DIVING NEWS
Gulf Air tips scale towards divers
Good news for heavily laden scuba divers heading east – Gulf Air has added them to its list of passengers entitled to concessionary baggage allowances, with up to 15kg of dive-gear permitted above the standard allowance. Read more...
Diver dies during Storm Ciara
A scuba diver died south of Oban in the west of Scotland on Sunday morning (9 February) - while surface-swimming from shore to a dive-site during Storm Ciara. Read more...
French sub wreck dived at 2.3km
Two 2.3km-deep Mediterranean submersible dives have been carried out to examine the wreck of S647 La Minerve. All 52 of the French Navy submarine's crew were lost when she sank in 1968, and the dives were to examine the wreck before laying a commemorative plaque. Read more...
Top October dates for 30th NEC Dive Show
With NEC Birmingham in greater demand than ever from organisers wanting the very best profile for their events, the Dive Show is delighted to have secured prime dates of 24/25 October for its 30th anniversary NEC weekend. Read more...
Six seahorses create rising star
This extraordinary photograph of six baby seahorses was not the Best In Show in the latest Ocean Art competition but it came very close – topping the Novice Macro category and winning Julie Casey the title of Rising Star Photographer. Read more...
Speccy cuttlefish visit 3D cinema
Scientists keen to learn how cuttlefish are able to see in 3D have fitted them with stereoscopic red and blue spectacles - and found that, while their eyes might be very different from those of humans, their way of seeing is not so different. Read more...
Lundy clipper wreck becomes monument
A rare clipper shipwreck, the South Australian, has been designated as a Scheduled Monument on the 2019 National Heritage List for England. Read more...
Now ocean robots fly solo
The first known instance of an underwater robot taking a sedimentary sample autonomously has occurred on Kolumbo, an active volcano 500m deep off the Greek Aegean island of Santorini. Read more...
Ease into ghostnet diving
Scuba divers keen to get involved in underwater operations to remove ghost-fishing gear in the UK have been invited to a wintertime get-together to find out more. Read more...
Dive instructor ‘unaware of COTS danger’
A New Zealand diving instructor is suing his ex-employer, Great Barrier Reef dive operator Tusa Dive, for more than Aus $1.6m (about £830,000). He claims that crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) stings caused him to lose most of the use of his right hand. Read more...
Shark kills scuba diver in Australia
It’s unusual for a scuba diver to be attacked by a shark, but an Australian man was killed by what was believed to be a great white off Western Australia’s southern coast on 5 January. Read more...
Cave-diver dies in Cumbria
A cave-diver in his 60s has died while exploring part of the Three Counties System in Cumbria. The man’s body was recovered from access-point Lancaster Hole by a team of volunteers in the early hours of Sunday (5 January). Read more...
Colour-changing allows brittlestars to see
Brittlestars have no eyes but one species has been shown for the first time to be able to see - thanks to its ability to change colour from day to night. It is only the second-known example of vision in any eyeless animal. Read more...
Palau enforces chemical sunscreen ban
The Pacific scuba-diving destination of Palau has become the world’s first nation to protect its coral reefs from damaging chemical sunscreens, as a ban on their manufacture, importation or sale came into force on New Year’s Day. Read more...
PADI kicks off 2020 with Torchbearers plan
There can be no better time to launch an ambitious underwater-world project than the start of a new year and a new decade - and PADI president and CEO Drew Richardson has done just that. Read more...
Portland diver fined
A Bournemouth scuba instructor has been fined for diving in a part of Portland Harbour that's controlled because of shipping operations. Read more...
Receiver of Wreck rewarded
An official who became well-known to British wreck-divers has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to salvage and underwater heritage over the past 12 years. Read more...
Malapascua in eye of the storm
Popular diving islands Malapascua and Boracay are among parts of the central Philippines to have been affected by Typhoon Ursula, although there are no indications of loss of life at either location. Read more...
Divers dig up possible conquistador anchors
Underwater archaeologists have discovered two iron anchors in the Gulf of Mexico and believe they might have come from ships of Spain’s 16th-century invasion force. Read more...
Rare sail/steam wrecks listed
Two mid-19th-century shipwrecks featuring “hybrid technology” have been designated as Scheduled Monuments on the 2019 National Heritage List for England. Read more...
Season’s Greetings!
Season's Greetings to all our Divernet readers! Read more...
‘Keep calm’: diver’s recipe for survival
A scuba diver has undergone a three-hour ordeal after being separated from his boat in the turbulent waters of the Cook Strait between the North and South islands of New Zealand. Read more...
Liveaboard hits Raja Ampat reef
The liveaboard Aqua Blu is reported to have run onto coral reef on a seamount off Wayag Island in Raja Ampat while carrying guests on 18 December. Read more...
British cave-diver dies in Thailand
A British scuba diver living in Thailand is reported to have died on an inland cave-dive in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat. Read more...
Costly plan to restore Florida reefs
Plans to raise almost US $100 million to restore seven coral-reef sites, proposed by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, are claimed to represent one of the biggest coral-restoration projects ever put forward. Read more...
PADI’s ‘gift of adventure’
PADI says it has help at hand for anyone struggling to come up with last-minute festive presents. Its suggestion is “the gift of adventure”, one that will not only “last a lifetime" but that also "helps save the ocean planet”. Read more...
Orca study unlocks menopause mystery
The presence of female orcas that live on long past child-bearing age boosts their grandchildren’s chances of survival, according to new research. Read more...
Latest from Sea-Changers
Underwater clean-ups, seal- and shark-conservation projects and citizen-science apps are among the winners of the latest round of Sea-Changers’ grants, which has seen almost £14,500 distributed between 21 UK-based marine conservation charities and schemes. Read more...
Photographers turn out for Bite-Back
Twelve underwater photographers have once again come together to create a fund-raising calendar in support of UK charity Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation. Read more...
