Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  A Return to Bermuda Deep Caves. Little Islands. Big Thrills By Stephen Weir Photographs by Jim Kozmik On a square mile basis there is no other country that has devoted as much of its land to golf as Bermuda. While the likes of Ross Perot and Michael Douglas spend their days slapping a white ball around Bermuda’s terrraformed greens, one wonders if these famous duffers have ever lain down on the manicured grass and listened to the other side of Bermuda.   If their timing is right, and if the tin cup is deep enough, they will hear the sound of Andrew Mello’s bubbles percolating through the ground.   When the president of the Bermuda Cave Diving Society isn’t building period furniture he is underwater mapping and studying the environment beneath the cleated feet of the well heeled!   Bermuda is a 181-island chain, 600 miles east of North Carolina. The British Colony is best known as a holiday haven for the well-to-do. It is so popular more than 95% of the 22-mile long group of islands h

Egypt's newest tombs come with eels, lion fish and grave robbers GLOBE AND MAIL TRAVEL  27/10/2017,  DIVER MAGAZINE By Stephen Weir A black and white portable television hangs in the black water above the scuba divers while a sharkless remora glides unconcerned through the glare of the underwater lights. The torches illuminate a ship’s hold filled with the luggage of hundreds of dead pilgrims. A  wheel barrel is all but covered by a mountain of ripped  and torn soft back suitcases. Cotton bundles of clothing, still bearing stencilled Mecca slogans, have crushed  a baby’s  stroller and a companion crib.  The dust and grime from a month long desert pilgrimage  has left this jumbled mountain of  abandoned possessions and now clouds the water inside Egypt’s newest tomb -- the wreck of the Salem Express. Like the hundreds of other tourists who come each week to dive on the remains of this Red Sea shipwreck, our team of divers is touring a very recent deep water gravesite.  What

  Stephen Weir,  "the moment I knew" - photo by Jim Kozmik Mayan Riviera Runs A Small Price to Pay for Cenote Diving November 2011 issue of Diver Magazine By Stephen Weir This picture, taken in a freshwater Yucatan cenote (cave) was snapped at the exact moment in time that I realized that in 48-hours I was going to be sick.  You know, Montezuma”s Revenge, or as I coined it following a sink hole diving expedition in Akumal, Mexico, the Mayan Riviera Runs . This is not a diss on the Yucatan’s water system. This was something self-inflicted and it could have happened in any "fresh" water cave in the world. Blame it on the sanitary habits of flying animals or cenote diving being just too amazing for my own good.   Watch a You Tube Video of Cenote dive guide Mario explaining to Stephen Weir, how the Mexican Cenotes came to be. 2-minutes  http://youtu.be/lV12iGAzURQ . The east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan State is a flat, dry land void of rivers, lakes or

. . Sublimnos No Longer Out Of Sight … And Definitely Not Out of Mind By Stephen Weir It will take a long long time for a piece of Canadian dive history to rust into dust. Given the hard feelings surrounding the historic Sublimnos Project, the deteriorating, remains of that underwater habitat could well be an above-water Lake Ontario eyesore for years until rust indeed becomes dust. Back in the summer of 1969 Sublimnos was set down in the waters of Georgian Bay near Tobermory, Ontario the self-described "fresh water scuba diving capital of the world" .It was a bargain basement underwater research station. Constructed from a railroad tanker for just $10,000.00, Sublimnos became Canada’s first subsurface research laboratory. From 1969 to 1971 the Sublimnos project, funded and spearhead by physician, author, explorer and frequent Diver Magazine contributor Dr. Joe McInnis, was headline news around the world. Built to accommodate up to four divers at a time, in its first two-ye

. Warning to Cayman’s Rick the Pirate: Talk up East End diving and you get the Black Dot. By Stephen Weir Diver Magazine November 2006 Rick the Pirate needs to be seriously bribed. The next diver to visit Georgetown, Grand Cayman owes it to the scuba community to slip a C-note to the official Caribbean island greeter and ask him not to tell people just how good the diving is on the Island’s remote East End. Rick the Pirate is an American born, Cayman resident and works for a number of the fine shops in Georgetown. Every morning he puts on his hoop-earrings, knee high boots and sword and heads down to the waterfront. When he’s feeling particularly piratey he sticks a flintlock pistol into his wide black belt. His job is to “Ahoy” loudly at every “bilge rat” sporting an Hawaiian shirt and Tilley Hat that passes through the cruise ship gates. He posses for pictures with the Lubbers and recommends the best places to shop, to drink grog, to sunbathe and to dive. “Arr Matey” said the 6ft