Filed under: Blogs

Well, it's time to doff our dive gear, wash it off, and pack it away. Before we go, though, we wanted to say thanks to all the people who visited Divester and supported it over the last two-and-a-half years. It's been so much fun for us, and we hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. In conclusion:

• Bill Reals says, "What a long strange trip it's been. I've enjoyed my time here at Divester, it was a great way for me to share some of my technical leanings for things like cave diving, wreck diving and my obsession with DPVs. I'm sorry to see it retire but the old posts will still be around and you may see some of us on other blogs in the Weblogs family. To all the readers out there, thanks for the suggestions, comments and praise." You can check out Bill's blog at www.reals.net.
• You can check out Eric Brodeur at his cleverly-named blog, ericbrodeur.com.
• As for me, I'll be moving to Divester's sister blog, Gadling, where I'll be diving into the world of travel.

Dive safe. See you on the hang bar!

This Is Why We Dive Posted on Jan 31, 07 at 1:12 pm.

Filed under: Photography, Flora & Fauna, This Is Why We Dive

I saw Jenny's photo a few days ago and my eyes lingered on it.

The caption for "Wish..." reads "Thanks for living in this wonderful world..." and I can't agree more.

If anything could summarize my love of the ocean and diving it would be this one photo. This alien creature flies through the water not like a fish, but a bird, a reminder that the ocean is like nowhere else on Earth.

This is why I dive.

Divester may be retiring but the Divester Flickr Pool will live on. Don't be shy.

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REEF Field Surveys for 2007 Posted on Jan 31, 07 at 12:53 pm.

Filed under: Dive Sites, Organizations, Flora & Fauna, Beginners, Experts, Parks, Boat, Atlantic, Caribbean

REEF recently announced their field survey schedule for 2007. If you haven't ever taken one of these trips, maybe now's the time to consider it. Not only are they fun, educational, and conservation-minded, they're tax deductible! Who ever heard of taking a tax-deductible dive trip?! Thanks, REEF! Upcoming trips include:

• Grand Turk, February 17-24 -- 7 nights/8 days - $990
• Tortola, British Virgin Islands, April 14-21 -- 7 nights/8 days - $974
• Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, May 22-27 -- 5 nights/6 days - $TBA
• St. Vincent, June 9-16 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,050
• Key Largo, Florida*, July 7-14 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,093
• San Juan Islands, Washington, July 23-26 -- 4 days/3 nights - $818
• Kona, Hawaii, August 4-11 -- 7 nights/8 days - $1,485
• Woods Hole, Cape Cod, September 11-16 -- 6 nights/5 days - $509
• Bonaire*, September 22-29 -- 7 nights/8 days - $1,063
• Utila*, October 20-27 -- 8 days/7 nights - $1,110
• Anguilla, November 10-17 -- 8 days/7 nights - $975
• Cozumel, December 1-8 -- 8 Days/7 Nights - $544

All prices quoted are per person, based on double occupancy. An additional $300 REEF fee will be added to each trip to cover the cost of the group leader, seminars, survey materials, and data management. For more details, you know where to go.

*Trip led by Paul Humann, recent inductee into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame.

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HotJugz Portable Sports Shower Posted on Jan 31, 07 at 12:25 pm.

Filed under: Beginners, Experts, Beach, Other

Beach diving is an inexpensive and fun way to explorer your underwater world. I love La Jolla Shores in San Diego, it has bathrooms and showers for quick after-dive rinse, it keeps my car and gear a whole lot cleaner.

But what about when your diving in an area with out showers? I've seen surfers use water jugs/bottles to get the sand off there feet and gear but it's not as convenient when your trying to spray off sand from all your dive gear.

Enter in HotJugz. No, it's not some dodgy Internet site that you shouldn't be visiting at work but a portable pressurized and insulated shower.

It works like a hand-pressurized pesticide sprayer, you pump the handle, it pressurizes the contents and has a shower head with a coiled hose.

But wait! There's more! It also is insulated so you can keep the water hot or cold over a longer period. So, you could fill up your HotJugz (I love typing that) with hot water, do your dive, come back to your car and get a hot shower.

Brilliant!

They range in price from $50 to $60 dollars, so while not cheap they are a great idea.

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U.S. Oceans Rated a C- Posted on Jan 31, 07 at 11:02 am.

Filed under: Organizations, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic

The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, a cooperative effort between the U.S. government and the Pew Oceans Commission, announced that U.S. oceans earned a C- grade for 2006. If you think that's bad, it's a modest improvement over the D+ scored in 2005.

The outlook for 2007? President Bush has requested an 8 percent increase for coastal and marine conservation programs bringing the budget just under $2 billion. There's been fisheries reform and the creation of Hawaii's 140,000 square mile marine sanctuary.

Even so, the Pew Oceans Commission says credit should go to States who "are outdistancing the federal government [in] the race to preserve our oceans." They feel more federal funding should go to education and research as well as the U.S. addressing climate change.

You can grab a copy of the report card here. It breaks down the grade into six categories ranging from F to A-.

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