Don't you just LOVE bureaucracies . . . ???

NOT DIVE-RELATED BUT CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN THE THINKING IN THIS TO ME THIS PLEASE? - I live in Westwood, which is not too far from Stoner Park. (The name implies something it's not. It's because it's located on Stoner Avenue, not because it's a hangout for potheads.) Lots of kids are active in the area because there's a skate park there, as well as tennis courts and other recreational stuff. The park facilities takes up an entire large extended square block of the neighborhood. Residents have long-complained that people drive through the area too fast and have asked the city to install crosswalks. The city tried a mini-roundabout but residents say that didn't work. They'd like crosswalks. The city's bureaucracy dug in and dawdled. The residents kept asking. Finally, one guy took it upon himself to get a bucket of yellow paint and he painted crosswalks. The residents cheered. The city almost immediately came out and painted over the yellow crosswalks with black paint. The guy says he's got more paint and he'll repaint them. My question: How come they don't have time/manpower to paint the crosswalks, but they can respond immediately to paint them over? Something's out of whack here.

2 SPOTS FOR THE MALDIVES JUST OPENED UP - We have our Maldives trip coming up in a little less than two months. Unfortunately, two of our divers would like to sell their spots if possible due to a couple of different reasons (which I won't go into here). One guy was signed up for both trips (Sept. 16-28 and Sept. 27 - Oct. 8) and the other one is signed up for the first trip. So we've basically got two spots available for the first trip, and one spot available for the second trip. If anyone's interested in one or both spots for one or both trips, please let me know ASAP. Here are the trip details . . .

MALDIVES INFO - Both trips are with our good friends on the Manthiri, the longest-running liveaboard in the Maldives. This will be our 6th and 7th trip with them and, as like to say, we wouldn't keep going back if it wasn't good. This is an 11-day trip and we should get in close to 30 dives. On the first trip, we're going to try for a northern itinerary and on the second trip, a southern route. (But both are weather-dependent.) We generally do three dives each day but sometimes squeeze in a fourth. All the food is included and we've only got 12 people on the boat (plus a crew of 11) so it's not like it gets crowded or anything. How much is this incredible trip you say? Well . . .

MALDIVES $$$ - Cost of the trip is $5,990 which includes a hotel overnight on the way in, all diving (with nitrox if qualified), all meals on board, local taxes and marine park fees, and a generous crew tip. Airfare on Singapore Airlines is running around $1,600. (I'll advise you on flights if you want to go.) If you're interested, give us a call at 310/652-4990. Since both people have paid in full, if you take one of the spots, you pay me and I refund them. If not, hopefully they have trip insurance.

YAP TRIP IN 2026 HAS FILLED UP - We had three more signups in the past few days and I'm going to cap it at where we are right now. (We could squeeze in one more male &/or one more female if necessary.) What we try to do on all of our trips is keep the group size manageable. When we get a larger group, what we'll end up doing is split the group in half and go out on two boats so no one gets too jammed up by other divers. That's where we are right now with both the Yap and the Indonesia trips. (We still have 2 spots left for the 2026 Philippines land/liveaboard combo). The goal is always to give you the best trip and dive experience possible. And while taking 40 people means we make a bunch of money on commissions, it doesn't serve you well in our humble opinion. This philosophy has worked well for us since 1988 so, as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

INVASION OF THE RAYS - To my eye, these look like a species of Cownose Rays but regardless of who they are, they're definitely spectacular. They don't estimate a count but if they said 10,000, it wouldn't surprise me. These were spotted earlier this month in the Gulf of Mexico between Tampa and Clearwater. You may need FaceBook for this 32-second video: HUGE SWARM OF COWNOSE RAYS. Maybe we'll see something similar on one of our upcoming trips . . .

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

- Ken