TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - August 21-28

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Ken Kurtis

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Zoom Seekers, Local Diving, Rarities, and more
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Lots of stuff to share this week . . .

AVALON UNDERWATER PARK REPORT - We went over Wednesday and had a lovely time. The weather was terrific: Sunny & warm. The water conditions, not so much: 20-foot viz, lots of particulate in the water, and a rather persistent current came up around 2PM. Water temp was around 70º on the surface down to around 30-40 feet, where it dropped to 66º. (Although I heard that Sunday it was at 62º.) So it got your attention. But we were able to make three nice dives, each around 45 minutes long, and we ran into a large school of Jack Mackerel in the NW corner of the Park, saw lots and lots of Giant Kelpfish on our dives, had a nice school of Salema in the kelp, and ran into some Giant Sea Bass. In fact, we had one AMAZING encounter with a pair (presumably a courting/mating male-female) on our third dive where we must have hung with them for close to 20 minutes at 50-60 feet. They'd move around a bit but never spooked and took off (our entire dive group of five was calm and moved slowly - key skill when dealing with GSBs). But quite magical. You can see a short video of what our day was like, including the GSBs, at this link: AVALON UNDERWATER PARK - 8/17/22.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE - For the truly adventurous, if you'd like to see the raw footage - 5 minutes long, single shot - from our encounter, you can view it through this link. There's no music or color correction. You'll see it exactly as it was shot and get a good idea of how tolerant the GSBs were of us: GSB RAW FOOTAGE - SINGLE SHOT.

OTHER PLACES ON CATALINA - Buck was out on the Cee Ray Sunday at in the general vicinity of Emerald Bay and reports 40-60 foot viz, with water temps approaching 75º. So conditions will definitely vary depending on where you are on Catalina. As an example of that on the mainland, Phil Garner dove one of his favorite spots in PV from his boat over the weekend and reports that the greenish low-viz water they've been experiencing gave way to blue water with at least 40-foot visibility. So ya never know unless you look . . .

SEPTEMBER ZOOM SEEKERS CHANGE - I am sorry to tell you that Adam Tucker of the NTSB, lead investigator for the Conception fire investigation, will NOT be able to join us in September. The NTSB has told him that, because of the continuing litigation in the matter, both criminal and civil, he can't participate in a public forum like ours. But I think what we'll do is maintain the theme of looking at this three years after it happened and we will do a general overview/reminder of the sequence of events, talk about what the NTSB recommendations were, talk about what changes the Coast Guard mandated, see how our local boats have adopted/responded, and also provide a chance and forum for you all to share with the group what you've seen in terms of changes in attitude/procedures/etc. as well as how this all may have affected your own decision about how, when, and where to dive and who to do business with. So it'll still be Tuesday, September 13, @ 7:30PM with a working title of "Three Years Later - How the Conception Fire Has Changed Things."

YAP UPDATE - Bill Acker and wife Patricia, the owners of Manta Ray Bay in Yap, were in town last week and we gt together for dinner. Things are still a bit up in the air in Yap. We had thought Yap was opening up, along with the rest of the Federated States of Micronesia, but then we got word that that isn't correct. But then Bill said he had gotten word from daughter Numi that Yap had again reversed itself and would be opening to travelers. So it's confusing to say the least. We're still hoping to schedule a trip there in March of next year, but it's going to be dependent on not only what the Yapese government is doing, but also how readily available flights into Yap (on United) are. Based on the United website, it looks like twice-a-week flights - Sundays and Wednesdays - will resume on Wednesday, October 26. We'll keep checking and let you know.

ANOTHER COLORFUL LOBSTER - A few weeks back, we told you of an orange lobster. This time the color-of-the-week is blue, considered to be 1-in-2-million. It all happened in Maine and plans are to return the lobster to the ocean. Read about it here: BLUE LOBSTER.

SPEAKING OF RARE - How about a rare interesting jellyfish? This one was spotted by a diver in Papua New Guinea and it's only the second time it's ever been documented and the first time it's been captured on video. Interesting-looking creature as it pulsates through the water: RARE JELLY IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!

- Ken​
 
see how our local boats have adopted/responded
It's my understanding that prior to the Conception disaster, sometimes divers arrived for a liveaboard trip and had the option to spend that first night onboard, and then the next day the boat departed. The idea was to skip the expense and hassle of getting a hotel room for that first night, then heading to the boat the day of departure. But afterward, in light of concerns over the presence (which ties up a staff person and costs money) or absence of a roving nightwatchman (though presumably the boat is at the marina for this), it was my impression from forum discussions this was going to stop, at least for awhile.

Is that how things appear to be done there these days?
 
Is that how things appear to be done there these days?
Yes. Boarding the boat the night before and sleeping on-board prior to an early-morning departure is pretty much a thing of the past.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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