Scuba With Bill

Three years ago, when my husband and I signed up for scuba diving lessons, we envisioned it as a life-changing — or at least a vacation-changing — decision.

Since we had always been partial to beach getaways, we figured we would find ample opportunity to practice our newfound skills. Just days after completing certification, we hopped a plane bound for the British Virgin Islands, where we found time to hit the ocean bottom nine times in between other activities, such as getting married and enjoying our honeymoon.

Sleep with the fishes

Despite swirling skepticism, President Bush announced today that he would create the wold’s largest marine sanctuary in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Already designated a reserve, the new designation will extend federal protections to the 140,000 square miles of islands, endangered monk seals, nesting green sea turtles, and 7000 other species that call the area home. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, head of NOAA, which will manage most of the sanctuary, proclaimed Bush’s announcement as “the single-largest act of ocean conservation in history.” In fact, the new Sanctuary will be the largest no-take area on earth.

Bush Creates World’s Largest Marine Sanctuary! - Divester

Scientists towing an underwater digital microscope across the Atlantic have found possible missing links to the global nitrogen cycle, which in turn is linked to ocean productivity.

In a recent report in the journal Science, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) found abundant colonies of Trichodesmium. The multi-celled, filamentous organism is thought to play a significant role in the input of nitrogen to the upper layers of the tropical and subtropical ocean, nearly half of the Earth’s surface.

Underwater Times | Scientists: Underwater Microscope Reveals Missing Links to the Global Nitrogen Cycle

This week, I got a copy of the book. Although slim (only 138 pages), the book is packed with dozens of exercises that just about anyone can perform. Overall, it’s well-written, well-organized, and well-presented (with photos that clearly demonstrate each of the exercises described). Moreover, at under $15, the book is a real bargain.

In addition to making divers more physically fit, the Adamses are trying to make divers more mentally fit. Knowing you’re capable of pulling yourself into the inflatable at the end of the dive, for example, means that, during the dive, you can concentrate more on what’s going on around you. In short, fitness breeds confidence, and a confident diver is a safer diver.

“Fit For Scuba”: Reviewed - Divester

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

Yup, it’s true! As part of their “Oceans 2006: A Year of Exploring,” the Monterey Bay Aquarium is planning to add new podcasts twice each month.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Has Started Podcasting - Divester

Suunto have issued a recall of some of their D9 and D6 Dive Computers after discovering a software bug that could lead to inaccurate dive time information

Suunto Dive Computer Recall - divehappy.com: Scuba Diving In Thailand and South East Asia

Baby dolphins sleep while swimming around, unlike their adult counterparts who have periods of stationary rest, a team of Italian researchers has found .

The study, published in this week’s issue of the international Nature magazine, followed months of observation and data collection by experts at the Genoa Aquarium in northwest Italy .

“During their first year of life, young bottlenose dolphins sleep exclusively while swimming and, like all young mammals, have irregular sleep patterns, distributed both through the day and at night, for around 12 hours in total,” said the research team, Guido Gnone, Tiziana Moriconi and Giorgia Gambini .

ANSA.it - News in English - Baby dolphins sleep while swimming

Club Narked is an alcohol and drug-free club with a top-secret location, due to open in the next 18 months. Claiming to intoxicate clubbers naturally “via Nitrogen Narcosis,” the £5 million club will be nestled inside a converted bank vault. Once inside, clubbers will breathe compressed air in the pressurized vault, which will create “the safe high known as being ‘narked’.” Explaining that “complex reasoning decreases 33% and manual dexterity decreases 7.3%” when someone is narked, the owners maintain that this is a safe way to get trashed, because “once the pressure is returned to normal, the intoxication wears off,” meaning it’s safe to drive home. Or go get a drink at a real club. What do you think?

Club Narked to Deliver “Natural Intoxication” - Divester

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