Undercurrent Online Update
for Subscribers

For Subscriber David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi' exp: 2024-08-20', at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
June 16, 2013

Yes, we have a Facebook page . If you're a Facebook user, "Like" us. We'll be posting dive-related news articles, alert you when our latest blog posts and monthly issue is available, and asking for your stories, suggestions, tips and feedback. We promise not to clog your Facebook news feed with multiple posts -- only the best and most relevant stuff. We're just starting the page so bear with us if there are technical difficulties to start, but we hope our new page is another good way to give you what you like to get from us.
[Note: we just found and fixed a problem that prevented some of you from seeing our Facebook page -- please try again. -- DSE]

Specifically, 2,500 of the DiveAlert and DiveAlert PLUS signaling devices with model numbers DA2, DP2 and DV2. They attach to the BCD's power inflator/alternate regulator system, and these models' female coupling poppet o-rings can come dislodged, which could result in reduced air flow. The DA2 is black with an orange button, the DP2 is black with a gray knob and red button and has DiveAlert PLUS printed on it, and the DV2 is black and red. The recall models were sold from July 2009 through May 2013 and don't have any stamped writing on the coupling's collar. Return the device to an authorized DiveAlert dealer or to DiveAlert for a free repair. You can call DiveAlert at 800-275-4332, or send an email to info@divealert.com

Our undercover travel writers visit the Philippines and Indonesia's Komodo Island. . . shark baiting or eco-tourism?: why sharks and divers benefit . . . the cost of losing your PADI card . . . does using decongestants raise your risk of DCS? . . . and much more.

Those of us who have dived in Indonesia's Lembeh Straits are familiar with the heaps of plastic trash piled on the seafloor and floating on the surface. During a recent visit there, Mario Cabading, co-owner of the San Diego dive travel agency Scuba Travel Venture , came up with a plan to start cleaning it up. At the DEMA trade show last fall, he presented the Lembeh Resort with 200 green mesh bags for their divemasters and visiting divers to use voluntarily. Each bag has a clip so it can easily connect to a BCD, and divers can put plastic bottles, wrappers, paper trash, etc. in it. Other resorts in the area are now inquiring about bags too and want to participate. This seems easy enough to replicate in dive sites worldwide, don't you think?

Robert Langdon makes his fourth appearance in Inferno, which revolves around Dante's Inferno. But Istanbul's famed religious structure, the Hagia Sophia, makes an appearance, as does a documentary about diving underneath the building. Filmmaker Goksel Gulensoy was happy to see his In the Depths of the Hagia Sophia - in which he and his crew find submerged graves of children, and tunnels leading to palaces nearby - discussed by Langdon and another character. We don't know how it figures into the plot, but Gulensoy says his latest documentary, Beneath the Hagia Sophia, will be released at the end of the year. For more information on his dive explorations, go here

We're looking for ways to improve our marketing and increase traffic to our website, and I'm sure that a number of subscribers have professional experience in such matters. We're especially looking at increasing our search engine ranking to attract more divers. If you can volunteer some time to our little non-profit, and toss about ideas with our webmaster Dave Eagleray, send him a line or two about your experience, and how you might help. E-mail Dave at eagleray@undercurrent.org

New York politicians voted last month to ban all commerce related to shark fin products. The bill now awaits the governor's signature before New York becomes the eighth U.S. state to instigate a ban. But in Texas, a similar ban was passed in the state's House of Representatives but received insufficient support to go forward for a Senate vote. Senators said that while shark finning is already against federal law, fishermen should remain able to sell any parts of sharks which are brought ashore whole. As it stands, general trade in shark fin products, whether caught in legal fashion by Texan fisheries or imported from abroad, still remains legal in that state for the time being.

Introducing the Water Discus Hotel, a luxury, multi-million-dollar, underwater resort, featuring 21 moveable rooms in the heart of coral reefs. Backed by a Polish company called Deep Ocean Technology, it looks like something out of a James Bond film, but it's set to be built in the Maldives. According to CNN, the National Ministry of Tourism gave the go-ahead last month for construction on the island of Kuredhivaru. The 21 bedrooms will be 100 feet underwater, with windows looking out at the reef. Divers can go in straight from the hotel's airlock compartment, including its own decompression chamber. Non-divers can ride in a three-passenger submarine. Developers hope to limit the impact on coral reefs by laying the foundation in as few points as possible. There are also plans to rebuild coral reefs, by growing them in a special plantation before relocating them around the hotel. To see what the hotel is supposed to look like, go here

Ben Davison, editor/publisher

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