Scubaism

Every once in a long while, among the Malaysian diving community, you hear of a rumour of someone being sent to the hyperbaric chamber. It’s usually some newbie or someone who hasn’t dived in a long while.

But 13 divers over one weekend is completely unheard of.

That’s what happened in Devon, England, a couple weekends ago.

The medical director of the Diving Disease Research Centre (DDRC) refused to point fingers at anyone, suggesting that “a combination of factors such as good weather, increased visibility and more visitors have been blamed for the rise.”

If I were him, I’d have had a lot more harsh words with regard to diver safety training in the UK.

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Jazz, a scuba instructor from Holland who is working on Koh Tao in Thailand, had this story to tell about an encounter with a titan triggerfish. She also had a clever way of dealing with it.

I was looking under some rocks for the small stuff like shrimps. I then suddenly felt a bang against my head. Looked up and there was the basterd. Have swam back and ran into my head again! I tried to swim back, but got trapped. there was everywhere corals and rocks around me. And there he came again. He fastforwarded towards my leg and jummy, took a bite. aaargh!

My only thoughts were to stay calm and told mister Trigger not to go for my head. I protected my head with my hands and put my feet up so he would choose to attack my fins.

My students told me he attacked me about 15 times (luckely only one time he took a bite). Then I got a wise idea to blow air out of my alternate airsource (for non divers, it is an extra airsource for emergency occasions). So much air came out, it scared the basterd and I could finally take off. I think with my ass I was actually sitting on his eggs…..

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Herpes is non-lethal in humans, but the immunity system of coral isn’t built to combat it, microbiologists from the San Diego State University have found. Herpes viruses are naturally found in many different animals (95 percent of humans carry some kind of herpes virus). But the article didn’t make clear how humans transfer the virus to coral.

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Six wine experts tasted wines that had been sitting on the sea bed for one year.The blind test proved that the underwater wines (both white and red) tasted better than bottles of the same harvest that had been kept in cellars. Apparently, the immersed red wines develop more slowly and are likely to mature better if kept for years. The drowned white wines have a fresher taste.

The secret lies in the perfect humidity of the environment, the absence of UV rays, and the stable temperature of 9-12 degrees centigrade at 10 meters depth. The gentle massaging of the bottles by the currents and tides also seems to have a positive effect on the aging process.

The first batch of six hundred bottles (minus the four that were sampled) will be auctioned for some good causes. Another six hundred bottles have already been sent to the sea bottom for their year of maturing.

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Everyone loves clownfish. And everyone shoots clownfish. But it’s hard to get a good shot when they’re so shy. But this shot by hendradive is so good that I wish I shot that. It was shot with a Nikon D200.

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Eric Cheng has posted the winners of the Bonaire Shootout. The winners all received dive trips to Indonesia. None of the ones I liked were selected. Too bad. (IMHO: The winners showed technical proficiency. But that’s about it. See for yourself.)

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An very interesting composition by okiraku_diver at Eriyadu House Reef, Maldives, suggesting neatness and organisation by the trevally. Wish I shot that! The Exif data shows it was shot with a Canon EOS 30D, f/4.5, 1/60 exposure, ISO 100.

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Alan Teh writes a trip report for New Straits Times for the Squid Jigging Fiesta, held on Pulau Redang, May 11-13. There were over 500 participants with a grand prize of RM5,000 (USD$1,400) won by a local team from Shah Alam.

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Police have found the man who posted a video on Youtube of a group of beach goers who tortured an eagle ray to death on Rivera Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida.

On the video, a man is seen poking the ray with a knife and then cutting off its tail. The video was removed from Youtube by the poster on 19 June. But follow the newslink and you can watch a TV news report featuring clips from the video. The 90-second video had been posted on YouTube for nine months under the title of “Manta ray Peanut Island”.

Officials said bystanders laughed and encouraged the man to keep torturing the ray and some even stepped on its head. The animal died a slow death, officials said. State wildlife officials said they have found the man who videotaped the torture, but he claims he did not participate in the incident and even tried to call authorities after it happened. The man said the online death threats are all in response to the videotape.

Killing a protected eagle ray is punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, according to a report. Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-3922.

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The government recently noticed there isn’t as much tourism money coming in for turtle watchers. There are fewer turtles to begin with (SEATRU states that the turtle population has dropped by 98% over the last 50 years) — mainly because the locals keep eating them.

So the Malaysian government doesn’t stop the turtle eating. Instead, they build museums to turtles, as reported by the New Straits Times. In the hope that tourists will be content to look at photos of turtles instead of the real thing.

There are a few issues in this situation.

1. There are fewer turtles. They keep getting caught and eaten.
2. There are many restaurants selling boiled turtle eggs. The locals regard eating turtle eggs as their cultural right. There is an entire cottage industry in finding and selling turtle eggs and it is done under the auspices of the government.
3. What complicates things is that the people in the areas where turtles are found and eaten are dirt poor and find turtle eggs for sale to supplement their income.

Some divers like myself try to do our part in turtle conservation by rescuing turtle eggs and paying the local fishermen to raise the hatchlings and then release them. We ensure accountability by paying visits during the release and giving bonuses for each turtle that gets released. Hopefully, we’ll see more of our hatchlings in the water when they’re grown up.

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