Miscellaneous Blogs
Book Review: Raising the Dead by Phillip Finch
Sometimes a dramatic story, coupled with a skilled and perceptive narrative can take us to another world. Raising the Dead, by Phillip Finch does just that; it takes us to places we are very unlikely to reach in our life time. In truth, after reading this book and getting a glimpse of their underwater world I have no desire to enter it!
The book tells the true story of two exceptional cave divers – Dave Shaw and Don Shirley. It charts their lives and experience up to, including and after a remarkable dive into the Bushman’s Hole. The dive site is a remote sink hole on the edge of the Kalahari Desert, about 500 kilometres south west of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is one of the largest freshwater caverns on earth.
When Dave Shaw dived to 270 metres to the bottom and discovered the body of a diver who had disappeared ten years earlier, he created history. According to Phillip Finch, “Shaw became the fifth sports diver in history to exceed 700 feet (213 metres) and survive; more men have walked on the moon.” (p.4-5).
To recreational divers, like many of us, a dive to 270 metres is beyond our comprehension. Certainly, when torches and dive computers implode due to the surrounding pressure of the water. When rebreather controllers (the sophisticated electronics that control the amount of gases injected into the breathing loop) are crushed and the diver loses all data, it tells us the equipment has reached its limits.
When a diver is suffering from decompression sickness and is vomiting through a regulator; when he is tied onto the shot line in case he loses consciousness and drops into the void; when he is so tired, he doesn’t have the energy to draw gas into his lungs and has to purge gas into his mouth by pressing the diaphragm on the regular; when he is draining bail out tanks at an alarming rate; when he still has dozens of decompressions stops and hours of decompression time ahead of him, it represents a nightmare scenario.
However, Raising the Dead is more than a tale of amazing individuals pushing the boundaries of human ability and technical sophistication. It is a story of friendship and respect, camaraderie and understanding, belonging and empathy.
The book has many tender, poignant and tragic moments. In a few hundred pages it succeeds in creating empathy with Dave Shaw and Don Shirley and describing the bond between them. You want them to survive. The book also brings home the impact of serious injury and death on relatives and friends. Raising the Dead is more than a memorable account of an amazing series of dives. It makes us think about the implications of our actions and the risks we take.
You do not have to be a diver, or even technical diver, to appreciate this book and the exceptional talent of Dave Shaw and Don Shirley. The author painstakingly explains the technical details associated with cave diving and diving to extreme depths. It contributes to our understanding and appreciation of the planning and techniques required. The collection of photographs supports the narrative and the index allows the reader to return to people mentioned and events. It is a compelling read.
Phillip Finch was a journalist. He progressed from being a junior reporter on the Washington Daily News, to the San Francisco Examiner and later became a columnist for the Peninsula Times Tribune. He was the author of more than eighteen books.
Phillip was an experienced cave diver; he died on 31st January 2012.
- Raising the Dead (2008) London: HarperSport by Phillip Finch
- ISBN 978 0 00 726524 4 (310 pages)
Find out more about Professor Fred Lockwood, who is also a published author, at www.fredlockwood.co.uk.
by Mia DaPonte
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a conference called the Boston Sea Rovers Symposium, where I met many different people. I was astonished by the presentations and how we can help. Today, I’m going to explain more about the Boston Sea Rovers conference.
As I mentioned, I met many different people. I met Dan Dolan, who I’ll talk more about in my next blog. He told me he could take me to the New England Aquarium rehab center—which isn’t open to the public—to see the behind-the-scenes work. I also met Jenn Sellitti, who gave an amazing presentation at the film festival about discovering an old ship named Le Lyonnais. She wrote a cool book about the ship, The Adriatic Affair, which my mom is reading. She even offered to take me on a dive in New Jersey to recover an anchor! Jenn and her team love finding underwater boat parts and anchors.
Mia with Jenn Sellitti
I also got a picture with Cristian Dimitrius, who’s known for his photography and cinematography for National Geographic. And I met Greg Skomal, who is a marine biologist—just like I want to be! He’s a white shark expert, and I loved his presentation on Jaws: Fact vs. Fiction.
Mia with Cristian Dimitrius
We attended many different presentations at the conference, but I was especially inspired by the underwater terrariums. These H2O terrariums are designed for underwater farms, where plants grow and thrive under a bubble-like protection system. I was also fascinated by the coral restoration project. The presenter explained that millions of corals are getting sick and dying, but we can help by cleaning up the ocean and avoiding toxic waste. She shared that they’ve developed a medicine that sticks to corals, kind of like toothpaste, to help heal them. They’re also trying to save coral by removing young ones, growing them in labs, and reintroducing them to prevent disease. This technique is working, but there’s still a long way to go. We all can pitch in to help save coral reefs and our beautiful ocean.
My absolute favorite part of the conference was the film festival. Chris from Dive On It Scuba let my mom and me sit in the front row with all the Sea Rovers and interns. My favorite presentation was Jenn’s—she talked about the deep ocean and discovering all kinds of things. Cristian also presented at the festival, showing a National Geographic video he filmed about baby turtles hatching on the beach. The video followed their journey to the ocean, where they had to dodge not just birds but even crocodiles waiting in the water!
The Boston Sea Rovers was an amazing experience. I can’t wait to go back next year and share my new blog. Thanks for reading—until next time!
Meet Mia Daponte, New England’s youngest female Master Scuba Diver and Scubaverse.com’s latest blogger!
Hi, I’m Mia DaPonte, and this is my first blog! I am New England’s youngest female master scuba diver. I did my training in Jamestown Rhode Island and I’m 12 years old.
I’m also black belt in karate, and I also play soccer, basketball, and love to race my sailboat named “Beluga”. My journey to become a master diver was amazing, not all of it was easy but with the help of my friends and family they supported me so much.
When I turned ten years old, I wanted to scuba dive for my Birthday. After learning diving in the cold murky waters near my home, I wanted to start my training for this Master Diver certification. I met my instructor Seamus on my first day of diving. He was a very good influence on me and always supported me. He taught me everything I know about diving.
I also got to go to new tropical places and dive for fun. We went places like Puerto Rico, Punta Cana, Bermuda, and Bahamas. For the first time I could see far. I saw stingrays, lion fish, coral reefs, tropical fish, and lots of other animals. My favorite animal that I saw was an octopus.
Finally, it was time for my certification trip. The trip came so fast, and I eventually succeeded. In February, I went down to Cozumel Mexico and went diving at Blue Angel Resort. To get my certification, I had to do a deep dive of a max depth of 60ft, and I had to do rescue training. I also had to do an online e-learning test to qualify for this certification.
On the first day I only worked in the pool to practice and perfect rescue techniques for the next day. It was fun putting the online learning to reality. The first part felt harder than the second because I didn’t have as much room in the pool as the open ocean. On the second day, we did it in the ocean. It was hard for me to do the rescue breaths, and bring the adult diver from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. But I was able to do it after hard work.
Cozumel was a lot of fun. We made so many friends down there and hope to see them again. Diving down there was truly magical. I can’t wait to go back someday.
After hard work and dedication, I was able to achieve this accomplishment. It took me 2 years of studying and practicing, but in the end it all paid off. I can’t wait to share my next adventure with you.
Blogs2 months agoGO Diving Show 2025: The Monster Mark Evans Created (And Why the Industry Loves It)
- Marine Life & Conservation2 months ago
ARC marine Celebrates “Commended” Award at Underwater Photographer of the Year with reef cube image
- News2 months ago
Humpback Mother and Calf Win Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025
- News2 months ago
Go Diving Show 2025 Exhibitor Showcase
- News3 months ago
Book Review: Amazing Diving Stories by John Bantin
- News3 months ago
Filming 360 in The Bahamas
- Gear News2 months ago
Poseidon Diving Systems Announces New UK Distribution Model
- Gear Reviews2 months ago
Gear Review: Insta360 Ace Pro2 (Watch Video)
