This is News? British researchers surveyed 434
divers (67 percent males and 33 percent females,
ranging from ages 13 to 70). Seventy-six percent
reported regularly consuming alcohol, and 10 percent
smoked cigarettes. Twenty-one percent ages
16 to 59 had used one or more recreational drugs,
such as cannabis or LSD since learning to dive.
Regarding recreational use, 3.5 percent had used
them in the last 12 months, and 3 percent in the
last month. The researchers note that recreational
drugs change metabolic functions, perception of
reality, distance and time, thus increasing the risk
of an incident while diving.
Tracking Leatherback Turtles. Another group
of British researchers now know more about the
migration routes of these ancient mariners, which
make multiple 10,000-mile round trips between
Africa and South America. They tracked 25
females over five years, strapping simple transmitters
powered by four lithium camera batteries on
their backs; signals were sent to satellites every
time turtles came up for air. One took 150 days to swim 4,215 miles; another made the deepest dive
of 3,500 feet. Maps of their journeys can found at
http://tinyurl.com/4no5xrl
A $50,000 Fine for a False Alarm. Diver Colin
Smithies from Dunedin, New Zealand, is in big
trouble. A massive air and sea search with 40 volunteers
was launched for him after he went missing
while diving for paua in Titahi Bay. Then two
days later, Smithies, 49, strolled into a police station
185 miles from where he was reported missing.
Apparently he left Titahi Bay and hitchhiked
north, showing up disoriented and distressed.
That did not make authorities sympathetic - they
charged him $50,000 for wasting police time and
gave him a court date.
Saving Whale Sharks: When we did a pitch this
past fall for donations to buy electronic buoys to
keep commercial ships away from the hundreds
of whale sharks that congregate off the Yucatan,
128 generous Undercurrent readers contributed
$28,000, spurred on by Elaine Matthews who
offered to match $10,000. And she did. There's a
diver who puts her money where her heart is.