Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 13-20 (WEEK 1) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
• August 20-27 (WEEK 2) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ A FEW SPOTS LEFT ]
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ FILLING - ONLY 6 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
——————————————————————————————————————————
I really look forward to the first weekend following the first Wednesday in May . . .
CHAMBER DAY/EVE 2016 RESULTS ($107,885) - Wow!!! Thank you all very much. While not an all time record (which was $136K in 2012), this is still a very healthy amount and will help our Chamber stand at the ready for the next 365 days. (In fact, they even had an embolism treatment on Saturday.) For me personally, as long as we make it over $100K, I'm happy as that's always my yearly hope. But overall, it seemed like everything went very smoothly this year. The boats all made it over to the island with no problems (except for the Perfect Mistress which blew an engine and had to cancel - but those folks transferred to the Flying Dutchman). And the evening event at the Aquarium of the Pacific went well too. We're always interested in feedback as to how to make the event smoother/better/funner, so if you've got any thoughts, send them my way. Here's our "official" check picture:
Now, back to our regularly-scheduled TWARS . . .
BYE-BYE 8612 WILSHIRE - Remember when I told you the other week that it looked like they were finally going to do something with that vacant lot next to our old store location? Well, they took the first step last week and what was our home for 13 years (January 1994 - December 2006) has now been demolished. There's just rubble all over the front of the lot. Not sure what's going on (the original plan back in 2006 was for ground-floor retail and three stories of condos above with subterranean parking) but I've got to confess there was a twinge and a tear when I drove by last Friday and realized what had been done. We really loved that old location and were quite happy to call it home. Progress, bah humbug!!!!
MALDIVES IN NOVEMBER - We're six months out from our Maldives trip aboard the Manthiri and we've still got spots left. Some of you have expressed interest in the openings (which is all well and good) but they're still there. The Maldives represents what can be at times pristine diving in a remote location as well as an environmentally sensitive area. Depending on where we choose to go, we could be looking at some wrecks, some incredible drift dives, schooling/mating Manta Rays, the occasional Whale Shark, and who knows what else? We will also likely (based on our last two trips) visit a village or two and get a chance to interact with the natives. Also, on our last day after the diving is done, we'll have most of the day to walk around Male and the fish market there is something that is amazing to see and uniquely Maldivian. On top of that, it looks like we're going to fly Turkish Airways and there's an option to stop over in Istanbul on the way back and take in the sights of that legendary city as well. So this really has the potential to be an amazing trip and one that we hope you'll give some thought to. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 if you have any questions.
KEN'S CATARACT SURGERY - I'm slated to have cataract surgery on my left eye this Thursday (I'm actually looking forward to it - had the right eye done three years ago and it was a wonderful outcome) but what it also means is that I can't dive for eight weeks. And since I'm the one leading our Redondo dives and Avalon trips, that also means those will be on hold until mid-July. So bear with us as we'll have some local offerings for you eventually, but not for the next eight weeks.
JELLYFISH LAKE MAY BE IN TROUBLE - If you read our Palau trip report (if you didn't, you can access it here: Yap & Palau 2016 trip report), you know that I bemoaned what appeared to be a relative lack of jellies in Jellyfish Lake. An article just published on Wetpixel backs up my observations, and estimates that the population of the lake has gone from 8,000,000 jellies down to 600,000 or less. That's a decrease of 93%!!!! It seems that it's all related to the drought that's hitting Micronesia. Whether the jellies can recover - they've come close to being wiped out before - remains to be seen. You can read the article here (Drought affects Jellyfish Lake ::).
NEW DSO AT CA SCIENCE CENTER - Congrats to Andrew Solomon who has been appointed as the new DSO (Dive Safety Officer) at the California Science Center. He officially starts shortly. For the last five years, Andrew has served as one of the ADSOs at the Aquarium of the Pacific. His appointment serves as a reminder that both places have very active and robust volunteer dive operations and if you've ever had a interest in becoming a volunteer diver at CSC or AOP, give it a shot. Contact either organization to find out the specific requirements for each.
GRAY WHALES OFF OF PALOS VERDES AERIAL FOOTAGE - Thanks to a post from Michelle Moebius on Facebook, I came across some incredible drone footage of a pair of gray whale mommas with their gray whales calves (quite appropriate for Mother's Day). The footage was shot off of PV recently (not sure exactly when) and posted a few weeks ago. There's no music (it needs some) but it's wonderfully shot, the camera's really steady, and you get some incredible views of the mother/calf combos. Give it a look: .
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon . . . but not for the next eight weeks or so.
- Ken
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 13-20 (WEEK 1) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
• August 20-27 (WEEK 2) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ A FEW SPOTS LEFT ]
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ FILLING - ONLY 6 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
——————————————————————————————————————————
I really look forward to the first weekend following the first Wednesday in May . . .
CHAMBER DAY/EVE 2016 RESULTS ($107,885) - Wow!!! Thank you all very much. While not an all time record (which was $136K in 2012), this is still a very healthy amount and will help our Chamber stand at the ready for the next 365 days. (In fact, they even had an embolism treatment on Saturday.) For me personally, as long as we make it over $100K, I'm happy as that's always my yearly hope. But overall, it seemed like everything went very smoothly this year. The boats all made it over to the island with no problems (except for the Perfect Mistress which blew an engine and had to cancel - but those folks transferred to the Flying Dutchman). And the evening event at the Aquarium of the Pacific went well too. We're always interested in feedback as to how to make the event smoother/better/funner, so if you've got any thoughts, send them my way. Here's our "official" check picture:
Now, back to our regularly-scheduled TWARS . . .
BYE-BYE 8612 WILSHIRE - Remember when I told you the other week that it looked like they were finally going to do something with that vacant lot next to our old store location? Well, they took the first step last week and what was our home for 13 years (January 1994 - December 2006) has now been demolished. There's just rubble all over the front of the lot. Not sure what's going on (the original plan back in 2006 was for ground-floor retail and three stories of condos above with subterranean parking) but I've got to confess there was a twinge and a tear when I drove by last Friday and realized what had been done. We really loved that old location and were quite happy to call it home. Progress, bah humbug!!!!
MALDIVES IN NOVEMBER - We're six months out from our Maldives trip aboard the Manthiri and we've still got spots left. Some of you have expressed interest in the openings (which is all well and good) but they're still there. The Maldives represents what can be at times pristine diving in a remote location as well as an environmentally sensitive area. Depending on where we choose to go, we could be looking at some wrecks, some incredible drift dives, schooling/mating Manta Rays, the occasional Whale Shark, and who knows what else? We will also likely (based on our last two trips) visit a village or two and get a chance to interact with the natives. Also, on our last day after the diving is done, we'll have most of the day to walk around Male and the fish market there is something that is amazing to see and uniquely Maldivian. On top of that, it looks like we're going to fly Turkish Airways and there's an option to stop over in Istanbul on the way back and take in the sights of that legendary city as well. So this really has the potential to be an amazing trip and one that we hope you'll give some thought to. Give us a call at 310/652-4990 if you have any questions.
KEN'S CATARACT SURGERY - I'm slated to have cataract surgery on my left eye this Thursday (I'm actually looking forward to it - had the right eye done three years ago and it was a wonderful outcome) but what it also means is that I can't dive for eight weeks. And since I'm the one leading our Redondo dives and Avalon trips, that also means those will be on hold until mid-July. So bear with us as we'll have some local offerings for you eventually, but not for the next eight weeks.
JELLYFISH LAKE MAY BE IN TROUBLE - If you read our Palau trip report (if you didn't, you can access it here: Yap & Palau 2016 trip report), you know that I bemoaned what appeared to be a relative lack of jellies in Jellyfish Lake. An article just published on Wetpixel backs up my observations, and estimates that the population of the lake has gone from 8,000,000 jellies down to 600,000 or less. That's a decrease of 93%!!!! It seems that it's all related to the drought that's hitting Micronesia. Whether the jellies can recover - they've come close to being wiped out before - remains to be seen. You can read the article here (Drought affects Jellyfish Lake ::).
NEW DSO AT CA SCIENCE CENTER - Congrats to Andrew Solomon who has been appointed as the new DSO (Dive Safety Officer) at the California Science Center. He officially starts shortly. For the last five years, Andrew has served as one of the ADSOs at the Aquarium of the Pacific. His appointment serves as a reminder that both places have very active and robust volunteer dive operations and if you've ever had a interest in becoming a volunteer diver at CSC or AOP, give it a shot. Contact either organization to find out the specific requirements for each.
GRAY WHALES OFF OF PALOS VERDES AERIAL FOOTAGE - Thanks to a post from Michelle Moebius on Facebook, I came across some incredible drone footage of a pair of gray whale mommas with their gray whales calves (quite appropriate for Mother's Day). The footage was shot off of PV recently (not sure exactly when) and posted a few weeks ago. There's no music (it needs some) but it's wonderfully shot, the camera's really steady, and you get some incredible views of the mother/calf combos. Give it a look: .
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon . . . but not for the next eight weeks or so.
- Ken
