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Don't Hide Your Mistakes
Not a Wreck Dive
Boat Kills Florida Spearfisherman
Troublesome Lionfish in the Mediterranean
Wish You Could Hold Your Breath Longer?
Warmer Seas Are Causing Big Fish to Die
Diver Makes a Dramatic Rescue
Fragments of Glass Fiber Found in Seafood
Drone Dangers
Undercurrent Is More Than Its Newsletter

Don't Hide Your Mistakes.   July 17, 2024

Too often, we think making mistakes is a sign of weakness, so we prefer to keep them quiet. This month in Undercurrent, Senior Editor John Bantin admits to making quite a few while diving. In fact, he has made a career out of publicizing his diving errors because he believes others can learn from them. So, despite his critics presuming he was an idiot who should not be diving, he continued to tell all. We must share our mistakes to instruct others. Don't be ashamed to reveal yours. You will help to save the lives of others. Let us know the mistakes you've gotten away with while diving. Write to BenDDavison@undercurrent.org, including your town and state. If you wish to remain anonymous, let us know.

Not a Wreck Dive:   July 17, 2024

Cozumel almost had a new wreck dive, as a small single-engine air taxi crashed in shallow water off Playa Casitas on July 13. Military divers conducting exercises nearby rushed to save the pilot, the only person on board. The wreck was removed from the water the following day.

Boat Kills Florida Spearfisherman.   July 17, 2024

An investigation was underway after a man spearfishing was struck and killed by a boat in the Florida Keys on July 5, off Mile Marker 39. The boat, which didn't hang around, was described as a 32-foot Contender with a white T-top, white hull, and blue paint on the bottom, with twin white Mercury outboard engines.

Troublesome Lionfish in the Mediterranean.   July 17, 2024

Warmer sea temperatures are to blame for lionfish migrating across the Mediterranean. At first, their fry, transported in the bilges of ships transiting the Suez Canal from the Red Sea, did not survive the previously cold waters, but due to climate change, they are becoming increasingly problematic in the Mediterranean, just as they are in the Caribbean. They eat pretty much anything and can wipe out local fish stocks. (BBC Wildlife Magazine)

Wish You Could Hold Your Breath Longer?  July 17, 2024

Indonesian's Bajau people are the first known humans to adapt genetically to breath-hold diving. Often referred to as Sea Gypsies, they're highly skilled free divers and spearfishers, possessing extraordinary lung capacities. They can dive down to 230 feet using just weights and a pair of wooden goggles. When anyone is submerged in water, the spleen contracts to inject oxygenated red blood cells into the circulation, increasing oxygen in a human's blood by nine percent. Cambridge University scientists believe that the Bajau have a genetic adaptation that increases thyroid hormone levels and their spleen size.

Warmer Seas Are Causing Big Fish to Die.  July 17, 2024

Hundreds of large pelagics, including highly mobile bull sharks, manta rays, and tuna, along with slower-moving whale sharks, convict surgeonfish, bigeye trevallies, and common blacktip sharks, died in a mass mortality event in 2021, discovered when their bodies washed up on South Africa beaches. Fleeing overly heated waters off the coast, they suddenly swam into an upwelling of cold bottom water. The cause of death was confirmed recently from data on a satellite tag tracking a bull shark's movements. Incidents like this appear to be getting more common as changing currents bring potentially lethal consequences for marine life. (Daily Kos)

Diver Makes a Dramatic Rescue.   July 17, 2024

After a collision with another vehicle on a coastal road in Spain's Costa del Sol in early July, a car plunged 100 feet off a cliff, somersaulting several times before crashing into the sea. Although the car landed upside down with its roof submerged, a nearby freediver reached inside the vehicle to feel for the occupant, and a hand grabbed him. He rescued the injured driver and saved his life.

Fragments of Glass Fiber Found in Seafood.  July 17, 2024

Scientists at the universities of Portsmouth and Brighton (UK) found tiny glass shards, just a fraction of a millimeter long, in shellfish from England's south coast. The needle-shaped fragments of glass fiber, or glass-reinforced plastic, were so sharp that some had speared the animals' tissue. More than 2,700 microscopic fragments were found per kilo of mussels. (Sky News)

Drone Dangers.  July 17, 2024

As more and more divers take personal drones on trips to get remarkable overhead footage of dive sites and boats, a scientist, Grace Russell of Southern Cross University in Australia, found that using lowing-flying drones to study marine mammals affected the animals' behavior. Disturbing any animal's natural behavior can have troubling consequences, such as interrupting historical migration routes or making hunting activity more difficult. Maybe divers should leave them at home. (TCD)

Undercurrent Is More Than Its Newsletter.  July 17, 2024

Your independent Reader's 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 12,000 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 this year's Chapbook, which will be sent to readers in early 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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