Undercurrent Online Update
for Subscribers

For Subscriber David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi' exp: 2024-08-20', at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
January 19, 2015

If you're free between February 11-21, consider a Cocos Island trip aboard the Undersea Hunter to study sea turtle and shark migrations, hosted by the Turtle Island Restoration Network. The nonprofit is currently offering raffle tickets for $500 to win a berth, and it guarantees a 1 in 10 chance for winning. The trip, regularly priced at $6,035, includes all meals and nitrox refills, transportation from your hotel to the dock, and a Cocos Island marine park permit. The drawing will be held this Wednesday, January 21, so order your ticket ASAP. E-mail Madeline Rose at mrose@seaturtles.org or call her at 415-663-8590, ext. 101. More info about the trip is at https://seaturtles.org/events/cocos-island-turtle-shark-tagging-expedition

You can get enough miles for a free off-peak ticket by signing up for the Barclaycard US Airways Premier World MasterCard. For the $89 annual fee, you'll earn 50,000 US Air Miles after your first purchase and the miles will be transferable to American Airlines as soon as the two airlines merge flier miles programs later this year. Get the details at http://www.worldgotbigger.com

Have you ever sent one of your photographs into a contest, submitted one to a magazine, online publication or any type of professional organization. Did you get paid? Did you not get paid? Did your photo show up elsewhere . . . and did you know about it beforehand? Let me know your experience - I may use it in a story we're considering about the financial pros and cons of underwater photography. Write me at EditorBenD@undercurrent.org

Our undercover travelin' divers review snorkeling with whales in Fiji and diving the reefs of Curacao . . . why divers should pay attentions to controversy about the national Rigs to Reefs efforts . . . an Undercurrent subscriber gives a first-person account of a dive gone wrong in Indonesia, and a fatality that needn't have happened . . . a study that shows how dive computers vary widely in bottom times, decompression stops and other data . . . why experienced divers should not forget about factors that could cause panic underwater . . and much more.

Start the New Year by seeing the latest trends, gear, workshops, films and travel destinations for sport divers at the shows hosted by Our World Underwater. If you're in the Dallas area this weekend, head to the show at the Embassy Suites in Frisco. The next one is in Chicago February 27-March 1. More information at http://www.ourworldunderwater.com

It was not a Merry Christmas for those aboard two dive boats near Tao Thong Island on December 23. Silji Macdison, on vacation from Norway, was fatally injured when she was hit by the propeller of another dive boat while surfacing from an afternoon dive with the Scuba Junction dive shop. Witnesses said Macdison, 22, began to surface without checking if a boat was above her. The propeller blades hit her in the head, causing her to sink and tumble feet up, and her left leg then struck the prop. Macdison succumbed to injuries while being transported by boat to the hospital. Natakorn Meekwan, 23, was the captain of the boat that struck her; he was idling with the engine on after unloading another group of divers nearby, and said he didn't know there were other divers nearby. Meekwan was arrested for carelessness causing death, and police are also investigating whether the Scuba Junction divemaster was using an inflatable marker during the fatal dive.

Planning a dive trip to Cozumel this year? Underwater photographer Steve Rosenberg has put together a pretty extensive guide to the place, both above and below water. The eBook, available for $9, can be downloaded to smartphones, tablets and computers, and has up-to-date information on the dive sites (complete with 250-plus color photos), island history, accommodations and restaurants and travel need-to-knows. Get more information at http://www.rosenbergebooks.com/

Record warming of ocean water in the north Pacific has caused unprecedented coral bleaching from Hawaii to the Northern Mariana Islands. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports severe bleaching in Guam, the Marianas, the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati. The culprit is a developing El Nino in the western Pacific that has caused trade winds to relax, worsening the situation. While the ocean water has begun to cool, meaning the worst of the bleaching is over, NOAA is worried that 2015 may be even worse for many areas, with the bleaching moving south as the sun starts heating up the southern tropics.

If you're traveling a long distance for a dive trip and not using a travel agent, it's wise to reconfirm all your reservations a couple weeks in advance. Subscriber Bonnie MacKenzie (Vancouver, BC) found out the hard way when she booked a trip for the Tropic Dancer in Palau last month, with a stay at the Cliffside Hotel before boarding. "When I made the original booking, I was told the Cliffside had a reciprocal deal with the more luxurious Palau Pacific Resort (PPR) to get complimentary day use of its pool and beach facilities, and access to the restaurants and spa. However, when I arrived, I learned the Cliffside had been leased to a different company, and the reciprocal deal was no longer being honored. It cost us $50 per day per person to gain access to PPR. One of the Tropic Dancer crew members later told me that I was lucky my reservation was honored at all, because he knew of some reservations being cancelled outright."

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
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