Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Hurricane, Poachers, Singing Moai, & more
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(please scroll down for details)
Summertime and the livin' is easy (unless you're in the path of a hurricane) . . .
HURRICANE ERIN GROWS - This storm is now turning slightly north and will then head northeast in the next few days. The National Hurricane Center map below shows the projected path. As of early evening Sunday, it's just north of the Dominican Republic, will past east of the Bahamas, pass between Bermuda and the mainland U.S., and then head out to sea. And while it's not making major landfall, it's generating tremendous storm surge and potential rip currents to all areas that lie west of the projected path. If you have a trip planned in the next week (or perhaps even two) to any areas west of the projected path - U.S. Virgin Island, Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, and more - you might want to double-check with your tour operator to make sure the trip is still feasible in the aftermath of Erin. As I'm typing this (at 7:30PM Sunday) Erin's "only" a Cat 4 hurricane after having briefly been a Cat 5. But there's potential for major water disturbance and this is something you need to take into account if you're going to that area in the near future.
ALL OF THE REEF SEEKERS 2026 TRIPS ARE NOW SOLD OUT - It's sort of an embarrassment of riches but a position we're quite happy to be in. Yap in March, Indonesia in July, and two weeks in the Philippines in September have all sold out. We're happy to take a waiting list (no deposit required) if you wanted to go on one of those and simply didn't contact us in time. And we definitely have occasions where someone can't go on a trip they've signed up for and the waiting list person/people get to fill a spot.
WE'LL START LOOKING AT 2027 - We generally only plan our trips about 6-12 months out but since we're now fully-booked for next year, I suppose we will start looking at 2027. One thing I'd definitely like to do is plan a trip around the total solar eclipse of August 2, 2027. It's going to have an incredible six-and-a-half minutes of totality AND the centerline runs right through Luxor, Egypt. I've already been in touch with our Egyptian tour guide from 2015 about setting something up in Luxor. The real question is: Where do we go from there? The obvious choice is the Red Sea but I don't think we're limited to that. We could likely easily also get to Madagascar, the Seychelles, the Canary Islands, or other spots in that neck of the woods. And we'll figure out some other trips as well. The eclipse trip will likely be two weeks long with eclipse + diving and we'll sked some other 7-10 day trips as well. So if you've got requests, now's a good time to let us know.
POACHERS CAUGHT - The headline was both encouraging and distressing. CDF&W wardens noticed some odd activity going on at Royal Palms State Beach (adjacent to White's Point at the south end of San Pedro) around11PM on the night of August 1. Four individuals in wetsuits and dive gear were observed actively taking lobsters. They were apprehended. In-season, which this was not, the combined limit for them would have been 28 legal-sized lobsters. Here's what their haul of 236 lobsters (210 of which were under-sized) looked like:
• They were seen at 11PM, observed by CDF&W at for four hours, and then cited at 3AM. Why wait so long?
• They were cited for things like not having a license, taking lobster out of season, and not using a measuring gauge. However . . .
• These are all MISDEMEANOR charges. Why isn't a violation to this degree a felony?
• Assuming I understand this correctly, this means they were issued a ticket. Period. Not arrested. Not thrown in jail. Not having their truck confiscated. Not having their gear confiscated. (The latter two are within the purview of DF&W.)
One good thing coming out of this is, “Fortunately, most of the poached lobsters were still alive and were safely returned back into the ocean after a quick count and photographs for evidence,” the CDFW said. But by letting them keep their truck and their gear, what's to stop them from doing this the next night? We know CDF&W resources are limited and this discovery happened because of pure luck rather than a specific tip. And this is a rather egregious violation of F&G regulations. It's not like someone made a little mistake and had eight lobsters instead of seven, or that one or two were undersized. This is a rather blatant disregard of those regulations and given the number being taken, you have to ask yourself if their intent was to sell these to a restaurant or other commercial source and if so, is any action being taken against those entities? Hopefully, this isn't the end of this story.
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING - You can always report illegal fishing activities to CDF&W trough the CalTIP line at 888/334-2258 or you can text 847411 (tip411). Give as much info as you can. These reports can be done anonymously if you like.
WORLD'S DEEPEST ECOSYSTEM DISCOVERED - It's important to remember that we've only explored something like 20% of the ocean floor. So there may be lots of things we don't know about waiting to be discovered. The latest one is an ecosystem lying 6 miles deep between Russia and Alaska and covering 1500 miles. The life discovered there seems similar to that which has been found around the deep sea "black smokers" or thermal vents along the mid-Atlantic Ridge and other places. You can read more about this latest discovery in an article the published in Nature: DEEP SEA ECOSYSTEM.
SINGING MOAI - You know I love Easter Island and the moai there (giant statues). So how could I NOT love singing moai??? This is from someone named Ummet Ozcan and it appeared in my FaceBook feed but I found it on his YouTube channel as well. Catchy tune to boot. It appears to be a form of throat singing. Give a listen: SINGING MOAI.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
