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DOLPHINS THAT DON'T GET AWAY
After reading Chasing Dolphins? Don't Flatter Yourselves (July), I wish to highlight some important points which John Bantin failed to consider. Hounding dolphins in boats is a big problem, and getting bigger in certain parts of the world such as Hawaii, where many people go to enjoy spinner dolphin encounters.
Because of competition among operators and the intense pressure to satisfy paying customers, the animals' need for rest is mostly neglected. The waters around Hawaii are extremely volatile, with strong currents and surges, so dolphins go to the few bays where it remains calm to gather their strength. This is particularly important for younger members of the pod.
I've even heard that some boat operators are prepared to chase down the dolphins, knowing that they'll eventually have to go to a "quiet" bay to rest. The people on the boat then turn up there and the dolphins, too tired to swim away, have to put up with often pushy and ignorant crowds aching for their special moment with these animals.
I have just returned from Florida, where I witnessed boaters hounding the local population of dolphins. The dolphins' behaviour has begun to change, and most now "choose" to stay in deeper waters a few miles away. Until recently people regularly saw groups close to the shore during the day but now you are lucky if you see just one.
If your contributors do not know the full facts, it is better that they do not rubbish the views of other people, such as Mark Simmonds, Director of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. Just because John rightly believes that dolphins face a bigger threat from fishing nets shouldn't mean that we neglect other important issues.
By the way, a dolphin was found dead recently in the USA, killed by injuries inflicted by a boatÉ
Zane Webb, Evesham

Editor's reply: Don't miss next month's issue, in which Mark Simmonds has his say.

Saudi OK for women divers
After reading your article on the first tourist dive trip to Saudi Arabia (Open Sesame, July), I must comment on women diving in that country. I live and work in Saudi and have never had a problem diving here because I have ovaries.
The only problems I have ever had relate to gross incompetence on the part of workers in the dive shops. Desert Sea Divers has, however, brought the standards up and is forcing other facilities to get their act together.
I would recommend any women open to new experiences to come to Saudi to dive. Don't believe first impressions or listen to pampered expat wives (and believe me, all western expats are pampered here).
Rebecca Freeman, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

I worked in Saudi Arabia from 1987, learned to dive there and have since dived most of the coast, as well as experiencing most aspects of expat life in Saudi.
Capital investment is a serious problem, as a great deal of the country's wealth is invested overseas. A huge number of foreign and Saudi national companies are not being paid, and when payment is forthcoming there are still usually huge arrears. The oil money is not swilling around as it used to.
Yes, there are expensive cars around Jeddah but also many old and very decrepit ones, especially outside of Jeddah and Riyadh.
Most expats who have 4x4s use them for serious off-road desert and beach driving and don't play at it as most 4x4 drivers do in the UK. Although forbidden to drive [as a woman] I have done plenty of off-road driving on long distances from the road to beach sites for fabulous inshore diving, which is not seen near Jeddah now, except at the Al Bilas Hotel beach just north of Obhur Creek. I have seen just about everything off that beach.
I have found the area south of Jizan and the northern Farasan Islands to offer the best diving in Saudi and so far they remain almost unexplored.
As a single female in Saudi I did find life problematic at times but there were ways around most problems, even though the solutions were illegal. Also I covered myself with a layer of white in public - it doesn't have to be black!
I hope you return to a different part of Saudi and get an idea of expat life away from the big cities.
Frances A Graham, Dereham, Norfolk

Back to schooldays
I bought my first copy of Diver today in my search for an unbiased magazine and read the article Anchor Down Those Novices! (August). It brought back memories of last summer, when I learnt to dive in Eilat.
I thought Brendan O'Brien addressed the matter of too many pupils diving overweighted well, but not fully. When out there I did hear stories about the other schools and overcrowding/overweighting, though this did not happen to me.
I learnt with Aquasport, which I found helpful, friendly and actually concerned about the learners. I was not overweighted during my Open Water and had my usual 6lb of weight given to me. I had no problem with buoyancy and was fine the whole week I learnt.
Yes, the evidence of over-diving was present, but I found a short trip over to Taba and to the Aquasport branch in the Hilton perfect.
I saw unspoilt reef of great beauty and will never forget my encounters with octopuses, barracuda, triggerfish and baby sharks, to name but a few.
I found the magazine great and so have decided to subscribe to get decent reading all year round.
Jessica Bull, Sanderstead, Surrey

Advanced support
I read the letter from Peter Dalton (Advanced Training Should Be In-Branch, August) with great interest. It was apposite criticism of the BSAC decision of a few years ago, under the old committee, to move Advanced Diver training away from the branch.
Whatever it might say in mitigation, it is now extremely difficult, in my experience, for an average branch to upgrade keen members to Advanced Diver. Our branch is in much the same position as that described by Peter.
I was training officer for more than six years, and though we have a reasonable skillbase, with a number of members having well over 20 years' diving experience each, plus around 12 Advanced Divers and 10 Instructors from Assistant to Advanced, we could only teach and approve some of the skill development courses in-house.
We have had to depend on a small core of enthusiastic experienced members to carry most of the activity. Some of them are beginning to get a bit "tired" (no offence, guys). We need some new blood to activate things.
So I too say to the movers and shakers at BSAC headquarters, we are an amateur organisation and all the better for that. We need a (small) core of professional schools but, in essence, the branches are what the BSAC is all about, and it won't be so if we don't get a lot more Advanced Divers on board soon.
Paul Milner, West Norfolk SAC, Sheringham

Confused about wrecks
I am 54 years old and have only just discovered the underwater world, having been a keen swimmer and boating enthusiast for many years.
I did my PADI training in the UK and completed my Open Water exams in Malta while on holiday. I have done only two dives in the UK since qualifying in June.
However, I have read with interest about the "plunder and salvage" aspect of war graves. I firmly believe that, whatever the wreck, if someone has died on it the policy should be "look but don't touch".
Would anyone dig up a grave of someone known to have been buried with gold or silver? Grave-robbing has gone on in the past but surely we have progressed since then?
Perhaps I'm old-fashioned. I refer to the Barn Hill, No 99 in your series 100 Best Wreck Dives (April, 1999). Five of the 34 crew died, so does this a constitute a "grave"? If so, why say: "Spread wreckage worth rummage"?
During my final Open Water exam I did one of my "tests" on HMS Maori. Coming in sight of this wreck I had a cold, weird feeling, and it wasn't the thermoclines. I would like to dive more wrecks, however, so the experience didn't put me off.
Ernie Stammers, Ilford, Essex

Wreckie unto the end
Like hundreds of other divers, we bought inflatables and went off exploring the seabed. Many boats later, we are still enjoying an adventure which has been predominantly wreck-diving.
All of a sudden, the graduates are moaning that our heritage is at risk. What a load of rubbish! How many boats have they owned? How many unpaid hours have they spent at sea searching for wrecks? Most of the wrecks we dive are merchant losses and the plans can be obtained from builders' records.
You vultures sit on the wall waiting for one of us to find something interesting so that you can turn it into a project to justify your existence.
Isn't it time you left the adventure to those who, through hard work and perseverance, have earned the odd porthole or bell which is of no historical importance, just a sad memory of a bygone age?
We have found scores of wrecks which are not on the chart. We have found and identified wrecks which were supposed to have sunk miles away. The Admiralty is glad to receive such information, rewarding us with free print-outs. Still the bitching continues.
What is a war grave? The Government didn't complain about receiving its share of the gold from HMS Edinburgh, did it?
On a trawler we found, a legbone was poking out of a pile of furnace coal. The poor old stoker must have been crushed. We respected him and left the wreck without tatting it.
You moaning anoraks weren't there, and never will be. I returned to that wreck 10 years later to find it totally different, with the bridge collapsed.
We are a fortunate generation, able to visit the biggest loss of shipping which will ever occur on this planet. How can you ban us from something when you don't even know its location?
Our grandfathers died defending us, and I'm sure they would like to be found and remembered, rather than filed and forgotten. If we find a prize such as a German sub, we have the right to explore it - they were the trespassers and killed our seamen; they have no rights.
So I say we will continue diving the wrecks - just try to police us.
I ask all in favour to stop being so apathetic and voice your opinion.
Pete Fergus, Hull

Monarch under fire
After booking a holiday for two to Kenya, I asked our local travel agent to contact Monarch Airlines to find out the extent of our extra baggage allowance. I was told 5kg. For each person?
"Oh yes," I was assured, "it would not quote that amount for two."
Later, when I asked the agent to try to raise the allowance, I was told that Monarch had decided to stop all extra baggage allowances for sports equipment, but that as we had applied before this decision was made it would honour the original amount of 5kg - between us!
Now we have to leave gear behind or pay the extra. Please keep up the pressure on the airlines, and warn people about Monarch. Keep up the good work.
John Clarke, Sudbury, Suffolk

The wisdom of shopping around
In April I got away to Malta on a last-minute deal. Having qualified as an Open Water Diver the previous November and having only six dives under my belt, I hoped to increase my tally.
Opposite the hotel was a PADI dive school, and amid luxurious marble surroundings I explained to the instructors that I was a novice, with a limit of 18m. "It doesn't matter what depth you want to do, you'll have to dive to what we do," I was told. I left with no intention of returning.
Next day I came on another school, Dive Deep Blue, which was flying both the BSAC and PADI flags. Quite a different environment, but the owner, John, greeted me and we got chatting about my competencies, what I wanted, his history, facilities and what he could offer.
I booked a package because he had listened to me and I felt confident in his hands.
The dives were varied and exciting, John imparted tips and advice and helped build my confidence.
In June I went to St Kitts, and instead of going to the nearest and most convenient school in the area, I settled on one called Kenneth's. Again the standards were high and I opted for and passed my Advanced Open Water course.
No one told me that not all schools are the same, but I would suggest that anyone visit one or two, talk to the instructors, and ask yourself: "Would I trust them with my life"?
Adrian Emberton, Preston

So what's wrong with Doing It Right?
Taking my head out of my bottom to reply to your good scribe Louise Trewavas (The Whiff of Testosterone, August): So you got bent? You got fixed! Why do you have a problem with someone pointing this out to you?
DIR (Doing It Right) divers get skin bends at times. It is referred to as "slobitis" in the USA. If you were diving with us and reported a twinge in your shoulder, we'd get you on O2 at once and strongly recommend a chamber trip if needed.
You have obviously not experienced the snobbish attitude some BSAC members display towards "lesser" associations.
Recently, at Scuba Dive West in County Galway, my club encountered two clubs from the UK. We are affiliated to CMAS, as was the BSAC, so I approached a group of divers from one club and said: "Hello, enjoying the diving? Are you a BSAC or SAA club?"
A "lady" snapped at me: "British Sub-Aqua Club, hmphh!" Both these clubs were BSAC, yet they didn't talk to each other. So maybe getting "jeered" by DIR "macho" types is an improvement on what you are used to.
I'm sure that not all BSAC club-members are personified by the one I met, and I wouldn't generalise about the organisation.
Perhaps you have not met any DIR divers. Alcohol is not banned, smoking is bad for you anyway and mood-altering chemicals - well, Louise, if you want to dive with an acid, coke or dope head, feel free!
I certainly will not. DIR diver George Irvine eats red meat, as in steaks, great big ones, and hot dogs with mustard 'n' onions.
If you like decaf, by all means, but please, Louise, if I ever have the honour of your company I like man's coffee, strong and hot. None of that decaf for me, luv.
Don't knock DIR till you try it. It's not so long ago that the BSAC did not have a safety stop in recreational diving, never mind allow nitrox use, so open your mind to new angles and ideas.
I bet you've never tried a single harness, which is a better fit for women than any "designer" BC, and fits us macho types very well too. Give it a try, Louise, then come back and criticise the system.
Jack Purcell, Dublin

We at the Diving Diseases Research Centre read with interest the reference to us in Louise Trewavas's column in August.
We would be grateful if you would let your readers know that we do not divulge the names of any of our guests but are happy to confirm that we have never treated Louise.
DDRC staff

Putting the knee in
In response to his letter On a Wing and a Prayer (Off-Gassing, August), I find it very hard to believe that as a scuba instructor Martin Cripps, diving with someone he had not dived with before and after doing a thorough buddy check, did not use the very simple manoeuvre of putting his knee under the heel of his buddy's slipping cylinder and undoing and re-doing the cylinder strap.
This would have avoided a very uncomfortable dive for his buddy, who was obviously not a very experienced Advanced Diver.
Martin Smith, Bristol

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Appeared in DIVER - October 2000

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