It has Blue Sign® and Oeko-Tex® certification to indicate that harmful chemicals are minimised or eliminated, and that waste water is treated to ensure its purity before being released from the factory. www.fourthelement.com

FANTASEA FA6000 HOUSING | SRP: £899

Fantasea Line introduces the rugged and stylish FA6000 housing for the Sony a6000 mirrorless camera. It features an ergonomic design with access to all essential camera functions and the highest professional standards of functionality, style and durability.

An FML interchangeable lens port system allows use of a wide range of lenses underwater, and a standard M16 port allows for optional connectors and accessories to be installed on the housing, including HDMI, vacuum valve or electronic strobe-triggering bulkheads. For a maximum sense of security, the housing comes with a leak detector installed inside.

Depth rated to 60m, the polycarbonate Fantasea FA6000 is shock resistant and protects the camera from sand, dust, frost and impact as well as other damaging elements and harmful occurrences, besides water.

For the launch, a complete system with flat port suitable for the 16-50 kit lens and the 30mm macro lens, along with gearing for both lenses, is available in a package price of £1,199. www.blue-orb.uk

SANTI DIVING ACCESSORIES SANTI DIVING BRA (SRP: £20) Classic padded women’s medium support diving bra which offers lasting comfort when diving. The bonded seams feel smooth against your skin, and the contoured silhouette and molded, compressive panels provide support and natural definition. Made from 88 percent polyester and 12 percent spandex, it comes in black, with the Ladies First fuchsia logos front and back, and is machine-washable. Available in sizes Small, Medium and Large.

SANTI HAIR SAVER (SRP: £16) This handy product protects hair from pulling and damage by your neck seal when donning or doffing a drysuit. It facilitates smooth sliding through and out of the neck seal without pulling of the hair, which is extremely important for women having longer hair. Easily removable, machine-washable and fast drying. Made from 88 percent polyester and 12 percent spandex, it comes in black, with the Ladies First fuchsia label in the back. www.santidiving.com

Gear Guide

THIS ISSUE: BUDGET MASKS

ON TEST THIS MONTH:

Each month, the SCUBA DIVER test team assembles to rate and review a selection of dive equipment from a range of manufacturers. Products are split into price categories and are then evaluated for performance, comfort, ease of use, build quality, looks and value for money.

• AQUALUNG REVEAL X1

BUDGET MASKS This issue, we take a look at masks under £45. Masks are a very personal piece of diving equipment, and finding one which suits your face is the goal of all divers. We tried a selection of masks from several manufacturers and looked at fit, comfort, ease of clearing, range of vision and price.

• SCUBAPRO VIBE 2

• BARE FRAMELESS

• BEST DIVERS NARVALO

• BEST HUNTER KITE CAMO • OCEANIC SITE

Location: Tested in Oswestry swimming pool Date tested: 9/10/17

Water temp: 28 degrees C

AQUALUNG REVEAL X1 | SRP: £45 The Aqualung Reveal is claimed to be Aqualung’s most-comfortable and best-fitting mask ever. Thanks to an innovative construction system, it is the lightest single-lens (non-frameless) mask on the market.

It has a super-soft, top-quality, crystal-clear silicone skirt with an ergonomic profile, which means it moulds to your face.

The buckles are attached directly to the silicone skirt and feature a quick-release system operated by a single button mounted on the top of the buckle, which is simple to use even with thick gloves on. This is teamed with a spherical silicone head band strap to help achieve the perfect fit.

The X2 version - which has two lenses instead of a single lens - is currently in Long Term Test and has been scoring highly month after month with the Test Team.

The Reveal X1 is a good-looking mask, and with it being available in various colours with the clear skirt, or a couple of variations with a black ‘techie’ skirt, as well as in single lens and twin lens versions, there is something for everyone.

It feels well made, and is light and robust. It sits comfortably on your face, and offers good peripheral and downward views. It is easy to clear, and we liked the roughened area on the nose piece to add grip when you are equalising. Nice mask, at a decent price.

VERDICT

Extremely nice mask, which fits well, is priced reasonably and is very comfortable. Plenty of colour and style options.

SCORE

••••••••••

BARE FRAMELESS | SRP: £42 Bare are rapidly making a name for themselves for quality dive kit. The company’s drysuits have all faired extremely well with the Test Team, and the Frameless mask continues this tradition.

This low-volume, single-lens design mask features a very soft, supple double-flanged silicone skirt for an excellent face seal, and has a tempered safety glass lens.

The flexible buckle attachment swivels with facial movements and absorbs shock, preventing buckle breakage when the mask is bumped or dropped.

The push-button buckle allows for quick and easy adjustments.

It only comes in black.

The first thing which hits you about the Bare Frameless is how light it is. It really doesn’t weigh anything at all, and is ultra-comfortable on your face thanks to that soft silicone skirt. The strap is robust and has a nice feel to it, and it holds fast to the back of your head once you have it seated properly.

We liked the buckles, which release with a simple squeeze of the buttons mounted either side of it. Even with gloves on, this is easy to operate.

It might only come in ‘techie black’, but it does look good in this subtle colour scheme.

Belting mask for the money.

CHOICE VERDICT

Nice techie-black mask which weighs virtually nothing, is extremely comfortable and great value for money.

SCORE

••••••••••

BEST DIVERS NARVALO | SRP: £35 Best Divers is an Italian firm which is making a name for itself with quality dive accessories, and especially masks.

The Narvalo is a ‘techie black’ frameless model with a soft silicone skirt to enable a good fit. It is very low profile, and the distinctive shape of the single lens is designed to give you excellent peripheral and downward vision. Ridges on the top of the skirt where it sits on the lens provide grip for your fingers when mask-clearing.

It has an easily removeable strap mounted on hinged buckles, and also comes with a Best Divers neoprene mask strap cover.

The Narvalo is a very unusual-looking mask - one of the team likened it to Dame Edna ‘glasses’ - but it certainly stands out from the crowd. A Marmite-look, for sure, but the weird lens shape is for a reason, and it does afford a widened peripheral and downward vision. The skirt is very soft and pliable, making it extremely comfortable, and as it is so low-profile, it is a simple matter to clear.

VERDICT

Well-priced, comfortable mask, that is easy to clear and has a good performance, but that look could put some people off.

SCORE

••••••••

BEST HUNTER KITE CAMO | SRP: £40 The Best Hunter Kite Camp is aimed at the spearfishermen, hence the name and distinctive colour scheme, but it will also appeal to divers wanting an extremely low-profile mask for general scuba use.

The silicone skirt is very soft and moulds to your face, and the chunky, shaped strap fits well round the back of your head to hold the mask securely in place. This strap then connects to well-thought-out buckles that release with a dual-button press - simple to go even with thick gloves on.

The camouflage finish will not be to everyone’s taste, but it does stand out, that is for sure!

The vision is not as wide as some of the competition, but this is down to the small lenses and low-profile design of this kind of mask.

The Kite Camo is unlike any other mask in the line-up, and while it is very comfortable, the peripheral vision is not that wide. However, it is very easy to clear, well made and a decent price. If you are into your freediving as well as your diving, this might be a good option, as it can double up to both disciplines.

VERDICT

Low-profile, comfortable and well-made, but the vision is compromised somewhat by the freediving styling.

SCORE

••••••••

OCEANIC SITE | SRP: £29.99 Good, traditional-style twin-lens mask at a bargain price from Oceanic.

The Site has, compared with others here, quite ‘dated’ buckles, but while it may not boast push-button adjustability, the clip arrangement it has does work.

The skirt is quite firm but still comfortable, and it is reasonably low-profile, so simple to clear.

The range of vision is not bad considering this is quite an ‘old-school’ mask.

It is available in blue, yellow and silver/grey.

The Site doesn’t break the bank at under £30, but you still get a decent mask for your money.

It is very robustly made - separate internal and external structures make it very strong, which is why it can have such a narrow centrepiece between the two lenses - but is still fairly lightweight.

The field of vision is not as wide or deep as some of its rivals, but still not bad overall, and the firm skirt is very comfortable against your face.

VERDICT

Bargain-priced traditional twinlens mask, with a comfortable skirt, robust construction and a range of colours SCORE

••••••••

SCUBAPRO VIBE 2 | SRP: £34 The Vibe 2 is an attractive-looking twin lens mask that has a firm but comfortable silicone skirt, ultra-clear lenses for clear vision, and teardrop-shaped lenses for wider downward, in particular, and peripheral vision.

The mask comes with the EZ Mask strap, which seems quite bulky but is comfortable enough once it is on the back of your head. The central push buttons simultaneously release both sides of the strap, so you get an even adjustment. It works well, though it does take a little getting used to. If this isn’t your bag, no dramas - a standard mask strap is also included in the box so you can just swap it out.

It is available in a wide range of colours, including with a ‘techie-black’ skirt.

BEST VALUE

The Scubapro Vibe 2 is a good-looking mask that is extremely comfortable, thanks both to its fairly stiff-but-flexible silicone skirt and the EZ Mask strap system. We were initially a little dismissive of this gadget as a gimmick, but it does actually work very well. We also found the device ‘cupped’ the back of your head well to hold the mask securely in place.

The field of vision is above average, and it is easy to clear as it is relatively low-profile.

Well made, but equally well priced - cracking little mask.

VERDICT

Masks are a very personal people of equipment. Once you find a mask that fits your face, you will be reluctant to part with it. A good mask is essential to a dive being comfortable and hassle-free - no one likes to be constantly emptying their mask because of an annoying leak trickling water in.

The Best Value title went to the Scubapro Vibe 2, which looks far more expensive than it actually is. It is well made, comfortable and has a neat EZ Strap system fitted (as well as having a standard option too). At under £35 it represents great value.

The Choice away went to the Bare Frameless, which is still well-priced but oozes quality, is very lightweight, ultra-comfortable and has a neat, subtle finish. This would be perfect as a primary mask or, because it can fold flat, a fantastic back-up mask.

VERDICT

Comfortable, attractive-looking mask which benefits from the nifty EZ Strap system. Good field of vision all round.

SCORE

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Test Extra

FOURTH ELEMENT BIOMAP

In October 2015, progressive and innovative British company Fourth Element launched BIOMAP, a new imaging system designed to revolutionise the way drysuits are ordered and made.

The BIOMAP system was developed to enable measurements to be taken accurately in store or at dive events, and submitted automatically with a full specification for a drysuit via their new online system, including the Drysuit Designer, where you can specify your options - choosing sea.l type, number of pockets, boot type, etc – to create your unique Argonaut.

BIOMAP.3D uses full body scanning to crate a 3D model of the client’s body from which hundreds of accurate measurements can be taken before determining what size suit you need or, if made to measure is required, to create a unique pattern for your suit. It is generally carried out at dive shows and events, or Fourth Element HQ in Cornwall.

BIOMAP.photo uses two photographs to create an accurate set of measurements enabling a suit to be ordered in a dive store with nothing more than a camera, and a computer connected to the internet.

The Test Team were all keen to see this technology in action, so a roadtrip to Cornwall was on the cards. Alas, Editor-in-Chief Mark Evans already dives a standard-size Kevlar Argonaut, so Art Director Matt Griffiths was drafted in to be BIOMAPPED. Arriving in deepest, darkest Cornwall, Matt was given a bundle of undergarments and despatched to get changed. He discusses the process below: Matt said: “To allow the camera to record the most-accurate measurements of me, I was outfitted with an ultra-thin Fourth Element J2 base layer.

Wearing any thick or baggy clothing will ultimately affect the final suit sizing, so it is recommended to wear something closer fitting.

“Once I was changed, I took my place on a circular turntable and was instructed to remain perfectly still with my arms held out at an angle to my side.

It began to rotate very slowly and the process was repeated three times, so that the data could be as robust as possible.

“Once ‘bio-mapped’, the laptop showed the final

scan of my body in incredible detail. Jim made sure my wrist measurements were accurate with a good old-fashioned tape measure and that was it - simple! While getting myself changed out of the J2, I couldn’t help but wonder how accurate the final suit would be, but my hopes were high.”

Jim also took the team through the Drysuit Designer programme on their website, which is extremely user-friendly and dovetails beautifully with the BIOMAP process. www.fourthelement.com

www.apeksdiving.co m | #apeksdiving |

ape ksdiv in g

Test Extra

AQUALUNG EXPLORER ROLLER | SRP: £128 Mark Evans: Aqualung recently released a whole new range of dive bags, and our aim is to test all of them over the coming 12-14 months. First up is the staple of any diver’s bag collection, a large and sturdy roller bag with a 140-litre capacity that can take all your dive kit and a couple of weeks’ worth of clothes and see you off on your next adventure. And weighing in at a respectable 4kg, it isn’t going to eat into your precious luggage allowance too much either.

The Explorer Roller has an ultra-durable 1680D polyester PVC coating to take on the abuse dished out by airport baggage handlers – we’ve all seen bags getting slung about as they come off the plane conveyor! – and extra-wear areas are further reinforced with thick abrasion-resistant tarpaulin.

The cavernous main compartment is easily accessed by a large U-shaped flap secured with corrosion-resistant zippers with extended pullers, and there are two large fin pockets on either side. I took my Force Fins to Indonesia and as they are an odd shape, they wouldn’t fit into these pockets, but most standard fins will go in – and even if you elect not to use them for fins, they are perfect for sticking shorts, T-shirts, flip-flops and your undies!

There are also two rows of webbing anchor loops stitched down either side of the main compartment flap, and these can be used to attach water bottles or hand luggage with karabiners, or you can even secure it to the deck of the boat during particularly stormy crossings!

There is a retractable top handle to make towing the bag a doddle, and the rollers are robust and designed to take a beating.

It survived my trip out to Manado in Indonesia, only showing a few minor surface scrapes and scratches as its first battle scars from the experience. The main compartment was more than big enough for a 3mm full-suit, travel wing, fins, mask, regulator, booties, camera arms, camera housing, and two weeks worth

of T-shirts, shorts, underwear and swimming trunks, though the odd bit did get tucked into the fin pockets. It was nice to roll around, and with grab handles top and bottom, it was easy to hoick on and off detector and luggage conveyors, and in and out of minibuses. It looks smart, and the subtle logos identify you are a diver without screaming ‘I contain expensive kit, steal me!’ www.aqualung.com/uk

Made to Measure Available

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Long Term Test APEKS XL4

Mark Evans: The new NEW ARRIVAL arrival this month is the Apeks XL4, the Blackburn-based company’s new travel regulator that is cold-water rated.

The first stage is an over-balanced diaphragm with the innovative over-moulded endcap to help prevent ice build-up, and the second stage is extremely light and has a wide exhaust tee to disperse exhaled bubbles. The large purge is easy to locate and operate, and the venturi lever is simply well designed. We took this for an exclusive first few dives to Iceland (see INFORMATION Arrival date: October 2017 page 8-9) but can now put it Suggested retail price: £338 through its paces over the Number of dives: 2 next six months as we enter Time in water: 1 hrs 45 mins the winter period.

ANCHOR DIVE LIGHTS SERIES 3K Mark Evans: The Anchor Dive Light is a powerful little beast in its own right, but with the optional canister battery and umbilical cable, you now suddenly have a vastly increased burntime and power to hand, without drastically increasing the weight and size of the unit.

The canister itself is quite compact and will slot on to a webbing strap on your hip or alongside your cylinder, while the head is, if anything, even smaller than the handheld version, so fixed to the Goodman handle, it just nestles on to the back of your hand and is there when you want it.

As with the handheld unit, the build quality is impeccable and very robust.

INFORMATION Arrival date: July 2017 Suggested retail price: £695 Number of dives: 26 Time in water: 24 hrs 20 mins

THERMALUTION RED GRADE ULTRA Mark Evans: The Thermalution Red Grade Ultra has been working overtime recently, with more UK diving and an Iceland jaunt for the Scuba Diver team.

The suit itself is very lightweight and comfortable, and the heating elements - the clever bits that get the warmth into your body - are laced like a spiderweb into the material itself. This is the back heating element, which goes around your kidney region and up and over your shoulder blades.

It is amazing how much heat these elements generate often I have to knock it down to a lower power setting, or even completely off for a period, after a short runtime on full power.

INFORMATION Arrival date: April 2017 Suggested retail price: £1,050 Number of dives: 21 Time in water: 19 hrs 45 mins

DEEPBLU COSMIQ+ DIVE COMPANION Mark Evans: The DeepBlu Cosmiq+ Dive Companion clocked up some more cold-water dives when it accompanied Ross Arnold into the 3-4 degree C waters of Iceland’s Silfra dive site.

The clever Velcro-closing strap can be quickly and easily adjusted to fit either a bare/wetsuited wrist or a drysuited wrist, and it can be removed rapidly as well, which is a good thing to know when you have very cold hands and are wanting to get de-kitted and warmed up as fast as possible!

It will be back into warmer waters in the next few weeks, when it is used for Junior Open Water sea dives in the Florida Keys.

INFORMATION Arrival date: February 2017 Suggested retail price: £230 Number of dives: 66 Time in water: 64 hrs 35 mins

AQUALUNG REVEAL X2

AQUALUNG OUTLAW

Mark Evans: Ross Arnold decided to take the Reveal X2 as his go-to mask for our recent Iceland trip, and as with previous dives, it was just so comfortable that he forgot that it was a test mask and not his usual unit. It is a good-looking mask as well, giving you decent peripheral and downward vision but not at the expense of making you look like an alien being. We like the all-black finish of the test model, but for those who INFORMATION don’t want to look so techie, Arrival date: March 2017 more-colourful versions are Suggested retail price: £46 available. These are probably Number of dives: 50 better for underwater models Time in water: 48 hrs 15 mins too.

TYPHOON DS1 Mark Evans: The Typhoon DS1 is a special suit for the company, celebrating their 70th anniversary in existence, and being a bit of an old-school diver myself - I can cast my mind back to the early days when we were still using ABLJs instead of jacket-style BCDs and drysuits, while functional, were hardly flattering in their look and fit - I like how they have blended the old Typhoon logo with a bang-up-todate membrane drysuit that utilises all the tricks of the trade they have learned over the past seven decades of drysuit production.

The simple black finish will not date quickly either, ensuring you still look ‘cool but old school’ in another ten years time.

Mark Evans: The back-to-basis Outlaw wing-style BCD got its first outing in Iceland, and with the optional Surelock II integrated weight pouches fitted, it made the perfect travel companion. It packs up extremely small, weighs next to nothing, but is robustly constructed and feels very durable.

INFORMATION Time will tell how Arrival date: February 2017 it holds up to diver Suggested retail price: £338 abuse, but at the Number of dives: 2 moment it is all Time in water: 1 hrs 45 mins looking very good.

SHEARWATER PERDIX AI END OF TERM

INFORMATION Arrival date: August 2017 Suggested retail price: £895 Number of dives: 2 Time in water: 1 hrs 25 mins

Mark Evans: The Shearwater Research Perdix AI had its last official outing while in the Long Term Test stable on our team trip to Iceland. Yet again, I was struck by how clear and easy to read the screen display is, and how simple it is to navigate the menus via the two side-mounted buttons. It has now become second-nature to scroll around and adjust nitrox mixes, review dive logs and so on. I am also a committed fan of the elastic straps, which are quick and easy to stretch around your wrist whatever your exposure protection - and clip securely in place with the two pinch-clips.

INFORMATION Throw the nifty zippered case Arrival date: February 2017 and user-replaceable battery Suggested retail price: £870 into the mix, and you have Number of dives: 46 one hell of a dive computer, Time in water: 45 hrs 10 mins whether you are rec or tech.

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INDONESIA SILADEN RESORT & SPA

Sialden Island, Bunaken National Park, Manado, North Sulawesi, 95011 T: +628114300641 | E: info@siladen.com W: www.siladen.com Siladen Resort & Spa is an exclusive boutique dive resort located on a lush tropical island in the heart of the Bunaken National Marine Park.

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Head Office: Carretera Federal, Parcela 4 MZA 293 Lote 2 Local 5-6, Ejido Norte, Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, 77712, Mexico T: +52 (1) 984 745 0763 E: info@prodiveinternational.com W: www.prodiveinternational.com World-class diving: Cozumel, cenotes, bull sharks, Whaleshark & Sailfish safaris, Live-Aboards Socorro/ Guadalupe, located at 4-5* Resorts Riviera Maya & Cozumel, PADI CDC, Stay&Dive packages, FREE NITROX.

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MALDIVES LILY BEACH RESORT & SPA

Huvahendhoo Island, South Ari Atoll, Maldives T: +960 668 0013 | E: lilybeach@prodivers.com W: www.prodivers.com/lily-beach-maldives Prodivers 5* PADI Dive-Centre. Whaleshark and Manta all year. Free Nitrox, Underwater Scooters and repeater discount available. House reef accessible from shore. 60 dive sites.

KUREDU PRODIVERS

Kuredu Island Resort, Lhaviyani Atoll, 07080, Maldives T: +9606620343 | E: info@prodivers.com W: www.prodivers.com Renowned PADI 5 star IDC center with on site decompression chamber. Multi lingual guides and instructors, more than 60 dive sites, scooters, rebreathers and nitrox-forfree!

MALTA MALTAQUA

Mosta Road, St Pauls Bay, SPB3114, Malta T: 0035621571111 | E: dive@maltaqua.com W: www.maltaqua.com A Multi agency centre providing training for BSAC, PADI, RAID, TDI & IANTD. Dive excursions or tank hire for qualified divers.

Courses for complete beginners.

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PADI, BSAC, SSI and TDI Center. Providing recreational, technical training, plus guided and independent diving services.

PHILIPPINES EVOLUTION

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Progressive Recreational and Technical Diving in the Philippines best all-round diving location. 4 dives/day including

Thresher Shark encounters. All PADI/TDI classes available, Tech/CCR Friendly.

BUCEO ANILAO BEACH & DIVE RESORT Anilao, Barangay San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas, Philippines T: 0063 919 510 57 65 E: info@buceoanilao.com W: www.buceoanilao.com Cozy resort - sophisticated camera / video room - dedicated spotters - easy access from Manila Airport - Critters - Healthy Reefs - Biodiversity!

THAILAND SAIREE COTTAGE DIVING 5* IDC CENTRE 1/10 Moo Sairee Beach, Koh Tao, Suratthani, 84360, Thailand T: +66872650859 E: info@idckohtaothailand.com W: www.idckohtaothailand.com One of the Best PADI Diving Instructor IDC Courses on Koh Tao, Thailand.

For more information please visit: www.idckohtaothailand.com or www.saireecottagediving.com/instructordevelopment-course-idc-koh-tao-saireecottage-diving-koh-tao.

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UNITED KINGDOM DEEP BLUE DIVE

55 Marden Road, Whitley Bay, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE26 2JW, UK T: 0191 253 6220 E: emmet@deepbluedive.com W: www.deepbluedive.com The UK’s number one diving equipment store with all the top brands, at competitive prices. Your one stop shop for diving equipment.

OYSTER DIVING

Maritime House, Basin Road North, Hove, BN41 1WR, UK T: 0800 699 0243 W: www.oysterdiving.com www.oysterdivingshop.com The UK’s premier PADI scuba diving and travel centre. Equipment sales, PADI courses from beginner to Instructor and holidays around the world.

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MARKETPLACE

Diving Medicals Nottingham

Sport Diver medicals £55

HGV/PSV/taxi medicals £55

Occupational Health Medicals

HSE commercial diving medicals £120

Oil and Gas UK Offshore Medicals £110

Discounts for students and large groups

For appointments call 0780 2850 084

or email: mclamp@doctors.org.uk

URCHIN DIVE

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Expert Knowledge – 25+ years diving experience. Warm Saloon – Lunch & snacks provided. Wet/Dry Storage – Moon pool entry.

Accommodation available on site.

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THE ZEN DIVER

Tom Peyton, Vice President of Kids Sea Camp and Family Dive Adventures, is called ‘the Zen Diver’ by his wife, and here he offers some hints on how to use diving to create the ultimate ‘chill-out zone’ www.familydivers.com

ZEN DIVER BECOMES

ZEN TRAVELLER PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF KIDS SEA CAMP/FAMILY DIVERS

A

s a diver, I travel a lot - around 25 weeks a year. I am in and out of airports, hotels, resorts, buses, taxis, planes and dive boats almost half the year. At any moment in the summer, I can be surrounded by thousands of people in an airport with millions of travellers heading all over the world. I’ve been doing this sort of travelling for at least 12 years now, and as a diver you better get used to being delayed quickly.

All I can say is ‘enjoy the journey, damn it’. Enjoy the salty nuts, the $7 beers and uncomfortable coach seats, because 99 percent of the time, you will get to your dive destination. In fact, during all these years of traveling around the globe, I have never missed a single destination, ever.

That’s right, whether it be Indonesia, Palau, Philippines or Grand Cayman, I have always arrived to go diving. Has there been a few close calls? Yes, indeed.

Was I delayed? Completely, but not by much, maybe a few hours, many even a day. Have I missed a bag or two? Yep, but those heavy bags always show up in a day or two anyway.

Now, if anything happens out of my control, like if a plane has mechanical issues, I think, thank god they caught the problem before the broken plane was up in the air. If my bags get delayed, I use it as an excuse to buy new clothes. Plus, I pack my dive gear so I can always go diving. But this isn’t just simply about making lemonade out of lemons. You also need to remember we are all on this dive journey together.

I was once on a flight heading back home from Atlanta and for the first time in all my years of travelling, the airline delayed its take-off because a group, about ten or so, of our fellow travellers were late to the gate.

98

I thought, wow, an airline is doing the right thing, so these poor souls don’t miss their flight, so they can get home and see their wives, children and maybe not miss a day of work. But other people already on the plane didn’t think this was such a great idea.

In fact, I can sadly report that most people already sitting in their seats were extremely unhappy (NB: Please note, I have deleted unpublishable words spoken and yelled in the heat of the moment).

“We were delayed a month ago and they left us standing at the gate.

Who the hell are these people, anyway?”

“Let them miss their damn flight, it happens to me all the time.”

“I bet it’s some pilot that will end up sitting in first class.”

I sat quietly amazed how happy these same people would have been if the airline in their time of need would have done the right thing for them.

But when you’re only worried about getting to your place, in your time, you lose track that we are all connected in this long dive journey.

Too be honest, I think it’s a miracle any of us get to any of our dive destinations at all. Just stop and think of how many millions of travel employees work in this organised chaos; from the ticket agents, mechanics, pilots, stewards, baggage claim, air traffic controllers and yes, even everyone’s favorite, the TSA. It’s a miracle— because while we are dive dreaming of the giant oceanic manta flying inches from our masks in the Socorro Islands, they are all praying for no hurricanes, no blizzards or even a big flock of birds to add more tension to their already stressful jobs.

So just remember to sit back and enjoy the journey with a big inner Zen smile - some people would rather you be upset with them by the way, but keep the smile to yourself and think about your next dive. n

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