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Wild Dives Book Launch

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Scubaverse team members, Nick and Caroline, launched their new book, Wild Dives, last week at a lively event in London.

Hosted by Ocean Leisure Cameras, Nick and Caroline invited friends, family & colleagues to an event to celebrate their latest book. The book features a host of their diving anecdotes from around the world, from diving with sharks in The Bahamas, to finding the cutest and tiniest nudibranch in the Philippines, to riding a submarine in Barbados. The final chapter is a more sobering look at the effects of plastic on our oceans and marine life. Sober is not a word that could be used, however, about the evening itself!

Teams from The Bahamas and Barbados tourist boards were on hand to provide wonderful rum punch, whilst the Philippines brought a taste of their country with a fantastic buffet, as well as nibbles. The room was buzzing with talk of diving, marine life and the travel.

The team from the Philippines also provided VR goggles so that guests could experience the underwater world on offer around these wonderful islands. One of Caroline’s highlights from the evening was watching her mum experience the coral reefs and manta rays!

With limited copies of the book available on the night, it was soon a sell out. This did not put an end to the proceedings though, with guests enjoying themselves well into the night. Nick and Caroline said: “We want to thank all those that came along on the evening to support us. We are thrilled with the book and this was the perfect evening to celebrate its arrival in the UK.”

Wild Dives is now available from all good bookshops!

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Euro-Divers to close dive centre at NH Collection Maldives Havodda

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Havodda

Euro-Divers have announced that as of 15 April 2024, they will no longer be operating the dive centre at NH Collection Maldives Havodda (formerly known as Amari Havodda).

The popular dive centre chain released this statement regarding the closure:

Dear valid customers, business partners and friends,

We are leaving NH Collection Maldives Havodda – former Amari Havodda as of 15th of April 2024.

Unfortunately, the information reached us on short notice that we are no longer operating the dive centre at the resort.

It was a great pleasure to work with the Amari Hotel group and continue to work with the NH Hotel group.

We wish our partners great success with all their new changes.

Thanks a lot for cooperating during our time at the resort. We wish everyone with whom we have worked a good and hopefully successful future.

Euro-Divers continue to operate in several other dive resorts throughout the Maldives in addition to other locations.

To finds out more about Euro-Divers, visit www.euro-divers.com.

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Marine Life & Conservation Blogs

Creature Feature: Undulate Ray

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In this series, the Shark Trust will be sharing amazing facts about different species of sharks and what you can do to help protect them.

This month we’re looking at the Undulate Ray. Easily identified by its beautiful, ornate pattern, the Undulate Ray gets its name from the undulating patterns of lines and spots on its dorsal side.

This skate is usually found on sandy or muddy sea floors, down to about 200 m deep, although it is more commonly found shallower. They can grow up to 90 cm total length. Depending on the size of the individual, their diet can range from shrimps to crabs.

Although sometimes called the Undulate Ray, this is actually a species of skate, meaning that, as all true skates do, they lay eggs. The eggs are contained in keratin eggcases – the same material that our hair and nails are made up of! These eggcases are also commonly called mermaid’s purses and can be found washed up on beaches all around the UK. If you find one, be sure to take a picture and upload your find to the Great Eggcase Hunt – the Shark Trust’s flagship citizen science project.

It is worth noting that on the south coasts, these eggcases can be confused with those of the Spotted Ray, especially as they look very similar and the ranges overlap, so we sometimes informally refer to them as ‘Spundulates’.

Scientific Name: Raja undulata

Family: Rajidae

Maximum Size: 90cm (total length)

Diet: shrimps and crabs

Distribution: found around the eastern Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea.

Habitat: shelf waters down to 200m deep.

Conservation Status : As a commercially exploited species, the Undulate Ray is a recovering species in some areas. The good thing is that they have some of the most comprehensive management measures of almost any elasmobranch species, with both minimum and maximum landing sizes as well as a closed season. Additionally, targeting is entirely prohibited in some areas. They are also often caught as bycatch in various fisheries – in some areas they can be landed whilst in others they must be discarded.

IUCN Red List Status: Endangered

For more great shark information and conservation visit the Shark Trust Website


Image Credits: Banner – Sheila Openshaw; Illustration – Marc Dando

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