Google has put together a nice landing page to get information and stay informed on the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  On this page you can download coverages for Google Earth to see satellite images of the affected area and user submitted videos detailing what is at stake in this habitat.

Google Crisis Response – Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.

In case you were looking for another reason to buy that hybrid car, recycle that old couch, or re-insulate your house this widget of the impact BP is causing in the Gulf of Mexico may ignite your feelings to “go green”.

Local dive buddy finally put his photography online.  I was begining to think his camera never had film in it.

http://galleries.50fathom.com

Pics of the day and no I did not take these.  Cenote Angelita.

Howdy Chum’ers,

Sweetiediver and I went to see Paul Nicklen Tuesday night at Benaroya Hall give a lecture and slideshow about his experiences in both the Arctic and Antarctic and I have to say I was quite taken with both his images and stories.

Paul grew up in the Yukon territory and started his career as a biologist.  Since then he has pursued his passion for the wilderness and photography doing pieces for National Geographic and Alert Diver magazine.

His lecture revolved around the marine life in the polar regions and his personal observation of how climate change has impacted these ecosystems.  His  stories were both funny and tragic ranging from a near crash of his ultra-light off the coast of Greenland to the shooting of narwals in order to sell their ivory tusks on the black market.  His tales include 3+ months at a time living out on the glacial ice pack in the Arctic and lying in wait for 72+ hours while waiting for the “perfect shot” of a pair of mating polar bears.

He was also promoting his latest coffee table book Polar Obsession.  The book has amazing images as you might expect but also footnotes that talk about his intimate encounters with king penguins, polar bears, bowhead whales, elephant seals, and his admittedly personal favorite the leopard seal as seen in this video.

We were both so impressed with his message of education, appreciation, and conservation that we bought his book while we were there and were also lucky enough to have him sign our copy.

While we were at the signing table we had the chance to ask him specifically about diving and his 1500+ dives in the Northwest.  His opinion was that the Pacific Northwest was the best place in the world to dive.  Of course we agreed.  He also talked about his diving experience which includes the use of both open and closed-circuit systems.  It was interesting to hear that many of his wildlife dives are done with a drysuit and snorkel in shallow water.  Much of the reason for this is to be more mobile but to also avoid scaring off creatures with SCUBA bubbles.

He did tell a funny story about SCUBA diving in the Arctic and it went something like this.  ”…you know that feeling you get when you drink a slurpee and get brain freeze?  Well diving in 29 degree water is similar except your entire head feels that sensation.  The funny thing about this is that your body’s reaction to this cold is to vomit.  So not only is it cold and your surrounded by ice and unpredictable wildlife but you’re throwing up in your regulator through the dive…”

Sounds like fun right?  And we thought 46 degree water was rough.

If this kind of thing interests you I would strongly suggest doing some research of his career and consider picking up his book.

In the spirit of Earth Day I would also recommend taking the time to reevaluate your own carbon footprint and look for ways to reduce your impact on these polar ecosystems.

I was well aware of how Mazatlan was not a mecca for scuba diving, but I figured I was close to the ocean and I’m in the tropics so I’m going to go diving. I had instant flashbacks to my first every dive trip in Puerta Vallarta. There was me, Hector the Dive Master/Boat El Captain/Chef, and a young Canadian Couple. The guy told me he was so hung-over and threw up all morning, and the girl was scared of the water because she didn’t like not knowing what was underneath her. I knew this dive was going to be a gong show. We get to the dive site and Hector helps Dave and I get suited up and we bail over the side. Then we wait for 10 minutes for him to suit up the girl and himself. Finally we are ready to go and I drop down the anchor line to about 12 feet. Once down we have about 10 feet visibility. As soon as we hit the bottom, Dave (my dive partner) is gone! He starts swimming right away from the group and is out of site. After a few moments he realizes no one is with him and comes back. Smart kid. I give him the “stick with me kid” sign and we move out……. For exactly 9 minutes. The girl isn’t doing well and Dave can’t stay down. So up to the surface we go. I actually think I lost Hector and surfaced, then the rest came up. Anyway Hector says something about me about going deeper. I’m in! Maybe the visibility will clear up. We head down and get to oh 15 ft. We start swimming and I realize that the kids are not with us. Apparently Hector left them on the surface to mess around with no boat supervision and him and I were going diving. Things got a little better at that point. The current made it interesting trying to take pictures, but I think I got a good one of a Puffer Fish that Hector fished out of the rocks. We headed south for a bit and then turned back North at around 1500 PSI. I started having some troubles staying down at that point. Max depth was 20ft, and I’d been diving at 40-60ft for most of my AOW class. I could have used a few more lbs being that shallow. So as I struggled I started losing Hector. That’s when I called it a dive and surfaced. I knew I was going to have a bit of a surface swim, but at that point I was done. Once on the surface I waited for Hector to come back up. I followed some surface bubbles for a minute…… then 2 minutes…… finally about 3 minutes later I hear someone yelling “Eh Amigo.” I look back and Hector is about 50 yards ahead of me. Best dive buddy ever. The good thing about the dive is I used a few skills from my AOW class which made me feel much more comfortable in the water somewhat alone. I took some compass readings, surfaced after losing people, and just general feeling of being comfortable in the water even in not so great conditions. I’ll post some pictures of the Puffer Fish when I get them uploaded.