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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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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I don’t like being negative, but I recently read an article that a soup of plastic debris floats off the coast of California, a testament to humanity’s reliance on plastic and the failure to dispose of it properly, which is why we Ocean lovers must be diligent and set the ecology example.

I first heard of this plastic-rich portion of the ocean way back in the 1970’s. It is a product of swirling currents, known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, that gather and concentrate debris. Like an iceberg of debris floating in the Pacific Ocean, the mass usually isn’t visible on the surface, but lurks just below. You can’t walk on it.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has become an early symbol of what some say is a looming trash crisis. But this floating mass of is hard to measure, few agree on how big it is or how much plastic it holds. That makes it difficult to determine what to do about it.

That hasn’t stopped activists and the media from using only the biggest estimates of the patch’s size to warn of an environmental catastrophe, which really captures the publics imagination, but to characterize it inaccurately is wrong and prone to exaggeration and mis-characterization. One thing is for sure; it is human trash and so it can be controlled.

It is difficult to know how to extrapolate the findings. The borders of the gyre shift between seasons, and some scientists argue that the high-plastic area is concentrated and confined to a relatively small part of the gyre.  So what let’s fix it, RIGHT?

Video Post: Stupid people in South Africa sell the chance to jump into a cage for a cheap thrill while they jerk food from the sharks, from the safety of a boat. They take tourist to ’shark alley’ and tease these majestic animals. Sharks are the top of the food chain, and the operator is teasing them calling it Eco-Tourism.  If this is somehow appealing to your ego? Imagine someone knocked your lunch on the floor. Then your friends come along and they jerk their lunch too.  Would you bite back? What happens to the next diver who doesn’t feed the shark? Now resident sharks in these fast food feeding zones expect man to show up with fast-food which might one day be a human life. This activity has altered the sharks behavior.

Take a look at what happens in this video. I can only hope the government of South Africa takes immediate action against the exploitation of Nature’s most magnificent predator before the next…

Sadly, I report the tug boat “Captain Diane” is no longer in Key West. Tug boat use has slipped as new propulsion technology is used to land and launch giant cruise ships. Of course tugs are always used for salvage, distress, and disaster at sea. It is the Captain Diane that answered the call if the US Coast Guard got in a jam.

She’s being inspected in Miami for possible/ probable sale. Here’s a shot of the graveyard. She’s not ready for that yet. Not even close. She’s a former USCG icebreaker, converted into a power tug. With 9-foot props she could pull an island if necessary, and that’s where she is headed for a busier port of call. I hope to see her again one day, perhaps in Nassau. In the mean time, and I mean Greenwich Mean time; here’s a clip. Unfortunately the original HD content was corrupted and lost so I don’t have anything but this web video. I spent an entire week aboard the Captain Diane.

Each day I found myself praying for a shipwreck or just a simple pull or push into a dock would have been nice. That week in 2007 she was welded to the dock. I slept like a baby, dove like a seal. This also means we will miss out riding alongside Captain Dave for the sinking of the Vandenberg. Unfortunately the sinking has been postponed due to funding. That last million or two are the hardest… I guess. Plus this is hurricane season. Safety first.

Tribute to the tugboat “Captain Diane”.

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Let’s get real, fellow greenies. We can’t counter the carbon of 3rd world nations driving hi-bred cars.  Stacked against natural wonders of the world we won’t make a dent.  Hawaii’s volcanic activity, Mexico City’s volcano, and all the rest who’s names I don’t know. One moment in Nature can put out the sun for days, weeks, or an entire ice

There once was a sitcom episode where toilets were banned in favor of low-flow models. In the end it was proven that double-flushing was necessary to fully clear the bowl resulting in higher average gallons per use. Once again the early adoptor get sucked in by the ecology sales pitch; volume-per-flush rather than the more insightful and accurate flushes-per-load.

With only good intentions I ran out just like you and bought some energy-approved fluorescent bulbs. Our home only requires a few strategic lights for normal household function so I’m saving the planet. (and scoring a hefty windfall for myself)

Click my cabbage!

HDV & HD-DVD - remember those days? Format wars? Seems like only yesterday people couldn’t tell the difference between VHS and Beta, but the networks saw that difference and set the broadcast standards.
This review was written 15 Oct 2007 when the camera came out. http://hd2o.tv/flog/hd-underwater/sony-pmw-ex1-video-camera/
Here’s the brief: I’m posting what I Flogged in here as an editor and underwater shooter, about the perils of HDV and 4:2:ZERO color.

Hello from the S. Most cameraflyer. this news story going around of the eagle ray is misleading. They are showing STING RAYS over and over. What, they don’t have any eagle ray footage? Want some?

SMC

Cuba: Perfect Opportunity for Change…

I was honored to serve in the US Coast Guard in the 70’s. Following ten weeks of boot camp I was assigned to the training center as a recruit instructor in the ceremonial section. At age 17 I was being treated with greater respect than a commissioned officer in the field. “Sir, yes sir. Sir, no sir.” Recruits would snap to attention and salute as if the President were passing. It was rewarding to help develop coast-guardsmenship of which I knew little about personally.

In the last part (also the first part) In the first and last part I mentioned stopping junk mail. Not only does it save paper, think about the energy savings of the US Postal Service. Processing junk mail takes man hours and fuel, and we all know how fast they move because we named it “snail mail”.

41pounds.org charges $40 to stop junk mail for five years.

greendimes.com sharges $20 and claims to stop about 90%.

Non-profit groups can reuse many items you would be temped to just toss out. SafeNest and Catholic Charities will take furniture and appliances for needy families. Other groups can swap the stuff for cash or more appropriate items they need. And you take the tax credit. Just get a receipt cause I don’t want to hear you crying when the tax man comes for giving up some $200.00 jeans. That’s what you paid new? Too bad, sorry to hear it.

Appliances are a drag when they break down. If you drag it to the street chances are your community will pick it up and it’s out of your hair. Unfortunately for Mother Earth that steal heap is headed for a landfill. Older refrigerators contain freon that will eventually leak. Why not look for company that extracts and resells the steal. You know they will be regulated to handle the freon removal as part of their business.

So that it! That’s my take on recycling. Do what you can feel good about, a lot or a little, everything helps. I don’t know the reality on Global Warming. I do know the cleaner the planet the healthier we are. Clean is good. Right? Like the beautiful waters of the Florida Keys. Want a closer look? Click the image for the full res view. Wanna get even closer? We’ll take you inside! Literally. Buy our DVD today.

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