Scuba Diver – 25 July 2026

Summary

Monty Halls leads the Celtic Dagger Expedition back to Scotland's wild west coast in the July 2026 Scuba Diver, dragging a team of adventure divers into the Sound of Mull's tide-swept wrecks, while the Arenui opens Indonesian Borneo's last dive frontier and Stuart Philpott races through Paphos' top four sites in a 48-hour Cyprus blitz that proves short-stop diving can still deliver quality bottom time.

The Arenui feature (page 18) profiles the traditional phinisi schooner's route through the remote Derawan archipelago, hauling divers to reefs that see fewer than 100 visitors a year. Philpott's Cyprus sprint (page 42) hits the Amphorae Caves, the Zenobia wreck's decompression stops at 42 metres and the Cynthiana reef system. Mark Strickland sits for a Q&A (page 26) on 30 years of underwater photography in the Coral Triangle. Scotland's Celtic Dagger operation (page 32) combines expedition-style liveaboard with citizen-science surveying of cold-water coral reefs. The Maldives feature (page 60) profiles a lesser-known northern atoll route. TECH part one of The Five Rules of Cave Diving opens the series.

Regular columns include News round-up, DAN Q&A, Divers Alert Network and Monty's Musings. Gear's testing covers What's New products and the Seac Sub Pro 2000 BCD as Test Extra. Indonesia part two continues alongside the Maldives page. The issue closes with Monty's Musings reflecting on expedition logistics.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Story / Expedition Diving

p.32 · Operation Celtic Dagger
Monty Halls returns to the Sound of Mull with a citizen-science team to survey cold-water coral beds at 25-35 metres. The piece details the liveaboard setup, the data-collection protocol (photogrammetry transects for NOAA's coral database) and the daily schedule of two wrecks-and-one-reef. Divers who want their next trip to count toward conservation get a how-to-join blueprint.

▸ Indonesia

p.18 · Indonesian Borneo
The Arenui, a 38-metre phinisi, operates routes through the Derawan archipelago and the Sangalaki Island manta cleaning station. The article names specific sites — Kakaban Island's stingless jellyfish lake, Maratua's Barracuda Point — with currents rated moderate-to-strong at the surface. Anyone booking Borneo gets the monsoon calendar and the recommended 3-mm wet suit for 28-degree water.

▸ Cyprus Blitz

p.42 · Perfect Paphos
Stuart Philpott stacks four sites in a 48-hour window: the Zenobia car-deck wreck (42 metres max depth), Amphorae Caves (12 metres, good for wide-angle), Cynthiana reef (18 metres, soft corals) and the St George's Island drift. He lists entry points, shore-access logistics and the best lunch taverna in Kato Paphos harbour. Weekend divers get a flight-and-dive itinerary that works on a 3-day break.

▸ Interview

p.26 · Q&A Mark Strickland
Strickland, a 30-year veteran of Coral Triangle photography, talks about switching from film to digital in 2008, the single strobe vs dual strobe debate, and why he still carries a 105-mm macro lens on every dive. Photographers get his exact camera-body and housing combo.

▸ Destination

p.60 · The Maldives
This feature profiles a northern atoll liveaboard route through Raa and Baa atolls, calling out the Hanifaru Bay manta aggregation (peak June-November) and the Filitheyo Kandu channel drift. The article gives GPS coordinates for three less-visited thilas and recommends a 5-mm suit for the 26-degree thermocline. Liveaboard first-timers get a cabin-selection tip: mid-ship, lower deck minimises motion sickness.

▸ Tech

p.68 · TECH: The Five Rules of Cave Diving, Part I
John Kendall opens the five-part series with the non-negotiable first rule: continuous guideline. He specifies the recommended line diameter (2 mm), reel type (side-mount or back-mount) and the locking-off technique for primary-tie-offs. Cave trainees get the exact procedure to practise in open water before enrolling.

▸ Regulars

p.10 · News round-up
Stories include the 2026 women's dive-industry awards, a new shark-sanctuary designation in Fiji and the opening of the GO Diving Show spring dates.

p.16 · DAN Q&A
DAN answers whether seasickness medication affects dive-computer readings, how long after a tooth extraction divers should wait and whether a damaged o-ring is a flyable concern.

p.72 · What's New
Short briefs on the Seac Sub Pro 2000 BCD (Test Extra) and new dive-computer releases. Each listing includes RRP.

p.82 · Monty's Musings
Halls writes about the logistical reality of running a volunteer expedition, from food budgeting to managing seasick scientists on a 5-day charter.

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Editor's Take

The Celtic Dagger Expedition piece is this issue's standout — it merges adventure diving with genuine conservation output and gives readers a pathway to join a future trip. The Cyprus 48-hour feature is a pragmatic counterweight to the heavy liveaboard content elsewhere in the issue. The Arenui piece is beautifully photographed but the Indonesian Borneo destination is so remote that fewer than 5 per cent of readers will ever book it. Mark Strickland's Q&A is a masterclass in photography workflow but runs too short; a full gear-carry article would have served better. The Maldives feature covers ground that Scuba Diver has done three times in the past 18 months. Ad density is moderate.

Strengths
• Celtic Dagger sets a new standard for expedition journalism
• Cyprus short-stop guide is genuinely useful for weekend divers
• Strickland's camera setup is a rare gear detail piece

Weaknesses
• Maldives feature feels repetitive for regular readers
• Indonesian Borneo destination is aspirational, not actionable

Verdict: Recommended — The expedition feature alone justifies the cover price; skip if you are tired of Maldives liveaboard content.