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The Latest Dive News   What's this?

Double Fatality in the Maldives
Electronics Aid Divers' Rescue
Medical Matters
Seven Bodies Have Been Recovered in the Southern Philippines
No Entrance, No Exit
This Month's Red Sea Liveaboard Fire
What Divers Never See
Virgin Islands Shark Attack
The Dive Photo Guide Masters Competition
A Florida Dive With No Bang?
Tourist Sub Collides with Cayman Diving Businesses
Your Fellow Divers Need a Report on Your Last Dive Trip

Double Fatality in the Maldives.   January 26, 2026

Malcolm and Elaine Richmond, a retired British couple, had made 60 trips to the Ellaidhoo resort, but on December 19, their visit was tragic. Both were experienced divers, so they didn't take the advice to dive with a guide. While it's not yet publicly known what happened, Elaine died on the unescorted shore dive. Three days later, while her husband was at the Male airport preparing to head home, he was taken ill and died shortly after in the hospital. Maldivian authorities have yet to make an official statement as to the cause of their deaths. An inquest will be held in the UK at the end of the month.

Electronics Aid Divers' Rescue.   January 26, 2026

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people who lost sight of their boat while scuba diving off Palm Beach, FL, on Sunday, January 4. A Lake Worth Inlet boat crew launched after receiving an alert from the divers' electronic Satellite Emergency Notification device, which sends a distress signal to authorities. Undercurrent tells more in the February issue.

Medical Matters:   January 26, 2026

Dive operators worldwide have tightened their medical conditions when accepting divers, many asking divers to fill out complex forms describing their medical history before or upon arrival. Have you been asked to complete such forms? Faced with filling out the forms, do you intentionally leave out health information? Have dive operators raised any concerns about your answers and limited you or refused you as a customer? Let us know your experience. Email us at BenDDavison@undercurrent.org and include your name and hometown if you don't mind being quoted (or let us know if you wish to remain anonymous).

Seven Bodies Have Been Recovered in the Southern Philippines.   January 26, 2026

One person has been rescued by the Philippine Coast Guard teams as 7 bodies have been recovered and 7 others remain missing after a boat carrying 15 people, including 11 divers and crew, capsized off Davao Occidental. The bangka Amejara left Davao City around 8 p.m. Saturday, January 17, en route to the town of Governor Generosa on Davao Oriental, where it was expected to arrive on Monday 19. The alarm was raised when one passenger managed to make a call on their mobile phone, saying all passengers were clinging to the upturned hull. The search continues.

No Entrance, No Exit.   January 26, 2026

Flights to and from many southern Caribbean islands were either grounded or turned back on Saturday, January 3, and the following days, thanks to American military action in Venezuela. Saturday-to-Saturday dive trips are common, so many divers at Bonaire, Aruba, and Curaçao were stranded. And those trying to reach the ABC islands couldn't get there. As one person states in the Bonaire Reporter, "On January 3, I went to the Albany, New York, airport before 3 a.m. My flight to Miami was delayed twice and arrived late. My flight to Bonaire was delayed four times before being canceled. I rebooked for later that day. That flight was delayed three times before being canceled. I finally had to fly home -- first to Chicago, then back to Albany, 24 hours after I left. All this because the U.S. president bombed and invaded Venezuela. I would love to try again, but there is no telling what that loose cannon might do next or when, and once again shut down all flights to the Caribbean, and particularly Bonaire." Luckily, no dive boat has yet been blown out of the water after being mistaken for a drug-running boat.

This Month's Red Sea Liveaboard Fire.  January 26, 2026

We seem to report these more regularly than we'd like. In the early hours of January 21, the Golden Dolphin III caught fire off Hurghada in the Red Sea. Larger and more luxurious than its predecessors, Golden Dolphin I and II, the 130-foot wooden-hulled vessel was totally destroyed. There were no passengers aboard. No official statement has been issued by local authorities.

What Divers Never See.   January 26, 2026

Arctic animals are amazing creatures, defending their territories with imagination and vigor. Some animals from Down Under even come to help. Here's a video well worth your time.

Virgin Islands Shark Attack.   January 26, 2026

On the afternoon of January 8, a 56-year-old woman, snorkeling off Dorsch Beach on St. Croix's west coast, died following a shark attack that severed her arm. After being attended to by a nurse and former lifeguard, Christopher Carroll, who had swum out and brought her back to the beach, she was rushed to Juan F. Luis Hospital, but later died of her injuries. In 1972, two oceanic whitetip sharks were deemed responsible for the loss of a diver in Cane Bay, witnessed by former Undercurrent correspondent Bret Gilliam.

© Yuka Takahashi UnderwaterCompetition.com

The Dive Photo Guide Masters Competition.   January 26, 2026

Winners in nine categories of the 2025 international competition, announced in January, share $85,000-worth of prizes. This year's overall winner is Yuka Takahashi, who topped the Wide-Angle category with her image of two humpback whales swimming side by side in synchronicity. Captured while snorkeling off the island of Mo'orea in French Polynesia, the winning image earns the Japanese photographer the prestigious title "DPG Grand Master 2025."

A Florida Dive With No Bang?   January 26, 2026

Diving from the beach at Port Saint Lucie, FL, over the New Year's weekend, Tom Gramlich came across a metal object that looked like a mortar round. He notified the authorities, and bomb squad personnel arrived to detonate it safely. The WWII explosive had lain undisturbed in the sand since 1943 near Pepper Park, Port Pierce, when the military used the beach to train for the Normandy invasion.

Tourist Sub Collides with Cayman Diving Businesses.   January 26, 2026

Fifteen minutes into the dive at the Doc Poulson shipwreck, the 64-foot-long, 65-ton submarine, carrying five passengers, made an uncontrolled ascent, colliding with the liveaboard Cayman Aggressor IV, tied to the dive site's mooring ball. A few days earlier, a criminal complaint was filed by the manager of the Down Under Submarines Company, relating to an incident that occurred while its submarine was diving in the same place. Dive company owner James (Shaggy) Thomson admitted cutting its VHF communications cable, trailing behind the submarine, and which is connected to the surface by a float, after it entangled with his dive boat, forcing the submarine to abort the dive with customers on board. (Cayman Compass)

Your Fellow Divers Need a Report on Your Last Dive Trip.   January 26, 2026

The unedited reports of your and other members' dive trips form an ever-growing resource, with more than 11,000 entries in the Undercurrent database, for other divers who may follow in your fin strokes. By November 30, please share with your fellow divers where you have been diving, conveying both the good and the bad, as well as everything in between. Your reports will brief other subscribers about the dive resorts you've visited and the liveaboards you've taken. Don't hold back. You can post photos too. File your report at www.undercurrent.org/SubRR, and we will include it in the year's Chapbook, which will be sent to you and all readers in December each year. We appreciate your support.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

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Note: Undercurrent is a registered 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization donating funds to help preserve coral reefs. Our travel writers never announce their purpose, are unknown to the destination, and receive no complimentary services or compensation from the dive operators or resort.

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