The Covers
If you’re new to underwater photography, the best place to begin is in the pool. This tip, and others, is shared by renowned underwater photographer Marty Snyderman in this month’s cover feature, “Aim, Shoot, Fun: Simple Tips for Getting Professional Results With Underwater Photography.”

Editorial

Spill, Baby, Spill

By Cathryn Castle Whitman

By the time you read this, we may be in the midst of what could become the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Then again, if we can turn off the spigot, maybe not. Of course, what I’m referring to is the oil spill — or what Florida Governor Charlie Crist has more aptly termed the “oil volcano” — off the Louisiana coast. Given its location, some have likened this disaster to Hurricane Katrina, but the analogy doesn’t hold water. True, humans were responsible for what happened to New Orleans in that, for decades, politicians and other decision makers were warned about the sorry state of the city’s crumbling levy system. But, ultimately, it was Mother Nature who put those events into play. This time it’s different. Mother Nature has little to do with the environmental havoc making its way to shore, aside from creating the crude oil in the first place. This debacle was brought to us entirely by the platform owners Transocean and BP, who convinced government officials that they could easily manage the worst-case scenario of a blown well several thousand feet deep on the seafloor — despite the fact that they didn’t have a proven, fail-safe plan in place before the drilling began.
If the spill creeps its way down the Loop Current and affects my home here in the Florida Keys, a local disaster unlike anything anyone has ever seen or imagined could result. The possibility that this already stressed ecosystem could be dealt a punch it might never recover from in our lifetime is an idea that I don’t believe I’ve yet fully grasped. It’s just too horrible to seriously consider.
But let’s be honest. Certainly, after any disaster, as much energy is put into assessing blame as in responding to the actual emergency. And, make no mistake, both BP and Transocean make excellent targets. Yet to find the primary culprit responsible for the spill we have to look in the mirror. In my view, this mess was caused by hubris, assuming that we had a technical capability that, as events have shown, we clearly don’t. (And let’s not forget that government officials signed off on this project, too.) It’s likely that, while serious, the incident might be all over by now had it happened in shallower water. The heart of the issue is that, unlike their promises otherwise, BP and Transocean couldn’t handle the technical challenge of the depth. The assumption that responding to an emergency 500 feet below the surface was no different from 5,000 feet clearly was a foolish and costly mistake.
So, the question must be asked, why are companies pushing the technological envelope so far? The reason is no secret; it’s our addiction to oil. It’s clear that we won’t get serious about weaning from the petroleum teat until we have to pay for it.
We’ve gotten used to paying at the gas pump, but soaring fuel prices don’t seem to put a dent in our addiction. Now the price has skyrocketed yet again, only this time the currency has changed. Can we really afford to pay for our oil dependency at the expense of fragile coastal ecosystems?

Buddy Lines

Deep Stops Addendum

Deep Stops Addendum
I enjoyed your article [“At the Intersection of Physics and ‘Standard Practice’: The Science — and Controversy — of Deep Safety Stops”]. I’d like to provide additional points to consider.
Our post-dive goal is to exit the water without fatigue or DCS [decompression sickness] symptoms. Research and experience have shown that achieving that goal means limiting the size and the number of bubbles. We limit bubbles with a slow ascent rate. Using the Coke analogy, open a can of Coke quickly and a huge volume of bubbles form. Open the can very slowly and almost no perceivable bubbles form. Next, we limit the size of the bubbles with deep and successive stops. Rare is the student who knows where the “3 to 5 minute” stop duration comes from. The majority of your blood circulates through the lungs every three to five minutes. The lungs act as a “bubble” filter and remove the bubbles before they can grow and
become problematic. GUE [Global Underwater Explorers] advocates a deep stop at half of the average depth for one minute, then a stop every 10 feet for one minute when returning to the surface. Combining this ascent schedule with a 30-fpm [feet per minute] ascent rate is the most effective way to limit the size and number of bubbles.
Finally, flat trim is the most efficient body position to decompress. If a diver is vertical or nearly so, the bottom of the lungs endures a higher hydrostatic pressure. This compresses the alveolar sacs and reduces or eliminates gas exchange on the bottom of the lungs, where the majority of the lung surface area is concentrated.
If you write an article about recreational decompression techniques, consider advocating combining deep and successive stops with a slow ascent rate to limit the number and size of free-phase bubbles.
Mark
Melbourne, Florida

Age Just a Number
Regarding your article in the April issue of Dive Training, on the age factor in diving [No Dumb Questions], last year at age 60 I became certified as an Open Water diver. At age 61 I’m getting my Advanced training and will follow up with the Rescue certification. I retired in 1991 out of the Air Force and still work full time. I walk 2.5 miles (4 km) a day at least five days a week. I try and stay fit by lifting free weights twice a week. Age is just a number. Have faith in God and yourself, and there is nothing that you cannot do. I enjoy reading your works. Thank you for allowing me to write.
Sonny Greeson
Via e-mail

Bring Back Metric Conversions
As a longtime instructor and fan of your great magazine, please do not cease metric conversions. In the science community (and science diving community) we are firmly attached to the metric system for research, common sense, and ease of communicating with the rest of the world. Let’s not be like the United States in the ’80s when we could not go through with converting the country. At least leave the conversions there for readers from Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia, etc. It is much simpler to calculate with metric and people are less likely to make mistakes when using it.
Thanks again.
Steve Prosterman
Diving Supervisor
University of the Virgin Islands
Center for Marine and Environmental Studies

I sadly saw in your April edition the letter, “Cease Metric Conversions,” and your decision to grant the request. Metric is the international standard, not imperial. Three nations have not officially adopted the International System of Units as their primary or sole system of measurement: Burma, Liberia and the United States. Even the United Kingdom has officially adopted the International System of Units.
Does the rest of the world matter more than the United States? Please keep the metric conversions.
Claudio Serrano
Via e-mail

In your April issue a reader requested that you stop including metric conversions in your articles; you granted his request. I have only just started reading the April issue because I live outside the United States and get my copies of Dive Training a bit late. Outside the United States and the Caribbean resorts that cater to American divers — the rest of the world — diving is done using metrics. At this point I have been “diving metric” long enough to do the conversions myself, but for non-Americans feet and psi are a mystery. I like to pass on my copies of your magazine. I think it is the best dive magazine out there, and I am always happy to share it with my friends and with other divers when I take a dive trip. Is printing the conversion really so difficult? Please reconsider your decision. You reach more divers in more places than you know.
Thank you for publishing such an enjoyable magazine.
Andrea Ready
Paris, France

Editor’s note: After dropping our longstanding practice of including metric conversions, several readers wrote to Dive Training explaining why we should keep them. Letters and e-mails came from as far away as South Africa and France. Their arguments are persuasive. Metric conversions are valued not only by our readers overseas but by our U.S. readers traveling to dive destinations where the metric system is the norm. Beginning with this issue, Dive Training brings back metrics. Let us know what you think.

Buddy Breathing No Longer Required
Buddy breathing was originally a required skill and became an optional one in 1994. Effective January 2010, it is no longer even an optional skill because of prudent diving practices and the use of alternate air sources. And, your divers in the pictures in the article [“Preparing for ‘Out of Air’: Buddy Breathing as A Confidence Builder”] were equipped with the yellow “octos.” The article more appropriately should have been directed toward an out-of-air ascent (if the dive buddy was close enough), or a CESA (if the dive buddy was too far away).
Those skills are still required.
Jim Butler
Via e-mail

Editor’s note: Thank you for your input. Indeed, buddy breathing is no longer a required skill. However, as the article states, the skill can be used as a confidence-builder. For a Scuba Skills article on emergency ascents, see “Emergency Ascents: Why, Where, How and When,” Dive Training, June 2007.

Giving Proper Credit
Photos published with the story “Defying Gravity and Disability: Adaptive Scuba Programs for Divers With Impairments,” Dive Training, June 2010, were incorrectly attributed.
Credit for the photos should have gone to John W. Thompson for the Page 30 photo of a diver on an oil rig; Barry Guimbellot for the Page 34 photo of divers carrying a disabled diver; Beth Dreiker for the Page 34 photo of four divers; and Eagle Divers for the Page 38 photo of a diving U.S. Marine.

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The May issue of Dive Training featured the Editorial, “Isn’t It Time,” about keeping marine mammals in captivity.

What you said online:
I’m torn. I love to take my kids to see the shows, and they love to be there. My son sleeps with a stuffed killer whale that we bought at one of the marine parks years ago, and he’s 14 (he wouldn’t admit that he still sleeps with it). I believe the shows have done a lot to make my kids aware, and that will carry through all of their lives. On the other hand, the animals are in captivity. I lean toward favoring the good that the shows do.
Marie
Life is imperfect. In a perfect world it would be shameful to keep marine mammals in captivity. In the imperfect world we live in those captured or captive specimens serve as ambassadors for their species and for the oceans. Kids fall in love with those ambassadors, and some of those kids will some day lead the fight to save their species and their habitat. Those ambassadors don’t live the best life possible, but they serve their species in the best possible way in the imperfect world we live in.
Anonymous
There are two kinds of cetacean captivity: captivity that focuses on entertainment (and often is labeled with “ambassador for their species” status), which puts the need of the audience (and their children) first, and captivity that focuses on rescue/rehabilitation of individual animals and/or breeding of endangered species combined with conservation research in the wild. The latter is easily identifiable, valuable to the animals, the planet and our communities; the former is also easily identified (usually involves tricks, music and other anthropomorphic attributes) and exists almost exclusively for the economic benefit to the institution/captors.
Anonymous
To read more comments or to post your own, go to
www.dtmag.com and click on “What Do You Think?”
Our Online Poll Asked:
Should Marine Mammals Be Held in Captivity?
You responded:
Yes 21%
No 67%
Unsure 10%

What Do You Think?
Comment on this issue’s editorial, “Spill, Baby, Spill.”
Take Our Web Poll: Should the United States stop drilling for oil offshore?
To vote and post your comments, go to
www.dtmag.com and click on the What Do You Think? link.

Dive Observer

Dive Destinations Report on Oil Spill
Written by
Gene Gentrup

As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues into a second month, dive destinations so far unaffected by the accident are getting the word out that they are open for business.
Never is that more evident than in the Florida Keys, which on its tourism Web site has 40 Web cams streaming live video to make a point: Diving conditions in the Florida Keys remain pristine.
“Our economy has been affected by this because of the perception that the Keys has oil on it or tar balls coming up from the spill,” Key West Mayor Craig Cates said in a video posted at press time. “We do not. Key West is open for business. We have not been affected at all. The water is clear.”
Much has been made through media reports about what might happen if the spilled oil hooks up with the Loop Current, which carries water to the Keys, around the coast of Florida and up the Atlantic seaboard. The current flows clockwise and carries water from the Yucatan Channel north into the Gulf of Mexico, then back down south off Florida’s west coast, past the Dry Tortugas and into the Gulf Stream.
At press time, a “light sheen” of oil from the spill has connected with the Loop Current but none of it is close to the Keys. And the federal government says if the oil does reach the Florida coastline, it won’t be in the form seen coating pelicans and other wildlife along parts of the Louisiana coast. Most likely, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), whatever oil reaches the Florida Keys will be in the form of small tar balls.
“If any of the oil makes it to the vicinity of the Florida Straits, it would be highly weathered and both the natural process of evaporation and the application of dispersants would reduce the oil volume significantly,” Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA administrator said.
Divers, scientists and others monitoring the situation are taking a wait-and-see approach. Each day the federal government issues a three-day forecast of the oil’s most likely path, which is subject to the dynamics of weather and the Loop Current. Keys officials refer to the trajectory in assuring visitors that conditions are good and should remain so, at least for the time being.
In Pensacola, Florida, a key launching area for dive charters headed to the popular USS Oriskany, tourism officials have posted an online video showing that visibility at the Oriskany remains good and oil has not reached the popular dive attraction.
Other areas along the Gulf Coast, including Destin and Panama City in Florida, and Alabama and Mississippi are assuring visitors and residents that beaches and coastal waters remain open for enjoyment.
Meanwhile, efforts continue to plug the leak that followed the April 20 explosion that sunk the Deep Water Horizon drilling rig 50 miles (80 km) southeast of the Mississippi River Delta.
At press time, officials with BP, the oil company leasing the rig at the time of the explosion, were planning a “top kill,” a technique in which heavy fluid is pumped into the well, which is a mile (1.6 km) below the surface.
The top kill is one of several proposed methods of stanching the flow of at least 210,000 gallons (798,000 liters) of oil a day.

NEKTON DIVING CLOSES
Nekton Diving Cruises has ceased operations.
“Due to the continually increasing cost of operations, decreased discretionary income of consumers, and overall economic difficulty, Nekton is unable to restart cruise operations at this time,” the live-aboard company said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Through e-mails and online chatrooms, customers vented their frustration trying to contact someone with the Fort Lauderdale-based company, especially those who had paid for trips that apparently won’t happen. In its online statement, Nekton said it anticipates “posting further information on this page with a point of contact for claims at the middle/beginning of June 2010. We deeply regret all of the inconvenience and disappointment we are causing you, our valued customers.” The company’s Web site is www.nektoncruises.com.

HELP FOR NEKTON CRUISERS
In response to the news from Nekton Diving Cruises, other live-aboard companies in the dive industry are “stepping to the plate” to help.
Aggressor Fleet and Dancer Fleet will honor unfulfilled reservations made by Nekton Diving Cruises customers for Nekton charters after May 20, 2010. Nekton Diving Cruises ceased operations on May 17.
Divers formally scheduled to vacation aboard Nekton vessels after May 20 may apply any payments made to Nekton toward future charters aboard the Sun Dancer, Belize Aggressor III, Cayman Aggressor IV, Turks & Caicos Aggressor II and Utila Aggressor. Customers will only be responsible for paying any price difference between what they paid for their original Nekton reservation and the new Aggressor or Dancer Fleet reservation.
Reservationists are also available to help guests make changes to any flight arrangements or book flights for new airline reservations. Aggressor Fleet reservations can be made online at www.aggressor.com or by calling (800) 348-2628 or (706) 993-2531. Dancer Fleet reservations can be made at www.dancerfleet.com or by calling (800) 932-6237 or (305) 669-9391. Upon making a reservation, guests should submit a copy of the invoice and proof of payment.
Aqua Cat Cruises will give full credit for all payments made to Nekton Cruises for any trips departing after May 1, 2010. Passengers must provide proof of payment. To contact Aqua Cat, go to www.aquacatcruises.com or call (888) 327-9600.
Explorer Ventures offers help two ways: Customers who paid full price for a trip with Nekton can apply half the amount to a trip with Explorer Ventures at any of its Caribbean destinations. Record of payment is required, and the balance would be due when making the reservation.
Nekton customers who paid a deposit of up to 35 percent of the trip cost can apply that deposit toward final payment for space on any of Explorer Ventures’ Caribbean itineraries, with immediate confirmation. Normal booking terms (30 percent deposit) of Explorer Ventures would apply to the trip, and the Nekton deposit would be taken off the final balance due. The offer does not apply to current reservations with Explorer Ventures and no other discounts would apply. For more information, visit www.explorerventures.com or call (800) 322-3577.

NOGI WINNERS
ANNOUNCED
The 2010 NOGI Award recipients have been announced.
The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences has chosen Michele Hall, filmmaker/photographer/writer; Hillary Hauser, author and founder of Heal the Ocean; Paul Humann, author/photographer/publisher; and Michael Lang, director of the Smithsonian Marine Science Network.
The NOGI Award has been presented annually since 1960. Its four categories — The Arts, Distinguished Service, Sports/Education and Science — recognize dive pioneers and leaders who have had a global influence on the exploration, enjoyment, safety and preservation of the underwater world. They will be honored November 18 during a dive industry show in Las Vegas.

INDUSTRY LOSES
TWO LEADERS
Derek Perryman, credited by many as the pioneer of tourism in Dominica, died May 1, 2010. He was 55. Perryman’s influence on Dominica began after he moved there in 1987 after many stops on the island as a pilot for Liat Airline. His family owned and operated Castle Comfort Lodge as a bed and breakfast. Derek learned to scuba dive, became a dive instructor and saw a new future for the lodge as a dedicated dive resort. It was the first in Dominica. He taught scuba to other resort owners on the island and they too began to cater
to divers. Tourism as an industry in
Dominica began to take hold.
In 1994 Perryman led the way to organizing the Dominica Watersports Association and served as president for 10 years. Perryman’s Dive Dominica business expanded beyond Castle Comfort Lodge to handling the largest hotel on the island, The Fort Young. His company also handled a large amount of the diving, snorkeling and watersports for the Dominica cruise ship industry. Later, recognizing that Dominica is one of the only places in the Caribbean that has a resident population of whales, Perryman launched into the whale watching industry, now a major component of Dominica’s tourism industry.

John Modugno, a longtime figure in the dive industry, died recently in Southern California. He was 81. Following a stint in the Navy, Modugno made a trip from his home in New Jersey to California where a buddy introduced him to diving. He was hooked. In 1963 he speared a world-record white seabass during the first Long Beach Neptune’s Blue Water Meet invitational. He later worked for Scubapro and in 1988 started his own company, Custom Buoyancy Inc., which developed BCs (buoyancy compensators) and other dive gear. He later was instrumental in designing the SASY (Supplied Air Snorkeling for Youth), a unit that provides unsinkable buoyancy and allows kids to breathe on scuba while at the surface. He was a lifetime member of the Los Angeles Fathomiers, a spearfishing and free-
divers club.

SeaCure has become aware of a sizing problem with its SeaCure Sport model mouthpieces and three regulators. The SeaCure Sport model has a yellow insert in the neck of the mouthpiece (not the removable attachment that comes with the newer Hi-Flow model) and was sold in clear, blue and gray. The SeaCure Sport mouthpieces do not properly fit these regulators, and would have to be stretched on to them, which could cause the yellow insert to dislodge. The mouthpieces:
• Sport size I with a newer, larger orifice Atomic (Atomic orifice measures 1 7/16 by 13/16).
• Sport size II or Professional Sport II with a Cressi-sub Ellipse regulator.
• Sport size II with a Zeagle regulator.
Divers with any of these combinations should stop using the SeaCure Sport mouthpieces immediately and contact SeaCure for a free replacement Hi-Flow Custom Mouthpiece. The full recall notice and contact information is available at www.seacure1.com under the “Product” tab.

MONTSERRAT DIVE
FESTIVAL SET
Montserrat will host its second annual Dive Festival from June 26 to July 2.
The week-long event is held in conjunction with the bi-annual Reef Check Program. Activities include a Reef Check EcoDiver Certification course and a two-tank dive to Redonda Island.
Land tours are available on July 1 and include stops at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory to view the Soufrière Hills Volcano and Runaway Ghaut.
The eruption of the island’s Soufriere Hills Volcano in the mid-1990s created an underwater nature park along the island’s more than 13 miles (21 km) of coastline. As a result, sea life was given the chance to recover and the island has become ideally suited to sustain dense and diverse marine life.
The $50 registration includes a festival T-shirt, welcome reception, Reef Check classroom instruction and Reef Check dives including tanks and weights. For more information, visit www.visitmontserrat.com.

DOMINICA DIVE FEST JULY 9-18
The 17th annual Dominica Dive Fest is scheduled for July 9-18. Sponsored by the Dominica Watersports Association, Dive Fest was established to showcase the marine environment of Dominica to visitors and residents. A variety of dive packages are offered.
For more information on Dive Fest and to view the full schedule of events, visit www.dominica.dm/site/divefest.cfm.
YUKON CELEBRATION
PLANNED FOR JULY 14-15
A 10th anniversary celebration of the reefing of the HMCS Yukon in San Diego is scheduled for July 14-15. The event includes an underwater press conference, a party and seminars, according to California Ships to Reefs, which is co-sponsoring the two-day event with Maritime Museum of San Diego.
On July 15, during the underwater press conference, trained divers, wearing facemasks that allow them to talk underwater, will place a time capsule on the Yukon. Their voices will be transmitted to the surface where the public can be part of the adventure. Alumni of the Project Yukon sinking team will place messages on a computer drive, which will be stored in the time capsule with other mementos to be retrieved for the Yukon’s 20th anniversary.
Activities planned for July 14 include afternoon panel discussions and seminars educating attendees on current ocean environment conditions, artificial reefs, and how to get your own ship to reef. A cocktail party will follow, with a raffle, a silent auction and a press conference. The discussions and party will be held on the MV Berkeley, the headquarters for the Maritime Museum of San Diego. For other details, visit www.californiashipstoreefs.org.

QUARRY PLANS
WORLD-RECORD ATTEMPT
Gilboa Quarry in Ottawa, Ohio, will attempt to break the world record for “Most Divers Submerged at One Time.”
The record, set last year in Indonesia, is 2,486. The attempt to break the record is scheduled for July 17. For more information, visit www.divegilboa.com, e-mail scuba_fuz@hotmail.com or inquire at your local dive center.

JIM HAIGH DIVE PLANNED FOR JULY 25
The annual Jim Haigh Memorial Dive is scheduled for Sunday, July 25, at Haigh Quarry in Kankakee, Illinois.
The event will include door prizes, diving, raffles and music by Od Tapo Imi, which is billed as Chicago’s premier steel drum band. Proceeds from the event benefit Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba and Diveheart Military Wounded. For more details, visit www.haighquarry.com or call (815) 939-7797.

CAYMAN REUNION ON
TAP FOR NOVEMBER 5-7
Some of the people instrumental in turning the Cayman Islands into a dive destination are planning the “Cayman Cowboys Bucket List Reunion.” The event is scheduled for November 5-7.
Promotional information invites everyone who was involved in the “Cayman diving scene” before January 1, 1990.
Activities planned include a welcome cocktail party with band at the Sunset House Pool on Friday night, boat dives on Saturday and a gala dinner and program on Saturday evening. Catamaran trips to Stingray City/Sandbar and on to Rum Point are planned for Sunday. Ron Kipp and Rod McDowall are coordinating the event. For more information, check out www.ronkipp.com/reunion.

CAYMAN WENT
“Cayman Went” is the story of Josh Anders, a fading Hollywood underwater action star whose life takes on new meaning when he’s forced to spend time with the eccentric, endearing inhabitants of Cayman Brac and their local dive community.
If you see the movie, you’ll want to go to Cayman Brac, as the images are inviting, topside and underwater. The film stars Michael Lombardi and Susan Misner, who played the doomed Grace Davidson on the ABC soap opera “One Life to Live,” in 1999. In 2002 she appeared in the film “Chicago,” performing the renowned “Cell Block Tango” with Catherine Zeta-Jones and four other actresses.
The “Cayman Went” DVD is available through Amazon.com, Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Tower Video and Netflix. For more information, visit www.caymanwent.com.

SALMON IN THE TREES
A book that examines an Alaskan ecosystem has been released by Dive Training contributor Amy Gulick.
“Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest” is composed of photographs from Gulick plus essays and research from leading scientists and conservationists. Together they pose the question, “How long can the biological riches of the Tongass withstand the global demands for timber, seafood and minerals?”
Bears and bald eagles feed on millions of wild salmon, and Native cultures and local communities depend on resources from the forest and the sea.
The 176-page, 10-by-9-inch book includes 160 photographs, 10 essays and eight illustrations. “Salmon in the Trees” is published by Braided River, the conservation imprint of The Mountaineers Books. For more information, visit www.salmoninthetrees.org.

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Volunteering
Anyone interested in volunteering with the cleanup can call the Deepwater Horizon Response Volunteer Request Line at (866) 448-5816 or visit the following Web sites.

Alabama
www.servealabama.gov/2010/default.aspx

Florida
www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org

Louisiana
www.volunteerlouisiana.gov

Mississippi
www.volunteermississippi.org/1800Vol/
OpenIndexAction.do

==================

For More Information
Deepwater Horizon Response
www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

NOAA Office of Response and Restoration
response.restoration.noaa.gov/deepwaterhorizon

Alabama Tourism Department
www.alabama.travel

Emerald Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.destin-fwb.com

Florida Keys
www.fla-keys.com

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
http://floridakeys.noaa.gov/

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
flowergarden.noaa.gov/newsevents/dhoilspillarticle.html

Florida Department of Environmental Protection
www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/default.htm

Louisiana Office of Tourism
www.louisianatravel.com

Mississippi Gulf Coast
www.gulfcoast.org

Panama City, Florida
www.visitpanamacitybeach.com

Pensacola (Florida) Visitor Information Center
www.visitpensacola.com

Always Learning

You Give, You Get:
The Win-Win of Volunteering

Story & photos by Marty Snyderman

My professional life has been one of dreams fulfilled. Since the late 1970s I have traveled the world creating still photographs, making films, writing about my experiences and the marine life I have encountered, and speaking to interested groups. In a nutshell, this is exactly the life I dreamed about when I first started diving.
Ironically, my nomadic lifestyle has created some unexpected consequences.

Unexpected Irony
Years ago I felt very connected to the diving community in San Diego. I managed dive centers in the San Diego area for several years and got involved with the local diving community and a number of ocean-centric organizations ranging from the San Diego Underwater Photographic Society and other dive clubs to the San Diego Oceans Foundation, an organization that set up speaking engagements in which I gave presentations about marine life to school kids of all ages. In one way or another I was always rubbing elbows with the local diving community, and that involvement routinely introduced me to the San Diego community at large.
I felt connected to my local community. I felt like San Diego was a place I could call home, not just a place to store my gear, eat, sleep, do laundry and pay bills between dive trips. But as my career grew I traveled more and more. Soon that meant being gone more than half the year, and the unexpected irony in my life was that the more I traveled and the more diving friends I made around the world, the more isolated I was when I returned home. I didn’t see that one coming, but it came in a very big way.
With all of my traveling it soon became impractical for my friends to try to include me in their activities. For a few years, friends continued to call me. I’d get home from a dive trip and there would be messages on my phone machine asking if I wanted to go on a dive two weeks ago or to a ballgame last week. I’d call people back and explain that I was out of town, and I’d hang up after saying, “I’d love to go next time.” Despite my friends having the best of intentions, next time quit coming too. Friends stopped calling. Eventually I felt more like an outsider in the town I lived in than one of the locals who fit in with the crowd.

Advice From A Friend
About a year ago I went to dinner with a friend named Mike whom I met when I worked at a San Diego dive shop. We were talking about our lives and I mentioned that I felt more like a spectator than a participant in my local community, and that I hadn’t been able to contribute to regional, national or international environmental organizations the way I thought I could. I told Mike that I wanted to feel connected to something bigger than me. Mike looked at me and said, “I can tell you how to solve that problem. Volunteer.” Mike has moved around the country some in his adult years, and he told me he overcame his sense of isolation by volunteering.
I decided right then and there to get off my behind and follow Mike’s advice. It might sound corny to say it, but I feel like I have been so fortunate in my career and that the oceans and diving have given me so much that I have a responsibility to give back. Volunteering would be a way for me to become more involved and give back.
Putting Mike’s
Advice To Work
The week after having dinner with Mike I got back in touch with the folks at the San Diego Oceans Foundation (SDOF). Through a variety of programs as diverse as raising white sea bass hatchlings that are released into local waters to monitoring the health of local reefs to helping educate youth, SDOF strives to “promote ocean stewardship by leading community-supported projects that enhance ocean habitat and encourage sustainable use” of ocean resources. That mission statement and my previous experience with SDOF made me aware that it is the type of organization I want to work with.
I met with SDOF’s president, Wendy Pacofsky, herself a volunteer, and made her aware of my interest in getting involved in some capacity. We talked about a few ideas to help get the word out about SDOF, and she told the SDOF board of directors about my interest in getting involved. A few weeks later I became an adviser to the board, and immediately began attending meetings and working with others on a variety of projects. Already I am feeling reconnected with my local community. It was that easy.

REEF
Last summer I went to Alaska for the first time to join a group making a film about salmon sharks. Andy Dehart, the director of biological programs at the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., was a member of the film team. One night while sitting around the campfire I was telling Andy about my desire to contribute to environmental causes. Andy told me about his involvement with REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation), an active grassroots organization of divers and marine enthusiasts committed to ocean conservation. I was certainly aware of REEF and many of its programs that range from volunteer fish surveys to trying to help curtail the lionfish invasion in Florida and the Caribbean to the Great Annual Fish Count, but I had never been involved with REEF.
I was aware of the fish counts and surveys REEF volunteers conduct, and that REEF is sometimes compared to the Audubon Society, an organization made up of birding enthusiasts. Volunteer efforts by ordinary citizens help protect bird habitats and help ornithologists expand their knowledge. Just like the Audubon Society, SDOF and REEF enable regular citizens to make a contribution. I asked Andy how I could get involved.
To make a long story short, I was invited to join the REEF’s Board of Trustees, and I have accepted. Once again, all I had to do to get involved was express my willingness to do so. That’s all a lot of environmental organizations need to know to put you to work.

Getting Things Done
One of the things I really like about both SDOF and REEF is that their advisers and board members actually roll up their sleeves and work. We meet, discuss budgets, projects, do our best to support the working staff and get the word out about the organization.
After the meetings, the real work begins. Already I’ve been involved in projects as diverse as reworking an employee handbook to conceiving and developing a new fund-raising project to working on an annual report. Those efforts require some careful analysis, rounds of e-mails, follow-up phone calls, etc. It’s work, but it makes me feel good to contribute to these efforts because those jobs need to get done for animals and habitat I care about and for those organizations to successfully carry out their mission.

Who Benefits
So, who really benefits from my efforts? While I hope the organizations, wildlife and the environment do, I am absolutely certain that I have already received great benefit from being involved in the causes the organizations work so hard for. Being involved with causes that are bigger than me makes me feel a lot better about the value of my own life, and gives me a way of feeling connected to my local community and to the human race. Knowing this about my own experience makes it easy for me to encourage you to find a diving-related or conservation-oriented organization to get involved with. There are a lot of organizations besides SDOF and REEF that do important work and that could use your help. Oceans For Youth is a great example (www.oceansforyouth.com). You don’t need to hold a Ph.D. You just need a good heart and the willingness to work for a worthy cause. I think you will find a lot of environmental organizations surprisingly easy to get involved with. I feel equally certain that there is a diving- or water-related environmental organization in your area or one that is national or even international that would greatly appreciate your participation.
I know times are tough for a lot of people right now, and it is easy to feel like now is the time to look out for ourselves first. But I have learned that, ultimately, no matter how much we give, it seems that we receive a lot more in return, starting with the feeling of satisfaction that we help protect our environment, or support our community. I know this has been true in my case. Bet it would be for you as well.

Always Learning

You Give, You Get:
The Win-Win of Volunteering

Story &
photos by
Marty Snyderman

M y professional life has been one of dreams fulfilled. Since the late 1970s I have traveled the world creating still photographs, making films, writing about my experiences and the marine life I have encountered, and speaking to interested groups. In a nutshell, this is exactly the life I dreamed about when I first started diving.
Ironically, my nomadic lifestyle has created some unexpected consequences.

Unexpected Irony
Years ago I felt very connected to the diving community in San Diego. I managed dive centers in the San Diego area for several years and got involved with the local diving community and a number of ocean-centric organizations ranging from the San Diego Underwater Photographic Society and other dive clubs to the San Diego Oceans Foundation, an organization that set up speaking engagements in which I gave presentations about marine life to school kids of all ages. In one way or another I was always rubbing elbows with the local diving community, and that involvement routinely introduced me to the San Diego community at large.
I felt connected to my local community. I felt like San Diego was a place I could call home, not just a place to store my gear, eat, sleep, do laundry and pay bills between dive trips. But as my career grew I traveled more and more. Soon that meant being gone more than half the year, and the unexpected irony in my life was that the more I traveled and the more diving friends I made around the world, the more isolated I was when I returned home. I didn’t see that one coming, but it came in a very big way.
With all of my traveling it soon became impractical for my friends to try to include me in their activities. For a few years, friends continued to call me. I’d get home from a dive trip and there would be messages on my phone machine asking if I wanted to go on a dive two weeks ago or to a ballgame last week. I’d call people back and explain that I was out of town, and I’d hang up after saying, “I’d love to go next time.” Despite my friends having the best of intentions, next time quit coming too. Friends stopped calling. Eventually I felt more like an outsider in the town I lived in than one of the locals who fit in with the crowd.

Advice From A Friend
About a year ago I went to dinner with a friend named Mike whom I met when I worked at a San Diego dive shop. We were talking about our lives and I mentioned that I felt more like a spectator than a participant in my local community, and that I hadn’t been able to contribute to regional, national or international environmental organizations the way I thought I could. I told Mike that I wanted to feel connected to something bigger than me. Mike looked at me and said, “I can tell you how to solve that problem. Volunteer.” Mike has moved around the country some in his adult years, and he told me he overcame his sense of isolation by volunteering.
I decided right then and there to get off my behind and follow Mike’s advice. It might sound corny to say it, but I feel like I have been so fortunate in my career and that the oceans and diving have given me so much that I have a responsibility to give back. Volunteering would be a way for me to become more involved and give back.
Putting Mike’s
Advice To Work
The week after having dinner with Mike I got back in touch with the folks at the San Diego Oceans Foundation (SDOF). Through a variety of programs as diverse as raising white sea bass hatchlings that are released into local waters to monitoring the health of local reefs to helping educate youth, SDOF strives to “promote ocean stewardship by leading community-supported projects that enhance ocean habitat and encourage sustainable use” of ocean resources. That mission statement and my previous experience with SDOF made me aware that it is the type of organization I want to work with.
I met with SDOF’s president, Wendy Pacofsky, herself a volunteer, and made her aware of my interest in getting involved in some capacity. We talked about a few ideas to help get the word out about SDOF, and she told the SDOF board of directors about my interest in getting involved. A few weeks later I became an adviser to the board, and immediately began attending meetings and working with others on a variety of projects. Already I am feeling reconnected with my local community. It was that easy.

REEF
Last summer I went to Alaska for the first time to join a group making a film about salmon sharks. Andy Dehart, the director of biological programs at the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., was a member of the film team. One night while sitting around the campfire I was telling Andy about my desire to contribute to environmental causes. Andy told me about his involvement with REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation), an active grassroots organization of divers and marine enthusiasts committed to ocean conservation. I was certainly aware of REEF and many of its programs that range from volunteer fish surveys to trying to help curtail the lionfish invasion in Florida and the Caribbean to the Great Annual Fish Count, but I had never been involved with REEF.
I was aware of the fish counts and surveys REEF volunteers conduct, and that REEF is sometimes compared to the Audubon Society, an organization made up of birding enthusiasts. Volunteer efforts by ordinary citizens help protect bird habitats and help ornithologists expand their knowledge. Just like the Audubon Society, SDOF and REEF enable regular citizens to make a contribution. I asked Andy how I could get involved.
To make a long story short, I was invited to join the REEF’s Board of Trustees, and I have accepted. Once again, all I had to do to get involved was express my willingness to do so. That’s all a lot of environmental organizations need to know to put you to work.

Getting Things Done
One of the things I really like about both SDOF and REEF is that their advisers and board members actually roll up their sleeves and work. We meet, discuss budgets, projects, do our best to support the working staff and get the word out about the organization.
After the meetings, the real work begins. Already I’ve been involved in projects as diverse as reworking an employee handbook to conceiving and developing a new fund-raising project to working on an annual report. Those efforts require some careful analysis, rounds of e-mails, follow-up phone calls, etc. It’s work, but it makes me feel good to contribute to these efforts because those jobs need to get done for animals and habitat I care about and for those organizations to successfully carry out their mission.

Who Benefits
So, who really benefits from my efforts? While I hope the organizations, wildlife and the environment do, I am absolutely certain that I have already received great benefit from being involved in the causes the organizations work so hard for. Being involved with causes that are bigger than me makes me feel a lot better about the value of my own life, and gives me a way of feeling connected to my local community and to the human race. Knowing this about my own experience makes it easy for me to encourage you to find a diving-related or conservation-oriented organization to get involved with. There are a lot of organizations besides SDOF and REEF that do important work and that could use your help. Oceans For Youth is a great example (www.oceansforyouth.com). You don’t need to hold a Ph.D. You just need a good heart and the willingness to work for a worthy cause. I think you will find a lot of environmental organizations surprisingly easy to get involved with. I feel equally certain that there is a diving- or water-related environmental organization in your area or one that is national or even international that would greatly appreciate your participation.
I know times are tough for a lot of people right now, and it is easy to feel like now is the time to look out for ourselves first. But I have learned that, ultimately, no matter how much we give, it seems that we receive a lot more in return, starting with the feeling of satisfaction that we help protect our environment, or support our community. I know this has been true in my case. Bet it would be for you as well.

No Dumb Questions

More Cardio Questions, Contaminated-Water Concerns, and Deco Issues
Written by Alex Brylske
Photo by Joseph C. Dovala

Q:Tom Page writes about a recent feature article. “I just finished reading your April 2010 article, ‘The Telltale Heart.’ I never thought it would happen to me, but two months ago, I had a bout of atrial fibrillation. I had to have a cardioversion (shock), which was successful, and I am now back in normal rhythm. I am about to turn 61, and have been diving for 20 years with more than 200 dives, including under Arctic ice. I am very fit and exercise several times a week. I try to dive at least once a year. My doctor has indicated that he does not see a problem with diving as long as I stay within the recreational limits, which I do. Nevertheless, after reading your article that mentions several types of rhythm abnormalities, it does not specifically mention atrial fibrillation. What do the experts think?”
A:As I’m sure you know, but for the benefit of our readers, atrial fibrillation is a form of abnormal beating of the heart termed a “dysrhythmia.” These can occur because of a variety of conditions ranging from benign to severe. Sometimes entirely healthy individuals have occasional extra beats or minor changes in rhythm. These events may occur for no apparent reason, or can be brought on by stress or by drugs such as caffeine. According to the Divers Alert Network, dysrhythmias become serious only when they are prolonged or when they do not result in the desired mechanical contraction of the heart.
Dysrhythmias can occur for several reasons such as a short-circuit of the nerve impulse telling the heart when to beat or because of some other cardiac disease. Your particular condition originates in the upper chambers of the heart (atria). The most significant problem for those in otherwise good health — like you — is the risk of losing consciousness.
Most forms of dysrhythmia are incompatible with diving, although some are not. Therefore, anyone with a dysrhythmia requires a complete medical evaluation by a cardiologist prior to engaging in or, as in your case, continuing scuba diving, which you obviously have had. And as with many medical conditions, whether you should dive is a decision that you need to make in consultation with a doctor who is thoroughly familiar with you and in diving medicine as well. If your physician does not have a background in diving medicine, I suggest that you see one who does. You can get a referral from the Divers Alert Network.
Q:Lynn Hammond was a bit confused over some advice I gave in the aforementioned “The Telltale Heart” article. “On Page 52 you state that a target heart rate (THR) for aerobic fitness is calculated by taking the number 220 minus your age times 70 percent. Yet in your ‘No Dumb Questions’ column of the same issue you use a figure of 60 percent. Why the difference?”

A:The Target Heart Rate concept was popularized with the 1968 publication of a book entitled “Aerobics” by a then young Air Force physician named Kenneth Cooper. He defined aerobic exercises as those that “demand oxygen without producing an intolerable oxygen debt, so that they can be sustained for a long period of time.” The THR formula was a way to turn theory into practice. I remember when I first started using Cooper’s book as a guide to fitness many years ago that 80 percent was the multiplier suggested to achieve a “training effect.” I suspect that the multiplier has declined over the intervening years because the North American population has aged.
I’ll have to defer to an expert in exercise physiology for an explanation of what minimum THR is required for any desired training effect, but I have found both 60 and 70 percent recommended by different sources. I suspect that each source was addressing different age categories. Regardless of any recommendation, however, for those over the age of 40 any exercise regime should be determined not only by some published source, but also with the input of a physician. Personally, I now find a THR derived from the 80 percent multiplier a bit too demanding to sustain for an hour-long bike ride, and now gladly embrace the lower recommendation. I suppose it’s also matter of your personal fitness goals.
Q:Michel Cloutier writes with a health concern over water quality. “I live inland, so the only opportunity I have to dive in salt water is on vacation. I believe that salt water has by nature a healing factor that can also kill germs. There are many beautiful lakes and rivers in Québec and Ontario that make for good diving. However, I am concerned about the health risks that come with diving in fresh water, such as a higher risk of ear infection. For this reason I always wear a full wet suit and gloves each and every time I go diving for extra protection. Am I being paranoid, or do I have good reason to be extra cautious in fresh water?”

A:There is no doubt that some nasty diseases are waterborne, and that many of these pathogenic microbes cannot survive in seawater. Frankly, I’d be much more concerned about freshwater environments in the tropics than in a temperate region like Canada, but you still raise a valid concern. Of course, the first line of defense is always knowledge. Health agencies are mandated to check water quality in bodies of water that are drinking water sources, and often required to do so in places that are popular for wading and swimming. So a check with your local health department might alleviate your concerns.
In instances in which there is no water-quality monitoring, the guideline is then common sense. It’s obviously not a good idea to dive in a body of water where there’s evidence that others have gotten sick (and in the diving community word of a problem like that would tend to get around pretty quickly).
As to your point about wet suit protection, understand that, as the name indicates, it’s a wet suit. Because water enters the suit, it provides absolutely no protection from microbial contamination. You are just as vulnerable diving in your bathing suit alone as you are in a wet suit. Using open-circuit scuba also means that there’s no barrier between you and the environment. (Keep in mind: Water gets into your mouth all the time.) Protection in contaminated water requires a complete barrier such as provided by a dry suit and a well-sealed full-face mask as well as other precautions. This simply isn’t feasible for recreational diving.
I’d also like to point out that diving in the ocean provides absolutely no immunity to contracting a bug that could make you sick or worse. Seawater does not have any “healing factor” that can kill germs. It’s just that, due to issues involving osmolarity, some microbes cannot live in seawater. Rest assured that divers and swimmers have come down with a host of diseases such as flesh-eating necrotizing fasciitis from marine bacteria and skin lesions and memory loss from the toxins produced by dinoflagellates, to name a few. Fortunately, such incidents are quite rare.
Personally I’ve never experienced any health problem due to water quality (even as a commercial diver) from diving in tropical or temperate regions, or in either fresh water or seawater. I’m certainly not saying that there are never potential health concerns from water quality, it’s just that, for divers who use a modicum of common sense, that concern isn’t anywhere near the top of our list of things to worry about.

Q:Tony Discoe sent in a query about dive computers. “My dive computer has a feature whereby there is an alarm message for a ‘missed deco stop,’ and it’s displayed for as long as I stay above the prescribed stop depth. As soon as I descend to the prescribed depth or deeper, the alarm message is no longer displayed. The prescribed depth that’s programmed into the computer, however, is 10 feet. Tell me please, what’s the difference between a safety stop for 3-5 minutes at 15-20 feet versus a ‘deco stop’ at 10 feet? My two boys and I are recreational divers only, seldom below 100 feet. Do we need to become more familiar with deco stops?”

A:As you didn’t provide the make and model of your dive computer, nor any information about your dive profile, I can’t comment specifically on why your device told you to make a decompression stop. Nor can I tell you if your computer prescribed the stop as a precaution, or because you actually exceeded the no-decompression limit of the model programmed within it. Nonetheless, because both safety and decompression stops involve delays in ascent at a prescribed depth and time to reduce (“off gas”) some of the dissolved nitrogen absorbed during a dive, confusion over the difference between the two is understandable.
In the case of a decompression stop, surfacing without this delay will mean exceeding the maximum allowable pressure in one or more of the tissue compartments (if it’s a traditional multitissue decompression model) or exceeding the critical bubble size (if it’s an RGBM model). Clearly, missing or omitting the stop would expose the diver to a high likelihood (though not a certainty) of decompression illness.
Conversely, a safety stop is merely a way of incorporating an added margin of protection. By delaying the ascent, a diver accomplishes a safer elimination of nitrogen than swimming immediately to the surface. However, in this case, the diver has not violated the no-decompression limit and, therefore, has not exceeded the maximum allowable level of nitrogen according to the decompression model in use. So, a diver could opt not to make a safety stop — ascend directly to the surface — and not violate the decompression model. A safety stop is a way to “hedge your bet,” and reduce the likelihood that significant bubbling leading to decompression sickness will occur. Still, even with a safety stop there’s no certainty of avoiding the bends. Virtually all dives, even within the limits of dive tables and computers, run some risk of DCS.
I suggest that you reread your computer’s user manual. It should explain exactly why a “deco stop” warning will appear. If you’re still confused, or if the explanation is inadequate, contact the manufacturer for clarification. But whatever you do, follow the computer’s instructions.