Undercurrent Online Update
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For David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi', exp: 2024-08-20, at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )
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February 17, 2018

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Not So Quite Rare As Thought!

Said to be the world’s rarest fish (apart from those yet to be discovered!) the Red Handfish has been found in a second population by researchers from the University of Tasmania Institute for marine and Antarctic Studies and Reef Life Survey.

Coming Up in Undercurrent:

We had so many important news items turn up at the last minute for the February issue, we had to hold over articles we promised you in last month’s email. They are timely -- so in March you will get among other items such subjects as your tales of the lack of coverage of some travel insurance policies and how to avoid bad ones. Also, when a long-planned dive trip disappoints because the marine creatures you were expecting failed to show. Also, we’ll reveal the secrets of how an Australian diver survived 75 hours adrift in the ocean and a top lawyer’s insight into those annoying liability waivers, plus much, much more.

Sex Discrimination? Me Too?

In February’s issue of Undercurrent, we mentioned the complaint from a female subscriber about her treatment by a dive guide on an Indonesian liveaboard. Could this be the result of the attitude in certain developing countries to women and female divers in particular? Are you a female diver who’s experienced unfortunate attitudes while abroad or even when diving at home? Worse than that, have you experienced outright sexual harassment when diving. We’d like to hear about it. Write to BenDEditor@undercurrent.org

Your Travel Reports

These are the lifeblood of Undercurrent, and it’s one of the several aspects that make the newsletter unique. It’s an opportunity to tell others about your trips, whether good or bad or both. You can tell it in the style of Oliver Cromwell, ‘warts and all.’ It’s vast and ever-growing resource of information that you can see online and in our annual Chapbook. It’s easy to file a report using the online form at https://www.undercurrent.org/members/UCnow/SubRRTopMA.php

Are You Struggling to Read Your Computer?

There may be plenty of masks available for people who need minus-strength lens correction, but there are only a few manufacturers that have spotted the potential of the gray dollar, and these include TUSA with its CEOS mask and Scubapro with the Zoom EVO. Both can easily be fitted with off-the-peg plus-strength lenses in store at minimal cost. You don’t see sharply very far underwater thanks to the turbidity, so concentrate on the close-up performance, although you may have to lift your mask at the surface to spot your dive boat!

Thai Dive Boat Shamed and Banned

After a group of Japanese divers stood on coral to hold up a banner congratulating one of their number for completing 200 dives, their dive boat, the North Star, has been banned from entering the National Marine Park near Koh Phi Phi. This was the second time that divers from North Star had damaged coral. Conservation group Go Eco Phuket posted photos of both incidents on social media.

Another Printed Magazine Dies

During January, magazine publisher Bonnier Corp announced the layoff of 70 employees and the termination of the print run of five of its magazines including Sport Diver, which is now only available in digital form. It continues to publish PADI’s quarterly magazine The Undersea Journal.

When Your Liveaboard Is a No-Show

A Chicago diver made a twenty hour journey for a trip aboard the Oman Aggressor, only to learn when she arrived, that the trip was cancelled because there were not enough divers. What compensation should she receive? Read her story and vote here.

Thanks for being a loyal member and subscriber.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
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