Dive shop in Thailand wins top honours for Environmental Achievement.
Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Diving, the parent company of Big Blue Tech came in third for the Project AWARE International Environmental Achievement Awards for 2009 listing them as number 1 in Thailand.
Project AWARE Foundation honors dive operators around the world who display commitment and excellence in their efforts to protect underwater environments within business operations and their community. “The Environmental Achievement Award is about rewarding vision, excellence and pursuit of conservation. More importantly, this award ensures the enjoyment of underwater environments for future generations,” said Henrik Nimb, Project AWARE Foundation Director, Asia Pacific.
The following Asia Pacific Environmental Achievement Award 2009 winners operate in an environmentally responsible manner and demonstrate an outstanding commitment to conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action.
1. B&J Diving Centre – ABC, Malaysia
2. B&J Diving Centre – Salang, Malaysia 3. Big Blue Diving Resort, Thailand
4. Blue Season Bali, Indonesia
5. Crystal Dive Resort, Thailand
6. Deep Sea Divers Den, Australia
7. Dive Tropex Tokoriki, Fiji
8. Dive! Tutukaka, New Zealand
9. Eco Scuba, Korea
10. Gangga Divers, Indonesia
11. Kon-Tiki Krabi, Thailand
12. Malapascua Exotic Dive Resort, Philippines
13. Matava, Fiji Islands
14. NZ Sea Adventures, New Zealand
15. Ocean Elements, Malaysia
16. Plunge Diving, Australia
17. Scuba Cat Diving, Thailand
18. Sea Hounds, Singapore
19. Sea World Dive Center, Philippines
20. Subsurface Fiji, Fiji Islands
21. Thresher Shark Divers, Philippines
22. United Divers, Australia
The number of amazing initiatives and actions implemented by the Project AWARE Environmental Achievement Award Winners is inspiring. Congratulations! For information on planning your own environmental project or becoming more environmentally sustainable contact Project AWARE.
Halcyon new adjustable harness system now available for shipping in Asia.
Koh Tao, Thailand - Big Blue Tech are happy to announce the availability of Halcon’s new Infinity harness system. The new technical diving harness and backplate system is designed to give the diver more options with an adjustable webbing system so it can be enlarged and reduced in size on the fly. The system also features comfort padding.
TDI (Technical Diving International), the largest technical certification agency in the world, is now offering training in the sports diver Rebreather, also known as Poseidon Discovery. TDI is seen as an innovator always bringing new, exciting and functional diving techniques and programs to the general diving public.
All of the thousands TDI-certificated dive leaders around the world now have the opportunity to get educated in the Rebreather system. This means that the possibility for scuba divers to be taught by an Rebreather-educated instructor has increased considerably.
“I would call this the crucial step för the Rebreather to reach the great amount of recreational divers all over the world,” says Kurt Sjöblom, CEO of Poseidon Diving Group AB. “My prediction is is that 2010 will really be the year of the Rebreather!”
Poseidon was founded by divers, for divers. When Ingvar Elfström launched the world’s first single hose regulator in 1958 it became an immediate sensation. The company currently has 30 employees and over 2000 agents worldwide. Headquarters and manufacturing is located in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The world’s first closed breathing system for recreational divers
Unlike traditional breathing systems for recreational divers, Poseidon Discovery reuses the exhaled breath. This extends the diving time from 40 minutes to several hours. In November 2008, Poseidon Discovery was awarded the international award “Best of What’s New Award” by Popular Science, one of the largest popular science magazines.
For further information, please contact:
Kurt Sjöblom, CEO, +46706340552, kurt.sjoblom@poseidon.com Mats Lennartson, Press Contact, +46707902468, mats.lennartson@poseidon.com
For further information about diver education from TDI, please contact godive@tdisdi.com
This is the third product recall this year from technical diving manufacturers. Already Halycon and OMS have voluntarily recalled their products throwing the entire technical diving equipment manufacturing industry in question.
In cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Dive Rite is issuing a voluntary recall on various Dive Rite Wings.
The Over Pressurization Valve (OPV) springs found on Dive Rite wings manufactured between June 2006 and October 2008 may rust and fail allowing the buoyancy compensator devices to leak. The wings may be red, blue or black in color and have serial numbers falling between 42000 and 72000. The following models are affected by this recall: Travel, Venture, Rec, Trek, Classic, Nomad and Super Wings It does not affect EXP or 360-branded wings. The recall does not affect lift bags, surface marker tubes or other Dive Rite inflatable devices.
Due to the serious implications of an OPV spring failure, consumers should stop using the recalled diving equipment and have the OPV spring immediately replaced by a Dive Rite authorized dealer or distributor.
The PADI/DSAT Tec Rec blog reports the graduation of PADI Course Director and DSAT Tec Instructor Trainer Rod Abbotson who completed his TDI (technical diving International) CCR Instructor course for the Pelagian DCCCR.
The blog reports that Mark Elyatt, who held the world record deepest dive to 313m, visited Jordan this month to train Rob to be an instructor on the Pelagian Rebreather. The Pelagian Rebreather is manufactured in Koh Samui, Thailand by Big Blue Tech Samui former Manager Andy Fritz who is owner of Rebreather Lab.
TDI - Technical Diving International is the leading certification agency for all things relating to technical diving, rebreather diving and related courses like scuba technician certifications. Currently DSAT/PADI have only Semi-Closed rebreather courses in their technical curriculum but rumors swirling in the community indicate a change to introduce a course based on the Poseidon Discovery rebreather in 2010.
The Gulf of Oman’s pithy-black deeps have finally surrendered secrets of the mystery sinking of Nazi submarine U-533 during the Second World War.
Several years after the discovery of the U-boat on the seabed 108 metres below by Dubai shipwreck hunter and diver William Leeman, a new deep-sea mission in October to the U-boat’s final resting place has confirmed a fatal blast hole was ripped into her rear port side, dooming the twin-screwed 76.8-metre-long vessel and 52 crew members to a watery grave.
Capitalizing on clear waters and armed with electric underwater scooters and high-powered spotlights, Leeman and his team of recreational divers discovered the two-metre gash near her propellers, confirming reports by RAF (Royal Air Force) Squadron 244 that a British light bomber aircraft had scored a direct strike on the submarine on October 16, 1943.
It is available in five configurations to suit your diving from the basic air/nitrox scuba version to the fully loaded nitrox, trimix and heliox open and closed circuit model with external active one and three cell ports. Each configuration is fully upgradeable to any other via a personal code, so you can upgrade as your diving progresses.
It uses a Buhlmann algorithm to calculate its decompression obligation, but you can adjust the algorithm across a variety of settings if you want to dive more conservatively than the default. Interestingly, if you miss a stop it doesn’t lock but carries on in a ‘best guess’ mode - especially useful when incidents occur. For calibration at the surface in closed-circuit mode there is a user-selectable oxygen percentage although most divers will probably choose to use pure oxygen. As with the majority of computers on the market it is automatically switched on by depth and/or pressure, and features an automatic, ambient light-sensing LCD for back-light illumination.
It is configurable for either automatic or manual set point changeovers with both set point and sensors being displayed while in the menus. The decompression algorithm uses the current PPO2 (partial pressure of oxygen) as a FiO2 (fraction of inspired oxygen) and will thus on-the-fly predict TTS (time to surface) and length of stop time.
Gases can be switched during a dive and there is a preset selection of gases that can be inputed - like setting favourite stations on a radio. As well as the obvious basic diving information, other useful displays include, ascent rate, milli-voltage readouts for all cells on demand, battery voltage, low battery warning and CNS tracking. The battery can be changed by the user and has a life expectancy of 360 hours.
Getting to grips with the Pursuit is straightforward. Disappointingly it only uses two buttons so there is a certain amount scrolling to be done. An open circuit comparison of the Pursuit’s algorithm in both air and nitrox mode over several dives showed that it was less conservative than the algorithms of both Suunto Vytec (set at one minute deep stop) and the VR3 by up to several minutes on longer and deeper dives - all computers were at factory default settings.
We tested the Pursuit on an open circuit dive using a 17/30 back gas, with 30 per cent travel and 80 per cent deco mixes to a dive to 64m for a bottom time of 20 minutes and found it cleared nine minutes before the Suunto Hel02.
John Adams commented, ‘I used the Pursuit and set it up to match the settings on my Vision electronics. It was used as a standalone computer (not plugged into any other cells) and in CCR mode. The Inspiration was set up with a diluent of 10/53 and gradient factors of 15/85. The gases in the bailout cylinders were 18/45 and 65 per cent nitrox. Setting up the Pursuit, once the correct system of tapping the contacts had been established, seemed logical and easy. I found it much easier to program than the VR3 and managed to do it without consulting the manual. This is an important point as I believe many UK divers would do the same. With the same gradient settings, I found the deco information matched fairly closely to that of the Vision and it was very easy and clear to read. Although I do personally prefer the slowly rising ceiling of the Vision, I wish their display had the lighting features and print size of the Pursuit. As I get older and my reading prescription changes - there must come a point where it is cheaper to buy the Pursuit than keep buying new prescription masks.’
For CCR users, Narked at 90 also provides various cell kits that can be directly linked to the Pursuit. One unit that may be of particular interest in the UK is the three-cell monitoring back-up kit (£267.06) that is specifically designed for the APD (Ambient Pressure Diving) Classic Inspiration and features what Narked at 90 claim to be the only detachable cell holder in the world. As a good demonstration of how closely the Pursuit matches the APD calculations see the picture of it in action (left). The photograph was taken during a dive where the maximum depth was 51.9m with just under an hour on the wreck. The Pursuit shows 10 minutes TTS and the Vision shows 12 minutes, which is pretty close after 90 minutes of elapsed dive time.
The Pursuit has user updateable firmware via an infrared interface and free software updates are provided for life. At well over the wrong side of a grand the Pursuit is not cheap but on par with other similar featured computers in the market.
As well as enabling professionals to carefully excavate shipwreck sites and recover historic artefacts for the edification of generations to come, Unesco schemes to safeguard Thailand’s submarine cultural heritage will also benefit tourist activities such as scuba-diving, points out Bobby Orillaneda, an academic working for the Underwater Archaeology Section at the National Museum of the Philippines.
Orillaneda and a handful of other researchers participated in the first ever foundation course on underwater cultural heritage organized in Rayong province recently by Unesco’s Asia-Pacific Regional Field Training Centre.
“Recreational divers can unintentionally damage or destroy vital evidence, so it’s important for us archaeologists to get to these sites first. After we sift through the findings we can educate divers on how to conduct themselves in these spots and this, I believe, can make the experience a lot more enjoyable for them,” noted Orillaneda, who’s been here on three previous occasions for similar practical training sessions.
“I’ve been participating in these schemes for 10 years now and this particular Unesco-led course has helped me to brush up on basic methodology procedures and on the latest technology used during excavations.”
Orillaneda first flew in for a training session in Chanthaburi six years ago, later visiting Chon Buri to help excavate a shipwreck site. He says he knows of at least five such sites in the Kingdom’s territorial waters which date back to the 15th century.
What does Thailand have going for it in terms of underwater archaeology?
You Thais are very lucky in the sense that you have the financial and manpower resources to do research on your own. The Philippines has yet to reach that level; we just don’t have the funds to do it. I don’t believe that Southeast Asia has any other established maritime archaeology center except for the one in Thailand.
To what use will you put the knowledge you have gained from training sessions here?
Honestly, all we can do at the moment is give feedback to our superiors and hope for the best. If the National Museum [of the Philippines] has the money to fund research, I’m sure that we can put the data we’ve accumulated to good use. I strongly believe in the importance of working together with other Southeast Asian countries in research and in sharing information. These types of academic collaborations also improve networking, which eventually benefits us in updating our knowledge. I’d also like to evaluate more critically the Unesco Convention and [determine] if it is applicable to the Philippines.
What can be done to prevent our underwater cultural heritage from being destroyed by unscrupulous people out to make a fast buck?
It’s important to establish a more solid legal framework. If you see someone looting or treasure-hunting you can immediately use this legal framework as your back-up. Despite the existence of penalties for such offences, however, people will often go ahead and break [the laws]. This is why I feel that an awareness programme should be put in place to educate the general public on the importance of preserving the cultural heritage found in our seas.
With the exception of the well-traveled and well-educated in our society, the average person has no interest in going to museums and doesn’t give a hoot about culturally significant artifacts. Cultural appreciation can only come about when we’re able to reach people from all walks of life. In my country we organize information-dissemination activities to make the public aware of our work, but since we have to target settlements on over 7,000 islands and we suffer from a serious lack of manpower we aren’t able to reach everyone.
Most of our shipwrecks are found by fishermen and because they need to earn a living these people would prefer to financially benefit from such finds rather than report them to our museum. Giving them monetary rewards would be a step in the right direction.
Tell our readers about a few of the more memorable experiences you’ve had while working as an underwater archaeologist.
One that immediately comes to mind was the sunken city of Alexandria, in Egypt. It was such a fantastic experience to visit this ancient city which lies completely underwater only a few meters from the shore.
Sattahip [where the foundation course was held] was the first place I went for recreational diving. That was very memorable in the sense that I ended up rescuing someone that day!
Local divers will welcome the news that three old ships are scheduled to be sunk off Racha Yai Island to create a new artificial reef. The project, organized by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMRC) regional office in Phuket and a host of other local government agencies, is scheduled to start next month.The initiative enjoys private sector support from local dive shop operators.
So far their combined efforts have raised 400,000 of the 600,000 baht needed for the operation. It is hoped the project will alleviate stress on natural coral reefs in the area. Approximately 15 tour operators ferry over 200 divers daily to sites off Koh Racha Yai during the high season according to the DMRC.
Two iron-hulled ships, 18 and 28 meters long, were donated for the project. The larger of the two was donated by the Thai Hotels Association. The third ship, made of wood, was donated by the Phuket Provincial Fisheries Association.The project also enjoys financial support from The Racha hotel.
Paitoon Panchaiyapum, director of the DMRC office in Phuket, told the Gazette that the project has been four years in the making. Unfortunately, unless an additional 200,000 baht can be raised soon it is unlikely all three vessels will be sunk by November, he said. Mr Paitoon said he expects more than 5000 divers a year to visit the new artificial reefs, generating an estimated 10 million baht annually for the Phuket dive industry.
This latest project is the fourth artificial reef put in place around Koh Racha Yai by the DMCR. The office is also awaiting 22 million baht in government funding to greatly expand an existing artificial reef in the area, from an existing 300 concrete modules to 3000.
Israel Navy commander Adm. Eliezer Marom has convened a panel to investigate how a soldier in the advanced stages of training as a naval commando drowned early yesterday in a routine three-meter training dive at Ashdod Port. Sgt. Gal Azoulay, 19, of Zichron Yaakov, was diving at the time with the rest of his team members after having finished sixteen months of training for the elite Shayetet 13 unit. The exercise was designed to simulate combat diving in an enemy port.
The exercise was performed in pairs and was supposed to last about two and a half hours. After about an hour and a half, Azoulay took the role of lead diver of a pair. When his partner realized that he was not responding to routine contact that the two were to maintain about every minute, he followed emergency procedures involving bringing his partner to the surface of the water and fired a flare gun to mark their location.
Within a short time, a boat arrived and began to administer medical treatment to Azoulay, who was unconscious. Resuscitation efforts continued in the ambulance on shore for some 40 minutes.
En route, a physician joined the team and treated Azoulay. The diver was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital.
A senior navy source said the dive was a part of a series of routine training exercises and that initial findings indicated that there was nothing out of the ordinary in the exercises being performed at the time of the incident.
Commanders and medics were present as required and the divers were not exposed to unusual cold. There was also no indication during the training that Azoulay had any health problems.
The investigative panel appointed by Marom will attempt to determine the cause of Azoulay’s death, and will consider the possibility of a technical problem with his diving equipment, a health problem that had gone undiagnosed or human error. The investigation will also look into whether Azoulay’s training partner acted appropriately.
Marom has ordered a temporary halt to all diving training in the navy until Azoulay’s equipment is inspected.
Members of the unit undergo thorough medical testing before their enlistment as well as in the course of their training.
Before each exercise, they are questioned about the state of their health and before strenuous training, they undergo examination by a doctor.
Azoulay’s death was the first fatal training accident in the unit since 1995. Azoulay’s funeral will take place today in Zichron Yaakov. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.
On December 12, 2009 the Screening Room on Koh Tao will host the Thailand premier of “Lost and Found-Legacy of the USS Lagarto” starting at 7:30. The screening room can be found across from Asia Divers resort in Sai Ree.
The documentary investigates the loss of the USS Lagarto, focusing on the submarine’s history and crew, events leading up to her sinking, and heart-felt memories and perspectives of family members.
USS Lagarto was one of 28 submarines built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company during World War II. Lagarto was on her second war patrol when she sank just weeks before the end of the war with 86 seamen aboard. For 60 years, the sub was lost in the Pacific Ocean, her final resting place unknown. Lagarto was finally found in 2005 by Mv Trident, sitting upright in 225 feet of water. To explore the first WWII sub ever found and capture underwater high-definition footage of Lagarto for a documentary, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum sponsored an expedition led by the History Channel’s “Deep Sea Detectives,” Richie Kohler and John Chatterton. This footage was also contributed with the help of Ace Marine Images.
With this history-making documentary, experience Kohler and Chatterton’s dive to explore the mystery behind Lagarto’s final battle. The documentary includes excerpts of unforgettable interviews with the crew’s surviving family members, as well as first-hand battle experiences recalled by submarine veterans. Learn what Lagarto’s discovery tells us about men of the sea during wartime and the families they left behind.
The film picked up the awards for the categories of Historical Documentary, Musical Composition/Arrangement and Writing in the Regional Emmy’s for Chicago, Midwest Region.
“We are delighted to announce that on Saturday night, 7 November 2009, the documentary, “Lost and Found”, about the submarine USS Lagarto was awarded three Emmys. It picked up up 5 nominations, including one for outstanding cinematography, and went home with 3 awards. We are proud to have been involved in such a spectacular and significant film and could not even have imagined that our underwater footage could have helped to bring about such acclaim.”
YouTube have released a parody of Hitler complaining about his treatment by DIR divers for not being an advanced diver.
This video clip is actor Bruno Ganz playing Adolf Hitler during the end of world war II in the movie “Der Untergan (Downfall)” 2004 Constatin Films.
The premise of this parody is Hitlers highest command having the job of delivering the bad news to Hitler that his reservation to go diving on a charter boat in California won’t work because he isn’t an advanced open water diver. Hitler then starts to rant about split fins, snorkels and even making the mistake of wearing his mask on his forehead when not in trouble. The best quote in the movie is when the character says “I’m virtually a tech diver, i’ve put the gallileo into deco and traded my bcd for a transpac”
The film is very clever and many who are divers themselves will find this funny. Thanks to Kaare from the GUE Members mailing (Quest @ gue.com) list for sending us the link.
Spectacular porcelains salvaged from an ancient Chinese merchant ship are on display in Yangjiang City of Guangdong Province. The “Nanhai One,” or “South China Sea One” captured the nation’s imagination when it was raised from the depths of the sea in December of 2007.
One spectacular highlight was that the ship was laden with fine Chinese porcelain manufactured some 800 years ago.
For the first time, visitors were able to appreciate the fine works that were lost at sea during the height of China’s maritime trade centuries ago.
Like many sunken wrecks, “Nanhai One” proved to be a treasure trove. More than four-thousand gold, silver, and porcelain artifacts, and six-thousand copper coins from the Southern Song Dynasty were salvaged. Experts estimate Nanhai One contained more than eighty-thousand valuable relics.
The Southern Song Dynasty marked the first high point of China’s porcelain industry. Products were exported to east, south and west Asia. They traveled as far as the east coast of Africa. Those who owned porcelain in those days were seen as holding status.
As the locale where the sunken ship was discovered, the coastal city of Yangjiang has established a special museum to house these retrieved treasures. The Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum showcases not only the salvaged works of art, but also displays the ship wreck, stored in a huge transparent case. The museum has officially opened with a ticket price of 80 yuan per person.
A fighter pilot has recalled the moment he crash landed in a lake - as his fighter plane was lifted from the water 65 years on.
The U.S. Navy led the recovery of the World War II F6F-3 Hellcat from the depths of Lake Michigan, Waukegan, today.
The plane – the sixth to be removed from the lake – had been submerged at 250 metres since January 5, 1944.
Although its pilot, Walter Elcock, 89, said he remembers the day as though it was yesterday.
During a training exercise during which Elcock was practising landing on a carrier deck, he was brought it in too low and lost his lift.
Elcock and his plane were left dangling over the side of the carrier after its tail hook got caught on a safety cable.
‘My right wing went out from under me and I went over the side of the carrier,’ he said.
‘So here’s the ship and I’m hanging straight down, looking at Lake Michigan.’
Elcock secured himself in the cockpit after saying he felt like something ‘was going to give’.
Then the cable snapped, plunging Elcock and the Hellcat 30-feet into the icy waters.
Elcock, who now lives in an assisted home in north-west Atlanta, said he was 10-feet under when he unhooked his seatbelt and parachute and swam to the surface.
A coast guard rescue team was waiting to fish him out.
Sixty-five years later, Chicago-based A&T raised the plane, which will be placed in the National Naval Aviation Museum in Florida.
The recovery, which cost $250,000 (£151,000), was paid for by Andy Taylor, chief executive of Enterprise Rent-A-Car in honour of his father, a Second World War naval aviator who flew the Hellcat planes on the carrier Enterprise.
Elcock’s grandson Hunter Brawley was at Waukegan Harbour, Illinois, today when the Hellcat touched down on land for the first time since 1944.
He called his grandfather while sitting in the cockpit of the plane, telling him: ‘I don’t know how many people get to see the plane their grandfather flew in, but literally sit in the place their grandfather flew in. And it’s made my year.’
Elcock said when he was told of the plan eight months ago, he thought the team were ‘out of their heads’.
He added: ‘There’s an easier way to find an airplane, you know there are bound to be some sitting around.’
But when asked how he felt after the planed had been rescued, Elcock said: ‘It brings back memories, some good, some not so great. I miss a lot of people I served with.’
Hellcats were used by the Navy between 1943 and 1946, phasing them out after the peak of the war.
They were designed to be built quickly and included cockpit armour and bullet-resistant windshields to help pilots survive an attack.
The scuba diving industry’s largest trade expo — the Dive Equipment and Marketing Association — was held earlier this month in Orlando. Exhibitors displayed the latest must-have dive gear and introduced vacation packages to such far-flung destinations as the Galapagos Islands and Palau. Here are some of the new diving innovations you can expect to see at retailers in the next few months:
• Hydroacoustics Inc. Diver Interdiction System: Here’s a great way to shoo pesky divers from the lobsters hiding underneath your dock. For $60,000, you can buy a nonlethal, suitcase-sized unit that emits ‘acoustic bio-effects’ when a lobster diving rival or someone else gets too close. Just hang it over the side, and let it rip.
‘Anyplace where there’s an air cavity, that’s where it impacts,’ HAI sales director Tim Bibens said. ‘It’s very uncomfortable.’
If you would like to have incriminating video of the suspect, you can deploy the company’s Proteus 500 ROV. Priced at about $33,000, this remote-operated vehicle can dive as deep as 500 feet and be programmed to surface on its own.
It runs on batteries, so there’s no need to hook it up to shore power. Of course, its best uses are to inspect bridges and piers and to discover sunken shipwrecks.
• Liquid Image Underwater Camera Mask: Underwater photographers no longer have to schlep around a camera and strobes to shoot pictures and video of colorful fish and coral. For about $150, you can have a dive mask, video/still camera and lights — all worn on your face. The Liquid Image is certified to 115 feet deep, with a 64 megabyte internal memory. Perfect for hands-free snorkeling, scuba diving, spearfishing or freediving.
• Pegasus Thruster: Invented by a pair of Miamians, this innovative hands-free propulsion system was unveiled at DEMA in 2003. But company official Steve Williams said they needed to work out some bugs, so they held off on bringing it to market until now. Just strap the propeller on your scuba tank, press the button and fly along the reef at speeds of up to two knots. Williams said its 12-volt battery allows 35 to 40 minutes of continuous running, and it can operate as deep as 325 feet. At $2,375 for the basic unit, it’s not cheap. But just think, you will be channeling James Bond in Thunderball.
• Morfin Turbo Delfin: If you saw a pair of these dive fins hanging up on a wall, you might mistake them for plastic angelfish decorations. But company president John Melius said their hydrofoil blades mimic some of nature’s best swimmers.
‘The best swimmers are the dolphins and whales,’ Melius said. ‘How many frogs swim across the ocean?’
Priced between $100 and $200, Morfins were designed to increase kicking power and allow easier cruising, Melius said.
‘It took me three years to realize I had engineered a fish,’ he said. ‘Well, that’s 450 million years of unbroken success.’
•Neptunic shark suit: You could be mistaken for one of the Knights of the Round Table as you bop along the reef or perform underwater construction projects wearing this metallic outfit.
Previously available only to underwater filmmakers, the Neptunic now protects recreational scuba divers head to toe for the Hollywood celebrity-like price of $4,500.
So, if you are really that scared of species whose numbers have shrunk exponentially since the release of Jaws in the 1970s, whip out your Amex. Surfers, you really would turn a lot of heads navigating the breakers in this get-up.
