Browsing: Scuba Features

Welcome to the “Scuba Diving Features” section of The Scuba News, your comprehensive hub for all things scuba diving. This parent category encompasses a wide range of topics, including maritime history, underwater photography and videography, scuba diving training, scuba diver travel, surface interval entertainment such as books, podcasts, movies, and TV episodes, as well as webinars and scuba diving events. Dive into our diverse collection of articles, reviews, and guides to explore the fascinating world of scuba diving from every angle. Whether you’re a novice diver, seasoned enthusiast, or simply curious about the wonders of the underwater realm, our curated content has something for everyone.

The iconic Andrea Doria wreck featured in the press in June 2016 when OceanGate explored the wreck with their manned submersible and assessed her current condition. The footage that was captured showed considerable deterioration of the wreck in the last two years alone. As divers continue to explore this luxury liner, we look back at Bob Wilson’s account of his Andrea Doria 50th anniversary dive in 2006.

While growing up in New Zealand, Eiko acquired his first SLR camera at the age of fourteen. He quickly discovered his passion for capturing images of animals, especially birds, in their natural habitat. During extensive trips along the West Coast of British Columbia and Alaska in the early 1990’s, his focus shifted to coastal landscapes above and below the waterline.

As the global population increases and world travel becomes more accessible for many people, it is increasingly difficult to find dive sites that offer spectacular marine life and minimal tourism. Many areas of world class diving are overrun in peak season with boats and large dive groups, which is a far cry from the serenity and peace of scuba diving that most of us seek. There are however some lesser-known diving locations to explore, if you are prepared to go off the beaten track and begin a travel adventure both topside and underwater.

Are you looking for a different marine wildlife experience for non-scuba days? How about exploring New Zealand’s populations of seals and sea-lions? With opportunities to view both topside and underwater, spending time with these animals is a great day out for all the family and offers a fascinating introduction into their lives.

Safety is almost always at the forefront of any divers thinking, but occasionally and commonly even the most experienced and qualified enthusiasts find themselves in an uncomfortable situation. The inevitable will come for every diver when a little surprise catches them off guard and they need to re-group a little to regain control of the dive. For the most part, in an ideal world, this is all any diver would really want or expect to happen.

Early one afternoon near La Paz, Mexico, at Los Islotes, a popular dive site and sea lion rookery, a sea lion bit the diver on the stomach. At the time of the attack he was scuba diving in less than 20 feet of seawater with approximately 50 other divers from several dive boats present.

His father paid for his training for Open Water certification. A job in a dive shop opened his eyes to the work available to a scuba diver with the right qualifications. Eric Villeneuve was quickly acquiring them. “I became scuba certified at 16, a Dive Master at 18, an Instructor at 19, and a Commercial Diver at 27. But I have had a set of mask, fins and a snorkel for as long as I remember.”

There is more to diving Britain than ocean diving from well-known coastlines with their cosy pubs and tea rooms for post-dive warmth. The summer season sees many divers and families head to the coast but, for those based inland and looking for fun and accessible alternatives, Britain has a number of inland dive sites where swimming alongside buses, helicopters and caravans in the norm. For fun diving with first class facilities look no further than the lakes and quarries on offer.

I have known since my first days as a diver that people under stress are fighting panic and tend to make wrong choices. In an emergency, divers need a limited number of survival responses. The main danger with Scuba is no air. We need to get gas quickly, either from a buddy or the surface. Simple

How many times have many of us, myself included, ignored a sign like this during our misspent adolescent years? Now that I am older (so say the majority!) and wiser (so say a small minority!), I realise the purpose of this type of sign is to protect and conserve nature. Nowadays I pay more attention because nature conservation is a subject close to my heart. Being a diver, I am particularly interested in sustainability of the coastal and marine environment.

Shellfish are often on plates in our homes and in restaurants. Many of these are bivalves – clams, oysters, mussels, abalone, and scallops. Think of how difficult it is to get to the tasty meat of some of these animals. Over millions of years, the bivalves evolved formidable defenses in their hard shells