Table of contents for Q3-17 in Sources

After nearly two decades of silence, the International Conference on Underwater Education (ICUE) re-emerged at the Long Beach Scuba Show with a loud and definitive statement that NAUI’s commitment to quality education for divers has not diminished. Spread over three days, ICUE 2017 offered everything from a connection with diving legends to engaging and informative presentations spanning topics as diverse as diving in Antarctica and creating a culture of diving leadership that produces positive growth. “The entire weekend was simply outstanding,” stated NAUI Executive Director Dallas Edmiston. “I think all those who attended came away with a renewed sense of pride in the accomplishments and contributions of NAUI to the diving community.” The conference kicked off with a reception aboard the Queen Mary, where more than 100 NAUI members, leaders…

LOCATED IN ISLAMORADA, Florida, the History of Diving Museum tells the international story of humanity’s quest to explore, understand and venture under the sea and is dedicated to collecting, preserving, displaying and interpreting artifacts, antiques, books, documents, photographs and oral history related to the history of diving. The museum’s exhibits present this history from a global perspective but also highlight the special role that South Florida and the Florida Keys have played. The museum is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational institution, with the majority of its artifacts being provided through the generous support of its founders, Drs. Joe and Sally Bauer, who hold one of the largest collections of historic diving equipment and research documents in the world. This past March, the NAUI Business Institute (NBI) Familiarization Trip to the Florida…

“Dive Safety Through Education” has been NAUI’s motto since its inception. Institutions like colleges and universities have the primary mission of education. When a college or university has a diving program, becoming affiliated with NAUI is a logical step that many institutions take. There are many colleges, universities and other specialized educational programs that have become NAUI affiliates, both domestically and internationally. Each diving program varies in the courses and number of certifications offered. Some programs offer the NAUI Scuba Diver certification as a noncredit or continuing education course. Others offer it as a physical education credit. Some provide multiple courses in addition to the entry-level Scuba Diver course. For example, certain programs offer a multiple-semester curriculum resulting in advanced training and certifications like NAUI Master Scuba Diver, and in…

The Ocean Guardian Dive Club is an environmental education program that offers opportunities for hands-on marine science learning using scuba diving as a tool to engage the next generation of ocean stewards. The program is run by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is a national nonprofit partner for America’s marine and Great Lakes sanctuaries. The foundation supports education programs like the Ocean Guardian Dive Club to engage more young people in ocean conservation. The generous support of organizations and individuals allows programs like Ocean Guardian to grow and flourish. Learn more about the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s support of national marine sanctuaries and support the Ocean Guardian Dive Club program…

The Galveston campus of Texas A&M University (TAMUG) is a premier institution for maritime leadership and ocean and coastal studies on the Gulf Coast. It’s also a 21st-century institution where research and scholarship are one with student learning and success. This campus operates a recreational and scientific diving program that has been well established since 1998. The university was a founding member of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences, and in 2014, the minor in Diving Technology and Methods was introduced, making the campus one of the few in the nation to formalize scuba education as an academic program. Between 2012 and 2016, the recreational dive program enrollment increased by over 134 percent, while the school’s undergraduate enrollment increased by 20 percent. To better understand the value and impact of…

As a “reformed” trimix instructor trainer and dive store owner who made the shift to freediving over 20 years ago, I have long been captivated by the utter freedom that our sport provides its practitioners. No cylinder, no bubbles — just you and the ocean and all the creatures and wonders within. And I’ve always been in search of ways to enhance our underwater experience, to make it more fun and add new dimensions to an already amazing sport. One of my favorite “enhancements” is the underwater scooter, or Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV). I first experimented with scooters while breath-hold diving back in 1998 with an Apollo model of the yellow Dacor scooters. These were great little two-handed scooters that pulled you effortlessly through the water. We played for hours…

NAUI Instructor Chance Ruder is the leader of the dive team at FKAE and has dedicated his life to sparking a passion for the ocean in the next generation. Immediately after they break the surface, my two young guests burst into excited chittering. “Did you see that eel come up? It was huge! Those lobsters look even bigger underwater! Dad, we have to get certified; that was amazing.” It was the kind of excitement you would expect after two teenage girls breathe underwater, get swarmed by a tornado of several hundred fish, and hand-feed sharks. Sitting at the surface of the water and reflecting on their dive in our 760,000-liter (200,000-gallon) Coral Reef tank, Ashley and Kaley tell me that their favorite part of the experience was “all of it!”…

On Friday, April 7, 2017, the Guam Visitors Bureau commemorated the 100th anniversary of the scuttling of the SMS Cormoran II, a ship that holds a unique place in history for both Guam and the United States — an unusual role for a German ship. The ship was built in Germany to be part of the Russian merchant fleet as a combination passenger, cargo and mail carrier, and was originally named the SS Ryazan by Russia. With the advent of World War I, Russia and Germany became enemies. On August 4, 1914, the Ryazan was captured by the SMS Emden of Germany. The Ryazan was taken to Tsingtao, in the German colony of Kiautschou in Qingdao, China, where it was converted into an armed merchant raider using the armaments from…

This past April, NAUI Brazil and NAUI Headquarters teamed up to provide the Profundo Scuba Diving film crew with a guided tour of NAUI dive destinations throughout Florida. From experiencing the majestic manatees of Crystal River and meandering down the freshwater springs of central Florida to exploring famous wrecks of the Florida Keys, the Brazilian film crew not only captured spectacular footage of Florida’s underwater world, but also the hospitality and enthusiasm of NAUI Worldwide’s community of divers. The film crew consisted of Yuri Sanada (NAUI 14794), Vera Sanada (NAUI D0009928) and Rogerio Umeoka and was accompanied by several NAUI leaders during different segments of the tour, which began at NAUI Headquarters in Riverview, Florida. The Brazilian TV show Profundo Scuba Diving focuses on tourism and diving and is extremely…

Ever since I was a child, I have been curious about the water and the animals that inhabit the depths. Snorkeling over bright coral reefs soon led to diving deep shipwrecks, and all the while I continued to learn through observation. After years of recreational diving, I decided that scuba was more than a hobby and pursued a career in marine science. As a marine ecologist, I am lucky enough to combine my passion for diving with my desire to understand the oceans. I am currently finishing the final semester of my master’s degree at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science, where I am studying the coral and algal communities of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. My research focuses on how grazing from sea urchins shapes these…

With its 35 dive sites within a 10-minute drive, divers keep returning to Puerto Galera, Philippines, year after year. Not having to take another flight after landing in Manila makes Puerto Galera one of the most convenient dive areas to reach in the Philippines. The area is a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and lies within the Coral Triangle, which is considered the world’s center of marine biodiversity. There are more species in this area than in the Caribbean and Great Barrier Reef combined. Scandi Divers Resort has 42 rooms — half of which are waterfront — and is the ideal moderately priced tropical retreat to spend a week or two of diving and relaxing. As a NAUI facility, Scandi Divers welcomes its fellow NAUI divers and members. Scandi Divers is…

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country located in the northern Caribbean. It is bounded by the Caribbean Sea (or Mar Caribe) to the south, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest and the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast. The Cuban archipelago consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) and several smaller islands. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the capital of the country, with Santiago de Cuba being the second-largest city. Cuba’s geographic neighbors include the United States and Bahamas to the north, Mexico to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica to the south, and Haiti to the southeast. Christopher Columbus arrived on the island in 1492 and claimed it for the Kingdom of Spain.…

Time flies, and nowhere is this more apparent than in an open-water scuba class. As an instructor, you are tasked with teaching a great deal of critical knowledge to students over a very short time. Courses are often shortened to compete for the students’ time and attention, and divers are often trained in how to dive safely as quickly as possible, with the expectation that they will refine their skills after certification. Long gone are the days when scuba students participated in multimonth introductory courses requiring scores of pool laps, elaborate gear-removal scenarios, and course graduates becoming something akin to frogmen. Despite these almost industrywide changes, there are currently over 300 programs actively training scuba students on a very different timeline and set of standards. These courses, offered as a…

“The captain is responsible for the safe conduct and overall safety of the vessel, the passengers and the crew — in that order.” On a damp and windy Saturday in what passes lately for spring in the Northeast, I broke the law against maritime pollution. I was running the boat Suzie Q for my friend Susan’s family on what may have been for them the last boat ride aboard the family vessel, as it certainly was for her. It was blowing lightly nor’northeasterly, maybe 8 knots, heavy with mist and mixed with enough rain so that the family first wiped the cushions before they sat, or else elected to stand as we made our way out the inlet of Three Mile Harbor into Gardiner’s Bay. Susan was an avid boating…

Diving models address the coupled issues of gas uptake, gas elimination, bubbles and pressure changes in numerous computational frameworks. Application of a computational model to staging divers is called a diving algorithm. The NAUI reduced gradient bubble model (RGBM) is a modern one, treating the many facets of gas dynamics in tissue and blood consistently. Although the systematics of gas exchange, nucleation, bubble growth or collapse, and decompression are so complicated that theories only reflect pieces of the decompression sickness (DCS) puzzle, the risk and DCS statistics of staging algorithms can be easily collected and analyzed. The record of the RGBM over the past 20 years or so is noteworthy, especially as it regards safe staging using deep stops with overall shorter decompression times. The dynamics port naturally to both…

At California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB), all of our scuba certification courses are NAUI. We certify through NAUI because we believe NAUI programs allow us to offer the highest-quality training to our students. The philosophy of “academic freedom” espoused and practiced by NAUI allows us to tailor the classes to both meet the needs of and challenge our students. Currently we offer the following classes every semester: NAUI Scuba Diver (four sections), a combination of NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver and NAUI Rescue Scuba Diver (two sections), and NAUI Master Scuba Diver (one section). These courses are activity classes taught through the kinesiology department. Each class lasts the full semester (16 weeks) and is a two-unit course — one unit of lecture and one unit of activity. The courses are…

During a NAUI Member Update in southwest Florida, someone initiated an impromptu discussion of the value of our NAUI instruction and training, and an advertised $99 NAUI Scuba Diver class was brought to our attention. This $99 class required the students to buy only their personal mask, fins and snorkel, and it advertised no additional costs for the training and certification. A while after the update, I received a phone call about a NAUI Master Diver course. I quoted the caller $600 plus dives, and I could tell that she was uncomfortable with the price. Later that day, she called again and wanted to negotiate the cost. She was not interested in the value of a private class nor in the material that she would learn. This potential student was…

Officially, Florida’s Boynton Inlet is not an inlet, but nobody refers to it as the South Lake Worth Drainage Ditch. And nobody calls the Palm Beach Inlet, farther north, by its official name: Lake Worth Inlet. Every nautical chart denotes the Boynton Inlet with the caveat “Passage through the inlet is not recommended without local knowledge of all hazardous conditions affecting this area.” When I was a boy, a fishing boat capsized in the Boynton Inlet. Five people died, and other passengers were injured, one seriously. In the recent past, the Boynton Inlet claimed two dive boats. The cut from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean was made in 1927 as a drainage ditch for the huge C-15 canal, which brings agricultural runoff and water from Lake Okeechobee into…

“Hi, everybody, and welcome to NAUI’s Dive Team Report! I’m your host, Greg Martin.” For the last year and a half, I’ve opened the NAUI Dive Team Report podcast with those words. It’s been a wonderful trip, with each new guest bringing a new adventure. I’m honored to be a part of the NAUI team and to be able to use my talent for your enjoyment. I fell in love with radio and broadcasting at a very early age — actually, at about the same time I fell in love with diving. I was one of those kids who carried a pocket transistor radio with me (borrowed from my grandfather). I would climb trees at night to get better reception for those faraway stations like KOA in Denver, KOMA in…

“I’ve been coached through the frustrations of being a beginner scuba diver struggling with buoyancy control and guided toward the thrill of successfully applying a new photographic concept. I plan to bring the many lessons I’ve learned as a student to my new journey as an instructor.” In March, I learned that I was one of three recipients of the NAUI Leadership Training Grant, awarded by the Women Divers Hall of Fame. This exciting news arrived while I was conducting research as a Fulbright scholar in the Philippines. I had applied for the Leadership Training Grant after several years of exploring leadership roles as a diver and underwater photographer and after introducing and teaching new photographic and conservation techniques to coral scientists in Manila. I spent 10 months scuba diving…

The Green Diver Initiative wants to share an update from one of its Dive4Change grant recipients, Love A Sea Turtle (LAST): April 21-23 brought together 15 of our Turtle Team student divers, along with 11 special guests from Costa Rica, for Global Youth Service Day. Our youth had an amazing experience and the opportunity to work alongside Costa Rican students for certification in the first part of the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) underwater archaeology mapping skills course through East Carolina University’s maritime studies program. Ideas for conservation and environmental projects were exchanged, friendships were established and, of course, the students were already talking about a future dive trip to Costa Rica! These skills will be put to the test this summer when our student divers map the recently sunk tugboats…

Ally Marter comes to us from the small farm town of Pinconning, Michigan. Having grown up fishing on Lake Huron, Marter has always loved boating and being near the water. She knew that she wanted to be a marine biologist in the third grade and has been working toward that goal ever since. After she attended SeaTrek BVI as a high school student, her passion for the ocean and marine science was strengthened and refined. Returning later as an intern, she discovered that the one thing she loved more than learning about the ocean was teaching others about it. Sharing her passion for marine science with students through presentations, hikes and snorkeling is her favorite part of working at SeaTrek. Marter is a skilled NAUI Divemaster and currently heads the…

[This project has been awarded a Green Diver Initiative Dive4Change Grant.] Exotic species can find favorable environmental conditions for their development when colonizing new areas, becoming more efficient than the native species in the use of resources. These species may cause ecological problems, such as the decline of native species, loss of biodiversity and changes in the functions of communities and ecosystems. Tubastraea spp., known as orange cup coral, is native to the Pacific Ocean, and its range of distribution has expanded toward the Caribbean region and the Atlantic south coast. The first recorded sighting of the species in Brazil occurred in the 1980s, on oil and gas platforms in Rio de Janeiro state. Nowadays, its occurrence has been reported along 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) of coastline, being registered in…

Geological karst features, necessary for the formation of water-filled caves, are scarce in Sweden, and no suitable caves exist for cave-diving training. However, with literally thousands of water-filled mines, hundreds of which are accessible, it would perhaps be apt to call central Sweden “mine country,” akin to Florida’s famous “cave country.” Stable bedrock and a millennia-old tradition of mining have left sites scattered around the landscape in large areas of north and central Sweden. Climate and groundwater levels ensure the mines start to fill up the moment the pumps stop running, and within a decade or two, the water levels stabilize. In recent years, interest in mine diving has exploded in Sweden due to the increasing popularity of cave diving internationally, as well as the seasonal requirements in a country…

To be successful in today’s market, business owners must be able to see what’s going on and figure out how they can capture a piece of the action. Many dive centers are not seeing the big picture. The business owner has to figure out what people want. That should be simple: Divers want to have fun and enjoy life. It’s your job to figure out what you can do to make that happen for them. If you don’t, they will go to the internet and social media, find out for themselves, and leave you out of the picture. As a new diver in the early 1970s, I learned to dive and bought my gear at a local dive shop, but the shop offered no trips. So I got with a…

OCCUPATIONAL RISKS OF LEADERSHIP In this fourth part of our series, we’ll move on from risks associated with our equipment, such as compressors and cylinders, and general gear handling, to risks we encounter in our day-to-day work as dive leaders, especially those involving our customers, such as injuries, cold and dehydration. Then we’ll close with a few general, not specifically diving-related hazards, such as those of our workplace and the vacation lifestyle. DIVING AND DIVE LEADERS KITTING UP AND DOWN – Not only do leaders have to kit up their own gear, but they sometimes also kit up for their customers, so bear in mind what was presented in Part 3 ( Sources , second quarter 2017) about the total amount of weight they have to lift and handle. DCS…