Undercurrent Online Update for Subscribers

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

Forward this email | Home | Login | Forgot Password? | My Account | FAQ

December 16, 2023

Missing at Tiger Beach. A well-known site for its diver interaction with tiger and lemon sharks, Tiger Beach at Grand Bahama Island was the scene of an unsuccessful search for a 47-year-old female German diver who went missing on November 21. She was diving from Bahamas Master (formerly Yemaya II) and might have been attacked by a tiger shark. In July 2014, a diver from MY Shear Water was never found after a night dive at Tiger Beach. Undercurrent's Senior Editor John Bantin has been carried off twice by a tiger shark while taking photographs at the site but survived to tell the tale in his book Shark Bytes.

Indo Siren Burns. On the morning of November 30, the popular liveaboard of the Worldwide Dive & Sail (Master) fleet caught fire in the waters of Raja Ampat. All passengers and crew were safely rescued but lost most of their possessions and passports. The wooden-hulled, 130-foot-long pinisi-rigged vessel, built in 2010 and refitted in 2019, was a total loss.

128-Year-Old Shipwreck Discovered in Lake Huron. On October 4, 1895, the SS Africa departed from Ashtabula, Ohio, to carry coal over Lake Huron to Owen Sound, Ontario, but it sank in a storm. Documentary filmmakers and technical divers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick were looking for invasive quagga mussels on the bed of Lake Huron in Canada when they came across the shipwreck 280 feet deep. You can see the video here.

How Much Do You Tip? North Americans are in the habit of being big tippers, but the custom varies from country to country and is even thought offensive in some cultures. How do you know how much to tip and do you offer that extra appreciation for all and sundry services? It’s a question of doing what is customary. We’d like to know. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org and tell us how you approach the subject, not forgetting to add your town and state.

Doc Vikingo Passes. A frequent contributor to Undercurrent, not only travel reviews but also medical information and tips, Terence Dunlop was more often known by his nom de plume, something he adopted after he was told he looked like a Viking, thanks to his impressive physique. He passed on November 30 in Annapolis, MD, a day after his 80th birthday.

Looking for a Christmas Gift for a Buddy? Maybe you could give a novel, a diving thriller. How about Tropical Ice, by Undercurrent's publisher Ben Davison (writing as KL Smith) and set in Belize? Part of the successful crime series published by WaterStreet Press, it's an adventure into shark-finning and reef-raping, murder, and politics on an industrial scale, with plenty of diving. It all takes place at Cap'n Jack's Rum Caye Dive Resort, where Jack's trying to save his failing resort with shark-feeding dives until a body turns up in the damnedest place. Tropical Ice is available in paperback and Kindle from Amazon and bookstores.

Or If You’re Looking for Non-Fiction: Amazing Diving Stories is a collection of more than 60 true tales collected by Undercurrent’s senior editor John Bantin over his long career as a diving journalist. Enjoy classic tales, from thrilling wreck discoveries to encounters with the bizarre and the beautiful. There are stories of death and disaster, as well as bravery and triumph. Amazing Diving Stories is available in hard cover, Kindle, or MP3 audio book from Amazon.

Honeymooner Killed by Shark. A yet-to-be-identified 44-year-old newly-wed woman from Boston was bitten by a shark while paddleboarding with her husband off the beach of the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort in New Providence, the Bahamas. She was three-quarters of a mile offshore. A lifeguard raced out in a boat to rescue them, but she suffered severe injuries to her hip and thigh and died at the scene through loss of blood.

It's Not Just Florida and the Caribbean. Invasive lionfish have migrated through the Suez Canal from the Red Sea and are causing that familiar problem of breeding profusely and eating all the other fry of endemic species in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fishermen and scuba divers off the southern coast of Turkey, an area forever popular with European tourists, report sighting growing numbers of these unwelcome intruders with waters warming thanks to the climate crisis.

Conservation Photographer of the Year, an annual competition organized by Oceanographic Magazine, was won in 2023 by Sylvie Ayer with this beautiful photo of a Florida manatee. The overall winner, the Ocean Photographer of the Year, was a 25-year-old marine biologist and amateur photographer -- Jialing Cai. -- with a photo of a paper nautilus featured in Undercurrent's mid-September email. You may read more about it here.

An Unprovoked Head Bite. According to Seven News, a woman was bitten on the head by a great white shark while she was free diving on November 10 in the Port Noarlunga Sanctuary Zone, near Adelaide, South Australia. Bridgette O'Shannessy (32) had shark teeth removed from her skull and needs facial reconstruction after the horrific bite. Her dive partner succeeded in pushing the shark away during the attack.

Four Seasons Explorer Moves to Palau. The top-end luxury catamaran has been moved from the Maldives, where it operated for over a decade, to Palau, Micronesia. Singaporean-owned, the liveaboard is operating from Rock Islands Southern Lagoon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unlike most liveaboards, it offers guests the option to embark daily, with no minimum length of stay specified. Guests are met in Koror and transported to wherever Four Seasons Explorer happens to be anchored at the time. See here for details.

Fancy Owning Your Own Piece of the South Pacific? Within the tropical paradise that is the Fijian Islands, Tilagica stands out with an opportunity to purchase for $1.7 million the island with completed cottages ready to occupy. And, of course, the soft corals of Fiji are renowned among divers. If you think owning your own Fijian-style bure is a great idea, read more about it in an Insider Blog presented by an attorney associated with Undercurrent here.

An Apology. For a few days beginning December 11, Undercurrent had an email system outage, which meant we could not receive your emails. The problem has just been resolved and we hope that you will resend any messages so that we can reply to them.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org