Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Shark Week, Galapagos, Octo thief, and more
(please scroll down for details)
I guess we start with the elephant in the room . . .
SHARK WEEK ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL - It starts (started?? - depends on when you read this) Sunday night and runs all week, 8-11PM each night. I just scanned through all the programs and the two things that jumped out at me right away are (1) Lots of shows on Great Whites, and (2) Lots of celebrity-meets-shark shows. To the latter point, they've got Mike Tyson, Shaquille O'Neal, Snoop Dog, and others going in to play with the sharks. And it seems that, even though there are over 400 species of sharks in the world, just about every show has some sort of a Great White angle to it. Now I will say that, unlike the Nat Geo shark shows lately, there don't seem to be many shark attack shows. My impression of the history of Shark Week is that they started off as sensationalistic and actually advocated killing/culling sharks, then after a year or so they got very touchy-feely about sharks, but lately they've backslid a bit into sensationalism. So I guess this is an improvement. But you can check out the various offerings and set your DVR if you're not going to watch in real-time.
REAL-TIME DIVE REPORT - Speaking of real-time, we do have a real-time diving report again this week from John Lumb. " . . . South Laguna. Surf was non-existent. Thermocline at 12 ft! 66º and 57º. Beautiful dive, and better than most Catalina dives these days. Vis very clear in the shallows (10 ft & less) but particulate 20 ft and deeper . . . Horn shark, Bat ray, eel, C-O flounder, 2 types of nudis, many, very large lobsters & sculpin, and so many abs. Large ones everywhere, often not even in protected spots. Ruby's was open for parking lot or roof-top dining, we were up top, overlooking the ocean, very pleasant." I've heard some areas around Catalina to be hit-or-miss lately so sometimes the shore diving IS what gives you the best option.
HAWAII EXTENDS QUARANTINE RULE - Hawaii has decided to extend their 2-week quarantine rule until at least September 1. So if you've got a trip planned there this month, you might not be able to your leave room. Given the state of things on the mainland, as well as schools reopening, I wouldn't be surprised if the extension is further extended beyond September. You can read more about it here: HAWAIIAN TRAVEL QUARANTINE.
CHINESE FISHING FLEET PERCHED OFF OF THE GALAPAGOS - A fleet of 260 Chinese fishing vessels appears poised to strike the Galapagos. Although they are currently 200 miles offshore, which means outside Ecuadorean territorial waters, the fear is that they will move in en masse and wreck havoc ecologically. Of great concern are the various shark species found in the area, which might be hunted for their fins, along with the other wealth of fish life. There's a Change.org petition which you can sign (I did) which can be found here: CHANGE.ORG GALAPAGOS PETITION. Here's a recent radar picture of the fleet's position. The blue circle encompasses the Galapagos islands. The red oval is the location of the fleet.
HEY!! THAT'S MINE!!! - I frequently will take my GoPro, mount it on a small tripod, find a nice place on the reef to place it, leave it there, and then swim away to see what I'll get. Because sometimes the absence of a human relaxes the animals and you get some creature images that you wouldn't otherwise capture. But what happens when you do this with an octopus whose initial reaction is, "Thanks for your donation"? Take a peek: OCTO SWIMS OFF WITH CAMERA.
NEW GREAT BARRIER REEF UNDERWATER MUSEUM - I have long extolled the virtues of sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor who created the Cancun Underwater Museum we've often visited, as well as other installations around the world. His latest is off of Townsville, Australia, and is part of a four-piece collection called the Museum of Underwater Art. You can read more about it here and see pix of the sculptures (MUSEUM OF UNDERWATER ART) but the piece I think is absolutely brilliant is called "Ocean Siren" which sticks 16 feet above the water and is visible from land. The piece is wired with LED lights which change color depending on water temperature with blue being good and red being bad so the Ocean Siren really does announce the state of the ocean. Here's a picture of it from Jason:
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)
I guess we start with the elephant in the room . . .
SHARK WEEK ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL - It starts (started?? - depends on when you read this) Sunday night and runs all week, 8-11PM each night. I just scanned through all the programs and the two things that jumped out at me right away are (1) Lots of shows on Great Whites, and (2) Lots of celebrity-meets-shark shows. To the latter point, they've got Mike Tyson, Shaquille O'Neal, Snoop Dog, and others going in to play with the sharks. And it seems that, even though there are over 400 species of sharks in the world, just about every show has some sort of a Great White angle to it. Now I will say that, unlike the Nat Geo shark shows lately, there don't seem to be many shark attack shows. My impression of the history of Shark Week is that they started off as sensationalistic and actually advocated killing/culling sharks, then after a year or so they got very touchy-feely about sharks, but lately they've backslid a bit into sensationalism. So I guess this is an improvement. But you can check out the various offerings and set your DVR if you're not going to watch in real-time.
REAL-TIME DIVE REPORT - Speaking of real-time, we do have a real-time diving report again this week from John Lumb. " . . . South Laguna. Surf was non-existent. Thermocline at 12 ft! 66º and 57º. Beautiful dive, and better than most Catalina dives these days. Vis very clear in the shallows (10 ft & less) but particulate 20 ft and deeper . . . Horn shark, Bat ray, eel, C-O flounder, 2 types of nudis, many, very large lobsters & sculpin, and so many abs. Large ones everywhere, often not even in protected spots. Ruby's was open for parking lot or roof-top dining, we were up top, overlooking the ocean, very pleasant." I've heard some areas around Catalina to be hit-or-miss lately so sometimes the shore diving IS what gives you the best option.
HAWAII EXTENDS QUARANTINE RULE - Hawaii has decided to extend their 2-week quarantine rule until at least September 1. So if you've got a trip planned there this month, you might not be able to your leave room. Given the state of things on the mainland, as well as schools reopening, I wouldn't be surprised if the extension is further extended beyond September. You can read more about it here: HAWAIIAN TRAVEL QUARANTINE.
CHINESE FISHING FLEET PERCHED OFF OF THE GALAPAGOS - A fleet of 260 Chinese fishing vessels appears poised to strike the Galapagos. Although they are currently 200 miles offshore, which means outside Ecuadorean territorial waters, the fear is that they will move in en masse and wreck havoc ecologically. Of great concern are the various shark species found in the area, which might be hunted for their fins, along with the other wealth of fish life. There's a Change.org petition which you can sign (I did) which can be found here: CHANGE.ORG GALAPAGOS PETITION. Here's a recent radar picture of the fleet's position. The blue circle encompasses the Galapagos islands. The red oval is the location of the fleet.
HEY!! THAT'S MINE!!! - I frequently will take my GoPro, mount it on a small tripod, find a nice place on the reef to place it, leave it there, and then swim away to see what I'll get. Because sometimes the absence of a human relaxes the animals and you get some creature images that you wouldn't otherwise capture. But what happens when you do this with an octopus whose initial reaction is, "Thanks for your donation"? Take a peek: OCTO SWIMS OFF WITH CAMERA.
NEW GREAT BARRIER REEF UNDERWATER MUSEUM - I have long extolled the virtues of sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor who created the Cancun Underwater Museum we've often visited, as well as other installations around the world. His latest is off of Townsville, Australia, and is part of a four-piece collection called the Museum of Underwater Art. You can read more about it here and see pix of the sculptures (MUSEUM OF UNDERWATER ART) but the piece I think is absolutely brilliant is called "Ocean Siren" which sticks 16 feet above the water and is visible from land. The piece is wired with LED lights which change color depending on water temperature with blue being good and red being bad so the Ocean Siren really does announce the state of the ocean. Here's a picture of it from Jason:
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
