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PAY ATTENTION AT THE BACK
NIGEL EATON, EDITOR
IT SOMETIMES SEEMS AS IF DIVING IS NATURE'S WAY OF TEACHING US some of the things that they never got round to at school - and in this issue of Diver our contributors have gone out of their way to fill in some of the potential gaps in our education.
Travelling to the far-flung islands of Palau, Micronesia, John Bantin invites us to brush up on our recent history as he dives the WW2 Japanese wrecks sunk in the area during operation Desecrate One.
This devastating American air strike sent more than 40 enemy vessels to the seabed. John describes the attack and reports on the state of the artefact-rich cargo ships, auxiliaries and seaplanes 60 years on.
He is even joined on his dives by one of the Japanese survivors - a living history lesson.
Meanwhile, top cave diver Martyn Farr tests our knowledge of European geography with a tour of his recommended cavern-diving locations in popular dive destinations ranging from Malta to France, as well as the UK and Canaries.
And training expert Chris Boardman reminds us that diving is mostly a matter of physics in his review of a TDI Advanced Wreck Diving course staged in the Red Sea .
Chris's tuition underlines the point that factors such as visibility, gas consumption, buoyancy and turbulence take on a compelling new significance in an overhead environment that is inherently unstable.
He also gets advice on how long to spend searching for a lost buddy ("two minutes"), and for a lost line ("for the rest of your life")!
Elsewhere in the magazine, expert marine-biology notes are offered - firstly by Paul Naylor, who explains why ultra-shallow diving can be the most rewarding for watching and photographing UK marine life, and secondly by Erling Svensen, who presents a gallery of some of the more unusual creatures living in the seas of northern Europe.
Erling will be among the guest speakers at this month's Dive 2004 show at Birmingham's NEC.
Other marine life attractions at the show - which is set to be a real blockbuster - include an intriguing presentation entitled Ocean Weirdos by award-winning underwater film-makers John Boyle and John McIntyre, and a 10m long British sea-life aquarium, where visitors can improve their fish identification skills and take part in a Spot the Species competition.
See you there!
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