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Common hand signals

par Ksso le 5 février 2011

If you haven't been diving for a while, before getting back in a suit it's always a good idea to review the basic hand signals used for communicating underwater.... you know, just in case you need them ( and to make sure you don't thumb-up your dive buddy ... (thumb-up means we're going up now)).There are more gestures than that and you should think while on the boat to reassess those that may be used during the dive to point on the rare fish you may run into.Common Hand Signals for Scuba Diving

Whales in Hawaii

par Ksso le 3 février 2011

View Kailua-Kona, HI in a larger mapSee this blue dote on the map above ? Feel free to zoom-in ... there's Hawaii and more precisely Kona. Steve is a dive instructor there and just shared on his blog that there is a peak in whale activity in that region. If you're fascinated by these giant mammals, seems like Hawaii and Kona is the place to be.

Dive western Bali - Geko dive

par Ksso le 3 février 2011

Indonesia is an amazing place to dive containing 10 - 15 percent of the world's coral reefs. Indonesia consists more than 17,000 islands and becomes the largest archipelago in the world with at least 80,000 kilometers of coastline.View Larger MapAmongst those island, Bali stands out by the variety of its landscapes and the kindness of the Balinese people (and their super-yummy local dishes).I went on a vacation there for 2 weeks in 2006 and we chose the western side of the island. The southern coast is traditionally more touristic as it is closer to the airport and Kuta, the capital city, looks like a giant night club. If you want some quiet time you definitely need to avoid this side of...

Thousands of sharks spotted off Palm Beach

par Ksso le 2 février 2011

Pilot Steve Irwin a pilot with "Island Marine Services" based in Fort Pierce. As he was flying his helicopter on tuesday 100 yards away off Palm Beach he spotted this massive amount of sharks schooling together. He pulled his iPhone and took the video embedded above.Apparently it is this time of the year when sharks are migrating towards warm water.

Can I still go dive in Egypt's Red Sea ?

par Ksso le 31 janvier 2011

That's a question that has been widely asked over the last few days since the riots started in Cairo. Currently the situation in Cairo is pretty tense, American Airlines has stopped all flights to Cairo, expatriate workers are flying back to their country of origin and the situation is getting really tense in the capital city.Yet, don't forget that Cairo is not anywhere near the dive spots of the Red Sea. Actually chances are that your flight is scheduled to land at Hurgada or Sharm-El-Sheikh airports.Since Pascal is due to fly there next monday, we've been monitoring daily the status of the area, and as of today all the dives are still scheduled and all the training session are still...

Stop eating shark fin soup

par Ksso le 28 janvier 2011

Gordon Ramsay produced a documentary that aired Sunday 16th January, 9pm on Channel 4 in UK. If you're not familiar with Gordon, he's a pretty famous chef with a strong propension of using the "F" word and popular for his show "Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares".In this documentary he covers the use of shark fin that serve as base ingredient for a popular meal in Asia, the shark fin soup.This documentary came as a shocker for me highlighting a few facts:

Sharks are an endangered species - the population dropped by over 60% in less than 10 years and may disappear at this rate within the century (with terrible consequencies for the balance of our ecosystem) ...

10 dive spots in Thailand may be closed down

par Ksso le 27 janvier 2011

On January 18th, DMCR( Department of Marine and Coastal Resources ) director-general Kasemsan Jinnawaso has announced to the press that he has recommended 10 diving sites inside marine national parks be closed so damaged coral reefs can recover.The tsunami on Dec 24th 2004 did intense damage on the coral reefs, and intense scuba diving (especially of unexperienced divers) does not help the corals to recover.Corals grow extremely slowly, only a couple of cm a year, and thus the spots may have to be closed between 5 to 10 years. This will obviously impact the turism on the short-term, but safeguarding the marine life should be the number #1 priority !.However, the final decision would still...

Deep see hunting

par Ksso le 27 janvier 2011

Whatever your feelings about deep see hunting may be, you won't be able to keep from gasping when watching this documentary made for "Human Planet: Oceans" on BBC One.The reporter follows an Indonesian hunter, Sulbin, a Bajau fisher, as he dives at a depth of 20m for 2.5 mins in just one breath, and catches a fish in one shot.Source Gadling

Spot On : The dwarf seahorse

par Ksso le 23 janvier 2011

Wikipedia teaches us the followings:The dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is a species of seahorse. It is found in the Bahamas and the United States. Its natural habitat is subtidal aquatic beds. It is threatened by habitat loss. According to Guinness World Records, it is the slowest moving fish, with a top speed of about five feet per hour (152 cm per hour).It is most often white in color but can range from tan, brown, yellow and green. In the wild, it often has small skin growths called cirri that resemble algae.

The reason I wanted to write a "Spot On" that tiny seahorse is that as wikipedia mentioned, its natural habitat is endangered. Conservationists from the Zoological Society...

3xB: Bubbles - Beers - Belgium Chocolate

par Ksso le 23 janvier 2011

If you can be in Brussels on the last week-end of january (28th, 29th, 30th), there's one event you can't miss : the "3xB". Head off to the event's Facebook page to register and for more details.We will gather in Brussels for a crazy week end of scuba diving, then we party and drink (moderately) delicious world class Beers and we indulge ourselves with Belgium chocolatesDiving, in Brussels ?Yes. In the heart of the city of Brussels lays a dive wonder : Nemo33 (www.nemo33.com)Nemo33 is the deepest man made pool : 33 meters deep. The water temperature is 33°C and the cristal clear water gives a 33m viz.Of course there is no reefs, and no fishes but it is still a great fun.What should you...