Bailing out to Open Circuit is like falling in the snow when you are learning to ski. It’s a solution when facing a problem—not always the most elegant solution, but always the easiest one, and most of the time, the most efficient one. But Open Circuit bail-out is actually much more than simply going off the loop and breathing from another second stage. There are lots of possibilities.
X-Ray Mag #19
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Paris. City of lights, but of shadows, too. The capital has become a sought-out place for urban exploration. With walks across roofs, through the subways and the sewers and the ancient quarries known as the “Catacombs”. Diving in this underground network allows access to hidden rooms and galleries. The most ancient ones were built during the 17th century. In these virgin places, we can now discover ancient work and drawings made with charcoal by the quarrymen. It is a dive into the capital’s history.
Different conservation groups have the last couple of decades brought our attention to the destruction of the world’s tropical coral reefs. These reefs are visited by millions of tourists and are the livelihood for many more millions of people.
Scott Bennett writes: I’d like to introduce you to some of our friends, enthused our guide Manasa, a.k.a Papa, as he held aloft a well-worn loose-leaf binder. The photographs within produced nervous laughter and a couple of anxious glances amongst a few of the divers. Then again, with names like Scarface, Hook and Big Mama, these were no ordinary friends. They were sharks, and we would soon be making their acquaintance.
Fish stocks are depleted world-wide. Over fishing, pollution and coastal development is putting the aquatic resources under strain. Eco-friendly tourism battles against the need for food. Scuba divers rage against dynamite fishing. The oceans struggle to sustain human activities. Many see fish farming as the solution to save the fish stocks and keep feeding people.
Shooting fish with a camera isn’t easy! Unlike people they are perfectly adapted to the aquatic environment, hydro-dynamically shaped and in all their colourful splendour they are completely ignorant of any directions given by the photographer’s end. So to get that perfect shot we need a strategy – and the right equipment.
As the Red Sea narrows at its northern extreme, a long thin arm of water stretches north towards the Mediterranean. It is the Gulf of Suez. Squeezed between the Sinai Peninsula and the Egyptian mainland, the entrance to the Gulf is marked by a treacherous finger of reef known as Sha’ab Ali.
As the Red Sea narrows at its northern extreme, a long thin arm of water stretches north towards the Mediterranean. It is the Gulf of Suez. Squeezed between the Sinai Peninsula and the Egyptian mainland, the entrance to the Gulf is marked by a treacherous finger of reef known as Sha’ab Ali.
The current grabs you as soon as you enter the water. Your first thought, this is going to be a wild one! The adrenalin is flowing as fast in your veins as the currents is flowing past kelp covered rocks. Diving the strongest malstroem on the planet is not for the fainthearted. It is extremely fun though!
At those moments we are subjected to “peer pressure”, which is the social leverage that we feel when someone pushes us to behave in one direction or another. Usually, if we feel a good connection and a sense of balance with the other person (or persons) we are able to have our judgment override the social pressure—“No, David, I’m not diving five hours before we have to fly back!”
How the snapping shrimp makes itself heard. You might expect the oceans below the surface to be a quiet and still place, they are far from being so.
Reknown for her extraordinary magical imagery, Zena Holloway is an artist who has taken humanity and the etherial into the underworld to new watery depths.
Born in 1973, this daughter of an airline pilot found inspiration to work underwater behind a camera at the age of 18 while on a diving holiday in Egypt.