Spent Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium in the broiling sun watching Ohtani hit some towering home runs and it was mighty warm . . .
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES - Buck was over in Avalon Saturday diving the U/W Park and reported a nice smooth ride over, 60-80' viz, water temp 66º, GSBs all over the place. Sunday there was a high surf advisory in effect, the morning swell on the ride to Catalina was running close to five feet, and according to the "Mark at the Park" report, water temp was 62º, viz was 30-50, but the GSBs were still around. Redondo on Saturday looked flat calm on the live camera and looked undiveable on Sunday. So just another example of how conditions can change, and sometimes radically, from one day to the next.
YES, YOU CAN GET BENT IN SPACE - You may have heard about the faux "emergency" that befell that International Space Station last week. While the astronauts were all asleep, NASA was planning on running an emergency evacuation drill. No problem. Except that they forgot to disconnect the audio from the public livestream and freaked out plenty of people with their mistake. The drill in question involved the ISS commander suffering from a DCS hit. And that brought up the question: Can you get bent in space? And the answer is yes. (FYI, there's no actual hyperbaric chamber on the ISS so they really would have to get that person off of the ISS to be treated.) I'm going to simplify this tremendously but the main thing to remember is that gas components - like nitrogen, which is that causes us to get bent - move from high concentration to low concentration. When we dive, the concentration of nitrogen underwater is greater than at the surface so we have to be careful as to how long we're down. In space, it's the opposite. Inside the ISS, they're at 1atm of pressure. But when they do an EVA, the spacesuit is pressurized to about 1/3 of normal atmospheric pressure so now the nitrogen that's sitting peacefully inside of them will start to come out, just like it does after a dive. Only this time, you're out in space. If too much of it comes out over time, just like out-gassing post-dive, you can get bent and will need chamber treatment. And that's what this drill was all about. So yes, you CAN get bent in outer space.
MALDIVES IN 2025 - We normally don't plan trips more than a year n advance but, for a variety of reasons, we've committed to not one but TWO trips on the Manthiri in the Maldives and will run them back-to-back next year. Trip dates - actually travel dates will differ slightly - are September 19-28 and September 29 - October 8. The reason we booked these trips back-to-back was partially at the urging of our dive guide/buddy Moosa on the Manthiri, and also because when he proposed this, a number of folks on the boat at the time said, "I'd do both trips!!" So here's the deal . . .
DO ONE TRIP OR DO THEM BOTH - Amazingly, we already have 7 people who have committed to doing both trips. We also have a few people doing only trip #1, and a few people doing only trip #2. Since the Manthiri only takes 12 divers (plus 11 crew), this means that for the first trip we only have TWO spots still available. For the second trip we have THREE spots available. So if you're interested in doing these trips back-to-back, that's still doable. Or if you'd like to only do one trip, that's doable too. Although this is weather-dependent, our plan is run trip #1 as a northern route and run trip #2 as a southern route. There are trade-offs to both but for those doing both trips, the hope is not to do the same sites on trip #2 that we will do on trip #1. And with everything you hear nowadays about Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease and coral bleaching, it's important to remind you that, while the Maldives has become a diving hotspot in the last decade or so, it's also one of the few places in the world where you'll still find pristine reefs loaded with thousands of fish. (Maldivians are very proud of and protective of their reefs.) Now, let's deal with the key question . . .
HOW MUCH FOR THE MALDIVES TRIP? - Bear in mind that because the Manthiri limits itself to 12 divers, this is effectively a limited-load type of trip. Both trips are also 9-day trips rather than 7-days. You can absolutely find cheaper trips on other boats but they will have upwards of 30 divers on board and many are only 7 days. In the Maldives, you get what you pay for. For our trips, we will generally do three dives each day (occasionally four), the food on-board is fabulous, plus we include a very generous tip for the crew, a hotel overnight in the Maldives on the way in, the 16% Maldives tax, and the $6/night "green" tax. So for each trip through us, the cost will be $5,990/person. Admittedly, not cheap. That's also why all we're asking for now is a $500 deposit to secure your spot and then we can do payments of $1,000 every other month or so to spread things out. And if you need convincing as to how wonderful the diving can be, take a look here:
MALDIVES PIX. If you have questions, give us a call at 310/652-4990. If you want to snag any of those last remaining spots, the sooner you get hold of us, the sooner you can start anticipating this trip-of-a-lifetime.
DAN RESEARCH DIVER SURVEY - From the latest DAN Safety Stop: "Measuring the global population of divers is crucial for dive research. To help quantify the number of active divers, DAN Research invites divers to participate in a brief questionnaire. This anonymous survey asks about certification level, location, diving frequency, and more. DAN Research piloted this survey in North Carolina last year, and we're now extending the invitation to divers across North America." You don't need to be a DAN member to participate and it takes less than two minutes to fill out. We encourage you to fill out the survey. here's the link:
DAN DIVER SURVEY.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
