Have a happy 2008 (full of water)

This funny Elephant seems unquestionably happy and enjoying the water. I hope you all could be in 2008 at least as happy as him and that no one should suffer for the lack of our most precious wealth: Water

Seizing the day.... and the fish

These are four incredible sequences of animals fishing frame by frame. They have been realized by two famous wildlife photographers: Ken Conger and Miguel Lasa.

1
A Bald Eagle fishing in Alaska. It seems to be so hungry to start eating still on the wing. Photos Copyrighted by Ken Conger


Photo: Ken Conger

Photo: Ken Conger

Photo: Ken Conger

2
A bear catching salmons in the Katmai National Park. One of this photos granted to Ken Corger the second place winner of the 2007 National Parks photo competition sponsored by Canon.


Photo: Ken Conger

Photo: Ken Conger

Photo: Ken Conger

3
An Osprey fishing in Finland. If catching a fish while flying it's too easy, don't worry... it takes two at one time!!! Photos Copyrighted by Miguel Lasa


Photo: Miguel Lasa

Photo: Miguel Lasa

Photo: Miguel Lasa

4
A Sea Eagle in Norway. Catching a fish is just the first part of the job... later you have even to defend yourself from a Seagull! Photos by Miguel Lasa


Photo: Miguel Lasa

Photo: Miguel Lasa

Photo: Miguel Lasa

To see the other stunning pictures of these two skilled wildlife photographers visit their site:
Ken Conger
Miguel Lasa

Water Nuclear Explosion

This is an advertising realized for UNICEF by the german agency Serviceplan.
The text says: "1,5 million children die every year from drinking polluted water".

Advertising Agency: Serviceplan Hamburg, Germany
Creative Directors: Alex Schill, Axel Thomsen
Art Directors: Maik Kaehler, Till Diestel, Amelie Graalfs
Copywriter: Christoph Nann
Photographer: Joerg Kritzer
Published: March 2007

13 Surrealist masterpieces by Vladimir Kush

"Departure of the Winged Ship" by Vladimir Kush

Vladimir Kush is a Russian-born surrealist painter and sculptor, although he prefers to refer to his art as metaphorical realism. Each one of his paintings is surprising and full of strong symbols. His life and inspiration have been deeply involved with open spaces and oceans. For this reason many paintings in his huge (and beautiful) production are related to the sea. Amongst the latters I've chosen thirteen masterpieces I find particularly amazing. To see hundreds of other paintings by Vladimir Kush, related to the sea or not, visit his own site


"Ripples on the Ocean" by Vladimir Kush


"Crusaders" by Vladimir Kush


"Current" by Vladimir Kush


"Breach" by Vladimir Kush


"Haven" by Vladimir Kush


"Pearl" by Vladimir Kush


"Born from the Sea" by Vladimir Kush


"Sunrise by the Ocean" by Vladimir Kush


"Tide of Time" by Vladimir Kush


"To The Safe Haven" by Vladimir Kush


"Treasure Island" by Vladimir Kush


"What the Fish was Silent About" by Vladimir Kush

Ooops...

The perfect time to shoot a picture if you are a photographer..
The worst time to choose to dive if you are a penguin!

Source is STRANGEZOO a site full of funny stuff about animals

ROLEX Sydney Hobart Yacht Race: Rosebud is the overall winner

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Photo: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
ABOVE: Rosebud is the ROLEX Sydney Hobart 2007 Overall Winner

As we've told yesterday Bob Oatley's "Wild Oats XI" skippered by Mark Richards had won the Line Honours of the ROLEX Sydney Hobart Yacht Race for the third time in a row (and his owner had already declared that in 2008 they will try to win the forth time in a row, something never happened before in the Sydney Hobart history).
The news are that today has emerged also the Overall Winner: the American STP65 Rosebud, with his owner Roger Sturgeon prized with the coveted Tattersall's Trophy for the overall handicap win.


Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Roger Sturgeon prized with the Tattersall's Trophy


Photo: ROLEX/Daniel Forster
Roger Sturgeon and the Rosebud Crew

With this prize giving, another ROLEX Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has come to an end. To see the hundreds of stunning pictures of this edition visit as always the REGATTANEWS.COM portal.


Photo: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

Dangerous fishing...

Enjoy this funny video. Soon I'll speak again about orcas, because the web is full of amazing stuff about the so-called Killer Whales.

Wild Oats XI first to cross the line of the ROLEX Sydney Hobart 2007

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Wild Oats XI crossing the line in Hobart

Yesterday I've spoken about the ROLEX Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2007, the 63rd edition of the 628-mile offshore race organised by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. A few hours ago, Bob Oatley's 98-foot super-maxi Wild Oats XI, with Mark Richards as skipper, crossed the finish this morning in Hobart at 10:24am local time to take the line honours win for the third consecutive year. The yacht's elapsed time was 1 day, 21 hrs, 24 mins, which was only just over 3 hours off their record pace set in 2005.
City Index Leopard crossed the finish line 27 minutes later, to take second place.
Everyone is involved in the sailing world however knows that taking the line honours is a great gratification but it doesn't mean that you have won the ROLEX Sydney Hobart. To win it you have to conquer the Tattersall's Cup that means being the first of the classification with the IRC corrected time. So, to know the winner we have to wait for the arrival of the whole fleet in the next hours. Too see all the pictures check REGATTANEWS.COM. To know the actual position of all the boats of the fleet check the official site of the race.

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Wild Oats XI passing the so-called Organ Pipes

The Great Blue Hole

In tha sea of Belize, inside the lagoon of Lighthouse Atoll, is the Great Blue Hole. The name alone will make it different from some of the other "blue holes" to be found all over the world. This one is the largest, deepest, and most famous. It's perfectly circular, more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) across and some 400 feet (123 meters) deep. Thousands of divers have made it the reason they have come to dive in Belize. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971 he brought his ship, the Calypso to the hole to chart its depths.

The Great Blue Hole was formed as a limestone cave system during the last ice age when sea levels were much lower. As the ocean began to rise again the caves flooded, and the roof collapsed. At that time it was dry and because of its limestone makeup, stalagmites and stalactites were created drop by drop of limestone rich water. Some of these stalactites are nearly thirty feet long and nearly eight feet in diameter.

Now it's one of the best place in the world for diving but it's depth make it very dangerous and a challenge just for the most experienced divers.



Photo: Andy Farrington

Photo: National Geographic/David Doublet

source

source

Photo: National Geographic/David Doublet

ROLEX Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has started

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
The start

While here in the Northern emisphere it's cold and I've taken a superflu that had kept me away from the blog for some days in the southern emisphere it is summer and they know how to capitalise it with one of the most incredible and adrenalinic fleet race of the whole sailing world. The ROLEX Sydney Hobart Yacht Race together with the northern ROLEX Fastnet Race are as a matter of fact, for a lot of reasons, two races that never lack in spectacularity as everybody can easily understand from the long lists of accidents (that sadly sometimes had also culminated in tragedies) that these two races always have. Let's enjoy some pictures by the ROLEX Photographers while we wait for the arrival. To see hundreds of other pictures and updated news visit the REGATTANEWS.COM, the official site for all ROLEX Sailing Events.


Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Photo: ROLEX/Daniel Forster

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Spectators looking at the start

Photo: ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Another kind of spectators...