Doing Good While Diving
January
8, 2002
Each year Undercurrent subscriber David Leonard sponsors
a live-aboard trip, turning over all “profits” to the Griswold
Foundation for the Prevention of Child Abuse. This year, he needs to
fill a few spaces from September 14-27 on a 10-day trip to Cocos Island,
Costa Rica, aboard the world-class live-aboard Undersea Hunter. Trip
price of $3,500 includes EVERYTHING--airfare, boat fare, all diving,
2-3 days hotel stay in San Jose, CR, all transfers, a nifty StarDive
windbreaker, AND, most importantly, a tax-deductible donation to the
Griswold Foundation. For details, visit www.stardive.org
or e-mail him at david@stardive.org.
In his seven years of running trips, he’s raised more than $60,000
for this very worthy cause.
NOAA
Diving Manual January
8, 2002
Every serious diver needs one major, unbiased diving reference and
this is it: the all new Fourth Edition of the NOAA Diving Manual, which
was last published in 1991. In full color, with 688 coated pages, it
is the most detailed diving reference book available, yet written in
lay language. More than 100 authors and reviewers, selected from a diverse
spectrum of experts in recreational, commercial, military, scientific,
and research diving, address complex diving issues. They cover all aspects
of diving, including new gear, operational techniques, and details to
help the diver dive safely. The technologies of rebreathers and mixed
gas diving, including Nitrox and oxygen are included. Diving physics,
physiology, decompression, and diving medicine have also been updated
to reflect recent development in the diving industry. The NOAA Nitrox
Tables and the Nitrox diving procedures allow deeper and/or longer bottom
times to increase diver efficiency when using Nitrox, without affecting
safety or increasing decompression time. Add this book to your library
by clicking
here. You’ll get the best price Amazon.com has to offer and
we will donate a percent of the proceeds to the Coral
Reef Alliance. Price: $79.95
PNG
Deal
January 8, 2002
Papua New Guinea has some of the best diving on the planet and Mike
Ball, who operates the luxury liveaboard Paradise Sport is giving
Undercurrent readers 15% off the prices for selected
departures in January, February and March. 7 or 10 night expeditions
in Milne Bay -- which is well know for its incredible marine life bio-diversity
-- is a macro photographers dream. Check out www.mikeball.com
for full itinerary & information details. Email usa@mikeball.com
or phone 1 800 952 4319 for departure dates & prices. Get your discount
by asking for the "Undercurrent offer."
Dynamite
Fishing
January 8, 2002
One of the most beautiful dive sites in Thailand's Andaman Sea, Hin
Muang-Hin Daeng, was seriously damaged in December when dynamite from
an illegal and unidentified fishing boat damaged two giant underwater
rocks, each as large as a football field and as tall as a 100-story
building. Nangnoy Yossundara, a local dive instructor, said, “It
is the most ecologically important site in the Andaman Sea with soft
coral habitats. You have to dive at Burma Bank to experience its equal.”
The two giant rocks were about 40 feet under water. Hin Muang is covered
with purple corals while Hin Daeng, closer to the water surface, has
red corals. Dive operators said the illegal fishing activity was just
the tip of the iceberg. Famous scuba diving sites near Phi Phi and Similan
Islands have been damaged by dragnets from fishing boats that swept
corals and destroyed fish spawning grounds. The operators called on
the government to zone the area to protect the undersea ecology from
illegal fishing. If you want to learn more about what you as a diver
can do to stop such activity, visit the website of preserve coral reefs
at www.coral.org.
Diver
Death January 8, 2002
It seems that every year an unwary diver or two dies from being hit
by a boat prop and last year was no different. In November, Florida
diver James E. Hyde died after being hit in the head by the prop of
the charter boat Playmate, from which he was diving. The divers
were doing a drift dive near the Marquesas when Hyde was hit, causing
fatal head injuries. The Playmate is based in Oceanside Marina
on Stock Island. (Key West Citizen)
Shark
Bite January 8, 2002
And, it seems that every year a snorkeler gets bitten by a shark in
Maui’s waters, and that happened New Year’s Day when a 6-foot
tiger shark bit a small chunk out of Tommy Holmes, a 30-year-old musician
from California. Holmes (the Tommy Holmes Band), and his girlfriend,
Monica Boggs, were 100 yards off the beach at Olowalu. “We were
near a reef where there was a large bunch of sea turtles, and I heard
Monica screaming through her snorkel. She grabbed my hand, and I looked
to see where she was looking.” Forty feet below the he saw the
shark “heading straight for us. He was coming up from the depths,
at a 45-degree angle, like a submarine heading for the surface.”
The shark “hit me in the lower thighs and buttocks, and at that
point I punched him in the nose, and he went away.” The couple
swam madly for the beach, and Holmes said, “I felt behind me,
and my shorts were all torn, and I realized I had probably been bit
pretty good.” Boggs, who was swimming ahead of him, looked back,
Holmes said, and saw “a trail of blood” floating out behind
her boyfriend. They eventually reached the beach, where police and paramedics
tended to Holmes, then took him to the hospital. Holmes, who has logged
100 scuba dives, said this was the first shark he had ever seen in the
water.
-- Ben
Davison,
editor/publisher
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