Happy New Year from the small island. Safe diving in 2015 everyo...
With teeth
15:52:00
Admin
Work has gotten in the way of regular diving activities during this festive period but I think we've broken the back of it now so it was good to get back into the deep blue on the East End with Captain Nat, Captain Nige and new girl (not captain) April with our friends at Tortuga Divers. Forcast for the day was a 6 knot NE with gusts up to 12 knots, which pretty much how it was with 27 degrees in the water which is the coldest I've ever seen it here but its still a little warmer than diving in Scotland right now (am I right, 633068?).Nat took us off to the South side today to a site called Pat's Wall, which we've never done so I was keen...
The killer instinct
04:09:00
Admin
The incredible underwater footage being released just keeps on coming, this time courtesy of the Smithsonian who used a new underwater camer setup. Jump to 1.30 in the video if you want to skip straight to the good stuff."There's a mysterious predator lurking in the depths of Australia's wild Southern Ocean, a beast that savagely devoured a great white shark in front of cinematographer David Riggs 11 years ago. Riggs's obsession to find the killer leads him to an aquatic battle zone that's remained hidden until now. Here, killer whales, colossal squid and great white sharks face off in an underwater coliseum where only the fiercest creatures...
Whale Song
15:29:00
Admin
First sharks, now whales. We have a new film hitting cinemas soon, including IMAX (which would be spectacular), narrated by my fellow countryman, Ewan McGregor.It's called Humpback Whales and it opens on Feb 15th 2015, a perfect way to celebrate Valentines, albeit a day late. How could anyone not love these thin...
Learning to fly
04:24:00
Admin
Here is some epic footage taken in South Africa of Great White Sharks leaping into the air and attacking fake seals. We get to see these incredible beasts in all their glory. The video below is stunningly clear and we pretty much see every angle of these ocean hunters in all of their glo...
Take me to the river
14:52:00
Admin
Now being a dive instructor and and ex-Sony employee, I love this. Diving and gadgets? whats no to love?Some retailers believe that it's important to make their stores easy to find. They'll even pay a premium for space in popular malls or streets with lots of foot traffic. Sony is taking a different approach with its Xperia Aquatech Store, which is underwater. This is a marketing gimmick to drive home the point that Sony makes waterproof devices, but it's an admirably over-the-top (or, I guess, under-the-sea?) approach. The Xperia Aquatech concept store is only open 4 meters underwater in Dubai for three days.Sony...
Nuclear Drive
11:06:00
Admin
The ocean is an inhospitable place for soft, land-based human bodies. It's dark, oxygenless, and, perhaps most intractable of all, really cold. At the pressure of certain depths, neoprene suits will compress and lose their insulating power.The air in tanks also gets cold, so divers become chillier with each breath. But in the 60s, the Navy thought they had an ingenious solution to it all: nuclear power. Plutonium-238 is a byproduct of nuclear weapons production, but it also happens to be the ideal nuclear fuel for wetsuits�once you accept a nuclear-powered wetsuit is a good idea in the first place. It emits a lot of radiation, but only...
Bring me sunshine
14:05:00
Admin
In the immortal words of Morecambe & Wise, "bring me sunshine" because we're getting solittle of it here just now with multiple cold fronts sweeping in from the North North East which really has put a damper on the whole diving thing.Normal services shall be resumed when the wind drops off and starts blowing the right direction. In the mean time I took a photo of the conditions out there today.......
Friend of the devil
16:37:00
Admin
Now this is something you don't see every day, very rare footage of the Black Sea Devil anglerfish. There�s less than half a dozen pieces of footage of the anglerfish in existence, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) got lucky recently and have recorded the first ever sighting of a Black Sea Devil anglerfish in its natural habitat. The footage was captured by MBARI Senior Scientist Bruce Robison while controlling the remotely operated vehicle Doc Ricketts in Monterey Bay. The 9cm-long anglerfish is swimming around at a depth of 580 meters (1,900 feet), and due to the species this is identified as a female complete...
Taking on the world
08:22:00
Admin
It's been a while since we last went shore diving due to familial responsabilites, etc. but we managed to squeeze in an early morning dive. The viz was fantastic but there was an absolute ripper of a Northerly current which meant we had to keep it very low and very slow.Looks can be deceiving......We wern't on a particular mission for anything today, it was just an excuse to get in and get wet and play around with the small stuff, which you will always find here in abundance without fail. There's such a great selection of gobies and blennies here, you really are spoiled for choice.There also seemed to be a lot of trumpetfish around this morning...
The Way I Feel Inside
16:42:00
Admin
Think you know your fish? Think again because you probably haven't seen them like this before. Sandra Raredon, who has been at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History for 25 years has been involved with using radiology as part of her job responsibilities. Her striking black-and-white radiographs, or x-rays, of fish, stingrays, eels, and seahorses��anything with a backbone,� she notes�reveal the complex bone structure in a level of detail reminiscent of fine engraving.Pretty spectacular stuff. You can see the entire collection in the link below.Link: H...
Cold day in the sun
05:38:00
Admin
Fantastic video clip from Nat Geo previewing "the man who doesnt breath air" premiering on 26th Oct featuring Stig Severinsen. Jump to 1:30 to see the spectaular stu...
Dragons & Fables
16:49:00
Admin
With the relatives safely back home, it was time to exercise the water wings and get wet again on the East side, ably assited by the magical little dive pixies that make every dive so perfect (or Tortuga Divers as some other people call them).The forecast wasn't looking at it's best for the morning but once we motered out round the North side for a bit, it cleared up nicely. With a full boat, the dive pixies were out in force to help everyone that needed it with future dad, Captain Dave at the helm, Captain Nat looking slightly green around the gills, and Sarah and Linda keeping everyone entertained.We hit McCurley's Wall first which never disappoints...
