This is wet notes on scuba shaq radio for sunday february twenty eighth two thousand and twenty one. Well i up today. I'm going to do an update on dry suit talq now ever since i've owned a dry suit i've been using those little pouches of talk to dust my wrist seals and neck seals. And that makes it easier to put on especially if it gets a little humid. Well we used to get these little pouches from magnet who then became gear aid when we could no longer get them from juried. We switched to getting them from diving unlimited international or dui. Recently we ran low on these talca pouches. Wanted to order some more. But do you. I stopped producing those talk pouches. I guess i'm guessing near some concern around. The safety of talk i noticed has been in news over recent years. So donna reached out to peak from dui and he suggested cornstarch to dust are seals. Make sure you do it every time now. That sounds a little strange to me. But it looks like people are using it in place of the talq. We'll give it a try. And i'll let you know how goes cornstarch. It's not just for cooking next up. Is things start opening up and we travel outside the country. We're going to need to get tested for in nineteen before we can come back well. Resorts are out there. And they're starting to accommodate their customers and making it easier to get tested. So for example. I just saw where enroll roett to resorts. The turquoise bay dive resort and the mayan princess beach dive resort are offering onsite cova testing on thursdays and fridays. And then what happens. Is you'll get electronic. Results are available in three hours. And then you'll have a hard copy the next day now you still have to pay for it in a costs about fifty bucks. Then i also check the cocoa view site down there and roett tan and it looks like they are also offering onsite testing but their prices coming in at eighty five dollars so it looks like if you're going to travel to row attend you'll find it easier to get tested for corona virus and get back home as long as you test negative but i think more and more of these dive operators out there are going to provide that cova testing or options for people so that you can go travel and then make it easier for you to get back home. Also last i think a couple of weeks ago. The president of the united states signed executive order. One three nine eight and with that executive order it mandated. That masks are to be worn on all public maritime vessels including ferries. What does that mean for dive boats. Well deana did. Some research and found out that this mandate includes commercial vessels used for dive charters and dive related activities. You'll need to be masked up upon boarding disembarking and the duration of travel. Obviously this can only apply to us. Operators i think this makes sense and i'm sure common sense will prevail given our unique circumstances when we go diving way back in the beginning of two thousand twenty i did a segment on dive travel insurance then in mid two thousand and twenty. I noticed the divers alert network. Dan their travel insurance was not available on their website is back now. However there was a short article on dive newswire that indicated that there are qualified cove in nineteen related cancellation and interruptions covered. There's a lot of detail on their website. You can read through. Essentially they cover prepaid travel arrangements. If you your host at your destination you traveling companion or family member test positive for covid. Nineteen there's also levels of coverage while traveling but you need to do your research. The good news however is that the dan travel insurance is back and it looks like they are helping to try and address the corona virus issues. It's always a good day when i go out to the mailbox and that the latest issue of the journal of diving history has arrived. That happened earlier this week. The cover of the first quarter two thousand twenty one magazine features to five women who made up the team of tech tight to mission six dash fifty. Which was america's first off female saturation team. The five women included peggy lucas. An hurley hotline renata lynch true elena schmidt and sylvia earle the journal of diving history. Formerly historical. diver magazine is the official magazine of the historical diving society. Usa and is part of your membership. I can't wait to dive into all the articles i saw. The other day that there's been a an oil spill off the coast of israel and lebanon and it's impacting over one hundred miles of coastline. Now what's a little disconcerting about this is that they don't know where this is coming from this washing up on the beaches. It's the seems like there's some sort of gag order on the release of information. I'm just not sure why there was. Also a thin whale washed up on the beach apparently with oil in its loans. They say this is undoing. Much of the progress made over the last thirty years. Let's hope they figure out where this is coming from or where it came from. And if they're able to minimize the impacts and finally here's some really big news in the scuba industry especially related to scuba tanks. Luxembourg is getting out of the aluminum tank business on february twenty third. Luxor held their fourth quarter and full year. Two thousand and twenty analysts call and that's where they announced their divestiture of their aluminum product lines now. The rationale according to their press release is that they wanted to focus on high performance magnesium alloys zirconium catalysts and high pressure composite cylinders. Guess to profit margin. Just wasn't there on the aluminum tanks. They plan on selling those two aluminum forming operations in the united states and one in the in the uk. But we don't know who they're going to sell it to just yet more to come on. This is it as it. Unfolds now luxembourg. They produced a lot of tanks. And there's a lot of them out there and we're going to see what that does to the supply chain as we move forward. Well that's it for wet notes for february twenty eighth two thousand and twenty one here on scuba shock radio