Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• June 10-17 - Isla Mujeres (early in the Whale Shark Season)
• July 7-19 - Yap Immersion #1 (special 13-day trip featuring all that Yap has to offer) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• September 1-6 - Great White Sharks of Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie [ WE'VE ONLY GOT 6 SPOTS - ONLY 1 OFFICIAL SPOT LEFT ]
• November 2-12 - Fiji (SW area near Suva) on the Fiji Aggressor [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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Upcoming local dives & classes:
• DIVE - Tue., 4/4 (DATE & TIME CHANGE) - Night dive at Redondo (7PM - FREE!! - might still see some squid)
• DIVE - Sat., 4/29 (DATE CHANGE) - Avalon UW Park ($150)
• CLASS - Wed., 4/26 - Fish ID (7PM in Westwood - $25)
• CHARITY EVENT - Wed., 5/3 - Chamber Day & Eve 2017 2017 (7AM-11PM at Catalina and in Long Beach)
• DIVE - Thu., 5/24 - Night dive at Redondo (6PM - FREE!!)
• DIVE - Sat., 6/3 - Avalon UW Park ($150)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
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Why was this past Saturday so special . . .
APRIL FOOL!!!! - It's certainly the most challenging newsletter to write each year but also probably the most satisfying. And I realize that most of you who have been around a while have to come to expect it so, while I'm delighted when I "catch" someone, I'm guessing it's mostly entertainment now. So thank you to all of you who wrote back in with reactions and thank you as well to a few of you who confessed to being gotten. I usually figure my only shot with the veterans is in the first article so if I can get you to go "WTF???" when you read the headline, then I consider that one in the win column. But hopefully you all enjoyed what you read and took it in the spirit with which it is written. (And just to be clear, you do NOT need a passport for Catalina.) BTW, what goes around comes around. The guy I share a summer Hollywood Bowl box with sent out a note saying that the area where our primo box is located was had been damaged by all the rain, and that they were going to move us from our close-in-center spot to the last row of boxes in the corner because they couldn't get the repairs done in time. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker and was ready to do battle with the Bowl come Monday morning. Luckily, he headed me off at the pas with a follow-up that said, "April Fool!!!" So if I got you, realize that I got gotten too.
BONAIRE GOODIES - All the Bonaire stuff is up and running now. In case you missed the e-mail I sent out Friday, here are the links to the various aspects:
TRIP REPORT - Bonaire 2017 trip report
SMUGMUG PIX/SLIDESHOW - BONAIRE 2017 - kenkurtis
YOUTUBE VIDEO -
GO-PRO SETTINGS - A number of you have had nice things to say about my little video of what we saw in Bonaire and had questions about how I shot it. Everything was shot with my GoPro Hero4. I usually keep it in Narrow but occasionally will shoot in Medium. (I rarely shoot in Wide.) I've got it mounted on a small tray and have two Sola 1200s mounted to the tray. I usually run those in low (one indicator light as opposed to two or three) which I think is about 300 lumens each. That way, the lights aren't too readily over-powering the natural light, but you can obviously tell as I get closer to something that the lights are kicking in. I always, even with the lights on, use a warming filter. I've got both the Magic Filter from Alex Mustard and the FlipFilters. They're slightly different shades and produce a slightly different effect. On this trip, I only used the Flip Filter and specifically the "Dive" one that's labeled for 20-50 feet. I find the "Deep" one to be too dark and the "Shallow" one to not give you enough pop. I also have available the the "Green water" filter which I can swap in if needed but it wasn't required this time. (Wheil underwater bu tnot shooting, I'll switch between the two to see which looks the best. Most of the time, it's the "Dive" one.) In terms of assembling everything, I use Adobe Premiere Elements 14 because it looks very much like Final Cut Pro which is what I was used to seeing when I was still a producer over at KCET. I find a piece of music I like ("Simply the Best" by Tina Turner this time), lay the music in first, and then start assembling the video, trying to change shots more or less on the beats of the music. When that's all done I save it as a 1080P MP4 file at the best possible settings (this one came in at 530MB) and then upload it to my YouTube channel. So if you were interested, now you know.
DATE CHANGES - I've had to make some sked changes due to Chamber Day stuff and my dad's death. Because of Chamber Day, the night dive that was scheduled this week for Thursday I need to move up to Tuesday night. Since we're now on Daylighjt Savings Time, I also changed the meeting time from 6PM or 7PM. Although last Friday looked horrible at Vets, things calmed down quickly and I think we'll have a shot Tuesday night. Not sure what the squid potential is but you never know. The other change is the Avalon trip that was scheduled for April 22. I have to go back to Dover, DE, that weekend to start dealing with some of my dad's things so will need to push that back one week to April 29. As always, if you're interested in either one of those let me know because, especially with the night dive, if no one signs up for it, I don't just drive down to Redondo and hope people magically appear. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 if you have questions or want to register.
CHAMBER DAY IS MOVING ALONG - We're well under way for this annual event where we serve as the central clearinghouse. Don't forget that we've got the Cee Ray as the "official" Reef Seekers boat and we've got room for you at the table for Chamber Evening. If you can't take the day off, there's always the Flying Dutchman or you can simply make a direct donation to our Chamber through the Chamber Challenge. But however you do it, please get involved and once again this year, help keep our Chamber financially strong. You can get more details and sign up at www.chamber.org.
TANGLED TURTLE - We end on a happy note this week as the tale of a tangled turtle ends well with him being cut free from his entanglement by some passing kayakers/free-divers. You can read the story here, which includes a link to the video. Pretty cool actually, and I believe you'll even cheer when the turtle swims away: Videographer frees sea turtle entangled in balloon off Palos Verdes Peninsula.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
• June 10-17 - Isla Mujeres (early in the Whale Shark Season)
• July 7-19 - Yap Immersion #1 (special 13-day trip featuring all that Yap has to offer) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• September 1-6 - Great White Sharks of Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie [ WE'VE ONLY GOT 6 SPOTS - ONLY 1 OFFICIAL SPOT LEFT ]
• November 2-12 - Fiji (SW area near Suva) on the Fiji Aggressor [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
——————————————————————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives & classes:
• DIVE - Tue., 4/4 (DATE & TIME CHANGE) - Night dive at Redondo (7PM - FREE!! - might still see some squid)
• DIVE - Sat., 4/29 (DATE CHANGE) - Avalon UW Park ($150)
• CLASS - Wed., 4/26 - Fish ID (7PM in Westwood - $25)
• CHARITY EVENT - Wed., 5/3 - Chamber Day & Eve 2017 2017 (7AM-11PM at Catalina and in Long Beach)
• DIVE - Thu., 5/24 - Night dive at Redondo (6PM - FREE!!)
• DIVE - Sat., 6/3 - Avalon UW Park ($150)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
——————————————————————————————————————————
Why was this past Saturday so special . . .
APRIL FOOL!!!! - It's certainly the most challenging newsletter to write each year but also probably the most satisfying. And I realize that most of you who have been around a while have to come to expect it so, while I'm delighted when I "catch" someone, I'm guessing it's mostly entertainment now. So thank you to all of you who wrote back in with reactions and thank you as well to a few of you who confessed to being gotten. I usually figure my only shot with the veterans is in the first article so if I can get you to go "WTF???" when you read the headline, then I consider that one in the win column. But hopefully you all enjoyed what you read and took it in the spirit with which it is written. (And just to be clear, you do NOT need a passport for Catalina.) BTW, what goes around comes around. The guy I share a summer Hollywood Bowl box with sent out a note saying that the area where our primo box is located was had been damaged by all the rain, and that they were going to move us from our close-in-center spot to the last row of boxes in the corner because they couldn't get the repairs done in time. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker and was ready to do battle with the Bowl come Monday morning. Luckily, he headed me off at the pas with a follow-up that said, "April Fool!!!" So if I got you, realize that I got gotten too.
BONAIRE GOODIES - All the Bonaire stuff is up and running now. In case you missed the e-mail I sent out Friday, here are the links to the various aspects:
TRIP REPORT - Bonaire 2017 trip report
SMUGMUG PIX/SLIDESHOW - BONAIRE 2017 - kenkurtis
YOUTUBE VIDEO -
GO-PRO SETTINGS - A number of you have had nice things to say about my little video of what we saw in Bonaire and had questions about how I shot it. Everything was shot with my GoPro Hero4. I usually keep it in Narrow but occasionally will shoot in Medium. (I rarely shoot in Wide.) I've got it mounted on a small tray and have two Sola 1200s mounted to the tray. I usually run those in low (one indicator light as opposed to two or three) which I think is about 300 lumens each. That way, the lights aren't too readily over-powering the natural light, but you can obviously tell as I get closer to something that the lights are kicking in. I always, even with the lights on, use a warming filter. I've got both the Magic Filter from Alex Mustard and the FlipFilters. They're slightly different shades and produce a slightly different effect. On this trip, I only used the Flip Filter and specifically the "Dive" one that's labeled for 20-50 feet. I find the "Deep" one to be too dark and the "Shallow" one to not give you enough pop. I also have available the the "Green water" filter which I can swap in if needed but it wasn't required this time. (Wheil underwater bu tnot shooting, I'll switch between the two to see which looks the best. Most of the time, it's the "Dive" one.) In terms of assembling everything, I use Adobe Premiere Elements 14 because it looks very much like Final Cut Pro which is what I was used to seeing when I was still a producer over at KCET. I find a piece of music I like ("Simply the Best" by Tina Turner this time), lay the music in first, and then start assembling the video, trying to change shots more or less on the beats of the music. When that's all done I save it as a 1080P MP4 file at the best possible settings (this one came in at 530MB) and then upload it to my YouTube channel. So if you were interested, now you know.
DATE CHANGES - I've had to make some sked changes due to Chamber Day stuff and my dad's death. Because of Chamber Day, the night dive that was scheduled this week for Thursday I need to move up to Tuesday night. Since we're now on Daylighjt Savings Time, I also changed the meeting time from 6PM or 7PM. Although last Friday looked horrible at Vets, things calmed down quickly and I think we'll have a shot Tuesday night. Not sure what the squid potential is but you never know. The other change is the Avalon trip that was scheduled for April 22. I have to go back to Dover, DE, that weekend to start dealing with some of my dad's things so will need to push that back one week to April 29. As always, if you're interested in either one of those let me know because, especially with the night dive, if no one signs up for it, I don't just drive down to Redondo and hope people magically appear. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 if you have questions or want to register.
CHAMBER DAY IS MOVING ALONG - We're well under way for this annual event where we serve as the central clearinghouse. Don't forget that we've got the Cee Ray as the "official" Reef Seekers boat and we've got room for you at the table for Chamber Evening. If you can't take the day off, there's always the Flying Dutchman or you can simply make a direct donation to our Chamber through the Chamber Challenge. But however you do it, please get involved and once again this year, help keep our Chamber financially strong. You can get more details and sign up at www.chamber.org.
TANGLED TURTLE - We end on a happy note this week as the tale of a tangled turtle ends well with him being cut free from his entanglement by some passing kayakers/free-divers. You can read the story here, which includes a link to the video. Pretty cool actually, and I believe you'll even cheer when the turtle swims away: Videographer frees sea turtle entangled in balloon off Palos Verdes Peninsula.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
