ADEX OZTek Australia 2025, the exciting culmination of the Asia Dive Expo (ADEX) and OZTek Advanced Diving Conference, is partnering with the Ocean Lovers Festival to create the ultimate celebration of ocean exploration and conservation. Scheduled for March 15-16, 2025, at the Sydney International Convention and Exhibition Centre, this combined event aims to unite divers, marine advocates, ocean enthusiasts, conservationists, and the general public on a platform focused on celebrating and protecting the ocean.
The Ocean Lovers Festival, Australia’s largest annual event dedicated to ocean science, art, and community, will expand city-wide in March 2025, with events across Sydney, including Darling Harbour. Known for blending ideas, art, music, and environmental action, the festival highlights the latest innovations, science, and creative efforts to protect our oceans. Since 2019, the Ocean Lovers Festival has reached over 100,000 visitors, a media audience of 34 million, and 8 million on social media, engaging 5,000 students and supporting 12 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. In 2025, with the support of ADEX OZTek Australia 2025, the festival is set to grow further with projected audiences of 100,000 visitors, 150,000 website visits, 8 million social media views and 25 million editorial views.
Attendees can look forward to art installations, live music, keynote talks, interactive booths, and hands-on workshops showcasing the latest in dive technology, marine sustainability, and ocean protection. This collaboration combines the diving industry’s expertise with the wide-reaching and community-focused approach of the Ocean Lovers Festival, creating a platform to celebrate the ocean and encourage active involvement in its preservation.
Event Details: Date: March 15-16, 2025 Venue: Sydney International Convention and Exhibition Centre
For more information, visit www.adex.asia and www.oceanloversfestival.com.
LEVEL UP YOUR SKILLS AND EXPONENTIALLY EXPAND YOUR DIVING ADVENTURES
Text by DAN World’s Safety Services Team
Of all the obstacles a diver can encounter, currents can be one of the most underestimated and physically demanding. Even experienced divers sometimes seem unable to accurately assess the speed and impact of a current. Currents can accelerate your air consumption and exhaust you, and can even make it impossible for you to return to your dive boat.
Water is 800 times denser than air, so it creates a resistance that is magnitudes stronger than the resistance caused by even a storm-level wind. At half a knot, divers hanging on an ascent line will feel their bodies moving into a horizontal position, much like a flag in a 10-mile-per-hour breeze. At currents approaching a knot, turning your head to the side can dislodge and flood your mask. Letting go of an ascent line in a two-knot current even for a brief instant can mean being swept away.
CURRENTS ARE UNPREDICTABLE
Divers should be aware that currents do not necessarily travel in one direction at any given time. Tidal currents, for instance, can reverse direction during the dive, and it is not unusual to have surface currents change speed or direction midwater.
A detailed dive briefing should always precede a dive involving currents. It will orient you to the possibilities you’ll encounter, and provide the protocols for dealing with them. Before you go too far into your dive, stop and use a visual or physical reference, like an anchor line, during the descent to help you judge the strength of the current and how it will affect your dive. Diving in a current requires one of two strategies – you can either choose to go with the flow or against it.
UNDERSTANDING CURRENTS
Before you consider diving in a current, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how they work, especially as currents can vary in intensity as you descend through the water column. As a general rule, currents closer to the surface and in midwater are stronger than currents at the bottom. Just as you can stand behind a building to block a cold wind, the contour of objects at the bottom slows the flow of water. For example, putting yourself between a large shipwreck and a current can prevent you from being swept away by it. In addition, even small reef structures can significantly slow the water’s speed.
DRIFT DIVING
Going with the flow, or drift diving, is an extremely relaxing way to dive. It is important to stay with your group, so that the “bubblewatchers” can track you from the surface. Regardless, you should have a visual and audible signalling device with you on every dive to aid in surface recovery. In addition, the boat crew should provide you with detailed instructions for exiting the water.
If you’re doing a drift dive from the shore, the protocols are similar. However, instead of a boat captain, you’ll need to arrange shore support, such as a car to pick you up at a pre-arranged rendezvous point. You’ll also have to plan how you will exit the water with your dive buddy.
WORKING AGAINST THE FLOW
Swimming against even a mild current is physically taxing. It depletes your air supply more quickly and can even accelerate gas loading, which is a concern as it relates to the risk of getting decompression sickness (DCS). In strong currents, dive boats often deploy current lines. Holding onto it provides an effortless wait for a buddy or when waiting your turn to reboard after your dive.
Effective current swimming requires three steps:
Gear preparation
Your dive gear should be streamlined with no dangling items. Even an extended regulator hose or a dangling console can create drag.
Proper weighting
Divers tend to add more weight to descend quickly in strong currents. But the added weight makes it difficult to achieve a streamlined position in the water at depth. It takes practice, experience and knowing your gear to have proper weighting for a current dive. Practise negative descents (totally deflating your BCD before you hit the water) in mild currents first. You might have to fin against the current to reach the dive site, but at least you won’t be overweighted at depth.
Position
Both the position of your body and your position in the water column are important. Stay neutrally buoyant as soon as you meet the required depth and avoid contact with the reef.
USE YOUR SIGNALLING DEVICES
If you are down current from the boat, and the current is too strong to swim against, don’t fight it. Get positively buoyant, dumping weight if necessary, and inflate your surface marker buoy (SMB) as soon as possible. If you have to make a safety stop during your ascent, inflate your SMB from below the surface. This will alert the boat crew to your location and they can track you while you are off-gassing.
Having a signalling device, such as an SMB, is essential, so that your boat can spot you easily if you have drifted away with a current
Complement the visual signal with an audible one, like a whistle or air horn, a device that is attached to the inflator hose, and continue to signal the crew until you are sure they have seen you. The crew may have other divers to pick up before they can come to you, so stay calm, keep your mask and snorkel in place, and maintain eye contact with the boat. If you are with your buddy, stay together.
Complement the visual signal with an audible one, like a whistle or air horn
EXPAND YOUR SITES
Knowing how to dive in a current exponentially expands the number of sites you can dive, and confidence in your skills makes each dive a safer, more enjoyable adventure. Before you jump into the current, get some training in the skills you’ll need, practise them in a controlled environment, and expand your experiences slowly as your comfort level grows.
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Aerial view of San Benedicto Island, one of the REVILLAGIGEDO ISLANDS
It can be argued that the title for best dive destination in the Eastern Pacific is shared by three remote volcanic island chains that are all typically visited via long-range liveaboards. The most popular of the three is the Galápagos Islands off Ecuador, known, of course, for Charles Darwin’s historic visit that played a vital role in everything we know about evolutionary biology, followed closely by Cocos Island off Costa Rica, which is famous for being the inspiration for Jurassic Park’s “Isla Nublar”.
The least known and last to make it to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2016 (compared to Cocos in 1997 and Galápagos in 1976), is a group of four islands approximately 480 kilometres southwest of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula collectively known as the Revillagigedos. More commonly referred to as Socorro, which is actually the name of its largest island, the archipelago has slowly made its way onto divers’ bucket lists in recent years, and has even been dubbed “The Mexican Galápagos”, despite it being a top tier destination in its own right. But unlike the Galápagos and Cocos, the draw of Socorro is not its terrestrial features or schooling hammerheads (not that they can’t be found there) – it is the giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris).
Oceanic manta at The Boiler, an iconic sight for meeting these amazing creatures
ALMOST GUARANTEED SIGHTINGS
Not to be confused with the well-loved reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) we find in the Maldives and Palau, the oceanic manta is a significantly larger ocean-going species (as the name suggests) that is far less commonly seen by divers. Socorro is the only place on Earth where such encounters are virtually guaranteed.
Selfie with a manta
We owe their presence to a number of factors, mainly the underwater canyons and seamounts that serve as a pitstop in the vast blue desert that is the Pacific Ocean, as well as the convergence of major nutrient-rich currents that attract all kinds of pelagic marine life. It’s also a great place for the mantas to get cleaned by the endemic clarion angelfish, with which they share a symbiotic relationship.
MEMORIES FOR A LIFETIME
If the promise of oceanic manta ray interactions is not enough to warrant a visit to Socorro, there are also routine dolphin sightings in certain sites. There are very few places where encounters with bottlenose dolphins while scuba diving are this reliable, and it’s fairly typical to come across a friendly pod that hangs around to tease divers, seemingly asking for belly rubs. Whether it is playful behaviour or sheer curiosity, these unparalleled opportunities set Socorro apart from other dive destinations. In Socorro, it’s not unusual for divers to be rewarded with oceanic mantas, dolphins, and even schooling hammerheads all on the same dive. But a trip to Socorro isn’t just an opportunity to see these magnificent animals; it’s a chance to connect with them on a profound level, to create memories that will last a lifetime. This is an experience I’ve consistently had the pleasure of reliving on each of my visits to these magical islands.
A small pod of friendly dolphins come to greet us
GETTING THERE
Liveaboards leave either from Los Cabos or La Paz, both located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Visitors will need a permit to dive in Socorro, which the liveaboard operators can arrange.
Professional underwater photographer Aaron Wong tests the waters around Tokyo and reports his findings.
Mention Tokyo and it is safe to say scuba diving comes low on the usual list of to-dos in Japan. But that should all change and for good reason. After all, Japan is an island nation and Tokyo, being on the east, is flanked by the Boso and Izu Peninsulas. These Pacific-facing peninsulas are blessed with good topography and upwelling currents that bring along an amazing multitude of marine life, from schooling hammerheads to rare critters found nowhere else.
The journey there was very straightforward. I flew in to Tokyo with JAL, which offers free baggage allowance for dive gear. This is a great plus, especially for underwater photographers.
MIKOMOTO
HIGHLIGHT: WALLS OF HAMMERHEADS
Known for its beautiful coastlines, the Izu Peninsula has long been a hot sea sports destination for many in Tokyo who want to escape the buzz of the city. Hidden in its southern tip is the well-kept secret of Shizuoka Mikomoto.
It is possible to get close to the hammerheads in relatively shallow waters between 15 and 25 metres
ALL IN THE NAME
They have basic ryokan (traditional Japanese rooms) above the dive shop, but you can also book other hotels near the Izukyu Shimoda station, where they will be happy to pick you up every morning. As the name clearly suggests, Mikomoto Hammers is all about the large schools of hammerhead sharks that follow the warm Kuroshio Current right up to Mikomoto Island with its iconic lighthouse.
The island is a short 20-minute boat ride from the harbour, which is when everyone starts gearing up. The descent is done quickly so you do not miss the spot, and I was almost immediately greeted with the largest school of scalloped hammerheads I have seen – 200-plus strong, just casually cruising along.
WELL WORTH THE DIVE
They are rather accustomed to divers, so getting close to them is possible. Being in the right place at the right time certainly helps. There can be a fair bit of finning to fight the current, which was something I learned the hard way with my shorter fins. But when you get it right, the experience of diving with the wall of hammerhead sharks is well worth it!
BEST TIME TO DIVE
Diving with these hammerhead sharks is possible all year round, as the winding of the warm Kuroshio Current has been documented since 2017. But the best months are between June to October, where sea conditions are calmer, and visibility can reach 30 metres. Depending on the month, water temperatures invariably affects the behaviour of the sharks and how you dive them. In June to July, there are fewer warm currents, causing the sharks to gather in tighter schools nearer to Mikomoto Island.
I got there in August where the water was a comfortable 25°C and because of that, they were more spread out, with the school stretching out into the blue. I had the hammerheads on all my four dives. While it is known that the collision of warm and cold currents brings an abundance of marine life, it can sometimes wreak havoc for divers with strong currents and thermoclines. So I would suggest at least a 5mm wetsuit and long fins, but if you do not have them, you can always rent from the guys at Mikomoto Hammers.
OSEZAKI
HIGHLIGHT: CRITTERS AND VIEW OF MOUNT FUJI
Located on the western edge of Shizuoka Izu’s Peninsula, Osezaki is a kilometre-long outcrop of land that extends into the Suruga Bay, overseesing Mount Fuji to the northwest.
GUIDED SHORE DIVES
You can dive the outer reef, which faces Mount Fuji, or the inner side within the bay, which is where all the macro critters are. On weekends, you can also dive the tip of the beautiful cape (sentan).
On clear days, the majestic view of Mount Fuji greets you as you surface from your dive. Image by Kenji Ichimura
All these sites are shore dives so be prepared to do a little walking. The dive centre offers trolleys that you can put all your gear in and cart where you want. All dives in Osezaki have to be guided dives, so you will always have someone show you around. Osekan Marine Service has English-speaking guides, a huge advantage for overseas divers. I started with the outer reef, with a beautiful pebble shoreline dropping fairly quickly to 50 metres. The reef is covered with beautiful soft corals, schools of cherry anthias, and dragon moray eels probing amongst the rocks.
The water can get cold at depth even in the summer, so a minimum of 5mm is a must, but surfacing on a clear day with Mount Fuji in the background is a great experience in itself.
THE MAJOR ATTRACTION
The real draw for me were the critters within the inner bay. It is a black sand site very similar to the Lembeh Straits and Anilao. Rhinopias, ghostpipefish and, if your stars are aligned, even the endemic Hippocampus japapigu pygmy seahorse, can be seen within this sheltered bay. The entire site is well-mapped out with plenty of underwater ropes and structures for you to easily find your way around.
With keen eyes, one can spot the Hippocampus Japapigu pygmy seahorse endemic to Japan within the Osezaki Bay. Image by Kenji Ichimura
You can also do blackwater dives on Wednesdays and weekends right next to Suruga Bay, the deepest bay in Japan at over 2,400 meters. Like all other sites in Japan, it changes with the seasons, so if dry suits are your thing, a whole new host of critters await.
TATEYAMA CHIBA
HIGHLIGHT: SHARK SCRAMBLE
Ito Tateyama is at the southern tip of Chiba Prefecture, in the southeast of Tokyo, and the home of a very unique shark diving experience.
Hundreds of houndsharks cruise the reef before and after the feeding sessions
THE MAN WHO MADE IT HAPPEN
Fifteen years ago, Mr Kan Shiota was looking for a spot in the Boso Peninsula to start a dive shop, when he was asked by the local fishing association to help with a long-standing problem they had with the banded houndsharks in the area. They were often caught in the fishing nets, damaging them and the fishes within. They wanted Kan to redirect the shark colony somewhere else. Usually shy of divers, the sharks finally trusted Kan and started moving away from the nets only after over five years of persistent baiting.
With Mr Kan Shiota himself, the man who protected and cared for these houndsharks for over 15 years
CREATING A DOUBLE WIN
Today, even after many of these fisheries ceased operations during the COVID pandemic, Mr Kan continues to help other fishing associations around the area by collecting the bycatch, using them to keep the sharks in one area, and prevent the sharks from becoming bycatch themselves. The shark population inevitably grew within this specific reef, and this is now a truly unique diving experience. In addition, the revenue generated helped the local fishing association and boosted the area’s economy.
Needless to say, this story and the possibility of diving with hundreds of friendly banded houndsharks was just too good to pass up.
FUELLED BY PASSION
I was greeted by Mr Kan himself, and he and his crew were very helpful in settling me in. I could still see the passion in his eyes and the fact that he could speak English was a plus. The dive shop and washing area were big and spacious, making the gearing up a breeze because, like everywhere else in Japan, divers are expected to set up their own equipment.
SCRAMBLE BEFORE THE SCRAMBLE
The boat ride to the famous site was a short five-minute ride, so you have to be ready to dive. The currents can be strong, but there are mooring lines that will guide you down. When you finally get to where the action is, the water is strangely calm.
THE SHOW
Schools of large amberjacks and rays patrolled the reef while over 50 stars of the show hovered around the sandy bottom. Once the dinner bell was rung, a hundred more showed up out of nowhere. These sharks and rays were truly friendly and would rub against you from all sides. It was indeed a scramble in the fullest sense of the word and certainly an exhilarating experience. The water was a little cold at 21°C, but the adrenaline will keep you going. That said, a 5mm wetsuit and hood is recommended. I would also suggest wearing gloves, because friendly but frenzied sharks with little teeth can easily turn into buzzsaws.
The dives are relatively short, as the site flattens at around 20 metres, so you have to keep a good eye on your no-decompression limit. Spending the day doing two 25-minute dives with these sharks was just perfect.
The eight days I spent diving near Tokyo has shown me a side of this island nation I never thought I would see. While the language and culture barrier might deter some of us, the beauty underwater should surely lure us into uncovering her secrets. While many of us have our sights on more established dive destinations around Southeast Asia, it is perhaps time we take a good look at this gem so many of us have overlooked. After all, she is indeed an island surrounded by sea.
Did you enjoy this story? There is much more in this issue of Scuba Diver PASSPORT!
Singapore, May 25, 2024 – For the first time in its 30-year history, Asia’s largest and longest- running dive exhibition, Asia Dive Expo (ADEX), is expanding into Japan with Asia Dive Expo Japan (ADEJ). The event will take place from October 25-27, 2024, at Tokyo Big Sight, celebrating the ocean, diving, and marine conservation.
ADEX, founded in 1995, has become a globally recognized event, dedicated to addressing vital marine issues such as climate change, plastic pollution, and marine biodiversity. Spearheaded by Underwater360 and co-hosted by The Asahi Shimbun, ADEJ 2024 aims to grow the diving community and spread ocean awareness in Japan.
Expert Talks, Panels, and Exhibitors
ADEJ 2024 will showcase an incredible lineup of international and Japanese speakers from various fields, including imaging, film, conservation, and education. Featured international speakers include Leslie Leaney (USA) ADEX Ambassador for Diving History, Hidy Yu (Hong Kong) Founder of Bling Bling Ocean Foundation and ADEX Ambassador for Ghost Net Hunter, Aaron Wong (Singapore) ADEX Ambassador for Photography, Note Panayanggool (Thailand) Artist and Environmentalist, Olga Belka (Russia) Ocean Artist, and John Thet (Ocean Citizen) Founder of Underwater360, Historical Diving Society Asia and Ocean Citizen. Japanese speakers include Keigo Kawamura, Yoshi Hirata, Kyu Furumi, Nagaaki Sato, Ikuko Sakai, Yuta Shigeno, Itaru Takaku, Kirin Sekito, Erika Miura, Tomoka Fukuda, Ayano Suzuki, Miyako Suzuki, Tomoko Suzuki, Hiroyuki Tomura, Hiroshi Sato, Manami Azuma, Ryota Nakajima, Kazushige Horiguchi, and Tomoyuki Yamamoto.
The panel discussions at ADEJ 2024 will explore a range of essential topics, including the evolution of diving styles, the role of women divers in the industry, strategies for preserving the ocean for future generations, and expert advice on underwater film and photography.
The event will also feature many exhibitors showcasing the latest dive gear, technology, and travel opportunities. Participants include SSI, Marelux, PADI, the Handicapped Scuba Association, alongside dive centers, liveaboards, and equipment manufacturers, among many others. Additionally, tourist boards from diving destinations such as Palau and Thailand will promote their stunning underwater landscapes.
In celebration of ADEJ 2024’s Japanese debut, Scuba Diver Passport Issue No. 130 will be printed in both English and Japanese, ensuring that attendees can engage with the publication in their preferred language.
An Opportunity for the Diving Community
“ADEX’s strength is in educating and raising awareness for the ocean and the diving
community,” said John Thet, CEO of ADEX, and the 5th Asian inductee into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (2024). John Thet follows Akira Tateishi, the first Asian to be inducted 20 years ago, who is also a Dive Magazine publisher and played a pivotal role in establishing a Dive Expo in Japan.
ADEJ 2024 invites divers, ocean advocates, and the general public to participate in this landmark event.
Following the April 2024 announcement of the joint ADEX Dive and Travel Show and OZTek Advanced Diving Conference 2025, Underwater360, the organiser of Asia Dive Expo (ADEX), has announced that it will acquire the OZTek show.
Underwater360 will assume 100-percent ownership, management and organisation of the joint show, which is scheduled to take place at the Sydney International Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 15–16, 2025.
ADEX will draw upon OZTek’s excellent reputation in the technical diving industry to stage a one-of-a-kind event that will consolidate the strengths of both shows and build on a combined history spanning a total of 55 years. The show promises to invigorate the dive industry in Australia, bringing together technical, recreational and future divers all under one roof.
In the coming weeks, all parties will be working together to ensure the ADEX team has full working knowledge and from October 14, 2024, ADEX will assume full ownership of the event.
Four new members were officially inducted into the prestigious International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISDHF) at a ceremony on Saturday, September 28th, at the Indigo Hotel on Grand Cayman. Established by the Cayman Islands Ministry of Tourism in 2000, the ISDHF celebrates dive industry leaders who have contributed to the success of recreational scuba diving worldwide through innovation and advancements made in the areas of dive tourism, equipment design, dive safety, inclusivity, exploration, adventure, innovation, and more.
This year’s International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame inductees include Margo Peyton (USA), who founded Family Dive Adventures & Kids Sea Camp, certifying over 8,000 children, including those with special needs; Claudio Guardabassi (Brazil), a pioneer in Brazilian diving who established Projeto Acqua and Brazil’s first PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Course; John Thet (Singapore), founder of Underwater360 and organiser of Asia’s largest dive trade show, ADEX, who has been instrumental in providing a platform for the diving industry and ocean conservation; and Eric Sala (Spain), a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence who has led the Pristine Seas Initiative and helped to protect over 5.7 million square kilometres of ocean.
John Thet’s induction into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame highlights the growing influence of Asian leaders in the global dive industry. As the fifth Asian honouree, he joins an incredible group of individuals who have made significant contributions to the world of diving.
The first Asian inductee, Akira Tateishi (Japan, 2004), revolutionised underwater photography and founded the Marine Diving Fair in Japan, setting a new standard for the industry. Clement Lee (Malaysia, 2011), a founding partner of Borneo Divers, played a pivotal role in the growth of Malaysia’s dive tourism and marine conservation initiatives. Dr H.S. Batuna (Indonesia, 2018) helped put North Sulawesi on the global dive map by discovering and developing many iconic dive sites while pioneering marine conservation efforts in the region. Finally, Hussain Rasheed (Maldives, 2019) made waves in the Maldives, organising the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting to raise awareness about climate change, while also shaping the country’s dive tourism industry.
