Ken Kurtis
Contributor
The weather, the kelp, the burning boat, the sharks, & more (scroll down for details) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
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PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR PO BOX NUMBER HAS CHANGED FROM 11634 TO 634
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• • • REEF SEEKERS REPAIR DEPARTMENT • • •
Contact Robert Stark (our repair guru) directly at 310/947-8523 or ReefSeekersRepair@gmail.com
SAVE 33% ON YOUR REPAIRS - CLICK HERE: Repair Repeat Offender Program
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Follow us on Facebook by clicking here and then choosing "LIKE": www.facebook.com/reefseekers
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Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015 vacation trips:
• July 11-22 - Indonesia (includes Bunaken, Lembeh Straits, & Bangka)
• July 31-August 5 - Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island aboard the Belle Amie (I NOW HAVE AN EXTRA SPOT AVAILABLE ON THIS ONE)
• October 21-26 - Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island aboard the Nautilus Explorer (now three spots available on this trip)
• December 1-13 - Red Sea Aggressor (southern route - includes possibility of snorkeling with dolphins) plus 2 days in Cairo [SOLD OUT]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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I always like to start with something clever &/or pithy and tonight I'm shooting blanks . . .
EL NINO?? - According to weather forecasters, the conditions for an El Nino are strengthening. (Here's the NOAA scientific discussion: Climate Prediction Center: ENSO Diagnostic Discussion. And here's the non-scientific article: https://pubwxcen.wordpress.com/2015...odds-for-potential-california-drought-buster/.) But if the El Nino, which is already active, persists, then what it means is continued warmer water for California but also a wet 2015-2016 winter. For the former, that means things won't be looking good for our kelp beds any time soon. El Ninos typically thin out the kelp because they lack the cold, nutrient-rich water that kelp thrives on. The other thing that strikes me is how this would affect the drought. Obviously a wet winter would be a good thing in terms of replenishing lakes and aquifers and the like, but all this talk of an El Nino also makes me wonder if people will start thinking, "Well, it's going to be raining cats and dogs in a while so I don't need to conserve water now since we'll be OK soon enough." While rainfall will be appreciated, it certainly will have other fallouts on both our diving and non-diving environments.
DIVE REPORTS & KELP - With this in mind, I was interested to see a couple of dive reports posted over the weekend that specifically talked about the kelp. Bromley Beadle was over at the UW Park in Avalon where they said the visibility was very good but the kelp was noticeably absent. On the other hand Kevin Sullivan and a group of Reef Checkers were out near Refugio and posted a picture of themselves at the edge of what appeared to be a very healthy kelp bed. That also makes sense since the water in the northern Channel Islands area is typically 5-10º cooler than we get in the southern Channel islands and the temperature difference might be even more pronounced during El Ninos. So there's differing amounts of kelp in different places and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Fortunately, kelp is the fastest-growing organism on the face of the planet and under ideal conditions it can grow as much as 2 feet per day. That's an inch an hour. So it can regenerate pretty quickly. But it's also a bit fickle in terms of the environmental condition in which it thrives and once you get under 55º or over 70º you start to see a thermal effect. If you want to learn some more about the kelp, check out this article by Dr. Bill Bushing: http://www.starthrower.org/research/kelpmisc/kelp_mp.htm.
PALAU BURNS BOATS - This is actually a good thing because they were the boats of poachers caught illegally fishing in Palauan waters. While confiscating your boat is one thing, burning it sure does send a different message. Palau's really trying to crack down on all illegal fishing. As they so succinctly put it: "We will not tolerate any more of these pirates who come and steal our resources." You can read more about this (and see pix of the burning boats) here: http://news.yahoo.com/palau-burns-vietnamese-boats-caught-fishing-illegally-143746576.html.
MPA POSTER - The California Department of Fish & Wildlife has put out a great, free high-rseolution poster showing all the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the state. It's a huge poster measuring 7,800 x 10,800 pixels (26" x 36") but you can resize it as you like. But it gives you an excellent idea of where everything is and also, when you look at it as a whole, how relatively little of our coastal waters have been so designated., underscoring the need (IMHO) to have chosen the "right" areas. Here's the link to the JPG of the poster: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/images/mpa_poster_fullsize.jpg.
DITCHING WEIGHTS REVISITED - I ranted on last week about the importance of ditching weights in an emergency as sometimes meaning the difference between life & death. This week, there's a story out of Florida of a diver in distress reaching the surface, shouting for help, but then sinking back down apparently because he didn't ditch his weights and had no air in his BC. The body has yet to be recovered but I'm thinking there's a good chance that the weights are still attached. Weight-ditching is something you should practice routinely just to put it in your muscle memory. You may also find it's not as easy as you think. For instance, I still wear a weight belt. If all I do is release the buckle, the back of the belt can get trapped between my tank and my butt and is therefore still attached to me because it won't release. So I have to practice really pulling the belt away from me to get rid of it. I hope to never have to do it but also hope that if I ever should, that that will be imprinted in my brain. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can remove, but not jettison, the weights early on in your emergency. Don't wait until the last second. Pull the weights early and hold them in your hands. If the situation stabalizes, re-attach the weights. But if it doesn't, you can easily just drop them. And in a worst-case scenario where you pass out underwater, if you're already holding them in your hands, they will fall from you hands after you pass out and you will eventualyl rise to the surface. Much better than the alternative. Grim stuff, I know, but still things we need to talk about and be aware of.
SADLY, NO ISLA THIS YEAR - I'm officially canceling our Reef Seekers Isla Mujeres Whale Sharks trip this year because I don't have enough people committing and I'm at a point now where I have to start paying non-refundable fees. I like small groups but this was a little TOO small. We will re-schedule for next year and hopefully generate more interest. In the meantime, Whale Shark season down there goes until mid-September and if anyone's interested in doing it on their own, give me a call and I'll hook you up with the folks that we use down on Isla.
BIG GREAT WHITE - We also talked last week about that HUGE Great White Shark and the diver who was outside the cage. Turns out the footage was from about two years ago at Guadalupe (it's being touted incorrectly as having just been shot) and the shark in question is a pregnant female, who are generally much larger than the males. But it's still a pretty impressive animal and hopefully we'll see her when we're down there this year. Remember that we have not one but TWO shark trips. The first is July 31-August 5 and the second is October 21-26. There are some additional boat spots available on the first trip and both Reef Seekers and boat spots available on the second. I think it's definitely going to be some high-voltage action and I'm looking forward to putting both my D750 and my GoPro Hero4 through their paces. (Note my confidence that I won't be flooding them in Indonesia.) Anyhow, if you'd like to have sharks in your face, we should talk.
And that's going to do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR PO BOX NUMBER HAS CHANGED FROM 11634 TO 634
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
• • • REEF SEEKERS REPAIR DEPARTMENT • • •
Contact Robert Stark (our repair guru) directly at 310/947-8523 or ReefSeekersRepair@gmail.com
SAVE 33% ON YOUR REPAIRS - CLICK HERE: Repair Repeat Offender Program
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Follow us on Facebook by clicking here and then choosing "LIKE": www.facebook.com/reefseekers
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015 vacation trips:
• July 11-22 - Indonesia (includes Bunaken, Lembeh Straits, & Bangka)
• July 31-August 5 - Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island aboard the Belle Amie (I NOW HAVE AN EXTRA SPOT AVAILABLE ON THIS ONE)
• October 21-26 - Great White Sharks at Guadalupe Island aboard the Nautilus Explorer (now three spots available on this trip)
• December 1-13 - Red Sea Aggressor (southern route - includes possibility of snorkeling with dolphins) plus 2 days in Cairo [SOLD OUT]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
I always like to start with something clever &/or pithy and tonight I'm shooting blanks . . .
EL NINO?? - According to weather forecasters, the conditions for an El Nino are strengthening. (Here's the NOAA scientific discussion: Climate Prediction Center: ENSO Diagnostic Discussion. And here's the non-scientific article: https://pubwxcen.wordpress.com/2015...odds-for-potential-california-drought-buster/.) But if the El Nino, which is already active, persists, then what it means is continued warmer water for California but also a wet 2015-2016 winter. For the former, that means things won't be looking good for our kelp beds any time soon. El Ninos typically thin out the kelp because they lack the cold, nutrient-rich water that kelp thrives on. The other thing that strikes me is how this would affect the drought. Obviously a wet winter would be a good thing in terms of replenishing lakes and aquifers and the like, but all this talk of an El Nino also makes me wonder if people will start thinking, "Well, it's going to be raining cats and dogs in a while so I don't need to conserve water now since we'll be OK soon enough." While rainfall will be appreciated, it certainly will have other fallouts on both our diving and non-diving environments.
DIVE REPORTS & KELP - With this in mind, I was interested to see a couple of dive reports posted over the weekend that specifically talked about the kelp. Bromley Beadle was over at the UW Park in Avalon where they said the visibility was very good but the kelp was noticeably absent. On the other hand Kevin Sullivan and a group of Reef Checkers were out near Refugio and posted a picture of themselves at the edge of what appeared to be a very healthy kelp bed. That also makes sense since the water in the northern Channel Islands area is typically 5-10º cooler than we get in the southern Channel islands and the temperature difference might be even more pronounced during El Ninos. So there's differing amounts of kelp in different places and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. Fortunately, kelp is the fastest-growing organism on the face of the planet and under ideal conditions it can grow as much as 2 feet per day. That's an inch an hour. So it can regenerate pretty quickly. But it's also a bit fickle in terms of the environmental condition in which it thrives and once you get under 55º or over 70º you start to see a thermal effect. If you want to learn some more about the kelp, check out this article by Dr. Bill Bushing: http://www.starthrower.org/research/kelpmisc/kelp_mp.htm.
PALAU BURNS BOATS - This is actually a good thing because they were the boats of poachers caught illegally fishing in Palauan waters. While confiscating your boat is one thing, burning it sure does send a different message. Palau's really trying to crack down on all illegal fishing. As they so succinctly put it: "We will not tolerate any more of these pirates who come and steal our resources." You can read more about this (and see pix of the burning boats) here: http://news.yahoo.com/palau-burns-vietnamese-boats-caught-fishing-illegally-143746576.html.
MPA POSTER - The California Department of Fish & Wildlife has put out a great, free high-rseolution poster showing all the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the state. It's a huge poster measuring 7,800 x 10,800 pixels (26" x 36") but you can resize it as you like. But it gives you an excellent idea of where everything is and also, when you look at it as a whole, how relatively little of our coastal waters have been so designated., underscoring the need (IMHO) to have chosen the "right" areas. Here's the link to the JPG of the poster: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/images/mpa_poster_fullsize.jpg.
DITCHING WEIGHTS REVISITED - I ranted on last week about the importance of ditching weights in an emergency as sometimes meaning the difference between life & death. This week, there's a story out of Florida of a diver in distress reaching the surface, shouting for help, but then sinking back down apparently because he didn't ditch his weights and had no air in his BC. The body has yet to be recovered but I'm thinking there's a good chance that the weights are still attached. Weight-ditching is something you should practice routinely just to put it in your muscle memory. You may also find it's not as easy as you think. For instance, I still wear a weight belt. If all I do is release the buckle, the back of the belt can get trapped between my tank and my butt and is therefore still attached to me because it won't release. So I have to practice really pulling the belt away from me to get rid of it. I hope to never have to do it but also hope that if I ever should, that that will be imprinted in my brain. Another thing to keep in mind is that you can remove, but not jettison, the weights early on in your emergency. Don't wait until the last second. Pull the weights early and hold them in your hands. If the situation stabalizes, re-attach the weights. But if it doesn't, you can easily just drop them. And in a worst-case scenario where you pass out underwater, if you're already holding them in your hands, they will fall from you hands after you pass out and you will eventualyl rise to the surface. Much better than the alternative. Grim stuff, I know, but still things we need to talk about and be aware of.
SADLY, NO ISLA THIS YEAR - I'm officially canceling our Reef Seekers Isla Mujeres Whale Sharks trip this year because I don't have enough people committing and I'm at a point now where I have to start paying non-refundable fees. I like small groups but this was a little TOO small. We will re-schedule for next year and hopefully generate more interest. In the meantime, Whale Shark season down there goes until mid-September and if anyone's interested in doing it on their own, give me a call and I'll hook you up with the folks that we use down on Isla.
BIG GREAT WHITE - We also talked last week about that HUGE Great White Shark and the diver who was outside the cage. Turns out the footage was from about two years ago at Guadalupe (it's being touted incorrectly as having just been shot) and the shark in question is a pregnant female, who are generally much larger than the males. But it's still a pretty impressive animal and hopefully we'll see her when we're down there this year. Remember that we have not one but TWO shark trips. The first is July 31-August 5 and the second is October 21-26. There are some additional boat spots available on the first trip and both Reef Seekers and boat spots available on the second. I think it's definitely going to be some high-voltage action and I'm looking forward to putting both my D750 and my GoPro Hero4 through their paces. (Note my confidence that I won't be flooding them in Indonesia.) Anyhow, if you'd like to have sharks in your face, we should talk.
And that's going to do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
