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Dolphins in Swimming Pools? Really?
Free For You To Read
Undercurrent on Facebook
Nasty Sunscreens
The Saddest Polar Bear in the World in the Saddest Zoo
Kosrae Nautilus Resort
Some of the Other Things You Missed in the July Issue of Undercurrent

Dolphins in Swimming Pools? Really?  July 15, 2016

Out of step with current thinking on conservation, Carnival Cruises appear to be the main driver to build a dolphinarium on Grand Turk in the TCI. The proposal includes the provision for transferring the marine mammals to private swimming pools – or course, laden with chlorine -- in the event of some unforeseen emergency. Are they for real? If you care, sign this petition. You’ll find more details in our Diving Insider’s Blogs, free to read at www.undercurrent.org.

Free For You To Read  July 15, 2016

An underwater photography shoot goes wrong, and the model dies. It’s a tragedy, but is it a tragedy that could have been easily avoided? We tell the story and wonder what went wrong. Was it negligence on the part of the photographer? We get so many interesting items of information relevant to scuba diving that we collate them into a pile of easily digestible tidbits at the end of each issue called Flotsam & Jetsam. You can read about it free this month at www.undercurrent.org.

Undercurrent on Facebook  July 15, 2016

Have you checked our Facebook page? You’ll see interesting clips including the turtle that swam up to some people in a kayak to allow them to untangle it from discarded ghost plastic netting. Plastic has become the scourge of the ocean. www.facebook.com/Undercurrent.org

Nasty Sunscreens  July 15, 2016

A scary fact that came to light at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Hawaii in June was how bad oxybenzone, an active ingredient in many sunscreens, is for coral colonies. Minute amounts are enough to cause cellular disruptions in coral polyps and impair their reproductive capacity. Oxybenzone isn’t just introduced into the environment by washing off the skin while swimming but it is absorbed by users and excreted in urine. Check your sunscreen to ensure it does not include oxybenzone even if it does bear the label ‘reef safe.'

The Saddest Polar Bear in the World in the Saddest Zoo  July 15, 2016

One marine mammal few of us divers will ever get the opportunity to see is the magnificent polar bear, but daily hundreds of shoppers in a Chinese mall visit one despairing polar bear, rap on the window, bother him endlessly, and take selfies. This is not the only animal trapped in this hellhole, the Grandview Aquarium at the Grandview shopping center in Guangzhou. The facility has been dubbed “the world’s saddest zoo” and alongside two polar bears, it also includes six young belugas, five walrus calves, a wolf and arctic foxes. Please, my fellow divers, sign this petition and raise hell.

Kosrae Nautilus Resort  July 15, 2016

It’s the prize in a raffle. Owners Doug and Sally Beitz say they’ve sold more tickets than the 34,000 minimum needed to make the raffle viable. Ticket sales close on July 25th and the winner of this resort in Micronesia will be drawn one month later. www.wintheislandestates.com

Some of the Other Things You Missed in the July Issue of Undercurrent  July 15, 2016

Cuba by land and by liveaboard . . . A link between DVT and DCI?. . . Subscriber’s feedback on Raja Ampat diving . . . Mantis shrimp magic . . . Do we divers need propulsion devices?. . . A nine million dollar wrongful death lawsuit . . . and much more. Subscribe to our monthly publication here and as our thanks, we’ll give you a free download of our 232-page book of bizarre dive stories, There’s a Cockroach in My Regulator. Visit us to read or download free thousands of great stories from back issues.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben

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Note: Undercurrent is a registered 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization donating funds to help preserve coral reefs. Our travel writers never announce their purpose, are unknown to the destination, and receive no complimentary services or compensation from the dive operators or resort.

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