X-Ray Mag #36

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X-Ray Mag #36

May 13, 2010 - 21:47
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Dive into Sweden: rugged coasts, drop-off's, clear lakes and centuries old wrecks

Swedish West coast

Pages: 
98 spreads (double pages)

| Wetsuits anno 2010 - all you need to know | Find out why off-shore wind turbines are also good for marine life; Marine scientists have discovered ocean “superhighway” for tiny life forms; A massive Southern Ocean current has been discovered; NOAA responds to Gulf oil spill; Chemicals from seaweeds damage corals on contact; Learn about Eukaryotic phytoplankton; Ocean bacteria can harvest sun energy; Get the Annapolis update; Rob Rondeau's marine archeology 101; Carol Tedesco's 17th century shipwreck treasures of green stone; Underwater cinematographer Mike Valentine; Spiny Dogfish as per Andy Murch; Barb Roy goes to Churchill to trek Canada’s Sub-Arctic; Mike Powell's lessons from technical diving; Lawson Wood helps us choose a camera;Adam St. Gelais takes us under Blue Heron Bridge in Florida; Haitian recycled metal art of mermaids and the sea.

Main features in this issue include:

Churchill

December 09, 2013 - 09:23
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The story is found: 
on page 74

Trekking Canada’s Sub-Arctic Region in Manitoba

Rob entered with a splash and we descended to 16 meters (55 feet) at the top of a flat pinnacle in Button Bay not far from the town of Churchill. Visibility gradually increased with depth, unlike the water temperature, which decreased to 2.7°C (37°F).

Digital Camera Choice

October 13, 2011 - 23:34
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The story is found: 
on page 86

So, where do we start? And what type of camera do we buy? Should we go for the DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex)—basically a digital version of the old single lens reflex (SLR) camera where you compose your photograph through the lens of the camera—or should we go for a compact point-and-shoot camera, which has live-view screening.

The other type of camera, which comes in two different versions, is the manufactured PHD cameras (Press Here Dummy). These are essentially point-and-shoot cameras with a large continuous viewing screen on the back, so you are actually composing your photograph by use of the movie screen.

Lessons from Technical Diving

October 13, 2011 - 23:33
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on page 82

Diving is an activity that appeals to a huge selection of people, and within diving, there are almost as many ways to enjoy the sport as there are participants. During the 1990s, scuba diving became a mass participation sport.

While the barriers to this underwater world were gradually being broken down, a small group of experienced divers were starting to push the limits of traditional recreational scuba diving. This movement, which has been christened ‘technical diving’, started off with just a few dedicated individuals. Over the last few years, this area has seen a huge increase in interest, and now a significant number of divers are moving towards technical diving.

Mike Valentine - Underwater Cinematographer

October 13, 2011 - 23:32
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The story is found: 
on page 67

You wonder, sometimes, how things link up. For example, how is a scuba diving suit connected to the likes of household names such as Dr Who, Casino Royale, Trainspotting, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Basic Instinct II, Atonement and the latest Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe epic, Robin Hood?

It’s been more than 20 years since film director, Nicolas Roeg, gave Mike Valentine his first break filming Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe in Castaway. “I was in the Seychelles for almost two months, shooting and directing all the underwater sequences from a script that contained only two lines of description. The result was more than six minutes of screen time, something I still feel lucky to have achieved at that time” Valentine grinned.

Spiny Dogfish

October 13, 2011 - 23:32
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The story is found: 
on page 71

You won’t find Spiny dogfish on most shark diver’s ‘bucket lists’. In fact, the only time that your average diver will come into contact with a dogfish is when it is covered in batter, served with chips and bathed in an artery-constricting amount of salt and vinegar.

Whale sharks for example, are interesting in a Goodyear Blimp kind of way, but they really don’t do much other than swim monotonously forward, mouth agape, consuming copious amounts of plankton.

Sweden - World-class diving in a challenging environment

October 13, 2011 - 23:32
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From a marine archeology and scientific standpoint, the Baltic Sea is a paradise. There could be as many as 100,000 shipwrecks dating back centuries in this dark and mysterious sea—Viking ships, trading ships and warships to name a few. No other place in the world is comparable to the Baltic Sea.

The wrecks, and structures found in the sea are veritable time capsules lying in wait for us to explore and expand our understanding of the past. It is also a comparatively quite shallow sea.