Valentines Day Shopping for Divers Equipment Regulators Wrecks GLOBAL EDITION SS President Feb :: Mar 2007 Number 15 Coolidge The Deepest Cave Voronya of Caucasus Interview Bill Stone Portfolio Sue Duda MEXICO Science & Ecology Visibility :: Sea Kelp RivieraCOVER PHOTO BY J P BRESSER Maya 1 X-RAY MAG : 13 : 2006 2 X-RAY MAG : 13 : 2006 DIRECTORY X-RAY MAG is published by AquaScope Underwater Photography Valentines Day Shopping: Copenhagen, Denmark - www.aquascope.biz www.xray-mag.com Gifts for the Special Diver in Your Life... page 53 STING RAY STICK PIN SCULPTURE AVAILABLE FROM CYNTHIA CHUANG & ERH PING TSAI AT WWW.JEWELRY10.COM PUBLISHER CO- EDITORS (continued) & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Millis Keegan Peter Symes Divers explore Riviera Maya caves, J P Bresser - Opinions and ‘DiveGuru.net’ [email protected] Michael Arvedlund - Ecology MANAGING EDITOR Jason Heller - Photography contents & CREATIVE DIRECTOR Dan Beecham - videography Gunild Pak Symes Michel Tagliati - Medicine [email protected] Leigh Cunningham ADVERTISING - Technical Diving Americas & United Kingdom: Edwin Marcow Kevin Brennan - Sharks, Adventures [email protected] Michael Portelly International sales rep: Catherine GS Lim Arnold Weisz Arnold Weisz [email protected] REGULAR WRITERS International sales rep: Robert Aston - CA, USA Geoff Mellard Bill Becher - CA, USA [email protected] John Collins - Ireland South East Asia Rep: Amos Nachoum - CA, USA Catherine GS Lim, Singapore Nonoy Tan - The Philippines [email protected] SENIOR EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE Michael Symes Dan Beecham [email protected] Andrey Bizyukin, PhD J P Bresser TECHNICAL MANAGER Ken Corben Søren Reinke [email protected] Sue Duda Jason Heller CORRESPONDENTS Stein Jorgensen Enrico Cappeletti - Italy Millis Keegan Jordi Chias - Spain Brian Keegan John Collins - Ireland Teodor Kisimov Jeff Dudas - CA, USA Catherine GS Lim 23 33 35 37 49 plus... Tomas Knutsson - Iceland YUKATÀN’S RIVIERA MAYA THE FASCINATION RIVIERA MAYA CAVE DIVING SCIENCE: Edwin Marcow EDITORIAL 4 Marcelo Mammana - Argentina MEXICO OF CAVES ADVENTURE EQUIPMENT VISIBILITY Tatyana Nemchenko NEWS 6 Yonatan Nir - Israel BY ANDREY BIZYUKIN, PHD BY MICHAEL SYMES BY PETER SYMES BY MILLIS & BRIAN KEEGAN BY MICHAEL SYMES Svetlana Murashkina - Russia Constantine Stoilov EQUIPMENT 43 Gary Myors - Tasmania Gunild Symes DIVE GURUS 46 Barb Roy - WA, USA Peter Symes WHALES&DOLPHINS 47 Yann Saint-Yves - France Brigitte Veldman 51 53 57 66 79 BOOKS & MEDIA 77 ECOLOGY: ALENTINES AY NTERVIEW HE EEPEST AVE EQUIPMENT: Garold Sneegas - KS, USA Cedric Verdier V D I : T D C : SEA KELP OMANTIC IFTS FOR IVERS ILL TONE ORONYA OF AUCASUS REGULATORS BUSINESS DIRECTORY 92 Arnold Weisz R G D B S V C CO- EDITORS BY ARNOLD WEISZ BY GUNILD SYMES BY PETER SYMES BY TATYANA NEMCHENKO BY MILLIS & BRIAN KEEGAN Andrey Bizyukin Further info see contacts page: - Caving, Equipment, Medicine www.xray-mag.com Not yet subscribed to SUBSCRIPTION columns... X-RAY MAG? Sign up now! X-RAY MAG International Edition in English is FREE It’s FREE! QUICK! EASY! To subscribe, go to: www.xray-mag.com 87 94 70 75 click here... WRECK RAP: SHARK TALES: PHOTO & VIDEOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO: COVER PHOTO BY DAN BEECHAM UE UDA S CEAN UDES A Diver Explores Riviera Maya Caves, by J P Bresser SS PRESIDENT COOLIDGE BITS & BITES S D ’ O D EDITTED BY EDWIN MARCOW & JASON HELLER EDITTED BY GUNILD SYMES (CONTINUED ON PAGE 4) BY CEDRIC VERDIER 3 X-RAY MAG : 13 : 2006 Amsterdam Barcelona Cape Town Chicago Copenhagen London Moscow Okinawa Oslo Paris Ravenna Reykjavik San Francisco Sharm El Shiekh Warsaw editorial Exploration & Evolution in Diving History is made by people. Passions, the boundaries and taking technol- visions and a sometimes restless ener- ogy to its limits, leading the way to gy forces them to be on the move, further achievements in technology, transport things, twist the nuts and discovery and adventure. bolts and to dive in places where Where do we find the last white nobody has been before. It is these spots on the map of the world other people driven by their zest for knowl- than in the underwater underground edge and awed by what lies behind labyrinths? It is only here the modern the next threshold that started the disciples of Magellan, Jules Verne evolution of diving. and Norbert Castere can realise Genetic scientists studying the proc- themselves. ess of evolution use laboratory mice And that’s what this issue is all and fruit flies as their generation time about—exploring the inner and is very short. Those who want to study outer boundaries. We are how diving evolved can take a look about to go cave diving at the cave divers. This unique broth- and climb down some very erhood constantly alters, invents and deep holes. experiments with dive equipment. Come join us as we dive into Cave divers always were and remain the cenotes of Mexico and visit an elite and advanced research the deepest cave in the world, group of divers—pioneer explorers of Varonya in Caucasus. caves and scientists. hese are the people who are constantly pushing —Andrey Bizyukin, Associate and Editor, Russia X-Ray Mag is growing! — we need more sales reps We are expanding all over the world. Want to be- come part of the X-RAY MAG team? Well, here’s Join ScubaBoard and over 70,000 divers discuss- your chance! We have new positions open for ing Scuba Diving topics from Equipment to Dive brilliant, professional, friendly, self-motivated and Travel—500 dive topic forums, over 2,000,000 savvy sales reps in many territories around the posts, 40,000 user submitted images, free clas- world. Great rates. Interested? Email your inquiry sifieds marketplace to buy, sell and trade gear, and resume to: [email protected] travel, services and more at Scubaboard.com 4 X-RAY MAG : 13 : 2006 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED editorial ShameThe shark finning continues on them As we all know, shark finning is not This bloody business has to stop. profit. They should be put on trial for only unbelievable cruelty to animals, Shark fins and other shark products crimes against humanity, or rather but totally unnecessary, as shark fins have been, and still are, traded by against the whole planet. Alas, we have no nutritional value whatso- some of the biggest online trading lack the laws to do so. You can be ever (they do, however, contain a platforms such as eBay, Amazon sent to the war crimes tribunal in lot of heavy metals). and, most notably, Alibaba. Since it The Hague and put away for life if As most of us are also painfully was drawn to the attention of fellow you commit genocide, but other aware, shark populations are dwin- divers, diving media and environ- species don’t count. Never mind if dling worldwide and crashing in plac- mental organisations this past fall you wipe out the sharks. They have es to the point where this important have place mounting pressure on only been around for a couple of group of apex predators is becom- these platforms to stop the trade hundred million years anyway. ing ‘ecologically extinct’—mean- going through their portals. Amazon But that is not to say that the trad- ing, that their numbers have been consequently removed the shark ers are going to get away with it. reduced to such an extent that they products from their webshop. There is actually something you can cease to play a regulatory role in the Meanwhile, Alibaba.com and oth- do. Get on the case; get on their ecosystem. This is about to happen in ers have bluntly refused to do so and backs. Write a letter of protest to the Great Barrier Reef where sharks continue to permit the trade—even the management of Alibaba,com were once plentiful. after being thoroughly informed and by following this link on www.shark- Yet, the sharkfinning industry goes asked the nice way. By their refusal life.co.za. on. In a recent report to the UN, it they are now knowingly driving sev- And watch out for news about came to light that the true numbers of eral unique and important species an upcoming boycott campaign killed sharks were probably four times to the brink of the extinction and on our website. higher than previously estimated. impoverishing the biodiversity of the —Peter Symes Simply because the catches evaded planet to the point where whole Publisher and Editor-In-Chief being reported through official chan- ecosystems are collapsing. nels, which perhaps isn’t so surprising. All just for the sake of a meager X-RAY MAG is distributed six Unsolicited manuscripts, times per year on the Internet. photographs and illustra- Editorial statement regarding © 2004-2006 X-RAY MAG. All tions should be emailed to: News from NAUI in X-RAY MAG: rights reserved. [email protected] Material in this publication may not be reproduced or X-RAY MAG accepts no transferred electronically in responsibility for unsolicited any form without written per- materials sent to its office, X-Ray Magazine is mission from the copyright nor is it liable for loss or This issue of X-RAY MAG and a proud member of owner. damage to such materials. others includes news and press Diving Equipment releases from NAUI in sections & Marketing Views and information X-RAY MAG observes a designated by the NAUI logo. Association expressed in articles are those strict privacy policy. 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