Albert Hammond was wrong . . .
FASCINATING ZOOM SEEKERS LAST WEEK - A big thank you to Brett Eldridge for getting us started off on the 2023 season of Zoom Seekers with a talk about discovering new wrecks in SoCal waters. Many of you know - and perhaps have even been diving on - the Olympic, Valiant, Sue Jack, or others. But Brett's been inspired to see what else is out there and, even though many of them are beyond recreational depths, it was quite interesting to hear how he and his team go about finding them as well as how he's learning to document the new wrecks through photogammetry. If you missed Brett's talk, we've got it up on our YouTube page:
RAIN PUSHES BACK OUR AVALON TRIP - Last week's rain and the new storm have caused us to postpone our Avalon trip, which was scheduled for this Wednesday. Instead, we'll push back a week to Wednesday, January 25, leaving out of San Pedro at 8:45AM. We'll get in three dives, do a little maintenance on the Cousteau plaque, see if any of our GSB buddies are hanging out, and have a lovely time. the forecast looks favorable too. $175 covers you for boat, taxi, tanks/fills, fun. Call us at 310/652-4990 if you'd like to go.
IUCN RED LIST - You may have heard of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and their Red List, which is a listing of those species who are in peril. Unfortunately, when the latest Red List was released last month, it showed that 1/10th of the underwater species studied so far are threatened with extinction. Dugongs and abalone, along with pillar coral, have been added to the list. You can read more about this here:
IUCN'S LATEST RED LIST.
THREE WEEK TO GRAY WHALES - We're looking forward to our non-diving adventure down to San Ignacio Lagoon on Baja's western side and our hoped-for interactions with the Gray Whales who winter in the lagoon. We leave in three weeks. If anyone's interested in being a last-minute addition, there's still space to squeeze you in. Just give us a call at 310/652-4990 (or e-mail us here) for all the details.
WE'RE ALSO GOT ROOM ON OUR MALDIVES TRIP IN NOVEMBER - It's a ways off but it's never too early to start planning for a major trip like this. We'll again be on the mighty Manthiri for a 9-day adventure, exploring all the best that the Maldives has to offer, and hopefully running into the massive manta aggregation near Baa Atoll and Hanifaru Bay. We've still got three spots left - the boat only takes 12 divers total - and if you're interested, just get hold of us for all the details. Trip dates, including travel, are November 15-28 (which includes Thanksgiving). Depending on how you choose to fly, we can also arrange for a visit to Doha, Istanbul, or Singapore on the way back.
OCTO PHONE HOLDER - At the risk of sounding like a shill, I happened to run across this cute octo phone holder the other day. Seems like it would make an interesting gift. Go to Amazon and enter "octopus phone holder" in the search bar to get a list of vendors if this is something that strikes your fancy.
