Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Want to travel??? Upcoming 2018-19 vacation trips:
• October 27 - November 3 - Roatan at Anthony's Key (SOLD OUT!!!)
--- THE DEVELOPING PLANS FOR 2019 ---
• Easter Island - January 5-13 (CONFIRMED - NOW TAKING DEPOSITS - 7 PEOPLE SO FAR - GROUP LIMITED TO 10)
• Yap & Truk - March (do one or both)
• Bonaire - Late May
• Indonesia - July 6-19 (Murex in Manado - TENTATIVE DATES)
• Whale Shark congregation at Isla Mujeres - August
• Maldives - October 12-25 (CONFIRMED - NOW TAKING DEPOSITS - BOAT IS ALMOST FULL)
• Sea of Cortez (Cabo Pulmo) - December 5-10 ( CONFIRMED - NOW TAKING DEPOSITS - ONLY 11 SPOTS TOTAL)
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
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Upcoming local dives & classes:
• Thu., Oct. 4 - Redondo - Night Dive (FREE!!)
• Sat., Oct. 13 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150 - three dives)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
———————————————————————
Beautiful weekend on many levels . . .
TOM WETZEL'S LAST DIVE - I was very happy and honored to be part of the team that took Tom Wetzel on his last dive as it were. We had a really nice day Saturday, both weather-wise and water-wise. Special thanks to Dale Sheckler (in his official capacity as Catholic Deacon Dale Sheckler) for covering the religious side of things, and thanks also to John Lumb and Gary Hild who joined me in the water for the actual dive where we could plant Tom ashes at is favorite and most-frequented dive spot. We even remembered his tradition of stopping at the bottom of the stairs to sit on the bench/wall for a moment before proceeding to the entry point. Two dozen of Tom's friends, family, fellow instructors, and former students were on-hand to say goodbye. We've posted some other pix on Tom's Facebook page but here's the entire group pre-dive. Tom's sister (Patti) is fourth from the left.
DAVE BUNCH - On a personal note, it was nice seeing Dave Bunch there. In 1981, shortly after I had moved to California, Dave came up to me at Leo Carrillo State Park where I had a class from Sunland Sports Lodge (predecessor of Reef Seekers), introduced himself, and said, "We'd love for you to teach some classes for us at Scuba Duba as well if you could." So for a couple of years, I taught at Sunland M/W/Sat and Scuba Duba (in the old Coldwater Curve location) T/Th/Sun. Whew!!! Busy times. But loads of fun. So even though I "see" Dave on Facebook every now and then, it was nice seeing him in person. He's winding down his teaching he says, working on his last class now, but will continue diving for fun as long as he can.
CONDITIONS AT VETS ON SATURDAY - They were pretty good. Ankle-slappers to maybe 1-footers with an occasional 18-incher. Surface and shallow water temps around 70º and my gauge showed 61º down in the canyon below the thermocline (which started around 27 feet deep). Visibility was also fairly good at roughly 15-20 feet both shallow and deep. Based on the weather and swell forecasts, it looks like these conditions will hold throughout the week and maybe even get better by next weekend (which is also a very special weekend).
LOBSTER SEASON OPENS NEXT SATURDAY - The official opening is 6:00AM (no longer 12:01AM) on Saturday, September 29. Wardens WILL be on the lookout for people who "forgot" that the season now starts in the morning instead of just after midnight. Also remember that although hoop netters can bring lobsters on board to measure, divers cannot. The specific language is: "All lobsters shall be measured immediately and any undersize lobster shall be released immediately into the water. Divers shall measure lobsters while in the water and shall not remove undersized lobsters from the water." So be aware that it is a myth that you can bring under-sized bugs on the boat as long as you r return them to the water. You can't. Any shorts you get should be IMMEDIATELY put back from whence they were grabbed. But most importantly . . .
DON'T KILL YOURSELF OVER A LOBSTER - We're having a pretty "safe" year so far with only ONE L.A. County scuba fatality to date. However, lobster season sometimes blows that out of the water. In 2012, another "safe" year, we had five fatalities in the first week of lobster season. Don't become a statistic. No lobster is worth your life. Most of the time, people get so intent on hunting lobsters that they stop watching their pressure gauge and run out of air. Other times, they don't realize the physical stress that lobster hunting can cause and they basically exhaust themselves, leading to other problems. Dive safely, and dive smart. Watch your gauge at all times and don't push your luck or your limits.
WANNA DIVE CABO PULMO IN 2019? - I've secured December 5-10, 2019, on the Nautilus Gallant Lady for diving in Cabo Pulmo, which will mark our return to the Sea of Cortez after an absence of eight years. I'm not only looking forward to this trip very much but also will be an exploratory trip on the Gallant Lady this December on my own. So we'll have things all dialed in and sorted out by the time we get back in 2019. Cabo Pulmo is known as one of the most successful marine protected areas in the world and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. There's a lot of good stuff going on there and this should be a very exciting trip. (And if there's enough interest, I'll book a second week.) If you're not already on my interest list, be sure to drop me a note via e-mail so I can put your name down. As of right now - and yes, talk is cheap - I've got 21 people giving this some thought (the boat maxes out at 12). So we shall see.
VERY COOL X-RAY - I don't know who took this as it showed up in my Facebook feed one day, but this x-ray of the head of a hammerhead shark (not sure what specific species) will likely be one of the coolest thing you'll see today).
FEEL-GOOD VIDEO OF THE WEEK - We'll close with this video of scientist oohing-and-aahing over this Gulper Eel they discovered on a dive with an ROV. You've got to watch all the way through to see it go from its defensive posture - looks rather intimidating - to "regular" mode. Pretty good little trickery . Thanks to Skip Abelson for the link: The most heartwarming video you’ll see today is of scientists cooing over this rare eel .
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
• October 27 - November 3 - Roatan at Anthony's Key (SOLD OUT!!!)
--- THE DEVELOPING PLANS FOR 2019 ---
• Easter Island - January 5-13 (CONFIRMED - NOW TAKING DEPOSITS - 7 PEOPLE SO FAR - GROUP LIMITED TO 10)
• Yap & Truk - March (do one or both)
• Bonaire - Late May
• Indonesia - July 6-19 (Murex in Manado - TENTATIVE DATES)
• Whale Shark congregation at Isla Mujeres - August
• Maldives - October 12-25 (CONFIRMED - NOW TAKING DEPOSITS - BOAT IS ALMOST FULL)
• Sea of Cortez (Cabo Pulmo) - December 5-10 ( CONFIRMED - NOW TAKING DEPOSITS - ONLY 11 SPOTS TOTAL)
GET MORE INFO ON ALL OF OUR VACATION TRIPS HERE: Foreign Trips
———————————————————————
Upcoming local dives & classes:
• Thu., Oct. 4 - Redondo - Night Dive (FREE!!)
• Sat., Oct. 13 - Catalina Express - Avalon Underwater Park ($150 - three dives)
To sign up for any of these dives, either call us at 310/652-4990 or e-mail us at kenkurtis@aol.com
———————————————————————
Beautiful weekend on many levels . . .
TOM WETZEL'S LAST DIVE - I was very happy and honored to be part of the team that took Tom Wetzel on his last dive as it were. We had a really nice day Saturday, both weather-wise and water-wise. Special thanks to Dale Sheckler (in his official capacity as Catholic Deacon Dale Sheckler) for covering the religious side of things, and thanks also to John Lumb and Gary Hild who joined me in the water for the actual dive where we could plant Tom ashes at is favorite and most-frequented dive spot. We even remembered his tradition of stopping at the bottom of the stairs to sit on the bench/wall for a moment before proceeding to the entry point. Two dozen of Tom's friends, family, fellow instructors, and former students were on-hand to say goodbye. We've posted some other pix on Tom's Facebook page but here's the entire group pre-dive. Tom's sister (Patti) is fourth from the left.
DAVE BUNCH - On a personal note, it was nice seeing Dave Bunch there. In 1981, shortly after I had moved to California, Dave came up to me at Leo Carrillo State Park where I had a class from Sunland Sports Lodge (predecessor of Reef Seekers), introduced himself, and said, "We'd love for you to teach some classes for us at Scuba Duba as well if you could." So for a couple of years, I taught at Sunland M/W/Sat and Scuba Duba (in the old Coldwater Curve location) T/Th/Sun. Whew!!! Busy times. But loads of fun. So even though I "see" Dave on Facebook every now and then, it was nice seeing him in person. He's winding down his teaching he says, working on his last class now, but will continue diving for fun as long as he can.
CONDITIONS AT VETS ON SATURDAY - They were pretty good. Ankle-slappers to maybe 1-footers with an occasional 18-incher. Surface and shallow water temps around 70º and my gauge showed 61º down in the canyon below the thermocline (which started around 27 feet deep). Visibility was also fairly good at roughly 15-20 feet both shallow and deep. Based on the weather and swell forecasts, it looks like these conditions will hold throughout the week and maybe even get better by next weekend (which is also a very special weekend).
LOBSTER SEASON OPENS NEXT SATURDAY - The official opening is 6:00AM (no longer 12:01AM) on Saturday, September 29. Wardens WILL be on the lookout for people who "forgot" that the season now starts in the morning instead of just after midnight. Also remember that although hoop netters can bring lobsters on board to measure, divers cannot. The specific language is: "All lobsters shall be measured immediately and any undersize lobster shall be released immediately into the water. Divers shall measure lobsters while in the water and shall not remove undersized lobsters from the water." So be aware that it is a myth that you can bring under-sized bugs on the boat as long as you r return them to the water. You can't. Any shorts you get should be IMMEDIATELY put back from whence they were grabbed. But most importantly . . .
DON'T KILL YOURSELF OVER A LOBSTER - We're having a pretty "safe" year so far with only ONE L.A. County scuba fatality to date. However, lobster season sometimes blows that out of the water. In 2012, another "safe" year, we had five fatalities in the first week of lobster season. Don't become a statistic. No lobster is worth your life. Most of the time, people get so intent on hunting lobsters that they stop watching their pressure gauge and run out of air. Other times, they don't realize the physical stress that lobster hunting can cause and they basically exhaust themselves, leading to other problems. Dive safely, and dive smart. Watch your gauge at all times and don't push your luck or your limits.
WANNA DIVE CABO PULMO IN 2019? - I've secured December 5-10, 2019, on the Nautilus Gallant Lady for diving in Cabo Pulmo, which will mark our return to the Sea of Cortez after an absence of eight years. I'm not only looking forward to this trip very much but also will be an exploratory trip on the Gallant Lady this December on my own. So we'll have things all dialed in and sorted out by the time we get back in 2019. Cabo Pulmo is known as one of the most successful marine protected areas in the world and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. There's a lot of good stuff going on there and this should be a very exciting trip. (And if there's enough interest, I'll book a second week.) If you're not already on my interest list, be sure to drop me a note via e-mail so I can put your name down. As of right now - and yes, talk is cheap - I've got 21 people giving this some thought (the boat maxes out at 12). So we shall see.
VERY COOL X-RAY - I don't know who took this as it showed up in my Facebook feed one day, but this x-ray of the head of a hammerhead shark (not sure what specific species) will likely be one of the coolest thing you'll see today).
FEEL-GOOD VIDEO OF THE WEEK - We'll close with this video of scientist oohing-and-aahing over this Gulper Eel they discovered on a dive with an ROV. You've got to watch all the way through to see it go from its defensive posture - looks rather intimidating - to "regular" mode. Pretty good little trickery . Thanks to Skip Abelson for the link: The most heartwarming video you’ll see today is of scientists cooing over this rare eel .
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
