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P.O.
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(310) 652-4990
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THIS
WEEK (AUGUST 7-14) AT REEF SEEKERS DIVE
CO.
(Please scroll down a bit for all the info, text, pictures, & links.)
NEW
----->
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2022 - FULL
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"Thirteen
Lives," Rip Currents, and more
(please scroll down for details)
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Lots to
share this week . . .
"THIRTEEN LIVES" MOVIE REVIEW - The
short version is . . . WOW!!! A
fabulously well-crafted and gripping
interpretation of the 2018 harrowing
rescue of the 12 Thai boys and their
soccer coach from a flooded cave where
they were trapped. From a movie-making
standpoint, it can be hard to keep an
audience engrossed in a film when they
already know the ending. But director
Ron Howard has done a masterful job. And
even though there are known actors
(Colin Farrell and Viggo Morternsen) in
the two lead roles, their fame doesn't
detract from the story. I also thought
they both, especially Farrell, gave
nice, understated performances. The
film-makers used an interesting
technique in the beginning that normally
I find annoying but which I thought
actually enhanced the overall feel of
the film here. Everyone spoke in their
native language which meant, especially
for the first part of the film,
everything was in Thai with subtitles.
As the English rescuers got involved,
then the focus switched to their
perspective and it was mostly in English
(with only occasional subtitles).
Especially effective I thought, and even
if you're not a cave diver (which I am
not), you'll appreciate this as this
film also touches on the politics at
play during the entire process (which
took 18 days from when they were first
trapped until the last one was rescued).
During the underwater sequences as
they're squeezing themselves through
narrow cracks and crevices, you hear
tanks banging on rocks, you hear
breathing, you hear exhaust bubbles, and
for a diver watching this, it simply
adds to the realism. I've also seen "The
Rescue" (released in October of 2021)
which takes more of a
documentary/interviews/re-creation tack
(and which is also excellent) but
"Thirteen Lives" definitely puts you
right into the middle of everything.
Interestingly, BOTH films could be up
for Oscars next year as Best Documentary
and Best Film. But "Thirteen Lives" is
absolutely worth spending 2½ hours
watching. It's available streaming on
Amazon Prime (which is how I watched it)
as well as in movie theaters. Click on
the pix below to view the official
trailer:
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ZOOM SEEKERS THIS TUESDAY - We're
delighted to offer another edition of
Zoom Seekers this Tuesday, starting at
7:30PM. Our guest speaker will be Selena
McMillan who is the Southern California
Regional Manager for Reef Check
California. As you may or may not know,
Reef Check, while it started here is
SoCal, is a worldwide organization now,
with a presence in more than 40
countries and territories around the
world. And the really cool thing is that
they're the epitome of "citizen
science," the idea that lay people with
an interest in the ocean but without a
degree, can help advance our knowledge
of what's what with a little training.
Selena will be talking about Reef
Check's projects and will also explain
how you can get involved. Here's the
link for the talk:
REDONDO RIP-TIDES - I
got an interesting picture from Kiersten
Lo last week that clearly shows four
riptide currents forming south of
Redondo along the Palos Verdes
coastline. You can clearly see (red
arrows) them and can see how they can
drag you away from shore. But you can
also seer that they don't extend out
very far and why, if you're ever caught
in one, the strategy is to ride it out
for a bit, then swim parallel to shore
far enough to get out of it, and then
you can come in. Rips generally occur
over sandy bottoms and small sandbars
form which means water returning from
the beach can get channeled between
sandbars, and becomes really strong.
Definitely too strong to swim against.
The picture from Kiersten (taken on July
20) is below.
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AVALON ON AUGUST 17 - Just
a reminder that we're planning our
August Avalon day trip for next week, on
Wednesday, August 17. We'll go over on
the 7:30AM Express out of San Pedro.
$175 covers you for the boat, taxi
to/from the Park, tank rental (AL80 -
ST80 available for an extra $5) and
airfills, and mucho fun. Hopefully we'll
get some good Giant Sea Bass encounters
as this is a good time of the year to
see them. If you're interested in
joining us, let me know via e-mail or
with a call to 310/652-4990.
MORE ON CLIMATE CHANGE - It's
in the news today as part of the
"Inflation Reduction Act" passed by the
Senate Sunday and also seems to have
factored in to the flash floods last
week that closed parts of Death Valley
and trapped some people inside as well.
And now it's causing changes in the sex
of newly-hatched turtles. Scientists
have known for years that the
temperature of the sand in which turtle
eggs are laid determines the sex of the
hatchlings, with warmer sand producing
females and cooler sand producing males.
A study in Florida - and a similar one
in Australia - has found that 99% of the
turtles being hatched are females due to
warmer-than-usual sand. And while
"Jurassic Park" taught that us natures
indeed DOES find a way, in real life a
male-less turtle population is likely
not good. You can read more about it
here: WARM
SAND MAKING FOR ALL-FEMALE TURTLES.
BUT SOME GOOD NEWS TOO - While
Australia's Great Barrier Reef still
remains vulnerable to coral bleaching, a
recent study there showed that 2/3 of
the GBR is showing the most coral cover
that's been seen in 36 years. It is
hopefully a positive sign that the reef
can recover from what for the past few
years has been describing as a
devastating loss of coral due to
bleaching. Read more about this here: GBR
SHOWING SIGNS OF RECOVERY.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great
week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
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Ken Kurtis
Owner - Reef Seekers Dive Co.
NAUI Instructor #5936
 
© 2022 Reef Seekers Dive Co. All Rights
Reserved.
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