Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

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June 12, 2023

Fire Destroys Red Sea Liveaboard: Three English divers are confirmed dead after a June 11 fire destroyed, the MY Hurricane, the first liveaboard vessel in the extensive Tornado Marine Fleet in Egypt’s Red Sea. The fire apparently started about 6:30 a.m. Early reports say it was caused by an electrical fault in the engine room below the dive deck. Twelve rescued passengers were taken to land. The steel-hulled vessel, which carried oxygen tanks to support CCR divers, has been a favorite with British divers for more than two decades. More about it in the July issue of Undercurrent. Here is a video of the fire.

All the Back-Issues of Undercurrent are Now Available Online. We recently added issues from 1975 -- 1993. If you want to immerse yourself in history you can read what we were saying about the scuba diving industry from 1975 - present.

Cruise Liners Next to Dive Sites. Cayman divers had plenty to worry about on May 18 when the cruise liner Celebrity Equinox anchored close to the Devil's Grotto dive site. Eden Rock dive center couldn't take divers to the site until the vessel had departed. While the ship was within the port zone, it nevertheless highlights the problems cruise ships cause in the harbor. No recognizable damage was done, but environmental activists remain concerned about the impact huge cruise ships have on marine life when they anchor so close to coral reefs. Divers from the Department of Environment confirmed that the ship was not in the marine protected area and anchored on the sand, not on coral. (Cayman News Service)

What's Going on in the Maldives? Two divers died in separate incidents on consecutive March mornings at a popular dive site at Rasdhoo, a small atoll north of Ari Atoll. A 46-year-old man died while diving at Hammerhead Point on March 14, while a 65-year-old man died the following day. To see schooling scalloped hammerheads at Rasdhoo, one must get in the water before the sun rises and dive deep.

Do You Work at a Dive Center or on a Liveaboard? Have you ever declined a customer because they were too old to dive? An Undercurrent subscriber wrote that she and her husband are 77 years old and have 150 dives, haven't been diving in a couple of years, and have heard that some dive operations won't take people of a certain age, even if they pay extra to have their own dive master. What's your policy regarding age? We'd like to hear about it. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org, not forgetting to mention your operation's name. And, if you're a diver who has been refused, let's hear from you.

Don't Touch the Marine Life. A Hungarian diver has received a court summons from Thai police on the island of Ko Pha Ngan after social media photos and videos showed him touching and playing with a pipefish during a dive. Attila Ott was deported from Thailand in 2020 when a posted video showed him touching or prodding puffers, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, and cushion stars. Regardless, he returned this year and did it again. He is the owner of the Pink Panther Scuba Dive Movie-Maker Club. And, no, the arresting policeman was not named Clouseau.

Need to Renew Your Passport Fast? If your passport expires in less than six months and you're about to travel, you may be refused entry to another country. It takes the U.S. State Department 10-13 weeks to renew a passport, but I needed mine faster, so I used the Fed Ex Expedited Passport Service and got it back pronto. In addition to the government's $130 renewal fee, expedited service starts at $189 for 7-9 weeks and up to $899 for a one-week turnaround. See here for details.

Carlton Queen Passengers Set to Sue. After the disastrous April capsizing of the liveaboard in the Red Sea, a German passenger, Dominic Schmitt, has set up a GoFundMe to support legal action against the Carlton Fleet. Schmitt wants to "make sure that no one has ever to experience what we have experienced and what could have been easily prevented." Hero of the hour, Fernando Suarez Mella, said he took the biggest breath he had ever taken to escape. Undercurrent reported the survivors' tale in a special report to our readers. The owner of the Carlton Fleet told the BBC: "The Egyptian authorities are investigating the matter. It is believed there are wider problems with diving boats in Egypt because they are often refurbished to increase their size due to a restriction on building new boats."

Photo: Nick Bailey

Egyptian Day Boat Runs Aground. It's not been a good few weeks for Egyptian dive boats after the loss of Carlton Queen. On May 17, Sea Flower, a dayboat out of Sharm el Sheikh, ran aground on a reef en route to the WW2 wreck of the Thistlegorm. Divers on board were from Camel Divers in Na'ama Bay. The vessel was left high and dry, and another dive boat took the passengers and crew off.

Fancy Your Own Liveaboard? The French Polynesia Master is up for sale. It has cabins for 25 passengers, 5 staff cabins, a spacious interior, state-of-the-art navigation equipment, and an impressive dive deck. It's for sale by auction. For more information, email adrian@marineauctions.com.au And, in the July issue of Undercurrent, we'll have more information on resorts and liveaboards for sale. While you may not be in the market, it's a kick to window-shop.

Great Shark Snapshot Needs You. If you're diving anywhere between July 22-30, by recording any sharks, rays, or skates you see, you can help the Shark Trust's citizen-science project, the Great Shark Snapshot initiative. The data you provide, or the photos or videos of sharks and rays you take, will be added to its Shark Log, a global census to help scientists build a picture of species distribution and detect any changes from destructive fishing, climate change, and habitat loss. Divers from more than 20 countries are involved. Sign up here.

Summer Shark Attacks. A 28-year-old Connecticut woman, snorkeling in Turks & Caicos off Providenciales' Blue Haven Resort, lost a foot in a shark attack on May 24. Big Blue Collective, a Provo water sports company, said, "The calm, quick, and measured response from one of our captains and office team meant that the victim was extracted from the ocean and dispatched in the ambulance in 15 minutes." It said the attack is "What is known in diving circles as a case of mistaken identity." Meanwhile, on June 8, in Hurghada, Egypt, a Russian tourist swimming off a crowded beach, was killed by a tiger shark in front of horrified holidaymakers.

Coming Soon in Undercurrent. How good is your heart? . . . How to lend a hand on your next dive vacation . . . Another killer on the reef . . . Butterflyfish and SCTLD . . . Fancy your own dive center? . . . Valerie Taylor advocates for grey nurse sharks . . . When insurance turns out to be merely window dressing – a lawyer's take. . . A PADI 5-Star resort replies . . . When a dive boat operator threatens to sue his customers . . . Carlton Queen passengers survived the capsizing, but what happened next? . . . and much, much more.

Your Reader's Reports Are Important. They reflect your own experiences, and because they tell both the good and bad, your reports help make Undercurrent a unique source for serious divers. Contribute your reports. They join more than 10,000 others in our online database (and our annual Travelin Divers' Chapbook), easily searchable by any other subscriber. You can even add photos if you wish. File your report at www.undercurrent.org/SubRR.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org