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 …

We sincerely hope you don’t, but our intrepid contributor, Stephen Weir, has taken steps just in case, and he’s not alone Text by Stephen Weir If at some point in the future someone who is not my dentist gets up close and personal with me and they see my …

To accompany our rather good feature on breath hold diving and yoga, here are a few extra tidbits:   Yoga literally means ‘union’ and is based on the principle of harmony between the mind and body. All freedivers can benefit from it but yoga is particularly helpful for those …

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 …

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 …

Only whales and whale sharks need apply Text and Photography by Michael Wood SCUBA diving or snorkeling with any kind of whale or a whale shark remains high on my adventure bucket list, though I had what you might consider a close ‘second’ on the excitement scale with something …

Though myocarditis is relatively common the real incidence rate is completely unknown By Dr. David Sawatzky The most common cause of death in divers while they are diving is a heart attack.  These heart attacks are usually the result of coronary artery disease (CAD), in which the arteries in …

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 …

  Profile: Angela Richards Donà – University of Hawaii, Manoa Angela was a fashion designer from New York, living and working in Italy in 2000. That year she got her open water certification and took a diving vacation in Egypt, at Sharm El Sheikh on the tip of the …

US Freediving is pleased to report that US Freediving athlete Ted Hardy, of Fort Lauderdale, FL, has won the prestigious DejaBlueV freediving competition. Ted complied the highest point total for all six competitive freediving disciplines completed within the competition. The weeklong competition allows athletes to contest for points derived …

Statistics show that almost always the cause is diver error By Dr. David Sawatzky In the last column I outlined how rebreathers work. There are many brands available and more coming on the market though the basic concepts for all of them are the same.  Rebreathers are complicated. There …

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 …

By Dr. David Sawatzky A couple of years ago I started writing a column on healthy eating.  I believed it to be relevant to diving but there was very little research to clarify that relationship.  Recently, several interesting articles have been published on this topic so it is time to …

Tonnes of fuel oil were recovered from the aging wreck but the Coast Guard says it will monitor the remote site for leakage Text by Robert Osborne Grenville Channel is the very epitome of west coast beauty. Rugged, heavily forested mountain slopes plunge precipitously into the deep, dark water …

An industry and training veteran says a poorly trained diver is a dropout statistic waiting to happen. Are you one of them? Do you agree? Text by Bret Gilliam   Diving is a sport that is complicated. Not adversely so… but just like snow skiing, hang gliding and spelunking, …

Text by Lilla Clare It started like most dive days, with clear skies, calm seas and vigorous activity hauling equipment onto the dive boat. It was a typical two-dive day charter catering to a transient group unfamiliar with the local dive site topography. What followed was a common enough …

An explorer begets the Explorer, the new Hollis Gear semi-closed unit that just may change and reinvigorate sport diving  Text by Michael Menduno   Kevin Gurr has been passionate about computing and rebreathers since his first rebreather dive in 1987. The prolific 54-year old British explorer, tech instructor and …

Dive industry pro Bret Gilliam offers the historical perspective The first research work in decompression physiology was not directed at scuba divers. Records from 1841 show that construction workers working at elevated pressures in either caissons (water-tight boxes inside which workers did construction underwater) or construction tunnels beneath rivers …

More than a decade ago a group of technical divers made a series of ‘unofficial’ deep dives on the heritage wrecks of Hamilton and Scourge in Lake Ontario. This is their story Text by Scott Stitt   It feels like we’ve been dropping forever. Descending through 150 feet (46m), …

By Dr. David Sawatzky There are many different kinds of hernias. A hernia is the protrusion of an organ or its fascia through the wall of the cavity that normally contains it.  Some hernias are very common and some quite rare. Each has a different implication for the diver …

As a follow up to Phil Nuytten’s tribute article in the current issue of DIVER, below is a reprint of dive pioneer Hans Hass’ 2007 open letter to the women of the world.   Human reproduction and the threat of self destruction Dear women all over the world! Let …

As government funding for exploration dries up, private ventures are beginning to lead the way. But we can’t all get grants from National Geographic, or ask for handouts from Paul Allen. Kickstarter.com is a ‘crowd funding’ website and a fast growing addition to the internet, labelled by Time magazine …

It’s a simple formula: burn more calories than you absorb By Dr. David Sawatzky In the last column I wrote about obesity, the advantages and disadvantages in relation to diving.  The bottom line was that obesity significantly increases the risks in a diver.  The problem is that most people …

By Dr. David Sawatzky As I write this column it is the middle of the Christmas holiday season.  No matter what your beliefs, virtually all of us celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of the New, and that celebration usually involves eating excessive amounts of …

It’s rare in the recreational scuba enthusiast but deeper divers and pushing no-decompression limits can put you at risk By Dr. David Sawatzky The lesions of dysbaric osteonecrosis (DON) only occur in a few bones of the body.  They are found in the head and proximal shaft of the …

Will ‘diver’s rotting bone disease’ become more common as technical diving grows in popularity?  By Dr. David Sawatzky Dysbaric osteonecrosis (DON) was first identified in the 1940s and was found to be relatively common in the 1970s and early 1980s in some groups of divers but extremely rare in …

  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 …

  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 …

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 …

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 …

Text by Bret C. Gilliam The following discussion picks up from the current issue of DIVER Magazine – Volume 37 Number 4 – now on newsstands. Against the background of an historical perspective and today’s ardent debate on this subject author Bret Gilliam advocates the dissemination of more accurate …