This morning divers on Koh Tao were treated with the presence of a Whale Shark at the local dive site Chumphon Pinnacle.

Mark Slinn who is enrolled in a technical diving internship with Big Blue Tech was utilizing his SDI Solo Diver Certification this morning when he spent quality time with the whale shark. Mark experienced one on one interaction without any other divers.

This is not the first time mark has dived with whale sharks but it is his first time alone which made this a unique and special diving experience. When he got back to the boat, teh dives on board didn’t believe him and after all there were no witnesses, this remained the case until Yvonne Fries Big Blue Tech Crew arrived on the boat after completing some deep training dives and had also seen the shark.

So congratulations to the divers that saw them and .. sorry, maybe next time to the ones that didn’t.

Here is some stock footage from Ace Marine Images about Whale Sharks of Koh Tao

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX), a pioneer in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, has acquired a minority interest in SMM Project LLC, a company funded by a group of investors to bring together the exclusive licenses and skills of world renowned deep-ocean geologist Dr. Timothy McConachy of Bluewater Metals, the deep-ocean survey and exploration expertise of Odyssey, and the offshore coring and mining expertise of Robert Goodden.

SMM Project LLC recently purchased a majority interest in Bluewater Metals Pty Ltd, an Australian company with licenses for mineral exploration of approximately 150,000 square kilometers of ocean floor in four different countries in the South Pacific. The group will focus on the exploration and monetization of gold and copper-rich Seafloor Massive Sulfide (SMS) deposits through a new business entity which will acquire the remaining interest in Bluewater, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding concluded between the parties.

It is anticipated that Odyssey will dedicate certain marine assets, including a ship and related marine exploration technology to the endeavor, and will own approximately 40% of the new entity. In addition, Odyssey is expected to provide proprietary expertise and personnel management to the entity under contract, and will supervise operations to explore for deep-ocean gold, copper and silver deposits in areas covered by exploration permits currently held by Bluewater Metals.

“This is a natural extension for Odyssey and leverages our core competencies in an exciting new deep-ocean field. Deep-ocean SMS exploration and mining is where offshore oil exploration was 50 years ago, and the challenges to date have mostly centered on lack of technical expertise to find and recover these extremely valuable deposits that have high concentrations of gold, copper, silver and other minerals. We have been monitoring this field for years and have finally decided that the time is now right - and we have found the right partners - to make our move,” stated Greg Stemm, Odyssey Chief Executive Officer.

“The Bluewater Metals team has done an outstanding job building relationships with governments and securing exploration permits in some of the most promising areas in the world for deep-ocean mineral deposits. We look forward to working with their team to maximize the revenue potential from high-value mineral deposits on the ocean floor. The opportunities in this arena are a perfect complement to our pioneering shipwreck exploration work. Interestingly, looking for SMS deposits is a lot like looking for barely discernable shipwreck ballast piles, and I don’t think there is a better team in the world for this kind of work than ours, ” continued Stemm.

“We’re excited by the possibilities of this new deep ocean mining venture, but we remain committed to our core shipwreck exploration goals,” said Mark Gordon, President of Odyssey. “Although we plan to dedicate certain marine assets and personnel to this exciting venture, we’ve become highly proficient at mobilizing our technical gear on ships of opportunity and therefore retain our full operational capability for our shipwreck projects. We’re planning a full schedule of shipwreck exploration for 2010.”

“We’re looking forward to exploring our permitted areas with the Odyssey team,” said Dr. Tim McConachy, Co-Founder of Bluewater. “We’ve been successful in securing exploration permits in areas that we believe are likely to feature valuable SMS deposits based on previous expeditions and years of detailed geological research. The next step is conducting the deep-ocean surveys necessary to confirm these deposits. Partnering with Odyssey, a company with proven deep-ocean expertise and capabilities is the best way to ensure our success and with Robert Goodden and his team’s involvement we are confident of successfully proof coring anything we find.”

About SMS Deposits

Seafloor Massive Sulfide (SMS) deposits are naturally occurring deposits which contain high concentrations of gold, copper, zinc, silver and other metals in relatively compact areas. Although possible anywhere new ocean crust is forming, the highest grade deposits have been found at convergent plate margins, especially in the South Pacific. These deposits are formed as cold seawater moves down through cracks in the seafloor and is superheated by the molten magma deep within the crust. The hot hydrothermal fluid rises to the surface, dissolving and leaching metals from the surrounding rock as it rises. When the hydrothermal fluid encounters the cold seawater, the metals and sulphur precipitate and accumulate on the seafloor as a SMS deposit.

About Bluewater Metals Pty Ltd.

Bluewater was co-founded by Dr. Timothy McConachy and Mr. Harvey Cook. Dr. McConachy is widely considered to be one of the world’s most knowledgeable geologists with respect to subsea mineral resources and exploration. He has previously served as Chief Geologist for one of the world’s largest mining companies, Rio Tinto, and as Head of Seabed Ore Systems for CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. Mr. Cook is an Australia-based businessman with broad experience in the South West Pacific region.

Since its inception, Bluewater has been granted 46 exploration areas called “tenements” representing approximately 146,311 square kilometers of exclusive mineral exploration rights from the governments of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tonga and non-exclusive mineral exploration rights from Vanuatu.

About Robert Goodden

Robert Goodden, a mining engineer, is an acknowledged expert in deep-sea coring and mineral exploration. He founded Seacore Ltd in 1975 and built the company into a world leader in marine geological and geotechnical drilling. Seacore Ltd was sold to the Fugro Group in 2006. Mr. Goodden personally retained Seacore’s marine mining interests and renamed the division of the company Subsea Minerals Ltd.

Mr. Goodden first became involved in SMS deposits in 2001 when he provided advice and oversight of the first two deep ocean drilling programs for Nautilus Minerals, a current leader in the SMS deposit industry. Since that time, Subsea Minerals has acted as a site consultant and drilling contractor to Nautilus. Goodden has been intimately involved with every commercial SMS core drilling project carried out to date, and together with members of his team, has amassed unique know how in remotely operated deep sea coring.

About Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NasdaqCM: OMEX) is engaged in the exploration of deep-ocean shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive search and archaeological recovery operations around the world. Odyssey discovered the Civil War-era shipwreck of the SS Republic® in 2003 and recovered over 50,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts from the site nearly 1,700 feet deep. In May 2007, the Company announced the historic deep-ocean treasure recovery of over 500,000 silver and gold coins, weighing 17 tons, from a Colonial era site code-named “Black Swan.” In February 2009, Odyssey announced the discovery of Balchin’s HMS Victory. The Company also has other shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world.

Odyssey offers various ways to share in the excitement of deep-ocean exploration by making shipwreck treasures and artifacts available to collectors, the general public and students through its webstore, exhibits, books, television, merchandise, and educational programs.

Odyssey’s operations are the subject of a Discovery Channel television series titled “Treasure Quest,” which is produced by JWM Productions. The 12-episode first season aired in the US and the UK in early 2009 and is scheduled to air worldwide throughout 2009. Production on a second season is underway.

Following previous successful engagements in New Orleans, Tampa, Detroit, and Oklahoma City, Odyssey’s SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure is currently on exhibit at Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. Additional information is available at www.discoveryplace.org.

For details on the Company’s activities and its commitment to the preservation of maritime heritage please visit www.shipwreck.net.

Source

By Robert Lamb

People have plunged into the water for food, valuables and a better understanding of their environment for thousands of years, but even the most skilled divers have their limits — the record for a skin diver is 417 feet (127 meters).

Chafing at those limits, humans have dreamed of underwater vehicles and improved diving apparatus for ages. Plato, Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci all wrote about underwater exploration. In fact, early swimming goggles, made of wood and thin slices of shell, date back to at least 14th-century Persia.

Treasure Spurs Sailors to Sea

Diving for sunken treasure has long been a driving force behind the evolution of underwater exploration. When you think of Spanish galleons transporting fortunes in gold and silver during the 1600s and disappearing beneath the waves for anyone’s taking, it’s easy to see why.

The Spanish Crown and the Dutch East India Company, both major players in 17th- and 18th-century international sea trade, offered rewards and percentages on salvaged riches. To take advantage of these incentives, investors pooled their resources to fund recovery expeditions. Whoever had the best underwater technology had the advantage. Given the rewards involved, inventors were willing to test many new technologies.

The Diving Bell and the Steampunk Robot

Some inventors simply tweaked the diving process. In 1690, Edmond Halley (of Halley’s Comet fame) patented the first diving bell. It allowed divers to work from a see-through, submerged, enclosed hemisphere of air on dives of up to 60 feet (18 meters) without surfacing for 90 minutes. Oxygen piped down from above made this feat possible. Modern bells allow divers to work at depths of 1,000 feet (305 meters).

Other technologies amounted to early submersibles, such as John Lethbridge’s 1715 “diving engine.” The wooden barrel body featured glass eyeholes and leather gauntlets for the diver’s hands. The invention resembled a steampunk robot and allowed a diver to work for 30 minutes at depths of 60 feet.

Under Pressure

All that progress came with a price: Deeper water means greater water pressure. As the pressure on a diver’s body increases, more oxygen and nitrogen dissolve in the bloodstream. If you rapidly ascend to the surface, the nitrogen forms bubbles, blocking tiny blood vessels. This condition is known as the bends, or decompression sickness. It can result in joint pain, ruptured blood vessels in the lung, heart attack, spasms, paralysis and stroke.

The bends remained a common condition for divers up until the early 20th century, when a better understanding of the affliction led to improved protocol. Regardless of medical knowledge and modern technology, compression sickness remains an occupational hazard for underwater explorers.

Waiting for Cousteau

Piping compressed air down to divers proved effective, but it kept underwater explorers tethered to the surface. To overcome this, divers needed to bring their air supply down with them. Centuries of invention and research eventually led to the self-contained underwater-breathing apparatus, or scuba.

In 1943, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan developed the Aqua-Lung. Redesigned from a common automobile regulator, this device provides compressed air to a diver at the slightest inhalation. Modern developers continue to fine-tune this technology, for example, by replacing divers’ oxygen supplies with an enriched blend of oxygen and nitrogen called Nitrox.

Alvin and Zeus

Unlike divers, submersible operators typically don’t have to worry about the bends. Once you move below depths of 1,312 feet (400 meters), diving with pressurized air becomes a moot point. Instead, humans have to bring hospitable air pressure down with them by way of submersibles. The disadvantage, however, is that submersibles require heavy-duty materials to prevent excessive outside pressure from crushing the lower air pressure on the inside.

Today, we’ve not only developed such groundbreaking manned submersibles as Alvin, which can operate at depths of 14,764 feet (4,500 meters) for two hours at a time, but we’ve also developed remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

For example, the unmanned Zeus II can explore depths of more than 8,200 feet (2,499 meters). Other work-class ROVs can venture up to 19,685 feet (6,000 meters) below the sea. However, they haven’t eliminated human occupied vehicles yet. Work is under way to develop a new replacement human occupied vehicle that will allow divers to pilot an Alvin-like craft down to depths of 21,326 feet (6,500 meters).

Oil Saves the Day

As always, intense water pressure and low temperatures pose challenges for underwater exploration, but the rise of offshore oil drilling has increased demand for high-performing underwater technology. As technology improves, savvy human explorers are able to explore shipwrecks that have lain beyond our reach for centuries.

October 29, 2009–Carrying the remains of a roughly 30-foot (9-meter) giant squid in her jaws, a female sperm whale, with a calf at her side, swims near the surface off Japan’s Bonin Islands (map)in the northwestern Pacific. Taken on October 15, this and other “absolutely sensational” new pictures offer rare proof of the sperm whale’s taste for giant squid, said giant squid expert Steve O’Shea of the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.

The pictures may also reveal that adult sperm whales, which grow up to 59 feet (18 meters) long, use pieces of their prizes to teach youngsters how to catch their own, O’Shea told National Geographic News.

The group of five adults and one calf kept diving deep in unison, photographer Tony Wu told the Daily Mail. “It seemed as if the adult whales were trying to teach the baby to dive and also to eat squid,” he said.

Dave Hansford
— Photograph by Tony Wu, Barcroft/Fame Pictures

* 4.3m great white caught off South Africa
* Scientists say it was not fully grown
* Was already 700kg when caught in nets

FISHERMEN are asking if this is the massive great white shark that has been stealing their catch, breaching repeatedly within metres of one terrified man’s surf ski.

These photographs of the 4.3m monster have been circulating on the internet, but reports from the South African fishing town of Mossel Bay confirm they are no hoax.

Frighteningly, scientists who dissected the female shark say it was adolescent and not yet fully grown, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Still, it had already grown to a weight of around 700kg when it was caught in shark nets off a popular swimming beach on August 31.

Conservation authorities tried to save the disoriented creature by towing it out to sea but it swam back, became entangled again and died.
South African newspaper The Witness quotes a local fisherman who believed it may have been the same shark that breached near his surf ski and stole a barracuda he had been reeling in.

However, scientists said that was unlikely as sharks seldom stay in the same area for long.

They also said it was not the biggest shark ever caught in the area.

A 4.7m great white weighing 1.1 tonnes was caught off nearby Richards Bay in 2002.

Faux Cap, Madagascar – Toxic waste from a ship which went down off the coast in southern Madagascar in August has had severe impacts on the health of local people and on the rich coastal and marine environment, according to a study supported by WWF.

The Turkish vessel Gulser Ana grounded near Faux Cap in the very south of Madagascar The ship carried 39000 tons of raw Phosphates, 568 tons of fuel, 66 tons of diesel and 8000 litres of lubricant, most of which was slowly released into the Indian Ocean. The accident occurred in a whale reproduction and migratory corridor zone during the migratory season.

The report, co-funded by WWF was prepared by an interdisciplinary team of eight scientists which went to Faux Cap shortly after the accident.

While one to three whales normally beach in the area each year, nine whales beached in September alone, and some beach stretches seem to be real death zones, the report found., Villagers suffer from diseases such as respiratory problems, skin diseases and diarrhoea.

“WWF is very concerned about the possible negative impacts on biodiversity especially marine and coastal species, the threats to the ecosystems and the loss of people’s livelihood options. That’s why we decided to fund this mission,” said Harifidy Olivier Ralison, WWF Western Indian Ocean Marine Programme Coordinator.

Oil clumps cover the beach 30 km to the east and even further to the west of the shipwreck. People who were hired to clean up the area are not equipped properly and lack clothes protecting them. The collected oil clumps land in plastic bags on the beach where they are
likely to burst and cause further damage, the report founds.

Almost half the 40′000 people in the area have been affected by consequences of the shipwreck, the study found with a key impact being the banning of fishing for three months.
Some 25 to 40 percent of the inhabitants depend on fishery as their source of income.

The impacts on marine species are also tragic.

« Like human beings, whales suffer from respiratory problems due to diesel odour. They come to the surface from time to time to breathe, so if they happen to surface through an oil film, this might result in the animal’s death,” Yvette Razafindrakoto, WCS (spell out) marine mammal specialist said.

Although raw phosphate is not poisonous, a huge amount of it being suddenly released into the ocean can be problematic. The expert team found signs of eutrophication in front of the shipwreck. « Phosphate acts like fertilizer, which leads to an extensive algal bloom. This depletes the oxygen in the surrounding marine environment and could cause the disappearance of species such as fish and molluscs» said Ralison.

Some common species of sand crabs were also only found sporadically and other species, such as various gastropods contained a very high amount of heavy metal, which is connected to higher mortality.

There are signs that the food chain in the area around Faux Cap is severely harmed. What this means for the coastal ecosystem and the villagers on the contaminated beaches can only be definitively estimated after the passage of some years, the report said.

For more information please contact:

Martina Lippuner, +261 20 22 348 85, mlippuner@wwf.mg

With fish darting amongst them in a blue lagoon, the Maldivian president and his top team have staged an elaborate stunt to publicise climate change.

Billed as the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting, President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 ministers, decked in scuba gear, held a meeting 4m (13ft) underwater.

While officials said the event itself was light-hearted, the idea is to focus on the plight of the Maldives, where rising sea levels threaten to make the nation uninhabitable by the end of the century.

Mr Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected president, has become an important global voice for climate change since he won in polls last October.

“We have to get the message across through a course of action which resonates with ordinary people,” the president said, as the boat neared our destination.

“What we are trying to tell the people is that we hope there is a better deal at Copenhagen.”

The presidential speedboat took 20 minutes to arrive in the turquoise lagoon off Girifushi, in North Male atoll.

The cabinet then zipped themselves into diving suits and donned goggles and tanks of compressed air before jumping in the water.

Major Ahmed Ghiyaz, the co-ordinator from the Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), said all measures had been taken to protect the president, which included checking the coral for dangerous creatures.

“I am 99.9% sure there will be no harmful creatures,” he told the BBC before the dive.

“I’m sure there won’t be any sharks. The nastiest thing would be a moray eel, but we have checked the reef”.

A horseshoe-shaped table was set up around a dark green coral reef with blue tips and home to an array of sea creatures in one of the world’s most famed diving spots.

The president and his team took their seats at 1000 at the bottom of the lagoon, sitting at desks with name tags while colourful parrot fish and black and white damsel fish darted around them.

Using hand signals to gesture that they were OK, ministers then passed round an “SOS” to be signed - an agreement calling for carbon emission cuts.

“We must unite in a global effort to halt further temperature rises,” the message reads.

“Climate change is happening and it threatens the rights and security of everyone on Earth.”

Meanwhile, a handful of journalists kitted out in snorkel gear and swimming around on the surface tried to get a glimpse of the action below.

Emerging out of the water, a dripping President Nasheed removed his mask to answer questions from reporters and photographers crowded around on the shore.

“We are trying to send a message to the world about what is happening and what would happen to the Maldives if climate change isn’t checked,” he said, bobbing around in the water with his team of ministers.

“If the Maldives is not saved, today we do not feel there is much chance for the rest of the world.”

After the dive, the president told the BBC he had seen a stingray swim nearby during the meeting.

“There was a sergeant fish that was particularly interested in what was going on,” he said during a typically Maldivian lunch of fish curry and coconut juice.

“I’ve never been worried about reef sharks and I’ve been diving for a long time,” the 42-year-old added.

He says other Maldivians had heard about the event and wanted to get involved in some way.

On the island of Kuda Huvadhoo, some islanders reportedly created a sealed box and put their TV in it so they could watch the footage of the meeting underwater.

“They told me, ‘if the president is under water, then they want to be too’,” Mr Nasheed said.

But he was keen to push the need for action.

The 1192-island chain is at severe threat from rising sea levels, with 80% of its islands less than a metre above sea level.

“What do we hope to achieve? We hope not to die. I hope I can live in the Maldives and raise my grandchildren here,” says Mr Nasheed.

With shafts of sunlight shimmering through a few metres of crystal clear water, you can pick out the cornerstones of an ancient civilisation which inspired literature and legend.

There is more than a whiff of Atlantis about the story of Pavlopetri - the world’s oldest submerged town.

But the Bronze Age site has its roots in fact not fiction.

New underwater archaeology techniques - with sonar mapping used by the military and off-shore oil industry - are giving up new secrets.

An international team, given special permission to dive by the Greek government, has found artefacts on the sea bed dating back 5,000 years.

This fresh information puts the world’s oldest submerged town well over a millennium older than previously thought.

Dr Jon Henderson led a team from the University of Nottingham and said the expedition surpassed all expectations.

“This site is unique in that we have almost the complete town plan, the main streets and domestic buildings, courtyards, rock-cut tombs and what appear to be religious buildings, clearly visible on the seabed.

“Equally as a harbour settlement, the study of the archaeological material we have recovered will be extremely important in terms of revealing how maritime trade was conducted and managed in the Bronze Age.”

One of the most important discoveries has been what is believed to be a large rectangular great hall, known as a “Megaron”, from the early Bronze Age period.

They have also found more than 9,000sq m of new buildings, including a pillar crypt, which could be the first example ever discovered on the Greek mainland.

The Hellenic Ministry of Culture’s Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities is overseeing the work.

Official Elias Spondylis said: “It is a rare find and it is significant because, as a submerged site, it was never re-occupied and therefore represents a frozen moment of the past.

The team had a warm reception from local people, who were excited about the project and sense an important part of Greek history and culture would soon be returned to them.

The Mayor of Neopolis, Pavlopetri’s nearest neighbour, Jannis Kousoulis, has become one the the dive team’s most enthusiastic supporters. He hoped the new work will raise the whole region’s profile as a place for culture and tourism.

Archaeological co-ordinator for the Pavlopetri project is Dr Chrysanthi Gallou, a post-doctoral research fellow at The University of Nottingham and an expert in Aegean Prehistory.

Dr Gallou said: “The new ceramic finds form a complete and exceptional corpus of pottery covering all sub-phases from the Final Neolithic period (mid 4th millennium BC) to the end of the Late Bronze Age (1100 BC).

“In addition, the interest from the local community in Laconia has been fantastic.

“The investigation at Pavlopetri offers a great opportunity for them to be actively involved in the preservation and management of the site, and subsequently for the cultural and touristic development of the wider region.”

The team has also been joined by Dr Nicholas Flemming, a marine geo-archaeologist from the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Southampton.

He discovered the site in 1967 and returned the following year with a team from Cambridge University to carry out the first ever survey of the submerged town.

Using just snorkels and tape measures they produced a detailed plan of the prehistoric town which consisted of at least 15 separate buildings, courtyards, streets, two chamber tombs and at least 37 graves. Despite the potential international importance of Pavlopetri no further work was carried out at the site until this year.

The Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project 2009 is at the start of a five-year study of the site which aims to define the history and development of Pavlopetri.

Four more fieldwork seasons are planned before their research is published in full in 2014.