Owner: Diving in Fiji URL:http://divingfiji.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 02:27:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A blog by Richard Akhtar of Matava about the great scuba diving around the Fiji Islands. Some of the highlights of living and working in Fiji is the diving on the soft coral reefs with sharks, mantas and teeming life on the reefs. Site statistics:Click here
Tips for photographing Manta Rays 2007-03-13 01:59:00 The Manta Ray dive site dive site visited from Matava Resort continues to amaze divers from novices to seasoned world travellers. Many have seen their first Manta's here and still have had their closest encounters. Despite having a 'dive of a lifetime' few however manage to come away with the 'shot of a lifetime'. Despite (or because of) their size, Mantas are a difficult subject - here are some tips to help capture that memorable image:- 1. You are going to need to be close. Mantas feed in plankton rich waters and cutting down the distance to you and your subject is essential. To achieve this you need to remain calm and still, perfect your buoyancy and certainly not chase your subject. 2. You have to have the right lens. Unless you want a close up of a Manta's eyeball, all that work in getting close will not pay off unless you have a wide angle lens (very wide). To get the best shot
Rains helping cool Barrier Reef 2007-03-13 01:41:00 Recent torrential rain and monsoons in northern Queensland have provided some rare relief for the Great Barrier
Reef in Australia. The poor conditions have significantly reduced ocean temperatures, making them the coolest for up to five years. It has been a blessing for the corals - usually in the summer they are at risk of serious scorching and bleaching. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest living organism, stretching over more than 345,000 sq km. It is also the world's most protected marine area and has been under threat from a combination of global warming, pollution and over-fishing. Read more at BBC
Richard and Joe 2007-03-09 01:17:00 Richard
and Joe Originally uploaded by Aggibail. Me an Joe hard at work and all fuzzy!MOVIN!
Cool Lionfish shot 2007-03-09 01:14:00 lion fish Originally uploaded by ChrisNclick. Chris took this in kadavu. Well lit and well cropped. Read more:Lionfish
Guest photos now on Flickr 2007-03-05 00:03:00 my first manta ray Originally uploaded by digitalia. Hey you can blog straight from within Flickr
!"my first manta rayAstrid just sent me photos
from my last dive in Fiji, soon after doing my open water course, when we saw manta rays, and she took me through my first cave.(photo by Astrid, I was too busy gasping through a regulator)"Uploaded by digitalia on 22 Jun '06, 5.23am FJT. Read more:Guest
Matava Flickr Photo Group now LIVE 2007-03-02 00:21:00 At long last after many requests from past guests we have managed to get a place where we can all share photos from Matava
.As many of you know we have very limited communications out in the resort in Kadavu. In fact if we even have phone lines that we can speak on we are grateful. The internet connection is a very ropey dial-up where we get an average of 9kbps if we're lucky.Therefore when kind hearted guests send us photos by email, we unfortunately spend hours shouting and swearing (who us?) and trying to remove these 2MB attachments form our servers before picking up email, and/or the line dropping out.SO... we have found a solution where we can see and share everyone's photos and still remain sane on our dial-up connection.Cruise on over to www.Flickr
.com, (join up and get your free Yahoo! name if you don't have one already) and then post pictures and join our group:http://www.flickr.com/groups/matava/We hope to see your photos up there soon guys. (send us a small email to say Read more:Group
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Matava Resort helps with Fiji Fish ID DVD 2007-03-02 00:11:00 Fresh from their time as cruise directors aboard the Nai'a liveaboard Josh and Liz of www.undersaeasproductions.com headed to Matava
to put the finishing touches to their soon to be published definitive fish ID DVD of the Fiji Islands. We'll let you know as soon as it is available and where to purchase a copy. Additions to the DVD filmed whilst diving the Great Astrolabe Reef from Matava Resort
are:- Additional species:-Painted anthias - Pseudanthias pictilis (male)Painted anthias - Pseudanthias pictilis (female)Flame angelfish - Centropyge loriculaBulbnose unicornfish - Naso tonganusScott's wrasse - Cirrhilabrus scottorum (male)Scott's wrasse - Cirrhilabrus scottorum (female)Fourspot butterflyfish - Chaetodon quadrimaculatusFourstripe wrasse - Pseudocheilinus tetrataeniaOrangelined nudibranch - Gymnodoris striataSpinner dolphin - Stenella longirostrisAddidtional juvenile/female/malePeacock razorfish - Iniistius pavo (juvenile)Palebarred coris - Coris dorsomacula (
Describe a shark ! 2007-03-01 23:52:00 The current campaign form the 'Shark Trust' asks the following question:- How would you describe a shark ? Sexy ? Graceful ? Threatened ? EXTINCT ? It makes you think doesn't it? Find out more at www.sharktrust.org
Diving with Diabetes 2007-03-01 06:23:00 Despite being considered incompatible with diving there are many seasoned divers who have learned to manage this condition and how it relates to their diving. Their doctors are also prepared to declare them medically fit for diving. Other physicians are reluctant to do so. Should diabetes stop someone diving or learning to dive?We at Matava Resort have faced this question and dilemma a few times and when we have consulted have faced a diversity of opinion. Dr. Simon Mitchell has tacked this issue in a recent article in 'Sport Diving
' magazine in his regular 'Diving Medicine' column. It is a well informed starting point for those wishing to explore the issues for themselves with valuable reference and follow up ideas. Check it out at 'Sport Diving' magazine Read more:Diabetes
Lawsuit Filed to Protect World's Most Endangered Whale 2007-03-01 06:13:00 From: SCUBA Diving NewsThe Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit to compel the Bush administration to protect the North Pacific Right Whale
under the federal Endangered Species Act. The US Department of the Interior has proposed opening up areas in the Bering Sea frequented by the species to offshore oil development. Additionally, President Bush is considering lifting the presidential withdrawal that currently prohibits such development.The North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica), once ranging from Baja California to Alaska, is the most endangered large whale in the world, with perhaps as few as 100 individuals remaining. Devastated by commercial whaling, North Pacific Right Whales now face the threat of oil and gas development in their critical habitat.Read more... Read more:Lawsuit
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, World
New fish species found by divers in Fiji 2007-02-16 08:17:00 A new species
of fish has been discovered on Fiji's Great Sea Reef. The new species of damselfish (Pomacentrus sp.) was found during a 12-day expedition of the reefs by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) divers
.Read the article at DIVE UK magazine...Download the whole pdf science report from WWF Fiji... Read more:New fish
Sea Creatures to Be Tracked Electronically 2007-02-16 00:04:00 By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated PressIn a modern update of "fish and chips," researchers are planning a worldwide effort to track the movement of sea creatures tagged with tiny electronic devices.Following pilot testing in the north Pacific, the Ocean Tracking Network will expand to the Atlantic, Arctic, Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico.Details of the expansion were scheduled to be announced Monday at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Sea life ranging from salmon to whales, turtles to sharks, will be tagged so they can then be tracked as they swim past arrays of sensors placed at critical locations in the oceans.Read more at Environmental News Network Read more:Tracked
Handy Hints for Photographers 2007-02-14 04:42:00 Adobe Photoshop for Underwater Photographers
A new handbook for underwater photographers explains how to edit, fine-tune, retouch and enhance underwater images with Adobe Photoshop.Read more here...Adobe Photoshop for Underwater Photographers Read more:Handy
, Hints
SPTO Website 2007-02-13 10:25:00 The SPTO website covers all of the South Pacific, and has a great wealth of info on properties and activities."Dive the world renown Great Astrolabe Reef from the secluded hideaway resort of Matava on the rugged island of Kadavu. Accommodation is in traditional style Fijian bures ranging from a 4-bed dorm to ocean view bures with private facilities and magnificent views of the ocean and Great Astrolabe reef."Read more...
underwater.com.au Forum 2007-02-13 10:22:00 Cool forum from down-under."Matava specialises in water sports such as diving and fishing by it's wonderful location with abundant reefs and large marine life. Swam with Manta Rays, Sharks, Turtles, Barracuda (2 types) and so much more..." MarieBGo see more of this forum... Read more:Forum
, underwater
DIVE magazine "The Great Astrolabe Reef " 2007-02-13 10:20:00 by Simon RogersonSome of the most spectacular hard-coral formations in the world can be found along the GreatAstrolabe
, an immense barrier reef that protects the southern and eastern shores of the Kadavu island group. Diving here can be challenging, as the channels between the reefs and the outer sea can be subject to fast currents and heavy swell. Still, the reef diving is of the highest standard, and there is still scope for discovery. Read the complete article here...
Part 2: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Comfort / skills 2007-03-23 05:05:00 This is a fairly obvious place to start. Unless you are comfortable in the water and confident of your diving skills can you ever be relaxed enough to achieve optimum air consumption? Being relaxed (or able to be relaxed) is the key to everything I discuss below – the more relaxed and natural you are underwater the easier diving will become - it is a self fulfilling prophesy. Do a deal with yourself – practice 1 thing you are uncomfortable with on every dive (yes, even mask clearing or removal!) until it becomes second nature. After that, don’t stop – do it because you enjoy it!
Increase your Dive Time on Fiji’s Stunning Reefs: a discussion on diving and air consumption: Part 1 2007-03-23 05:03:00 Fiji’s reefs are known worldwide as being some of the richest in the world teeming with life and colour. For the purposes of this discussion, the key elements of this ‘life and colour’ are that they occur in tropical waters – generally warm and clear - and also at relatively shallow depths.Yes, of course, Fiji has abyssal walls and drop offs and pelagic action to suit anyone’s taste but the fact of the matter is the most abundant life on coral reefs is at less than 20 metres. This is great news for those wishing to spend their time under water rather than sitting on the dive boat. We do not have the extreme physiological impact of cold water and rarely are dives limited by no-decompression times but rather by air consumption. Therefore there is a real opportunity to max out on your underwater time.For many, however, short dives are the reality and there is the frustration of having to do your safety stop and end the dive whilst other divers are still enjoying being underwa Read more:Reefs
, Stunning
Blow to Whale Conservation 2007-03-25 01:08:00 The debate around whale conservation goes on and on. Most of us cannot understand that whaling can be justified on any level but of course life is not as simple as that. The politics of this global debate is extremely complex. Iceland made its position clear when stating its recent intent to resume commercial whaling by immediately slaughtering 3 fin whales (an endangered species). They intend to kill 6 more in addition to the 30 minke whales already taken. Take a look at the Greenpeace whale tourism pledge – http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/stop-icelandic-whaling .With the signatures already signed to this pledge, Greenpeace have calculated that the revenue to Iceland from whaling tourism could be worth over 10 times that of whaling slaughter. What do you think? If you feel that Iceland’s decision to restart whaling is an unnecessary and backward step then let Iceland’s Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, know at postur@for.stjr.is Read more:Conservation
, Whale
Part 3: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Positive buoyancy at the surface 2007-03-27 06:08:00 This is a huge issue and should have been stressed time and again on your initial dive course. In my experience, over 30% of all qualified (and experienced) divers we take diving are slightly out of breath before they start their first dive, especially when they have not dived recently! Think what this will do for air consumption on the dive.Why is this the case? They are paddling, don’t have enough air in their BCD’s, are uncomfortable with the surface
conditions etc. Basically, they forgot to trust and use their equipment. It’s not only air consumption at stake here.A large percentage of all diving incidents occur on the surface, mostly through over exertion. A good way to overcome this is to hang about on the surface. Let the dive boat pick someone else up first after a dive whilst you float around. Have enough air in your BCD to lie back and stop kicking completely. If there is a short swim to the dive site, it is often easier to do this a couple of metres under the Read more:Positive
Take a bet on global warming 2007-03-28 01:09:00 You know it’s happening when a bookmaker comes up with a series of ‘global warming wagers’! Totesport is offering odds of a measly 25-1 only that a great white shark will be caught off the waters of the UK in 2007, believing that rising sea temperatures could attract the great white to British shores this year.If it happens, let’s hope the Brit’s don’t develop the all sharks are bad attitude prevalent in many countries in our part of the world!See full article at Science Daily.
Part 4: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Depth 2007-03-29 06:09:00 As already mentioned, it is not essential to go deep or stay deep on Fiji’s reefs. You might want to go and look at something specific at depth but if you find you use more air than your fellow divers, try reducing the average depth of your dive. With clear water, you can happily be a few metres above the other divers and still stay in touch.Assuming a conservative air consumption of 20 litres per minute at the surface and also assuming you breathe a tank from 200 bar at the start to 50 bar back on the surface (total 1800 litres) – at an average depth of 15 metres you will have enough air for a 36 minute dive. At an average depth of 10 metres you will have enough air for a 45 minute dive. This is a massive 25% increase in time. Why not spend time exploring the shallows during the latter part of the dive. This is perfect in the tropics as you will see a huge amount of life in great natural bright light.It is also great for your dive profile and repetitive dive no decompression Read more:Depth
Part 5: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Equipment 2007-04-05 06:10:00 Again, as you learned in your dive course, equipment causes drag through the water, drag means extra effort which means higher air consumption. You learned therefore that the gear you carry should be streamlined.What I am about to say may not be popular as many divers are very attached to their ‘gear’. Consider streamlining your gear by not taking it in the water in the first place or better still, leaving it at home! I can virtually put money on the guy who has been diving for years and is carrying half a dive shop underwater with him will be the first up. It’s always a matter of personal choice, but when diving in tropical waters you really can pare down to the bare essentials.Why not take off your dry suit inflator hose – you won’t need it. It feels so much better when you’re not laden down with all the latest gadgets and it does wonders for your air consumption (and excess baggage charges!).If you don’t have the ideal tropical setup, consider hiring you gear – Read more:Equipment
More from the ‘Shark Trust’ 2007-04-07 01:03:00 A campaign has been launched to stop ‘Alibaba’ a Chinese online marketplace, from selling shark fins and other shark products. The decline of shark numbers worldwide is well documented. The ‘Shark
Trust’ has gained enormous respect in scientific and political circles buy taking a stance calling for a sustainable shark fishery. Find out more about them at www.sharktrust.org . The campaign to stop Alibaba is tackling the problem from the other end. There are more than 300 companies selling shark parts on Alibaba’s website – it is hoped that by making Alibaba aware of the vulnerable status of global shark populations they will agree to remove these companies from their site. Why should they listen? Alibaba is after a global market and already trades with over 200 countries and consumer opinion on its products may well affect its profits. As a result of a growing number of emails to the company, Alibaba has already agreed to look at the situation and talk with its suppliers. It
Part 6: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Weighting 2007-04-08 06:12:00 Correct weighting is essential for efficient air consumption.Weighting is a key component in buoyancy control (discussed below) but also has a tremendous impact on your efficiency in the water. Overweighting tends to drag the lower part of the body down so even if neutrally buoyant, divers need to kick continuously to remain horizontal in the water. All that kicking requires energy which requires air. To make matters worse, if you are over weighted, you will need to add more air to your jacket to remain neutrally buoyant at depth – your jacket will therefore have more volume causing more drag through the water. A double whammy on your air consumption!Additionally, the more weight you carry, the more inertia you have (think about a truck braking as opposed to a car) meaning it takes more effort to change direction and as we know effort equals air – is there such a thing as a triple whammy? Under weighting will have similar impact on your air consumption as you struggle to kick
Part 7: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Buoyancy 2007-04-10 06:14:00 Mastering your buoyancy is a key skill relevant to all aspects of your diving. If you have complete buoyancy control you can eliminate extraneous movements underwater.As water is so dense, all movements use much more energy than the same movement on land and hence use more air. Correct buoyancy also allows you to perfect the fin kick of your choice to propel you most efficiently through the water.There are many fun exercises you can do to hone your buoyancy but something you should do all the time on every dive is use fixed visual references to give you a continual picture of where you are relative to everything else.If you catch buoyancy lapses quickly, you spend less energy correcting them thus conserving more air.
Rare "Prehistoric" Shark Photographed Alive 2007-04-08 06:55:00 Flaring the gills that give the species its name, a frilled shark swims at Japan's Awashima Marine Park on Sunday, January 21, 2007. Sightings of living frilled sharks are rare, because the fish generally remain thousands of feet beneath the water's surface.Spotted by a fisher on January 21, this 5.3-foot (160-centimeter) shark was transferred to the marine park, where it was placed in a seawater pool."We think it may have come to the surface because it was sick, or else it was weakened because it was in shallow waters," a park official told the Reuters news service. But the truth may never be known, since the "living fossil" died hours after it was caught.See these photos and more at National Geographic Read more:Alive
, Photographed
, Prehistoric
, Shark
Diving with Diabetes – an update 2007-04-15 01:04:00 Following on from my previous blog item posted in February, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society (UHMS) and the Divers Alert Network (DAN) have published consensus guidelines resulting from their 2005 co-sponsored workshop, ‘Diabetes
and Recreational Diving
: Guidelines for the future. What was historically considered an absolute contraindication to diving is now being openly supported for those who are medically evaluated and who carefully monitor their condition and meet certain criteria. The view held by the medical community on people who have insulin-dependent diabetes was relaxed and those using dietary control for their diabetes should easily be able to meet the guidelines. Note that the report has issued guidelines and not rules and should only be used as toll for the physician when evaluating a person with diabetes for diving. The full ‘Diabetes and Recreational Diving: Guidelines for the Future’ can be ordered by contacting DAN Americaswww.divers
Part 8: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Trim 2007-04-15 06:15:00 If you get yourself neutrally buoyant but find that you fall forwards, backwards or to one side or another then your trim needs adjusting (imagine everyone on a small plane suddenly standing up and all moving to one side!).You can correct yourself in the water, (using movement, energy and therefore more air) as many times as you wish however you will always fall back unless you correct the cause.The solution is normally as simple as shifting a weight slightly. It won’t fix itself - don’t put up with it!
Part 9: A discussion on diving and air consumption: Arm movement 2007-04-17 06:15:00 If you’ve ever done an aerobics class, there’s a reason the instructor makes you do all those arm movement
s until you feel that they are going to drop off. It’s exactly the same reasoning that made your diving instructor want to tie you arms to your side during your first dive course.The introduction of upper body movement can increase your metabolism by up to 30%. Great if you want to burn calories in an aerobics class, disastrous for air consumption on a dive – enough said!
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