George is a naturalist, photographer, and experienced destination lecturer who has informed and entertained thousands with his passion for science, nature and culture... presented with a twist of wry humor.
Quiet road in rural Sao Miguel, Azores. Photo by Jan Cadieux
The Azores islands are among the most beautiful places we've visited anywhere in the world. They are green jewels floating in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. We have two ports in the Azores in our upcoming transatlantic cruise on the ms Rotterdam; Horta on the island of Faial and Porta Delgada on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous island in the archipelago.
I've prepared a quick 4 minute introduction to these islands and ports using Google Earth Pro.
Google Earth Pro became a free download last year and I use it extensively in preparing my lectures. A very handy tool if you want to include maps and satellite photos in your own presentations!
"Mapping the Blue" is an excellent film. It provides an overview of the benefits -- and challenges -- of protecting large sections of our oceans. I highly recommend watching this short film for the beautiful scenes from the Cook Islands as well as insights into how Marine Protected Areas can shift the conversation towards healthier ocean ecosystems.
By
protecting ocean ecosystems rather than focusing on individual species, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
are powerful tools for conserving and restoring ocean biodiversity. These
special ocean areas also provide benefits to cultural and geological resources
and can help sustain local economies. In addition, MPAs contribute to
healthier, more resilient ocean ecosystems that can better withstand a wide
range of impacts. No-take marine
reserves have been proposed as one of the most successful tools for
conservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems.
In 2012 the Cook Islands announced the largest Marine Park on Earth at the time. Since then, in 2015 the USA enlarged the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to form the largest MPA on earth at 490,000 sq. miles or 3x size of California.
The magnificent Cook Islands are among the most awesome places on
the planet and local people, traditional leaders and the fishermen are determined that it should remain so.
"Mapping the Blue" tells the story of how
Rugby League star, Kevin Iro, turned conservationist and founded the
world's largest sanctuary where he used to play as a boy. By using high
tech mapping, Iro and his team are able to show the best uses for areas
within this pristine ocean park which is good for conservation and the
needs of local people.
This film is a must-see for all those
interested in the health of our oceans from marine biologists to
recreational scuba divers. It points to a model of how such precious
areas can be preserved all over the world and provides hope for the
future.
Lost your mother on a cruise ship?? Wondering where in the world she's off to this time? There are some excellent resources online for discovering the current location of almost any cruise ship in the world. One good website is www.sailwx.info.
sailwx.info website showing the location of cruise ships around northern Europe in early June 2012.
You can also search for your ship by name and discover it's current location that way. Here's the current location and track of ms Rotterdam, for example.
If you are at sea, this is also a good way of letting friends and relatives know where you are sailing... send them an email link for your ship; i.e., the link for the chart above is http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=PDGS. The last four letters provide the 'call sign' for the Rotterdam: PDGS. There are a lot of ships named Rotterdam, so the call sign really saves time in finding Holland America's Rotterdam.
This website, sailwx.info, provides a good resource for call signs for most cruise ships. Go to the link for "Cruise Ships" under "Shiptracker" on the left side, and you'll see the large-scale chart such as the one at the top of this post. Scroll down below the chart (map) and you'll see a long list of cruise ships by name along with their call signs.
Cruise ships with location and call sign. There's ms Rotterdam, call sign PDGS.
Good luck finding those long-lost cruisers in your life!!
