Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2015-2016 vacation trips:
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 13-20 (WEEK 1) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ LIMITED AVAILABILITY ]
• August 20-27 (WEEK 2) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ SOME AVAILABILITY ]
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ FILLING - ONLY 6 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
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Busy week behind us and weather changes in front of us . . .
RECOVERED FROM PALAU - My assistant Marilyn Lawrence is fond of saying "You don't travel well" because it seems almost every time I do a trip, I get sick when I come back. This time was no exception although it was just a heavy cold. The guy behind me on the HNL-LAX who sneezing over the top of my seat twice probably didn't help. But one of the dangers of these long trips, especially at the end, is that you're tried and your body's tired, and you probably ARE more susceptible to infection. But better at the end of the trip than at the beginning.
WEATHER CHANGES - What's with this spring? It's supposed to get as high as 90º in a few days, then by the end of the week will drop down significantly and it may rain. Sheesh!!!!
APRIL FOOLS NEWSLETTER - By now, I assume you've read through the annual prankster edition of our newsletter. Hopefully it's as fun for you to read as it is for me to write. (Although it does get harder and harder to "catch" you guys each year.) A couple of people said they started to bite on the Catalina Express story and many of you commented on the over-exposed pictures that brought it to a close. Hopefully a good time was had by all (being had).
SPEAKING OF OUR Y&P TRIP - The Yap & Palau trip report as well as the SmugMug slideshow for both Yap & Palau (two separate shows) are now ready for your dining and dancing pleasure. You can access them through the home page on the Reef Seekers website or by using these direct links:
TRIP REPORT (both Yap & Palau together) - Yap & Palau 2016 trip report
YAP & PALAU PIX (no slideshow - just a dozen shots from each) - Yap & Palau 2016
YAP PICTURES (SmugMug collage & slideshow - 100 images) - YAP 2016 - kenkurtis
PALAU PICTURES (SmugMug collage & slideshow - 100 images) - PALAU 2016 - kenkurtis
CHAMBER EVE & REEF SEEKERS - We're about a month away from Chamber Day and Chamber Eve (May 4). Reef Seekers once again has a table for Chamber Eve but right now, it's very lonely and in need of some TLC. That means we've got seats available ($110/person) and would love to have you join us for this great event. All the monies raised go to the Chamber and it's a lot of fun to boot. We've got the entire Aquarium of the Pacific to ourselves, there are raffle prizes to be won, new friends to meet, and a good time is had by all. I can even let you in on an advance notice that the Grand Prize this year (awarded after we give Karl the check with the final amount) is your choice of a 4- or 5-day trip on one of the Truth Aquatics boats, and we'll have TWO of them to give away to two lucky winners. But you can't win if you don't attend so sign up to join us in the next few days. Go to www.chamberday.org or give us a call at 310/652-4990.
NO BONAIRE THIS YEAR - This is shaping us as a slightly weird travel year for us. Some trips (like the Red Sea) get a ton of response while others (Bonaire) are getting much less. And unfortunately with Bonaire, I'm having to pull it off the schedule because while we've got some people interested, it doesn't seem that we can make the various schedules mesh to where it works out for everyone, including Reef Seekers. This is all being complicated by the fact that I've got cataract surgery scheduled for May 12 and I have to then stay out of the water for eight weeks or my ophthalmologist yells at me. I'm certainly open to trying this again later in the year (September would seem to work with our other trips) but the reality is that most likely we can't attempt this again until next year.
SPEAKING OF 2017 - I'm actually starting to work on the 2017 schedule including a special offer for an extended trip to Yap that will include a lot of goodies that we don't normally get to do. Bill Acker & I are collaboarting and will definitely have this ready to reveal by the Scuba Show in June. Most likely we'll plan this for July or early August of next year but that brings me to chat about one of the my favorite non-diving subjects: A Total Solar Eclsipse. Next year is the year for what's being called The Great American Eclipse which will take place on Monday, August 21. The moon will cover up the sun in a path that starts in Oregon, runs straight through the U.S., and then exits in South Carolina. Since I plan on being in Nashville for this celestial occurrence, I've got to plan our 2017 trips around that. But in case you want to get bitten by the eclipse bug, here are a few websites for you to check out and make plans to be on the centerline. You may recall that we co-ordinated our 2012 Australia Great Barrier Reef trip with a total solar eclipse that happened Down Under and it was spectacular. Especially, if you've never seen one before, I strongly urge you to make plans to try to see this one. Here are some of the websites to check (or just Google "August 21, 2017"):
Official NASA page - NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 Aug 21
Eclipse.org - Total Solar Eclipse 2017 - Path Through the United States
Wikipedia - Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great American Eclipse (commercial site but looks good) - Total solar eclipse of 2017 | GreatAmericanEclipse.com
CORAL BLEACHING IN AUSTRALIA - There's apparently a fairly dramatic coral bleaching incident going on now in Australia. Specifically it's around Lizard Island, a place we visited on our 2012 trip. My guess would be that this is somehow related to El Nino. But they're taking it pretty seriously, as they should. You can read more about it here: Images show coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef - CNN.com.
WE NEED ONE OF THESE - Lastly, we have news of a really weird-looking species of shark. I'm pretty sure this is NOT a left-over April Fools joke. I'm going to try to talk the LB Aquarium into getting one: Scientists Are Going Crazy About This Bizarre Creature… And You’re About To See Why..
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
• August 1-6 - Isla Guadalupe & Great White Sharks [ ONLY 5 SPOTS AVAILABLE ]
• August 13-20 (WEEK 1) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ LIMITED AVAILABILITY ]
• August 20-27 (WEEK 2) - Isla Mujeres & Whale Sharks, cenotes, and statues [ SOME AVAILABILITY ]
• November 3-16 - Maldives on the Manthiri [ FILLING - ONLY 6 STILL AVAILABLE ]
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: www.reefseekers.com/foreign_trips.html
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Busy week behind us and weather changes in front of us . . .
RECOVERED FROM PALAU - My assistant Marilyn Lawrence is fond of saying "You don't travel well" because it seems almost every time I do a trip, I get sick when I come back. This time was no exception although it was just a heavy cold. The guy behind me on the HNL-LAX who sneezing over the top of my seat twice probably didn't help. But one of the dangers of these long trips, especially at the end, is that you're tried and your body's tired, and you probably ARE more susceptible to infection. But better at the end of the trip than at the beginning.
WEATHER CHANGES - What's with this spring? It's supposed to get as high as 90º in a few days, then by the end of the week will drop down significantly and it may rain. Sheesh!!!!
APRIL FOOLS NEWSLETTER - By now, I assume you've read through the annual prankster edition of our newsletter. Hopefully it's as fun for you to read as it is for me to write. (Although it does get harder and harder to "catch" you guys each year.) A couple of people said they started to bite on the Catalina Express story and many of you commented on the over-exposed pictures that brought it to a close. Hopefully a good time was had by all (being had).
SPEAKING OF OUR Y&P TRIP - The Yap & Palau trip report as well as the SmugMug slideshow for both Yap & Palau (two separate shows) are now ready for your dining and dancing pleasure. You can access them through the home page on the Reef Seekers website or by using these direct links:
TRIP REPORT (both Yap & Palau together) - Yap & Palau 2016 trip report
YAP & PALAU PIX (no slideshow - just a dozen shots from each) - Yap & Palau 2016
YAP PICTURES (SmugMug collage & slideshow - 100 images) - YAP 2016 - kenkurtis
PALAU PICTURES (SmugMug collage & slideshow - 100 images) - PALAU 2016 - kenkurtis
CHAMBER EVE & REEF SEEKERS - We're about a month away from Chamber Day and Chamber Eve (May 4). Reef Seekers once again has a table for Chamber Eve but right now, it's very lonely and in need of some TLC. That means we've got seats available ($110/person) and would love to have you join us for this great event. All the monies raised go to the Chamber and it's a lot of fun to boot. We've got the entire Aquarium of the Pacific to ourselves, there are raffle prizes to be won, new friends to meet, and a good time is had by all. I can even let you in on an advance notice that the Grand Prize this year (awarded after we give Karl the check with the final amount) is your choice of a 4- or 5-day trip on one of the Truth Aquatics boats, and we'll have TWO of them to give away to two lucky winners. But you can't win if you don't attend so sign up to join us in the next few days. Go to www.chamberday.org or give us a call at 310/652-4990.
NO BONAIRE THIS YEAR - This is shaping us as a slightly weird travel year for us. Some trips (like the Red Sea) get a ton of response while others (Bonaire) are getting much less. And unfortunately with Bonaire, I'm having to pull it off the schedule because while we've got some people interested, it doesn't seem that we can make the various schedules mesh to where it works out for everyone, including Reef Seekers. This is all being complicated by the fact that I've got cataract surgery scheduled for May 12 and I have to then stay out of the water for eight weeks or my ophthalmologist yells at me. I'm certainly open to trying this again later in the year (September would seem to work with our other trips) but the reality is that most likely we can't attempt this again until next year.
SPEAKING OF 2017 - I'm actually starting to work on the 2017 schedule including a special offer for an extended trip to Yap that will include a lot of goodies that we don't normally get to do. Bill Acker & I are collaboarting and will definitely have this ready to reveal by the Scuba Show in June. Most likely we'll plan this for July or early August of next year but that brings me to chat about one of the my favorite non-diving subjects: A Total Solar Eclsipse. Next year is the year for what's being called The Great American Eclipse which will take place on Monday, August 21. The moon will cover up the sun in a path that starts in Oregon, runs straight through the U.S., and then exits in South Carolina. Since I plan on being in Nashville for this celestial occurrence, I've got to plan our 2017 trips around that. But in case you want to get bitten by the eclipse bug, here are a few websites for you to check out and make plans to be on the centerline. You may recall that we co-ordinated our 2012 Australia Great Barrier Reef trip with a total solar eclipse that happened Down Under and it was spectacular. Especially, if you've never seen one before, I strongly urge you to make plans to try to see this one. Here are some of the websites to check (or just Google "August 21, 2017"):
Official NASA page - NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 2017 Aug 21
Eclipse.org - Total Solar Eclipse 2017 - Path Through the United States
Wikipedia - Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great American Eclipse (commercial site but looks good) - Total solar eclipse of 2017 | GreatAmericanEclipse.com
CORAL BLEACHING IN AUSTRALIA - There's apparently a fairly dramatic coral bleaching incident going on now in Australia. Specifically it's around Lizard Island, a place we visited on our 2012 trip. My guess would be that this is somehow related to El Nino. But they're taking it pretty seriously, as they should. You can read more about it here: Images show coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef - CNN.com.
WE NEED ONE OF THESE - Lastly, we have news of a really weird-looking species of shark. I'm pretty sure this is NOT a left-over April Fools joke. I'm going to try to talk the LB Aquarium into getting one: Scientists Are Going Crazy About This Bizarre Creature… And You’re About To See Why..
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
