Current Online Updates*
The Latest Dive News

Serious Potential Danger with Apeks TX, ATX and XTX Second Stage Regulator Recall
Global Credit Crunch Affecting the Dive Industry
Best Value Dive Vacation
Here's a New Diver Hazard
Holiday Gift for that Kid or Grandkid
Reserve Your Copy
North Carolina Dive Pioneer Dies
The World's Biggest Shark Fight
A New Wreck Dive in the Caymans
IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE

Serious Potential Danger with Apeks TX, ATX and XTX Second Stage Regulator Recall:  October 7, 2008

25,000 of these regulators, distributed by Aqualung USA, have been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (September 17). The manufacture forgot to include the diaphragm cover, a black, silver or yellow ring of plastic that sits on the main diaphragm. The diaphragm could get dislodged and lead to a diver sucking in water instead of air. The recall includes all second stages and octopuses purchased before July 2008 that have not had the authorized annual service. Take yours to an Apeks dealer for a visual inspection. You can remove the front cover to ensure the diaphragm cover is there and in its proper place. For details, contact Apeks at info@apeks.co.uk.

Global Credit Crunch Affecting the Dive Industry:  October 7, 2008

The first evidence coming our way that dive travel is severely affected by the financial crisis comes from Sunsea Cruises in Townsville, Australia. Next weekend they end their scuba/snorkel day cruises to the Great Barrier Reef. General manager Darin McDonald says the trips are no longer viable due to soaring fuel costs and global economic instability. "We've looked at other options of how we can save this business ...but realistically we can't see any other option but to close the doors."

Best Value Dive Vacation:  October 7, 2008

Read our review of CocoView, Honduras, where you can get unlimited diving and a good price. Of course our reviewer paid his own way and traveled anonymously. Click here.

Here's a New Diver Hazard:  October 7, 2008

Divers are told to avoid overhead environments for safety purposes, but now they are falling on us. As the U.S. highway infrastructure crumbles, so do its bridges. The east side of Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida is a popular dive site., but it's now a dangerous one due to large chunks of concrete falling from the bridge. Mark Kosarin, a dive instructor at the Force-E dive shop told WPTV, "I've heard it from more than one diver that pieces of the bridge are actually coming down."

Holiday Gift for that Kid or Grandkid:  October 7, 2008

Get them interested in diving and the undersea world with Underseas Encounters, a series of ten books from Scholastic, photographed by David Hall with text by children's book expert Mary Jo Rhodes. Each book is an in-depth chapter on marine life, from crabs to dolphins to sea predators to sea horses They're for ages 9-12 but younger kids can easily follow along. Paperback, 9 x 8 inches, $6.95 each. Order them or any other book at Undercurrent and not only will you get Amazon.com prices, but our profit will go directly to saving coral reefs.

Reserve Your Copy:  October 7, 2008

The all new 2009 edition of The Travelin' Diver's Chapbook goes to press next week. Sign up now for an Undercurrent subscription and we'll send you a free issue of the 488-page Chapbook, with more than 1,000 resort and liveaboard reviews and details about water temperature, best times to dive, whether there really is unlimited diving, if the food is palatable....everything you need to know. FOR FREE. You'll get ten issues of Undercurrent, beginning with the October, 2008 issue, as well as online access to back issues and current travel reports from scores of destinations. Go to Undercurrent and sign up on the bottom right-hand side of the home page. Never seen a copy of Undercurrent? You can read a past issue for free from a link on our homepage (see "Read a Sample Issue"). Undercurrent is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization.

North Carolina Dive Pioneer Dies:  October 7, 2008

If you've dived North Carolina wrecks, there's a good chance you went out with George Purifoy, owner of the Olympus Dive Center in Morehead City. Sadly, George, 63, died on September 14, collapsing on board his boat during a dive at the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck site, where he was taking state archeologists to collect artifacts. His son Robert will continue running the dive center.

The World's Biggest Shark Fight:  October 7, 2008

Dubai is opening the world's biggest aquarium in its Burj Dubai shopping mall on October 30, but it's having problems with its sharks fighting and killing each other. That's not surprising since there's 400 sharks and rays swimming together in a 165-foot tank, but more than ten percent of their sharks have been killed by sand tiger sharks. Mall shoppers walk along a 270-degree see-through tunnel through the tank - at this rate, they'll get ringside seats unless the aquarium takes action.

A New Wreck Dive in the Caymans:  October 7, 2008

The Cayman Islands government plans to sink the decommissioned U.S. Navy ship Kittiwake as an artificial reef. Built in 1945, the 2,290-ton submarine rescue ship has been anchored for years among the rusting "Ghost Fleet" in St. Eustis, Virginia. The Kittiwake will head south as early as November, but no announcement yet on where its final resting place will be.

IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE:  October 7, 2008

* Pirates Point, Little Cayman, about as good as it gets;
* Yoga and Diving;
* Dive operator review; good spots in the Bahamas, BVI, boo on Buddy in Bonaire;
* New research on packing Rebreathers Canisters;
* Operators that refuse to go out when there aren't enough divers, no matter how much you paid for the week;
* Avoiding Diver's Vertigo;
* How the US falls short in Dive Death Investigations;
* How that morning hangover affects your diving;
* A Serious Rescue Device: GPS for Divers and which liveaboards provide them;
* Price Battle at Fiji's Garden Island Hotel;
* Tidbits and tales of environmental degradation affecting diving;
* and much much more

Ben Davison, editor/publisher
Contact Ben

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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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