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Did you keep your mask and snorkel by your side
this weekend . . . . . .
RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY -
As of this writing (Sunday evening), it looks
like the atmospheric river storm moving on.
However, it also appears we'll get a final 1/2"
on Monday from around 6AM-6PM so we're not quite
out of this yet. Rainfall totals around the
region have varied but the official rain gauges
have measured anywhere from just under 2" to
just over 5". To put that in perspective, our
normal November rainfall averages around 3/4".
So we got the proverbial drenching.
Interestingly, I saw "Mark at the Park" on
FaceBook this morning and at 9AM there and it
looked sunny, flat calm seas, and the divers
reported visibility of around 30 feet. Go
figure.
2026 AVALON CLEANUP DATE ANNOUNCED -
Mark had another FB post where he confirmed the
date of next year's Avalon Underwater Cleanup:
Saturday, February 21.
WHAT A RIDE!!! -
Scientist were able to attach camera to the
backs of some whales recently and got an
unexpected surprise: They also got shots of the
remoras that hitch a ride on the backs of the
leviathans. Here's the link to a short video and
what's really fun is that you see the remoras at
the beginning and then the whale surfaces to
breathe and the flee, only to return as he
re-submerges: HITCHING
A RIDE.
DECEMBER 3 TABLES & COMPUTERS CLASS -
I mentioned this last week and we got a great
response as we now have eleven people signed up.
(Plus it's FREE!!!) This is a Zoom-based course
that will run from 7-9PM. Especially because
nowadays there's not much attention paid to the
principles behind what's going on inside your
body (nitrogen uptake) when we dive, the idea
here is to give you an overview, show you the
theory behind tables, and then see how that
translates to what your computer is telling you.
It's very informal, there's no written exam
(although I'll give you some downloadable
handouts you can play with), and especially if
you feel a bit flummoxed by how your computer
makes calculations, this might be for you. Send
me an e-mail or call 310/652-4990 to get signed
up. I'll send the Zoom link out around December
1.
WORKING ON THE 2026 CLASS/TRIP SKED -
I've also spent this week working on our class
and local trip sked for 2026. We don't do basic
open-water classes anymore (and haven't offered
them regularly since we closed the
brick-and-mortar store) so try to offer the
things we think you may not have learned when
you got certified. So we offer various beach
classes (including how to do easy surf entries),
the aforementioned Tables & Computers class, a
Photo Workshop, and more. All the academic class
ones are done on Wednesday evening via Zoom, the
Night Dive and Squid Dives (Squid Dives are
still free) happen on Thursdays, and the Beach
and Surf dives are on Saturdays. On top of that,
we'll do monthly day trips to Avalon's
Underwater Park on Wednesdays (less crowded)
where we'll get in three dives over the course
of the day. We'll have a downloadable, printable
full sked for you in the December newsletter as
well as on our website (www.reefseekers.com).
FOREIGN VACATION TRIPS TOO -
Reef Seekers is well-known for our escorted
foreign trips and we've got a number of them
planned for 2026. Yap and the Philippines are
already sold out but we had a couple of
cancellations on our July Indonesia trip so
that's a possibility if you're interested. And
we've been looking at 2027 already, specifically
planning something around the August 2 total
solar eclipse that will be visible in Luxor,
Egypt. We plan to be there with a diving portion
(not necessarily the Red Sea) to follow and with
one option being to make this a true
around-the-world trip where we can start in
L.A., head east to Egypt, then continue eastward
to dive, and finish up by still heading east and
arriving back in LA. Work-in-progress (some of
you have already expressed interest) with
specific details down the road.
DRONES AND WHALE SNOT -
You'd think the two don't mix but through an
amazing happenstance, they not only do, but are
also giving researchers more insight into whale
behavior and the like. You can read about it
here: FLYING
WITH WHALES.
And thatll do it for now. Have a great week and
let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken |
