Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Greetings from Yap . . .
HAVING A GREAT TIME BUT THE WEATHER COULD BE BETTER - It's no secret that I always love coming here but we certainly could be having better weather during our stay so far. We've gotten a fair amount of rain, heavy at times (well, it IS the tropics), but the winds have also been strong which has affected the diving a little bit. As I always tell people, it's not the rain but the wind that you need to be concerned with. But it hasn't cost us any dives as it's generally been raining either early morning or later in the afternoon, and we've had some truly spectacular underwater forays. We did have a manta-less dive at the Stammtisch cleaning station but that was followed by a fabulous dive two days later at the same spot where we had two mantas taking turns the entire hour we were there observing. So who can complain about that? In our first four days of diving, we've had sharks, mantas, Mandarinfish, and TWO Cuttlefish, so it's not like we're not experiencing Yap at its finest. Plus, the entire staff at Manta Ray Bay is top-notch and taking excellent care of us. Here are four of my favorite pix so far:
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MORE YAP PIX HERE - I post a "Daily Top 10" each day on my SmugMug page. You can use this link to view what's been put up so far. Pick any individual day to see those 10. You can also check both the Ken Kurtis and Reef Seekers Facebook pages for daily pix and commentary. Here's the SmugMug link to pix: YAP TOP 10 PIX (CHOOSE A DAY)
RUDE AWAKENING ON SUNDAY - Normally, water temps here in Yap run 82-86° degrees. But when we jumped in at Magic Kingdom on Sunday for our first dive, it not only felt a little cooler, it felt downright COLD. Now bear in mind that I dive in a 1.5mm Pinnacle suit with a 1mm Tilos hood. The water temp had dropped to . . . 73°. Brrrrrrrrrr and then some!!! As the dive progressed, we found a layer of 76° a little higher up and then 79° close to the safety stop. But it was quite cold on the second and third dives as well. Luckily, I had also brought my 3mm suit with me on the boat (ironically, I'd forgotten my bathing suit but was delighted to make that the price to pay for having the 3mm) and had my 3mm hood and those at least made things more comfortable. We assume this is an upwelling that may be rain-related and it should bring up lots of nutrients and some good animal sightings because of that, but the shivers are a steep price to pay.
CHAMBER DAY IS COLLECTING DONATIONS - Just because I'm away doesn't mean this stops. We've got 8 seats left at our Ch-Eve table and the Cee Ray (our Ch-Day official boat) is almost half-full. We've ALWAYS got room for you on the Flying Dutchman. And we're happy to take your money for the Chamber Challenge. Remember that around 50% of the Chamber's annual operating budget has to come from fund-raising and this event fills a large part of that need. Here's the link: CHAMBER DAY & EVE 2019
CORAL REEF DISCOVERED IN ITALY - Thanks to Alan Wald for the link to a story about the first coral reef discovered off the coast of Italy. It's significant because of the depth at which it was found as there's little light there. It may shed some info on how these types of reefs survive. You can read more about it here: ITALIAN CORAL REEF
And that'll do it for now. We have four full dive days to go (plus we had a non-dive land tour day today - pix forthcoming). Hope you'll enjoy some of it with us vicariously.
Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
HAVING A GREAT TIME BUT THE WEATHER COULD BE BETTER - It's no secret that I always love coming here but we certainly could be having better weather during our stay so far. We've gotten a fair amount of rain, heavy at times (well, it IS the tropics), but the winds have also been strong which has affected the diving a little bit. As I always tell people, it's not the rain but the wind that you need to be concerned with. But it hasn't cost us any dives as it's generally been raining either early morning or later in the afternoon, and we've had some truly spectacular underwater forays. We did have a manta-less dive at the Stammtisch cleaning station but that was followed by a fabulous dive two days later at the same spot where we had two mantas taking turns the entire hour we were there observing. So who can complain about that? In our first four days of diving, we've had sharks, mantas, Mandarinfish, and TWO Cuttlefish, so it's not like we're not experiencing Yap at its finest. Plus, the entire staff at Manta Ray Bay is top-notch and taking excellent care of us. Here are four of my favorite pix so far:
MORE YAP PIX HERE - I post a "Daily Top 10" each day on my SmugMug page. You can use this link to view what's been put up so far. Pick any individual day to see those 10. You can also check both the Ken Kurtis and Reef Seekers Facebook pages for daily pix and commentary. Here's the SmugMug link to pix: YAP TOP 10 PIX (CHOOSE A DAY)
RUDE AWAKENING ON SUNDAY - Normally, water temps here in Yap run 82-86° degrees. But when we jumped in at Magic Kingdom on Sunday for our first dive, it not only felt a little cooler, it felt downright COLD. Now bear in mind that I dive in a 1.5mm Pinnacle suit with a 1mm Tilos hood. The water temp had dropped to . . . 73°. Brrrrrrrrrr and then some!!! As the dive progressed, we found a layer of 76° a little higher up and then 79° close to the safety stop. But it was quite cold on the second and third dives as well. Luckily, I had also brought my 3mm suit with me on the boat (ironically, I'd forgotten my bathing suit but was delighted to make that the price to pay for having the 3mm) and had my 3mm hood and those at least made things more comfortable. We assume this is an upwelling that may be rain-related and it should bring up lots of nutrients and some good animal sightings because of that, but the shivers are a steep price to pay.
CHAMBER DAY IS COLLECTING DONATIONS - Just because I'm away doesn't mean this stops. We've got 8 seats left at our Ch-Eve table and the Cee Ray (our Ch-Day official boat) is almost half-full. We've ALWAYS got room for you on the Flying Dutchman. And we're happy to take your money for the Chamber Challenge. Remember that around 50% of the Chamber's annual operating budget has to come from fund-raising and this event fills a large part of that need. Here's the link: CHAMBER DAY & EVE 2019
CORAL REEF DISCOVERED IN ITALY - Thanks to Alan Wald for the link to a story about the first coral reef discovered off the coast of Italy. It's significant because of the depth at which it was found as there's little light there. It may shed some info on how these types of reefs survive. You can read more about it here: ITALIAN CORAL REEF
And that'll do it for now. We have four full dive days to go (plus we had a non-dive land tour day today - pix forthcoming). Hope you'll enjoy some of it with us vicariously.
Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
