I received a very nice email from a fellow snorkeler, Amalia and she told me about how you (we) can go diving with the sharks in Maui, at the Maui Ocean Center.

Years ago, I have had the pleasure to visit the beautiful islands of Hawaii many times and I was totally unaware of this wonderful experience. (though this program might have just started in the last few years).

If you know scuba diving, you will know that the diving in Maui is not inexpensive. You will pay an average of $125.00 for 2 tanks and there is no guarantee what you will see. Here at the Maui Ocean Center, you will be in the water up to 2.5 hours for $199.00. You will experience in the 750,000 gallon tank, sharks stingrays and thousands of tropical reef fish.

Though the Maui Ocean Center only offers the experience of scuba diving, we hope that one day they will realize that us snorkelers would love to experience this adventure also.

Thank you Amalia for the information!

What to do when there is 8 to 10 inches of snow on the ground, no vacation in the very near future….the only thing to do is snorkel the internet. My night owl tendancies got the best of me when I came accross the link below. What a fantastic way to have a mini snorkeling adventure without having to spend boucoup bucks on a real vacation.

I found this article at the NJ.com website and it seems that the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey offers a swim with the sharks adventure for anyone age 12 and older. What a cool way to introduce someone to the underwater world. This is also a great learning experience for the kids and something that they will remember for years to come. There are a few other places across the United states that offer this unique experience….with the exception of my home state of Illinois….:(

Does anyone know of any other swim with the sharks programs in other states? It would be cool to get a list together. Let me know.

What would you do if you saw a 6 foot – 650 pound jellyfish? Walk on water? That is what I would do as I was heading back to the boat or shore. The jellyfish I am talking about is the Nomura Jellyfish.

For the past 3 summers, Japanese fishing boats continue to capsize beause of these large underwater creatures. The giant jellyfish get caught in the fishing nets and the fishermen do not know that the creatures are in the net and when they bring the nets up, the weight overturns the boats.

Read more on CNN, MSNBC and National Geographics.

Here is a video that I enjoyed and I hope you will. It will show you how large the Nomura Jellyfish are.

WOW IS THIS A POWERFUL AD? Great job OCEANA and thank you January Jones for being the face in this ad campaign to save the sharks.

The following is copied from OCEANA website.

January Jones in the shark pen at Bimini from Oceana on Vimeo.

You should be scared for sharks, too.

Movies such as “Jaws” have forever branded sharks as fearsome predators. This reputation couldn’t be farther from the truth as most sharks are not dangerous to humans at all. In reality, we should be scared for sharks, and not scared of sharks. Sharks have swum the world’s oceans since before the dinosaur era. They inhabit almost every ocean on Earth and are vital to the health of our planet.

Sharks are apex predators, meaning they are at the very top of the marine food web. Unfortunately, sharks are slow growing and have very few offspring, making them extremely vulnerable to overfishing.

Each year, humans kill more than 100 million sharks worldwide. Most sharks are killed for just their fins, which are used to make shark fin soup. Unable to rebound from overfishing, some shark populations have declined by 99 percent.

Learn more about Oceana’s campaign to save sharks.

January Jones is Scared for Sharks from Oceana on Vimeo.

The following is from Wikipedia:
“Ichthyophobia is the fear of fish. Although the term technically refers to a specific phobia, in many contexts it may refer to any kind of fear of fish, such as fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish. Galeophobia is a subtype of ichthyophobia specifically focused on one species: sharks.”

Since “fear of eating fish” is mentioned fear of swimming with fish would fall into the same category. The article is fascinating and quite informative…if you want to read on Ichthyophobia.

I can more than understand that many not liking to swim with fish. It wasn’t until I became a scuba diver that I realized that it was more of a fear of not seeing them while swimming and having one nip at you. Now that I scuba dive I am no longer worrying about what’s below me because I can see them under the water on a more face to fish level. I also don’t eat fish and consider it as a sign of good faith that they won’t eat me LOL. To top it all off I have been teaching scuba and snorkeling for 25 years and currently work at a scuba diving facility, Visibility Unlimited and have come to appreciate the fish a lot more than I used to.

Kate Walsh Wants to Save Sea Turtles from Oceana on Vimeo.

I love talking to our customers! While I would like to think I am up on all the great snorkeling destinations, I always learn something new.

La Jolla, California… have you heard of it? It seems that every summer the magnificent Leopard Sharks return to the waters off of La Jolla. Hundredes of the harmless sharks can be found in shallow waters of 2-6feet of water, near the shore. They do not eat humans so dont be afraid. They have small teeth and feed on crustceans and other invertebrates that live in the muddy & sandy bottoms.

Snorkel out in the waters to view the sharks or hop on a kayak and then snorkel these great creatures. There are a few companies that will take you on a tour, just google “leopard sharks in La Jolla”. And of course we had to search in youtube and this is the best video we found. The waters can be murky since it is so shallow. I hope to put this on my travels for next year, to snorkel with the Leopard Sharks.

GOOD JOB HAWAII! Over 2 years ago, Hawaii started fining those individuals and companies that are damaging the reefs. The New York Times states that Hawaii is the home to 84% of all coral under American jurisdiction.

You wonder how much money are we talking? There is one scuba diving store that was fined for $396,000.00 because when one of their boats sank, it damaged more than 1200 coral colonies in the Molokini area.

The US Navy was just recently fined for $7 million dollars while they had to restore over 5000 broken coral colonies because the USS Port Royal ran aground.

If the companies do not be more careful, in a few years there will be no more corals and it is no secret that the states number 1 industry is tourism. So folks, puleeze be careful when you are snorkeling, lets set examples… Do not touch or stand on our beautiful corals. As the New York Times states “Careless ocean users, can kill 500 year old coral in 5 minutes.” Watch for updated video in our Snorkeling Guides category for more information on how you can be for careful.