| Pacific & Indian Ocean | ||
| 1 | Tahiti / French Polynesia | 93.8 |
| 2 | Fiji | 89.5 |
| 3 | Indonesia | 88.5 |
| 4 | Palau, Micronesia | 77.8 |
| 5 | Philippines | 73.3 |
| 6 | Great Barrier Reef, Australia | |
| 7 | Maui, Hawaii | 68.9 |
| 8 | Cocos Island, Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Big Island, Hawaii | 57.1 |
| 10 | Egyptian Red Sea | |
Day 1-3 As you land in Fiji, the magnificent vistas barely prepare you for the adventure ahead. Eager to get in the water, we head to Beqa Adventure Divers in Pacific Harbor for an orientation and introduction to the SRMR, recently established to protect and study the resident population of sharks, and in turn aid in the long-term conservation of sharks worldwide. Their structured dives offer divers and researchers the unique opportunity to watch these amazing creatures in their natural habitat in a well-controlled setting.
Day 4-11 Under the instruction of professional researchers, observe and study shark biology, behavior and physiology, as well as the physical characteristics of the resident sharks of the SRMR. Then take your newfound knowledge into the field as you scuba dive with silvertip, grey reef, black tip reef, bull and tawny nurse sharks. Experience the thrill of studying these amazing creatures up close as they cruise along the reef slope and ledge that drops off into the abyss of the Beqa Passage. Don't forget your camera! Collect and input data for the Swiss Shark Foundation's studies on resident sharks, noting how many species of sharks you see on dives, the male to female ratio, who fed and who of the named population showed up. Begin to identify the different sharks by name - Hook, Crook, Big Mamma and Blackbeard - and perhaps have the chance to name one yourself. Learn about the relationship between the reserve and local villages, and how the project overcame challenges to create a successful balance between shark conservation, dive tourism, the interests of village fisherman, the local economy and the government. Take a day to dry off and venture to the village of Wainabia to ask the Chief's permission to hike Shark Fin Hill. As you hike through the rainforest to the top, learn about Fijian culture from local guides and the impact the SRMR has had on the community.
Day 12-14 Voyage across the lagoon to the once volcanic island of Beqa where you are welcomed into the Rukua village by your home stay family. After a formal introduction to the chief by the village spokesman, partake in a kava ceremony and feast at a traditional lovo while listening to locals tell stories of the ancient Shark God, the fierce Dakuwaqa. Watch the Beqa fire walkers or hike up to swim in majestic waterfalls. Learn about village pastimes such as cooking, weaving and dancing. Play games with the friendly local children and give back to this beautiful place by assisting with a community service project.
Day 15-21 Back at the SRMR, we continue our shark studies as we compile, summarize and discuss our surveys and field research for our final projects. Talk about the role of sharks in the food chain and how they are critical to ocean ecosystems. Examine the negative impact of long line fishing, as well as the misrepresentation of sharks from Hollywood movies to folk tales and myths. Learn about the Shark Tagging Program and how it looks at the migratory movements of sharks. Soft coral dives in the Beqa Lagoon abound with over 250 species of fish from tiny critters to large pelagics... Breathtaking! Encounter blue ribbon eel, lionfish, jacks, giant groupers, octopus and scorpionfish on unforgettable dives.
Day 22-24 We complete our trip with a visit to a river village and an overnight whitewater journey down the "River of Eden" in the dramatic Navua Gorge. The roaring rapids cascade down a stunning canyon lined with black lava rock, vibrant jungle and dazzling waterfalls. A feast on our final night gives us the opportunity to celebrate all we have learned and experienced on our extraordinary South Pacific adventure.
A new search engine project, ClimateGift.com, has just made its online debut. Dedicated exclusively to the environment, 50% of gross revenues generated by the search engine's users will go directly to benefit some of the nation’s top environmental organizations, including Reef Check.
ClimateGift.com is a fundraising tool that will work 24/7 to help provide funding for these organizations to help them reach their organizational goals. All you have to do is use ClimateGift.com the next time you search the web. Websites and blogs can also make an impact by putting a ClimateGift.com search widget on their site for their users or direct them to ClimateGift.com to develop their custom home page. In addition, its AJAX portal option offers users a means of customizing their home page as well as access to a wide variety of information and tools from across the Web. Each organization’s portal includes specific widgets and news that support its initiatives.
“If role modeling a green lifestyle is our message, then young people are the perfect messengers.” -- Debbie Levin, President, EMA
Young actors, actresses and musicians entertain, of course, but they also serve as role models to millions of people. They are the subject of admiration and inspiration to scores of people in their formative years. EMA works with young celebrities to reach the impressionable youth market with powerful messages concerning the health of our planet. "gen e" attracts an extremely high media profile which directly impacts the environmental awareness and education of millions.
Young Hollywood’s passion for the environment is priceless and EMA is committed to showcasing this synergy in unique, attention-getting ways to the youth around the world. Whether seen driving a hybrid, wearing organic clothes to a movie premiere or planting a tree, chances are EMA was involved! Some other “gen e” activities include:
A stylish Hollywood dinner party hosted by Mary-Kate Olsen where celebrity EMA Board Members ‘mentored’ the group on how to live a sustainable lifestyle. Attendees include Mischa Barton, Joshua Jackson, Jesse Metcalfe, Nicole Richie and other young celebrities. The event was covered in Teen Vogue.
EMA Board Member DJ AM spins at the first annual EMA E! Golden Green Party, ditching his gas-guzzling car for a new Lexus hybrid. TreePeople planted a tree for every party attendee including: Pink, JC Chavez, Jon Heder, Amy Smart and Sacha Baron Cohen. The event was covered by E! Entertainment Television, InStyle, USWeekly, People and more.
I am person who likes to stay organized. I love reducing clutter and organizing the things I use in an efficient manner. But there is one thing I never seem to be able to stay on top of: Piles and piles of papers. It seems that no matter how often I go through my desk and declutter, piles of unnecessary paper can build up in just a few short days.
As a business owner, I get daily offers for credit cards, legal counsel, software and more. As a mom, I get "free" magazines, catalogs, coupons and newsletters. The vast majority of this stuff just goes directly into the recycling bin. What a waste! Of course there are some catalogs and offers that request, but I would love to not receive most of it. Especially the stuff I never requested.
Forest Ethics, a nonprofit organization devoted to protecting forests and the environment has determined that junk mail contributes 51,548,000 cubic metric tons of greenhouse gases each year. That’s the equivalent of over 9 million passenger cars! As the organization likes to point out, "The average car travels 12,000 miles per year-as opposed to junk mail, which gets us nowhere!" Good point.
If you’re sick of junk mail and want to do something, join Forest Ethics in their effort to create a ‘Do Not Mail’ list, similar to the overwhelmingly popular ‘Do Not Call’ list that protected many family dinners from the dreaded telemarketing call! To support the cause you can sign the petition and post a link on your website! Visit DoNotMail.org for more info on eliminating junk mail.
John Glen DiGuiseppe, Founder/CEO of Investors Hospitality Management (IHM), has just announced the launch of new green hotel booking website GreenHotelBookings.com.
Throughout the travel industry, the hospitality sector has increasingly become far more aware of not only its own responsibility to the environment as well as surrounding individual communities, but to the desires for travelers to be able to choose “greener” options in their travels. Hotels, inns, B&B’s and more have taken to adopting programs such as the utilization of eco-friendly products and supplues, robust recycling programs, energy efficiency, water re-use, and much more.
Meanwhile, certification programs sprout up on a weekly basis; some are government funded (both state and federal agencies), while others are private organizations, aiming to become the next “standard” in green travel. There are many green hotel certification standards with varying levels of compliance.
However, this next standard has yet to be adopted, so consumers have had no place to go that easily displayed all the hotels that met at least one of these qualifications. Greenhotelbookings.com, a new website by John Glen DiGuiseppe, Founder/CEO of Investors Hospitality Management (IHM), is an “attempt to help both the hotel operators and the consumer by providing a place where they can both find what they are looking for.”
Property managers can locate information about certification and be listed on GHB. On the other hand, consumers can search for qualified properties that meet their particular requirements.
GreenHotelBookings.com recommends that hotels pursue certification from outside agencies, however, has established it’s own three tier program to categorize properties that are using eco-friendly products and procedures in their operation. The tiers provide a measure that property owners can use to identify their current level and examine the requirements for other levels they may want to achieve.
Green Hotel Level I:
Green Hotel Level II:
Green Hotel Level III:
“This is not a referral program nor a fee-based system but a free, actual verifiable green hotels booking engine, which, through its affiliation with bookings.com, Expedia, Orbitz, etc., provides reservations services in more than 18 languages for domestic and international visitors in quest of supporting sustainable hospitality in worldwide hotels and luxury estates,” DiGuiseppe says. “IHM conceived, developed and trademarked www.greenhotelbookings.com as a dual-focused site which both provides varied certification levels of green hotels, offering consulting to assist venues with methods to acquire higher sustainability accreditation, while simultaneously providing a free international booking system.”
“Over 50 percent of travelers book their travel online,” says Sean Kane, director of operations for IHM. Noting that many smaller hotels do not realize the significant percentage of this business opportunity, IHM has carved yet another niche into its portfolio of hospitality services to capture market share from Asian and European travelers in response to the economy’s current forecast.
“Through IHM’s service, hotels can strategize and/or adjust rates for distressed inventory within a 24/48 hour time period to maximize occupancy and sell rooms,” Kane says.
This page lists sustainable practices that hotels can implement. Hotels can keep up to date on green lodging news at greenlodgingnews.com. If you would like to encourage hotels you stay at to implement these ideas, consider printing this information and dropping it off at the front desk or mailing it in with the hotel's comment card.
Resources:
| Fiji Adventure Package | |||||
| Offered by Matava - Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort | |||||
True adventure can only be found in those pristine, out of the way places where new experiences and cultures combine into a life changing experience. Come experience this awesome adventure at Matava on Kadavu and immerse yourself in world class adventure activities in this outer island paradise. Dive the world renowned Great Astrolabe Reef and Kadavu's all year round Manta Reef with Manta rays, devil rays and sharks, then spend a day with Matava Gamefishing Charters to catch some yellowfin tuna for fresh sashimi for dinner. Follow that up with a day's sea kayaking the inlets and mangrove bays of Kadavu with award winning Tamarillo Sea Expeditions. At the end of each day indulge in the comfort of your own private en-suite bure at Matava, Fiji's Premier Eco Adventure Resort, directly on the Great Astrolabe Reef while enjoying the adventure of a lifetime. * 7 nights in Oceanview Traditional Bure * 1 day Gamefishing with Matava Gamefishing Charters * 1 day sea kayaking with Tamarillo Expeditions * 1 day 2 tank dive or "Intro to Diving" lesson * All meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, unlimited tea/coffee) * Airport and boat transfers to/from Kadavu airport * All taxes Price F$1949 per person (price based on Double Occupancy and valid to 31st March 2009) | |||||
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"BULA from Fiji -
Three cheers for Matava! It's a wonderful Eco Resort. Best things to do:
Snorkel by kayak
Kayak to a village (you can even spend the night in the village and kayak back for a unique native experience)
Do a waterfall trek
Visit the small, uninhabited outer island for sandy beaches and snorkeling
Go deep sea fishing for a day
Vist the villagers
Take a "resort course" - it just takes a couple of hours, then you can dive while you are there!
Most of all, enjoy this rugged, unique island and the wonderful people from Matava. You will probably hear back from Richard, who normally answers their emails. Tell all of them (Richard, Jeannie, or Adrian) that Susan from Fiji highly recommends Matava!"
This was a truely wonderful place to stay. We were not divers, we are eco junkies, and we found plenty to do. The hiking in the rainforest to the waterfall; to see the Fijian Children scaling cliffs and jumping into the cold freshwater was a blast. The medicine man tour. Talking to the locals about their culture. Kava nights with the Fijians. Canoeing around the resort. Some people did a night in the local village, others hung out and relaxed. We also experienced a Lovo (Fijian underground cooking)
Matava did not have a beach, but it was a short snorkel over the beautiful house reef, or canoe to the Island Waya to spend the day on the white sand beach. While on Waya, climb the Island peek to get amazing views of Kadavu, Matava Resort and the most beautiful Astrolabe reef.
Snorkling trips for 25 dollars for 2-3 hours.....WOW, I can not tell you how beautiful the corals are. The staff made sure you were safe, and kept a keen eye on you. The coral is undescribable. I think it may put the Great Barrier to shame. So Divers...this is the place for you! (Manta Rays, Sharks, corals, etc)
The staff and food is acceptional. The staff took time for us, and made sure we were taken care of. If you go; you will enjoy wonderful cooking from the kitchen ladies, and I challenge anyone to shave some coconuts. Maggie is an amazing host, and will make your stay that much better.
Accommodations are state of the Art. They are clean, well taken care of. The sheets are changed every 3 days. Oh and there is hot showers...a plus for the tropics.
Please remember before you go, that Kadavu Island is not very developed and you are in the middle of no where with limited power. It takes 45 min by boat from the airport to get you to the resort. (No Roads) Pack mosquito spray, and a flashlight. Bring extra batteries for your camera, and huge memory card. Participate and ask questions to the locals as they love to share their culture. We met many people from all over the world, and we will never forgot this place and the people that have touched our lives. You soon understand what is means to be on "Fiji Time."
Ian Faye
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada
Value Rooms Location Cleanliness Check in / front desk Service Business service
The July-August 2008 issue of Pacific Magazine will be the last. After 32 years, the Hawaii-based news magazine will cease to be a print publication. Publisher Floyd K Takeuchi cited flat circulation, rising postal costs, and competition from the internet as reasons for Pacific’s demise. The magazine intends to carry on as a web-only news portal, but online it will be competing with dozens of other South Pacific internet news sites while as a print publication its sole competitor was Fiji-based Islands Business.
The entire text of the eighth edition of Moon Handbooks South Pacific is now accessible on Google Books. You can scroll down through the 1,091 pages or click the Contents link to jump to a specific section. Buttons at the top of the page allow you zoom in, view two pages at a time, or switch to full screen. From the righthand column, you can search inside the book. Moon Handbooks South Pacific is rich in detail and you’ll find specific information on thousands of islands.
Grist is the Colbert Report of climate change, the Daily Show of deforestation, the Oprah of oil dependency — except with real reporting and analytical journalism.
Also, Grist staffers have never had a dust-up with David Letterman. (Not yet.) The e-zine delivers news and news-you-can-use on pivotal topics — with punny, sometimes corny headlines, such as "Diversifying Your Stalk Portfolio," a recent article on hunters and climate change, or "Let's Call the Coal Thing Off," a take on the growing popularity of "coal-bashing."
One of the site's most visited and handiest features should be bookmarked in every climate-defender's browser: Coby Beck's comprehensive rebuttal to all global-warming naysayers, "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic."
Sample Grist humor: You might want to sit down for this: Al Gore will announce his candidacy for president this week, knowledgeable sources tell Grist. There's an inconvenient truth for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Gore believes the two Democrats and Republican John McCain aren't giving climate change the urgent attention it deserves, so he's decided to go for the job himself, say Gore advisors who requested anonymity as they aren't authorized to speak to the press. (The story ran on April Fools' Day.)
Seeing Fiji on a bilibili
Travellers can pick from the 200 or so scattered isolated islands that offer a brimming palette of environmentally sound options.
There are six established national parks, four of which can be found on the main
There are thousands of plants with unique medicinal value like the ‘uci’ which is great for aroma therapy. There’s also the beautiful Tagimaucia flower which is unique to the volcanic craters of
Each natural reserve has unique features that attract travellers from all over world. The Sigatoka sand dunes have seen excavations by scientists in search of historical artefacts. Much of the dunes still store pieces of pottery and other signs of early Fijian life which tourists stumble upon. On the
As
| Policy Home > Text ads > Content > Endangered Species |
Don't promote products obtained from endangered or threatened species.
Advertising is not permitted for products obtained from endangered or threatened species. This includes, but is not limited to, the sale of products derived from elephants, sharks, tigers, whales, rhinoceroses, or dolphins.
================================================
From: "Deanna Yick"
Sent: Tue, 15 Jul 2008
Subject: update re: AdWords policy
Hi John,
I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to share the news that Google AdWords has implemented a new policy regarding endangered or threatened species, including sharks. This has been updated on our content policy page, which you can view here:
Google AdWords Help Center
Please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks again for your patience as our policy team worked through the process of evaluating and implementing this policy.
Best,
Deanna
On an Intrepid (MAD) project make A Difference to a Community using the universal language of sport. When booking your trip, choose between rugby, netball, soccer, swimming or tennis coaching and take your passion for the sport to children and adults in schools and clubs at all levels. Based in Lautoka, this 14 day project is extremely rewarding and your knowledge, enthusiasm and skill can make a real difference to hundreds of people who may never have had any sports coaching in their lives. As well as coaching sessions you will also have the opportunity to train with local teams and clubs to improve you own skills and really get involved with the local community. After a hard week?s coaching Fiji you can chill out in the sea or relax on the beach in this beautiful and friendly island archipelago.
StuartTuiTai Lived and played in Fiji for 10 years now. Paraglide, body board and mountain bike most of Fiji! 
based on 1 vote  | ||
| 1. Mountain bike to Bouma Waterfalls, Taveuni | ||
| Awesome rainforest scenery and a lovely dirt road to cruise along. Beautiful waterfall to swim in and cool off at the end. Also one of the most successful community conservation projects in the world! | ||
| | ||
| 2. Whitewater Rafting Upper Navua Gorge | ||
| In the remote highlands of Viti Levu lies one of the most unique river trips on earth. Slicing a deep chasm through the island's tropical interior, the Upper Navua River is our hidden pathway to a pristine tropical wilderness. Shrouded in lush rain forest, fed by countless waterfalls and protected by challenging rapids, the Upper Navua River is Fiji rafting at its best. | ||
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| 3. Body Boarding at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes | ||
| One of only a couple of beach breaks in Fiji (all the big ones are reef breaks and gnarly!). Great fun and brilliant scenery in fornt of the black and gold sand dunes. Excellent beach/driftwood photography opps. | ||
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| 4. Dive the Rainbow Reef, Somosomo Straits | ||
| Possibly the best diving easily avaiable to shore based divers. Be careful of the strong currents that feed all that soft coral though, not a place for pure beginners! | ||
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