Words and Photography by Joe Platko Through part of the California lockdown, scuba diving was one of the few activities that was still allowed for residents. We were lucky, as during a unique one week diving window, a few friends and I were able to have a rare experience while …

As we dust off our dive gear and begin to travel, there’s a good chance you may come across some humpback whales. Here’s what you need to know about their behaviours…  Words and Photography By David Fleetham Humpback whales are found in all the world’s oceans and are often …

By Cristina Zenato It’s time to start thinking about the next scuba diving trip. Sharks are on the list; we have heard about the amazing locations and incredible encounters with the unique and magnificent species we have been dreaming about it for many years, and we are ready for …

Photography by Maxwel Hohn / Words by Roseanne Keatley Life is thought to have evolved in the ancient seas, long before it was able to colonize land. Little is known about the first plants, but it is thought that they must have been closely related to some of the larger …

Words by Cristina Zenato As a firm believer that “one size does not fit all”, I’ll start my first column in DIVER by highlighting some of the considerations a diver should take before embarking on a shark diving trip. I’ll start with picking the operator.  As divers, we are …

Have you heard about the recent sightings of great white sharks in Nova Scotia, Canada? These incredible animals are becoming more frequent in the area, but fear not – there is no need to panic, this ain’t Amity Island! Dr Chris Harvey Clark shares science-based tips on how you …

Sometimes the most incredible marine life encoutners aren’t in the ocean, they’re hiding under lily pads in remote Canadian lakes Words by Russell Clark / Photography by Maxwel Hohn   You may well remember seeing a couple of images we’ve previously published of tadpoles. They are always crowd pleasers, …

Being in the midst of circling basking sharks is a rare occurrence, so did this underwater filmmaker witness a unique courtship event? Words by Ken O’Sullivan What an odd thing it is to want to swim with a shark in the sea. We humans, we’re usually close to the …

By Jean-Michel Cousteau and Holly Lohuis L41, a 43-year-old male orca from the Southern Resident L Pod is missing and feared dead. This is just one more blow to the endangered orca population in the Puget Sound region.  For whale researchers, whale enthusiasts and local residents of the Pacific …

Inside the current issue of DIVER (Fall 2020) you’ll see a lovely four page feature by our regular columnist Maxwel Hohn, all about the incredible journey of the western toad tadpole. Maxwel has been capturing footage of the tadpoles for four years, accumulating in this mini nature documentary, noq …

Words and Photos by Eduardo Baena Located on Highway 99, halfway between the towns of Lillooet and Cache Creek, British Columbia’s Pavilion Lake offers a unique opportunity to observe one of the largest known colonies of freshwater microbialites, a type of stromatolite. These calcareous structures resembling rocks were formed …

Words and Photo By Maxwel Hohn One of the most abundant fishes in BC’s coastal waters, Pacific herring are a keystone species for the marine food web and support a diversity of marine predators. Each spring (peaking in March), millions of Pacific herring migrate from the offshore waters to more …

Did you know that there’s a natural carbon sink—even bigger than the Amazon rainforest—that helps regulate Earth’s climate by sucking up to six billion tons of carbon from the air each year? A new report from researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals for the first time the …

  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 …

With over 72{c383baab7bef8067e8c9786a45d8006c492489841a98fe37723e304bb1ddd030} of the world’s surface taken up by ocean, there is a huge amount of ocean still to be discovered. Only 5{c383baab7bef8067e8c9786a45d8006c492489841a98fe37723e304bb1ddd030} of the world’s Oceans have been explored and even though it is such a small amount, given how much surface area these oceans cover, we …

Text and Photography by Andy Murch Just after midnight on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef near Port Fidalgo, spilling more than 260,000 barrels of Alaskan crude oil into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound. Oil bled from the ruptured hull for three days until emergency …

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, …

Text by Jean-Michel Cousteau and Jaclyn Mandoske If there is one thing we know from the history of life on Earth, it is that the oceans are resilient and relentless. Nearly four billion years ago the first raindrops fell from our cooling planet, accumulating in low basins and forming …

Volunteer payoff as turtle hatchlings high tail it for the sea On a quiet Little Cayman beach this July 5th, a small group of excited – and lucky – turtle watch volunteers witnessed the hatching of the island’s first turtle nest of the season. It was a rare event …

In the waters off George Town, Grand Cayman, a group of approximately 50 volunteer divers led by local dive operators, and guided by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DOE), are working tirelessly to repair a coral reef severely damaged by a cruise ship anchor in mid-August. Working in …

A new study suggests fish are behaviourally complex and possess a mental capacity that can match or exceed other vertebrates A paper just published in the scientific journal Animal Cognition states that “fish perception and cognitive abilities often match or exceed other vertebrates.” Dr. Culum Brown, a professor in the …

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 …

Site of the country’s largest marine park, Cenderawasih Bay boasts endemic species and biodiversity that make it unique in the world ocean and worthy of your dive site bucket list Text and Photography by Michael AW Rising above an indigo sea, the fog-shrouded Arfak Mountains evoke the image of …

Want to work on a science diving project? Good news. You don’t have to be a scientist. And for you non-divers out there, here’s another good reason to get certified and help Planet Ocean  Text by Evan Kovacs & Chad Smith  The family is out. You alone have dominion …

In the late fall of 2012, researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaii at Manoa joined forces to conduct a month-long integrated study of coral in the Federated States of Micronesia, remote islands in the western Pacific. Three dive teams, each …

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 …

Niagara Certifies First Quadriplegic Quadriplegic Mitch Brogan recently qualified as an HSA Advanced Open Water Diver in the Niagara Frontier area of Ontario, Canada, and holds the distinction of being the first graduate of a new local program launched in August to train disabled divers. The new Handicapped SCUBA …

The Dive Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) wants us to enjoy manatees but to be sure to give them their space. A poster and 30-second video, voiced by Jimmy Buffet, aim to boost awareness for safe interaction with the manatees when you’re in and on the water. Targeting tourists, …

In dark depths rarely visited by scuba divers, subs explore hectares of sponge many storeys high that form British Columbia’s ancient Sea of Glass By Sabine Jessen and Alexandra Barron The Aquarius submersible plummets through the depths, the light fades and darkness surrounds the small white vessel. Through the …

Great White Shark, a new IMAX film in 3D and 2D now out in the U.S. and Canada, unravels the mystery of the creature we love to fear—the much maligned, misrepresented and misunderstood great white shark—and dives into the depths of human daring to tell the true story of …

  Text and Photo by Andy Murch One of the favourite games played by adolescent Steller sea lions is ‘sneak up on the scuba diver’. This gang of juveniles materialized out of the blue and entertained me to no end before acrobatically scattering in all directions. For most of …

Getting SeaOrbiter off the drawing board and into the aquatic realm she was conceived to explore would move humankind a step closer to colonizing the oceans By DIVER Staff SeaOrbiter on YouTube The future of inner space exploration is on a course set by outer space science fiction. SeaOrbiter …

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 …

  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 …

  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 …