scuba magzines

[Thalassamania]

You should check with your LDS (local dive shop) to see if you can get a 6-month subscription to DT mag for free... and then pick it up for free whenever you go to the dive shop! Whenever you take a class, Dive Training allows you to sign up for a free 6 month subscription. It's a great mag.

I have subscribed to several. I get Alert (when you sign up for DAN membership/insurance, you get Alert magazine), Scuba Diving. eckybay sent me a coupon or link (I can't remember how it worked out) for a free subscription for SD mag which I slobber over whenever it hits my mailbox!

Sigh. To dream.

Most shops give it away free, go in once a month, say hello, buy a do-dad and grab a copy.

 

[MarkUK]

I'm a fan of the UK publication DIVER. You can find it in Barnes and Noble sometimes. It has a great mix of sites from around the world, recreational and technical (if that is interesting to you). Most the US publications are the same Caribbean and South Pacific photo spreads. Interesting but the cookie cutter approach gets old after you’ve seen the same places every few months.

PADI has a UK version of it's publication I found the last time through London Heathrow airport. It was similar to DIVER but it included DVDs with great footage. Not much help for us Texans since it's only at WHS Smith in the UK but I was thinking about checking into mail order. I'm not sure if it was a pilot program or not. I’ll be through there again Thursday so I was going to check into it if I’m not running to the gate.

Sport Diver in the UK is affiliated with PADI, but it has nothing to do with the US publication of the same name. Totally separate entities. We do 12 issues a year, one every month, instead of their 10.

The DVDs usually come with our annual dive guide, The Ultimate Dive Destinations, but last month we did do a special promo with WHSmith where we cover-mounted DVDs from previous annuals, either Red Sea Odyssey or Caribbean Wreck Heaven. The actual magazine was the same whichever DVD was on the front.

Mark

 

[Doc]

Sport Diver in the UK is affiliated with PADI, but it has nothing to do with the US publication of the same name. Totally separate entities.

It gives the reader a new perspective on dive travel as the Brits see life a lot differently than we North Americans do. Our target for weeklong trips is obviously the Caribbean, the Limeys have a well beaten path from the Red Sea down to the Maldives. You will see less liveaboards and more day-dive land based operations. In that they also have a large ex-pat population in the far East, they also can be found all over the W & SW Pacific, from the Philippines down to Australia. This is where they dive, much as we think about Cozumel, Cayman and Curacao.

To the contrary, you don't see a lot of them in the Galapagos- that is the 'extreme' for them, much as we look at their regular haunts. They do manage to show up in Tobago, then Northward up to that other country James Bond (a known subject of the Queen) used to hang out in, the Bahamas. We all know what we have the easiest access to.

We US/Canadian divers are so brainwashed by magazines to demand liveaboards due to the many glossy photo laced articles- we cant even notice that we are in the absolute minority of visiting divers in most exotic locales. As SDM once proclaimed, "Liveaboards are the only way to see (this area)... our readers would have it no other way!" What came first, the advertising by the liveaboard companies or the knowledgable demand by educated readers?

The UK magazine is absolutely not driven by ads. In plain talk, a resort or liveaboard is not likely to get a splashy feature "editorial" article with gushing descriptions and lots of pictures... not likely to get one of these just because they have chosen to buy advertisements in the back. It's pretty easy to see those connections in many other publications. In truth, we have no publications here in the US of any kind that are not beholden in some manner to a commercial interest. None. < ^ notice that period and the word 'any'?

I did a stand-up lecturette a few months ago. I held up "our" SCUBA magazine and pointed out the cover story headline, "Stingrays~ Threat or menace?" (or so it seemed to infer), where the Brits ignored the Steve Irwin story as they should have. We read about underwater wreck photography and our articles go into all the hardware and flashes you'll need, the UK version counsels you to visit and observe as lighting conditions change throughout the day... using compass and a watch.

Sport Diver UK is also kind of fun and quirky, not too full of itself. If you can get a copy, I highly recommended it.

 

[Goose75]

Sport Diver in the UK is affiliated with PADI, but it has nothing to do with the US publication of the same name. Totally separate entities. We do 12 issues a year, one every month, instead of their 10.

The DVDs usually come with our annual dive guide, The Ultimate Dive Destinations, but last month we did do a special promo with WHSmith where we cover-mounted DVDs from previous annuals, either Red Sea Odyssey or Caribbean Wreck Heaven. The actual magazine was the same whichever DVD was on the front.

Mark

I'm glad to run across someone involved with the publication. I enjoyed it so much that I spent 5 of my 10 minute layover on Wed trying to stumble into a WHS Smith to find a copy. I was unsuccessful but I'll be through again Tue.