Scuba Geek

Florida Recreational Scuba Diver made to hand over coins found on a Red Sea shipwreck March 13, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : News, Uncategorized, WreckDiving , add a comment

Not content with namecalling in the previous post, CDNN have gone a step further in their strange hate campaign against Leigh Bishop and Brad Sheard, this time portraying Leigh and Brad as if behind bars, calling them graverobbers! In some ways this is becoming more interesting than the story they are actually reporting, which is that a Florida Scuba Diver has been found attempting to sell some rare coins he found on a shipwreck whilst diving in the Red Sea in 1994.

He was apparently asking on chatrooms how to restore the coins and maybe find potential sellers and this was how he was caught.

“Artifacts such as these coins are not trinkets that can be pilfered and sold to the highest bidder,” said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “To their rightful owners, these artifacts are priceless items that are cherished and proudly displayed as a testament to their cultural history.”

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Scuba divers face up to 10-year prison sentence for stealing shipwreck artifacts March 13, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : News, Uncategorized, WreckDiving , add a comment

CDNN report that two divers have been arrested for allegedly stealing ancient artifacts worth millions of dollars from shipwrecks in waters off West Java.

The two scuba divers, Fred Dobberphul and Jean-Paul Blancan, a German and a Frenchman, have insisted their operation was legal — they say they sent DVDs of the treasure images weekly to Indonesian authorities and openly discussed their finds with the media.

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Maldives claim new Diving World Record March 10, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : News, Travel , 2comments

The Maldives is claiming a new Guinness World Record for the most people diving together at one time.

On 25 February 979 divers, aged 10-73 and drawn from Maldivians, tourists and expatriates, are reported to have got into the water together at Sunlight Thila on North Male Atoll. Organised by the Maldives Tourism Promotion Board, the event involved divers brought to the site through a joint effort by 37 resorts, nine dive centres and 14 safari vessels, with support from the Coastguard.
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Atomic Aquatics UltraClear Mask Line to Begin Shipping March 10, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : Equipment , add a comment

Saw this press release regarding a new range of masks coming from Atomic. The Atomic regulators seem to be well regarded, but the split fins are nonsense (sorry, its just the way I feel) and now they are releasing anew range of ‘professional’ dive masks. Here is their press release;

Atomic Aquatics continues to turn the dive industry on edge with its innovative products. First came the ground-breaking Atomic regulator family, followed by the award-winning SplitFins. Atomic Aquatics is pleased to unveil its new Atomic-Vision ULTRACLEAR line of professional dive masks. Both will be available March 1st.
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Scuba Diving Hand Signals Standardised, or maybe not March 10, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : general , add a comment

The World Recreational Scuba Diving Council have released a document which aims to standardise the hand signals used by scuba divers. The standards were developed by a working party consisting of YScuba, PADI, SSI, SDI, IDEA, and PDIC.
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