Puffins, Terns and a Minke Whale

St. John's, Newfoundland. Province of Labrador and Newfoundland, Canada. I have been prowling the streets of St. John's for three days now, taking in the summer climate and staying out late in their active pub scenes. I have been shuffled from one Bed and Breakfast to another and have to say, I am not a B&B guy. I know they were once trendy, but the feeling of invading a stranger's house and having no real hotel services is not so cool. Plus, they are all decorated like my grandmother's house. Scratch that, my grandmother has good taste - they are decorated like a fictional down-home country nightmare grandmother's house. Regardless, the town itself makes up for it - good folks, good food, and good music. St. John's is like a brisk Key West, with hills.

Today, I went out to sea and spotted an arctic tern, dozens of puffins, and a minke whale. The weather was spectacular.

Tomorrow I travel up to the Change Islands with the gang from Simon Fraser University.

A Lemur is Worth a Thousand Words

Antananarivo, Madagascar. The last two days were spent hiking in the parks around Andasibe, Madagascar with friends from the CI office in DC and Colombia. We saw seven species of lemur, including the Indri, and four species of chameleon.

Diving with White Sharks

Gaansbai, South Africa. Spent the day diving with white sharks and took this shot of a a male before my camera flooded. I went cage-diving with an operator called White Shark Projects. We had unseasonably good weather and saw fifteen individual sharks, plus lots of African fur seals and a box jelly.

Fishing for a Moratorium, Ottawa, Canada

I spent the past day in Ottawa with Sylvia Earle and our Canadian partners, the Living Oceans Society and Ecology Action Centre. We met with Loyala Hearn, the new Minister for Fisheries and Oceans, to discuss the potential for a UN General Assembly moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. The Minister was very sympathetic of Sylvia's views, but no decisions were made. We also met with several Members of Parliament and numerous journalists. Great day altogether..

New Walden Longboard

My computer crashed and I have been unable to raise it from the dead. As a stress reliever, Rob and I went to Surf Central in Jupiter today - where I bought a new Walden 9'0" epoxy longboard. She is beautiful.

Clear Seas and Nurse Sharks

Trevon, Aaron, Brandy and Arlo took the Aloha out to Coral Cove today. We encountered two nurse sharks while snorkeling among the worm rock.