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It's been one of "those" weeks . . .
LOTS OF STUFF
- I've still got a slight occassional lingering
dry non-productive cough from that URI I picked
up in the Philippines. (Seems like lots of
others folks have the same thing.) I've been
running my A/C almost non-stop because of the
heat. We've been keeping a close eye on the
havoc being caused by high tides and the
remnants of Rachel. And, of course, the Dodgers
didn't help my mood by getting swept in four
games. Plus my girlfriend's had a lingering
different "under-the-weather" situation. So
yeah, one of "those" weeks. Not really one thing
that's overwhelming but all the little things
keep piling on and adding up.
BUT THERE WAS AN UPLIFITNG MOMENT
- Saturday morning, I got my monthly copy of
Undercurrent.
(As some of you may know, I occasionally write
for them.) And when I opened it up, I was very
happy to see that the lead article was a review
of Murex Resort in Manado. Then I got to the
second paragraph and realized it was not only a
review of one of my favorite dive operations,
but a review of OUR experience with them back in
July. On top of that, the writer had some nice
things to say about me as well. (I'm sure that I
now need a larger hat size has nothing to do
with the flattering things said about me in the
article.) But in all seriousness, I love diving
with Murex, I like to think we organize good
trips, and it was nice to see all of that
recognized in print from a very respected
publication. If you haven't seen the article and
would like to read up on what was what, here's
the link:
UNDERCURRENT'S
REVIEW OF MUREX.
COMPARISON
- If you wonder how the
Undercurrent
impression compares to my report of the same
trip (and obviously, I might be a bit biased in
my own favor), here's the link to that:
REEF SEEKERS INDO 2026 TRIP REPORT.
REEF SEEKERS 2027 TRIPS
- I guess after that kind of promo, it would
make sense to pitch our upcoming trips. The Saba
trip in April is sold out. Bonaire (June 2-10)
has space available in both the 2-bd or 1-bd
versions ($2,495). More details on our website.
And I'm going to be adding a week in Roatan at
Anthony's Key, most likely in October, but
haven't finalized those plans yet. (But it's not
too early to get on our list.) But there's some
not-so-good trip planning news for next year as
well.
NO TRIP TO SEE THE TOTAL SOLAR ECIPSE IN EGYPT
- As you may know, I'm an eclipse chaser. The
one on August 2,2027, is going to be a doozy
because the maximum time of totality is
six-and-a-half-minutes (about as long as it can
possibly astronomically be) and that will take
place in Luxor, Egypt. Ignoring that the average
daily high temp that time of the year is 105º, I
had hoped initially to put together a combo dive
trip and eclipse viewing experience. That didn't
work out. Too complicated, too much time (I
didn't want to do the Red Sea again so it came
in at 3-4 weeks overall), and too expensive (in
the range of $20,000-25,000 per person). So then
I thought I'd just try to do it as an
eclipse-only trip with a few days in Cairo to
see the pyramids as a bonus. But even that's
coming in around $9,000/person for the full week
as well as availability is scarce AND everyone
wants a hefty deposit upfront. So it seems that
organizing this on a group basis simply isn't in
the cards. However . . .
I CAN ADVISE IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS ON YOUR OWN
- I may still try to go on my own and can advise
you on how to plan your own trip as well. The
overall eclipse path basically travels through
Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and
Egypt, then over to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and
then the eastern tip of Somalia. Not exactly
places of the U.S. States Department's list of
friendly countries. But there are some places on
the path besides Luxor (which I think will be
OK) that you might consider which includes
Gibraltar at the southern tip of Spain. Here's a
link to an interactive eclipse path map if you
want to see the options. You can zoom in and out
and click anywhere on the map to see how long
totality will be in a specific location. And if
you need help, call me:
2027 ECLIPSE INTERACTIVE MAP.
EXCITING CORAL NEWS
- The internet was abuzz this week (even
FaceBook) about two studies that each showed
that there may be a way for coral reefs to
recover more quickly from bleaching than we'd
previously thought. The short version is that if
you take bleached coral and have it touching
healthy coral (like the buddy system), it can
radically speed up the process. The catch is
that the touching coral needs to be from the
same colony as the bleached coral. But it's
somewhat of a game-changer type of discovery.
Here's some more info:
HEALING BLEACHED CORALS.
57 NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED
- Admittedly, you likely won't run into any of
these because they live at a depth of 11,000
feet. But even so, it underscores how little of
the ocean we've actually explored - estimates
range from 10-20% - and that there's stuff out
there waiting to be discovered if we only take
the time to go look. And while I don't expect
any of you to be descending to 11,000 feet (even
if you're on a rebreather), it does make you
wonder what hidden treasures there might still
be a recreational diving depths and we just
haven't realized it yet. A great example of that
was the "discovery" of the wreck of the
Atocha
by Mel Fisher in 1985. I put "discovery" in
quotes only because, while Fisher's team had
spent 16 years searching for the legendary wreck
and its treasure, once it was found (in less
than 60 feet of water), it turns out it had been
a fairly well-known fishing spot for years and
years. But no one thought to go down and look.
So you never know and as I like to say, "If you
don't go look, you'll never spot anything."
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and
let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken |
