Scuba Diving Fun at Camp

We have been working with various camps in the area to do Discover Scuba Diving experiences with the kids, so that EVERYBODY gets a chance to experience Scuba Diving and how much fun it can be. The kids have been having a great time underwater, and we have been having even more fun giving them their first scuba diving experiences. Click the link below to see some of the photos from our most recent Discover Scuba Diving session.

Click Here to See Photos

Wounded soldiers take to diving (from carolina coast online)

MOREHEAD CITY — Four wounded soldiers boarded a dive boat at Olympus Dive Center and were under way Saturday to a sunken submarine about 30 miles off Atlantic Beach.

The four soldiers from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., are members of Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba, a nonprofit organization developed to provide dive opportunities for the injured soldiers.

The program is part of the Wounded Warrior Project that caters to severely injured service members during the time between active duty and their transition to civilian life.

For two years, the SUDS have taught more than 100 injured veterans how to scuba dive. The program is designed to assist returning veterans injured in Afghanistan and Iraq with their rehabilitation at Walter Reed and is the brainchild of John Thompson, SUDS president and certified scuba instructor who worked several summers with Olympus and was volunteering at Walter Reed with the Red Cross when he asked the hospital about the possibility of teaching scuba diving.

Capt. Danny Facciola, assistant and coordinator for the dives, said Mr. Thompson approached him about helping with the program.

“I thought it was a wonderful idea, and I would do anything I can to help,” he said.

Capt. Facciola said after some planning to establish the nonprofit group, Mr. Thompson approached Walter Reed and the proposal was accepted with enthusiasm.

Click Here to Read Full Article
(photo by Helen Outland)

Top 10 Things You Can Do To Help the Bay

As part of the Smart, Green & Growing initiative, the Department of Natural Resources has released a Top 10 list of action items citizens can do to save the Chesapeake Bay. Recently, scientists environmental experts noted that some river systems may have reached a "tipping point," where self-reinforcing elements within the ecosystem are working to maintain either positive or negative trends. An increase in underwater bay grasses, for example, can promote the growth of more bay grasses, improving water clarity, increasing oxygen levels and providing better habitat for fish and crabs.

Click Here to See the List

Scuba Diving is Fun!

Taking the plunge and getting your scuba diving certification is fun, and it will open up all kinds of new opportunities for you.



One of the best things about scuba diving is that it can be whatever you want it to be - it can be a pulse pounding, adreneline rushing adventure; it can be a relaxing, calming, floating along the reef zen-like experience; it can be educational; you can do it with large groups or small groups; you can do it close to home, or you can travel the world..... Hopefully once you're certified you'll do all of the above. There are so many amazing opportunities to take advantage of, you could dive for a lifetime and not see everything. Don't wait - start today and start your scuba adventure!



In just the last couple of months, some of the things Atlantic Edge has done (that you could be doing too, once you're certified!):



We collected lobsters and flounders off of Ocean City (and had a GREAT dinner that night!)
We hunted for fossilized shark teeth in Venice, Florida
We dove with stingrays and sea turtles at the National Aquarium in Baltimore
We worked with the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys to preserve and build new reef structure

And in the next couple of months.

We will be traveling to the Bahamas to collect and study the invasive Pacific Lionfish
We will be traveling to Yap and Palau to dive some of the most exotic and pristine dive sites in the world
We will be traveling to Bonaire to train Master Scuba Divers

Does any of that sound good to you? Once you're a diver, its all possible! There's still plenty of time to get certified this summer - we hope you will join us for a class!

Award-winning Marine Documentary Slated for Release this Summer

Sundance Award-Winning thriller The Cove will be released in theaters throughout the country beginning this summer. Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) and Roadside Attractions have acquired all U.S. rights to the film, while The Works International, in conjunction with James Atherton's London-based Quickfire Films Fund, acquired distribution rights for all other territories outside North America.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, The Cove is an astounding piece of investigative journalism with the heart of an action thriller. Led by Louie Psihoyos, co-founder of the Ocean Preservation Society, and Richard O'Barry, an internationally recognized authority on dolphin training who is best known for his work on the 1960's TV show "Flipper," the film follows a high-tech dive team on a mission to discover the truth about the international dolphin capture trade as practiced in Taji, Japan. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

A local premier of The Cove is scheduled in Washington, DC to take place on July 16th at the Landmark's E Street Cinema at 7:30pm. The film will be publicly released July 31st in New York and Los Angeles and will expand into additional markets the following week. Screenings are scheduled at the Bethesda Row Cinema and the Landmark Harbor East 7 Cinema during the first week of August. For more information on The Cove, visit the film's web site at: www.thecovemovie.com

Loads of Shark Teeth Found on First Shark Tooth Trip

Our first trip down to Venice to hunt for Shark Teeth was last week, and it was a huge success! Everybody found teeth, with lots and lots of variety of different things to find.



'I was really pleasantly surprised with all the different types of teeth and fossils we were finding down there', says Trip Leader John Harman. 'In a lot of spots you are just finding one kind of tooth, but in Venice you find fossils from all different kinds of sharks, whales, stingrays.... there's really a lot to find.'



Want to join in on the fun? We still have spaces left on our October trip.

Scuba Dive With Zoe the Zebra Shark at the National Aquarium in Baltimore

Zebra sharks are striped as juveniles, and gradually "grow out" of the stripes. They feed mainly on mollusks and crustaceans as well as small fish. Their flexible body allows them to wriggle into narrow reef crevices in search of food. The largest reported is 12 feet or more, although sizes of less then 7 ½ feet are more typical. They are found around inshore reefs of the western Pacific, Japan to Australia, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea.


Zoe is very closely related to a nurse shark - she doesn't have 'teeth' in the way that most sharks do (so don't worry, you won't get bit!). As the divers feed animals in the Wings in the Water exhibit, you might notice the Zebra shark swimming extremely close to the divers - even between their legs.
She is partially blind, and because of this she is trained to respond to sounds, so we can call her to a station when we feed her. When you dive, you might see the results of this training.

Underwater Hunter Course

We have just added to the schedule an Underwater Hunter course, taking place Friday Sept. 11th in Ocean City. If you've never had the opportunity to spearfish but would like to try this course will be a great opportunity.

Spearfishing is actually a very eco-friendly and sustainable way to fish. With spearfishing, you can control which fish you are taking, opposed to line fishing where you're bringing up every fish that hits your hook. You can also learn to be responsible and only take the fish you're going to eat.

This is a one day course - we will teach you how to use both a pole spear and a spear gun, how to identify which fish to catch, and how to clean and prepare fish once you have caught them.

We hope you can join us! Click Here for more info.

Great Time Diving in Ocean City

Last week some of the staff of Atlantic Edge had the privilege of going out diving with Captain Jeremiah on the OC Dive Boat. Weather was great, sea conditions were pretty good, and we hit some awesome dive spots.

We first hit the Al Giles Memorial Reef, commonly refered to as 'The Barge'. The Barge is a great spot for spearfishing, as its just a big upside square barge - you don't really need a wreck reel to navigate and its teeming with life. We got some fish for dinner and then headed over to the BI Cutters.

The BI Cutters are a pretty cool wreck site. They aren't entirely 'intact' so you can have a good time exploring and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together to see how they used to come together as a ship. Lots of great life on this site, too.

After that we hit the Pharoby Dragger, sometimes referred to as the 'Dinner Wreck' for its high quantities of good eating fish. There were flounder everywhere and a few big tog swimmming around. We even were lucky enough to catch an angel shark swimming in the sand.

A great day all around!

South Africa Shark Diving!

Check out this pic from Jon Acton from his recent trip to South Africa for Shark Diving. These aren't professional photos - real pics from Jon! Can you imagine what it must feel like to see something like this?

You don't have to imagine - we have a trip to Africa in the fall of 2010 to do this! Click Here to get more info.