Scuba Magazines

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jar546

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# of dives
I'm a Fish!
How many are out there?
Which ones are more popular?
Which ones are more informative?

I get Dive Training magazine but recently picked up a copy of Sport Diver although it seems as though it is a Padi magazine and not an industry magazine.

Thoughts?
 
Some of these are e-magazines:

Advanced DIving - Advanced Diver Magazine
Apnea - Freediving - Spearfishing - Apnea Magazine
Asian Diver - http://asiandiver.com/
Blue Beyond - BlueBeyond.com.au: Home
California Diving News - California Diving News - The Premier Website for California Divers
dirQuest - Scuba Gear
Dive New Zealand - Dive New Zealand : Dive New Zealand, Dive News, news and articles, Dive New Zealand Magazine, Subscriptions
Dive News Network - Dive News Network
Dive News - REN DiveNews.Com ~ News @ Depth
Dive The Blue - Dive The Blue . net
Dive Training - Dive Training Magazine — Scuba's magazine for new divers and their instructors.
Dive - DIVE - the total online Scuba Diving resource
DiverNet - Divernet - Diver Magazine Online | SCUBA | Diving | Dive Shows | Gear Tests | Travel | News - Divernet
DiveTexas - http://www.divetexas.com/
Diving Periodicals Int'l - Diving Periodicals Int'l. - Flags
Giant Stride - Giant Stride
Hawaii Skin Diver - Hawaii Skin Diver
Historical Diver - Historical Diving Society
In Depth - IN-DEPTH :: The Ad-Free Scuba Diving Magazine
Midwest Scuba Diving - Home - Midwest Scuba Diving Magazine
Ocean Realm Journal - Ocean Realm Journal | Eco Adventure, Scuba and Aquatic Sports Travel Publication
Octopus - Bienvenue!
PS Diver - PSDiver.com
Scuba Diving - ScubaDiving.com | Scuba Diving Magazine
Scuba Diving News - Scuba diving news | scuba news | dive news
Scuba Globe - ScubaGlobe Asia Pacific
ScubaZine - ScubaZine - - Your Scuba Diving Community
Sea Technology - Sea Technology Magazine
Shark Diver - Sharks - Shark Diving - Shark Diver Magazine - everything you want to learn about sharks
Skin Diver Online - Scuba Diving Equipment, Scuba Gear for Caribbean Travel Skin Diver Online Magazine
SORTIE - S.O.R.T.I.E. - Special Operations Rescue Tactical Interdiction Expeditions
Sound Waves - Sound Waves - U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Monthly Newsletter
South Florida Diving Journal - http://www.sfdj.com/
Spearing - Spearing Magazine - SPEARFISHING'S BEST
Sport Diver (PADI) - SportDiver.com - Scuba diving, scuba gear, dive travel
Texas Diver - Texas Diver
Undercurrent - Scuba Diving Magazine, Undercurrent Reviews Dive Resorts, Liveaboards, & Diving Gear
Underwater Journal - Underwater Journal
Underwater Photography - Underwater Photography web magazine
Underwater Times - UnderwaterTimes.com | news of the underwater world
Wreck Diving - Wreck Diving Magazine
 
I like Undercurrent. It is geared towards the traveling diver, featuring one destination each issue, but it also has articles on gear, "Why Divers Die," and any other issues of interest to divers. It has been called "The Consumer Reports of Diving," by Business Week, which is a legitimate comparison, in my opinion.
 
How many are out there?

Right now? More than there will be next year at this rime. They drop dead fairly often.

Your question reminds us that "we" tend to look at the world through our North American eyeballs.

There is a whole big world out there, and some of it even reads SCUBA magazines printed in English.. right in their own countries.

England and Australia look at the world a whole lot differently than we do, and it is just not an issue of our latitude and longitude.

Most other countries dive magazines do not lean as heavily as do ours on the "liveaboard is the only option" tilt.

Which ones are more popular?

I don't understand the relevance there, but in terms of paid subscriptions to North American publications, I suppose it is likely to be Scuba Diving Magazine. Their Diver2Diver message board is a weak shadow of SCUBABoard.

Which ones are more informative?

Depends upon what level of diving information that you are still finding informative at your current level of training. Certain magazines focus on training specifically, others are more like a department store with feature stories that closely follow their advertising insertions. The strictly travel oriented glossy monthlies have all (I believe) pooped out.

I get Dive Training magazine

Can't go wrong there for a good overall starting source.

but recently picked up a copy of Sport Diver although it seems as though it is a Padi magazine and not an industry magazine.

Here's an advanced diver tip: PADI is the industry.

I subscribe to PADI Sport Diver UK which is an entirely different slant. They do a lot on cold water wrecks in the British Isles, but it also heavily features SoPac, Africa (Red Sea) and India (Maldives & Seychelles). SD UK does take a lot of the mystery out of these locations as they are to them as is the Caribbean to us. Remeber- they look at Galapagos as if it were the dark side of the moom- perspective is everything, yes? They are amusingly taken with some of our rattier Caribbean destinations because they run flights from London to these certain Caribbean Rocks like regular bus routes.

Thoughts?

Yes, this is the fourth most often asked question on SCUBABoard, but it bears repeating: Dive magazines are generally beholden to their advertisers.

Vladimir:
I like Undercurrent. It is geared towards the traveling diver, featuring one destination each issue, but it also has articles on gear, "Why Divers Die," and any other issues of interest to divers. It has been called "The Consumer Reports of Diving," by Business Week, which is a legitimate comparison, in my opinion.

Vlad and I agree on about 99.44% of anything related to diving, but this is in that .56% percentile group where we do not.

UnderCurrent has had some past dalliances with actively soliciting commercial money sponsorships a few years ago. (Phrases like born again virgin or slightly pregnant come to mind). What it is, it is.

UC is currently looking for "merger partners" in the internet business for their (now) only viable product, their web based newsletter. Here is their letter:

The Endless Diving Websites
======================
There seems to be no end to the proliferation of websites related to
diving, but very few, if any, become financially viable. Undercurrent is
looking for merger partners, and if any website creator or owner out
there, no matter how large or small the website, sees merit in the idea,
email me
at BenDavison@undercurrent


I have no idea what that phrase means exactly, but the only way I know to make money is by selling ad-space. Maybe they have a different plan.
 
Vlad and I agree on about 99.44% of anything related to diving, but this is in that .56% percentile group where we do not.

UnderCurrent has had some past dalliances with actively soliciting commercial money sponsorships a few years ago. (Phrases like born again virgin or slightly pregnant come to mind). What it is, it is.

UC is currently looking for "merger partners" in the internet business for their (now) only viable product, their web based newsletter. Here is their letter:

The Endless Diving Websites
======================
There seems to be no end to the proliferation of websites related to
diving, but very few, if any, become financially viable. Undercurrent is
looking for merger partners, and if any website creator or owner out
there, no matter how large or small the website, sees merit in the idea,
email me
at BenDavison@undercurrent


I have no idea what that phrase means exactly, but the only way I know to make money is by selling ad-space. Maybe they have a different plan.
I noticed that too, Doc. It made me wonder whether they are teetering on the brink of insolvency.
 
I stopped subscribing to Sport Diver and Scuba Diving magazines when they started throwing in breathless articles about how cool and easy decompression and rebreather diving was, and how everyone should be doing it. Drove me nuts.

Alert Diver is absolutely the best out there. Dive Training is pretty good. X-Ray is generally a lot of fun to read as well.
 
I third that Alert Diver is the best out there. When they switched from monthly issues they also changed the magazine format, and I love it. (thicker pages, better photo quality, more pages). It could only be better if they kept the new format and started publishing 12 issues a year again.
 

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