THE SNORKEL - WHY?
Snorkels are fine for snorkelling, but what use is a snorkel to a diver? We have them throughout our training, then dispatch them to a dark corner of the dive box, or stuff them into a knife pocket. What's that all about ?
     Why do instructors insist that trainees wear a snorkel for their training dives?
     How often do the wide-eyed trainees carry out a perfectly respectable mask removal/ replacement, only to impale a nostril with the plastic pipe at the last minute?
     How often do they execute a perfect arm-sweep reg recovery, only to get a gobful of water when the plakky tube tangles with the reg?
     How often does their snorkel later run the gauntlet of snagging on kelp/porthole/rock/ wreck, with the real possibility of displacing a mask?
     Them in the know at HQ state that: "On reaching the surface, the diver should remove the regulator and fit the snorkel for the surface-swim to the boat." Why? To give the seagulls more of a challenge?
     As good divers, we aim to arrive back at the surface with "at least" 50 bar left, so why take out a perfectly well-functioning reg, with all the risks of a watery mouthful, to stick a snorkel in? No-one I know uses them when surface-swimming. Most folks swim on their backs anyway.
     Some divers stuff the dastardly tube into a knife-pocket or sheath. Again, why? Can you breathe from it when it's strapped to a leg? Do snorkel wardens lurk at dive-site exits, ready to fine divers who can't produce their tube in a given time ?
     Divers trained abroad insist on wearing snorkels, yet never use them. Do they feel less than fully kitted up without one? On a recent liveaboard I watched in disbelief as a diver on the brink of leaping in suddenly stopped, let out a cry and flopped her way back to her kit box. She said she wasn't ready because she didn't have her snorkel!
     Am I missing something? Do I need enlightenment or just therapy ?
Ian Muirhead, Langley Moor, Durham

Diving as a cure for depression
In Medical Q& A in May, Carl asked about diving while using an anti-depressant. He was advised against diving, because of the possible impact both of depression and of the anti-depressant on his diving performance.
     We don't know the extent of Carl's problems, but this seemed an unduly cautious response. Unless someone is suffering a severe depression, we are not convinced that his diving performance would be adversely affected to the point at which he shouldn't dive.
     The main test would be his ability to be thoughtful about his capacities, which means assessing his state of mind and compensating appropriately for any potential problems (such as poorer concentration than usual, or an increased tendency to worry).
     Our major concern is that the advice given could block a potentially therapeutic activity. For a keen diver, diving again safely could be part of the road to recovery.
     We know that depression can be helped by pleasurable activities, and those which give opportunities for social contact. Diving scores on both counts. It would be ironic if people were advised to stop something which could help to counter their depression on the grounds that they were receiving anti-depressants - exaggerating a little, it would be a case of the treatment holding back the cure.
     It's worth pointing out that talking therapies represent a viable and effective alternative to anti-depressants and that most GPs should be able to organise this through the NHS.
Dr Amanda Williams & Dr Tony Roth, London

Diving Doc Ian Sibley-Calder replies: I agree both that my reply to Carl was conservative and that any sort of recreational activity is good for the recovery of depression, but one must not forget that diving can be a hazardous activity that could require the diver to make calm rational decisions for the safety of both the diver and his/her buddy.
     People suffering from depression often are prone to anxiety, panic attacks and indecision - obviously not traits compatible with diving.
     Many drugs used to treat the sufferer cause severe side-effects on the surface, let alone under water. None of the drugs have been tested under pressure and therefore their effects are unknown.
     While I accept that a recovering, carefully assessed diver may be fit enough to dive with limitations, I do not change my view: a blanket fitness-to-dive cannot be issued in these situations. As an extra thought - the UKSDMC does not consider any diver on any psychotropic medication as fit to dive.

The magic of Saba
It was with delight that I read your article on Saba and Anguilla (Saba Dance, Anguilla Romance/ Diamond Jubilee, May). My husband and I are avid divers and have been to Saba a dozen times - we are going again tomorrow morning.
     As the authors pointed out, it is difficult to overstate the awesome beauty of the Third Encounter/Eye of the Needle dive.
     Mont Michel is lovely, and Saba's deep pinnacles (Twilight Zone and Outer Limits are the two not mentioned in the article) rightly deserve their world-class reputation.
     But to limit one's diving to the pinnacles is to miss the lovely reef diving. The pinnacles provide the opportunity to see sharks and other pelagics but the reef dives offer interesting topography formed by ancient lava flows, the chance to spot seahorses, various eels, rays and all sorts of reef critters and fish.
     These dives are shallower and therefore lengthier than the pinnacle dives, often topping an hour. The Ladder Bay sites such as Babylon and Hot Springs are not to be missed, the Tent Reef system is beautiful and Core Gut should not be skipped, although this site is more wind- and weather-dependent than the Ladder Bay sites. There are many others, too.
     Finally, Saba is an ideal place to be certified (PADI is the most common agency in the Caribbean). Dive conditions are usually excellent, and current-free sites nearly always available. The water temperature is ideal, and lessons are private and efficient.
     Both our daughters certified there when they were 15 and have dived there since.
Francoise Giacalone, New York City, USA

Shellfish attitude to environment
I recently started buying your magazine with a view to taking up diving as a hobby. I read all the articles about marine conservation and so on.
     At the end of May I was at St Martins Haven in Pembrokeshire, waiting to take a boat around the marine nature reserve and wildlife sanctuary of Skomer Island.
     On the beach was a group of divers, from Aberystwyth judging by their T-shirts, stowing and packing their kit.
     One, who appeared to be the authority figure, or at least the most experienced (he was giving the orders and packing up his nitrox bottles), was showing the rest of his group a large shellfish that he had taken from the sea, and encouraging one of them to cook and eat it.
     At the last minute he said that they would not eat it, as they didn't have enough to make it worthwhile, and there was also the very minor point that this was a marine nature reserve. He then returned to the water's edge and hurled the shellfish as far as he could into the sea.
     Is this the typical reaction of instructors/DOs to a No Take Zone or a Marine Nature Reserve, or is this guy just a conceited *******? Maybe, in years to come, newbies who might have been present in his group will remember that it is OK to take items from a No Take Zone or MNR as long as you throw them back as hard as possible or get enough to cook and eat!
     I would be interested to know the views of the rest of the diving community before I spend a load of money learning to dive, only to discover that divers don't respect the environment.
Mark Childs, Thornton Heath, Surrey

Teach, don't ban quarry diving
I don't know why an area of water such as Dorothea Quarry should be blamed for the death of the people who want to swim in it (Dorothea Dive Centre Setback, News, June).
     Why limit access just because a few divers don't know their own limits or, worse, want to show off how deep they have been?
     This is like not allowing somebody to change a lightbulb because electricity can kill. Instead of sitting in the dark, show that person how to do the job safely.
     The answer is not to limit access to lakes such as Dorothea, it is about training; about fine-tuning the ability to recognise personal limits and to have the strength of character to admit to them and dive accordingly; about equipment maintenance; and about mental attitude.
     We have had similar experiences here in Austria, but no-one closes a lake to divers, even though some of them are several hundred metres deep. Instead the efficiency of training is raised, and problems and dangers spoken about. We hope the measures taken will show results in the future.
     The lakes have been there longer than the divers who want to swim in them. Respect nature and it will respect you.
Herold Hartl, Vienna, Austria

Time for some toilet training?
I had to write regarding the Wooden Weightbelt awarded to Dosthill Quarry earlier this year in the Diver Awards, apparently for its appalling toilet facilities. While agreeing that the situation there is not ideal, those toilets are kept quite clean.
     I would like to draw attention to the abysmal state of the toilets on a recent trip to the Porthkerris Dive Centre in Cornwall. Not only were they "not clean", to be polite, but they were very dilapidated. A disabled diver would have had difficulty using them.
     To add insult to injury, when we asked what was the latest time we could obtain an air fill, we were told 6pm - only to find it closed after our last dive at 5.15pm.
     As this is one of the only places to obtain air without an overland trek, it caused us quite a delay next day. We had to wait for the dive shop in Mevagissey (the owner of which was helpful and obliging) to open before travelling to the dive site.
     The let-out for Porthkerris was the quality of the diving, as the sites we visited were quite spectacular, with excellent marine life, along with those at Portmelan and Mevagissey harbour wall.
     I hope this letter in some way redeems Dosthill for people like me who live locally, have used it regularly and will continue to use it for pleasure and training diving.
Paul Chetwynd, Warwickshire

Lisa Anselmi of Porthkerris Dive Centre replies: If you are referring to the portable toilets on the beach, despite attention twice a day we admit to being unable to keep up with cleaning on holiday weekends, when hundreds of people use them. The signs say: "Please Clean for Next Person to Use" but this rarely happens.
     Our cleaners often complain that the toilets are soiled almost as they try to clean them. We also regularly suffer vandalism. Over the last holiday weekend, seats were dislodged and a handbasin broken.
     Showers are misused and taps are damaged. Divers in wet drysuits carry sand, flotsam and jetsam in off the beach, and clean their gear in the basins.
     We are disheartened, because with two other toilets at the dive centre/cafe there was no problem before we went to the expense of providing the beach facilities. We're doing our best to repair the damage and are open to suggestions that might improve public behaviour, short of removing the facility.

Why skippers deserve cash upfront
In response to the readers who questioned the necessity of paying upfront for a dive (One Out of Two not Good Enough/Another Easter Eye-Opener, Off-Gassing, June), a skipper has hardly any chance of recouping the money should a diver decide not to go on a trip.
     It costs the skipper the same amount in time and money if he has one or 12 people on his boat - it's the profit margin that suffers. People can be remarkably casual about turning up for events if they haven't had to part with hard cash.
     If a club has booked the boat, it will have to pay a deposit and some skippers insist on the balance before the dive. One club for which I organise UK diving, GLUG, is used to paying part of the fee on booking and the remainder before the dive.
     It causes fewer problems that way and it's neater. If someone cancels, I do my utmost to fill the place so that they can have a refund.
     Good marshalling and good skippering are the main ingredients to ensuring a good diving experience - get them right and the rest can usually be dealt with. I find that if you deal with skippers efficiently and pleasantly, they usually respond in kind. I'm lucky to have a few I use regularly (you know who you are!) who are all gems.
     I've been given a refund by one such on a blustery day when it was actually possible to dive in Portland Harbour, but he didn't consider that to be value for money.
     If you have a bad experience with a skipper, why not communicate it to other divers? E-mail can be very useful and there are also the diving magazines. If business falls off, they'll soon get the message.
Corinne Sarjeant, Bromley

Skippers as police - do me a favour!
I write as skipper of a charter boat in reply to one aspect of Chris Kitson's letter Dealing With Diving's Outlaws (Off-Gassing, July) which says there is no excuse for "boat skippers who fail to check qualifications [of divers]. Indeed, I believe they have a legal as well as a moral obligation to do so."
     I will pass on the morality aspect because that, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I will, however, emphatically deny any legal obligation.
     I would be intrigued to know what statute your correspondent may have in mind. I embark divers to transport them to a dive site and return them after their dive to their point of embarkation.
     I plan, brief and will accept responsibility for the operation of getting divers into and out of the water, and anything which involves their interface with the boat. I have neither responsibility for, nor control over, the conduct of the diving operations: the diving supervisor/marshal has that.
     Even if I wished to check qualifications I would be faced with a virtually impossible task. For a start there are three major training organisations, all of which have different names for grades, paperwork and standards. This is to say nothing of currency of medical and relevant experience.
     In a previous employment I was a CAA examiner of commercial pilots for instrument and type ratings. The first thing you did on a test was to check the candidate's licence: this took a few minutes on an absolutely standard, well-defined and familiar CAA licence. You want me to do this to 12 divers with 57 varieties of paperwork before setting off?
     However, the primary reason I will not check qualifications, even if I could understand them, is because to do so would imply that I had agreed that the diver checked was competent to undertake the planned dive.
     The litigious consequence of this, in the event of an accident, would probably be disastrous for me. If your correspondent thinks that a boat skipper is "better-placed police", then I think he does not understand the realities of operating a commercial charter boat.
     Divers need to get their act together on this one. One certainty is that, unless he has unique multi-tasking capability, the skipper cannot act as dive marshal/ supervisor as well.
Mike Snelling, Girl Gray, Peacehaven, Sussex

Underwater therapy
I suffered a trapped sciatic nerve in my lower back and In 1999 had a laminectomy operation. This was followed by complications caused by nerve damage, including a dropped left foot, numbness of the lower left leg and severe back pain, which required very heavy painkilling drugs for more than two years.
     I had to use crutches and lived in a full body cast for six months. However, after two years I gradually became better, weaned myself off drugs and was able to work reasonably normally. I had a medical through my local doctor and started on an Open Water course.
     In seven months I have done 100 dives and remain in perfect health. I manage to carry all my equipment and have done many dives up to 36m without problems. I am always the last to be kitted up and the last to be unkitted, as I now know how to be careful with my back.
     So having back surgery doesn't necessarily mean the end to strenuous pursuits such as diving. With care and correct medical advice, we can still use our bodies efficiently for most activities. I am now fitter than I ever was, and a new world opened up for me since I became a diver.
Joe Pryme, Dublin

The plane-hunters
My mom kindly sends us every issue of Diver, which we eagerly await each month. Though a little late because of the "snail mail" in Papua New Guinea (my mom thinks we live in grass huts and have to fight off the savages) it's great to keep up with what's happening in the Diver world.
     We read with great interest an article by Gavin Anderson, Splash Landings (November 2001).
     Our fascination with aircraft wrecks started in the Solomon Islands, and since establishing a small land-based dive operation in late 2000 in Kavieng, we have located eight new World War Two aircraft in this area, besides the already well-known Kate, B25 Stubborn Hellion and a Jake three-seater Japanese float plane.
     We still receive reports of balus (pidgin English for plane) sightings from local divers and are hot on the trail of others. The Allies lost eight planes over Kavieng in February 1944, and only one, the Stubborn Hellion, has been conclusively found.
Dorian Borcherds & Cara Koopman, Kavieng, PNG