Archive for February, 2010
February 25, 2010 at 9:10 PM · Filed under Uncategorized
Aguila de Osa Inn is located in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, situated on a high bluff overlooking the Aguitas river with panoramic views of Drake Bay.
Reaching out into the Pacific Ocean along the southwest coast, the Osa was once described by National Geographic as one of the most biologically intense places on earth. Encompassing Corcovado National Park and Caño Island, two of Costa Rica’s most prized protected areas, the Osa Peninsula is a priceless natural treasure with an abundance of tropical plants, mammals, insects and over 350 species of birds.
No other region of Costa Rica offers the visitor a more pristine, virgin environment to discover. The Aguila de Osa Inn offers visitors to the region a comfortable and private refuge from which to explore the magic and beauty of mother nature in all her glory and complexity.
For the scuba enthusiasts the Osa Peninsula offers countless excursions and endless encounters. With Costa Rica’s finest Pacific coastal diving and snorkeling, the clear waters surrounding Caño Island Biological Reserve can be best described as a garden of spectacular coral and rock formations.
Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, advanced diver, or just snorkeling, the variety of rich and abundant marine life will amaze you. Teeming with exotic sea life, diving Caño Island is an underwater photographers dream. Scuba among large schools of colorful reef fish or observe the large pelagic that frequent these waters.
February 20, 2010 at 8:36 PM · Filed under Uncategorized
A gross abuse is taking place on an almost unimaginable scale throughout the world’s oceans. As many as 100 million sharks are being killed each year to meet global demand. For a tasteless ingredient that is not even a main course.
All this ….for a bowl of soup!
There is no animal on earth more vilified than the shark. Pop culture references and annual, over-hyped reports of attacks on swimmers or surfers have put sharks on the top of the list of the world’s most feared living things. There is however, a creature far more predacious than the shark: Humans!
Sharks existed before there were dinosaurs and they pre-date humans by millions of years. Yet, in a relatively short period of time, humans and their technological arsenal have driven most shark populations to the verge of extinction.
This is bad news for the world’s oceans. Sharks are the top predator in the ocean and are vital to its ecosystem. The rapid reduction of sharks is disrupting the ocean’s equilibrium, according to Peter Knights, director of WildAid International.
“These are ecosystems that have evolved over millions and millions of years, as soon as you start to take out an important part of it, it’s like a brick wall, you take out bricks and eventually it’s going to collapse.”
Shark Savers is a grassroots membership organization dedicated to shark conservation. Shark Savers creates educational awareness programs about sharks, their critical importance to a healthy ocean environment, and the severe decimation of shark populations occurring throughout the world, primarily to fill demand for shark fin soup. The organization also empowers people to take action in their own lives and community to further shark conservation and to stop their consumption of shark products.
Shark Savers focus on education and awareness because most people still think sharks are out to kill them, or don’t know that sharks are being fished towards extinction. Many people are unaware of the disastrous impact that shark eradication has on the oceans and food supply and that mercury in shark fin soup is hazardous.
Stopping Demand for Shark Fin Soup in China
Shark Savers has joined WildAid to deliver the most complete campaign ever in China to generate awareness around the dangers of shark fin soup and the commitment to stop eating it.
Shark Conservation Education and Empowerment
Shark conservation is an enormous challenge because sharks are being fished out of the water by the millions each month and cannot reproduce fast enough to overcome overfishing. Sharks are already gone in many of the areas where they were once plentiful. The fishing pressure against them continues relentlessly, largely because of the market demand for their fins. There are signs of hope in the results of actions of people and organizations throughout the world, although not enough to lessen the urgency of this mission.
Glover’s Reef Park for Sharks
Shark Savers has joined with the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science to create shark Marine Protected Areas, or “Parks for Sharks, that not only succeed in protecting sharks, but also can become financially self-supporting and educationally nourish its supporters.
Shark Savers was founded in November 2007 by six divers with a long-held passion for the oceans, the quality of the ocean environment, and sharks. Becoming more aware of how sharks are being destroyed on a massive scale, and understanding the important role they play in the oceans.
Shark Savers is a membership organization, we hope that you will join.
Please help us save the sharks! http://www.sharksavers.org/en/about-us/how-to-and-why-to-donate.html
February 14, 2010 at 3:21 PM · Filed under Uncategorized
In 1978, Wyland opened is first Studio Gallery in the art colony of Laguna Beach, California. At that time the “starving artist” was the only employee, personally selling and delivering his original paintings to his collectors. As the number of Wyland collectors grew, so did Wyland Galleries, expanding into locations throughout the world and developing into a global brand. Growing with the environmental movement, the Wyland name became an icon for nature-inspired art with an environmental message.
Marine Life Artist Wyland has earned the distinction as one of America’s most unique creative influences, and a leading advocate for marine resource conservation. An accomplished painter, sculptor, photographer, writer, and SCUBA diver, he has traveled the farthest reaches of the globe for more than twenty-five years, capturing the raw power and beauty of the undersea universe.
His non-profit Wyland Foundation has supported numerous conservation programs since 1993, including Wyland’s monumental Whaling Wall mural project — an epic series of more than ninety-one life size marine life murals that spans twelve countries on four continents, and is viewed by an estimated 1 billion people every year. The artists efforts, moreover, have been recognized by the United Nations, Sierra Club, the Underwater Academy of Arts and Sciences, where he is listed among its Diving Hall of Fame, and private and public institutions throughout the world.
Hailed a “Marine Michaelangelo” by USA Today, Wyland’s work is sought by millions of collectors and his galleries throughout the United States are considered a must-see on the itineraries of travelers everywhere. His equally successful Wyland Foundation, in partnership with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is actively engaged in teaching millions of students around engaged in teaching millions of students around our oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.
Listed in Who’s Who in American Art, the Guinness Book of World Records, and many other national and international publications, the multi-faceted artist has even hosted several series for television, including, “Wyland’s Ocean World” on the Discovery Channel’s Animal Planet Network. Today, he is considered one of the most influential artists of the 21st Century, with artwork in museums, corporate collections, and private homes in more than one hundred countries.
http://www.wylandgalleries.com/index.htm
February 6, 2010 at 7:55 PM · Filed under Uncategorized
Visitors from around the globe journey to the Dry Tortugas. A variety of remarkable experiences await those who arrive. Whether you find yourself camping, snorkeling, bird watching, fishing, or just enjoying a view from the top of massive Fort Jefferson– you quickly realize how magical this place can be…
| The rich cultural heritage of the Dry Tortugas all begins with its location 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. The seven keys (Garden, Loggerhead, Bush, Long, East, Hospital, and Middle) collectively known as the Dry Tortugas, are situated on the edge of the main shipping channel between the Gulf of Mexico, the western Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The strategic location of the Dry Tortugas brought a large number of vessels through its surrounding waters as they connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Early on, the shipping channel was used among Spanish explorers and merchants traveling along the Gulf Coast.
A large military fortress, Fort Jefferson, was constructed in the mid-19th century in effort for the United States to protect the extremely lucrative shipping channel. Low and flat, these islands and reefs pose a serious navigation hazard to ships passing through the 75-mile-wide straits between the gulf and the ocean. Consequently, these high risk reefs have created a natural “ship trap” and have been the site of hundreds of shipwrecks. A lighthouse was constructed at Garden Key in 1825 to warn incoming vessels of the dangerous reefs and later, a brick tower lighthouse was constructed on Loggerhead Key in 1858 for the same purpose. Discover and explore the rich heritage of Dry Tortugas National Park on the history and culture pages.
 
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Along with the surrounding shoals and waters, they make up Dry Tortugas National Park. The area is known for its famous bird and marine life, its legends of pirates and sunken gold, and its military past.
Fort Jefferson served for a time as a remote prison facility. One of its most famous inmates was none other than Dr. Samuel Mudd, who set the leg of John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of President Lincoln. Mudd was incarcerated on the Dry Tortugas for only four years, from 1865 to 1869.
The USS Maine would make a brief stop at Fort Jefferson before its ill-fated voyage to Havana. Following the sinking of the Maine, the Dry Tortugas served as an important staging area for U.S. battleships during the Spanish-American War.
The Dry Tortugas National Park protects the southwest tip of South Florida’s coral reef tract. This represents the third-largest barrier reef system outside of Australia and Belize!
Snorkeling is a great way to immerse yourself in the underwater world of the Dry Tortugas. Many wrecks and patch reefs lie in relatively shallow water and are easy to access.
The park’s coral and sea grass communities are among the most vibrant in the Florida Keys. The sooty Tern finds its only regular U.S. nesting site on Bush Key, adjacent to Fort Jefferson.
Large sea turtles lumber onto the parks protected beaches each summer to bury their clutches of eggs. These and other wonders make this park a truly one-of-a-kind place!
February 2, 2010 at 10:01 AM · Filed under Uncategorized
The Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi, Indonesia is renowned as being the planet’s epicentre of marine bio diversity. Here you’ll find a higher concentration of marine life than anywhere else on the planet. World famous for macro photography and its wondrous critters (sometimes referred to as “muck diving”), Lembeh Strait also offers many other underwater riches including beautiful soft coral sites and several historic wrecks. Offering something for everyone, Lembeh is a truly unique holiday destination.
Kungkungan Bay Resort (or just KBR to its many fans) is located in the very heart of the Lembeh Strait, giving access to fifty dive sites, all within fifteen minutes of our private jetty. An intimate and exclusive resort, Kungkungan is staffed by a friendly, professional team who will look after your every need from the moment you arrive to the moment you depart.
All rooms are sea facing, with three categories of spacious accommodation to choose from. Our unique over-the-water restaurant inspires visitors with its spectacular views of our exclusive house reef, the Lembeh Strait and the nearby tropical islands.
Lembeh Strait and Kungkungan Bay Resort is simply the best place in the world for macro photography!
Lembeh plays host to a cornucopia of weird and wonderful creatures to be found here and here alone. We moor over shallow black sandy slopes, where seahorses and nudibranchs are in abundance. Then there are the Inimicus devilfish, dwarf lionfish, scorpionfish, pufferfish, octopus, pegasus sea moths, frogfish, ribbon eels and flying gunnards. Truly a one-off opportunity for all photographers and anyone looking for the unusual and unseen, you’re sure to see something that you have never seen before, no matter how experienced you are.
The exceptional year-round weather conditions provide a variety of diving experiences, from “muck dives” on pure black volcanic sand to colorful coral reefs and enticing historic wrecks. Whatever your pleasure, Lembeh is always sure to offer fascinating and exciting underwater discoveries.
