“Wait, wait,” you may say when you read the title of this column, “What are you talking about? Aren’t those two things the same? Isn’t a dive instructor by definition a scuba professional? And what do you mean by ‘Road’?”
Hungarian artist Rudolf Farkas, who lives in Budapest, creates dynamic and intricately composed illustrations of a wide variety of marine life as well as the unique marine ecosystems in which they live. X-Ray Mag interviewed the artist to learn more about his artwork and his creative process.
A color cast is a tint of a particular color, usually unwanted, which affects the whole photographic image evenly.
Cool sunlight slowly crept down from the horizon to the kelp beds off La Jolla in southern California. I took another sip of coffee. Sea lions barked on occasion as small groups of pelicans flew up the coast to start their day.
Cromhall is a former limestone quarry that naturally flooded when works ceased. It was used for entry-level and rescue training because the slightly undulating rock bottom has an ideal training depth of 17 mt / 55.7 ft. Cromhall is also a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' (SSSI) because it is home to the protected Great Crested Newt.
The working group has cautiously welcomed a mindful, progressive return to shore diving, because it naturally lends itself to social distancing above the surface. It is worth noting that below the surface divers routinely dive in full personal protective equipment (PPE).
With Covid-19 restrictions easing, divers can now access the latest information about diving accessibility and restrictions in a particular country with the click of a mouse. PADI has created an interactive world map utilizing the most up-to-date information from each PADI dive center.
To this end RoSPA worked with a number of rebreather industry experts to identify key safety issues.
The result was a film that gives divers and those new to rebreathers a solid awareness of the key safety factors for diving with rebreathers.
Eight years ago today – Friday 18th May 2012 – this film was unveiled at a very important international safety symposium called Rebreather Forum 3. In fact ‘CCR Aware‘ opened #RF3.
Richie Kohler told the audience "The human element is most fallible. We prepare and train for equipment failure. We have a great advantage over pilots who cannot jump into another airplane mid flight. We can carry bailout systems and use them. But our checklists is our primary defense to not ever having to get there."
Human beings will make mistakes and have memory lapses. Richie Kohler
"We need to approach rebreather diving with reverence and remain humble to it. I do not want to pay the ultimate price" stated Richie Kohler.
Over the course of the following three days 400 experts, manufacturers, instructors, training agencies and divers from around the world gathered to improve understanding, with the hope that this would translate to improved safety across the board.
We can always do things better. So it is a rationality check to see if we can make things safer.
Dr Neal W Pollock
