Well, it's time to doff our dive gear, wash it off, and pack it away. Before we go, though, we wanted to say thanks to all the people who visited Divester and supported it over the last two-and-a-half years. It's been so much fun for us, and we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. In conclusion:

• Bill Reals says, "What a long strange trip it's been. I've enjoyed my time here at Divester, it was a great way for me to share some of my technical leanings for things like cave diving, wreck diving and my obsession with DPVs. I'm sorry to see it retire but the old posts will still be around and you may see some of us on other blogs in the Weblogs family. To all the readers out there, thanks for the suggestions, comments and praise." You can check out Bill's blog at www.reals.net.
• You can check out Eric Brodeur at his cleverly-named blog, ericbrodeur.com.
• As for me, I'll be moving to Divester's sister blog, Gadling, where I'll be diving into the world of travel.

Dive safe. See you on the hang bar!

Jack Connick has started writing a monthly column for Northwest Dive News. Discusiing underwater photography, Jack plans to concentrate on cold-water dive photography, but I'm sure tropical divers will learn lots, too. Fortunately, he plans to re-print the articles on his blog, so check in often if you don't subscribe.

In his first article, Jack discusses the importance of experience and not engaging in unnecessary task-loading. He also goes over important questions to ask yourself before making the often-expensive leap into underwater shooting. What do you want to do with your photos? Where are you going to be shooting? How much can you really afford to spend? These are some of the questions Jack walks you through.

Sadly, this is not an April Fool's post. It's only January.

AOL, Divester's parent company, has decided to retire several of its smaller, less profitable long-running blogs at the end of the month. Unfortunately, Divester is one of those blogs.

I want to say thanks to everyone who reads Divester regularly and who has helped make it the best recreational dive blog on the Web, as well as the preeminent centralized, generalized news source for the dive community. In addition to the readers, I also want to thank my buddies here on Divester for working so hard with me.

So where are Divester's writers heading next? We'll let you know on January 31. In the meantime, please keep reading. There's still more good stuff coming!

• The reduction of shark finning;
• Successful shark management in Europe;
• Developing effective skate and ray fisheries; and,
  
• Monitoring of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

• Adopt a basking shark.
• Participate in the Trust's Whale Shark project.
• Participate in the Trust's Basking Shark project.
• Encourage commercial enterprises to take a stand against shark finning.
• Purchase a Divester/Wetpixel t-shirt so we can continue to support marine conservation efforts. We already donated $300 to the Coral Reef Alliance.

• Amazon Selling Shark Fin Soup?
• Amazon Still Selling Shark Fin Soup?!
• Now Amazon is Selling Shark Fin Cartilage Powder

Over in Wetpixel's forums, a photo assistant for Scuba Diving Magazine posted an open call for entries for the magazine's upcoming "Wrecktacular" issue. Spotlighting wrecks from all over the world, the forum-post claims that, "If you have compelling wreck photos and are interested in submitting them for possible publication, please contact us." The editors will accept submissions via disc or e-mailed hyperlinks -- just be certain the images are clearly identified by destination and wreck name. Unfortunately, all submissions need to be recieved by Tuesday, January 16th. But don't worry: you've still got the weekend!

For contact information -- or to see the tentative list of wrecks the magazine will cover -- head over to Wetpixel. This could be your big break!

We mentioned Jim Spears yesterday. In addition to being one helluva an awesome underwater shooter, Spears is also an accomplished kayak diver. Having picked up the sport on Maui in 1994, Spears claims kayak diving is an excellent and inexpensive way to reach dive sites that are too distant to safely qualify as shore dives.

On his website, Spears explains about the kayak he uses for dive kayaking (a Scrambler XL); recommends equipment useful for dive kayaking; discusses how to rig your kayak for launching; expounds on how dive kayakers get geared up, and -- most importantly -- details how they get back in the boat after a dive. If you're interested in learning about the not-as-popular-as-it-should-be sport of dive kayaking, check out Jim's meticulous website.

ScubaGuru is an online resource for divers developed by Tec Clark, an instructional expert and dive industry veteran. The site is pretty new, so there isn't a lot of textual information in its pages yet. However, Clark does have one particularly interesting feature on his site that I hope he develops further.

Within ScubaGuru's Video Series, divers can learn about basic dive skills and concepts, like how to help prevent seasickness and what, exactly, is Archimedes' principle. The clips are short, to-the-point, and entertaining. Clark manages to present important information clearly, yet he doesn't take himself too seriously. Slightly goofy but clearly knowledgeable, he's struck a nice balance, and I'm hoping he continues making videos for the series. We'll check back soon to see what kinds of clips he's added. Personally, I'm waiting for him to provide some tips on how to get other divers to stop using the dedicated dry storage area to store their (waterproof) dive bags.

[Via Scuba PRWire]

From January 5-20, the guys from Dive Zero Video Magazine will be filming Issue #2 in Roatan Island, Honduras. I can't wait to see what they come up with, as I was a big fan of Issue #1.

During their Honduran excursion, the team will be posting video snippets to their blog every two days, for a total of 6 posts. In addition to their daily adventures, the clips will feature behind-the-scene video -- and clues to a contest that sounds pretty simple. The first 20 people to solve the contest will receive a free copy of Issue #2 and a chance for the grand prize: a trip for 2 to Roatan.

If what you're doing is better than a trip for two to Roatan, then keep surfing the Web. If it's not, then check out the video in which they explain the rules to the contest.

If you haven't finished sorting, cropping, and finalizing your submissions for the Wetpixel- and DivePhotoGuide-sponsored Underwater Competition, don't freak out. There's still time. However, there isn't MUCH time. The deadline is this Sunday, at 11:59pm.

In case you don't know, the Underwater Competition is a two-pronged affair organized in conjunction with Our World Underwater and DEEP Indonesia. With more than $55,000 in prizes, the two contests promise to be one of the biggest, most spectacular photography events the underwater world has ever seen. Heck, even the topside world will be envious.

Check out the rules, get your images ready, and submit them. All the best! Can't wait to see the winners!

A long time ago, we pointed you to the incredible panorama shot inside Bali's Tulamben wreck. Created by stitching together more than a dozen images shot underwater -- and inside the wreck -- zooming around the pano is almost as cool as swimming around inside the wreck. Almost.

If you're looking for some more virtual dives, check out these cool panoramas:

1. Mal Yeo -- the same photographer who shot the Tulamben pano -- has created an amazing image from 75 feet below the surface at Halifax Park, Australia. Prepare to see LOTS of fish.
2. Andreas Kampf has a series of 9 underwater panos that rival Yeo's in their beauty and artistic-ness. In my opinion, the Fesdu Wreck is especially gorgeous, but they're all worth investigating.
3. Alexandra Albin has created a small but well-lit pano of a wreck dive off Catalina Island.
4. Undersea features half a dozen effective underwater panos, including a nice one starring a cuttlefish.
5. Scott Highton managed to capture a gorgeous over-under pano in a Florida spring.

Of course, as photographic equipment -- and photographers -- become more sophisticated, we'll probably see more underwater panos in the future. Dip your hand in a bucket of water, and it'll be just as relaxing as a dive trip. Almost.

A few weeks ago, we caught wind that some of Truk's wrecks were leaking toxic chemicals. Facing the two-pronged attack of both time and dynamite fishers, there have been accusations that the wrecks have been leaching toxic chemicals and threatening the poor island's coastline. Is it true?

Well, the eloquent and observant Jack Connick just returned from Truk. Enjoying a glorious week of diving, which included 20 dives on some of the world's most famous wrecks, Jack noted that several of the old wrecks do, indeed, appear to be deteriorating (thanks, possibly, to overzealous divers?), but there's nary a mention of sludge seeping out of cracked fuselages. Despite some deterioration, however, Jack managed to squeeze in many fantastical wreck dives and squeeze off a number of killer photos.

If you're wondering whether a long-haul to Truk is worth your time and money, check out Jack's excellent three-part Truk trip report, in which he describes his experience aboard the Truk Odyssey; provides some photo and travel advice; and, of course, explains what the diving is like in the world's wreck capital.

Not every underwater shot that the pros squeeze off is spectacular, of course. We only see the best ones. If you're aching to create shots like the pros, then maybe you should check out Jack Connick's Digicam Tips. Purveyor of Fantasea housings and a fine shooter himself, Jack has compiled a digicam Q&A from his mailbag.

Providing tips from how to light a wreck, to how to achieve those cool black-background effect, Jack explains things clearly yet concisely. If you're brand new to shooting underwater, you might not understand all the jargon Jack uses, but if you're gunning to take the best pictures you can, I'm guessing you'll read carefully.

Personally, I hope he makes digicam tips a regular feature on Optical Ocean. I can't get too much photo advice.

If you're looking to burst into the world of RSS feed readers, you might be interested in DiveClips. Delivered pre-loaded with many of your favorite dive blogs and underwater news sites, users are free to customize their readers by easily adding other feeds.

Looking for something specific in your feed and don't feel like scrolling? One of the handiest features of DiveClips is the search feature. Type in a keyword, hit search, and DiveClips will sort through its content, so you can get to the news you're looking for.

One of the things I like best about DiveClips is the clean, uncluttered look it provides. No ads; no banners; no superfluous gunk. Just lots and lots of scuba news.

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2007 is to take more photos. I'm going to do this with the small point-and-shoot I own currently, but I'm very seriously considering an upgrade. This weekend, in fact, I was at Best Buy, checking out camera systems. One of the cameras I saw was Casio's EX-Z1000, a minuscule camera with a gigantic LCD screen. As I was handling the camera, two hippies came up to me and started looking, too. "It's small," I said. "It's gotten good reviews online," one of the hippies replied. If nothing else, Casio seems to be getting their name out there. Don't have much faith in hippies? Calvin Tang just posted a lengthy review of the EX-Z1000 used in conjunction with an EWC-80 housing. As with all of Calvin's reviews and how-to's, this one is well-written, thorough, and engaging.

According to Calvin, the EX-Z1000 offers long battery life, a shutter lag time of only .002 seconds, a simple interface, and excellent macro capabilities. Meanwhile, the EWC-80 housing is "simple and thoughtfully designed." Although he finds the housing's shutter button and button cluster a bit tricky, overall Calvin declares the rig to be "the best, most powerful compact camera/housing pair on the market right now." Since the entire rig is priced around $500, the EX-Z1000 sounds like an excellent entry-level camera. Alternatively, if you're a big dSLR shooter, this package might make a nice back-up to your pre-existing rig. Check out Calvin's review and see for yourself whether this camera'll suit your needs.

A lot of divers I know start taking decongestants a few days before a dive trip. Fearing a sinus problem will be a real headache (no pun intended) while diving, they often take Sudafed to dry up their sinuses. However, thanks to a revision in the USA Patriot Act, buying Sudafed just got a lot tougher. In fact, you can't buy it over the counter anymore.

The renewed USA Patriot Act, signed into law in March, includes the "Combat Meth Act," which is aimed at reducing production of methamphetamines, made from pseudophedrine (a major ingredient in Sudafed). In 2004, Sudafed announced its plans to change the "recipe" for its popular decongestant to comply with the "Combat Meth Act." Today, customers can purchase Sudafed PE -- which contains a different decongestant called phenylephrine -- over the counter, but to get the old stalwart, you have to approach the pharmacist directly. According to Paul Boutin, to buy original formula Sudafed, "go to your supermarket or drugstore and look in the cold remedies sections where it used to be. They now have little fake boxes or cards you take to the pharmacist to say 'I want one of these.' The pharmacist checks your ID and you sign for it." Customers are limited to one box a day and three a month, and they need to present a photo ID and sign a log for the pharmacist.

What does the "Combat Meth Act" have to do with terrorism? Um...not much. The idea behind the law is to keep meth dealers from buying Sudafed in quantity to cook it into addictive drugs. Unfortunately, it also means some divers will have to assess whether a particular dive is Sudafed-worthy.

[Thanks, Karen!]