Batten down the hatches . . .
STORM HEADING OUR WAY - It looks likes it's going to start Monday evening and go through Tuesday afternoon with some really heavy stuff predicted at times. Accumulation may be as much as an inch overall each day. Much as we need the rain, there were really good conditions at Catalina over the weekend and the storm is likely to blow that all away, as well as muck up most of the beach dives as well. But the viz will come back and we need the precipitation. But if it gets too heavy, keep your mask and fins handy.
ZOOM SEEKERS THIS TUESDAY - We've had a slight sked change and have moved Doug & Lorenza Sloss into 2022. In their place, we will be offering "In Search of Mantas," which will look at many of the manta hotspots around the world (there are a bunch) as well as tell you how you can go visit them. And our speaker will be a phenomenally interesting guy who's normally tied up this time of the year with other seasonal duties, but who has agreed to take some time out for us. That's right, our guest speaker will be the one and only . . . MANTA CLAUS!!! So I hope you can join us Tuesday night starting at 7:30PM. Here's the Zoom link:
DR. BILL UPDATE - The news is not great. I went to see him in the hospital (on the mainland, not Avalon) last week. I was able to spend almost 90 minutes with him. He's been moved there to get a better level of care in dealing with his various medical issues, specifically his cancers. He's currently battling a combination of nausea and general pain and the docs aren't exactly sure what's specifically causing either. But despite all of this, he was in pretty good spirits and we had a good talk. And he was kind enough to laugh some of the various lame jokes I made as we chatted. But make no mistake that he's got a difficult path ahead of him and the journey will be longer than I'm sure he'd like. This is no easy thing but he seems to be making the best of it. But it will definitely be a while until he's back on his feet. He checks his FaceBook page with some regularity so if you'd like to send him a note, that's a good way to do it.
"BECOMING COUSTEAU" REVIEW - I really wanted to like this movie more than I did. It's essentially the story of how Cousteau became Cousteau and is told through a lot of archival footage, some narration, and some interviews as well as actual audio from the time. There's a lot of sub-titles, which I'm never a fan of, because a lot of the actual audio is in French. But it is definitely an interesting film about a fascinating man and worth investing ninety-six minutes to watch it. You can stream it through Disney+.
"TICK, TICK . . . BOOM!" REVIEW - It has nothing to do with diving but as long as I'm in movie mode . . . I watched this last night and it was PHENOMENAL. It's the story of Jonathan Larson, who wrote "Rent," and his path in his early days to achieving success. It's really well-done (it's essentially a musical) and will likely garner many nominations as we head into awards season. It's streaming on Netflix.
FLORIDA TO FEED STARVING MANATEES - In an unprecedented plan, the state of Florida announced a plan to feed many of the manatees who inhabit their waters, as they've been seeing a massive die-off (as much as 15% of the total population). The east coast of Florida seems to be worse-hit than the west coast. (The west coast is where we used to go when we did our Crystal River manatee trips.) There have been die-offs over the years usually attributed to unseasonably cool waters, but this time, and it may be related to climate, there simply isn't enough food for the manatees to eat. (They graze mainly on sea grass.) It's a very serious situation. You can read more about it here:
FLORIDA'S MANATEE RESCUE PLAN.
NO SQUID EGGS YET AT VETS - I saw a dive report earlier in the week from Mike Coffer who's a Giant Sea Bass researcher and frequently dive Vets Park looking for juvies. Although he found a couple, he says he didn't see any squid eggs. So maybe this will be a late-starting season. If you dive Vets and see eggs, please shoot me a note about it.
FISH FARM VESSEL - A group in Chile has received approval for a self-propelled floating fish farm that it feels can revolutionize aquaculture, which is a $285 billion industry and the fastest-growing sector in the food animal industry. It's a pretty interesting design as it's basically a ship. You can read more about it here plus there's a video link at the bottom of the story:
NEW FISH FARM VEHICLE.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
