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Introducing Divesangha: Surface Gear For Divers

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A new range of leisurewear aimed at Divers has come onto the market called Divesangha.

Here is the official press release:

Divesangha is an exciting and bold new fashion, lifestyle and leisurewear clothing brand aimed at divers and dive enthusiasts around the globe.

Divesangha has been created to fulfil a gap in the sports lifestyle market. It provides comfortable, practical and fashionable surface wear for divers and dive enthusiasts to wear between dives, on holiday, at home or wherever you want to express your love for diving. Divesangha clothing provides comfort and practicality with a bold lifestyle statement.

Divesangha Female black wave tshirt white shorts Male Physics tshirt grey shortDivesangha designers founded the company to solve the lack of leisurewear and lifestyle wear options for divers & dive enthusiasts when they are out of the water. Surfers, cyclists, runners, skaters and even people who practise yoga, all have their own leisurewear brands catering to their comfort needs and allowing them to express their lifestyle to others. We all like to tell the world around us that we belong to a special group, and what’s more special than being a diver!

Divers are highly social creatures. Anyone who has witnessed a chance meeting between two people who discover their shared love for diving knows what we’re talking about. There might be a dive watch on show or a beach t-shirt but other than that, a diver has no visible style or identity.

This is precisely the challenge that the Divesangha’s designers decided to take on when they set out to design “surface gear” for divers. Divesangha apparel will give these people a way to recognise one another. It will give them an identity.

On their journey the first question our designers set out to answer was: “what kind of clothes would divers like to wear”, to which the answer was as simple as “let’s start with the basics, the black, the greys and the whites.” Dive wear should be practical and functional but also smart and fashionable.

It should be individualistic (every t-shirt is individually numbered), tekkie, timeless, it should also be grown-up casual wear, fun but not ridiculous.

Dive wear is aimed at individuals who like to travel and dive in style, young-ish and upwardly mobile individuals or slightly older, established professionals.

The second question was “what do divers need”. The answer was “something practical and cool” because we want to be ready for any adventure, from walking out to the dive centre in the morning to going out for a drink after a long day at sea. Our designers wanted to make a connection between the equipment worn by divers and the Divesangha lifestyle clothes – so they came up with black, matt, rubbery textures together with quick dry and water repellent material focusing on quality. Divers expect high quality when they buy their dive gear, so we should expect divers to demand quality when they buy their clothes too.

Divesangha Female White Skirt Male Grey Shorts  Black TshirtDivesangha also wanted to create clothing that appealed to men and women. Women, in particular, are not well catered for in the masculine world of diving. Divesangha is committed to filling that gap and make girl divers stand out and feel great. Although the attitude is slowly changing, it’s time to change the idea that there aren’t enough female divers for manufacturers to cater specifically to them.

Finally, our designers assessed the question “what would divers want to express” through their dive wear? Divesangha share the notion that divers are special people, united by their love for nature and adventure. The experience of diving can be profoundly life changing. It not only brings divers together, it turns them into great ambassadors. That’s how the name “Divesangha” came about.

The word “sangha” means “association” or “community” in Pali and Sanskrit, two of the most ancient languages on the planet. A sangha hints at something deeper than just a group of people having something in common, it expresses something of the unique and uniting harmony divers experience with nature in the marine environment.

The individuals that are part of the sangha of diving are kind of enlightened and with that enlightenment comes a sense of responsibility. The sea and its creatures are under constant threat every day and divers have the opportunity to stand up and raise awareness. And they often do.

Divesangha is more than just a cool lifestyle statement, it’s about an ethos, being part of a community and we hope it will raise the profile of scuba diving globally, making it even more accessible. Maybe that’s a bit too ambitious but at Divesangha we look at the bigger picture.

We are very proud to say that Divesangha products are exclusively designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom. We focus on producing limited edition, quality, unique garments. That comes at a higher price, but we think when you wear our products you can see it’s worth the little bit extra to stand out from the crowd.

As a company Divesangha is committed to ethical manufacturing, ethical trading and to raising awareness of environmental issues relating to the sea and its creatures. It is also the company’s intention to sponsor and endorse projects related to such issues in the immediate future.

Divesangha clothes feature the unique “Hung Dry™” system, which is currently being patented. Hung Dry™ is a simple system that allows clothes to be hung to dry or air on a rail or a line without the need for pegs and more importantly with no risk that the wind will blow them away. This is a problem faced by divers at sea, where it’s a struggle to keep clothes from becoming wet and damp.

Our aim is to unite divers into a community of like-minded people, expressing their lifestyle through clothing and sharing the same love for the sea and its creatures.

You don’t need to be a diver to wear Divesangha clothing, but we think many people will want to wear our products to aspire to the same lifestyle and beliefs… and most importantly, look great in our clothes.

At the moment the Divesangha range is exclusively available online: www.divesangha.com. Prices range from £50.00 for a t-shirt to £120.00 for a sporty dress. All orders come with a free dry bag and delivery within the UK is free.

For more information and photographs, please contact:

Lucia Keen

Mob – 07973 267 693

Email – lucia.keen@divesangha.com

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Book Review: Fire on Monroe Bravo by Fred Lockwood

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the ship beneath the ice

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.

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Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 1)

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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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