Suunto Blog

A few weeks ago the first three Suunto Guiding Stars were sent on a journey, passing from one adventure-minded woman to the next. Suunto ambassador Emelie Forsberg, Scuba Diver Girl Margo Sanchez and cross country skier Aino-Kaisa Saarinen all kept one of the Guiding Star pendants for a while and passed them on to a person they admire for her attitude, her achievements, her adventurous mindset and her energy. Emelie was the first one to pass on her Guiding Star. She gave it to Norwegian musher Sigrid Ekran.   Time to pass this #SuuntoJewel along to another star! Sigrid Ekran it will arrive soon! A photo posted by Emelie Forsberg (@tinaemelie) on Jan 15, 2015 at 11:17pm PST   Thank you Emelie Forsberg for this beautiful jewelry #suuntojewel It will follow me and my dogs for a while, then I will pas it on to the next adventurous women. Proud to be part of this! #suunto #emelieforsberg #adventurouswomen A photo posted by Sigrid Ekran (@teamsigridekran) on Jan 25, 2015 at 7:34am PST   Margo soon followed. She gave her Guiding Star to Becky Kagan Schott, an Emmy Award winning underwater videographer, photographer and tech instructor. Passing this #SuuntoJewel along to @beckykagan ... a strong, beautiful, adventurous woman!!! #scubadivergirls #SuuntoDive #SuuntoGuidingStar A photo posted by Scuba Diver Girls (@scubadivergirls) on Jan 27, 2015 at 12:15pm PST   Also Aino-Kaisa's silver compass pendant has started travelling. It is now in the hands of American skier Liz Stephen: http://bit.ly/1F79LQ5 Follow the journey of these functional pieces of jewelry with #SuuntoJewel   Learn more about Suunto Guiding Star

Like any successful diving trip, the moment you get home it suddenly feels a long time ago. But the memories from Suunto's exploratory trip to Ayada Maldives look set to remain for a while yet for the lucky winners who joined us on our photoshoot earlier this month.The trip explored diving sites that have yet to be dived in the beautifully warm and clear waters of the Indian Ocean island chain. Five Suunto fans were able to join after winning our #Paradise contest. They were not disappointed... Says Jen Weston: “The trip really was a dream come true – exquisite, easy-going diving with professionals in a gorgeous underwater environment.“The diving locations had great visibility, lots of beautiful coral, countless tropical fish all contributing to an environment bursting with color. The dive sites near Ayada were clean and well cared for. And the night dive was truly amazing. We saw a nurse shark, a sleeping pufferfish, crabs, and lobster.” Jen Weston taking a shot © Phil Davison“It was described as a trip to paradise,” adds fellow contest winner Mark Harris, “and I really don’t think I can describe it any better than that. “The diving was beautiful – there were large expanses of pristine hard coral reefs at most of the dive sites and most of the reefs we visited had very mild currents. Sightings of Eagle Rays were a daily occurrence with regular sightings of reef sharks, large rays and turtles.” Also on the trip were the Scuba Diver Girls. “There is something for everyone in the Maldives, from big animals to small macro life. You constantly find yourself not knowing what to look at first,” says Margo Sanchez. “Every divesite was teaming with fish, eels, and wonderful anenomies!...and then a spotted eagle ray or black tip reef shark swims by...”Flying in the ocean: ©Dapeng Juan She adds: “It was so amazing to wake up early, throw on a bikini, enter the water right from the deck of our bungalow, and snorkel the spectacular house reef.”There was one particularly memorable diving moment, she says: “Stephanie and I were on a dive over a pretty reef that dropped off in a sheer wall of coral to the deep. There was the perfect amount of current to where you floated along just fast enough to be able to stop and take pictures if you wished. We found the cutest turtle that really seemed to like us and swam with us for quite sometime. The team on the beach of Ayada Maldives resort. ©Brad Holland“Then we came upon a very large nurse shark under a ledge of coral that was obviously very pregnant. She turned her head and regarded us as if to say hello but was very comfortable in her bed. Although that dive was quite amazing, the most stand-out moment for us was the baby blacktip sharks that were 30 feet from our bungalow. We snorkeled with them daily and I could always hear Stephanie squeeling through her snorkel...CUUUUUUTE!!! I, of course, was making the same noises. Some days the larger sharks would come in to check us out as well and all of this was in 3 feet of water!!!” Everyone got the chance to dive with Suunto's new dive computer, Suunto EON Steel and photographers George Karbus and Predrag Vuckovic were on hand to capture some great images for our forthcoming campaigns and we look forward to sharing those images in the coming weeks. Thanks to everyone for making it such a memorable trip. Main image ©Steve Woods

The Suunto DX, introduced in January 2013 as the world’s first CCR-compatible wrist-sized dive computer is now available in silver too. Coming with a titanium or elastomer bracelet, the Suunto DX Silver is both a serious diving tool and a stunning piece of design. Check out the new variants online or at your local Suunto dealer where it will be available soon.

It's only a couple of months since Suunto Vertical Blue but Will Trubridge is already looking ahead to his next record attempt. Here's what else the year has in store for the freediver. So what's up in 2015? 2015 is a busy year, with Suunto Vertical Blue happening at the end of April, then the Caribbean Cup in Honduras in May and the World Championships in Cyprus in September. I would like to perform well in all of these, but it's hard to maintain peak performance for long periods, so I will have to structure my training and rest carefully.Will you try again for another record?Yes, I hope so! Vertical Blue in April will have the best conditions for this, and with some solid training over the winter I would like to have another attempt at the 102 m [CNF – no fins, completely unassisted] and possibly try and push the Free Immersion record out some more as well. Will in action during Suunto Vertical Blue. ©Daan Verhoeven Looking back, what was the highlight of 2014? Winning Suunto Vertical Blue was definitely a great feeling, but I think the highlight would have to be seeing all the support for my world record attempt at 102 m, both before the attempt, when everyone was writing in with encouraging messages and leaving audio clips on the Steinlager site, and afterwards, when despite failing at my goal there was an even greater flow of support. Is it disappointing not to get the record?It can be a disappointment when you have trained hard for a long period, and there is a lot riding on your success. However you can learn as much from failure as you can from success, so I plan to use this disappointment as both motivation and a learning experience for the next occasion. A freediver in action during Suunto Vertical Blue 2014. ©Logan Mock-BuntingWas there a single thing that sums up the event?After last year's incident this VB was characterised by a more careful approach from the athletes, and enhanced safety measures from the team. In a way it was inspiring to see the prudence displayed by an athlete voluntarily sitting out the entire competition because they had suffered a lung injury in training, when the previous year they might have tried to push through regardless. But rather than sulking at home, this person, and others who had similar conditions, showed up at the beach to coach their fellow athletes and support the event. I think this demonstrates the spirit of VB, where everyone is supportive of each other, and the unique environment at Dean's Blue Hole allows for a warm and intimate event.Anything else that stands in the memory from 2014? I heard whalesong underwater for the first time, which is a magical experience, and encountered my first tiger shark (a fleeting visit, as it was a little timid). My 97m no fins dive in the Caribbean Cup, which is the deepest dive in this discipline during a competition, was one of the competitive highlights for me.

We received over 1,700 submissions in our Dive Paradise contest and chose three amazing winners to join us on an exclusive diving trip to Ayada Maldives. Choosing the winners was a challenge since there were so many potential candidates to win the main prizes. In the jury’s final selection there were about a dozen images, but only three initial winners. Now, as a new year’s gift, we have made room for two more winners. Welcome to join our trip to dive paradise Jen Weston and Dapeng Juan! Here are Jen’s and Dapeng’s great diving experiences. “Diving off of Koh Tao, Thailand, I came across a large anemone with some anemone fish hanging out at home. I got my Canon G16 camera as close as I could without being bitten or stung and snapped a few photos. I was lucky that there was plenty of light and no need for flash.”–Jen Weston from New York, USA “I had a stunning diving trip in Mexico and Galapagos Islands during October!”– Dapeng Juan from Beijing, China

Diver, cave explorer – someone who just loves to go diving at every opporutunity. 2014 has been memoroable for many reasons for Jill Heinerth. Here's why: Any memorable dives of the year? Diving in the rift between the Eurasian and North America tectonic plates in Iceland was a real highlight. Slinking through towering icebergs in the misty ocean near Disko Bay Greenland was unforgettable and snorkeling with ten women across the Arctic Circle was a memory I will not soon forget. Was there anything you feel gutted you didn't do? I traveled to Croatia for a diving event that was fabulous but I had hoped to do some significant cave diving as well. Europe was experiencing some epic flooding at the time and many of the regions for cave diving were inaccessible. But you still went diving? I can’t really complain… I did get a couple of caves dives in any case and a terrific visit to a 1st Century Roman shipwreck. The archaeological work was being conducted by a large group of international students. I spoke to them about exploration, science and water conservation and they took me to their workplace – a Roman wreck of great significance.Looking ahead to 2015, what's number one on your tick list?I am heading out on for cave diving project in Cuba. If all the travel permits come in, I will be working with some scientists on documentation and exploration. I’ll also do some training for local scientists who have not had access to international expertise in cave diving. What other projects are you working on? I am working with an artist on some potential exploration of spring caves in Turkey. Many of these locations are significant Roman archaeological sites. Margaret Tolbert, painter and conservationist, has been traveling to Turkey for almost 30 years, painting the stunning landscapes around the springs. She is rallying an inter-disciplinary team that includes artists, scientists and explorers and I look forward on developing that project with her in the coming year.Where will you spend the holiday period? My holidays will be spent primarily underwater. I am working on some camera testing with a colleague from National Geographic. We are going to be cave diving with some new cameras and brand new lighting technology developed by Light and Motion. We were shooting some test photos and video over Christmas. For me, that is the best present I could ask for – a chance to do more of what I love most! All images ©Jill Heinerth