Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Upcoming 2019-20 vacation trips:
• Dec. 4-10 - Cabo Pulmo (SOLD OUT!!!)
• March 16-29 - Yap Immersion
• May 15-23 - Bonaire
• August 1-8 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico (Whale Sharks and more)
• September 9-14 - Guadalupe
(Great White Sharks!!! - Note Early Bird pricing through Nov. 30)
• October 17-29 - Return to Indonesia
• December 13-22 - Socorro
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Went with my sister to the UCLA b-ball game Sunday afternoon and she had KOST-FM and Christmas music on in the car. Too soon . . .
CONDITIONS SEEM GOOD - Who knows how long it will last but everyone's raving about how good dive conditions are overall. Last week especially, we had lots of comments about primo conditions at Farnsworth and excellence conditions in the Avalon Underwater Park. Get out there and dive.
FOREIGN TRIPS FOR 2020 - If you're eagle-eyed, you may have noticed that there are suddenly six 2020 trips listed at the top of this post. There's no real prize for noticing (other than you opportunity to join us for some fabulous dive adventures) but the bottom line with all of this is that I've finally worked out calendar conflicts (I have a couple of personal trips planned for next year that I had to work around) and have assembled what I hope will be an attractive and enticing schedule of vacation opportunities. All places we've been to before but some which we haven't gone to in a while. These are up on the website as well but at this point, I've only got the pricing listed and need another day or so to get the details and specifics about each of the trips. As always, our trips are designed to be relatively small groups, generally no more than 10 divers and sometimes as few as 4. All will be led by me (Ken Kurtis). There's one I want to bring your attention to right away . . .
GUADALUPE IN SEPTEMBER 2020 - We've done four Guadalupe trips over the years. They really great trips but, from a charterer standpoint, they can sometimes be a hard sell because they're specific to diving with Great White Sharks, they're generally a bit pricey, and they're three days of diving on a six-day trip. Plus you'll need to get yourself to San Diego which can sometimes be a schlep. However, Nautilus has a special deal going where I only need to get FIVE of you to commit . . . BUT . . . I've only got until November 30 to pull this together. So to entice you, I'm dropping the price a shade over 10% if you want to commit to the trip before the end of the month. Instead of the "normal" $3,795 (boat, Mexican tax, crew tip, RT xfer down to Ensenada from San Diego), you can confirm your spot on this trip for just $3,395. Trip dates are planned for September 9-14 which is a Wednesday-Monday which also means the drive down to SD won't be too bad. This would be on the Nautilus Belle Amie which IMHO is the absolute perfect boat to do this adventure on. If you are interested, contact me ASAP either by e-mail or at 310/652-4990. A $500 deposit gets you in and we'll work out the rest from there.
ABALONE ARTICLE - There was an excellent article in the L.A. Times this week about abalone and specifically about the efforts to restore the White Abalone population. One thing I learned from the article is that there are apparently more white abs in captivity in the lab where they're growing them they they think there are in the wild. Good read and you should be able to access it here: RESTORING CALIFORNIA ABALONE.
ARTICLE #2 - Although not specifically about diving, there's also a good article in the Sunday L.A. Times about the Marshall Islands, and touching on the lingering damage done by the U.S. nuclear testing that went on there (Bikini and Enewetak Atolls) as well as how climate change and rising sea levels may devastate parts of the island chain. Another good read: THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.
And on that happy note, that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
• Dec. 4-10 - Cabo Pulmo (SOLD OUT!!!)
• March 16-29 - Yap Immersion
• May 15-23 - Bonaire
• August 1-8 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico (Whale Sharks and more)
• September 9-14 - Guadalupe
(Great White Sharks!!! - Note Early Bird pricing through Nov. 30)
• October 17-29 - Return to Indonesia
• December 13-22 - Socorro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Went with my sister to the UCLA b-ball game Sunday afternoon and she had KOST-FM and Christmas music on in the car. Too soon . . .
CONDITIONS SEEM GOOD - Who knows how long it will last but everyone's raving about how good dive conditions are overall. Last week especially, we had lots of comments about primo conditions at Farnsworth and excellence conditions in the Avalon Underwater Park. Get out there and dive.
FOREIGN TRIPS FOR 2020 - If you're eagle-eyed, you may have noticed that there are suddenly six 2020 trips listed at the top of this post. There's no real prize for noticing (other than you opportunity to join us for some fabulous dive adventures) but the bottom line with all of this is that I've finally worked out calendar conflicts (I have a couple of personal trips planned for next year that I had to work around) and have assembled what I hope will be an attractive and enticing schedule of vacation opportunities. All places we've been to before but some which we haven't gone to in a while. These are up on the website as well but at this point, I've only got the pricing listed and need another day or so to get the details and specifics about each of the trips. As always, our trips are designed to be relatively small groups, generally no more than 10 divers and sometimes as few as 4. All will be led by me (Ken Kurtis). There's one I want to bring your attention to right away . . .
GUADALUPE IN SEPTEMBER 2020 - We've done four Guadalupe trips over the years. They really great trips but, from a charterer standpoint, they can sometimes be a hard sell because they're specific to diving with Great White Sharks, they're generally a bit pricey, and they're three days of diving on a six-day trip. Plus you'll need to get yourself to San Diego which can sometimes be a schlep. However, Nautilus has a special deal going where I only need to get FIVE of you to commit . . . BUT . . . I've only got until November 30 to pull this together. So to entice you, I'm dropping the price a shade over 10% if you want to commit to the trip before the end of the month. Instead of the "normal" $3,795 (boat, Mexican tax, crew tip, RT xfer down to Ensenada from San Diego), you can confirm your spot on this trip for just $3,395. Trip dates are planned for September 9-14 which is a Wednesday-Monday which also means the drive down to SD won't be too bad. This would be on the Nautilus Belle Amie which IMHO is the absolute perfect boat to do this adventure on. If you are interested, contact me ASAP either by e-mail or at 310/652-4990. A $500 deposit gets you in and we'll work out the rest from there.
ABALONE ARTICLE - There was an excellent article in the L.A. Times this week about abalone and specifically about the efforts to restore the White Abalone population. One thing I learned from the article is that there are apparently more white abs in captivity in the lab where they're growing them they they think there are in the wild. Good read and you should be able to access it here: RESTORING CALIFORNIA ABALONE.
ARTICLE #2 - Although not specifically about diving, there's also a good article in the Sunday L.A. Times about the Marshall Islands, and touching on the lingering damage done by the U.S. nuclear testing that went on there (Bikini and Enewetak Atolls) as well as how climate change and rising sea levels may devastate parts of the island chain. Another good read: THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.
And on that happy note, that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
