“There is a story which tells about young amasan, called Kiyomi. Since she was afraid of deep water, she was disgrace for her family, which all female members were ama. But once, she met a sea turtle which teach her to dive in deep waters.”

If a sea turtle could teach an ama to dive, I suppose the ama could teach men the art of free diving as ‘dive masters’.

Tom I think it is a great idea which could preserve and evolve the tradition in a contemporary way.

Sydney Harbour is a flooded valley, a Ria. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ria ] Part of the Harbour, which forms the buffer zone to the Opera House is World Heritage Listed. Beneath the waters of the Harbour there is most probably archeological evidence of the early indigenous occupation of the valley.

There was an exhibition in London recently where they imagined the city submerged as an underwater site.[ http://www.ballardian.com/flooded-london ] The structures under the water take on quite another character than they do on the surface.

The 2010 climate change conference was held there. The coastal waters of the Yucatan Peninsula are home to the world’s second largest barrier reef. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest.

Perhaps in Cancun there might also be underwater archaeology?
[ http://www.underwaterarchaeology.gr/Conservation/index.htm ]