Frog's umbrella...

This smart tropical frog has found a cover from the rain...

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Found The King of Prehistoric Seas

Artist's interpretation of the monster catching a pterosaur - Artwork by Tor Sponga, BT

Remains of a bus-sized prehistoric plesiosaur has been found on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard - about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. The skeleton has been nicknamed "The Monster" because of its enormous size, roughly 15 meters, a length that makes this animal the biggest sea dinosaurs ever found.

These animals were the top predators living in what was then a relatively cool, deep sea. Plesiosaurs are said to fit descriptions of Scotland's mythical Loch Ness monster. They used two sets of powerful flippers for swimming and came in two varieties - one with a small head and very long neck, and another with a large head and short neck. The short-necked ones, like "The Monster" are known as pliosaurs.
The discovery of a gigantic pliosaur is one of the most remarkable discoveries of the palaeontologists from the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum.
Its skeleton has dinner-plate-sized neck vertebrae, and the lower jaw has teeth as big as bananas.


Artist's interpretation of the monster catching a smaller plesiosaur - Artwork by Tor Sponga, BT


Artist's interpretation of the monster hunting ichthyosaurs - Artwork by Tor Sponga, BT


Size comparison - Killer whale, Blue whale, Pliosaur ("The Monster") and human dive - Artwork by Tor Sponga, BT


Size comparison between the Kronosaurus, the biggest sea dinosaurs until the discovery of the Svalbard monster

Pictures from the workfield on the Svalbard Island:





Read more and visit the official page of the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo about the discovery

All the pictures are © Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norway

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Say cheese!

Cheeeese!

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The incredible quickness of the Kingfisher

Here above you can see a beautiful photo of a Common Kingfisher with its prey in the beak. Kingfishers are birds with incredible fishing skills that lives in the trees near rivers and lakes.

What makes this picture particularly interesting is the funny face of the poor mosquito fish that seems absolutely dazzled.. look on the right at its stupefied face!







The reason of the surprise in the face of the little prey could be the incredible speed of the attack of the Kingfisher that you can see in the sequence below.To understand the quickness of this manoeuvre keep in mind that a kingfisher can dive from the branch into the water, take the fish and come back on the branch in less than one second!

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Puff!

A tiny Puffer Fish.

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The PDN's World in Focus travel photo contest 2007

Marsel Van Oosten
"Misty morning in Madagascar"

In this post I've presented one picture by Onne Van der Wal that has been awarded in the PDN's World in Focus, a famous travel photography contest. Amongst the awarded pictures there are many other pictures which are related to sea, water or snow (the themes of this blog...)
After having seen them go to the official gallery to see al the other pictures (some of them are really cool..)


Philip Lee Harvey
"Beach of redemption, Kerala"


Jose Antonio Rosas
"Penguins on ice"


Kfir Bolotin
"The French Alps, Chamonix Mont Blanc"


John Paul Caponigro
"Antarctica XLI, Neko Karbor 2007"


Turner Forte Photography
"Kajaker explores ice cave"


Joel Aron
"Untitled"


Guy Sargeant
"The London Eye"


Luc Robitaille
"Untitled"


Kelly Hibbs
"Magnificience: Harsh desert meets cozy snow"


Yeang Ch'ng
"Untitled"


Vince Wallace
"Untitled"


Chris Gordaneer
"Hippo"

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Quack!

Quack!

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The tallest sailing boats of the world

Perini Navi Salute compared with the Tower of Pisa

The most visited post of the almost 150 that I've published in these three months of SeaWayBLOG is the one about the Biggest ship of the world. When I wrote it I didn't image such a interest for this kind of argument but it's perfect now that I'm going to talk about the tallest yachts in the world. The occasion is the launch of Perini Navi' Salute a 56m Cutter with an incredible 75m (236ft) tall one-piece alluminum mast. If this number does not impress you look here above the comparison with the 58m tall Pisa Tower...

Two graphics of the new Perini impressive Cutter from the Official Site:




Some photo of the installation of the monstre-mast:


Photo Paglianti


Photo Paglianti


source


source


source


source

However, even if Salute could claim the record for the tallest one-piece alluminum mast in the world, the record for the absolute tallest mast goes to Mirabella V (88.5m 292ft mast height) which is also the largest single masted yacht in the world with a 75.22m (247 ft) length.

Here are some pictures of the Mirabella V taken form the Official Site:





Finally a little bit of Specs:


Perini Navi Salute:
Length overall 184 ft / 56 m
Waterline length 150 ft / 46.71 m
Beam 38 ft / 11.51 m
Draught (keel up) 13 ft / 4.05 m
Draught (keel down) 32 ft / 9.83 m
Hull Aluminium
Superstructure Aluminium
Maximum displacement 535 t
Engines 2 MTU 2000 M72
Maximum power 2 x 720 kW
Power at maximum continuous rating 2 x 720 kW
Speed at maximum power 15.60 kt
Speed at maximum continuous rating 15.60 kt
Range 3,600 nm @ 13 kt
Fuel capacity 50,000 lt
Fresh water 12,400 lt
Main mast height above DWL 236 ft / 72 m
Total sail area 31,312 ft² / 2,909 m²
Cockpit area 1,787 ft² / 166 m²
Saloon and wheelhouse area 1,281 ft² / 119 m²
Total owner and guest cabin area 1,539.2 ft² / 143 m²
Total crew area 1,152 ft² / 107 m²
Lazarette area 452 ft² / 42 m²
Interior Design Rémi Tessier
Naval Architecture Perini Navi / Ron Holland
Builder Perini Navi - Viareggio, Italy

Mirabella Yachts Mirabella V:
LOA: 75.22m (247 ft)
Beam: 14.80m (48.5 ft)
Draught (Keel Up): 4.0m (13 ft)
Draught (Keel Fully Down):
10.0m (33 ft)
Displacement:
765 tonnes
Mast Height: 88.5m (292ft)
Builder: VT Shipbuilding
Mirabella V Project Manager:
Paul Johnson MDC
Naval Architect/Interior Designer:
Ron Holland Design
Composite Engineering:
High Modulus
Sails: Doyle Sailmakers
Main Sail - Segmented Battened Panels:
1557m² (16,760ft²)
UPS (Genoa): 1833m² (19,730ft²)
Working Jib: 828m² (8,915ft²)
Staysail: 320m² (3,445ft²)
Built to DNV, Germanischer Lloyds and MCA compliant

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The last farewell

PHOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT: K.C. ALFRED. SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/ZUMA PRESS

Behind this beautiful picture there is a very sad story. This is the "water memorial" to the pro surfer Emery Kauanui, 24, died on May 28th 2007, four days after a post-bar brawl on May 24th. in the picture you can see the exact moment when his mother throw the ashes in the sea surrounded by the whole surfing community of San Diego.

A larger view:

PHOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT: K.C. ALFRED. SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/ZUMA PRESS


PHOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT: K.C. ALFRED. SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE/ZUMA PRESS

Emery Kauanui:


Read the whole story

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The man who can hypnotize sharks

Mike Rutzen, worldwide famous as "Sharkman", is a former fisherman from South Africa who has become one of the best expert and defender of the White Sharks. His mission is to show that the huge predators are not bloodthirsty killers but are intelligent creatures with whom it is possible to comunicate. Sharkman infact has learned to mimic their body language, changing his posture in response to their actions and that had given him the chance to swim with the sharks so close that he is one of the few people in the world that could tell you that the shark eyes are not black but turquoise blue!.
He is seen neither as prey nor predator and the sharks happily glide past him, occasionally letting him ride with them by hanging on to their dorsal fins.
Mike, as you can see in the photo, has also put in action the phenomenon of "tonic immobility" which is a natural state of paralysis, which animals sometimes enter when faced with an imminent threat. However, it can be induced in sharks by turning them on their heads and massaging their snouts, close to the eyes. The reaction of the shark is something similar to what happen when you collar a cat from its neck.
The effects last for around 15 minutes and has proved a useful tool for scientists wanting to study shark behaviour.

Read the whole story

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Odin, the white tiger that loves water

White tigers - the colour is caused by an unusual genetic combination - are rare in the wild, although there are several dozen in zoos. The most famous one is, for sure, Odin, the six-year-old male Bengal from thr Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Zoo in Vallejo, near San Francisco.
It has become a star with a lot of fantastic pictures scattered in the web mainly because its pleasure in diving in the water to catch the lumps of meat its trainer Lee Munro throw in the pool.
Being this pool a glass-fronted tank it's possible for everybody to take amazing pictures during the feeding.











Odin with its trainer Lee Munro:




Read the story here
look another gallery with Odin and another normal coloured tiger

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Why diving by night at Cocos Island could be a horrible idea...

Imagine to dive in the dark sea at night close to the reef of Cocos Island, Costa Rica, then suddenly you use the flash of the camera just to have a quick look of the world around you.... that's what you'll see:



Hundreds of Whitetip Reef Sharks hunting.
It could be a relief knowing that they are not aggressive toward humans (normally) and will (generally) swim away if disturbed, although it may bite if harassed. However I would not feel comfortable in the shoes (flippers) of this photographer..

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Children in the sea and other underwater sculpture

Vicissitudes

Jason de Caires Taylor’s underwater sculptures create a unique, absorbing and expansive visual seascape. Highlighting natural ecological processes Taylor’s interventions explore the intricate relationships that exist between art and environment. His works become artificial reefs, attracting marine life, while offering the viewer privileged temporal encounters, as the shifting sand of the ocean floor, and the works change from moment to moment.

Go to the artist official site to see other wonderful pictures and know everything about this incredible form of art




Vicissitudes


The Lost Correspondent


The Lost Correspondent


Vicissitudes


Vicissitudes


TamCC Project


The fall from grace


The Un-still Life


The Un-still Life


La Diablesse

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Hammerhead Sharks on the road to extinction

Copyright Greenpeace
A Hammered Shark drowned in driftnet followed by sukerfish, the classical photo that tells you much more than thousand words..

Scientists have revealed that nine new species of sharks are to be added to the official list of animals at global risk of extinction. In particular the hammerhead shark had seen its population reduced by 99%(!!!) in the last few years, due to overfishing. Sharks' fins are highly prized as a delicacy in Chinese cooking, and prices can reach as much as £150 per kg. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year, with many fishermen simply slicing off their fins before throwing them back into the water where they usually drown or bleed to death.

As usual I just could post a gallery with some good pictures found on the web to show to the all of us what incredible animals we are seriously risking to lose for ever:


Photo Charles Hood/oceanimage.com


Photo Brian J. Skerry





When they swim in shoals, Hammerhead Sharks are one of the most impressive natural wonders:



Photo Eric H. Cheng

we've started this post with a beautiful image of an horrible thing and we close it in the same way with three (quite disturbing) pictures:

a Hammerhead Shark with seven cubs


a Hammerhead Shark Fin


finned sharks die slowly in the water

Read more info here
and check also this interesting blog post

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A leap into freedom

AFP

A rare Royal Bengal pregnant tigress leap into the river and regain its freedom in the Indian jungle. The tiger was freed by forestal guards after being captured and badly beaten by villagers of Sunderbans.

Read here the whole story

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Flipperball

Some days ago in a post called "Underwater Football" I've spoken about a famous soccer player playing under water (for an ad campaign). Here we have a funny photo with something related but totally different. First of all it's not advertising but just fun (!). Some guys enjoyed themselves playing football with a complete underwater uniform, flipper and glasses included. I'm a little bit confused on how to call this kind of sport... Flipperball?

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South China in the grip of ice (with no electricity)

Reuters

The one above is a photo from Reuters which show chinese workers repairing electrical pylons which were damaged during the snowfalls of the last days that had been the heaviest and more persistent in 50 years in China and have left the nation in a critical electrical shortage.
Below you can see a fantastic serie of pictures, in which is very clear how the weight of the ice could have destroyed hundreds of pylons and electrical cables causing the power shortage. Click this link to view more

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Scientist discovered new giant life in the Antarctic sea

REUTERS/Australian Antarctic Division/Handout
Animals known as tunicates which look like meter-tall glass tulips sit on the ocean floor at a depth of about 722 feet on the Antarctic continental shelf are shown in this handout image made available on February 19, 2008.


Australian scientists have filmed and and captured some amazing giant creatures in the icy waters of Antarctica. "Gigantism is common in in Antarctic waters, We've captured huge worms, giant shellfish eand sea-spiders as big as dishes. They live in the dark and have huge eyes." has explained the head of the mission.

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sQuba, the first underwater car

Do you remember that scene of the movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ in which 007 Roger Moore when he dove below the waves in a submersible Lotus Esprit that moments before seemed to be an ordinary car? Obviously that scene was a fake but now that dream had become reality thanks to Frank M. Rinderknecht, the boss of Rinspeed (a swiss automobile company specialized in futuristic concept cars) who had created sQuba, a car originated by a Lotus Elise that is able to goes on land, to cruise on the surface of the sea and also (incredible!) to dive and fly like a fish in the water down to 10 meters below the surface.
The car is capable of speeds of up to 120 km/h on land, a more sedate 6.4 km/h, cruising in "boat" mode and just 3.2 km/h beneath the surface. Unlike the Bond original, the modern version has an open top. The interior is made from waterproof plastics, which allow water to drain off when the car surfaces.
Occupants have to wear wetsuits to stay dry and breathe air from an integrated tank similar to that used by scuba divers. The vehicle can stay underwater until it runs out of air or battery power, normally about two hours. The main reason for having an open cabin is safety. Mr Rinderknecht explained: "Even at one metre depth, the water pressure would keep the doors closed so you could not get out in an emergency. With an enclosed cabin, opening the door might be impossible."
Three motors are located in the rear. One provides propulsion on land, the other two drive the screws for underwater motoring and if a submersible car is not enough high tech, Squba is also a zero-emission car! It produces no exhaust emissions and the power is a supplied by rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries.

Sadly, those who would like to say "My name is Pond... James Pond.. pardon Bond!" may never be able to get their hands on this dreamcar as there are no plans to put it into production... but you could see the £750,000 ($1,640,000) prototype at the Geneva Motor Show next month.






sQuba on land is anyway a beautiful car

for more info

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The sleeping giant

AFP

A nice gallery of the "Riverdance", the ferry that on January 31st had beached at Blackpool, England, becoming a tourist attraction.


AFP

AFP

AFP

AFP

AFP

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Grupama 3: dramatic rescue

The video footage of the dramatic helicopter rescue of the ten french sailors of Groupama 3 after the capsizing of their trimaran

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Groupama 3 Capsized

Groupama capsized


The crew in the rescue helicopter

Last night at 2343 UT, Franck Cammas, skipper of the trimaran Groupama 3 engaged in the Jules Verne Trophy, a prize for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions on the size of the crew, alerted the shore crew to the capsize of the maxi trimaran.

"We have just capsized. The leeward float broke in two, leading to the breakage of the two beams and then the subsequent capsize. The crew is all together, taking refuge inside the central hull of Groupama 3. None of the 10 crew are injured. There are 5 to 7 metre waves and 25 to 30 knot winds. The seas are breaking and for the time being we're not putting anyone outside".

One plane and then two helicopters were sent to the zone three hours after the capsize. The 10 sailors were all airlifted by helicopter at 0330 (UT) and then repatriated to Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island.

Two images of Groupama 3 before the accident (after 24 days at sea they had one day lead over current record)

Groupama 3 - Franck Cammas ©


Yvan Zedda ©

Read more

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Tuna Thongs!

These are probably the most horrible flip-flops I've ever seen in my life and for sure the least comfortable. On the other hand you could blame the fishes for the stench if your feet don't exactly smell good...

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Underwater Football

The agency Exposure has created this advertising campaign to promote the new weatherproof Ultra SX football boot from Umbro. Top underwater photographer Zena Holloway was chosen to shoot the Barcellona football star Deco at the Pinewood Studios water tank. If you are wondering why the ball doesn' float, it's because it was filled with jelly...

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Heart Shaped Waters

artificial pond, u.s.a.

Today is Valentine's Day, folllowing an original idea by the Google Earth Community I've decided to publish a collection of artificial and natural lakes, ponds, pools, islands and reefs, all of which are heart-shaped! There are many other things in the world with this symbolic shape (as usual I've posted just the water-related ones), take a look to the final video too see some of them.


natural lake, indonesia

pool, u.s.a.


artificial pond, u.s.a.


natural pond, germany


pool, china


natural pond Kazakhstan


natural lake, canada


island Croatia


pool, belgium



Two images of the "Heart Reef", Australia



Two images of the "Tavarua Island", Fiji




Three ponds in the alps

All the pictures, except the last ones are taken via Google Earth

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Good bye Mr. "Jaws"

This is a farewell to Roy Scheider, the famous actor has died this sunday at the age of 75. If you are wondering why this blog about sea and water should publish something about him you shouldn't forget that he will always be remembered as Martin Brody, the unforgettable sheriff that fought against the shark in "Jaws". This 1975 movie by Steven Spielberg has been probably the one that most of all had brought the sea in the immagination of the spectators, frightening millions of people (me included) across more than 30 years ("Jaws" was the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office). Apart from "Jaws", Roy Scheider acted in more than 60 movies and earned two Academy Award nominations — a best-supporting nod for 1971's "The French Connection" in which he played the police partner of Oscar winner Gene Hackman, and a best-actor nomination for 1979's "All That Jazz," the semi-autobiographical Bob Fosse film.
One of Scheider's most famous lines as the Sheriff Martin Brody - "You're gonna need a bigger boat" — was voted No. 35 on the American Film Institute's list of best quotes from U.S. movies.

Roy Scheider into the shoes of Martin Brody, the unforgettable sheriff of Amity that fought and finally killed the monstrous shark of "Jaws"


The poster of "Jaws"

Two images from the final scene of Jaws, when Martin Brody makes the shark explode. Terrific!



"Jaws" a part from being the first blockbuster of Hollywood history should also been remembered for being a movie technologically very advanced, for the special effects and for the underwater shooting as you can see in the following pictures:

A very young and unrecognizable Steven Spielberg directing wirh a diving suit!

Steven Spielberg and crew

Underwater shooting

And Finally i couldn't omit the 1975 original trailer:




All the pictures are © Universal Pictures - All Rights Reserved

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Fishing sharks on a kayak

If you think that fishing is a boring activity, just to spend time on sundays drinking beers with your friends, well, forget it, I've already show you how it could be dangerous, telling you about the Alaskan King Crab Fishing, and today I'm going to tell you another incredible story set in the dangerous Alaskan waters too. Believe it or not some guys braved the freezing shark-infested waters around Hinchinbrook Island with the crazy idea of hunting for sharks using simple rods and paddling in kayaks!
The daring team of four were surrounded by 200 to 300 salmon sharks which were up to nine feet long (almost the length of the kayak itself) and weighed between 400 and 1,000 lbs, they baited their Avet 50 reels with large pieces of salmon and spend an hour or more tackling and wearing out each shark before reeling them in.
I love nature more than anything so that my thoughts, looking at these pictures, go to the poor sharks (but Salmon Sharks are not an endangered species), However it's fair to say that normally in the shark-kayaker encounters is the man that become the prey with sometimes terrible consequences.
To read the whole story check this article from Daily Mail

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Onne van der Wal brings the (sailing) world in focus!

"Farr 40 Starting Line" Onne van der Waal

2007 said goodbye one month ago and it's just the moment in which all the Photo Contests make public the authors of the best pictures of last year. So, in the next posts I will publish many of these photos. The better way to start is with a picture of our friend Onne Van Der Wal that has been awarded in the PDN's World in Focus travel photo contest under the category "extreme exploration" with this picture entitled "Farr 40 Starting Line". Kudos to Onne, it's not so easy to bring sailing photography in the main photo contests.


Onne Van Der Wal is a Seaway Professional Photographer with more than 25 years of career. His passions are Sailboats and Traveling. To see his galleries and start an incredible tour with his pictures click here

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What to do if a shark jumps in your boat

Gansbaai in South Africa is a well known whale-watching location, but most of all this fishing village is the World Capital of the Great White Shark, with Dyer Island presenting the best place in the World to discover, observe and dive with these elusive and wonderful animals. The chance of try the famous cage-diving to see sharks as close as possible is a thing that has made Gaansbaai a must for all the people looking for adrenalinic experiences. If you are not the right guy for such a strong kind of emotions you could always take part to one of the many boat tour that brings you to see white shark from a much safer position. This is what Thomas and Cornelia Clemens has done, but the adrenalinic experience and strong emotions have reached them directly on their boat! Believe it or not a white shark as jumped from the sea to their boat, remaining floundering very angry on the foredeck. This is something that not even in the movie "Jaws" by Steve Spielberg could be imagined! After a minute or so the unsought guest had finally managed to make is comeback to the sea leaving Mr and Mrs Clemens with the vacations video of their life! Above you can see 6 frames of this video.

Here you can see extracts from this video and interviews to the protagonists in a german television newscast


If you speak german check the Bild site to read the whole story and see the video without interruptions clicking here

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Waiting for lunch...

Who are the best friends of the fishermen? Easy! the cats!
I find this picture really cute with all those cats waiting for the return of the fishermen in hopes of gaining a lunch... They seem so quite, respectful and well-mannered!
I always try to find out the author of every picture that I post, this time I've been unlucky but while i was searching I've found this ancient picture of greek fishermen... and the subject it's almost identical! Look carefully at the two pictures, it seems that time hasn't passed at all.
Cats always know where an extraordinary lunch could pop up!

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High tide heel shoes!

Some months ago I've published this picture in this post:

It is a clever ad campaign about Global Warming.
What's incredible is that someone, I don't know where, has really put something almost identical on sale, as you can see on the first image of a shop window, calling them "High Tide Heels".
Our world is crazy.. isn't it?

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Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

Ok, take a deep breath and try to pronounce it:
"Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg"
Believe it or not, as you could see in the signal above this is actually the 45-letters true name of a lake in Massachussets (the longest geographical name in the U.S.A.). Today, "Webster Lake" may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster), take pride in reeling off the official version. The name comes from the language of the local Nipmuck people and means something close to "fishing place at the boundary". For more info click here

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It's not the tail....

This is an advertising by Durex, the famous prophylactic brand, to promote their new Extra Large condoms....

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The man who blows life into junk metal

Who is Edouard Martinet? In my humble opinion he's a genius...
He is a French artist that creates metal animal sculptures using found materials which are fixed without welding. Edouard carefully selects his raw materials found in brocantes and junk yards. The finished pieces achieving a life of their own.
As usual I've chosen to show you his works that are related to water (in particulat his collection "Frogs and Fishes"), but you really have to visit his site and see all of his other masterpieces (insects, ostrichs and more). It really worths a visit, Edouard creativity will marvel you..

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The proof?

Seawayblog is a blog about the sea and the water but in these last days it could have seemed to you an environmental anti-whaling magazine, it has not been a precise choice but not even it' a displease for me. Today for example I have already published two posts about this argument but now I really have to speak about it again because the picture above, supplied by the Australian Goverment is spreading rapidly around the world. This graphic picture shows two minke whales, probably a mother and a calf, while they were dragged on to the Yushin Maru 2, a Japanese whaling vessel, in the Southern Ocean.
For the Australian Goverment this is the proof that Japanese are conducting an “indiscriminate killing” rather than so-called scientific culling, which could be used in a potential legal challenge in an international court.
Read the whole story

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Let's shot the whales! (just with a camera...)

Greenpeace has launched a campaign to convince Canon to speak out against Japan's whaling programme. Click here for all the info


©Greenpeace/Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Paul Hilton

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Other human whales

In an old post I published this image of a whale made by humans on 16th of November 2007 at Bondi Beach in Sydney.



Here are two different "human whales":


This one is made by 2,400 kids sending out an SOS for the whales on Ocean Day May 22, 2007 at Dockweiler State Beach, Los Angeles

This second one has been made on Ocean Day celebration in Loreto, Baja South, Mexico with 1,000 kids sending out their SOS.

source

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Discovered a new continent! It's made of garbage...

Today many newspapers speak about a "garbage soup" that's floating in the Pacific Ocean. This monster started aggregataing 50 years ago and all the plastic that ended its journey inside of it during this five decades is still there floating, blocked by the currents of the ocean. The "soup" is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States!

For more info check The Independent

Here you can see the distribution of the garbage soup

Source: Greenpeace


©Greenpeace/Alex Hofford

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The day a shark fell down from the sky

This is one of that incredible stories you could just find only in Internet.
The other chance is to have a walk in Headington, a little town very close to Oxford, where on 9 August 1986 (yes that huge shark has been wedged in the roof for more than twenty years and it's still there!),over the house of Bill Heine landed that incredible 25 feet long fiberglass sculpture (you do not have believed it is a real shark, do you?!?). It was commisioned by Bille Hine himself and created by the sculptor John Buckley. As you could imagine the authorities immediately tried to legally compel Bill Heine to remove that "disturbing" (in their opinion) object, but more than twenty years after The Headington Shark is still there (and I'm so happy about that..) and has actually become the main tourist attraction of the town as you can easily attest reading Headington website where you can also read a comprehensive history of the Shark (click here)

The following are two different shots chosen from the many you can find on the web:



This is a rare image by neighbour June Whitehouse that shows the shark being lowered into the roof of 2 New High Street on 9 August 1986.


and finally, since crazy people are never alone here you can see a humbler emulator of Bill Heine who put on his roof a fiberglass jumping Marlin (and of course he had to pass through legal problems too..)

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A tatooed giant swims in the grass

This is one of two sculptures that have been created as part of a promotional campaign for the Discovery Channel's new London Ink series featuring celebrity tattoo artist Louis Malloy. This one, called "The swimmer", is 35-feet long and was in Potter's Field at Tower Bridge from 18 to 23 of September 2007, and then has been moved to Greenwich Park.



Photo by Jenny Davell


Photo by Jenny Davell

source

source

In this video you can see the night time installation of the huge sculpture:

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A room with a view!

Do you know the Hermit Crab? it's a crustacean (If you've ever been to the sea you have certainly see many of them) with a long soft abdomens which it protects by wearing salvaged empty seashells. Most often it uses the shells of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. This habit of living in a second hand shell is what gave rise to the popular name "hermit crab", which is a reference to the idea of a hermit living alone in a small cave.
In this picture there is a Hermit Crab who have chosen a really cool shell made of glass... We can definetely call it a chamber with a view! The question now it's if it is a good idea against seagulls and other predators....

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