More conservation news (and a beach cleanup in Okinawa)
Well I start today’s update on a similar note to the last one. That is, environmental damage to our oceans. This time it’s in Lebanon and was caused by the recent fighting there between Lebanon and Israel. To quote from the BBC website:
“Up to 15,000 metric tonnes of heavy fuel oil spilled into the Mediterranean when Lebanon’s Jiyyeh power plant was bombed in mid-July by the Israeli military.
The oil slick drifted north for 150km. The clean-up operation only began a month after the bombing, when the conflict ended”
The story in pictures is here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/middle_east_lebanon_oil_spill_clean_up/html/1.stm
From my last entry, I’m sure everyone knows how I feel about protecting our oceans and the world we live in. This is a side of the fighting that would probably go unnoticed by most people. Everyone was worried about the destruction and loss of life, and rightly so. But this is the first time I have heard of this oil spill in the Mediterranean, and I’m sure it has not been widely reported in the media. But these are things we need to be aware of, so that we can help prevent them happening in the future. People’s health & livelihoods are affected, not to mention the loss of life of marine animals. Continue reading this entry »
Climate change around the corner?
This is the opening paragraph of a BBC news article published today:
“Measurements from a network of monitors stretching across the Atlantic Ocean could offer an early warning of “sudden climate change”, scientists have said.“
The full article can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6081458.stm and I recommend anyone with an interest in the world in which they live and dive in to read it. The vast majority of what it talks about is speculation, but that’s not to say we shouldn’t discount it from happening and forget about taking care of the world. Whether it’s through our doings or not, the Earth is warming up and the polar ice-caps are melting at an alarming rate. The rising temperatures is bleaching vast amounts of coral, and in 50 years there’s a high chance that the underwater world will look like a barren wasteland compared to now. I don’t know whether I’ll still be here or not at that point, but I want my children and future generations to be able to enjoy the seas as much as I do.
So what can we as individuals possibly do? Continue reading this entry »
A weekend perfect for diving… so I did!
Firstly, I know there are some issues with the current blog layout at the moment, namely the fact that it’s almost impossible to add comments to most blog entries. Rest assured that I do know about this problem and am working with the powers that be to get it rectified. At the moment, stick with it and if you would like to contact me then get in touch with the contact link at the top of this page.
Well the weather over the past 7 days has been absolutely glorious. Sunshine almost all day, only a breath of wind and usually a shower in the evening to take the edge off the heat. It’s the kind of weather that gives you beautiful sea conditions, and it gave me a busy weekend of dive teaching. On Friday night I went straight from work over to pick a guy up who had flown in from Ishigaki for the weekend. He was already a diver but was wanting to do his Advanced Open Water course. We headed up to Sunabe to get gear and tanks, and had 2 really sweet dives. The first was a night dive (although to be fair it was a dusk/night dive), and the second was an AWARE Fish ID dive. There were quite a few fish about and the soft coral down there at night is really very special. Continue reading this entry »
A few updates to the blog
Well, I’ve changed the style of blog rather dramatically, and I’ve also added a contact form, incase anyone has any questions about Okinawa or dive courses I can teach.
Let me know what you think of the new layout, and I’ll be in touch about my courses soon, as I’ve got a busy few days ahead of me, diving-wise.
First OW student certified - yay I’m on my way!
Well, considering the weekend has been beautiful, I haven’t been diving as much as I’d have liked. A lack of buddies this weekend has meant that I was only able to do training dives with one of my OW students. Fortunately though, it was the girl who’d had problems last week, so it was good to get some one-on-one teaching with her. I picked her up on Saturday morning and on the way to get gear we were talking about diving. She was openly nervous and a little scared about getting back into the water after her “incident” last time. But I knew that I had to get her into the water ASAP afterwards, otherwise she’d be one of those students who never actually finish their diving course.
So we got her a BCD and wetsuit and headed straight out onto the Sunabe seawall for Open Water Dive 2. She asked if she could practise the skills on the descent line at about 1m down before we went all the way down. I said that wouldn’t be a problem with her mask skills (partial & full mask flood & clear). The first time she did it she went to the surface, but the reason was more psychological than physiological. I told her to keep calm and assured her that water wouldn’t go up her nose unless she breathed in through it. She practised further by putting her head in the water at the surface and breathing from the reg.
After a couple of attempts she was fine, and we descended to about 8m. The first skill she did was a fin pivot, which she managed to do almost instantly. Her weight was right on, so she only needed a little air in her BCD to get buoyant. I could tell she was still a little nervous so we headed for a swim along the reef. There were some beautiful soft corals around, and after a while, I could tell she started to calm down a little and actually enjoy the dive. We then returned to the descent line and I asked her to do the mask skills. I could tell she was really nervous about doing it, but she did the skills slowly and methodically, and without any problems whatsoever. We finished the dive doing an AAS ascent to the surface. She was so relieved when we got to the top that she’d been able to do the mask skills, and hadn’t panicked or had any problems. You could tell her confidence was starting tocome back into her diving.
We did Open Water dives 3 & 4 on Saturday morning too. There was a mask removal & replacement skill that my student was nervous about, but once she’d practised it a couple of times at a very shallow depth, she went underwater and performed it at almost demonstration speed and quality. Her buoyancy control is great and as long as I can get her coming out diving, she’ll become a regular diver I’m sure. She passed the Final Exam over lunch and I was very excited to hand her a certification card as my first certified Open Water diver.
I’ll hopefully get the other divers finished next weekend and then this girl can come along and get some more experience underwater. Even if she’s just there watching the other go through their skills, it’ll be a good opportunity for her. So that was my main news story for the weekend. Only 24 more certs now until I get to MSDT status. It may seem like a lot, but I’ve got a few courses coming up over the next couple of weeks. With a bit of luck I’ll knock off those certs before long, especially if I add some Specialty courses into the mix once I’ve got some more certified OW divers. Will be in touch later in the week, but until then take care and dive safely.