Kansas CIty Star: Marcy Barham makes it possible for anyone to dive
Marcy Barham has a sickness most would envy.
“I call it the scuba-diving sickness,” Barham said. “You get it, and you can’t turn back.”
Barham is a dive master and interactive teacher at the Dive Shop in Merriam. She left behind a job in pharmaceutical sales to pursue teaching, and 12 years in, she’s more passionate about the sport than ever.
How does an inlander get addicted to scuba diving?
I grew up as a fish; I swam all the time. When I was in college, a friend of mine asked me to be a guest on his boat. He said, “Get certified, get a ticket and come spend a week on this sailboat.” I called the Dive Shop, got signed up for classes and made my way down to the Bahamas. It grew from there.
Where have you dived?
Most of my dives have been in the Bahamas, but I’ve also dived in Roatan, Honduras; Cayman Brac; Cayman Islands and Chuuk, Micronesia. In Micronesia, we swam around the islands where Japanese ships from World War II had sunk.
How deep can you dive?
I’m certified for 130 feet, but when I was in Micronesia I was dying to see the sunken army tanks. So I went about 160 feet.
Do you collect anything from reefs or shipwrecks?
Just memories and pictures. I’m a firm believer of not touching and not taking. A lot of underwater national parks say you can’t take a grain of sand or a shell. The less we touch, the longer it lasts.
So what’s it like down there in the deep blue?
It’s euphoria. You can go down and tune everything out and just hear yourself breathe. I’ve had a few students with ADD, and they’ve told me that when they scuba, they relax. It’s their opportunity to mellow out and take it easy. For them to be able to do that underwater is neat.
Sounds like you love teaching.
Yeah. It’s hard to make a living, especially in the Midwest, but it fulfills a passion. And I understand what those kids mean. It’s sort of my underwater yoga world, too.
It seems like kicking and swimming would be physically demanding, not yoga-esque …
Most of the time, no. It’s a Sunday-drive kind of sport. You just relax, kick and glide.
Is your equipment heavy?
Under or above water?
Both.
A tank, BCD (buoyancy compensator device) and regulator weigh about 30 pounds. The lead weights add another 10 pounds or so, but once you’re in the water, all that weight only feels like 5 to 10 pounds, almost weightless.
What kind of certification do you have?
I got my open-water certification in 1999 and followed with my advanced scuba diving certification in 2002 and rescue diver certification in 2002-2003. Completed my dive master certification in 2004, and now I’m starting my assistant instructor program.
Any trips planned?
I always have a revolving list of dream destinations. My next trip will be back to the Bahamas at the end of this month.
What a great excuse to travel.
When you have the time and money.
I do have reservations. Most of them are shark-related.
I’ve never had my life threatened, and I’ve been on many shark dives with blacktip reef sharks, silvertip reef sharks, nurse sharks and Caribbean reef sharks.
Yikes.
Unfortunately, due to some movies in the ’70s, they get a bad rep. But on average, there are more dog bites each year than shark bites.
I’ve heard your lungs can pop.
The No. 1 rule is never hold your breath. That causes lung expansion. We cover how to deal with all that. If you do what you’re trained to do, you’ll be fine. And nervousness is normal. One of the divers here has extreme claustrophobia, but she can now dive and teach because she allowed herself to work through it.
Is there a good beginner class for someone like me, with zero experience?
At 10 a.m. on Saturday mornings we have “Discover Lessons” for ages 10 and up, and for $15 you can get the lesson and equipment. Just schedule with us a week or two in advance ( www.kcdiveshop.com).
Well, maybe I’ll bring the boyfriend along.
If he likes it, then you’ve got Christmas, birthdays and everything else covered. This hobby makes shopping very easy
Monday, June 20, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Bowen Island, Canada: Diving for Bowen’s treasures
BClocalNews: Diving for Bowen’s treasures
With the great outdoors right outside the door, Bowen gives kids and adults get plenty of opportunity to see and learn about their environment. There is, however, an environment that isn’t as easy to access – the shores around Bowen Island.
But the Bowen Nature Club and local scuba diver Adam Taylor make it easier to connect with the ocean with the club’s nature dive. The popular event returned June 5 and saw many Bowen families at the Mt. Gardner dock to visit with creatures they’d never seen before.
Taylor, who also conducts events for pre-school kids, BICS, CNIB campers and others, was contacted by the Nature Club five years ago to conduct the dives. The experienced diver and his dive team, Mira Grbich and Chris Harvey-Clark, brought up underwater creatures such as spiny pink sea stars.
After bringing them ashore, young people, their eyes full of wonderment, followed their every step. The divers placed the sea life in a safe water environment – “touch tanks” – so the children could visit with them and learn about the marine environment.
“Kids tend to like the sea cucumbers and sunflower stars the best; they’re big and slimy,” Taylor said. “The younger ones are usually drawn to moon jelly – left in a Ziploc bag for safe viewing – because of the scene from Finding Nemo. They also like the smallest of the sun stars or sunflower stars.
“If your hands are only a couple inches across, a one-inch sea star isn’t as scary as a 16-inch one.”
Taylor, who grew up on Bowen and has dived for about 20 years, feels there’s a “growing appreciation of, and enthusiasm towards, the marine environment.” Educating people about what lies below the water’s surface – and how best to treat it – is a big part of what events like this are for.
The 38-year-old loves sharing his knowledge through diving but he’s happy working in another profession for a living; he prefers leaving diving strictly as a passion. “I’d never actually make work out of diving; it might take all the fun out.”
He first learned to scuba dive from local resident, and marine biology professor, Brian Hartwick.
“We saw octopus and other marine life on our very first ocean training dive,” he said. “Years spent diving with other knowledgeable people and tagging along with marine biology classes has added a certain appreciation for what we do and do not have in local waters.”
This year’s Nature Dive had some new additions – Taylor invited along the Marine Life Sanctuary Society of BC (MLSS) to help with interpreting what people were seeing on the beach. The MLSS is beginning a youth outreach program and the event was a good fit for their knowledgeable and energetic volunteers
Roy Mulder of MLSS, an underwater film maker and marine conservationist, shot and has already edited a short video of the day’s events. Mulder offered up the video for Undercurrent readers to view on our website at www.bowenislandundercurrent.com. It’s a great glimpse into a great day, a day Adam Taylor felt was a “win-win” for everyone, including himself.
“The main reason I do the Nature Dives is to share my passion about the ocean,” Taylor said. “I would hope that not only do the children and adults gain a better appreciation of the waters around us but they may also realize that that it is a world is worth protecting.
“Perhaps people will think a little more about what we put down our drains, into our creeks and rivers, or how much we take out of the ocean.”
With the great outdoors right outside the door, Bowen gives kids and adults get plenty of opportunity to see and learn about their environment. There is, however, an environment that isn’t as easy to access – the shores around Bowen Island.
But the Bowen Nature Club and local scuba diver Adam Taylor make it easier to connect with the ocean with the club’s nature dive. The popular event returned June 5 and saw many Bowen families at the Mt. Gardner dock to visit with creatures they’d never seen before.
Taylor, who also conducts events for pre-school kids, BICS, CNIB campers and others, was contacted by the Nature Club five years ago to conduct the dives. The experienced diver and his dive team, Mira Grbich and Chris Harvey-Clark, brought up underwater creatures such as spiny pink sea stars.
After bringing them ashore, young people, their eyes full of wonderment, followed their every step. The divers placed the sea life in a safe water environment – “touch tanks” – so the children could visit with them and learn about the marine environment.
“Kids tend to like the sea cucumbers and sunflower stars the best; they’re big and slimy,” Taylor said. “The younger ones are usually drawn to moon jelly – left in a Ziploc bag for safe viewing – because of the scene from Finding Nemo. They also like the smallest of the sun stars or sunflower stars.
“If your hands are only a couple inches across, a one-inch sea star isn’t as scary as a 16-inch one.”
Taylor, who grew up on Bowen and has dived for about 20 years, feels there’s a “growing appreciation of, and enthusiasm towards, the marine environment.” Educating people about what lies below the water’s surface – and how best to treat it – is a big part of what events like this are for.
The 38-year-old loves sharing his knowledge through diving but he’s happy working in another profession for a living; he prefers leaving diving strictly as a passion. “I’d never actually make work out of diving; it might take all the fun out.”
He first learned to scuba dive from local resident, and marine biology professor, Brian Hartwick.
“We saw octopus and other marine life on our very first ocean training dive,” he said. “Years spent diving with other knowledgeable people and tagging along with marine biology classes has added a certain appreciation for what we do and do not have in local waters.”
This year’s Nature Dive had some new additions – Taylor invited along the Marine Life Sanctuary Society of BC (MLSS) to help with interpreting what people were seeing on the beach. The MLSS is beginning a youth outreach program and the event was a good fit for their knowledgeable and energetic volunteers
Roy Mulder of MLSS, an underwater film maker and marine conservationist, shot and has already edited a short video of the day’s events. Mulder offered up the video for Undercurrent readers to view on our website at www.bowenislandundercurrent.com. It’s a great glimpse into a great day, a day Adam Taylor felt was a “win-win” for everyone, including himself.
“The main reason I do the Nature Dives is to share my passion about the ocean,” Taylor said. “I would hope that not only do the children and adults gain a better appreciation of the waters around us but they may also realize that that it is a world is worth protecting.
“Perhaps people will think a little more about what we put down our drains, into our creeks and rivers, or how much we take out of the ocean.”
‘I shot the scuba diver’
Bangalore Mirror: ‘I shot the scuba diver’
Bhushan Bagadia is not just any other videographer. He shoots underwater, juggling breathing and buoyancy issues to get that perfect shot
What makes filmmaker Bhushan Bagadia different from the rest? Try underwater filming for size. Having just finished shooting the beaches of Karnataka for a travelogue project, Bhushan added one segment of underwater filming that's bound to impress viewers.
"Many people had told me that Indian waters are murky with low visibility, so I needed to check that out. When we were shooting the beaches along the Karwar-Mangalore coast, I thought to include Netrani Island which can be reached by boat from Murudeshwar in North Kanara district. And the diving experience there was beautiful," says Bhushan.
It was his first dive in the Indian waters though he's dived in UK, Thailand and Australia.
Bhushan is a trained rescue diver and is now raring to go to the next level of a diving master. "As an underwater filmmaker, you don't have to be a good swimmer. But diving training is essential. One needs to be at least a rescue diver (the first two levels are the open water and advanced open water diver courses) to go in water and shoot. I am also a certified underwater videographer for which I trained in Koh Tao in Thailand which is called the scuba diving capital of the world. We started with making souvenir shots of first-time divers," says Bhushan. He first learned diving in Cornwall, UK, along with his sister who discontinued midway as the water was too cold. "I never miss a chance to point that out to her though she got to complete the course in the Red Sea which was amazing," he says.
Underwater filming is similar yet very different from filming on land. The cameras used are same but, as Bhushan explains, "The costing becomes almost double as we need to have the specific 'housing' (cover) for the camera which costs the same as the camera. One gets positively buoyant housing that float up if it slips from your grasp and the negatively buoyant housing that gently goes down if left free. For me, the negatively buoyant housing works since it is heavy, strong and gives a steady shot."
It takes, however, more than the housing for those steady shots. "You must remember that in water, unlike land, you can't steady the camera by standing still. It is with the breathing that the camera is made steady," Bhusan explains.
Breathing in makes the diver lighter (as air goes in) and go up while breathing out makes the diver go down. You almost feel "like a fish" and the body is turned with controlled breathing and light fin kicks. Touching the floor of the sea means a swirl of sand which is "so very fine" and zero visibility. "An underwater videographer learns to hover 2 feet above the ground — nothing below that," Bhushan reveals a trick of the trade.
And yes, the 'fish part' can be deceptive. Even though diving is a little difficult to learn initially, once you master it you can never forget it - just like cycling. "Divers need to watch the air gauge — a 50 bar reading means the diver needs to surface up. Once when my BCD (buoyancy control device) had a leak, I didn't realise it and when I was at my mandatory safety stop (a three-minute transition stop at about 5 metres from the surface to combat the effects of decompression), the air had finished and I had to rush out. As a rescue diver, I took the precautions but that's when one realises that we aren't fish men!" says Bhushan.
And coming back to Netrani, Bhushan speaks of how in spite of being a little low on visibility, the footage was beautiful. "On a good day, the visibility can be 15-20 metres which is more than Koh Tao that is about 13 metres. I saw big groupers and reef sharks. Other divers have mentioned seeing empty shells supposedly fired as target practice by the navy. But there is a greenish tinge, may be due to the plankton present or the camera used but with a little colour correction, the footage was exactly how I saw it — crystal clear!"
Bhushan Bagadia is not just any other videographer. He shoots underwater, juggling breathing and buoyancy issues to get that perfect shot
What makes filmmaker Bhushan Bagadia different from the rest? Try underwater filming for size. Having just finished shooting the beaches of Karnataka for a travelogue project, Bhushan added one segment of underwater filming that's bound to impress viewers.
"Many people had told me that Indian waters are murky with low visibility, so I needed to check that out. When we were shooting the beaches along the Karwar-Mangalore coast, I thought to include Netrani Island which can be reached by boat from Murudeshwar in North Kanara district. And the diving experience there was beautiful," says Bhushan.
It was his first dive in the Indian waters though he's dived in UK, Thailand and Australia.
Bhushan is a trained rescue diver and is now raring to go to the next level of a diving master. "As an underwater filmmaker, you don't have to be a good swimmer. But diving training is essential. One needs to be at least a rescue diver (the first two levels are the open water and advanced open water diver courses) to go in water and shoot. I am also a certified underwater videographer for which I trained in Koh Tao in Thailand which is called the scuba diving capital of the world. We started with making souvenir shots of first-time divers," says Bhushan. He first learned diving in Cornwall, UK, along with his sister who discontinued midway as the water was too cold. "I never miss a chance to point that out to her though she got to complete the course in the Red Sea which was amazing," he says.
Underwater filming is similar yet very different from filming on land. The cameras used are same but, as Bhushan explains, "The costing becomes almost double as we need to have the specific 'housing' (cover) for the camera which costs the same as the camera. One gets positively buoyant housing that float up if it slips from your grasp and the negatively buoyant housing that gently goes down if left free. For me, the negatively buoyant housing works since it is heavy, strong and gives a steady shot."
It takes, however, more than the housing for those steady shots. "You must remember that in water, unlike land, you can't steady the camera by standing still. It is with the breathing that the camera is made steady," Bhusan explains.
Breathing in makes the diver lighter (as air goes in) and go up while breathing out makes the diver go down. You almost feel "like a fish" and the body is turned with controlled breathing and light fin kicks. Touching the floor of the sea means a swirl of sand which is "so very fine" and zero visibility. "An underwater videographer learns to hover 2 feet above the ground — nothing below that," Bhushan reveals a trick of the trade.
And yes, the 'fish part' can be deceptive. Even though diving is a little difficult to learn initially, once you master it you can never forget it - just like cycling. "Divers need to watch the air gauge — a 50 bar reading means the diver needs to surface up. Once when my BCD (buoyancy control device) had a leak, I didn't realise it and when I was at my mandatory safety stop (a three-minute transition stop at about 5 metres from the surface to combat the effects of decompression), the air had finished and I had to rush out. As a rescue diver, I took the precautions but that's when one realises that we aren't fish men!" says Bhushan.
And coming back to Netrani, Bhushan speaks of how in spite of being a little low on visibility, the footage was beautiful. "On a good day, the visibility can be 15-20 metres which is more than Koh Tao that is about 13 metres. I saw big groupers and reef sharks. Other divers have mentioned seeing empty shells supposedly fired as target practice by the navy. But there is a greenish tinge, may be due to the plankton present or the camera used but with a little colour correction, the footage was exactly how I saw it — crystal clear!"
The Double Lives of Divers At The Long Beach Scuba Show
NeonTommy: The Double Lives of Divers At The Long Beach Scuba Show
The woman in the second row at a seminar at the Long Beach Scuba Show was about to bring on a collective breakthrough. Her sun-bleached hair bobbed emphatically, mirroring the room’s agitation, as she voiced her desire to make a living out of professional diving. Low, then louder, “yeahs” rose from the back of the room when she appealed to the speaker with eyes like a homesick seal’s.
“But then I have my real job, which is keeping me from doing all of…this,” she said, gesturing toward the PowerPoint seminar, “I Want a Life on the Islands.”
The speaker, a course director in the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, nodded sympathetically in front of the crowd at the Long Beach Convention Center. Her past students had included financial engineers and insurance brokers who dumped their six-figure salaried careers to teach diving full-time in places like the Bahamas and Papua New Guinea. “And you can expect to make about twenty thousand a year,” she said. She paced a triangle. “Any other questions?”
Long Beach is famous as a departure point for dive boats heading to the magical kelp forests off Catalina Island, but the thousands of divers who descended on the waterfront this weekend stayed on land. On June 4 and 5, I accompanied my dad to the 24th annual Long Beach Scuba Show, a temporary mecca for anyone looking to buy, learn, shop, and try all things scuba.
It’s fairly common to meet diving families—after all, whom would you rather trust to share oxygen at the bottom of the sea?—but my dad’s entry into scuba happened rather haphazardly. At a time when my friends’ fathers were riding out their midlife crises in the Harley Davidson Club, my dad jumped into certification classes with me, citing a hitherto-unmentioned adolescent dream of becoming a marine biologist.
Well into his fifties and diagnosed with high blood pressure, he almost earned himself a place on the accidental death watch list (no, that doesn’t really exist) at our local dive shop. On the last day of our Open Water course, he jumped onto our instructor when his buoyancy compensator vest slipped off. We were half a mile out to sea. The instructor, scared out of his wits, let my dad pass without repeating the task.
Nevertheless, diving entered our repertoire as a sane-enough father-daughter activity, and this year marked our second time as Scuba Show attendees. The first day, I ambled along rows and rows of exhibition hall booths for two and a half hours. “America’s Largest Consumer Dive Expo,” as the Scuba Show bills itself, had enrolled more than 300 exhibitors showing everything from the latest dive gear to Melanesian vacation packages to bug-bitten dead eyes salvaged from wrecks.
Losing their heads all around me were respectable-looking attorneys and mechanical engineers and marketing representatives, whose longing to join the fortunate bottom-feeding few shone like signal lights as they caressed underwater camera housings and played with titanium dive knives.
Divers Alert Network president Dan Orr explained that the diving demographic was aging—that’s why these middle aged professionals made up a large portion of the acolytes. Recreational diving, as opposed to professional or commercial diving, caught on in the eighties, bringing in lots of young blood who have been strapping on fins, but also making money at “real” jobs, ever since. As a result, the 40-59 age group is growing fastest of all.
Tour operators are not blind to the emerging market. Eva Adan from the Philippine Consulate General knew that if they promoted their country’s tourism to divers, they could achieve their goal of “impacting not only the Filipinos but also the mainstream.” Though diving is not as expensive as sailing, say, or polo, certification costs at least $300 and your first complete dive outfit may push $2000. To many citizens of the countries famed for marine life, divers’ pockets come lined with gold.
But consumerism, though rampant, cedes to a mellower and more convivial spirit at the Scuba Show. Stan Waterman, a five-time Emmy winning underwater filmmaker and featured guest, named “connectivity” as the event’s special ambiance.
“This is an unusual show,” Waterman, 88, said in his last seminar of the weekend. “There’s an unusual vitality, a connectivity about this. It’s wonderful to be here and share with you these things I’ve seen…Through the magic we have, to capture this experience, is a great unusual joy I’ve had.” Many professional divers are inspired by pioneers like Waterman, whose documentaries on great white sharks have helped conservation efforts gain visibility and success.
Some of those conservationists lined the lobby just outside the exhibition hall. The Turtle Island Restoration Network, claiming a table for the first time, papered their surfaces with flyers about restored turtle habitats near Marin County. “We thought it would be a really great venue to reach people who care about expeditions,” said development director Erica Heimberg, talking over thronging expo goers and a nearby conservationist's guitar improvisations.
Inside the hall by the northwest wall, the California Wreck Divers highlighted conservation of a different sort. President Bill Wilson, manning a booth decorated with rescued artifacts, pointed to dented silverware and oxidizing portholes as he related the story of the diving club’s inception. He and his buddies had discovered a 300-ft sailboat sunk off San Pedro. Through microfilm research, they identified it as a Prohibition-era “pleasure barge” offering women and wine beyond the reach of the feds. Now in his seventies, Wilson appears unplagued by the problem of double lives, but he does have a prior one: his rigorous ocean training is a product of the military.
Among those who had altogether shed their earthbound existence was artist Wyland, locally famous for his enormous wraparound mural at the Long Beach Arena. Wyland spent most of his time filling a large canvas at the back of the hall with whales and dolphins and other sea creatures. Periodically people clustered around to watch him paint, and before and after their ebullient greetings he calmly maintained eye contact with an invisible middle distance.
“Probably the best part is being able to paint with kids,” he said as he stepped back to evaluate blending on a whale’s back. Earlier that day he had held a paintbrush and taken pictures with pint-sized attendees painting alongside him. “I was inspired by Jacques Cousteau, he was my hero. After watching him I realize art is a powerful force for conservation.”
The Scuba Show realizes that art can bridge the long dry gap between divers’ workaday lives and the life aquatic, and uses it to bring divers together. Numerous presenters played rhapsodic sequences of super-macro photography, blowing up the remora or rockfish of divers’ imaginations to beluga-sized proportions. The pleasures of scuba are tactile as well as visual, but many a diver shared smiles while immersing themselves in the art exhibits at the back of the hall.
In the two years following my Open Water class, I grew too busy with college to dive, but my dad kept at it. He eventually earned an Advanced Open Water certification, and now the horror stories are good laughs over beer with the coaches. We met our former instructor Kris near the Pacific Wilderness booth and asked if any students had tried to drown him recently. None had, but in any case serious divers don’t feel sorry for themselves when such job hazards occur; as his colleague Jimmy emphasized, “It is a passion—there’s nothing like it.”
The woman in the second row at a seminar at the Long Beach Scuba Show was about to bring on a collective breakthrough. Her sun-bleached hair bobbed emphatically, mirroring the room’s agitation, as she voiced her desire to make a living out of professional diving. Low, then louder, “yeahs” rose from the back of the room when she appealed to the speaker with eyes like a homesick seal’s.
“But then I have my real job, which is keeping me from doing all of…this,” she said, gesturing toward the PowerPoint seminar, “I Want a Life on the Islands.”
The speaker, a course director in the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, nodded sympathetically in front of the crowd at the Long Beach Convention Center. Her past students had included financial engineers and insurance brokers who dumped their six-figure salaried careers to teach diving full-time in places like the Bahamas and Papua New Guinea. “And you can expect to make about twenty thousand a year,” she said. She paced a triangle. “Any other questions?”
Long Beach is famous as a departure point for dive boats heading to the magical kelp forests off Catalina Island, but the thousands of divers who descended on the waterfront this weekend stayed on land. On June 4 and 5, I accompanied my dad to the 24th annual Long Beach Scuba Show, a temporary mecca for anyone looking to buy, learn, shop, and try all things scuba.
It’s fairly common to meet diving families—after all, whom would you rather trust to share oxygen at the bottom of the sea?—but my dad’s entry into scuba happened rather haphazardly. At a time when my friends’ fathers were riding out their midlife crises in the Harley Davidson Club, my dad jumped into certification classes with me, citing a hitherto-unmentioned adolescent dream of becoming a marine biologist.
Well into his fifties and diagnosed with high blood pressure, he almost earned himself a place on the accidental death watch list (no, that doesn’t really exist) at our local dive shop. On the last day of our Open Water course, he jumped onto our instructor when his buoyancy compensator vest slipped off. We were half a mile out to sea. The instructor, scared out of his wits, let my dad pass without repeating the task.
Nevertheless, diving entered our repertoire as a sane-enough father-daughter activity, and this year marked our second time as Scuba Show attendees. The first day, I ambled along rows and rows of exhibition hall booths for two and a half hours. “America’s Largest Consumer Dive Expo,” as the Scuba Show bills itself, had enrolled more than 300 exhibitors showing everything from the latest dive gear to Melanesian vacation packages to bug-bitten dead eyes salvaged from wrecks.
Losing their heads all around me were respectable-looking attorneys and mechanical engineers and marketing representatives, whose longing to join the fortunate bottom-feeding few shone like signal lights as they caressed underwater camera housings and played with titanium dive knives.
Divers Alert Network president Dan Orr explained that the diving demographic was aging—that’s why these middle aged professionals made up a large portion of the acolytes. Recreational diving, as opposed to professional or commercial diving, caught on in the eighties, bringing in lots of young blood who have been strapping on fins, but also making money at “real” jobs, ever since. As a result, the 40-59 age group is growing fastest of all.
Tour operators are not blind to the emerging market. Eva Adan from the Philippine Consulate General knew that if they promoted their country’s tourism to divers, they could achieve their goal of “impacting not only the Filipinos but also the mainstream.” Though diving is not as expensive as sailing, say, or polo, certification costs at least $300 and your first complete dive outfit may push $2000. To many citizens of the countries famed for marine life, divers’ pockets come lined with gold.
But consumerism, though rampant, cedes to a mellower and more convivial spirit at the Scuba Show. Stan Waterman, a five-time Emmy winning underwater filmmaker and featured guest, named “connectivity” as the event’s special ambiance.
“This is an unusual show,” Waterman, 88, said in his last seminar of the weekend. “There’s an unusual vitality, a connectivity about this. It’s wonderful to be here and share with you these things I’ve seen…Through the magic we have, to capture this experience, is a great unusual joy I’ve had.” Many professional divers are inspired by pioneers like Waterman, whose documentaries on great white sharks have helped conservation efforts gain visibility and success.
Some of those conservationists lined the lobby just outside the exhibition hall. The Turtle Island Restoration Network, claiming a table for the first time, papered their surfaces with flyers about restored turtle habitats near Marin County. “We thought it would be a really great venue to reach people who care about expeditions,” said development director Erica Heimberg, talking over thronging expo goers and a nearby conservationist's guitar improvisations.
Inside the hall by the northwest wall, the California Wreck Divers highlighted conservation of a different sort. President Bill Wilson, manning a booth decorated with rescued artifacts, pointed to dented silverware and oxidizing portholes as he related the story of the diving club’s inception. He and his buddies had discovered a 300-ft sailboat sunk off San Pedro. Through microfilm research, they identified it as a Prohibition-era “pleasure barge” offering women and wine beyond the reach of the feds. Now in his seventies, Wilson appears unplagued by the problem of double lives, but he does have a prior one: his rigorous ocean training is a product of the military.
Among those who had altogether shed their earthbound existence was artist Wyland, locally famous for his enormous wraparound mural at the Long Beach Arena. Wyland spent most of his time filling a large canvas at the back of the hall with whales and dolphins and other sea creatures. Periodically people clustered around to watch him paint, and before and after their ebullient greetings he calmly maintained eye contact with an invisible middle distance.
“Probably the best part is being able to paint with kids,” he said as he stepped back to evaluate blending on a whale’s back. Earlier that day he had held a paintbrush and taken pictures with pint-sized attendees painting alongside him. “I was inspired by Jacques Cousteau, he was my hero. After watching him I realize art is a powerful force for conservation.”
The Scuba Show realizes that art can bridge the long dry gap between divers’ workaday lives and the life aquatic, and uses it to bring divers together. Numerous presenters played rhapsodic sequences of super-macro photography, blowing up the remora or rockfish of divers’ imaginations to beluga-sized proportions. The pleasures of scuba are tactile as well as visual, but many a diver shared smiles while immersing themselves in the art exhibits at the back of the hall.
In the two years following my Open Water class, I grew too busy with college to dive, but my dad kept at it. He eventually earned an Advanced Open Water certification, and now the horror stories are good laughs over beer with the coaches. We met our former instructor Kris near the Pacific Wilderness booth and asked if any students had tried to drown him recently. None had, but in any case serious divers don’t feel sorry for themselves when such job hazards occur; as his colleague Jimmy emphasized, “It is a passion—there’s nothing like it.”
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Scuba Diving Could Help Treat Paraplegics
WBALTV.com: Scuba Diving Could Help Treat Paraplegics
BALTIMORE -- Neurological researchers in Baltimore are investigating how scuba diving affects a person's mental and physical health.
When it comes to treating paralysis, water therapy isn't new, but two doctors from two of Baltimore's biggest medical institutions are working together to find out what more underwater treatment could do.
The doctors -- Dr. Adam Kaplin, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology and chief psychiatric consultant at the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers and Dr. Daniel Becker, a board-certified neurologist and the head of pediatric restoration therapy at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Kennedy Krieger Institute -- recently went underwater in the Grand Caymans with 10 paraplegic veterans and 10 control subjects to study what effect, if any, scuba diving could have on the mind and body of those with spinal cord injuries.
"This was a new aspect I never thought about," Becker said. "We see this as the basis for a lot of exciting research to come."
"We're very excited about the idea that this is a pilot study; this isn't going to be a definitive study. But from our preliminary data, it looks like there is something," Kaplin said.
Becker and Kaplin are pioneering the study at the urging of Cody Unser. The daughter of Indianapolis racing great Al Unser Jr. was diagnosed at the age of 12 with transverse myelitis, a disease that rendered her paralyzed within minutes.
Now 24, Cody Unser remains determined to become scuba certified. Like the rest of her family, she learned to dive and quickly discovered something amazing about her body.
"It was on our second dive on our first trip when I was getting certified when I noticed after coming up that I was suddenly feeling my bladder more," Cody Unser said. "My spasms, like my legs, everything (had) a greater sensation."
For the study, the doctors had to learn how to dive. They went the maximum depth of 60 feet with the veterans on multiple dives a day. The doctors said the depth of the dive is the key.
"When you go down there, many of the gases within your blood start changing. So, you get an increase of oxygen into your tissues," Becker said.
"That's happening in a weightless environment. You're buoyant down there underwater in an environment where you're sort of mastering something that you thought you'd never have a chance to master," Kaplin said.
The ultimate question is whether it can actually stimulate regeneration of tissue.
Kaplin and Becker plan to reveal their findings at a conference in September. They will continue to investigate whether scuba diving could be used to treat a variety of neurological illnesses.
BALTIMORE -- Neurological researchers in Baltimore are investigating how scuba diving affects a person's mental and physical health.
When it comes to treating paralysis, water therapy isn't new, but two doctors from two of Baltimore's biggest medical institutions are working together to find out what more underwater treatment could do.
The doctors -- Dr. Adam Kaplin, an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology and chief psychiatric consultant at the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centers and Dr. Daniel Becker, a board-certified neurologist and the head of pediatric restoration therapy at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Kennedy Krieger Institute -- recently went underwater in the Grand Caymans with 10 paraplegic veterans and 10 control subjects to study what effect, if any, scuba diving could have on the mind and body of those with spinal cord injuries.
"This was a new aspect I never thought about," Becker said. "We see this as the basis for a lot of exciting research to come."
"We're very excited about the idea that this is a pilot study; this isn't going to be a definitive study. But from our preliminary data, it looks like there is something," Kaplin said.
Becker and Kaplin are pioneering the study at the urging of Cody Unser. The daughter of Indianapolis racing great Al Unser Jr. was diagnosed at the age of 12 with transverse myelitis, a disease that rendered her paralyzed within minutes.
Now 24, Cody Unser remains determined to become scuba certified. Like the rest of her family, she learned to dive and quickly discovered something amazing about her body.
"It was on our second dive on our first trip when I was getting certified when I noticed after coming up that I was suddenly feeling my bladder more," Cody Unser said. "My spasms, like my legs, everything (had) a greater sensation."
For the study, the doctors had to learn how to dive. They went the maximum depth of 60 feet with the veterans on multiple dives a day. The doctors said the depth of the dive is the key.
"When you go down there, many of the gases within your blood start changing. So, you get an increase of oxygen into your tissues," Becker said.
"That's happening in a weightless environment. You're buoyant down there underwater in an environment where you're sort of mastering something that you thought you'd never have a chance to master," Kaplin said.
The ultimate question is whether it can actually stimulate regeneration of tissue.
Kaplin and Becker plan to reveal their findings at a conference in September. They will continue to investigate whether scuba diving could be used to treat a variety of neurological illnesses.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Viva Wyndham Resorts Sponsors Living Museum in the Sea in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic
Press Release: Viva Wyndham Resorts Sponsors Living Museum in the Sea in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Viva Wyndham Resorts is sponsoring the Living Museum in the Sea, a one-of-a-kind, underwater historic site featuring the shipwreck, Quedagh Merchant, abandoned by the scandalous 17th century pirate Captain William Kidd, located in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. The Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach and the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace located in La Romana near Bayahibe, offer affordable all-inclusive rates to dive enthusiasts and those fascinated by shipwrecks and the history of the sea.
The Quedagh Merchant shipwreck was discovered nearly three and a half years ago. To dedicate the Living Museum in the Sea site, an inauguration event took place on May 23 in Bayahibe and featured unveilings from the 1699 shipwreck of Captain William Kidd. Additional sponsors include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Indiana University, and the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Subacuatico (ONPCS). The inauguration date also marked the 310th anniversary of Kidd's hanging in London for his crimes of piracy. The dedication noted both underwater and above ground interpretive plaques. The underwater plaques will help guide divers around the Kidd site as well as relics and rare corals at two other shipwreck sites. The Living Museum in the Sea exhibit is open year-round.
As an additional attraction to the "Cara Merchant" shipwreck site on the coast of Bayahibe is the "Guadalupe Living Museum under the Sea," dating to 1724. This site is located in front of Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach, and the artificial reef of St. George and the canon reef of Guaraguao from the 18th century, both of which are located in front of the hotel zone's coast.
The Living in the Sea Inauguration was led by Charles Beeker, director of the Office of Underwater Science in Indiana University's Bloomington School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded Indiana University $300,000 to turn the Captain Kidd shipwreck site and three other underwater preserves in the Dominican Republic into no-take, no-anchor "Living Museums," where cultural discoveries protect precious corals and other threatened biology in the surrounding reef systems under the supervision and support of the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Subacuatico (ONPCS).
The Captain Kidd site is the only pirate ship to be discovered in the Caribbean and one of only three discovered in the Americas. In addition to recreational uses, the preserves are used as a scientific field resource for students and professionals in the fields of underwater archaeology, marine biology, ecology and geology.
The Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach and Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace are both nestled on the extensive white sand beach overlooking the breathtaking turquoise water. For those looking for additional adventure, guests can explore the underwater reefs. The resorts also offer excursions to the uninhabited Isla Catalina featuring untouched Caribbean nature and some of the finest snorkeling and scuba diving in the region, as well as to the nearby Altos de Chavon, a unique recreation of a 16th century Italian village, complete with artisan workshops, an archaeological museum, cobblestone streets and quaint architecture.
For more information about the Living Museum in the Sea, visit Indiana University http://newsinfo.iu.edu.
About Viva Wyndham Resorts:
Viva Wyndham Resorts features all-inclusive properties throughout the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico. Viva Wyndham Resorts' multilingual staff, tropical settings, extensive amenities and thorough entertainment line-up ensures guests a truly customized vivid all-inclusive experience. As part of the brand's passion for life, it strives to protect all the resort's surrounding environments and cultures by implementing green programs throughout its resorts. For reservations or more information, call 800-WYNDHAM or visit www.vivawyndhamresorts.com.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Viva Wyndham Resorts is sponsoring the Living Museum in the Sea, a one-of-a-kind, underwater historic site featuring the shipwreck, Quedagh Merchant, abandoned by the scandalous 17th century pirate Captain William Kidd, located in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. The Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach and the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace located in La Romana near Bayahibe, offer affordable all-inclusive rates to dive enthusiasts and those fascinated by shipwrecks and the history of the sea.
The Quedagh Merchant shipwreck was discovered nearly three and a half years ago. To dedicate the Living Museum in the Sea site, an inauguration event took place on May 23 in Bayahibe and featured unveilings from the 1699 shipwreck of Captain William Kidd. Additional sponsors include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Indiana University, and the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Subacuatico (ONPCS). The inauguration date also marked the 310th anniversary of Kidd's hanging in London for his crimes of piracy. The dedication noted both underwater and above ground interpretive plaques. The underwater plaques will help guide divers around the Kidd site as well as relics and rare corals at two other shipwreck sites. The Living Museum in the Sea exhibit is open year-round.
As an additional attraction to the "Cara Merchant" shipwreck site on the coast of Bayahibe is the "Guadalupe Living Museum under the Sea," dating to 1724. This site is located in front of Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach, and the artificial reef of St. George and the canon reef of Guaraguao from the 18th century, both of which are located in front of the hotel zone's coast.
The Living in the Sea Inauguration was led by Charles Beeker, director of the Office of Underwater Science in Indiana University's Bloomington School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded Indiana University $300,000 to turn the Captain Kidd shipwreck site and three other underwater preserves in the Dominican Republic into no-take, no-anchor "Living Museums," where cultural discoveries protect precious corals and other threatened biology in the surrounding reef systems under the supervision and support of the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Subacuatico (ONPCS).
The Captain Kidd site is the only pirate ship to be discovered in the Caribbean and one of only three discovered in the Americas. In addition to recreational uses, the preserves are used as a scientific field resource for students and professionals in the fields of underwater archaeology, marine biology, ecology and geology.
The Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach and Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace are both nestled on the extensive white sand beach overlooking the breathtaking turquoise water. For those looking for additional adventure, guests can explore the underwater reefs. The resorts also offer excursions to the uninhabited Isla Catalina featuring untouched Caribbean nature and some of the finest snorkeling and scuba diving in the region, as well as to the nearby Altos de Chavon, a unique recreation of a 16th century Italian village, complete with artisan workshops, an archaeological museum, cobblestone streets and quaint architecture.
For more information about the Living Museum in the Sea, visit Indiana University http://newsinfo.iu.edu.
About Viva Wyndham Resorts:
Viva Wyndham Resorts features all-inclusive properties throughout the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico. Viva Wyndham Resorts' multilingual staff, tropical settings, extensive amenities and thorough entertainment line-up ensures guests a truly customized vivid all-inclusive experience. As part of the brand's passion for life, it strives to protect all the resort's surrounding environments and cultures by implementing green programs throughout its resorts. For reservations or more information, call 800-WYNDHAM or visit www.vivawyndhamresorts.com.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Get to Know Belinda Ringpfeil: Love of marine science, education drew her to the coast
BLog.al.com: Get to Know Belinda Ringpfeil: Love of marine science, education drew her to the coast
GULF SHORES, Alabama -- Birmingham native Belinda Ringpfeil has been making the coast her home over the past four years.
I just belong near the water," she said.
For two years Ringpfeil rented a place in Orange Beach while teaching in Baldwin County’s public schools.
She taught full time at Elsanor Elementary School in Robertsdale and part time at Daphne East Elementary School and J. Larry Newton School in Fairhope.
Upon leaving Elsanor, Ringpfeil said, she chose to be a self-employed entrepreneur with her two passions: traveling and marine sciences/marine education. She runs a part-time travel business called Coastal Dreams Travel and a part-time marine education program.
Ringpfeil said she travels to public and private schools with her marine education program, and also holds events for youth groups.
This month she is contracted to teach a summer program for children ages 4 to 12 years old called Ocean Camp at Faulkner State Community College’s Gulf Shores campus.
Get to Know Belinda Ringpfeil
Birthplace: Birmingham
Hometown: Gulf Shores
Family: Husband, Chris; two children
Occupation: Self-employed entrepreneur
Activities: Traveling, scuba, photography, water sports
Ringpfeil received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a master’s in gifted education from the University of Alabama.
She taught for 10 years as a gifted education teacher in Jefferson and Shelby counties’ schools, and because she taught gifted education, she said, she had a flexible curriculum that allowed her to teach marine sciences as long as her children were interested in it.
But she wanted to teach it full time, which brought her to the coast.
One of her goals, she said, is to open a marine education center in Gulf Shores in hopes of helping people to gain awareness and respect for the ocean.
Ringpfeil said she has also received training at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, has attended numerous National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration workshops, and for at least 10 years has been a member of the National Marine Educators Association.
"I’m a life-long learner," Ringpfeil said, "Fun for me has to do with always learning something new."
Ringpfeil said she has been a scuba diver for many years, and among the more famous places she has explored by diving is the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean west of the Ecuador mainland.
The animals, which include an iguana that swims, are various and unique there and have no fear of people, she said, recalling stepping over sea lions on the beaches.
Two locations she hopes to dive are the barrier reefs in Australia and Indonesia, Ringpfeil said. "I still have goals," she said.
She also enjoys salt and fresh water sports of all kinds, including boating, kayaking and canoeing, Ringpfeil said.
She is a member of the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and works with the sea turtle "Share the Beach" volunteer program.
GULF SHORES, Alabama -- Birmingham native Belinda Ringpfeil has been making the coast her home over the past four years.
I just belong near the water," she said.
For two years Ringpfeil rented a place in Orange Beach while teaching in Baldwin County’s public schools.
She taught full time at Elsanor Elementary School in Robertsdale and part time at Daphne East Elementary School and J. Larry Newton School in Fairhope.
Upon leaving Elsanor, Ringpfeil said, she chose to be a self-employed entrepreneur with her two passions: traveling and marine sciences/marine education. She runs a part-time travel business called Coastal Dreams Travel and a part-time marine education program.
Ringpfeil said she travels to public and private schools with her marine education program, and also holds events for youth groups.
This month she is contracted to teach a summer program for children ages 4 to 12 years old called Ocean Camp at Faulkner State Community College’s Gulf Shores campus.
Get to Know Belinda Ringpfeil
Birthplace: Birmingham
Hometown: Gulf Shores
Family: Husband, Chris; two children
Occupation: Self-employed entrepreneur
Activities: Traveling, scuba, photography, water sports
Ringpfeil received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a master’s in gifted education from the University of Alabama.
She taught for 10 years as a gifted education teacher in Jefferson and Shelby counties’ schools, and because she taught gifted education, she said, she had a flexible curriculum that allowed her to teach marine sciences as long as her children were interested in it.
But she wanted to teach it full time, which brought her to the coast.
One of her goals, she said, is to open a marine education center in Gulf Shores in hopes of helping people to gain awareness and respect for the ocean.
Ringpfeil said she has also received training at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, has attended numerous National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration workshops, and for at least 10 years has been a member of the National Marine Educators Association.
"I’m a life-long learner," Ringpfeil said, "Fun for me has to do with always learning something new."
Ringpfeil said she has been a scuba diver for many years, and among the more famous places she has explored by diving is the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean west of the Ecuador mainland.
The animals, which include an iguana that swims, are various and unique there and have no fear of people, she said, recalling stepping over sea lions on the beaches.
Two locations she hopes to dive are the barrier reefs in Australia and Indonesia, Ringpfeil said. "I still have goals," she said.
She also enjoys salt and fresh water sports of all kinds, including boating, kayaking and canoeing, Ringpfeil said.
She is a member of the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and works with the sea turtle "Share the Beach" volunteer program.
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