Press Release
Received from: DAN

DAN and Garmin Work Together to Enhance Remote Diving Emergency Response

DAN

The new integration connects Garmin’s global satellite-based emergency coordination capabilities with DAN’s dive medicine expertise, potentially enabling more streamlined access to specialized consultation during dive-related emergencies. 

For DAN members who include their DAN member number in the Emergency Notes section of their inReach account, Garmin Response coordinators can contact DAN’s emergency hotline and consult directly with dive medicine professionals while continuing to coordinate local rescue resources.

Press Release
Received from: Emperor Divers

Emperor Divers Is Launching a New Southern Red Sea Family Adventure

Emperor Divers

A liveaboard itinerary created from the ground up to allow families of different ages and diving abilities to experience the Red Sea together.

The first departure will take place aboard Emperor Asmaa on August 21, 2027, with a seven-night itinerary combining diving, snorkelling, marine life encounters and educational activities.

Rather than adapting a traditional dive-focused liveaboard to accommodate children, Emperor has developed the schedule, route and activities specifically around families spending time together.

Apeks Recalls XL4, XL4+ and Ocea Regulators

A manufacturing defect in certain Apeks second stages can restrict breathing-gas flow at depth. Divers with affected regulators are being told to stop using them immediately.

Apex Safety Recall
Equipment

Apeks has recalled certain XL4, XL4+ and Ocea regulator second stages after a manufacturing defect was found that could restrict the supply of breathing gas at depth.

The UK's Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has classified the issue as presenting a serious risk of asphyxiation. The recall affects regulators with serial numbers 250402212 to 260402893, manufactured between April 2025 and April 2026.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Australia’s Unique Frogfish

Many divers travel to Indonesia and the Philippines in the hope of seeing frogfish. Loved by divers, around 50 species of these weird and wonderful fish have so far been described. However, if you would like to see some really unique and unusual frogfish, you need to head to Australia, as the nation is blessed with the largest variety of these cute fish, including more than a dozen species that are endemic and only found Down Under. Nigel Marsh has the story.

Words:
Nigel Marsh
Images:
Nigel Marsh
Red-fingered frogfish in Botany Bay, Sydney
➥ Download the full article as pdf ⬅︎
Ecology & Science

Frogfish are found in both tropical and temperate waters around Australia. Researchers have identified 28 species of frogfish in Australian waters, including most of the tropical species that are popular in Indonesia and the Philippines, like the hairy frogfish, painted frogfish, giant frogfish and warty frogfish. However, Australia also has 13 species that are endemic and unique, and these are the species that this article covers.

X-RAY MAGAZINE FEATURE

Crucible, Part II: The Technical Diving Revolution

This is the second part of a two-part series presenting excerpts from the chapter, “Crucible”, in Simon Pridmore’s Technical Speaking: Talks on Technical Diving, Volume 1: Genesis and Exodus, which takes a deep dive into the early days of technical diving, exploring how it all happened, why it all happened and who made it all happen. 

Words:
Simon Pridmore
Images:
Capt. Billy Deans diving on USS Wilkes-Barre in 1982, off Key West, Florida, USA
➥ Download the full article as pdf ⬅︎
Tech and Training

In the previous issue (#141), part one ended thus:

Six Foreign Dive Instructors Arrested on Koh Tao

Thai authorities have arrested six British and Spanish dive instructors accused of working without permits, highlighting the distinction between holding a valid visa and being authorised to work in Thailand.

Surat Thani Immigration Police said the six were using Destination Thailand Visas (DTVs), intended for remote work, but had been teaching diving at businesses on the island without authorisation.
Dive Industry News and Matters

Six foreign dive instructors have been arrested on Koh Tao after Thai immigration authorities alleged that they were teaching diving without the required work permits. The arrests formed part of a wider inspection of foreign employment and tourism businesses on the popular diving island.

The operation took place on 20 August and involved Surat Thani Immigration, Koh Tao Police and several other government agencies. According to Thai news reports, officers inspected two diving businesses and arrested one British and five Spanish nationals who were allegedly working as instructors.

Mexican Malady

Mexico has every right to prevent illegal imports. Penalising visiting divers and underwater photographers for bringing their own equipment into the country, however, is a remarkably counterproductive way of going about it.

Op'eds and commentaries

Sometimes, you encounter a regulation or bureaucratic practice so self-defeating that you wonder how it survived the meeting in which somebody proposed it.

Mexico's treatment of some visiting divers and underwater photographers carrying their own equipment strikes me as one of those cases.

The Invisible Influence of Ocean Life

How much does animal life itself influence the physical and chemical functioning of the sea?

Carribean Reef Squid
Ecology & Science

We have already described how a whale, dying after a lifetime of travelling the ocean, falls, its great body becoming a moving, changing ecosystem. As it drifts downward, it is a source of food, energy and nutrients for an astonishing succession of sea organisms until it lands and creates its own ecosystem in the deep sea. A whale fall can sustain communities of animals and microorganisms for years.

Historic Diving Gear Reaches England's Highest Summit

After Ben Nevis and Snowdon, the Subsea to Summit team has completed its improbable trilogy by hauling 80kg of traditional diving equipment to the top of Scafell Pike.

Profiles & Interviews

There are easier ways to climb a mountain.

On 16 August, a team of divers and supporters reached the 978m summit of Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain, while taking turns wearing a complete set of historical standard diving equipment weighing around 80kg.

The ascent completed the team's Subsea to Summit trilogy, following earlier climbs of Ben Nevis in Scotland and Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) in Wales—all involving the decidedly land-unfriendly equipment once used by working divers.