First Scuba Camp a Success

Our first scuba camp is complete and it was a huge success! Thanks to Mark and Mel for running a great camp, and congratulations to all the campers who are now one step closer to being scuba certified! We hope to see all of you in a training dive weekend very soon.

Scuba Camp is an awesome program for kids to learn to Scuba Dive. If you are interested in learning more about scuba camp, click here.

Play Hooky With Us in Ocean City This Thursday

Play hooky with us in Ocean City this Thursday! We've set up a Thursday charter to go out and do some diving and have some fun - take the day off, join us and start the 4th of July holiday weekend in style!

Click Here to Sign Up to Dive on Thursday July 2nd

NEW TRIP!! - Bonaire March 2010

Atlantic Edge has added a trip to Bonaire in March of 2010 to our travel schedule! This is going to be a cool trip - focused on making the travelers into Master Scuba Divers. Master Scuba Diver is the highest recreational ranking PADI offers - in order to acheive this status you must have Advanced and Rescue Diver certifications and 5 specialties. On this trip we will offer Rescue and a few specialties during the week, so you can come, do some great diving and get some awesome training! We will be staying at Buddy Dive - one of Bonaire's nicest and most diver-friendly resorts!

Click Here to Learn More About This Trip

Scuba Dive in the National Aquarium in Baltimore with Calypso the Sea Turtle

Meet Calypso the Green Sea Turtle, one of the many friends you can dive with at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Calypso was found cold-stunned in Northport, Long Island, NY in November 2000. About a month into rehab in Long Island the turtle developed a secondary infection in the left front flipper joint and the flipper had to be amputated. These types of infections are not uncommon in cold stunned turtles. Calypso was deemed non-releasable by USFWS, as s/he was one of the first sea turtles to undergo surgical flipper amputation in rehab in this region. At the time, not a lot was known about the survivability of surgically amputated sea turtles in a natural environment. Calypso was later transferred from the original rescue organization to the National Aquarium, Baltimore.



Calypso loves divers and is very curious - s/he'll come right up to you and take a look and sometimes even surprise you by giving you a little *kiss*!

Lionfish - Not Just for Breakfast Anymore!

Across the diving community a lot has been said about the lionfish invasion. Pacific Lionfish on this side of the world pose a potential threat to the reef system as we know it - they are voracious predators, able to decimate a reef in a matter of weeks. Nothing hunts them naturally, so they are multiplying in numbers at a fast rate.

Atlantic Edge and others are sponsoring dive related trips to collect, study and analyze lionfish. We as a dive community are in a position to help solve this problem by collecting lionfish and helping the scientific community understand more about them.

Now, there is another solution on the table - eating them! More and more has been said about eating lionfish - they are tasty, healthy, and by eating them we help solve the problem of them eating everything else! Click Here to read a recent article on the virtues of eating lionfish.

Local Diving Spot - Hydes Quarry

A lot of people ask us about local diving spots in the DC/Baltimore area. Given that we are relatively landlocked (aside from the Bay, which presents only a few diving opportunities), there are a few spots that are good for a fun day of diving. If you want to get wet and enjoy a day out in the sun, check out Hydes Quarry in Westminster, MD. Hydes has been set up pretty much exclusively for diving- it has some nice easy entry points, a few good sunken attractions like a sailboat and a school bus, and tons of fish!

Entry into Hydes is $20 for the day for divers. Make sure to bring your c-card and your gear, as there is no dive facility there so you're on your own once you get there. Hydes is managed by the folks at Undersea Outfitters in Westminster. They are friendly, if you have any questions about the Quarry they're helpful.

It isn't quite the Caribbean, but in a pinch it'll do! Click Here for Directions to Hydes Quarry.

Cool Article on Sharks

If you like sharks, check out this article - its pretty cool:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090622/sc_livescience/sharkskillerstrategyrevealed