TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - July 21-28

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Ken Kurtis

Contributor
Messages
1,907
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Location
Beverly Hills, CA
# of dives
5000 - ∞
It's nice to be home . . .

BACK FROM INDONESIA - We had a fabulous time with our friends at Murex in Manado, Indonesia. We did 25 dives over the course of 8 dive days which included a day trip up to Bangka for the fabulous soft coral reefs there, a number of dives along the southern shores of Manado Bay for the muck diving, dives at Bunaken for the spectacular vertical coral walls, and a day in the legendary Lembeh Straits for the wonderfully wacky and weird creatures you find there. As I detailed in TWARS last week, I was able to do a Top 10 Pix FOR EACH DIVE in Lembeh, it's that critter-rich. Diving conditions there aren't ideal because the water's cooler (generally around 79º as opposed to 83º on the reefs) and the viz is less (30-40' as opposed to 60-100'). But you can't beat the things you find in the dark sand bottom which included a Mimic Octopus, Blue-Ringed Octopus (two of them), and a whole lot more. What's great about diving Indonesia and specifically the way we've got this trip set up, is that you experience incredible diversity and variety in the dives. Want spectacularly colorful nudibranches? Got 'em. Want pristine vertical coral walls? Got 'em. Want tiny critters? Got 'em. Want larger stuff? Got 'em. Want turtles? Got 'em. Want critters you've never seen before? Got 'em. Want a fabulous place to stay and wonderful people to dive with? Got 'em. This is a type of trip where you can pretty much check off everything on your "What I Want Out of a Dive Trip" list and that's why we keep going back. And if you're interested in joining us next year, let me know now and we'll start planning for 2020.

TRIP REPORT & PIX - Still a work in progress. Got some of the report done on the plane but it's hard to type with turbulence or while I'm asleep so didn't get quite as far along as I had hoped. I shot some video too, so will work on that as well as the still pix. In the meantime, if you haven't taken a gander at the various Daily Top 10 shots I posted, here's that link (choose from any or all of the 12 galleries posted): INDO DAILY TOP 10 PIX GALLERIES.

SPEAKING OF THE BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS - For background, the Blue-Ringed Octopus (aka, BRO - but he ain't your Bro, bro) is one of the most venomous creatures on earth. If you get bitten underwater, you likely will be dead before you can get back to shore. And you only clearly see the blue rings when the octo is pissed off. The bluer the rings, the more agitated the animal. With that in mind, take a peek at this short video which a nuber o fpeople sent me and note how blue the rings look. It underlines my motto of "If you don't know what it is, don't touch it." Take a look at 15 seconds of "STUPID WAYS TO KILL YOURSELF". We applaud the octo for his restraint.

NO ISLA THIS YEAR - Much as I love the trip, there's not enough interest in DIVING WITH WHALE SHARKS to go to Isla Mujeres this year so I've removed it from our schedule. Maybe in 2020???

HOW ABOUT CATALINA INSTEAD? - No Whale Sharks there (at least none have ever been recorded) but likely Giant Sea Bass and other cool SoCal critters. We're looking to go next Sunday (7/28), most likely on the 8:45AM out of San Pedro, leaving the island on the 5:30PM, with plenty of time for three leisurely dives in between. Call us at 310/652-4990 to sign up.

ONE NON-DIVING THING - I'm not a tree guy. I'm a fish guy. But I can still appreciate the beauty of the trees in West L.A. which seems to have exploded with red flowers while I was gone. These are in front of my building. Simply stunning.
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And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!

- Ken
 
Ken,
Thanks for taking the time to write the report and share your photos. Do you have any experience with the Lembeh Straits in January time frame? I do understand that the critter population is higher from July and August, but this does not fit my travel schedule. I plan on at least 15 days of diving and focusing on macro and super macro only.
 
Ken.
FYI...…..
You do so much international travel to strange and exotic locations and encounter strange and exotic critters

A suggestion - a book or books you might want to acquire and have in your library --about dangerous critters of the sea

The first book-- actually three book volume that should be in every serious traveling divers library
"Poisonous and venomous Marine Animals of the world" by Dr Bruce Halstead,

I first met the author Dr. Bruce Halstead at a party at Bob Rutherford's home in the mid 1950s. (see portage Quarry -Legends of diving--Sea Sabers signaling system-Bob was the father of Underwater signaling ) At that time Dr Halstead was just dreaming about completing his 23 year extensive research on Dangerous Marine Animals and publishing a book...He did very well......

His first work, a three volume book set is titled "Poisonous and venomous Marine Animals of the world" by Dr Bruce Halstead, LCCC 65-60000, hard picture covers with out dust jackets published in 1965 by the US Government printing office. This work is the base line which all present and certainly future research will be based. There was nothing like it published prior to his research and certainly nothing of this magnitude will published by future researchers

Volume 1 is 994 Pages, Volume 11 consists of 1070 pages and volume 111 consists of 1006 pages for total of 3007 well illustrated pages jammed packed with valuable information. Each 8 -1/2 X 11 page is lavishly illustrated with drawings and underwater and topside photographs of the animals .

It's original publication price in 1965 was $160.00 hard earned Yankee dollars. Some years ago a beat up well used research set sold for $750.00 on E bay, currently there are several listed in the used book market ranging from around $100.00 for a single chapter of the book to almost $600.00 for the complete set. I suspect that most do not have or have never seen or possibly heard of the set-- Now you have!

There is a less expensive book also by Dr Halstead that is addressed to the layman. it is :

"Dangerous marine Animals-that bite, sting -are non-edible" published 1959,Cornell Maritime press, LCCC 58-59799, 146 pages, hard cover with dust jacket

The second revised and enlarged consumer edition;

"Dangerous marine Animals-that bite, sting -are non-edible" was revised and enlarged was published in 1980, ISBN 0- 87033-268-6, 208 pages, picture cover, no dust jacket.

Yes, I have all the editions and all are inscribed to me by Dr Halstead..

There is also another published edition "A color atlas of dangerous marine animals" by Dr Halstead, Paul Auerbach and Dorman Campbell. Published in 1990 ISBN # 0849371392 & ISBN # 9780894371994. It is an illustrated photo edition that might also be of interest to the traveler.

With advent of international dive travel to remote locations often devoid of modern medical assistance it would behoove you as a modern dive traveler to obtain at the minimum one of the later two books for your reference library.
It would be a good investment

Good luck, keep on traveling and posting your trips

SAM
 
Do you have any experience with the Lembeh Straits in January time frame? I do understand that the critter population is higher from July and August, but this does not fit my travel schedule. I plan on at least 15 days of diving and focusing on macro and super macro only.
With that much time there, I don't think time of year will matter much. I've never been in January but the thing about Lembeh is that you can pretty much go in with a list of the critters you want to see, show it to the dive guides, and they'll, "OK, let's go," and take you to sites where those critters exist. A slight exaggeration but you get the idea. And if you came with a list of 20 must-see creatures that came be found in the area - so don't put down "Whale Shark" - I'll bet they'd be able to find most of them for you.

Do you know yet where you're staying?

- Ken
 
Thanks Ken.
I will create the list as you suggested. Myself and 3 others are leaning toward staying at NAD-Lembeh Resort.
Any feedback on the NAD operation?
 
Thanks Ken.
I will create the list as you suggested. Myself and 3 others are leaning toward staying at NAD-Lembeh Resort.
Any feedback on the NAD operation?
Never dealt wit them. For our Lembeh stuff, we go through Lembeh Resort and Critters @ Lembeh (run by Murex).

- Ken
 
For what it's worth, I have met some traveling divers that love it at NAD and they return regularly.
 
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