Gnomes underwater - not so unique

stv.tv have a story about an Edinburgh man "championing an unusual underwater craze" - gnomes underwater.

"Edinburgh man Gordon Mackie is, arguably, the world's number one proponent of scuba-gnoming - the practice of adding a little piece of German kitsch to the sea bed to brighten up the lives of other divers."

I think Gordon should take a trip down south to some of our dive spots, or just have a look the Where To Dive page. He'll notice that both Capernwray and NDAC both already have gnome gardens, and have had for some time!

NEW: Weather reports for dive sites

We've added a new feature to the Where To Dive section of divenorwich.com - the weather!

For each of the dive sites we cover (Whitlingham, Gildenburg, Stoney Cove, Vobster Quay, Capernwray and the National Diving & Activity Centre) we now show the current weather, plus a forcast for the next two days. You can click on the daily forcast for a 2-hourly report for the day (covering 6am to 4pm).

If you're trying to decide where to go for a dive this weekend, why not use the page to compare the weather at each of the sites before making the final decision. Or if you know where you're going, work out what to pack!

Boy drowns at Whitlingham

A 13 year old boy has drowned in Whitlingham Broad. The body of the
teenager was pulled out of the broad on Sunday (17th Aug). The tragic
find concluded a search by emergency services, which included search
divers.

The boy got into difficulties whilst swimming with another at around
5.20pm. Adult family members entered the water and managed to pull one
of the boys to safety. However, the other could not be found. Members
of the public waded into the water to try and find him, and the
emergency services called.

The first response teams were on site quickly. Fire crews initially
entered the water wearing standard breathing apparatus. The Air
Ambulance and a helicopter from RAF Wattisham were also used in the
search.

The search was called off when the body was recovered at 7.25pm by a
Broads Authority diver. The boy was announced dead at the scene. An
inquest is expected to take place "in due course".

Inspector Andrew Taylor of Norfolk Police: "It's a tragic accident
that has unfolded at the broad. The boy entered the water and got into
difficulties. Despite everybody's best efforts, he did not survive.".
He also praised the actions of the fire officers who entered the water
in standard breathing apparatus as "absolutely heroic".

The police line for anyone with any information about the incident is
0845 456 4567.

Diving Instructors defraud NHS for bogus recompression

Two divers, David Welsh and Michael Brass, have been found guilty of billing the NHS for decompression treatments which never were.

The pair paid strangers to pose as divers suffering from decompression illness - the NHS only required names, date of birth, address and NI numbers, and only did basic checks on the information. They then billed the NHS for treatment which never was.

Each decompression case (from between 1998 and 2002) was billed at £6,500. 37 fake claims were submitted.

The dive centre involved - Fort Bovisand in Plymouth - had its own decompression chamber. (it used to be under the control of the navy)

Read the full article on the BBC.

Red Sea to be plastic bag free by 2009

Hurghada Environmental General Magdi Kubeissi, the Governor of the Red Sea, has decreed that the Red Sea will be the first plastic bag free Governorate in Egypt, from 1st January 2009.

Plastic bags are a problem because they represent a significant risk to birds, dolphins, and turtles - who can mistake the bags for jellyfish.

Recently, Ireland introduced a bag tax, which led to a 90 per cent reduction after its introduction in 2002. In 2007, the biggest supermarkets in France imposed a ban on free carriers. They now charge between 2p and 42p for reusable bags. This has removed millions of free bags from high streets and the French government will impose an outright ban in 2010.

Typically plastic bags are used for only 20 minutes before being thrown out; but they will each take up to 1,000 years to rot away.

PADI Recall EANx32 RDP Table

PADI have recalled one of their RDP Tables - the Imperial English language EANx32 table. If your table has 'Printed in the USA' on the back, top right hand corner and a product number that ends in PDK7 then it is affected.

More information (and extra checks) available directly from the PADI site. If you have an affected table, return it to your PADI Dive Centre/Resort or PADI directly for a free replacement. Do not plan dives using the affected table.

Name tags for your tank

New Name Tags from YourBagTag.com Lets SCUBA Diver's Identify Their Gear or Buddy Quickly

YourBagTag.com have launched some new name tags for diving equipment. As far as I can tell there are two sorts, one for the tank and one for the BCD. These don't replace any of the existing straps, they are extra ones and attach using Velcro.

Personally, I can't see how this is much different from using tank stickers, or IDMyGear. Possibly if you were planning on changing or selling your kit then you wouldn't want to permanently mark it with your name - but then having an easily removable tag like this just makes it more attractive to steal than, say, a BCD with a name stitched into the webbing.

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