National Park Service awards Dry Tortugas contract

Sadly I report that my team did not get the National Park Service contract to provide high-speed catamaran service to Dry Tortugas. [ read about it from the NPS]

Dry Tortugas from Space

Recently the National Park Service re-issued a ten year contract to provide high-speed ferry service from Key West, FL to Fort Jefferson at The Dry Tortugas. In the next 60-days Congress will be asked to approve the contract, but they should take another look. http://keysnews.com/node/20390

Click the image for full screen. Image was requested by Captain Ghidoni and was taken by the Int’l Space Station.

The Keys from higher

In this specific case it seems remarkable the incumbent was awarded another ten years. Public outcry locally is well documented. http://keysnews.com/node/20390 The public is overwhelmingly negative because Key West locals know the history.

Does it serve the community for this large entity to grab yet another long-term contract in such a small town? The incumbent operates in several cities. In tough times which of their operations will suffer first? Maybe the smallest, least significant  - Key West? This is exactly why we feel our smaller footprint could do it better, faster, cheaper.

Are we disappointed?  You bet, it has been a long, long, competitive process with 18-months of delays, but they are the better company.

We carry forward the experience and we fully support the decision of the National Park Service. If you get to Key West; plan a day for Fort Jefferson.

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Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis on a long cold night must have freaked out Ancient Man.

[slideshow id=11]

When do you use recur in stead of reoccur? Recur means - to repeat or reappear periodically, like a actor in a Recurring Roll. Reoccur - is a more random occurrence and less controlled. A Reoccurring Dream or nightmare can’t be scheduled. While the words recur, recurring, and recurrence are more often used, the words are subtly and distinctly different…

Do the Northern Lights recur or reoccur? Geomagnetic storms that ignite auroras happen more often during the months around the equinoxes; from September to October and from March to April, so Auroras recur.  And that is excellent.

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Holidays are for sharing and dinner is a favorite.

What do you bring for the dinner host?
Here’s an UNDER $20 gift for friends and family.
Wine is out! Ambiance is IN! Order today!

Our 2009 DVD is perfect for Holiday Entertaining and we have a holiday discount offer for you in our store. Natural ambiance compliments any decor. HD2O underwater video content is unique. We observe life on the reef and score an original soundtrack. The result is a ballet of spectacular colors and textures. Turn that big-screen into a looking-glass to casually gaze upon these coral ecosystems. All content is captured with no moving parts and no tape making us GREEN. GREEN for you too as Ocean water filters sunlight naturally. The resulting colors require less electricity on playback. How cool is that? NEWS FLASH: In a troubled economy friends tend to entertain at home rather than dine out. But how do you keep your company engaged in the conversation? Consider this totally underwater content. HD2O - The Keys was shot in HD and is available on DVD or you can download the HD content for the ultimate viewing. Perfect for entertaining or just relaxing at home. The 67-minute, six track program is a submersible flight through the coral reefs of the Florida Keys. And it loops! All night if necessary with a soundtrack scored to the motion of the ocean. Very sexy, if you get my drift, this is a No Brainer. visit our store $5 discount code:   US399.792FL You have friends on your list who, even if they have never been diving, they can enjoy the beauty of Nature from below the waves. Need enough for the entire department at work??? Give your team a timeless treasure; the coral reef. For a reasonable fee we can customize the disc and package to include a personal video message and insert pages. But we ask you to order now and be totally awesome for Christmas. Take a peek at our stuff. Click for our HD PodCast, or jump with both feet into this floating-log FLOG for articles and lots of embedded videos. Share this stuff with kids; Nature is what is hip. See you on the beach, Paul

We support these Cool Causes Awesome Friends with Fins Island Dolphin Care Exceptional Four-Pawed Partners Canine Companions Ultimate Four Hands and a tail Helping Hands Monkeys.

Use code: US399.792FL for $5 discount.

Paul Dymon films, inc Las Vegas Nevada 702.598.1637

Ocean ambiance, relaxed presentation,
our 2009 DVD get HD2O online.

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I agree with personal responsibility at home and especially while on vacation. Travelers tend to think they don’t need to be too concerned or bothered when that is exactly when they should; visiting sensitive environments. Liter and carelessness are inexcusable human diseases cured with care and mindfulness.

Simple; don’t litter.

We live on a dynamic planet. Earth changes will happen as they have for millennium. These changes should not be exploited by politicians who selfishly combine eco-emotions with issues of personal responsibility. Fjords for example happened because of Earth changes and no politician can change the weather.

But we can all influence others to be conscience of the environment. Be realistic steward and others will follow your good example.

via Blog Action Day: Climate Change. We can make the difference « eXplorer.

Could this be ‘yo mama’? Odds are she is ‘everybody mama‘!

After 15 years of rumors, researchers made public fossils from a 4.4 million-year-old human forebear they say reveals that our ancestors were more modern than scholars had assumed, widening the evolutionary gulf separating humankind from apes and chimpanzees.

You’ve got to see highlights of the extensive fossil trove, a female skeleton a million years older than the iconic bones of Lucy, the primitive female figure that has long symbolized humankind’s beginnings. One million years more human history? This throws a serious curve ball into the entire theory of human existence. Could there be even older human existence? Could ‘yo mama’ be the oldest? This is NOT the old human ever, because who was her mama?

An international research team led by paleoanthropologist Tim White at the University of California, Berkeley, unveiled on Thursday remains from 36 males, females and young of an ancient prehuman species called Ardipithecus ramidus.

Unearthed in the Awash region of Ethiopia starting in 1994. The creatures take their scientific name from the word for “root” in the local Afar language. They aren’t the oldest known fossils of hominids — as prehuman species and their relatives are called — but constitute the most complete set discovered so far.

Read on, see a slide show and interactive graphics via Wall Street Journal:

Fossils Shed New Light on Human Past.

Madrid — The Oceana Ranger catamaran is equipped with a robot that has dived down to 500 meters depth to film species that are rarely spotted, or have never even been seen, in the Canarian archipelago.

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The goal of the expedition is to identify areas that should be turned into marine protected areas. Only 2.7% of the EU’s marine surface area is protected, but the United Nations calls for 10%.

Oceana has found around a dozen species in the Canary Islands whose existence in the archipelago was unknown until now. Glass and rock sponges, ball, white and black coral, and armored searobin are some of the species that have been found. A wide variety of rare species, or species for which hardly any biological information is known, were also able to be filmed live, including channeled rockfish, anglerfish, silver and pink gallo fish, fan coral, bathyal sea fans, Venus fly-trap anemones, and lollipops sponges.

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By KENNETH CHANG, NY TIMES

September 10, 2009

With ferocious flames and smoke in the barren Utah hills north of Salt Lake City, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Thursday successfully test fired the first stage of a new rocket. read on

Help protect deep water coral, from North Carolina to Florida, from destructive fishing methods including trawls, bottom long-lines and dredges.  This collection of deepwater coral is one of the largest deep reef ecosystems in the world!

[caption id="attachment_617" align="alignright" width="281" caption="Corals are in danger. You can help."][/caption]

But it can’t survive without NOAA’s effort to regulate the fishing industry through cooperation, and that can’t happen without help from caring residents of planet Earth. This isn’t a crazy scheme to stop all fishing, that would be ridiculous.  Click the image for a closer look.

It’s easy; click this link and send the formatted note to our leaders.

http://takeaction.oceana.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=25222

Want to see more coral? Get our DVD at hd2o.tv

Kind regards,

Paul

sub titled: Get your fat white ass outside of the cage with that hand full of chum for a real shark thrill!

Video Podcast - While researching the Hawaiian monk seal for a potential documentary with NOAA I stumbled on the ugly exploitation of sharks in the region. It is shocking to realize with all the research on sharks shark tours are becoming an even MORE popular visitor attraction. A recent scuba-moron to Oahu’s North Shore called it ‘exhilarating’. With an attitude, “I just wanted to do it once.” They headed for the hotel with a small polite group of Native Hawaiians on their heels. They were explaining to the fat backsides that Hawaiians consider the shark to be ancestral Gods. Feeding them for entertainment is disrespectful to their culture. Heck, it’s disrespectful to all things in the Ocean, in food chain and the ecological balance. Hawaiians and Hawley alike want the operators to stop.

To be clear: There is nothing wrong, in fact it is smart to use a shark cage. It is very wrong when a dive operator is feeding sharks for people in a cage.

[caption id="attachment_582" align="alignright" width="280" caption="No food today? Let's head to the beach for a bite."][/caption]

Surfers and environmentalists fear the tours will teach sharks to associate people with food. When the sharks don’t find tourists in the little ‘happy meal’ steel cage what do you think will happen next?  While the tourists watch the news from the Lazy Boy some surfer or diver will be missing a limb. The sad part is sharks don’t even like the taste of human, but when confused and taunted the shark will snap and strike at anything.

Sharks sit at the APEX of the World Food Chain. Sharks will gather in areas of tour feeding. The additional shark population will also create great competition for natural prey and cause stress or deplete other marine life in the process.  But that’s of little concern to the impatient tourist who wants a rush right now.  Want a rush? Go down without a cage, see how a shark reacts to a hand full of chum.  Oh, that isn’t as pleasurable? The disrespect may seem temporary by the ‘only once’ gang o’ fools but the damage lives on long after the thrill is gone.

Joe Pavsek, owner of North Shore Shark Adventures, said, “If you read the law, you’ll understand that I’m not breaking any laws.”  (Dhaaaa, why am I an idiot?)  Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Joe Pavsek then revealed this jewel, “We don’t have to feed the sharks. We do it for the customers.” That’s why Joe is an idiot. What would be wrong with the anticipation that you might be lucky and see a shark? Not stimulating enough for an over-stimulated couch potato. The same potatos think they are great athletes because of their dozens of hours with a video game.

More than 400 Hawaiian residents packed a town hall meeting and successfully launched the anti-shark tour movement. State lawmakers have vowed to draft legislation to shut down the tours. Listen to world renowned underwater photographer Stephen Frink has to say about the state of this magical animal.

 

 Legendary Photographer Stephen Frink on Sharks: Play Now | Play in Popup

For the record: Federal law clearly prohibits feeding sharks 200 miles off Hawaii to include the Pacific territories and Samoa. The only exceptions are made for fishermen who harvest them for food, and scientific research for the benefit of the shark.

Ever hear of unintended consequences? Joe is dead wrong and needs to be stopped before someone innocent is declared dead right.

It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature!

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Thank you for visiting HD2O. We recently hit a milestone worthy of mention. This blog we call a FLOG (floating log) has more than 100 visits per day averaged over the month of July. Better yet most visits are long, meaning folks like you are not just looking at the pictures. LOL The videos are not bad either, maybe that’s it?

We established the goal of 100 anticipating our audience would enjoy the quality over quantity. From our small but mighty team here is a big red wet kiss to say thank you. Bookmark us!

P.S.> Try the search and tag cloud to dig through our history and archives. There are 119 posts in 9 categories focused on Ocean, Earth, Ecology, and some of the technology we use to bring these awesome video in HD.

Get our video! (for cryin’ out loud) Click ? HD2O ? and get 67 minutes of unbelievable Ocean-scapes and many animals who call the coral reef home. The music is a spectacular original soundtrack, scored to the motion of the ocean AND IT LOOPS! Plus we added a five minute bonus track featuring the therapy dolphins from Island Dolphin Care that you have to see to believe.

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CREATIVE ASSIGNMENT: CAN Prevent wants people to feel empowered to stop child abuse. Click the logo for the task force web site.

YOU CAN make a difference. We are urging people to report child abuse if the see it, sense it or know it. Help kids and families get education and support to stop the cycle of violence that child abuse causes.

LVHD produced a 30-second awareness campaign for the task force. Music and lounge act provided by Garry Lee Rosenberg really draws attention in a new way to an old problem. He uses a classic song with a snappy melody and adds a lyrical twist to create an original timeless message. Sticky Message stays with you.