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Where’s Ellen? Part Two… (Watch Video)
Ellen Cuylaerts continues her travel adventures with a look back at ADEX in Singapore…
The only way forward for dive shows: Adex Singapore 25th anniversary, dedicated to a plastic free ocean!
ADEX 2019 is a wrap and took place April 11-14th in energetic Singapore. For 25 years the Asian Dive Expo has been a constant and the last 10 years with John Thet at the helm! John is the publisher of Underwater 360 with magazines ‘Asian Diver’, ‘Scuba Diver (Australasia + ocean planet)’ and many collector’s items! But John is so much more than a businessman, he has a true ocean heart, a vision and a strategy that is characterized by being genuine! ADEX is ‘so much more than a dive show’ – it’s a celebration of the oceans and a call to action.
This year’s theme dedication to a plastic free ocean was combined with the pledge for exhibitors, speakers and visitors to become an ocean citizen. The beauty of ADEX 2019 was that it was facilitated to say no to single use plastic: everywhere on the floor you could find water refilling stations that were actually art works provided by the Ayer Ayer Project. If you did not have a water container: no worries , you could rent a cup and even at the food station the drinks provided came in cans, bottles or beer from the tap in real glass pints!
And while I’ve seen efforts of manufacturers before in UK with Fourth Element leading by example and launching Mission 2020 last year to inspire the ban on plastic in packaging and logistics, I would love to see UK dive shows and DEMA in the USA banning the single use drink and coffee cups with plastic lids and the sale of plastic bottles on the floor. It’s an effort but we have to step away from the ‘throw away convenience’ and choose to avoid waste as much as we can. Will you take the pledge? And can we all ask the dive shows to do the same?
Apart from an excellent Tek Conference, many speakers and panels from photo/video, conservation, free diving and mermaiding circles, this ADEX stood out because we were all standing together to preserve our oceans, and to preserve life!
Here’s just a few highlights of the show:
Find out more about Ellen and her photographic adventures at www.ellencuylaerts.com.
Today we are diving one of the outer reefs from an inflatable. As we reach the bottom, a reef octopus eases its way into the cover of a small crack in the coral while displaying it’s incredible ability to change colour. They are arguably one of the most charismatic of reef dwellers and it is always exciting for me to simply hover and watch. I would have spent longer and waited for it to come and investigate me, but as dive time is limited we wanted to move on and find a turtle.
The waters around Somabay are well protected and hold a rich variety of marine life. The reef edges are thriving colonies of coral and shoaling fish, while nearer the sea bed plenty of wildlife is still to be found.
Then we located the turtles. They are very used to divers and so show little concern when slowly approached. In fact occasionally one will come over to see what you are doing. There is always huge excitement when diving with a turtle. The shear thrill of sharing a moment with another species.
What a fantastic way to finish a wonderful few days diving and I would like to thank SOMABAY, ORCA DIVING and THE BREAKERS for making my stay such a good one.
I had a great time, with diving everyday either on the house reef or on one of the offshore reefs by inflatable or larger day boat. Orca diving provided high quality equipment and facilities while the staff were all very friendly and welcoming. The Breakers was right on the coast with nice rooms, good food and once again friendly staff making the whole trip a real pleasure.
Soma Bay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds.
As well as scuba diving, Somabay caters for many other sports and activities, and so is perfect for families as well as individuals and/or groups. And of course there is always time to lay peacefully on the beach under the Egyptian sun.
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.
Day three of my trip to Somabay and we were spending the day on the Lady Christina and diving on the wreck of the Salem Express.
Diving wrecks for me is always one of mixed emotions. The excitement of diving a wreck is more than often tempered by the thought of loss of life when she sank. The Salem Express was a passenger ship and a roll-on/roll-off ferry travelling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Safaga, Egypt. Most passengers were of poor class travelling home from their holidays while around 150 people were returning home from their pilgrimage to Mecca.
The ship struck a reef and sank within 20 minutes. Passengers were trapped below deck and the ship was filled with fear and panic.
The wreck area is strewn with personal belongings from the crew and passengers such as a transistor radio and a flat iron for clothes. A diver at sometime has put them in a prominent place to be seen.
Tragically only one life boat was launched while the others went down with the ship. More than 600 men, women and children lost their lives here.
It’s a stark reminder that the sea can be unforgiving and so when we dive on such wrecks we should do so with humble regard.
Returning to the surface, shoals of fish are gathered under our boat and seem to be welcoming us back into the light.
Back at the Breakers I sat in the dining area with a beer and a very good meal while my thoughts still remained with the day’s dive on the Salem Express.
Check in for part 3 tomorrow for Jeff’s last day of diving with Somabay on the off-shore reefs looking for turtles.
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.
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