Sea lions are being trained to detain suspicious divers
Expert Gremlin, a Californian sea lion, showcased his skills at a US Navy demonstration watched by officials at the Nato Underwater Research Centre at La Spezia bay, Italy, in October.
Handlers from the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Centre Pacific (SSC Pacific), based in San Diego, were displaying the super-trained animal’s unique abilities to European Nato staff.
America will now begin using seals at one of their top Naval bases in Washington State to patrol for terrorists as part of a drive launched after the 9/11 attacks.
The super-skilled sea lion showed how one of his tasks was to assist dolphins and Navy divers train for mine sweeping during war.
He swam down to a fake version of the dangerous device and attached a clamp so it could be reeled in by his keepers.
In combat situations, such as during Operation Iraqi Freedom dolphins were enlisted by the US Navy to plant markers that emit radio signals next to submerged mines.
During training for mine sweeping practice, the sea lions are conditioned to recognise various shapes of water mines.
Ann Dakis, a spokesperson for SSC Pacific, said: “In training, sea lions are shown practice mines and from continual practice they learn to recognise what they are looking for.”
The animals can also be fitted with a special harness attached to a lead, which allows trainers to keep track of them while they are hunting for underwater objects.
Cameras can be fitted to the harness giving military staff live video images from under the surface. When they are not helping dolphins and humans train to find explosives, sea lions patrol harbours and try to stop enemy divers trying to sneak into friendly waters undetected.
More spectacular perhaps are the sea lions ability to detain intruder divers whilst underwater.
“We have trained sea lions to attach a leg cuff, just like hand cuffs, but fitted on a diver’s thigh,” said Tom LaPuzza, a spokesperson for the Biosciences Division of SSC Pacific.
“The device works in the same way as handcuffs. Once they are on, they cannot come off.
“A line is attached to the cuffs and the other end is held by security forces on a nearby boat. The human forces can then reel in the intruder and take him or her aboard for questioning.”
Animals are used instead of humans because they are at home in the water and perform best.
US Navy bosses have now chosen to put in place a team of sea lions and dolphins at one of its top coastal bases.
The marine mammals will patrol the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington State, on the American west coast.
A Department of Defence statement said: “The marine mammals would respond to security alerts by finding, identifying, and interdicting intruders.”
“When an intruder is identified, the animal locating the intruder would be provided with marking hardware to localise the intruder and interdiction hardware to enable apprehension of the intruder by security personnel. The Navy marine mammals would also participate in periodic training exercises.”
The US Navy currently have 28 California Sea Lions, 80 Atlantic and Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins and one Beluga whale in service.
The American forces first began training marine mammals in the early 1960s. They were first put to use between 1970-71 during the Vietnam War where they were brought in to protect the US Army ammunition pier in Cam Ranh Bay.
Divers find preserved sunken stern-wheeler
A perfectly preserved stern-wheeler has been discovered on the bottom of Lake Laberge, about 30 miles north of Whitehorse.
The 108-foot A.J. Goddard sank on Oct. 22, 1901 in about 40 feet of water. Two crewmen survived and three drowned.
Doug Davidge of the Yukon Transportation Museum in Whitehorse found the gold rush time capsule during a sonar survey. He has been looking for it on and off since the 1980s.
The Instiute of Nautical Archaeology in Texas announced the find Monday.
“In 1901, a trapper camped on the shores of the lake saw Goddard’s tiny pilothouse, torn off the sinking steamboat, with two survivors, half frozen, clinging to it. He saved them. Three other crew members drowned, their bodies washing ashore to be buried by the Northwest Mounted Police. Diving on A.J. Goddard, it is as if these events happened yesterday,” the institute said in a press release.
There are tongs in the forge on the deck and the framework of the tent the men slept in on the deck remains. There is an axe on the deck, along with a crewman’s coat and shoes. A cook pot was found in the mud next to the ship.
The steamboat was built in San Francisco, taken apart in Skagway and hauled over the mountains to Lake Laberge.
“The discovery has been reported to the Canadian government and the Yukon government, and the winter ice has once again sealed the grave of A.J. Goddard. A return expedition to continue the study of the wreck is planned for 2010, when the team will document the wreck further and probe its interior for further revelations about life on the gold rush frontier,” the institute said.
Courage required for Fiji’s famous limestone cave dive
To get to the inner limestone cave of Sawa-i-Lau, you must dive under a rocky curtain and swim through an underwater tunnel.
When the tide is high, both are under water and in pitch darkness. At less than high tide, the “curtain” is just a few centimetres out of the water.
It’s a dive into the unknown. You need a modicum of courage, as you scrape your head along the rock in the dark beneath the island opposite the village of Nabukeru, in Fiji’s Yasawas chain.
Two colleagues turn back. It’s too cold, they say. And they’re claustrophobic. But it’s only by visiting this inner sanctum, says the Fijian villager waiting for us inside, that you actually arrive at the heart of the Yasawas, the islands created by a dramatic fault that runs into the South Pacific on the north-western fringe of Fiji.
Only when you’ve visited this cave, says the villager, can you say that you have been to the Yasawas.
“This is the spirit of the Yasawa (singular),” says the villager, standing waist deep on a submerged rock.
It’s not completely black in the cave: there’s a vent dropping down on the way in, through the ceiling from the tall, rocky island above. But it’s black enough to make the nervous queasy.
You need a torch inside. The water is clear and, while not cold, it’s crisp, a degree or two cooler than the 26 degrees in the Pacific Ocean, which feeds the caves subterraneously.
The outer cave is a tall atrium. It’s well lit through its southern side, which is open.
The inner sanctum is very different. Most of the 20-metre long space is little more than a low gap between the sea water, at whatever the tide, and the limestone roof.
There is no sign of sea life in here, although the guide inside tells us there are small eels in there, somewhere.
This is our fourth visit to Sawa-i-Lau, but this time there is a big change up here, mirroring changes more broadly affecting the Yasawa, a pristine and geographically remote part of the world.
When we arrive in our runabout after a 45-minute voyage from Tavewa Lagoon to the south, we are greeted by Lucy, dressed brightly in a blue floral uniform, who introduces herself as our hostess.
Lucy herds us on the narrow beach and briefs us on the island and its dangers, such as slippery rocks on the water’s edge, and the low rocky overhang on the stairway down to the caves entrance inside the island. (“Drop your head: Don’t damage the rock,” says the sign at the entrance.)
Risk managers have been here, we think. On earlier visits, we had locals in stubbies and singlets take us into the rock, and that was it.
Their party trick was to clamber up the sheer rock faces inside the outer cave and plummet into the water, scattering the visitors bobbing around below them.
Now Lucy inducts us, like on a building site, then ushers us to the cave guides on the concrete stairs leading up to the caves’ entrance.
Those guides brief us again on the caves and their dangers, before directing us down the stairs to plunge two metres into the outer cave, where the water is around three metres deep.
The guides inside still plunge from great heights inside, to amuse the visitors, but the environment overall is much more controlled, more tightly managed, less spontaneous than it once was. (A gasp echoes around the walls as a reckless backpacker launches from the cave wall right below a local leaping from five metres above him. They land in the water in the same spot. Both surface.)
And they control access to the inner cave, allowing half a dozen at a time through the submerged tunnel. It’s more regimented and, in a litigious age, more professionally managed now.
There are four or five long, open tinnies visiting from the Tavewa lagoon down south, each carrying up to a dozen backpackers.
The journey up to Sawa-i-Lau has been fast and smooth, save for the final reach across a strait to the north of Nacula (Na-thewla), which is bumpy and wet, into a stiff nor’-easter and a heavy chop.
Our helmsman, from Joe’s Water Taxi, takes us directly across the channel into the lee of the northern shore, and along to the caves on the rocky island at the strait’s eastern end.
On the beach, Lucy moves from group to group delivering her welcomes and briefings with her soft, bright Fijian smile.
There are half a dozen women sitting in a line behind rugs spread in front of them offering souvenirs. We feel guilty that we don’t buy anything, but we’ve seen its like before. Most of the souvenirs look as though they’ve been shipped in from down south.
There are many other signs of progress around the Yasawas, an area known for its myriad budget resorts aiming at the backpacker and budget conscious traveller.
Atop Tavewa island, which forms the western boundary of the lagoon that bears its name, there is a telecommunications mast erected a year earlier by Fiji’s new mobile phone operator, Digicel.
The tower sits on the island’s peak, up a hill that is at times so steep that the locals have installed ropes to maintain traction on the hillside.
From the peak, there are panoramic views around the central Yasawa. The only sounds are the constant whoosh of the wind, and the beat-beat-beat of the wind fan which, along with solar cells, provides tower power.
Along with a primary tower on nearby Nacula, the Tavewa tower brings strong and reliable mobile phone reception and internet access to the central Yasawa.
We’re not pleased with this, but the locals are, not least because it makes communication with the outside world reliable.
Many local families have their kids away at school on islands down south, and resorts have offices in Lautoka, on the mainland.
And there are the employment opportunities. Locals were engaged to build the towers, and Api, who manages Otto and Fanny’s with his wife, La, Otto and Fanny’s niece, now has a second job in onsite maintenance for the two Digicel towers.
There are 17 resorts around Tavewa Lagoon, ranging from the up-market Turtle Island, a little to the south, to backpacker establishments such as Sunrise Lagoon, Safe Landing, Coral View, and Oarsman’s Lodge.
More budget-conscious than backpacker, Otto and Fanny’s, on the palm-heavy southern tip of Tavewa, is famous for Aunty Fanny’s afternoon teas (get ice cream with the cake of the day, alternately chocolate and banana).
Most of these cheaper resorts are not known for their food, other than in a negative sense, but Otto and Fanny’s turns that on its head: food is one of its strengths.
Otto and Fanny’s boasts Harry Doughty, Fanny and Otto’s son, a chef who has cooked at the resort for over 10 years. Harry’s food is sensational, particularly at the prices charged.
“Tonight, we are taking you to India,” says La, serving dinner on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it’s baked reef fish.
Unlike some of the other resorts, too, Otto and Fanny’s does not attempt to lock the visitor in to meal packages: you pay for what you eat.
If you don’t have lunch, for example, you don’t pay for it.
In the middle of the market in terms of price, a 1.7km swim across the channel from Otto and Fanny’s, is the stylish Nanuya Island Resort, with a dozen bures and another sensational menu.
There is vigorous competition amongst the Tavewa resorts, some gaining an advantage through a tie up with the provider of transport to the region, Awesome Adventures, which operates the daily Yasawa Flyer, a twin-hulled, high speed ocean-going ferry.
The voyage aboard the Flyer is an experience in itself. The four-and-a-half-hour trip north from Port Denarau snakes through the Mamanucas (Ma-ma-newthas), before crossing to the southern tip of the Yasawas, calling at up to 10 resorts on the way to Tavewa, two-thirds of the way up the chain.
The Flyer drops off and picks up backpackers, mainly, many of them on passes allowing them to visit multiple resorts over a week or so. (When you board the Flyer, head straight to the kiosk to get a roti parcel – curried potato wrapped in fresh naan bread: they run out early. And consider the Captain’s Lounge, which at $F20 one-way or $F30 return offers extra comfort, air-conditioning, and “hospitality”.)
The Yasawa is a beautiful, pristine, remote area. The water is clear and safe, the reef bright, varied and colourful, the air is clean, and a full day of swimming, diving, lolling about on the beach reading, village and cave visiting, leaves one ready to be sung to sleep by the lullaby of the sighing palms.
Divers suspected of stealing artifacts
The remains of hundreds of shipwrecks line the Florida Keys reef tract. Their stories are the history of the Keys.
Some wrecks have been identified, but many have not. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and state archeologist have spent thousands of dollars investigating the wrecks to determine their origin. The remains have become living museums the sanctuary chooses to leave in the waters so divers can enjoy them in their natural state, as opposed to removing them and putting them in a facility on land.
The sanctuary has established a Shipwreck Trail, running from Key West to Key Largo, to showcase the wrecks and educate people on their history and importance.
Sanctuary officials are reminding divers not to take or move anchors, ballast stones and small trinkets found along the reef, as they could be the clues that lead to a wreck being identified.
The reminder comes after sanctuary divers discovered nine Crown patent fuel blocks, a mixture of coals that have been molded into briquettes, stacked on top of each other on a sand patch on Horseshoe Reef off Key Largo in August. Two researchers, who routinely work underwater in that area, observed the newly formed piles of blocks, sanctuary spokeswoman Karrie Carnes said. Sanctuary officials fear someone was trying to take them as souvenirs.
The divers know the blocks could not have been moved by wave action, as they were stacked too perfectly. One pile contained six blocks, with three blocks stacked on top of each other and three additional blocks nearby. Another pile just 10 feet away contained three of the same blocks lying together in the sand.
“While the site may have been impacted by storms and hurricanes over time but nothing except human influence could have created the neat stacks of these artifacts,” said Brenda Altmeier, who works for the sanctuary’s Maritime Heritage Resources Division.
The sanctuary moved the blocks to another area of Horseshoe Reef last month to protect them from further disturbance or theft, Carnes said. They are out of plain sight and protected from surges and other potential environmental impacts.
One of the blocks is on display in the sanctuary’s Upper Keys office.
Sanctuary divers first discovered the blocks and other artifacts on Horseshoe Reef in October 1993. Patent fuel was a means of using small pieces of coal that otherwise would have been wasted. These blocks bear the symbol of the Crown Patent Fuel Works Ltd., formerly of Cardiff, England.
Underwater archeologists suspect the blocks were from the 1894 vessel S.S. Moonstone, Altmeier said. While archeologists have visited the site and collected data to determine its origin, they have not been able to confirm it.
The National Marine Sanctuary Act makes it illegal to disturb a site or recover artifacts without a permit. Movement or disturbance of artifacts could diminish the quantity of potential information that may be obtained from a site, Altmeier said.
“Shipwrecks, as well as the many artifacts located along the Florida Keys, are nonrenewable resources that provide evidence of historical human impacts that have taken place along the Florida Keys for centuries,” Altmeier said. “Removing and/or moving artifacts may cause irreparable damage and potentially inhibit researchers from unlocking questions about past ways of life, historic or legendary events. Each artifact, regardless of its size, can aid in building the story of humankind’s adventure on the sea.”
Keys reefs have seen more than their share of shipwrecks, as captains for generations have struggled to navigate its shallow waters. Each year, archeologists with the State Division of Historical Resources and the sanctuary partner and pick several unidentified wrecks to dive on and collect data from. In the past few years, they have focused their attentions on the remains of three wrecks off Marathon, dubbed only the Rib, Brick and Pin wrecks.
“The wrecks tell us what was going on in transportation, commerce and war,” Division of Historical Resources underwater archeologist Roger Smith said. “These artifacts may seem small and insignificant, but they are a valuable piece of the giant puzzle.”
Diving Sunken Villages in Thailand
Ayesha Cantrell has written an article about diving in Khao Sok which features pristine caves and caverns with the lesser known feature of sunken villages, one of which has a submerged temple.
Ayesha refers to the sunken village we located and dived on earlier in the year, which you can read more about HERE and HERE
In one section Ayesha describes the environment perfectly in saying:
If you live in Thailand, working as a dive instructor, people think that you are constantly on holiday. Not so, and it’s good to get away once in a while, go diving somewhere else for a bit of fun, to see something different and keep island fever at bay.
Khao Sok National Park is as different as you can get from Koh Tao. The park is made up of thick ancient rain forest, calm and peaceful, with beautiful limestone columns towering out of the 165sq km lake that dominates the park. Most people go to trek in the jungle, spot wildlife and absorb the tranquillity, but a lake that large holds too much temptation for avid divers. This is where we go to chill out!
The rest of her article can be found on the DSAT Tec-Rec Blog
If you would like to dive on one of these sunken villages then you can join our monthly expeditions. For more info you can contact us at info@bigbluetech.net
Extreme Diving: Ice Diving in Antarctica
Antarctica conjures up images of lots and lots of snow, ice, glaciers, penguins and very little to see, but one thing you would never imagine doing here is Scuba diving. Well, think again! Even though the freezing temperatures that routinely plunge below -40°C (-40°F) and hurricane-force winds have created extreme conditions which have resulted in a land virtually devoid of life. No insects, no plants, no major terrestrial flora or fauna exist here. Yet, life thrives below the thick ice in the icy waters and McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea has some of the most spectacular diving in the World.
Ice diving at McMurdo SoundMost of the diving in McMurdo takes place during the summer months of September to February (especially December and January) where temperatures are a more bearable around 30°F (−1 °C). Divers break through the 1.3-3m (4-10ft) thick ice using boring tools like a diesel powered auger, ice saws, ice chippers and even high explosives to make a hole about 1.3 m (4ft) in diameter and a portable hut is placed over this. The hut placed over the hole is mostly to keep the hole from freezing over again and it also provides divers a warm place to suit up. With freezing temperatures and winds outside the portable hut exposed Scuba equipment is at risk of becoming inoperable if not careful.
The water below the thick layers of ice remains a near constant temperature of -1.8° C (28.8° F) and once under, divers can experience an unbelievable visibility of 300m (990 ft)! Once a divers eyes adjust to the one percent of sunlight that makes it through the ice, they describe the experience as flying over a darkened landscape of hills, valleys and sheer cliffs and if one were to look up a spectacular glowing blue cover with a moon like crater that is the ice and hole, is their reward.
McMurdo Sound divers encounter colorful examples of sea life, including bright yellow cactus sponges, green globe sponges, starfish, sea urchin, jellyfish, sea anemone and some brilliant soft coral. One can even spot a Emperor Penguins gracefully swimming to find a meal of squid, fish or crustaceans. Needless to say diving at McMurdo Sound requires a high level of skills and proficiency in drysuit diving.
Odyssey Marine Exploration Acquires Stake In Venture To Pursue Exploration Of Deep-Ocean Gold And Copper Deposit
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX), a pioneer in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, has acquired a minority interest in SMM Project LLC, a company funded by a group of investors to bring together the exclusive licenses and skills of world renowned deep-ocean geologist Dr. Timothy McConachy of Bluewater Metals, the deep-ocean survey and exploration expertise of Odyssey, and the offshore coring and mining expertise of Robert Goodden.
SMM Project LLC recently purchased a majority interest in Bluewater Metals Pty Ltd, an Australian company with licenses for mineral exploration of approximately 150,000 square kilometers of ocean floor in four different countries in the South Pacific. The group will focus on the exploration and monetization of gold and copper-rich Seafloor Massive Sulfide (SMS) deposits through a new business entity which will acquire the remaining interest in Bluewater, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding concluded between the parties.
It is anticipated that Odyssey will dedicate certain marine assets, including a ship and related marine exploration technology to the endeavor, and will own approximately 40% of the new entity. In addition, Odyssey is expected to provide proprietary expertise and personnel management to the entity under contract, and will supervise operations to explore for deep-ocean gold, copper and silver deposits in areas covered by exploration permits currently held by Bluewater Metals.
“This is a natural extension for Odyssey and leverages our core competencies in an exciting new deep-ocean field. Deep-ocean SMS exploration and mining is where offshore oil exploration was 50 years ago, and the challenges to date have mostly centered on lack of technical expertise to find and recover these extremely valuable deposits that have high concentrations of gold, copper, silver and other minerals. We have been monitoring this field for years and have finally decided that the time is now right – and we have found the right partners – to make our move,” stated Greg Stemm, Odyssey Chief Executive Officer.
“The Bluewater Metals team has done an outstanding job building relationships with governments and securing exploration permits in some of the most promising areas in the world for deep-ocean mineral deposits. We look forward to working with their team to maximize the revenue potential from high-value mineral deposits on the ocean floor. The opportunities in this arena are a perfect complement to our pioneering shipwreck exploration work. Interestingly, looking for SMS deposits is a lot like looking for barely discernable shipwreck ballast piles, and I don’t think there is a better team in the world for this kind of work than ours, ” continued Stemm.
“We’re excited by the possibilities of this new deep ocean mining venture, but we remain committed to our core shipwreck exploration goals,” said Mark Gordon, President of Odyssey. “Although we plan to dedicate certain marine assets and personnel to this exciting venture, we’ve become highly proficient at mobilizing our technical gear on ships of opportunity and therefore retain our full operational capability for our shipwreck projects. We’re planning a full schedule of shipwreck exploration for 2010.”
“We’re looking forward to exploring our permitted areas with the Odyssey team,” said Dr. Tim McConachy, Co-Founder of Bluewater. “We’ve been successful in securing exploration permits in areas that we believe are likely to feature valuable SMS deposits based on previous expeditions and years of detailed geological research. The next step is conducting the deep-ocean surveys necessary to confirm these deposits. Partnering with Odyssey, a company with proven deep-ocean expertise and capabilities is the best way to ensure our success and with Robert Goodden and his team’s involvement we are confident of successfully proof coring anything we find.”
About SMS Deposits
Seafloor Massive Sulfide (SMS) deposits are naturally occurring deposits which contain high concentrations of gold, copper, zinc, silver and other metals in relatively compact areas. Although possible anywhere new ocean crust is forming, the highest grade deposits have been found at convergent plate margins, especially in the South Pacific. These deposits are formed as cold seawater moves down through cracks in the seafloor and is superheated by the molten magma deep within the crust. The hot hydrothermal fluid rises to the surface, dissolving and leaching metals from the surrounding rock as it rises. When the hydrothermal fluid encounters the cold seawater, the metals and sulphur precipitate and accumulate on the seafloor as a SMS deposit.
About Bluewater Metals Pty Ltd.
Bluewater was co-founded by Dr. Timothy McConachy and Mr. Harvey Cook. Dr. McConachy is widely considered to be one of the world’s most knowledgeable geologists with respect to subsea mineral resources and exploration. He has previously served as Chief Geologist for one of the world’s largest mining companies, Rio Tinto, and as Head of Seabed Ore Systems for CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Mr. Cook is an Australia-based businessman with broad experience in the South West Pacific region.
Since its inception, Bluewater has been granted 46 exploration areas called “tenements” representing approximately 146,311 square kilometers of exclusive mineral exploration rights from the governments of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tonga and non-exclusive mineral exploration rights from Vanuatu.
About Robert Goodden
Robert Goodden, a mining engineer, is an acknowledged expert in deep-sea coring and mineral exploration. He founded Seacore Ltd in 1975 and built the company into a world leader in marine geological and geotechnical drilling. Seacore Ltd was sold to the Fugro Group in 2006. Mr. Goodden personally retained Seacore’s marine mining interests and renamed the division of the company Subsea Minerals Ltd.
Mr. Goodden first became involved in SMS deposits in 2001 when he provided advice and oversight of the first two deep ocean drilling programs for Nautilus Minerals, a current leader in the SMS deposit industry. Since that time, Subsea Minerals has acted as a site consultant and drilling contractor to Nautilus. Goodden has been intimately involved with every commercial SMS core drilling project carried out to date, and together with members of his team, has amassed unique know how in remotely operated deep sea coring.
About Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX) is engaged in the exploration of deep-ocean shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive search and archaeological recovery operations around the world. Odyssey discovered the Civil War-era shipwreck of the SS Republic® in 2003 and recovered over 50,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts from the site nearly 1,700 feet deep. In May 2007, the Company announced the historic deep-ocean treasure recovery of over 500,000 silver and gold coins, weighing 17 tons, from a Colonial era site code-named “Black Swan.” In February 2009, Odyssey announced the discovery of Balchin’s HMS Victory. The Company also has other shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world.
Odyssey offers various ways to share in the excitement of deep-ocean exploration by making shipwreck treasures and artifacts available to collectors, the general public and students through its webstore, exhibits, books, television, merchandise, and educational programs.
Odyssey’s operations are the subject of a Discovery Channel television series titled “Treasure Quest,” which is produced by JWM Productions. The 12-episode first season aired in the US and the UK in early 2009 and is scheduled to air worldwide throughout 2009. Production on a second season is underway.
Following previous successful engagements in New Orleans, Tampa, Detroit, and Oklahoma City, Odyssey’s SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure is currently on exhibit at Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. Additional information is available at www.discoveryplace.org.
For details on the Company’s activities and its commitment to the preservation of maritime heritage please visit www.shipwreck.net.
OMS PROFILE SIDE-MOUNT SYSTEM
In 2010 Big Blue Tech will begin distribution of the OMS Side-Mount System called the OMS ‘PROFILE’. Big Blue Tech saw this system first in February of 2009 while it was being trialled in the caves of Khao Sok National Park by one of it’s developers.
Along with the release of this new system will also be in the introduction of Side Mount courses including cavern, cave and technical diving specific course for the Side Mount popularity.
Side mount systems have been growing but because of problems importing the products to Thailand it has been difficult to get the market leading manufacturers products causing a slow reaction to this growing trend.
The official details can be found on the OMS website;
This system has filled a void and will offer the “at home” and traveling diver freedom from the weight concerns of handling “back mounted” doubles. Side-mount allows individuals with limited physical abilities and lower back issues to enjoy the redundancy of two tanks and two regulators by minimizing the amount of weight on the lower back and lowering the center of gravity for increased stability when entering/exiting the water. Additionally reaching behind your head to shut off or turn on your manifold valve is a thing of the past as both cylinder valves are near your hands. Traveling divers can relax knowing that easily available single tanks are all they need to enjoy redundancy and adequacy of gas supply for any dive around the world.
- Features:
- Allows the diver to utilize most harness and wing systems (with standardized 11 inch O.C. hole spacing)
- Over the shoulder design keeps the wing close to the divers back and allows air to travel freely from divers left to right
- Integral bib adds over 1/8” inch of abrasion protection to the vulnerable top part of the wing
- No changes to the fit of the harness throughout the inflation of the wing from empty to full capacity
- Permits the Rebreather diver to back mount the CCR scrubber and side mount the Oxygen and Diluent cylinders
- Enables the diver to back mount the bottom gas and side mount the decompression gases
- Streamlines the diver allowing access to tight, remote, hard to reach caves and wreck passage ways.
Below are some pictures from the OMS Website about the new product.
OCEAN EXPLORATION ADVANCEMENT
People have plunged into the water for food, valuables and a better understanding of their environment for thousands of years, but even the most skilled divers have their limits — the record for a skin diver is 417 feet (127 meters).
Chafing at those limits, humans have dreamed of underwater vehicles and improved diving apparatus for ages. Plato, Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci all wrote about underwater exploration. In fact, early swimming goggles, made of wood and thin slices of shell, date back to at least 14th-century Persia.
Treasure Spurs Sailors to Sea
Diving for sunken treasure has long been a driving force behind the evolution of underwater exploration. When you think of Spanish galleons transporting fortunes in gold and silver during the 1600s and disappearing beneath the waves for anyone’s taking, it’s easy to see why.
The Spanish Crown and the Dutch East India Company, both major players in 17th- and 18th-century international sea trade, offered rewards and percentages on salvaged riches. To take advantage of these incentives, investors pooled their resources to fund recovery expeditions. Whoever had the best underwater technology had the advantage. Given the rewards involved, inventors were willing to test many new technologies.
The Diving Bell and the Steampunk Robot
Some inventors simply tweaked the diving process. In 1690, Edmond Halley (of Halley’s Comet fame) patented the first diving bell. It allowed divers to work from a see-through, submerged, enclosed hemisphere of air on dives of up to 60 feet (18 meters) without surfacing for 90 minutes. Oxygen piped down from above made this feat possible. Modern bells allow divers to work at depths of 1,000 feet (305 meters).
Other technologies amounted to early submersibles, such as John Lethbridge’s 1715 “diving engine.” The wooden barrel body featured glass eyeholes and leather gauntlets for the diver’s hands. The invention resembled a steampunk robot and allowed a diver to work for 30 minutes at depths of 60 feet.
Under Pressure
All that progress came with a price: Deeper water means greater water pressure. As the pressure on a diver’s body increases, more oxygen and nitrogen dissolve in the bloodstream. If you rapidly ascend to the surface, the nitrogen forms bubbles, blocking tiny blood vessels. This condition is known as the bends, or decompression sickness. It can result in joint pain, ruptured blood vessels in the lung, heart attack, spasms, paralysis and stroke.
The bends remained a common condition for divers up until the early 20th century, when a better understanding of the affliction led to improved protocol. Regardless of medical knowledge and modern technology, compression sickness remains an occupational hazard for underwater explorers.
Waiting for Cousteau
Piping compressed air down to divers proved effective, but it kept underwater explorers tethered to the surface. To overcome this, divers needed to bring their air supply down with them. Centuries of invention and research eventually led to the self-contained underwater-breathing apparatus, or scuba.
In 1943, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan developed the Aqua-Lung. Redesigned from a common automobile regulator, this device provides compressed air to a diver at the slightest inhalation. Modern developers continue to fine-tune this technology, for example, by replacing divers’ oxygen supplies with an enriched blend of oxygen and nitrogen called Nitrox.
Alvin and Zeus
Unlike divers, submersible operators typically don’t have to worry about the bends. Once you move below depths of 1,312 feet (400 meters), diving with pressurized air becomes a moot point. Instead, humans have to bring hospitable air pressure down with them by way of submersibles. The disadvantage, however, is that submersibles require heavy-duty materials to prevent excessive outside pressure from crushing the lower air pressure on the inside.
Today, we’ve not only developed such groundbreaking manned submersibles as Alvin, which can operate at depths of 14,764 feet (4,500 meters) for two hours at a time, but we’ve also developed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
For example, the unmanned Zeus II can explore depths of more than 8,200 feet (2,499 meters). Other work-class ROVs can venture up to 19,685 feet (6,000 meters) below the sea. However, they haven’t eliminated human occupied vehicles yet. Work is under way to develop a new replacement human occupied vehicle that will allow divers to pilot an Alvin-like craft down to depths of 21,326 feet (6,500 meters).
Oil Saves the Day
As always, intense water pressure and low temperatures pose challenges for underwater exploration, but the rise of offshore oil drilling has increased demand for high-performing underwater technology. As technology improves, savvy human explorers are able to explore shipwrecks that have lain beyond our reach for centuries.
TECHNICAL DIVE CONFIGURATION
A good diving equipment configuration should allow for the addition of items necessary to perform a specific dive without interfering with or changing the existing configuration. Diving with the same configuration not only helps solve problems, it prevents them.
Following is a list of equipment as that is of prime consideration:
1. Mask: Low Volume mask reduces drag and requires less effort to clear it of water.
2. Primary Regulator: Quality regulator that will be passed to an out-of-air diver.
3. Short Hose: Should be long enough to breathe comfortably, but not long enough to bow and create drag.
4. Back-Up Regulator: Quality regulator that a diver will use as a reserve either in the event of a failure or in an air-sharing episode.
5. Long Hose: Optional in shallow, open water diving, but mandatory in deeper or overhead diving; the long hose simplifies air sharing. When used, the long hose, along with the primary regulator, should ALWAYS be placed on the diver’s right post.
6. Back-Up Lights: Tucked away to reduce drag but still allow for easy one-hand removal.
7. Goodman Handle Light Head: Allows for hands-free diving while allowing the diver to easily direct the focused light beam.
8. Thermal Suit: Appropriate to keep diver alert and comfortable.
9. Crotch Strap: Allows for custom fit, and supports two D-rings: one works as a scooter attachment point; (divers should not hang equipment here as it would hang too low); and one further up, closer to the back plate, which works for towing additional gear. The crotch strap also holds the BC in position and prevents the BC from floating up away from the body.
10. Hood: Where necessary to keep diver alert and comfortable.
11. Mask Strap: Strong strap that will resist breaking.
12. Necklace: Designed to hold the back-up regulator within easy access.
13. Corrugated Hose: Should be just long enough to allow for ear clearing and potential dry suit inflation while actuating inflator, but not so long that it drags or entangles easily.
14. Power Inflation Hose: Should be long enough for a diver to easily use his/her corrugated hose, but not long enough for it to bow or otherwise create excess drag.
15. D-rings: No more than two on the chest, positioned to reduce the drag of attached items; one hip D-ring to hold the pressure gauge.
16. Pressure Gauge Hose: Custom hose allows a diver to easily read the gauge after unclipping, but does not bow or dangle, thus avoiding excess drag.
17. Pressure Gauge: Quality brass gauge should be easy to read and reliable.
18. Knife: Waist-mounted in front, near the center of the diver’s body, for easy access.
19. Pockets: Hip-mounted to reduce drag.
20. Knobs: Soft knobs (to limit risk of breakage) should be opened completely.
21. Valve: Contingent on environment and diving activity. Dual orifice valves (H or Manifold) are an excellent way to increase safety and redundancy.
22. Burst Disks: Use of double disks prevents accidental burst failure.
23. Buoyancy Compensator: Adjusted based upon needed lift whether one is diving single or double tanks. Buoyancy should be sufficient to float equipment by itself while at the surface.
24. Cylinders: Contingent on environment and diving activity.
25. Harness and Backplate: Designed to hold the diver snugly to their rig while reducing drag and increasing control.
26. Primary Light: Hip-mounted, canister-style light; this is optional in some environments, but valuable in nearly all.
27. Alternate Lift Device: Lift bag, diver alert marker, or surface life raft, for open water diving. Halcyon’s MC system allows for storage in backplate pack for increased streamlining.
28. Overboard Discharge: Also known as a P-Valve; used with a condom catheter by male divers to allow for urination during long dives with a dry suit.
29. Bottom Timer: Wrist mounted to eliminate drag and entanglement.
30. Watch: Wrist-mounted, with a functional stopwatch to allow for timing safety or decompression stops.
31. Compass: Wrist mounted to eliminate drag and entanglement.
32. Fins: These should have no attachment buckles that can break. Replace with a more robust connection.
33. Guideline Reel: Use is contingent on the diving environment; it is usually mounted on the rear crotch strap D-ring for streamlining and to reduce clutter. Spools and other guideline devices are usually kept in the diver’s hip-mounted pocket.
Source: GUE Fundamentals of Better Diving Manual
What is a Rebreather?
A typical Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, or scuba gear for short, usually consists of a tank containing compressed air and a mouthpiece used to regulate the flow of air from the tank into the lungs. But breathing air in this manner is extremely inefficient, especially while considering the applications of this particular apparatus. This is because the air you breathe out still contains a fair amount of oxygen.
Modern scuba gear use rebreathers to filter out the exhaled carbon dioxide gas and gather the oxygen, to recirculate it until it is consumed. By doing so, the underwater breathing process becomes more efficient, allowing professional divers to remain submerged for a longer time.
Basically, a rebreather has three roles. One is to remove the carbon dioxide gas from the exhaled air. This is done by pumping it through a chamber containing sodium hydroxide, which reacts with the carbon dioxide and forms calcium carbonate. Secondly, the rebreather must complement the amount of consumed oxygen with fresh one from the tank. The oxygen tanks may contain either pure oxygen or oxygen mixed with either nitrogen or helium.
Alternatively, the rebreather must control the oxygen concentration inside the breathing loop after the exhaled oxygen is combined with fresh oxygen, for an optimal oxygen delivery sequence.
Types of rebreathers:
Currently, there are three types of rebreather systems commercially available – oxygen rebreathers, semi-closed circuit and closed circuit ones. The oxygen rebreathers make use of pure oxygen tanks as the only source of breathing gas. They are generally disadvantaged by the facts that they cannot be used in decompression depths and may pose oxygen intoxication risks.
Semi-closed circuit rebreathers on the other hand, carry tanks containing oxygen mixed with another gas – nitrogen, helium – and enable divers to surpass decompression depths without any risk of suffering from oxygen intoxication. Closed-circuit rebreathers are a combination between the two, using both pure oxygen and oxygen mixed with various gases.
Besides being highly efficient in making use of the gas carried by a diver, rebreathers are also lighter than any other conventional scuba gear. The normal concentration of oxygen inside the atmospheric air is about 21 percent, while that of nitrogen is 78 percent. Since nitrogen is not as critical as oxygen, almost three quarters of the gas carried in conventional scuba tanks is dead weight. Also, less nitrogen is circulated through the system with the help of rebreathers, thus the effects of decompression are reduced to minimum.
Because they recycle oxygen and carbon dioxide is filtered through sodium hydroxide, very little or no gas is ever pumped into the water to produce the characteristic bubbles.
GAS SWITCHING PROCEDURES
By Peter Steinhoff
Breathing the wrong gas at the wrong depth will kill you
This is a simple procedure yet it can cause big problems for those trying to do it fast and mess
it up. Remember, slow and deliberate is always fast. Also keep in mind that all deco and stage
tanks are turned off when not in use. That prevents us from loosing gas without knowing it
and is also an additional safety step preventing us from breathing the wrong gas.
Common mistakes
These are the most common mistakes for those relatively new to this:
- It’s easy to float up or down while changing regs. The solution is to check the depth
between each step of the procedure.
- It’s easy to get the hoses wrong. Make sure you have a clear mental picture of where
everything goes and what is behind or crosses when you switch.
Switch to stage or deco tank
1. Wait until you reach the switching depth.
2. Hang up you primary light (turned on, pointing down).
3. Choose the proper tank by looking at the MOD label and show it to your buddy who
verifies it with an OK (depth and gas is correct).
4. Grab the second stage with your right hand and route the hose around your neck.
5. Open the valve and purge the second stage.
6. Remove the long hose (with left hand) and put the stage/deco reg in your mouth and breath.
7. Clip the long hose on the right chest D-ring.
8. Unclip your light and signal you buddy that you are ready with an OK.
Switch back to the long hose
1. Hang up you primary light (turned on, pointing down).
2. Unclip the long hose and hold it in your right hand.
3. Remove the reg from your mouth with your left and pull the hose over your head.
4. Put the long hose in your mouth and start breathing.5. Close the valve on the tank you were breathing.
5. Close the valve on the tank you were breathing.
6. Lift the inner tube with your left hand (thumb) and push the hose in there.
7. Pull on the hose and make sure the second stage is secured under the inner tube.
8. Unclip your light.
Switching between multiple tanks
If you need to switch from one stage to another, from a deco tank to another or any
combination, you go to the long hose first. Like this:
1. Switch back to the long hose and stow the tank you are breathing.
2. Move tanks around if it makes things smoother.
3. Switch to the new stage or deco tank.
And you can have the light clipped off until you have completed the whole process.
If you are switching deco gases, let’s say from 50% to Oxygen, you switch to back-gas (long
hose) at 9m/30ft for the last couple of minutes. That gives you time to stow the 50% and
move things around. Then ascend to 6m/20ft and deploy the oxygen. This is the cleanest and
safest way to do it.
Gas breaks
When doing more than 20 minutes on oxygen you have to do a gas break to keep the gas
exchange effective. When you go to breathe the long hose you can stow the reg on the oxygen
tank just by clipping the second stage to one of the bolt snaps or the handle. Anyway you
chose to stow it, you NEVER let regs hang around your neck. Why? Because when something
happens you will not know what you are breathing or even if it is turned on.
Team switching
When you switch deco gases it’s best to do it one at a time, especially if you’re not very
experienced. The chance of something going wrong is always bigger at the gas switches so it’s
a good idea to supervise each other. I have stopped people from breathing oxygen at the
wrong depth or choosing the wrong tank several times. Also it’s easy to get something into the
second stage, like small sticks, sand, clay and if you breathe that you may need some help to
recover. By the way that’s why you need to purge the second stage before breathing it. But we
all make mistakes, right?
Stage diving
When you are using stages in the ocean you often suck them dry or almost dry. Then you
switch to the back-gas (unless you have several stages which is uncommon). If you want to,
you can signal your buddies, show them the switch sign and everybody can do the switch.
Nice if you have similar gas consumption since everybody’s stages should be getting close to
empty. If you are experienced you can switch on the fly though.
How Cave Diving Works
Since cave diving is different from other recreational diving activities, many of the techniques people use are also much different. Divers are taught to swim in a prone, or face down, position, with the knees bent and the fins elevated above the plane of the body. This is mainly a precaution against kicking the bottom of a cave and stirring up sediment, but it also offers a good streamline and creates little resistance to the water.
Cave divers move about a cave by using a simple technique called “pull and glide” — using the tips of their fingers, divers look for crevices in rock for a place to hook onto. The rock is usually something hard and porous like limestone, so it should have lots of pockets and places to grab. After grabbing hold, divers pull and release, gliding through the cave with relative ease.
Cave divers learn how to use mostly their feet for directional changes along with short flutter kicks, and, in the case of solid limestone, some can push off a cave ceiling with their feet to propel themselves along.
Divers can also take along battery-powered diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs) to make swimming easier. Although there are many different types, tow-behind DPVs are the most common, which pull divers through caves. DVPs help divers use less oxygen since they’re not exerting themselves as much, and they can significantly increase the length of a dive.
Because there is little to no visibility in caves and cave divers must use their own source of light, guidelines must be placed to ensure people can find their way back to a cave’s entrance.
Most caves already have guidelines in place from past explorers — these are called “gold lines” because of their yellowish color. They consist of braided nylon string and are usually a bit smaller in diameter than regular rope at about an eighth of an inch. These are placed throughout the main tunnels of a cave. Labyrinthine caves also have smaller side tunnels, and these are provided with smaller, white lines. They don’t contact the main line; instead, they usually end within 5 to 10 feet of the main line.
The main line of a cave does not extend to the exit — this prevents open-water divers or untrained or uncertified people from viewing it as an invitation to enter the cave. Therefore, a main guideline typically starts 50 to 100 feet inside a cave.
Still, it’s a cave diver’s responsibility to run a temporary line, or entry line, along a reel from the outside of the cave in order to maintain a continuous guideline from open-water to the main line. This provides direct access to a cave’s exit. To make an entry line, divers make an initial tie-off to something sturdy, like a big rock. A secondary tie-off is also made in case the first one comes loose. The diver must be able to swim along the line with his hand around it, making an “OK” sign, and with his eyes closed make his way out of the cave. The line shouldn’t be run near obstructions in order to avoid snags and keep out of the way of other divers.
Dorf markers, or small, plastic directional arrows, can be tied to lines. These point toward exits, just in case a diver becomes disoriented. Clips, markers that resemble clothespins, are also used at points for notation reasons, including max penetration (the furthest point reached inside the cave) and points of interest for other divers.
The average cave dive will last in excess of one hour, but some can last for as long as 15 hours if the right equipment and gas supply is available. Divers generally use what’s called the “rule of thirds” — when one third of a diver’s air supply is gone, he will stop the dive and begin moving toward the cave’s entrance.
Cameron’s Titanic Was ‘Made To Fund Shipwreck Dive’
Moviemaker JAMES CAMERON has revealed the biggest film of all time was only made to fund a deep-sea mission to the real Titanic.
The director admits he had no intention of making an epic when he set out to film Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1997 movie – he just wanted to make enough money to go on a dream dive.
He tells Playboy magazine, “I made Titanic because I wanted to dive to the shipwreck, not because I particularly wanted to make the movie.
“The Titanic was the Mount Everest of shipwrecks, and, as a diver, I wanted to do it right.
“When I learned some other guys had dived to the Titanic to make an IMAX (jumbo-screen) movie, I said. ‘I’ll make a Hollywood movie to pay for an expedition to do the same thing.’
“Titanic was about ‘f**k you money’. It came along at a point in my life when I said, ‘I can make movies until I’m 80, but I can’t do expedition stuff when I’m 80.’”
WRECK DIVING
Hidden dangers:
A shipwreck is often the only thing standing up from a flat seabed plain. Consequently, it becomes a magnet for all kinds of fish, shellfish and other marine life. Big conger eels live in most shipwrecks. Lobsters call them home. So do big crabs. And huge shoals of pouting and pollack are always to be found circling around.However, there are serious dangers that must be watched. There is little danger from sealife as big congers will not attack you, nor will big lobster or crab unless you put your hand in their claws.
The real dangers are the depth and the time spent underwater which must never be forgotten. Decompression sickness – the “bends” – is always waiting to strike divers who break the rules and make fast ascents from deep wrecks. The British Sub-Aqua Club has always recommended 50 metres as the sensible limit for experienced amateurs diving using compressed air. Wreck divers should stick to that limit, even though modern gas mixtures appear more tolerant than compressed air. They should be wary too of their depth when exploring the ship. The inside may be much deeper than the outside if the ship has sunk into a soft seabed.
Wreck diving is not for the inexperienced and has it’s own special dangers. Like all amateur diving, it is never carried out alone. There is the risk of running low on air due to becoming absorbed in exploring the wreck, or getting entangled in a fishing net (sometimes many nets are draped over one ship). The wreck diver is bound to consider exploring inside the wreck if a suitable hole or entrance is found. However wreck penetration is the most dangerous part of this kind of diving.
Even swimming under a piece of wreckage is dangerous. Hanging wreckage may be so unstable that it will fall because of the disturbance which is caused by the diver’s exhaust bubbles or fin movements. One diver on a wreck recently was trapped by a steel door falling on him and pinning him to the seabed. He was saved by the prompt action of his buddy diver.
Forbidden wrecks:
A number of divers have died trapped in wrecks. Silting of a wreck takes place very quickly after her sinking. This makes it very dangerous to enter a wreck without some foolproof method of return to a clear exit point. One such method is a lifeline. A few fin strokes inside a wreck are enough to turn visibility into absolute zero. In that black cloud, even the powerful torches which every wreck diver carries, could not show them a way out to the open sea. Wreck penetration is not a spur of the moment thing. It has to be carefully planned in the same way as cave diving.
There are certain wrecks that are protected by law. These are wrecks of historic importance and “War Graves”. Forty-eight wrecks dating from a Bronze Age galley to a submarine of 1880 are designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act of 1973 and all diving on them is banned without special permission. A classic example of this kind of wreck is Henry VIII’s flagship Mary Rose, sunk in 1545. After being found by amateur divers, she was protected until raised and put on show at Portsmouth. It is also possible to see some protected wrecks through the Nautical Archaeology Society.
The Military Remains Act of 1986 puts other restrictions on some wrecks of ships and aircraft “known to contain remains of service personnel”. Though divers may visit these “war graves”, it is only on a look-but-no-touch basis. Divers may not enter such wrecks, disturb them or remove any artifacts.
Wreck divers like to collect souvenirs from wrecks but every item recovered from a wreck must be reported to the Receiver of Wreck at the Coastguard Agency in Southampton. In the case of a small fairly modern item, such as a porthole, the diver is usually allowed to keep it. Other more valuable items are held by the Receiver for a year and a day and, if not claimed by their owner during that time, become the property of the Crown. They then may be auctioned. In such a case the diver is entitled to a salvage award from the proceeds.
CAVE DIVING: The Ins and Outs of HID lighting
by Marius Clore
Equipment and Technology Chair, NACD
Cave diving is critically dependent on lighting, hence the absolute minimum requirement of one primary light and two backup lights. The primary light must be sufficiently powerful both to signal appropriately and to view the cave, while the backup lights, which must be very reliable, need be only sufficient to follow the guideline out of the cave.
The advent of HID lighting has led to considerable improvements in both the quality of light and burn time over the older halogen lights. HID stands for High Intensity Discharge, and HID bulbs consist of two electrodes a short distance apart in a gas-filled chamber. A high voltage (low current) pulse across the electrodes creates an initial spark that results in the formation of a small plasma arc which produces a very broad band of high intensity light extending from the infrared to the ultraviolet.
In this brief article, I will summarize the basic features of HID lights, and compare HID lights in the 18/21W range from a number of manufacturers, including Salvo, Halcyon, Dive Rite and Sartek (see Table for summary of features and specifications).
In terms of components, an analogy between a HID light and a tank and regulator is useful. Every HID light comprises a battery canister, a battery, a ballast and a light head which are analogous to the tank, air supply, regulator 1st stage and regulator second stage, respectively. It is also worth considering that HID light usage should be considered in the same vein as air usage. Just as one turns a dive on 1/3rds, one should never plan a dive where the total possible duration of the dive is going to exceed half the burn time. Moreover, one should be conservative in this estimate since, in contrast to one’s air supply where one has a direct read out of remaining air pressure, it is impossible to know exactly what the total burn time is going to be, since this is obviously dependent on how well the battery has been charged (see below).
Given that HID lights are built from standard components, the variations in design are rather limited, and consequently, the choice of light is to a large extent a personal one based on preferences relating, for example, to the size of the canister, the packaging of the light head and the materials employed.
The canister. The canister should be robust and water tight. Salvo and Halcyon use Delrin, Dive Rite uses PVC and Sartek uses acrylic. Delrin is a more reliable material under extreme conditions, is not susceptible to cracking when dropped, and doesn’t become brittle in extreme cold. This may be important when diving in the Arctic, but under the environmental conditions found in Florida and Mexico, there is little to distinguish between the three materials. The dimensions of the canister are governed by the choice of battery pack configuration. The dimensions of the Salvo and Halcyon 9 Ah canisters are identical, while Dive Rites’ is wider, and Sartek’s is both wider and shorter. Indeed, the dimensions of Dive Rite’s wreck canister is the same length as the Salvo and Halcyon’s 13 Ah canister and only minimally narrower (3.5″ versus 3.75″).
The batteries. Modern HID lights are generally powered by nickel metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries. NiMH batteries provide the same energy (measured in Wh) as lead acetate batteries in a much smaller package (about half the weight and size for equivalent power capacity), they have a relatively long life with no cell memory, and withstand high charge/discharge currents. Generally, the nominal voltage of the pack is 12V and the total energy is given by the capacity in Ah times the nominal voltage. Thus a 9Ah 12V battery pack has a total energy of 108 Wh. If the ballast consumes 24 W (for an output of 18 W dues to losses), the total burn time can be estimated at 4.5 hours. However, the capacity of NiMH batteries is usually 10% lower than the rated capacity, yielding an actual burn time of about 4 hours. A 9 Ah pack can be built from either twenty 4.5 Ah 4/3 Fat A batteries comprising two strings in parallel, each comprising 10 batteries in series which easily fits into a 2.75″x10.5″ canister, as in the case of the Salvo and Halcyon lights. Alternatively, a more reliable pack in terms of obtaining a full charge (see below) can be built from a string of ten 12V, 9Ah D batteries in series, but the dimensions of this pack are quite a bit larger and can therefore only fit in either the 13.5 Ah Salvo and Halcyon canisters (3.75 x 10.75″).
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New inflatable boat designed to submerge and operate underwater.
Gloucestershire based Severn (7) Shipbuilders has designed and developed an innovative rigid inflatable boat that is able to submerge and operate underwater.
Inflatable boat designed as underwater vehicleThe primary use of this form of vessel is for carrying maintenance workers and their equipment to undertake underwater repairs and routine maintenance of underwater structures, such as oil rigs, production platforms and bridge supporting structures.
The primarily operating profile would have the vessels launched from a surface maintenance vessel, where they will quickly travel on the surface to near the designated working area, and then completely submerge to operating depth using electric motors for propulsion and manoeuvring.
The outer tubes will normally be open, and can be closed with simple valves and vents. Contained within these tubes will be an inflatable inner tube that will only be inflated underwater to provide positive buoyancy for re-surfacing. An underneath compartment will contain the main fuel tank and powerful lightweight batteries. This will be capable of being flooded to assist submerging and to maintain stability underwater.
The crew will all be wearing scuba and breathing equipment, and will also be carrying the necessary tools and equipment necessary for the task in hand. All crew will be trained as helmsmen, and will be able to carry out any function in the use of the vessels at all stages of its operational profile.
Means of exit and egress: The vessel is designed to allow the occupants to easily enter and exit through the open canopy roof and is constructed entirely from marine grade aluminium, with standard transverse and longitudinal framing
Author:
Justin Cunningham
Technical Diving In The Similan Islands
As part of the Indian Ocean, south of Myanmar is the Andaman Sea; with an average depth of 870 metres; covering an area of 797,700 square kilometres. Within this water body, south of Thailand, lie The Similan Islands, off the coast of Phang Nga Province. Established in 1982 as an archipelago national park, The Similan Islands consist of nine islands, which are Ko Bon, Ko Bayu, Ko Similan, Ko Payu, Ko Miang (two adjoining islands), Ko Payan, Ko Payang, and Ko Huyong. Recently, the park was expanded to include two remote islands, which are Ko Bon and Ko Tachai. “Similan” is a Yawi (dialect of the Malay language) word, which means “nine”.
Big Blue Tech. recently conducted technical diving on the prestigious Big Blue live-aboard, the MV Pawara, which cruises along the national park providing first class diving opportunities. Mike Borneo, who previously completed his TDI Extended Range course with Big Blue Tech. in Koh Tao, joined facilities manager Christos Kardana on the west coast to board the prestigious vessel, conducting technical diving over a four-day period, utilising various gas blends to explore the regions many sites, made easy with the ship’s on board nitrox blending and O2 system.
The MV Pawara boasts many luxuries, including: spacious dive platform accommodating with comfort up to twenty kitted-up divers, on-board computer with software for dive planning and photography download, entertainment lounge, air- conditioned cabins, sun deck, briefing area and four buffet style meals a day, as well as fruit, snacks and beverages provided daily. With a relaxed and comfortable set up, much free time is available between dives; allowing for marine life identification, course theory completion and of course catching some rays…
Mike utilised his time completing his TDI Nitrox Gas Blending course, gaining practical experience filling our technical dive cylinders with the required blend for our planned dive in question.
Below are some pictures from the trip (photographs taken by Christos Kardana).
If you are interested in any of our live-aboard trips, courses and / or expeditions, please do not hesitate to conduct us at: info@bigbluetech.net
RARE PHOTOS: Giant Squid Eaten by Sperm Whale
October 29, 2009–Carrying the remains of a roughly 30-foot (9-meter) giant squid in her jaws, a female sperm whale, with a calf at her side, swims near the surface off Japan’s Bonin Islands (map)in the northwestern Pacific. Taken on October 15, this and other “absolutely sensational” new pictures offer rare proof of the sperm whale’s taste for giant squid, said giant squid expert Steve O’Shea of the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.
The pictures may also reveal that adult sperm whales, which grow up to 59 feet (18 meters) long, use pieces of their prizes to teach youngsters how to catch their own, O’Shea told National Geographic News.
The group of five adults and one calf kept diving deep in unison, photographer Tony Wu told the Daily Mail. “It seemed as if the adult whales were trying to teach the baby to dive and also to eat squid,” he said.
Dave Hansford
— Photograph by Tony Wu, Barcroft/Fame Pictures
Sidemount: The New Revolution in Tech Diving Equipment.
Sidemounting traces its roots to the UK, where cavers would strap small air bottles to their thighs, enabling them to traverse sumps — short, water-filled passageways that connected air-filled chambers, often far into a cave. Cave divers in the USA began adopting sidemount in the early 1980s, as a means of passing through bedding planes — cave passages that can be several feet wide, but only a few inches high.
Among the earliest adopters of sidemount in the USA were Wes Skiles and Woody Jasper, who recognized sidemount as the best way to explore cave systems such as Cow Spring and Jug Hole. (You can read more about the early exploration of Cow Spring on the NSS-CDS website.)
The rigs created by these early cave explorers differed from those employed by their British counterparts in that the cylinders used were substantially larger, and the divers wore them under their arms for better balance and body position. Still, until the mid-1990s, any sidemount rig you saw was going to be homemade.
Things started to change in 1995, with the introduction of the Dive Rite Transpac. Shortly after its introduction, Dive Rite’s Lamar Hires began offering a variety of hardware solutions designed to help users adapt their Transpacs for sidemounting. Still, in many respects, these solutions were only slightly removed from their homemade predecessors.
The real sidemount revolution began ten years later, with the introduction of the Dive Rite Nomad, a ready-made, out-of-the-box harness designed specifically for sidemounting. Simply stated, the Nomad changed everything.
Prior to the Nomad, sidemounting was seen as solely for cave diving, and solely for those few cave divers who “pushed” the tightest of passageways. With the Nomad, sidemounting became mainstream — something that any cave or technical diver could adapt to, and something with benefits that went far beyond cave diving.
* With the diving population’s aging comes a realization that prancing around in heavy, backmounted doubles may not be the healthiest thing past your 50th birthday. When the possibility of back, neck, knee and ankle injuries increases, it’s time to look for alternatives.
* Sidemount divers don’t have to wear their tanks to the water. You can carry cylinders to the water’s edge, one at a time — or roll them there on a standard hand truck.
* Sidemount provides true redundancy, free from the worries associated with catastrophic manifold failure.
* Without the manifold constantly hitting you in the back of the head, you can actually look up and see what is going on in front of you.
* For traveling technical divers, sidemount means they no longer have to be hampered by the lack of manifolded doubles at their destination. As long as there are single 80s available, tech diving is possible.
* Harnesses like the Nomad also offer an excellent solution for rebreather divers. Technical rebreather diving requires that users carry one or more open-circuit bailout bottles. By mounting their rebreather on a harness like the Nomad, rebreather divers have a means to carry those bottles in a way that is both streamlined and efficient.
No good deed goes unpunished. As validation of its concept, Dive Rite now finds competing sidemount harnesses made by Golem, OMS, OxyCheq and others. On the flip side, sidemounting has been recognized as a an alternative tech and recreational configuration by agencies ranging from the NSS-CDS to PADI.
PADI course director Jeff Loflin now offers a PADI distinctive Specialty Diver course for recreational sidemount diving, along with a corresponding distinctive specialty for instructors.
Despite its growing popularity, sidemounting is not a panacea.
* You most likely don’t want to jump off a dive boat with high freeboard wearing sidemount — nor do you want to have to worry about getting back on board. (Sidemount may, however, be the better solution for diving from inflatables.)
* When diving in places like the caves of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, backmount is better suited for passing through the narrow openings between stalactites and columns.
Still, interest in sidemount is growing, by recreational and technical divers alike. In fact, there is a joke circulating in cave country about the veteran diver who shows up to dive with a much younger buddy. Looking over this elder’s highly Hogarthian doubles set up, the younger sidemounter remarks, “DIR? That’s so 90s…”
‘Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King’: a life in and about the ocean
By John Hartl
“I loved touching water. Physically. Sensually. Water fascinated me.”
Trying to describe an early memory, of diving into a silty lake and opening his eyes under water for the first time, Jacques Cousteau was instinctively eloquent on the beginnings of a lifelong obsession.
“He was not at all frightened,” adds his Vashon Island-based biographer, Brad Matsen. “The water soothed him and banished all fear.”
Perhaps it was this trauma-less, literally eye-filling underwater experience that led to so many brave confrontations with death, so many narrow escapes, so many advances in the technology of underwater exploration.
When he died on June 25, 1997, Cousteau owned one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. Oscar-winning filmmaker, environmental activist, French resistance fighter and scuba diver extraordinaire, he seemed to jam many lifetimes into one very busy and public one.
Yet, as Matsen deftly demonstrates, we hardly knew him. For all his fame, Cousteau, who had an official wife and two sons, successfully led a secret life that included a mistress and two children. Only after the first wife died would he reveal that he’d had a second family for two decades.
During his later years, Cousteau continued to accept awards, create landmark movies and make speeches for his beloved Cousteau Society. But, as Matsen so wryly puts it, “he saw few people outside his immediate families.” Even then, Cousteau could be snippy. When his older son, Philippe, announced that he would marry an American, Jacques and his wife, Simone, refused to attend the wedding.
The black sheep in the Cousteau history was his older brother, Pierre-Antoine, an anti-Semitic journalist who became a Nazi collaborator. Around the same time, Jacques was spying for the other side, earning the French Legion of Honor for his work.
Possibly the strangest event in their relationship was a 1942 screening of Jacques’ early movie, “Sixty Feet Down,” for an audience of German officers and Vichy politicians in occupied Paris. Pierre-Antoine arranged the screening and a reception. After the war, he was nearly shot for following Nazi orders. Also after the war, Jacques’ follow-up film, “Epaves,” won a special prize at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946. One decade later, he would return to take the top Cannes prize for “The Silent World,” which later won a documentary Oscar. In 1965, he would win another Academy Award for “World Without Sun.”
Matsen describes Cousteau’s Oscar winners as huge box-office successes, yet neither led immediately to other films. Cousteau was forced to go into television — where he had his greatest success, collaborating with David Wolper, PBS and eventually Ted Turner. Each of these relationships led to problems too, partly because Cousteau’s ratings winners (sharks, sunken treasures) were often followed by pessimistic programs about lead poisoning, nuclear waste and Japanese fishermen slaughtering dolphins. By the end of his life, he no longer believed that the planet was salvageable.
Monster great white shark caught in South Africa not yet fully grown
* 4.3m great white caught off South Africa
* Scientists say it was not fully grown
* Was already 700kg when caught in nets
FISHERMEN are asking if this is the massive great white shark that has been stealing their catch, breaching repeatedly within metres of one terrified man’s surf ski.
These photographs of the 4.3m monster have been circulating on the internet, but reports from the South African fishing town of Mossel Bay confirm they are no hoax.
Frighteningly, scientists who dissected the female shark say it was adolescent and not yet fully grown, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Still, it had already grown to a weight of around 700kg when it was caught in shark nets off a popular swimming beach on August 31.
Conservation authorities tried to save the disoriented creature by towing it out to sea but it swam back, became entangled again and died.
South African newspaper The Witness quotes a local fisherman who believed it may have been the same shark that breached near his surf ski and stole a barracuda he had been reeling in.
However, scientists said that was unlikely as sharks seldom stay in the same area for long.
They also said it was not the biggest shark ever caught in the area.
A 4.7m great white weighing 1.1 tonnes was caught off nearby Richards Bay in 2002.
GUE Project: Discovering China
Two separate GUE scouting missions to Chinese caves in 2008 provide an opportunity to organize equipment, scout diving locations and develop community relationships. Unfortunately a November project is met with terrible diving conditions as heavy rains leave the caves undiveable. However, dry conditions eventually prevail and a GUE exploration team travels to China in February, 2009 to begin a detailed review of the region. The GUE team includes: Jarrod Jablonski, Casey McKinlay, David Rhea, Mark Garland, Gideon Liew and Andrew Cronan. The team is joined by David Deng from China and will focus upon outlining the complexity of the local caves in an attempt to outline realistic goals as well as necessary resources in the exploration of China’s massive cave systems.
Chinese government support, preliminary GUE success and a developing appreciation for the enormity of China’s massive cave systems encourage GUE to assemble a base of operations and a sustained series of GUE exploration projects. In addition to the unique potential for exploration, China is an ideal place to expand development of GUE Project Baseline. This conservation initiative calls for the development of local communities designed to support the long-term conservation of sensitive aquatic resources. The GUE team finds difficult conditions as they began documenting a complex series of massive chambers and remarkable dry caves. Preparations are underway for more extensive exploration in December, 2009 with a range of exciting developments detailed in an upcoming issue of Quest magazine.
Complex Cave Diving Navigation
Complex navigation in the cave environment is critically important. Taught at the Apprentice Cave Diver level, it is further refined at the full Cave Diver level. At the Cavern and Basic/Intro Cave Diver levels we discourage complex navigation and train divers to stay on the main line. No jumps, no circuits, and no traverses. Cave diving fatalities have occurred when team members mismanaged complex navigation and lost their reference to the direction of the exit.
Skill Review
In the last couple of issues of the Underwater Speleology I have reviewed “How to” scenarios: How to relocate a lost buddy and how to relocate a lost guideline. I encourage you to re-read those articles with special attention paid to the primary sources of trouble: lack of awareness in the cave, failure to use a continuous guideline, and the direct link between increased task loading and decreased awareness.
The modular programs in cave training take advantage of compartmentalizing chunks of training and, by design, save complex navigation for the latter half of training. The reasoning for this is that the task loading cave students undergo at the cavern and basic cave levels (things such as how to properly deploy a reel, buddy awareness, line awareness, overall situational awareness, and dive technique) should be mastered and in muscle memory before more complex dive plans are made and students begin using one third of their gas supply for penetration.
Plan Your Dive
Once a dive plan is made that includes jumping off of the mainline onto another line, the following procedures help the team stay focused on the task of more complex navigation and helps prevent them from “going the wrong way” during their exit.
Divers should always run a reel to the main line and for all jumps. Proper directional markings are essential for safely navigating to the exit. Relying upon memory or someone else is not the safe way to do this. In low or no visibility we realize that it is very easy to become disoriented and go the wrong way.
Dive Your Plan
Once in the cave at the agreed-upon jumps, one teammate designated to install the jump reel should locate the line they are jumping to. He/she should deploy the jump reel, tying in to the other line, to make a continuous guideline back to the exit. The other teammates should wait on the mainline providing light for the teammate deploying the reel, as well as verifying that the jump is done correctly.
Most popular jumps have double line arrows indicating both that a jump exists in the vicinity and indicates the nearest exit direction. If there are no arrows on your jump, place one that can be identified as yours by sight and touch once you return to that line/jump point. Once the designated teammate installs the jump reel he or she will OK the other teammates with his or her light and only then do the other teammates cross to the new line. Once crossed the teammates should inspect the tie off also inspect the reel to ensure they can identify it as their team’s reel once they return. Reels should also be prepared in such a way that they can be identified by touch.
The team is then safe to continue into the cave until someone turns the dive and the team begins its exit. At this point the team’s approach to safely navigating out of the cave is critical, partially dependent upon how the jump line was initially installed and marked.
Safe Exit
After the team turns the dive and once the team reaches the point where the jump was made all teammates, except the team member running the reel, cross to the other line and wait for the reel person on the exit side of the jump. This helps set up the proper exit direction and the proper team order is not changed.
The person responsible for pulling the jump reel should wait at the reel and ensure his/her teammates have each made the jump and are waiting on the exit side before untying the reel from the line. Once all teammates are on the exit side the team member managing the reel can remove it.
Low- or No-Vis Exit
This method is relatively simple and works very well in good visibility. If the team is exiting in low or no visibility the reel(s) should just be left in place. These procedures help ensure that each teammate is thinking about the navigation and is not just following another teammate. Each cave diver is verifying and validating this phase of the dive, as they must also be doing during all phases and transitions during the dive. — Text by Jim Wyatt (photo by Jill Heinreth)
