TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers) - April 2-9

[Ken Kurtis]

Cleanup, Mini-Golf results, big sharks, and more (please scroll down for details)​

Whirlwind weekend with April Fools, Avalon Cleanup, men & women's NCAA games . . . FOOLIN' AROUND - Hope you enjoyed the annual April Fools edition of the monthly newsletter. These get harder and harder to write each year because I know most of you know it's coming. So my only shot is to perhaps catch you off-guard with the first article. Seems like I got some of you this year and that always puts a smile on my face. (And in case you're wondering, yes, all the phone numbers listed are legit.) But hopefully this edition of the monthly newsletter also puts a smile on your face, because that's the point. And thanks to all of you who sent a kind e-mail back after reading this year's stories. ANOTHER CLEANUP IN THE BOOKS - You couldn't have asked for better weather. Better visibility, yes, but not better weather. On Saturday the (delayed) 41st Annual Avalon Underwater Cleanup was held. Because we had to postpone from February 25, we expected not everyone who registered would show up and that notion proved correct. I don't have the actual count but I'd estimate we ran with about half as many as we would usually get had we been able to do the event as planned back in February. But it really was a gorgeous sunny day and being able to see the snow-capped mountains in the distance was a nice bonus. Unfortunately, the visibility wasn't very good, averaging around 5 feet or so, which meant we had a lot of separated buddies and it was hard to see to find things to pick up and bring out of the harbor. But we persevered, awards were given, raffle prizes were won, and a good time was had by all. If you'd like to see some pictures of what was happening at the Green Pier, here's a link to some of the shots I took: AVALON UNDERWATER CLEANUP 2023. WAS THAT A FALCON? - A special treat during the awards ceremony was a Harris Hark from Catalina Falconry swooping around for everyone to see. He'd land and sit for a while, and then move to a new location. Stunning bird, as you can see from this picture. (And no one's face got torn off in the process.)​ THE ANSWER IS "A TIE" - Of course, the BIG news coming out over the weekend dealt with the results of the annual post-Cleanup mini-golf match between Chamber Director Karl Huggins and Chamber Day chair Ken Kurtis. We've done this at Avalon's Golf Gardens - a really great mini-golf layout - for I don't know how many years. Karl definitely had me on the ropes after the front nine - he led by 5 strokes - but I was able to claw my way back and the final result was a tie. Karl went 27/28 for a 55 and I went 32/23 for the same number. We also should reveal that holes 10, 11, and 12 were literally underwater (about 6" of standing water submerged each green) so we simply marked each of those holes as par for both of us. Who knows what might have changed had we had to actually play those. But lots of fun and much grimacing over missed putts. ACT NOW ON CLIMATE CHANGE - The other week the United Nations released a report on climate change and it wasn't pretty. The short version is that there's still a way to reverse a lot of this, but we're running out of time and if we don't start taking some serious action soon, it will be too late. Wall-E will become a reality. You can read the report, which has some very interesting charts, here: UN REPORT ON GLOBAL CLIMATE. TWO MEGAMOUTHS - This story isn't about me. But two Megamouth Sharks were seen together off the coast of San Diego a few weeks ago and its the first time two have ever been seen together. They are rarely (if ever) spotted in the wild and it's thought that what was witnessed was courting behavior. You can take a peek at what was seen in this video (which has not yet been banned in Florida): NOT ONE BUT TWO MEGAMOUTHS. HEADING FOR BONAIRE FRIDAY NIGHT - We leave with our group Friday evening for the blissful waters on Bonaire, which is where we'll be April 8-15. So TWARS for next week will hopefully be coming to you from there, along with daily "Top 10 Pix" that you can catch on both the Ken Kurtis and Reef Seekers Facebook pages. This is one of six foreign vacation trips we're doing this year so if you're looking for a way to get away from it all, give some thought to doing some travel with us. We've got room on Yap #2 in late July and the Maldives in November. Both are fabulous places to dive. And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!! - Ken​