PHOTO FRIDAY: DIVING WITH SHARKS IN COIBA MARINE PARK

Liz gets a close-up view of a white-tipped reef shark in Panama's Coiba National Marine Park. 

BYE BYE MADAGASCAR

From its ancient baobabs to its adventurous sailing trips to its incredible (and oh-so-friendly) wildlife Madagascar's been good to us. But it's time to move on. South Africa, here we come.

Til then, below are a few parting shots from the land of the lemurs (and tortoises, and geckos, and ...).  

Nature at its most "natural"--these radiated tortoises live (and love) in one of the world's only programs set up to breed the highly-endangered reptiles. Seemed things were going well when we visited. 

That's one tiny gecko catching rays on the mirror of our rented motor bike.

A trip to Madagascar without a photo of a ring-tailed lemur? Not a chance.

Sadly, despite its reputation as a haven for rare and endangered wildlife, the island remains a frequent venue for slash-and-burn agriculture, as seen in the photo above.

Us at 20 feet under, diving near Ile Sainte-Marie off Madagascar's remote east coast.

LIZ SWIMS WITH THE FISHES

If you've ever imagined swimming through a school of thousands of friendly fish, check out this video. Liz literally vanished around the 30-second mark, once the cloud of jackfish engulfs us.

Fish schools like this are part of the reason Sipadan was one of Jacques Cousteau's favorite dive spots. That and the sharks and the turtles and the ridiculous variety of life you can see there.

The video is from our trip to Sipadan Island a couple weeks ago...we finally found internet fast enough to upload it.

Another update coming tomorrow...

HAPPY EARTH DAY FROM PALAU

A male mandarin fish helps us celebrate Earth Day 2012! He's also commemorating National Poetry Month. 

There may not be a better place in the world to celebrate Earth Day 2012 than the island of Palau. Remote, gorgeous, and surrounded by the deep blue Pacific and some of the most-spectacular fish life on the planet, Palau long-ago established environmental guidelines to protect its reefs and also set up the world’s first shark sanctuary (with much assistance from Pew, Kip’s former employer). Jacques Cousteau would do a jig if he were still alive.

But like any island country with a busy port, even Palau’s waters can get cluttered with trash and debris. In celebration of Earth Day, a local dive shop, Sam’s Tours, joined with a nearby school to organize a volunteer clean-up of the harbor and surrounding reef. It just so happened they were looking for some extra hands.

Sam’s generously provided the tanks, dive equipment, snorkel gear, and kayaks for the clean-up. Around 30 students showed up, joining a handful of residents and tourists. Half the kids ventured out in kayaks to clean the water’s edge. Boat owners ferried student snorkelers around to farther areas of the harbor, and we along with Charity, the aptly-named organizer of the event, cleaned up debris below the surface.  And there was a lot of it…

We even saw some amazing fish while cleaning up!

A juvenile sweetlips swims under the docks of Palau.

A big thanks to Charity for organizing the event, as well as to Sam’s Tours for providing the gear, garbage bags, and the dock.

Happy Earth Day everyone! Get out there and do something good for the planet. The power is yours…

Photo of Captain Planet not by Liz or Kip