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Share your thoughts, experiences or questions and participate in discussions over our favorite topic : SCUBA diving!

Under the ice: scuba in Switzerland

by Ksso on August 16, 2011

The DailyMail just shared those incredible pics by Photographer Franco Banfi who braved sub-zero temperatures in Sassolo Lake, Switzerland to take those incredible shots. The scenery is simply breathtaking.

Scuba in Disneyworld

by Ksso on June 28, 2011

I'm a big kid and I love Disneyworld. I was dazzled when last fall I visited the Nemo Pavilion in Epcot. Amazing species in a beautifully crafted giant aquarium. And now I found the ultimate reason to justify flying back there : you can now actually go for a dive in this aquarium ! Epcot DiveQuest is a 40 mins scuba dive managed by NAUI instructors in this huge 5.7-million-gallon saltwater tank and over 6,000 sea creatures—including sea turtles, angelfish, dolphins, eagle rays and sharks. 175$ but totally worth it.All Guests must be SCUBA certified and at least 10 years of age to participate. Guests ages 10 to 14 require a SCUBA-certified adult to accompany them.The experience lasts 3...

An artificial reef made of 400 sculptures

by Ksso on February 15, 2011

Jason de Caires Taylor isn't a newbie in the matter with almost a dozen artificial reefs created on his record. His modus operandi is always the same, he designs a few sculptures that he drowns on a sandy spot at shallow depth (under 10m). But this time he outdid himself with his latest production "La Evolución Silenciosa" . With 400 sculptures drowned by 9m depth between Cancun and las islas Mujeres in Mexico, he created the biggest Arty-ficial reef.Contrary to other artificial reefs, Jason's don't get implanted with corals branches, which would have considerably sped up the coral creation. But overtime hopefully coral will grow and a whole new marine life will make this sculpture their...

San Fruttuoso's "Christ of the Abyss"

by Ksso on February 09, 2011

A few dive sites have been staged with intentionally drowned elements to attract divers. The Christ of the Abyss is a 8.5 feet tall 4000 pound bronze sculpture which has been drowned in 1954 at 55 feet depth in Mediterranean Sea off San Fruttuoso between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian Riviera.The statue was removed in 2003 and restored.Shallow high profile spur and groove coral formations are surrounded by relatively flat, coral and sponge encrusted hard bottom, and sand. Large Spotted Eagle Rays and Southern Stingrays are often sighted near the sandy perimeter.View Larger Map

Dive western Bali - Geko dive

by Ksso on February 03, 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...

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

by Ksso on January 31, 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...

10 dive spots in Thailand may be closed down

by Ksso on January 27, 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...

Emotions in concrete

by Ksso on January 23, 2011

Some of us aren't lucky enough to leave near the coastline and just can't get in the water as often as we would like to. Then we need to find some alternatives to keep in touch with our passion. One of the place I love for that in Paris is the brand new Paris Aquarium located in Trocadero.Loaded with huge tanks with plenty of huge mantas, sharks, groupers as well as smaller jelly fish, eels, clown fish, it's an amazing place to spend a couple hours watching the fish dance around us.Cherry on the pie, you even have a nice restaurant, Ozu, with a view on one of the biggest tank (the video below is the view from the restaurant).Maybe one day I'll get to dive in one of those tanks!