Remember that it's "Roasting chestnuts" not "Roasting Chestnut Cowries" . . .

GIVE THE GIFT OF ROATAN - If you're trying to think of a unique gift for someone on your list, how about a nice trip to Roatan at the end of June? If you want to see someone smiling bigly, have them open a gift certificate for a dive trip. That'll put a smile on their face. We can work with you on presentation. And you're not limited to a gift certificate for Roatan. If there's something else you want to get your special diver and we can get ti for you, we can either get the physical item (hopefully in time) or do a custom gift certificate. E-mal us or call 310/652-4990 and we'll figure it all out.

L.A. ZOO LIGHTS - The L.A. Zoo in Griffith Park each year does a thing called "L.A. Zoo Lights: Animals Aglow" which features dozens wire sculptures that are lit up internally all around the zoo. These all feature some of the zoo animals - and some marine creatures too - as you meander around. Tickets are $29 and you can get more info and order tix here: L.A. ZOO LIGHTS. I'm going Wednesday evening. The whole thing runs through January 5. Here's what one of the displays from last year looked like:

PLEASANT SURPRISE - As many of you know, we had a "interesting" time getting to Palau on our last trip. I suggested to many of our group who were delayed along with me, that if they had travel insurance (and most of them did), that the insurance would likely cover the additional cost of the re-booked plane ticket and other incidentals related to the delay. In my case, I hadn't gotten any insurance for this trip. But I just got some credit card documents in the mail over the weekend and I realized that the Chase United Club Card that I use for 99% of my personal and Reef Seekers travel comes with travel insurance for anything you paid for with the card. And it covers travel interruption. So I've filed a claim with them and hope to get back the price difference in airfare ($1,800) along with the money we lost on the hotel night ($600) that we never used. And I'm mentioning all of this to you because when you travel with us (and likely on your own as well), although most of you pay cash for the trip itself, most of you also book your own airfare (with our guidance) and pay for that with a credit. So the lesson here is to check whatever credit card(s) you use for travel and see if there's some travel protection provided by that card for purchases made with the card. You may be surprised and find you've got coverage when you thought you'd have to eat any additional charges or fees.

And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving together somewhere soon!!!

- Ken