NOAA, Proteus Ocean Group to explore uses of groundbreaking underwater lab
NOAA and Proteus Ocean Group offsite link have signed a formal agreement to use the “underwater space station of the ocean,” PROTEUS™, to advance marine science, research and education. Together, NOAA and Proteus Ocean Group seek to develop a deeper understanding of the ocean environment and reveal solutions to some of the planet’s most pressing concerns, including those related to climate change. [See NOAA media release] -- Posted Thursday, May 4, 2023 by chb

Case Study: Computers in Marine Exploration
In March 2023, Carol Cotton, RuggedPCReview.com's Director of Photography, participated in an expedition to the Silver Banks marine reserve off the coast of the Dominican Republic to record and document humpback whale behavior. Her departure coincided with the world's governments finalizing a new UN Treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Cotton brought along a compact rugged Windows-based Durabook R8 tablet computer as part of her gear. Read about the review trip and Cotton's experiences with the rugged tablet. [Read Case Study: Computers in Marine Exploration] -- Posted Monday, April 3, 2023 by chb

Marine archaeologist George Bass has died
George Bass, known to many in the dive community as the “Father of Marine Archaeology,” passed away this week at the age of 88. He has written and edited twelve books and over a hundred articles, five of which are featured in National Geographic. An early practitioner of underwater archaeology, he co-directed the first expedition to entirely excavate an ancient shipwreck at Cape Gelidonya in 1960 and founded the Institute of Nautical Archaeology in 1972. He then became a professor at Texas A&M University, where he held the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Chair in Nautical Archaeology. -- Posted Friday, March 5, 2021 by chb

Olympus TG Tracker now US$199!
While the Olympus TG Tracker isn't anywhere near as popular as GoPros, it is an absolutely fabulous, super-compact little 4k video camera that can also do 8mp stills. It can handle depths to 100 feet without housing and comes with everything you need to shoot above and under water. The TG Tracker is so good that we take it on every dive trip and every dive. And now Olympus has them on sale for $199 (usually $349). [See Olympus TG Tracker deal] -- Posted Friday, March 22, 2019 by chb

Great scuba cameras: Canon G7x/WP-DC54 housing
We've tested and reviewed a large number of cameras underwater over the years, both with and without housing. Initially, it was safe to say that the average underwater photographer would get one decent shot out of ten, if that. That has changed dramatically. We explain why the Canon G7x with its WP-DC54 underwater housing has become our go-to camera on dive trips, and why it works so well underwater. [See review of the Canon G7x and WP-DC54] -- Posted Wednesday, March 20, 2019 by chb

Battery replacement for old dive computers
Maybe you're using an older dive computer. Or you keep one or more old dive computers around as backups (we always dive with two wrist-mount computers, in case one fails). In any case, eventually the battery dies and it may be difficult or impossible to have it replaced. We can greatly recommend Terry at uwatecbattery.com in Florida. He's an expert at replacing batteries in old dive computers, not only Uwatec. -- Posted Thursday, September 20, 2018 by chb

Mexico declares Revillagigedo Archipelago a marine sanctuary
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has established the Revillagigedo Archipelago marine sanctuary via decree. Measuring over 57,000 square miles and encompassing San Benedicto, Socorro, Roca Partida and Clarion, the sanctuary, which is about 250 miles south of the tip of Baja California, is the largest fully protected marine reserve in North America. [See Mexico Creates Pacific Marine Sanctuary To Protect Its ‘Crown Jewel’] -- Posted Tuesday, November 28, 2017 by chb

Tragedy Strikes Multiple Scuba Record Attempts
DeeperBlue.com reports that two scuba record attempts ended in tragedy. In the first case, Polish diver Waclaw Lejko failed to surface after attempting a 275m/902ft dive in Lake Garda, Italy. The second incident occurred in the water off Toroneos Bay, Greece, where Bulgarian technical diver Theodora Balabanova died while attempting to break the women’s overall depth record with a dive to 231m/757ft. [See DeeperBlue.com article] -- Posted Wednesday, October 4, 2017 by chb

Billion dollar dive shop
20 years ago, a little company called Atlantic Diving Supply started selling wet suits to Navy SEALS. They operated out of a trailer behind a dive shop. Last year, they had sales of over a billion dollars from Federal contracts. And almost ten billion dollars in the last ten years. Looks like one can make money with a dive shop... [See article] -- Posted Saturday, August 12, 2017 by chb

Global coral bleaching event likely ending
After analyzing satellite and model data, NOAA’s experts say coral reefs around the world may finally catch a break from high ocean temperatures that have lingered for an unprecedented three years, the longest period since the 1980s. The latest NOAA forecast shows that widespread coral bleaching is no longer occurring in all three ocean basins – Atlantic, Pacific and Indian – indicating the likely end to the global coral bleaching event. Scientists will closely monitor sea surface temperatures and bleaching over the next six months to confirm the event’s end. [See Global coral bleaching event likely ending] -- Posted Friday, June 30, 2017 by chb

Review: CoCo View dive resort, Roatan, Honduras
CoCo View on the Honduran island of Roatan has long been one of our favorite places to dive. We re-acquainted ourselves with CoCo View again during an early October 2016 product review trip. And took the opportunity to update our detailed review and description of this unique dive resort where one can go from a 100 foot wall dive to the bar in ten minutes. [See review of CoCo View dive resort on Roatan, Honduras] -- Posted Tuesday, October 11, 2016 by chb

iPhone 7 does survive on scuba, deeper than we thought
Well, the team at EverythingApplePro actually took the new iPhone 7 on scuba. Shooting 4k video for five minutes each at test depths of 10 and then 15 feet worked fine, with no leakage or damage to the phone. At 20-25 feet, the iPhone 7 still worked and recorded video, but apparently had begun leaking and enough water made it in to disable the start button and, back on dry land, eventually the phone. Definitely not recommended, but it shows that the new iPhones are able to survive not just rain, but even full submersion. [See video of iPhone 7 on scuba] -- Posted Thursday, September 29, 2016 by chb

Apple Watch Series 2 waterproof
The good news: the Apple Watch Series 2 is waterproof down to 50 meters, which is 164 feet. The bad news: Apple cautions not to use the watch for scuba diving or "other activities involving high-velocity water or submersion below shallow depth." So you get you cake, but you can't eat it. There's a swimming app, though, and it should be interesting to see how that works. -- Posted Thursday, September 8, 2016 by chb

Trip report: Diving the North Carolina Coast
Just below "The Graveyard of the Atlantic" off the Outer Banks of North Carolina lies the "Crystal Coast" with its own assortment of historic and artificial reef wrecks. ScubaDiverInfo made a quick trip to see, with the help of the folks at Olympus Dive Center in Morehead City, NC, what diving the North Carolina coast is like. [See Diving the North Carolina coast] -- Posted Wednesday, August 3, 2016 by chb

Trip report: Diving wrecks and reefs of South Florida
How exciting could diving off Pompano Beach, Florida, possibly be? Very much so as ScubaDiverInfo found out during a product-testing week of wreck and reef diving with the great folks at Pompano Dive Center. Seven wrecks in six days. And we even had a nice close-up with a hammerhead. [See Diving South Florida May 2016] -- Posted Monday, May 23, 2016 by chb

Mermaiding: Making a splash for a bigger cause
Who doesn't love mermaids? Mermaids are not only in lore, but also movies (The Little Mermaid, etc.), on TV, and they rival unicorns in popularity in fantasy art. Now there are even mermaid schools, where interested parties can learn mermaiding as sport, with special mermaid fins and all. One of them is run by former Singapore national swimmer Nicole Cheng – who goes by the moniker Mermaid Lilith and is a strong proponent of mermaiding as sport. [See Mermaiding: Making a splash for a bigger cause] -- Posted Friday, April 15, 2016 by chb

The world's most luxurious liveaboard dive boats
For many/most divers, being on a liveaboard is not only on top of the list of dive adventures, but also an exercise in trying to find affordable liveaboard deals. If price is not an issue, then check out Fred Garth's "The world's most luxurious liveaboard dive boats" feature on CNN. [The world's most luxurious liveaboard dive boats] -- Posted Friday, April 15, 2016 by chb

Reducing drag underwater
We may swim with the fish, but compared to them we scuba divers are about as hydrodynamic as a cathedral. Ma href="http://www.deeperblue.com">DeeperBlue has published a very interesting four-part series entitled "Diving Performance — Beyond Drag" by Ron Smith. Smith is an aerospace engineer and inventor who developed the DOL-Fin hydrofoil type monofin products. Great reading. [Read Diving Performance — Beyond Drag] -- Posted Wednesday, April 6, 2016 by chb

Underwater breathing gills project raises US$800k funding
Things that sound too good to be true usually are, at least with current technology. That didn't keep a SciFi-looking "artificial gill" project by Triton that would allow its wearers to breathe underwater for up to 45 minutes at a max depth of 15 feet to raise over US$800k on the Indiegogo startup fund raising site (see campaign). The International Business Times has doubts (see here) -- Posted Tuesday, March 29, 2016 by chb

Interest soaring in dive lessons
The Sunshine Coast Daily reports that after years of a steady decline in the worldwide recreational diving industry, growth is now the trend. At a recent conference in Italy, Scuba Schools International — one of the world's largest dive retail organisations — confirmed that for the first time in many years, learn-to-dive courses had increased. In Australia, many retail dive businesses did not survive the global financial crisis and those that did were burdened at the same time by an unrelenting workplace health and safety crackdown across Australia. Thankfully, those times have passed. Retail dive businesses as well as dive charter operators are optimistic about their future. [See article] -- Posted Friday, February 12, 2016 by chb

Deep dive world record attempt ends in tragedy
Dr. Guy Garman, a St. Croix physician and scuba diver, was attempting a world record 1,200 feet deep dive off St. Croix on August 15, 2015. The dive was scheduled to be ten-hour and twenty five minutes total. Support divers were supposed to meet Garman at 360 feet after 38 minutes on his way up, but he never arrived at that first stop. Garmin, who had almost 600 dives to his name, but reportedly only had been diving for four years, had a previous personal deepest dive of 810 feet in April 2015. [See St. Croix Source] -- Posted Sunday, August 16, 2015 by chb

National Geographic short: The dangers and excitement of cave diving
Cave diving is one thing. Doing it in arctic climates in snow and ice is another. A short movie produced by Klattermusen, a team of outdoor enthusiasts in northern Sweden, shows the close camaraderie between them as the Expedition Bjuralven team explores the longest underwater cave in Sweden. [See video] -- Posted Monday, August 3, 2015 by chb

DAN testing underwater drone that may revolutionize diving safety
DAN Europe announced it is testing CADDY, which stands for "Cognitive Autonomous Diving Buddy" and is an underwater drone and floating satellite designed to understand the body language of a scuba divers in distress. CADDY is essentially composed of two ‘robots' operating autonomously — one from the surface and another one from the vicinity of the diver. The latter will interpret a scuba-diver's behaviour and is intelligent enough to detect anomalies. Meanwhile, the surface robot navigates the underwater drone and can communicate with the command centre in case of emergency. [See DAN media release] -- Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2015 by chb

Divers remove invasive surgeonfish
The Miami Herald reports how two divers in Florida spotted a bright yellow fish they had never seen before, and reported it to the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, a Key Largo-based non-profit organization that serves as a regional clearinghouse for control of exotic marine fish species. The fish was a mimic lemon peel surgeonfish, native to the Indo-Pacific and the first of its kind documented in Florida waters. It was caught and a REEF representative said the removal might have averted an ecological disaster similar to the spread of lionfish — another Indo-Pacific invader now well-established in the Western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. [See Miami Herald report] -- Posted Tuesday, January 13, 2015 by chb

New scuba depth record: 1,090 feet
On September 18, 2014, Ahmed Gabr, a 43-year-old Egyptian broke Nuno Gomez' previous depth record of 1,044 feet. Both record were done in the Red Sea off the coast of Dahab in Egypt. Descent took 14 minutes, the overall dive with deco almost 14 hours, and Gabr, a special forces officer in the Egyptian Army and diving instructor for 17 years, used 92 tanks. See how it all went at Ahmed Gabr's website and also on on the Guiness World Record site. -- Posted Thursday, October 9, 2014 by chb

New GoPros!
GoPro announced three new cameras, those being the top-of-the-line Hero 4 Black (US$499), the Hero 4 Silver (US$399), and a new basic camera, just called Hero (US$129). Most important features: the Hero 4 Black can do 4k/30fps, 2.7k/50fps and 1080p/120. The Hero 4 Silver seems to have roughly the same capabilities as the old Hero 3 Black but includes, a first for GoPros, an integrated LCD. The new entry-level Hero can do 1080p/30fps and 720p/60fps and is built directly into a waterproof housing. [See GoPro press release] -- Posted Monday, September 29, 2014 by chb

The demonization of whale sharks
Whale sharks are among the least aggressive creatures on earth. They feed on plankton. Yet, it's seems to become fashionable among attention seekers to demonize these gentle giants. A video on whale sharp "attacks" made the rounds a few weeks ago. Now there's another clip that bleats "Insane Shark Crash!" and goes "The scuba diver has to scurry out of the way to not become lunch during shark week!" Yeah, right. [See YouTube video] and ScubaDiverInfo's report on whale sharks] -- Posted Monday, August 18, 2014 by chb

$2 million private pool with cave and scuba
Imagine having a 360,000 gallon 60-foot wide, 26-foot deep pool with a 300-foot river, diving rock, hidden grotto, cave system, bridges, and a kitchen. That's what US$ 2million bought a couple in Utah. [See $2 million scuba pool] -- Posted Sunday, August 17, 2014 by chb

DUI acquires Ocean Management Systems
DUI along with their European partners, BtS Europa AG and CCR Sp. Z o.o. has acquired Ocean Management Systems (OMS), a maker of high end technically-oriented dive equipment. The new company will be called Ocean Management Systems GmbH and will be based in Germany. -- Posted Monday, August 11, 2014 by chb

Travelog: St. Kitts and Saba with Explorer Ventures
The ScubaDiverInfo team spent seven adventurous days onboard Explorer Ventures' Caribbean Explorer 2, testing equipment and diving off the islands of Saba and St. Kitts. Our illustrated travelog covers all the details of the trip. And this time the weather cooperated and we had great conditions, unlike on the same itinerary back in 2010. [Read Saba/St. Kitts scuba travelog] -- Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2014 by chb

Costa Condordia dive video
Days before salvage workers attempt the historic task of refloating the marooned Costa Concordia off the coast of Giglio, Italy, newly released video has revealed the ghostly world -- frozen in time -- deep inside the luxury cruise ship. See 7-minute scuba video of divers around and inside the Costa Concordia. -- Posted Saturday, July 12, 2014 by chb

CBS Miami on Florida cave diving
Nice feature on cave diving by CBS Miami's David Sutta, including a great seven minute cave video covering Florida caver Brett Hemphill's experiences and adventures. [See Cave Diving: The Explorers] -- Posted Monday, June 30, 2014 by chb

Learning about Lake Huron shipwrecks
Michigan State University Extension published an article on the Lake Huron waters that are home to many diverse shipwrecks—from wooden schooners to steel-hulled steamers—lying pristinely preserved by the cold, fresh waters of the Great Lakes. Diving and snorkeling these waters offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore underwater history. To learn more about northern Lake Huron shipwrecks and visiting these sanctuaries at the NOAA Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary website. Another great resource is Discover Heritage Route 23. -- Posted Monday, June 30, 2014 by chb

Shore diving on Bonaire
The Miami Herald ran a nice article by Kayleigh Kulp on shore diving on Bonaire. The author describes the freedom that comes with being able to dive from the shore whenever and wherever you want, using rental gear and vehicles, and being able to exchange tanks at 24-hour drive-throughs around the island. [Read "On Bonaire, diving from shore beats taking a boat"] -- Posted Monday, June 30, 2014 by chb

AERIS merges with Oceanic
American Underwater Products (AUP) announced the merger of two of their recreational dive companies, AERIS and Oceanic. Each of these companies currently offer similar product lines to the diving industry worldwide. Effective September 1st, 2014, these lines will be combined and sold exclusively under the Oceanic brand. [See press release] -- Posted Tuesday, June 17, 2014 by chb

Cool and useful gear: StarTech's 7-port USB charger
Every now and then we need to mention some of the truly useful gadgets that come into our lab, that we end up using all the time, and that a lot of our readers out there could probably use, too. One such gadget is StarTech's 7-port USB charger. It's amazing how nice it is to charge all your gear at once and use only one wall outlet. [See StarTech 7-Port USB Charging Station] -- Posted Monday, June 16, 2014 by chb

Great White bites off 6-GoPro rig
What happens when a Great White Shark really doesn't want to have her picture taken? Even with a six-GoPro 360degree rig? Well, she just bites the cameras off and lets them drop and vanish in the abyss. Good thing for the divers that the cameras were mounted on a long stick. [See video on YouTube] -- Posted Friday, June 13, 2014 by chb

How deep is your love?
It's always nice to see couples getting married underwater. In this instance, they got married underwater and they weren't even divers! [See How deep is your love?] -- Posted Tuesday, May 27, 2014 by chb

Lionfish invasion growing in Florida waters
Lionfish, beautiful to look at and usually willing subjects for underwater photographers, have now spread all the way up the US East Coast to the Carolinas and as far south as Brazil. The ScubaDiverInfo.com dive team certainly sees them more and more wherever we go. Read the Tampa Bay Times article on Lionfish invasion growing in area waters. -- Posted Saturday, May 10, 2014 by chb

Prince William becomes British Sub-Aqua Club president
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as president of the British Sub-Aqua Club. BSAC is the UK's leading dive club and also the UK's scuba's National Governing Body, providing internationally-recognized diver training via a network of clubs and centers across the country and overseas. -- Posted Saturday, May 10, 2014 by chb

CONTOUR returns to POV camera market
Contour, pioneers of the action sports camera industry, is now under new ownership and seeks to once again be a key contender in the Point of View (POV) camera market. After completing a financial overhaul, reorganizing its plans for new product innovation and building a framework for improved distribution, Contour says it is back on the map, re-launching its website that currently offers the Contour+2 with wireless smartphone connectivity, the waterproof ROAM2 and a range of accessories. -- Posted Tuesday, April 8, 2014 by chb

Olympus reveals its latest outdoor camera
Olympus, the company that pioneered outdoor cameras, is expanding outdoor shooting and sharing capabilities in even the most challenging of conditions with a new flagship. The STYLUS TOUGH TG-3 brings a high-speed f2.0 lens, expanded macro capabilities, GPS, and Wi-Fi for sharing pics and full 1080p video from (almost) anywhere. Divers can take it down to 50 feet, and the camera can handle almost any abuse in the great outdoors. [See description, analysis and specs of the Olympus TG-3] -- Posted Tuesday, April 1, 2014 by chb

Mark your calendars: DEMA 2014
DEMA, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association, announced that the DEMA Show 2014 will take place November 19-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. DEMA also reorts that Trade Show News Network (TSNN) announced its list of the top 250 trade shows of 2012 and DEMA Show has been recognized with this prestigious rank. This is the fifth time in recent years that DEMA Show has been recognized as a top trade show of the year! [See DEMA Show 2014 page] -- Posted Thursday, March 27, 2014 by chb

Canon Powershot D30: waterproof to 82 feet!
We love the small and handy size of waterproof cameras, but all too often we can't take them on dives because their depth rating won't allow it. The new PowerShot D30, Canon's latest waterproof camera, provides a solution as it is waterproof to 82 feet, 20 to 50 feet more than the competition. The 12.1 megapixel PowerShot D30, which is also temperature-resistant down to 14F and can handle 6.5 feet drops, has built-in GPS, can shoot full 1080p HD video, ad retails for US$329. We can't wait to test it! [See Canon press release and Canon D30 product page] -- Posted Saturday, March 8, 2014 by chb

About.com's oxygen administration recommendations
Natalie Gibb, who writes about.com's Scuba Diving section, ran a very helpful article about administering oxygen to victims of a scuba diving accidents. Gibb explains how and why pure oxygen helps, how it affects various types of diving accidents, and touches on the primary considerations for administering oxygen. [See Oxygen First Aid Is Recommended for All Scuba Diving Injuries] -- Posted Thursday, February 13, 2014 by chb

Liquid Image unveils new video products at 2014 CES in Vegas
Our friends at Liquid Image (the ones that make the scuba video masks we've been using and testing for years) launched some exciting new products at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. One is the Ego LS, a 4G LTE enabled wearable and mountable Camera that can stream action video live through a cloud service to social networks. This one's certain to be a strong competitor to GoPro. Another is the Liquid Image OPS Swim Goggle for HD video for smooth in water/underwater motion. -- Posted Tuesday, January 7, 2014 by chb

PADI being sued over bad air diving death
The family of a woman who died in Cabo San Lucas allegedly from lethal levels of carbon monoxide in her scuba tank is suing PADI, accusing PADI of inadequately covering precautions against carbon monoxide, which is taste- and odorless. It seems questionable to us that PADI should be sued over this, but having had firsthand experience with bad scuba tank air in Mexico and the lack of response after reporting it, ScubaDiverInfo supports stricter testing and procedural regulations. [See article on CBCnews] -- Posted Wednesday, December 18, 2013 by chb

Celebrating 90 at 90
A British Royal Navy veteran celebrated his 90th birthday with a 90-foot wreck dive off the coast of Cyprus. Ray Wooley, who said he stopped logging dives after he reached 1,000, said "After all these years of diving I just thought I'd take the opportunity to do something underwater to celebrate getting to the age of 90." [See article at Wirral Globe] -- Posted Monday, November 25, 2013 by chb

PADI to include computer simulator in open water courses
PADI and DiveNav have entered into an agreement to include access to DiveNav's computer simulators for PADI Open Water Diver students learning with the computer option. Available are DiveNav's divePAL Advanced and Nitrox dive computer simulators, with one model-specific recreational computer simulator of the student's choice. Limited distribution of this new feature will be available as early as December 2013. -- Posted Friday, November 1, 2013 by chb

Roatan's "Prince Albert" #1 Most Amazing Sunken Ship on Earth
The "Amazing Beautiful World" ran a feature entitled "10 Most Incredible Sunken Ships on Earth" and, according to them, one of our most favorite wrecks is also their most incredible sunken ship. That'd be the Prince Albert off Coco View resort on Roatan, Honduras. That's certainly quite an honor. [See 10 Most Incredible Sunken Ships on Earth]
-- Posted Tuesday, October 29, 2013 by chb

Now available: Becoming A Scuba Diver
"Becoming A Scuba Diver -- From Pool to Sharks: Journey & Reflections Of the First 250 Dives" by Conrad Blickenstorfer is now available on Amazon! It's a detailed 370-page book on becoming a diver, from the first breath underwater, learning the dive gear, the initial frustrations of a new diver, then the first dives at Lake Tahoe, advanced classes and dives in Florida's sinks, caverns and rivers, and the magical first ocean dives in Roatan. From there it's on to drift diving in Cozumel, the first liveaboard experience in the Caribbean, the first thrilling encounters with sharks, diving wrecks and kelp, playing with seals, diving with the giant mantas of Socorro, and swimming with whale sharks off Isla Mujeres and in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. Between diving experiences there are contemplations on scuba-related topics: altitude diving, dive computers, nitrox, cave diving, rebreathers, nitrogen narcosis, Hollywood's portrayal of scuba, Cousteau's legacy, humorous encounters, and self-analyis as a diver. I invite you to share my journey through the first 250 dives. [Get Becoming A Scuba Diver on Amazon!] -- Posted Saturday, October 5, 2013 by chb

The Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy
Mermaid aficionados alert: The Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy offers its students, both young and older, realistic mermaid tails and a comprehensive course load including mermaid snorkeling, mermaid scuba diving, and mermaid fitness. Yes, it's true. See the The Philippine Mermaid Swimming/Monofin Swimming Academy. -- Posted Wednesday, September 25, 2013 by chb

Scuba divers raise warship
A team of scuba divers launched a full scale rescue mission of a warship, and they actually raised it. It was a very small warship though, just about four feet long. The ship, a model replica of the American Second World War destroyer USS McNair, had sunk in choppy waters and poor visibility at Setley Pond near Southampton in the UK. [See article] -- Posted Wednesday, September 11, 2013 by chb

Is Lake Tahoe still clear?
On August 6th, the 7th anniversary of my PADI Open Water Certification, Carol and I finally went up to Lake Tahoe for a dive again. Over the years I have reported on the ins and outs of high altitude diving in great detail, and so I won't go into that again. This time, I wondered whether Lake Tahoe was still as clear as it used to be. [read more...] -- Posted Saturday, August 10, 2013 by chb

Juneau, Alaska, hyperbaric chamber closes
Alaska Public Media reports that after more than 30 years of operation, scuba diving emergencies can no longer be treated at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. Now, the closest chambers for public use are in Anchorage or Seattle. One of the reasons the hospital decided to discontinue the program was the chamber hadn't been used since 2011, the other was cost. The hyperbaric chamber was moved out of Bartlett Regional Hospital three weeks ago, and now sits in NOAA storage in Juneau waiting to be shipped to Seattle. [Read why and how this happened] -- Posted Saturday, August 10, 2013 by chb

Rock quarries as a scuba diving option
The Chattanooga timesfreepress.com reports on local rock quarries as great option for local scuba divers that can't always travel to more distant dive places. The report includes a description of the Loch Low-Minn Dive Resort near Athens, Tennessee, where ScubaDiverInfo.com's very own Carol Cotton uses to train and certify her scuba students. [See article] -- Posted Thursday, July 25, 2013 by chb

DEMA Show dates for the next few years
DEMA, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association confirmed the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL as the venue for DEMA Shows 2017 and 2019. So for those who like to plan ahead, here are the DEMO show dates for the next several years:

2013: November 6-9 | Orange County Convention Center, South Halls, Orlando, FL
2014: November 19-22 | Las Vegas Convention Center, North Halls, Las Vegas, NV
2015: November 4-7 | Orange County Convention Center, South Halls, Orlando, FL
2016: November 16-19 | Las Vegas Convention Center, South Halls, Las Vegas, NV
2017: November 1-4 | Orange County Convention Center, South Halls, Orlando, FL
2018: To Be Determined
2019: October 30-Nov 2 | Orange County Convention Center, South Halls, Orlando, FL -- Posted Thursday, July 18, 2013 by chb

Lionfish Public Service Announcement
DEMA, the Diving Equipment & Marketing Association, released a PSA aimed at providing basic first aid instructions for Lionfish. The release comes in conjunction with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission adopting changes that will waive the recreational license requirement for divers harvesting Lionfish using certain gear. The FWC has also excluded Lionfish from the commercial and recreational bag limits, allowing people to take as many invasive fish as they can. [See DEMA's Lionfish Public Service Announcement on YouTube, and REEF.org's Lionfish Rsearch Program] -- Posted Wednesday, June 19, 2013 by chb

When it rains on a dive trip...


Dive trips are expensive and you want to get in as much precious diving as possible. You can't wait to get the next 10 or 20 dives under your belt. But when you get there.... it rains. [Read of the ScubaDiverInfo team's latest adventures] -- Posted Wednesday, June 12, 2013 by chb

Alabama Reef Foundation sinks "LuLu"
On May 26, the "LuLu," a newly re-christened 271-foot retired cargo ship, was sunk in about 110 feet of water, 17 nautical miles south of Perdido Pass in Orange Beach. The event was the culmination of a nearly year-long effort by coastal tourism officials through the nonprofit Alabama Gulf Coast Reef and Restoration Foundation to build a new year-round scuba diving attraction with whole-ship reefs in Alabama, adding to one of the largest artificial reef programs in the U.S. [See photos of the Lulu's sinking] -- Posted Friday, May 31, 2013 by chb

Study: Clinical aspects of hyperbaric treatment
A total of 5,278 DCI cases among commercial fishery divers (about half on scuba, half on surface hoses) were treated from February 2000 through December 2010 in a hyperbaric facility in northern China, yielding the DCI case series study with the largest number of cases treated in a single hyperbaric unit. Interesting reading. [See Decompression Illness: Clinical Aspects of 5278 Consecutive Cases Treated in a Single Hyperbaric Unit] -- Posted Saturday, May 18, 2013 by chb

Olympus to cut back drastically in compact cameras
Olympus -- which we always had a fondness for because of their engagement in underwater cameras -- reported it had returned to profitability in fiscal 2012, but its imaging business posted a loss for the third straight year. And with its market for digital cameras rapidly shrinking, Olympus dramatically lowered its 2013 sales target for compact digital cameras to just 2.7 million, down from 5.1 million in 2012. Our take: It's mostly a matter of everyone now having a smartphone with a built-in camera. We always liked Olympus and have done numerous detailed underwater camera reviews for them, but for the past two years they have refused every one of our requests for review units, so unfortunately we could not help them spread the word. -- Posted Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by chb

Honduras yet again delays ban on commercial lobster scuba diving
Honduran lobster divers continue to get bent and die, and declines in lobster harvests drive them to dive deeper and longer. Honduras had committed to outlawing commercial scuba diving for lobsters, but has been delaying the ban to give the roughly 3,500 people who rely on it for a living to transition to other jobs. [See "Time for Honduras to End Scuba Diving for Lobster"] -- Posted Tuesday, April 23, 2013 by chb

Blog: A few days of diving in Florida, and logistics
One thing that's different about a week of meandering from dive spot to dive spot is logistics. When you fly somewhere and stay at a resort or liveaboard, you get to park your gear and be done with it. Not so when you move from place to place. Here's how the ScubaDiverInfo.com team spent a few days of driving and diving and exploring in Northern Florida.... [read illustrated blog] -- Posted Friday, April 5, 2013 by chb

New: ScubaDiverInfo.com's video page
Whenever we test underwater video cameras and still cameras that can do video (which is most by now), we compile and publish videos shot with those cameras. We usually upload them to YouTube for viewing there, but have now added our own video pages from where you can see most of the videos, sorted by camera. [See ScubaDiverInfo's Video Page] -- Posted Thursday, April 4, 2013 by chb

Fujifilm introduces rugged freeseproof XP200 camera with wireless, 1080p/60 video and 50 foot depth rating
With the 16-megapixel FinePix XP200, Fujifilm adds a most impressive offering to the rugged/waterproof camera space. Its 50-foot depth rating makes the camera truly useful for many dives, and is a definite and much appreciated step up from the 33 feet that was the maximum for these types of cameras for several years. And it's freezeproof as well and can handle drops from more than six feet. Add to that 5X optical zoom, 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second, and the ability to wirelessly view and transfer pictures, all for a MSRP of US$299. [See description, analysis and specs of the Fujifilm FinePix XP200] -- Posted Friday, March 22, 2013 by chb

Review: SeaLife SL975 Fisheye Wide Angle Lens
SeaLife's SL975 Fisheye Wide Angle Lens (US$299) snaps onto any SeaLife DC-Series housing. ScubaDiverInfo.com tested the lens during a recent scuba product review expedition in Honduras and came away impressed. Used with our review SeaLife DC1400 rig, the SL975 lens provided roughly 16mm wide angle, making spectacular shots possible. See our analysis of the SL975 and the kind of underwater images we shot with it. [See SeaLife Fisheye Wide Angle Lens review and image gallery] -- Posted Thursday, February 14, 2013 by chb

Review: SeaLife AquaPod
The key to getting good pictures underwater is getting close, and especially so if you use a wide-angle or fisheye lens. But getting close can spook the fish and critters, and it's not a good idea to get within a foot of, for example, a moray or a lion fish anyway. SeaLife to the rescue with their simple but ingenious US$69.95 AquaPod monopod. Usable with almost any camera with a tripod mount (and it even comes with a GoPro mount), the AquaPod quickly became indispensable to the ScubaDiverInfo.com dive team. [See SeaLife AquaPod review] -- Posted Monday, February 11, 2013 by chb

Ski 'n Dive the same day: Homestead Resort Crater
We've often thought of skiing and diving at Lake Tahoe the same day, but Utah might be an even better place to do that. The Zermatt and Homestead Resorts in the Utah village of Midway are offering a winter lodging and activity package with skiing the beautiful Wasatch Mountains and then scuba dive in a natural, geothermic hot spring known as the Homestead Resort Crater. The crater is sort of like Devil's Den meets Hot Tub, a 65-feet deep cavern crater with 92 degree water! [See Homestead Resort Crater video] -- Posted Monday, February 11, 2013 by chb

DEMA calls for nominations for the 2013 Reaching Out Awards
DEMA is requesting nominations for the 2013 DEMA Reaching Out Award, asking the Diving Industry to submit the names and qualifying information of those Industry professionals who have made a significant contribution to the sport of scuba diving. For details about nomination requirements and selection criteria review the 2013 Reaching Out Award Nomination Form. -- Posted Wednesday, January 30, 2013 by chb

Book review: The Cavern Kings, by Jeff Bauer
Author/cave diving instructor Jeff Bauer's independent but immaculately executed book "The Cavern Kings" (288 pages in print; also available as eBook) tells the tale of three friends who, after a close call underwater, decide to take a cavern diving class. It's a story of friendship, relationships, personal goals, triumph and tragedy. While a work of fiction, there is a great deal of detail on cavern diving, making the book both entertaining as well as informative. See review of "The Cavern Kings"] -- Posted Monday, January 21, 2013 by chb