Ken Kurtis
Contributor
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Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• July 7-19 - Yap Immersion #1 (special 13-day trip featuring all that Yap has to offer) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• September 1-6 - Great White Sharks of Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie [ ONLY 1 SPOT LEFT ]
• November 2-12 - Fiji (SW area near Suva) on the Fiji Aggressor [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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Upcoming local dives & classes:
• DIVE - Sat., 6/24 (this coming Saturday) - Avalon UW Park ($150)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
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Hope you had a happy Father's Day . . .
AVALON TRIP THIS COMING SATURDAY - Last week, I had the date right but had the relative Saturday wrong. So, to be clear, we're going to Avalon to dive the UW Park THIS coming Saturday, which is June 24. We'll go over on the 8:45AM out of San Pedro and come back on the 5:30PM out of Avalon. I've been raving about the Black Sea Bass that have been spotted but now Dr. Bill Bushing says he's discovered a new species for California which is a Panamic Fanged Blenny. These guys are normally found in much warmer waters and they were all over the Sea of Cortez. they're very charismatic. Once you spot one, he'll flee initially but then his curiosity gets the better of him and he comes back to the exact same spot and gives you the once-over. Bill says he think there are three of them in the park so we'll see if we can find them too. The plan is for up to three dives and $150 covers you for ferry/taxi/tank/air/fun. Give me a call at 310/652-4990 if you're interested.
TRAVELLING TO CUBA - Needless to say, it got a bit trickier since last week given Trump's rollback of some - but not all - of the Obama overtures. I don't know that anyone's sure exactly how this will affect tourism overall and specifically how it will affect the Aggressor boat that's been running there. And this is why back in January, I said we wouldn't be going in 2017. My concern, and it's strictly from a business standpoint, is that we book a bunch of you to go and then suddenly we can't and we can't get our money back. And then I've got to figure out how to refund thousands and thousands of dollars to you. Not a great position to be in and , while I've got a number of friends who have dove Cuba and for whom it's been a wonderful experience, it's too big of a business for us to take. If you're going on your own, that's another thing. if you want to re-visit our earlier position statement, you can do so here: SCUBA CUBA???? MAYBE NOT IN 2017.
WHALE SHARK ENCOUNTER - There's a magnificent video of a Whale Shark encounter that was just off of Palm Beach, Florida, a week or so ago. What's impressive to me is not only the size of the fish, but the number of remoras that are almost encasing it in the water, not to mention the sharks that seem to be confusing themselves with Pilotfish. Really cool: Whale shark glides past divers.
PURPLE CORAL PROTECTION - There was a story I was forwarded from KCETLink that lamented how we weren't protecting the purple coral at Farnsworth which I thought was a bit misleading. (I'm assuming a number of you saw the posts about this on Facebook as well.) The article interviews some people who argue that there's a simple solution and that's to install moorings at Farnsworth. First of all, there's nothing "simple" about that and secondly, when the Farnsworth Offshore MPA was created, there was specific language put into the regulations that mandated a feasibility study be done about installing moorings and then, assuming the study is favorable, the project move forward. I know about this personally because I helped draft the specific language that the Blue Ribbon Panel adopted. The short version is that it's a great idea which has a number of logistical challenges which people seem to want to gloss over rather than solve. "Simple" is that last thing you should call this undertaking. Although places like Florida and Bonaire are often cited as examples of successful mooring programs (and they are), they also involve shallower water that's closer to shore and smaller/lighter boats using the moorings, with adequate enforcement resources nearby. I'll expound upon this concept a bit further in the July newsletter but just wanted to get this off my chest for now. (And I feel soooooo much better.)
47 METERS DOWN (MOVIE REVIEW) - I'm sure many of you realized that was no way I could miss this one. And, from the early reviews, I figured it won't be around too long so I'd better go strike while the iron is hot. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best, it's a 5 or a 6. It's probably little bit hard to suspend your disbelief when watch it as a diver, let alone an instructor, and it helps if you can suspend your knowledge of diving physics so you're not wondering why they haven't quickly exhausted their air supply at 154' but perhaps we quibble too much. Without giving away plot details (MINOR SPOILER ALERT), there are a couple of lines that I think we were meant for inside jokes to the diving community. When the two women - one of whom (Mandy Moore' character Lisa) is not certified - are talking about this with the two guys who want them to go, Lisa says, "Well, I don't have one of those card things to let you go diving." And the guys start laughing and saying, "A certification card??? This is Mexico." The other one is when they're boarding the boat and the captain looks at them both and says, "You both know how to scuba dive, right?" And they both reply, "Oh sure." And he gives them that "Heard that before" look. Overall it was OK and there were certainly noble efforts to keep things dive-correct. They only a couple of times said "oxygen tanks" and there were numerous references to the bends, clearing your ears, nitrogen narcosis, decompression stops, air consumption, and the like. And there's what I thought was a very plot twist at the end. The film opened to an estimated $11.5 million box office (5th place for the week) but that was slightly better than the studio had projected. If you're looking for some time to kill and don't want anything too thought-provoking, it might be worth a peek. And if you're giving some thought to do a shark-cage dive (like ours Nautilus Belle Make trip September 1-6), please rest assured that the real thing is NOTHING like what's depicted in the movie. (Although they've got the depth of the bottom at Guadalupe correct.)
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon (maybe even THIS Saturday).
- Ken
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• July 7-19 - Yap Immersion #1 (special 13-day trip featuring all that Yap has to offer) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 6 SPOTS LEFT ]
• September 1-6 - Great White Sharks of Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie [ ONLY 1 SPOT LEFT ]
• November 2-12 - Fiji (SW area near Suva) on the Fiji Aggressor [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
——————————————————————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives & classes:
• DIVE - Sat., 6/24 (this coming Saturday) - Avalon UW Park ($150)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
——————————————————————————————————————————
Hope you had a happy Father's Day . . .
AVALON TRIP THIS COMING SATURDAY - Last week, I had the date right but had the relative Saturday wrong. So, to be clear, we're going to Avalon to dive the UW Park THIS coming Saturday, which is June 24. We'll go over on the 8:45AM out of San Pedro and come back on the 5:30PM out of Avalon. I've been raving about the Black Sea Bass that have been spotted but now Dr. Bill Bushing says he's discovered a new species for California which is a Panamic Fanged Blenny. These guys are normally found in much warmer waters and they were all over the Sea of Cortez. they're very charismatic. Once you spot one, he'll flee initially but then his curiosity gets the better of him and he comes back to the exact same spot and gives you the once-over. Bill says he think there are three of them in the park so we'll see if we can find them too. The plan is for up to three dives and $150 covers you for ferry/taxi/tank/air/fun. Give me a call at 310/652-4990 if you're interested.
TRAVELLING TO CUBA - Needless to say, it got a bit trickier since last week given Trump's rollback of some - but not all - of the Obama overtures. I don't know that anyone's sure exactly how this will affect tourism overall and specifically how it will affect the Aggressor boat that's been running there. And this is why back in January, I said we wouldn't be going in 2017. My concern, and it's strictly from a business standpoint, is that we book a bunch of you to go and then suddenly we can't and we can't get our money back. And then I've got to figure out how to refund thousands and thousands of dollars to you. Not a great position to be in and , while I've got a number of friends who have dove Cuba and for whom it's been a wonderful experience, it's too big of a business for us to take. If you're going on your own, that's another thing. if you want to re-visit our earlier position statement, you can do so here: SCUBA CUBA???? MAYBE NOT IN 2017.
WHALE SHARK ENCOUNTER - There's a magnificent video of a Whale Shark encounter that was just off of Palm Beach, Florida, a week or so ago. What's impressive to me is not only the size of the fish, but the number of remoras that are almost encasing it in the water, not to mention the sharks that seem to be confusing themselves with Pilotfish. Really cool: Whale shark glides past divers.
PURPLE CORAL PROTECTION - There was a story I was forwarded from KCETLink that lamented how we weren't protecting the purple coral at Farnsworth which I thought was a bit misleading. (I'm assuming a number of you saw the posts about this on Facebook as well.) The article interviews some people who argue that there's a simple solution and that's to install moorings at Farnsworth. First of all, there's nothing "simple" about that and secondly, when the Farnsworth Offshore MPA was created, there was specific language put into the regulations that mandated a feasibility study be done about installing moorings and then, assuming the study is favorable, the project move forward. I know about this personally because I helped draft the specific language that the Blue Ribbon Panel adopted. The short version is that it's a great idea which has a number of logistical challenges which people seem to want to gloss over rather than solve. "Simple" is that last thing you should call this undertaking. Although places like Florida and Bonaire are often cited as examples of successful mooring programs (and they are), they also involve shallower water that's closer to shore and smaller/lighter boats using the moorings, with adequate enforcement resources nearby. I'll expound upon this concept a bit further in the July newsletter but just wanted to get this off my chest for now. (And I feel soooooo much better.)
47 METERS DOWN (MOVIE REVIEW) - I'm sure many of you realized that was no way I could miss this one. And, from the early reviews, I figured it won't be around too long so I'd better go strike while the iron is hot. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best, it's a 5 or a 6. It's probably little bit hard to suspend your disbelief when watch it as a diver, let alone an instructor, and it helps if you can suspend your knowledge of diving physics so you're not wondering why they haven't quickly exhausted their air supply at 154' but perhaps we quibble too much. Without giving away plot details (MINOR SPOILER ALERT), there are a couple of lines that I think we were meant for inside jokes to the diving community. When the two women - one of whom (Mandy Moore' character Lisa) is not certified - are talking about this with the two guys who want them to go, Lisa says, "Well, I don't have one of those card things to let you go diving." And the guys start laughing and saying, "A certification card??? This is Mexico." The other one is when they're boarding the boat and the captain looks at them both and says, "You both know how to scuba dive, right?" And they both reply, "Oh sure." And he gives them that "Heard that before" look. Overall it was OK and there were certainly noble efforts to keep things dive-correct. They only a couple of times said "oxygen tanks" and there were numerous references to the bends, clearing your ears, nitrogen narcosis, decompression stops, air consumption, and the like. And there's what I thought was a very plot twist at the end. The film opened to an estimated $11.5 million box office (5th place for the week) but that was slightly better than the studio had projected. If you're looking for some time to kill and don't want anything too thought-provoking, it might be worth a peek. And if you're giving some thought to do a shark-cage dive (like ours Nautilus Belle Make trip September 1-6), please rest assured that the real thing is NOTHING like what's depicted in the movie. (Although they've got the depth of the bottom at Guadalupe correct.)
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon (maybe even THIS Saturday).
- Ken
