The first seven years of the new millennium will be remembered as the start of the silly season for divers attempting to set underwater records. Some of the records set since the 20th century ended have included deepest dive, longest cave dive, longest time spent underwater, most people on scuba gear and underwater at one time, the first orchestra to play underwater, the longest time spent playing Monopoly underwater, first group of divers to watch the Finding Nemo movie in an aquarium - and the list goes on from there.

Think of something that can be done underwater and someone will set a record doing it … or die trying. New scuba records noted by Diver Magazine over the past few months include:

- Performance Freediving International Inc (PFI) organized its second annual competition in the Cayman Islands in May. One world record and eleven national records were broken during four days of competition. Canada's Mandy-Rae Cruickshank broke the women's world record in constant ballast (kicking down to depth and back with weights under own power) with a depth of 88m / 289ft on one breath of air, in a time of 2 minutes 48 seconds. This record was held previously by Russia's Natalia Molchanova ( 86m / 282ft).

- Earlier this year Dave Womach, a Saipan-based illusionist, performed the world's first-ever underwater card stab trick. According to the Asian based Life and Style Magazine, Womach had a volunteer select a card from a deck of cards without showing him which card he chose. The whole deck, including the picked card, was tossed into the water and Womach, speak gun in hand, free-dove 20 metres to the sea floor. Despite current, poor visibility and surge, he shot his spear gun and magically skewered the chosen card!

- Forty-two-year-old musician Sabir Bux claims he has set a Guinness Book of World Records milestone for his attempt to boost the spirits of the Indian Cricket Team. Just prior to the staging of the 2007 World Cup, Mr. Bux decided to record a patriotic cricket album while performing underwater. The album and accompanying video were shot at the bottom of a Saudi Arabian river. Team India was defeated at the Caribbean tournament. Meanwhile the musician is claiming that he stayed under water for over seven hours playing music: a world's record for underwater performing!