Editorial
Written by Alex Brylske
Photo by Joseph C. Dovala
Isn't it Time?
Unless you were on some other planet recently, you no doubt heard about the recent event at Orlando's SeaWorld in which a trainer was killed by an orca. Clearly, it was a tragic situation made worse in that it was apparently a very public spectacle. And unlike what was initially reported by authorities, the victim did not fall into the pool, but was grabbed and dragged into the water by the whale. Some were surprised that the animal wasn't put down, as would have been the case with a dog; and many even expressed alarm when it was made public that this was the third fatality involving the whale, Tilikum. (Although, in fairness, it's far from certain that he was the cause of one of those deaths.) Personally, I was heartened to learn that Tilikum wasn't euthanized. It also made me question the purpose and true cost of turning marine mammals into circus performers.
As expected, everyone and their brother who could possibly pass the acid test of being an expert was interviewed about what had happened. So far, "experts" have blamed the incident on everything from boredom to stress to mating behavior. Frankly, the cause seems irrelevant. The fact is that these creatures weren't intended to live in an aquatic kennel, or what one advocate describes as "straitjackets of concrete." Orcas are considered by many marine mammalogists to be the most social, intelligent, family-oriented member of the dolphin family. Just a few weeks ago an Emory University biologist, Lori Marino, in a presentation before a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, explained that captive whales and dolphins suffer real psychological stress. "Dolphins are sophisticated, self-aware, highly intelligent beings with individual personalities, autonomy and an inner life," she told the group. "They are vulnerable to tremendous suffering and psychological trauma." If that doesn't earn them the right to be left alone to live free in the open ocean, then I can't imagine what would.
I'm fully aware of the argument that had it not been for places like SeaWorld turning "killer whales" into cuddly performers, our attitudes toward them may have never changed. It's now well known that there has never been a documented account of a person being killed in the wild by an orca. But that just as well could be because very few humans are ever in the cold and often distant waters where orcas live as to any temperamental aversion to considering us prey.
I also agree that, in the past, there may have been justification for keeping marine mammals captive so that humans could have a more intimate and accurate experience with them. For example, I remember an episode of "Sea Hunt" in which the matter-of-fact premise of the story was a killer whale eating a diver. But that was in the 1950s, and it's no longer the world we live in. Today marine mammals have what may be the strongest conservation advocacy of any animal on the planet. In all forms they are beloved, so it's pretty clear that we got the message. Therefore, trying to justify the captivity of orcas by asserting that it's a way to prove they aren't "killers" - aside from the evidence of the Tilikum incident - is just a very thin veil to hide the truth: As The New York Times stated when it weighed in on the Tilikum incident, "that's a big money-making animal." I think it's time to own up to that truth and leave these magnificent creatures where they belong: in the sea.
Buddy Lines
SOLO DIVING SHOULD BE Embraced
Solo Diving Should be Embraced
I am in total agreement with your editorial, "To Buddy or Not to Buddy," Dive Training, March 2010, and would like to thank you for this long overdue discussion. I have been diving since 1968 and was an instructor in the earlier days of scuba diving.
My interest in underwater photography and videography brought me to many international open waters. I appreciate the evolutionary technical, physiological and teaching improvements, however, I think this at times forced "buddy system" has reached an excessive level.
The increased focus on "self-reliance" would necessitate a better understanding of one's own equipment and capabilities, and it would not degrade any safety procedures.
I am a divemaster and do understand the psychological intent of the buddy diving teachings, however, especially in underwater photography and videography, a buddy is not necessarily
a positive part of the dive. Having been on many live-aboards, I appreciate (as some live-aboards now practice) my diving-solo-privacy. Though I generally travel with two longtime diving buddies, our actual diving is not keeping your buddy at arm's length and/or annoying him/her with the frequent "Are you OK?" hand signal.
The attitude in existence today forces one to pretend to agree to the "buddy system," which oftentimes leads to the "once we are underwater I'll do it my way" situation.
The situation described in the article creates uncomfortable and resentful feelings and is not a positive experience. The "solo diver" should be accepted and accommodated, especially since everyone signs all legal responsibility "absolution" papers at any and all scuba diving activities, from "air fills," to rental equipment, to boat dives.
Heinz W. Blaume
South Lake Tahoe, California
Buddies Can Inspire
I wanted to comment on the article about the solo diver ["To Buddy or Not to Buddy," Dive Training, March 2010]. I am just an Open Water diver and my instructor apparently left out a few things. I found this out when I got on a dive boat full of guys and girls who were trained well above my level. I think there was a game of "rock, paper, scissors" to see who had to dive with me, and, thankfully, I got a very nice man who helped me. I think he was a solo diver too. We went over each other's gear and he told me that when my dive was over to do a safe ascent and a safety stop and the boat would come get me (it was a drift dive). That let him finish his dive without me getting in the way.
Granted, I knew the basics and didn't need a baby sitter. It wasn't my first dive after my class but it was the second on my own gear. I learned a lot that day and I am still learning.
My point: Yes, it sucks being stuck with the newbie, but if you take the time on one dive to help that person you might just change the way they think of diving, as that guy did for me.
Steven
Via e-mail
The Waterproof Checklist
I was pleasantly surprised to open the February edition of Dive Training to notice that Alex Brylske and photographers had addressed a query I posed in the section "No Dumb Questions," referring to conducting predive discussions with unfamiliar buddies.
He offered several excellent suggestions, including one in particular, the waterproof checklist. I plan to work on forming one to present to members of our local dive club. The advice should prove very helpful and is appreciated.
Thanks again to all who contribute to organizing this excellent magazine. I look forward monthly to reading the interesting and informative articles. A month doesn't pass that I do not learn something new about this great sport from reading your magazine.
Bob Costigan
Maine
Thanks for the Look Back
I just finished reading the "Early Days" article in the February issue of Dive Training ["A Long Way From the ‘Early Days': How Innovation Has Transformed the Diving Experience"]. I enjoyed the article and hope to see more like it. I always enjoy perusing the "artifacts" and "old equipment" normally on display in the local scuba shops here in Indianapolis. I love the "nostalgia feel" I get when looking at "technology of the early days" - be it scuba or my other hobbies. Seeing how technology has progressed, in a relatively short time period, is very interesting.
Doug Brindle
Via e-mail
Cover Photo Questioned
The first thing I asked myself about the cover for the March issue is, "Why are the divers looking at the pressure gauge?" Their hands are both on the valve knob, so are they turning it on? Also, where is the dive flag?
You have a great magazine and I make sure all new students have one. However, I feel you dropped the ball on this. "Safety" should be used when turning on the air. The pressure gauge should be facedown or at least turned away, in case it breaks. Dive flags [are needed] to indicate scuba divers are in the area. Still, you have a great magazine.
Ed Finck
Via e-mail
Should Aquarium Diving
Be Promoted?
People certainly have a right to dive in confined, unnatural environments, such as aquariums. But there is another perspective worth considering.
While aquaria certainly have a role to play in raising awareness, education and research, problems arise when ethical lines are blurred between these laudable goals and the desire to enhance their bottom line. Should whales, other marine mammals and large, pelagic fish be held in captivity and exploited like circus acts? If we accept that the many forms of aquaria exist to truly inspire, educate and raise awareness, then the answer is clear: There must be ethical limits applied when considering which species are appropriate for displays in captivity. If confinement is to be considered, it should be measured by the ability to accurately replicate a species natural habitat.
There are more legitimate ways to raise awareness and little real value to learn from research obtained by keeping whales in a staged, anomalous confine. If we really want to learn more about these species, then we must afford them respect and study them in the wild. If instead we wish to use these animals for self-serving entertainment, then we should at least have the decency to present it as such.
A quote from Jacques-Yves Cousteau seems apropos: "No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal." His son, Jean-Michel, recently posted a befitting reaction to the recent SeaWorld calamity: "We need to look at ourselves and decide that the time has come to view captivity of whales and dolphins as a part of our history, not a tragic part of our future."
Steve Mussman
Lawrenceville, Georgia
--------------------
The March issue of Dive Training
featured the Editorial, "To Buddy or Not to Buddy," about being buddied up with a stranger.
What you said online:
"I had a horrible experience and will never let anyone buddy me up again. I'll take my own buddy or won't dive. I won't go solo."
Cheryl
"I've had some incredible dives with new people who were so excited about it that it made my dive more enjoyable and actually refreshed my attitude and the reason why I love to dive. The value of the buddy system goes beyond safety. It's also a spiritual thing."
John
"As much as I love her, I don't love diving with my wife. She's an anchor. I catch myself engrossed in what I'm doing with no situational awareness, to find her off in her world, too. God forbid something should happen to one of us. I think a solo diving course would be a huge benefit to both of us as we continue to dive this way together. Thanks for the idea."
Anonymous
"I have learned to be direct and tell the new buddy what I expect and what he or she can expect from me. We do thorough predive checks. The person knows I'm serious and that sets the stage for how we interact in the dive. If in this process on deck I feel this is not a good match, I don't hesitate to refuse. This has not happened often and in fact has likely turned some potentially bad experiences into good ones."
Vince Grenda
To read more comments or to post your own, go to
www.dtmag.com and click on "What Do You Think?"
Our Online Poll Asked:
Would you be OK buddying up with a diver you just met?
You Responded:
Yes, I would never dive alone. 30%
Yes, but I wouldn't trust him. 30%
No, I'd rather dive alone. 40%
What Do You Think?
Comment on this issue's editorial, Isn't It Time?
Take Our Web Poll:
Q: Should marine
mammals be held
in captivity?
To vote and post your comments, go to www.dtmag.com and click on the What Do You Think? link.
Dive Observer
SCIENTISTS FIND A SURPRISE BENEATH MASSIVE ICE SHEET
Written by
Gene Gentrup
Scientists boring a hole 600 feet beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet last November came across something they never thought they would see: a shrimp-like creature swimming beneath the surface.
The discovery raises questions in scientific circles about the ability of higher life-forms to thrive in extreme environments, and whether it means life can survive in other places, like space.
Bob Bindschadler of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, remembers well the day last November. He and his team were on a joint NASA-National Science Foundation expedition to examine the underside of the ice sheet when they found the pinkish-orange creature swimming beneath the ice.
"We were like little kids huddling around, just oohing and aahing at this little creature swimming around and giving us a little show," Bindschadler said. "It was the thrill of discovery that made us giddy; just totally unexpected."
The complex critter was identified as a Lyssianasid amphipod, about 3 inches in length. It was found beneath the 590-foot-thick Ross Ice Shelf in Windless Bight, 20 miles northeast of McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Bindschadler and his team drilled an 8-inch-diameter hole through the ice to accommodate a small camera lowered to obtain what are believed to be the first images of the underbelly of an ice shelf.
"This is the first time we've had a camera able to look back up at the ice. This probe is an upgrade to the original. It has three cameras - down, side and back-looking. The back-looking camera saw the shrimplike animal," said Alberto Behar of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The drilling was part of the team's preparation for field studies 1,000 miles from the drill site and where the Pine Island ice shelf is rapidly thinning and Antarctic ice is swiftly sliding off the continent, raising sea level. Bindschadler and his team want to find out why.
Finding amphipods and other marine life in Antarctic waters is not unusual. The complex circulatory system of the surrounding ocean brings warm, salty, nutrient-rich water toward the Antarctic continent, helping to sustain life even in the cold, dark winter. When the Larsen B ice shelf collapsed in 2002, scientists discovered clams and bacterial mats, or large aggregations of bacteria, half a mile below the ocean surface. Even within their average temperature range of -28.7 to 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit, Antarctic waters are teeming with life.
"The ocean flows under ice sheets, and where there is exchange of water with the open ocean, there will be microbes and other food resources for larger animals such as jellyfish and amphipods," said Peter Wiebe, a biologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who studies marine life in the waters around West Antarctica.
But for a group of glaciologists, a familiar face was the last thing they expected to see below the ice and so far from the open ocean. "We thought we were just going into a deep, dark cold-water hole, and never anticipated we'd see any life," Bindshadler said. "The color was what caught our eyes."
The science team, with members from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks; the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif.; and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Monterey, is now analyzing temperature, salinity and current data from the subglacial watering hole to understand if the comfortable conditions for this shrimplike creature are typical.
NASA-financed scientists have long studied life in extreme environments. From astrobiology to extremeophiles and survivophiles, the search for life in harsh places has led to a smorgasbord of discoveries seemingly ripped from the pages of science fiction. The Antarctic amphipod has gotten scientists talking again: If life-forms as complex as these can survive deep within subglacial waters could they survive in other unusual and unfriendly environments in space?
"The real benefit of these exploration programs is that you go in not knowing what you're going to find and you get surprised," Behar said. "It makes it worth all the trouble putting everything together when you find something new that you didn't expect."
For more information, check out www.nasa.gov/topics/
earth/features/antarctic-shrimp.html.
Dive Around Texas returns
for second season
For the second straight year, divers are being recruited to participate in "Dive Around Texas," a promotion for the Texas dive industry.
In the event's first year, more than 140 divers logged more than 4,000 dives in the Lone Star State.
The rules are pretty simple: Dive at least 12 times in at least four different dive locations in Texas.
Good sources for Texas dive locations are www.dtmag.com/dive-usa and the Texas Parks and Wildlife brochure, "Scuba Diving in Texas."
After each Texas dive, participants should stop by their participating dive retailer to verify the experience in their logbook with the "Dive Around Texas" stamp. The more "stamped" dives, the greater the chance to win prizes and trips at the season-ending Awards Recognition Day set for October 3 in San Marcos. Any certified diver is invited to sign up.
The $25 registration fee includes an event T-shirt. For more information, check out www.divearoundtexas.com.
‘WORLD'S AQUARIUM' HELPED BY HABITAT CONSERVATION,
RESEARCHER SAYS
Once described by Jacques Cousteau as the "world's aquarium," the marine ecosystems of the Gulf of California are enduring destructive new fishing methods that are depleting the sea's habitats, creating areas that are ghosts of their former existences, a researcher says.
But Octavio Aburto-Oropeza of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego says habitat conservation can revitalize once-depleted marine ecosystems.
He said one emerging threat is a highly destructive fishing method called "hookah" diving in which fishermen use crude oxygen piping to walk along the seafloor for long periods. The technique is typically conducted at night when fish are resting, allowing the hookah fishermen to spear or grab large numbers of vulnerable fish and invertebrates.
Aburto-Oropeza's findings on reversing the effects of such threats are part of a series of research studies headed by the newly launched Gulf of California Program based at Scripps Oceanography.
"In these studies, whether reefs or mangroves, we are trying to show that the destruction on the coast and overexploitation in other areas are diminishing the biomass (the amount of organisms in an ecosystem) in several areas," Aburto-Oropeza said. "With lower biomass, the large predators, the keys to a robust marine ecosystem, are missing and that causes disruption down the marine food web."
But there is hope to counteract such damage, Aburto-Oropeza said.
One example he considers a success is Cabo Pulmo, a little-known protected area near the southern tip of the Baja peninsula that is thriving. Restricted of fishing since 1995, Cabo Pulmo features a robust mix of sea life and flourishing fish populations. Other "successes" include Coronado Island inside the Loreto marine park and Los Islotes inside Espiritu Santo marine park.
"Different sites recover in different ways, but they all have increased in biomass, especially top predators," Aburto-Oropeza said.
"The common thing is that they have reduced or eliminated fishing activity."
Also considered important to ensuring healthy ecosystems is protecting sites such as fish "spawning aggregation" areas, where fish converge in large numbers to reproduce at select times of the year, and sensitive nursery habitats.
"For some species these spawning aggregation events occur two to four times per year, and can represent 100 percent of the replenishment of their populations," Aburto-Oropeza said.
Aburto-Oropeza and others recently calculated the economic value of mangroves at roughly $37,500 per hectare per year. An ongoing study has shown that a fish species called gulf corvina provided 3,500 tons of landings in 2009 in one community, a volume worth $3 million.
For more details about the conditions of the Gulf of California and research by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, see http://explorations.ucsd.edu/Research_Highlights/2010/Jan_Feb/ca_gulf/.
DIVERS REMOVED FROM TIRE CLEANUP
Military divers have been removed from a project to clean up an artificial reef off the coast of Florida that turned into an environmental disaster.
For the last three summers, divers have pulled from the ocean thousands of tires located a mile off the beach in Fort Lauderdale. Hundreds of thousands of tires were sunk there in 1972 as an artificial reef in the hope they would turn into a coral reef. But nothing grew and the tires scattered across the ocean floor, damaging existing coral reefs.
The military started cleaning up the tires as a training exercise. But stretched too thin by two wars and now helping repair port facilities damaged by the earthquake in Haiti, military diving crews are being taken from the project.
BAHAMAS BANS FORM OF NET FISHING
The Bahamas has banned purse seine or net fishing. Purse seining is the process of catching schooling fish near the ocean surface by circling them with a net. Once the fish have been encircled, a wire (purse line) running through the bottom of the net is winched tight to "close the purse" from below.
In response to a recent report of a tuna net fishing operation out of Freeport, Grand Bahamas, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources released an official statement that the use of purse seine or net fishing within the waters of The Bahamas is prohibited. "This method of fishing could result in the possible depletion or signification reduction of the fishing stocks in Bahamian waters," the statement said. "[Government action] will prohibit the use of purse seine or net fishing to ensure that all fisheries resources, including migratory fish, are maintained at sustainable levels."
The move is strongly supported by the Bahamas Diving Association. "Any large-scale commercial fishing operation via destructive means should be banned, and the Bahamas government responded swiftly and specifically with regard to this threat," said Neal Watson, president of the Bahamas Diving Association.
NAUI MOVES TO NEW HEADQUARTERS
NAUI has a new home.
The National Association of Underwater Instructors, a dive certification agency, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and recently moved to a 17,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building in Riverview, Florida. NAUI has been based in the Tampa Bay region since 1997.
The move is just one of several events being staged this year in commemoration of the agency's 50-year milestone. At a 50th anniversary banquet in February, NAUI honored Zale Parry and the late Lloyd Bridges for inspiring a generation of television viewers to take up diving. Bridges played the lead role in the "Sea Hunt" television series and Parry helped with the diving, was a stunt double and appeared in several episodes of the series. It aired from 1958 to 1961. Parry was present and Lloyd's son, actor Beau Bridges, was on hand to accept the honor for his dad.
Also honored at the banquet was actor Nicolas Coster for his work with teaching the disabled how to dive. Coster is known for his roles on soap operas, including "Santa Barbara."
SPEARFISHING BAN APPROVED
FOR GRAY'S REEF SANCTUARY
Spearfishing is now prohibited in Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary.
Under a new rule that went into effect March 22, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that boaters with spearfishing gear in their vessels will be allowed to travel through the sanctuary without stopping if the gear is stowed and not available for use.
The rule is designed to help protect in sanctuary waters reef-dwelling fish like gag and scamp and assist enforcement of an existing rule prohibiting powerheads - attachments to spearfishing gear that allow the use of ammunition cartridges to catch fish. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement, is authorized to enforce this and other sanctuary regulations.
According to a socioeconomic study conducted by NOAA, a ban would have little economic effect since businesses offering spearfishing charter trips to Gray's Reef have waned and there are abundant spearfishing opportunities outside the sanctuary. An environmental assessment also found no significant effect as a result of the ban.
A spearfishing ban was considered during the 1981 designation of the sanctuary and raised again during the sanctuary's management plan review in the early 2000s. Complete details of the new regulation, including the Federal Register notice, can be found at http://graysreef.noaa.gov.
Designated in 1981, NOAA's Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is one of the largest near-shore live-bottom reefs off the southeastern United States, encompassing about 22 square miles. The live bottom and ledge habitat support an abundant reef fish and invertebrate community. Loggerhead sea turtles, a threatened species, also use Gray's Reef year-round for foraging and resting, and the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale is occasionally seen in the sanctuary.
‘DISCOVER SCUBA' AT LAKE PLEASANT
The third annual Scuba Adventure Day is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 1, at Lake Pleasant Regional Park in Peoria, Arizona.
The event, for divers and nondivers, is organized as a way to introduce diving to people unfamiliar with the sport and to help experienced divers get acquainted with new gear and partake in several events that are planned. An underwater obstacle course, dive boat rides to dive locations on the lake, an underwater treasure hunt and "desert lobster hunt" are just some of the activities planned. Prizes will be given away.
Nondivers should bring a swimsuit for a "discover scuba" experience, and can enter a "Slippery Snorkel" contest.
The fee is $10 for divers, which includes park entry, and $6 for nondivers. No registration is required. For more information, call (602) 372-7460, ext. 202.
CATALINA CHAMBER DAY
SET FOR MAY 5
Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber Day, a fund-raiser for the chamber and billed as the largest single-day scuba charity event in the United States, is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5.
For a donation of $90, donors get two dives at Catalina plus a walking tour of the Chamber at the Isthmus. There is an additional charge of $30 for food and airfills. All of this gets you the diving and the tour, plus a commemorative T-shirt, and five daytime raffle tickets.
A related event, Chamber Evening, is co-sponsored by the Aquarium of the Pacific. It features full access to the aquarium, a sit-down dinner in the Great Hall (underneath the life-sized model of a Blue Whale), some awards, a separate raffle, and the presentation of the final check to Karl Huggins, director of the chamber.
Registration for Chamber Day/Eve can be done through http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/chamberday.htm or you can call (310) 652-4990.
SCUBA SHOW MAY 15-16 IN LONG BEACH
The 23rd Scuba Show, billed as America's largest consumer dive expo, is scheduled for May 15-16 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California.
The show will consist of 76,000 square feet of diving exhibits, including dive gear, travel destinations and diving experts. The first 1,000 people in attendance both days will receive complimentary tote bags.
Scheduled appearances include the artist Wyland. On Saturday he will interact with attendees while painting a new piece of art and on Sunday he will paint with more than 200 children who have preregistered for the show.
Underwater filmmaker Stan Waterman will headline a weekend of seminars that include Jack and Sue Drafahl, Bruce Watkins, Dale Sheckler, Ken Knezick and Ken Kurtis. Subjects covered include underwater photography and video, marine life and dive travel.
A continuous underwater film festival will be running in the exhibit hall on a three-story-high screen and will feature films from around the world by more than a dozen underwater imaging experts.
Saturday night will feature a casino party benefiting California Ships to Reefs, a nonprofit organization sinking ships along the California coastline as artificial reefs. The highlight of the party will be the presentation of the California Scuba Service Award.
Exhibit hall hours are Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 and includes admission to the exhibit hall and film festival (seminars are an additional charge). Discount coupons are available at California dive stores, on California dive charter boats and through California dive clubs. Attendees age 12 and younger will be admitted free. For information on Scuba Show 2010, call (310) 792-2333 or visit www.scubashow.com.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
PLANS 1ST DIVE FESTIVAL
Trinidad and Tobago has announced its first dive festival.
"Under Water Carnival" is planned for June 11-18 and will include weeklong events such as underwater photography seminars, an amateur underwater photography contest, and dive equipment demonstrations for adults and children.
Kids can also participate in the "Discover Scuba" program, and the Rogest Kids Gallery, a two-day aquatic art workshop for kids between 6 and 11 years old, hosted by Canadian artist Ron Steven.
The event is hosted by the Tobago House of Assembly Tourism Division, the Association of Tobago Dive Operators and with support of the Tourism Development Company. For more information, ask your local dive shop or visit www.tobagounderwatercarnival.com.
QUARRY PLANS SECOND
WORLD-RECORD ATTEMPT
Gilboa Quarry in Ottawa, Ohio, hopes to break the world record for "Most Divers Submerged at One Time."
Plans are under way to attempt the feat July 17. The record, established last year in Indonesia, is 2,486. Last July, Gilboa Quarry registered 912 divers and had 794 divers submerged at once.
If you're interested in being part of this year's record attempt, visit www.divegilboa.com, e-mail scuba_fuz@hotmail.com or inquire at your local dive center.
JIM HAIGH DIVE JULY 25
The annual Jim Haigh Memorial Dive is scheduled for Sunday, July 25 at Haigh Quarry in Kankakee, Illinois.
The event will include door prizes, diving, raffles and music by Od Tapo Imi, which is billed as Chicago's premier steel drum band. Proceeds from the event benefit Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba (SUDS) and Diveheart Military Wounded (DMW).
For more details, visit www.haighquarry.com or call (815) 939-7797.
Always Learning
Appreciating Andy: Honoring an Unsung Hero
Story & photos by Marty Snyderman
It was just after 3 o'clock in the morning during my third dive of the night when the shark first appeared. Even in the limited visibility of Puget Sound's Elliott Bay, it was obvious that this animal was a brute. A bluntnose sixgill, the shark was at least 12 feet long, but it was its girth as much as its length that caught my attention. Within a matter of seconds the shark turned and headed in my direction, and with every passing moment it was becoming more and more apparent that I was going to enjoy a very close pass.
I was swimming in a pool of artificial lights outside a shark cage that was positioned on the seafloor at a depth of 55 feet. While the setting felt somewhat surreal, reality was that a large bluntnose sixgill shark was heading right at me. Holding my camera system in my right hand, I reached behind me with my left hand to grab the cage and pull my back against it. With my back protected I would be able to concentrate on my photography. A few seconds later I captured the most dramatic sequence of shark pictures I have ever acquired.
That was the first time that I realized how much I appreciated Andy. Actually, at that instant I didn't appreciate Andy as much as I appreciated what he had done. You see, Andy designed and built the shark cage, and of all the worldly possessions I could possibly want at that instant, a rock-solid shark cage was No. 1 on my list.
I didn't know Andy well at the time. I met him through my friend Travis Swanson who was the leader of this shark filming expedition. Travis was the front man, while Andy served in the background as Travis' right-hand man. Their respective roles on the team of Travis and Andy fit their skill sets as much as their personalities. Both were very experienced sport and commercial divers. Travis had more contacts in the diving and boating communities so most of their dive bookings came through him, while Andy's machinist background provided him with the expertise suited to building a bulletproof shark cage.
Andy was also an unforeseen problem solver and a very good cook. He had spent 15 years running Boy Scout camps, so keeping a boatload of cold, hungry divers warm and full of energy was right up his alley. He was the person in charge of deploying and setting up the shark cage, a major undertaking when working on the seafloor in limited visibility at night in cold water. Andy also ran the dive deck.
What Andy didn't get to do much of was dive and see the sharks. He hoped to make one shark observation dive at the end of the trip, but he realized that he was the person best suited to do the jobs assigned to him, and for the expedition to run efficiently, he needed to perform those tasks. There simply wasn't time for him to make dives for his personal pleasure.
During our three-day-long sixgill expedition I didn't have a chance to talk to Andy very much. When I had a few minutes of free time, he was busy, and the rest of the time I was diving, dealing with camera and dive gear, eating or sleeping. In fact, I didn't really get to know Andy until this past summer. That is when we spent several weeks camping and diving together in Alaska. I went as an adviser to help Travis, Andy and their film crew make a film about salmon sharks. (See Always Learning, "The Alaskan Wilderness: Where Photographing Sharks Can Be a Bear," Dive Training, September 2009.)
Alaska
Camping and diving can be a lot of fun. Throw in the challenge of making a film that is worthy of being aired on national television and a major transformation occurs. Suddenly, there is a mountain of work involved. With tens of thousands of dollars invested before the first shark could be filmed, there is serious personal responsibility and accountability to be assigned and accepted. We had a crew of six people who needed to be fed and assisted with the challenges of camping so they could maximize their efforts to make the film. That meant a lot of planning, purchasing, organizing and hands-on labor.
That's where Andy came in. He ran our camp. Andy was always the first one up in the morning so he could make a fire, and he was the last to bed at night after washing dishes and storing food supplies. Every day, come rain (and there was way too much of that) or shine, Andy performed all of his jobs with a smile.
On many occasions five of us left camp to try to film sharks and bears while Andy stayed behind to clean up, gather firewood and prepare meals. On those occasions when Andy did get to join the rest of us in our efforts to shoot film he was often the person who tended the boat. That meant he still didn't get to make the dives or get to the best vantage points to see the bears.
It's easy to underestimate how valuable Andy's efforts were until you spend some time enjoying, and getting beat up by, the Alaskan wilderness in Prince William Sound where we worked. The bottom line: Andy was the ultimate team player.
What Diving
Did For Andy
Over the course of our month-long Alaskan expedition, I got to know Andy a lot better. We had time to talk about everything from our favorite sports teams to our life stories. When Andy told me about his life, he was brutally honest. To make a long story short, there was a period in Andy's life when he was a lost soul. He was not passionate about, motivated by or involved with anything or anyone. Ultimately he became a hard-core substance abuser as his life spiraled downhill and out of control.
The good news is that about 15 years ago, Andy found scuba diving and he fell head over heels in love with our sport. He quit the addictive habits that were killing him, and he dedicated himself to diving. Over time Andy became a very proficient diver. He worked on commercial diving projects, sport diving expeditions, and put in a lot of time on rebreathers. He met a girl, fell in love, got married and bought a house. He did all of this while maintaining his career as a machinist.
According to Andy, it was diving that grounded him. It was his love for diving that gave him the fortitude to confront his demons. I can't tell you that I understand how all of that works in a person's psyche, but Andy told me that without question it was his involvement in diving that gave him the strength to turn his life around.
And Then He Was Gone
Within a few weeks after leaving Alaska I headed off to dive in Indonesia. Before I departed, Andy and the other members of our Alaska film crew told me a short video piece had been edited for their pitch to broadcasting executives. They said it looked great. Fingers crossed, everyone was really upbeat about the doors the Alaska project might open for the film crew. It had the potential to change their lives.
Then came the terrible news. While I was in Indonesia I received a message that my friend Andy had passed away in an accident. It was crushing news, to say the least.
Appreciating Andy
Although I can't say that Andy and I were lifelong friends, we had developed a close friendship. His passing stopped me in my tracks and caused me to think long and hard about how important Andy's contributions had been to my photographic success on the sixgill shark expedition, to our Alaskan expedition, and to the effort of my friends to get the television series they hoped for. Andy's name was never the first to be mentioned in the publicity surrounding these expeditions, but in many respects he was the person who made it possible for our expeditions to succeed. Andy was a person who would willingly do any job, anytime, to help work toward the common cause. He didn't give a hoot about personal recognition or face time on television. Andy just wanted his team to succeed. Andy was a very rare breed.
I don't honestly think Andy would care whether this article gets published and his name appears in print. My instincts tell me that he probably would feel a little uncomfortable about anyone praising him for simply doing what needed to be done.
This piece is simply intended as a tribute to my friend, to the way
he lived his life, the person he ultimately became. Our friendship was brief, but the memories we shared will last a lifetime.
No Dumb Questions
A Physics Primer for Scuba Divers
Written by Alex Brylske
Photo by Joseph C. Dovala
Q:Al Pinzon had a question about tank capacity. "My wife and I are recently certified Open Water divers. I use an 80 tank and my wife uses a 50. Our question is how do we know exactly how much air is left in our tanks at the conclusion of a dive? Even though each of our submersible pressure gauges (SPGs) may both read 500 psi, we know we don't have the same amount of air. So how do we determine the amount of air left in the smaller tank so my wife doesn't risk running out of air?"
A:There's a very simple way to convert psi to cubic feet. Just take the capacity of the cylinder in question and divide it by its maximum working pressure. The product is, in essence, how many cubic feet of air is accounted for by each "psi." Let's take the standard 80-cubic-foot cylinder as an example. By dividing 80 (its maximum capacity) by 3,000 (its maximum-rated pressure) we get 0.0266. In other words, we can assume that each psi of pressure accounts for 0.0266 cubic feet of air. Thus, if the tank is filled to only 2,000 psi, rather than its maximum 80 cubic feet, it contains only 53.2 cubic feet (2,000 X 0.0266).
In the case of your wife's 50-cubic-foot tank, the value is 0.0166 (or if she uses the more standard 63 cubic footer it's 0.0210). Therefore, if you each end your dive with 500 psi remaining, you have 13.3 cubic feet of air left but your wife has only 8.3 cubic feet.
Of course, even though your wife would have less air remaining, it's likely she also uses less air, which is why you can both plan to exit the water with 500 psi. So, with all things being equal, you'd both have about the same usable reserve in terms of time underwater at the same depth.
Q:Carl Kroenig had another question involving physics - it also involved scuba tanks - but from the perspective of buoyancy. "I have one of those questions that seems to be logical, but when I try to visualize it in my mind, it doesn't seem to make sense. So here it is: If you take a finite amount of air with you underwater, why does it affect your buoyancy only when you inflate your BC? You're not adding anything you didn't already have. I'm sure this must have to do with why your tank gets lighter at the end of the dive, but that's a bit confusing to me as well. You're probably not surprised that I didn't do too well in school when it came to science."
A:Don't be so harsh on yourself; lots of phenomena are counterintuitive when it comes to diving physics. In a sense, you can ask your question in a different context: Why does a 1-pound diving weight sink like a stone, yet something as large as a ship float? Or, better yet, how could you make a 1-pound piece of lead float? The answer, of course, is to change its volume.
You're absolutely right; every diver begins a dive with a finite amount of air. But it's what we do with that air that determines its effect on buoyancy, and it happens in a couple of ways. First, as you've no doubt noticed, subtle changes in your buoyancy occur when you breathe underwater. On inhalation, you tend to rise (become slightly more positive) and on exhalation you tend to sink (become slightly more negative). The reason is that your chest cavity expands and contracts while breathing, thus slightly changing the amount of water you displace. More displacement equals more buoyant force, and less displacement means less force.
Perhaps the confusion comes from how we refer to tanks, using their potential volume of air at the surface. For example, while a standard scuba tank contains the equivalent of 80 cubic feet of air - about the size of a small closet - that large volume of air is compressed into a very small area (that's why there's so much pressure within the tank). Therefore, while something with the volume of a small closet might float like a cork, a full standard scuba cylinder does not because it weighs more than the water it displaces. But while the volume of your tank doesn't change, there is something else that does besides your chest cavity: your BC. Inflating your BC increases its volume (displacement), and therefore your buoyancy, while deflating it decreases your buoyancy by decreasing the BC's volume.
The second part of your question - why empty tanks weigh less than full ones - is because of yet another counterintuitive characteristic of air, and that's that it has weight. In everyday life, it's easy to think of air as "weightless," but it's not. (The weight of air is also why we have atmospheric pressure.) In fact, 80 cubic feet of air weighs about 4 pounds. That means that at the end of your dive, when your air supply is nearly depleted, your tank is about 4 pounds lighter, and therefore more buoyant, than when you began your dive. As anyone can tell you who has tried to maintain a safety stop with a near-empty tank, and didn't start the dive with a little extra weight to compensate, that little bit of weight (or lack thereof) makes a big difference. This difference in displacement is why it's important to determine the amount of weight you need using a near-empty (about 500-psi) tank, rather than a full one.
Q:Heather Walters wrote with an incident that any traveling diver might encounter. "I recently returned from a trip to Thailand. Diving was only a small part of what my husband and I did, so we chose not to take any dive gear except our masks (we both have prescriptions). We expected to use rental gear, and were pleased to find that the equipment they provided was top-notch. However, there was one thing we forgot to consider. The dive operator catered mainly to Europeans so the gauges were all in metric units. Reading my depth in meters and making the mental translation to feet was tough but I finally figured that out well enough. But having to deal with pressure readings from my SPG in bars rather than psi made me constantly think that I was low on air. A full tank, which contains only 200 bar, seemed somehow disconcerting. Is there any quick way to make the conversion to psi?"
A:Although converting from one system of measurement to another is a simple matter of using the right formula, pulling out a pencil and calculator isn't very practical when you're 100 feet (excuse me, 30 meters) down. Rather than mathematics, I've always preferred some quick-and-dirty method of guesstimating the conversion.
Probably the best way to deal with tank pressure, for those of us schooled in the Imperial system, is to keep in mind that a "bar" equals an atmosphere, which equals about 15 psi. (OK, those values aren't exactly equivalent, but they're close enough for government work and recreational diving.)
Using this rough equivalency guide, 200 bar is equal to 3,000 psi (15 X 200). That, of course, means that 100 bar is equal to 1,500 psi, and 50 bar equals 750 psi. So, when I'm using a metric SPG, I just remember three things: A full tank is 200 bar. A half-full tank is 100 bar. And 500 psi - the typical "return to surface" value in most circumstances - is about 35 bar. It's kind of like watching the fuel tank on your car. Each gallon that you use isn't accounted for, but knowing the major increments (full, half, quarter, red zone) works fine. Someday the United States will join the rest of the world in the much more sensible metric system but, as in diving, don't hold your breath until that happens."
Q:Jessica Fajan wrote in with a question on air consumption that I address routinely at least once every year. So, for this year, here it goes. "I'm not an advanced diver so please forgive me if this is a really stupid question. I know from practical experience that I get less air as I go deeper, but I don't really understand why. I kind of understand all that stuff about decreasing volume with depth, but my tank certainly doesn't decrease in size when I dive deeper. A tank of air is a tank of air, so what gives?
A:First of all, this column is called No Dumb Questions for a reason: The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. It's also easy to understand why you'd be confused given all that's drummed into a diver's head about pressure/volume relationships in relation to lung and sinus injuries. Actually, it's the same principle with air consumption, but what's confusing is how the pressure/volume relationship applies.
Now, if pressure increases, as it does during descent, the volume of a container decreases, but only if that container is flexible (like our lungs). The volume of a rigid container like a tank, as you stated, remains unchanged with descent, so the internal volume of a tank is the same whether it's at the surface or at depth.
The reason we get less air out of a tank as we descend has nothing to do with what happens to your tank; it's because of the effect of pressure on another item of equipment, your regulator. No matter your depth, your regulator always delivers air to you at the same pressure as the surrounding water. As the ambient water pressure increases, the regulator responds by drawing more molecules of air from the tank. For example, if each breath you take at the surface takes X number of molecules, then it will take 2X to fill your lungs at 33 feet (2 ATA). At 66 feet, three times the number of molecules are required compared with at the surface. So, you see where this is going - as you go deeper more air is used to fill your lungs. That's why the tank will last only about half as long at 33 feet, one-third at 66 and one-fourth at 99 feet. As you rightly surmised, it has nothing to do with the tank being "squeezed."
Dive Training Quiz
1. The term "animal migration" generally refers to the regular, periodic movement of large numbers of animals from one general area to another.
A. True B. False
2. Gray whales are commonly observed holding their head out of the water in a behavior known as:
A. "Spy-hopping"
B. "Sparring"
C. "Spying-out"
D. All of the above
3. At the end of your dive, when your air supply is nearly depleted, your tank is about 4 pounds lighter, and therefore more buoyant, than when you began your dive.
A. True B. False
4. The California Northern Channel
Islands include:
A. Anacapa, Santa Cruz and
Santa Rosa
B. San Miguel and Santa Barbara
C. Santa Catalina and Vera Cruz
D. A and B are correct
E. B and C are correct
5. During the last Ice Age, geologists surmise that the California Northern Channel Islands were linked up into one large mass called:
A. Margarita
B. Barbarosa
C. Capella
D. Santarosae
6. Microscopic bubbles exist naturally and profusely in virtually every liquid substance on Earth including human tissue.
A. True B. False
7. Extreme fatigue experienced after deep dives may be a manifestation
of what researchers call "subclinical decompression sickness," which is
also termed:
A. "Scuba Flu"
B. "Diver's Flu"
C. "Fish Flu"
D. "Bluewater Flu"
8. In waters under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard, when a passenger on the boat pays money or trades something of value to the boat owner or operator, even the donation of fuel, food, beverage or supplies, the Coast Guard classifies the vessel as "passenger for hire."
A. True B. False
9. The signal flag for use by boats to indicate that the vessel is restricted in its ability to maneuver because it is tending divers is the:
A. "Diver down" flag
B. "Alpha" flag
C. "At anchor" flag
D. "Delta" flag
10. Fish in the scatophagidae family are known for their diet, which
consists largely of:
A. Shrimp
B. Calamari
C. Coral polyps
D. Feces
--------------------
Answers:
1. A 2. D 3. A 4. D 5. D 6. A 7. B 8. A 9. B 10. D
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