Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
The idea behind the Awards is that all types of tourism - from niche to mainstream - can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people. In order to be a part of the Awards, you can nominate a company for the 'Best in a Marine Environment category', which includes any organisation related to a beach or other marine environment, such as turtle conservation or a marine eco-tourism trip, that you may have visited on your diving travels.
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Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Saudi Arabia is much less dived than Egypt, and our readers report amazing coral gardens, rays, barracuda, 25ft eels and many types of shark. Read more at the SCUBA Travel newly updated Saudi Arabia section.
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Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
Raise funds for the Royal National Lifeboats Institute and SOS Tartarugas by celebrating the summer solstice with St Ives Sub Aqua Club. The UK diving industry have helped support the night with prizes from AP Valves, Scubapro, SDS and Princeton Tec. For more information contact Lanna Marshall at lanna@joeski.gotadsl.co.uk.
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Monday, May 19th, 2008
Scientists have captured the first images of a novel brittle-star "city" that has colonized the peak of a submerged mountain. The colony was discovered on the Macquarie Ridge, an underwater mountain range south of New Zealand.
It is mostly made up of brittle stars (Ophiuroidea), which are related to starfish. Tens of millions of the creatures were found living crammed together.
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Friday, May 16th, 2008
A new international study has found that large brown seaweeds, when under stress, release large quantities of inorganic iodine into the coastal atmosphere, where it may contribute to cloud formation.
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Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Pilot whales are the cheetahs of the oceans, focusing their hunting effort on short, intense chases after a few rich food items. They are the first deep-diving whales known to follow such a strategy.
Until now, biologists had assumed that all deep-diving whales would cruise slowly and graze on slow-moving prey items while underwater, since this minimises their energy expenditure.
Using this strategy, most deep-diving whales can spend nearly an hour at a time underwater. Pilot whales, however, are the exception - their dives last no more than 15 to 20 minutes. "They look like they are going after big, nutritionally rich prey."
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