Scarborough Sub Aqua Club a branch of the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC), is one of the longest established scuba diving clubs in England, and has been providing BSAC training for divers and offering members a wide variety of diving for over 40 years.

The Four Scuba Divers from the club will attempt to cross the 34Km (21 mile) trip from Shakespeare’s Cliff, Dover in the UK, to Cap Gris Nez, France, and is expected to take up to 12 hours using Sea scooters or Diver Propulsion Vehicles (DPV’s) that travel at a speed of 3 knots.

Some of the difficulties these divers will encounter include the heavy shipping traffic that traverse the English Channel, especially since the Scuba Divers will be submerged only at a depth of 5m (16.4ft) below the water’s surface, there is a constant danger of boats or ships getting too close to the divers. While the four divers will be taking turns at attempting the record in two relay teams with each diver pair submerged for a duration of an hour each, there still runs the risk of getting decompression sickness, and the divers will be required to carefully monitor their depth and bottom time. Surface support will be provided by an 18 member boat crew that will accompany the divers through the crossing and providing replacement scuba gear, sea scooter battery recharges, tank fills, supplies and the emergency support equipment.

The Money raised through sponsorship is to be divided between Help for Heroes and the RNLI/ Scarborough Lifeboat.

Image courtesy Thespis377 on flickr

Scuba Divers To Cross English Channel Submerged Using Sea Scooters was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Underwater pumpkin carving is not a novelty in the Scuba world, but has become an annual ritual or tradition of sorts in a number of places like Florida Keys, Coeur d’Alene- Idaho, Otter Lake-Michigan and a lot of other cities across the United States and Canada. And while it might sound fairly simple to gut and carve the burnt-orange colored fruit underwater, it’s a lot tougher than it seems. People take it quite seriously (well as serious as a diver can get) and bring in their ‘A’ games so you have to be creative as it is a competition afterall.

Contestants put on their diving gear and drop down to a depth of less than 30 feet, where they try to carve the most intricate jack-o-lanterns to claim the top spots. It can take upto 2 hrs to carve a pumpkin underwater and the toughest bit is getting the pumpkin down as they are VERY buoyant. But once divers manage to wrestle their pumpkins to the bottom, hack off the top with their dive knives and expel the big ol’ air bubbles inside, the pumpkins are easier to sink and work on. It’s a little messy when the innards get floating around, but they make for some cool food for the finned audience on site. Winners usually get a cool prize like free dive trips and the likes making getting into the cold waters well worth it if you win. Plus it’s a lot of fun nonetheless.

So the next time you’re in Florida Keys, South Carolina, Lake Tahoe, Pennsylvania, Idaho or Michigan among other places, look up when they’re hosting their annual underwater pumpkin carving contest to participate. All divers need are their dive knives and creativity to take part. But, it would be pretty cool to drop a small dive light/dive torch inside to illuminate the pumpkin underwater.

*Image credits: photos sourced from dumpaday.com and worldarchitectur.blogfa.com

Underwater Pumpkin Carving- A Scuba Halloween Tradition was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

[QUIZZIN 2]

* Photo Credits: photos by M. Christian Selfridge, BlueBeyond, richard ling, alfonsator, loloieg, Boogies with Fish, TGIGreeny, glintle , doug.deep, PacificKlaus and Nataraj Metz on flickr

Can You Identify These Fish Species? was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

[QUIZZIN 1]

*Photo credits: photo by jrover on flickr

Scuba Quiz (1) was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Featured above: BladeFish 5000 DPV Sea Scooter available at Leisurepro.com

The Bladefish 5000 is powered by a duo of 18v Lithium Ion batteries providing a power rating of 210 watts generating 525 rpm. With a maximum depth rating of 50m the manufacturers claim this tiny DPV weighing just 4.7 kg (10 pounds) is capable of jetting you along the ocean at speeds up to 3.75 mph. The Bladefish 5000 takes roughly 3 and a half hours to fully charge and gives you a run time of around 70-120 mins which is more than enough for most standard dives. Most surprising of all apart from its lightweight, the diameter of the Bladefish is merely 13 inches or a little over a foot in size allowing you to easily fit it in any suitcase, making it the most compact and easy to carry DPV available in the market today.

Featured above: BladeFish 5000 DPV Sea Scooter available at Leisurepro.com

Performance-wise the Bladefish with 3 variable speed settings is enough to whisk you away to your dive-site, and though there are significantly more powerful DPV’s out there, there are none that match the Bladefish’s size, weight and maneuverability. The Sea Scooter is slightly negatively buoyant and comes with a pair of soft-grip handles and dual activation levers making it easy to control. a set of LED lights allow you to tell the charge left in the batteries while on the dive.

On the negative side, the Bladefish is a little noisier than the torpedo shaped DPV’s as the open design doesn’t allow for much sound insulation. Additionally the battery compartment is sealed which prevents the users from switching out the batteries.  However this is not necessarily a bad thing, as it prevents the users from accidentally flooding the battery compartment, but it also means that you will have to send the DPV to the manufacturers for a battery replacement and plus after one dive you will need to charge the DPV rather than swap out the lithium ions for an extra fresh set and continue diving.

The bottom line is that the Bladefish ‘s shortcomings are greatly out-weighed by the fact that this gadget provides the diver with both fun and functionality which is what you want out of your sea scooter. At the end of the day the weight and size of the Bladefish 5000 will allow you to use the rig more often and carry it easily along with you wherever you dive.

The Bladefish 5000 Sea Scooter A Must Have Scuba Gadget was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

The Diver series of Scuba games is created by a Russian software company BiArt, and released Diver: Deep Water Adventure in 2006. The game features realistic 3D rendered life-like  underwater environments,  a complex diving simulation experience, a rare combination of adventure, strategy and action and several realistic  dive sites that will keep any gamer spellbound.

Just like any Scuba Diver’s Dream come true, the game begins with you having to earn your living by diving and completing a series of scuba adventures after you succeed in passing your initial dive certification course  in a series of artificial environments which helps you get a hang of the game controls. Through the game you can purchase all the scuba diving equipment you will need to complete each one of your underwater missions.

The story revolves around two main characters Andy and Nicole who face off against a sinister archeological group Izen Cross in their search for the sunken city of Atlantis. This quest leads you from the mysterious waters of the Loch Ness, to those of the Bermuda Triangle, while completing a series of activities like taking photos of species of fish, treasure hunting, researching sunken submarines and wreck dives.

All your dive information, Air, Depth, compass, water temperature etc is viewable on your BCD console gauge which you bring up by pressing a key and it suddenly appears in your divers left hand, making the game play highly realistic. The 3D rendered manta rays that gracefully glide by or the sunken submarine penetration dives are simply stunning and truly immerse the player into the game. The ability during the game to use your underwater camera and take photographs of the passing fish and dive site is a great feature of the game.

Overall Verdict- Diver: Deepwater Adventure is a great game for gamers looking for something different and an even better game for Scuba Divers as they will appreciate the mixture of realistic scuba simulation with the fun but not so realistic ability to shoot at passing sharks with a spear gun while exploring fascinating dive sites in almost lifelike rendering. If you’re interested in giving the game a try head on to diver3d.com and download a free trial of the game and experience it for yourself.

Diver: Deep Water Adventures- A Scuba Simulation Game was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

1: Swim with fat people- Try to surround yourself with more appetizing companions. If you know them well, you might even try to switch their suntan lotion with A-1 Steak Sauce. This will definitely improve your odds survival. Hell even if you don’t know them, tell them you’ll put some A-1, I mean suntan lotion on their back. (wink, wink) If they say it would be weird because they only just met you, say “it’s only weird if you make it weird… …buddy.”

2: Don’t swim in the ocean- By not swimming in the ocean the odds of getting bit by a shark decrease by ten. If you are unsure if you are actually in an ocean, taste it. If it tastes like a soggy salty peanut bag at the big game, you’re in the ocean. GET OUT!

3: Listen out for the music- In the event that you are foolish enough to swim in an ocean, listen carefully for the music, as demonstrated in the marvelous documentary film Jaws. All shark attacks are preceded by the “daah-da, daah-da” The faster the sound gets the closer the shark is.

4: Don’t go into the water without a dive knife- This is not to defend yourself but to stab the person (a.k.a the decoy) closest to you in the case of a shark attack. Once you are sure the “decoy” is bleeding profusely…..swim for your freakin life. In the event the stabbed person (a.k.a. decoy) get’s eaten and the shark is still coming, start stabbing anyone within arms reach, it’s survival of the fittest at this point.

5: Don’t panic- Remember, it’s not about how you have lived your life, but how you leave this world. You my friend are about to leave this world. You are in the mouth of the most fierce predator in the ocean… so do something cool like wave to the people freaking out on the shore and yell, “I got him!”.

Scuba Humor: 5 Steps to Avoid A Shark Attack was written by Noreen for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Scuba Treasure Hunters use underwater metal detectors and scour rivers, lakes, and the shore line close to the beach to retrieve dropped objects like wedding rings, watches, coins and with a little luck jewelry as well. LeisurePro.com now offers two fantastic scuba metal detectors from J.W.Fishers who are specialists in the design and manufacture of underwater search systems, that will get you started in underwater treasure hunting.

JW Fishers Pulse 6X and JW Fishers Pulse 8X are commercial grade underwater metal detectors that will locate all metals ferrous and nonferrous. Both work equally well on land and underwater.

Featured above: J.W.Fishers Pulse 8X Metal Detector available at Leisurepro.com

Pulse 8X
The Pulse 8x is the Top of the Line, highest performance pulse induction metal detector on the market today. In use by military, law enforcement, commercial, and salvage divers worldwide. The Pulse 8x’s heavy duty construction make this detector ideal for commercial applications and the preferred detector of many professional treasure hunters.

With a 200 foot depth rated housing and a 6 foot maximum detection range, the detectors ability to ignore minerals in the environment while maintaining high sensitivity to all metal targets makes it invaluable to treasure hunters. Often commercial metal detectors go crazy when they pass over black sand  or minerals containing iron in them, but the Pulse 8x’s ability to ignore these false positives is a huge advantage.

The Standard Pulse 8x kit includes a corrosion proof PVC handle for underwater use, an anodized aluminum handle for land use, underwater and land headphones. The package also includes AC and DC battery chargers, a hip-mount kit for the electronics housing.

Featured above J.W.Fishers Pulse 6X Metal Detector available at Leisurepro.com

Pulse 6x
The Pulse 6x is the more economical hand held detector, that can be upgraded to Pulse 8X. It comprises of the same high quality construction and 200 foot depth rating as Pulse 8X, but less sensitive (approx 4 foot maximum depth detection).  Just like the Pulse 8x, the diver is alerted to presence of a metal target by both visual readout (shown on the meter) and an audio output (heard in the underwater earphone).

The Standard Pulse 6x kit includes a corrosion proof PVC handle, Earphone for underwater use, Anodized aluminum handle with telescoping coil shaft and arm rest, AC and DC battery chargers, Hip-mount kit, A spare parts kit, And a J.W. Fishers Search Team hat.

Scuba Metal Detectors was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

In February 2010 ,a new and improved sequel of Endless Ocean from game developers Arika titled Endless Ocean: Blue World was released.  Blue world unlike its predecessor, while retaining the same formula allowing the player to explore the oceans without any set objectives, additionally has an adventure game story built in which brings us the structure that most gamers craved while playing the original.

The setting of Blue World starts off in the South Pacific and takes you on a Scuba diving adventure across the globe from the murky waters of Amazonian Brazil, or dive amongst giant icebergs in the Antarctic, as you play a university student who joins up with L&L Diving Service to hunt for the legendary Song of Dragons. Through the adventure you meet up with Oceana, the daughter of L&L Diving’s owner Jean-Eric Louvier who had lost his son 15 years ago while attempting to uncover the Song of Dragons. As you progress through the game’s adventure story mode, the plot gets more and more interesting as you uncover ancient underwater ruins and go on in-game missions.

For those that preferred the more laid-back Endless Ocean 1’s game play, Blue World allows you to also explore the oceans and document marine species you encounter without having to complete the main story objectives. Controlling the diver is pretty much the same as the original  which is a relatively simple process where you point which direction you wish to fin to using your wii-mote and click to have your diver move to the selected area.

Blue World is still a significant improvement over the 2008 original release, both in terms of visuals, and game play.    You now have a limited air supply for each dive making missions more interesting and realistic. Additionally, diving in cold waters causes your air supply to deplete at a more rapid rate. Blue World’s underwater realms are simply striking, and the detail into each section of the reef and its inhabitants will leave you speechless at times, wondering how the developers managed to get the appearance and behaviors of the fish so life-like.

Overall we really like the direction where Endless Ocean Blue World takes us; it adds an entertaining story adventure to the game while retaining the elements that made the original game so unique. The improvements in the visuals and game play  adding more realism to the Scuba Diving experience makes this game a must have for any Diver with a Nintendo Wii console.

Endless Ocean Blue World for the Nintendo Wii was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World

Know-It-All Divers who think they’re better than the Dive Master
Isn’t it annoying when you have that one know-it-all diver in your group that’s probably only got 50 dives under his belt, and acts like he’s the one leading the dive? The diver that constantly interrupts the dive master’s briefings, tries to take over the dive underwater, brags about how deep he’s dived and the swashbuckling tales of how he spent a month on a liveaboard exploring the waters of Komodo Island to discover new species of fish! There’s almost one of these annoying divers on every trip, and the urge to sock him in the face is sometimes overwhelming.

Aquaviews Recommendation:

Don’t let these guys get to you! Ignore the Know-it-all or listen to his stories as a source of inspiration for your post dive happy-hours, as an interesting tale to make fun about with your friends. Follow your DM’s lead on the dive, and just remind yourself that the best divers are the ones that are humble enough to know that you never stop learning.

People who flail about underwater
A common pet peeve for most divers is often the one individual in your group that is as graceful as a Llama underwater. This is the diver that despite getting his/her AOW certification, never bothered to practice perfecting buoyancy and thrashes around like an octopus with epilepsy often bumping into everyone, scaring away the fish and disturbing the sea bed causing hurricane like destruction and clouds of silt everywhere he/she moves.  As a diver you can just about resist the urge to duct tape his hands and feet or slit his wrists and let the sharks get to him.

Aquaviews Recommendation   :

As an experienced diver, try offering the defaulting diver some practical advice or tips to improve his diving, he’s probably not even aware of his actions. If the fellow diver is unwilling to take up the advice then, try and take up position in front of the llama for your next dive, so at least you get better visibility and the non terrified fish!

Gear heads/ Dive Gear Salesmen
Some divers just never shut up about their latest scuba gear acquisition, and seem to spout nonstop about how one brand of gear is better than the other, and how the make you purchased just doesn’t compare. Often the gear head will try and recommend you the dive shop or website he purchased his stuff from, almost as if he worked there! The Gear Head is also the only diver around carrying so much stuff with him that there isn’t a single clip on his BCD free, from shark rattles to spit in a spray bottle, the gear head is the Swiss army knife of the seas.

Aquaviews Recommendation   :

Ignore the gear heads rants, we all know LeisurePro.com is the only place to buy your dive gear from! Listening to the gear head sure beats spending hours researching the internet for guides. I’d stay close to this guy underwater, who knows when you’d need that high tech boat finding gizmo he’s got stowed away in his BCD pocket.

Photographers who tread on coral to get their shot
Our biggest Scuba Peeve goes to scuba photographers that have no regard for their surrounding or the marine ecosystem. In order to get their shot, they end up treading on or grabbing chunks of fragile coral, causing irreparable damage to the reef. It never fails to amaze how a diver taking up photography refuses to perfect his/her buoyancy first.

Aquaviews Recommendation:

Refrain from bonking the photographers head with his camera. If you have a camera yourself, take a picture of the diver destroying the reef and let the diver know that you were ashamed of the destruction he caused to the reef. Most probably he/she would get defensive but in most cases would be a little more careful next time. If he/she doesn’t seem repentant or repeats the offence despite the advice, report him to the resort manager, dive shop or if the reef is protected then the necessary officials can have the diver banned from diving the reef again.

photos from flickr by Saspotato, nao-cha, torbenator, Travis S.

Scuba Diving Pet Peeves- Part 2 was written by Nevin for Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog - Bringing You The Other 70% Of Our World