The Wandering Waterman

On Dec 29th Elmer Munk, a pioneer in the sport of Scuba Diving, passed away at his family home. Mark Zaloudek of Herald Tribune had this to say:

Elmer Munk Scuba Pioneer

Munk was an avid fisherman living in Evanston, Ill., when a newspaper article in 1956 about scuba diving caught his attention.

He took his first dive the following year and lobbied his local YMCA to offer a scuba diving course.

In 1959 he completed the Y’s first course nationwide for certifying diving instructors and instructor trainers, and by 1961 was teaching a scuba course at his Y.

“When I started diving it was literally just getting started in this country,” he told the Herald-Tribune.

Munk turned his hobby into a career when he opened Elmer’s Water Sports in the Chicago area in 1971.

He later helped develop courses in underwater search and rescue techniques, night diving and other advanced skills.(more)

I hope to make it as far as he did, and to be just as influential in this sport. Because of guys like Munk you’re able to enjoy your time underwater, so next time you’re at a dive site and you’re hoping that grizzled old dude with the ancient gear doesn’t start talking to you, take a step back and say hi, without guys, and gals, like them, we wouldn’t be enjoying this sport.

Become the old person in this sport yourself….

Ed Zieralski of the Union-Tribune reported on the following story January 10, 2009

Some local scuba divers and an executive chef combined this week to eliminate a controversial seafood item from a menu for a Chinese New Year celebration.

Scuba-diving enthusiast Carl Robbins noticed the menu in an advertising flyer from Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino.

Among the offerings was shark fin soup, the controversial Asian delicacy that relies on the fins of sharks, some of which are finned and released in a mutilated state back into the sea. The practice is being blamed for a decrease in shark populations around the world.

The Year of the Ox, which commences Jan. 26, was going to be started with some fin of the shark, which traces its beginnings to the Ming Dynasty in the mid-1300s. (more)

Yeah, it’s part of a culture, and I tend to respect most cultural traditions, but when you’re obviously advancing the demise of a species, maybe it’s time to change those traditions. Every culture has changed traditions with the times, even the tribes that ate humans (not just South Pacific tribes BTW) don’t do that anymore and it was a HUGE part of the culture. Time to take a second look at what’s really important…

Back in August, Scuba Herald posted this story, based on a study from Oceana:

Sorry, no bulk deals!

Oceana released the results of a new study today that finds a strong economic incentive for protecting living ocean resources. Sea the Value: Quantifying the Value of Marine Life to Divers shows that scuba divers are willing to pay more to see healthy corals, sharks and sea turtles.

Divers are personally invested in the oceans and truly understand the importance of safeguarding marine wildlife and habitats,” said Suzanne Garrett, dive program coordinator at Oceana. “Divers are avid participants in ecotourism and show a great willingness to protect all that inhabits the oceans.”(more)

It goes on to give an average additional amount that divers are willing to pay:

Sea Turtles: $29.63 per dive (annual value: $177.8 million)
Sharks: $35.36 per dive (annual value: $212.2 million)
Healthy Corals: $55.35 per dive (annual value: $332.1 million)

So, taking the economic debacle we’re in right now, will this also be affected by free market practices? “Um, how about I give you $125 for three sea turtle and two shark sightings? I mean, the guy down the street is offering the same for $130, PLUS he’s offering a family of seahorses! oh, and since I’m paying cash, how about no tax?”

I’m all for paying more to actually see stuff, especially if I’m the one being paid, but honestly, I’m happy just being underwater regardless of what I see. I don’t even mine the Discount Kelp Bass and Garibaldi at Catalina! “We’ve got too many, so we’re offering ‘em cheap,cheap,cheap!”

Scuba Herald posted this article on January 14th, 2009:

Most people don’t look forward to tackling the pile of un-ironed clothes in their laundry basket.
And for John Lynch the decision to pick up an iron on Saturday ended up with him in deep water.
As the 38-year-old from Sheringham laboured over an ironing board, he was 12m under water and wearing scuba gear.
Mr Lynch was joined by 130 other divers in a former quarry in Chepstow, Gloucestershire, as he tried to break a world record in the sport of extreme ironing under water.
The current holders of most people ironing under the waves or surface is held by 72 Australians.(more)

The divers then decided to start a daily laundry service. Fluff and fold will be offered, but DRY cleaning is not an option…

Sheesh, what’s next, Underwater silver polishing?

Just read the following piece:

Today, President Bush designated three areas of the Pacific Ocean as marine national monuments. By designating these areas as national monuments, the Administration ensures that the marine environment will receive the highest level of environmental recognition and conservation. Destruction or extraction of protected resources within the boundaries of these monuments will be prohibited, as will commercial fishing in the coral reef ecosystem areas of the monuments. Scientific and recreational activities may be permitted consistent with the care and management of the protected resources of these monuments. For marine life and seabirds, these places will be sanctuaries to grow and thrive.

* Combined, these designations represent the largest fully protected area in the world. Under the President’s plan, 195,274* square miles will be conserved.

(more)

We now have the following new Monuments
1.) Marianas Trench Marine National Monument
2.) The Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument
3.) The Rose Atoll Marine National Monument

It’s about time something positive happened to the Ocean under this administration! Tours to all 3 Monuments will be starting up as soon as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Hot Dog on a Stick finish building they’re underwater storefronts!

Seriously, this is a step in the right direction, hopefully we keep going that way.

Wow! My last post was October 6th, 2008! 4 months fly by when life is kicking you in the nuts, doesn’t it! Alright, maybe I’m being a bit over dramatic, but things have been CRAZY! Though not difficult, life never really is, is it? We make it difficult, Life just is…

Anyways, let’s pour a cup of coffee, or tea, sit back and get re-acquainted. Lots has gone on, but I won’t bore you with the small stuff.

First big piece of news: The Travel Channel, bought, and aired, my La Paz trip on January 5th… at 6 in the morning, so you might have missed it… but I don’t mind, because MY WORK WAS SHOWN ON A MAJOR CABLE CHANNEL!!!!! Just a bit psyched about it, so bear with me. I’ve requested a copy of the show, hopefully they’ll send me a dvd and I’ll post the clip up here for you guys to see. Now I have to re-edit my Fiji footage, and the new La Paz footage I have.

Which leads me to the second thing, my last dive trip of 2008 was back to La Paz to look for Whale Sharks and dive with Hammerheads…. which didn’t happen, because apparently someone forgot to tell them that I was coming down to shoot footage of them… damn talent…. Nevertheless, it was still a great trip, did some great diving, the conditions were awesome! Warm water, got 86f on a daily basis, visibility was good, and the sealife was pretty stunning! Last time I was there I got to see my first sea turtle, and this time I got to see not one, but two, seahorses! Yes, I get easily excited when I see stuff underwater, even though I’ve seen Moray Eels more times than I can remember, I still get just excited when I look into a crack and see a little beady eye staring at me, or the gaping maw of one of those suckers coming out. Maybe it’s just me, but I would get excited even if I was looking at one little gold fish swimming around, because Hey, I’m underwater and not behind some piece of glass!

On that trip I did get caught in a minor hurricane, just the outskirts of it really, nothing too exciting, but what was really cool is I got to meet one of Diving’s, and underwater photography’s, pioneers Joe Liburdi who was just a great guy. Even though he showed up a few days after I did, and was hosting his own dive group, he brought me into the group, not only inviting me to eat with them, but insisting I dive with them as well. That was a great experience and if you ever get a chance to go on a dive trip with him, you won’t regret it, I swear. It’ll be a great experience!

So, that being my last dive trip I hunkered down and helped my wife out in her store, YOLK. We were getting ready for the holiday season, and to be honest, a bit worried due to the economy. I spent a lot of time pouring over the numbers in the back, figuring out promotions, making phone calls, while she busted her butt putting the store together, working the floor, bringing in beautiful products and just being the boss woman. After all was said and done, the year ended well, we survived the economic doomsayers and had a decent holiday season, being the neighborhood gift store for Silver Lake is a good thing for us.

The holiday season is over, the shop is back to normal, the sun has been shining in L.A., and I’ve been itching to go diving. Will be going out to Catalina in the next few weeks, including the 21st of February to participate in the Avalon Harbor 2009 Underwater Cleanup which you’re totally invited to join in on. You like having a chamber nearby incase you get bent while diving? Well this event pays for that chamber, so donate, or participate, because you may never need it, but you’ll be glad it’s there if you ever do!

What’s on the horizon? Well, I’m off to Utila in March to swim with Whale Sharks! (you’ll need to be on Facebook to see the info) Should be a great trip, they’ve already started spotting them! Also planning on doing a trip down to Cozumel, either with my buddy Lorenzo, in June, or maybe with a much smaller, more exclusive group in July. Depending on what I decide for Cozumel, I’ll also be heading out to North Carolina to dive Wreck Alley where there a number of WWII wrecks, including a German Sub the Coast Guard sank, along with a few Sand Tiger Sharks that love to make these wrecks their home! Rounding out the year, I’m hoping to have a reunion with a few friends I made while working at the Walkabout in Newquay, England back in 2004. I want to shoot a diving trip with the lot of us, and, quite frankly, just want to see them all, it’s been too long!

Anyways, thanks for reading all this, the next few posts will be significantly shorter, and much more visually appealing for all you ADD addled, MTV raised, non-reading fans out there! I’ll be posting all new video and photos here in the next few weeks, plus some new reviews, including one on Canon’s new G1o camera and housing, Sealife’s Universal Strobe, Pinnacle’s Evo2 Drysuit, and much much more, so keep coming back!

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