News
Five diving brands collaborate to promote Ocean Exploration, Awareness, and Inclusivity
Five of scuba diving’s leading brands – Apeks, Fourth Element, IQSub, Paralenz, and Shearwater have launched a collaboration to promote exploration, ocean awareness, and inclusivity within the sport of diving. The first outcome of this partnership, a short film, “Unexplored” shatters the misconception that cave diving, often referred to as the most dangerous sport in the world, is reserved for men.
As the first-ever collaboration of this scope in the diving industry, the project brings together innovators in the field of imaging, instrumentation, equipment, and clothing to present a progressive approach to some of the challenges faced by the sport and the environment. Increasing “ocean awareness” is understood by the participating brands to be one of the industry’s most essential responsibilities. Consequently, the mission is to initiate and catalyze stronger collaborations within the industry, and greater inclusivity of the diving community to become ambassadors of the ocean.
At the core of the partnership is exploration. Our oceans remain relatively unexplored: an estimated 80% of the underwater realm and 90% of underwater caves remain undocumented. However, while NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) budget for the fiscal year 2019 stands at $21.5 billion, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) receives only $42 million for ocean exploration and research.
“Growing a general interest in underwater exploration, for example through the promotion of cave diving, will increase the amount of ocean ambassadors to address pressing issues. Technical divers are a great asset to marine research, as they access some of the deepest and darkest water-filled parts of our planet,” says Jacob Dalhoff Steensen, Partnership Manager at Paralenz and key partnership initiator.
The first outcome of the partnership, a short film entitled “Unexplored,” follows two technical divers exploring the Tortuga Cave in Tulum, Mexico. It sheds light on myths and stereotypes about technical diving, presenting cave diving as a pursuit of something more spiritual than dangerous, with a positive message about inclusivity.
“I wanted to challenge the stereotype that technical divers are usually men,” declared Maria Bollerup who was joined by long-time diving partner Rannvá Jørmundsson in the film. “The diving industry and technical diving is very open. I see more and more women and female teams at the technical dive sites. It’s refreshing. However, away from these sites, the external image of the sport is much different.”
When Maria and Rannvá told Jacob Dalhoff Steensen about their ambition, he was thrilled. “It’s great to hear the community speak up. The idea for the film emerged directly from the community. Their enthusiasm to get people interested in technical diving is contagious.”
The partnership will continue working together to increase awareness for our ocean through future projects. “It’s exciting to be part of this project,” said Jim Standing, co-founder of Fourth Element. “Initiatives like this show that together our organizations can achieve more than they can working in isolation. We’re looking forward to the next project.”
Fire on Monroe Bravo is the latest book in the Jack Collier series by Fred Lockwood. Our story begins with our lead characters, Jack and Sandro, owners of Marine Salvage & Investigation Company, arriving on the Monroe Bravo Oil & Gas Platform in the North Sea. Having secured a contract for their vessel the MV Stavanger to act as support ship to the platform for TransGlobal Oil, our protagonists are on a celebratory visit.
However almost as soon as they arrive a series of explosions rock the platform, causing huge damage, loss of life and the very real danger of a massive human, ecological and financial disaster.
As the danger mounts for both our heroes and the surviving workers, Jack and Sandro will have to escape the inferno, all while trying to save the platform and the men still trapped unable to help themselves.
The disaster sets the scene for the unfolding story lines following the fate of the platform and our main characters, the police investigation into a suspected terrorist act and the actions of TransGlobal Oil as they attempt to navigate the pubic outcry and financial repercussions.
In his eighth book, Fire on Monroe Bravo, Fred Lockwood delivers an explosive thriller, with plenty of above and in-water drama, and our heroes fighting for survival, what more can you ask for?
We thoroughly recommend this read and look forward to the next in the series. For more information about his book series, you can check out the reviews of his previous books here on Scubaverse.
- Title: Fire On Monroe Bravo
- Author: Fred Lockwood
- ISBN: 979-8325324536
Available in a paperback version and for Kindle from Amazon and book stores.
In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea. While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!
The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October. Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze. After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center. Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.
Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe. The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal. They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!
In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience. Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site. The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.
Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos. This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see. We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life. As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here. We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total. The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home. We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.
Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality. This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.
The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better! These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous. The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands. The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went. Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.
The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography. The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue. Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins.
Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!
Thanks to:
Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/
Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/
Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/
Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/
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