Posts Tagged ‘Scuba Diving’

Living not far from the south coast of France we regularly stare out across the azur Mediterranean and wonder where, in this idyllic looking environment, is the best place to scuba dive. There is scuba diving where we live, offshore of the Bay of St.Tropez, but the island, Porquerolles and Port Cros, are much more interesting.

Port-Cros has been a National Park since 1963 and the entire island is strictly protected (no cars or bikes) including the sea where there is a magnificent variety of marine life including seaweeds, sea urchins, sponges and grasses, and fish including damsel fish, octopus,moray eels, cardinal fish and rascasse. Swimmers and divers can follow a planned route to see the underwater spectacle.

However, when the east wind blows (which is not often) the sea is dirty and not an inviting environment to don your fins, mask, regulator and bottle. So where else can you go?

Now the Med is quite a big sea -

With no fewer than 21 countries sharing the Med as part of their coastline and many thousands of islands there must be some good places but don’t forget those 21 countries empty into the Med and there is only the 9 mile gap between Morocco and Spain where the sea can drain in and out of the Atlantic. The Med is in effect landlocked and therefore a good flush of clean water is not going to happen. It has an average depth of 1,500 metres and at its deepest point in the Ionian sea (which is between southern Italy and Greece)  it is 5,267 metres.

Where to go – we are researching the subject because our daughter is returning from Boracay where she has been learning to dive and wants to continue her diving education in the Mediterranean this summer. Now Boracay is in the Philippines – warm waters, coral and plentiful marine life. We think the Mediterranean may prove somewhat disappointing after Boracay…….time will tell. Due to the salinity and water temperatures the Med cannot support coral and therefore the marine life is limited.

Our research has come up with some of the better dive sites to visit in the Med – over the next few days we shall try to give you the best – often rated number 1 is the Zenobia , a huge wreck just off the coast of Cyprus at Larnaca.

The Zenobia

The pristine wreck of a huge roll on, roll off ferry which lies in 40 m of water just outside Larnaca harbour in Cyprus.  You reach the wreck at about 15 m which then goes all the way down to 42 m. Fabulous, fabulous dive. Probably the best shipwreck dive in the world at recreational depths. There are some great swim-throughs and you need many dives to see anything like all of it.

The Zenobia is a 178 metre long ferry that went down in 1980 with over 100 large vehicles onboard, giving this dive plenty of exploration.  The ship lies on its port side.  Visibility is usually quite good; some days it stretches to 35m.  Experienced divers can penetrate the wreck to see the interior, including two trucks still hanging upside down from their chains, but visibility can drop drastically in the confined spaces.

The ships engine room is also spectacular but it is difficult to find and you need to be a competent diver to reach this destination

Though the wreck is the main attraction, triggerfish, barracuda and enormous grouper can also be spotted here.

The video from sirelak gives a good representation of what the dive is about.

We shall continue with this series over the next few days.

This is Cut Across Shorty a VS 4c climb, courtesy of The Jersey Rock Climbing Club:

I was going to tackle the British Isles as a group, but Jersey has so much to offer – great climbing, surfing and scuba diving to name just a few of the recommended activities, that I am going to go no further than this jewel of an island where a weekend full of action is waiting for anyone looking for a variety of extreme sports in one small area.

Climbing is a great way to get a body workout, while at the same time challenging your mind, and Jersey has a wide selection for you. The island has some of the best climbing areas in Europe and the variety of rock and unspoilt scenery make it a spectacular experience for beginners and experienced climbers alike.

It’s an ideal place to visit: perfect days, un-crowded cliffs and great climbing, regular dips in the sea to cool off and great pubs to retire to at the end of the day.

From the impressive 50m tower of The Pinnacle to the extensive and confusing buttresses of Grosnes, through the delightful ‘mini-cliffs’ at Corbiere and out to the north coast, there really is plenty here to keep you busy.  Homesick Angle on The Pinnacle is one the the best HVS (hard very severe) routes you could possibly hope for.

All the routes on the island (there are 1100 listed in the book) are trad and most of them are on high quality granite. The island has long been a bolt-free zone – the local climbing club originally had just two rules for the members – abide by the Country Code, and no fixed protection!

If you want to arm yourself in advance with some useful information, ‘Jersey Climbs’ is the first guidebook to be produced for Jersey in twelve years. It has 188 pages with lists, grades, advice and details of the 1100 routes  to be found there.

And then there’s the surfing…

Jersey’s shores are bombarded by waves and not only are they some of the best waves in the British Isles but they are also some of the warmest… always worth bearing in mind.

And there are great scuba diving opportunities here too, whether you want to investigate an old wreck or float amongst black faced pennies, corals and luminous jewel anemones in pinks, blues, greens and oranges. The summer months are even more interesting when the warm waters bring in  exotic marine wildlife  such as sea horses, dolphins and basking sharks. Jersey’s coastal seawater is of award-winning cleanliness and this is reflected in the abundance of sea life to be found there.

Other things you can do in Jersey besides rock climbing, abseiling and surfing are BloKarting on the beach, Sea Kayaking, Caving, Coasteering, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Cycling, Golf, Powerboat Trips, Fishing Excursions, Horse Riding and Zorbing. I’ve probably missed some out.

Not just a banking paradise then…

Readers of our site will also be happy to know that you can skydive, whitewater raft and scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef  from this town…

It is one of only two areas in Australia where the Wet Tropics rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef meet and is a culmination of the best that Far North Queensland has to offer. Not only does the golden beach stretch for over 14 kilometres with tropical islands scattered close by, but the water is calm, crystal clear, and brimming with fish.

What’re you waiting for?!

That title is a bit misleading… of course you will always be able to scuba dive – but what you’ve gone into the ocean to look at might not have such a bright future.

So concerned are they by the threat of global warming that Maldive government officials donned scuba gear on 17th October to draw the world’s attention to it one more time.

As a publicity stunt they held an underwater meeting amidst pristine coral, to highlight the threat global warming poses to the world’s lowest-lying nation – it will disappear if global warming continues at the rate it is at the moment.

The Maldivian cabinet held a meeting underwater to highlight the need for action on climate change

During the meeting, conducted mainly by writing on white boards and using hand signals, Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signed a document asking all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions, prior to the U.N. climate change conference scheduled for December in Copenhagen.

Now, you might think this all a little dramatic and possibly even far-fetched, but it is the bleak future we are leaving to our children if we don’t wake up to this fact now…

Coral is an excellent indicator of climate change, and they are on the brink of collapse.

Are you a keen scuba-diver? and is this pretty much what you hope to see when you slip into the ocean and fin towards a coral reef…

If we’re not careful, our favourite hobby will feature scenes more like this one… some of you might already have seen reefs like this…

Coral reefs are the most diverse and beautiful of all marine habitats.

It is not unusual for a reef to have several hundred species of snails, sixty species of corals, and several hundred species of fish. Of all ocean habitats, reefs seem to have the greatest development of complex symbiotic associations.

Coral reefs are valuable eco-systems that we will not be able to rebuild. They save the world billions of dollars annually by acting as natural sea defenses. Reefs also earn in the region of $30 billion a year for local economies from tourism. Quite apart from this about 500 million people worldwide depend on the reefs for their food. That’s a lot of people who will need aid if reefs collapse.

Globally, coral reefs are under threat from climate change, ocean acidification, overuse of reef resources, and harmful land-use practices. High nutrient levels such as those found in runoff from agricultural areas and industry can harm reefs by encouraging excess algae growth.

Ascidian Overgrowing Coral

Even touching coral can harm them.

Any rise in the sea level due to climate change would effectively ask coral to grow faster to keep up. That’s problem number one.

Secondly, water temperature changes can be very disturbing to the coral. This was seen during the 1998 and 2004 El Niño weather phenomena, in which sea surface temperatures rose well above normal, bleaching or killing many coral reefs. In the event of a 2°C temperature increase, it is thought that coral would not be able to adapt quickly enough either physiologically or genetically.

Perhaps my title isn’t that misleading after all. If either of the two above phenomenon occur there will be very little “wow” factor for us scuba divers to admire. Look at that second photograph – how could we possibly allow that to disappear?

If you feel strongly enough about this topic you should contact an organisation called Avaaz (the word means ‘voice’ in many languages). They are a not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. They are campaigning fiercely for the world to wake-up to the reality of global warming and to finally do something constructive at the Copenhagen talks in December – before it’s too late:

Now before you all start yelling understand that we are talking about fish – therefore the blue whale, a mammal, which is the largest animal on the planet, cannot, in this instance be considered a fish. We are of course talking about the whale shark – Rhincodon typus – which can grow up to 40 feet long and weigh over 20 tons and because it is a filter feeder, presenting no threat to divers, and an inefficient swimmer, being capable of an average speed of about 3mph, divers can get very close to the whale shark.

As can be seen in the photo above, in comparison with the diver they are very large and inspiring.

But first some stats – as a filter feeder it has a large mouth which can be up to 1.5 meters wide. It has five pairs of large gills and 2 small eyes at the front of its flat head. It has a pair of pectoral fins and two dorsal fins. It is mainly grey in colour with a white under belly and on its back and sides has whitish/yellowish spots which are individual to each whale shark.

They feed on algae, plankton and krill and other small creatures such as squid by sucking in water and then expelling it through the gills during which time the food substances are trapped on a sieve which is called the dermal denticles before being swallowed.

They can be found around the globe in the world’s tropical and temperate seas. It is believed that they are migratory which could be for reasons of food and/or breeding. So do your research but the main places to go to dive with these graceful creature are:

• Belize – Gladden Spit
• Western Australia – Ningaloo Reef
• Honduras – Utila
• Philippines –  Batangas, Donsol and Pasacao
• Mexico, Yucatan – Islas Holbox and Mujeres
• Indonesia – Ujong Kulon national park
• Madagascar – Nosy Be
• Mozambique – Tofo Reef
• Tanzania – off the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia
• Thailand – Koh Tao

This is by no means an exhaustive list but it should get you going. It should be noted that the whale shark is fished for commercial reasons but the Philippines, India and Taiwan have banned any commercial exploitation of the fish – well done them. The species is considered vulnerable by the IUCN(International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources).

Their behaviour towards humans who are diving or snorkelling with them can be almost playful but generally they just continue with the business of survival. To behold these giants in their natural environment is an experience that you could not forget – see in the video below from LiquidVDO what these divers experienced off  Koh Tao, Thailand and then start planning your next dive adventure – extreme or what?

You may have heard of the pirates who have been operating in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean. Up until now they have been hijacking oil tankers and the like in the hopes of extracting a large ransom for return of the vessel and its cargo. It now seems as though these real life Jack Sparrows are spreading their wings and not only going further afield but also attacking vessels of a different nature.

News that a scuba diving ship operating from one of the world’s greatest diving locations in the Seychelles Islands has been seized is sending shock waves through the Seychelles tourist industry. The ‘Indian Ocean Explorer’ had just dropped her divers on Assumption Island when she was hijacked by the pirates and taken to Harardhare, a pirate stronghold north of Mogadishu.

The Seychelles coral archipelago offers some of the best diving in the world and its pristine white sand beaches attract thousands of tourists to the islands every year. The pirate attack which occurred last weekend and is the second such attack to happen in a month has forced the Seychelles government to deploy security vessels to the outer islands in the archipelago.

According to the International Maritime Bureau 130 vessels were attacked by Somali pirates last year. On Tuesday the Japanese navy joined US, Chinese and EU navies who are patrolling the shipping lanes which lead to the Suez Canal. They face a daunting task in trying to patrol over 400,000 square miles of ocean.

You can see from these videos below, the first from rutgergeeling, the second from KesandSarah, what the attraction is of scuba diving in the Seychelles – be it whale sharks, green turtles or incomparable visibilty – you will understand why this very serious problem has to be resolved.