Undercurrent Online Update for Non-Subscribers

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April 23, 2024

Yet Another Liveaboard Burns. In what seems to be a regular occurrence, another liveaboard dive boat, Sea World I, was consumed in a blazing inferno near the Thap Lamu pier in the Phang Nga province of southern Thailand on April 2. Officials reported that the boat caught fire while anchored at the pier with no passengers onboard. Someone on board was seen jumping into the water to escape the flames. The vessel formerly visited dive sites in Myanmar.

Force Majeure. When passengers boarded the Indo Aggressor liveaboard in March, they were surprised to be told they would not be leaving port. However, no money would be refunded because the company invoked the Force Majeure clause in its contract with the passengers, citing the harbor master denying permission to set sail because of bad weather. You can read the full story in April's Undercurrent. The Indo Aggressor is no longer listed on the Aggressor Fleet website.

Time to Subscribe to Undercurrent? If you enjoy our mid-month email, you'll enjoy the Undercurrent newsletter more. Not only that, but you also have full access to more than 12,000 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. 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.

Son of Famous Diving Family Dies. The Pluragrotta, located in the Rana municipality of Norway, is Northern Europe's longest cave. It is visited annually by divers from all over Europe. Two Finnish divers died there in 2014. Tragically, this April, it claimed the life of 33-year-old Jared Hires, son of Lamar Hires and heir to the Dive Rite diving equipment dynasty. Jared was a keen motorcyclist, rebreather diver, and cave explorer. Some like to live on more than one edge.

Fined for Touching a Whaleshark. A foreign diver who reached out and touched the tailfin of a whale shark near the Richelieu Rock in Thailand in March was videoed, and it was used as evidence against them. Apparently, the dive leader told the divers ahead of time not to touch the animals but was ignored, so he reported the violator to authorities. Thailand's Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act prohibits hunting or any action that harms protected animals, with imprisonment of up to four years and a fine of up to $1,100. The penalty imposed on the diver has not been disclosed to the public, but Big Brother is watching you.

Wreck Divers find Tasmanian Pink Handfish. They are very rare and endangered, so you can imagine the excitement of divers in March who found two of them on the 141-year-old wreck of the SS Tasman, 220 feet deep. Their discovery is one of few recorded sightings of the pink handfish since the first in 1948, with scientists now suggesting the species is confined to deep waters. The Foundation for Australia's Most Endangered Species has a captive breeding program for the red handfish, of which there are about 100 in the wild, and is now caring for 11 babies. Undercurrent made a $1000 donation towards efforts to preserve this fish. If you wish to contribute, go here.

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024. The British-run competition, which had several spectacular entries this year, was won by Alex Dawson (Sweden) with his photograph of the remains of a whale with a diver taken in the frigid waters of Greenland. American photographer Kat Zhou won with this image of dive-bombing gannets in Scotland's Shetland Islands in the British Waters Wide Angle category. You can see all the winning photos here.

This Month in Undercurrent: A trip to Malapascua and Moalboal in the Philippines . . . Mandarinfish at Lighthouse Reef . . . Microplastics in the ocean? It's your car tires . . . . Passengers board, but the Indo Aggressor doesn't sail . . . Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize by cruise ship . . . Hearing aids and diving . . . Florida fish spinning in circles . . . How should we tip the dive crew? . . . Medical Examiner's evaluation forms . . . The astounding rate of liveaboard deaths . . . Changing weather patterns . . . More details of MY Sea Legend's loss . . . and much, much more.

Another Diver Killed by Dive Boat Propellers. On March 10, divers returning to their day boat from the Regina Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt, were surfacing just as another boat operated by ProDive moored alongside it. A 50-year-old woman was drawn irrevocably into the turning propellers of the ProDive boat and suffered catastrophic injuries. Despite attempts to resuscitate her, she was declared dead. (taucher.net)

Tiger Sharks Take Up Photography. They've taken on a less than ferocious role in the Bahamas, leading marine scientists to discover the most extensive seagrass ecosystem in the world. Between 2016 and 2020, researchers fixed tags equipped with cameras on tiger sharks so scientists could view the ocean floor from the tiger sharks' perspective. The cameras revealed a seagrass ecosystem of approximately 935,000 square miles. Protecting the area is vital, as seagrasses trap and store massive amounts of blue carbon (all the carbon that ends up in the ocean) in the seabed sediment.

Symphonic Reef Sounds Settle Coral Larvae. Underwater speakers that broadcast the hustle and bustle of thriving coral could bring life back to damaged reefs that are in danger of becoming ocean grave- yards. Researchers from Woods Hole Institute, working in the U.S. Virgin Islands, found that coral larvae were up to seven times more likely to settle at a struggling reef when they played recordings of the snaps, groans, grunts, and scratches -- the symphony of a healthy ecosystem.

Free-to-Read this month in Undercurrent. Every month, we make a sample of Undercurrent's editorial available for non-subscribers to read. This month, readers tell about their varying attitudes to tipping their dive crew. It makes fascinating reading and you can read it here.

What You Get if You Subscribe to Undercurrent: 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, you will 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 12,000 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