Text by Lisa TE Sonne Aquariums across North America rely on sport divers to help with their aquatic attractions, and divers love it! To read about the opportunities of becoming an aquarium volunteer, read the story in the current issue of DIVER Magazine, Volume 37 Number 8, now on …

DIVER’s Editor, Russell Clark, loves movies. So he’s compiled what we believe to be a pretty definitive list of non-documentary scuba diving movies. Whether the plot revolves around diving, or there’s just a memorable diving scene, here’s our list (in no particular order) of the best diving movies ever …

  By Jean-Michel Cousteau The Cousteau name is forever linked with the ocean and so it is also necessarily linked to a ship run by a team that keeps the vessel and the adventure going. This remains true even without a ship. The team comprises a wide-range of devoted …

  By Jean-Michel Cousteau If you’ve ever walked along a pristine, white sand beach in the tropics you most likely have a parrotfish to thank for that experience. Many species of this fish, of which there are about 80, make their home in the busy ‘urban’ world of tropical …

  Text and Photography by Michael AW Dining out with the big fish makes for a well-mannered meal I was at the surface composing a shot of three whale sharks as they peered at fishermen in the parallel universe above. Like a pet anticipating a treat, the big fish …

  Text and Photography by Dan Holden Bailey By land and sea the BVI remain a tantalizing archipelago of warmth, white sand and reefs for discerning divers and assorted adventurers. Reputedly, Dead Chest Island is the barren little Caribbean speck nestled among more than 60 British Virgin Islands where …

  By Dr. David Sawatzky In DIVER September 2002 I talked about blood thinners and diving, a discussion about deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and the requirement for people diagnosed with a DVT to be on a blood thinner for several months afterwards.  To be clear, ‘blood thinners’ do not …

By Dr. David Sawatzky Condition most common in divers 60 years and older Recently I’ve been exchanging emails with a diving friend who experienced sudden, severe, nausea, vomiting and vertigo after a dive in Mexico.  DAN diagnosed inner ear barotrauma and the local Ears, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist …

Text by Susan R. Eaton The Allies had a plan to crush Nazi aggression using gigantic iceberg aircraft carriers built in Canada’s north. Code named Habbakuk, the scheme was eventually torpedoed and the prototype vessel sank in a remote Rocky Mountain lake. Most shipwrecks are frozen in time, but …

  By Andy Murch This was the most energetic and entertaining giant pacific octopus that I’ve encountered, and I’m chalking it up to youthful trial and error. Daytime GPO sightings are usually rather fleeting but this young animal was bouncing all over Race Rocks looking for the perfect spot …

  By Donnie Reid Before she sank in a storm October 14, 1901, the sternwheeler, A.J. Goddard, was a workhorse ferrying people and cargo along the Yukon River during the Klondike Gold Rush era of the late 1800s. Like many other craft designed to service the huge influx of people …

By Jean-Michel Cousteau Far beneath the waves, glistening under the new moon, the mood strikes right for two fishes 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 …

  By Jill Heinerth Once a technique exclusive to elite cave explorers, sidemount diving today is trending in the ranks of recreational divers. Versatile and comfortable, the rig merges a specially designed wing with a harness and thanks to companies such as Hollis, Dive Rite and Golem Gear, they’re …

  By Stan Waterman I grow old… I grow old… I shall wear the bottom of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing …

  Some divers handle it better than others, but underwater we all deal with it for better or worse Text by Bret Gilliam The following continues a discussion on diving and stress that appears in the current issue of DIVER Magazine, Volume 37 Number 8, now available on newsstands. …

DIVER salutes Ron Taylor, diver, pioneer underwater filmmaker and champion of our ocean world Read tributes below and add yours to the comments The world diving community has lost a charter member with the death September 9 of Australian underwater filmmaker Ron Taylor, at age 78. In partnership with …

Review by  Phil Nuytten The first order of business is to get the ‘full disclosure’ component of this book review out of the way. This comprises the downside of the product being reviewed and, also, the downside of the reviewer (something you don’t usually hear much about….) So, ‘Deep Leadership’ …

Everything about the Vasa story is remarkable. Rush ordered by Swedish King Gustav II Adolf, she was an advanced, if flawed, warship that heeled over in Stockholm harbour and sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. For more than three centuries she remained lost in 115 feet (35m) of …

Sealab America’s Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor By Ben Hellwarth SEALAB is the Right Stuff for inner space, a story of how a U.S. Navy program sought to develop the marine equivalent of the space station and in the process forever changed man’s relationship …

By DIVER Editor, Pete Golding Even during the desperate early years of the Second World War the Habbakuk ice ship project was a stretch.  So when I read of Winston Churchill’s enthusiasm for a massive aircraft carrier made of ice to combat the German U-boat threat I figured the …

Photo: Kids Sea Camp   Text by Garth Eichel 1. Provide regular reminders Kids are hesitant to ask questions in front of their peers, especially if they’re already certified and feel like they’re supposed to know it all. In dive briefings, go over basic skills like hand signals, gear …

Photo by David Benz / Kids Sea Camp   The following are a range of dive programs available for children of all ages and abilities. Skin Diver/Junior Skin Diver (NAUI) — this certification class is for kids eight years old and older, teaching the process of snorkelling and breath-hold …

It can be hard to get excited about a light. They are after all, just things that make dark places a little brighter. For some, a dive light is not always an essential piece of gear. For cold water divers, wreck or night divers, they are as essential as …

Create your own underwater movies so high in image quality that even your 80-inch high-definition TV can’t do them justice. Still, you can invite family and friends over to share your amazing discovery dive of that Captain Morgan pirate ship off the Panama coast. They’ll be impressed! The RED …

DIVER Magazine contributor Jill Heinerth is an authority on sidemount diving and she’s also a professional filmmaker, so an instructive video on this technique of rigging gas cylinders a different way, was a certainty. Heinerth and fellow sidemounter Jeff Loflin recently released their 64-minute introductory DVD on sidemount diving …

Text by Jeremy Heywood Correction: When this story appeared in DIVER Volume 37 Number 4, Dr. Mica Endsley was inadvertently referred to as he, not she. We apologize for this error. Experts agree: situation awareness is critically important to diver safety. But because it’s regarded as an advanced skill …

Dive into the underwater wilderness of the Pacific Northwest in this new book then grab your gear and go get wet! Photo by David Hall   David Hall’s sumptuous volume, Beneath Cold Seas, is a celebration of British Columbia diving and a perfect fit for this, DIVER’s first Big …

Project Pink Tank is on a mission to get to the bottom of it. Text by Lisa Sonne More than 400 scuba enthusiasts, including open water, advanced, technical, and instructor level divers, are participating in “Project Pink Tank,” a multi-phase investigation into the relationships between scuba diving and the …

Poseidon Poseidon Tech Retail TBA The world’s first rebreather with a fully automatic bailout system (redundant back-up rebreather), switches from primary to secondary without missing a breath. A built-in secondary dive computer ensures nothing is lost in the switch. Available beginning November 2012. www.poseidon.com  TAT7 iPhone Scuba Case $84.95 …

Second in series of reports on Rebreather Forum 3 by Michael Menduno. Dr. Andrew Fock, head of hyperbaric medicine at The Albert Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, himself an accomplished rebreather diver, took the RF3 stage Saturday morning with an important and sobering presentation on the risks of rebreather diving, …

The longest running event of its kind, the UnderwaterPhotography.com annual photo competition is a rousing celebration of sub-sea shooting   The UnderwaterPhotography.com annual photo contest needs little introduction. It’s the longest running online event of its kind and if you’re looking to build a ‘rep’ in the cadre of …

Kim Mikusch Smith from Canadian KISS Rebreathers talks about safety, accessibility and why you should be interested in rebreather diving. For full article on Rebreathers and the Future of Diving, see DIVER Vol37 Issue 3 or click here. For more information on KISS Rebreathers click here.      

Rebreathers are rapidly growing in popularity, below is a list of international manufacturers. If you know one we don’t, send a web link to mail@divermag.com Ambient Pressure CCR 2000 Divematics Draeger ExtendAir HB Technology Innerspace Systems Corp Kiss Rebreathers rEvo rebreathers Silent Diving Steam Machines Titan Dive Gear VR …

By Michael Menduno 1680: Giovanni Borelli conceives the closed circuit rebreather. Believed recirculating air through copper tube cooled by seawater would allow impurities to condense. 1726: Stephan Hale developed a device for surviving mine disasters. The helmet contained a flannel liner soaked in sea salt and tartar as a …

Sixth in series of reports on Rebreather Forum 3 by Michael Menduno. The diving media and interested Rebreather Forum participants were treated to a preview of the lovechild spawned by Poseidon and Dr. Bill Stone, CEO of Stone Aerospace. Called the Poseidon TECH (DIVER Volume 37 Number 4), the …

Fifth in series of reports on Rebreather Forum 3 by Michael Menduno. Similar to 02 sensing problems discussed in a previous RF3 report posted here, divers must contend with issues concerning PCO2, which has been dubbed the “dark matter of rebreather diving.” High PCO2s (0.03 bar and above) can …