Without any doubt, the Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia’s most popular and exciting, non-diving event is our annual SHIPWRECKS conference. While you will need to leave your regulators and scuba tanks at home for this event,  there will be no shortage of diving stories, and divers to meet, …

Shearwater Research, responsible for the rather excellent technical computers Petrel and Petrel 2, have released a new and improved desktop application cunningly called Shearwater Desktop. Available for both Mac and Windows users, the new software offers an improved user experience, making it easier to implement firmware updates. Firmware is a vital part …

Artifacts recovered from a shipwreck off Singapore are currently on display at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. See the next issue of DIVER for the feature by writer Stephen Weir.          

California based Light & Motion has been at the forefront of underwater imaging for several years and their Kickstarter announcement has captured the attention of a lot of underwater photographers and videographers! The Sidekick Kickstarter campaign aims to raise $50,000 so Light & Motion can begin full production of their excellent new GoPro light called Sidekick. …

QuikPod From $49.99 A great camera accessory, whether you’re shooting with a dSLR, compact, phone or GoPro, there’s a QuikPod for you. Customize with sturdy tripod legs, a floating lanyard, bluetooth remote shutter, smartphone adapter and more. Good build quality, long lasting and very handy – we have one on every …

US gear manufacturer Hollis, have announced a partnership with Canada’s Sea the World Adventure Travel, with their first expedition to Truk Lagoon now taking bookings for 2016.  Divers will get the chance to join Hollis Ambassador, Bill Coltart, aboard the luxurious S/Y Truk Siren for a ten day wreck diving expedition. Divers …

Whilst at DEMA this year, we had the pleasure of bumping into Chelsea Welch. Her exciting new Kickstarter campaign is for a women’s dive watch that’s been designed by women divers. Las Vegas based The Abingdon Co. is a boutique watch company for women.  They’ve produced and sold luxurious adventure watches …

A couple of hours northwest of Stockholm, Sweden offers up a dive site extraordinary for its location and blend of natural and manmade features. Known as the Tuna-Hästberg mine, it’s a vast web of water-filled passages tens of kilometres long, radiating in all directions far beneath the earth’s surface. …

New Zealand’s Mikhail Lermontov reveals a tragic tale of duels, death and poetic injustice, but it’s a helluva sunken ship to explore Text by Kevin Davidson and H.E. Sawyer Photography by Kevin Davidson This tale comes from Soviet Russia, so naturally it’s a tragedy. And a tragedy born out …

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 …

SeaLife Micro HD 16GB $399.95 Micro HD+ 32GB WiFi $499.95 The newest addition to the SeaLife range of user-friendly cameras is the ultra compact Micro HD. Unlike most cameras this is a sealed unit – no openings, no O-rings, no memory card ports and, therefore, no risk of flooding. SeaLife’s trusted ‘piano key’ design makes …

Lowepro DryZone 200 US$283.86 ‘A drysuit for your gear’ claims the world’s first waterproof soft-sided camera backpack. TIZIP zipper system, rubber covered sealed seams, adjustable dividers, mesh pockets and a lifetime warranty. www.lowepro.com Ikelite RX100 III housing $550 Sony’s RX100 III is a first rate compact camera that produces …

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 …

First Published in DIVER Volume 38 Issue 5 By Phil Nuytten The problem: A swillion, or so, years ago, we humans were designed (or evolved, or left here by aliens – please substitute your desired flavour) to function best under a fairly rigid set of specifications. These specs include …

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 …

In Orda of priority it’s No.1 Text by Bogdana Vashchenko / Photography by Victor Lyagushkin  – The Orda cave revolutionized cave diving in Russia. In every respect it’s a ‘dream’ compared to other sumps in the Russian Federation, and it also claims some bragging rights on the world stage. Extending more …

Dive Rite O2ptima Rebreather $8,500 This fully closed circuit, constant P02, electronically-driven rebreather features built-in decompression ability. Dive Rite’s O2ptima is great for overhead environments where immediate surfacing is not always possible, and it will appeal to open water and wreck divers too.  Features include 5-litre total loop volume counter …

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen has just begun his seven day, sub aquatic  adventure at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The 38 year old from London, Ontario will be leading a crew to explore the ocean floor as part of a simulation to help prepare for future space missions. NEEMO (NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations) …

In a mission through time Nuytco’s robotic Exosuit is set to dive on an ancient shipwreck in the Greek isles for an uncommon artifact called the ‘Antikythera mechanism’. Used for predicting astronomical events, the advanced mechanical calculator was developed in antiquity and is often characterized as the world’s oldest …

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 …

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 …

Atomic Aquatics BladeFins $179 Feel the need for speed? Then these new fins designed specifically for a flutter kick will give you a powerful swimming style that will allow you to move through the water fast, even in strong currents. Designed with sweeping curves and a unique two frame structure …

Nauticam FIX Neo Prices vary A new line of lights that have an LCD display, removable battery, 100 degree beam angle, interchangeable heads, remote control and sealed recharging. Wowsers. What more could you want? www.fixneo.com Backscatter Macromate Mini $88.95 This well-priced, flip on and off, lens for your GoPro 3 …

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 …

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 …

By Jill Heinerth I have a confession: I have a bit of a light fetish. I can’t seem to stop buying new lights. Headlamps, solar rechargeable, hand-cranked lanterns, cinema lighting, LED key fobs and endless cave diving and video lights. I have them all.  And this doesn’t include the …

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 …

On one occasion, Evan Kovac’s imaging lab was filming the features of a lake in Yellowstone in 3D for the National Park Service. With extinct hydrothermal features right next to active methane seeps, and an archaeological component as well, the lake has a lot to offer. During the shoot …

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 …

Sidemount diving may have been around for while now, but in the last couple of years it seems to have risen in popularity and become a very fashionable way of diving, and not just for cave divers, but open water divers too. The new SEAC KS01 Buoyancy jacket is a …

Announced a week ago at the TekDive USA show in Miami, the new Edge / Hog Gear sidemount system created a wee bit of interest to say the least. Little is officially known at this point, but that hasn’t stopped people getting excited at the prospect of a new, …

American Underwater Products (AUP) announced today the merger of two of their recreational dive companies, AERIS & Oceanic. Each of these companies currently offer similar product lines to the diving industry worldwide. Effective September 1st, 2014, these lines will be combined and sold exclusively under the Oceanic brand. The merger will …

The Nauticam Super Macro Converter (SMC) is the first underwater macro conversion lens that is fully optimized for in water use.  This unique and innovative lens claims to change the way that underwater macro photography is done. There are three key advantages to this internationally patent pending new optical design: …

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 …

Documentary airing May 28th 9pm ET/PT on PBS Our new issue’s cover story on the mapping of D-Day wrecks along the Normandy shore is focus of a new PBS documentary airing May 28, with a DVD release set for June 10. D-Day’s Sunken Secrets recalls that historic WWII invasion, and reveals the unseen battlefield …

For those new to sidemount, or those still trying to find the right gear configuration, Dive Rite may be able to help. Dive Rite’s new BC Hose Quick Disconnect Adapter is a simple solution to a common routing problem . If the power inflator on your sidemount rig doesn’t sit flat …