Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Ocean survey, Volcano, Easter, & more
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I'm in Westwood today going "What's with this May gray?" . . .
WEIRD WEATHER - First it's too hot, then it's too cold. Very weird today. After a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, the May Gray and June Gloom seem to be hovering over Westwood. It didn't start clearing until around 1:30PM. Redondo looks a bit cloudy and the ocean looks "confused" (a bit choppy and unsettled). Even the swell in the channel is up a bit, though not enough to have to cancel express trips to Catalina it seems. As I said, weird.
MALIBU BEACH SURVEY - I don't have any results yet but aw a post from Barbara Gentile at Malibu Divers that they were going to be conducting a survey - not sure if this is official or informal - of a lot of the beaches in the area that would have been affected by the fires. Obviously, there a lot of stuff that washed into the ocean post-fire and there are questions about how that's affected sealife, as well as to whether or not it's safe for humans to go back in. There was an article in Sunday's L.A. Times about water tests run by the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board at a dozen beach sites that have deemed charred silt that's washed into the ocean doesn't contain chemicals at levels considered to be harmful to human health. How if affects things of interest to divers such as visibility and marine floral/fauna is not covered by these tests, but perhaps Barbara's group will be able to shed more light when they can share their findings.
SPEAKING OF MALIBU - I got a note from Malibu Divers co-owner Carter Crary the other day pointing out that while PCH is still closed to the public (residents only) which makes them virtually inaccessible, he's hopeful that PCH will fully re-open by the end of May. Obviously, this has been a tough time for them but Carter says they plan to be there to welcome back their customers once the time comes and their store is accessible again.
PHILIPPINES VOLCANO ACTIVE AGAIN - Mount Kanlaon is in the middle of Negros Island in the Philippines and erupted earlier this week, sending a plume of ash and smoke a couple of miles up into the atmosphere. Negros is also home to the major dive site of Dumaguete, which lies about 80 miles SSE of the eruption. That should be far enough away that Dumaguete itself isn't affected but, because of ash in the atmosphere, some air travel from Manila to Dumaguete and other places in the general area may been affected with flights being re-routed. If you're traveling around there anytime soon, check with your air carrier &/or resort to see what's what.
WE NEED SOME HELP WITH CHAMBER DAY - Reef Seekers divers have always been notably generous when it comes to supporting our Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber through Chamber Day. We're hoping that will be the case again this year as well. Usually, Reef Seekers people end up being the #1 crew on the Flying Dutchman as well as being notable contributors to the Chamber Challenge. We're now a bit more than three weeks away from the event (May 7) and things have slowed down a little. That's not unusual for this time of the year (tax time approaches as well as Easter) but it always makes us nervous. Hopefully, many of you, especially those of you who have participated before, will resume signing up and supporting our Chamber. Every dollar helps. You can sign up by going to the Chamber Day website (www.chamberday.org) and then hit the big SIGN UP NOW button at the bottom of the page.
2026 TRIPS - As I mentioned last week, the plan for next year (specific dates still to be determined) is for Yap in early March, Indonesia (Murex in Manado) in July, and then Dumaguete (combo week on land and week on a boat - you could do either or both) in September. We had a bunch of people express interest in each of those trips and if you'd like to add your name, no obligation and no deposit needed at this point, shoot us an e-mail and let us know.
EASTER THIS COMING SUNDAY - Hopefully your basket will be full of Peeps, candy, and maybe even some dive-related goodies.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
