Community

Share your thoughts, experiences or questions and participate in discussions over our favorite topic : SCUBA diving!

Sci-fi Nudibranchs

by Ksso on July 26, 2011

I just got my attention drawn towards those two amazing nudibranchs... that just look like aliens from a Dragon Ball anime. (there's something of Frazer in them isn't it ? ). These Glaucus atlanticus (left) and Glaucilla marginata were washed up on Surfers Paradise Beach in Queensland Australia in 2007. The larger one is about 35 mm in length.The normal size of Glaucus atlanticus is between 5 and 8 cm in length. The maximum recorded length is 40 cm. It floats upside down on the surface tension of the ocean. G. atlanticus preys on other larger pelagic organisms: the dangerously venomous Portuguese Man o' War Physalia physalis; the by-the-wind-sailor Velella velella; the blue button Porpita...

Back from holidays - Scuba in Thailand - Ko Samui

by Ksso on July 25, 2011

I just got back from a few days in Thailand in the Ko Samui area. I had high hopes from Thailand from a scuba prospective, and did indeed see beautiful fish, but a couple details got me a bit unhappy with the whole Ko Samui diving experience. Firstly, there are no dive spots in Samui... which means that in order to go diving you have to do a 1,5-2hrs speed boat ride to Ko Tao where the real fun is (and since I tend to get sea sick and the sea wasn't really calm the ride was bumpy and not really super fun for me). The visibility at that time of the year is fairly average and I couldn't get a real clear status regarding the rest of the year, so it may not be much better. The spots aren't...

Diveboard holidays : back to the Ocean !

by Ksso on July 08, 2011

Finally after 6 months of intense coding, and months of frustration seeing the cool dives our users are uploading from Brazil, Italy, Egypt and many other cool places, we finally get to add new dives to share on Diveboard (that is if we find some network)!My diving gear is checked and ready to fly to Thailand in Koh Samui for more underwater pictures, and Pascal will be heading to southern France to pass his FFESSM/N2 grade (somewhere between AOW and Rescue Diver).Blogging will be slower and updates are being kept secret - ready to roll when we're back!

Fish too need to decompress

by Ksso on July 07, 2011

At 4am (I was jetlagged), I ended up watching a very interesting short movie showing how fish are being fished and brought to those big city aquariums all over the planet. The interesting bit was when the fisherman showed something I actually never thought about : Fish need to decompress !!I never realized that although they do not breath gaz, they still extract the oxygen from the water they filter through their branchiae... thus there is gaz in their blood, thus some get fixated within their tissues.The video was showing a jack that was laying horizontal at the surface of the water, unable to keep its buoyancy, the abdomen totally inflated. The Jack had been fished in deeper water and...