Archive for the 'Opinion' Category

Jul31

An expensive lesson revisited.

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 It is now 4 months since my disaster and I thought that it was time to reflect from a distance.
There are three seperate elements to doing what my instructor does. Being a diver, being an explorer and being a teacher.
Firstly as a diver he is very good. He should be, the amount of time he [...]

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Filed in: Opinion Technical Trips

Mar14

Chinese President Petitioned to Stop Cruel Shark Slaughter

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Press Release:
Warwickshire UK, March 14, 2007 — Sharks Fin soup, mainly eaten in China, is the cause of a massive ecological disaster, the near extinction of many species of shark. Now Bruce Everiss, the owner of diving website Scubabrucie.com http://www.scubabrucie.com/ has started an online petition so anyone can voice their feelings on this issue.
The petition [...]

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Filed in: Marine life Opinion


Jan31

The cost of diving.

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It is interesting to work out the cost per dive after adding in all relevant expenditure.
For instance Red Sea liveaboards are much cheaper per dive than staying in a hotel and day diving, you do twice as many dives and the food is full board.
Likewise for me UK weekend sea diving is more expensive per [...]

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Filed in: Opinion Trips

Jan19

Now We Have a Forum

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 I have been a member of quite a few diving forums for some years now and have found them to be great places where I have learned a lot and contributed when I could. Having just set up a community for artists http://www.artforums.co.uk , which is coming along nicely after just 2 months I decided to make [...]

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Filed in: Opinion


Jan19

DAN, why you should join.

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OK I’ll spell this out.
Say you are on holiday somewhere interesting.
Maybe one of the Grenadines.
You surface after a dive and develop a nasty rash over your shoulders.
You ring up your normal, everyday insurer and tell them.
What do they know?
You are up the creek without a paddle.
Ring DAN and they know everything. Where the chambers and [...]

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Filed in: Opinion Trips

Jan18

Shark slaughter

Over 90% of the world’s sharks are already gone.
They are fishing out 100 million a year.
It is not just in Asia, the Spanish have just about eradicated the Atlanic Blue shark.
They are easy to catch, lines miles long with baited hooks every few yards.
The value is in the fins so they chop them off and [...]

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Filed in: Marine life Opinion


Jan13

Marine National Park nonsense

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A marine ecosystem is a lot different from a land ecosystem. On land the food chain is usually very simple, carnivore eats herbivore. In the water the food chain is usually very long with a large number of small steps all the way from plankton up to shark. So if you remove a species from the [...]

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Filed in: Dive science Marine life Opinion

Jan7

Why I love Mares Quattro fins

Mares Avanti Quattros are still probably the best all-round fin, which is why most dive professionals in the world use them. Here’s why:

Durabilty — I have seen instructor/diveguide fins that have done thousands of dives and are still in good nick.
Weight — They’re nice and light, which is good for travelling.
Power — For years they [...]

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Filed in: Equipment Opinion Technical


Jan5

The Thistlegorm

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Having dived the Thistlegorm a few times over the last eight years, I think that I don’t want to dive it again.
The best thing for me on the dive now is the turtle.
Once the Thistlegorm was a time capsule, a window on a world when Hitler was all-triumphant and Britain fought pluckily against overwhelming odds. [...]

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Filed in: Dive sites Opinion

Jan1

On being a dive instructor

Every qualification in life is valued on how difficult it is to get. By the time a doctor actually practices they have eight to ten years of training, so they can command a high remuneration.
By contrast you can become a diving instructor from zero in less than two months of training time. So it is [...]

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Filed in: Opinion Tips




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