Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Chamber Day, Great Whites, Oscars, and more
(please scroll down for details)
How about Mookie's game ending/winning catch Saturday night???? . . .
GREAT ZOOM SEEKERS THIS PAST WEEK - Our speaker, Dr. Doug Ebersole, gave a nice talk and made a lot of good points over the course of 90 minutes (which included a very robust 30-minute Q&A). In addition to providing an overview to current COVID thinking, we discussed what you should and shouldn't do to resume diving (one big point: Make sure your conditioning and stamina are where they were pre-COVID), whether it's a good idea to travel (good takeaway: Make sure you understand what the medical facility options are wherever you're going in case you get sick), and a lot more. Lots of good questions from those of you tuning in as well. For those who didn't take notes but who would like the PDF of the talk, Doug has sent me that. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. And if you missed Doug's talk or just want to revisit it, here's the link to our YouTube page: DOUG EBERSOLE - DIVING IN THE ERA OF COVID.
CHAMBER DAY ENTERING THE HOME STRETCH - We have a little over two weeks to go. As I hope you know, May 5 is the big day. Remember that we'll be live-streaming as we did last year but this time we'll do both a Day and an Eve webcast. Day will start around Noon and Eve will have pre-show 7-8PM and then the main festivities start around 8PM. We'll send out Zoom links closer to the event.
STILL NEED YOUR DONATION - I was going to type "help" instead of "donation" but this is about money so let's cut right to the chase. if you've been following our updates, you may already know that we've been doing amazingly well with the Challenge and actually have already - even with 2+ weeks to go - set a new record for total Challenge donations. But we don't want to get lulled into complacency. There's no such thing as raising "too much money" for our Chamber. When it comes to safety, having a bit of excess or a rainy day fund is a GOOD thing. And while the Challenge is going gangbusters, a couple of other areas are dragging a bit. Specifically, I'm referring to Dutchman signups and virtual boat signups. Especially with the Dutchman, Reef Seekers divers tend to comprise the bulk of those "diving" the Dutchman. Hopefully you're just waiting until things get closer to the end to sign up but that's where we are, so where are you? Remember that every dollar raised for the Chamber goes towards diver safety. There are no administrative fees or webcast production costs or anything like that paid out of what's raised. So we're asking you, while we've still got some time, to please sign up for Chamber Day & Eve 2021 in whatever capacity is right for you. Here's the direct link to our event sign-up page:
CHAMBER DAY 2021.
WHO NEEDS GUADALUPE? - Isla Guadalupe, southwest of Ensenada is a fabulous place to observe Great White Sharks in the wild (from a cage). But now, you may only need to go as far as your nearest kelp bed. (This is NOT a belated April Fools joke.) It's long been thought that Great Whites won't go into kelp. So if you see a Great White and there's kelp nearby, simply go hide in there. Oops. Maybe not. Researchers in South Africa (where they also have kelp) strapped cameras to some Great Whites and were rather surprised/shocked to see them cruising through the kelp. You can read more about this and see some of the footage here: GREAT WHITES IN THE KELP.
GOOD TV ON WEDNESDAY - Assuming you have't become a Great White Snack by mid-week, tune in to PBS (KOCE in SoCal) on Wednesday evening for what looks to be two very interesting shows. At 8PM, a new episode of "Nature" will feature "Sharks of Hawaii". And following that at 9PM, a new episode of "Nova" will air "Reef Rescue," which details steps scientists around the world are taking to combat warming oceans and coral reef demise. (If you're outside of SoCal, check local listings as the times and dates may vary.)
OSCARS NEXT SUNDAY - It seems like this is one of those years that everyone's going "Who cares" because they haven't heard of or seen most of the nominated films and performances. I've seen a number of the nominees through screeners that I get as a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was especially taken with "Trial of the Chicago 7," "Mank," "Promising Young Woman," and "Judas & the Black Messiah." Also, "My Octopus Teacher" is nominated for best documentary and is the odds-on-favorite. The main awards show starts at 5PM PDT on ABC.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, wear your mask, make a vaccine appointment if you haven't already, and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
(please scroll down for details)
How about Mookie's game ending/winning catch Saturday night???? . . .
GREAT ZOOM SEEKERS THIS PAST WEEK - Our speaker, Dr. Doug Ebersole, gave a nice talk and made a lot of good points over the course of 90 minutes (which included a very robust 30-minute Q&A). In addition to providing an overview to current COVID thinking, we discussed what you should and shouldn't do to resume diving (one big point: Make sure your conditioning and stamina are where they were pre-COVID), whether it's a good idea to travel (good takeaway: Make sure you understand what the medical facility options are wherever you're going in case you get sick), and a lot more. Lots of good questions from those of you tuning in as well. For those who didn't take notes but who would like the PDF of the talk, Doug has sent me that. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. And if you missed Doug's talk or just want to revisit it, here's the link to our YouTube page: DOUG EBERSOLE - DIVING IN THE ERA OF COVID.
CHAMBER DAY ENTERING THE HOME STRETCH - We have a little over two weeks to go. As I hope you know, May 5 is the big day. Remember that we'll be live-streaming as we did last year but this time we'll do both a Day and an Eve webcast. Day will start around Noon and Eve will have pre-show 7-8PM and then the main festivities start around 8PM. We'll send out Zoom links closer to the event.
STILL NEED YOUR DONATION - I was going to type "help" instead of "donation" but this is about money so let's cut right to the chase. if you've been following our updates, you may already know that we've been doing amazingly well with the Challenge and actually have already - even with 2+ weeks to go - set a new record for total Challenge donations. But we don't want to get lulled into complacency. There's no such thing as raising "too much money" for our Chamber. When it comes to safety, having a bit of excess or a rainy day fund is a GOOD thing. And while the Challenge is going gangbusters, a couple of other areas are dragging a bit. Specifically, I'm referring to Dutchman signups and virtual boat signups. Especially with the Dutchman, Reef Seekers divers tend to comprise the bulk of those "diving" the Dutchman. Hopefully you're just waiting until things get closer to the end to sign up but that's where we are, so where are you? Remember that every dollar raised for the Chamber goes towards diver safety. There are no administrative fees or webcast production costs or anything like that paid out of what's raised. So we're asking you, while we've still got some time, to please sign up for Chamber Day & Eve 2021 in whatever capacity is right for you. Here's the direct link to our event sign-up page:
CHAMBER DAY 2021.
WHO NEEDS GUADALUPE? - Isla Guadalupe, southwest of Ensenada is a fabulous place to observe Great White Sharks in the wild (from a cage). But now, you may only need to go as far as your nearest kelp bed. (This is NOT a belated April Fools joke.) It's long been thought that Great Whites won't go into kelp. So if you see a Great White and there's kelp nearby, simply go hide in there. Oops. Maybe not. Researchers in South Africa (where they also have kelp) strapped cameras to some Great Whites and were rather surprised/shocked to see them cruising through the kelp. You can read more about this and see some of the footage here: GREAT WHITES IN THE KELP.
GOOD TV ON WEDNESDAY - Assuming you have't become a Great White Snack by mid-week, tune in to PBS (KOCE in SoCal) on Wednesday evening for what looks to be two very interesting shows. At 8PM, a new episode of "Nature" will feature "Sharks of Hawaii". And following that at 9PM, a new episode of "Nova" will air "Reef Rescue," which details steps scientists around the world are taking to combat warming oceans and coral reef demise. (If you're outside of SoCal, check local listings as the times and dates may vary.)
OSCARS NEXT SUNDAY - It seems like this is one of those years that everyone's going "Who cares" because they haven't heard of or seen most of the nominated films and performances. I've seen a number of the nominees through screeners that I get as a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and was especially taken with "Trial of the Chicago 7," "Mank," "Promising Young Woman," and "Judas & the Black Messiah." Also, "My Octopus Teacher" is nominated for best documentary and is the odds-on-favorite. The main awards show starts at 5PM PDT on ABC.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, wear your mask, make a vaccine appointment if you haven't already, and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
