News
Deepblu, the Social Network for Divers, is Here
Taipei-based Deepblu, Inc. have launched Deepblu BETA, the first social network built for the diving community. Divers can showcase their diving feats, interact with the ocean community at large and plan their next dive trip.
With the launch of Deepblu, the previously wildly scattered diving community now has a single platform to gather, discuss and share underwater moments. Deepblu has all the functionality of a modern social network, with options to create a profile, follow friends and organizations, discuss, comment, like and share.
“Looking at the ways people currently interact in the diving industry and by extension the entire marine community, it’s easy to see how fragmented it is,” co-founder and CEO James Tsuei explains, “Our ultimate goal is to unite divers, dive businesses and conservationists alike around Deepblu and make diving more exciting for everyone with a passion for the ocean.”
All the Functionality of a Modern Social Network
Deepblu allows users to create a profile to interact with others on the platform. This profile includes all the diver’s certifications as well as a digital dive logbook, an overview of all diving adventures the diver wants to share with their buddies or the public.
Deepblu dive logs can be created manually, or automatically with a compatible dive computer such as Deepblu’s own COSMIQ+ or a 3rd-party computer via the open-source software Subsurface. Deepblu dive logs are beautifully designed, and divers can enrich them with underwater photo – and videography, creating a visually appealing timeline of their dive. It is also possible to add stories and descriptions of gear and diving conditions. Finally, divers can have their instructors digitally certify their dive logs, and tag their diving buddies.
Users can follow other profiles to explore the photos and dive logs of friends and see what celebrity divers and organizations are up to. A trending page brings up the hottest stories in the world of diving. Meanwhile, divers can discuss various diving topics in one of the many Community Groups for freediving, coral identification, wreck diving, and many more. Users can even create their own groups.
Deepblu is available through web browsers on the desktop or the fully redesigned mobile applications for Android and iOS.
Connecting Divers and Businesses around Planet Deepblu
One of Deepblu’s most exciting features is still in the testing phase and slated for release in January 2017. Aptly named Planet Deepblu, this interactive and quickly growing map of over 10.000 dive spots the world over aims to make it more convenient for divers and dive businesses, such as resorts, rental shops, instructors, liveaboards and conservationists to find each other.
Planning a dive trip used to be a tedious and cumbersome job, so divers will be relieved to find that Planet Deepblu’s fluid user interface makes it a breeze to plan, while businesses large and small will have a much easier way to reach the community and advertise their services.
“We are really excited about what we are setting up with Planet Deepblu,” Tsuei says. “Come January, our users will be able to pick their favorite destination, choose the accommodation with the best reviews and offerings, select the best place to rent their gear from and even the instructor they choose to learn from or dive with.”
For a week at the end of February I was invited to sample the diving with Orca Dive Club based at the Breakers Diving and Surfing Lodge by courtesy of SOMABAY.
Somabay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds. Somabay caters for scuba diving as well as many other sports, including windsurfing, golf, sailing, go-carting, horse riding and many other activities.
All the activities are of a world-class standard and any or all of these can be booked directly from The Breakers.
I took Easyjet from Bristol (UK) to Hurghada. Easyjet are not by any means my favourite airline but the flight was cheap and direct (except for the surprise extra £48 I was charged at the gate for my carry-on bag).
I was met at Hurghada airport by a driver and car and taken to the Breakers 28 miles (45Kilomaters) south along the coast. Once at the hotel I was too late for an evening meal and so a basic meal was delivered to my room. That and a beer from the fridge and I was fast asleep.
Early the next morning after breakfast I arrived for my rep meeting at the Orca Dive Center for 8.00am. I was immediately made to feel welcome, and after brief introductions I got some dive gear from the store, had a chat with my dive guide Mohamed and got ready to try the house reef situated at the end of a very long wooded pier where all diving gear and divers are taken out by buggies.
Once at the end of the pier, a helping hand from staff makes sure your gear is set and then it’s a short walk to the very end where you can either climb down a ladder of simply jump in the water next to the reef. The house reef extends both north and south giving a very easy and safe dive with plenty to see. At this time of the year the water temperature was a constant 22 degrees Centigrade and there was little or no current, so there were no issues in swimming back to the pier.
Quite a few divers were in dry or semi-dry suits, but being from the UK and used to the cold I found a 3mm wetsuit with a 3mm neoprene vest quite comfortable. Even after 50 years of diving I still find that first dive of a trip slightly nerving until I am actually underwater and then all becomes relaxed and I ease into auto diving mode. There was plenty to see with many of the Red Sea favourites along the way.
After the dive and a buggy ride back to the hotel for a very good buffet lunch I was back in the water, once again on the house reef for an afternoon dive.
Check in for part 2 tomorrow when Jeff gets on a day boat and dives a few of the off-shore reefs.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
In an interview recorded exclusively for Scubaverse.com, Jeff Goodman interviews Jeremy Higson from Sea to Sky about the itineraries the tour operator offers in Oman.
For more information about diving in Oman, contact Sea to Sky now:
Email: hello@mysetaosky.co.uk
WhatsApp: + 39 379 236 7138
Website: www.myseatosky.co.uk
-
News3 months agoHone your underwater photography skills with Alphamarine Photography at Red Sea Diving Safari in March
-
News2 months agoCapturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop 2024: Event Roundup
-
Marine Life & Conservation Blogs2 months agoCreature Feature: Swell Sharks
-
Blogs1 month agoMurex Resorts: Passport to Paradise!
-
News3 months agoDive into Adventure with Photo Pro Paul Duxfield in North Sulawesi this October
-
Gear News3 months agoBare X-Mission Drysuit: Ideal for Both Technical and Recreational Divers
-
Gear Reviews2 months agoGear Review: Oceanic+ Dive Housing for iPhone
-
Blogs2 months agoDiver Discovering Whale Skeletons Beneath Ice Judged World’s Best Underwater Photograph