Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Narc'd on Pike's Peak, and more
(please scroll down for details)
Back from Colorado and thank you for your indulgence . . .
FUN WEEKEND - I spent the extended weekend visiting my friends (and frequent divers with us so a number of you know them) Marlow & Audrey Anderson. They live in Manitou Springs, CO, which is a short hop from Colorado Springs, which is south of Denver. The overall reason to visit was that they had an extra ticket for the Rockies-Dodgers game Saturday night so it was a good excuse to go see them. And since Manitou Springs is at the foot of Pike's Peak (interesting trivia note - Pike never made it to the top of Pike's Peak and is credited with discovering it, not conquering it), a journey to the top would seem to be a must-do. We took the Cog Railway train up, which has a third track and a cog wheel that helps with the climb and the descent. There's a loose diving connection here too. Because when you get the top at 14,115 feet, the oxygen level has dropped from 16.6% at 6,000 feet (Manitou's elevation) to 12.3%. And boy did I feel the change. It's very much like being narc'd at depth. You feel a little light-headed, maybe a little dizzy, mental functions are a little hazy, and you can tell you're "off." A fun weekend overall, plus the Dodgers won the Saturday game, and on Sunday we toured Garden of the Gods, a massive and impressive rock formation just outside of Manitou Springs. If you'd like to see a short slide show of the visit (many with captions so you know what you're looking at) including a Mookie Betts' home run , click here: KEN'S COLORADO WEEKEND. And just so you know I'm not making all of this up, here's Audrey and me at the peak of Pike's Peak:
BILL MACDONALD & ZOOM SEEKERS - Bill gave a lovely talk about his journey through underwater film-making last week. If you missed it, we've got a recording of the entire Zoom talk up on our YouTube page: BILL MACDONALD - EVOLUTION OF UNDERWATER FILM-MAKING. Next month our Zoom Seekers guest will be good friend Bill Acker, Yap's Manta Man and owner/founder of Manta Ray Bay Dive Resort in Yap. He'll bring us up to speed on Yap in the COVID era (still closed) and whatever else strikes his fancy, which will doubtless include the wonders of diving Yap. Make a note for Tuesday, August 10 @ 7:30PM PDT, and join us for his talk.
HEAT WAVE COOKS A BILLION SHELLFISH IN THEIR SHELLS - Amazing that some people STILL think climate change isn't real or serious (but then again, some people still truly think the world is flat and the moon landing was faked) but this was rather disturbing to read the other week. It's estimated that the extreme heat we've gone through lately along with drought conditions that have reduced water tables, means that many, many shellfish were exposed to conditions that ended up killing them. You can read more about it here: COOKING SEAFOOD WITHOUT AN OVEN.
ROD FRANCIS' CELEBRATION OF LIFE - Just a quick reminder that Rod's service will be on Sunday. August 1, in Granada Hills. It's open to all who knew Rod. I'll sent out specific directions/location in next week's TWARS.
NEW NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY . . . IN WISCONSIN??? - Yup. The Great Lakes have a lot of shipwrecks. And because it's very cold fresh water (as opposed to salt water), they stay amazing well-preserved. Earlier this month, NOAA designated an area of the Wisconsin coast as a Marine Sanctuary. You can read more about it here: NEW NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY IN WISCONSIN.
And that'll do it for now. Hope you have a great week, and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
(please scroll down for details)
Back from Colorado and thank you for your indulgence . . .
FUN WEEKEND - I spent the extended weekend visiting my friends (and frequent divers with us so a number of you know them) Marlow & Audrey Anderson. They live in Manitou Springs, CO, which is a short hop from Colorado Springs, which is south of Denver. The overall reason to visit was that they had an extra ticket for the Rockies-Dodgers game Saturday night so it was a good excuse to go see them. And since Manitou Springs is at the foot of Pike's Peak (interesting trivia note - Pike never made it to the top of Pike's Peak and is credited with discovering it, not conquering it), a journey to the top would seem to be a must-do. We took the Cog Railway train up, which has a third track and a cog wheel that helps with the climb and the descent. There's a loose diving connection here too. Because when you get the top at 14,115 feet, the oxygen level has dropped from 16.6% at 6,000 feet (Manitou's elevation) to 12.3%. And boy did I feel the change. It's very much like being narc'd at depth. You feel a little light-headed, maybe a little dizzy, mental functions are a little hazy, and you can tell you're "off." A fun weekend overall, plus the Dodgers won the Saturday game, and on Sunday we toured Garden of the Gods, a massive and impressive rock formation just outside of Manitou Springs. If you'd like to see a short slide show of the visit (many with captions so you know what you're looking at) including a Mookie Betts' home run , click here: KEN'S COLORADO WEEKEND. And just so you know I'm not making all of this up, here's Audrey and me at the peak of Pike's Peak:
BILL MACDONALD & ZOOM SEEKERS - Bill gave a lovely talk about his journey through underwater film-making last week. If you missed it, we've got a recording of the entire Zoom talk up on our YouTube page: BILL MACDONALD - EVOLUTION OF UNDERWATER FILM-MAKING. Next month our Zoom Seekers guest will be good friend Bill Acker, Yap's Manta Man and owner/founder of Manta Ray Bay Dive Resort in Yap. He'll bring us up to speed on Yap in the COVID era (still closed) and whatever else strikes his fancy, which will doubtless include the wonders of diving Yap. Make a note for Tuesday, August 10 @ 7:30PM PDT, and join us for his talk.
HEAT WAVE COOKS A BILLION SHELLFISH IN THEIR SHELLS - Amazing that some people STILL think climate change isn't real or serious (but then again, some people still truly think the world is flat and the moon landing was faked) but this was rather disturbing to read the other week. It's estimated that the extreme heat we've gone through lately along with drought conditions that have reduced water tables, means that many, many shellfish were exposed to conditions that ended up killing them. You can read more about it here: COOKING SEAFOOD WITHOUT AN OVEN.
ROD FRANCIS' CELEBRATION OF LIFE - Just a quick reminder that Rod's service will be on Sunday. August 1, in Granada Hills. It's open to all who knew Rod. I'll sent out specific directions/location in next week's TWARS.
NEW NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY . . . IN WISCONSIN??? - Yup. The Great Lakes have a lot of shipwrecks. And because it's very cold fresh water (as opposed to salt water), they stay amazing well-preserved. Earlier this month, NOAA designated an area of the Wisconsin coast as a Marine Sanctuary. You can read more about it here: NEW NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY IN WISCONSIN.
And that'll do it for now. Hope you have a great week, and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
