Undercurrent Online Update
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For Subscriber David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi' exp: 2024-08-20', at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
April 18, 2012

The Siren Fleet has just four spaces left on its Dive and Yoga Liveaboard Safari to the Philippines' southern Visayan Islands. The seven-night trip aboard the Philippine Siren is August 11-18, departing from Cebu and visiting the islands of Cabilao, Balicasag, Pescador and Sumilon before docking at Dauin on Negros Island. The region is known for its macro critters, while Balicasag is a standout for its steep walls and overhangs, and whale sharks are seen frequently at Sumilon. Besides four dives a day, you'll also get yoga lessons and classes from instructor Teresa Herera. The $2,500 price also includes equipment rental, Nitrox fills, all meals, soft drinks and beer, and local transfers in Cebu to the Philippine Siren. For more information or to book your spot, e-mail info@worldwidediveandsail.com or visit http://worldwidediveandsail.com

Check out the Ultimate Freediving Preparation Guide by Bahamas-based yoga instructor and freediver Brittany Trubridge. You'll get step-by-step yoga moves that will help you stretch your lungs and improve your flexibility. Trubridge says these exercises are beneficial for scuba diving too, because they improve circulation, help the body acclimate to climatic extremes, and develop spine strength to enable easy lifting and carrying of heavy gear. Plus, the exercises are free of charge and can be done while home alone.

DiveNav just released the iDive computer, a free app that transforms your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad into a dive computer. Its virtual depth sensor lets you interact with your i-gadget by using simple hand movements to make it descend or ascend in the water column, so you can create your own custom dive profiles based on your model-specific dive computers. Turn your iPhone into an underwater camera with TAT7's iPhone Scuba Case. It's waterproof to 100 feet and includes a wrist lanyard for safekeeping, but it only includes three strategically-placed buttons for launching and operating the camera app's shutter button and photo/video switch, so you can't tweet underwater about the cool grouper that swam by. The case is $85 but currently out of stock, and TAT7 isn't taking new orders until April 16.

Who needs a diver's watch? . . . what goes into your wetsuit, and why it costs what it does . . . a diver's death shows why carbon monoxide poisoning is more widespread than you think . . . the latest marine species to be hunted to near extinction . . . why you may remove your regulator when you shouldn't . . . and much more. . .

Divers opposed to cage-free diving with sharks have an argument with this video, posted on Pete Thomas Outdoors, especially at the 40-second mark. A diver on a Bahamas expedition (trip operator and dive site not disclosed) jerked his foot from the mouth of the tiger shark that swam between his legs, was attracted by his fin and and then turned to take a bite. You can hear the lucky diver's exclamation through his mouthpiece. Patric Douglas, who runs the cage diving operation Shark Diver, believes the location was Tiger Beach. Read Douglas's comments on his blog post : "Yes, that is a Tiger on predation, and yes those divers do not have a clue, and yes that was as close as it looked.... At 0.40, that diver was one second away from sending years of conservation work down the tubes."

The TED nonprofit has had top-shelf ocean explorers and marine biology experts speak at its famous conferences over the years, but this is the first TED talk ever given by a fish. Actually, it's a video put together by the Plankton Chronicles Project, a group of French and Canadian scientists, who use state-of-the-art optics and videography to show the beauty and diversity of planktonic organisms, both large and microscopic. Even if you know plankton's role in the universe, this amazing video will give you a new appreciation for it.

Ambient Pressure Diving, the British firm that makes the Inspiration rebreather, also made the life support system used by film director James Cameron during his solo dive seven miles down to the depths of the Mariana Trench, near Guam, last month. Owner Martin Parker told DIVE it was the biggest commission his company had ever undertaken, "but it all worked perfectly." What didn't work: the descent, which was plagued by mechanical issues, and hydraulic failure, preventing Cameron from collecting samples from the sea floor. Still, Cameron spent three hours underwater without major glitches, and released this footage of his ascent, descent and time at 35,765 feet deep.

Project AWARE is focusing on shark conservation all month with the Big Shark Shout Out. You can sign this petition that the nonprofit will present to environmental leaders worldwide before they meet next year at a conference for protection of endangered species. You can also submit your photos of sharks in Project Aware's photo contest before April 30, with the grand prize being a plane ticket to dive Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

If you were trained in placid waters and never dealt with waves and surge, you have special dangers to equip yourself for. Bill Savage from Okotoks, Alberta was on a Hawaii dive trip near Honokohau with the Hawaiian Scuba Shack, along with his wife and son, when a surge pushed him into an underwater tunnel. Savage, 49, managed to get out and onto some rocks when a second wave struck and sent him under again. When he didn't surface, another diver pulled him from the water but CPR efforts didn't help, and Savage died. While we don't know all the details, we do know it's nearly impossible to swim against surge. To avoid overexertion, it's best to rest as the surge pulls you back, then swim forward as the surge shifts to the direction you want to go toward.

While earthquakes, like the recent 8.2 tremor, can do a lot of damage to Indonesia reefs, it's nowhere as bad as the dynamite fishing being done in East Kalimantan, a province on the island of Borneo. Authorities in Bontang report that 4,200 of the 6,000 hectares of coral reefs in the area were badly damaged from dynamite fishing but there is little they can do to stop it. A government spokesman told DIVE magazine, there was little enforcement done because nearly all the fishermen in the area do it, and chemicals needed to make the explosives are widely available there. "Two fishermen were recently arrested for dynamite fishing, but that won't discourage them from continuing to do it," the spokesperson said. "'Their awareness of the damage that they're doing to the environment remains very low."

Ben Davison, editor/publisher

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