Rising up from deep within the aquifer, cool clear water flows from hundreds of springs that dot the Florida landscape. Florida springs are natural wonders that are threatened constantly. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Dec 24, 2009 - 14 comments

Divers [have been] spooked by tales of assault as swarms of aggressive jumbo flying squid invade the shallows off San Diego. No, not the return of Cthulhu; it's just a swarm of Humboldt squid. Here's a rather long talk with video images by one of the world's experts on these vicious nightmares.
posted by Joe in Australia on Jul 18, 2009 - 43 comments

"To pedal the 3700 kilometres of open water from Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa to Barbados in the Caribbean should take around 50 days..." Engineer and machinist Ted Ciamillo has built a human powered mini-submarine, designed around a larger version of his Lunocet carbon-fibre "tail" for divers, for an Atlantic Ocean crossing.... The "SubHuman project".
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on Jan 29, 2009 - 23 comments

Three summers ago, Pascal Bernabe strapped on a scuba tank, stepped off a boat and descended 330 meters into the Mediterranean. This is his account of the dive. [more inside]
posted by jason's_planet on Aug 27, 2008 - 35 comments

At the Beijing Olympics this summer there is a camera that follows divers through the air until they hit the water's surface in glorious high-definition. The DiveCam was originally invented by Garrett Brown, the inventor of the Steadicam, and was first used in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. What new technology made this innovation possible? The power of gravity and pulleys.
posted by HaloMan on Aug 14, 2008 - 21 comments

Wearing an old-fashioned diving suit, William "Diver Bill" Walker worked in 14 feet of murky water beneath Winchester Cathedral, digging out the old timber and peat foundations and replacing them with bags of concrete cement and concrete blocks. Staying underwater six hours per day for five years (1906-1911), Diver Bill moved 25,800 bags of concrete and laid 114,900 concrete blocks, saving the Norman building from certain collapse. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Apr 9, 2008 - 38 comments

Seventy four years ago, something happened off La Jolla Shores, California, that changed the world of ocean recreation forever. An invitation-only group of watermen, the Bottom Scratchers became the founding fathers of free diving. Although the club would eventually grow to only 20 members, the men did everything they could to grow the sport and teach others how to spear fish, keep a good spear gun or get lobsters and abalone on breath-held dives.
posted by miss lynnster on Feb 14, 2008 - 9 comments

And here I am kicking my own legs like a sucker. From DEKA Research the folks that made the Segway and DARPA the little defense department that could (bomb you) comes Power Swim which uses an oscillating foil to develop vortices that...uh, it makes you go faster in the water. Some pictures, here. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman on Dec 19, 2007 - 27 comments

Having served as a troop transport in WWII, a luxury liner, and a sea cadet training vessel, the Texas Clipper will come to her final resting place tomorrow as part of an artificial reef in the Texas Gulf. During preparations for sinking, a long lost mural (1 2 3 4) by Saul Steinberg, best known for his work at The New Yorker, was rediscovered hidden behind wallpaper and paint and saved from a watery grave.
posted by Orb on Nov 15, 2007 - 4 comments

Spectacular video of cage diving with Great White Sharks in Guadalupe, Mexico. More movies and pictures of the Great White Shark.
posted by Effigy2000 on Oct 21, 2007 - 13 comments

Underwater Tigers. Best one.
posted by milestogo on May 14, 2007 - 73 comments

At 33 meters, Nemo 33 in Brussels, Belgium is the world's deepest indoor pool.
posted by Burhanistan on Mar 22, 2007 - 37 comments

Oil Rig Disasters--Deadliest, most expensive, blowouts, sinkings. Building a rig. Barrels of rig pictures. NOAA's archive of spill pictures. ROVs, rigs, vessels. All kind of Canadian rig (and related) pictures. More.
posted by OmieWise on Feb 14, 2007 - 19 comments

In the August edition of Outside Magazine, Tim Zimmerman chronicles the story of divers Deon Dreyer and Dave Shaw. Dreyer, a 20-year-old experienced diver, died in 1994 while exploring Bushman's Cave in Boesmansgat, South Africa, the third deepest cave in the world. In October 2004, Dave Shaw, while diving to the bottom of Bushman's Cave, discovered the body of Deon Dreyer and, tying a line to him, promised to recover the body for Dreyer's family. A few months later, in January 2005, Shaw died in the attempt, unintentionally filming his own death. Both bodies have since been recovered.
posted by Moral Animal on Aug 3, 2005 - 20 comments

Friday Fun Might as well be Friday, really, especially in Texas where we're shutting down the state due to snow. Here's a fun, free online game where you can make penguins dive all day long without getting tired (you OR them). Highly reminiscent of playing too hard for too long doing the same thing over and over when you were a kid, except you don't have to wait for your turn. Or come home in wet, cold clothes crying. You're Everypenguin.
posted by sparky on Dec 22, 2004 - 22 comments

The art of ZenScuba, as practiced by The Zen Diving Organization. Cute. I like the MahaGamera Mandala.
posted by homunculus on Apr 5, 2002 - 3 comments