The northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea is full of new opportunities and fresh dive sites. "Find something new and interesting to report on at the Red Sea" was the assignment I gave myself. Right.
New Zealand is a centre of biodiversity for marine sponges," NIWA's Dr Michelle Kelly said. "New Zealand is probably the most diverse region in the world for these carnivorous sponges and they are on isolated seamounts that could be at risk of dredging."
A visiting scientist, Professor Jean Vacelet from Centre d'Oceanologie de Marseille and Nicole Boury-Esnault made the first discovery of a carnivorous sponge only 16 years ago – in 1995 – in submarine caves in the Mediterranean Sea.
Researchers have discovered that differences in the patterned clicks of sperm whale communication may lean towards culture rather than genetics. A study published in Behaviour Genetics suggests that sperm whale groups are made up of individuals that use the same dialect, rather than those that come from a similar area of the Pacific.
As the word, rebreather, gains readership in diving magazines, brings novelty to shows and fills the mouths of renowned instructors many industry professionals are thinking of “rebreatherizing” themselves. This is predictable, as the rebreather has been hailed as the “greatest diving innovation since the regulator”.
Jill Heinerth, whose first job was a newspaper route in her home town of Toronto, Canada, is today a pioneer technical diver and instructor, a renowned explorer of underwater caves who owns a record for the deepest and longest cave dive, and a record for the longest dive into an Antarctic iceberg.
To find seclusion, special locations need to be found. One of these is Nuweiba, up in the Northern Sinai Gulf of Aqaba beyond Sharm el-Sheikh between Dahab and Taba.
Dangerous Shallows - In Search of the Ghost Ships of Cape Cod - tells the story of a quest to solve maritime cold cases.
According to a study that appeared in the Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, new research has indicated that sea urchins may use the entire surfaces of their bodies—from the ends of their "feet" to the tips of their spines—as huge eyes. Scientists have long known that marine invertebrates react to light without any obvious eye-like structures, raising the question of how the animals see.
Maybe the concept of ‘responsible shark diving’ sounds a little oxymoronic, but there are many things that you can do to protect yourself and the sharks during your interaction. First and foremost, I can’t stress enough the need to gain as much knowledge as possible about the animals and their environment. To go into the water without at least a basic idea of how the sharks are likely to react is foolhardy to say the least.
Jump back to the summer of 1996 and British Cave Diver Mike Thomas presents me with a copy of aquaCORPS magazine, (and I still have this issue in my office today). It was a defining moment in my diving career. Mike had taken me under his wing, showing me there was more than 30 metre, single tank, recreational, air diving. The aquaCORPS issue was N11, October / November 1995 and I vividly remember being thrilled to learn of a brave new world of diving.
Knives, spear-guns and other objects that can be used as weapons must, obviously, be checked. Any sharp objects packed in checked luggage should be securely wrapped to prevent injury to security screeners.
