Ken Kurtis
Contributor
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 [ TRIP REPORT & PIX NOW POSTED ]
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
Busy week ahead for lots of reasons . . .
RED SEA TRIP REPORT & PIX NOW POSTED - In case you didn't see the e-mail from Saturday night, the Red Sea trip report and SmugMug slideshow pix are now all available on-line. Use these links:
TRIP REPORT - Red Sea trip report - December, 2015
SMUGMUG PIX & SLIDESHOW - https://kenkurtis.smugmug.com/DIVE-TRIP-PHOTOS-ALL/2015-DIVE-TRIPS/Red-Sea-2015/
LUFTHANSA UPDATE - As I lamented last week, Lufthansa charged me $700 to allow Marilyn Lawrence and I to check bags since they claimed we were on a "no baggage" fare. But they did us a "favor" by upgrading us to Business, which automatically gets two free bags. I talked with Chase who contacted Lufthansa who basically said, "He asked to be upgraded to Business and that's what we charged him for." Chase has asked me to try to deal directly with Lufthansa to see if they'll issue a refund before filing a dispute on the charge. What a mess!!! The issue, and what may perhaps be my downfall, is the even though I told them to charge me for just the bags, they wrote up the charge as an upgrade to Business and when I protested, they essentially said they couldn't change it and the plane was boarding, so we had to go. Needless to say, I feel quite scammed. I have been in touch with a travel writer for the Washington Post, Christopher Elliott, who sometimes acts as a go-between and we'll see if anything can come of that. In the meantime, one lesson learned is to make copies of your baggage charges (usually found in the small print of your reservation) as well as the general baggage policies of an airline, especially if you booked on Airline A and then there's a codeshare flight on Airline B.
WHO'S UP FOR PALAU? - We've got one spot left (male share) on our Palau Aggressor trip March 20-27. Palau is a fabulous place to dive and truly a jewel of the Pacific. We'll get in wrecks, reefs, walls, drift dives, and more. We'll be sure to introduce you to the friendly Napoleon Wrasses of Blue Corner as they hang around hoping one of the DMs has brought them a hard-boiled egg (one of their favorite treats). We'll hit such legendary spots as the aforementioned Blue Corner, Blue Hole, German Channel, Big Drop-Off, Peleliu Express, and more. Plus we'll end the week with a magical hour-long snorkel amongst the stingless jellies of Jellyfish Lake. It's really like swimming in living jello. Cost of the trip is $3,495, which includes all the diving on the PA2, hotel overnight going in, and crew tip. This is also the same price that we had last year so, despite price increases from Aggressor, we've been able to hold the line financially. And if you're doing Palau, give some though to also doing the Yap the week before. That's another great place where you'll get some absolutely incredible encounters with Manta Rays, Mandarinfish, sharks, and more. If you need more info or to secure this spot, give us a call at 310/652-4990.
WE CAN GET TWO MORE SPOTS - The note above refers to the spots which we're committed to. But they also had a last-minute cancellation that opened up two other spots on the boat in their standard stateroom that opens directly on to the dive deck. (And it's $200 cheaper.) So we could technically get as many as three spots in case there's two of you reading this who would like to be together. It's doable, just give us a call.
FUNNY PICTURES - We've all seen our share of amusing pictures featuring animals and now there's actually an award for them. It's called the "Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards" and they just handed out the first batch. Take a look at some of the winners: Hilarious Winners of the First Annual ‘Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards’ | Colossal .
AVALON CLEANUP FEBRUARY 20 - Hopefully you're thinking of joining us along with 500 of your closest trash-oriented friends for the 35th annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup which will be held Saturday, February 20, next year. We'll be at the Green Pier as usual and hopefully will be finding all kinds of goodies and unusual things. Remember, there are also awards given out for what you find so, in addition to providing some ecologically correct manpower to clean up the harbor, you could walk away with an award as well. Plus there's plenty of loot to be had through door prizes and raffles. (And don't forget the heated competition for the coveted Ken Kurtis Silver-Tongued Devil Award for the best BS story of the day about your trash find.) It's all in good fun and for a good cause and if you want to join us, let me know through e-mail or a phone call to 310/652-4990.
SHARK FISHING PETITION - It's estimated that 90% of the world's shark population has been killed. Generally, there are another 60-100 million sharks killed every year. They're listed as threatened or endangered on most watch lists. So it's a little baffling to try to understand why we'd want to have a commercial shark fishery opening off of Florida in January, when an aggregation of sharks starts to form. There's an on-line petition to NOAA to try to delay this until July and if you'd like to join me and over 17,000 others who have already signed, here's the link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/406/...mercial-shark-fishing-set-for-january-1-2016/ .
And that'll do it for now. Have a very Merry Christmas and lets go diving soon (well, after the holidays)!!!
- Ken
December 1-13 - Red Sea Aggressor (southern route - includes snorkeling with dolphins) plus 2 days in Cairo [ TRIP REPORT & PIX NOW POSTED ]
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
Busy week ahead for lots of reasons . . .
RED SEA TRIP REPORT & PIX NOW POSTED - In case you didn't see the e-mail from Saturday night, the Red Sea trip report and SmugMug slideshow pix are now all available on-line. Use these links:
TRIP REPORT - Red Sea trip report - December, 2015
SMUGMUG PIX & SLIDESHOW - https://kenkurtis.smugmug.com/DIVE-TRIP-PHOTOS-ALL/2015-DIVE-TRIPS/Red-Sea-2015/
LUFTHANSA UPDATE - As I lamented last week, Lufthansa charged me $700 to allow Marilyn Lawrence and I to check bags since they claimed we were on a "no baggage" fare. But they did us a "favor" by upgrading us to Business, which automatically gets two free bags. I talked with Chase who contacted Lufthansa who basically said, "He asked to be upgraded to Business and that's what we charged him for." Chase has asked me to try to deal directly with Lufthansa to see if they'll issue a refund before filing a dispute on the charge. What a mess!!! The issue, and what may perhaps be my downfall, is the even though I told them to charge me for just the bags, they wrote up the charge as an upgrade to Business and when I protested, they essentially said they couldn't change it and the plane was boarding, so we had to go. Needless to say, I feel quite scammed. I have been in touch with a travel writer for the Washington Post, Christopher Elliott, who sometimes acts as a go-between and we'll see if anything can come of that. In the meantime, one lesson learned is to make copies of your baggage charges (usually found in the small print of your reservation) as well as the general baggage policies of an airline, especially if you booked on Airline A and then there's a codeshare flight on Airline B.
WHO'S UP FOR PALAU? - We've got one spot left (male share) on our Palau Aggressor trip March 20-27. Palau is a fabulous place to dive and truly a jewel of the Pacific. We'll get in wrecks, reefs, walls, drift dives, and more. We'll be sure to introduce you to the friendly Napoleon Wrasses of Blue Corner as they hang around hoping one of the DMs has brought them a hard-boiled egg (one of their favorite treats). We'll hit such legendary spots as the aforementioned Blue Corner, Blue Hole, German Channel, Big Drop-Off, Peleliu Express, and more. Plus we'll end the week with a magical hour-long snorkel amongst the stingless jellies of Jellyfish Lake. It's really like swimming in living jello. Cost of the trip is $3,495, which includes all the diving on the PA2, hotel overnight going in, and crew tip. This is also the same price that we had last year so, despite price increases from Aggressor, we've been able to hold the line financially. And if you're doing Palau, give some though to also doing the Yap the week before. That's another great place where you'll get some absolutely incredible encounters with Manta Rays, Mandarinfish, sharks, and more. If you need more info or to secure this spot, give us a call at 310/652-4990.
WE CAN GET TWO MORE SPOTS - The note above refers to the spots which we're committed to. But they also had a last-minute cancellation that opened up two other spots on the boat in their standard stateroom that opens directly on to the dive deck. (And it's $200 cheaper.) So we could technically get as many as three spots in case there's two of you reading this who would like to be together. It's doable, just give us a call.
FUNNY PICTURES - We've all seen our share of amusing pictures featuring animals and now there's actually an award for them. It's called the "Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards" and they just handed out the first batch. Take a look at some of the winners: Hilarious Winners of the First Annual ‘Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards’ | Colossal .
AVALON CLEANUP FEBRUARY 20 - Hopefully you're thinking of joining us along with 500 of your closest trash-oriented friends for the 35th annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup which will be held Saturday, February 20, next year. We'll be at the Green Pier as usual and hopefully will be finding all kinds of goodies and unusual things. Remember, there are also awards given out for what you find so, in addition to providing some ecologically correct manpower to clean up the harbor, you could walk away with an award as well. Plus there's plenty of loot to be had through door prizes and raffles. (And don't forget the heated competition for the coveted Ken Kurtis Silver-Tongued Devil Award for the best BS story of the day about your trash find.) It's all in good fun and for a good cause and if you want to join us, let me know through e-mail or a phone call to 310/652-4990.
SHARK FISHING PETITION - It's estimated that 90% of the world's shark population has been killed. Generally, there are another 60-100 million sharks killed every year. They're listed as threatened or endangered on most watch lists. So it's a little baffling to try to understand why we'd want to have a commercial shark fishery opening off of Florida in January, when an aggregation of sharks starts to form. There's an on-line petition to NOAA to try to delay this until July and if you'd like to join me and over 17,000 others who have already signed, here's the link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/406/...mercial-shark-fishing-set-for-january-1-2016/ .
And that'll do it for now. Have a very Merry Christmas and lets go diving soon (well, after the holidays)!!!
- Ken
