For the diver in all of us, just waiting to get out, Off Track Planet, those crazy keisters have compiled another list.  While us North Americans drearily trudge through yet another onslaught of April showers, there’s a gorgeous underwater world beckoning in locales further south.  Yup, it’s the top ten diving spots on Earth, courtesy of Off Track Planet, to keep us dreaming until the the dog days of summer.  May they come soon!!

Ah, the joys of summer.  Beers, barbecues, maybe some fishing, and/or a wee bit’ o diving off the cliff at your local swimming hole.  Every year countless individuals (including yours truly) somehow find themselves standing at a rather uncomfortable altitude over a local body of water, which of course opens us to chiding, ribbing and cajoling until the said individual takes the plunge.  Of course, buddy’s often partaken in some liquid courage before making the jump (thank you Lucky Lager), and each year many “buddies” end up tombstoning, aka finding an early demise if done improperly.  You mean to say there’s a right way and a wrong way to jump off a cliff?  Yup.  Read on, this is Environmental Graffiti’s segment on how to jump off a cliff and live to reminisce about it years later, and a nice compilation of pretty pictures compiled at the top ten tombstoning destinations worldwide.  PS, thanks Evan.

Now for some BASE Jumping of the underwater kind, or blue hole diving, as it’s known.  World champion free-diver Guillaume Nery was doing a free-diving competition in the Bahamas and made this stunning video of him free-diving (yes, that means diving while holding your breath) at Dean’s Blue Hole, which is the second-deepest blue hole in the world.  I have no clue which blue hole is officially the deepest, but at 202 metres, or 663 feet, is more than deep enough to earn this guy bragging rights for having gills for lungs.  For real, how do you really hold your breath that long???  For the record, he doesn’t actually touch the bottom, but he still has my vote to play Aqua Man in the upcoming Marvel movie.  I’m kidding, they’re not making an Aqua Man movie.  I’m just sayin’ conceivably, if they DID, he should play him.

If you see this octopus, do not approach it. Do not try to touch it. Go straight to the police. This octopus approached a diver off New Zealand and took a liking to his fancy underwater camera. The diver thought the octopus was attacking him. Turns out, he just REALLY liked the camera. So much so that he grabbed it and swam away while the camera was filming. After a five minute getaway the diver caught up with the octopus and got his camera back. Then the octopus tried to take his spear gun! Seriously, this octopus has some serious boundary issues! Admittedly, he’s a pretty good thief, but his camera technique could use some attention…