I hope you're giving some thought to diving if you haven't been in a while . . .
THIS WAS A GREAT WEEKEND TO BE OUT - Nice and sunny, and I'm hearing good reports from the Avalon U/W Park including Giant Sea Bass sightings. Some of the beaches, specifically Redondo/Vets looked a bit chopped up earlier in the week but seemed to calm down. That being said, it got windy here in Westwood this afternoon and now there's a Small Craft Advisory through Monday night. But these things come and go and once the wind calms down, things should be good again.
AVALON THIS WEDNESDAY - That all being said, we've got an Avalon trip on the books for Wednesday. We will keep an eye on the wind and probably try to make a go/no-go decision by Monday evening. The report from the Park today was 60-foot vis and about 60º water temps with viz diminishing a bit as the day wore on (which is not unusual). So we shall see what's what for later this week.
WHITE KILLER WHALE - We've been talking for a while now about the various Orcas aka Killer Whales) that seem to have settled into SoCal waters, especially off of Orange County. Last month, whale watchers got an extra treat when they spotted a rare white version of a Killer Whale, nicknamed "Frosty" due to his coloration. This specific animal has only been spotted a few times before and and has normal-looking black head, but then the rest of the body is white to white-ish. You can read more about it and see some pix here:
FROSTY THE KILLER WHALE.
SCUBABOARD.COM EXPERIENCE - If you read the Roatan trip report, you know I talked at some length about one dive where I lost the rest of the group, and it was totally my fault. I thought it provided a good teaching lesson/opportunity. So I posted the account in the ScubaBoard "Accidents & Incidents" forum. I've posted and commented here before, so some of the people who peruse it are familiar with me. My intent was not to solicit advice but simply to start a conversation and discussion and get people thinking about the underlying themes which were (1) Even instructors &/or experienced divers can screw up, and (2) At what point in a dive where someone is missing from the group do you start to think the worst. We got some good comments and questions from a number of people - including Reef Seeker Kendall Raine who gives it a slightly tech perspective - but we also got a few comments from self-styled experts who see things only one way and when your vision differs from theirs, you're the idiot. Their only weapon is a hammer so they see every problem as a nail. (That's good advice to remember anytime you're going through public comment/chat rooms regardless of the topic.) But overall you might find it interesting reading. You don't need to sign up or join to view the thread and the comments so if that's of interest to you, here's the link:
LOSING YOUR GROUP.
LIVING COELACANTH - I'm not sure why this popped up on my news feed but I've always been fascinated by the notion of running into a living Coelacanth (pronounced SEAL-uh-canth). These are literally prehistoric fish that were once thought to be extinct and were rediscovered in 1938. (The L.A. County Natural History Museum in Exposition Park has a preserved specimen on display.) But in 1997 and again in 1998, living specimens were found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, which is where we'll be going in July. (There's even a Coelacanth sculpture in the middle of a big oceanside public park there.) Bear in mind, Coelacanths are very deep-water fish, and the specimens that have been found alive have been at depths in the 400-foot range. (So a bit deeper than I like to go.) When we dive the spot in Sulawesi where they were discovered, I always tell people to keep looking down the wall and into the depths, and if they see something that looks like a ragged grouper, let me know. All of this fascination of mine made me happy to have this older article from the BBC pop up, and it includes a great pix of a diver with a living Coelacanth. It also provides some really good history and background info on this amazing fish. If you'd like to read more, go here:
THE LIVING COELACANTH.
THIS COMING SUNDAY - Don't forget that it's Father's Day.
That'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
