Undercurrent Online Update
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If you don't want to leave the lower 48 this fall, then visit the Keys and dive the Vandenberg, and you'll be treated to an underwater art exhibit -- 12 oversized photographs of the wreck by Austrian artist and diver Andreas Franke attached to the ship's weather deck, on the starboard side, at 93 feet. ( www.the-vandenberg.com ). At Key Largo, sign up for a reef-restoration trip led by Ken Nedimeyer of Coral Restoration Foundation on October 11-13 at Amy Slate's Amoray Dive Center to restore endangered staghorn and elkhorn corals (why are they dying? A not-so-pretty reason we'll cover in our next issue). The cost is $456.50 per person and includes three nights' lodging (visit www.amoray.com ). On November 5, REEF holds its last lionfish derby of the year, at Hurricane Hole in Key West and $1,000 goes to the team that catches the most lionfish. Register at www.reef.org/lionfish/derbies/keysderbies

An hour-plus drive north of Cabo San Lucas takes you to what is billed as "the most robust marine preserve in the world." (We reviewed its diving in our March 2008 issue). Scientists from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have released a study stating that the marine ecosystem at Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park is uniquely healthy and a shining example of successful conservation worldwide. Between 1999 and 2009, the biomass in Cabo Pulmo's waters increased 463 percent. Top predators, a key indicator of a reef's health, increased 11 times, and researchers say no other marine reserve in the world has shown such a fish recovery. That's due to the size of the protected "no-take" area and the local community's commitment to enforcing the strict measures. Unfortunately, Cabo Pulmo is the target of a proposed mega-tourism complex called Cabo Cortes, which could devastate the marine life. Join groups campaigning against the development by going to www.savebiogems.org/baja

Have you purchased trip insurance and found that you couldn't get reimbursed for travel problems? Then tell us your story. Have you gone to a dive resort or liveaboard and for unseen reasons not gotten to dive or had to leave early and you couldn't get a reimbursement? Or, if your trip insurance saved your bacon, or a dive operator was exceptionally generous, let us know. Email me at EditorBenD@undercurrent.org so we can research and write about real divers' experiences.

Calvin Adkins of Harrington, DE and his 11-year-old son, Calvin, had to be airlifted to Miami hospitals in serious condition after being run over by their dive boat's propellers while diving near Key Largo on August 9. The Adkins were going to make a drift dive near Conch Reef on the 46-foot Big Dipper, run by the Florida Keys Dive Center. According to an initial incident report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the two were standing on the stern dive platform and jumped into the water while the boat was still in reverse gear, apparently not waiting for the crew to give them the okay. At press time, Adkins, 39, had been released from the hospital but his son remained hospitalized in critical condition.

If you're wondering if that big hurricane is headed toward your dive destination, Undercurrent contributor Doc Vikingo tells us that if you're flying American Airlines, you can now put a fare on hold for seven days. For a non-refundable $5, you can lock in your fare and sit on it for the week. Select the "Hold" button when booking at www.aa.com. NOTE: the week-long hold option is only available during your initial booking, so you can't put a fare on the free 24-hour hold and then decide to pay $5 for the extra hold.

Then please file your personal report to aid your fellow Undercurrent subscribers -- and our writers -- in selecting their next destination. Go to Undercurrent and on the left hand of the home page you can click to file your report, or follow the links in the Members area.

Pacific island leaders passed a resolution this month to create a regional shark sanctuary in an area covering two million square miles of the western Pacific, two-thirds the size of the U.S. The agreement, which also would ban the possession, sale and trade of shark fins, covers the waters of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. This shark sanctuary would be the first one ever created through a regional agreement among governments.

It's literally a wash of $50,000 worth of designer gowns. Photographer Sharon Rainis posed three models in expensive wedding gowns for an underwater fashion show in the Red Sea. Posing at 65 feet, with weights and fishing net tied to their wedding dresses, the models, all divers, did a good job hiding the fact that they were freezing during the three days of midnight shoots and waiting for divers with tanks to swoop in and give them lungfuls of air between shots. The results are gracefully well done; see for yourself here

Can dive travel agents score you discounts on excess baggage fees? . . . how to know if you have "diver's mouth" . . . what's the term for a group of divers? . . . how visually-challenged divers can see more clearly underwater . . . do shark-repelling magnets really work? . . . . . . the biggest influences on divers' behavior underwater . . . can a pre-dive meal at a fast-food joint lower your risk of decompression sickness? . . . and much, much more.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben

 

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