Malta is a tiny country with a major problem when it comes to electricity generation. As one step towards a more sustainable approach the government has planned to build a wind farm off Mellieha on a reef called Sikka l-Bajda – The White Reef. This reef is very nice for diving and this wind farm [...]
Deep Sea Productions, a very experienced Swedish team has found the British submarine E18 has been discovered close to an Estoninan island. The sub as been missing since 1916 when it disappeared during a routine assignemt. I have no information about depth or more details about its location but I am certain that it would be [...]
As some of yo may have noticed the updates are not as regular as they have been. This is due to some changes in my professional life which makes it hard to have enough time to keep up writing. I will keep adding updates on a slightly irregular basis to please be patient!
For anyone who like me watched Indiana Jones in their young years it is hard not to be fascinated with stories of people finding ancient structure underwater such as the ones in Younaguni in Okinawa. There are tons of web sites about this and they are often more or less fantastic. I came across Morien [...]
I have briefly mentioned the Bismarck in my write up about HMS Maori and she is certainly something out of the ordinary. As I was browsing through Youtube I came across James Camerons excellent account of her sinking. You can watch all ten parts here – extremely interesting!
A couple of new aircraft wrecks have been found off Malta by minesweepers. Times of Malta reports that the wrecks are a Firefly, one Beaufighter and a Skyraider. I have unfortunately no information about the depth of these wrecks but a Beaufighter in good condition would certainly be an interesting dive. More information and some [...]
Egypt has forcibly closed 23 dive centres which supposedly do not meed the quality requirements set up by the Chamber of Diving and Watersports. This is a part of a license enforcing programme. While this sounds good in theory I am not so convinced that process works well. Egypt is a thoroughly corrupt country and [...]
Reverse profiling has been a hot topic over the years and it will probably stay like that until we fully understand decompression and the mechanisms that control whether we get bent or not. The traditional view is that you should start with the deepest dive first and then continue with shallower dives. So far so [...]
Sara Campbell has set a new world record in constant weight. Constant weight is a discipline in which the free diver swims down with just mask and fins – no extra use of weights or dumping of such is allowed. She managed to reach 96 metres and the dive lasted 3 minutes and 34 seconds! [...]
A diver has been accidentally killed by dynamite fishermen in Vietnam. The four fishermen told Phun Nu district police that they detonated an underwater explosive after seeing the diver’s bubbles at the surface and thinking that it was a large fish. They realised their horrific error when they entered the water supposedly to recover any [...]
After looking at this tremendous video, narrated by the one and only Sir David Attenborough I am very pleased that I am not born as a fur seal. Incredible indeed. This video is, I believe, a part of the excellent TV documentary the Blue Planet which was produced by BBC a couple of years ago. [...]
The liveaboard M/V Dive Asia sank outside Phuket in Thailand last week. She was heading from Phuket to the Similan Islands but sank on the way. 20 divers were later found alive, floating in the water – seven are still reported as missing. It is unclear what caused the accident.
The Phuket Gazette reports: “The body [...]
Divernet have now published the article from John Liddiards last visit to Malta where he focuses on wrecks, deep and shallow. I have known John since 2001 when I dived with him in the fiords of Sweden and I always enjoy reading his articles. This time he was also diving with my old dive centre, [...]
Malta has been voted the third best diving destination in the world by some 35,000 readers of Diver Magazine, a British publication, preceded only by Egypt and the Maldives.
The Malta Tourism Authority said the waters around Malta and Gozo were blessed with rocky reefs, caves, plentiful marine life and the wrecks of ships from Malta’s [...]
Another artificial reef is underway in Florida with the 160 m long second world war missile tracking ship USS Hoyt S Vandenberg scheduled to be scuttled early 2009. She will join the USS Oriskany and USS Spiegel Grove as unique attraction for divers visiting Florida.
Wreck scuttling is extremely important for dive industries since they [...]
Have you done a special dive? Been on a great dive trip? Or a bad one? You got a great photo and a story to it? Tell the world and publish your story here at Independent Scuba! Send your story to webmaster@independentscuba.com and I will publish it for you. Regular contributors will be given an [...]
Divernet reports that a wreck found in 245 metres of water may be the richest wreck ever found. The freighter was sunk by a U-boat off Guyana during WW2 and was supposedly carrying 10 tons of gold, 70 tons of platinum, 1.5 tons of industrial diamonds – all in all worth about 2.6 billion pounds [...]
Dive training is an interesting subject and many people have very strong opinions about this. Which organisation is the best one?
Are CMAS divers better than PADI divers? Are divers trained in Thailand worse than those to learnt to dive in ice cold waters in Scandinavia?
Personally I think that most organisations are more or less the [...]
BSAC does also publish statistics annually. It focuses mainly on accidents and incidents in UK waters but also some from abroad. It is interesting reading and looking at the fatalities show a few interesting things:
- What seems to be a Scuba Diving accident can sometimes be a fatality from other medical conditions such as a [...]
The Times of Malta reports that an experienced spear fisherman is missing off Ghajn Tuffieha in Malta. As in the case of missing French Alain Bollini the body has not been found. More information can be found in the Times of Malta. Our condoleances to all relatives.
The internet is a fantastic place and there is an enormous source of high quality (and low quality unfortunately) reading available. One example is the DAN Annual Diving Report where you get a thorough summary of scuba diving accidents and the causes of them. It may not be the most cheerful reading but I think [...]
Sky news reports about a hidden lake in Hungary under Turkish baths. Although Sky News may not be the most accurate media for reporting on scuba diving it still sounds like something rather awesome. I hope that there will be more information and footage available soon online. In the meantime you can check Sky.
Welcome to the new look of Independent Scuba. It is now easier to find the different articles posted and more space for pictures etc. I hope that you will enjoy it! If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a comment.
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