Ken Kurtis
Contributor
• March 11-19 - Yap (can be combined with Palau)
• March 20-27 - Palau on the Palau Aggressor II [ can be combined with Yap - we can get 3 more spots ]
• Late May or early June - Bonaire or Cayman
• July 2-14 - Indonesia
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 6 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 20-27 - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ 5 SPOTS CONFIRMED - ONLY 7 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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One more "big" holiday to go . . .
MERRY POST-CHRISTMAS FROM DOVER, DELAWARE - I flew back east to spend the holiday with my dad who still lives in Dover, Delaware. Much as I love living in L.A., I still love coming back to Dover, not only because it's where I grew up, but also because - especially at the holidays - there's nothing like being in a small town. (Dover's current population is about 36,000. When I was growing up here, it was probably 20,000.) But what's really nice is that the City of Dover always goes all out to decorate the trees in the historic downtown area with plenty of lights and it just all really looks nice as you drive down Loockerman Street (not a typo - that's how it's spelled). I tried to go out and get some nighttime shots to share with you, including Legislative Hall and the Old State House, which dates back to 1791. (There was a mist in the air so there's some lens flare here and there - click on photos for a bigger view):
TRASH CLEANUP ANYONE?? - You've got until the end of Thursday this week to take advantage of the early-purchase price (saves $10) for the 35th Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup on Saturday, February 20. We'll be going over on the 6:15AM boat out of Long Beach which gives us ample time to settle into position at the Green Pier and then go off and have a leisurely breakfast. The diving starts at 9:30AM and ends by 11AM and you're free to get as much trash as your hands and bags can handle. Remember, too, that there are prizes given for things like weirdest, smallest, oldest, and other categories. And then there's always the fierce annual competition for the Coveted Ken Kurtis Silver-Tongued Devil Award (aka the BS Award), given annually to the person with the most outlandish story about what the history behind what they found. The winner is declared by the acclimation of (some would say the mercy of) the assembled crowd. It's a whole lot of fun, you do a lot of good work in helping to clean the harbor, and it's also a joint fund-raiser for the Catalina Conservation Divers and the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to join the Reef Seekers group. Make sure you let me know your t-shirt size, too.
HOW ABOUT PALAU? - We've got one spot left (male share) on our Palau trip March 20-27. We'll be encamped on one of our favorite boats (the Palau Aggressor 2) with some of our favorite DMs to dive with in one of our favorite spots in the world. Palau's really a great place to experience the variety of diving from wrecks to walls to drift dives to stunning reefs which all contain big things and little things and everything in between. Cost of the trip is $3,495 which includes airport transfers, the boat, diving, food, crew tip, and overnight hotel on the way in. Airfare's running around $2,100. And that's all the more reason to consider adding Yap at the front end as we'll be there from March 12-19 because the airfare changes by maybe $100 but now you can pick up a second week of great diving. In Yap, we'll get graceful Manta Rays, horny Mandarinfish, and hungry sharks (luckily they want the frozen bait, not us). Yap is one of my absolute favorite places in the world to spend a week and Manta Ray Bay is one of my absolute favorite places to encamp for that week. Yap adds another $2,495 to the tab and includes airport transfers, ocean view deluxe room at MRB, breakfast daily, all diving including the specialty Mandarinfish and Shark Feed dives, at least three manta dives, and plenty of other diving to round out each day. If you're interested in one trip or both, be sure to contact us at 310/652-4990 or through this e-mail addy.
MORE GULF OIL SPILL FALLOUT - There's a new report out that will likely come as no surprise to those of us who have followed this story for the past 5+ years but the conclusion is that the oil spill in the Gulf in 2010 may have ramifications beyond just those animals that survived the direct effects of the spill. The study says they're seeing oil effects in young turtles born well after the spill and from areas remote from the spill area. The assumption/fear is this model will apply to other marine species as well. You can read more about it here: New study: BP oil spill impacted turtles beyond Gulf of Mexico | Miami Herald.
DELAYED JANUARY NEWSLETTER - Look for it by January 3, to not only give me some time for New year's Eve and the College Football Playoff Games, but also to insert some Rose Parade pix from January 1.
That'll do it for now. Have a Happy New Year everyone and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
• March 20-27 - Palau on the Palau Aggressor II [ can be combined with Yap - we can get 3 more spots ]
• Late May or early June - Bonaire or Cayman
• July 2-14 - Indonesia
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 6 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 20-27 - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ 5 SPOTS CONFIRMED - ONLY 7 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
One more "big" holiday to go . . .
MERRY POST-CHRISTMAS FROM DOVER, DELAWARE - I flew back east to spend the holiday with my dad who still lives in Dover, Delaware. Much as I love living in L.A., I still love coming back to Dover, not only because it's where I grew up, but also because - especially at the holidays - there's nothing like being in a small town. (Dover's current population is about 36,000. When I was growing up here, it was probably 20,000.) But what's really nice is that the City of Dover always goes all out to decorate the trees in the historic downtown area with plenty of lights and it just all really looks nice as you drive down Loockerman Street (not a typo - that's how it's spelled). I tried to go out and get some nighttime shots to share with you, including Legislative Hall and the Old State House, which dates back to 1791. (There was a mist in the air so there's some lens flare here and there - click on photos for a bigger view):
TRASH CLEANUP ANYONE?? - You've got until the end of Thursday this week to take advantage of the early-purchase price (saves $10) for the 35th Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup on Saturday, February 20. We'll be going over on the 6:15AM boat out of Long Beach which gives us ample time to settle into position at the Green Pier and then go off and have a leisurely breakfast. The diving starts at 9:30AM and ends by 11AM and you're free to get as much trash as your hands and bags can handle. Remember, too, that there are prizes given for things like weirdest, smallest, oldest, and other categories. And then there's always the fierce annual competition for the Coveted Ken Kurtis Silver-Tongued Devil Award (aka the BS Award), given annually to the person with the most outlandish story about what the history behind what they found. The winner is declared by the acclimation of (some would say the mercy of) the assembled crowd. It's a whole lot of fun, you do a lot of good work in helping to clean the harbor, and it's also a joint fund-raiser for the Catalina Conservation Divers and the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 to join the Reef Seekers group. Make sure you let me know your t-shirt size, too.
HOW ABOUT PALAU? - We've got one spot left (male share) on our Palau trip March 20-27. We'll be encamped on one of our favorite boats (the Palau Aggressor 2) with some of our favorite DMs to dive with in one of our favorite spots in the world. Palau's really a great place to experience the variety of diving from wrecks to walls to drift dives to stunning reefs which all contain big things and little things and everything in between. Cost of the trip is $3,495 which includes airport transfers, the boat, diving, food, crew tip, and overnight hotel on the way in. Airfare's running around $2,100. And that's all the more reason to consider adding Yap at the front end as we'll be there from March 12-19 because the airfare changes by maybe $100 but now you can pick up a second week of great diving. In Yap, we'll get graceful Manta Rays, horny Mandarinfish, and hungry sharks (luckily they want the frozen bait, not us). Yap is one of my absolute favorite places in the world to spend a week and Manta Ray Bay is one of my absolute favorite places to encamp for that week. Yap adds another $2,495 to the tab and includes airport transfers, ocean view deluxe room at MRB, breakfast daily, all diving including the specialty Mandarinfish and Shark Feed dives, at least three manta dives, and plenty of other diving to round out each day. If you're interested in one trip or both, be sure to contact us at 310/652-4990 or through this e-mail addy.
MORE GULF OIL SPILL FALLOUT - There's a new report out that will likely come as no surprise to those of us who have followed this story for the past 5+ years but the conclusion is that the oil spill in the Gulf in 2010 may have ramifications beyond just those animals that survived the direct effects of the spill. The study says they're seeing oil effects in young turtles born well after the spill and from areas remote from the spill area. The assumption/fear is this model will apply to other marine species as well. You can read more about it here: New study: BP oil spill impacted turtles beyond Gulf of Mexico | Miami Herald.
DELAYED JANUARY NEWSLETTER - Look for it by January 3, to not only give me some time for New year's Eve and the College Football Playoff Games, but also to insert some Rose Parade pix from January 1.
That'll do it for now. Have a Happy New Year everyone and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
