Inside Scuba Issue #59

AuthorAuthor

Andy Deitsch & Byron Conroy
May 03, 2026

Welcome to Issue #59 of Inside Scuba

In this edition, we turn our attention to the vital movement of Accessible Ocean Tourism. Our guest writer, Elsie Gabriel, explores how the industry is evolving to ensure the wonders of the underwater world are open to everyone, regardless of physical or cognitive ability. It is a powerful reminder that the ocean belongs to all of us, and making it accessible is both a social responsibility and an incredible opportunity for growth.

We also span the full scale of underwater photography. We dive into the adrenaline-filled challenge of capturing the ocean’s giants in our guide to big animal photography, then switch gears for an insightful piece from the Underwater Photography Show on mastering the Lembeh Strait. It is a journey from the largest animals in the sea to some of its smallest, most exquisite inhabitants.

What’s happening in this edition?

Accessible Ocean Tourism: Opening the Underwater World to Everyone

The ocean has always been a kaleidoscope of wonder—mysterious, limitless, immersive, and transformative. Yet, full access to this world remains unequal. According to the United Nations, over 1 billion people—around 15% of the global population—live with some form of disability, and a significant proportion of them face barriers to travel and tourism. This represents not only a social gap but also a huge, untapped opportunity for the global diving and marine tourism industry. Accessible ocean tourism is not just a niche concept; it is the future of inclusive, sustainable, and adaptable travel.

The Gap Beneath the Surface

The World Health Organization emphasizes that people with disabilities have the same rights to participation, recreation, and inclusion as everyone else, including access to nature and the ocean. These disabilities may be visible or invisible, physical or cognitive, and temporary or permanent.

Despite these rights, while adaptive and disability-inclusive diving programs do exist, the industry must significantly accelerate their adoption and visibility. There is a growing need for more dive shops, water sports centers, and ocean resorts to actively promote, invest in, and normalize diving with disabilities at a much larger scale. 

Persistent barriers include limited awareness among dive operators, gaps in promotions and marketing the training and certification implementation, and inaccessible infrastructure. Furthermore, misconceptions around safety and capability persist—not only regarding the disabled community, but also senior tourists.. These are not limitations of individuals, but rather gaps in existing systems.

In each issue of our newsletter, we will curate some top dive news from around the world. Links to each of the original articles are available.

Divernet: “12hr drift as currents hit diver in Korea. A scuba diver in his 50s who went missing off the coast of Uljin in South Korea’s North Gyeongsang province was rescued after dark 12 hours later, after drifting 26km away from the dive-site.”

Dive Magazine: “Inquest rules IPO possible factor in death of Belgian technical diver off Donegal. An inquest has found that the death of a Belgian technical diver off the coast of Co Donegal, Ireland, in July 2024 was caused by drowning, with immersion pulmonary oedema (IPO) given as a possible secondary cause.”

Divernet: “British divers find tragic USCGC Tampa deep off Cornwall. The sinking of the US Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, torpedoed in the Bristol Channel by the German U-boat UB-91, was the biggest US naval loss of life in combat during World War One. Now the wreck has been discovered at a depth of 94m by British technical-diving team the Gasperados.”

Deeper Blue: “Scuba Shows In Long Beach and Atlantic City Will Have Plenty Of Cool Stuff To Do. The upcoming Scuba Shows in Long Beach, California and Atlantic City, New Jersey will have a plethora of activities for the whole family, regardless of whether all are divers. Under 16s get in free at both shows, and every ticket covers the Try Dive Pool, the ROV challenge, the shark cage photo and a VR dive to a warship that sank in 1564.”

Dive Magazine: “UK diving instructor fined for falsifying HSE medical certificate. AUK diving instructor has been fined after falsifying a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commercial diving medical certificate. Stuart Elmes, of Bournemouth, falsified the document in March 2025 while seeking employment as a PADI instructor. The certificate was identified by a local diving school, which reported it to HSE.”

Divernet: “Newly-wed diver who lost leg to shark remains in Maldives. Spanish scuba diver Borja García Sousa has spoken about the experience of losing a leg to a shark in the Maldives while on honeymoon with his wife Ana earlier this month. Sousa, a 31-year-old gynaecologist, has been recovering at the ADK Hospital in the Maldives capital Malé following the major trauma and what was almost catastrophic blood loss sustained in the incident. He is reported to be medically stable after having his leg amputated, though still awaiting medical clearance to fly home to Alicante.”

Deeper Blue: “Study Outlines New Coral Restoration Methods. A new study has demonstrated a new approach to coral restoration, aiming to address the often difficult early life stage of coral development, when many baby corals struggle to survive. The team found that growing these corals on small cement tiles that include sodium carbonate greatly increases their survival rate. The chemical has been shown to increase the water’s alkalinity, potentially increasing the coral’s survival rate.”

Divernet: “Diver died after IPO caused panic at surface. A man who died after surfacing from an Advanced Open Water Diver training dive at an inland site in Lancashire last year was suffering from immersion pulmonary oedema (IPO), a coroner has found. The diver had expected to be able to breathe more easily once he reached the surface – and appeared to panic when that proved not to be the case.”

Shooting Big Animals Underwater: Everything You Need to Know

I am a well-known macro fanboy; I adore shooting the smallest animals in the sea. However, there is a particular kind of madness that takes hold the first time a massive animal, like a whale shark, swims close by. It is enormous, it is impossibly graceful, and it will make your heart beat like nothing else. To capture great shots of big animals is to capture that exact feeling.

Shooting large marine life is a specialized skill. It can be technically challenging due to constant movement and ever-shifting light, but it provides images that will leave everyone you know absolutely blown away. If you can master big animal photography, you will truly transform your portfolio into something magical.

This guide covers the gear, the optics, the techniques, and the different styles you need to master if big animal photography is where you want your diving to take you.

The excitement of a big animal pass by is like nothing else.

Why Wide Angle Is Non Negotiable

Wide-angle photography is the foundation of shooting large marine life, and the reason isn’t just aesthetic—it’s physics. Water reduces visibility and introduces backscatter. Every extra meter (3.3 feet) of water between your lens and your subject adds particles, reduces contrast, flattens color, and introduces haze. The fundamental rule that every serious underwater photographer eventually internalizes is this: get close, then get closer. A wide-angle lens allows you to fill the frame with a whale shark, a manta ray, or a tiger shark while staying near enough to the subject to minimize the water column between you. The resulting images possess a clarity, color, and three-dimensional quality that telephoto shots simply cannot achieve in most ocean conditions.

However, not all wide-angle lenses are created equal. There are specific optics you should choose depending on the type of big-animal encounter you are shooting.

Lembeh Strait: A Masterclass in Muck Diving

By Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan

In this article from The Underwater Photography Show, we'll be discussing how to make the most of your time diving in the Lembeh Strait. The Lembeh Strait remains one of the most remarkable diving destinations in the world, and returning for a 150th workshop provided a fresh perspective on the gear, techniques, and biodiversity that make this Indonesian gem so unique. Whether you are a seasoned muck diver or planning your first trip, the following insights from my (Alex) last Lembeh workshop highlight the evolving nature of underwater photography in the Strait.

Refining Buoyancy and Gear Dynamics

Muck diving requires a specific approach to buoyancy to protect the delicate seabed while achieving the best angles.

  • Negative Buoyancy: Diving with a slightly negatively buoyant housing allows the camera to pull the front of the body down, naturally keeping your legs floating upward and away from the silt.

  • Weighting: I aim to be slightly underweighted personally so that me and my camera system together become perfectly neutral.

  • Physical Sustainability: While a heavy camera helps with positioning, it can lead to tendon strain in the hands and shoulders over a long trip. I found that adding a touch of buoyancy back to the housing midway through the trip helped alleviate physical fatigue.

The Evolution of Lembeh Diving

While there are now between 30 and 40 different resorts and liveaboards operating in Lembeh, the quality of diving has remained consistently high for nearly 30 years.

  • The "A-List" Diversity: During my recent workshop, the group recorded 305 "A-list" species—specialized critters that dive guides prioritize for photographers.

  • Guide Expertise: Modern dive guides are more educated than ever. In the past, divers often swam over tiny species that today's guides find with ease, such as Denise pygmy seahorses and various rare nudibranchs.

  • Habitat Variety: Lembeh is more than just black sand. To see the full diversity of the Strait, you must visit different habitats, including:

    • Silty black sand and coarse volcanic sand.

    • Rubble slopes and boulder fields (favored by Blue-ringed octopuses).

    • Proper reef walls and human-influenced habitats around moored boats.

Our highlight video this week is a short clip from our friend, Becky Kagan Schott of beluga whales vocalizing and socializing underwater. So cool…

Summary

As we wrap up this issue, we hope these stories inspire you to look at the ocean through a slightly different lens—whether that's by advocating for a more inclusive diving community or by trying a new lighting technique on your next trip.

A special thanks to Elsie Gabriel for her insightful deep dive into accessible tourism, and to Becky Kagan Schott for the mesmerizing footage of beluga whales that reminds us why we do what we do. If you enjoyed this edition, please feel free to share it with your dive buddies.

Until next time, stay safe and keep diving.

Andy & Byron

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