Summer's officially here and someone turned up the heat . . .
BEWARE OF RIP TIDES/CURRENTS - I was reading an article over the weekend about four people who each died at the same Florida beach within 48 hours of each other, and all of whom were caught in rip currents and basically got exhausted fighting the current and drowned. It's important to remind you that we can get rip currents at some of our beaches as well and those of you who do summer beach diving need to be alert for them. The big thing to remember is:
DON'T TRY TO FIGHT THE CURRENT. It will carry you out a bit and then dissipate. That's when you make your move. You can then swim parallel to shore - perhaps a few dozen yards - and then you'll be able to come in. And especially if you've got scuba gear on, make sure your BC's inflated. The tell-tale signs of a rip at a beach are a channel of water that seems to split surf line in half, and it may be dirty water to boot. Basically water that's been flung up on the beach by the waves is now making its way back to the sea and is funneling to a particular spot. So anytime you're going for a beach dive, before you even take gear out of the car, take a good look at the surf line to see if it's diveable (my personal line of demarcation is 3-foot surf) and then make sure you don't see any breaks in the surf line that might indicate a rip current. And if there's a lifeguard on duty, it also can't hurt to check in with them to ask advice as well as to let them know what your dive plan will be. Dive safely out there!!!
BEACH CLASS REMINDER - Talking about rips is also a good chance to remind that we offer a variety of beach dive training throughout the year. So of the classes are free, some are paid. Check out our sked on
www.reefseekers.com to see when they are and what might suit your needs and interests.
MALDIVES TRIP IS FILLING UP - I mentioned last week that we're going to the Maldives for back-to-back trips in the fall of 2025. You can do one or the other. (Some people are doing both.) Both trips will be on the Manthiri with the first one diving September 19-28 and the second one diving September 29 - October 8. If you're contemplating going, don't wait too long to let us know. The Manthiri only takes 12 divers and right now we only have two spots left on trip #1, and one spot (male share) on trip #2. If you're interested, shoot us an e-mail or call us at 310/652-4990.
GIGANTIC SUNFISH WASHES ASHORE - A few weeks ago, an enormous sunfish washed ashore along Oregon's northern coast. Most of the ones we get here in SoCal are maybe 3 feet or so across. This one was 7 feet. Yikes!!! But it was definitely a rare occurrence and you can read more about it - as well as see some pix - here:
SUNFISH.
YAP TRIP IS FILLING AS WELL - That one is happening this year, September 9-22 (travel dates), and we've got seven people going so far. Generally we keep this trip to around 10 or so (although we've done bigger groups to Yap as well). Yap's got a great combination of Manta Rays, sharks, Mandarinfish, healthy reefs, and just the overall ambiance of staying with our friends at Manta Ray Bay Resort can't be beat. Unlike the Maldives, where we have a fixed number of people we can take, we've got more flexibility with Yap because it's land-based. If you're interested, let us know.
WRECKS BECOME REEFS - Well, duh. But this seems to be news to the BBC, who published an article on their website in conjunction with remembering D-Day, saying how many of the WW2 wrecks around Britain and France have become thriving reefs. Of course, we divers have known that all along. And the best example of that are the wrecks of Truk Lagoon, aka Chuuk. But the article is an interesting read and one thing I found fascinating is that they estimate that there are 3 MILLION wrecks of some sort or another worldwide. Read more here:
WW2 WRECKS BECOME REEFS.
JIM COOPER HAS DIED - We going to end of a sad note with the news that stalwart Reef Seeker Jim Cooper has died following a long battle with Lewy Body Dementia. Jim died Saturday morning. He was 85. He died at his home in Las Vegas with his wife Diana at his side. Jim first got certified by us (by me actually) in the early-80s and quickly became enamored with diving. Many of you likely ran into him on our local trips. (You may recall him from his full head of brilliant white hair.) He and Diana were also huge fans of diving in Bonaire and made numerous trips there with us. The Sea of Cortez and Cozumel were two of the other destinations that we introduced him to. I feel very fortunate that I got to talk to him one final time last week via Whats App and while the disease tends to limit your interest in talking, you could certainly see a twinkle in his eye as we discussed past dives and experiences. There will likely be some sort of a memorial service here in SoCal in the next month or two. If you'd like to attend, let me know. In lieu of flowers, you can make a donation in Jim's name to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, which is where he was being treated. This is the donation website:
https://give.ccf.org/give/187824#!/donation/checkout
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
