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The liveliest letters from the DIVER mailbag...
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I have been interested in all the various articles about digital cameras, and although they are excellent, they can be expensive.
I thought you might be interested in these photographs taken with a $20 disposable waterproof camera while I was diving in New Zealand last year.
It just goes to prove that as long as you are in the right location with the right conditions, you can get picture-postcard quality.
The site was Pupu Springs in Able Tasmin National Park.
TCS Wade, Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Comment: It sure is a long way to go to get a decent shot with a throwaway camera, but we reckon this encouragement for lo-tech photography is worth a prize.
Last year, I took out a year's subscription to DIVER and enjoyed every issue. When the subscription ran out, I received kindly and helpful invitations encouraging me to renew my subscription.
Now, nothing would give me more pleasure (well hardly anything!) but it appears that I have reached the age when any self respecting diver ought to put away childish things and take up knitting or Zimmer frame racing.
Yes, I am now 66 years old and have become a pariah to the Insurance world. No matter that I swim a couple of kilometres a week and do a couple of 3 to 4-mile walks, I am obviously too infirm to dive.
So take heed, all you other divers, and get your action in now, because all too soon you too will be beached like me.
I hope you will print this as a warning. Sadly, I won't be reading it, or diving!
Tom Moss, Camberley
I have recently been in email correspondence with British Airways concerning the carriage of scuba equipment on a flight we planned to take to Malta. In a very unsympathetic tone, I was told that BA does not give any free baggage allowance for scuba equipment, and that if I carry this type of equipment and am over my "free" weight allowance, I will be charged excess baggage.
I was disappointed by our flag-carrying airline, to say the least, not only in its lack of sympathy but in the tone of its response. I get the impression divers are unwanted passengers.
I believe it is time for DIVER to resurrect its campaign for an increased allowance for divers. By approaching the likes of BA with the backing of hundreds of divers, we may be able to persuade it to allow a few extra kilos for divers' equipment.
Even gaining agreement for only the popular diving locations would be something. To my knowledge, this arbitrary "policy" adopted by a few unsympathetic airlines has been around for years and needs to be resolved.
Many airlines will allow a few extra kilos for divers: Air Malta for example, with which I have travelled on many occasions, will automatically give an extra 10kg.
Adding insult to injury, while we are paying through the nose for our highly inflated "excess baggage" fees, we can watch our golfing colleagues march through the check-in with their "God-given" right to an automatic increase in luggage allowance. This is not fair. We should be fighting this policy with vigour.
John "Jack" Dabill, Cornwall
Comment: The UK diving trade is on the case - see this month's First In
I was a little disappointed to read that a Dorset group of divers claimed that they had discovered HMS Sargasso (Divers Find Minesweeper in Poole Bay, News, February). In fact I surveyed and identified the wreck in August 2003, diving with West Wycombe divers from Ian Taylor's boat Skin Deep.
Ian and I spent that summer surveying seven uncharted wrecks in the area with various diving groups. As Sargasso was considered an important war grave, full details were passed to the Hydrographic Office in Taunton.
I feel everyone who considers that they have discovered important diving information should at least check with the Hydrographic Office before releasing details. Numerous shotline wasters are attached to the wreck, making our visits fairly obvious.
I have been diving wrecks between the Needles and Start Point for 20 years and have amassed a considerable file of wreck information. During that time dozens of wrecks have been identified. Should anyone wish to check their information with mine, I would be happy to help.
Nick Chipchase, Taunton
Back in the 19th century, divers returned from work on underwater sites bent double and with aching limbs. Their affliction was called "Caissons disease", and many suffered permanent disability or died from this mysterious phenomenon. The connection had not yet been made between working at pressure and a rapid rise to the surface causing severe physical symptoms.
Today there are no excuses. We have known about decompression illness for a long time, and know what it is and how to treat it. But certain individuals still behave as if they were ignorant Victorians.
I refer to the BBC TV series Seaside Rescue. The Whisky Bravo team from Portland Coastguard do a fantastic job week in, week out and have saved many lives, but it must be frustrating for these courageous rescuers to see people who have presumably received some kind of training in diving theory but can't or won't help themselves in an emergency.
Did the diver who missed a decompression stop feel that sitting upright while awaiting help was a sensible thing to do? Those around that diver must have felt it was. I clearly remember being taught from early on in my diver training that if DCI is suspected the casualty should lie flat to help prevent the formation of gas bubbles.
I hope the diver has recovered fully, and that he and his colleagues realise that if the volunteers are going to put their own lives at risk to rescue divers, the least we can do is to observe the requirements of our own basic training.
Don Galbraith, Bristol
I read February's lead letter, eBay - A Word of Warning. Not everyone selling on eBay is a crook, though I believe Nick Watts was caught by one!
I have bought many diving items from eBay, mainly for Kingston University Sub-Aqua Club, and have never had any problems. I have also bought 50% of my personal kit from eBay and have always received it in tip-top condition.
However, I don't buy "important" equipment such as regulators, BC or computer without viewing it first (and, yes, that is possible). Such items cannot be bought "on the cheap".
I also sell diving kit on eBay, and feel that the type of seller Nick came across brings the name into disrepute. We are not all like this - eBay is not all that bad!
I would advise all those who wish to purchase diving equipment to look on eBay, and by all means be aware, but don't be put off or you might miss a bargain.
Claire Ritchie, Surbiton, Surrey
As a pretty keen eBayer myself, I read with great interest Nick Watts' letter about buying a drysuit off eBay. I imagine it was meant to be a salutary heads-up of the potential pitfalls of making purchases outside of recognised retailers.
However, Nick disclosed that O'Three had been kind enough to let him keep the suit it had lent him for his course.
So the upshot was a spanking new drysuit, presumably with O'Three's normal back-up, at a bargain eBay price, as well as an £87 underwater torch for writing the Letter of the Month!
Far from being salutary, "result", I would say! Good luck to you, Nick.
Andy Roberts, Norwich
I recently advertised a wetsuit in DIVERnet's personal ads, and someone with a Yahoo address offered to buy the suit and agreed to send me a cheque and have the suit collected by carrier.
I agreed, with the proviso that the cheque cleared before I released the suit. I had already smelt a rat, because although he said his name was Dave Macdonald, his messages were written in such poor English.
Eventually I received a message stating that his secretary had sent a cheque for payment but had made it out incorrectly for a much larger amount, and that I should wire it back after deducting the cost of wetsuit. The amount to wire back would have been £980.
It's a very poor scam, of course, but your readers and advertisers should be warned to watch out for this type of con. Had the English been better and the amounts of money quite small, someone could fall for it.
When I examined the address, I think the mail originated from Mexico. I don't suppose there is anything that can be done about this type of fraudulent offence.
Stuart Jones
New laws governing scuba-diving are being put before the Greek Parliament. They are liberal compared with before, yet still very restrictive, and the Parliament will vote on them without understanding the details, as very few of its members are divers.
I am concerned about a rule stipulating that night-diving will be forbidden without written permission from the Port Police (our Coastguard) except through scuba-diving clubs.
The Ministry of Merchant Marine (responsible for scuba diving) is obviously trying to channel divers into organised excursions, helping those clubs that are lobbying heavily to keep diving for themselves.
For individual divers like me, it will be impossible to go night diving. The Port Police will not grant permission, that way avoiding any responsibility in the event of an accident.
C Gofas, Athens, Greece
In your October 2004 issue I read the letter Maldives Sharks In Danger by Norbert Schmidt. The stories of seeing 50 sharks and 200 sharks in one place are ancient folklore. Imagine, people keep coming to your place in groups of 20 or more with flashing cameras, jabbing sticks and try to feed you whatever they can get their hands on, day and night for years.
On a typical day at one of the famous shark-dive sites, one would find layers of divers sitting or standing on the reef from 10m to more than 30m. The professional photographers would detach themselves from the wall of bubbles and start after the sharks, cameras flashing. Some clever ones would try feeding the sharks. How much of this abuse can a shark survive?
If the famous shark dive sites are compared, one will find extensive reef damage a common feature. Do we blame it on the local fishermen or the local authorities?
Manta rays are also being driven away from their favourite hangouts, but again, not by the local fishermen.
Less agile creatures such as frogfish and stonefish are forced to suffer cameras on tripods and blazing lights for hours on end.
Cameramen are rolling about the reef and/or kicking down corals to get their prize-winning pictures. Some "professionals" even set up chairs on the reef.
It's time the dive operators took a more conservative approach to money-making.
Yusuf Musa, Maldives
I know that the subject of diving medicals and "diving at work" has probably been flogged to death but I would just like to add another dimension and maybe see if Derek Moore could clear up a few more points (I refer to his informative letter in March issue, You Asked What ÔWork' Meant)
As a member of Her Majesty's Armed Forces, I and all other sport-diving members of HMF am required to undertake a full military diving medical if I wish to dive with a military special branch club or while on military duty (adventurous training). This is fair enough, as we are classed as "on duty". However, if we are on duty, does that not mean that we are "at work"?
I realise that the military probably has dispensation or an agreement with the Health & Safety Executive to cover its divers, whether trained military divers or sport divers, with its own medical examination in line with HSE guidelines.
Here is the crunch: I undergo a full HSE medical every year, as I work part-time as a recreational dive instructor, but the military will not recognise it. So I have to undergo a second identical medical, carried out by a civilian doctor who is not HSE-trained. This is renewable every five years, not annually as is the HSE medical.
So am I "at work" while diving on duty or diving with a military club, and why is the HSE medical not acceptable if I am? What about vice versa - if I work as an instructor, why is the identical military medical not accepted by the HSE?
I am sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation (probably financial) but it eludes me. Can anybody shed light on this bizarre situation?
Ian, Dorset
My girlfriend Cristina and I experienced some fantastic diving at Taormina in Sicily last year. The dives were very local, accessed by the dive centre's RIB.
One reason for staying close to shore was that the Messina gap between Sicily and mainland Italy drops away very steeply, is about 1.5 miles deep and, incidentally, is sometimes a mating ground for great white sharks.
Our dives were mainly off cliff-faces with tunnels and caves, where I got a big tick on the list after having a chat in an air pocket for the first time with Cristina and the dive master - a cool experience.
One morning we went through this horizontal tunnel which opened into a small cave with another cave inside, a bit like one of those holes to the side of an old fireplace where people made their own bread.
Allessandro and Yuki signalled the look sign and turned on their torches into the bread-oven cave, illuminating more shrimps than I have ever seen. There were thousands! They ranged from 2 to 5cm long and in the background were two red fish with big black eyes that I still need to identify.
We continued on a drift towards a blue open-air cave, Grutta Azurra, and emerged from the drift into the grotto, where there were plenty of black sea urchins. Sicilians are very fond of a pasta dish which has a sea urchin sauce and is quite expensive because of to the preparation time. Alessandro took a damaged sea urchin, gently opened it with a small knife, removed his regulator and ate some of it. He offered it to us.
I didn't fancy this sushi of all sushis but Yuki and Cristina did. Cristina did the double OK to say it tasted good but still couldn't persuade me. It looked disgusting. When I got back to shore I went and had salami and chilli pizza with a few Nastro Azzurro beers - lovely!
Jeremy Freeman, Bucks
I am only 17 but I have been diving since I was 14. Last year I went on holiday to Tenerife with a friend and just had to do some diving while I was there. The dive centre checked my dive log and qualifications and I put down for two deep dives, while my friend signed up for a try-dive.
Up to this point, everyone had spoken English, but when we got on the boat I realised that no-one on there did. It annoyed me that the instructors were more interested in the girls with tiny bikinis than anything else.
We reached the dive site and my friend started to panic because she hadn't been told how to dive. I was there trying to explain what she had to do in best diver fashion, but I also told her not to dive if she didn't want to.
What did the instructor do? Without saying a word, and still looking at the tiny bikinis, he got her kitted up and in the water in a flash.
I complained, but they didn't want to know, and didn't seem to know what they were doing half the time.
This is the sort of thing that leads to diver fatalities. Cowboy divers think they know everything but, reality check, "no you don't".
Harmony Hedger, Torrington, Devon
After reading A Dive Guide's Guide To Getting Close To Big Animals (March) I had to write to tell you how we met a bottlenose dolphin in the Red Sea.
My wife and I spent our honeymoon at the Hilton Sharks Bay in Sharm el Sheikh, where I did a PADI Open Water course.
I talked Chris into having a go at snorkelling. She was nervous and the water was crowded, but she enjoyed it. While we were there a dolphin come into the bay. Apparently he is a regular visitor. Everyone crowded him, and because of that, and someone putting a finger into his air hole, he bit someone.
We went to the jetty the following morning so that Chris could try snorkelling again with fewer humans and more fish. The dolphin returned and swam up to Chris, almost nose to nose.
At first she was nervous, but she stroked his nose and he swam off. He then came to me, wanting to play. I chased his tail and he chased my fins. We went round in circles until I ran out of breath.
I stopped swimming and lay on the surface to get my breath back. He nudged alongside me, I put my arm round him and we lay there for about 30 seconds, before he went deep and swam away.
The diving was fantastic, but swimming with a wild dolphin was the most memorable part of a most memorable two weeks.
Dave Edmonds, Ashford, Kent
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