Not your average 6th grader, Mee Rae Firkins recently became the youngest Scuba diver ever to earn her ‘Master Diver’ level certification from National Aquatic Service.

As 11 year old Burton Street Elementary student, Mee Rae started Scuba diving as part of a family activity picked out by her mother Sue Firkins. The Firkins took Scuba lessons in the fall and went to Little Cayman in the Caribbean for their certification when the weather got better. This was little Mee Rae’s first encounter with eagle rays, stingrays, barracuda and turtles. The girl has since accomplished 80 dives and completed the necessary trainings in stress and rescue, night diving, low visibility diving, underwater navigation, boat diving and dry suit diving to reach the ‘master diver’ level, all in a span of 6 months or so.

In a sport like diving, acquiring the necessary skill sets from assembling her scuba equipment on her own, controlling her buoyancy underwater, calculating and monitoring depth and time while being careful not to surface to quickly, Mee Rae Firkins was always a quick learner and her mother credits this to her love for water and a natural talent when it comes to this sport.

While the rest of the Firkin family too dives, Mee Rae and Sue are crazy about the sport. Sue Firkin is comfortable with daughter Mee Rae as her dive buddy, saying she stays close by and is a vigilant buddy making eye contact assuring her mom she’s okay. She’s also confident that even though there are risks involved in the sport, her children are careful and responsible divers, who know to dive safely. The Firkin family have dived in the Caribbean, Skaneateles Lake, Alexandria Bay, Dutch Springs and Cazenovia Lake.

Mee Rae was last said to be taking part in an underwater pumpkin carving contest, this Halloween, not an easy task considering the 50 pounds of diving equipment a diver wears while doing this.

Many divers are opting to ‘take the plunge’ quite literally with a SCUBA Wedding. Underwater weddings are becoming increasingly popular in a lot of dive destinations,  South Florida, Thailand and Australia in particular.

While not an entirely new concept, underwater nuptials have become a lot more do-able and interactive due to advanced technology. An underwater wedding usually starts of with a boat ride to an off shore dive site, not too deep but with clear waters. Sail boats are often used and many packages offer a pre dive as well as post dive champagne and snack on board. Although the couple can choose to wear traditional wedding attire, simplicity in choosing the clothing is called for or just black and white wetsuits are recommended.

Earlier and in some locations even today, vows were taken by holding up signs like “I Do’”. But today, with the latest in underwater communication technology divers and the attending guests are fitted and shown how to use underwater communications gear, allowing them to answer each other verbally. Some operators like Pro Dive have glass bottom boats for guests who prefer not getting their attire wet, to view the ceremony which includes the vows, exchange of rings and the 1st kiss. Many a times the signing of the certificate takes place on the boat and pictures with the license taken back underwater.

With the possibility of underwater photography, videography and even music Scuba weddings are a perfect setting for Scuba lovers, with the deep blue ocean backdrop or even a wreck or reef, colorful tropical fish in attending it’s a natural themed option. Think about how much you can save on flowers and decorations, chairs and a gazebo.  The post ceremony celebration is easily arranged either on a boat or back on the beach, what could be a more memorable day? A destination wedding and honeymoon in one!

So if you are one to show how deep your love is, consider an underwater ceremony you and your significant other won’t ever forget. With the endless options and possibilities of a Scuba wedding, love won’t just be in the air but in the oceans as well!

In recent news an Australian publication ‘The Age’ reported an amazing survival story of 4 Russian divers who went missing for over 24 hrs in shark infested waters near Marsa Alam, Egypt.

Vitaly Ivanov,Anna Filippenko, Dmitry Smerdov and Sergei Larionov were swept away by a strong current while diving at one of Egypt’s top dive locations in the Red Sea. The group were said to be among 23 tourists on board a Bohemia luxury wooden motor yacht, which runs dive tours in the area. The group was noted as missing when only 19 resurfaced. Authorities were notified and a search was sent out with no avail. As the search was called of at nightfall the 4 divers said they tried swimming back to shore.

Separated in the dark of the night and over 20kms away, Ivanov made it to shore at a near by village the next morning. Rescuers found the other 3 of his group later in that day.

The Red Sea is a very popular dive destination with it’s unique reefs as well as sharks. Spotting hammerheads, oceanic whitetips, bull sharks and tiger sharks among 44 shark species recorded here is what draws divers Red Sea diving despite difficult diving conditions like strong currents. No strangers to large dive tours, operators in Egypt don’t have a very clean track record and this sort of incident is not unheard of. Egyptian authorities have reported the deaths of 30 foreign divers last year alone.

Irresponsible operators? Or just bad luck? Here’s hoping both divers and dive operators take this incident as a lesson to tighten safety measure when diving in larger groups.

*Photos by star5112 and fearlessRich on flickr

In recent news, a Phoenix resident was reported to have escaped a death as he quickly donned Scuba Gear to escaped from his multi-million dollar home when it went up in flames.

A local news channel reported on the 6th of July, that Michael Marin an adventurous Phoenix man last reported in the news for his Mt. Everest hike, faced an adventure of different sorts when his home caught fire. The local fire department that responded to a neighbors 911 call and found Marin had escaped the fire in a peculiar way…by using his Scuba gear.

An avid Scuba diver, Michael remembered that he had some air left in his Scuba tank and quickly donned his BCD  with the tank attached. Using his regulator he avoided the horrific smoke from filling his lungs and made it to the safety ladder which he used to climb down from the 2nd floor bedroom. He spoke to reporters later the next day as he was being treated for inhalation.

The following is an interview with Michael Marin narrating his near death experience.

* photo- azfamily.com