Hyperbaric chambers in NW Florida unavailable to divers
In a region already woefully short of adequate hyperbaric emergency services for divers, chambers from Mississippi to Northwest Florida are reportedly now filling up with Covid-19 patients fighting for their lives.
As reported earlier on this site, the closest decompression chambers to the popular Oriskany dive site and Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail are in Mobile, Alabama which is out of state—or in Fort Myers, more than 600 miles away.
Nesting turtles at Florida beaches now smaller
By comparing shell lengths, researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) have discovered that loggerhead and green sea turtles have become smaller in size over the past few decades.
They have yet to come up with an explanation for this, according to a study published in the Ecosphere journal.
Unfathomable tragedy hits Dudas family of divers
On Friday 23 April 2021, Zale Dudas (9) and Saxon Nairne (7), along with their father Rodney Nairne, visited a property in Jensen Beach. It is believed that the purpose of the visit was to demonstrate a DPV or Diver propulsion vehicle.
According to mainstream media reports, the siblings were “described by their father as experienced swimmers and proficient divers”. This is not a surprise because the family are ardent and experienced scuba and technical divers, and several members have done work in scuba diving.
Link to GoFundMe page: Help Suzie
Two newborn whale calves spotted in US waters
Currently, there are only 400 of these whales left in the wild.
The first calf was seen on December 4, near Cumberland Island, Georgia. Then, on December 7, the second calf was spotted swimming alongside bottlenose dolphins off Vilano Beach, Florida.
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Coral restoration projects show promise in Florida Keys
Reef-building staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) was abundant and widespread throughout the Caribbean and Florida until the late 1970s. The fast-growing coral formed dense thickets in forereef, backreef, and patch-reef environments to depths over 20 m.
What killed Rob Stewart?
When the environmentalist and filmmaker Rob Steward died following a dive during the filming of scenes for Sharkwater Extinction, it came as a big shock, which reverberated across his huge diverse following and fanbase across the world, including the dive community.
How could a dive go so tragically wrong and who was to blame for his untimely demise?
The Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail
While Florida’s eastern coast certainly offers countless popular wreck dives, the Panhandle is an often-overlooked gem. The Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail provides an enjoyable mechanism for divers to experience the history and heritage the Gulf of Mexico has to offer within the realm of wreck diving.
Sea turtles to spend more time house-hunting in the future
In the future, sea turtles in the US will find it harder to find suitable nesting habitat, due to climate change, rising sea levels and coastal development.
A team led by Florida State University came to this conclusion after their research which modelled the suitability of coastal habitats in the eastern United States by 2050 for sea turtle nesting, after considering predicted sea-level rise and future climates.
Their findings were recently published in the Regional Environmental Change journal.
#RF3: Be RoSPA CCR Aware
To this end RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) worked with a number of rebreather industry experts to identify key safety issues.
RoSPA Video
The result was a film that gives divers and those new to rebreathers a solid awareness of the key safety factors for diving with rebreathers.
#RF3: Diving with Rebreathers
Richard Pyle is an early adopter of technical-diving practices and is known around the world as a rebreather diver and designer. He is a highly respected Ichthyologyist (in plain English a scientist who studies fish) and he has discovered many new species of fish.
A dive with a profound effect
When Richard Pyle was 19 he was living and diving the western Pacific Ocean off Palau. During his time there he suffered a very serious case of decompression sickness and became quadriplegic.