Ken Kurtis
Contributor
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Want to travel??? Upcoming 2018 vacation trips:
April 14-21 - Bonaire (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
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Upcoming local dives & classes:
Sat., Jan. 20 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150)
Thu., Jan. 25 - (CLASS) Fish ID - Reef Seekers West(wood) ($25)
Sat., Feb 3 - Redondo - Beach dive [single tank] ($25)
Thu, Feb. 8 - Redondo - Squid Dive (FREE!!!)
Sat., Feb. 17 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150)
Sat., Feb. 24 - Catalina Express - 37th Avalon Underwater Cleanup ($150)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
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This was simply not a very good week . . .
TIM BURKE FROM THE GREAT ESCAPE HAS DIED - On Friday evening, while preparing for a weekend trip at 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, Tim apparently suffered a massive heart attack and, despite CPR efforts, died. Tim had run the boat (previously known as Charisma - he bought it from Roger Hess) since the late 90s and we had dozens and dozens of great trips with him when we had the store open and even for a few years after we closed it down. As of this writing, there's no word on services or on what will become of the boat. We'll keep you posted if/when we hear anything. Here's a really nice pix of Tim courtesy of Chris Grossman:

BOB SIMMONS OF LABUE HAS ALSO DIED - Bob was one of the founders of LABUE (Los Angeles Black Underwater Explorers) and served as their president for a number of years. Bob died early in the week after a long battle with leukemia. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Bob. I also don't have any service info but will let you know if I do.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A MEDICAL CHECKUP - When you look at Tim's death and that of Tom Wetzel a few weeks ago, both from apparent sudden cardiac events, it underscores the importance, especially as we age as a diving population, of getting regular medical checkups to make sure you're still fit to dive. And even though neither of these deaths occurred during a dive, the point is that they could have. While it's perfectly understandable to be thinking, "It's my life so it's my business," the point is that when we dive, we could be endangering other people too. Ignorance is definitely NOT bliss in cases like this. As a volunteer diver at the Aquarium of the Pacific, I'm required to have an annual physical to keep diving (and in fact, I happen to have it scheduled for Monday). And I certainly get it that sometimes, you think you'd rather not know than find out that there's something wrong. But the reality is that many times, these conditions, when detected early, CAN be treated and managed and it doesn't mean you would have to stop diving all together. So make sure you take care of yourself and schedule yourself for a physical if you haven't had one recently. End of rant.
THE AMAZING DIVING SPIDER - Well, "diving" may be a bit of a stretch but a newly-discovered species of spider apparently weaves a little silk sac into which it traps air so that during high tide, it can remain underwater and breathe. Pretty nifty little trick. Then when the tide recedes, it comes out of hiding and forages around the shallow rocks and stuff for food. Thanks to Lionel Galway & Susan Tritt for turning us on to this. You can read more about it here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171223134842.htm .
BLUE PLANET II IS COMING - Starts next Saturday evening on BBC America. Should be pretty good from the looks of the previews.
AVALON IS COMING TOO - I think I'm pretty much over my flu bout so we're tentatively looking ahead to Saturday when we're scheduled to go dive the Underwater Park in Avalon. Most likely it'll be a 9AM departure from San Pedro and a 5:30PM return. Sounds like the Giant Sea Bass have left the building for the winter but there's still good diving to be had and fun stuff to see. $150 includes the ferry, taxi back and forth, tanks and airfills, and all the fun you can handle. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to sign up.
CLEANUP NEXT MONTH - And as long as we're on the topic of Avalon, let's not forget the 37th Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup on Saturday, February 24. It's always a great event where we get to dive areas (the harbor) that are normally off-limits to us, plus we get to give something back to Avalon, a city that supports divers and diving year-round. And the net proceeds benefit both the Catalina Conservation Divers as well as the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. So it's a great event on all kinds of levels. Reef Seekers will be stationed at our usual Green Pier location. You can sign up directly with us or through the website and this link: USC Wrigley Institute | WIES–CCD AH UW Cleanup > Wrigley > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences .
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SEA SNAKES - You read that right. There have been a couple of yellow-bellied sea snakes that have been discovered over the past few months. The presumption is that they migrated up with warmer waters and may now be trapped. They're generally considered pretty mellow . . . until you pick them up. So if you see one, report it to a nearby lifeguard tower. Here's an article about them from the L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-sea-snake-newport-beach-20180111-story.html .
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2018 vacation trips:
April 14-21 - Bonaire (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., Jan. 20 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150)
Thu., Jan. 25 - (CLASS) Fish ID - Reef Seekers West(wood) ($25)
Sat., Feb 3 - Redondo - Beach dive [single tank] ($25)
Thu, Feb. 8 - Redondo - Squid Dive (FREE!!!)
Sat., Feb. 17 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150)
Sat., Feb. 24 - Catalina Express - 37th Avalon Underwater Cleanup ($150)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
——————————————————————————————————————————
This was simply not a very good week . . .
TIM BURKE FROM THE GREAT ESCAPE HAS DIED - On Friday evening, while preparing for a weekend trip at 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, Tim apparently suffered a massive heart attack and, despite CPR efforts, died. Tim had run the boat (previously known as Charisma - he bought it from Roger Hess) since the late 90s and we had dozens and dozens of great trips with him when we had the store open and even for a few years after we closed it down. As of this writing, there's no word on services or on what will become of the boat. We'll keep you posted if/when we hear anything. Here's a really nice pix of Tim courtesy of Chris Grossman:

BOB SIMMONS OF LABUE HAS ALSO DIED - Bob was one of the founders of LABUE (Los Angeles Black Underwater Explorers) and served as their president for a number of years. Bob died early in the week after a long battle with leukemia. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Bob. I also don't have any service info but will let you know if I do.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A MEDICAL CHECKUP - When you look at Tim's death and that of Tom Wetzel a few weeks ago, both from apparent sudden cardiac events, it underscores the importance, especially as we age as a diving population, of getting regular medical checkups to make sure you're still fit to dive. And even though neither of these deaths occurred during a dive, the point is that they could have. While it's perfectly understandable to be thinking, "It's my life so it's my business," the point is that when we dive, we could be endangering other people too. Ignorance is definitely NOT bliss in cases like this. As a volunteer diver at the Aquarium of the Pacific, I'm required to have an annual physical to keep diving (and in fact, I happen to have it scheduled for Monday). And I certainly get it that sometimes, you think you'd rather not know than find out that there's something wrong. But the reality is that many times, these conditions, when detected early, CAN be treated and managed and it doesn't mean you would have to stop diving all together. So make sure you take care of yourself and schedule yourself for a physical if you haven't had one recently. End of rant.
THE AMAZING DIVING SPIDER - Well, "diving" may be a bit of a stretch but a newly-discovered species of spider apparently weaves a little silk sac into which it traps air so that during high tide, it can remain underwater and breathe. Pretty nifty little trick. Then when the tide recedes, it comes out of hiding and forages around the shallow rocks and stuff for food. Thanks to Lionel Galway & Susan Tritt for turning us on to this. You can read more about it here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171223134842.htm .
BLUE PLANET II IS COMING - Starts next Saturday evening on BBC America. Should be pretty good from the looks of the previews.
AVALON IS COMING TOO - I think I'm pretty much over my flu bout so we're tentatively looking ahead to Saturday when we're scheduled to go dive the Underwater Park in Avalon. Most likely it'll be a 9AM departure from San Pedro and a 5:30PM return. Sounds like the Giant Sea Bass have left the building for the winter but there's still good diving to be had and fun stuff to see. $150 includes the ferry, taxi back and forth, tanks and airfills, and all the fun you can handle. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to sign up.
CLEANUP NEXT MONTH - And as long as we're on the topic of Avalon, let's not forget the 37th Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup on Saturday, February 24. It's always a great event where we get to dive areas (the harbor) that are normally off-limits to us, plus we get to give something back to Avalon, a city that supports divers and diving year-round. And the net proceeds benefit both the Catalina Conservation Divers as well as the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. So it's a great event on all kinds of levels. Reef Seekers will be stationed at our usual Green Pier location. You can sign up directly with us or through the website and this link: USC Wrigley Institute | WIES–CCD AH UW Cleanup > Wrigley > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences .
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR SEA SNAKES - You read that right. There have been a couple of yellow-bellied sea snakes that have been discovered over the past few months. The presumption is that they migrated up with warmer waters and may now be trapped. They're generally considered pretty mellow . . . until you pick them up. So if you see one, report it to a nearby lifeguard tower. Here's an article about them from the L.A. Times: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-sea-snake-newport-beach-20180111-story.html .
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
