Hypoxia Research :: Dive Fitness—Neptune's Triceps :: Mirrorless Cameras Underwater British Columbia Critter Connection Wrecks of GLOBAL EDITION Bikini Atoll November 2012 Number 51 Indonesia's Ambon Thailand's Koh Tao Profile Stig Åvall Severinsen PACIFIC PARADISE Switching to Rebreathers Galápagos COVER PHOTO BY NICK SHALLCROSS 1 X-RAY MAG : 51 : 2012 DIRECTORY X-RAY MAG is published by AquaScope Media ApS Frederiksberg, Denmark www.xray-mag.com PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SENIOR EDITOR Peter Symes Michael Symes, PhD - Science Octopus, Ambon, Indonesia. Photo by Don Silcock [email protected] SECTION EDITORS PUBLISHER, MANAGING EDITOR Michael Arvedlund, PhD - Ecology contents & CREATIVE DIRECTOR Scott Bennett - Travel, Sharks Gunild Symes Andrey Bizyukin, PhD - Features [email protected] Larry Cohen - Photo & Video Kelly LaClaire - Marine Mammals ASSOCIATE EDITORS Catherine Lim - News, Books Scott Bennett, Toronto Roz Lunn - Equipment News [email protected] Bonnie McKenna - Turtles Catherine GS Lim, Singapore Michael Menduno - Tech [email protected] Robert Osborne - Features, Profiles Michael Menduno, Berkeley Don Silcock - Photo & Video [email protected] Barb Roy, Vancouver COLUMNISTS [email protected] Gretchen Ashton - Dive Fitness Leigh Cunningham - Tech Talk Russia - Moscow Andy Murch - Shark Tales Andrey Bizyukin, PhD Mark Powell - Tech Talk [email protected] Cindy Ross - GirlDiver Svetlana Murashkina, PhD Cedric Verdier - Tech Talk [email protected] Lawson Wood - UW Photography ASSISTANT EDITORS CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Roz Lunn, London Ron Akeson [email protected] Gretchen M. Ashton Robert Osborne, Toronto Christopher Bartlett [email protected] Scott Bennett Don Silcock, Sydney Andrey Bizyukin, PhD [email protected] Wilco Both Ayesha Cantrell USA Larry Cohen Larry Cohen, New York City Pierre Constant [email protected] Kelly LaClaire Kelly LaClaire, Portland Catherine GS Lim [email protected] Rosemary 'Roz' Lunn Bonnie McKenna, Houston Bonnie McKenna [email protected] Michael Menduno Pete Mesley ADVERTISING Robert Osborne UNITED KINGDOM Mark Powell 9 17 19 29 45 plus... Rosemary E Lunn, London Barb Roy WRE C K RA P : THE TALE O F TW O SHI P S : GALÁ P AGOS : WHERE ISABELA ISLAN D KOH TAO EDITORIAL 3 [email protected] Stig Severinsen BIKINI ATOLL A FIRST IN SINKING THE BIG THINGS ARE GALÁ P AGOS THAILAN D NEWS 4 Nick Shallcross BY ETE ESLEY BY ARB OY BY HRISTO P HER ARTLETT BY IERRE ONSTANT BY YESHA ANTRELL USA & INTERNATIONAL Don Silcock P M B R C B P C A C WRECK RAP 9 Susan Kochan, Orlando Gunild Symes TRAVEL NEWS 17 [email protected] Peter Symes Matthew Meier, San Diego 56 65 68 88 EQUIPMENT NEWS 41 [email protected] Contacts page: Xray-Mag.com AM BON PRO F ILE : DIVE MEDICINE: CRITTER CONNE C TION BOOKS & MEDIA 54 MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA IN D ONESIA STIG AVALL SEVERINSEN HY P OXIA RESEAR C H BRITISH COL um BIA MARINE MAMMALS 70 Arnold Weisz BY DON SIL C O C K BY ROBERT OSBORNE BY AN D REY BIZY U KIN BY BARB ROY TURTLE TALES 72 [email protected] SHARK TALES 74 Not yet subscribed to PHOTO NEWS 82 columns... X-RAY MAG? Sign up now! SUBSCRIPTION X-RAY MAG International Edition in English is FREE It’s FREE! QUICK! EASY! To subscribe, go to: www.xray-mag.com 43 75 82 click here... DIVE FITNESS : TE C H TALK : SWITCHING UW PHOTOGRA P HY : COVER PHOTO: Nudibranchs, Koh Tao, Thailand, NE P T U NE 'S TRI C E P S TO REBREATHERS MIRRORLESS CA M ERAS by Nick Shallcross BY GRET C HEN ASHTON BY MARK PO W ELL BY DON SIL C O C K 2 X-RAY MAG : 51 : 2012 Amsterdam Barcelona Cape Town Copenhagen Kuala Lumpur London Moscow Orlando Oslo Paris Singapore Tacoma Toronto Vancouver Warsaw Editorial Biased reviews In the early days of my diving Nowadays, a badly performing A family-run dive operation career there was a marked regulator is most likely just a will probably offer a more difference between a bad and badly maintained specimen in relaxed and affordable holiday, a good regulator. When I got dire need of a fix. thus being a better value for my first dive training with a local the money for many divers, dive club, it had an assorted And, just as we seem to care compared to what one might bunch of school regulators, a lot less about a car's top get at a posh resort or on a Take control of your business and career at some of which were nice top- speed and horsepower—they fancy liveaboard, which would of-the-line models and others can all break the speed limit be the obvious choice for the the ONLY international trade-only event for were—uh—less fancy, shall we these days—and more on the well-off, busy executive looking diving, action watersports and travel! say. practicality, economy, look for big pelagics. and feel of a car, our choice The good ones were easy to of diving equipment has also And this is exactly why our breathe and delivered plenty become a matter of other and travel reports are much longer of air even at depth. The often more subjective criteria and in-depth than the norm. cheaper ones, which we always such as taste, or bias, if you will. We want our stories to help dreaded, were like sucking readers—divers of all levels— through a straw filled with So, how do we go about make informed choices. We cotton at depth. Going deeper reviewing not just equipment therefore always ask and require than 20m became hard work but also destinations and our reporters and reviewers to just trying to suck air. It certainly operators today? We are no give their honest opinion and put limits on our ventures. longer occupied with objective not to shy away from possible performance tests and data less-favourable reviews or Needless to say, as we dreamt in a test rig. By virtue of being conflicts. It needs to be told. about purchasing our own CE-marked, crucial tests have regulators and painstakingly already been passed, and there Is it subjective, or possibly saved for it, we pored over is rarely much we could add even biased? Yes, by virtue of magazine reviews and tests as far as testing is concerned. human nature, the individual and whatever other information Instead, we look into how well perspective always will be—we we could get our hands on. the equipment fulfills its design are not robots. But, by asking In those days, it was often criteria and whether it is a good our contributors—many of whom commonplace that reviews purchase for its intended target have been with us for several included objective tests and group—in other words, its value years and have developed a measurements and had graphs for the money. recognisable style and standard on performance, so we could upon which they elaborate and compare numerical data. Like comparing a VW Bug to argue their cases—we aim to a Rolls Royce when asking make our reviews as transparent We haven’t seen that kind of which car is the better design as humanly and practically data in reviews for quite some makes little sense (unless you possible. time and for good reason. specify the yardstick) it makes Regulators have became so little sense to make direct With that, we wish all of our NOVEMBER 14–17, 2012 � SANDS EXPO CENTER � LAS VEGAS, NV much better, as they have had comparisons of small family- readers a terrific, fun-filled to adhere to quality standards— driven dive operations to five season of happy diving. Visit www.demashow.com to register! such as the CEN 250—in order to star facilities run by upscale be marketed in the first place. multinational corporations. —The X-RAY MAG Staff 3 X-RAY MAG : 51 : 2012 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO from the deep News edited by Peter Symes NEWS A Vaccine for Corals Inoculation of corals with virus can protect them against white plague disease. See Why More Divers Choose Sunset House White plague disease is caused by the marine bacteria. It progressively destroys For Their Dive Holiday! coral tissue, leaving an expanding area ZOOKEYS that appears bleached. It has been epi- This new coral species lives on the ceilings of caves in tropical coral reefs demic in the Caribbean. White syndrome' is a name given to a number of diseases exhibiting similar symp- toms, such as such as white pox, white Healthy White Coral band and white plague disease. The caus- es of white syndrome are in many cases Coral without symbiotic algea dwells in holes and ceiling of caves unknown. where almost no light occurs. White syndrome has increased in abun- dance 20-fold in the last five years, with The whiteness of Leptoseris troglodyta is less susceptible to bleaching than those increases on inner, mid-shelf and outer- no anomaly. This species has no zooxan- at shallower depths. Despite the lack of shelf reefs along the length of the Great DR GRAHAM BEARDS / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS thellae, the symbiotic photosynthesizing zooxanthellae and its small size, the skele- Barrier Reef. It also had a major impact on algae that delivers nutrients. ton structures of the new species indicate Caribbean reefs. Electron micrograph of Bacteriophages (vira) in The newly described coral species lives that it is closely related to these Leptoseris Special Discounts for In areas of the Great Barrier Reef sur- the process of infecting a cell.