A British scuba diving enthusiast bested other applicants for what would be labeled as the “Best Job in the World” – to become caretaker of an Australian island near Great Barrier Reef.

Ben Southall will have a six-month stint as caretaker of the Hamilton Island, which is based in the northern part of Queensland. He’ll be paid more than $100,000 by staying in the island, exploring the beaches through snorkeling, scuba diving and sailing. He’ll also write an online diary weekly to inform the world about the wonders of the island.

The 34-year old resident of Hampshire, England will fit well in the job considering that he’s a fan of adventure including scuba diving.

The global recession and expected decline in tourists prompted Tourism Queensland to launch this campaign. Dubbed as “Best Job in the World,” the contest was launched in January and more than 34,000 applicants submitted their entries.

The publicity paid off, hundreds of thousands of online visitors all over the world accessed the website. The tourism team trimmed down their prospects to 16 finalists before they chose Southall.

Southall will have a three-bedroom house plus unrestricted access throughout the island in order to effectively come up with convincing online entries.

Olympic diving gold medalist Matthew Mitcham of Australia was finally cleared from the swine flu disease after visiting Mexico City for a major diving event.

Mitcham attended the World Series Diving event in the Mexican capital with his coach Chana Sobrino. They were supposed to stay in the city after the event to train for another diving event which will take place in Florida, United States.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medalist shared that the NSW Institute of Sport had them tested and pulled out of upcoming diving events since the World Health Organization (WHO) set the swine flu level to five. He added that the institute thought that it would be best for them since if the level is increase to six, the countries will have to start closing borders.

Mitcham said that he wore protective face mask throughout the return trip. He also said that he’s been cleared from having swine flu symptoms before he left Mexico.

The Olympic diving icon said that he’ll be spending some quiet time in isolation with his partner just to be sure. He added that he will also see a doctor and will take medications if necessary.

According to PADI or Professional Association of Diving Instructors, open water divers could go as deep as 18 meters wile advanced open divers can go as deep as 30 meters. The depths allowed depends on the training the diver took as a recreational diver.

If you are really engage in underwater thrill, you can undergo a training that issues deep sea diving certificate and this certificate will prove the authority that you can be allowed to go as deep as 40 meters.

Another thing that you have to remember when you really want to try deep sea diving is that the breathing gas used here is different from the normal modern-day sea diving. There is a special mixture of nine different gases needed to prevent sickness that a deep sea diver could get from the quick and rapid resurfacing from the great depths.