TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - August 18-25, 2024

[Ken Kurtis]

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Easter Island in 2025, Closures, and more (please scroll down for details)​

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter . . . EASTER ISLAND THAT IS - It's looking more and more like we'll be able to schedule Easter Island - more correctly known as Rapa Nui - for next year. This will mark our third trip there. I still need to work out some specific dates because we have to co-ordinate with our tour guide, the dive shop, and the hotel, as well as make sure the airline sked on LATAM works out. But right now it seems like March 8-15 would be the most likely dates. We'd fly non-stop LAX to Santiago, short layover there, and then Santiago out to Rapa Nui, arriving mid-afternoon on March 9. We'd have Sunday afternoon to settle in and then it's five full days of diving and touring the sites of the giant statues, known as moai. Monday, Wednesday, Friday are morning dives with afternoon tours. Tuesday & Thursday are diving-only days, adding an afternoon dive instead of a tour (includ an underwater moai, but it's a fake one since it was used as a movie prop). So still a work in progress. BUT THIS MOTIVATES ME TO MAKE IT HAPPEN - I got this great fish ID book - for $10 including shipping - on Easter Island so you know I'm going to want to make sure that that $10 doesn't go to waste.​

GOOD FOR NON-DIVERS BUT LIMITED LOAD - A couple of you have asked if the Easter island trip is good for a non-diver, since so much of it is on land, and it is. However, this is going to be somewhat of a limited-load trip as we can only handle about 12 people on the tours. Whether that's 6 divers and 6 non-divers, or 8 divers and 4 non-divers, or whatever, this won't be one of those trips where I can just keep adding anyone who's interested. Some of you have already let me know of your interest and others may be mulling thing over. Be sure to read the trip reports and look at the pix to try to make up your mind but once this is something on your radar, but sure to let me know so I can have you on the interested list. And here's your motivation to think seriously about it: The 15 moai at Tonjarki. If that doesn't get your juices flowing, I'm not sure what will. (And notice how small the people are.)​ DOG CHEWS BATTERY, STARTS FIRE - Conventional wisdom still leans towards a lithium-ion battery exploding as being the cause of the Conception fire. This video appeared on CNN.com and shows a dog chewing a battery that then starts a fire. Notice how quickly the fire starts and spreads: DOG CAUSES HOUSE FIRE. HOW DO FISH REACT TO AN EARTHQUAKE? - Did you feel the earthquake last Monday? Ever wonder how fish react? Madeline Joy Walden is the social media director at the Aquarium of the Pacific and she took footage from our various Explore.org underwater cams to show you what happened. This might be only accessible if you have a FaceBook account, but here's the link: EARTHQUAKE FISH. COZUMEL REEF CLOSURES - If you're going to Cozumel any time soon, be aware that they've closed some reefs to allow them to "rest." From the Riviera Maya News (reprinted in Undercurrent): Five Cozumel Reefs Are Closed to Divers. During August and September, five of Cozumel's reefs will be off-limits to divers and tour operators. To help them recover from a daily load of divers, Palancar Cuevas, Palancar Ladrillos, Colombia Somero, Colombia Intermedio, and Colombia Profundo will be closed. SPEAKING OF CLOSURES . . . - One of the other destinations I was thinking of for next year is the Bahamas and specifically Grand Bahama, home to UNEXSO (Underwater Explorers Society) with whom we used to do trips regularly in the 90s. So I was quite surprised when they replied to my e-mail and said they haven't resumed diving operations following COVID and then a hurricane coming through. So I'm still searching for other dive locales for 2025. OARFISH WASHES ASHORE - Oarfish are generally a deep-water fish rarely seen alive by anyone. When we do see them, it's usually because they come into the shallows to die. Another one came ashore last week, this time in La Jolla Cove. You can see what the animal looks like and see some video here: OARFISH IN LA JOLLA. And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!! - Ken​