scuba Archives - The Klute

April 1, 2022April 1, 2022

A Fool in Dakuwaqa’s Gardens: A Klute Dive-A-Long

What’s it like to Scuba Dive with sharks? Most of the time, it is a calm, ethereal experience. But some of the time, especially when the sharks know there is food to be had, the energy in the water changes. The sharks are still indifferent to us, but they can definitely let their presence be known!

This dive was at Beqa Lagoon in Fiji, where the sharks help support the communities of Beqa, Yanuca Island, and Korovisilou.

While the sharks are given incentive to show up, the dives are regulated amongst the local community dive shops to not stress the sharks – a strictly no-touch policy among the guest divers, and non-lethal, non-invasive deterrents are used when the sharks (here, the bull sharks) get a overly aggressive (you’ll see the shepherd staffs used once or twice).

I hope you enjoy this dive, and I encourage you look up the ways sharks enrich Fijian life, from the opportunities they give communities, to their place in traditional Fijian beliefs, art, and music!

(Filmed during the 2017 Shark Angels expedition to Fiji)

May 16, 2018May 14, 2018

May ReefBox Unboxing!

Finally, I’m all caught up. After March and April’s ReefBox unboxing – both which contained stuff mostly for stuff on the surface, I was looking forward to some stuff that I could use while I was underwater… And lo, once again, Reefbox delivers.

This month is the BCD Box, or if you’re strictly a land-dweller, “Buoyancy Compensator Device” – it’s basically how we divers stay down, and it’s (mostly) where we store all our gear underwater (well, where I do anyway). And there’s some cool stuff in here.

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May 13, 2018

March ReefBox Unboxing! Better Late Than Never!

Wow. I am so behind on these. I’ve just been so incredibly busy, what with work, getting ready for a year’s worth of dive trips, and Phoenix Comic Fest on the horizon, I just haven’t had a chance to sit down and review the cool stuff I’ve been getting from ReefBox. Divers, if you’ve got the money, sign up for it. It’s like getting a little present each month to yourself. Yeah, there’s redundancies, but the difference between a failed dive trip and a successful dive is redundancies. The night before you get on the plane or hop in the car, and you don’t have something, you’re going to be angry. Don’t be angry, get ReefBox.

And if you’re just starting out diving, over the past 3 months (YES I’M THAT FAR BEHIND), I’ve gotten stuff I would have loved as a new diver. It’s win-win.

So the March ReefBox was the “Dive Boat Essentials” box. Behold!

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February 19, 2018

February ReefBox Unboxing!

So, subscription services are all the rage these days. Everything from food to dog toys, it’s like getting a little gift (that you paid for) once a month. I really like the concept, and about a year and a half ago, I signed up for the Waterman’s Pack (which was meant for fishermen, surfers, and SCUBA divers), and happily, signed up to get a box in July, which was timed for Shark Week (check out my Shark Week reviews here at Nerdvana!). It was a box curated by Andy Casagande IV (the Shark Week veteran photographer and diver), and a portion of that month’s profits were donated to my friends at Shark Angels, who I wound up diving with 8 months later in Fiji. I got a nice little dive knife, and a few other things, including a print of an Andy Casagrande shark encounter.

And then a month later then ditched the fishermen and SCUBA divers portion of it, and started going marketing directly to watersports. I kept going for a month and got a tshirt and hat, but not really my thing, so I cancelled it.

And then thanks to the miracle of Facebook Targeted Advertising… I found ReefBox!

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