Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

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December 22, 2021

The GoPro Selfie-Stick as Unwanted Shark Bait. Many divers use a GoPro extending stick to get their little camera closer to wildlife while keeping their hands and bodies away. However, reef sharks in the Bahamas and elsewhere are becoming accustomed to being offered fish on the end of a short spear. John Miller, a shark instructor and CEO of Lubbock's Texas Dive Center, tells us that sharks are following divers with GoPro sticks, thinking the GoPro on the tip is food. We have learned of several divers losing their cameras when a shark took a nibble on the plastic housing. In our October 2021 review of the Belize Aggressor IV, our author watched a diver lose her GoPro to a shark. Be careful when extending an arm with a GoPro too. Your fist could look tasty.

This Month in Undercurrent: Riding Rock Resort in the Bahamas is back in business and our reviewer visits . . . Indonesia reopens for diving trips, or maybe it doesn't . . . The Pacific Quartet, the Caribbean, and diving with Great Whites are just some of the subjects recently experienced by our subscribers . . . Car tires discarded in the ocean trap hermit crabs forever . . . Why American dive boat owners’ liability might increase, and with it, trip costs . . . Dive travel in the time of coronavirus brings tales of woe . . . The Valerie Taylor story on film . . . The ugly American diver unmasked . . . How TV presenters take serious risks to get that underwater shot . . . The PFO, the perfectly formed hole, DCS and your heart . . . But it's not OK to sell dive gear to Libya . . . and much, much more.

Divers Attacked by Birds. Unique to the Galapagos Islands, flightless cormorants can dive to impressive depths to catch prey. However, some have recently taken an interest in scuba divers, pecking at them and their equipment. One explanation is that the birds mistake air hoses and other scuba equipment for eels or fish. They're not hurting divers, just amusing them.

Puff: Wonders of the Reef: Now free on Netflix, this charming and informative one-hour documentary follows a juvenile sharp-nosed puffer from his birth through adulthood on the Great Barrier Reef. He evades predators, witnesses all sort of coral configurations, explores the nooks and crannies, searches for food as he goes from an egg in blue water to a BB-sized critter arriving at his new home, all the while dodging critters that want to make him a meal. His is a unique and exciting journey, worth watching by even the most experienced diver -- and the entire family. Expertly filmed -- stunning macro and time-lapse shots -- and directed by Australian Nick Robinson, with Rose Byrne narrating, it is a bit anthropomorphic at times. Still, as you follow around this little guy through his journey of survival, he will win your heart. Think NEMO in real life.

Nature Red in Tooth and Fin. While orcas are also called killer whales, it's rare to photograph one killing and eating a dolphin. However, that's what Evans Baudin, the owner of Baja Shark Experience in Baja California Sur, achieved. Diving near Los Cabos with his camera, he witnessed an orca pod hunt and their devouring a bottlenose dolphin. He says, "The dolphin had no way of escape. The hunt lasted about 40 minutes before the group of killer whales could finally capture the dolphin and share it." Mexico News Daily

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Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org