Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

For David Denson Whiteside (with username 'dwhitesi', exp: 2024-08-20, at dwhite95815@hotmail.com )

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January 24, 2022

Be Careful Buying a Computer. The Blue Planet Dive Shop in Washington D.C. was bilked out of $4000 worth of Garmin dive computers by customers using stolen credit cards. Two other shops were similarly scammed, one losing more than $10,000; Shearwater computers were among those stolen. They learned of the theft after a cardholder detected the purchase. Typically, this kind of theft is done over the phone, with the purchase shipped to a vacant house, a mail drop, or someplace the thief can't be identified. In this case, the computers will probably end up on eBay or some other online marketplaces. Buy your dive equipment only from a legitimate dealer. You don't want to end up with stolen goods that no longer have warranties. The stolen computer serial numbers are on file with authorities.

World Shootout Underwater Photography Winners will be announced live online on January 29 at 10.30 a.m. Pacific time. It’s a 16-year-old global competition, in which amateur and professional underwater photographers submit photos in 12 categories. We understand that some Americans are among the overall winners this year. www.worldshootout.org

Have You Experienced COVID on a dive trip? Have you been unlucky enough to be on a liveaboard that had its trip curtailed because there was an outbreak of COVID on board? Or at a dive resort when others, or even you, became COVID-positive? Did you have to curtail diving, cut your trip short, or endure an unscheduled quarantine that extended your trip and its cost? We'd like to hear about it. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

Thinking About Bonaire for your Next Dive Trip: "Just during our month here, December-January, we have seen the entry rules change twice, thanks to the Omicron variant," our long-time correspondent tells us. "Bonaire hoped to keep it out, and thus enforced strict entry rules, but last fall rules were relaxed in favor of frequent testing and restrictions on gathering. In mid-January, restaurants are limited to 50% capacity and no more than four per table. That means no big dive club tables! Sadly, the government continues to let floating COVID wards, aka cruise ships, dock and overrun the island with cruise passengers driving golf carts spreading COVID. The good news is I noted fish I had not seen on the west side -- hogfish, a nurse shark, abundant yellowtail snapper, more tiger and black grouper -- and delighted in seeing a pair of seahorses in the same place I saw them last summer. Be careful with your rental car: long stretches of busy roads are more potholes than roadway."

X-Deep Recalls its NX700 Regulator: Stop Using It. During routine servicing of some NX700 first stages, technicians have discovered excessive membrane wear in some regulators. Consequently, all existing NX700 first stages have been recalled and the dry chamber body will need to be replaced. If you own an NX700 first stage, stop using it immediately and contact the dealer from whom you purchased it. More info: click here.

Close and Far? If you wear glasses, you most likely need corrective lenses underwater. Consider getting a mask fitted with either positive (close reading) or negative lenses at your dive store. The TUSA Ceos is a popular example. For close-up viewing, you can have your standard mask fitted with a positive lens in the lower part to partly function as a bifocal. To solve his vision problem, Blue Planet cameraman Peter Scoones had a plus-lens in one side of his two-lens mask and a negative in the other. He said his brain soon sorted it out, and he had perfect vision restored for both close and far subjects. Have your dive store help you out.

Under a Moon Spell: Are Shark attacks related to lunar phases? New research from LSU and the University of Florida suggests that shark attacks increase during fuller phases of the moon when there is more illumination than other times. The cause remains unclear. Many animal species have behavior linked to moon phases, yet few studies to date have looked at the connections between lunar phases and reported shark bites. Phys.org

Traveling in the Time of COVID. The U.S. State Department advises travelers to make contingency plans if going abroad and to prepare for testing and possible quarantine requirements of both the U.S. and other governments. Purchase international travel insurance that includes COVID-19-related trip cancellation and medical coverage; most Medicare plans do not cover overseas medical costs. Several countries have cracked down on travel. Even international tennis stars can be affected.

Suunto Has Been Sold. Amer Sports has sold its dive computer subsidiary Suunto to Chinese technology company Liesheng. Suunto will continue to run its operations from Vantaa, Finland. Amer Sports bought 85-year-old Suunto 22 years ago.

Five Years to Consider His Errors. Peter Sotis, 57, has received a 57-month prison term after being convicted of attempting to sell unlicensed military-grade rebreathers to Libya (Undercurrent November 2021). Co-defendant Emilie Voissem, 45, was also convicted. Sotis, a Florida rebreather instructor, was buddying with Sharkwater film-maker Rob Stewart when the Canadian died on a deep dive in 2017 (Undercurrent August 2018).

Divers Bemoan the Cuttlefish Decline. After a seven-year ban on commercially harvesting cuttlefish in South Australia's Spencer Gulf was lifted, the population plunged from a quarter million to about 107,000. Masses of cuttlefish aggregate off the coast annually for a spectacular breeding event that draws divers. Numbers had hit an all-time low in 2013, and the government fishing ban allowed the population to bounce back until it was lifted in 2020. The government attributes the decline to the cuttlefish's 18-month life cycle, but dive business owners blame the fishing industry. Cuttlefish is a common ingredient in Mediterranean and Asian dishes.

Immaculate Coral Reef Discovered. Stretching across the ocean floor for nearly two miles, a huge coral reef has been discovered off the coast of Tahiti in French Polynesia. It’s in the Pacific twilight zone and offers hope that more pristine ecosystems are discovered at unexplored depths. It’s more than 100-foot deep, where sunlight levels are low, but it does not appear to have suffered any bleaching events. Most of the world’s known coral reefs are at depths of less than 80-feet. Click here to view the article.

Coming Up in Undercurrent: Travel stories from South Caicos, a personalized Belize resort, Grand Cayman, and a photography class at Small Hope Bay in the Bahamas. Backup computer stories (part 2), more COVID-on-liveaboard experiences, the possible death-knell of the BCD, more on the PFO, and much, much more.

Stay Safe
Wear a Mask when Appropriate
Get Fully Vaccinated

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org