DISEASE ON THE REEF - As we mentioned in TWARS last week, the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is a serious concern in Bonaire. If you have a trip planned there anytime soon, I don't think you need to cancel it, but you should be aware of what's going on. As of today, it seems that the sites from Somethin' Special (just south of Buddy Dive) down to Bachelor's Beach (by the airport) are all infected and closed. You can monitor the progress of the disease through this map:
CORAL DISEASE PRESENCE IN BONAIRE.
RANTING ABOUT LAX-IT - Whoever thought LAX-It was a good idea had a screw loose. This was the overall plan that kicked out all the curbside taxi/Uber/Lyft pickups, put them in a big lot, and forced you to take a bus to get to your ride. I freely admit that because I live in Westwood, where a curbside pickup with no traffic meant it took me 15 minutes to get home, this colors my opinion. But last night arriving from Bonaire - already having traveled for 13 hours - was ridiculous. I was on the curb at T5 (American Airlines) at the LAX-It stop around 12:10AM. The buses are supposed to pick up roughly every five minutes and take you to the lot, where you find your ride and head for home. Five minutes later a bus came by but didn't stop because it was already full. Five minutes after that, another bus flew by already full. At this point, there were probably 40 of us waiting for the shuttle. No other LAX-It buses in sight. I finally got a cart and rolled down to the "secret" taxi stand at the end of T7 (United) and got a cab. In the 15 minutes it took me to walk/roll down there, I didn't see a single LAX-It bus go by. Madness. (And being tired and cranky didn't help either.) What should have been a 15-minute trip curb-to-home took an hour all told.
ZOOM SEEKERS THIS TUESDAY - Every year at the Scuba Show, we give a panel called "Why Divers Die" where we detail the scuba deaths that happened in L.A. County the previous calendar year. But we don't necessarily give the nuts and bolts about how those autopsies are done in general, and what we can find out and what we can't know. That's what tonight's talk is all about. Captain John Kades with the investigations portion of the L.A. County Coroner/Medical Examiner will discuss some of the techniques they use, what they can know and can't know, and how they reach conclusions that will tell us more than just "drowning." I think you'll find this interesting and fascinating, plus there will be a Q&A at the end for any specific questions. Here's the link:
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
