Ken Kurtis
Contributor
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Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 13-20 (WEEK 1) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
• August 20-27 (WEEK 2) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ A FEW SPOTS LEFT ]
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ FILLING - ONLY 6 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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I'm thinking we divers like water more than Jordan Spieth does right now (the golfers will get this) . . .
WASN'T SUCH A BAD WEEKEND - There was definitely drizzle throughout the day and it was generally gloomy, but Saturday wasn't nearly as bad as had been predicted. Viz wasn't great over at Catalina but it wasn't a bad ride going over. And the beach - at least Redondo - was actually flat as a pancake. Here's a shot of the Topaz Jetty (which is about 1/4 south of Vets Park) from Saturday morning at 10AM. It truly doesn't get any flatter than this:
WE WANT TO EAT WITH YOU - Well, at least on May 4. And we also want YOU to pay. (We'd love to treat but things have been tight lately.) In all seriousness, we need some folks at our Chamber Eve table. It's $110/seat which gets you run of the Aquarium from 7-8PM, a sumptuous dinner from 8-9PM, and a shot at fabulous raffle prizes from 9-10PM. Plus, the monies raised go to fund our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber so you get to have a good time while doing a good deed to boot. On top of that, we've also got plenty of room on our official Chamber Day boat which is the Cee Ray out of Queen's Wharf in Long Beach. For Ch-Day, it's $110 for the boat spot + $30 food-&-air to the boat for a total of $140. And if you do both Ch-Day and Ch-Eve, then you'll also get an extra $20 in raffle tickets (10 additional Day and 5 additional Eve). The whole thing's for a good cause so we hope you'll support your Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. Go to the website at www.chamberday.org or contact Chamber Day HQ (which happens to be Reef Seekers) at 310/652-4990.
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF IS TURNING WHITE - One of the problems facing the oceans today is that the El Nino has triggered what appears to be a major coral bleaching incident in the Great Barrier Reef. Some say that the GBR could take a decade to recover, others are more optimistic. I had an email exchange last week with famed Australian tour operator Mike Ball and he was actually doing a trip this week to assess what the damage is and how extensive it is. Mike expressed hope for a quick recovery but given that corals reproduce and grow very slowly anyhow (an inch or two a year), that may be too short a timeline. But the whole thing underscores that when we talk about global warming and climate change, the effects are felt worldwide, not just in one area. And since the oceans are such a major driver of the health of our planet, and since this is the only planet we've got, there is no such thing as "Plan B."
FREE-DIVING FATALITY - A free-diver died over the weekend in the Palos Verdes area. Preliminary speculation is that it was possibly due to shallow-water blackout while hunting. (His speargun was found floating at the surface.) He was also diving alone from a boat that he was piloting by himself. There's a parallel here to scuba diving alone and on some level, if that's a risk you're willing to take, so be it. But for those of you who free-dive, it's always a good idea to have a buddy on the surface watching you. (You alternate who dives and who watches.) Should something like shallow-water blackout occur, your spotter buddy can likely dive down and bring you back up. In this case, initial reports seem to indicate he was found on the bottom, not floating on the surface so, as in scuba diving fatalities, it sounds like the weightbelt wasn't ditched. In this particular case, it might not have made much of a difference since there was no one at the surface or on the boat to effect a rescue. But for scuba divers, since most of the time we're diving from a chartered boat with a divemaster or someone else watching the water, ditching the weightbelt can literally be the difference between life and death.
UNKNOWN MARINE CREATURE WASHED UP NEAR THE CHAMBER - The poor beat-up animal below washed up at Shark harbor (near the Chamber) over the weekend. He's about 5-6 feet long and, from the looks of the tail which goes up & down (fish tails move left & right, dolphins and whale tails move up & down), he's some sort of a cetacean. Best guess so far is either a Pygmy or Dwarf Sperm Whale. (Note the mouth.) We're trying to get a positive ID but it underscores the rich variety of sealife that passes by our shores and what amazing things you might see when you take the time to go look.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 13-20 (WEEK 1) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
• August 20-27 (WEEK 2) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ A FEW SPOTS LEFT ]
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ FILLING - ONLY 6 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
————————————————————————————————————
I'm thinking we divers like water more than Jordan Spieth does right now (the golfers will get this) . . .
WASN'T SUCH A BAD WEEKEND - There was definitely drizzle throughout the day and it was generally gloomy, but Saturday wasn't nearly as bad as had been predicted. Viz wasn't great over at Catalina but it wasn't a bad ride going over. And the beach - at least Redondo - was actually flat as a pancake. Here's a shot of the Topaz Jetty (which is about 1/4 south of Vets Park) from Saturday morning at 10AM. It truly doesn't get any flatter than this:
WE WANT TO EAT WITH YOU - Well, at least on May 4. And we also want YOU to pay. (We'd love to treat but things have been tight lately.) In all seriousness, we need some folks at our Chamber Eve table. It's $110/seat which gets you run of the Aquarium from 7-8PM, a sumptuous dinner from 8-9PM, and a shot at fabulous raffle prizes from 9-10PM. Plus, the monies raised go to fund our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber so you get to have a good time while doing a good deed to boot. On top of that, we've also got plenty of room on our official Chamber Day boat which is the Cee Ray out of Queen's Wharf in Long Beach. For Ch-Day, it's $110 for the boat spot + $30 food-&-air to the boat for a total of $140. And if you do both Ch-Day and Ch-Eve, then you'll also get an extra $20 in raffle tickets (10 additional Day and 5 additional Eve). The whole thing's for a good cause so we hope you'll support your Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. Go to the website at www.chamberday.org or contact Chamber Day HQ (which happens to be Reef Seekers) at 310/652-4990.
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF IS TURNING WHITE - One of the problems facing the oceans today is that the El Nino has triggered what appears to be a major coral bleaching incident in the Great Barrier Reef. Some say that the GBR could take a decade to recover, others are more optimistic. I had an email exchange last week with famed Australian tour operator Mike Ball and he was actually doing a trip this week to assess what the damage is and how extensive it is. Mike expressed hope for a quick recovery but given that corals reproduce and grow very slowly anyhow (an inch or two a year), that may be too short a timeline. But the whole thing underscores that when we talk about global warming and climate change, the effects are felt worldwide, not just in one area. And since the oceans are such a major driver of the health of our planet, and since this is the only planet we've got, there is no such thing as "Plan B."
FREE-DIVING FATALITY - A free-diver died over the weekend in the Palos Verdes area. Preliminary speculation is that it was possibly due to shallow-water blackout while hunting. (His speargun was found floating at the surface.) He was also diving alone from a boat that he was piloting by himself. There's a parallel here to scuba diving alone and on some level, if that's a risk you're willing to take, so be it. But for those of you who free-dive, it's always a good idea to have a buddy on the surface watching you. (You alternate who dives and who watches.) Should something like shallow-water blackout occur, your spotter buddy can likely dive down and bring you back up. In this case, initial reports seem to indicate he was found on the bottom, not floating on the surface so, as in scuba diving fatalities, it sounds like the weightbelt wasn't ditched. In this particular case, it might not have made much of a difference since there was no one at the surface or on the boat to effect a rescue. But for scuba divers, since most of the time we're diving from a chartered boat with a divemaster or someone else watching the water, ditching the weightbelt can literally be the difference between life and death.
UNKNOWN MARINE CREATURE WASHED UP NEAR THE CHAMBER - The poor beat-up animal below washed up at Shark harbor (near the Chamber) over the weekend. He's about 5-6 feet long and, from the looks of the tail which goes up & down (fish tails move left & right, dolphins and whale tails move up & down), he's some sort of a cetacean. Best guess so far is either a Pygmy or Dwarf Sperm Whale. (Note the mouth.) We're trying to get a positive ID but it underscores the rich variety of sealife that passes by our shores and what amazing things you might see when you take the time to go look.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
