Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

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January 15, 2024

A Hammerhead Nursery. Scientists may have found the nursery of tropical Atlantic great hammerhead sharks, where they give birth to their young. It's Biscayne Bay, which stretches south from Miami to the Keys. Remarkably, it's one of Florida's busiest spots for boating and fishing. Despite being large marine creatures (the largest great hammerhead ever caught was as long as the largest confirmed great white shark), little is known about their natural history, but the nursery discovery is a good start.

Get the 2024 Travelin' Diver's Chapbook for Your Bookshelf. A trip advisor for divers, the 864-page Chapbook is a compilation of 546 independent Undercurrent subscriber reports about their dive resort and liveaboard trips in 2023. Undercurrent has more than 11,000 reports available free to subscribers online, and we are offering the paperback version covering hundreds of 2023 reviews of dive operations in over 50 countries. It's available to nonsubscribers in paperback for $39.95 (plus tax and shipping) from the printer Lulu.com. Go to their site here to order.

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, but 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.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel, narrated in part by an ornery octopus living in a public aquarium who explains what it's like to be an octopus. It's sold more than 1.4 million copies since its 2022 release, and if you haven't read it, you're missing a charming and insightful tale. She was inspired by Soul of an Octopus, a nonfiction bestseller by Sy Montgomery, another book essential to a diver's library.

Blue Sea Dragons Washed Ashore. A deep water nudibranch, distinguished by a vivid blue top side and feathery gills resembling wings, is rarely seen by divers because it inhabits water too deep. However, after floods and an industrial oil spill, hundreds washed up on a beach near Chennai, India. While the blue sea dragon is a rare sight, its captivating appearance, with dual camouflage capabilities -- using the blue side against the ocean's hue and the silver side against the water's bright surface -- adds to its mystique. Blue sea dragons are venomous.

Egypt's Red Sea is Safe? We have noted in previous emails, the Egyptian dive industry is alive and well during the Israeli war, and it still is, regardless of the Houthis’ attacks on ships. The Egyptian Red Sea is more than a thousand miles from Bab el Mendab, where the Yemeni Houthis are causing trouble, and war-torn Gaza is a long way away across the Sinai desert. Port Ghalib is 400 miles from Gaza, Hurghada 296 miles away, and Sharm el Sheikh is 240 miles away. The Egyptian diving industry is booming but not with bombs, and European divers remain plentiful, drawn to clear water and great wrecks. Go join them.

How Do You Tip on Dive Trips? We'd love to get your thoughts about dive trip tipping. How do you decide whom to tip and how much? Do you tip at all? Do you offer that extra appreciation for all and sundry services? Do you tip individually or in a pool? Let us know to help us prepare a story on what is customary among Undercurrent travelers. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org and tell us how you approach the subject, not forgetting to add your town and state.

This Month in Undercurrent: A visit to Paradise Resort, Taveuni, Fiji . . . Technology used to find lost Guam divers . . . The water may look lovely, but . . . Avalon IV, a liveaboard in the Jardines de la Reina, Cuba . . . Info for Americans traveling to Cuba . . . A tribute to Bret Gilliam by Fred Garth . . . She dived in 118 countries . . . Great news for Florida's turtles . . . The 2023 New Orleans DEMA show . . . Emergency evacuation from the Revillagigedo islands . . . A stroke while diving is serious . . . DAN accident insurance cover . . . Belize Aggressor IV grounds on the reef . . . Scorkl -- why divers see its potential danger . . . A liveaboard capsizes in Thailand . . . and much, much more.

Free-to-Read in Undercurrent: Even if you don’t subscribe, full some articles are free-to-read. This month you can read about an emergency evacuation from the Revillagigedo islands, and why stroke while diving is serious. Plus Scorkl – why those who know worry.

Waterpixels is a New Online Community of Underwater Photographers set up by former members of Wetpixel. It's free to join, and unlike its forebear, which tended to address those who used high-end photographic equipment like DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, Waterpixels will also encompass the needs of those who use more modest devices like GoPros and housed smartphones. The site administrators intend to cover costs by selling merchandise such as Waterpixels branded T-shirts, coffee mugs, and beanie hats. It's a forum designed to serve and connect professionals, industry experts, and enthusiasts with newcomers who share a passion for underwater imaging. https://waterpixels.net

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, but 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