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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April 12, 2018

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Mask Alarm!

We’re getting reports of Hollis masks with single face-plates (such as the Hollis M1) smashing during leaps into the water. Whether this is because the divers have over tightened the straps, causing tension across the glass, or for some other reason, if you use a Hollis mask be aware of the risk. Some divers have sustained superficial cuts but have been lucky not to suffer eye injuries.

Never Too Old to Learn

91-year-old Velma Robinson and her friend have regularly played water volleyball at their Friendship Village pool in Schaumburg (IL), but now they have signed up for scuba experience with Diveheart, a local organization that aims to help anyone who wants to dive regardless of age, disability or condition, get breathing underwater. Good for them! And, if you’re an aging diver, stay wet!

Your Independent Reader Reports

Your Independent Reader Reports are the lifeblood of Undercurrent, and it’s one of the several aspects that make our monthly newsletter unique. It’s an opportunity to spread the word about your trips. Don’t hold back – tell your fellow divers what’s good, what’s bad and what’s ugly! There’s a vast and ever-growing resource of information that you can see online at the Undercurrent website, and in our annual Chapbook. We wonder who’ll post the 10,000th. It’s easy to file a report using the online form at https://www.undercurrent.org/members/UCnow/SubRRTopMA.php

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Scuba Gear in Plastic Wrapping

While we environmental conscious divers are fully aware that plastic is despoiling our oceans, dive manufacturers are major contributors to the problem. We’re pleading to the diving industry to step up and do something about how they over-package their products in plastic, particularly sturdy items like fins and snorkels. Even if only one turtle dies thinking a plastic fin package was a jellyfish, that’s one too many for this industry. If they are truly concerned about our oceans, then they must demonstrate it to us divers. Write to your favorite scuba equipment brand and tell it to drop the plastic packaging.

Queensland Tightens Regulations

After 10 tourists died while snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, new state government regulations state that all vessels must now carry an automatic external defibrillator and ensure instructors are well positioned to offer assistance in an emergency. Operators must also enhance supervision and implement better safety systems to identify at-risk snorkelers before they enter the water. Australia has recorded 175 snorkeling deaths in 13 years.

The Upside of Shark Excrement

Marine biologists from Imperial College, London and the University of California, Santa Barbara, have discovered that shark feces from these ocean feeders deposited on shallow coral reefs provide vital nutrients. They estimated that more than 200 pounds (94kg) of nitrogen was dropped daily on the research area of Palmyra Atoll with resulting nutrients acting as a fertilizer for the reef ecosystem. It’s just one more reason shark finning is destructive to our oceans.

Scuba Diving Regulated by Law

The Korean Herald reports that three divers were booked on April 4 at Geoje for night diving without safety equipment such as BCs, near a breakwater and dock. Scuba diving is prohibited from 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before dawn, according to South Korean underwater activity law, probably enforced as a national security measure. The regulation of scuba diving is not uncommon in many countries. What’s your take on that? Write to BenDEditor@undercurrent.org -- not forgetting to mention your town and state.

Coming Soon in Undercurrent

MV.Taka in the Solomon Islands . . . AA camera makes an incredible voyage . . . Scuba can be hazardous for your health . . . Are women divers being secretly harassed? . . . A near-shore Costa Rican liveaboard . . . . Walden Pond and pee . . . Valerie Taylor makes a splash . . . and much, much more.

We’ve Made It Even Easier!

We know what it’s like to get interrupted mid-flow when trying to marshal our thoughts while writing a trip report. A new feature automatically saves what you’ve written when you hit the “Continue” button. You can now put a report together over several hours, or even days, if you wish, without the danger of your efforts being wasted If you need to continue your report later, just to back to the Submit a Report page – the unfinished one will be linked from there. Your reports are important to us. To file yours, click https://www.undercurrent.org/members/UCnow/SubRRTopMA.php

Thanks for being a loyal subscriber.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
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