Over-Population

[cwhale]

Ouch! Another pristine dive location is soon to bite the dust: Raj Ampath. (I'm not even sure of its spelling, indicating how unknown it is, even to me who dived it 1 1/2 years ago.)

Here's the point: the underwater world has long begun looking like a wet version of Times Square - too many people and too much junk. This must cease.

Here's the history: Over 40 years ago I dove the keys and was amazed. My wife (now deceased) and I had just finished a YMCA course and couldn't wait to head from Chicago in December. Virtually no one else was around The Christ of the Deep off Key Largo. It was a wonderland of amazement. But things changed, and over the years I've travelled farther to avoid crowds, dead reefs and plastic in order to find what Raj Ampath offers. My weeks there were remembrance of the late 60's.

And it, too, soon will change because of stories like the box in the latest "Undercurrent". Of course the Shimlocks have every right to describe this soon-to-be-desecrated place - as does "Undercurrent" have the right to review it.

But lets' remember, folks: After Raj Ampath, where? Diego Rivera? If it's any good? I'm getting old, so  soon this won't make any difference to me, but it will to you younger readers and those who come after.

We need (easy to say) a world-wide enforcement council (yes, "enforcement") to prevent our fantastic world from becoming just a memory.