Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Nothing like rolling in to LAX at 6AM on a Sunday . . .
BACK FROM THE PHILIPPINES - The drive home was easy although I'm still not a fan of LAX-It. But our trip was very nice. Even though it was a FAM trip (short for "Familiarization" - promotional marketing trip for shop owners, clubs, groups, etc.) I will write a full trip report and hope to have that to you sometime before the end of the week. The short version is that the diving was pleasant but not as spectacular as I had hoped, we did get to "experience" Whale Sharks in Oslob (more on that in the full trip report), and neither the Taal Volcano nor the Coronavirus affected us. Although the Atlantis Dumaguete resort was much more upscale than its cousin in Puerto Galera, both are very nice, slightly different feel to each, and both professional and well-run.
WANNA SEE SOME PICTURES??? - In case you're not FaceBook friends with either me or Reef Seekers - and you really should be for both - I posted a SmugMug "Philippines Top 10 Daily Pix" each day we dove. Here's the overall link and then you can choose what day or days you want to look at: PHILIPPINES DAILY TOP 10 PIX.
SOCORRO DATES HAVE CHANGED A LITTLE - Hopefully you've read the February newsletter by now and noticed that we're going back to Socorro in January 2021. When I wrote the newsletter, the trip dates I mentioned were wide open and I hadn't reserved any spots for us and was going to do that when I got back to LA. Big mistake. Someone grabbed 10 of the available spots which means there aren't enough left for us. So I've secured the following trip, January 14-22, instead. And I've tentatively grabbed pretty much the entire boat (Nautilus Under Sea). I chose that one over Bell Amie (which I dearly love for Guadalupe trips) because Under Sea takes 17-19 divers whereas Belle takes 34. In this case, I think smaller is better. A $500 deposit will hold your spot. If you need to chat with me about this, call me at 310/652-4990. i think we already have 9 confirmed. You can see pix from our 2010 trip (there's a link to the trip report as well) here: SOCORRO 2010.
HAVE YOU HAD YOUR SHOTS? - One thing the Philippines trip underscored, and this applies to many other places as well, was the need for a series of traveler's shots. The resort suggested Hepatitis A, polio, tetanus, typhoid and a couple of others. So, $350 later, that's what I got. Not cheap but then again, who wants to get any of those diseases? But the point is that these shots are not only good for a number of years, but also that there may be other areas of the world where you travel that taking these kinds of precautions would be appropriate. The CDC has a section on their website about recommended vaccinations for various parts of the world and you can consult with a "Traveler's Clinic" that specializes in knowing this stuff. (I went through the Minute Clinic at CVS.) Anyhow, something to think about.
CLEANUP REMINDER - I know I extolled at length about it in the newsletter but just a quick reminder about the Avalon Cleanup on Saturday, February 22. If you're thinking about joining the Reef Seekers group, let me know. We tend to number less than 10 these days but that's OK because every piece of trash that gets removed makes the waters around Avalon better.
SUPER BOWL 2020 - Maybe not a great game but a good one, regardless of who you rooted for. And really could have gone either way down to the end. My main interest, especially this year, was the commercials, which I thought were rather weak overall. But I did like the Tide "Is it later yet" guy and the Google "Remember" ad made me cry through much of it. And I really liked the opening gambit with the young kid running all over the country with the football and then into the stadium to hand it to the ref.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
BACK FROM THE PHILIPPINES - The drive home was easy although I'm still not a fan of LAX-It. But our trip was very nice. Even though it was a FAM trip (short for "Familiarization" - promotional marketing trip for shop owners, clubs, groups, etc.) I will write a full trip report and hope to have that to you sometime before the end of the week. The short version is that the diving was pleasant but not as spectacular as I had hoped, we did get to "experience" Whale Sharks in Oslob (more on that in the full trip report), and neither the Taal Volcano nor the Coronavirus affected us. Although the Atlantis Dumaguete resort was much more upscale than its cousin in Puerto Galera, both are very nice, slightly different feel to each, and both professional and well-run.
WANNA SEE SOME PICTURES??? - In case you're not FaceBook friends with either me or Reef Seekers - and you really should be for both - I posted a SmugMug "Philippines Top 10 Daily Pix" each day we dove. Here's the overall link and then you can choose what day or days you want to look at: PHILIPPINES DAILY TOP 10 PIX.
SOCORRO DATES HAVE CHANGED A LITTLE - Hopefully you've read the February newsletter by now and noticed that we're going back to Socorro in January 2021. When I wrote the newsletter, the trip dates I mentioned were wide open and I hadn't reserved any spots for us and was going to do that when I got back to LA. Big mistake. Someone grabbed 10 of the available spots which means there aren't enough left for us. So I've secured the following trip, January 14-22, instead. And I've tentatively grabbed pretty much the entire boat (Nautilus Under Sea). I chose that one over Bell Amie (which I dearly love for Guadalupe trips) because Under Sea takes 17-19 divers whereas Belle takes 34. In this case, I think smaller is better. A $500 deposit will hold your spot. If you need to chat with me about this, call me at 310/652-4990. i think we already have 9 confirmed. You can see pix from our 2010 trip (there's a link to the trip report as well) here: SOCORRO 2010.
HAVE YOU HAD YOUR SHOTS? - One thing the Philippines trip underscored, and this applies to many other places as well, was the need for a series of traveler's shots. The resort suggested Hepatitis A, polio, tetanus, typhoid and a couple of others. So, $350 later, that's what I got. Not cheap but then again, who wants to get any of those diseases? But the point is that these shots are not only good for a number of years, but also that there may be other areas of the world where you travel that taking these kinds of precautions would be appropriate. The CDC has a section on their website about recommended vaccinations for various parts of the world and you can consult with a "Traveler's Clinic" that specializes in knowing this stuff. (I went through the Minute Clinic at CVS.) Anyhow, something to think about.
CLEANUP REMINDER - I know I extolled at length about it in the newsletter but just a quick reminder about the Avalon Cleanup on Saturday, February 22. If you're thinking about joining the Reef Seekers group, let me know. We tend to number less than 10 these days but that's OK because every piece of trash that gets removed makes the waters around Avalon better.
SUPER BOWL 2020 - Maybe not a great game but a good one, regardless of who you rooted for. And really could have gone either way down to the end. My main interest, especially this year, was the commercials, which I thought were rather weak overall. But I did like the Tide "Is it later yet" guy and the Google "Remember" ad made me cry through much of it. And I really liked the opening gambit with the young kid running all over the country with the football and then into the stadium to hand it to the ref.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
