SUUNTO D9TX DIVE COMPUTER REVIEW

Hi All,
just to let you know i have just received a SUUNTO D9TX DIVE COMPUTER for review.
I will be testing it over the coming months and shall post my review here. you can also follow reviews on my new Facebook page.

Mike

JMD B5060 Dive Torch Review

Hi All,
i have just had the Xenon bulb of my JMD B5060 dive torch converted to a new LED headset. I had my first dive with the unit on the Exmouth on Sunday and was very please with the torch. i also used the JMD Goodmans handle. I will be testing the unit over the next few months with another of their torches and will be compiling a full review shortly after, which can be seen here. i will keep you posted.
Mike

http://www.jmdsports.co.uk/

Back to the stern of the Exmouth

Im So glad I abstained from the booze at the family BBQ as it meant that I could be on the road for 7am on my way down to Eyemouth. The weather had been poor all week but as we sailed on Sunday morning conditions were improving all the time, so for conditions to be so good was a pleasant surprise.The trip out on board Marine quests Jacob George out to the dive site was smooth and fast. On the dive the visibility was 15 to 20 metres.  

thanks to Iain and Jim for a great day, here are a few of the pics. more will appear in due course. I hope you like them feel free to leave comments.
Mike

Jacques Cousteau The Silent World DVD Review

Cousteau review    

It’s the centenary of the legendary underwater filmmaker Jacques Cousteau. To mark this special occasion 3 DVD’s have been released. I was contacted by Go Entertainment and asked to review 1 of the 3 films.

These are- The Silent World, World Without Sun and Voyage to the Edge of the World. I had a look at the webpage http://www.jacquescousteaudvd.co.uk/ where I found all the information I needed re the films. There were even trailers for each film.

I decided on the Silent World the trailer showed a clip of Cousteau finding the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea and I was hooked.

The Silent World won an Academy Award in 1956 for the best documentary feature and was filmed in dazzling Technicolor.  As I popped the disc into the machine I was transported back to my childhood as the calypso filled the screen. Cousteau and his band of men looked a lot younger than I remembered and they looked fresh out of the French Navy.  Soon the divers were taking to the depths with Tri sets and Speedo trunks carrying flaming torches. It looked like a scene from the Bond movie Thunderball that would hit the silver screen a decade later. As a photographer I was amazed at the lighting and camera units used to capture the images for the film. Soon images of coral reefs, turtles and divers on Sea Scooters were filling my screen. It was great and for 1956 the picture quality wasn’t bad either although understandably it does not compare with today’s underwater imagery. But what this documentary did have that today’s films miss is the “daring doo” being there and taking the risks. Divers descending to 165’ on air and a diver becoming narked and thereafter bent and being ordered into the pot by Cousteau. It was exciting stuff.  Then the scene where the Thistlegorm was found, the cleaning of the bell with a dive knife. Finning through the holds, displacing large fish to see, pristine motorbikes and trucks. It was excellent viewing. This for me was the highlight of the film. Sadly after this things got a bit bizarre almost to the point of making me switch the film off.

Firstly Calypso is tracking a pod of Sperm Whales, once again it’s spectacular. However, Some of Cousteau’s team try harpooning one. Calypso is so close to the whales that its propeller kills a calf. The poor thing struggles along bleeding crimson and I found it quite distressing. Eventually it dies and Oceanic White tip Sharks turn up to feast on the carcass. Perhaps twenty of these magnificent sharks turn up and I’m thinking we are going to see great shark footage but this is not to be. This film was made in pre enlightened times where sharks are portrayed as the evil of the deep. Even though the Calypso killed the whale, the crew are sickened by the feeding sharks and decide to kill all the sharks too. The sharks are hauled from the sea by large hooks and generally despatched. It’s not nice viewing.

After that bloodbath there was a dose of divers riding sea turtles and then sitting astride the giant Galapagos tortoises.

For me personally it was a disappointing second half to the film. But that said this film was shot in 1956 and you have to cut the film some slack as there was a different mindset regarding the oceans and the creatures of the deep back then.

I am a Cousteau fan and the first half of this film was great but for me I prefer Cousteau’s slightly later films where there is still plenty of adventure and exploration but the mindset has moved onto conservation of the marine environment.

Mike Clark

Dive the wreck of the Glanmire. St. Abbs

Fridays off work always give me a good feeling. The fact that a fresh offshore wind was blowing and our planned dive on the dove was cancelled didn't upset me at all as the wreck of the Glanmire just off of St. Abbs head was the back up dive. Wind aside the conditions were surprisingly good with vis of around 8 metres, which was twice as good as i had expected. After a great dive we were picked up by skipper Iain of Marine Quest and we relaxed on the Dive Boat Jacob George until it was time to dive again on the wreck of the President. Vis was slightly down but still good. With conditions being good i talked myself into another dive, this time from the shore out to Cathedral Rock and Dunc and myself had some fun photographing the Ballan Wrasse before i got disorientated and ended up near great green Carr.
It was for me a great days diving and here are some of the images of the day.
Mike

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