Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

For at NASJAXDiveClub@gmail.com
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December 3, 2021

Where's the COVID Risk High for Traveling Divers? While the emerging Omicron variant of the Coronavirus may be a gamechanger, in late November, the U.S. CDC listed many dive destinations popular with Undercurrent members as having the highest risk for COVID-19 infections: French Polynesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Costa Rica, Aruba, Curaçao, Cuba, U.S. Virgin Islands, Dominica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent (and the Grenadines). Divers should consider Puerto Rico, where we have reported on some good diving. And Florida and Hawaii, as well. Foreign destinations to consider include: Indonesia, Micronesia, St. Eustatius, St. Barts, Saba, and Palau, but some remain closed to travelers, and many countries see travelers from the U.S. as high risk, thanks to people who refuse to wear masks and the unvaccinated. A complete list may be found here.

Oops? In our last email, we wrote about a liveaboard being struck by a freighter while making passage in the Bahamas. The ship was the MV Bahamas Master and not the vessel mentioned. We apologize for getting it wrong.

If You're Even Thinking About Making a Dive Trip, you need Undercurrent. Each month, in our 16-page newsletter, we'll keep you up to date on the safe spots to travel, who is operating safely, and where you should avoid traveling. As a subscriber, you can also access scores upon scores of reports pouring in from our fellow subscribers on the Keys, Belize, Bonaire, Hawaii, Cabo and Socorro, the Red Sea, and many other places. And there are plenty of features on safety -- like that bent diver who ignored her computer and listened to her guide -- equipment, and much, much more. For just 24 hours, I am offering you a seven-month trial subscription for just $19.95. If at any time during this time you want your money back, email me, and you'll get it, no questions asked, a promise I've kept since 1975. Click here to become our newest subscriber.

Tulamben Dive Porters in Dire Straits. Have you dived Bali's Liberty wreck? If so, no doubt your tank was carried to the water's edge by one of those little ladies who, in their flip-flops, skip across the bowling-ball-like volcanic boulders on the beach with up to three tanks on their heads while you stumble along behind. Their income has dried up since the pandemic, and there's precious little alternative work for them. It's just another harsh side-effect of COVID-19.

Looking for A Christmas Gift for a Buddy?

Amazing Diving Stories, a best-seller here and abroad, is a unique collection of more than 60 true diving tales collected by Undercurrent's Senior Editor, John Bantin. It's fascinating reading, a variety of awe-inspiring, amusing, and sometimes not-so-funny adventures, and always engaging. It's available from Amazon in hardcover, in paperback, Kindle, and even as an audiobook.

. . . Or maybe you want to give a diving thriller. Then how about Tropical Ice, by Undercurrent's publisher Ben Davison (writing as KL Smith) and set in Belize. Part of the successful crime series published by WaterStreet Press, it's an adventure into shark-finning and reef-raping, murder, and politics, on an industrial scale, with plenty of diving. It all takes place at Cap'n Jack's Rum Caye Dive Resort, where Jack's trying to save his failing resort with shark-feeding dives until a body turns up in the damnedest place. Tropical Ice is available online from Amazon in paperback or Kindle, and bookstores.

And Remember, for just 24 more hours, I am offering you a seven-month trial subscription to our 16-page monthly issues for just $19.95. Business Week called Undercurrent "The Consumer Reports" for scuba divers. If at any time during your trial subscription you want your money back, email me, and you'll get it, no questions asked, a promise I've kept since 1975. Click here to become our newest subscriber.

Stay Safe, Get Vaccinated

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org