Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

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February 25, 2022

Underwater Photographer of the Year. This year's competition attracted entries with the highest standards of imagery from around the world. Judges Alex Mustard, Tobias Friedrich, and Peter Rowlands reviewed work in 12 categories. Matty Smith of Australia won British Photographer of the Year with a stunning shot of a curious 14-foot Great White shark approaching the lens of his pole-cam off South Australia. Rafael Fernandez Caballero (Spain) won the top award as Underwater Photographer of the year, and you can see his work and other winners here.

New Wreck for Belize Divers. Sunk in December off Soldier Caye in the Turneffe Atoll marine reserve, the hulk of the 378-foot-long Witconcrete, built during World War II, now rises to just 40 feet from the surface. Formerly operated as a sugar transport along the US coastline and the Caribbean, it has easily accessible chambers for divers. Blackbird Key resort, a favorite with Undercurrent readers, was a sponsor for the sinking and now offers trips to the wreck. (A sister ship, the WIT Concrete wreck, off St. Thomas in the USVI, was sunk for divers in 1995.)

If You're Fully Vaccinated, the Pool is Open in These Previously Closed Countries: Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Egypt, Palau, Thailand, Costa Rica, and Fiji are looking for divers. Check online for individual entry requirements with embassies. They can be complicated and quickly change, so keep checking up to your flight time. Some countries require mandatory COVID insurance to cover the cost of quarantine accommodation, food, and medical treatment.

With Diving Opening Worldwide, You Need Undercurrent to Plan a Safe and Perfect Trip. Each month with our 16-page newsletter, we'll keep you up to date on the safe spots to travel and where you should avoid traveling, stories by our undercover writers who pay their way. You can access scores upon scores of reports pouring in from our fellow subscribers on the Keys, Belize, Indonesia, Bonaire, Hawaii, the Philippines, and many other places. And we have unique features on safety -- like that bent diver who ignored her computer and listened to her guide, equipment, and much, much more. For two more days, I am offering you a seven-month trial subscription for just $19.95. You'll have complete access to 20 years of issues and reader reports on our website. And I'll send you FREE downloads of Eight Great Liveaboards and Eight Great Dive Resorts . If at any time during this period you want your money back, you'll get it, a promise I've kept since 1975. Click here.

The Insider's Secret's Behind a Backup. We have published a three-part series with the right and wrong ways to rig, set, and dive with backup computers, with examples from more than 30 divers. In our upcoming March issue, we publish part three. Subscribe now to read it. Click here.

After 33 Years, the Kona Aggressor II has Taken its Last Voyage. Aggressor CEO Wayne Brown has announced that after extensive top-side remodeling, the workers discovered that hull repairs of the 79-foot catamaran would require removing the entire superstructure adding another $500,000 to renovation. That's too much for the old boat, so the vessel owner has ceased operations. Thousands of divers have good memories of their trips aboard, so cherish them now since, sadly, you won't get a chance to relive them. However, in May, the British Virgin Islands Aggressor (formerly the Cayman Aggressor V) begins operating. As always, we recommend that you let the craft make a few voyages to work out the kinks and find good dive sites before you join a charter.

Booty Squeeze After Diving? If the pandemic has kept you out of the water for months or years, those wetsuit boots can chafe your wet feet, especially if you make several dives a day. The solution: wear some thin socks under them. Those airlines' free flight socks work well.

Shark Bite at Bimini. On February 21, an unnamed 51-year-old man was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was said to be in stable condition after being bitten by a shark at Bimini in the Bahamas. He was a passenger aboard Jim Abernethy’s MV Shear Water and taking part in a 6-day trip to interact with Great hammerhead and tiger sharks. It’s reported he was bitten on the arm and a crew member applied a tourniquet to control the bleeding. He was taken to the hospital on the advice of the medical officer after the Coast Guard was called.

Last Month in Undercurrent: Had you been a subscriber, you would have read a review of the brand new East Bay Resort, Reef Divers, South Caicos, TCI, -- a superb property, but the jury is out on the diving . . . that snorkel can save your life . . . The Conception tragedy leads to new rules . . . Traveling divers in the time of Covid . . . Rubbish photography . . . The Rescue (an unmissable documentary) . . . Do fish talk? Yes indeed!. . . and much, much more.

What You're Reading Here is our free monthly newsletter to nonsubscribers. Undercurrent is a non-profit organization dedicated to scuba divers, and to subscribe to our ad-free 16-page monthly newsletter for seven months for just $19.95. Click here.

Stay Safe
Wear a Mask when Appropriate
Get Fully Vaccinated

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org