Ken Kurtis
Contributor
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Upcoming local dives (call 310/652-4990 for more info and to register):
• MORE TO COME IN 2016 BUT SO FAR . . .
• Saturday, February 20 - 35th Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup
• Wednesday, May 4 - Chamber Day & Eve 2016
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Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
• December 1-13 - Red Sea Aggressor (southern route - includes snorkeling with dolphins) plus 2 days in Cairo [ WE'RE BACK!!! ]
• March 11-19 - Yap (can be combined with Palau)
• March 20-27 - Palau on the Palau Aggressor II [ can be combined with Yap - WE can get 3 more SPOTS ]
• Late May or early June - Bonaire or Cayman
• July 2-14 - Indonesia
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 6 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 20-27 - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ 5 SPOTS CONFIRMED - ONLY 7 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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Home safe & sound . . .
BACK FROM THE RED SEA – I'm still working on the trip report but the (relatively) short version is that we had a really great time despite weather problems which came in the form of strong winds, especially in the early part of the trip. When we initially left port, I'd estimate that we were in 5-7’ seas. Not fun and a number of people got seasick. On top of that, we had a fairly long run south so people didn't get a lot of sleep that first night. Things got better weatherwise each day after that but we still were dealing with wind and surface chop every dive day. Even with that, we were able to get in 20 dives over the course of as week plus a dolphin snorkel, which sort of became a running joke as it seemed the dolphins were more interested in fleeing from human contact than initiating it. Definitely NOT how it was advertised. But that was balanced out on the last day with a fantastic live-in-your-mind-forever extended encounter with a small (5-6 feet) Oceanic Whitetip Shark, who spent the better of 30 minutes with us at the end of dive 1, and over an hour with us on dive 2. The animal made numerous close passes to everyone but seemed especially enamored with my camera setup and came to me (not “at” me – this shark was curious, not aggressive) over and over and over againand frequently turned away within – literally – an inch or two of my dome port. And she had six little black-and-white Pilotfish in the lead giving us classic photos, as you'll see, of what an Oceanic Whitetip should look like. Vis was as low as 10-20 feet the first day in the chop, but generally 50-100 feet. Water temps ranged from 76-78 and the air temps were in the low 70s but the wind chill made it feel much colder, especially when you were wet. Here’s quick peek at some of what we saw, including the fleeing dolphins and the curious shark:
CAIRO WAS FABULOUS AND WE LOVED OUR TOUR GUIDE – We started off with two days in Cairo as it’s the main entry into Egypt anyhow, and had two fabulous days touring the various pyramids, including the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, both literally across the street from our hotel. We can't say enough good things about our tour guide, Manal Sayed of Travel Egypt, who was knowledgeable, well-organized, had a great sense of humor, and was simply a joy to be with. The only drawback to all of this, and nothing Manal can control, was that there are pesky, aggressive, vendor/hawkers everywhere and especially at the tourist sites, and they are constantly harassing you with trinkets. Definitely detracts from the experience. That being said, it was still way cool seeing all of this and many people fulfilled their dream of riding a camel at the Pyramids:
LEAVING WAS A NIGHTMARE – This one’s all on Lufthansa who created the worst airline check-in experience I've ever had in my life. It started with them alleging that the ticket I'd bought for myself and Marilyn Lawrence didn't allow for any checked baggage and ended with them demanding $800 to check our four bags but offering us a “a really good deal” of upgrading us to Business for $700 for the two of us and then they'd comp us the four bags. Highway robbery and, after being at the counter going back and forth for almost two hours, left us with no choice. I was furious and may have taught them some new English words. I put the charge on a credit card, signed my name and added on the slip “Under duress” and will challenge the charge once we get home as our United itinerary (of which I didn't have a full copy with me – lessons learned is to print out all the pages and carry it with you when flying codeshare flights) clearly states two bags of up to 50 pounds each at no charge. I will do my best to never fly Lufthansa again.
TRIP REPORT & PIX – Hopefully will be done by the end of the week and I'll send out a separate note. Despite the problems, it was a good trip and we'll consider doing it again.
AVALON CLEANUP IS COMING – Saturday, February 20 is the date and we'll again take the early (6:15AM) ferry over and enjoy all the festivities. We'll be at the Green Pier as usual and if you can commit before December 31, I can get the early bird pricing which saves you $10. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to sign up.
TWO ADDITIONAL SPOTS AVAILABLE ON YAP/PALAU – This is our March 11-27 adventure/. The limiting factor here has always been the spots on the Palau Aggressor 2. Initially, I was only able to secure 7 spots and filled 6 right away. But it looks like Aggressor has had 2 cancellations so we can grab those as well. But they're not reserved for us so in theory Aggressor could sell them as well. If you want to find out more or nail these, call me.
And that'll do it for now. I'm actually writing this on our United flight at 38,000 feet as we cross over Newfoundland on our way from Frankfurt to Chicago and then Los Angeles. And, despite the Lufthansa issues, I hit the Holy Grail of Economy air travel on this long flight: Not only was I able to get my usual comp upgrade to an Economy Plus seat, but I had the entire row of three seats to myself as do Marilyn Lawrence in frontof me and Dave Cooley behind me. So something good has come out of this fiasco.
Have a great week and let’s go diving soon!!!
- Ken
Upcoming local dives (call 310/652-4990 for more info and to register):
• MORE TO COME IN 2016 BUT SO FAR . . .
• Saturday, February 20 - 35th Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup
• Wednesday, May 4 - Chamber Day & Eve 2016
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
• December 1-13 - Red Sea Aggressor (southern route - includes snorkeling with dolphins) plus 2 days in Cairo [ WE'RE BACK!!! ]
• March 11-19 - Yap (can be combined with Palau)
• March 20-27 - Palau on the Palau Aggressor II [ can be combined with Yap - WE can get 3 more SPOTS ]
• Late May or early June - Bonaire or Cayman
• July 2-14 - Indonesia
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 6 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 20-27 - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ 5 SPOTS CONFIRMED - ONLY 7 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Home safe & sound . . .
BACK FROM THE RED SEA – I'm still working on the trip report but the (relatively) short version is that we had a really great time despite weather problems which came in the form of strong winds, especially in the early part of the trip. When we initially left port, I'd estimate that we were in 5-7’ seas. Not fun and a number of people got seasick. On top of that, we had a fairly long run south so people didn't get a lot of sleep that first night. Things got better weatherwise each day after that but we still were dealing with wind and surface chop every dive day. Even with that, we were able to get in 20 dives over the course of as week plus a dolphin snorkel, which sort of became a running joke as it seemed the dolphins were more interested in fleeing from human contact than initiating it. Definitely NOT how it was advertised. But that was balanced out on the last day with a fantastic live-in-your-mind-forever extended encounter with a small (5-6 feet) Oceanic Whitetip Shark, who spent the better of 30 minutes with us at the end of dive 1, and over an hour with us on dive 2. The animal made numerous close passes to everyone but seemed especially enamored with my camera setup and came to me (not “at” me – this shark was curious, not aggressive) over and over and over againand frequently turned away within – literally – an inch or two of my dome port. And she had six little black-and-white Pilotfish in the lead giving us classic photos, as you'll see, of what an Oceanic Whitetip should look like. Vis was as low as 10-20 feet the first day in the chop, but generally 50-100 feet. Water temps ranged from 76-78 and the air temps were in the low 70s but the wind chill made it feel much colder, especially when you were wet. Here’s quick peek at some of what we saw, including the fleeing dolphins and the curious shark:
CAIRO WAS FABULOUS AND WE LOVED OUR TOUR GUIDE – We started off with two days in Cairo as it’s the main entry into Egypt anyhow, and had two fabulous days touring the various pyramids, including the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, both literally across the street from our hotel. We can't say enough good things about our tour guide, Manal Sayed of Travel Egypt, who was knowledgeable, well-organized, had a great sense of humor, and was simply a joy to be with. The only drawback to all of this, and nothing Manal can control, was that there are pesky, aggressive, vendor/hawkers everywhere and especially at the tourist sites, and they are constantly harassing you with trinkets. Definitely detracts from the experience. That being said, it was still way cool seeing all of this and many people fulfilled their dream of riding a camel at the Pyramids:
LEAVING WAS A NIGHTMARE – This one’s all on Lufthansa who created the worst airline check-in experience I've ever had in my life. It started with them alleging that the ticket I'd bought for myself and Marilyn Lawrence didn't allow for any checked baggage and ended with them demanding $800 to check our four bags but offering us a “a really good deal” of upgrading us to Business for $700 for the two of us and then they'd comp us the four bags. Highway robbery and, after being at the counter going back and forth for almost two hours, left us with no choice. I was furious and may have taught them some new English words. I put the charge on a credit card, signed my name and added on the slip “Under duress” and will challenge the charge once we get home as our United itinerary (of which I didn't have a full copy with me – lessons learned is to print out all the pages and carry it with you when flying codeshare flights) clearly states two bags of up to 50 pounds each at no charge. I will do my best to never fly Lufthansa again.
TRIP REPORT & PIX – Hopefully will be done by the end of the week and I'll send out a separate note. Despite the problems, it was a good trip and we'll consider doing it again.
AVALON CLEANUP IS COMING – Saturday, February 20 is the date and we'll again take the early (6:15AM) ferry over and enjoy all the festivities. We'll be at the Green Pier as usual and if you can commit before December 31, I can get the early bird pricing which saves you $10. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to sign up.
TWO ADDITIONAL SPOTS AVAILABLE ON YAP/PALAU – This is our March 11-27 adventure/. The limiting factor here has always been the spots on the Palau Aggressor 2. Initially, I was only able to secure 7 spots and filled 6 right away. But it looks like Aggressor has had 2 cancellations so we can grab those as well. But they're not reserved for us so in theory Aggressor could sell them as well. If you want to find out more or nail these, call me.
And that'll do it for now. I'm actually writing this on our United flight at 38,000 feet as we cross over Newfoundland on our way from Frankfurt to Chicago and then Los Angeles. And, despite the Lufthansa issues, I hit the Holy Grail of Economy air travel on this long flight: Not only was I able to get my usual comp upgrade to an Economy Plus seat, but I had the entire row of three seats to myself as do Marilyn Lawrence in frontof me and Dave Cooley behind me. So something good has come out of this fiasco.
Have a great week and let’s go diving soon!!!
- Ken
