Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

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December 16, 2023

Missing at Tiger Beach. A well-known site for its diver interaction with tiger and lemon sharks, Tiger Beach at Grand Bahama Island was the scene of an unsuccessful search for a 47-year-old female German diver who went missing on November 21. She was diving from Bahamas Master (formerly Yemaya II) and might have been attacked by a tiger shark. In July 2014, a diver from MY Shear Water was never found after a night dive at Tiger Beach. Undercurrent's Senior Editor John Bantin has been carried off twice by a tiger shark while taking photographs at the site but survived to tell the tale in his book Shark Bytes.

Indo Siren Burns. On the morning of November 30, the popular liveaboard of the Worldwide Dive & Sail (Master) fleet caught fire in the waters of Raja Ampat. All passengers and crew were safely rescued but lost most of their possessions and passports. The wooden-hulled, 130-foot-long pinisi-rigged vessel, built in 2010 and refitted in 2019, was a total loss.

128-Year-Old Shipwreck Discovered in Lake Huron. On October 4, 1895, the SS Africa departed from Ashtabula, Ohio, to carry coal over Lake Huron to Owen Sound, Ontario, but it sank in a storm. Documentary filmmakers and technical divers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick were looking for invasive quagga mussels on the bed of Lake Huron in Canada when they came across the shipwreck 280 feet deep. You can see the video here.

You're Reading Our Free Mid-month Email. Why not receive our ten monthly, 16-plus page, ad-free newsletters and become a paid subscriber? We cover subjects other dive publications avoid for fear of upsetting their advertisers. But we don't accept advertising. We are accountable only to divers. Our travel reviews are written by undercover authors who pay their way. Our stories cover equipment problems, liveaboard safety, the ins and outs of tipping, how dive insurance can fail you, and much, much more. In December, subscribers receive the Travelin' Diver's Chapbook, filled with hundreds of travel reviews by fellow subscribers. Not only that, you have access to more than 11,000 Undercurrent independent readers' reports -- opinions and impressions posted without fear or favor by those who have stayed at the resorts or have been on liveaboards worldwide. 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.

Looking for a Christmas Gift for a Buddy? Maybe you could give a novel, a diving thriller. How about Tropical Ice, by Undercurrent's publisher Ben Davison (writing as KL Smith) and set in Belize? Part of the successful crime series published by WaterStreet Press, it's an adventure into shark-finning and reef-raping, murder, and politics on an industrial scale, with plenty of diving. It all takes place at Cap'n Jack's Rum Caye Dive Resort, where Jack's trying to save his failing resort with shark-feeding dives until a body turns up in the damnedest place. Tropical Ice is available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon and bookstores.

Or If You’re Looking for Non-Fiction: Amazing Diving Stories is a collection of more than 60 true tales collected by Undercurrent’s senior editor John Bantin over his long career as a diving journalist. Enjoy classic tales, from thrilling wreck discoveries to encounters with the bizarre and the beautiful. There are stories of death and disaster, as well as bravery and triumph. Amazing Diving Stories is available in hard cover, Kindle, or MP3 audio book from Amazon.

How Much Do You Tip? North Americans are in the habit of being big tippers, but the custom varies from country to country and is even thought offensive in some cultures. How do you know how much to tip and do you offer that extra appreciation for all and sundry services? It’s a question of doing what is customary. We’d like to know. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org and tell us how you approach the subject, not forgetting to add your town and state.

It's Not Just Florida and the Caribbean. Invasive lionfish have migrated through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea and are causing that familiar problem of breeding profusely and eating all the other fry of endemic species in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fishermen and scuba divers off the southern coast of Turkey, an area forever popular with European tourists, report sighting growing numbers of these unwelcome intruders with waters warming thanks to the climate crisis.

Conservation Photographer of the Year, an annual competition organized by Oceanographic Magazine, was won in 2023 by Sylvie Ayer with this beautiful photo of a Florida manatee. The overall winner, the Ocean Photographer of the Year, was a 25-year-old marine biologist and amateur photographer -- Jialing Cai. -- with a photo of a paper nautilus featured in Undercurrent's mid-September email. You may read more about it here.

An Unprovoked Head Bite. According to Seven News, a woman was bitten on the head by a great white shark while she was free diving on November 10 in the Port Noarlunga Sanctuary Zone, near Adelaide, South Australia. Bridgette O'Shannessy (32) had shark teeth removed from her skull and needs facial reconstruction after the horrific bite. Her dive partner succeeded in pushing the shark away during the attack.

Four Seasons Explorer Moves to Palau. The top-end luxury catamaran has been moved from the Maldives, where it operated for over a decade, to Palau, Micronesia. Singaporean-owned, the liveaboard is operating from Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unlike most liveaboards, it offers guests the option to embark daily, with no minimum length of stay specified. Guests are met in Koror and transported to wherever Four Seasons Explorer happens to be anchored at the time. See here for details.

Fancy Owning Your Own Piece of the South Pacific? Within the tropical paradise that is the Fijian Islands, Tilagica stands out with an opportunity to purchase for $1.7 million the island with completed cottages ready to occupy. And, of course, the soft corals of Fiji are renowned among divers. If you think owning your own Fijian-style bure is a great idea, read more about it in an Insider Blog presented by an attorney associated with Undercurrent here.

Last Month in Undercurrent: Onboard Rocio del Mar in the Sea of Cortez . . . Great diving while saving fish . . . REEF and what it does and how you can participate . . . Rocio del Mar at the Midriff Island, Mexico . . . Liveaboards can be fertile grounds for COVID . . . Can king crabs rescue Florida's reefs? . . . Another Red Sea liveaboard goes aground . . . Humpback whales, shark rodeos, Monk seals, Giant octopuses -- our readers report . . . Divers of a certain age may have problems . . . A journey to the depths of the ocean . . . What about Sudafed . . . Conception's captain found guilty . . . The Conception fire appears to have started in a plastic trash can . . . and much, much more.

Free-to-Read in Undercurrent. Even if you are not a subscriber, you can read the complete Undercurrent articles marked "Free" in this year's article archive free of charge. This month, you can read for free 'Divers of a Certain Age' and 'Liveaboards -- Fertile Ground for COVID-19?' https://www.undercurrent.org/UCnow/dive_magazine/2023

Orcas Strike Again. An orca pod sank a Polish yacht, Grazie Mamma II, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar on October 31. They hit the rudder for 45 minutes, causing significant damage and leakage. It's the fourth time since 2020 that orcas have sunk vessels in the area. Hundreds of other encounters have been reported, many resulting in extensive damage.

You’re Reading Our Free Mid-month Email. Paid subscribers receive a monthly 16-plus page ad-free newsletter covering subjects traditional publications avoid for fear of upsetting their advertisers. But we don't accept advertising. We are accountable only to divers. Our travel reviews are written by undercover authors who pay their way. Our stories cover equipment problems, liveaboard safety, the ins and outs of tipping, how dive insurance can fail you, and much, much more. In December, subscribers receive the Travelin' Diver's Chapbook, filled with hundreds of travel reviews by fellow subscribers. Not only that, you have full access to more than 11,000 Undercurrent independent readers' reports -- opinions and impressions posted without fear or favor by those who have stayed at the resorts or have been on liveaboards worldwide. 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