From our regular columnists

Land of the Sumps: Cave Exploration in the Cerro Rabón

December 14, 2019 - 16:15
The story is found: 
on page 73

What a resurgence! I first saw this amazing resurgence in 2017.

Together with Katie Graham and Gilly Elor, we made use of some spare time we had and took the scenic tour to Huautla along the slopes of the picturesque Santo Domingo Canyon, home to several of the world’s deepest and longest cave systems (Sistema Huautla, Sistema Cheve and possibly multiple larg

For the Love of Diving: Interview with Marissa Eckert

December 08, 2019 - 14:42
The story is found: 
on page 67

Thirty-four-year-old Marissa Eckert is a passionate full-time cave and technical diving instructor who co-owns Hidden Worlds Diving in Fort White, Florida, USA, with her partner, James Draker. When she is not teaching, Eckert enjoys traveling all over the world, exploring new places, hiking through the jungle and doing challenging new dives that help her grow and learn as a diver.

"Well, I would definitely say that diving is my life. I feel excited and happy to get up every day and go to work. I love what I do. I actually do not really feel that it is work . . . I feel fortunate that I get to do something that I love so much."
— Marissa Eckert

Out of Air with Plenty to Breathe

December 04, 2019 - 14:13
The story is found: 
on page 65

It was a beautiful day in Indonesia’s Banda Sea. Richard rolled back into the warm waters and swam over to join his wife, Florence. After exchanging signals, they descended together, heading for a patch of bright yellow sea fans on the reef wall at 30m, where their guide had promised to show them pygmy seahorses. The guide was already there below, searching for the elusive little creatures.

Three or four breaths later, it stopped giving him any air at all. He reached for his contents gauge and saw the needle pointing to zero. Impossibly, only a few minutes into his dive, he was out of air.

Front Row Seats for the Third Wave

October 31, 2019 - 20:12
The story is found: 
on page 54

In his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, historian Yuval Noah Harari traces the path left by Homo sapiens as our species spread over the world, causing the extinction of other human species and sub-species, and half of the planet’s big beasts. He describes the extinctions as happening in three waves.

The first and most critical wave took place as Homo sapiens foragers spread across the continents—causing a mass extinction as they went. Long before the wheel or writing was invented, half of the animal species on earth that weighed over 50kg were gone.

Sidemount Tanks: Getting Them to Behave Themselves & Sit Where They Should

October 04, 2019 - 14:24
The story is found: 
on page 70

One of the least mysterious things about sidemount diving is how to rig a set of steel primary cylinders so they hang at diver’s sides as they are supposed to, rather than hanging pendulum-like below them. However, some still struggle to get it anywhere close to right. Perhaps this article will help.

There may be several variations on the basic theme, but I have found the simple way to rig steel cylinders to hang this way is to break the process of rigging them into a series of simple steps. Now, before explaining things in detail, there are a few assumptions that apply to this method.

Scapa Flow: WWI Wreck Legacy & Recent Discoveries

August 27, 2019 - 13:43
The story is found: 
on page 6

Separated from the northern coast of mainland Scotland by only the six-mile-wide channel of the Pentland Firth, Orkney has some 90 islands, only 18 of which are inhabited. In the southern region of the archipelago is the large area of sheltered water known as Scapa Flow. Scapa Flow was the base chosen by the British Admiralty as the home of the Grand Naval Fleet.

Graeme Spence, maritime surveyor to the Admiralty, said in 1812: “… the art of Man, aided by all the Dykes, Sea Walls or Break-Waters that could possibly be built could not have contained a better Roadstead than the peculiar situation and extent of the South Isles of Orkney have made Scapa Flow .

Clearing Mines in the Sava River of Bosnia

August 22, 2019 - 12:23
The story is found: 
on page 80

Landmines. They are some of the most insidious weapons mankind has ever created. Invisible, hard to destroy and waiting years for their opportunity to kill. Tens of millions are scattered around the world. In fact, Czech police divers and bomb disposal experts returned from another mission in Bosnia, where they were looking for war ammunition, especially landmines, in the rivers.

Mine-explosion victim statistics are appalling. According to last year’s report by a coalition of organizations known as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), landmines have killed more than 2,000 people in 2016 alone, injuring or crippling another 6.5 thousand.

Why Sidemount is My True DIR Diving Option

August 22, 2019 - 12:21
The story is found: 
on page 65

Doing something right has never been more important that being ready—and even eager—to change for the better. What was considered great a few years ago is not always great today. All we need is to find a better option, since what was right yesterday, may not be right anymore. Doing It Right (DIR) is about doing it better than it was done before. For me, that is the only right thing to do.

Ever since I can remember, two distinct parameters have pretty much ruled my entire learning life: common sense, and justifying anything that was being “fed” to me. These two “rules” basically determined my personal opinion on all things considered, whether it was diving or not.

Philippines: Wrecks of Coron

August 13, 2019 - 13:32
The story is found: 
on page 36

Being an avid wreck diver, Coron in the Philippines has been on my bucket list for ages. Having followed the underwater remains of the Pacific Theater World War II battles, I have found myself in some of the most beautiful places on earth, from the Solomon Islands to Truk Lagoon and many others. Coron is no exception.

Admiring my surroundings, I lost my breath for a moment when the walls of mangroves on either side seemed to open like a curtain to reveal a wide-open expanse of blue water and many green islands rising up from the water at different heights as far as I could see.

New Ideas on Narcosis

August 04, 2019 - 22:25
The story is found: 
on page 52

Researchers have raised some eye-opening thoughts on nitrogen narcosis, showing that it is something that most divers THINK they understand but few actually do.

This issue’s column is adapted from a chapter in my book Scuba Physiological: Think you know all about Scuba Medicine?

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