Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• March 17-25 - Bonaire [ WE'RE THERE NOW!!! ]
• June 10-17 - Isla Mujeres (early in the Whale Shark Season)
• 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 [ WE'VE ONLY GOT 6 SPOTS - ONLY 1 OFFICIAL 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 - Thu., 4/6 - Night dive at Redondo (6PM - FREE!! - might still see some squid)
• DIVE - Sat., 4/22 - Avalon UW Park ($150)
• CLASS - Wed., 4/26 - Fish ID (7PM in Westwood - $25)
• CHARITY EVENT - Wed., 5/3 - Chamber Day & Eve 2017 2017 (7AM-11PM at Catalina and in Long Beach)
• DIVE - Thu., 5/24 - Night dive at Redondo (6PM - FREE!!)
• DIVE - Sat., 6/3 - 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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Greetings from the Caribbean, where we can watch the NCAA tournament (in HD even!!!) . . .
BACK IN BONAIRE - We haven't been here in three years and there are definitely changes/improvements that have been made in that time period. Changes at Buddy Dive in terms of new dive and dock facilities and a satellite dive shop downtown, lots of building going on and many new stores, and just progress in general. We'll go over these in more detail in the full trip report next week. In the meantime, we had a good first day here, getting in two dives in the afternoon. Conditions are fairly good with water temps around 82, viz running probably 80 feet on the house reef, and lots of stuff to see. We'll begin our boat diving regimen tomorrow and that should allow us access to the "better" sites as well as the eyeballs of a guide who knows where the "special friends" are likely to be. I am very hopeful that our two French Angels who LOVE watermelon are still at Forest and we can get some pix with them. In the meantime, here's your daily dose of Top 10 Pix for this trip on the SmugMug page. Be sure to check it out each day. This link will work daily, then just choose the gallery for that particular day. BTW, bear in mind that this is how good the diving in Bonaire can be: The 10 images you will see for 3/19 were all taken on one 40-minute dive. Not too shabby: BONAIRE 2017.
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS - Part of the overall plan of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was that it was to be adaptive to changing conditions over time. Perhaps an MPA needed to be expanded or perhaps it wasn't doing what was intended and needed to be modified or even eliminated. The way you determine all of that is with a bunch of baseline studies and then continued monitoring over time. If you're interesting in knowing where things stand, this is the document for you:
http://oceanspaces.org/sites/default/files/south_coast_state_of_the_region_report_3.13.2017.pdf. It'll give you some overviews and a big-picture look at what's been happening the last five years. (And it also has a handy list on page 60 of many common and scientific names of key species.) And it a perfect lead-in to . . .
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS ABOUT MPAs THIS WEEK - All this week (M-F) there will be a series of public workshops talking about the state of MPAs and where we go from here. There also should be time for input from attending members of the public. These meetings are focusing on the South Coast Region, which is from Point Conception to the Mexican border and includes all state waters around all eight of the Channel islands. Here's a flyer outlining the details of the workshops. If you're interested in MPAs - for or against or in-between - I'd encourage you to attend one of the meetings in your area. You'll learn a lot of good stuff and see why this whole process is not as simple as it might sound: http://oceanspaces.org/sites/default/files/sc_flyer_marchcommunitygatherings_final.pdf.
CHAMBER DAY/EVE 2017 - How you signed up or contributed yet? We need your help. Go to www.chamberday.org and get involved!!!
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and join us vicariously in Bonaire all week long!!!
- Ken
• March 17-25 - Bonaire [ WE'RE THERE NOW!!! ]
• June 10-17 - Isla Mujeres (early in the Whale Shark Season)
• 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 [ WE'VE ONLY GOT 6 SPOTS - ONLY 1 OFFICIAL 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 - Thu., 4/6 - Night dive at Redondo (6PM - FREE!! - might still see some squid)
• DIVE - Sat., 4/22 - Avalon UW Park ($150)
• CLASS - Wed., 4/26 - Fish ID (7PM in Westwood - $25)
• CHARITY EVENT - Wed., 5/3 - Chamber Day & Eve 2017 2017 (7AM-11PM at Catalina and in Long Beach)
• DIVE - Thu., 5/24 - Night dive at Redondo (6PM - FREE!!)
• DIVE - Sat., 6/3 - 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
————————————————————————————————————————
Greetings from the Caribbean, where we can watch the NCAA tournament (in HD even!!!) . . .
BACK IN BONAIRE - We haven't been here in three years and there are definitely changes/improvements that have been made in that time period. Changes at Buddy Dive in terms of new dive and dock facilities and a satellite dive shop downtown, lots of building going on and many new stores, and just progress in general. We'll go over these in more detail in the full trip report next week. In the meantime, we had a good first day here, getting in two dives in the afternoon. Conditions are fairly good with water temps around 82, viz running probably 80 feet on the house reef, and lots of stuff to see. We'll begin our boat diving regimen tomorrow and that should allow us access to the "better" sites as well as the eyeballs of a guide who knows where the "special friends" are likely to be. I am very hopeful that our two French Angels who LOVE watermelon are still at Forest and we can get some pix with them. In the meantime, here's your daily dose of Top 10 Pix for this trip on the SmugMug page. Be sure to check it out each day. This link will work daily, then just choose the gallery for that particular day. BTW, bear in mind that this is how good the diving in Bonaire can be: The 10 images you will see for 3/19 were all taken on one 40-minute dive. Not too shabby: BONAIRE 2017.
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS - Part of the overall plan of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) was that it was to be adaptive to changing conditions over time. Perhaps an MPA needed to be expanded or perhaps it wasn't doing what was intended and needed to be modified or even eliminated. The way you determine all of that is with a bunch of baseline studies and then continued monitoring over time. If you're interesting in knowing where things stand, this is the document for you:
http://oceanspaces.org/sites/default/files/south_coast_state_of_the_region_report_3.13.2017.pdf. It'll give you some overviews and a big-picture look at what's been happening the last five years. (And it also has a handy list on page 60 of many common and scientific names of key species.) And it a perfect lead-in to . . .
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS ABOUT MPAs THIS WEEK - All this week (M-F) there will be a series of public workshops talking about the state of MPAs and where we go from here. There also should be time for input from attending members of the public. These meetings are focusing on the South Coast Region, which is from Point Conception to the Mexican border and includes all state waters around all eight of the Channel islands. Here's a flyer outlining the details of the workshops. If you're interested in MPAs - for or against or in-between - I'd encourage you to attend one of the meetings in your area. You'll learn a lot of good stuff and see why this whole process is not as simple as it might sound: http://oceanspaces.org/sites/default/files/sc_flyer_marchcommunitygatherings_final.pdf.
CHAMBER DAY/EVE 2017 - How you signed up or contributed yet? We need your help. Go to www.chamberday.org and get involved!!!
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and join us vicariously in Bonaire all week long!!!
- Ken
