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The liveliest letters from the DIVER mailbag...
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After learning in the '60s, I had a long break from diving. On resuming five years ago, I decided the wise thing to do would be to re-train.
I did PADI courses and laughed like a drain at the video section on equipment. It did mention how to test a mask for fit, but made great play that you could buy colour-co-ordinated kit and "look good as well".
Not a bad thing in itself, but we are all different, and getting the right kit for you can prove expensive, frustrating and time-consuming.
Most people must buy kit based on comfort, looks, advertising and "on paper" performance, easy to assess in the shop, but only a fraction of the story.
Whether a piece of equipment is right for you can be determined only by using it, which is where it can get expensive, even unsafe. During training, shouldn't we also be assessed and advised on the suitability of certain types of kit for us individually?
My hobbyhorse is weighting. We receive extensive instruction on weight checking but not on weight placing. I started my diving renaissance with a basic BC and weightbelt, because that was closest to what I knew and had used when retraining. Wrong! I was finning constantly just to keep my feet up, and my contents gauge went down like the fuel gauge on a Jumbo.
Putting all my lead around my waist didn't suit my physique, but putting it higher up, in my BC pockets and on the camband, made an incredible difference. I could glide effortlessly, change my attitude in the water and make my air go further.
Expensive lesson one: solution, a BC with integrated weights and trim pockets.
A long-legged girlfriend bought a really nice "integrated" BC and suffered from "floataway feet". She had to resort to putting weight back around her waist! Anatomy, eh?
Experienced instructors could help in the same way with choice of fins; wetsuits, particularly the neck fit; and the possibility of vision-correction with certain masks.
Besides saving us a small fortune in experimentation, making the most appropriate choices of kit makes us more comfortable, competent and therefore safer divers.
Allan Reeling, Telford
I read with interest the feature on equipment maintenance (Mind Your Own Gear, May). It will certainly help me to ensure that my equipment is fit to dive.
There is, however, one area where I must disagree with John Liddiard's advice. In discussing computers and other electrical equipment, he recommends removing the battery (or cell) and checking its voltage with a voltmeter to give an indication of charge.
This is the technique used by most electronic equipment to indicate battery level, and is fundamentally flawed.
This is why most battery indicators appear to remain at full for a long time, then suddenly go straight to empty.
Batteries operate by storing electrical energy in chemical form. Many (though not all) battery chemistries deliver consistent no-load voltage across the life of the battery.
This effect is especially true of newer and higher-capacity batteries such as the lithium ones used in dive computers, and rechargeables often used in torches and cameras.
The only reliable way to test remaining capacity is to measure the voltage when the battery is under a significant proportion of its rated load - which has the disadvantage of quickly draining the battery!
The indicator strip on the side of some brands of AA battery does precisely this, and so becomes noticeably warm if used for an extended period.
I would suggest that without a dedicated battery tester to perform a load test, there is little point in removing a battery to perform a test just as flawed as that performed by the instrument itself, while at the same time increasing the risk of a flood through improper replacement of the seals.
If you are seriously concerned about the state of a battery, immediate replacement is usually the best, if not particularly environmentally sound, way to proceed.
Ian Stevenson, Edinburgh
John Liddiard comments: Mr Stevenson is correct, especially with regard to lithium batteries. On reflection, I over-generalised from my use of nickel hydride rechargeable batteries throughout my camera kit, where there is no voltmeter in the equipment.
A voltmeter will tell me if a battery is on its last legs before I notice a drop in performance. If in doubt, I change or charge the battery anyway, and as I unseal camera housings on every dive, I am perhaps more accustomed to opening and closing seals than most divers.
Having said that, the above strategy seems to work for me on dive-computer and dive-light batteries.
With reference to John Liddiard licking O-rings, if there was any silicon grease or spray on the O-ring it could lead to diarrhoea or even cancer. It's not recommended!
Make sure when dealing with silicon grease and oxygen grease that it does not come into contact with the eyes or mouth.
I like your magazine - it covers a wide range of topics.
R Newton, Edmonton, London
I own a dive centre in Hurghada, and this year my business has been hit hard by the public being fed false information about our local environment.
Hurghada is a world-renowned dive destination that has many sites unique to the Red Sea. On any dive, you are almost sure to find at least 200 species of fish and another 200 corals.
So why has it been given the reputation of being a dead zone? We are proud to offer an unparalleled variety of shallow and deep reef dives, vertical wall dives, wreck dives and drift dives. More than 50 dive sites offer more than 100 unique dives.
If the environmentalist doomsayers do not warn of impending doom, they are out of a job! All the disinformation about Hurghada has cost people jobs and businesses, and I blame the rumours on the liveaboard operators.
They have claimed that all the corals have been damaged, that all the sharks have been scared away by the sheer number of divers, and that the dive sites are overcrowded.
Coral-reef health is measured by percentage of coverage and indicator species. Any marine biologist not attached to an environmental disaster centre who ventures into the water will find that Hurghada's reefs are pristine. Some over-fishing has been indicated, but nothing alarming.
Hurghada never had an abundance of sharks because its dive sites are close to shore, but we do have at least 10 whale shark sightings a year.
The liveaboard operators have shot themselves in the foot - places such as Elphinstone, the Brothers and even Zabargad, and especially the Marsa Alam sites, will have up to 20 boats at any time of the day, each full of 20 divers!
I understand that divers want to go to the south of the Red Sea, as the diving opportunities are unparalleled worldwide.
But when it's the south's turn to fall victim to its masters' poison, what then?
By the way, as far as the Russian market is concerned, they reckon that they have already over-used the south and that the Brothers is a "dead rock". Let's see how it unfolds over the next year.
Ahmed Adly, Hurghada, Egypt
I have found the 2006/7 DIVER Gear Guide extremely informative, but I believe you have missed off a vital piece of information concerning bags.
I hasten to add that I haven't found any manufacturers who provide this information either, but I feel it should be disclosed, as it does have an effect on decision-making.
What I want to know is the empty weight of the bag. I have an IQ Roller Bag that, although it is huge and will take everything but the kitchen sink, weighs a hefty 8kg with nothing in it. Not all airlines offer baggage concessions for diving equipment, so with a 20kg allowance, that is almost half the allowance gone.
I now use a large Oceanic hold-all, which with careful packing can hold everything I need and provides similar protection to heavier bags. More importantly, it weighs next to nothing empty.
Adrian Goscombe, Nailsea, North Somerset
On 27 March, 2004, I witnessed the sinking of HMS Scylla near Plymouth as an artificial reef.
I have dived on the wreck a number of times since, but have just done my first dive of the year. It was a good dive, despite some divers who were visiting from the Stoney Cove area saying it was boring!
My buddy and I descended in a strong spring current, so we decided to get inside the wreck immediately. Vis was about 4m.
We entered through the hatch at the bow and took time swimming through the ship, entering the bigger rooms on the way through.
At the stern, we were slightly confused, as it was not clear where the helicopter hangar was. After a short time, it became apparent that the hangar was partly collapsed on the port side.
Amazing - it's been only two years, and a part of the topside superstructure is collapsing! Perhaps it's true, they don't make ships like they used to!
Dave Ireland, Exeter
Following the publication of my article Hulk in Fairyland in the April issue of divEr, it seems that the mystery of the Yealm wreck has been solved. Peter Hambly, who owns the Plymouth dive charter boat Furious, read the article and was able to throw some light on the mystery.
In the early 1990s he was a commercial fisherman and owned a 1960s, 65ft trawler called the Saxon Princess (pictured below).
With the decline in the fishing industry, his and some other Plymouth fishing vessels were to be decommissioned.
One of these was a shrimper, a beam trawler called the Viking Princess. This was similar to Peter's vessel, but older and, at 60ft long, slightly smaller. It had been used as a scalloper and had derricks fitted to the main mast. These would drop down to 25ft each side, supporting up to eight scallopers.
The vessel had a 1940s steel hull of partly riveted construction and watertight crash bulkheads. It had been fitted with a welded false bow, much slimmer and prettier than the original heavy, rounded one.
In 1996 the Viking Princess was stripped of her Cummins engine, and the top of the bow was cut off. The Fisheries Commission then approved her decommissioning.
That autumn she was towed by the Kinsman on her last journey, the 45-mile crossing from Plymouth to Galmpton Creek on the River Dart, to be scrapped.
But with choppy sea conditions, the Viking Princess was swamped, and sank between the River Yealm and Hilsea Point.
Peter was able to identify the wreck after reading the article, and from further pictures and sketches I sent him. He confirmed that the hull had been painted blue.
The article shows a picture of a "prop guard", which was in fact a Kort nozzle, used to improve engine efficiency when under load, as when trawling.
One further point: along with the Viking Princess, 10 Plymouth trawlers between 40 and 65ft were decommissioned.
Their skippers had asked if they could sink the trawlers off Whitsand Bay to make an artificial reef, but the Government would not allow this. We can only dream of what might have been!
Karen Williams, Plymouth
In your DIVER Test Extra 15 Regs at 50 Metres (July), you pat yourselves on the back about improving the standards of regulators by exposing the limitations found in tests when comparisons are made.
Like many people I enjoy reading these group tests, yet at the end of that article you give over only one sentence saying "it's a pity" that two of the 15 regs tested had potentially fatal faults.
I would rather have seen a whole page discussing the issue of why manufacturers of life-sustaining equipment did not have the quality checks in place to ensure that their products were safe to use at point of sale.
I am horrified. I regard the regulator to be the most important piece of dive kit. To realise that the product was not checked and guaranteed 100% before being sent for retail sends a shiver down my spine.
Who checks that the quality controls used (if any) by dive-gear manufacturers are in place? Clearly the CE standard you mention in this case is not enough. From your article it would appear to be the customer who tests its serviceability on his first dive!
So the question is, how can any of us be sure that our new reg is working according to the manufacturer's specifications if 14% of the ones you tested failed.
Do you want a first-user lifetime warranty with that?
John Trumper, London
John Bantin replies: John is absolutely right. We are amazed that a) there could be regulators out there in the shops that fail the EN 250 criteria and b) that any distributor or manufacturer would send us, for such an important and high-exposure test, a regulator that had not been checked first to see that it was up to standard.
I work as a dive gypsy, and get to travel to most people's dream destinations, with only short trips back to the United Kingdom to stock up on essentials (such as money and Sunday lunches).
On my most recent return I managed to find the June DIVER, which had a big banner saying Med Special. What I didn't find was any information about diving around Greece.
Until recently, the waters around Greece were known as a dead zone. Incredibly limited diving was available, but not for the serious diver.
However, there is good news for anyone who wishes to get away from the crowds - the waters are now wide open and what's in them is stunning .
The only reference I found in DIVER to Greece was in Louise Trewavas's column. She complained that "in Greece they've been dynamiting the tourist sites for years. That's why Greece has no reef, and why any diver with an ounce of sense would rather visit the Red Sea..."
Well, I have worked in the Philippines, where fishermen followed the dive boats around and then threw homemade bombs in the water to make an easy catch (personal record, 10 explosions in one hour).
The closest I have been to an underwater fishing bomb going off would be around 500m. Imagine visiting the same dive site twice in one day, only to find the entire population dead and the coral pulverised.
I have been diving in Greece off Kefalonia and Ithaca for five weeks now, and seen no evidence of this kind of wanton destruction, hence my surprise at being told i was diving in a bombed-out wasteland.
I am cordially inviting Ms Trewavas et al to Kefalonia to enjoy some of the better diving throughout the Med.
We don't have the same fish life or reefs as the Red Sea, but what we do have is unique and worth a look without prejudice - from ancient amphoras through to WW2 aircraft and vessel wrecks.
And please bring a good nudibranch book, because so far I have found at least four species that I have never encountered anywhere else.
John Hartrey, Kefalonia
The June edition carried an article by John Liddiard about the Mediterranean entitled 10 World Class Dives. One of the dives was Gozo's Coral Cave, which is located near the Azure Window at a place named Dwejra.
I have dived around Malta, Gozo and Comino on numerous occasions, as I have been visiting Malta at least twice a year for the past 13 years.
But I was surprised to see the Coral Cave recommended as a world-class dive, because of a paragraph contained in the book A Guide To Shore Diving The Maltese Islands and headed "A Request from the Author".
Peter Lemon asks divers to refrain from diving the cave for two reasons. The first is the deaths of two divers in 1999.
They became disorientated because of bad visibility after the silt that lines the cave floor had been stirred up by inexperienced divers, and failed to exit before their air expired.
The second reason is that these inexperienced divers are damaging the coral within the cave. So it may be a world-class dive but only for those with the training and experience.
Let's not encourage the average diver to undertake such dives.
Hamish Torunski, Bicester, Oxon
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