Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
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
Even though my bout was relatively mild, I'm not recommending acquiring the flu to anyone who can avoid it . . .
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE RAIN TO CREATE HAVOC WITH THE DIVING? - I got a number of pictures from people who went down to the beach and photographed the surf. Needless to say, last week wasn't the week you wanted to be doing beach entries. Although I must admit it was pretty interesting watching some drone footage, posted by Marci Klein, that shows the swell coming into and then OVER the Redondo breakwater (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqiePDMSl-g). But the amazing thing is watching that, and then looking at how relatively small the surf at Vets was. The point is that Vets, lying south of the Redondo Pier, gets an amazing amount of protection from the breakwater, and this was the weekend to be able to visually see that.
SQUID AT VETS - I've heard varying reports of squid at Vets. Some have said a bunch, others have said scattered. I have not gone out myself yet to look, but hope to do so in the next week or so, assuming we get enough of a weather break that we can dive it. (I'd assume that even though the swell is down, it'll be another few days until the viz picks up to a point to where it's diveable again.) Of course, no matter the conditions, it'll be pretty hard to top a squid dive we had there in September, 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsAwFlAYqrE.
AVALON UNDERWATER CLEANUP IN FEBRUARY - The 20th, to be exact. We'll be going over early in the morning and then stationing ourselves at our traditional Green Pier location. We'd love to have you join us and after the official dive, you can decide if you want to keep diving in the park or have us store your gear and stroll around for the rest of the day. Of course, after the awards ceremony is over and we've packed up our stuff on the stage (usually by 3PM), we mosey over the Golf Gardens for our annual Miniature Golf Championship Tournament, which is always a lot of fun. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to get signed up or find out more details. Also, they've put out a call for volunteers so if you'd like to actually work the event, you should contact event Chair Jill Boivin at jillboivin@gmail.com and get all the details.
GOOD NEWS FOR MANTAS IN PERU - It turns out that Peru has what is thought to be the world's largest population of manta rays. (Who knew???) So it comes as especially good news to hear that they are enacting very aggressive protective measures to ensure the health of their manta population. You can read more about it here: WildAid | Victory! Peru to Protect Largest-Known Giant Manta Population.
RACING EXTINCTION - I finally got around to watching what I think is a fabulous film called "Racing Extinction" which deal with how we're basically killing off species around the world today, sometimes deliberately, and sometimes without even realizing it. (The film stands a good chance of being nominated for a Documentary Academy Award when the nominations are announced Thursday morning.) Although many of us who dive may already be aware of some of the issues the film raises, especially about shark finning and over-fishing, a lot of people simply aren't aware of these things, and certainly not in there way that we are. So it's hopefully a good eye-opener. And it's also important to realize that extinction can be a slow process, like watching paint dry. You may simply not be aware of what's going on until you take a step back and look at the bigger picture over a longer period of time. I remember when we went to the Galapagos in 1994 and visited the Darwin Station and saw Lonesome George, who was the very last one of the Pinta Island Tortoises. And it literally brought tears to my eyes when you saw him and realized that once he died (which happened in late 2012), the species was gone forever. So it's a sobering thought that extinction is something that does happen in our lifetime, and more often than you'd likely realize. If you get a chance to see the film, please do. In the meantime, you can go to their website to learn more about the film and what you can do to help stem the tide: The Film â Racing Extinction.
GOOD NEWS FOR MANATEES - This would be the opposite of extinction. The West Indian Manatees of Florida have really made an amazing comeback over the years. Much of this is due to heightened awareness of the plight of the animal by Florida residents and the enactment, on federal, state, and even local levels, of strict guidelines for what you can and can't do when manatees are around. Their numbers have increased about five-fold in the last 25 years and this has prompted the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to issue a proposal to move the manatees from "endangered" to "threatened". There's a 90-day public comment period before it will be decided if this will be made official or not. Ironically, this all comes on the heels of Crystal River - probably the most well-known of manatee habitats - implementing extremely restrictive rules for manatee interaction that are now on hiatus. Should the designation change, it's not clear how this might affect those Crystal River rules. Also of concern to environmentalists, is that a lot of the push for reclassification comes from builder's associations and the like who would like to see development restrictions eased and perhaps even things like slow-speed or no-wake zones, which are designed to protect the manatees from collisions with boats that slice them up from the props, to be limited or eliminated. So it's a controversial proposal, to say the least. Good news that they're thriving, but we might need to be careful in that re-designation may make vulnerable the very rules that allow the manatees to thrive. You can read more about this here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/08/living/manatee-endangered-species-feat/index.html.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon (but maybe not for another few days).
- Ken
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
Even though my bout was relatively mild, I'm not recommending acquiring the flu to anyone who can avoid it . . .
HOW ABOUT A LITTLE RAIN TO CREATE HAVOC WITH THE DIVING? - I got a number of pictures from people who went down to the beach and photographed the surf. Needless to say, last week wasn't the week you wanted to be doing beach entries. Although I must admit it was pretty interesting watching some drone footage, posted by Marci Klein, that shows the swell coming into and then OVER the Redondo breakwater (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqiePDMSl-g). But the amazing thing is watching that, and then looking at how relatively small the surf at Vets was. The point is that Vets, lying south of the Redondo Pier, gets an amazing amount of protection from the breakwater, and this was the weekend to be able to visually see that.
SQUID AT VETS - I've heard varying reports of squid at Vets. Some have said a bunch, others have said scattered. I have not gone out myself yet to look, but hope to do so in the next week or so, assuming we get enough of a weather break that we can dive it. (I'd assume that even though the swell is down, it'll be another few days until the viz picks up to a point to where it's diveable again.) Of course, no matter the conditions, it'll be pretty hard to top a squid dive we had there in September, 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsAwFlAYqrE.
AVALON UNDERWATER CLEANUP IN FEBRUARY - The 20th, to be exact. We'll be going over early in the morning and then stationing ourselves at our traditional Green Pier location. We'd love to have you join us and after the official dive, you can decide if you want to keep diving in the park or have us store your gear and stroll around for the rest of the day. Of course, after the awards ceremony is over and we've packed up our stuff on the stage (usually by 3PM), we mosey over the Golf Gardens for our annual Miniature Golf Championship Tournament, which is always a lot of fun. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to get signed up or find out more details. Also, they've put out a call for volunteers so if you'd like to actually work the event, you should contact event Chair Jill Boivin at jillboivin@gmail.com and get all the details.
GOOD NEWS FOR MANTAS IN PERU - It turns out that Peru has what is thought to be the world's largest population of manta rays. (Who knew???) So it comes as especially good news to hear that they are enacting very aggressive protective measures to ensure the health of their manta population. You can read more about it here: WildAid | Victory! Peru to Protect Largest-Known Giant Manta Population.
RACING EXTINCTION - I finally got around to watching what I think is a fabulous film called "Racing Extinction" which deal with how we're basically killing off species around the world today, sometimes deliberately, and sometimes without even realizing it. (The film stands a good chance of being nominated for a Documentary Academy Award when the nominations are announced Thursday morning.) Although many of us who dive may already be aware of some of the issues the film raises, especially about shark finning and over-fishing, a lot of people simply aren't aware of these things, and certainly not in there way that we are. So it's hopefully a good eye-opener. And it's also important to realize that extinction can be a slow process, like watching paint dry. You may simply not be aware of what's going on until you take a step back and look at the bigger picture over a longer period of time. I remember when we went to the Galapagos in 1994 and visited the Darwin Station and saw Lonesome George, who was the very last one of the Pinta Island Tortoises. And it literally brought tears to my eyes when you saw him and realized that once he died (which happened in late 2012), the species was gone forever. So it's a sobering thought that extinction is something that does happen in our lifetime, and more often than you'd likely realize. If you get a chance to see the film, please do. In the meantime, you can go to their website to learn more about the film and what you can do to help stem the tide: The Film â Racing Extinction.
GOOD NEWS FOR MANATEES - This would be the opposite of extinction. The West Indian Manatees of Florida have really made an amazing comeback over the years. Much of this is due to heightened awareness of the plight of the animal by Florida residents and the enactment, on federal, state, and even local levels, of strict guidelines for what you can and can't do when manatees are around. Their numbers have increased about five-fold in the last 25 years and this has prompted the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to issue a proposal to move the manatees from "endangered" to "threatened". There's a 90-day public comment period before it will be decided if this will be made official or not. Ironically, this all comes on the heels of Crystal River - probably the most well-known of manatee habitats - implementing extremely restrictive rules for manatee interaction that are now on hiatus. Should the designation change, it's not clear how this might affect those Crystal River rules. Also of concern to environmentalists, is that a lot of the push for reclassification comes from builder's associations and the like who would like to see development restrictions eased and perhaps even things like slow-speed or no-wake zones, which are designed to protect the manatees from collisions with boats that slice them up from the props, to be limited or eliminated. So it's a controversial proposal, to say the least. Good news that they're thriving, but we might need to be careful in that re-designation may make vulnerable the very rules that allow the manatees to thrive. You can read more about this here: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/08/living/manatee-endangered-species-feat/index.html.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon (but maybe not for another few days).
- Ken
