Soundings
Maybe I’ll call this 2000 foot DeepWorker ‘Wreck Hunter’
Phil, in front of a
wall that’s actually older than he is!
Phil Nuytten Publisher and Senior Editor K
ind of an odd picture of me, I know. I started this issue’s ‘SOUNDINGS’ while I was in Istanbul, Turkey. I was there with Jeff Heaton, operations manager and Chief sub pilot
for Nuytco Research, for a meeting with the Turkish Navy to discuss ‘DeepWorker’ submersibles and ‘Exosuits’. That wall behind me, I’m told, dates from about 300 B.C. - over two thousand years ago! OK, so what has this got to do with
diving, you might ask. Well, I’m looking out over the Sea of Mamara, an inland sea and harbour that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. Apparently, this portion of the wall was built to protect the city from siege and subsequent invasion from the Sea. A few minutes before this picture was taken I had been leaning against this piece of history thinking “Gee, I’ll bet there’s a ton of old shipwrecks out there. I’d love to take one of our ‘DeepWorker’ submersibles and go prowling around.” Then I had to chuckle to myself because here’s this incredible city, known through the ages as ‘Byzantium’, Constantinople’, ‘Stamboul’ and, finally, as ‘Istanbul’, steeped in history and mystery… and I’m more interested in shipwrecks than anything else. Oh, well, once a wreck-diver, always a wreck-diver, I guess.
Great issue (as usual). Of particular
note is Dan Lenihan’s article on the USS Arizona. It’s a fine piece of writing and, along with some great underwater pictures (despite the less than crystal visibility), gives us an inside look at this famous sunken icon and memorial. The cover feature is also pretty darn
impressive. As you will read, Jennifer Idol made it her goal to dive all fifty US states. Not only a good read and some amazing dive sites, but also, I believe, a lesson to be
I promised that we would take you behind many curtains in this undersea world of ours…
learned. That is, we tend to forget the value of our local resources, because we only notice things that are different. From day to day, home can seem unexciting. That exotic foreign dive holiday can be fantastic, but so can your local waters! She reminds us, “I visited your home state and it is awesome!” Whether you live in a State, a Province or a Parish, it’s sound advice…. Lots of other good stuff: ‘Big Picture’ is
really big! It feels like your eyeball is almost touching the subject. Frequent DIVER
contributor David Fleetham is a very good underwater photog, no question. Speaking of very good underwater
photographers, I should also point out that there is a connection between this issue’s news item on the ‘Return to Antikythera’ expedition and the images of the previously mentioned USS Arizona. Both the images of the ancient Greek wreck that first appeared in DIVER, volume 39, number 8 and the images of the USS Arizona in this issue were shot by the very talented Brett Seymour. Nice work, Brett. I really liked ‘Eau Canada’ on page
66 . Great to know that a local group here in B.C. are responsible for live, interactive dives that are simulcast all over the world. And, of course, we have our usual columns with their usual instructive
content – and the beat goes on…. Looking at this issue of DIVER, I have
to point out that, apparently, I’m not the only one enamored of old shipwrecks. The wrecks are there, but you won’t see any of them unless you get out and get wet!
Regards Phil
www.divermag.com 9
Photo: Nuytco Research Ltd., Jeff Heaton
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