Scubaism

DAN’s Giant Stride magazine for the student diver is now online, starting with issue 3 (in full Flash).

Giant Stride focuses on everyone who’s thinking of taking that very first breath underwater — and all the divers who already have. It’s a unique resource, consisting of the best medical safety advice and scuba information available.

Giant Stride debunks common scuba myths, offers friendly advice and explanations on topics such as travel, physiology and critters, and welcomes all interested parties to the world of scuba.

Also check out DAN’s accompanying micro site for the new diver: danismybuddy.com.

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I love this dramatic shot of divers descending through a cavern hole in Palau. Shot by lar3 with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR, ISO 200, 1/30 at f3.5. Wish I shot that!

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I love this shot of this Hawaiian seal waving past by Tom Doherty. The blue is really intense. Wish I shot that!

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Christine Stapleton of Palm Beach Post has an excellent editorial about coral reef conservation. Coral doesn’t get enough attention because it isn’t warm and fuzzy like a dog, she writes. And check out her killer end line!

I graduated from college in 1981 with a degree in journalism and have been writing since then. I have gotten better over the years. I have written about a lot of different things: migrant farm workers; parades; executions; baptisms; rapes. Just about any topic you can think of.However, I am incapable of putting together the words to explain the magnificence of the reefs off Palm Beach county. Spectacular? Extraordinary? Resplendent?

I go SCUBA diving almost every Saturday morning. For me, it’s like going to church. Quiet. Relaxing. Sacred. And, you can’t get a cell phone signal down there. If you’ve never gotten closer to the bottom of the ocean than the Publix fish counter, I am going to devote my Saturday blog to bringing you closer to the coral reefs.

Coral reefs are kind of the step-child in the green movement. We spend much more time focusing on CO2 emissions, polar ice caps and sea-levels rising. The reefs are a footnote - “Oh, by the way, the coral reefs are dying, too.”

The reason is that people believe that corals are rocks or plants. They are not. They are animals. They grow very slowly and have Biblically long lifetimes.

We need coral reefs because they are the grocery stores for fish and they protect us from hurricanes. Fish are important not just because there would be no sushi without fish and your favorite restaurant would close. Fish are important because they are part of that whole circle of life thing popularized by Disney’s The Lion King. You don’t want to mess with the circle of life.

Unfortunately for coral reefs they are not warm and fuzzy animals, like puppies or kittens. So, when a fisherman’s monofilament line or a boat’s anchor line decapitates a coral it doesn’t have nearly the impact of, say, a monofilament line wrapped around your labrador’s neck. Which may explain why we don’t see PETA down here going gonzo over coral.

So, the next time you are standing at the Publix fish counter deciding whether to get the snapper or the grouper, remember that you would be eating chicken tonight if not for the coral reefs.

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The video is quite greenish, but keep your eyes on the top right hand of the screen. Just after the 11th minute, a clownfish will be visible. It attacks the turtle’s head. The turtle tries to brush it off, but that succeeds only in getting it more feisty. Then the turtle goes berzerk and attack’s the anemone the clownfish tries to hide in, tearing the anemone to bits.

Shot in Sipadan.

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Sailors reenlist aboard ship every day, but Personnelman 1st Class (SW/AW) Kevin Armold, a supervisor at Naval Air Station Pensacola’s (NASP) Personnel Service Detachment, won’t be serving on board the ship he chose to take his oath.

Armold raised his right hand to accept another term of service, July 6, while on board the former aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV 34), which lays in more than 200 feet of water at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Maj. Shean Phelps, an aerospace medicine resident at Naval Aerospace Medical Institute, conducted the ceremony via underwater talking apparatus on Oriskany’s “smoking deck” at a depth of 85 feet.

Clint Rutherford of Escambia County Search and Rescue provided technical support for the project including the loan of the full-face communications apparatus. “We were actually able to speak and hear the oath while we were under water,” Armold said.
The H2O Below, a local dive charter boat, took the group of 15 divers out to Oriskany. H2O Below divemaster Paul Sjordal shot still photography while Phelps discharged and then reenlisted Armold with the traditional Navy reenlistment articles. A planned submerged reenlistment date of July 4 had to be postponed two days due to rough seas.

The avid open-water certified scuba diver made the decision to reenlist underwater on board Oriskany while watching a Discovery Channel special on the sinking of the ship, which was sunk May 17, 2006, approximately 23 miles off the coast of Pensacola.

The contract and certificate was laminated for use under water and a grease pencil was used by Armold to sign his reenlistment; an actual submission copy was signed with ink on land.

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That’s what syndicated diet columnist Charles Stuart Platkin would like us to believe. He figures scuba diving burns 490 calories an hour. I don’t doubt that diving can be strenuous, especially in strong currents. It explains why I’m always starving after a dive.

But is it really more active than kayaking (350 calories/hour) and four times more exercise than sex (105 calorie/hour)? I would surely like to know how he gets these figures.

Anyway, I think Platkin’s point is to get out in the sun and do something active instead of sitting at home and watching TV. I would agree with that.

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Japanese researchers are looking for ways to reduce stress levels in tuna caught in nearby waters, so they taste better when they hit the plate.

A vigorous fish, tuna tends to thrash wildly when caught, which researchers believe raises its body temperature and leads to whitening of its meat, sharply cutting its flavor and value.

“People want to eat tuna when it’s as fresh as possible, but once it struggles the freshness goes down,” said Kunihiko Konno, a professor at Hokkaido University who is leading the stress-reduction project.

Tuna tend to struggle especially hard if too many are trapped in a net at once or if they are kept in crowded conditions at fish farms, but the researchers are focusing mainly on how to reduce stress when the fish are caught, he added.

Although they have yet to reach firm conclusions, Konno said the best way to reduce stress levels was likely to be quite simple — and final.

“Kill them very quickly,” he said.

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This is an exceptionally well produced video educating visitors to Hawaii about the local marine life and urging them to take care of the reefs. It’s probably targeted at children too because the production team had chosen to make the fish “talk” as the video’s ambassadors.

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I love the light of this shot by Shappell. It was taken in Hawaii waters with his Canon G7. 1/200@f4, no flash. Wish I shot that!

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