Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2016-2017 vacation trips:
• November 2-18 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ LEAVING WEDNESDAY!!!! ]
• March 18-25, 2017 - 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 - 2 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 7 SPOTS LEFT ]
• 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:
• In the Maldives so you're on your own . . .
• 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
————————————————————————————————————————————
Now THAT was an exciting baseball game. Go Cubs . . .
LEAVING WEDNESDAY FOR THE MALDIVES - We're getting excited and prepared as we depart Wednesday evening for the Maldives. We'll have nine days of diving on the mighty Manthiri (we've done two trips with them before) and we'll try our best to keep you posted but I'm not sure as to when we'll have Wi-Fi and when we won't. I don't think there's Wi-Fi onboard but we'll likely visit a few villages or resorts and hopefully will get a connection. I may miss a TWARS or two but - much as I know how disappointed you'll be - I'll send you an update whenever we can. We're flying Turkish Airlines through Istanbul to get to the Maldives and that brings up another issue which I'll discuss more fully in the November newsletter, which is that when we dive in these exotic dive sites, we sometimes have to travel through areas that are considered less-than-ideal for Americans and how do you deal with that?
WORLD'S LARGEST MPA - There's good news coming out of Australia as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources - an international group of which the U.S. is a member - has announced the creation of what will now be the world's largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Ross Sea area of the Southern Ocean. Roughly 600,000 square miles will become a no-take zone. This is significant because although the Ross Sea only comprises roughly 2% of the Southern Ocean, it's home to 38% of the world's Adelie penguins, 30% of the Antarctic petrels, and 6% of the Antarctic Minke Whales. You can read more about this here: World's largest marine protected area declared in Antarctica - BBC News. Of course the obvious question is that now that there's protection for the Ross Sea, will they do the same for the Rachel Sea?
NEW IMAX FILM FROM JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU - It's called "Secret Ocean 3D" (Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3D | The ocean as never seen before !) and features never-before-seen footage as well an innovative new filming techniques. Best of all, it starts playing at the IMAX Theater at the California Science Center starting November 8. (Especially useful info if you're looking for something to do other than watch election returns.) The film will screen daily at Noon and 2PM, and weekends at 5PM. Thanks to John Lumb for the heads-up.
LOCAL CONDITIONS - Like we say, you never know unless you go look. On Wednesday, Tim Riley did an afternoon dive at Vets Park that was less than ideal. Very surgy, lousy viz, and almost no critters to see. We had scheduled a night dive for that evening but my sked changed so I couldn't go. However, Tim was going to do the night dive anyhow with another diver and Tim and I were communicating by e-mail. Tim talked with some other divers who went in a few hours after he did and they said conditions had improved. So Tim and his buddy decided to dive and ended up having a good time. They were able to go into the canyon where viz improved, and there were also numerous Target Shrimp down there. So like we say, you never know and sometimes conditions can change, for better OR worse, in the space of an hour or two. And compare that with Saturday at Catalina, when Buck and the Barnacle Busters were out on the Cee Ray and had 80-foot visibility. Not too shabby and underscores how we say some of the best diving conditions at the islands occur during fall.
BONAIRE IN MARCH - We're firming up our 2017 travel sked and although we've mentioned Bonaire in passing, now we'll do it in earnest. The plan is to go March 18-25. It'll be our "typical" Bonaire sked of Saturday/Saturday and where we have six days of diving doing two boats dives each day with Buddy Dive in the mornings, shore dives in the afternoon either at any of the numerous shore sites or on Buddy Reef, and then a nightly dusk dive (6PM entry time) on Buddy Reef. I'm still looking at various airfare options (none are cheap this year) and it seems that Delta through Atlanta may be the best bet. But there may also be United options through either Houston or Newark. So if Bonaire is something you'd like to do in 2017, let me know. We generally keep this group fairly small (no more than 12 or so) and it looks like we've already got four so we're 95% committed to going. But if you're interested as well, let me know so I can put you on our list (no need to commit) and keep you in the loop.
GREAT WHITES TOO - We're also looking to do another Great White trip to Isla Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie. The tentative dates are going to be September 1-6. The upside of that is that it's over Labor Day Weekend, so for those of you who have to use vacation days, it'll only cost you three days instead of five. The downside is that on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend, we'll need to get down to San Diego and I assume the drive will be slow. But this is a trip that's absolutely worth it. We've done the trip three times now and have always been impressed by the number of sharks we see, by the closeness of the encounters, and just the fact that you're literally able to go nose-to-nose with a Top Predator. We'll be sharing this trip with our friends at Ocean Adventures and while we'll have 12 spots overall, at least to start, it'll be six for each of us. So if you're interested, again on a no-commitment-required basis, shoot me an e-mail and let me know so I can put you on our list.
EARLY VOTING - This weekend was the first for early voting in the upcoming election and, since we're going to be in the Maldives on Election Day (November 8), I wanted to get my ballot in and I like casting it in person. There are five places in L.A. County open for early weekend voting (the Registrar's Office in Norwalk is open Mon-Fri) and on Saturday I went down to the one at West L.A. College in Culver City. Oooops. The line was huge. Pass. But I had to go to Pasadena so decided I'd swing by the North Hollywood Library where there was another early-voting place. The line there was even longer. In fact, I asked someone who was in about the middle of the line how long she'd been waiting and she said, "Two hours so far." Pass. So Sunday morning I got up early and went back to West L.A. College and got there at 8:05AM. I was #102 in line. (Yes, I counted the people ahead of me.) The whole thing took about an hour. And while I thought "early voting" meant I'd be able to feed my ballot into the optical reader like on Election Day, that's not the case. They simply give you a mail-in ballot, you fill it out, hand it back to them, and they will process it later. But the point of this story is (1) Vote. If you don't vote, regardless of who gets elected, don't feel you have a right to complain since you avoided the opportunity to have some input. (2) If you've got to go to one of the early-voting places, allow plenty of time. There's plenty of free parking at West L.A. College so if you're West L.A.-ish, I'd recommend that. They'll be open again next Saturday & Sunday 8AM-4PM. Or vote on November 8. But make sure your voice gets heard.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon.
- Ken
• November 2-18 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ LEAVING WEDNESDAY!!!! ]
• March 18-25, 2017 - 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 - 2 SPOTS LEFT ]
• July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 7 SPOTS LEFT ]
• 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:
• In the Maldives so you're on your own . . .
• 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
————————————————————————————————————————————
Now THAT was an exciting baseball game. Go Cubs . . .
LEAVING WEDNESDAY FOR THE MALDIVES - We're getting excited and prepared as we depart Wednesday evening for the Maldives. We'll have nine days of diving on the mighty Manthiri (we've done two trips with them before) and we'll try our best to keep you posted but I'm not sure as to when we'll have Wi-Fi and when we won't. I don't think there's Wi-Fi onboard but we'll likely visit a few villages or resorts and hopefully will get a connection. I may miss a TWARS or two but - much as I know how disappointed you'll be - I'll send you an update whenever we can. We're flying Turkish Airlines through Istanbul to get to the Maldives and that brings up another issue which I'll discuss more fully in the November newsletter, which is that when we dive in these exotic dive sites, we sometimes have to travel through areas that are considered less-than-ideal for Americans and how do you deal with that?
WORLD'S LARGEST MPA - There's good news coming out of Australia as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources - an international group of which the U.S. is a member - has announced the creation of what will now be the world's largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Ross Sea area of the Southern Ocean. Roughly 600,000 square miles will become a no-take zone. This is significant because although the Ross Sea only comprises roughly 2% of the Southern Ocean, it's home to 38% of the world's Adelie penguins, 30% of the Antarctic petrels, and 6% of the Antarctic Minke Whales. You can read more about this here: World's largest marine protected area declared in Antarctica - BBC News. Of course the obvious question is that now that there's protection for the Ross Sea, will they do the same for the Rachel Sea?
NEW IMAX FILM FROM JEAN-MICHEL COUSTEAU - It's called "Secret Ocean 3D" (Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3D | The ocean as never seen before !) and features never-before-seen footage as well an innovative new filming techniques. Best of all, it starts playing at the IMAX Theater at the California Science Center starting November 8. (Especially useful info if you're looking for something to do other than watch election returns.) The film will screen daily at Noon and 2PM, and weekends at 5PM. Thanks to John Lumb for the heads-up.
LOCAL CONDITIONS - Like we say, you never know unless you go look. On Wednesday, Tim Riley did an afternoon dive at Vets Park that was less than ideal. Very surgy, lousy viz, and almost no critters to see. We had scheduled a night dive for that evening but my sked changed so I couldn't go. However, Tim was going to do the night dive anyhow with another diver and Tim and I were communicating by e-mail. Tim talked with some other divers who went in a few hours after he did and they said conditions had improved. So Tim and his buddy decided to dive and ended up having a good time. They were able to go into the canyon where viz improved, and there were also numerous Target Shrimp down there. So like we say, you never know and sometimes conditions can change, for better OR worse, in the space of an hour or two. And compare that with Saturday at Catalina, when Buck and the Barnacle Busters were out on the Cee Ray and had 80-foot visibility. Not too shabby and underscores how we say some of the best diving conditions at the islands occur during fall.
BONAIRE IN MARCH - We're firming up our 2017 travel sked and although we've mentioned Bonaire in passing, now we'll do it in earnest. The plan is to go March 18-25. It'll be our "typical" Bonaire sked of Saturday/Saturday and where we have six days of diving doing two boats dives each day with Buddy Dive in the mornings, shore dives in the afternoon either at any of the numerous shore sites or on Buddy Reef, and then a nightly dusk dive (6PM entry time) on Buddy Reef. I'm still looking at various airfare options (none are cheap this year) and it seems that Delta through Atlanta may be the best bet. But there may also be United options through either Houston or Newark. So if Bonaire is something you'd like to do in 2017, let me know. We generally keep this group fairly small (no more than 12 or so) and it looks like we've already got four so we're 95% committed to going. But if you're interested as well, let me know so I can put you on our list (no need to commit) and keep you in the loop.
GREAT WHITES TOO - We're also looking to do another Great White trip to Isla Guadalupe on the Nautilus Belle Amie. The tentative dates are going to be September 1-6. The upside of that is that it's over Labor Day Weekend, so for those of you who have to use vacation days, it'll only cost you three days instead of five. The downside is that on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend, we'll need to get down to San Diego and I assume the drive will be slow. But this is a trip that's absolutely worth it. We've done the trip three times now and have always been impressed by the number of sharks we see, by the closeness of the encounters, and just the fact that you're literally able to go nose-to-nose with a Top Predator. We'll be sharing this trip with our friends at Ocean Adventures and while we'll have 12 spots overall, at least to start, it'll be six for each of us. So if you're interested, again on a no-commitment-required basis, shoot me an e-mail and let me know so I can put you on our list.
EARLY VOTING - This weekend was the first for early voting in the upcoming election and, since we're going to be in the Maldives on Election Day (November 8), I wanted to get my ballot in and I like casting it in person. There are five places in L.A. County open for early weekend voting (the Registrar's Office in Norwalk is open Mon-Fri) and on Saturday I went down to the one at West L.A. College in Culver City. Oooops. The line was huge. Pass. But I had to go to Pasadena so decided I'd swing by the North Hollywood Library where there was another early-voting place. The line there was even longer. In fact, I asked someone who was in about the middle of the line how long she'd been waiting and she said, "Two hours so far." Pass. So Sunday morning I got up early and went back to West L.A. College and got there at 8:05AM. I was #102 in line. (Yes, I counted the people ahead of me.) The whole thing took about an hour. And while I thought "early voting" meant I'd be able to feed my ballot into the optical reader like on Election Day, that's not the case. They simply give you a mail-in ballot, you fill it out, hand it back to them, and they will process it later. But the point of this story is (1) Vote. If you don't vote, regardless of who gets elected, don't feel you have a right to complain since you avoided the opportunity to have some input. (2) If you've got to go to one of the early-voting places, allow plenty of time. There's plenty of free parking at West L.A. College so if you're West L.A.-ish, I'd recommend that. They'll be open again next Saturday & Sunday 8AM-4PM. Or vote on November 8. But make sure your voice gets heard.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon.
- Ken
