Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

For at NASJAXDiveClub@gmail.com
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December 13, 2019  

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When Your Skipper Leaves the Boat Prematurely

Heavy swells at the Boynton Inlet (FL) on November 18 caught out boat captain Bradley Williams when a beam-on wave nearly capsized but still sent him tumbling from the fly-bridge of the Starfish Scuba dive boat. He was rescued by nearby jet-skiers. Williams suffered a dislocated shoulder.

How to Test Your Regulator for Leaks Without your Tank Attached

Simply occlude the open end of the first-stage with your thumb and suck hard on the second-stage. If you can draw any air, it indicates there’s a hole in the mouthpiece or the diaphragm. If you have an Atomic regulator with an Atomic octopus, you’ll need a friend to suck on that at the same time, thanks to its unique design. Or you can take off the octo and plug its port. Be sure to check well before your next dive trip.

Cozumel’s Southern Reefs Still Closed?

Despite complaints from local dive businesses and tour operators, some of the most popular southern reefs in Cozumel were closed to diving in October. It’s rumoured that the southern reefs will open in December for tourist season, but the agency thar runs the marine park, CONANP, has told our local contact that they have made no decision to reopen those areas.

SS Thorfinn in Trouble

After the liveaboard SS Thorfinn ran aground on a Truk Lagoon reef on December 4 and made a distress call, Navy divers from the USNS Salvor, which was luckily in Chuuk’s Weno harbour, worked to refloat the veteran liveaboard vessel and get it back to a safe anchorage. Nobody was hurt. PS: for years, the Thorfinn has been on our “Not Recommended” list.

Harrowing Tales from the Red Sea Aggressor I Fire

Next month in Undercurrent, we’ll reveal first-hand stories from survivors of the tragic Egyptian liveaboard fire that took one American life. In addition, we’ll offer a template for safe liveaboard operation written by a leader in the field. And, we’ll ask if US Coastguard failure to update its safety rules was partly to blame for the disastrous MV Conception fire in California. We’ll attempt to remove some of the confusion surrounding the safety of lithium-ion batteries, the risks surrounding them, and how to fight a battery fire, should it happen.

Boaters – Mind Those Divers

Carter Viss, 25, was snorkelling off Palm Beach (FL) on Thanksgiving Day, when he was struck by a 36-foot sports-fishing boat, which severed an arm. A Good Samaritan recovered the floating arm. Viss is currently in critical condition, with life-changing injuries. Viss and those snorkelers with him were using diving flags but when the boater saw it, he did not throttle back in time.

Tiger Trouble

The severed hand bearing a wedding ring found in the stomach of a tiger shark fished out at the Indian Ocean island of Reunion has been identified as part of a 44-year-old Scottish tourist who went missing while swimming on November 2. Sharks are not pussycats, we wrote in our November issue, and you can read here the interesting story of a diver’s experience with a tiger shark in the November issue.
https://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/dive_magazine/2019/NotPussycats201911.html

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Ben Davison, editor/publisher
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