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Dive Boats’ Propellers Are Dangerous
All Propellers are Dangerous
Do You Use a Dive Travel Agent?
2024 DPG Masters Results
Another Liveaboard Goes Down
Divers in Climate Survey
The British Government Issues a Red Sea Warning
Egyptian Liveaboard Sinks Before It's First Tourist Trip
Undercurrent Is More Than Its Newsletter

Dive Boats’ Propellers Are Dangerous:   February 18, 2025

Stay away if the engine is running. In yet another Cozumel dive boat propeller accident, five people, including four tourists, were injured by their boat propeller while on a February 2 snorkeling adventure. They were attempting to board their catamaran, Capitano Primero, when their legs hit the churning propeller. All were transferred to a local hospital with injuries that authorities said were "not life-threatening," and nobody was in danger of amputation. Riviera Maya News

All Propellers are Dangerous:  February 18, 2025

A U.S. Marine's birthday turned to tragedy off Andros Island in the Bahamas on February 7. Joseph Cantu, 28, was free-diving near the Navy's AUTEC facility when he was struck by a civilian craft in a hit-and-run incident and left for dead. The propeller tore off his arm, and he was flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Despite the severed limb being retrieved and packed in ice, medics were unable to reattach it. Authorities are hunting the captain of an open-hull boat equipped with two 150 horsepower engines. They believe as many as six people were on board when it slammed into Cantu 50 feet from the seawall that marks the outer perimeter of the Navy base.

Do You Use a Dive Travel Agent?   February 18, 2025

Or do you book your own trip? As our feature travel story writer wrote last month, booking a trip to French Polynesia is complicated, and though she always handles her own bookings, she decided to rely on a travel agent. Do you always self-book? If so, why? How do you handle your interisland flights, single-night hotels, and ground transfers? Had any problems? Or do you use a dive travel agent to organize your trip? If so, why? And who do you use? Have you had any issues? Either way, if you put a trip together, let us know why you're willing to tackle the vagaries of new locations and book directly or prefer to use a travel professional. We want to see how our Undercurrent members book their complicated trips so we can offer our readers travel tips and advice on avoiding problems. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

2024 DPG Masters Results:   February 18, 2025

The winner of the Dive Photo Guide Masters Underwater Imaging Competition was a short video entitled The Journey by Canadian Elko Jones. The video, which shows the life cycle of the sockeye salmon in British Colombia rivers, is an abbreviated version of his longer production Heartbeat of the River. That, and the winners in seven other categories, as well as runners-up, can be viewed here.

Another Liveaboard Goes Down:   February 18, 2025

It's been reported the 85-foot Putri Papua sank near Sorong, the gateway port of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. On February 3, the boat took on water during heavy weather, and the engine failed. The six passengers aboard the wooden-hulled Phinisi-style yacht were found floating in rafts. Two were English, two Austrian, and two Slovakian. Nine crew members were also rescued by the patrol vessel Matabongsang-873, which answered the Putri Papua's distress call but arrived after the stricken boat sank.

Divers in Climate Survey:  February 18, 2025

"Divers for Climate" (a community-led initiative), in partnership with researchers from three Australian universities and the University of North Carolina, has launched a survey to encourage divers, who had witnessed how warming oceans and extreme conditions transform reefs, kelp forests, and marine life, to share their experience. You can view their climate research by completing the survey here.

The British Government Issues a Red Sea Warning:   February 18, 2025

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) says: "Dangerous modifications, defective or missing safety equipment, blocked escape routes, and skipped briefings were recurring issues identified among 16 incidents involving Red Sea dive-boats that have resulted in numerous deaths, including those of UK nationals, over the past five years."

Egyptian Liveaboard Sinks Before It's First Tourist Trip:   February 18, 2025

On February 6, a brand-new liveaboard, launched in Alexandria, capsized in the Gulf of Suez on its way to the Red Sea Riviera. We have no other details, only a video sent to us from an informant who was aboard one of the two Texaco vessels that rescued its crew.

Undercurrent Is More Than Its Newsletter.   February 18, 2025

Your independent Readers' Reports are the lifeblood of Undercurrent. They are essential reading for anyone booking a dive trip and are an opportunity to tell everyone about the trip you experienced. You can tell both the good and the bad, and everything in between. Unedited and unmoderated, your reports will brief other subscribers about dive resorts you've visited and liveaboards you have taken. Don't hold back. Over 11,000 entries have now become essential reading for traveling divers. You can post photos too. It's easy to post a report of your last dive trip. And your fellow divers will be thankful. File your report at www.undercurrent.org/SubRR, and we will also include it in the year's Chapbook, which will be sent to readers next December.

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

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Note: Undercurrent is a registered 501(c) (3) not-for-profit organization donating funds to help preserve coral reefs. 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.

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