Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Local and US Federal Agencies Looking At Wrecking Lake Ontario by Stephen Weir from the June issue of Diver Magazine Breaking News:  Four New York counties, a small upstate city and the State of New York itself, have asked the Province of Ontario, the Ontario Underwater Council, and the Save Ontario Shipwreck association to support a plan to create a shipwreck preserve and marine habitat in the Eastern end of Lake Ontario.  The Province is being urged by Ontario divers to consider adding its own preserve in the wreck rich area of the lake near Prince Edward County and Amherst Island. The American counties: Jefferson, Oswego, Cayuga and Wayne, the City of Oswego and the New York State government are proposing the creation of an underwater and wreck conservation zone for south eastern Lake Ontario. The project is designed to “preserve, protect, promote and create economies around such submerged resources”.  It takes in 1,746 square miles of water with depths rangin

. Diver Magazine Article  May 2016 By Stephen Weir The Triton - from an on-line sales brochure   It is December 2016.  You are about to jump into 5 metres of water with a new untested Triton underwater gill in your mouth. What is going to happen after you take that leap of faith? If Triton performs the way its inventor says it will, the scuba-free dive era is here! Triton claims you will be able to swim at a depth of 5m for 45-minutes without needing scuba gear. Your air is processed by the device from the water you are swimming in! Not likely, says the New York City based Tech Insider magazine. They ask is the technology Triton touts more science fiction than fact? Triton is South Korean designer Jeabyun Yeon’s brainchild. He describe it as   “a state-of-the-art oxygen respirator, that allows you to breath underwater at a maximum depth of 15ft by utilizing our ‘artificial gills’ technology and liquid oxygen technology.“ It looks like a scuba regulator with side w

. By Stephen Weir ·       From the June 2016 issue of Diver Magazine OceanWind was sunk to create a new dive site for Florida Pan Handle divers. Close too shore and not too deep.  Not yet part of the Trail (but could be soon) wreck already a popular dive site .  Florida Panhandle divers don’t have to apologize for having a sinking feeling tug, away at their C-cards.  Early this year OceanWind, a retired harbour tug was made environmentally safe, hauled out into the Gulf of Mexico and scuttled.  Dive shops in Pensacola are already running scuba charters out to the first new artificial reef of 2016 and promise that there are more ships to be sunk this year and beyond! The OceanWind was a floating workhorse.    Built in 1952, she worked in the Pensacola Harbour pushing and pulling big ships as they came in and left port. The OceanWind has a massive engine to bully much bigger craft near the docks.    She was 30 metres long, 8 metres wide and 12 metres tall.