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Tag: Education

Spot something odd? Share it!

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 1st May 2020

By Heather Creech Dan is a South Australian freediver who loves to snorkel the Port River estuary – a site near Adelaide’s marine shipping terminals not often visited by divers. One day last year, Dan spotted something in the shallows he didn’t recognize: an unusual bivalve. So he took …

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Oxygen Toxicity

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 23rd October 2019

By Divers Alert Network Oxygen toxicity is a serious condition, and many divers struggle to understand it. We know that monitoring oxygen exposure is important to our safety, but we may not know what happens if we exceed safe exposure limits or why those limits even exist. Following training …

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Freedom at Depth – Reaching beyond a disability

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 21st October 2019

Words by Jill Heinerth There is a stone embedded in the pavement of my old Florida home, the embossed message reads “Gravity Sucks.” It is a humble reminder that I find my grace underwater. Frankly, I am a bit awkward on land, having flipped my van, crashed my motorcycle, …

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10 reasons to take kids on a dive vacation

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 17th October 2019

By Margo Peyton Family bonding: It is the perfect way to get them to disconnect from their virtual worlds and reconnect to each other and you. Today’s youth are stuck to their cell phones and rarely look up. Scuba diving is not only outdoors, it’s underwater, and in zero gravity! It’s a …

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Deep In the Pursuit of Learning

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 3rd December 2018

  Text and Photo by Jill Heinerth I’ve been told that I have a problem intellect, meaning that I am always in pursuit of learning. I think that is quite true. If I am not challenged with novelty and discovery, then I feel a sense of unrest. Change and …

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How Rebreathers Work

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 24th November 2018

  By Dr. David Sawatzky Rebreathers are becoming ever more common in the diving community, and in diving fatality records.  I wanted to write a column on rebreather fatalities but immediately realized that it would make no sense to most divers unless they had a good, basic understanding of …

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We Are Water

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 22nd November 2018

  Text and Photography by Jill Heinerth The bright lights attached to the Betacam broadcast camera snapped to life and the news show’s producer exchanged a nod with the cameraman. A local translator deciphered the meteoric Spanish into broken English and awaited my response. I had just climbed 6,000 …

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A Feel for Forensics

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 12th November 2018

Text by Gregory Thomas   Searching for human remains, weapons and other crime scene evidence in zero visibility is a duty ‘deeply felt’ by the volunteer Alameda County Dive Team A middle-aged woman paused at the end of the pool, between laps, and studied the man in the next lane. …

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Can this man save the diving industry? Interview with Paul Toomer

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 6th November 2018

By Michael Menduno   RAID’s co-owner is on a mission to make diving sexy again. He’s passionate, experienced, and brings a fresh point of view. Don’t underestimate Paul Toomer… By creating a new market for diving, PADI co-founder & former CEO John Cronin—reportedly the first person to rack up …

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Love is in the Sea

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 5th November 2018

Far beneath the waves, glistening under the new moon, the mood strikes right for two fish in love. Swimming side by side and holding tails, seahorses engage in a ritual of love that is both fascinating and magical. Seahorses, named for their “horse-like” head, are actually fish despite their …

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Sexism: Alive and well in scuba diving

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 1st November 2015

Text and Photography by Jill Heinerth Originally published in Volume 40, issue 7. Click here to subscribe. Pioneering Scuba diver Marjorie Bank never made it to my age. She died prematurely, the result of a massive heart attack. As a younger diver, I was inspired by her career and charisma. She …

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What it Takes to Shoot a Feature Film

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 1st November 2015

By Jill Heinerth Gliding along with the precise synchronicity of a flight demonstration team, scuba divers piloting radical-looking scooters maneuver into the frame. As viewers we are transformed, drawn into the dimly lit cave of indescribable beauty. If the Director of Photography has done his job, we are engrossed …

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The Metaphor of the Swiss Army Knife

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 1st November 2015

By Michel Gilbert & Danielle Alary We use a Swiss Army knife on ALL assignments. First, the plastic toothpick of this old companion is the best O-ring removal tool ever made. Second, other components such as the screwdrivers, scissors or tweezers always come in handy. As Michel was unscrewing …

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Florida Keys Annual Coral Spawning

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 20th August 2015

One of the most spectacular but little known events along the Florida reefs—as well as around the world—is the annual synchronized spawning of corals. Yes, corals do have sex to reproduce and to observers it looks like a brilliant underwater fireworks display.  In the middle of the night several …

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PADI Launches Inaugural Women’s Dive Day – July 18th

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 14th July 2015

First annual event scheduled for July 18 to attract more women to scuba diving To build awareness and increase interest in diving among women, PADI has launched a “Women in Diving” initiative, including the inaugural PADI Women’s Dive Day scheduled for 18 July 2015. The international event is geared …

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Adopt a manatee for Valentines Day

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 30th January 2015

Valentine’s day is just around the corner, and what better gift to get your loved one, than a manatee. Ok, so not a manatee per se, that would be cruel. But an adopted gentle giant they you can follow, support and love! Whether you’re buying for your wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, …

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Should Diver Certification Be Forever?

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 20th November 2014

Diving is fun. Diving is deadly. Training and experience make the difference. Text by Bret Gilliam The deal in diving is that you’re certified for life upon successful completion of a recognized SCUBA training program. There’s no requirement to renew that wallet card they give you because it doesn’t …

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Florida’s Shipwrecks: Museums in the Sea

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 24th October 2014

Underwater archaeological preserves reveal history of this sunny, seafaring state Text by Franklin H. Price For a landmass almost completely surrounded by the sea, it’s no big surprise that maritime history figures prominently in its story. It’s certainly true of Florida, southernmost of the continental United States and with …

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Seeing Underwater

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 13th October 2014

Visibility notwithstanding, dive masks are the solution… for human beings By Dr. David Sawatzky The eye is really just a complex, living camera.  The main parts of the eye are the cornea, iris, lens and retina.  The cornea is clear and has no blood supply.  It protects the eye …

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Finding Franklin

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 2nd October 2014

The Franklin ship discovered in early September by the 2014 search team in the Canadian arctic has been identified as HMS Erebus, the flagship of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 two-ship expedition and the vessel directly under his command.  HMS Terror, remains to be found. The confirmation was made by …

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Descending TV Show Duo

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 1st October 2014

Behind the Scenes we talk to the diving duo behind TV’s Descending TO WIN A DVD OR BLU-RAY DESCENDING BOX SET – CLICK HERE!!! DIVER: For those unfamiliar with Descending, tell us a little about the show. DESCENDING: At its simplest, Descending is an underwater travel documentary. The destinations and specific locations …

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Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 18th September 2014

Since we wrote our Netflix for Divers feature, a new, feature length documentary from the Oscar winning producer of The Cove has been released. Mission Blue focusses on famed oceanographer and eco-activist Sylvia Earle, and her mission to educate the world about our oceans and their importance to all life on …

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Dive Gear: Now and Then

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 18th September 2014

Advances in gear design & technology over 60 years may not make diving more fun, but it is much easier. And, a picture’s worth a lot of words, we think! Text by Phil Nuytten  Bouyancy Compensators Bouée Fenzy / Aqua Lung Axiom i3 The French Navy’s Bouée Fenzy, left, was …

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Pick of the Flix

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 2nd September 2014

Streaming video provider Netflix has millions of North American viewers, so we’ve ‘logged the dives’ to bring you the best, and sometimes the worst, of its undersea offerings Titanic – Movie 1997’s blockbuster is well worth revisiting. The opening scenes featuring real dives on the Titanic wreck are superb and …

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Cousteau Mission 31

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 2nd September 2014

Recalls pioneering Conshelf experiments At press time the saturation diving component of Fabien Cousteau’s Mission 31 had just  completed. The son of DIVER columnist Jean-Michel Cousteau, and grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Fabien spearheaded the initiative, underscoring the human-ocean connection through the lens of exploration and discovery. Along with two …

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Modern technology meets old in the depths of a frigid sea

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 13th August 2014

Clearance divers of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic), with a little help from their nimble little ROVs, revisit the remains of HMS Breadalbane during the military’s annual arctic readiness exercise – Operation Nunalivut 2014 A dive into the past serves the future. That’s how clearance divers from …

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A Whale of a Dive

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 11th August 2014

Scientists have recently revealed the true champion of the deep Even the whale watchers among us are impressed by the scientific revelations released recently by cetacean researchers at the Cascadia Research Collective (CRC) in Olympia, Washington. They’ve been studying Cuvier’s beaked whales over the past few years and what …

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The Mind Games of Diving

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 4th August 2014

By Dr. David Sawatzky Diving is an activity with some degree of real risk.  You can get hurt while diving and you can die.  You should have some degree of anxiety and apprehension when you are diving.  This ‘appropriate’ level of arousal is reasonable, normal, healthy and actually reduces …

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Practical Lighting Techniques

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 1st August 2014

By Jill Heinerth In my last column I provided tips to assist in comparing the quality and brightness of underwater video lights. Most underwater videographers buy a couple of lights and mount them to their camera on arms, illuminating the environment, or a dive buddy at close range. Camera-mounted …

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Diving Free

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 29th July 2014

It’s been said that if you want to know why dolphins are always smiling you should join them. Welcome to the world of breath-hold diving! Text by Richard Fleury  One of the world’s top wrecks, the SS Thistlegorm attracts exotic marine life. And today a creature seldom seen on …

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SEALAB I TO CELEBRATE 50th ANNIVERSARY

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 29th July 2014

Text by Sierra Cardenas History was made in July of 1964, when four U.S. Navy divers successfully lived and worked for 11 days in an underwater habitat called SeaLab I that was submerged in 192 feet (58.5m) of seawater off Bermuda. This man-in-the-sea experiment helped prove the viability of …

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Get fit for scuba fun

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 29th July 2014

You should stay fit to dive, not dive to stay fit. It’s sound advice. Here are some resources to help you make the summer scuba season effortlessly fun! Kettlebells for a Fit Diver Fitness Programme by Coach Izzy An complete fitness programme designed specifically for scuba divers, by scuba divers. The plan comprises a book, online videos …

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Rare seahorse spotted in Canadian waters

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 23rd May 2014

The University of British Columbia’s Project Seahorse just announced a rare documented sighting of a seahorse in Canadian waters. The sighting comes to light as a result of iSeahorse.org, the new citizen science initiative created by Project Seahorse. Two divers recently uploaded a photograph of the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) that …

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Shipwreck School Graduates its First Class

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 23rd May 2014

World renowned side scan sonar expert, Garry Kozak recently completed the first “Side Scan Sonar Operators Course” for Shipwreck School. The Five participants received 3 days of comprehensive training on the school’s new EdgeTech model 4125 Dual Frequency Side Scan Sonar System. The course consisted of 8 hours of …

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Fear: Diving phobias

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 24th April 2014

Most people have at least one phobia and some can can be dangerous for you and your buddy. Know what triggers your fearand how to stay in control in spite of it  Text by Madeline Ricchiuto When you first hit the water, either taking the Great Leap off the …

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How important is Facebook in the dive industry?

  • DIVER Editorial
  • 16th April 2014

Today PADI hit the impressive mark of gaining 1 million Facebook ‘Likes’. This not to be sniffed at milestone is massively impressive for the scuba industry, and is now statistically the largest online scuba community in the world. In theory, it means every time PADI make a “post” onto their …

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