Manatees, Avalon, Free Oxygen kits, & more

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I had to run my air-conditioning the past few days . . .

WEATHER EXTREMES - Who'd have thought we'd have 87º weather on the last day of January? (It tied the record, BTW.) By the same token, who'd have thought that on the same day, Florida would experience a low of 20º? (Also a record, BTW.) Talk about your weather extremes. We welcome the warm California weather with days at the beach and stuff like that. But the cold poses a different problem for Florida (which includes Iguanas falling from trees when immobilized by the cold, but that's not it).

MANATEES DON'T LIKE COLD - Florida, especially around the western coast and specifically Crystal River and the areas surrounding it, are well-known as Manatee hangouts during winter time. The Manatees can only tolerate so much cold and they routinely and seasonally migrate in from the Gulf of Mexico and head for shallower water around natural springs, which also offers them warmer water. But when you get prolonged cold snaps like Florida is having, it causes more thermal problems for Manatees. Simply put, they start packing themselves into areas around springs and head into even shallower water in search of warmth. I've experienced this personally during trips down there to snorkel with them, when cold Manatees will seek out warmer humans and literally rub up against you and "snuggle" for some warmth. Because of all of this, the springs around Crystal River (as well as some other well-known Manatee havens), have areas that are set aside only for the Manatees and which are usually near the warm outflow of the springs (around 72º). And the Manatees seem to know exactly where these springs and safe areas are. So during the cold snap like this, they flock by the hundreds to these warmer areas, in an attempt to stay warm. Below are just two drone shots of Three Sisters in Crystal River (a main Manatee hangout) and you can see how packed in and numerous the Manatees are, as well as you can see some of the snorkelers braving the cold weather to get a close-up glimpse.

SPEAKING OF THE WEATHER . . . - Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Who knows if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow or not?

AVALON TRIP ON FEBRUARY 11 - We're scheduled for a day trip to the Avalon Underwater Park on Wednesday, February 11 and, barring any weather issues, we're pretty sure this will be a go. (See the post-script below, however.) The plan will be to leave from San Pedro on the 8:45AM Express, putting us in Avalon around 10AM. We'll taxi over to the Park, get some rental tanks, and off we'll go for the first of three dives. We'll wrap up around 4PM, pack up by 5PM, and then taxi back over to wait for the 6PM boat back to San Pedro, arriving around 7:30PM. $180 covers you for the round-trip ferry, taxi, and tank rentals. You bring everything else (or rent it there.) The nice thing about going mid-week is that we've pretty much got the place to ourselves so it doesn't feel rushed. If you're interested in joining us, call 310/652-4990 or e-mail us here.

ANY PROBEMS WITH THE FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER? - You should have gotten it last night around 6:15PM. I got a call from one of our regulars who said he couldn't see the image on the left that's the link to the newsletter. All he had was a blank white spot. He's on a Mac and uses Safari so we thought maybe that's the issue. Did anyone else, especially if you use a Mac and Safari as your browser, have a similar problem? If so, please let me know. Thanks.

POST-SCRIPT TO AVALON TRIP - Thanks to a heads-up from Kathy Kalohi, the CDS website shows no rental gear available Feb. 9, 10, and 11. I'm going to call tomorrow to find out if that's accurate &/or if they're closed those days. If we can't go 2/11, the alternate date will likely be 2/18.

HIGH SEAS TREATY TAKES EFFECT - The "High Seas" are basically any and all waters outside of a country's nautical limits, which can be 12-200 mile from their shoreline. That still leaves a huge chunk of the ocean unprotected and essentially a free-for-all zone. Not anymore. This treaty allows for the establishment of Marine Protected Areas as well as regulation of destructive fishing practices. 83 countries have signed and ratified the treaty. The United States has signed the treaty, but not yet ratified it. That means we're obligated to honor the provisions of the treaty but we get no vote in any changes until we ratify it. You can read more about all of this here: HIGH SEAS TREATY TAKES EFFECT.

FREE EMERGENCY OXYGEN KITS - There are two of them and be aware they're a bit old. But Reef Seekers diver Wayne Tuttle has them and is happy to give them a new home. They're in a box that can be mounted on a wall, but they're portable enough that you could take them with you. If you're interested in finding out more, e-mail Wayne at hoonus@aol.com.

And that’ll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!

- Ken