Scuba Divers find Italian shipwrecks and undersea city

Archaeologists have found five well-preserved Roman shipwrecks deep under the sea off a small Mediterranean island, with their cargo of vases, pots and other objects largely intact.

The Associated Press reported that the ships were found between 100 and 150 metres down off Ventotene, a tiny island off Italy's west coast between Rome and Naples.

The ships, which date from between the 1st century B.C. and the 4th century, carried amphorae as well as kitchen tools and metal and glass objects that have yet to be identified, Italy's Culture Ministry said.

The discovery is part of a new drive by archaeological officials to scan deeper levels of the sea and prevent looting of submerged treasures.

Discoveries of shipwrecks are not unusual in the Mediterranean, but these ships are far better preserved than most, which are often found scattered in fragments, said Annalisa Zarattini, the head of the ministry's office for underwater archaeology.

"It is like an underwater museum," Zarattini said.

The ships were found during explorations concluded earlier this month by the ministry and the AURORA Trust, a U.S. group that gathers maritime researchers and provides equipment to explore the sea.

Meanwhile in a report filed from Squillace, Italy, on July 24 the foundation of the ancient city of Scylletium could rest just yards offshore from the Italian town of Squillace, local officials said Friday.

Architect Alessandro Ciliberto, an amateur scuba diver, was swimming about 15 yards off the sea wall at Squillace when he found a group of stone blocks that appeared to be man-made, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

The Squillace town council said the ruins may belong to the ancient seaside city of Scylletium, founded when southern Italy was a Greek colony.

Scylletium became a Roman colony in 124 BC and was the birthplace of 6th-century Roman writer and statesman Cassiodorus, who claimed Scylletium's founder was the Greek king Ulysses.

Baby whale takes first breath

The moment a mother humpback whale lifted up her calf to take its first breath has been captured on camera in Australia.

The footage from researchers were surveying humpback whales off Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia is also thought to be the first time a humpback whale has been filmed giving birth in the wild.

On closer inspection, they noticed a calf struggling to breath before the mother dived beneath the surface to lift up her new born and allow it to take its first breath.

"The cow held the calf gently in this position for about 10 seconds while it took what we now understand to be its first breath of life," said Micheline Jenner of the Centre for Whale Research.
After taking its first breath the calf was able to swim in the water beside its mother.

The newborn, named Tantabiddi after the entrance to the reef where it was born, would have measured about five metres long and weighed up to 1½ tonnes. Its mother, up to 15 metres long, could have weighed up to 45 tonnes.

M2 here we come!

As long as Jono hasn't jinxed it, that is!

The weather is looking fine, my kit is ready and I have a full bottle of bubbles - I just hope the great summer getaway doesn't get in my way.

For those who don't know, the M2 is an intact submarine that carried small two-seater aircraft. It sank in 1932 just west of Portland during a routine trip. It is thought the hanger doors failed to seal properly, allowing the sea water to flood the vessel.

It is the one dive that my other half holds over me - but not any more.

As long as Jono hasn't jinxed it!

California scuba divers encounter Humbolt squid

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the oceans.....

Frightening news - or maybe not depending on your fear threshold - for scuba divers off the coast of California after it emerged some had been 'attacked' by giant Humbolt squid which have moved into the area.

Divers have reported unnerving encounters with the carnivorous cephalopods, whicharrived in the area about a week.

Diver Shanda Magill told the Associated Press news agency how a squid ripped at her BCD and light, and grabbed her with its tentacles.

She said: "I just kicked like crazy. The first thing you think of is: 'Oh my gosh, I don't know if I'm going to survive this.' If that squid wanted to hurt me, it would have."

Roger Uzun, a veteran scuba diver and amateur underwater videographer, swam with a swarm of the creatures for about 20 minutes and said they appeared more curious than aggressive.

The animals taste with their tentacles, he said, and seemed to be touching him and his wet suit to determine if he was edible.

Monty Halls dived with the Humbolt for an episode of his TV show Great Ocean Adventures (I'll watch it tonight to remind myself how he found it).

The squid are more commonly found in the deep waters off Mexico, where they have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed "red devils" for their rust-red colouring and aggressive streak.

They hunt in schools of up to 1,200 and the population is believed to have exploded because of human hunting which all but eradicated their natural predators.

Scientists are not sure why the squid have started appearing in the water off the Southern California coast and say they are concerned.

One theory is that their prey has moved to shallow waters due to changes in sea temperatures and the squid have followed. One biologist estimated there could be hundreds, or possibly thousands.

Scuba diving boat sinks

Oh the irony! A group of divers preparing for a wreck diving trip off Bolt Head near Salcombe, Plymouth, had to be rescued - when their boat sank.

And here are the first murky pictures of the new wreck resting on the bottom of the sea.

Ten members of London-based dive group Dive Wimbledon and two crew had to be rescued on Saturday afternoon when the dive boat Aquanaut sank in just eight minutes.

Divers from Aquanauts dive centre, who own the vessel, have since returned to her to recover diving equipment belonging to the London group saving about £12,000 worth of kit. It will now be assessed to see if it can be re-floated or left on the seabed.

Skipper Douglas Allen told the Plymouth Herald: "I'm really upset about losing the boat, I've put my heart and soul into it over the years. But I'm glad that everyone is okay and I hope we can find a replacement quickly so that Aquanauts can keep diving.

"It's been great that the divers who have gone back out to the wreck site over the past couple of days have been successful in retrieving so much."

Scuba diving Pembrokeshire Part Two and the Ninja crab

Crabs, big crabs, little crabs, edible crabs, spider crabs, angry crabs, fighting crabs, dead crabs, hungry crabs, Linford Christie like crabs, sleepy crabs, shy crabs and the crab that went ninja on me.



For a moment I wondered whether I'd been miniaturized 'Fantastic Voyage'-style (I'm a fan of trashy 60s movies) and beamed into the pants of a popular hooker.

In reality this was what a tiny part of Pembrokeshire had to offer scuba divers.

Not the giant super-pod of dolphins we were expecting - although they were said to be visitors to the bay around Little Haven to feed on giant shoals of mackerel.
Nor the family of seals we were hoping to see after spotting a solitary cub eyeing us carefully on the surface. Once under the water there was plenty of life that came to greet us.

Not that we should have complained. The weather forecast the day before showed a giant slab of blue rain over Little Haven for Saturday.
Thankfully, the skies stayed bright and dry for the morning as predicted by our host (and karren Brady lookalike) Karen of the slightly re-jigged West Wales Diving so we had the chance to get wet.



Three buddy teams hit the water around the Stacks and all seemed to go off in different directions. I bet Captain Phil aboard the Big Bertha chuckled to himself when the SMBs shot up all over the place 40 minutes later.
Numerous times we stopped to take pics only to find an angry crab with pincers at the ready at some perceived slight that we had invaded their territory.



Second dive was Hen and Chicks (no I can't see the likeness in the rocks no matter how many times it was pointed out to me) and we managed to find a beautiful wall populated with all sorts of life, including dead mans fingers anemones, gobies, crabs. It was a beautiful spot.



And then there was the giant spider crab, perfect for a picture but as I got a little too close he went all ninja on me and quick as a flash the pincers were up and ready (just like the crab in Finding Nemo). But after assessing my ripped physique (or something) probably thought better of it.


Ninja crab - the Bruce Lee of the crustacean world

Sunday was a brighter day but unfortunately worse for diving. The delay in the storm arriving on Saturday meant it rained heavily until into early hours and sadly destroyed any viz and left us with two to three metre swells.
We tried to get on the Dokatian, actually we did get on it but the viz was so bad we only realised we were on it when we hit the deck.
At less then a metre viz, it was worst I had seen and no matter how much a hoped my torch just wouldn't cut through the murk. Finally, when we were all on top of each other we signalled up and ascended.

That said we had a great weekend and the drinking, diving and generally merriment meant the ten hour round trip driving to get there was well worth it.

Scuba diver gets swept away collecting scallops

BREAKING NEWS from the Press Association.......

A scallop-collecting scuba diver who supplies top chefs including Jamie Oliver was today lucky to be alive after he went missing at sea.
Darren Brown failed to reappear following a dive to collect scallops in Lulworth Cove, Dorset on Monday sparking a massive air and sea rescue.
Three Coastguard teams, RNLI lifeboats, Coastguard helicopter and the Royal Navy minehunter HMS Middleton joining the rescue.
The 41-year-old from Bovington was found three hours later, swimming with the tide near Ringstead Bay, three miles away.
Mr Brown said he had already been diving for an hour and a half when he got into difficulties.
He said: "But that's the joys of the job and the risks we take to supply the shell fish to these top celebrity chefs."
He was out diving again today and said: "You have to get back in the saddle."

Reading the quotes below from the Portland Coastguard regarding the incident and it is clear there are lessons there for all of us.
The spokesman said Mr Brown survived because of his dry suit and the fact he swam with the tide, not against it, to conserve energy.
"If you have a time the diver is due to surface and even after a few minutes he hasn't surfaced, assume there is a problem and contact the Coastguard," the spokesman said.
"He wasn't carrying any day flares or surface marker buoys which made it hard to find him.
"If you detach from your vessel and pop off a small mini flare people will see you straight away, but he had nothing like that with him.
"If it's just a head bobbing around in a very rough sea it's a very difficult target to locate. Most of the target is below the surface, and with two foot high waves you would struggle to find anyone.
"That's why we needed a large number of assets to locate him. He was a lucky chap."

Scuba diving Pembrokeshire

Some good news just emerged regarding our upcoming scuba diving trip to Pembrokshire - a "superpod" of hundreds of dolphins has been captured on film by conservationists.

Eight volunteer members of the Sea Trust came across the "mile-long wall of dolphins" near the Smalls Lighthouse in the Irish Sea.

pic by Richard Crossen

According to their blog posting by Richard Crossen:

"Nearly two hours out from Neyland we had not seen a cetacean of any sort but then a pod of 50 or so Common Dolphins appeared and after a while they came over to us and several, including some calves, rode in the bow wave. A nice foretaste of things to come.
"A little later approaching the Smalls Lighthouse things really got exciting as there were several thousand Gannets milling around and fishing.
Under them there were really large numbers of Common Dolphins and as we motored along we just kept seeing more and more – some close to the boat and others some way off. Sea conditions were rather choppy so it was difficult to gauge numbers but best estimate was of 1500 plus animals strung out over a mile or so with a range of ages from small calves to full adults. Needless to say a real spectacle!"

Footage of the superpod has appeared on the BBC website as well.



I just hope they have stayed around for us this weekend.

Homeowner uses scuba diving gear to escape fire

INTERESTING use for scuba diving gear.
US homeowner Michael Marin donned his scuba gear after discovering his $3 million mansion ablaze.
Phoenix Fire Department Capt Dorian Jackson says investigators believe the blaze started on the first floor and trapped Mr Marin on the second floor.
Jackson said the man grabbed scuba gear so he could breathe and used a collapsible ladder to escape the burning home on Sunday.
“In all my years on the job, this is the first time I’ve seen somebody use scuba diving equipment to get out of a fire,” Capt Jackson added.
Marin, who climbed Everest earlier this year, was taken to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation. He is expected to be just fine.
He told ABC15 of the experience

scuba diving fortnight

It’s been a bit quiet on here of late and I can only apologise but with the weather in the UK so good I left the comfort of the comfy study chair to go scuba diving.

And it’s been a good few weeks - despite the odd problem.

There was the:
Try using the manual functions on my camera properly dive
I got lost in the bloody quarry I’ve dived hundreds of times because I didn't take my compass dive
someone didn’t do the zip up on my old drysuit properly dive
How many pike in the reeds? dive
Viz is so bad and it got so dark I thought I was about to plough into the wall dive
Dash off from work on time so I can make a dive dive
Viz is so bad the water turned a muddy brown dive
Chris Dean is better at taking photos than me dive
I wish I had his strobe and wide-angle lens dive
I’ve finally got my ‘suit of choice’ drysuit back dive

As you can imagine, some frustrating times and interesting lessons learned - but every minute spent underwater is time well spent.

Scuba divers: S-2 submarine wreck pictures

A team of scuba divers has found the long lost wreck of a Soviet sub that sank after hitting a mine in the Baltic sea almost 70 years ago.
The team of Swedish and Finnish divers announced the discovery of the S-2 earlier this month but I've just discovered some amazing pics of the wreck.



The crew of 50 were lost on January 3 1940 when the sub hit a mine as she navigated icy waters near the Aland islands during the Soviet Union's year-long war against Finland.
The team of divers were reported to have spend a decade searching for the wreck.
Found in February, the discovery was kept secret until earlier this month when she had been positively identified.

Divers found shipyard production number, 267, and a Soviet hammer and sickle, clinching evidence that it was the missing S-2 sub.
"My feelings were mixed," diver Marten Zetterstrom told Reuters about finding the vessel. "There it was, this war machine that was built to take ships down. I was happy, sad, depressed and elated all at once."

Gazing at these pics, you can't help but wish to have the skill and experience to do the same.