Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

Forward this email | Home | Login | Forgot Password? | My Account | FAQ

June 21, 2022

Do You Download Your Dives? Modern diving computers allow you to download information from a dive to your laptop or desktop computer, giving a time/depth graph and other information. Undercurrent is working on a story, and we wonder if you find that feature useful? If so, in what way do you use the information you download? And if you have decided not to download data, let us know why. Email BenDDavison@undercurrent.org, not forgetting to tell us your town and state.

The Noise of Your Boat Disturbs the Fish. Coral reef fish breed more successfully if motorboat noise is reduced, according to a study published in Nature Communications. Near Lizard Island Research Station on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, researchers from the universities of Exeter and Bristol monitored three reefs with normal boat traffic and three where the traffic was calmed (e.g., slowed down and controlled). During a summer breeding season, the researchers swam every other day to monitor 86 spiny chromis broods. Of 46 nests on reefs where traffic had been calmed, 30 still contained offspring at the end of the breeding season. Only 16 out of 40 still contained offspring on the reefs with no traffic control. However, the researchers stress that limiting boat traffic alone is insufficient to protect coral reefs completely.

Florida Dive Center Owners Finally Convicted. The British owners of the now-defunct Key Largo Scuba Shack, Alison Gracey and Christopher Jones, who evaded arrest after a diver died when their boat, Get Wet, sank at Molasses Reef (Undercurrent January 2012), were extradited to the U.S. from Spain, where they were hiding, In April. They each face up to eight years in jail for involuntary manslaughter. A criminal investigation revealed that Jones and Gracey knew before the tragedy that their vessel needed repairs, but they continued operating Get Wet. The couple were first located by authorities in St. Maarten, but escaped back to Europe, where they hid in various countries until Spanish police caught them after an Interpol 'Most Wanted' notice.

BIG. Big Animals, Big Book. Adventure and wildlife photographers Amos Nachoum and Marko Dimitrijevic have produced a book of dramatic photographs of the amazing land and marine animals they have photographed over the years with Big Animal Expeditions. It’s simply called BIG and takes the reader on a moving journey across the globe with the world's largest animals. The high-quality printed book, which lists for $85, is available here for Amazon's best price.

Malaysian Macro Photography Location. The growing popularity of super-macro photography has led Malaysia and Sabah's Tourist Association to claim it rates as well as the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia and Anilao and Padre Burgos in the Philippines. So, they're widely touting the Semporna Strait of East Borneo to muck divers, where the Semporna port is the jumping-off point for Sipadan Island, one of the world's best tropical reef diving locations.

Bigger Than the Biggest. Discovered off the coast of Western Australia, the 4500-year-old giant, 77-square-mile patch of seagrass near Shark's Bay, 500 miles north of Perth, covers an area roughly three times the size of Manhattan. After researchers took 1,800 genetic samples to determine how many plants made up this underwater meadow, they were stunned to discover it was a single plant, the largest plant in the world. Their research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Collect Trash and Save a Whale. A sperm whale that beached itself in May in the Florida Keys died from tangled lines, net pieces, and plastic bag material in its stomach. The majestic 47-foot male, which hungry sharks had ripped up, had been brought from Mudd Key to Robbie's Marina on Stock Island for a necropsy. Biologists said the debris likely did not allow the whale to eat properly, leading to its emaciated condition and stranding. As a diver, any bit of trash you can collect while diving just might save a whale.

Carry a Surface Marker of Some Sort. It seems that more divers get separated and lost from their boat when they are on the surface than when they are underwater. A long safety sausage that can be inflated and sent to the surface on a line even while you are making your safety stop will allow your boat driver to anticipate where you will surface. Should you become stranded in the dark, a fully charged diver’s flashlight beam will tell people where you are. Both are essential items for your safety. Always carry both no matter how benign you think the conditions may be.

No More Pre-flight COVID testing; however, . . . The CDC will no longer require pre-departure testing for travelers returning to the U.S.; however, don't let your guard down. COVID is still out there -- 144,000 Americans each day test positive, says the CDC -- so carry test kits, and if you have symptoms, test yourself. If you pick it up in another country, you'll miss your flight home and be responsible for the costs of a place to stay while recuperating. However, many countries require proof of vaccination or COVID tests for entry, so do your research.

Rockport Massachusetts Neighbors Just Have to Live with Divers: Before the pandemic, residents of Back Beach, Rockport, MA, were so hacked off by divers clanging tanks and changing into their wetsuits in the street that they filed a suit in the U.S. District Court describing scuba diving as a nuisance affecting their quality of life, and wanted the town to regulate or even ban diving. Last year the court dismissed seven of the counts based on their flimsy legal accusations, and earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed all nine civil rights charges brought by the Back Beach Neighbors Committee. One woman who made signs supporting the divers, told the Boston Globe that "I've been looking at them through binoculars for 24 years, and I've never seen anyone naked."

Write and Post Your Travel Report. With more than 11,500 reports already archived, just about every diving possibility is covered, with Undercurrent subscribers telling it like it is in our Independent Reader Reports. But don't forget, other divers need your up-to-date impressions, so tell them, warts and all, about your latest dive trip. It's easy to do, you can add to it any time later, and there's the option to post photos. Simply go to www.undercurrent.org/SubRR and get writing! And thank you for being a subscriber. We survive solely on subscriber income.

Coming Soon in Undercurrent: A trip on liveaboard Caribbean Explorer . . . A stay on Little Cayman . . . Thoughts on deco stops . . . An essential advance for rebreather divers . . . When the law catches up . . . Sunscreens can do more than damage the undersea environment . . . The less-than-silent world . . . Dolphins being decimated by Russia's war in Ukraine . . . A book review of BIG . . . On diving deep with air . . . Discovering a significant wreck and keeping it secret . . . and much, much more.

Stay Safe

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org