December 2007
Report on Women's Only freediving clinic
Francesca Koe posted a fascinating report at Deeperblue.net about a "Women's Only" freediving clinic in Kona, Hawaii. The clinic was run by Performance Freediving, North America's longest running Freediving training agency having taught over 2300 students to dive deeper, longer, and safer. Koe describes the experience which is beautifully illustrated with underwater photography by Braden Haggerty and Scott Williams. [Read Girls Go Deep] -- Posted Friday, December 28, 2007 by chb
Tobago now more accessible to divers
The Tobago House of Assembly announced the opening of the Scarborough Jetty in Tobago. The Jetty expansion allows larger cruise ships and encourage more cruise lines to include Tobago on their itinerary. Cruisers laying over in Tobago can dive into the deep on scuba and snorkel excursions. From the experienced to the novice, divers can venture beneath the crystal waters of Tobago’s coast in Speyside, Pigeon Point or Englishman’s Bay to catch glimpses of barracudas, dolphins, whale sharks, parrotfish and queen. Tobago boasts the world’s largest brain coral and is also one of the few locations in the world where divers can regularly swim with manta ray. -- Posted Saturday, December 22, 2007 by chb
Bonaire voted #1 scuba destination by Scuba Diving Magazine
Continuing its reign as one of the world's top dive destinations, Bonaire was for the sixth year in a row rated the Top Dive Destination Overall (Caribbean/Atlantic) in Scuba Diving magazine's Readers' Choice Awards 2008. Bonaire also received the #1 rating in five other Caribbean/Atlantic categories: Top Shore Diving, Top Destination for Beginners, Top Destination for Advanced Divers, Top Destination for Underwater Photography, Top Marine Life, and took second place in the category of Top Value. [see release] -- Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007 by chb
Support Project AWARE with a tax-deductible donation
Over the past year, Project AWARE and its supporters have made significant progress battling serious 
global conservation issue. In the last year Project AWARE and its supporters established 550 new coral reef monitoring sites, cleared 1100 dive sites from harmful debris and helped collect 20,000 signatures on behalf of threatened shark species. And that’s just a snapshot of recent accomplishments. Show your commitment to conservation - a donation of $25 US makes you a Project AWARE Patron. Better yet, give a tax-deductible gift of $100 US and receive a set of four limited edition posters by world-renowned artist Wyland. Give them as a holiday gift or keep them to enjoy yourself. [Join Project Aware] -- Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 by chb
Scuba divers find Captain Kidd's ship
An underwater archaeology team from Indiana University claims they have located what's left of the notorious Captain William Kidd's 17th century vessel just 70 feet off the coast of Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic in very shallow water. [Check AOL story on Captain Kidd's ship] -- Posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 by chb
Product recall: certain Oceanic and AERIS First Stages
Romi Enterprises issued a recall for about 6,000 regulators sold under the Oceanic and Aeris brands. The potential problem is an internal component that seals air between the high pressure first-stage and the intermediate pressure second-stage that may result in uncontrolled flow of air. For a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report on affected regulators, click here] -- Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2007 by chb