Flotsam & Jetsam

Another Dive Resort Bites the Dust. The Bohio Dive Resort on Grand Turk is no more, Irene Beck of Fly and Sea Dive Adventures tells us. It looks live dive travel wholesalers in North America and divers who booked directly will lose their funds and vacations. The website says "it is closed for refurbishment." Stanbrook Prudhoe on Grand Turk are the liquidators.

Maui's Mike Severns Diving. For 43 years, Mike Severns has been the Maui operation for serious divers, continually reviewed well by Undercurrent subscribers. But all good things must pass, and owner Pauline Fiene, who has been running it for several years, says it will soon become Island Style Diving under new owners Javier and Christina Cantellops.

Look After Your Dive Tanks. In the sweltering temperatures we're experiencing this summer, think about the safe storage of your dive tanks if they are filled. They should be kept upright in as cool a spot as you can find, and recently tested. Don't leave them in your car trunk, especially if parked in direct sunshine. The result can be catastrophic.

Black Pearl. In our June newsletter, one of our readers described his experience aboard the Black Pearl Explorer in Palau, but we added the wrong URL, that of the Black Pearl in the Maldives. Here is the correct URL: https://tinyurl.com/3dkj7d6k

Ten Caught Trafficking Corals. Let this be a warning if you're tempted to bring back a little bit of coral as a souvenir. In April, a federal grand jury indicted 10 people on misdemeanor charges for smuggling protected marine corals from the Philippines for retail sale. The penalties range from five to twenty years in jail and a $250,000 fine. Coral could become the most expensive thing on your mantlepiece.

Tens of Thousands of Old Tires Litter Puget Sound. And who will pull them up? Decades ago, governments and organizations worldwide rushed to put bundles of tires on the seafloor with the noble intention of building artificial reefs. (As well as finding a clever way to dispose of old tires.) As it turns out, not only do these tires do little to encourage marine life, but the chemicals they leach are harmful to marine life. So, whose job is it to pull them back up? In Puget Sound or in the hundreds of other places they now defile?

Aqualung Recalls i330R SCUBA Diving Computers. It seems they can display the incorrect information for dive times at altitudes exceeding 3,000 feet, causing a risk of DCS. If you own one, return it to your Aqualung dealer for repair. Do not use it for diving until it has been repaired.

Goliath Grouper May Get a Break. Earlier this year, the Florida Wildlife Commission opened limited goliath grouper fishing over objections from the diving community and many others. The opponents continued to press for no fishing at spawning sites between July 15 and October 15, when spawning is most active. Noted conservationist Lad Akins, and members of Palm Beach Diving Association, made the case at the July FWC rule-making meeting, and now the FWC is proposing rules to prohibit catch and release fishing of goliath grouper at three of the 11 known spawning aggregation sites. Hopefully, they'll act in September.

Greenland Shark Tagged off Belize. Thirty-five hundred miles from its home, a poorly sighted shark that normally lives in freezing Arctic waters was caught by a scientist from Florida International University while tagging tiger sharks in deep water off Glover's Reef. Greenland Sharks, which live up to 400 years and grow up to 24 feet, normally scavenge carcasses of polar bears and seals. Scientists speculate they may be roaming the coldest depths of all the oceans. The one caught may be a hybrid between the Greenland shark and Pacific sleeper shark.

What a Find! Seems like there's always something new to see underwater, and last December Scuba Ventures Kavieng (Papua New Guinea) posted a video on their Facebook page of this remarkable jelly fish which was recorded by one of their divers. It could be a Chirodectes maculatus, a type of box jellyfish only seen once by scientists, a specimen caught in Australian waters, reports Divernet It's a fast swimmer and is about the size of a soccer ball Here's the link to the video: https://ab.co/3Q0rN0W