The Scuba News Cayman Islands

In late September, Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook died tragically in Ottawa. Pootoogook was an award-winning illustrator from Cape Dorset, Nunavut. Her ink-and-crayon depictions of everyday life in the north — families sitting to eat a meal of seal meat or shopping at the Arctic co-op — received international acclaim. In contrast to the idealized vision many Canadians have of the north, of majestic rock and ice landscapes or charismatic wildlife like polar bears, Pootoogook’s drawings often reflected the crushing poverty northern families face and its devastating impacts on their health and well-being.

Being only five hours away on a direct flight from Auckland, I am surprised more people don’t or haven’t visited Cairns and the surrounding Tropical north Queensland across the ditch. Having lived in Queensland for four years in my early 20’s, I fell in love with the place and realised how lucky we were as Kiwis to have such easy access to the warmth, sunshine and more importantly – the Great Barrier reef. It’s been over a few years since I lived and worked there, and I felt it was time to go back and visit my old haunts (particularly the Reef of course) after hearing how El Nino, flooding and the dreaded Crown of thorns seastar (COTS) had started to decimate the coral.

Regaldive, the diving holiday specialist, is pleased to announce that it has recently expanded its liveaboard programme with the addition of two new Truk Lagoon liveaboards, SS Thorfinn and Truk Odyssey. Best explored by liveaboard, Truk Lagoon (Chuuk Lagoon) offers a unique dive destination, with some of the finest wreck diving in the world!