Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

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December 17, 2022

Mediterranean Diver Convicted of Failing His Buddy. Two divers went diving off Malta in January 2020. One used a rebreather (CCR), while the other, a female instructor, used conventional scuba. Despite making a series of errors, she pressed on with the dive. It led to her demise. Despite doing his best to help, the surviving buddy was convicted of involuntary homicide and received a two-year suspended sentence. The international diving community is appalled by the Court's absurd decision. There's more to the story, and you can read it all in Undercurrent's January issue.

Mixed Protocols Are a Recipe for Disaster: Rebreathers are getting more popular daily, but what if you're buddied up with a diver using a closed-circuit rebreather? The protocols for closed-circuit and traditional scuba are very different. For example, a CCR diver cannot safely make a fast emergency ascent without causing a potentially fatal drop in the pressure of oxygen he is breathing. So if you need to make an emergency ascent (CESA) with traditional scuba, you might be on your own.

Socorro Aggressor No Longer Part of Aggressor Fleet. We've had a report from a subscriber that all was not well aboard the vessel when he was onboard in November, and now the Aggressor Fleet has cut its relationship with the Socorro Aggressor and withdrawn its license to use the Aggressor name due to "non-compliance with standard operating procedures." The owner of the Socorro claims they are discontinuing the relationship and will use the boat's original name, the "M/Y Cassiopeia." If you have a future booking, contact mexico@aggressor.com. More information in January's Undercurrent.

Hawaii Reef Insurance. The Nature Conservancy has purchased a reef repair insurance policy for the state of Hawaii -- the first coral insurance contract in the U.S. -- which will provide reef repair funds after storm damage. When storm or storm damage meets specific parameters, the policy will pay the Conservancy to employ their local "Reef Brigades" to recover reef fragments, store them in the ocean or shore-based nurseries, and re-attach them using cement or epoxy. The cost ranges from $10,000 to $1.5 million. For the premium of $110,000, the insurance will pay up to $2 million for damage until the end of December 2023. After a hurricane hit Mexico's Caribbean coast in 2020, a similar Nature Conservancy policy paid nearly $850,000 for large-scale repair efforts on the reef.

Sharks Aid the Discovery of Largest Carbon Sink. Fifteen Bahamas tiger sharks equipped with camera and satellite tags by marine biologists from the non-profit Beneath The Waves have played a vital role in discovering the world's largest seagrass ecosystem. Located on the Bahama Banks, grass covers 25,000 and 35,000 sq miles. Not only does seagrass provide a haven for juvenile fish, but also it absorbs more than 10 percent of the ocean's carbon each year. This system makes the area one of Earth's most significant climate assets, representing 19-26 percent of the carbon collected by seagrass worldwide.

Shark Implicated in Missing Woman Incident. An extensive air and sea search was mounted along the coast of Maui on December 8 after a woman went missing while snorkeling with her husband. They were off Keawakapu Point when the missing woman's husband saw a shark pass close to him. He told authorities he fought off the shark and then headed to shore. He called 911 when he made it to shore, saying his wife didn't make it, and he said he saw a shark swim by repeatedly. A snorkel and part of a bathing suit were found on the beach.

Good News for Apple Watch-owning Divers. While Apple announced its Apple Watch Ultra diving app in September with much fanfare, it took several more weeks before Huish Outdoors finally released the Oceanic Pelagic+ upgrade, and the app was available to convert the watch to a dive computer. While the app will work with your iPhone and the cloud, it costs $80 a year, $10 per month, or $5 per day. Is it ideal for those who dive infrequently? Should it replace a standard dive computer? More in the January edition of Undercurrent.

Use a Surface Marker Buoy. Chris Lastra was surfacing from a dive in Hawaii at the end of the first week in December when he was struck by a fast-moving speed boat. He was lucky he only got one fin destroyed, and it was not his head, but it was his fault because he was diving without any surface marker. He caught the harrowing incident on camera. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGao7yJMq7I

Stay Away from The Propellers. In Colombia on November 27, scuba diver Andrea Larranaga Fajardo, 26, thoughtlessly jumped into the water from her boat to retrieve a dropped flipflop and was drawn into the boat's propellers. Despite being promptly evacuated to a nearby hospital, her injuries were so extensive medics were unable to save her. Your dive boat is the most dangerous thing you'll meet when scuba diving. (See Undercurrent November)

A Walk on the Wild Side. After a hurricane, lobsters in Florida seem to march together on the ocean floor. While nobody knows why, the march has become a problem for the lobsters when they are walking in the open. Snorkelers who spot them can quickly use a net or snare to capture their daily limit of six bugs. So, when the march is on, Florida's wildlife officers are on the water and on beaches to ensure people are not bringing in bags full of lobster. And that they have the required saltwater fishing license and a spiny lobster permit.

Coming Soon in Undercurrent: Wakatobi's Luxury Diving in Sulawesi . . . the Threat to Coral Reefs from WWII Wrecks . . . Insurance Woes and Triumphs . . . Euro Diving in Bonaire . . . the Scandal of the Gozo Diver Conviction . . . More on the Apple Ultra Diving App . . . How Good is Your Heart? . . . A Change in American Dive Vessel liability . . . Will Dive Training Regulation in the U.S. Save Lives? . . . Big Manta Numbers Reported . . . An Avatar Actor’s Amazing Breath Holding Skills . . . The Story of One Diver's Bends Hit . . . and much, much more.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org