Undercurrent Online Update
for Subscribers

For Subscriber David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi' exp: 2024-08-20', at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
May 20, 2014

What to Do about Them? In his Reader Report about Kaimana Divers in Oahu, Michael Kay (Redwood City, CA) wrote, "While the divemasters were generally respectful of the sea life, one divemaster grabbed an octopus and held it, causing it to squirt all its ink. He even passed it around for other divers to hold." This is a no-no in our book, but it seems like fish-handling, such as cradling nurse sharks and pulling reclusive creatures out of their holes, is all-too-common behavior for many divemasters worldwide. Common rebuttals are, "Divers pay to see things, and we want to make sure they see it" and "Photographers need close-up shots of marine life, so we help them." What do you think? Is there a fine line between touching marine life for a good purpose and handling it to the point of harassment? Have you been on dive trips where divemasters were too grabby for your taste? If so, did you do anything about it? Are there dive operators you want to call out for being too touchy with marine life, or those who deserve divers' business because of their respectful approach of sea life? Send me your stories and opinions at EditorBenD@undercurrent.org

The British Sub-Aqua Club, is unique in that it has royalty in charge of it. Prince William just became the president of BSAC, taking over from his dad, Prince Charles (seems like this title is another one passed down via royal primogeniture). In next month’s issue of the British magazine SCUBA, Prince William listed his goal as president: “I look forward to working with BSAC to encourage even more young people into the sport, for they are the next generation of underwater explorers, pioneers and protectors . . . I hope that one day my son, George, will also experience the wonders that snorkeling and scuba diving have to offer.”

Starting August 22, Delta will add an additional weekly flight on Friday, with the same inbound/outbound times as its current Saturday flight. So on Friday and Saturday, Delta Flight 663 will leave Atlanta on 9:45 am, arriving in Kralendijk at 1:55 pm, and Flight 662 will depart Bonaire 3:59 p.m., arriving back in Atlanta on 7:22 p.m. And after a successful pilot program, United Airlines will start its Houston-Bonaire flight again in September and keep it going year-round, departing George Bush on Friday afternoons, and returning on Saturday mornings.

Our undercover travelin' divers review diving in Indonesia and the Mexican Yucatan . . . how to trim the weight and cut the costs of dive travel . . . do you need to download the data off your dive computer? . . . part II of "Why Divers Die:" more real-life examples of dive deaths that could have been avoided . . . how an attack on a scuba diver underwater in Hawaii is connected to the controversial aquarium-fish industry . . . and much more.

A Dive Expert Wants to Know Your Story. We got an e-mail request from Mike Davis, editor of the journal Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine, who writes, "I am interested in writing (with selected colleagues) a review article on prolonged immersion in open water and its mental and physiological effects, using selected accounts from divers as a vehicle for this, to bring the article into the 'real world.' I would be interested to hear from lost divers (or others who know of such incidents) who were immersed at sea for longer than 24 hours." If you have a story for Davis, send me an e-mail at EditorBenD@undercurrent.org , with some details of the incident and the best e-mail address to reach you at. I'll pass it on to him, and he'll contact those whose stories are a good fit for the research article.

It’s awe-inspiring to see marine life in distress reach out to divers for help, and then stick around, as if to show their appreciation. While diving at the Ticao Island Resort in the Philippines last month, Jane Headley filmed a manta ray approaching her dive group, with fishing wire entangled around its right wing, causing a large gash down its back. The ray flinched the first time that GL, the divemaster, tried to cut the barnacle-encrusted line off, but finally stayed calm enough for him to remove it. Then the ray swam with the group for 10 minutes, but “then we were low on air and had to leave,” says Headley. “We watched while on our safety stop as she continued to circle below us with another manta ray. I am convinced she stayed with us for help . . . a truly amazing and emotional experience.” Watch Headley’s video for your good feeling of the day.

3D printers are the hottest thing in technology these days, and they've now been used to show how shark skin helps the predators cruise efficiently. Harvard University researchers created a 3D-printed model to show shark's skin bristles up close, so that it's possible to see the skin bristling with tiny teeth, or "denticles," which aid swimming. Engineers have tried to mimic the roughness of shark skin when designing swim suits and even racing cars, but the denticles have never been so well reproduced before. Harvard researchers printed their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology, and this BBC article has photos of the 3D prints.

Divers are the type that like to take odd things down to depth and see what happens to them. A favorite combo is Diet Coke and Mentos, which fizzes like crazy underwater (one diver's YouTube video of that is here - One; a more explosive version, albeit on land is here ). Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, wanted to see what exact amount of pressure is required to suppress the explosive reaction. Using UCSD's hyperbaric chamber, they tested the Diet Coke/ Mentos at five different depths, from 0 to 100 feet, and found that the reaction was completely suppressed at 95 feet. "No inside tenders were harmed during this study," the researcher wrote in their abstract, printed in the journal Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, "and the UCDS chamber remains closed at this time for further cleaning."

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
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