67. Wet Notes updates PADI AWARE Week, another photo contest, and new products from Aqualung plus Your Next Dive takes us to the wreck of the Chester Poling



If you want to dive with a purpose, check out an opportunity next year to spend a week at the Atlantis Dive Resort in Dumaguete in the Philippines participating in a program led by the Coral Restoration Foundation.

This year the PADI AWARE Foundation’s AWARE Week is set for September 18 to 26, 2021. AWARE Week’s goal is to empower the global dive community to lead or take part in conservation activities and courses focused on local action for global impact.

The 2022 Aqualung buyers guide was recently released and they a lot of new products and colors coming out next year. First there is a new regulator – the Helix Pro and the Helix. Additionally they have reworked their Aquaflex wetsuits and now have Aquaflex Mens and Aquaflex Womans along with the FreeFlex 2 mm suit. New colors include Sand, and Petrol along with Red and Orange on some different equipment. Apeks also has a new regulator – the XL4 Ocea – billed as a totally sustainable regulator made with post consumer waste. Also, Apeks is releasing its first dive computer – the DSX – capable of programming 6 gases and can monitor 6 transmitters.

Your Next Dive takes us to Gloucester, MA where we will dive the wreck of the Chester A. Poling. The Poling was a coastal tanker that sank on January 10, 1977. The ship split in half with the stern section coming to rest just off Eastern Point, Gloucester in 75 feet of water while the bow section went down about 4 miles from Eastern Point in 190 feet of water. Subsequent winter storms moved the stern about 800 yards off of Eastern Point in about 90 feet of water. The stern section is upright. Summer bottom temperatures range from the upper 40 degrees F to the lower 50s. Visibility can be up to 30 feet. You can book a charter with Cape Ann Diver 2 out of Gloucester. Just remember you need all of your own gear.