Missing Scuba Diver still not found, official search called off July 25, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Accidents, OceanDiving , 1 comment so farThere has still been no sign of Ashley Mauldin, who disappeared in the Gulf of Mexico, in what was her first dive in the ocean. The US Coastguard belives she drowned, but her family are still hoping for a miracle, says kotv.com;
“You know she was my very best friend.” Charlotte Callis is still in the worst two weeks of her life, wondering if her daughter, Ashley Mauldin is dead, and if her body will ever be found. “Everybody we’ve talked to says that you don’t vanish in the gulf in 30 feet of water, it just doesn’t happen, so we don’t know, we’re heartbroken and we don’t know what happened.”
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Scuba Diving in Greece: Athens July 14, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : OceanDiving, Travel , add a comment
I mentioned yesterday about a trip report written regarding diving in the Aegean Sea, and exploring the Hellenic Underwater Times a little deeper I found some great information regarding diving in Athens. Diving in Greek waters was effectively banned until recently when the Greek authorities changed the legislation to lift many of the restrictions, and so diving in Athens might become popular as it is essentially an unspoilt environment;
There are at least 4 modern wrecks in depths permitted to recreational divers and other 4 in depths reached easily by technical divers and most dive sites are accessible by car. Many more may wait to be found once the area they rest is dived a few times…
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Scuba diving in Greece: Samothraki July 13, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : OceanDiving, Travel , 1 comment so far
I have never really considered the Aegean Sea as a place to go scuba diving. I guess we are bombarded with so much information about the Red Sea, Maldives, and places like that rather than some of the lesser known areas of the world. As Greece has recently changed its law to make it easier for scuba divers, then I think we might be hearing more about the diving opportunities in and around Greece.
Dimitris Kotsifakis visited Samothraki last year, which is in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea, and wrote a trip report. In his words ‘Samothraki is an island blessed with marvelous natural beauty, luxuriant vegetation mixed with waterfalls, unique beaches, ancient monuments, picturesque villages and most of all, openhearted people that are always willing to welcome you.’ Sounds very cool.
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Hungarian Scuba Diver Sets World Record with 270m Unaided Scuba Dive July 10, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : News, OceanDiving , add a comment
Underwater Times has reported that a Hungarian scuba diver Gusztav Riczler has successfully dived to 270 mtrs and returned through eight hours of decompression unaided. The dive took place at the Blue Hole, in the Red Sea. From the report;
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Scuba Diving into history in King Herod’s harbor June 9, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : OceanDiving, Travel , 1 comment so farI am sure that many scuba divers all at some point imagine swimming through a submerged city, at least I do. This story from Reuters highlights a dive site which might just satisfy this dream. Caesarea is an Isreali city and is host to an ancient harbor which is believed to have existed for 2,000 years.;
The Romans conquered Caesarea in 63 BC. King Herod named the port city in 22 BC to honor his patron Caesar Augustus and commissioned the building of the harbor, as well as other major projects, the remains of which are now on display.
The city later became the Roman provincial capital of Judea, a region which now encompasses Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Sarah Arenson, a maritime historian involved in the project, said the ancient harbor first opened in 10 BC and served for more than a century as the main gateway for goods such as exotic spices, textiles, dyes and cosmetics shipped to the Roman Empire from places as distant as the Far East.
“It probably overshadowed the old and very important ports of the eastern Mediterranean,” Arenson said. “Caesarea eclipsed these old famous harbors in economic importance and splendor.”
First Dive in Fish Rock Cave June 8, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving, OceanDiving, Travel , add a commentI often read the articles at Travel-Dive and wish that I could dive all these great places. O often also look at Jane Wilkinson’s blog on The Deep Stop, as she is a great photographer. I was really pleasantly surprised to see that she has written up her first ‘cave dive’ after diving what is called Fish Rock Cave, in Australia. Fish Rock cave is in New South Wales and Jane dived with the South West Rocks Dive Centre, which is owned by a family of brothers who have lived and dived there all their lives. Although Jane was anxious about the dive she came through it all admirably and its a great story.
Even though visibility was good, in the darkness I was straining to see where the break in the rock was to exit along the tunnel. Although far from panicking the fact that I couldn’t see the exit made me anxious and being very aware of how I was feeling I knew my breathing rate would automatically start going up and I would be getting through the air, which of course made me more anxious! However, it can’t have been for long before Scott returned – probably not more than a few minutes but I have to confess to hanging onto to him for a moment or too for reassurance just till I had calmed down. Fortunately he guessed and didn’t think I was making a pass at him 24m underwater in a cave!
