Hooked from the first breath in open sea, diving and I were meant to be.

Last time I told you about how Rune and I became open water divers, and how fear was turned in to confidence on our first dive. I must admit, the confidence didn’t get any less after completing the open water course.

Our instructor advised us to get some diving done on our own hand before completing the advanced open water with him. I know that must sound like bad salesmanship in some ears, but I regarded it at the time as good advisory skills from our very competent Instructor Kenneth.

When I tell people I started diving in Denmark, people say…. WHY? And I will tell you why!

These dive sites Rune and I visited, in our quest to become eligible for our advanced course, were very volatile. In some places there were a lot of sandy areas filled with flounders, a lot of current with soft corals everywhere, strange underwater life you’ve never seen before. Many different Crustaceans, and beautiful formations in Danish waters. Denmark surprisingly offered a lot more than what we thought! It was great to go diving together with my best buddy Rune.

We used his parents’ car, rented some equipment + a couple of tanks, I was lucky to squeeze into Runes’ dads old wetsuit. We were certified divers and certainly well aware, in 5 weekends we had seen 10 different dive sites, we got better on our own, having a really awesome weekend, while learning more about ourselves at the same time.

Taking the Advanced course with Kenneth once again in Lillebælt already felt like being home. We knew how the current worked, we knew the fish, and most important we knew how to keep our buoyancy under control far better than what we did on the open water course.

After going deep, navigating on land and under water, Doing the quite terrifying nightdive, finishing of with drifting and multilevel. We were now ready to take on the world of diving.

Check some awesome diving in Denmark: Amoniak Havnen, Amager Strandpark, Gammel Albo and Lynetten.

Thanks for reading!

Kasper  Due Bække

The Baltic is a quite a shallow, mediterranean sea located in North Europe. It is  about 1600 km long, average 193 km wide and with maximum depth (on Swedish side) 459m, but average depth is just about 55 meters. It has always been famous for its unpredictable and treacherous waters. Many ships sank to the bottom and many lives of unfortunate sailors were lost within centuries of marine history of Baltic Sea.

This tragic heritage is now attracting scuba divers from all over the globe. It is no secret that Baltic Sea is considered to be the third best wreck diving site in the World.

The amount of already found and marked on maps wrecks goes in hundreds of thousands, and underwater archeologists think that it is just a small percentage of what could be found in those mysterious, green waters.

The Baltic Sea is famous for it`s wrecks, no matter how experienced or how many diving certificates you have, you will find many interesting sites to visit. There are popular among fresh water divers, lying next to the shore, on shallow waters wrecks like Grozny- anti- submarine vessel (15-20m depth), Solen (15m) Swedish XVII warship or Dolphin (21m) magnetic trawler. Even divers with OWD are able to choose among almost a hundred wrecks lying over 20m, some of them are even accessible from the beach (like Bryza, navy support vessel, on 18 meters, near Hel).

More experienced, but still recreational divers, who can go down to 40 meters and have Wreck Diving certificate in theirs logbook (many diving centers won`t take you to any deeper wrecks, if you don`t have adequate certificates!) are allowed to choose more challenging diving sites. Breath taking wrecks like the Trawler (42m)(photo 1), Fu Shan Hai (30m) a Chinese bulk carrier, Steamer (39m) or XVIII century Sail Ship (38m), and hundreds of more just wait for daring divers.

Real adventure awaits for technical divers. On 72m, in dark green abyss and complete silence lies Franken, 179m long oil carrier, legend among Baltic divers, famous for astonishing and breath taking impressions. Even the most experienced divers treat this place with respect and plan carefully their dive.

Other popular wrecks available for technical divers are: Graf Zeppelin (60m) Kriegsmarine`s aircraft carrier, tugboat Abille (47m) or U-346 (54m) and U-Boot (67m).

When wreck diving in Baltic, you should know that Polish naval law does not allowed divers to go into the wrecks, you can just watch them from the outside. However, this is not strictly obeyed and many divers are more then willing to take the risk and visit dark and narrow corridors of sunken ships. If you decide to break the law and swim inside a wreck, remember that you need special training and equipment. Diving with ceiling overhead is always dangerous and demanding. Don`t get encouraged by small depths, technical wreck diving is a challenge for all experienced, properly equipped and certified technical divers, and it`s not an amusement for recreational divers.

Other thing you should be aware of before wreck diving in Baltic Sea  are the closed zones. You are not allowed to dive within a radius of 500m from some special wrecks: Goya (75m), Gustloff (47), Steuben (72m). They are considered war tombs and are closed for all divers. Coast guards are very strict in this matter.

Baltic is nothing like south Europe seas, with clear and warm water, good visibility and huge diversity of sea life. You’ll find rather cold waters, strong and unpredictable currents, poor sea life except of jellyfish that reminds us of „Avatar”, weather that can easily change in few moments and sometimes poor visibility. All this combined make the Baltic more challenging and less friendly than any southern waters. However, harsh beauty of dark wrecks, looming in flashlights, surrounded by deep green space can steal every divers heart in one moment. Once caught by its charm, you will wish to stay there forever.

Text: Daria Boruta
Photo: Jacek Bierancki

Often called sea slugs, these cute, colourful critters would have to be my favourite things to hunt for on a dive.  There are over 3000 different types of Nudibranchs and more are being discovered every day.  They can be found in all the world’s oceans so it’s more than likely you’ll see a couple on one of your next dives.

They come in all different shapes and size, growing up to 30 cm’s in length and can weigh up to 1.5 kg’s.  Now that’s a big slug!  The fact that they’re all so different makes them very interesting creatures to study and photograph.  I’ve seen ones with mohawks, others with frilly skirts, some with spots or stripes and every neon colour imaginable.

The Nudibranch gets its flashy colours from its food.  They are quite fussy eaters and sometimes a species will only eat one type of food.  Their diet includes corals, sponges, hydroids, fish eggs and even other Nudibranchs!  The bright colours are used as a camouflage and to warn off predators as they are toxic to most fish but not to humans.  There is one species, the Glaucus Atlanticus, that eats the Portuguese man-of-war and stores its venom so touching them can result in a nasty sting.

Nudibranchs aren’t the fastest moving animals so they don’t venture too far away from home.  They get around on their muscular snail like ‘foot’ and have evolved into hermaphrodites (having both male and female reproductive organs) to increase their chances of mating if they happen to come across another Nudibranch.  The eggs are usually bright red and spiral shaped; you’ve most probably seen them on a dive before.

Their eyesight isn’t the best either so they use their little tentacles to smell and see the world.  The lifespan of a Nudibranch ranges from a few weeks up to a year, depending on the species.  Such a short time but I’m sure they make the most of it!

One very cool thing about some Nudibranchs is that they can use the sun to get nutrients from the algae that they eat.  They store the chloroplasts and use photosynthesis to get the nutrients, which can sustain them for months.  Solar powered slugs!

So keep your eyes peeled for these lovely little creatures on your next dive, you may even see one that hasn’t been identified before!  Happy hunting.

Story and photography by Kelly Luckman

Lionfish – brightly striped fish of the tropical Pacific having elongated spiny fins

scorpaenid, scorpaenid fish – any of numerous carnivorous usually bottom-dwelling warm-water marine fishes found worldwide but most abundant in the Pacific

You expect to see Lionfish in the Red Sea, Indonesia and other Pacific regions, but you are not really supposed to be seeing them in the Caribbean. However, they are here and by the looks of it are here to stay.

Some people say the introduction of Lionfish in the Caribbean is due to the fish being sucked up in Ballast tanks from container ships and emptied out at the destination, others from Hurricane Andrew smashing aquariums and inadvertently releasing the fish in to the waterways. Either way, they are now making a home for themselves on the reefs of the Caribbean.

Lionfish are beautiful creatures to look at and are very photogenic, but they are ferocious predators. They gorge themselves on small reef fish depleting stocks at an alarming rate and have even been known to turn to cannibalism. But does that mean we should kill them?

When I arrived in Grand Cayman, I was surprised at how few Lionfish I saw, I was expecting the reefs to be over run with them, according to the reports I’d read. I was rather innocent in my thinking “well they belong in the ocean, who are we to kill them” BUT, as time has moved on I see more and more of them, large and small.

I have learnt to recognise their hiding places and spot the signs – normally lack of small reef fish – of where they have been. I now take more of a “you shouldn’t be here, therefore you need to go” approach.

At first I didn’t want to have anything to do with the killing of the fish, but my thinking is slowly beginning to change. I see the problem and know I too need to do my bit to save the Caribbean reefs from the invasion of Lionfish.

However, I feel that our intervention may have had a knock on effect on some of the other reef fish like Grouper and Dog Snappers. These fish now follow divers around in the hope of a “free” meal.

It was the intention that if we introduced Lionfish to their diet, they would begin to take the fish for themselves, but all that has happened is most have lost their natural fear of divers and follow us waiting for hand outs… So, should we continue to intervene with nature (sensibly of course) or allow it to take its toll?

As mentioned, the divers here in Grand Cayman are quite active in keeping the numbers of Lionfish down on our reefs.  However, it doesn’t mean you can simply go diving and kill them.  Special permits are required for divers and dive boats. To obtain these permits all dive staff members have to go through a course on Lionfish culling and use of spears.

I think it’s a good idea. It stops mindless murder and educates you at the same time… what are your thoughts?

Article written by Mandy Newton

Diving in the coral triangle is Awesome, EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT!
So… instead of writing about diving in it, I will take all the useful information from the 50.000.000 places where it has been written about, and give you an overview of what you really should know about it.

Stuff to remember and use in your dive briefings or to tell your grandchildren or whatever you want to use this info for.

The Coral triangle:

• Include following countries: diving in Fiji, diving in Solomon Islands, diving in Timor-Leste, diving in Philippines, diving in Papua New Guinea and last but not least diving in Malaysia.
• Is the global centre of marine biodiversity.
• Contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in each ecoregion – Basically it holds 76% (605) of the world’s coral species (798), with each region containing at least 500 different ones.
• Covers 6 million square kilometers or 2,4 million square miles.
• Have 235 endemic (local) species of coral fish and average around 3000 species in each region.
• Are helping 120 million people stay alive! and making $2,4billion in revenue!

Get the picture?

So come and dive here before it’s too late, as coral bleaching is killing everything fast! More acids in the ocean 30 % over the last 100 years + temperature rise of +1°C, makes the coral unable to give the protein inside its nutrients, which it has to have, to be able to make photosynthesis, which again gives the coral what it needs! So save the world!

HUGE efforts are being made to preserve the area: but they can always use an extra hand: interested? Here are links to some contributors you should check out if you’d like to know how to help: WWF, Conservation International, and Green Fins. All exciting stuff where you can sign up to adopt a turtle or donate small amounts to help preserve this wonder of the world.

So where do you want to go in the Triangle?

When you Google “the coral triangle” you will get 49.500.000 hits, I read through them and it seems quite hard to know exactly where to go. I was able to excavate these 2 points of interest. Depending on what kind of diving you like.

• The Verde Island Passage of the Philippines is the center of reef fish diversity, where I’m diving everyday at the moment. And I must say, we do see some incredible macro stuff! Hairy Frogfish, Walking Flamboyant CuttleFish, Sea Moths, pigmy seahorse, a variety of frogfish, leave fish, tiny cuttlefish eating, Scorpionfish, Ghost pipefish, razor shrimp fish, black pufferfish. All kinds of crustaceans, seahorses. This is definitely the place to go if you want some amazing macro photography!

• Within the Bird’s Head Peninsula, Raja Ampat,  an archipelago consisting of the islands of Misoool, Salawati, Batanta, and Wiageo which are surrounded by over 1,500 small islands and cays, with more recorded fish, coral and mollusk species than anywhere else on Earth. It’s the world’s coral diversity bull’s eye, with 553 species, according to Wikipedia.

When choosing a diving destination, I can fully recommend diving in the Coral Triangle!

Thanks For reading

Kasper Due Bække  

Black Tip sharks (in carcharhinid (shark))
…are the small black tip (Carcharhinus limbatus), which grows to about 2.5 m, and the somewhat larger large black tip, or spinner shark (C. maculipinnis). One small species, C. melanopterus, is found in shallow Indo-Pacific waters.

Only Decades ago sharks were still viewed as primitive animals with no capacities for learning. Today we know better…
Sharks have a comparatively large brain and a number of impressive sensory organs that enable them to traverse oceans in search of prey and mates

The Black Tip Reef Shark are known to be docile and apparently presents little danger to humans unless provoked or feel threatened in their environment and habitat. Their diet consists mainly of small reef fish, small crustaceans and octopus.

I have recently found that last paragraph to be rather reassuring, as whilst on my dive at a site called Coral Garden, Tulamben, Bali, hovering in about 12m of water, I came pretty much face to snout with one.

There is normally little to no current at this site and there was hardly anyone else around me at the time, I thought it could be as good a time as any to perfect my bubble ring blowing skills. What I didn’t account for was that I was already being watched and investigated…

On my third or fourth attempt at trying to create the prefect bubble ring, I spotted, out of the corner of my eye, movement coming my way at an alarming pace. At first I couldn’t make out what it was then I realised “SHARK”… I put my regulator back in my mouth as casually as I could and decided it may be best for me to get as close to the sandy bottom as possible.

I sat there watching, nervously to start with, as the Black Tip cruised overhead, turned and came back on several occasions and I remembered thinking to myself just what a fantastic and majestic animal the Shark really is.
I was fortunate enough to spend a good 10mins with this creature, while it swam about me, sensing my movements and checking out this strange alien in ITS territory. It was a moment for me!

Why did it decide to make me a target of enquiry? Maybe it was the noise I was making, practicing my bubble rings, as this could have resembled the sound a dying fish might make… I don’t know. What I do know is, we need to keep these creatures living and swimming in our waters.

The Black Tip shark populations are unknown, but are considered near threatened, as their numbers are declining due to fishing and the distribution of parts of their bodies in many countries. However, they remain one of the most frequently seen sharks by divers, swimmers and snorkelers around reefs in tropical and subtropical climates around the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

There are programs where you can watch these sharks in action in their natural environment. The instructors will brief you on how to behave in the water beforehand and teach you a little about their behavior, this helps everyone understand them more and respect their habitat whilst observing.

Shark watching is an amazing experience and provides a great up close and personal education on shark behaviour and nature.

Article written by Mandy Newton

So what do YOU want to get out of diving?

I knew instantly what I wanted from diving, I wanted to feel alive. Most people doing adrenalin or extreme sports get a kick out of doing something that makes their blood rush through their body. It’s a bit different with diving, as it is not considered as an extreme sport anymore, it was when I started diving. But as long as you’re only doing recreational diving there’s not much extreme about it.
Actually I consider diving as a kind of meditation, the more dives you get, the more you relax, the more focus you get on your breathing pattern, listening to your breathing is also a key point in meditation.

When I started diving, I loved it! But I had no idea where it would take me. As I’m typing these words, my girlfriend Pia and I, are 2 months in on our new venture going to different places of the world, this venture will last 18 months, I’m currently sitting in a 340 sq m, 5-bedroom, 3 storage house with all you could possibly need, located on a hill in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines with a view of the ocean, all of this sweetness rented for a price which is half of what I can rent a 2 room apartment in Denmark, and it is not much more expensive than an a crappy apartment in the middle of diving city of Sabang.

Well that is just a shell, and basically I would be perfectly happy in a 1-bedroom apartment. Actually it can be quite annoying running up and down the 40 steps if you forget your phone on the 2nd floor, and you just came down to the kitchen on the main floor, not to forget all of the shouting, from one floor to the other… really dreadful. But as you might learn, a real Danish person ALWAYS has something to complain about!

As I just said just a shell, a nice shell, but still a shell. What I’m trying to say is; get out, see the world. The world is filled with nice opportunities. If I hadn’t realized how amazing diving is, I would not be sitting where I’m sitting. I probably would not have met my girlfriend, as we met at my job, Werner Lau Diving Center in Egypt – Sharm El Shark;). Where she came as a guest, spread some luck as I saw my first whale shark ever on my 950th dive together with her.

But what I want from diving I still get, I feel alive every time I jump in the ocean, I never know what I’m going to see. I still meet awesome people, I’m now writing, as you see about diving, I’m making movies about diving, taking underwater photographs. Diving keeps opening up new doors for me, and as long diving will keep doing this, I will keep on diving.

Check out my channel on Vimeo;

BBC AIN’T GOT THIS is updated once a month with newer before seen material

Next article : Diving in the Coral triangle

Thanks for reading
Kasper Due Bække

It’s good to know what you want, but even better to know what you don’t want!

When I in 2007 became an Open Water Scuba Instructor – OWSI – the world was open.  In theory I would be able to work wherever I wanted. But in fact there were still a lot of things that I would have to do before I got a job.

Coming straight out from Dive Asia with 100 dives, I was ready to teach my first open water student, but the diving world in Phuket wasn’t ready to adapt two 21 year olds into their environment, without the door opening working visa, which is expensive when your pockets are almost empty. Rune and I went to the diving paradise of Kho Phi Phi. The place you go if you’re a new instructor, and one of the best places to look for work without the working visa.

But be aware, because dive operation owners/managers are very aware when these litters’ of brand new dive instructors swing by their island looking for work, not knowing what to expect from their new employer.

Rune and I walked straight in to the arms of one very busy dive shop on Phi Phi, our backpacks that we had packed lightly for our job-seeking venture, arrived at our bungalow 2 hours before we did. A girl asked us: Hey how about some scuba diving? And straightforward as I am, I asked back: Do you need some instructors? And so it happened, Rune and I got a job before we even found our way to the bungalow that we rented from a catalogue on the pier.

We retrieved our last baggage at Dive Asia and moved to Kho Phi Phi, totally over exited of having a job at a very busy dive center. Our excitement was slowly diminishing as we started working there. It was looong hours, and that is perfectly fine, if you get the money that you’re actually making. But meeting in at 8 or 9 having a couple of dives with a full boat 20-25 divers, DSD’s and whatnot, coming back to the shop around 14-15 pm. That is a nice day! But wait, cause we’re not done yet! You have to be back at 18 pm. Then you have to “sell” diving, which is more like being like an aggressive dog barking at everybody walking by on the narrow street. In the six months Rune and I was working for this Green colored dive shop, on Phi Phi, we probably asked around 10000 people if they wanted to go diving where maybe 200 said yes. Of course there are other factors in this enslavement, Rune and I got promised to be in the “pool” after one month. We never got in the “pool”. When we said we wanted to work elsewhere, we were threatened with being turned over to the police. The owner held back our money for 2 months. We went away and never turned back to this untruthful greedy human being. I will not mention any names as he has no opportunity to defend himself.

Moment of Zen: Don’t do like me, be smart. Know what you want, and be sure of what you don’t want. And if you’re not getting it, move ASAP.

Next article : Getting what you want out of diving.

Thanks for reading

Kasper Due Bække

Saying goodbye to a familiar and safe environment opens up many different doors of opportunity.

Back in 2007, filled to the brink of explosion with excitement, I was looking forward to go to a new green place called Thailand. It was a weird feeling, waiting for something I never tried before. Two things made this daring stunt feel more secure; I had my best buddy Rune with me, and I knew that I paid a shipload of money for living at dive Asia’s premium educational facility for 3 months, which had made me a guarantee: If you don’t pass the IE (instructor Exam), we will pay for the next IE fee. So basically they promised that they, at the end of the stay would certify me as an Instructor. But with that kind of money I paid for it they’d better. Back in 2007 borrowing money wasn’t hard. But paying it of in 2011 was. Moment of Zen: Don’t do like me, be smart!

Dive Asia was a great place to learn diving, from the teaching point of view. Big teaching swimming pool, confined water with all demands met. A true 5 star IDC development center. It was well worth my empty pockets. With all new equipment, teaching pretty much all languages, big nice boats taking us around the sweet and beautiful dive sites of the Phuket area. It was a busy and in my eyes perfect dive center.

Bee my Native Thai instructor, who was one of the only 20 ladies certified instructors from Thailand, took Rune and I from advanced open water students to Rescue diver – Divemaster in about 1 ½ month. Bjørn our Danish course director certified us as instructors with hard work from all IDC staff in 2 weeks finishing of with the 2 days IE. It was hard work but coming straight from the Divemaster course was definitely a good decision at the time. With hindsight it is probably better to get some experience as a DM before you throw yourself in to teaching with 100 dives exactly, which is the absolutely lowest amount of logged dives a certified instructor must have.

Rune and I took our 100’ dive on a Dive Asia live aboard in the Similan Islands with flying colors, stickers everywhere in the logbook and a smile going from ear to ear, we where now finally ready to get paid for our hard work.

Working, as an instructor though will never earn you the money you think your work is worth. But what it will give you, is the ability to teach other people about the most awesome place on earth, the under water realm. It will give you thrilling experiences with huge schools of different fish swarming around you, it will give you hart pounding moments of flying with strong currents across distances you never imagined possible. It will give you a strong mind, and a strong feeling of calmness in stressful situations on the surface, it will teach you a lot about yourself.

So my recommendation: If you can, become a DM or Instructor go around the world, meet some awesome people, see some unbelievable creatures, and enjoy life, while making enough money to survive.

Thanks for reading

Next article: Getting enslaved as a green instructor on Kho Phi Phi

Kasper  Due Bække

The 2 weeks that changed my life. Fear converted to confidence. Nobody knew what diving where doing to me before it was too late. Together with my best friend Rune, I signed up for the open water course. We started in the pool, in Denmark. The cold water of Lillebælt was awaiting us outside.

Time passed by, more breaths were taken.

As the pool sessions where coming to an end, there where a lot of thoughts through my mind: how’s my breathing going to work under higher pressure than that of the pool? Can I control my buoyancy as we go deeper than 5 meters? Am I going to panic? Just to mention a few of my concerns.

Tension was building up!

Finally the day came where we had to go Lillebælt, for the first real dive of my life; we were standing in cold north wind blowing a beautiful Saturday morning. The wetsuits weren’t dry. The warmth of our chamomile tea was making the October breaths easy to see.

Rune and I looked at each other, and gave a certain nod; let’s get to it. You’ve never seen anyone get dressed so fast. Gloves check, hood check Buddy check, and out we went.

Don’t be fooled, it looks calm on the surface, but makes you fly beneath!

As you get down in Lillebælt, the current lets you know who’s the boss, we grabbed the big metal chain, and slowly went down, passing the 2 meters on our Suunto Gekko computers, the current was making us look like 2 flying superheroes. We were invincible. 2 young men 19 years of age, both ready to kick the world upside down, on the way down to make history.Coming down to 5 meters, we had to let go of the grand metal chain and fly out into the unknown, we could see a wall going from 5 meters down to 9 meters, where no light seemed to pass through the murky water. It was heart-pounding, adrenalin kicking action from first second to last. Coming up from the first dive ever, was an immense life confirming experience.