Ken Kurtis
Contributor
We just finished our last dives . . .
LOVELY MANTA-LESS 10 DAYS - We started off strong with three mantas on our first day and then . . . that was it. And we weren't the only ones getting skunked. This is the first time in twelve trips I've seen so few mantas. The thought is that there's a good food source offshore and they are spending most of their time out there feeding. Hard to say. But we had a lot of other good dives.
FINISHED UP WITH A SHARK FEED TODAY - Always an interesting dive here. It's also one that there do only sporadically, certainly not every week, so I personally don't think it alters the natural behavior of the sharks to any significant degree. And what was really interesting was that almost as soon as the bait was gone, all the sharks (and there were 30-40 of them) settled down and just calmly cruised the area for another 30 minutes or so. One Blacktip won the Cutest Shark award as he had a single juvy Golden Trevally at his nose seemingly leading him around.
ALL THE PIX - I've been posting pix each day on SmugMug and if you haven't had a chance to check things out, here's the link: YAP 2018 - DAILY TOP 10 PIX . Each day has 10 shots in the gallery. I haven't posted today (Monday, June 18) yet but will do so a couple of hours after this edition of TWARS gets sent.
NOT IF YOUR CAMERA FLOODS, BUT WHEN - Unfortunately, Tabby Stone was the one who proved that to be true. Fortunately, it happened on the very last dive of the trip as he was handing his camera up to the boat. One of two latches popped (the locking spring seems to be broken) and enough water got in to penetrate the camera and the lens. Fortunately, the SD card was dry so all the pix were salvaged. And the camera and housing are both insured for replacement value. But if you're an underwater shooter, you've got to figure that your time will come eventually.
DAY FREE AND THEN THE JOURNEY HOME BEGINS - We'll spend tomorrow - Tuesday here in Yap - drying gear and packing up and then we head to the airport late in the evening for the arduous YAP-Guam-Honolulu-LAX trip home, starting at 1:30AM Yap time (8:30AM LA time) and arriving Wednesday morning around 5AM, some 20+ hours later. But magical places require some effort to get to them, and it's time well-invested for wonderful memories.
SCUBA SHOW THIS WEEKEND IN LONG BEACH - Hope to see you this Saturday afternoon for our "Why Divers Die" seminar which is the annual review of scuba fatalities in Los Angeles County. We start at 4PM and you'll need a seminar pass to attend. The show runs both Saturday & Sunday (though we're giving our talk only on Saturday).
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
LOVELY MANTA-LESS 10 DAYS - We started off strong with three mantas on our first day and then . . . that was it. And we weren't the only ones getting skunked. This is the first time in twelve trips I've seen so few mantas. The thought is that there's a good food source offshore and they are spending most of their time out there feeding. Hard to say. But we had a lot of other good dives.
FINISHED UP WITH A SHARK FEED TODAY - Always an interesting dive here. It's also one that there do only sporadically, certainly not every week, so I personally don't think it alters the natural behavior of the sharks to any significant degree. And what was really interesting was that almost as soon as the bait was gone, all the sharks (and there were 30-40 of them) settled down and just calmly cruised the area for another 30 minutes or so. One Blacktip won the Cutest Shark award as he had a single juvy Golden Trevally at his nose seemingly leading him around.
ALL THE PIX - I've been posting pix each day on SmugMug and if you haven't had a chance to check things out, here's the link: YAP 2018 - DAILY TOP 10 PIX . Each day has 10 shots in the gallery. I haven't posted today (Monday, June 18) yet but will do so a couple of hours after this edition of TWARS gets sent.
NOT IF YOUR CAMERA FLOODS, BUT WHEN - Unfortunately, Tabby Stone was the one who proved that to be true. Fortunately, it happened on the very last dive of the trip as he was handing his camera up to the boat. One of two latches popped (the locking spring seems to be broken) and enough water got in to penetrate the camera and the lens. Fortunately, the SD card was dry so all the pix were salvaged. And the camera and housing are both insured for replacement value. But if you're an underwater shooter, you've got to figure that your time will come eventually.
DAY FREE AND THEN THE JOURNEY HOME BEGINS - We'll spend tomorrow - Tuesday here in Yap - drying gear and packing up and then we head to the airport late in the evening for the arduous YAP-Guam-Honolulu-LAX trip home, starting at 1:30AM Yap time (8:30AM LA time) and arriving Wednesday morning around 5AM, some 20+ hours later. But magical places require some effort to get to them, and it's time well-invested for wonderful memories.
SCUBA SHOW THIS WEEKEND IN LONG BEACH - Hope to see you this Saturday afternoon for our "Why Divers Die" seminar which is the annual review of scuba fatalities in Los Angeles County. We start at 4PM and you'll need a seminar pass to attend. The show runs both Saturday & Sunday (though we're giving our talk only on Saturday).
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
