Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2018 vacation trips:
• April 14-21 - Bonaire (REDUCED PRICING - Buddy Dive - easy, reliable diving)
• June 8-20 - Yap Immersion (8 confirmed - room for 4 more)
• July 14-28 - Sulawesi, Indonesia with our friends at Murex (includes a day at Lembeh Straits)
• August 18-25 - Isla Mujeres (Whale Sharks, Cancun Underwater Museum, Cenotes)
• October 27 - November 3 - Roatan at Anthony's Key
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
—————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives & classes:
• Sat., Feb. 24 - Catalina Express - 37th Avalon Underwater Cleanup ($150)
• Thu., Mar. 1 - CLASS - Photo Workshop ($25)
• Sat., Mar. 10 - Aquarium of the Pacific - Diver's Day (FREE!!!)
• Sat., Mar. 17 - Catalina Express - Underwater Park ($150)
• Thu., Mar. 22 - Redondo - Squid Dive (FREE!!!)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
—————————————————————————
I'm dreaming of a white President's Day . . .
I'M IN DELAWARE AND IT SNOWED - Back in Delaware this weekend to get my dad's house ready for sale and it actually SNOWED over night. Obviously, not something we need to deal with in L.A. I even had to shovel the sidewalk. Even though it's slightly bittersweet (and snowing . . . and cold), it's nice to be home.
AOL GLITCH - Some of you may have gotten two copies of TWARS last week or the week before (but hopefully not this week). It's an AOL glitch that hopefully won't continue happening.
AVALON CLEANUP THIS SATURDAY - We've got a group of eight going and can still add people as a day-of-dive sign-up (adds $10). So if you still want to go, let me know. The weather's looking good too with the forecast now calling for a sunny day and mid-60s. If you want to join us, give us a call at 310/652-4990.
PHOTO WORKSHOP ON MARCH 1 - If you're new to underwater photography or you're not happy with what you've been getting, give some thought to our Photo Workshop on Thursday, March 1. It's very informal class where we'll give you some tips and tricks that should help improve your shots right away, plus we can take a look at anything you bring along to perhaps see what problems you're having. It's a good investment of $25 and a couple of hours of your time. Since we do this at my place in Westwood (aka Reef Seekers West), I'm also happy to do it for one person or one hundred. (Well, maybe NOT 100 . . .) Anyhow, if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail here or call 310/652-4990.
DOESN'T LOOK LIKE INDONESIA IN JULY IS HAPPENING - A number of people who have expressed interest are now not able to go so this one's looking iffy at best. However, I might be able to do a shift of the trip to September. If you've been thinking of going, let me know if September would work. At this point, I'm pretty flexible on where in the month it would need to be.
UNDERWATER LOSS OF COLOR - I ran across a really cool video that very dramatically shows how colors fade as you go deeper. The diver uses various colored hose protectors strapped in a row on a metal rod and, by using a split screen where the top are the true colors and the bottom are the colors at depth, you can really dramatically see the changes. I was amazed at how well the pink held up and how the orange sort of looks like pink. It's two minutes long. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=92&v=AAJjdA6b4Ts .
NEED HELP WITH FLIGHTS? - Don't forget that, because I travel a lot, I may know a thing or two about flight routing. And I'm happy to give you advice on how to get from point A to point B regardless of whether you're doing the trip with me or not. I mention all of this because a diver who I actually helped with the land portion, decided to book the air all by himself. Fine and dandy except that he didn't notice on his return (three legs) that instead of flying straight through for 22 hours (with two small layovers), he had a 13-hour layover followed by a 21-hour layover, turning a 22-hour trip into a 56-hour journey home. I could have helped him avoid that. So please feel to call and ask (310/652-4990) if you'd like some advice and help. There's no charge and it might make your travels more enjoyable.
PITY THE POOR REMORAS - Tabby Stone forwarded a video that emphasizes both the cleverness of cormorants and the vulnerability of remoras. It seems that the cormorants have learned that Whale Sharks have remoras attached to them. It would seem that a remora makes for a tasty cormorant meal. The video shows cormorants diving down when they spot a Whale Sharks, finding a remora, and plucking the fish (after a struggle) off of the Whale Shark and then consuming it. I feel sorry for the remora but am impressed by the ingenuity of the cormorant. I'm currently reading a book called "The Genius of Birds" and this would certainly fit. Here's the video link:http://www.koreus.com/video/cormorans-requin-baleine.html .
MY FAVORITE INTERSECTION - I mentioned that I'm in Dover, Delaware, where I grew up (yes, I realize some of you think that never happened). But Dover has one of my all-time favorite intersections and when we drove by today, I had to take a picture to share with you. It's the intersection of West North Street and South West Street. And just in case you think I'm making this up, look below:
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and I'll hope to see you at the Cleanup on Saturday.
- Ken
• April 14-21 - Bonaire (REDUCED PRICING - Buddy Dive - easy, reliable diving)
• June 8-20 - Yap Immersion (8 confirmed - room for 4 more)
• July 14-28 - Sulawesi, Indonesia with our friends at Murex (includes a day at Lembeh Straits)
• August 18-25 - Isla Mujeres (Whale Sharks, Cancun Underwater Museum, Cenotes)
• October 27 - November 3 - Roatan at Anthony's Key
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
—————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives & classes:
• Sat., Feb. 24 - Catalina Express - 37th Avalon Underwater Cleanup ($150)
• Thu., Mar. 1 - CLASS - Photo Workshop ($25)
• Sat., Mar. 10 - Aquarium of the Pacific - Diver's Day (FREE!!!)
• Sat., Mar. 17 - Catalina Express - Underwater Park ($150)
• Thu., Mar. 22 - Redondo - Squid Dive (FREE!!!)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
—————————————————————————
I'm dreaming of a white President's Day . . .
I'M IN DELAWARE AND IT SNOWED - Back in Delaware this weekend to get my dad's house ready for sale and it actually SNOWED over night. Obviously, not something we need to deal with in L.A. I even had to shovel the sidewalk. Even though it's slightly bittersweet (and snowing . . . and cold), it's nice to be home.
AOL GLITCH - Some of you may have gotten two copies of TWARS last week or the week before (but hopefully not this week). It's an AOL glitch that hopefully won't continue happening.
AVALON CLEANUP THIS SATURDAY - We've got a group of eight going and can still add people as a day-of-dive sign-up (adds $10). So if you still want to go, let me know. The weather's looking good too with the forecast now calling for a sunny day and mid-60s. If you want to join us, give us a call at 310/652-4990.
PHOTO WORKSHOP ON MARCH 1 - If you're new to underwater photography or you're not happy with what you've been getting, give some thought to our Photo Workshop on Thursday, March 1. It's very informal class where we'll give you some tips and tricks that should help improve your shots right away, plus we can take a look at anything you bring along to perhaps see what problems you're having. It's a good investment of $25 and a couple of hours of your time. Since we do this at my place in Westwood (aka Reef Seekers West), I'm also happy to do it for one person or one hundred. (Well, maybe NOT 100 . . .) Anyhow, if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail here or call 310/652-4990.
DOESN'T LOOK LIKE INDONESIA IN JULY IS HAPPENING - A number of people who have expressed interest are now not able to go so this one's looking iffy at best. However, I might be able to do a shift of the trip to September. If you've been thinking of going, let me know if September would work. At this point, I'm pretty flexible on where in the month it would need to be.
UNDERWATER LOSS OF COLOR - I ran across a really cool video that very dramatically shows how colors fade as you go deeper. The diver uses various colored hose protectors strapped in a row on a metal rod and, by using a split screen where the top are the true colors and the bottom are the colors at depth, you can really dramatically see the changes. I was amazed at how well the pink held up and how the orange sort of looks like pink. It's two minutes long. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=92&v=AAJjdA6b4Ts .
NEED HELP WITH FLIGHTS? - Don't forget that, because I travel a lot, I may know a thing or two about flight routing. And I'm happy to give you advice on how to get from point A to point B regardless of whether you're doing the trip with me or not. I mention all of this because a diver who I actually helped with the land portion, decided to book the air all by himself. Fine and dandy except that he didn't notice on his return (three legs) that instead of flying straight through for 22 hours (with two small layovers), he had a 13-hour layover followed by a 21-hour layover, turning a 22-hour trip into a 56-hour journey home. I could have helped him avoid that. So please feel to call and ask (310/652-4990) if you'd like some advice and help. There's no charge and it might make your travels more enjoyable.
PITY THE POOR REMORAS - Tabby Stone forwarded a video that emphasizes both the cleverness of cormorants and the vulnerability of remoras. It seems that the cormorants have learned that Whale Sharks have remoras attached to them. It would seem that a remora makes for a tasty cormorant meal. The video shows cormorants diving down when they spot a Whale Sharks, finding a remora, and plucking the fish (after a struggle) off of the Whale Shark and then consuming it. I feel sorry for the remora but am impressed by the ingenuity of the cormorant. I'm currently reading a book called "The Genius of Birds" and this would certainly fit. Here's the video link:http://www.koreus.com/video/cormorans-requin-baleine.html .
MY FAVORITE INTERSECTION - I mentioned that I'm in Dover, Delaware, where I grew up (yes, I realize some of you think that never happened). But Dover has one of my all-time favorite intersections and when we drove by today, I had to take a picture to share with you. It's the intersection of West North Street and South West Street. And just in case you think I'm making this up, look below:
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and I'll hope to see you at the Cleanup on Saturday.
- Ken
