Planning to be in Boston at the beginning of March? If you’re a
diver, then you are psyched. Because
Searovers, one of the
country’s oldest and respected dive clubs, is offering two days of clinics and classes on diving science,
technology and photography. BIG Names will be there. Albert Giddings,
Norbert Wu, Wet Pixel’s Eric
Cheng. There will also be a film festival one evening. If you’re big into diving, this is an event you
probably don’t want to miss.
Underwater MP3 Players
If you want to jam to music underwater, check out
h2oaudio, for a cool looking selection of underwater mp3
players. We’ve covered underwater
players before, but here’s a new choice that looks normal enough to use on land too. Their iRiver DV-i300,
priced at $199, is $100 cheaper than on iRiver’s own website. Bundled
with an mp3 player you can pick it up for $328.95. Designed for use up to 200ft, it looks like a sweet product. I just
wonder if listening to Depeche Mode would scare all the fish away. Or would it attract sharks?
Scuba deaths at Boesmansgat, South Africa
If you are dead set on setting a world record deep dive, the place to do it is
Boesmansgat, South Africa. As you might imagine, not everyone comes back. Ten years ago, Deon Dreyer died there during
a routine dive. Despite the attempts of numerous individuals (and a robot at great expense to the family) to locate his
body, he was never found. At least, not until
October 28th, 2004. Unfortunately, the
body recovery did not go as planned. Read on for more information.
Deon Dreyer was a support diver at Boesmansgat in 1995 who disappeared during a relatively shallow
dive to 70m. The reasons for his demise are unknown though the most likely culprit was probably deep water
blackout. Numerous divers have searched for him and a copper plaque sits at the cave?s entrance in his memory. In
1996, Nuno Gomes set the world record at Boesmansgat by diving to 282m after a solo 12 hour dive. You can read his
harrowing description here. Even after reaching the bottom, he
was unable to locate Deon despite an extensive search.
And so it came to be that Deon?s body was discovered in late 2004 near the bottom of Boesmansgat
by Dave Shaw. Dave returned in January in an attempt to
recover his body. He died during his attempt.
The diver who went after Dave Shaw also nearly lost his
life.
Adventure TV: Web Video
Adventure TV is one of the first all-Web adventure travel video shows I’ve
seen. They acquire video content from tour companies, tourism organizations, independent producers, and encode the
stuff for the Web, for OUR enjoyment. There are videos here on scuba diving, sailing in Polynesia and riding
camels in Africa. Quite a lot of stuff, actually. The downside is they want you to install a plug-in to see the video,
which, frankly drives me crazy. I have to confess, in fact, that I didn’t watch any of the video clips for that
reason. So if YOU do, post some comments on what you think.
Photo of the Day: (1/21/05)
I’ve posted a lot of diving photos. Why? Because I LIKE diving photos. There is something about the deep blue world
beneath the sea – it’s otherworldliness, its bizarre life – that just captivates. And
this photo is no exception. In fact,
this site of original underwater photography by Eric
Bancroft has got a whole load of great diving photos here. Dynamite stuff.