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Demon Fish: Travels through the Hidden World of Sharks
Satisfaction Guaranteed, or Your Money Back
Rude Crews Ruining Your Dive Gear?
Is This Dive Trip Worth the Cost?
Hunting Methods for Groupers and Goatfish
The Scuba Snobs' Guide to Diving Etiquette
The Fins Sharks Like Best
Is This Your Camera?
Got a prize-winning underwater video?
The 2012 Travelin' Diver's Chapbook
What You’re Missing in This Month’s Issue

Demon Fish: Travels through the Hidden World of Sharks:  November 18, 2011

By far, the best book written about man's relationship with sharks. Juliet Eilperin, the Washington Post's national environment reporter, exposes the depths of the shark fin trade, from the fishermen to the consumers, to the investigators trying to end it; the efforts (not always successful) at protecting whale sharks; sourcing by DNA testing and selling naming rights to new discoveries; Miami's macho shark hunter; the shark callers from Papua New Guinea, diving and surfing with sharks, and the risks inherent; and much more. After traveling the globe with her keen reporter's eye, Eilperin creates a fascinating story by investigating the lives of sharks, both above and below the surface. It's bound to hook every diver. Just published, this hardbound, 296-page book is available is available on our website Undercurrent . You will get the best price Amazon.com offers, and our profits will go to saving coral reefs.

Satisfaction Guaranteed, or Your Money Back:  November 18, 2011

Sign up for a monthly or annual subscription. Besides 11 issues a year, you'll get extras, like full access to all issues online, our 600+ page 2012 On Line Travelin' Divers' Chapbook, thousands of dive travel reviews by serous divers covering 300-plus destinations and operators, and preferred-subscriber emails monthly with exclusive discounts on dive travel (like a chartered Bahamas liveaboard this spring that we're featuring in this month's newsletter). My personal guarantee: All your money back, no questions asked, if you're not satisfied. Annual memberships are $39.95, monthly subscriptions are $4.95. Sign up here.

Rude Crews Ruining Your Dive Gear?:  November 18, 2011

What do you do when dive operators mishandle your dive gear, asks Undercurrent subscriber Harley Piltingsurd (Cincinnati, OH). "I have had several instances of having my equipment damaged by liveaboard crews. All of these have been when they throw equipment (tanks, with BCs and regulators attached) into a pile while picking up divers in pangas at the end of dives. I have had second stages crushed, compasses broken, etc. The dive operators don't seem to take any responsibility for this, yet you can't dive without putting your equipment in their hands." For a potential story in an upcoming issue, let us know if you've experienced the same. How did you handle this? What should one say to the operator? Did you feel you had to - or were you required to - prove the damage was the crew's fault? And what should you expect in return? E-mail me your replies at PublisherBenD@undercurrent.org.

Is This Dive Trip Worth the Cost?:  November 18, 2011

Our November issue kicks off with one of our undercover writers traveling aboard the boutique vessel Arenui in Indonesia and reporting, "It provided muck diving, strong currents that required reef hooks, bottomless reef walls and best of all, amazing new sightings daily." But at $5,200, was the trip worth it? Judge for yourself by reading the article we're providing free of charge. It's available from our homepage at Undercurrent.

Hunting Methods for Groupers and Goatfish:  November 18, 2011

On your next dive, keep an eye on these two types of fish. Swiss researcher Redouan Bshary has been tracking how they hunt their prey, and his interesting findings are detailed in this blog post from Discover magazine. The goatfish are one of the few examples of fish that hunt in groups, but they do so only when they're hunting among coral. The grouper's hunting buddy is the moray eel. Bshary saw that groupers visit the morays in their resting places and vigorously shake their heads as a call to arms. The groupers then lead the eels to a place where prey are hidden, and signal the right spot with more head shaking so the moray can slither in to investigate. The fish has two options: stay and be eaten by the eel, or flee and be picked off by the grouper. Click on the Discover blog link to watch a video of the hunting team in action.

The Scuba Snobs' Guide to Diving Etiquette:  November 18, 2011

Sport diving is laden with unspoken rules. We've published most of them over the years, but there is no single resource where the new diver, the first-time liveaboard diver, or the spouse of a longtime diver can turn to find them. At least, not until now. Dennis Jacobson has been diving for nearly 15 years, his wife Debbie for 10. Hooked on diving, they've traveled extensively, they've learned the rules, and they have observed too many of their fellow divers ignore the social rules that maintain order and composure in our sport. We published a few humorous but too-true excerpts in our November 2011 issue, read the rest by buying the book through us here.

The Fins Sharks Like Best:  November 18, 2011

Why did a dusky shark fatally bite an American diver during a baited shark dive in South Africa last summer? The dive operator thinks the shark was attracted to his fins. Read our November article about the fins, and what shark experts like Jim Abernethy and Ralph Collier have to say about the matter. It's available for free to read at Undercurrent.

Is This Your Camera?:  November 18, 2011

While on Crescent Beach near St. Augustine, FL, Mike Golubovich found an encrusted camera washed ashore. "I took the housing back to my workshop, pried it open with a screwdriver, and was astonished when the housing revealed a bone-dry camera," Golubovich told the Caymanian Compass. "After I changed the batteries, the camera turned on and 153 photos were available for review." Many seemed to have been shot at the U.S.S. Kittiwake wreck near Grand Cayman, 1,000 miles south of St. Augustine. As the camera had run out of battery power, the time and date defaulted to zero, so there's no record of when the photos were taken or the camera lost, but because the Kittiwake was sunk last January, the photos were taken this year. Some of the photos are posted on the Kittiwake's Facebook page as well as a St. Augustine Record story about the lost camera. Check them out and if you know who took them, put a post on the Facebook page or e-mail the Record reporter who wrote the story.

Got a prize-winning underwater video?:  November 18, 2011

The San Francisco Ocean Film Festival is calling for entries to be shown during its next festival March 8-11 festival. The focus is ocean-related topics: ocean exploration, conservation, marine wildlife, marine protected areas, coastal and island cultures, ocean sports like surfing and kayaking, and seafaring adventures. You have until December 15 to submit your short film, documentary, animation, feature, narrative, montage, or other traditional and experimental work. For more info, visit www.oceanfilmfest.org.

The 2012 Travelin' Diver's Chapbook:  November 18, 2011

All Undercurrent subscribers will be able to download the 600+ page online 2012 Travelin' Diver's Chapbook in early December -- we will email you the link to download it. This compendium of hundreds of reader reports from dive sites around the world by the world's most discriminating divers will be available online to all subscribers. And of course all subscribers can make their own Mini Chapbook of selected reports from any diving region in the world, including those filed that same day.

Subscribe now to ensure you get your Chapbook when it comes out.

What You’re Missing in This Month’s Issue:  November 18, 2011

Our undercover divers’ reviews of Arenui in Indonesia and Lion’s Dive Resort in Curacao . . . a mouthpiece to prevent “diver’s mouth” . . . the dive computers best suited for high-altitude diving . . . picks and pans in Australia, Grand Cayman and the Philippines . . . why the hyped-up Nautilus Lifeline is taking so long to reach stores . . . Tipping Point’s Malcolm Gladwell explains why divers panic . . . the scuba snobs’ guide to diving etiquette . . . is it a shark hunt or a witch hunt in Western Australia? . . . two good reads about Raja Ampat diving . . . questions arise about the safety of a manufacturer’s high-pressure hose . . . and 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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