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Share your thoughts, experiences or questions and participate in discussions over our favorite topic : SCUBA diving!

Stop eating shark fin soup

by Ksso on January 28, 2011

Gordon Ramsay produced a documentary that aired Sunday 16th January, 9pm on Channel 4 in UK. If you're not familiar with Gordon, he's a pretty famous chef with a strong propension of using the "F" word and popular for his show "Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares".In this documentary he covers the use of shark fin that serve as base ingredient for a popular meal in Asia, the shark fin soup.This documentary came as a shocker for me highlighting a few facts:

Sharks are an endangered species - the population dropped by over 60% in less than 10 years and may disappear at this rate within the century (with terrible consequencies for the balance of our ecosystem) ...

10 dive spots in Thailand may be closed down

by Ksso on January 27, 2011

On January 18th, DMCR( Department of Marine and Coastal Resources ) director-general Kasemsan Jinnawaso has announced to the press that he has recommended 10 diving sites inside marine national parks be closed so damaged coral reefs can recover.The tsunami on Dec 24th 2004 did intense damage on the coral reefs, and intense scuba diving (especially of unexperienced divers) does not help the corals to recover.Corals grow extremely slowly, only a couple of cm a year, and thus the spots may have to be closed between 5 to 10 years. This will obviously impact the turism on the short-term, but safeguarding the marine life should be the number #1 priority !.However, the final decision would still...

Deep see hunting

by Ksso on January 27, 2011

Whatever your feelings about deep see hunting may be, you won't be able to keep from gasping when watching this documentary made for "Human Planet: Oceans" on BBC One.The reporter follows an Indonesian hunter, Sulbin, a Bajau fisher, as he dives at a depth of 20m for 2.5 mins in just one breath, and catches a fish in one shot.Source Gadling

Spot On : The dwarf seahorse

by Ksso on January 23, 2011

Wikipedia teaches us the followings:The dwarf seahorse (Hippocampus zosterae) is a species of seahorse. It is found in the Bahamas and the United States. Its natural habitat is subtidal aquatic beds. It is threatened by habitat loss. According to Guinness World Records, it is the slowest moving fish, with a top speed of about five feet per hour (152 cm per hour).It is most often white in color but can range from tan, brown, yellow and green. In the wild, it often has small skin growths called cirri that resemble algae.

The reason I wanted to write a "Spot On" that tiny seahorse is that as wikipedia mentioned, its natural habitat is endangered. Conservationists from the Zoological Society...

3xB: Bubbles - Beers - Belgium Chocolate

by Ksso on January 23, 2011

If you can be in Brussels on the last week-end of january (28th, 29th, 30th), there's one event you can't miss : the "3xB". Head off to the event's Facebook page to register and for more details.We will gather in Brussels for a crazy week end of scuba diving, then we party and drink (moderately) delicious world class Beers and we indulge ourselves with Belgium chocolatesDiving, in Brussels ?Yes. In the heart of the city of Brussels lays a dive wonder : Nemo33 (www.nemo33.com)Nemo33 is the deepest man made pool : 33 meters deep. The water temperature is 33°C and the cristal clear water gives a 33m viz.Of course there is no reefs, and no fishes but it is still a great fun.What should you...

Emotions in concrete

by Ksso on January 23, 2011

Some of us aren't lucky enough to leave near the coastline and just can't get in the water as often as we would like to. Then we need to find some alternatives to keep in touch with our passion. One of the place I love for that in Paris is the brand new Paris Aquarium located in Trocadero.Loaded with huge tanks with plenty of huge mantas, sharks, groupers as well as smaller jelly fish, eels, clown fish, it's an amazing place to spend a couple hours watching the fish dance around us.Cherry on the pie, you even have a nice restaurant, Ozu, with a view on one of the biggest tank (the video below is the view from the restaurant).Maybe one day I'll get to dive in one of those tanks!

Introducing the crew : Alex

by Ksso on January 23, 2011

Since I'll be writing quite a bit in that blog, it's time for some proper introductions! I'm Alex, 30, I live in Paris, France. I first dived in 2004 and got my CMAS 1* level after a week course in Hyères. The next year I made it to CMAS 2* in Golfe Juan.In case you've not experienced the French riviera dive spots, they're far from being as dull as you might have heard/read. Although they're not as rich as the Red Sea or any coral reef, you often need to get around 30m depth to actually start seeing cool stuff such as moray eels. But if you can deep dive, then there's definitely a lot to see in the French Riviera area.I used to dive with a Mares M2 computer but now I just got myself a...

Scuba diving fair in Paris, France

by Ksso on January 17, 2011

Paris may be a nice place to live, but there's no sea there. If you're a scuba diver as I am you spend your time planning for the next vacations that will get you to wear your gear again. In the meantime a few pools let you do some pit diving, but it's not really the same thing. There is one event though that draws all the scuba divers around to Paris : the yearly scuba diving fair.It's the one place where all the representatives of scuba diving gather in that giant one stop shop where you can find your next destination, try the new gear from the major vendors and event push your friends to get an initiation in a temporary pool set for the occasion. If you're an advanced diver you could...