| With virtually unlimited resources, dive industry heavies, PADI, DEMA, Skin Diver, Rodale Inc. and Jean-Michel Cousteau defiantly goose-stepped into Florida to the free enterprise beat of chumsickles, money and lawyers. Two years later, they hobbled back out of the state, their reputations as environmentally responsible organizations in shambles after a stunning defeat by a grassroots coalition of divers, dive operators, sport fishers, eco groups, environmental activists and ultimately, a highly critical press and angry public... More On December 26, 2004, a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra generated a huge tsunami that hit densely populated coastal areas from Thailand to Africa. The killer waves left more than 300,000 people dead, thousands injured and thousands more missing in coastal towns and resort areas in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Malaysia, Burma, Somalia, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Kenya and the Seychelles.Within hours after the tragedy, as dead bodies were floating in on the tide and search and rescue teams were pulling corpses and survivors out from the debris of collapsed buildings, Phuket's money-mad, dive shop owners launched an aggressive and bitter attack blaming the media for lost income as tourists cancelled trips to Thailand... More On Saturday, October 6, the National Hurricane Center in Miami issued frequent warnings that Hurricane Iris was strengthening and moving west towards Belize, yet the Peter Hughes Diving Inc. Wave Dancer departed with 20 Richmond Dive Club members and eight crew on what was supposed to be a fun-filled, holiday dive trip exploring Belize's renowned offshore reefs.Just over 48 hours later, the holiday came to an abrupt and tragic end when the Category 4 hurricane, the most powerful of the season, slammed into Wave Dancer and capsized the converted crew boat. Twenty people died including 17 guests and three crew... More On Monday, June 5, 2000, Malaitan Eagle Force (MEF) armed rebels seized control of Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. The rebels shut down the international airport, cut down telephone lines, occupied key buildings and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu.As always, travel agents, tourism promotion groups and the dive industry ignored the escalating violence and continued to promote the Solomon Islands as a safe and pleasant travel destination despite a CDNN Travel Alert issued the day of the coup warning tourists not to travel to the Solomons... More On Friday, May 19, 2000, armed rebels stormed Parliament and took Fiji's Prime Minister and his entire cabinet hostage. Racist coup leader George Speight declared an end to Fiji's multiracial constitution as mobs of ethnic Fijians rampaged through Suva violently attacking Indo-Fijians and looting their businesses.As lawlessness and racist violence spread across the island nation, the world joined together to condemn the overthrow of a democratically elected government and impose sanctions on a nation that had stumbled back into tribalism and racism. Only PADI, the Fiji Dive Operators Association - FDOA - and Fiji's Ministry of Tourism sided with the racists. PADI's Asia-Pacific marketing department urged everyone to simply ignore the coup describing it as a "non-issue" and "an isolated Suva incident"... More On Sunday, April 23, 2000, Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerillas armed with M-16s and rocket launchers beached their high-speed boats on Sipadan, Malaysia's renowned dive resort island, and abducted 21 hostages including dive tourists and resort staff.As CDNN issued daily reports linking the Abu Sayyaf rebels to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorists and warning dive travelers to avoid the area, Malaysia's Ministry of Tourism, the dive industry and local Sipadan dive operators colluded to downplay the threat to tourists. "It will never happen again," promised Clement Lee of Borneo Divers. "There will be no more attacks on dive resorts in this area." Less than five months later, armed rebels struck again taking hostages from the Pandanan Island scuba diving resort near Sipadan... More | | |
