Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

from social media posting(s) Press photo of Erin Whitley. She is the Group Sales and Marketing Director for Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas in Nassau. Iconic sculpture the inspiration for model's ink I did a photo feature with the Discovery Channel about the underwater Christ of the Abyss sculpture. They used online  a number of pictures I had taken of Him while on a photo shoot in the Keys with Olympus Camera. Christ of the Abyss is a bronzed statue that is underwater in the John Pennekamp Underwater Park near Key Largo - it is probably the most popular dive/snorkel site in America. Christ of the Abyss. John Pennekamp Underwater Park in the Florida Keys. Photo by  Stephen Weir   The bronze statue was sculpted by Guido Galletti, in 1954. The original is underwater off the coast of Italy. A second casting of the statue is underwater near Key Largo -- it is the most popular snorkel / dive site in the Florida Keys. There is an above water casting of Christ of

The Benwood - NOAA photograph Happy Birthday to the wreck of the Benwood It was 73-years ago Thursday that the Merchant Marine freighter Benwood collided with another freighter, the Robert C. Tuttle and sank off the shores of Key Largo, Florida.  Stephen Weir photographing the wreck of the Benwood It was an accident caused in no small part by World War 2 -- rumours of German U-boats in the area that night required both ships to travel completely blacked out, even though they were just 3-miles off-shore in the reef filled waters of Key Largo’s Atlantic coast.  The 360 ft. long Benwood was filled to the gunnels with phosphate rock and was armed with a deck gun, depth charges and bombs. When her bow was crushed in the collision, she took on water and 30-minutes laters the captain and crew abandoned ship as the Benwood sank. She now lies close to shore between French Reef and Dixie Shoals on a bottom of low profile reef and sand in depths ranging from 25 to 45 feet.

. BULLETIN: BELOW IS A STORY POSTED OCTOBER 21st. ON NOVEMBER 15th NEWS REPORTS OUT OF CDNN NEWS SAY THAT JOHNSIE HUDSPETH 59, A REALTOR IN ELKIN, FLORIDA DIED AFTER SHE ENCOUNTERED PROBLEMS WHILE DIVING OFF THE AMORAY DIVE BOAT ( THE SAME OUTFIT THAT LARRY REEVES WAS DIVING WITH WHEN HE DOVE ON THE BENWOOD) AT MOLASSES REEF. (MOLASSES REEF IS ADJACENT TO THE BENWOOD). Dive boats operating within the John Pennekamp State Park Underwater Preserve have been taking divers to the wreck of the Benwood for 50 years. Picturesque. Shallow (50ft max,) close to shore, the Benwood is considered a safe dive and is suitable for novice scuba divers. However on Tuesday August 20th, the body of a diver was pulled from the Florida Keys waters close to the Benwood. According a U.S. Coast Guard press release, a 67-year-old Blount County man died Tuesday in a scuba accident in the Florida Keys. Larry Reeves of Maryville, TN was diving on or near the Benwood wreck dive site, four miles east of Rodriguez K

' DIVINE DIVE PICTURES Olympus Puts The Bite on Underwater Digital Picture Taking Market For divers, swimmers and snorkellers By Stephen Weir 3 May 2009 …By Man-Eating standards, this was a very small shark. She was as big as my two fellow underwater photographers swimming hell-bent-for-rubber towards her. But, what with the cameras in their waterproof housings, aluminum scuba tanks and chewy neoprene wet suits, there was far too much bulk approaching even for a hungry 2-metre long Ginglymostoma Cirratum. After my strobe (underwater flash) fired, the grey Nurse Shark shook her large dorsal fin and leisurely swam through a cut in the living Florida Keys reef and headed into the gloom. Probably in Havana by now. With only one large fish shot to show for an hour of diving, and my air supply dwindling, I quickly scanned the lush shallow reef for something - anything – big to shoot. There! Up above, hovering around the coral-encrusted bow of a WW2 shipwreck, were a dozen 2-metre long