U N D E R C U R R E N T O N L I N E U P D A T E
F O R N O N - S U B S C R I B E R S
Undercurrent — Consumer Reporting for
the Scuba Diving Community since 1975
www.undercurrent.org
Dive News
February 9, 2010
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Mares is Recalling All Nemo Air Computers: If you’ve got one, contact your dealer now. Mares issued a recall last summer for the slow-leaking O-rings on the Nemo Air computer’s Quick Connector hose, but it turns out the replacement O-ring issued wasn’t the solution. On February 1, Mares announced another recall for the entire hose. “We designed a new quick disconnect system to replace it,” Mares’ national sales manager Steve Lamphear told Undercurrent. All Nemo Air dive computers need this replacement so contact a Mares dealer to get the hose replacement, free of charge. If you want Mares to do the replacement, call Customer Service at 800-874-3326 and give them your computer’s serial number for shipping info.
Undercurrent Blogs: If you haven’t been following our blogs, you’ll get plenty of information, laughs and education from guest bloggers like Bret Gilliam, the deepest air diver ever; Doc Vikingo, peripatetic columnist; Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock, who just completed an excellent book on Raja Ampat; John Bantin, the equipment editor for Diver magazine; and many, many more. Go to Undercurrent and click on blogs.
And A Regulator Recall From TUSA: It’s taking back RS-670 regulators sold between May and September 2009 because loosening of the BLC plug on the first stage may cause a high-pressure leak. Affected units have first stage serial numbers between 22 and 29, 31 and 103, 637 and 676, 708 and 716, and 737 and 776. Take your regulator back to the dealer, or contact TUSA at info@tusa.com or call 800-482-2282 to mail it back for repair, covered under warranty.
Great Free Online Dive Medicine Book: Carl Edmonds, co-founder of Australia’s Diving Medical Centre, alerted us that his formerly out-of-print book Diving Medicine for Scuba Divers has just been updated for 2010 and, better yet, is available to download for free online: (http://www.divingmedicine.info/divingmedicine/Welcome.html). This classic book, which Edmonds co-authored, deals with dive-specific health issues, their causes, first-aid and prevention. You can download any of the 43 chapters, from Panic and Fatigue to Drugs and Diving, one at a time, or the entire book. Edmonds encourages you to download his book onto a CD/DVD to take with you on your next dive trip, or just pass on to fellow divers.
Coral Reefs Need Your Foreign Currency: Admit it. You’ll never use those foreign bills in the bottom of your drawer, so send them to us to convert into greenbacks and apply them to a project to save our oceans and reefs. It’s tax-deductible and I’ll send you a receipt for your contribution greater than $50 (Undercurrent is a 501c3 organization and contributions are tax-deductible). So far, we have outfitted a sailboat so rangers can stop night poachers on Belize reefs, and helped build a school in Fiji, for which the chiefs established marine-protected areas totaling 3,010 acres and a 4,752-acre forest preserve. Send the bills to me: Ben Davison, P.O. Box 3020, Sausalito, CA, 94965. And feel free to include a tax-deductible personal check made out to Undercurrent as well. If divers don’t save the reefs, who will?
A New Online Guide for Underwater Photographers: Here’s a new site underwater photographers of all levels can check out for tips. Underwater Photography Guide (http://www.uwphotographyguide.com) offers an online tutorial book from Santa Monica-based diver and photographer Scott Gietler - check out the Chapter Index to get straight to info on wide-angle optics, image sharpness, post-processing and more. Every week, Gietler posts new articles on photography theory and technique, and equipment reviews. Or sign up for a monthly e-mail newsletter. All information is free to read.
Kudos To Louie Psihoyos And The Cove: Psihoyos, the National Geographic photographer turned filmmaker, has been winning a slew of awards for his feature-length documentary, a stealth effort by divers to document the dolphin slaughter at Taiji, Japan. The Cove won Best Documentary at the Critics Choice Awards, and the Directors Guild of America named Psihoyos the best documentary director of 2009. Now The Cove is an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary. See if it wins on March 7; and The Cove is now available on DVD. P.S.: I helped Louie raise $20,000 to subtitle The Cove in Japanese for distribution in Japan.
What You’re Missing in the February Issue: Subscribers and Members can download the entire issue or individual articles. , and read about:
- The best diving on California’s Catalina Island
- Grand Cayman Officials Say Alcohol and Stingrays Do Mix (Available to the public)
- A “fishy” spot on Baja California’s East Cape
- Add this African dive site to your bucket list
- “Star Trek” wetsuits — no kidding
- Ben Davison’s report on Copenhagen’s climate change conference (Available to the public)
- Gear expert John Bantin picks the fastest fins
- The embarrassment that made a diver lose 90 pounds
- A San Diego dive shop with a dark history
Read an Issue: I want you to see a full copy of Undercurrent’s monthly newsletter; you can do so on our home page at Undercurrent. Right now, if you sign up to have it delivered to your email address each month, I’ll send you a free, 480-page, 2010 Travelin Diver’s Chapbook, chock full of reviews of hundreds of resorts and liveaboards worldwide - go to http://www.undercurrent.org/cbook2010 (previous Online Members can get the same offer and keep their old username/password by going to https://www.undercurrent.org/secure/UCnow/OMaccountCenter.php?omcoupon=c14 )
My Report From The Copenhagen Conference: I attended the entire U.N. Climate Change conference, held in Copenhagen in December, taking in dozens of presentations and talking to experts about the environmental impact on the oceans. Will any significant changes come from it? Read my report for free in the February issue - go to Undercurrent and click on “A Diver’s Report from Copenhagen.”
Diving the World: A Guide to the World’s Most Popular Dive Sites: Authors Beth and Shaun Tierney describe 220 dive sites in 19 nations, along with site maps, country reviews, seasonal dive information, destination ratings, preferred dive operators and liveaboards, good travel information and hundreds of color photos. If you’re interested in the Caribbean, you won’t find much besides the Yucatan, Honduras, Belize and Grenada. But the key countries in the Pacific and Indian Ocean are all covered. If you’re an adventurous traveler, there’s a lot of good reading here. Go to Undercurrent, click on “Books” and buy it through us; you get it from Amazon.com and our profits go to conserve coral reefs.
Do Alcohol and Stingrays Mix?: According to Grand Cayman officials, they can with no detrimental effect. In December, they granted liquor, music and dancing licenses for a floating bar to be built on the waters near Grand Cayman’s Stingray City. Read points of view from both the protestors and the businessman building the bar in our article “Grand Cayman Officials Say Alcohol and Stingrays Do Mix,” available for free at Undercurrent.
Coming in Future Issues:
- The isolated isles of Honduras: Cayos Cochinos,
- The WWII wrecks of Saipan,
- Buddys on Bonaire,
- Secret diving in Turkey,
- A new Sea of Cortez liveaboard,
- New dangers of rebreather diving
- Digital camera tips for good underwater photos
- Why divers are hanging up their fins
- Join the hunt for lionfish in the Caribbean
- The extremes one diver took to get customer service from Scubapro
- and much, much more..
Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben
Website News
Diving Discounts: We have a number of special deals from dive operators worldwide on our website’s Special Offer page that could be just what you’re looking for. These include:
- 10-20% discounts on M/Y Manthiri (Maldives),
- $850/wk diving in Utila, Honduras,
- A write-your-own diving safari in Bal especially for UW photographersi, and
- Buying a large villa with pool in Bali in front of one of the world’s best dive spots.
See them all here and check back there periodically as new offers are being added constantly.
Get Notified of New Divers’ Blogs: See what you’ve been missing from leading industry pundits: John Bantin, Bret Gilliam, Ben Davison, Bob Halstead, Burt Jones & Maurine Shimlock, and Doc Vikingo — there’s lots of provocative posts since our last update. If you want to keep up with these, we can now notify you by email whenever there’s a new post (1-2/week) — just sign up here
Dave Eagleray, webmaster
Note: Our travel writers never announce their purpose, are unknown to the destination, and receive no complimentary services or compensation from the dive operators or resort. Dive trips listed in our emails must be offered by a well-regarded operation that has been reviewed positively by our readers. The operator must include a special offer for Undercurrent subscribers and supporters. Undercurrent is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization and in some cases the operator has made a donation.
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