TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - August 5-12

[Ken Kurtis]

Want to travel??? Upcoming 2018 vacation trips:

• October 27 - November 3 - Roatan at Anthony's Key (SOLD OUT!!!)
STARTING TO PLAN 2019
• Anyone up for Easter Island???
• Perhaps a combo Yap & Truk????
• Maldives for the huge Manta Ray congregation - looking at sometime in Aug/Sept/Oct
• Where else would you like to go?

GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
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Upcoming local dives & classes:

• Sat., Aug. 11 - Redondo - Navigation (single tank - $25)
• Sat., Aug. 25 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150)
• Thu., Sept. 6 - Redondo - Night Dive (FREE!!)
• Sat., Sept. 15 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150 - early departure, early return)
• Thu., Sept. 20 - CLASS - PHOTO WORKSHOP @ Reef Seekers Westwood ($25)

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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No Thai cave rescue comments this week. (I can hear the cheering . . .)

RETURN OF THE HEAT WAVE - Looks like Tuesday's going to be the peak of it but it won't be all THAT much cooler by next weekend. Many times when we've gotten these heat waves in the past, they coincide with a high pressure dome building over SoCal and our waters, and it flattens things out and gives us some really nice diving conditions. That doesn't seem to be the case here. I've been seeing lots of reports from over the weekend of very little visibility up and down the coast. Redondo looks somewhat choppy on the live cam. It sounds like it might be better at some of the outer islands. Not certain about Catalina as it seems a bit hit-and-miss: Some places good, others not so much. Sounds like we're still getting good Black Sea Bass activity in the UW Park though, and with some decent-looking viz as well.

ARE THEY BSBs OR GSBs??? - The "official" common name (which in itself is sort of a contradiction in terms) for the Black Sea Bass - Stereolepis gigas - is now the Giant Sea Bass. I have no idea why and even when this change came about. In fact, both common names are listed for the species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The record size of a caught fish is 563 pounds (caught at Anacapa in 1968). It's thought they can grow bigger than that. At the Aquarium of the Pacific, our home-grown juvy - who is now approaching two years old - is not only doing very well but has been moved from the Redondo Canyon exhibit where he was by himself, down the hall to the Long Beach Breakwater exhibit. He's been in there for a couple of weeks now and what's really interesting is this is the first time he's ever been with our fish. And he really now looks like a miniature BSB (I'm a dinosaur and still call them that). As you likely know, the fish was given protected status by the State of California back in 1982. But to give you some perspective of how big the record-landed fish must have been, here's an old historical photo of a smaller one that weighed in at "only" 425 pounds. Yikes!!! Just think how big (and even more magnificent) that bigger one must have been.

NITROX IDEA - We had a wonderful nitrox class last week and I want to pitch again an idea I believe strongly in IF you're going to choose to dive nitrox. It's quite simple: Set your computer to 28% not to 32% (assuming that's the mix you're diving). There are numerous reasons for this. One is that by setting the % lower than what you're using, you're building in a fudge factor but still gaining the benefit of longer bottom times that nitrox allows. Secondly, if you insist on setting your computer to the 32%, when you analyze tank #2 and it's 30%, and then you go to tank #3 and it's 29%, you should be resetting your computer to those lower numbers each time. Most people don't do that. They just leave it set at 32%. The problem there is that your computer calculates as if you have slightly less nitrogen in your body than you actually do. That could result in an unanticipated hit. (Granted, it's a slim chance but why take the risk in the first place?) By setting your computer to 28% (or 27%, or 26%, or whatever number gives you comfort), you now have extra bottom time, you have a fudge factor, and you don't have to worry about re-setting the PPO2 every single dive.

2019 TRIPS - As I mentioned above, I've started planning out 2019 trips. I had a request to go back to Easter Island, maybe in January or February, which I would dearly love to do, but the trick is getting enough folks to go. So give some though to that. IF that IS something in which you'd be interested, get hold of me quickly because we wouldn't have a lot of lead time to throw it all together.

NAVIGATION CLASS THIS SATURDAY - Hate getting lost and having a long swim back to the beach or boat? Join us for our Navigation Class this Saturday at Redondo's Vets Park. Learn the ins and outs of handling a compass, using natural aids, and just getting comfortable. Includes a single tank dive where we'll sort of group navigate our way around. Call 310/652-4990 to get signed up.

FINGERS CROSSED - Got a report of a panicked diver today who was airlifted off of a boat. One thing we stress when we talk about our fatalities reports (last we heard she was conscious & breathing but don't know what the final outcome is) is the idea of avoiding task-loading. In other words, if one thing goes wrong, stop right then and there, fix it, and if you can't, then abort the dive. I don't know what order these happened in but it sounds like her tank was loose, her fin came off, and her mask was partially flooded. She was fairly new (supposedly 20 dives and none in California so add a thicker wetsuit to the mix) and apparently panicked. Fortunately, her buddies were able to go up with her and assist as best they could (no word of whether they ditched her weightbelt or not) and were able to fairly quickly get her back to the boat. But again the big lesson here is that there's no sin in aborting a dive and even BEFORE you start the dive, do a functional gear check and make sure everything (including YOU) works the way you want it to.

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

- Ken

 

[drbill]

I've used giant sea bass for years now (although initially called them black sea bass years ago). According to "legend," the black sea bass got its name back before SCUBA Divers saw them live because the dead ones brought up by anglers were often very dark. Live ones can be silvery, countershaded, spotted or dark in color. There is an Atlantic species (Centropristis striata) with the common name black sea bass.

Of course the giant sea bass isn't even a bass. It is in the wreckfish family (Polyprionidae).

Look forward to seeing y'all out here on the 25th!

 

[Sam Miller III]

I have had a intimate relationship with Black Sea Bass since early 1950s..(good gosh almost 70 years! )....Around that time California spearfishermen began developing spear guns and special powerhead (aka point impact) heads and points to harvest BSB.

The first BSB recorded as a World Record harvested by a spearfisherman was by the late great Herb Samson of then bucolic Goat Hill California, whos name was changed in 1960 to Coasta Mesa. ( you may recall his very fine and expensive dive equipment- The radical and very powerful spear gun with the 38 caliber point impact head and the 16 MM and 35 MM camera systems( which weighed in at 35 pounds for the 16 mm Sportsman and and a whopping 90 pounds for the 35 MM Professional system-- I have my 16 MM setting at my feet, the great professional photographer Bill Mc Donald has a 35 MM system - Both now silent symbols of an ancient era of the origins of UW photography )

The second BSB record was set a few weeks later by my friend diving companion for over 50 years the late great Ron Merker, who also happened to be our own @drbills basic instructor. Ron broke Herbs record by a presentable number of pounds but do to a foul up was never correctly and officially recorded.

Then the race was on - new divers joined the tribe, bigger and more powerful guns were developed and most of all harvesting techqnues were perfected.

Last world record BSB was harvested at San Clemente by Bob Stansbury and either 518 or 618 pounds. Beginning 2000 the listing of world records was wiped clean and a new list for the new millennium was established-- but the BSB is not among the fish

Do to the efforts of the late John Fitch, a F&G biologist and others in 1972 or 1974 (my memory is clouded) the harvesting ot BSB was prohibited - by line fishermen and by spearfishermen -- and just in time

There is nothing worse than a reformed drunk other than a reformed Spearfisherman- The strongest Ron & I drank was Dads or Frosty root beers but we were reformed spearfishermen; we and others were concerned about the dwindling heard at least a decade or more before the F&G restriction.

I recall a conversation with Harry Vetter (@dead dog 's instructor) an early employee of Ron's Aquatic Center dive shop about a study or conversation with John Fitch -- A 300 pound BSB was 90 years old ! At that time in the 1960s it would have meant that the BSB was hatched when Abraham Lincoln was president of the US -- A very sobering which altered our spearfishing forever.

So many long dormant memories of BSB, spearfishermen and events...

Now these magnificent fish can be seen and enjoyed by many ​

Thanks for sharing

Sam Miller, 111
Ooops
NAUI instructor # A 27

 

[MaxBottomtime]

NITROX IDEA - We had a wonderful nitrox class last week and I want to pitch again an idea I believe strongly in IF you're going to choose to dive nitrox. It's quite simple: Set your computer to 28% not to 32% (assuming that's the mix you're diving). There are numerous reasons for this. One is that by setting the % lower than what you're using, you're building in a fudge factor but still gaining the benefit of longer bottom times that nitrox allows. Secondly, if you insist on setting your computer to the 32%, when you analyze tank #2 and it's 30%, and then you go to tank #3 and it's 29%, you should be resetting your computer to those lower numbers each time. Most people don't do that. They just leave it set at 32%. The problem there is that your computer calculates as if you have slightly less nitrogen in your body than you actually do. That could result in an unanticipated hit. (Granted, it's a slim chance but why take the risk in the first place?) By setting your computer to 28% (or 27%, or 26%, or whatever number gives you comfort), you now have extra bottom time, you have a fudge factor, and you don't have to worry about re-setting the PPO2 every single dive.

How do chamber personnel feel about that? Wouldn't it be wiser to know the exact gas a diver is diving than to fudge it a bit?

 

[Ken Kurtis]

I'll let them answer for themselves but to take your argument to the extreme, you'd then be against people diving on nitrox but having their computers set on air for the same reasons?

IMHO, what I have my computer set up on what I'm diving are separate animals. Also - and I'm not a chamber tech - when you're treated for the bends, there are different treatments if you've been diving air, or 32%, or 36%. Bent is bent and the goal is to eliminate bubbles regardless of how they got there.

- Ken

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Sam, always good to have you share your thoughts from the early days of diving. But a couple of clarifications:

Do to the efforts of the late John Fitch, a F&G biologist and others in 1972 or 1974 (my memory is clouded) the harvesting ot BSB was prohibited - by line fishermen and by spearfishermen -- and just in time

1982 was the year that they came under CA protection. They were listed officially as "Endangered" by IUCN in (I think) 1996.

I recall a conversation with Harry Vetter (@dead dog 's instructor) an early employee of Ron's Aquatic Center dive shop about a study or conversation with John Fitch -- A 300 pound BSB was 90 years old ! At that time in the 1960s it would have meant that the BSB was hatched when Abraham Lincoln was president of the US -- A very sobering which altered our spearfishing forever.

The current thinking is that GSB/BSBs have a lifespan of 70-ish years reaching a max length of seven feet and max weight of 700-800 pounds. largest official record one, caught at Anacapa, is 563 pounds. The one in the picture I posted is listed as 425 pounds and he's HUUUUUUGE.

My unscientific guess is that 90 years is too old for the age and 300 pounds too light for one that age. The ones we have at the Aquarium of the Pacific - which are about 30 year sold - are in the 250-300 pounds range. The ones we're currently seeing at the UW park appear to be bigger and heavier.

- Ken

 

[Sam Miller III]

Thank You
Some time in the future in the dark of the night I will tell you about BSB spearing
Not appropriate to discuss here....

SDM

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I'll let them answer for themselves but to take your argument to the extreme, you'd then be against people diving on nitrox but having their computers set on air for the same reasons?

That would be correct. If I'm diving 32% with my computer set to air I am telling myself that I have a shorter ndl than I actually do. There are many dives when I plan to spend as much time as I can to find a certain animal or get a photograph. I don't want my computer to tell me it's time to leave when I know it isn't, trying to guess how much more time I actually have. The only reason I use a computer is to let me know my ndl. The only reason I use nitrox is to extend that ndl. I'm not going to drive with a broken fuel gauge wondering if I'm close to running out of gas. I'm certainly not going to blindly follow a computer I know to have incorrect information. The risk of DCS is already so low that lying to your computer isn't going to lower it to any safer level.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

I don't want my computer to tell me it's time to leave when I know it isn't, trying to guess how much more time I actually have.

First of all, I have NEVER said to do that. You agree to play by a set of rules - set your computer for whatever % you like and then accept the NDL it gives you - and to do otherwise would be idiotic.

I'm not going to drive with a broken fuel gauge wondering if I'm close to running out of gas. I'm certainly not going to blindly follow a computer I know to have incorrect information.

Nothing's "broken" Phil. You're simply saying, "I'll fill up when I have a quarter tank left."

The risk of DCS is already so low that lying to your computer isn't going to lower it to any safer level.

It's low-risk until it happens to you. (No, I've never personally been bent.) But by running your computer o the exact %, and then squeezing out every single minute you can, puts an awful lot of faith that the algorithm in the computer exactly/closely matches your body physiology and I personally think that's an unacceptable risk. I'll willingly give up 10 minutes of bottom time for a little extra margin.

- Ken

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I don't push the computer to its ndl while on nitrox because I could never make a tank last that long. At 60 feet the computer gives me 100 minutes on 32%. If I don't swim much I can only stay down about half that. If I set the computer for air I am already approaching my ndl. I'd prefer to know that I still have another 50 minutes available if I decide to dive a larger tank. That doesn't mean I want to push my limits, just that I prefer to have accurate information available to me.