TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - December 22-29, 2024

[Ken Kurtis]

Squid, Roatan, Blobfish, and more
(please scroll down for details)​

This time next week we'll be saying "Only 361 more days until Christmas . . ."

MORE SQUID NOTES - It's nice to see more and more reports of squid at Redondo, along with pix and videos. If you're never done this dive, you should give it some thought. You can dive it during the day if you just want to see the squid egg clusters. They're usually in the 60-90 foot depth range so you simply go out from Main Stairs, hit the shoulder of the canyon around 30-35 feet, glide down to the depth where it starts to level off, and the egg clusters may be in front of you or to the left or to the right. Usually, there are many clusters scattered about. If you do the dive at night, it's the same navigational idea but now you will hopefully get some of the live squid in the throes of mating. And it seems they mate multiple times, the female deposits the egg sacs in a cluster, then they may try again. Eventually they weaken and die so at night, you can also get some sea lions coming in or some rays or other creatures who want to feast on the dying squid. It's all part of Mother Nature's circle of life. And how cool is it that it happens a hundred yards or so off our shores. Gestation period for the eggs varies and can be anywhere from 3-5 weeks. The season generally runs from mid-December to end-of-March. So you'll have cycles of squid coming in and dying, eggs hatching, more squid coming in, and the cycle repeats. Point is that you can almost always see eggs, and occasionally time it right for live squid too. Good luck.

FOR THOSE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH BEACH DIVES - Bear in mind that we offer a number of beach-diving-related courses throuhgout the year. Chances are that your "training" for surf entries in your basic class consisted of your instructor yelling "Let's go!!" while waves that you swore were 10-feet tall bore down upon you. Most people are either not very good at surf entries, terrified of them, or both. But the reality is that we've got lots of good shore diving here in SoCal, so it's a useful skill. This class is taught as skin-dive-gear only (so no tanks) and will start with a short lecture on how to "read" a beach and what to watch out for. Then we'll go play in the surf, showing you not only the right things to do but the wrong things to do as well and how to recover from those. Check the website for our sked. Although we offer classes about beach diving in general (which we charge for), we also offer "Surf Entries Made Easy" (which is what's described above) and it's FREE!!!

AND IF YOU'RE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH NIGHT DIVES - We offer classes in that area too, as well as escorted Squid Dives during squid season. (No guarantees that we'll see live squid though.) Check our sked for when these are offered. All of these experiences are done at Vets Park in Redondo.

ROATAN IN LATE JUNE 2025 - Because our Easter Island and Maldives back-to-back trips have all sold out, this is the ONLY Reef Seekers trip we've still got available for 2025. Pictured is our group of intrepid divers earlier this year. We'll again encamp at Anthony's Key where they have a really well-tuned operation. Three boat dives each day (plus two night dives during the week) to sites that are generally not much more than a 10-minute ride away. On top of that, all the meals are included as well. (And speaking of squid, we had two really great daytime squid encounters during our visit this year.) Roatan's relatively easy to get to with options through Houston (United), Atlanta (Delta), and Miami (American). Cost of the land portion of the trip is $3,195 and that includes double-occupancy lodging (single supplement available), all the diving, all the meals, airport xfers, and the crew/staff tip. If you've never done a trip with Reef Seekers, this is a great way to see how we make your vacations memorable. Call us at 310/652-4990 to get info or to sign up.

NICE HAT - In the Puget Sound in Washington, some orcas have been spotted swimming around with dead salmon on their heads, wearing them like a hat. No one's sure why this is happening or what it signifies but it's been observed before. You can read more about it here: WEARING A SALMON FOR A HAT.

NEWLY-DISCOVERED BLOBFISH - If an Elephant Seal mated with a fish, maybe this is what it would look like. Among the new species discovered deep in the rain-forests of Peru is this blobfish (pictured above) who is actually a type of catfish. Scientists aren't yet sure what the blob structure actually does. But if you're looking for a last-minute gift for that hard-to-shop for home aquarium enthusiast, this might be the ultimate gift.

ONE MORE THING - Be on the lookout for a "extra" missive from us Tuesday night. Ho-ho-ho.

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

- Ken