So Many Fish!

We were out diving this week to collect sponge samples to send to The Netherlands for identification. It is possible by land to arrive near the Traffic Jam dive site. We borrowed a 2-meter long fishing canoe to travel only a few hundred meters around the point. Sea conditions are quite bad this time of year. Although we went in early in the morning before the winds started, the sea already had a heavy chop.

But below the surface, wow! This site is known for its sheer abundance of fish and it certainly lived up to its reputation. Schools of fish swirled around me. A large school of mature Bluefin Trevally (Caranx melampygus) flashed silver below. In the 30-meter visibility, I had just spotted a single juvenile Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) in the distance when a school of Yellow-and-blueback fusiliers (Caesio teres) enveloped me. Countless Redtooth triggers (Odonus niger) plunged down the wall.

Schooling pyramid butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys polylepis) fluttered like banners in the current. A Blue-spotted puffer (Arothron caeruleopunctactus) nearly one-meter long waited cautiously on a sand ledge for me to pass. During the dive I found two Giant moray eels (Gymnothorax janvanicus) and a species of commensal anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) that I had never before seen, clearly a female from the number of parallel spots on her abdomen. I can?t wait for dive season to begin in November.

When are you coming here to dive?

Changes in Flying after Diving Guidelines

The Flying After Diving Workshop held in North Carolina, USA in May 2002 produced the following recommendations.

For scuba diving within the no-decompression limits
Single dives: a minimum preflight surface internal of 12 hours is suggested.
Repetitive dives and/or multi-day diving: a minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours is suggested.

For scuba diving requiring decompression stops
A minimum preflight surface interval greater than 18 hours is suggested.

These recommendations apply to flights at altitudes between 600 meters (2,000 feet) and 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) and to divers without symptoms of decompression sickness. Following these recommendations does not guarantee that a diver will avoid DCS.

These changes are based on work by Buehlmann and Vann et al that suggests that immediate ascent to 600 meters (2,000 feet) altitude is possible with low risk of DCS. In light of this research, the US Navy in 1999 adopted more flexible guidelines. PADI is incoporating these revised guidelines in its training programs.

This is good news for guests of Miguel?s Diving who wish to get in two morning dives the day prior to boarding the morning jet to Manado. Our ?Jet Set Get Wet? dive and hotel package reflects the changes in these guidelines.