REEF recently announced their field survey schedule for 2007. If you haven't ever taken one of these trips, maybe now's the time to consider it. Not only are they fun, educational, and conservation-minded, they're tax deductible! Who ever heard of taking a tax-deductible dive trip?! Thanks, REEF! Upcoming trips include:
Grand Turk, February 17-24 -- 7 nights/8 days - $990
Tortola, British Virgin Islands, April 14-21 -- 7 nights/8 days - $974
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, May 22-27 -- 5 nights/6 days - $TBA
St. Vincent, June 9-16 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,050
San Juan Islands, Washington, July 23-26 -- 4 days/3 nights - $818
Kona, Hawaii, August 4-11 -- 7 nights/8 days - $1,485
Woods Hole, Cape Cod, September 11-16 -- 6 nights/5 days - $509
Bonaire*, September 22-29 -- 7 nights/8 days - $1,063
Utila*, October 20-27 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,110
Anguilla, November 10-17 -- 8 days/7 nights - $975
Cozumel, December 1-8 -- 8 Days/7 Nights - $544
All prices quoted are per person, based on double occupancy. An additional $300 REEF fee will be added to each trip to cover the cost of the group leader, seminars, survey materials, and data management. For more details, you know where to go. *Trip led by Paul Humann, recent inductee into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame.
If you're a diver who's looking to get involved in some conservation efforts on your next dive trip, consider heading to the Komodo National Park. The Park's Conservation Fund has teamed up with a marine biologist to install throughout the Park environmentally-friendly "Manta Ray mooring balls," which are drilled into sand patches or rubble areas. There are already 14 mooring balls in this Park; the newly-formed alliance wants to install up to 30 balls, which will protect the reef system from anchor damage by local fishermen, big liveaboard dive boats, and visiting yachts.
The Park is seeking qualified divers -- in other words, Nitrox-certified and capable of working at 100 feet -- to assist with the installation. Participants will learn multiple skills, ranging from rope splicing to operating an underwater jack hammer. Although the trip is work-oriented, there will be time "for the occasional leisure dive." Interestingly, the organizers hope to film the project for use in other conservation projects and awareness campaigns. You'll be a movie star!
The trip is from February 18-26. Only 4 spaces remain. The cost of the trip -- which includes shared accommodation in air-conditioned cabins, meals, diving, tanks, weights, and presentations -- is $800. For more details, check out the National Park's website or the Coral Reef Alliance.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- comprised of 2500 experts from 130 countries -- the Great Barrier Reef could become "functionally extinct" within a few decades. According to the Panel's leaked report -- the final, official draft of which should be available this Friday -- the reef will (might?) die from bleaching, which occurs when water temperatures grow too high, and which involves a breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between corals and their color-giving zooxanthellae. Interestingly, the cooling waters associated with last year's Cyclone Larry preempted the potentially catastrophic bleaching event that scientists had predicted for 2006. However, the thought is that by 2030, the GBR will likely begin suffering from routine bleaching events and quickly perish.
What's most disturbing to me about this news is that the GBR is the largest living organism on the planet. Able to be seen from space, a dead GBR would be a permanent, hideous scar -- a constant reminder of beauty and life wasted.
In May, 2006, sculptor Jason Taylor launched his Underwater Sculpture Gallery in Grenada. The unique artistic display celebrates Caribbean culture while it simultaneously explores the constantly changing relationship between art and the environment. More importantly, the Gallery is a fascinating dive destination.
Sculpting the pieces in the Gallery looks time-consuming and labor-intensive. For divers exploring the work, however, it appears to be worth it: the pieces aren't just statues or swim-throughs. They're gorgeous, multi-dimensional displays of genius. La Diablesse, for example, is fashioned from concrete and steel and secured to the ocean substrate. The effect is a sublime underwater goddess -- at once beautiful and wretched -- watching over the reef. Meanwhile, The Lost Correspondent is a forlorn, amazing work -- and totally incongruous underwater.
There's no way words can convey the beauty -- and the unusual-ness -- of Talyor's work. To begin to understand his art, check out his image gallery. However, to get the full impact, you should watch this video. It's amazing.
If you want to visit the Sculpture Garden, head to Grenada's Moliniere Bay and get hooked up with the folks at Dive Grenada. Located 2 miles north of the capital on the West coast of the Island, the Gallery sits within a designated National Marine Park.
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.
Stingray City offers visitors to interact with dozens of tame(-ish) stingrays. Allowing kids and adults to jump in the water with frozen morsels hoping to attract the creatures, Stingray City is a great opportunity for people to experience the marine world up close. Of course, some people worry that the practice is destructive. To that end, Cayman's Marine Conservation Law was amended recently to provide increased regulation of activities at Stingray City and in other Wildlife Interaction Zones. Among other things, the amended law will help regulate:
the amount and type of food fed to rays.
the number of tourist boats that can access the zone at specified times.
the number of passengers that can be carried to any specific area.
Clearly, the law aims to lessen the human impact on the rays. Ironically, though, Stingray City is not the rays' natural habitat; rays were attracted to the area by fishermen cleaning their boats.
Of course, some people oppose the new restrictions. According to Captain Eugene Ebanks, "Whoever concocted [the Bill] did not have the best interests of the Watersports Industry at heart." Ebanks fears the proposed regulations will create economic hardships for tour operators and dive companies. While overcrowding at Stingray City might've been a problem in the past, lately it seems that bookings at Stingray City have plummeted, so I wonder if this is an attempt by officials to improve the site's over-the-top eco-friendly image.
Unless you're Jean-Michel Cousteau, or you work for the US Wildlife Service, you ain't getting into the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. The largest protected area under US jurisdiction and the largest marine sanctuary on earth, the NHIMNM boasts more than 7000 species -- one-quarter of which exist nowhere else in the world. Although divers used to be able to reach Midway -- a large atoll in the island chain -- to explore the area's marine life, the area has been off-limits for about 5 years. Remote, untouched, pristine, and glorious, this place might be a diving wonderland -- if only divers could get there.
Amazingly, divers may soon be able to get there! According to Hawaiirama, the three governmental agencies that co-manage the Sanctuary just released an interim plan that will allow visitors to, um, visit as early as mid-2007. (According to the Seattle PI, the Sanctuary could accommodate 30 visitors per night in 2007, and up to 50 visitors per night the following year.) For now, appropriate activities will include snorkeling, kayaking, walking tours, and visits to the historic military sites located on the island. Okay, so snorkeling and diving aren't the same thing, but if things go well, maybe they'll lift some of the restrictions.
If you're interested in getting yourself out to Midway to see what all the hubbub is about, then you should check out the interim plan and comment on it by the February 6, 2007, deadline.
Florida commands 1350 miles of coastline and a $62 billion tourism industry. Pollution, filthy beaches, overfishing -- all these things could destroy the vibrant economy that the state currently enjoys. Consequently, Governor Bush and his cabinet recently signed into law a marine protection plan that could become a model for the nation. Commercial fishing is already banned in the area, but a new law restricts recreational fishing, as well, in a 46-square-mile stretch of ocean 70 miles west of Key West. Although it pales in comparison to the 140,000 square miles of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Monument, the new marine park -- to be incorporated within the Dry Tortugas National Park -- will comprise the largest marine reserve in the continental US (a healthy 197 square nautical miles). Happily, diving, snorkeling, wildlife viewing, and boating will be allowed.
With fish stocks at record lows worldwide, the time is right for this plan to go into effect. The new no-fishing zone will allow some of the area's most endangered species to spawn in safety away from human disturbance. According to David White, a regional director for the Ocean Conservancy, "It's a huge step forward for marine ecosystem management in Florida.... The fish that spawn there will be spreading throughout the Keys."
But is the new law enough? Locals argue that recreational fishermen are not the ones depleting fish stocks. They say that unless commercial fishing is restricted throughout the Gulf -- and their resultant by-catches are reduced drastically -- the effect of a ban on recreational fishing in the marine reserve will be negligible. Moreover, since Charlie Crist (Florida's governor-elect and current attorney general) opposed the ban, the oversight committee that developed the plan agreed that recreational fishing could resume in 5 years without the need for a vote. Considering it takes Goliath groupers, for example, between 4 and 7 years to reach sexual maturity, 5 years, frankly, may not be enough.
San Diego's SeaWorld is offering visitors a chance to get in the water with beluga whales. According to their web site you can "touch, feed and interact with magnificent beluga whales." I suppose we can argue the appropriateness of this (or swimming with dolphins) but since they're not in the wild what's the harm?
Be prepared to enjoy the 55-degree water (not too cold by California standards) after you've paid $160 for the 20-30 minute interaction not counting your adult admission of another $54. It's still cheaper than a trip to the nether regions of our planet to see them in the wild.
Recently, one of Calvin Tang's dive buddies, Nailer99, was diving Washington's T-Dock -- an otherwise great place for a leisurely shore dive -- when he found a mysterious bone. Holding it up to his forearm for comparison, the bone "seemed like a pretty good match for a radius or ulna -- the bones that connect the hand to the elbow." Is the bone human? Who knows. What I DO know is that T-Dock will likely become Seattle's next "in" place for diving, as people frantically scour the area for the rest of the body. See you there!
Minnesota's Quarry Park & Nature Preserve claims to be the most unique county park in the US. It's certainly among the most picturesque. Featuring granite reflecting pools; mountain bike paths over billion-year-old bedrock; trout fishing; geocachers running amok; and a swimming hole 116 feet deep, four of the park's 20 quarries are now ready for scuba divers! Among the park's new dive rules, expect to:
sign the typical permits, releases, and liability waivers;
present your C-card and a photo ID to obtain a free Quarry Park dive permit;
have a parent or guardian cosign the permit if you're younger than 18;
use diving flags to alert other quarry users to your presence;
pay for parking.
To see all 9 pages of the (pretty typical) guidelines for divers, check out this PDF. If you want to see a promotional video of the park, you can. If you want me to dive in the park's waters in the wintertime, you've got another thing coming! Brrrr.
Starting this Friday (the 13th!) -- and running through Sunday -- San Antonio's Dive World Scuba will be sponsoring a weekend-long Halloween-themed, dive-friendly blowout. Held at Texas' North Park Canyon Lake, in addition to ample grilling-out, a gumbo cook-off, and "fun dives," the event also features an Underwater Haunted House, a Costume Party/Contest, an Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest, and an Underwater Pumpkin Hunt. Twenty bucks gains you entry to the entire event and a 1 in 10 chance of winning a spankin'-new reg, BC, tank, and more. If you live in the San Antonio area, and you love diving, this sounds like where you should be this weekend. If you go, please let us know what an underwater haunted house looks like, so I can design one for next year!
Last night was the final installment of Jean-Michel Cousteau's six-part series called Ocean Adventures. Ending a journey that began in April, Cousteau and his team -- which included son Fabien and daughter Celine -- completed a whirlwind tour of America's National Marine Sanctuaries, exploring 7 of the 13 sites and documenting the successes each site has seen. Filled with great undersea footage and some interesting researchers to comment on the work they were doing, the episode was good but, again, light on the science: I could've dealt with some more facts and analysis. That said, the show was nevertheless an excellent introduction to the Sanctuary system and overview of some of the major successes we, as a population, have achieved in trying to protect our environment.
As soon as I saw that this video was shot at Hairball, I knew it was going to be the Dive Video of the Day! If you've never been on a muck dive, this 3-minute clip will give you an idea of what the fuss is about. Filmed on the Sulawesi side of the Lembeh Strait, the footage includes a hairy frogfish, a devil scorpionfish, a peacock mantis shrimp, and a gang of urchins. It's terrific. Check it out!
Whew! Tonight's quite a night of TV for ocean lovers!
First, PBS will air Cousteau's final installment of his 6-part Ocean Adventures series. Tonight is the second in the two-part series investigating America's Underwater Treasures. Part I featured a lot of great footage, although some would argue it was a bit light on the science. Hopefully, tonight they'll dig a little deeper.
Meanwhile, Discovery is airing "Sinking of an Aircraft Carrier" tonight, Discussing the sinking of the Mighty O, the show examines the struggles -- inclement weather, flooding, high tempers, and grueling labor conditions -- which threatened the project. It's scheduled for 8pm and midnight, so if you want to watch both, you can!
REEF recently announced their field survey schedule for 2007. If you haven't ever taken one of these trips, maybe now's the time to consider it. Not only are they fun, educational, and conservation-minded, they're tax deductible! Who ever heard of taking a tax-deductible dive trip?! Thanks, REEF! Upcoming trips include: 
If you're a diver who's looking to get involved in some conservation efforts on your next dive trip, consider heading to the 
According to the 
From January 5-20, the guys from 
Unless you're 
San Diego's SeaWorld
There are lots of things divers DON'T want to see while underwater. For example, I would be less than thrilled about finding a 
Starting this Friday (the 13th!) -- and running through Sunday -- San Antonio's 
Last night was the final installment of Jean-Michel Cousteau's six-part series called 
Whew! Tonight's quite a night of TV for ocean lovers!
