Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

For at NASJAXDiveClub@gmail.com
Unsubscribe | Forward this email

August 16, 2019  

Using a Transmitter?

If you have a wireless air-integrated computer, the transmitter, jutting out from the side of the regulator’s first stage, can look seductively like a tank handle to uninitiated boat crews, and they may grab it. Mounting it at the end of a short (six-inch) high-pressure hose avoids costly errors, but don’t also forget to install the little double-ended flow restrictor supplied with your computer’s transmitter, rather than the single-ended one for use when fitted directly to the first stage.

Dive Rite Recalls Its Low-Pressure Regulator Hoses

The hoses, in lengths between six and 84 inches, were sold between February 2018 and July 2019, either individually or as part of a regulator or rebreather package. They’re suspected of not meeting design and performance standards. The specific hose assemblies recalled are marked with the codes of: 0308, 0388, 0598, 0808, 1648, 1738, and 1998 – look for the coding on the ferrule or hose itself. Return your recalled hose to the dealer from which you bought it for a replacement. More recall details are here.

Subscribe Now and Get My New 36-Page Seven Super Dive Resorts (and One Meh)

Subscribe Now and Get My New 36-Page Seven Super Dive Resorts (and One Meh) mailed directly to you. My offer? Just $17.95 for a six-month trial subscription. Call it what you will -- a cut-rate subscription price with a free book, or maybe a two-for-one offer -- but it's a great offer and for $17.95, you can't go wrong. Because if for any reason you don't like or need your Undercurrent subscription, I'll return your $17.95 and you can keep our Seven Super Dive Resorts, with my thanks for giving us a go.

On top of that, you gain immediate access to 15 years of back issues, and more than 10,000 honest resort and liveaboard reviews submitted by our experienced readers. And, I’ll send you full reviews by our anonymous writers of a great Fiji escape, a Cozumel dive operator catering to serious divers, a two-resort budget combo in Indonesia, undiscovered diving off Grenada, and much, much more. If during your trial subscription you are dissatisfied for any reason, I’ll return your $17.95, no questions asked. To subscribe at this special rate of $17.95 for six months, simply click here.

Amos Nachoum’s A Picture of His Life

Some of you know Amos from his underwater photographs of large marine life, from humpback whales at the Silver Banks to leopard seals in Antarctica. His greatest ambition has been to photograph a polar bear swimming underwater, surely his most dangerous subject. Although this documentary focuses on meeting that goal, it also delves into how Nachoum’s life in Israel, the complex relationship he had with his father, and his military history have led to his quest. See the film trailer here.

Pedophile Island

In the waters near now-deceased Jeffrey Epstein’s private St. Thomas retreat in the Virgin Islands, there’s some decent diving, but when guides took scuba divers to spots near Epstein’s Little St. James Island, security guards would immediately walk to the water’s edge. “Everybody called it ‘Pedophile Island,’” says Kevin Goodrich, who runs Alternate Attitude boat charters out of St. Thomas. “It’s our dark corner.” On August 12, the FBI raided Pedophile Island to probe further into Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking ring.

Free to Read in Undercurrent: Big Disappointment on the Great Barrier Reef

The dwarf minke whales turned up as promised, the reef sharks put on a show, the giant potato cod posed for photos, but our undercover contributor had a rather colorless experience while diving at Osprey Reef with the Spirit of Freedom – and the liveaboard’s cramped conditions didn’t help matters. You can read it for free here …

Have You Been on a Photography-Instruction Dive Trip?

A good way to improve your underwater photography skills is to take a course led by a pro. Some courses are well-structured, others seem to simply be the means to financially support someone else’s dive trip. What type of dive photography course have you taken? Let us know what you encountered, good and bad. Email your experience to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org including your town and state.

The Most Expensive Day Dive Trip Ever?

Subscriber Ken Paff (Detroit, MI) wrote to tell us of his shock after discovering that a one-day, three-tank dive trip with Fathom Five Adventures to Ni’ihau, off Kauai, HI, cost nearly $500 per person. That’s pretty pricey! What’s the most expensive day trip you have ever taken? And was it worth the cost? Write us, not forgetting to add your town and state at BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

This Month in Undercurrent

CoCo View, Roatan: 40 years old and still an excellent Caribbean adventure . . . a tragic road accident reminds us about the need to travel safely . . . is it smart to use a nasal spray while underwater? . . . can genetic engineering save our coral reefs? . . . beware of false prophets on your dive trips . . . how good are you at spotting a drowning diver? . . . fish bombing kills three divers in Malaysia . . . farewell to a top treasure hunter . . . readers tell us when their dive training really came in handy . . . a flesh-eating bacterium strikes on Florida beaches . . . and much, much more.

How Long Should You Wait to Fly after Diving?

It’s typically thought that divers should give themselves 24 hours before subjecting their bodies, loaded with nitrogen, to an airplane ride, but not all divers do that. New research shows that even 24 hours may not be enough to prevent decompression illness, especially after a multi-day dive trip. You can read it for free here ...

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben