My Surface Interval voted 'Top Blog'

The New Year started with some great news for My Surface Interval - we've been voted one of the world's top scubas diving blog.

The blog was handpicked by the Guide to Online Schools after they scoured the tinterweb for the sites that covered the sport.

Their verdict? "Surface Interval is what this diver does when he’s not underwater—he blogs. Other scuba enthusiasts will love this blog for its frequent news updates and reports from this divers experiences underwater."

Not bad for something run from the back bedroom in between the real job and diving.

Guide to Online Schools

Scuba Diving Blogs

Here are the thoughts on some other sites they recommend:

Channel Islands Scuba is all about diving in the Channel Islands, but is also the best representation of scuba diving blogs.

Why We Love It: This site is literally jam-packed with information about diving, photos, advice, and news. This site is worth reading every day, because you will learn something about diving, be inspired, or be simply amazed.

Kona Scuba Diving is a blog by Steve, a diver and dive shop owner in Kona, Hawai'i.

Why We Love It: Hawai'i has some of the best and most easily accessible diving in the world. This blog can bring it even closer to home with the great posts and lovely photos.

Neutral Buoyancy is the blog of a diver and traveler from the Pacific Northwest.

Why We Love It: Brian loves to scuba dive, and often travels just to dive and take the photos he posts on his blog. Each diving post is full of information and photos that other divers can use. He also sprinkles his own random musings in the blog, which makes for a great read.

Oceanic Dreams caters to the dreams of many divers—swimming with sharks.

Why We Love It: Swimming with sharks can be exhilarating—and terrifying. Live vicariously through this blog, which specializes in photos and news articles about sharks, how to dive with them, where to go, and what not to do.

Optical Ocean comes from Jack Connick, a diver and underwater photographer.

Why We Love It: Jack Connick is a great photographer, and isn’t stingy about posting his photos on the blog. If you’re interested in underwater photography—professionally or just to better document your vacations—his site is worth reading for advice about gear and taking photos in general.

Sea Turtles migrate thousands of miles across the Atlantic

THEY are one of the top sights underway and new scientists have discovered a way of maximising chances of seeing them - diving close to the major currents that rip across the Atlantic.

Researches tagged 25 loggerhead turtles to discover their movements and data from tags on their backs show they swim thousands of kilometres each year.

These journeys take them through areas where they are at high risk of being caught accidentally by fishing boats.

The leatherback is the world's biggest turtle and listed as Critically Endangered, largely because of poaching for eggs and snaring in fishing gear.

Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, an international group of researchers found nesting sites increased in number the closer to the Gulf Stream System (GSS) that traverses the Atlantic, the ocean current to which hatchlings in this region migrate.

The South Atlantic leatherbacks adopted three different patterns. Some swam west and remained in the tropical Atlantic waters. A second group swam south-west until they reached the coast of South America, and foraged in shallow waters there; while the remainder moved southwards down the western coast of Africa.

It is thought that young turtles require the currents to sweep them from their nesting sites, hence why mothers choose to lay their eggs on beaches closer to the current system.

Scientists hope the study will go some way towards protecting the turtles who are at risk from being trapped by long line fishing practices or gillnets.

Matthew Witt from Exeter University, the study's lead author, told the BBC: "The reason for doing the project is to understand the turtles' movements, but the context is that the Pacific population recently went through a huge decline.

"Part of the reason for that is interaction with fisheries - so it seemed very pertinent to get a better understanding of what the South Atlantic leatherbacks are up to."