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Catastrophe at Cocos Island
The Perfect Gift for a Dive Buddy
A Taste of Undercurrent
Eight Great Liveaboards (and One Disaster) plus Eight Great Dive Resorts (and One Dog)
Want to Dive Palau’s Jellyfish Lake?
Buying Travel Insurance?
Stop Using this OMS Regulator

Catastrophe at Cocos Island  December 12, 2017

On 30th November, a 49-year-old American lady diver, Rohina Bhandari, a private equity director from New York City, was fatally bitten by a tiger shark while ascending in a group from a dive at Manuelita Island. Despite some medics aboard the boat as tourists, they were unable to save her. The dive guide Jiménez, from the liveaboard, MV Sea Hunter, was also severely bitten but survived. It’s thought to be the first such unwarranted shark attack in the area. Full story in the Undercurrent, January edition.

The Perfect Gift for a Dive Buddy  December 12, 2017

That would be Tropical Ice, the facing moving scuba thriller written by the founder of Undercurrent. Set in Belize at Capt. Jack's Rum Point Inn, the opening chapter will knock your socks off, followed by a dangerous night dive, the discovery of sharks fins on a remote cay, rich men poaching jaguars, and a beautiful owner of a rain forest lodge with her own deep secrets. Click here to order an autographed copy (we'll email you to see how you want it inscribed) and we’ll send it priority mail, in time for Christmas. Or get it from Amazon by clicking here. Prefer non-fiction? What about Amazing Diving Stories by Undercurrent’s senior editor John Bantin? Click here.

A Taste of Undercurrent  December 12, 2017

We recently asked our paid subscribers many questions about liveaboard safety. Whey if the liveaboard they booked on was properly insured? What if, as a passenger, they suffer loss or injury? What if they slipped down the steps of a wet companionway and broke their back? Will they take the boat's operator to court, probably in some far-off country -- where most liveaboards are flagged -- with a dubious reputation for legal outcomes? Undercurrent looked at the possibilities and discovered some alarming allegations. You can read-it-for-free here.

Eight Great Liveaboards (and One Disaster) plus Eight Great Dive Resorts (and One Dog)  December 12, 2017

Undercurrent is in its 43rd year of publication and if you give a membership a try, I’ll give you get these two 40-page books free. Undercurrent is the ad-free monthly guide for serious divers, with first-hand resort and liveaboard reviews from our incognito writers who pay their own way, as well as the latest on diver safety, health, equipment problems and much much more. If you join, you can download these free books or, if you live in the US or Canada, I can mail you hard copies. Then each month you will receive in your inbox our 20-page, advertisement-free, issue. If you don’t like it, I’ll refund your payment, yet both books are yours to keep. Sign up here for a $19 seven-month trial subscription and join the more than 10,000 experienced divers who read us regularly.

Want to Dive Palau’s Jellyfish Lake?  December 12, 2017

You’ll be disappointed. Palau suffered a severe drought in 2016, the worst in the past 65 years, and combined with the effects of El Niño, millions of Golden Jellyfish in the famous Jellyfish Lake have vanished. Until the baby jellyfish grow to adulthood in the next cycle, you will have wait to swim with them.

Buying Travel Insurance?  December 12, 2017

We are all guilty of trying to get the least expensive travel insurance deal possible. It’s only when we need to file a claim that we check the small print of the policy -- often to our dismay. Insurance companies are not beneficent uncles waiting to make you financially whole, even if their advertising promises that. They’re in the game to make money and pay out only when they must. And that’s the test – whether they pay out. Have you had to file a claim? Did they step up to the plate? Write and tell, not forgetting your town and state. BenDDavison@undercurrent.org

Stop Using this OMS Regulator  December 12, 2017

If you have an Ocean Management System Airstream Evoque regulator, stop using it immediately. Taiwanese-made, they were sold between February and June, not only though Diving Unlimited International (DUI) dealers, but also online through divegearexpress.com and DiveDUI.com. If you have one, return it to where you bought it for a full refund. Three divers, DUI reports, have had serious failures and the regulator is at serious risk of catastrophic loss of air during a dive. If you still have one, get rid of it. www.divedui.com

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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