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Mendocino outrigger paddling opportunity

Published at February 1, 2008 in Boats and Destinations. 0 Comments

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Catch A Canoe & Bicycles, too!

Big River is protected and the only major undeveloped navigable estuary remaining in Northern California. Unlike the undeveloped portions of other rivers Big River is accessible. Here you find no need for rubber rafts or special paddling talents to experience Big River’s forested canyons, swimming holes and wildlife. Paddling through Big River’s forested canyon is a wonderful experience and working with weather and tides will add to your enjoyment. You are connected to the river and its environment.

 

If you’ve not had the pleasure of paddling a lightweight performance craft, be prepared for a delightful experience. We feature boats from WENONAH, Ocean Kayak, Necky, Dagger and Secret Harbor Boat Works. Choose our outrigger redwood canoes by Secret Harbor Boat Works. These highly stable, fast boats for one to 12 people. Outfitted with a rudder they are easy to control.

website

Void Ho

Published at January 28, 2008 in Destinations. 0 Comments


Featuring Mr. 1000 Days at Sea, Reid Stowe.

“Seriously, you do know smoking car body filler is NOT good for you right???”

Sea Organ - musical instrument played by the sea

Published at December 3, 2007 in Music, Ocean and Destinations. 1 Comment

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The musical Sea Organ (morske orgulje) is located on the shores of Zadar, Croatia, and is the world’s first musical pipe organs that is played by the sea. Simple and elegant steps, carved in white stone, were built on the quayside. Underneath, there are 35 musically tuned tubes with whistle openings on the sidewalk. The movement of the sea pushes air through, and – depending on the size and velocity of the wave – musical chords are played. The waves create random harmonic sounds.

This masterpiece of acoustics and architecture was created by expert Dalmatian stone carvers and architect Nikola Basic in 2005, who recently received the European Prize for Urban Public Space for this project. Many tourists come to listen to this unique aerophone, and enjoy unforgettable sunsets with a view of nearby islands. Famed director Alfred Hitchcock said that the most beautiful sunset in the world can be seen from precisely this spot on the Zadar quay. That was how he described it after his visit to Zadar, a visit he remembered throughout his life by the meeting of the sinking sun and the sea.

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Watch and listen:

Link to OddMusic.com, via The Presurfer

Vatu Vara for sale

Published at November 30, 2007 in Ashore and Destinations. 1 Comment

The Fijian island of Vatu Vara is for sale.  It is $75M, fresh water supply is questionable, and you will have celebrity asshat Mel Gibson as your neighbor.  Other than that it looks great.

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price:

$75,000,000 (USD)

The magnificent island of Vatu Vara is often referred to as ‘Hat Island’ because of it’s unusual shape. The island is reputed by many to be the most beautiful in Fiji. It’s unique topography with limestone cliffs covered in dense tropical jungle and the flat summit is like a cross between Bora Bora and ‘The Lost World’ of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. From the top of it jungle-clad 1,030 foot peak, to the bottom of it’s aquamarine lagoon this is 100% pure tropical paradise. All the cinematic clichés about tropical islands are here for real; and to continue the theme you even get Mel Gibson as a neighbour. He owns Mago island just 30 kilometres to the east.

Link to listing

The Mermaid of Zennor

Published at November 26, 2007 in Mermaid and Destinations. 0 Comments

The people of Zennor had long wondered at the beauty of a richly-dressed lady who attended divine service at the church. None knew whence she came, but when she fell in love with Matthew Trewella and lured him away, tongues began to wag. Neither was seen again for many years, until one Sunday morning the sailors on a ship anchored near Pendower Cove were surprised to see a mermaid rising from the water, and recognised her as none other than the mysterious visitor to Zennor Church. She asked the captain to raise his anchor, as it was barring the entrance to her house. Her likeness can be seen to this day carved on a pew-end in Zennor Church. [source]

Never Sea Land encourages you to make use of Corwall Tour (http://www.cornwalltour.co.uk/index.htm) for your visit to the mermaid!

Modern Huck Finn Adventure II

Published at November 15, 2007 in Boats, Literature and Destinations. 0 Comments

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Another goup of Huck Finn emulators makes the news.  NSL earlier reported on Thor Anderson’s solo expedition down the Mississippi on a raft made of trash.  Now a team of three lads have done it again.

“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.”

So Twain might have written this tale.

Just take away the slave Jim, the Duke and the King, trade the Mississippi side-wheelers for barge tows, leave out Pap and insert a very cranky U.S. Coast Guard, add two bold young women as part of an adventure/art project, and…

Well, perhaps this is a different story, after all. But it definitely has a raft.

Libby Hendon, James Burkart, both Kansas Citians, and Laura Mattingly, of Oceanside, Calif., are somewhere south of Baton Rouge this morning, on what Huck called a “monstrous big river,” drifting past looming grain and chemical barges, bound for …. salt.

Their craft was built in three weeks, as Hendon puts it, “entirely from the discarded remnants of turn-of-the-century homes, civic refuse, and main brand soda-pop manufacture.” That last would mean 30-gallon plastic syrup drums from Pepsico.

 LINK via Fark

Rama’s bridge

Published at November 10, 2007 in Destinations. 0 Comments

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Adam’s Bridge, also known as ‘Ram Sethu’ meaning “Rama’s Bridge”, is a chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. Hindus believe that this bridge was built by Rama incarnation of Lord Vishnu to rescue his consort Sita who was abducted to Lanka by Ravana, as mentioned in the Ramayana.

Much more at Ursi’s Eso Garden

7 Island Wonders of the World: Most Amazing, Mysterious, Remote and More

Published at October 30, 2007 in Destinations. 0 Comments

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Did you know that one in every ten people in the world lives on an island? This might seem less shocking once you consider that 200 million people live in Indonesia, and another 60 million live in Britain. There is even a word for a “craze or a strong attraction to islands” - islomania! Islands have many roles in cultures and literature, from places of paradise to the last refuge of pirates. Here are seven of the most amazing islands in the world, from the greatest and grandest to the most remote, mysterious and least populated.

One day I dream of doing the Great Island Mission.

Link

Today’s mermaid - Amphitrite, Siren of Sunset Reef

Published at October 26, 2007 in Mermaid, Underwater and Destinations. 2 Comments

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Amphitrite by Simon Morris guards Sunset Reef just offshore of Sunset House dive-friendly resort on Grand Cayman Island.  You’ll need to dive to 55′ to see her.

Bora Bora goes condo

Published at October 5, 2007 in Destinations. 0 Comments

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Picture a place of impossible natural beauty. Where warm seas lap along sandy shores. Where coral reefs teem with all varieties of sea life. Where a sparkling turquoise lagoon gives way to lush, green vegetation and a monumental volcano rises from its heart. That place is the French Polynesian paradise of Bora Bora, in the South Pacific.

And now with Four Seasons Private Residences Bora Bora, you can picture yourself there.

 I am pretty sure this is not good news for us non-millionaire dreamers and romantics.  There are forms of pollution other than plastic and greenhouse gasses that are less easy to discern, and every bit as hard to stop.

Siren of the sea

Published at August 24, 2007 in Mermaid and Destinations. 2 Comments

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This beautiful statue of a mermaid sits by the sea at Playa Esterillos, south of Puntarenas, Costa Rica. When the tide is high, she disappears under water.

[found on Flickr]

Guest mermaid shot

Published at August 24, 2007 in Mermaid and Destinations. 1 Comment

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Gavin from intheboatshed.net was kind enough to send this shot of a teahouse[bigger, detail1, detail2] … 

This one is from Sandwich in Kent, England. We visited the other day, and it was very good - and the locals say it’s a new addition to the town.

Sandwich is an interesting old place, with building so old there’s hardly a straight line to be seen.

http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk/

Gav

Thanks, Gavin, I’m always up for a mermaid….  if I’m ever out that way we’ll drop in a share a pint (of tea, at least).

Raft Tangaroa

Published at August 15, 2007 in Boats and Destinations. 0 Comments

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[from Wikipedia] On April 28, 2006, a Norwegian team attempted to duplicate the Kon-Tiki voyage using a newly-built raft, the Tangaroa, named after the Māori sea-god Tangaroa. Again based on records of ancient vessels, this raft used relatively sophisticated square sails that allowed sailing into the wind, or tacking.[5] It was 16m long by 8m wide. It also included a set of modern navigation and communication equipment, including solar panels, portable computers, and desalination equipment. The crew posted to their web site, www.tangaroa.no. The crew of six was led by Torgeir Higraff, and included Olav Heyerdahl, grandson of Thor Heyerdahl. The voyage was completed successfully in July 2006 and a documentary film is forthcoming.

Ilha Trindade and The Cruise of the Alerte

Published at August 10, 2007 in Literature, History and Destinations. 2 Comments

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Ilha Trindade, at 20°31′30″S, 29°19′30″W , lies in the South Atlantic about 800nm from the coast of Brazil.  It is largely an uninhabited, uninviting piece of volcanic rock in the ocean, with very poor anchorage.

In August 1889 English barrister and writer E. F. Knight left England in his cutter Alerte bound for the uninhabited island of Trinidad off the coast of Brazil. He was on a hunt for pirate treasure.

The existence of the treasure was well documented, according to Knight. A dying seaman had given a map to his captain.

There was an immense treasure buried, consisting principally of gold and silver plate, the plunder of Peruvian churches which certain pirates had concealed there in the year 1821. … He further stated that he was the only survivor of the pirates, as all the others had been captured by the Spaniards and executed in Cuba some years before…

The Alerte itself was an old but able craft, 64 feet long, with a 14.5 foot beam, built in 1864 of seasoned teak. As for crew and bankroll, Knight solved both problems in a single step: he advertised for volunteers who would pay their own way, work as sailors, and receive a share of the profits. His single ad drew 150 volunteers. He chose nine of these “gentlemen adventurers.” None of them had any practical knowledge of the sea.

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Several months later they reached the island. They went ashore, climbed the peak at the center of the little island, and quickly realized that the land conformed to the pirate’s map.

The Cruise of the Alerte is a classic true-life treasure hunt.  Arthur Ransome used the descriptions from Knight’s book as a basis for Crab Island in his book Peter Duck, except that he set the island further north in the Caribbean Sea.

I’ve wanted to go there for many, many years.

The Island 

The Book

Underwater resort in Fiji planned

Published at August 10, 2007 in Underwater and Destinations. 1 Comment

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Poseidon Undersea Resort is in the planning/pre-construction phase off shore a privately owned island in Fiji.  They are, however, already accepting reservation requests, so book early! 

[Wiki]

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