Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Hurricanes, Oil Spill, Galapagos, and more
(please scroll down for details)
Lots of stuff to cover this week . . .
DOUBLE DOSE OF HURRICANES - Keep an eye on southern Louisiana this week as they're smack dab in the middle of the current projected paths of two hurricanes (Marco & Laura) churning through the Gulf of Mexico. Marco will make landfall Tuesday around noon and then Laura will slam into the coastline Wednesday evening. They're both projected to hit roughly the same spot, in western Louisiana, towards the border with Texas. Marco will swing west into Texas and Laura will head more northerly and then hook NE but for anyone living along the Louisiana southern coastline, this is going to be a rough week to say the least.
WE'VE GOT THE HEAT INSTEAD OF THE WIND - There have been times this past week when a nice gust of wind would have been a delightful relief. Well, maybe NOT 70mph hurricane winds but a gentle breeze would have felt good. Looks like the heat continues into next week. So it might be a good time to dive.
AVALON FOR US ON TUESDAY - We're going over on the 9AM Express out of San Pedro and will do three dives in the Underwater Park. The thought is that, while the boat will be full - 60% capacity is now "full" - the Park will hopefully be a little less crowded than it might be on a weekend. We're at six divers and a non-diver right now. If you're interested in joining us, I need to know before Noon Monday because that's when I have to confirm the spots with Express. 310/652-4990 or e-mail.
RANDOM CONDITION REPORTS FROM THE WEEKEND - Buck had ankle-slappers at Vets Park on Saturday with 25-foot viz, 70º in the shallows and 64º below 35'. Dr. Bill reports from the Underwater Park that there were currents (sometimes ripping) and then no currents on various dives, with water temps ranging from almost-70 to high 50s at depth. Water looked like it had a greenish tint from his pix. But he was seeing Giant Sea Bass, including one with a fisherman's hook dangling from its mouth. John Lumb was at Heisler Park with moderate vis (12-20') and some strong surge but a water temp of 75º down to 20 feet. Hard to know how to dress anymore when you realize that these temps overall ranged from 56-75º. Nothing like a 20-degree temp change to made your wetsuit choices more complicated.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S A GIANT SEA BASS? - By taking a Fish ID class, that's how. And we've got one scheduled for this Wednesday evening 7-9:30PM(ish). We'll set it up as a Zoom call and there's no requirement for you to be wearing pants during the class (just don't stand up). In all seriousness, we'll run through a general system of fish ID and teach you to narrow things down through color, shape, size, and other things, give you a good system as to how to put it all together, and then go through some specific IDs of common fish from dive regions around the world. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to sign up or shoot me an e-mail here. We've already got some people signed up so this class is a go.
OIL SPILL IN MAURITIUS - You may have heard the name but you probably don't know where it is. Mauritius is a small - less than 800 sq miles - island in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Madagascar. An oil tanker has run aground there and spilled a significant amount of oil into a pristine ecosystem. One theory as to why the tanker ran aground: They may have strayed too close to shore trying to pick up a Wi-Fi signal. Read more about it here: MAURITIUS OIL SPILL.
CHINESE FLEET BACKS OFF OF GALAPAGOS FOR NOW - Maybe on-line petitions DO have an effect. After a huge international outcry, the Chinese government has agree to at least temporarily place its Galapagos fishing fleet under a 3-month moratorium starting September 1. It's not a total victory but it's a start. You can read more about it here: CHINESE FLEET MORATORIUM.
EXTENDED COVID CLOSURES - Hawaii announced this week that they're effectively delaying (again) fully re-opening to tourists by leaving in place their strict 14-day quarantine requirement, which requires you to stay cooped up in a home or hotel and not go to another island for that quarantine period. This will stay in effect until at least September 30. Similarly, the Cayman Islands has announced that their borders will remain closed to foreign travel at least until October 1, mainly because other countries who provide tourism to Cayman and specifically the United States, do not have the virus under control to the point where they feel it's safe to re-open. Like Hawaii, they are also requiring a 14-day quarantine for anyone coming in from another country. As we've said for quite some time, in terms of dive travel, this all is NOT settling down anytime soon.
AND FINALLY . . . - There's this:
I'm pretty sure that it's not from today - in all seriousness, this isn't a contemporary shot since that's the old Great White Steamer pier in Avalon in the background - but it really does give you a good idea of the "old" days. Note that no one's wearing a wetsuit, which may not have yet been invented (that would have been the early 50s), and for Avalon, that's actually "high" surf. Note all the hardhats are being supplied by some sort of land-based compressor (foreground - there likely were more than one). I wonder not only what they were doing, but how long their hoses were, because the water doesn't really reach any significant depth until you get a couple of hundred feet out from the shoreline. Weird setup, to say the least. (And I assume the person in the round helmet is supervising the other four.) Thanks to Karl Huggins for digging up the pix and passing it on. If anyone has any info about this, we'd love to hear it.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, stay safe, wear your mask, wash your hands, and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
(please scroll down for details)
Lots of stuff to cover this week . . .
DOUBLE DOSE OF HURRICANES - Keep an eye on southern Louisiana this week as they're smack dab in the middle of the current projected paths of two hurricanes (Marco & Laura) churning through the Gulf of Mexico. Marco will make landfall Tuesday around noon and then Laura will slam into the coastline Wednesday evening. They're both projected to hit roughly the same spot, in western Louisiana, towards the border with Texas. Marco will swing west into Texas and Laura will head more northerly and then hook NE but for anyone living along the Louisiana southern coastline, this is going to be a rough week to say the least.
WE'VE GOT THE HEAT INSTEAD OF THE WIND - There have been times this past week when a nice gust of wind would have been a delightful relief. Well, maybe NOT 70mph hurricane winds but a gentle breeze would have felt good. Looks like the heat continues into next week. So it might be a good time to dive.
AVALON FOR US ON TUESDAY - We're going over on the 9AM Express out of San Pedro and will do three dives in the Underwater Park. The thought is that, while the boat will be full - 60% capacity is now "full" - the Park will hopefully be a little less crowded than it might be on a weekend. We're at six divers and a non-diver right now. If you're interested in joining us, I need to know before Noon Monday because that's when I have to confirm the spots with Express. 310/652-4990 or e-mail.
RANDOM CONDITION REPORTS FROM THE WEEKEND - Buck had ankle-slappers at Vets Park on Saturday with 25-foot viz, 70º in the shallows and 64º below 35'. Dr. Bill reports from the Underwater Park that there were currents (sometimes ripping) and then no currents on various dives, with water temps ranging from almost-70 to high 50s at depth. Water looked like it had a greenish tint from his pix. But he was seeing Giant Sea Bass, including one with a fisherman's hook dangling from its mouth. John Lumb was at Heisler Park with moderate vis (12-20') and some strong surge but a water temp of 75º down to 20 feet. Hard to know how to dress anymore when you realize that these temps overall ranged from 56-75º. Nothing like a 20-degree temp change to made your wetsuit choices more complicated.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IT'S A GIANT SEA BASS? - By taking a Fish ID class, that's how. And we've got one scheduled for this Wednesday evening 7-9:30PM(ish). We'll set it up as a Zoom call and there's no requirement for you to be wearing pants during the class (just don't stand up). In all seriousness, we'll run through a general system of fish ID and teach you to narrow things down through color, shape, size, and other things, give you a good system as to how to put it all together, and then go through some specific IDs of common fish from dive regions around the world. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to sign up or shoot me an e-mail here. We've already got some people signed up so this class is a go.
OIL SPILL IN MAURITIUS - You may have heard the name but you probably don't know where it is. Mauritius is a small - less than 800 sq miles - island in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Madagascar. An oil tanker has run aground there and spilled a significant amount of oil into a pristine ecosystem. One theory as to why the tanker ran aground: They may have strayed too close to shore trying to pick up a Wi-Fi signal. Read more about it here: MAURITIUS OIL SPILL.
CHINESE FLEET BACKS OFF OF GALAPAGOS FOR NOW - Maybe on-line petitions DO have an effect. After a huge international outcry, the Chinese government has agree to at least temporarily place its Galapagos fishing fleet under a 3-month moratorium starting September 1. It's not a total victory but it's a start. You can read more about it here: CHINESE FLEET MORATORIUM.
EXTENDED COVID CLOSURES - Hawaii announced this week that they're effectively delaying (again) fully re-opening to tourists by leaving in place their strict 14-day quarantine requirement, which requires you to stay cooped up in a home or hotel and not go to another island for that quarantine period. This will stay in effect until at least September 30. Similarly, the Cayman Islands has announced that their borders will remain closed to foreign travel at least until October 1, mainly because other countries who provide tourism to Cayman and specifically the United States, do not have the virus under control to the point where they feel it's safe to re-open. Like Hawaii, they are also requiring a 14-day quarantine for anyone coming in from another country. As we've said for quite some time, in terms of dive travel, this all is NOT settling down anytime soon.
AND FINALLY . . . - There's this:
I'm pretty sure that it's not from today - in all seriousness, this isn't a contemporary shot since that's the old Great White Steamer pier in Avalon in the background - but it really does give you a good idea of the "old" days. Note that no one's wearing a wetsuit, which may not have yet been invented (that would have been the early 50s), and for Avalon, that's actually "high" surf. Note all the hardhats are being supplied by some sort of land-based compressor (foreground - there likely were more than one). I wonder not only what they were doing, but how long their hoses were, because the water doesn't really reach any significant depth until you get a couple of hundred feet out from the shoreline. Weird setup, to say the least. (And I assume the person in the round helmet is supervising the other four.) Thanks to Karl Huggins for digging up the pix and passing it on. If anyone has any info about this, we'd love to hear it.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week, stay safe, wear your mask, wash your hands, and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
