Flotsam & Jetsam

Digital Imaging for the Underwater Photographer: Whether you're converting your underwater shots to digital or shooting digital underwater or on land, this book is what you need to master digital enhancement and presentation. Jack and Sue Drafahl, who have published more than 500 articles, have produced this excellent book to help you master the digital technique you need to solve common problems, repair images, and create dazzling images. They cover basic and advanced techniques in contrasting and saturating images, reducing grain, eliminating backscatter, correcting exposure errors, modifying colors, and enhancing those fish and people shots for truly professional quality work. This 224- page paperback is chock full of photos explaining the computer techniques for top quality images. Save 20% off the $39.95 list price by going to Undercurrent, and our profit from this sale or any other book you purchase will go to the Coral Reef Alliance.

Why not a Napoleon Wrasse? If you come across an advertisement for Bermuda, you might see a model lounging on a beautiful beach or a diver swimming in a school of barracuda. Trouble is, ain't no schools of barracuda in Bermuda. And that beach is in Hawaii. Bermuda's Department of Tourism is defending its use of photographs from Hawaii and elsewhere in a promotional campaign, saying it's "standard practice."

PADI Founder Dies: John Cronin, who with Ralph Erickson started PADI in 1966, and was still the CEO, died July 16 at his home in Temecula, CA, at the age of 74. In 1959, John accepted a position with U.S. Divers and later became CEO and President, a position he held until 1985. Cronin served on the board of the DEMA and was last president in 2002.

Caribbean Coral Disappearing: A new study paints a grim picture of the health of Caribbean coral reefs. In the past three decades, the coral cover has dropped about 80 percent, according to research published in the journal Science. Some causes are natural, such as weather damage, but, says Isabelle Cote, University of East Anglia biologist, "a lot of the important causes come from things people are doing on land, like pollution, sedimentation resulting from development, and deforestation." The report said there is no convincing evidence yet that global warming is responsible for the reef declines during the years studied, 1975-2000. Which means that if you support groups like the Coral Reef Alliance and others, you can help reverse the problems.

Two Bahamas Shark Attacks: When the 7-foot bull shark chomped on his calf, Benjamin Brown thought he heard a truck slamming into him. Brown said: "It came from out of the blue. I was so shocked I didn't really notice the pain." Brown, 39, was diving during a family outing off Walker's Cay when he was attacked 20 feet beneath the surface. He and his brother had speared a grouper. The shark grabbed Brown as they went down to retrieve their catch. Brown reached the surface, where he screamed to his wife, who was at the wheel of their 31- foot boat with Brown's two children, ages 7 and 11, as well as Bob Brown's wife and kids. Luckily, a good Samaritan with a private plane volunteered to take Ben Brown to Florida ... Brown was hit July 6; on July 11, Richard Horton, 58, was spearfishing in Abaco Island's Bakers Bay when a shark bit his right leg. He was airlifted to Nassau for surgery.