Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2017 vacation trips:
• November 2-12 - Fiji (SE Viti Levu area near Suva) on the Fiji Aggressor [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
• March 24-31, 2018 - Bonaire (Buddy Dive)
• June 8-20 - Yap Immersion (same 10-day format we did this year)
• July 14-28 - Sulawesi, Indonesia with our friends at Murex (includes a day at Lembeh Straits)
• August 18-25 - Isla Mujeres (Whale Sharks, Cancun Underwater Museum, Cenotes)
• November TBA - Roatan at Anthony's Key
• STILL WORKING ON A COUPLE OF OTHER DATES & DESTINATIONS
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
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Upcoming local dives & classes:
• Sat. Nov. 18 - Beach dive - Redondo, Veterans Park ($25)
• Tues., Nov. 28 - Night dive (Squid???) - Redondo, Veterans Park (FREE!!!)
• Sat., Dec. 9 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park, maybe more BSBs ($150)
• Wed. Dec. 13 - (CLASS) Fish ID - Reef Seekers West(wood) ($25)
• Thu., Dec. 28 - Night dive (Squid???) - Redondo, Veterans Park (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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If you are a baseball fan, and if you've were concerned that you've had an undiagnosed heart condition, and if you are still alive after tonight's game, you have nothing to worry about . . .
MORE BSBs IN AVALON - We went over Saturday and the goal was to find the Black (aka Giant) Sea Bass that have been populating the Park all summer and we struck gold again! In fact, we had them not only on all three dives but for quite some time on all the dives. The most we saw at one time was four but our sense of things was that there were about seven total. I've also come up with a couple of names for some of them. There's Gilley, Hook, Cloudy, and Tagged. Tagged is one of the 34 BSBs who was tagged by CSULB researchers in August. Hook (sadly) had a hook and line of some sort dangling from the left corner of his mouth. I almost got close enough to try to remove some of it but then he moved away from me. Cloudy has a slightly cloudy left eye. This is quite interesting because the female BSB we have at the Aquarium of the Pacific also has a cloudy left eye. But saddest of all (although it allows me to use my favorite word) is Gilley, who seems to be missing a good chunk of his left operculum, better know as the gill cover. So his red gills are quite exposed, as you can see in the pix below. Now this doesn't seem to be causing him any discomfort as we saw him multiple times, he seemed quite comfortable being around divers, and he didn't move erratically or anything like that. I also noticed that there were some juvenile Kelp Bass (maybe 2" long) who were hanging around him and seemingly cleaning him. Personally, I've never noticed this before. In fact, when you looked further (and this is evident in my pictures), a number of the BSBs had small juvy Kelp Bass around them and we saw what seemed to be cleaning going on. This makes me wonder if one of the reasons the BSBs have been hanging around so long is that there juvy Kelp bass have set up a reliable cleaning station in the Park and that's what's attracting and keeping the BSBs in the general vicinity. I will ask that question of people more knowledgeable than me in this area and report back to you. But here's one of the pix of Gilley and his exposed gills:
WANNA SEE MORE PIX? - I've posted 30+ pix on my SmugMug page. About half are BSBs and then there are other critters, including a Sheephead that looks like it's about halfway through "the change" into a male. Has male coloration but still has female shape. You'll also see a California Scorpionfish, Blacksmith, female Rock Wrasse, Garibaldi, and - of course - a bunch more BSB shots including a closer look at Gilley's gills. Here's the link::
GIANT SEA BASS - AVALON UNDERWATER PARK - 10/28/17 - kenkurtis.
WANNA SEE A VIDEO OF THE BSBs? - Curtis Majers went with us and put together a 2-minute video of our third dive. You can view that video (with music) here:
.
PARTIAL LOBSTER CLOSURE - The CDF&W has instituted an immediate closure of the commercial lobster fishery, but not the recreational, around Anacapa Island and the east end of Santa Cruz Island. This is due to the discovery of unhealthy levels of domoic acid (is there such a thing as a "healthy level"???) in the lobster in those areas. Although recreational take is still allowed, if you eat any lobsters from the affected areas, you are advised not to consume the viscera (internal body cavity organs) of the animal. Of course, the safest thing to do would simply be not to eat lobsters caught in those areas and, if you're not sure where your lobsters came from, don't eat them period. There are a couple of advisories you need to be aware of. The first is the closure announcement from CDF&W: Commercial Spiny Lobster Fishery Closed at Anacapa Island and the East End of Santa Cruz Island Due to Public Health Hazard. The second is a public health warning from the California Department of Public Health on how to avoid domoic acid poisoning if you're cooking/consuming lobsters: CDPH Warns Consumers Not to Eat Viscera of Lobster Caught.
REEF SEEKERS DIVES & CLASSES THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR - I've managed to cobble together a schedule through the end of the year that contains a beach dive, two night dives, a Fish ID class, and a year-end trip back to the Avalon Underwater Park. All the info's at the top of this page. See what strikes your fancy and be sure to call us at 310/652-4990 to get signed up.
LEAVING FOR FIJI THIS WEEK - We're getting very excited about our upcoming trip on the Fiji Aggressor. We leave Thursday evening shortly before midnight and will arrive in Nadi, Fiji, around 6AM Saturday morning. (We lose a day due to crossing the International Dateline.) After we leave the airport, it's a 3-hour bus ride around the island to Suva (the capital) where we'll get the boat, and then it seems to be about a 6-hour run out to the first dive site in the Wakaya Island area where we'll start diving first thing Sunday morning. It doesn't seem like we'll have Wi-Fi on the boat so there won't be any daily updates or anything like that, but we'll produce a full trip report with pix when we return.
NO TWARS NEXT WEEK - Because we'll be on the boat, unless I can somehow find a miracle Internet connection, there won't be a TWARS for you next week. Please try to contain your disappointment.
FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE WEEK - This may chase away some of those Dodger blues after tonight's game . . . A group of divers was a few miles offshore in Belize when they spotted a DOG in the water, seemingly abandoned by his owners. They were able to get to him and the story has a happy ending. Read all about it here:
Divers Rescue Dog Swimming in Ocean, Miles Away from Shore.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving when we get back from Fiji. (And go Dodgers!!!!)
- Ken
• November 2-12 - Fiji (SE Viti Levu area near Suva) on the Fiji Aggressor [ SOLD OUT!!! ]
• March 24-31, 2018 - Bonaire (Buddy Dive)
• June 8-20 - Yap Immersion (same 10-day format we did this year)
• July 14-28 - Sulawesi, Indonesia with our friends at Murex (includes a day at Lembeh Straits)
• August 18-25 - Isla Mujeres (Whale Sharks, Cancun Underwater Museum, Cenotes)
• November TBA - Roatan at Anthony's Key
• STILL WORKING ON A COUPLE OF OTHER DATES & DESTINATIONS
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
———————————————————————————————————————————
Upcoming local dives & classes:
• Sat. Nov. 18 - Beach dive - Redondo, Veterans Park ($25)
• Tues., Nov. 28 - Night dive (Squid???) - Redondo, Veterans Park (FREE!!!)
• Sat., Dec. 9 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park, maybe more BSBs ($150)
• Wed. Dec. 13 - (CLASS) Fish ID - Reef Seekers West(wood) ($25)
• Thu., Dec. 28 - Night dive (Squid???) - Redondo, Veterans Park (FREE!!!)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
———————————————————————————————————————————
If you are a baseball fan, and if you've were concerned that you've had an undiagnosed heart condition, and if you are still alive after tonight's game, you have nothing to worry about . . .
MORE BSBs IN AVALON - We went over Saturday and the goal was to find the Black (aka Giant) Sea Bass that have been populating the Park all summer and we struck gold again! In fact, we had them not only on all three dives but for quite some time on all the dives. The most we saw at one time was four but our sense of things was that there were about seven total. I've also come up with a couple of names for some of them. There's Gilley, Hook, Cloudy, and Tagged. Tagged is one of the 34 BSBs who was tagged by CSULB researchers in August. Hook (sadly) had a hook and line of some sort dangling from the left corner of his mouth. I almost got close enough to try to remove some of it but then he moved away from me. Cloudy has a slightly cloudy left eye. This is quite interesting because the female BSB we have at the Aquarium of the Pacific also has a cloudy left eye. But saddest of all (although it allows me to use my favorite word) is Gilley, who seems to be missing a good chunk of his left operculum, better know as the gill cover. So his red gills are quite exposed, as you can see in the pix below. Now this doesn't seem to be causing him any discomfort as we saw him multiple times, he seemed quite comfortable being around divers, and he didn't move erratically or anything like that. I also noticed that there were some juvenile Kelp Bass (maybe 2" long) who were hanging around him and seemingly cleaning him. Personally, I've never noticed this before. In fact, when you looked further (and this is evident in my pictures), a number of the BSBs had small juvy Kelp Bass around them and we saw what seemed to be cleaning going on. This makes me wonder if one of the reasons the BSBs have been hanging around so long is that there juvy Kelp bass have set up a reliable cleaning station in the Park and that's what's attracting and keeping the BSBs in the general vicinity. I will ask that question of people more knowledgeable than me in this area and report back to you. But here's one of the pix of Gilley and his exposed gills:
WANNA SEE MORE PIX? - I've posted 30+ pix on my SmugMug page. About half are BSBs and then there are other critters, including a Sheephead that looks like it's about halfway through "the change" into a male. Has male coloration but still has female shape. You'll also see a California Scorpionfish, Blacksmith, female Rock Wrasse, Garibaldi, and - of course - a bunch more BSB shots including a closer look at Gilley's gills. Here's the link::
GIANT SEA BASS - AVALON UNDERWATER PARK - 10/28/17 - kenkurtis.
WANNA SEE A VIDEO OF THE BSBs? - Curtis Majers went with us and put together a 2-minute video of our third dive. You can view that video (with music) here:
.
PARTIAL LOBSTER CLOSURE - The CDF&W has instituted an immediate closure of the commercial lobster fishery, but not the recreational, around Anacapa Island and the east end of Santa Cruz Island. This is due to the discovery of unhealthy levels of domoic acid (is there such a thing as a "healthy level"???) in the lobster in those areas. Although recreational take is still allowed, if you eat any lobsters from the affected areas, you are advised not to consume the viscera (internal body cavity organs) of the animal. Of course, the safest thing to do would simply be not to eat lobsters caught in those areas and, if you're not sure where your lobsters came from, don't eat them period. There are a couple of advisories you need to be aware of. The first is the closure announcement from CDF&W: Commercial Spiny Lobster Fishery Closed at Anacapa Island and the East End of Santa Cruz Island Due to Public Health Hazard. The second is a public health warning from the California Department of Public Health on how to avoid domoic acid poisoning if you're cooking/consuming lobsters: CDPH Warns Consumers Not to Eat Viscera of Lobster Caught.
REEF SEEKERS DIVES & CLASSES THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR - I've managed to cobble together a schedule through the end of the year that contains a beach dive, two night dives, a Fish ID class, and a year-end trip back to the Avalon Underwater Park. All the info's at the top of this page. See what strikes your fancy and be sure to call us at 310/652-4990 to get signed up.
LEAVING FOR FIJI THIS WEEK - We're getting very excited about our upcoming trip on the Fiji Aggressor. We leave Thursday evening shortly before midnight and will arrive in Nadi, Fiji, around 6AM Saturday morning. (We lose a day due to crossing the International Dateline.) After we leave the airport, it's a 3-hour bus ride around the island to Suva (the capital) where we'll get the boat, and then it seems to be about a 6-hour run out to the first dive site in the Wakaya Island area where we'll start diving first thing Sunday morning. It doesn't seem like we'll have Wi-Fi on the boat so there won't be any daily updates or anything like that, but we'll produce a full trip report with pix when we return.
NO TWARS NEXT WEEK - Because we'll be on the boat, unless I can somehow find a miracle Internet connection, there won't be a TWARS for you next week. Please try to contain your disappointment.
FEEL-GOOD STORY OF THE WEEK - This may chase away some of those Dodger blues after tonight's game . . . A group of divers was a few miles offshore in Belize when they spotted a DOG in the water, seemingly abandoned by his owners. They were able to get to him and the story has a happy ending. Read all about it here:
Divers Rescue Dog Swimming in Ocean, Miles Away from Shore.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving when we get back from Fiji. (And go Dodgers!!!!)
- Ken
