Mark 'Crowley' Russell - Senior Correspondent
Crowley (known to his mum as Mark) began diving in 2000 in Sharm El Sheikh, before quitting a 10-year IT career and moving to Thailand to take his PADI IDC in 2005. He moved from Thailand to Australia and Curaçao before returning to Sharm as an instructor in 2009. He managed a Nusa Lembongan dive centre between 2013-14 before hanging up his instructor booties and returning to the UK. Crowley started writing a regular column for DIVE in 2010, and now looks after DIVE's daily online content and writes regular features for the print magazine. In his spare time, Crowley is an enthusiastic guitar player, devoted motorcyclist, dedicated gamer, and door-opening expert for two cats.
The orcas hunting whale sharks in the Gulf of California
A new study analysing the behaviour of orcas (aka killer whales, Orcinus orca) in the Gulf of California suggests that…
Police appeal for information in search for missing North Wales diver
North Wales Police have issued a press release asking anybody who might have seen a missing diver in North Wales…
Shark and Jolanda Reef – Howard Rosenstein on the day it all began…
An extract from the book Treasures, Shipwrecks And The Dawn Of Red Sea Diving, in which Red Sea scuba diving…
Are work-for-training scuba diving internships worth it?
PADI has recently changed its approach to scuba diving internships, encouraging its operators in a key region to advertise work-for-training,…
DIVE’s Biggest Shots of 2024
Welcome to our vote for the best photograph of our Big Shot competitions this year! Below are the Winners and…
Sea Story liveaboard survivors found trapped in cabins
The five passengers found alive on Tuesday following the sinking of the Egyptian Red Sea liveaboard Sea Story were found…
52 Assignments: Underwater Photography with Alex Mustard
Alex Mustard’s latest book 52 Assignments: Underwater Photography is packed with great tips to improve your technique. Here are three…
Cargo ship grounded in El Quseir, Egypt
In an incident that provides some context into the sea conditions that may have sunk the MV Sea Story, a…
Divers and crew missing after Red Sea liveaboard Sea Story sinks
Five more passengers have been found alive following the sinking of the Egpytian Red Sea liveaboard Sea Story on Monday…
New species of bioluminescent pelagic nudibranch described by MBARI scientists
Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) have discovered a new species of nudibranch – named Bathydevius caudactylus…
An Island of Hope – St Helena’s extensive MPA
Charged with looking after a Marine Protected Area twice the size of Great Britain, the isolated South Atlantic island of…
Garmin launches Descent X50i large-format dive computer
Wearable tech specialist Garmin has launched its first large-format dive computer, the Descent X50i, featuring a 3-inch colour touchscreen display,…
New Zealand diver killed in ‘great white shark’ attack
A 24-year-old commercial diver has died after being mauled by a shark – believed to be a great white –…
World’s largest coral colony discovered in Solomon Islands
The world’s largest single coral colony so far recorded has been discovered in the Solomon Islands by scientists on board…
‘Russian spy’ beluga whale Hvaldimir was not shot dead
A post-mortem examination by Norway’s Veterinary Institute has concluded that Hvaldimir – the beluga whale thought to have been trained…
New Red Sea Aggressor V to explore Egypt’s Deep South
Aggressor Adventures has announced the addition of a new vessel to its fleet of Red Sea liveaboards. The Red Sea…
Egyptian liveaboard MV Nouran catches fire and sinks at Daedalus reef
The scuba diving liveaboard, MV Nouran, has sunk at Egypt’s Daedalus Reef after catching fire during the night of 6…
Diver dies in Sorgente del Brenno cave in Ticino, Switzerland
A cave diver has reportedly died while exploring a cave known as the ‘Sorgente del Brenno’ – the source of…
Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 is open
The Underwater Photographer of the Year (UPY) 2025 contest is open, with entries accepted from 1 November 2024 until 4…
Wrecks of the Aegean: Italian torpedo boat, Aldebaran
The Aegean Sea saw a huge amount of action during the First and Second World Wars. Greek Explorers Kostas Thoctarides…
Inquest told UK rebreather diver’s death was due to diluent error
A 72-year-old scuba diver died due to a ‘user error’ with his rebreather, according to a coroner’s statement made at…
Red Sea liveaboard Seaduction sinks in Egypt’s south; 18 divers rescued
The scuba diving liveaboard MY Seaduction is reported to have sunk near Elba Reef in St John’s National Park in…
Azores declared Europe’s largest Marine Protected Area
The Azores has passed legislation designating 30 per cent of the waters surrounding the autonomous Portuguese archipelago a Marine Protected…
DIVE’s Big Shot Bright and Beautiful – THE WINNERS!
Check out the winning, highly commended and best of the other featured images from our Big Shot Bright and Beautiful…
BSAC Annual Diving Incident Report 2023 published
Latest BSAC incident report finds UK scuba diving fatalities were up on 2022 but down compared to previous years –…
Miami Seaquarium’s lawsuit against activist who exposed Lolita the orca’s conditions
Miami Seaquarium, the former home of the orca known as Lolita, who tragically died in 2023, has launched legal action…
Aggressor Adventures’ CEO Wayne Brown publishes first book
Wayne B Brown, CEO of one of the world’s largest and most successful liveaboard operators, Aggressor Adventures, has published his…
Scuba diving treats to sink your teeth into this Hallowe’en
Enjoy getting dressed up in fancy gear at night? PADI has some suggestions for spooky scuba diving events this Hallowe’en…
Worrying levels of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ released into UK MPAs
A new study by scientists at the University of Portsmouth and the UK’s Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has found alarming levels of…
British scuba diver dies after ‘feeling unwell’ during dive in Ċirkewwa, Malta
A British scuba diver has died at Malta’s Mater Dei hospital after reportedly surfacing from a dive off Ċirkewwa, Malta,…
Australia joins the Global Ghost Gear Initiative
Australia becomes the 24th country to sign up to the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, with AU$1.4 million commitment to regional…
WWII Submarine HMS Trooper found after vanishing 81 years ago
The British Second World War submarine, HMS Trooper, which disappeared in October 1943 while on a top-secret mission in the…
Aggressor Adventures’ BVI Aggressor liveaboard highlights
BVI Aggressor takes divers to the best of the British Virgin Islands’ clear blue waters, coral reefs and wrecks Scuba…
Deep Dive Dubai to host Technical Diving Summit
Four-day tech summit at world’s deepest dive pool will bring together industry experts and innovators for exclusive workshops and presentations…
UK crab and lobster populations in decline – MCS
The Marine Conservation Society urges the UK government to implement better management of declining crab and lobster populations The Marine Conservation…
Missing US diver’s body found inside shark in Timor-Leste
Missing scuba diver’s body found inside shark – but her death was not the result of a shark attack The…
UK’s Historical Diving Society Conference returns this November
This year’s Diving History Conference will take place at Subsea7 HQ in Sutton, UK, on 16 November Divers have been…
Insta360 launches social media campaign for PADI AWARE
Insta360 is celebrating the launch of its game-changing X4 360° camera back in April with a social media campaign for…
New species of chimaera discovered in New Zealand
A new species of chimaera endemic to the deep sea around Australia and New Zealand has been discovered by scientists…
SS United States one step closer to becoming world’s largest artifical reef
Following reports in the media that the onetime American flagship, SS United States, could be sunk as an artificial reef…
Dived Up partners with Nautilus UK for book distribution
Dived Up Publications, a leading publisher of scuba diving and dive-related books, has announced a new partnership with the UK’s…
DIVE Magazine Autumn 2024 preview
Issue # 35: A giant stride for mankind… DIVE’s Autumn ’24 magazine is packed full of great reads – from…
SECORE’s coral seeding proves resistant to bleaching
Scientific study finds laboratory-grown corals proved resistant to bleaching during the 2023 Caribbean marine heatwave SECORE International’s Coral Seeding programme…
Missed pre-dive safety check led to Scapa Flow diver’s death
Coroner’s report says disconnected BCD inflator hose led to the 2021 death of David Pleace during a dive on the…
New species of hammerhead shark discovered
Sphyrna alleni, a new hammerhead shark from the Caribbean and the Southwest Atlantic joins the nine previously described species A new…
German woman dies in Gran Canaria after losing leg in shark attack
A 30-year-old German woman has reportedly died after having her leg severed by a shark in international waters south of…
SS United States could become world’s largest artifical reef
The SS United States, the last holder of the Blue Riband award for the fastest transatlantic crossing, is the subject…
Great British Beach Clean starts this Friday!
The Marine Conservation Society’s annual Great British Beach Clean is running between 20-29 September 2024, with a number of events…
Five divers rescued near Malta’s Wied iż-Żurrieq
Five scuba divers were rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) and Malta’s Civil Protection (CPD) Department after getting…
Wreck of ‘hit-and-run’ passenger ship Le Lyonnais found off Massachusetts
The wreck of Le Lyonnais, a sail-and-steam passenger ship that sank in 1856 with the loss of 114 lives, has…
New seamount and species discovered in Nazca Ridge
The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s latest expedition to the Nazca Ridge, an underwater Pacific mountain chain located approximately 1450km (900 miles)…
Puget Sound’s orcas given relief from shipping noise
Puget Sound, located in Washington State in the northwest United States, is a critical habitat for the endangered population of…
Fire Alert – Improving liveaboard fire safety for divers
Fires on liveaboards are extremely rare, however, a spate of recent blazes has shown how dangerous they can be –…
‘Russian spy’ white beluga whale ‘shot dead’ off Norway
A white beluga whale thought to have been used in Russian spy operations has been found dead off the coast…
DIVE’s Big Shot – Bright and Beautiful
Our next Big Shot underwater photography competition starts now – send us your brightest and most beautiful shots for the…
Australian scuba diver dies at Nusa Penida’s Manta Point
A 67-year-old Australian woman has died shortly after entering the water during a dive at Manta Point, located on the…
British scuba diver dies in Lanzarote
A 59-year-old British scuba diver has died after suffering a cardiac arrest while diving in the tourist resort of Puerto…
‘Dark oxygen’ discovery – deep sea mining needs a rethink
The discovery that oxygen is produced in the bathypelagic zone means deep sea mining – and the origin of life…
Aggressor Adventures’ Philippines Aggressor liveaboard highlights
Philippines Aggressor II takes divers to the best of the Philippine archipelago including Tubbataha, the Visayas and Cebu – home…
Florida’s recent bleaching sees severe decline in elkhorn coral diversity
During the summer of 2023, a marine heatwave surrounding Florida and the Gulf of Mexico caused widespread coral bleaching, part…
Dive & Discover St Helena with Dive Worldwide
St Helena’s clear blue waters and sub-tropical climate make it a fantastic, year-round scuba diving destination, home to a number…
Scientists find there are three distinct types of great white shark
Researchers from Norway’s Nord University have revealed for the first time that there are three distinct types of great white…
Great Barrier Reef coral cover is high – but scientists urge caution over mass bleaching
AIMS 2023-24 monitoring report finds Great Barrier Reef coral cover has increased – but surveys were done before mass bleaching…
Malaysian resort denies responsibility for death of teen diver
The legal team representing the dive resort at which the tragic death of Nathen Chesters occurred blames the ‘independent’ dive…
New Insta360 X4 camera delivers 360° video in 8K
Insta360’s groundbreaking 360° camera has recently received a much-anticipated update, with the launch of the new Insta360 X4 bringing its…
First report from 2024 expedition to wreck of the San José
The first expedition to the ‘Holy Grail of shipwrecks’, San José, returns with new archaeological findings, but no mention of…
Working Together – saving sharks and rays in Indonesia
Artist and conservationist Francesca Page travels to northern Sumatra to report on a local project safeguarding the future of shark…
Collaborative study highlights global shipping threat to whale sharks
A new collaborative study into the threats posed by the shipping industry to whale sharks has detailed how heavily used…
Scuba diving in the breathtaking beauty of Saint Lucia
The Caribbean island of Saint Lucia is a picture-perfect, scuba diving paradise, with plenty to see and do – both…
The best places in the world for scuba diving
Need ideas for your next scuba diving adventure? Here’s a rundown of the best places in the world to scuba…
Aggressor Adventures’ Roatan Aggressor liveaboard highlights
Aggressor Adventures’ Roatan Aggressor IV takes divers to the best of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. The Bay Islands of Honduras…
Ocean Film Festival World Tour splashes into the UK!
Dive into a night of ocean adventure with the UK leg of the Ocean Film Festival World Tour The Ocean…
80 per cent drop in carrier bags on UK beaches – MCS
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has said it welcomes its latest figures which show a decrease of 80 per cent…
Wreck of British WWI liner SS Arcadian identified in Aegean Sea
The wreck of the SS Arcadian, a British ocean liner sunk by a German torpedo during the First World War…
Texas divers rescued after spending 36 hours adrift
A married scuba diving couple has been rescued off the coast of Matagorda, Texas, having drifted for 36 hours after…
Search for missing 20-year-old diver near Swanage called off
The family of a 20-year-old diver who went missing near Swanage, Dorset, on the south coast of the UK, has…
Belgian diver dies off the coast of Co Donegal
Second diver in a month dies after getting into difficulty off the coast of Co Donegal, Ireland A Belgian diver…
Brazil sharks test positive for cocaine
Sharks off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine, according to a study published in Science of the…
Below the Line – Mexico’s Tren Maya is destroying Yucatán’s cenotes
One of the world’s natural wonders is being extensively damaged by the construction of a railway line, as Mexico’s ‘Mayan…
Mass Orkney pilot whale stranding
A pod of 77 long-finned pilot whales have all died after stranding on a beach on the island of Sanday,…
Wreck-desecrating vessel Chuan Hong 68 detained – again
The Chinese salvage vessel Chuan Hong 68, seized in Malaysia in May 2023 for allegedly looting and desecrating two British…
Two Polish divers die exploring Malta’s Le Polynesien wreck
Two Polish divers have died following a dive to the wreck of the SS Polynesien, a First World War shipwreck…
Buying your first scuba diving regulators
Regulators are the most important piece of gear a scuba diver can buy, and often the most expensive – here’s…
Scubapro’s summer Steamer promotion
Hot on the heels of its new colour scheme for certain models of mask, Scubapro is offering a 20 per…
Scubapro launches masks and snorkel in new colours
Scuba diving equipment often tends towards being black, however, whether for identification, individualisation or simply because it looks good, some…
PADI launches Divemaster Internship programme
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) has announced that its dive centres and resorts across Europe, the Middle East…
Popular French liveaboard, Exocet, sinks near Marsa Alam
24 French divers have been safely rescued after their liveaboard, MV Exocet, sank after striking the corals of Sataya Reef…
World’s oldest deep-sea shipwreck discovered off Israel coast
The oldest known deep-sea shipwreck, containing hundreds of intact amphorae, has been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, 90km off the…
Family of teen who died after drifting for three days sue Malaysian dive resort
The parents of Nathen Renze Chesters, the 13-year-old Anglo-Dutch teen who died after his dive group became separated from their…
New Suunto Ocean dive computer and GPS sports watch
Finnish manufacturer Suunto has launched its first new dive computer model for some time with the sports-watch-style Suunto Ocean, which…
DIVE Magazine Summer 2024 preview
Issue # 34: Exploring the depths DIVE’s Summer ’24 magazine takes a deep look at the devastation being wrought on…
Brooding deep-sea squid is probably a new species – report
Female squid carrying ‘giant’ eggs is determined to be an as yet undescribed species Proving once again how little we…
Ernest Shackleton’s last ship, Quest, found in Labrador Sea
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society has found the wreck of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Quest, the ship on which the famed Antarctic…
USS Jacob Jones’ bell returns home
The ship’s bell of the USS Jacob Jones, the first US Navy destroyer to be sunk by enemy action during…
Mortar Wreck: grave slabs recovered from oldest British shipwreck
Maritime archaeologists from Bournemouth University have recovered two medieval grave slabs from the remains of the 13th Century Mortar Wreck,…
SeaLife launches new SportDiver ULTRA Smartphone housing
Underwater cameral specialist, SeaLife, has announced its new SportDiver Ultra Smartphone housing, designed to accommodate larger models of iPhones and…
Tragedy as unconscious diver dies in Devon, UK
A male scuba diver in his 60s has reportedly died after being found unconscious on a beach near Plymouth, Devon,…
Shearwater Research announces Avelo mode for Teric dive computer
Shearwater Research has announced a new firmware update for its popular Teric dive computer that will integrate the computer with…
DIVE’s Big Shot – Caves, Caverns and Overhangs
Our next Big Shot underwater photography competition starts now – send us your best shots from caves, caverns and overhangs…