Scuba Diver Ocean Planet Issue 2/2016 | Page 8

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Welcome to the fresh, new SD OCEAN PLANET!
We recognise that you, our readers, are more on
the move than ever and want to travel light. So
we’ve downsized the magazine format, but upsized
the content, with articles and features that fit in
perfectly with your busy lifestyle. Whether you’re on
your morning commute or on the way to your next
dive destination, the new SD OCEAN PLANET is the
handy little magazine to have with you!
We’ve got a year of awesome themed issues
planned for you, and what better theme for this first
issue than “big and small”? In our expansive central
feature, “Big Animals and Little Critters”, starting on
page 65, we bring you face to face with the largest
and the smallest in our compilation of 20 of the
planet’s most exciting dive destinations.
As well as a totally new design, the magazine
includes great new sections, in addition to old
favourites. Our dedicated photography section,
Through The Lens, now includes the new
Underwater Photographer’s Guide (page 108), this
time devoted to Indonesia’s incomparable Raja
Ampat – a mind-blowing destination for encounters
with all creatures great and small.
And when it comes to big, it doesn’t get much
bigger than the largest (and longest-running) dive
expo in Asia: ADEX 2016. In this issue, we give you
a full rundown of the event’s highlights, including
the amazing Photo Video Speakers, the Film Festival
programme, and our all-new Book Festival.

62

GOMBESSA II

By Gil Kébaïli
Laurent Ballesta and his team
unravel the mystery of the
grouper spawning aggregation
in French Polynesia

58

RACING EXTINCTION

By Ian Bongso-Seldrup
We talk to Shawn Heinrichs, part
of the team behind the call-to-action
documentary screening at the
ADEX Film Festival

We hope you enjoy the new magazine!

John Thet
Publisher

ON THE COVER

Big or small? The IndoPacific man o’ war (Physalia
utriculus), or “blue bottle”,
shot in Bushrangers Bay,
New South Wales, Australia.
The float is small, just around
10 centimetres, but the
enormous tentacle can be
about three metres long
Image © Matthew Smith

65

BIG ANIMALS AND
LITTLE CRITTERS

By Various Contributors
20 top destinations around
the world to encounter some
of the ocean’s largest and
smallest animals