Dear Dirty Dozen Team Member, 

How has your week been? All is noisy on the western front as new research shines a hopeful light on air travel, communications from one of our members underwater in Galapagos and we take it back to the old school with the return of our retro merch!

PLANE and simple

New insight into the safety of air travel amid the pandemic reveals the risk of COVID-19 exposure onboard United Airlines aircraft is "virtually non-existent".

The new study finds that when masks are worn there is only a 0.003% chance particles from a passenger can enter the passenger's breathing space who is sitting beside them.

Per these results, it would take a minimum of 54 hours of sitting next to someone with Covid-19 to be exposed to an infectious dose.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to questions regarding the potential risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure that may lead to transmission amongst passengers on an aircraft. This brand-new landmark study from the Department of Defense and United Airlines conducted 300 tests in over six months with dummies in-flight to examine the possible spread of droplets.

Overcoming the difficulties of human tracking in real-life transmission scenarios by using the aerosol expelling dummies, fluorescent aerosol tracers between 1-3 µm, and real-time optical sensors coupled with DNA-tagged tracers to measure aerosol deposition means that the test team completed the largest aircraft aerosol experimental validation testing to date, with eight days of testing involving both inflight and ground tests on Boeing 777-200 and 767-300 airframes. 

The results concluded that passengers wearing masks are at very low risk of contracting Covid-19 on planes, even during packed flights. The results state that the aggressive air filtration and circulation systems on planes lead to the near-immediate dispersal of particles carrying the infection. With United as our airline of choice for Truk Lagoon and Bikini Atoll we are very happy to find out about this great study with DOD.

DD IN GALAPAGOS

We have had some good news from the Galapagos Islands! One of our DD team members, DJ Meacham has been having a wild time taking advantage of one of the great end of year deals we had to the Galapagos.

We received this update once he was back in the signal range:

"F'in amazing!!!  It was amazing! I loved Darwin and Wolfe Islands, they were the real showstoppers but the other dive sites were good too. 

The crew and the boat were both outstanding.

The water was really cold so I would recommend bringing a drysuit.  Darwin and Wolfe not too bad temperature-wise but the other dives- yikes!  I brought an 8mm Hollis NeoTek suit with me and wished for my drysuit!

We went to visit the Mola Mola but they did not appear.  We only had whale sharks instead!!! I got some amazing footage of that dive, it was sensational.  The sharks were incredible too.

When we arrived we had to be tested for COVID within 72 hours of arriving in San Cristobal arranged by the staff.  You also have the option to do a test when you arrive in Quito, either way, no big deal.

Internet sucks!  I'll send more pics when we hit land!"

We have also received news of a marine life update from the Galapagos Cruise Director's Report dated: 5th-12th October 2020

"We greeted our 10 guests at San Cristobal with perfect conditions and 16°C water temperatures - ideal for sightings.  Our cruise commenced the next day with a visit to the Island of Seymour where we saw the first of many sea lions and plenty of birds, including blue-footed boobies!  The guests loved this. This visit was followed by diving off the Island of Baltra, with 19°C water temperatures - for a check dive. 

We then sailed to Darwin to the north of the islands, where we did seven dives.  Amazingly, we had 19 encounters with whale sharks!  Perhaps a record.  Not only that, but we saw a humpback whale and many many hammerheads and Galapagos sharks.  It was a real treat.
 
On Wolf Island, we lost count of the hammerhead sharks we saw.  We also saw a fantastic school of tuna and one of the eagle rays.  We moved on to Isabela where we dived at Vicente Roca Point.  There we were treated to a great variety - seahorses, turtles and bullhead sharks.  Cape Douglas on Fernandina Island came next.  The guests loved the marine iguanas - in a very calm sea.
 
Finally, in Cousin's Rock, we did two dives.  We were spoilt again with sea lions and eagle rays, mobulas and white fin sharks. 

We ended our trip with a visit to the tortoise breeding center in Santa Cruz.  Everyone had a fantastic time.  It is GREAT to be back!"

We are so happy to hear DJ had a good time and this is a great indicator for the many DD members that have taken us up on the 40% off Galapagos offers that are valid until end of 2020.

Contact us now if you would like more information.

Here are some of DJ’s photos from the trip:

NEW MERCHANDISE

Due to popular demand, we have been taking it back to the old times this week and designing some classic DD merch! Our original logo back/front designs are now back in our shop!

Now featuring the original DD signature style logo, it is time to shop ‘til you drop the new range of hoodys, tees, smart polos and freshen up that style as we head into fall.

Click on the pictures to visit our shop where you may check our out the retro vibes, and all our exclusive DDE merch out.

Aron even brought back our Retro pin-up design for his own wardrobe.

We have made this design available for one week only! Get it while you can!

Well, that’s about it from us guys this week. Back to dreaming about all the unearthly underwater adventures ahoy. Drop us a line now to find out all about our trips, schedules and super friendly payment terms now.

As always, we hope you have some fun plans coming up this weekend but if not, don’t forget, if you are feeling lonely then we are here to chat Dirty.

Love,

Aron Arngrímsson and the DDE Team