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.
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.