THE COVERS Articles & Editorials MARCH 2001 • Volume 11 Number 3 
  
Photos by Barry & Ruth Guimbellot		 Scuba diving has so many acronyms and abbreviations that you might feel like you're swimming in a sea of letters. This month's feature article "Diving into Alphabet Soup: What's With All Those Letters?" will help you make sense of scuba lingo.
FEATURES
22 Diving into Alphabet Soup: What's With All Those Letters?
recently took in which he learned CPR. 		By Linda Lee Walden
32 Manatee Encounters: Insight Through Interaction
In recent months we've explored the various forms of what have come to be termed interactive marine experiences (IMEs), including swim-with-dolphins programs and shark diving. This article takes a look at what is perhaps the oldest IME in the diving community - swimming with manatees. 		By Alex Brylske
44 Disabled Diving - Project TIDE
Water provides a sense of freedom for people with disabilities as it allows them to leave their wheelchairs, crutches and prostheses on land and swim unencumbered by stairs, hills and doors. Project TIDE helps teens with disabilities to regain their independence through learning to dive. 		By Amy Gulick
56 Sponges: The World's Simplest Multi-Cellular Animals
This article is the second in a series that elaborates upon the marine animals that you and your diving pals are likely to encounter when you dive. 		By Marty Snyderman
COMMENTARY
8 Editorial: Communicating the Message By Alex Brylske
10 Buddy Lines: Wrecks as Reefs  
14 Dive Observer: Clinton Signs Shark Finning Ban By Gene Gentrup
95 No Dumb Questions: Cold Comfort: Readers Ask About Ways to Keep Warm. Taking the chill out of cold-water diving By Alex Brylske
DIVE EXPLORATION
80 Dive Geo: Grand Cayman: A "No worries" Dive Destination For North American divers, Grand Cayman is one of the big kahunas of Caribbean destinations. Divers just can't get enough of it, and why not - at all stages of our diving experience, the island just keeps satisfying. By Jean Pierce
89 Dive Traveler: When Your Dive Gear Goes Astray: How to Deal With Lost Luggage By Cathryn Castle
93 Passport: Dive travel incentives around the globe
Compiled by Cathryn Castle 		 
EVERY MONTH
65 Scuba Skills:A Buddy System for Cold-Water Divers. How to be a "cool" dive buddy By Lynn Laymon
69 Always Learning: In the Caution Zone: Where Lessons Can Be Learned. When a fun dive turns into a problem-solving experience By Mark Twombly
75 Instructor Tips: Deep Impact: Guiding Students on Deep Dives. How to help your students transition to deeper waters By Steven M. Barsky
100 Dive Shop: What's New in Equipment
Compiled by Cathryn Castle 		 
102 Weather and Waves: Cold Weather Basics: Understanding the Wind Chill Index
What the wind chill index means 		By Jack Williams
107 What About: Great White Sharks: What's Known and What's New. What about divers and white sharks? Are we at risk by sharing the oceans with these creatures? Should we be afraid? By Bob Wohlers
113 What's That?: Clues and Captions: A Lighthearted Look at the Underwater World
Choose for yourself the caption you think best explains what might be happening in the photograph. 		By Dee Scarr
115 Premiere Classifieds  
117 Classifieds  
121 Dive Training Quiz: Test your knowledge of the information in this month's issue  
122 Final Check: What It Looks Like ... When Your Equipment Is About To Take A Dive Without You. How to keep it all together between dives By Lynn Laymon