Don’t wanna bump into this beastie on a dark night dive!

Acanthurus coeruleus

Introduction

The Blue Tang is part of the surgeonfish Family and is known by many different names; blue barber, blue doctor, blur tang, yellow barber and yellow doctorfish are a few examples.
» Read more: Blue Tang

What is DCI?

The air you breath from your cylinder (as you should remember from your initial dive training!) is about 78% nitrogen. As you dive and the ambient pressure increases, some of that nitrogen is absorbed into your cells (I’m not going into partial pressures here, I’ll save that for another day!). As you release the pressure again, the nitrogen will come back out of your cells, make its way to your lungs by your blood stream and you breathe it out.
» Read more: Decompression Illness/Sickness (DCI/DCS)

Pagophilus groenlandicus

Introduction

Naturally this little silvery coloured seal lives to around 30 to 35 years, but they are commercially hunted for oil and fur.  They are usually hunted on their breeding grounds where they are at their largest concentrations which leads to the hunt as being the largest slaughter of marine animals in the world.
» Read more: Harp Seal

Creator of the world’s first underwater sculpture park, Jason de Caires Taylor has gained international recognition for his unique work. His sculptures highlight ecological processes whilst exploring the intricate relationships between modern art and the environment. By using sculptures to create artificial reefs, the artist’s interventions promote hope and recovery, and underline our need to understand and protect the natural world.

The sculptures are sited in clear shallow waters to afford easy access by divers, snorkellers and those in glass-bottomed boats. Viewers are invited to discover the beauty of our underwater planet and to appreciate the processes of reef evolution.

And this is why Microsoft hasn’t broken into the Scuba market…thankfully!

Amblyrhynchus cristatus

Introduction

The Marine Iguana is the only lizard in the world that takes to the sea.
» Read more: Marine Iguana

Water conducts heat away from the body 25 times faster than air – so it is quite easy to see that we are likely to get cold quite quickly if we don’t wear insulation!

Wetsuits are usually made of neoprene, which has loads of little bubbles of nitrogen trapped in the material.  It is these bubbles that give the suit thermal insulation, but also give the suit positive buoyancy, or in other words; it floats.
» Read more: Wet, Dry or Semi-Dry?

ISBN-13: 978-0953891924

Review

This book is a very good introduction to diving covering all of the basics and introducing you to different aspects of diving so you can go and research the areas that you find interesting.  It covers all aspects of the BSAC Ocean Diver diver course, with some extra information thrown in around it.

If you are learning to dive, or have not dived for a while, this is a very good book to have, it assumes nothing and tells you everything!

» Read more: Book: The Diving Manual