And there’s scuba diving. With more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of coast along the Red Sea and just under 500 miles (800 kilometers) of beach along the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia is home to some of the world’s most spectacular dive sites.

“It is the last untouched tropical coral reef in the world, simply because of Saudi Arabian paranoia. And thank God for it,” said Eric Mason, executive manager of Dream Divers in Saudi Arabia. “This place is a divers dream come true.”

Mason’s company has been offering scuba diving trips for more than three years, drawing coral reef enthusiasts from Europe and Asia.

Khaleej Times Online – Saudis to promote kingdom as cultural and scuba diving tourist destination

Lake Tahoe is growing as a destination hotspot for high-altitude diving.

Each year more than one million Americans become certified divers, according to www.scuba.com. And there is no better place to explore clear waters, immense granite cliffs, various shipwrecks and aquatic life than in Lake Tahoe, area dive instructors say.

Tahoe Daily Tribune – News

Matthew Young and Cameron James Avenell, who were convicted of theft of Palau’s underwater artifacts, were sentenced to a jail term of three months and six months, respectively.

Chief Justice Arthiur Ngiraklsong also ordered Young to pay a US$5,000 fine and Avenell US$12,000.

Young was found guilty of violating the Lagoon Monument Act, grand larceny, malicious mischief and conversion of public property.

He was sentenced six months for each violation.

CDNN :: Palau Scuba Looters Go To Jail

THAILAND has dumped 189 old garbage trucks off its southern coast in a bid to build an artificial reef to lure fish for local fishermen.

The trucks, once used to collect refuse in the sprawling Thai capital Bangkok, were dropped into the Gulf of Thailand, about 5.5 km from the southern province of Pattani.

Under a project initiated by Thailand’s queen in 2002, everything from concrete pillars to old rail cars have been dumped at 47 sites in the waters off southern Thailand.

Thailand creates garbage truck reef | World Wide Weird | The Australian

The Bangkok Post has a round up of hotel and diving packages that are being offered by several of Thailand’s more upmarket hotels to drum up business during the off-peak, rainy season that’s currently in progress.

There’s some interesting offers amongst this lot, although don’t expect the diving to be up too much around Phuket and Krabi at this time of year. Similarly, the weather on Samui in October can be really grim – it’s pot luck. Some days it’s great, some days it’s not.

Thailand Diving Packages During Rainy Season – divehappy.com: Scuba Diving In Thailand and South East Asia

The giant sand pit where the remains of a mammoth and saber-toothed tiger were once discovered may soon be filled with much more modern artifacts.

There are plans to throw in a bus, a couple antique fire trucks and even a space shuttle lookalike that once thrilled visitors at the now defunct Astroworld amusement park in Houston.

Why the random collection?

Developers are hoping the items and many others — including an old F-5 Navy jet already in the 50-acre pit — will help create one of the nation’s largest lakes reserved for scuba divers seeking to explore large objects.

MyWestTexas.com – Devlopers seek to create junk-filled lake for divers

Archaeologists are to investigate a wreck reported to be that of a German warship previously said to have been salvaged and scrapped.

Records claim the V81, which was at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, was raised in 1937 after foundering off the Caithness coast 85 years ago.

However, members of Caithness Diving Club said it was still on the seabed.

Archaeologist Simon Davidson, of Nottingham University, said: “It’s a wreck that shouldn’t be there.”

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Dive bids to solve wreck mystery

Inspired by the fact that Indonesia plans to create a marine protected area covering 2.96 million acres, I thought I’d poke around a bit and see what else I could learn about the area.

Dive Indonesia

IPIMAR, THE Portuguese institute of investigation of fishing activities and the sea, has announced its desire to promote scuba diving to Algarve tourists, in order to make the activity more sustainable in the region.

Portugal Promotes Scuba

Overfishing presents a much greater risk to the kelp forest ecosystems that span the West Coast — from Alaska to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula — than the effects of run-off from fertilizers or sewage from the shore, say scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The findings have important implications for the design of California’s Marine Protected Areas.

In an article published in the May 26 issue of Science, researchers describe the first study to compare the top-down versus bottom-up human influences on the food chain of the kelp forest ecosystems.

Underwater Times | Study: Overfishing Puts Southern California Kelp Forest Ecosystems at Risk; ‘So Sensitive’