Boy Scouts Take the Plunge

The Scuba Diving merit badge has launched allowing Scouts to earn a new merit badge while enjoying a fun and exciting sport. Scuba Diving opens a world of experiences and opportunities for scouts and their families. Since the launch of the new merit badge, scouts all across the United States have been joining families and troops to get certified.

The new merit badge consists of four parts:

Boy Scouts of Americas (BSA) requirements
Scuba knowledge development
Confined water dives
Open Water Dives
Plus, Scouts that are already certified in scuba just have to complete the remaining BSA requirements to receive their merit badge!
PADI Dive Centers and Resorts are official BSA affiliates and the premiere training facilities for the Boy Scouts of America. Find a PADI Dive Center or Resort in your area to get started today!

Source: Sport Diver

Dive for Earth Day

Underwater volunteers are the front lines to collecting data for underwater conservation. Dive for Earth Day the week of April 22nd and help Project AWARE Foundation and thousands of dive volunteers around the world put fragile dive sites on the Earth Day map.

Dive Volunteers: Do your part this April. Search Dive for Earth Day events online and volunteer for an underwater cleanup, coral monitoring project, AWARE Kids event or other conservation project in your community.

Project AWARE Foundation, a registered nonprofit organization, works in direct partnership with divers and water enthusiasts to conserve underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.

Photo: Maui Dreams Dive Co, Dive for Earth Day 2009

Source: Sport Diver

Mares diving urgent safety notice and update voluntary recall of Nemo Air Dive Computer

 

Mares has discovered a quality issue involving the O-ring assembly of the Nemo Air Quick Connector.

Under certain circumstances, the O-ring can fail and cause a slow leak of breathing gas through the Quick Connector, which could require a diver to surface quickly and face possible risk of injury or running out of air.

Any air leak resulting from an O-ring failure would be slow, because these fittings are designed to the EN250 standard, which requires a very small (0.3mm) opening in the high-pressure hose fitting, but we nevertheless take this issue seriously and intend to correct all affected units.

The O-rings in some units may have been replaced in an earlier service campaign, but this recall requires replacing the entire metal quick connector female fitting at the end of the high pressure air hose that holds the O-ring (new Mares part no. 44200829).  Replacement connector assemblies have a groove machined around the middle of the fitting, but recalled units do not.

ALL CONSUMERS SHOULD STOP USING ANY NEMO AIR DIVE COMPUTER, AND ALL RETAILERS SHOULD REMOVE THESE UNITS FROM DISTRIBUTION , UNTIL THEY HAVE BEEN INSPECTED AND REPAIRED BY AN AUTHORIZED MARES DEALER / SERVICE CENTER.

Affected product codes are:

Finished goods
414158 – DIVE COMPUTER NEMO AIR
414159 – DIVE COMPUTER NEMO AIR W/COMPASS

Spare parts
44200771 – HP HOSE W/QUICK CONNECTOR NEMO AIR
44200770 – QUICK CONNECTOR ASSY. FEMALE NEMO AIR

Please contact an Authorized Mares Dealer/Service Center in your area to schedule the removal and substitution of your Nemo Air computer Quick Connector Assembly Female with the new Nemo Air computer Quick Connector Assembly Female. If you want MARES to perform the above service procedures, please contact our customer service department at 1-800-874-3236 for a return authorization number. You will need to provide the unit(s) serial number(s).

ALL NEMO AIR QUICK CONNECTOR FEMALE ASSEMBLIES MUST BE REMOVED AND SUBSTITUTED WITH THE NEW ONE PRIOR TO DIVING NEMO AIR.  THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR THIS SERVICE.

For detailed information please go to  www.mares.com

This voluntary recall is being conducted by Mares in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Source: Sport Diver

Divers and snorkelers to Egg-Splore the keys coral reef

Divers visiting the Florida Keys around the Easter holiday are likely to trade in their “tank-head” personas for one more suitable to the season: ”egghead.”

This year marks the 10th annual — and unusual – Underwater Easter Egg Hunt, set for Sunday, April 4, in the warm, clear waters off Key Largo.

The hunt is hosted by Captain Spencer Slate of Atlantis Dive Center, well known for his sensational “creature feature” dive excursions. The event unfolds as Slate dons an extra-large bunny suit and dive gear to hide brightly colored Easter eggs beneath the waves for eager bounty hunters to find.

Divers and snorkelers are to check in at 8 a.m. at the Atlantis dive shop, located at mile marker 106.5 oceanside. Charter fees are to be specially priced at $85 per certified diver, including tanks and weights,  $30 per adult snorkeler and $20 for children including gear. Up to three boats are scheduled to depart the Atlantis dock at 8:30 a.m.

Once participants are aboard, the Atlantis boats head out to a secret location on one of the Keys’ pristine reefs to allow revelers to seek the sunken hard-boiled treasures during the two-tank trip.

All Easter egg hunters win a prize, with a dive trip for two awaiting the diver who finds a specially colored egg. Real eggs and nontoxic colorings are used to prevent any negative ecological impact.

Source: Sport Diver

Whale follows surfer during ocean crossings

The American Judie Nelson, a professional surfer, decided to paddle 64 km on top of your board stand-up surfing when he was surprised by a whale that followed for a long time.

Judie began a trip along the California coast after a few hours and noticed that a whale was following her. The whale followed her for about two hours, Judie liked the company and the whale named Larry. The route of 64 km was completed in about nine hours.

The surfer had participated in other movements, for example, in March, who spent nine hours at sea being filmed by a group of friends in order to raise funds for institutions to treat breast cancer, for her illness.

The American managed to draw media attention, with the help of Larry, and grossed 120 thousand U.S. dollars to help the research of breast cancer.

 

Largest marine reserve in the world will be on the Chagos Islands

Was authorized by Britain, creating the largest marine nature reserve in the world around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

This nature reserve protects an area that environmentalists compare to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, due to its marine life and its population of yellow tuna, turtles and crabs.

Included is also an area closed to fishing for commercial purposes, said the foreign minister, David Miliband, in a statement.