April 2008 Archives
What happens when you nuke a coral reef several times? It grows back. It just takes a while. This interesting article takes a look at the Bikini Atolls 50 years after the USA tested some 23 nukes in the area. Something you'd think would cause the area to glow for a long time.
The interesting thing is that the reef grew back. About 65% of the wildlife has returned and is in excellent shape. Partially because people are still quite afraid to go there. The only visitors these days are the occasional SCUBA diver visiting ship wrecks. The picture below (stolen from Power Boat World) was taken at the center of one of the blast craters.
With any luck people will continue to stay away and the reef will continue to grow. I personally would to dive the area. I'm told the ship wrecks, which were sank during the nuclear testing, are amazing to see. With any luck someone will come up with the idea of doing diving at the reef in the future.
This Saturday I'll be heading off to Indonesia for a week of fun filled diving at the Gili Islands. With any luck I'll get in a full 8 days of diving and maybe even a couple of night dives.
Located to the East of Bali, and right off the coast of the larger Lombok Island, the Gili islands offer quite a bit in the way of diving. Some healthy coral reefs, a great variety of small creatures, and the chance to possibly (I really hope!) to see some larger ones. Plus it looks like a very very very relaxing area for someone who needs to get away. In case you don't know where it is, google is your friend.
My top five things I really want to see. 1) Manta Ray 2) Turtle 3) Sea Horse 4) A lot of slugs 5) Cuddle Fish.
Eh, who am I kidding. If I just see a single Manta Ray I'll be so overly super thrilled that I'll forget about the rest. I'll be sure to post a lot of photos as well as video when I return.
I love gadgets. A lot. But I often worry about not having power when running around in dubious places. Solar chargers have been around for a while now but none ever seem to meet all my needs. This one comes close though and has me highly tempted...
This charger from Brando does it all. Charge an internal battery via solar or regular AC. It has a USB port for charging your iPod/ mp3 player of choice, a spot to hook up various phones, and a clip on back that does camera batteries. And it also has a flashlight on the front. Not bad for $25. At that price you could use it on one trip and it would almost pay for itself.
Heres how I see it working for me. I take a lot of photos while running around the wilderness. I offload pictures from my camera onto my iPod (giving me massive amounts of storage space, though SD cards are super cheap). Recharge both through this charger. Results: Happiness.
Gizmodo has a nice review of it or just go order one now.
Fish seem to like train cars a bit too much. They flock to them. I know I would. It would be a really cool dive. I can't wait for someone to post some underwater photos of the life thats taken hold underwater. Future dive plans...
Read all about it here.
Technorati Tags: conservation, USA
