Bermuda

So here I am in Bermuda. I’m here to work for Dive Bermuda but my contract doesn’t start until the 6^th June so until then I am here on vacation with my best friend and fellow dive instructor, Becky. 

So far we have been snorkelling every day and free diving and I’m really impressed with the conditions and life we’ve seen here so far.  The viz has been good and today I saw a porcupine fish whilst snorkelling which is my favourite fish so I was happy about that! 

Bermuda is famous for the shipwrecks here, I'm excited to dive some of the wrecks but so far I have discovered some cannons from shipwrecks whilst freediving.

Cannon

Me free diving

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Don't employ a girl who travels...

Don't employ a girl who travels, because she has her own dream and her heart won't be in working her ass off for yours. 




She will flit between temporary jobs, falling from one into another and won't commit to anything longer than a few weeks as she will be planning her next escape abroad. 


She only works these jobs to fund her next adventure, and will probably be constantly distracted, day dreaming about being somewhere far more exotic than the bleak office you have to offer.

She will listen politely to colleagues' conversation, but never contribute as she has seen the world and what really matters and knows that superficial topics, such as the recent plot twist in Eastenders or the colour of Kate Middleton's nail polish, are irrelevant. She will instead choose to pass the hours at work scribbling down the plans she can't yet put into reality on the back of a till receipt.

She won't have a permanent address for the paperwork and most likely won't even have a phone contract, so contact with her will be sporadic and on her terms.

She won't have anything that involves commitment, not to one country anyway, so it is safe to assume this will be reflected in her attitude towards your job.

And whilst she might not make the best employee for your job, she will be the most interesting and well traveled candidate you have ever interviewed, and this might, just might, tempt you to hire her anyway.

Ocean Poem

Sea Fever

BY JOHN MASEFIELD

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking,

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Why I hate Snorkels

Time for a rant....

I have been packing all my scuba equipment as I about to fly to Bermuda to start a dive job there. During my packing I noticed my snorkel had a slight crack in it and sure enough when I tried it out it was leaking, a lot. So I took to the internet to find a replacement and was absolutely outraged to see them selling for around £85 for a reputable dive branded one. Considering they can't cost more than a tenth of that to make I was really shocked that some people would pay that!

I think some of my anger stems from the fact that I don't even like snorkels. No, scrap that, I HATE snorkels. I can't even think of one good reason to have one, the only reason I do is because as a scuba instructor I have to set a good example.

The reasons I hate them are as follows:

- For girls they're down right impractical, the clip attaching it to the mask snags your hair and pulls constantly, regardless of the attachment you use

-They are a nightmare to attach and un-attach, especially when you have a class of students who would rather use them as light sabres or trumpets

-They are uncomfortable, yes, all of them

- They create a dead air space

-They drag underwater.... People pay crazy money for stream lined dive gear, yet will happily fin around with a pipe flapping around next to their head creating serious drag

-They can easily fill with water and surprise inexperienced divers creating panic

-They look stupid

- Don't even get me started about free diving and snorkels

-And if I really want to breathe on the surface in extremely rough conditions, I put my reg in, I would rather sacrifice a minute or so of time underwater using tank air than have to suffer with all the aforementioned snorkel drama.

In realise not everyone will share my opinion on snorkels, and as I just had to purchase a new one I opted instead for a flexi snorkel, so I can minimise the time I have to have it stuck next to my head and fold it up and put it in my pocket when I'm not using it. Ideal.

I chose the Beaver flexi snorkel, if you want to order yourself one you can do so here

Quote of the Day

“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.”

Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

Love them or hate them, we need sharks on this planet

Okay, not everyone loves sharks like I do, that's something I am willing to accept.

What I'm not willing to accept, however, is the relentless slaughtering of them, either for their fins, through culling or fishing.

Mako Shark caught in New Jersey

Overfishing is the main cause of the rapid decline in shark populations. It is mostly due to overfishing that many shark species are threatened with extinction. Demand for high value fins, the primary ingredient for Asian shark fin soup, is a main driver of shark fisheries, but demand for shark meat, particularly in Europe, is also strong and has led to serious depletion of several shark populations.

Sharks are crucial to marine ecosystems. They maintain a balance in populations of prey species and keep the ocean healthy by removing ill or diseased animals. They are an important resource supporting local economies through fishing and as an attraction to dive tourists.

Sharks are often the apex predator in their ecosystem, meaning they are at the top of many food chains. As adults they have no or few natural predators. Typical traits of apex predators is that they feed on many different species and change food sources when one prey animal becomes hard to find. In this way sharks help maintain a balance that ensures no one species over-populates and depletes the species on which it feeds. To see how removing apex predators affects marine ecosystems we need to study marine areas that have had little exposure to human impacts, especially fishing. Studies of remote reefs have revealed ecosystems that are very different from those we know today.

A study of reefs in the Northwestern Hawaii Islands found that apex predators, including sharks, comprise over half of the fish biomass compared to less than 10% on reefs that are fished. On the unaltered reefs the sharks are bigger and populations of all species are far greater. Additionally the unaltered reefs are home to a larger variety of other species than regularly fished reefs.

The first sharks appeared over 400 million years ago, more than 150 million years before the first dinosaurs took to the land. Most modern sharks first appeared around 100 million years ago. By comparison the first humans evolved only around 200,000 years ago.

Sharks occupy every marine environment. Some also venture into freshwater such as the bull and the river shark. Roughly 500 species from the dwarf lantern shark at around 7 cm to the whale shark - the world’s largest fish - up to 12 metres. Sharks eat a great variety of prey. Most sharks are predators, but some are scavengers, while whale and basking sharks are filter feeders with eating habits similar to a baleen whale.

Whatever your individual opinion on sharks is, we need them on this planet. They're a vital and irreplaceable part of the eco system.