Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

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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.

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 that 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.

Socorro Aggressor No Longer Part of Aggressor Fleet. We've had reports 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when he was onboard in November, and now the Aggressor Fleet has cut its relationship with the Socorro Aggressor and withdrawn its license to use the Aggressor name due to "non-compliance with standard operating procedures."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 issue.

It's Unique Among Diving Media. Undercurrent is only answerable to its subscribers because it carries no advertising and has no industry clients to appease. It tells it like it is. Subscribers get 10 issues of the newsletter every year, together with a mid-month email update about diving issues, and in December, the 600-page e-book, the Travelin' Diver's Chapbook. And, you have access to more than 10,000 readers' independent reports of resorts and liveaboards, made from their personal experience, on the Undercurrent website. I am offering you a seven-month trial subscription for just $19.95. And I'll send you a FREE download of the 40-page e-books Eight Great Liveaboards (and One Disaster) and Eight Great Dive Resorts (and One Dog). If you want your money back at any time during this period, you'll get it, a promise I've kept since we started publishing in 1975. Click Here.

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.

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.

Paralenz Out of Business. The Scandinavian manufacturer of a popular small underwater POV video camera, a rival to the GoPro, has gone out of business. Most likely, anyone who owns the camera will no longer have support unless another company steps in.

Checked-in Scuba Gear Goes Missing. Worth $3000, it failed to arrive in Bali in October, nearly ruining the vacation of an Australian diver. It's been an ongoing problem with the Aussie airline Jetstar, which located the bags several days later in Melbourne. Had the diver stuffed an Apple tag in his bag, he could have told Jetstar where it was. See the October issue of Undercurrent for details on using luggage tags.

What You Missed in The Last Issue of Undercurrent: On the Roatan Aggressor in the Bay Islands, Honduras . . . Stay Away from Those Propellers . . . Fish Can Save Dying Reefs . . . Climate Change Eliminating Florida's Turtles . . . Raja Ampat, St. Lucia, Rangiroa, Vancouver -- Our Readers Tell It Like It Is . . . Undercurrent Has Been Awarded a Grant . . . How to Create Great Videos with That Action Camera . . . Unsafe at Any Depth? Repeat Problems with a BCD Brand . . . Carbon Monoxide is a Killer -- CO Alarms . . . Instructor Killed by Mismatched Tank Threads . . . Have You Seen This Pink Manta? . . . When You’re Adrift in the Sea -- Electronic PLBs . . . Aqualung Recalls the Exotec BCD . . . Hydration, Diving, and SIPE . . . Check Your Kit Before a Dive Trip . . . and much, much more.

It's Unique Among Diving Media. Undercurrent is only answerable to its subscribers because it carries no advertising and has no industry clients to appease. It tells it like it is. Subscribers get 10 issues of the newsletter every year, together with a mid-month email update about diving issues, and in December, the 600-page e-book, the Travelin' Diver's Chapbook. And, you have access to more than 10,000 readers' independent reports of resorts and liveaboards, made from their personal experience, on the Undercurrent website. I am offering you a seven-month trial subscription for just $19.95. And I'll send you a FREE download of the 40-page e-books Eight Great Liveaboards (and One Disaster) and Eight Great Dive Resorts (and One Dog). If you want your money back at any time during this period, you'll get it, a promise I've kept since we started publishing in 1975. Click Here.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org