Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

July 15, 2019  

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Divers Killed by Fish Bombs

Two Chinese tourist divers and their local Bajau divemaster, Ab Zainal Abdu, were believed killed by fish bombs while diving in the waters off Kulapuan Island Resort, Semporna (near Sipadan), Malaysia on July 5. According to witnesses, there were several fishing boats operated by Moken sea gypsies near where the three divers were killed during the incident. More about this in the August issue.

Want to Buy a Luxury Liveaboard?

David and Gaelle Mesnard now wish to bring an end to their dream existence in the Maldives for the benefit of their daughter Dune, who needs to get a formal education. They’ve resorted to emailing all their previous passengers with the proposition that their liveaboard Ocean Divine is for sale in the hope of finding a buyer.
(david@ocean-stripe.com)

Going to Indonesia, the Maldives or French Polynesia?

Or anywhere else where water squeezes quickly between the islands? We thoroughly recommend you equip yourself with a reef-hook. Available from your local dive store or online, a reef hook enables you to add a little buoyancy to your BC to relax and ‘fly’ above the reef, while tethered hands-free in the current. Expect to pay around $25 for this simple yet essential item.

Another Depth-Record Attempt Ends in Disaster

We don’t know what drives people to do it but the quest to get his name in the record books proved fatal for Polish diver Sebastian Marczewski on July 7. He did not resurface after attempting to beat the world record of Egyptian diver Ahmed Gabr at 1090-feet deep on Scuba at Lake Garda, northern Italy. He was known as ‘Iron Diver’ on Facebook.

Cocaine Smuggler Becomes a New Artificial Reef

On Saturday June 23, a 180-foot former Bolivian-flagged freighter, most recently called the Voici Bernadette, was towed out to sea and sunk off the coast of St. Lucie County, 12 nautical miles southeast of Fort Pierce. It was a project put together under the auspices of The Coastal Conservation Association of Florida and the reef will now be named after one of its founding members, Curtis Bostok. People in a flotilla of small vessels watched as the freighter, donated after it was twice-seized by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for smuggling cocaine, sank beneath the waves.

Now That’s What We Call Deco!

In October 2018, Russian Navy divers successfully completed a dive to 1365 feet deep in the Sea of Japan. Yes, you read that right. They were from the Navy Research Institute and a separate expedition detachment of divers aboard the Igor Belousov Pacific Fleet rescue ship. Decompression? They left the diving chamber 18 days later. Let’s hope they had some really good books with them.

Sore Feet on Repetitive Dives?

Three or four dives a day can take it out on your feet, with all that finning. Try wearing an ordinary pair of nylon socks under your wetsuit boots. It saves the skin of your feet, softened by repeated immersion in seawater, from chafing.

Have You Been On a Photo Course Dive Trip?

A good way to increase your underwater photography skills is to embark on a course led by a professional. Some are well-structured while others appear simply a means to financially support someone else’s underwater photography trip. Have you taken a course? Let us know what you encountered, good and bad. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org including your town and state.

Your Reader Reports are the lifeblood of Undercurrent

Your Reader Reports are the lifeblood of Undercurrent because they reflect your own experiences. And because they tell both the good and bad, these reports help make our monthly newsletter a unique source for serious divers. Your reports join more than 10,000 others in our online database (and our annual Travelin Divers’ Chapbook), which is easily searchable by any other subscriber. File your report here.

Thanks for being a loyal subscriber.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
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