Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

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February 25, 2022

Underwater Photographer of the Year. This year's competition attracted entries with the highest standards of imagery from around the world. Judges Alex Mustard, Tobias Friedrich, and Peter Rowlands reviewed work in 12 categories. Matty Smith of Australia won British Photographer of the Year with a stunning shot of a curious 14-foot Great White shark approaching the lens of his pole-cam off South Australia. Rafael Fernandez Caballero (Spain) won the top award as Underwater Photographer of the year, and you can see his work and other winners here.

Have You Been Refused a Dive Because You Weren't Qualified or Fit For It? Sport divers vary in both experience and ability, and just because one arrives at a destination with a raft of impressive certifications, it may not mean much. Similarly, a logbook full of impressive destinations doesn't indicate how well they dived there. A check-out dive gives the dive guide a chance to assess a client diver's skills. At the same time, many experienced and competent older divers who have been diving since long before being an advanced diver meant anything to anyone have never bothered to get certified past the basic level. Has any dive center disallowed you a specific dive because you lacked an advance certification? Or, disallowed you a dive for any reason? We'd like to hear your story, including the dive center, the circumstances, and the reasoning. Write (not forgetting to tell your town & state) to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org.

After 33 Years, the Kona Aggressor II has Taken its Last Voyage. Aggressor Adventures CEO Wayne Brown has announced that after extensive top-side remodeling, the workers discovered that hull repairs of the 79-foot catamaran would require removing the entire superstructure, adding another $500,000 to renovation. That's too much for the old boat, so the vessel owner has ceased operations. Thousands of divers have good memories of their trips aboard, so cherish them now since, sadly, you won't get a chance to relive them. However, in May, the British Virgin Islands Aggressor (the old Cayman Aggressor V) begins operating. As always, we recommend that you let the craft make a few voyages to work out the kinks and find good dive sites before you join a charter.

A New Wreck for Belize Divers. Sunk in December off Soldier Caye in the Turneffe Atoll marine reserve, the hulk of the 378-foot-long Witconcrete, built during World War II, now rises to just 40 feet from the surface. Formerly operated as a sugar transport along the U.S. coastline and the Caribbean, it has easily accessible chambers for divers. Blackbird Key Resort, a favorite with Undercurrent readers, helped sponsor the sinking, and now offers trips to the wreck. (A sister ship, the WIT Concrete wreck off St. Thomas in the USVI, was sunk for divers in 1995.) Click here to view the article.

Your Reader Reports, which you post online for subscribers only, are the life-blood of Undercurrent, especially in the time of COVID. They represent an ever-growing resource for other subscribers. Because they are independent and not edited by us, you are free to write exactly what you experienced on your dive resort or liveaboard trip. Let subscribers know what you enjoyed and what might have disappointed you. You can even upload photos and you don’t even have to finish the report in one sitting. Your reports help your fellow subscribers make their travel decisions. Go to: www.undercurrent.org/SubRR.php

If You're Fully Vaccinated, the Pool is Opening in These Previously Closed Countries: Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Egypt, Palau, Thailand, Costa Rica, and Fiji are looking for divers. Check online for individual entry requirements with embassies. They can be complicated and quickly change, so keep checking up to your flight time. Some countries require mandatory COVID insurance to cover the cost of quarantine accommodation, food, and medical treatment.

Booty Squeeze After Diving? If the pandemic has kept you out of the water for months or years, those wetsuit boots can chafe your wet feet, especially if you make several dives a day. The solution: wear some thin socks under them. Those airlines' free flight socks work well.

Shark Bite at Bimini. On February 21, an unnamed 51-year-old man was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was said to be in stable condition after being bitten by a shark at Bimini in the Bahamas. He was a passenger aboard Jim Abernethy’s MV Shear Water and taking part in a 6-day trip to interact with Great hammerhead and tiger sharks. It’s reported he was bitten on the arm and a crew member applied a tourniquet to control the bleeding. He was taken to the hospital on the advice of the medical officer after the Coast Guard was called.

GBR Sea Cucumbers in Trouble. They're being harvested on Australia's Great Barrier Reef for Chinese dinner plates, and researchers are calling for better protection. Known as the vacuum cleaners of the sea, sea cucumbers are critical for keeping the seafloor clean and productive. While you may see them as unappetizing, they are a great delicacy for 1.3 billion people in China. More than 20 percent of the Queensland fishery's total catch are the endangered white teatfish and black teatfish sea cucumbers.

Coming Up in Undercurrent, so Don't Forget to Renew: Travel stories from a personalized Belize resort, a Grand Cayman photography class with Alex Mustard, a critical review of popular resorts during the time of COVID, Small Hope Bay in the Bahamas, backup computer issues (part 3), the lionfish menace explained, a possible death-knell for the BCD, and much, much more.

Stay Safe
Wear a Mask when Appropriate
Get Fully Vaccinated

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org