Ken Kurtis
Contributor
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Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• March 18-25 - Bonaire
• 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 - 4 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 7 SPOTS LEFT ]
• September 1-6 - Great White Sharks of Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie
• Nov. 20 - Dec. 16 (dates can be trimmed) - Ultimate Indonesia (A week at Murex in Manado, 10 days in Raja Ampat on the Aggressor, 4 days in the Lembeh Straits)
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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Upcoming local dives:
• December - TBA
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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Rain two weekends in a row. The Apocalypse must be upon us . . .
GOOD REASON TO STAY AWAY FROM THE BEACH - This was the view at Vets & Topaz this morning. Not a surf entry I'd like to make:

MALDIVES TRIP REPORT & PIX - I sent out a separate note earlier today but in case you missed it, the Maldives trip report and pictures are now available on-line as are the separate Istanbul trip report and pix. You can access them all through these links:
MALDIVES TRIP REPORT - Maldives 2016 trip report
MALDIVES PIX & SLIDESHOW - MALDIVES 2016 - kenkurtis
ISTANBUL TRIP REPORT Istanbul 2016 trip report"Istanbul 2016 trip report
ISTANBUL PIX & SLIDESHOW - Istanbul 2016 trip report
ANYONE WANT SOME FREE HP INK? - I replaced my old HP printer over the weekend with a new one. (Epson XP-830, $130 at Staples. Pix look REALLY good but it seems it will be a bit of an ink hog.) I took the HP printer to be recycled but I still have some brand-new, still-sealed, never-used ink cartridges of HP-02. I've got a large black, a large yellow, and regular-sized light blue and light pink. If these would work in your HP printer, I'm happy to give them away. Shoot me an e-mail or call. First come, first served.
TWO FATALITIES WHILE I WAS AWAY - There were two more dive fatalities while I was away in the Maldives and while any dive death is troubling, one was especially so because it's pretty much a repeat of a fatality two or three years ago. In this case, as in the previous one, a diver got stuck either in or under (still a bit unclear) a large pipe near the Hyperion plant. What was he doing under the pipe? Looking for lobsters, of course. The thing that seems to get lost in the translation here, other than that you can't get so engrossed in the lobster hunt that you forget basic dive protocols, is that by going under a pipe like this (or in it), you are entering an overhead environment. That requires special skills, special training, and usually special equipment as well. And while a well-meaning diver may be thinking, "Well, I'll just go in a little way," it's very easy for a little way to become a long way, and when something goes wrong, you no longer have immediate access to the surface, and you become a statistic. As we've said time and time again, no lobster is worth your life, let alone the pain your recklessness/carelessness will cause those around you. There's no sin in being a smart diver or a cautious one. As the saying goes, "There are old divers and there are bold divers but there are no old bold divers."
FINALIZING THE 2017 SKED - I had hoped to have more things nailed down by now but suffice it to we're working on the trips for next year. As you can see from the sked above, we'll looking to start with Bonaire in late March. I generally try to limit this one (and most of our trips) to about 12 people and we've already got 7 people who say they're going to go. Never hurts to make sure you're on my "thinking about it" list. I've got to confirm the specifics for June but we're looking to head back to Isla Mujeres and the Whale Sharks and the Underwater Museum and the Cenotes and all of that good stuff. Very unique trip and one I really enjoy doing. The big thing this year is the "Yap Immersion" which we're doing twice in July. This is a 10-day trip (so realistically you're gone from home for two weeks with travel time built in), but you'll end up experiencing Yap like we've never done it before with extended info on mantas, an island tour, nitrox course if you need it, photo workshops, and more. This one's really going to be fun (which is why we're doing it twice) and we're also limiting this to 12 divers in each outing. We have locked down our Great White Shark trip for next year and the dates for that are September 1-6 on the Nautilus Belle Amie. We're sharing the boat with our good friends at Ocean Adventures and we have, between us, 2 Superior staterooms (which are really nice and worth the extra money) and 4 Deluxe staterooms (which are also nice but not as roomy). This one involves driving down to San Diego and then we'll park cars and leave on a charter bus from there to Ensenada and then on to the boat and away we go. Our late fall trip is what I'm having some issues with at the moment. My goal is to do the Ultimate Indonesia which involves a week at Murex, a week on the Aggressor doing Raja Ampat, and then three days in Lembeh. But for this to work, I've got to get enough people committed to the boat first and that's proving more difficult than I'd hoped. I will be back in touch with those of you I've talked to already about this and we'll see how we proceed from here. But we've got a lot of diving planned and we hope you'll be able to join us for one of these fabulous trips.
ANYONE UP FOR SOME LOCAL TRIPS AS WELL? - I really do miss running local boat trips to our beloved Channel Islands. In our heyday when the store was open, we were running 50+ trips a year, sometimes two on the same weekend during the summer months. But after we closed the store, and without an influx of new divers, things started falling off and it become financially unviable. But I'm happy to look into it again if there seems to be enough interest. We could do things as a 6-pack (Hattitude), or a 12-pack (Asante), or if we get enough a folks a boat like the Cee Ray. So give me an idea - no commitment, just a sense of the e-mailing list - as to whether you'd be interested in some SoCal trips next year and if so, what boats do you like (and don't like), and what destinations would you like to go to (or avoid). Like I said, no commitment, but it helps me plan.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and - assuming this weather calms down - let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• March 18-25 - Bonaire
• 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 - 4 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 7 SPOTS LEFT ]
• September 1-6 - Great White Sharks of Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie
• Nov. 20 - Dec. 16 (dates can be trimmed) - Ultimate Indonesia (A week at Murex in Manado, 10 days in Raja Ampat on the Aggressor, 4 days in the Lembeh Straits)
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives:
• December - TBA
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Rain two weekends in a row. The Apocalypse must be upon us . . .
GOOD REASON TO STAY AWAY FROM THE BEACH - This was the view at Vets & Topaz this morning. Not a surf entry I'd like to make:

MALDIVES TRIP REPORT & PIX - I sent out a separate note earlier today but in case you missed it, the Maldives trip report and pictures are now available on-line as are the separate Istanbul trip report and pix. You can access them all through these links:
MALDIVES TRIP REPORT - Maldives 2016 trip report
MALDIVES PIX & SLIDESHOW - MALDIVES 2016 - kenkurtis
ISTANBUL TRIP REPORT Istanbul 2016 trip report"Istanbul 2016 trip report
ISTANBUL PIX & SLIDESHOW - Istanbul 2016 trip report
ANYONE WANT SOME FREE HP INK? - I replaced my old HP printer over the weekend with a new one. (Epson XP-830, $130 at Staples. Pix look REALLY good but it seems it will be a bit of an ink hog.) I took the HP printer to be recycled but I still have some brand-new, still-sealed, never-used ink cartridges of HP-02. I've got a large black, a large yellow, and regular-sized light blue and light pink. If these would work in your HP printer, I'm happy to give them away. Shoot me an e-mail or call. First come, first served.
TWO FATALITIES WHILE I WAS AWAY - There were two more dive fatalities while I was away in the Maldives and while any dive death is troubling, one was especially so because it's pretty much a repeat of a fatality two or three years ago. In this case, as in the previous one, a diver got stuck either in or under (still a bit unclear) a large pipe near the Hyperion plant. What was he doing under the pipe? Looking for lobsters, of course. The thing that seems to get lost in the translation here, other than that you can't get so engrossed in the lobster hunt that you forget basic dive protocols, is that by going under a pipe like this (or in it), you are entering an overhead environment. That requires special skills, special training, and usually special equipment as well. And while a well-meaning diver may be thinking, "Well, I'll just go in a little way," it's very easy for a little way to become a long way, and when something goes wrong, you no longer have immediate access to the surface, and you become a statistic. As we've said time and time again, no lobster is worth your life, let alone the pain your recklessness/carelessness will cause those around you. There's no sin in being a smart diver or a cautious one. As the saying goes, "There are old divers and there are bold divers but there are no old bold divers."
FINALIZING THE 2017 SKED - I had hoped to have more things nailed down by now but suffice it to we're working on the trips for next year. As you can see from the sked above, we'll looking to start with Bonaire in late March. I generally try to limit this one (and most of our trips) to about 12 people and we've already got 7 people who say they're going to go. Never hurts to make sure you're on my "thinking about it" list. I've got to confirm the specifics for June but we're looking to head back to Isla Mujeres and the Whale Sharks and the Underwater Museum and the Cenotes and all of that good stuff. Very unique trip and one I really enjoy doing. The big thing this year is the "Yap Immersion" which we're doing twice in July. This is a 10-day trip (so realistically you're gone from home for two weeks with travel time built in), but you'll end up experiencing Yap like we've never done it before with extended info on mantas, an island tour, nitrox course if you need it, photo workshops, and more. This one's really going to be fun (which is why we're doing it twice) and we're also limiting this to 12 divers in each outing. We have locked down our Great White Shark trip for next year and the dates for that are September 1-6 on the Nautilus Belle Amie. We're sharing the boat with our good friends at Ocean Adventures and we have, between us, 2 Superior staterooms (which are really nice and worth the extra money) and 4 Deluxe staterooms (which are also nice but not as roomy). This one involves driving down to San Diego and then we'll park cars and leave on a charter bus from there to Ensenada and then on to the boat and away we go. Our late fall trip is what I'm having some issues with at the moment. My goal is to do the Ultimate Indonesia which involves a week at Murex, a week on the Aggressor doing Raja Ampat, and then three days in Lembeh. But for this to work, I've got to get enough people committed to the boat first and that's proving more difficult than I'd hoped. I will be back in touch with those of you I've talked to already about this and we'll see how we proceed from here. But we've got a lot of diving planned and we hope you'll be able to join us for one of these fabulous trips.
ANYONE UP FOR SOME LOCAL TRIPS AS WELL? - I really do miss running local boat trips to our beloved Channel Islands. In our heyday when the store was open, we were running 50+ trips a year, sometimes two on the same weekend during the summer months. But after we closed the store, and without an influx of new divers, things started falling off and it become financially unviable. But I'm happy to look into it again if there seems to be enough interest. We could do things as a 6-pack (Hattitude), or a 12-pack (Asante), or if we get enough a folks a boat like the Cee Ray. So give me an idea - no commitment, just a sense of the e-mailing list - as to whether you'd be interested in some SoCal trips next year and if so, what boats do you like (and don't like), and what destinations would you like to go to (or avoid). Like I said, no commitment, but it helps me plan.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and - assuming this weather calms down - let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
