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Diving Dry: A Guide to Your Next Drysuit

Are you thinking of buying a drysuit? Maybe for the first time, or is it time to buy a new one? Using a drysuit can feel a little strange to many at first, but with today’s suits, there is a large range of models to meet every requirement. Stefan Beskow offers a basic guide to drysuits and what to look for in a drysuit for your particular needs.

Southern Egyptian Red Sea: Safari to the Deep South & Remote Islands

Soft corals, Rocky Island, Red Sea, Egypt. Photo by Scott Bennett
Soft corals, Rocky Island, Red Sea, Egypt. Photo by Scott Bennett

“WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG?” I repeatedly asked myself during a recent trip to the Red Sea. One of the globe’s most iconic dive destinations, its spectacular coral gardens, prolific fish life and legendary visibility is beloved by divers the world over. Yet, despite nearly 30 years of diving experience, I somehow had not gotten around to it—definitely on my radar, but inexplicably regulated to the “someday” file.

Utö Mines: Exploring 150-year-old Mines in Sweden

Diver places a cookie, 74m, in Stjernheim’s shaft. Photo by Anders Etander
Diver places a cookie at an intersection to show the way out, at a water depth of 74m in Stjernheim’s shaft. Photo by Anders Etander

The desire for adventure lies in wait and entices us… On Utö, there was an unexplored mine system. Follow Anders Etander down into the darkness, where the “In Water Under Land” exploration group had the privilege of diving in a place that has been untouched for 150 years.

APD to open Netherlands warehouse

The British scuba equipment manufacturer has suffered a number of business frustrations following Brexit, and the UK's withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020.

Martin Parker and the team at APD have therefore established AP Diving Europe. This will enable EU customers to purchase products in Euros. The goods will then be delivered by post or carrier direct from mainland Europe. This will mean EU customers will avoid import hassles, paperwork, VAT and customs handling fees.  

Beaches and butterflies

This summer I went back to the beach where I spent most of my summers as a kid. It is my happy place. The beach is clean, the sand is white, and the ocean is generally lovely—and there are rarely many people. 

There are small children with red buckets and blue shovels, building sandcastles or trying to catch small shrimp or tiny crabs in the shallows. The older ones joyfully play in the waves. Meanwhile, their grandparents enjoy a leisurely swim or just bobbing about.

Diver swims over the two-masted schooner, Walter B. Allen, which sank in 1880.
Diver swims over the two-masted schooner, Walter B. Allen, which sank in 1880.

New Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary established by NOAA

At the time of its designation in 2021, the sanctuary included 36 known shipwrecks dating from the 1830s to the 1930s, including Wisconsin's two oldest known shipwrecks, the schooners Gallinipper, which was constructed in 1833 and sank in 1851, and Home, which was built in 1843 and sank in 1858.

Filephoto: Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)

New Population of Pygmy Blue Whales Discovered

Pygmy blue whales are the smallest members of the blue whale family, but that's the only small thing about them: they can reach up to 24 meters long.

Despite their enormous size, blue whales have been difficult to observe in the Southern Hemisphere as they live offshore and don't jump around like the humpback whales; thus, for some regions, their population structure, distribution and migration routes remain poorly understood. In particular, little is known about the blue whales in the northern Indian Ocean.

Please Give Food

Please donate and help the dive community.

What is needed:

Rice, Sugar, Flour, Eggs, Biscuits, Cooking Oil, Canned Foods, Noodles, Milk tin/powder

Locations of the campaign include:

Kota Kinabalu, Semporna, Pulau Tioman, Pulau Perhentian

 

Cash donations are also warmly welcomed.

To make a cash donation:

Bank details: MAYBBANK

Malaysia Scuba Diving Association


Account No: 5144 4053 3032

 

For information, call:

Chromis viridis (green chromis) is a species of damselfish.

Fish trust friends in a crisis

In social animals living in the wild, individuals rely on their buddies to alert them if a predator is lurking.



All animals aim to balance the risk of predation against the energy investment necessary to execute an escape, to maximise the number of correct reactions (e.g. reacting to the presence of a predator) and minimise reactions to inaccurate information (e.g. reacting to harmless stimuli).

Trust among individuals is critical. This is true for humans as well as many other species, including fishes.

Study co-author Jacob Johansen, Ph.D.