Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

January 19, 2020

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The Fire-Stricken Animals of Australia Need Your Help

Perhaps a half billion animals – koalas, cockatoos, kangaroos -- have been killed by the horrific fires. Many species may face extinction. They simply can’t run fast enough to escape. Thousands of volunteers are rescuing animals, treating their wounds, and feeding those who have escaped the fires. Thousands more are preparing and dropping food to millions of isolated animals that are starving in burned forests. You and I can’t go to Australia to join in, but we can donate money to buy urgent medical supplies and food to save the animals, which they desperately need. You can help by clicking here.

French Polynesia Master Runs Aground

Imminent scheduled trips have been cancelled after the liveaboard ran aground on January14. In an email by the operator Master Liveaboards, all guests and crew were said to be safe and a local team was working as quickly as possible to get the boat back into operation. Given the recovery required and subsequent repairs, it is extremely unlikely that the vessel will be operational again in time for further January trips.

When Your Cabin Mate Gets Sick?

Have you ever traveling with a group and have one member’s illness threaten your trip? Have you ever been assigned a cabin mate whose illness threatened your health? We’re working on a story and would like to get your experience around sick divers and how you coped. Write and tell us about it, not forgetting to tell your town and state. BenDEditor@undercurrent.org

Nobody on The Boat!

We’ve heard rumors that at some destinations (Belize, Ambergris Caye, for example) a few dive operators are pinching pennies by not having a captain who stays on the boat when you dive. Should the boat drift away or you need help, no one is there. Have you dived with such an outfit anywhere in the world? If so, please tell us about it. BenDEditor@undercurrent.org

Blue Water, White Goddess

Undercurrent’s diving insider blogs are full of gems you might have missed. Bret Gilliam reminisces about his time with the first millionaire super-model Lauren Hutton in Fiji. You can read it and others for free here: https://www.undercurrent.org/blog/

Shark Victim of Oceanarium

Visitors to the oceanarium in the Neptune shopping mall in St.Petersburg, Russia, were shocked to see a diver dancing with a nurse shark. The shark was seen floating in the vertical position, the diver with his arm around it, grasping it by one fin. Viewers who saw the video clip on Youtube were less than thrilled, accusing the administration of using the animal for profit.

Those of Us Who Like to Try our Regulators

Those of us who like to try our regulators locally before a trip often find ourselves in water colder than that we expect on our upcoming dive. If this applies to you, avoid breathing from, or purging, a regulator in cold conditions before both first and second-stages are totally submerged, because it will encourage ice to form and make the regulator malfunction. Be aware that fresh water of 50°F or colder can easily freeze in the regulator due to the cooling effect as the air from your tank is reduced in pressure.

Please Act to Support the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary

Please act to support the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary, which protects a complex and interconnected ecosystem with different habitats and wildlife. DEMA has teamed together with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation to write a joint letter of support for the Restoration Blueprint to restore habitats and protect marine wildlife. You can help by signing the letter of support:
https://www.dema.org/news/484582/ALERT---Please-Support-the-Florida-Keys-National-Marine-Sanctuary-by-Signing-This-Letter-of-Support.htm

What Makes Undercurrent so Unique?

It’s your expertise! Your independent reports of different dive operations, resorts and liveaboards around the world sit side-by-side with those of others to give a truly balanced view of what another reader can expect. Nowhere else can you find this reliable information from such a well-informed source. Your reports join more than 10,000 others in our online database (and our annual Travelin’ Diver’s Chapbook), which is easily searchable by any other subscriber. We’re also asking subscribers to report on the use of single-use plastic at dive resorts and liveaboards they visit -- this information we’ll use to contact those dive travel operators and compel them to change their ways (and keep those giant garbage patches in the oceans from getting larger). Don’t forget to file your report of your last dive trip at: www.undercurrent.org/SubRR.php You can even add photos if you wish.

Thanks for being a loyal subscriber.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben