Taiwan is a group of Pacific islands surrounded by warm tropical seas. It is easy to get to and get around, and it is also a first-world society with outgoing, friendly, laid-back people. Simon Pridmore gives us a glimpse into the beautiful dive sites and unique marine life that can be found here.
Bula! Fiji is open, and some of the friendliest people in the South Pacific are eager to welcome you back to their tropical oasis. Matthew Meier has the story.
The US eastern seaboard, along the New York and New Jersey coasts, is littered with ships that sank due to collision. Larry Cohen and Olga Torrey present several of these wreck sites, which wreck divers enjoy diving.
We asked our contributors what their favorite underwater photos were of the legs, arms or tentacles of critters underwater. And they came back with a variety of subjects from curious crustaceans and cephalopods to jellyfish, sea stars, feather stars, frogfish and even people underwater.
Kate Jonker is an award-winning underwater photographer and coach, internationally published writer and public speaker, dive boat captain and dive guide based in South Africa.
Many people suffer from ear problems during and after diving. Technical rebreather diver and underwater photographer Dr. Michael Rothschild is an ear, nose and throat specialist in New York City. In this series, he walks us through some of the common causes of dive-related ear problems, and how to treat and prevent them.
Up until the ‘60s, the major advances in diving technology were driven by big-budget military programmes. Extending the depth limits to which divers might safely go—and still be capable of performing meaningful work when they got there—had a practical purpose. David Strike has the story, as told by George Wookey.
The wolffish is known by many names, including loup de mer, ocean catfish, sea catfish or Atlantic catfish, striped wolffish, seawolf or seacat. All wolffish species are in the order of Cottiformes (which includes sculpins and relatives) and are in the family Anarhichadidae (wolffish). Lawson Wood gives us an insight into this intriguing creature.
Very often, you will come across examples in scuba education where what is taught does not match up with what divers do in real life. Mark Powell provides insights for new divers and tips for dive instructors.
Researchers have discovered that male bottleneck dolphins form long-term social groups to help one another find mates and fight off competitors.
It was the first time such behaviour was observed in the animal world.
Their conclusions were based on data collected of 202 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins between 2001 and 2006 in Shark Bay, Australia, using visual and auditory data. In the lab, the researchers then focused on studying the interactions of 121 of individuals for the next decade.
A scuba diver in British Columbia, Canada, has been fined a record 12,000 Canadian dollars ($9,250) for approaching a pod of orcas too closely.
In British Columbia, vessels must keep at least 200 meters away from orcas and in southern B.C. coastal waters between Campbell River and just north of Ucluelet, vessels must keep 400 meters away. Vessels must be at least 100 meters away from all other cetaceans.
Researchers have found that the Arctic Ocean is becoming less salty, because the amount of freshwater flowing through the Bering Strait into it has increased by 40 to 50 percent, over the past 30 years.
This finding is based on a new study by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. According to lead author Lee Cooper, “This could have a lot of downstream implications for how the Arctic Ocean works and connects with climate and related processes, including the intensity of mixing in the North Atlantic.”
