Flotsam & Jetsam

Shark Bites Boy on an Aquarium Dive. A shark bit a Maryland boy on his leg during a shark tank dive at the Bahamas Blue Adventures water sports concession at Paradise Island Resort. He was airlifted home on January 15 and was said to be in serious but stable condition. The boy had signed up for a 20-minute "walking with sharks" experience helmet dive with an autonomous air supply. A dive instructor and a dive guide with him provided immediate medical care. Stuart Cove, owner of the concession, told Undercurrent the incident was the first of its kind since the shark tank experience began operating in 2006.

Spare Air Counterfeits. Submersible Systems Inc. has become so concerned about fake versions of its Spare Air reaching the marketplace it has offered to take any counterfeit version as a trade-in for its genuine product made in Huntington Beach, CA. It came about because customers have been disappointed when they cannot receive help or support to repair a faulty knock-off version. www.spareair.com/info/info-beware.html

You're Never Too Old. Fifty-eight-year-old Canadian breath-holding free diver William Winram has claimed a new CMAS record in the Variable Weight/No Fins category of 460 feet at Sharm el Sheikh on December 12. He rode a sled down but swam up finless and unaided. The dive took him 3 minutes and 33 seconds.

Big Fish Citizen Science Expedition! We wrote last year about citizen science liveaboard trips, where you engage in serious underwater research and may even score tax deductions. Mexico Liveaboards just announced its whale shark and manta ray expedition to the Revillagigedo Islands next December on Quino El Guardian, using cutting-edge software to identify individual animals and complex population structures. You can join them. http://tinyurl.com/yaruxfr3

Dolphins are Superbeings. Douglas Adams, the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, thought they were higher beings from another world. Their sonar ability - echolocation - is legendary. They can see in two directions at once. Their skin secretes an antibacterial gel to ward off parasites and barnacles. They can reach 30 mph and turn off half their brains to rest. Now, German scientists have discovered that dolphins have an additional super-ability that evolves on their faces as their baby whiskers disappear. They can sense weak electric fields and use that ability to find prey hiding under the sand.

PADI Aims For a Monopoly. PADI now requires all dive centers under the PADI banner in the Middle East, including Egypt (its biggest market), to deal exclusively with PADI. It will not permit them to offer certifications by other organizations, such as SSI or the British Sub Aqua Club. (www.divernet.com)

A Silly Guinness World Record? A Montreal woman has claimed a new Guinness World Record by modeling for the deepest photo shoot (131 feet) at the Bahamas Sea Trader wreck. Kim Bruneau swam down to 100 feet, breathing nitrox from a tank, and then took air from an assisting diver's octopus for the remaining 31 feet. Photographer Pia Oyarzun photographed her maskless in a ballet pose, holding her breath. It took more than 37 minutes to get the right shot. Is there a more trivial way to get a Guinness World Record? Stretch your imagination and suggest to Undercurrent an even more silly or trivial world diving record to submit to Guinness. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org, not forgetting to tell us your town and state.

The 2024 Flower Banks National Marine Sanctuary Lionfish Invitational Hunt will occur on three occasions - June 23-27, August 11-15, and September 8-12 - featuring 11 different dive teams. The deadline to apply is March 1. http://tinyurl.com/yh3pspnx

The Trauma of Third World Medical Treatment. In our January travel article on Fiji, our writer revealed the difficulty of getting treatment for a broken arm. It stimulated this month's Cozumel author to describe his humorous but harrowing tale of going down with appendicitis in Fiji 35 years ago. We posted his story on our website; you can read it by clicking here.

The Conception Verdict. Undercurrent subscriber Victor Kenton (Los Angeles) writes, "I have dived the sister ship of Conception (The Truth) since 1974. I am a retired Federal Magistrate Judge from the same Court where Mr. Boylan was convicted. I find the prosecutor's comments that Mr. Boylan acted in a cowardly manner to be, frankly, awful. The Coast Guard should have been enforcing and monitoring safety regulations. The owner, Glen Fritzler, has not taken responsibility. This conviction was based on a Civil War-era statute that places responsibility on the ship's captain. There was no need for the prosecution to vilify the captain. It did not lessen the tragedy."

Hawaiians are Alarmed. It's a common story after a disaster: What to do with the debris that is collected? Native Hawaiians are alarmed by the the thousands of truckloads of debris from the disastrous Lahaina fire, that resulted in a toxic wasteland of melted batteries, charred of propane tanks, and other material tainted with arsenic and lead, which might contaminate the vital coral reef close to Olowalu, the chosen temporary dumpsite. Officials considered shipping all of the waste off the island but concluded that would be far too costly. Dump trucks are now rumbling each day onto the dump site.

Cozumel reefs aren't happy. The first week of February will bring 90,000 cruise passengers to Cozumel, equaling the islands population. In 1980, there were 27,000 residents.

The Pistol Shrimp Can Heat Water with its Claw. These one- to two-inch shrimp, which inhabit coral reefs worldwide, can snap their outsized claw and create tiny cavitation bubbles that implode and create a shockwave of sorts. These bubbles reach a speed of 60 mph, make a sound up to 218 decibels, and heat the immediate surrounding water to a whopping 8,500°F. It's how they kill prey. Yet pistol shrimp enjoy a commensal relationship with a sharp-eyed goby on guard while the weak-eyed shrimp builds its burrow.