Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2016-2017 vacation trips:
• November 2-18 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ 1 FEMALE-SHARE SPOT LEFT ]
• March, 2017 - Bonaire (???)
• June, 2017 - Isla Mujeres (early in the Whale Shark Season)
• 2017 - July 7-19 - Yap Immersion #1 (special 13-day trip featuring all that Yap has to offer) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 5 SPOTS LEFT ]
• 2017 - July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 9 SPOTS LEFT ]
• Fall of 2017 - Ultimate Indonesia - A week at Murex in Manado, 10-days in Raja Ampat, 3 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:
• October 22 (Saturday) - Avalon Underwater Park (3 dives - include tank rentals) - $150
• October 26 (Wednesday) - Vets Park night dive (single tank) - FREE!!!!
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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We start off with good news . . .
WE MADE IT THROUGH OPENING WEEKEND UNSCATHED - Usually when you start something with, "Well, at least nobody died," you're talking about failure but in this instance, we're talking about success. As of 6PM Sunday evening, as far as we know (and at least as it pertains to L.A. County), we made it through the opening weekend of lobster season not only without a single fatality, but also without any incident that required Chamber treatment. So, while we don't want you to rest on your laurels, please go ahead and collectively pat yourself on the back. While it may seems morbid to be fixating on whether anyone died hunting for lobsters (and this pertains to the mini-season in Florida as well), we see fatalities many years on opening weekend that could have been avoided simply by paying attention to common-sense diving practices. The most common problem seen arises from people running out of air while hunting for crustaceans. (It's also the single-biggest fatality trigger in non-hunting dives as well.) The next biggest factor likely involves people pushing beyond their physical limits and getting themselves into situations they physically can't handle and they exhaust themselves (and drown) or they tax their bodies to the point that they have a cardiac episode. And the point here is simple: Pay attention to your physical condition, don't push things, and above all . . . watch your air. Good job on opening weekend. Now let's keep it going for the remainder of this year. (And let's hope San Diego, Orange, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties had an equally uneventful weekend.)
LOVELY NIGHT DIVE LAST WEDNESDAY AT VETS PARK - We even saw a lobster too, although he was nowhere near legal size. But what we also saw, and they were also small, were THOUSANDS of Target Shrimp. These are the small shrimp with the bright blue markings on the tails and a maroon spot (aka "target" on the side behind their eyes). They were - literally - everywhere, both in the shallows and down at depth in the canyon. If I say we saw over a thousand, I really don't think I'm exaggerating. I've simply never seen so many at Vets (or anywhere else) ever before. I can't find any of my shots at the moment, but here's a link to a pix page that has a bunch of them: Target Shrimp - The-World-Underwater. We also ran into some Thornbacks, a Sarcastic Fringehead up in the shallows totally out of a shell, a number of Turbots, a lone Cusk Eel, an octopus, and a variety of Scorpionfish. Nice dive and it was actually warmer in the canyon than it had been ten days earlier. On my gauge, I showed about 68º in the shallows and 63º in the canyon (last time it was 56º down deep). Nice dive and you'll note from the sked above that our next one at Vets is on the books for Wednesday, October 26.
HURRICANE MATTHEW - We're still keeping an eye on this storm since it's going through some key dive areas. I got a note from Augusto Montbrun at Buddy Dive in Bonaire and he says they got an lot of wind out of it - Matthew tracked east-to-west north of Bonaire - but that was about it. As predicted, the storm has now made a northward turn with a slight eastward drift. When I wrote to you about Matthew on Friday, it was a Category 3 storm. It is now a Category 4 storm, although at one point, it was a 5 (which is the highest classification). Regardless of the number, this storm will pack a powerful punch. It was originally heading for the "slot" between Jamaica and Haiti but now it looks like it more taking aim at Haiti (like they need any more misery) late Monday. If it stays on the projected track, it'll then graze the eastern edge of Cuba Tuesday afternoon, cut through the Turks & Caicos overnight Tues/Wed, and then roar across the Bahamas Wednesday afternoon, finally taking aim at the U.S. next weekend, looking like it might come ashore either in South or North Carolina. If you want to track the storm, this is the URL (scroll down for detailed maps - NHC Active Tropical Cyclones).
And given that I bombarded your mailbox with the monthly newsletter only a day ago, I think that'll do it for now. Have a great week, and let's go diving soon.
- Ken
• November 2-18 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ 1 FEMALE-SHARE SPOT LEFT ]
• March, 2017 - Bonaire (???)
• June, 2017 - Isla Mujeres (early in the Whale Shark Season)
• 2017 - July 7-19 - Yap Immersion #1 (special 13-day trip featuring all that Yap has to offer) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 5 SPOTS LEFT ]
• 2017 - July 21-August 2 - Yap Immersion #2 (week #2 - same sked as above) [ LIMITED TO 12 DIVERS - 9 SPOTS LEFT ]
• Fall of 2017 - Ultimate Indonesia - A week at Murex in Manado, 10-days in Raja Ampat, 3 days in the Lembeh Straits
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives:
• October 22 (Saturday) - Avalon Underwater Park (3 dives - include tank rentals) - $150
• October 26 (Wednesday) - Vets Park night dive (single tank) - FREE!!!!
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
—————————————————————————————————————————————
We start off with good news . . .
WE MADE IT THROUGH OPENING WEEKEND UNSCATHED - Usually when you start something with, "Well, at least nobody died," you're talking about failure but in this instance, we're talking about success. As of 6PM Sunday evening, as far as we know (and at least as it pertains to L.A. County), we made it through the opening weekend of lobster season not only without a single fatality, but also without any incident that required Chamber treatment. So, while we don't want you to rest on your laurels, please go ahead and collectively pat yourself on the back. While it may seems morbid to be fixating on whether anyone died hunting for lobsters (and this pertains to the mini-season in Florida as well), we see fatalities many years on opening weekend that could have been avoided simply by paying attention to common-sense diving practices. The most common problem seen arises from people running out of air while hunting for crustaceans. (It's also the single-biggest fatality trigger in non-hunting dives as well.) The next biggest factor likely involves people pushing beyond their physical limits and getting themselves into situations they physically can't handle and they exhaust themselves (and drown) or they tax their bodies to the point that they have a cardiac episode. And the point here is simple: Pay attention to your physical condition, don't push things, and above all . . . watch your air. Good job on opening weekend. Now let's keep it going for the remainder of this year. (And let's hope San Diego, Orange, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties had an equally uneventful weekend.)
LOVELY NIGHT DIVE LAST WEDNESDAY AT VETS PARK - We even saw a lobster too, although he was nowhere near legal size. But what we also saw, and they were also small, were THOUSANDS of Target Shrimp. These are the small shrimp with the bright blue markings on the tails and a maroon spot (aka "target" on the side behind their eyes). They were - literally - everywhere, both in the shallows and down at depth in the canyon. If I say we saw over a thousand, I really don't think I'm exaggerating. I've simply never seen so many at Vets (or anywhere else) ever before. I can't find any of my shots at the moment, but here's a link to a pix page that has a bunch of them: Target Shrimp - The-World-Underwater. We also ran into some Thornbacks, a Sarcastic Fringehead up in the shallows totally out of a shell, a number of Turbots, a lone Cusk Eel, an octopus, and a variety of Scorpionfish. Nice dive and it was actually warmer in the canyon than it had been ten days earlier. On my gauge, I showed about 68º in the shallows and 63º in the canyon (last time it was 56º down deep). Nice dive and you'll note from the sked above that our next one at Vets is on the books for Wednesday, October 26.
HURRICANE MATTHEW - We're still keeping an eye on this storm since it's going through some key dive areas. I got a note from Augusto Montbrun at Buddy Dive in Bonaire and he says they got an lot of wind out of it - Matthew tracked east-to-west north of Bonaire - but that was about it. As predicted, the storm has now made a northward turn with a slight eastward drift. When I wrote to you about Matthew on Friday, it was a Category 3 storm. It is now a Category 4 storm, although at one point, it was a 5 (which is the highest classification). Regardless of the number, this storm will pack a powerful punch. It was originally heading for the "slot" between Jamaica and Haiti but now it looks like it more taking aim at Haiti (like they need any more misery) late Monday. If it stays on the projected track, it'll then graze the eastern edge of Cuba Tuesday afternoon, cut through the Turks & Caicos overnight Tues/Wed, and then roar across the Bahamas Wednesday afternoon, finally taking aim at the U.S. next weekend, looking like it might come ashore either in South or North Carolina. If you want to track the storm, this is the URL (scroll down for detailed maps - NHC Active Tropical Cyclones).
And given that I bombarded your mailbox with the monthly newsletter only a day ago, I think that'll do it for now. Have a great week, and let's go diving soon.
- Ken
