I did an article for Undercurrent called "Anatomy of A Diving Lawsuit" in 2009 that dealt with the analysis of a specific single case and trial that I worked on as the defense maritime and diving expert. This involved the disappearance of two divers at Cocos Island, nearly 500 miles... More »

In June 2011, Oregon passed legislation that prohibits the distribution and possession of shark fins within its state. Oregon House Representative Brad Witt, House District 31, sponsored House Bill 2838, which declares that an individual may not "possess, sell or offer for sale, trade or distribute a shark fin" within... More »

Cocos divers are a committed bunch. (Some might opine that they should actually be committed... to a room with padded walls wearing jackets with sleeves that tie behind you.) First of all, it's not a cheap investment and there's the little matter of a two-day sea crossing of nearly 400... More »

Well - maybe it shouldn't have taken me by surprise.  But it did.  A communicating New England area dive shop told me, "It's OK to sell integrated weights BCs because divers don't drop their weight-belts anyway."  An honest peddler - at least honest in describing his outlook.  Almost as bad... More »

I was in the Bahama Islands in the late 1960’s. I had just awakened my mania for Scuba and decided that Going Diving was I wanted to do with my life. I was glowing with the excitement of self-discovery when I was ... More »

I am glad to see that I am in the good company of Bret Gilliam in wishing to respond to the anonymous JD (are you scared to say who you are, JD?) with a few home truths about divemasters, gleaned from my nearly 50 years of scuba diving. I have experienced... More »

A reader of Britain’s Diver Magazine recently wrote to me complaining that I had admitted in print to using independent twin tanks, one tank with air (MOD 182 feet at 1.4 bar ppO2) and one tank with nitrox 32 (MOD 108 feet) for a dive to 165 feet. He congratulates... More »

(Q) 06.09.11 “Is it possible to suffer any problems from diving 6 months AFTER the dive? I had what I would consider a fairly normal dive experience. We were in Fiji and we dove to a max of 100ft. We flew home to New Zealand 2 days later. I ... More »

[caption id="attachment_1056" align="alignleft" width="303" caption="Layne Salvador appreciates the view from main window port"][/caption] Nearly forty years ago I had the chance to spend some time in an ambitious underwater habitat project known as La Chalupa placed on the sea bottom  off Puerto Rico. My host was Mike Kilbride (son of the... More »

Sharing my strength, experience, and hope with you.  Margo Peyton 1. Kids have very short attention spans, they learn better visually and by doing repetitively. Its one thing to tell a child his max depth is 40 feet for example, but go beyond that with kids.  Tell them why; and don't make... More »

The weather has been in the news lately.  Between earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, fires, tornadoes and so forth, everyone has been affected by the unpredictable nature of the planet's weather. I can't remember whether it is supposed to be a La Niña or El Niño year, but out here in Indonesia... More »

A few years ago I surveyed several fisher persons with the question "Do fish feel pain?". The response was a unanimous "NO WAY"! I then decided to pose the same question to my ichthyologist friends and the responses varied from "probably not" to "maybe" and "just a little" and even... More »