Recently in Duane Category

The palm covered islands of Lakshadweep make up what is arguably the least known part of India. These 36 islands, totaling a mere 18 square miles, lie 180 miles off of India's western coast. Ninety-three percent of the 60,000 residents are Muslim giving these islands their own distinct culture. Nonetheless, mention the Lakshadweeps to experienced travel agents in the U.S. and you are likely to be greeted by vacant stares. Very few visitors come here from the U.S. and in fact special permits are needed to visit all but a few of the Lakshadweep Islands.

After a 90 minute flight from the subcontinent, our small group was met on the island of Agatti by Seacology's newest field representative, Vineeta Hoon. We were escorted to our boat by several locals performing a traditional knife dance (pictured right). We then boarded a boat for a two hour ride to Bangaram Island, our home for the next few days.

I just returned from an interesting and exciting trip to French Polynesia. The main purpose of my voyage was to attend the official opening of Seacology's latest project on the beautiful island of Moorea. But on this trip I was wearing many hats. In addition to my role as executive director of Seacology I was also an island "expert" lecturer on a Zegrahm Expedition cruise throughout French Polynesia. Zegrahm is one of the world's leading exploratory cruise companies. What makes a cruise an exploratory cruise as opposed to the more typical drink, eat and gamble 3,000 passenger cruises? As the name implies we stopped at many remote destinations including islands that had not received tourists for many years. An exploratory cruise also features numerous snorkeling, diving, hiking, birding and cultural events. Furthermore an exploratory cruise such as the one I was on has many lectures throughout the day on the history, geography, culture, fish and birds of the many places we visited. Finally, exploratory cruises take place on smaller ships such as the Clipper Odyssey which I traveled on with a maximum capacity of 110 passengers (pictured above left).

In my previous blog I wrote about how, because of the great work of Seacology, I was selected to be to be honored by Major League Baseball (MLB) at the All-Star Game in St. Louis. After throwing out the first pitch at an Oakland A's game it was time to pack my bags and head to St. Louis. Right from the beginning it was obvious that MLB was going to treat me and my fellow All-Stars Among Us (ASAU) honorees like royalty. A driver came by my house to pick up me and my son, Robb, and of course a driver was waiting at the airport in St. Louis to take us to the Riverside Hyatt Regency. The hotel has a terrific location just beneath the Gateway Arch. We were shown to our room which was, shall we say, a bit impractical in that it did not have any (and I mean zip) drawers. When I called down to the front desk to ask if they had forgotten to put in a dresser they said "No, sir, this is the new European style." I know that some Europeans are naturalists but this was news to me that they did not travel with any clothes. For the next several days we literally lived out of our suitcases and books and magazines we were reading were left on the floor. Considering the hotel rooms were just remodeled this is one interior designer who certainly is no all-star.

You are probably thinking, what does baseball or wrestling have to do with Seacology? The tale begins a little over one month ago when former development assistant Ellen Kamoe suggested nominating me for the All-Stars Among Us (ASAU) contest. This is a joint promotion by People Magazine and Major League Baseball (MLB). The purpose of ASAU is to find 30 individuals who are helping people and causes around the world, one to represent each Major League Baseball team. The nominations would be culled by the editors of People and representatives from MLB. Three finalists would be selected for each team and there would be a two week period of public voting. I told Ellen I was flattered by the thought but please don't spend more than a few minutes of your time nominating me as I doubt if I would have much of a chance of winning a national contest.

According to the Lonely Planet guide, "Among the 115 islands that make up the Seychelles are some of the most beautiful island getaways in the Indian Ocean, or indeed the world. Here you can find the lush tropical paradise you may have seen in seductive advertisements." The group of islands around Mahe (home of the international airport and the capital city of Victoria) are made of granite while the remaining islands are coralline atolls. The Seychelles lie 1,600 kilometers off of East Africa, its nearest neighbor. As a result of this isolation the Seychelles are rich in rare plants which flourish nowhere else on the planet. Perhaps the most famous of these is the coco de mer, the world's largest coconut weighing as much as 20 kg. In addition to their prodigious size the coco de mer is famous for its rather erotic shape (pictured right). I will let readers' imaginations run wild on this but if you want to see this coconut in person head for the beautiful Vallee de Mai on the island of Praslin. I recently led a Seacology group to visit the Seychelles and some of us are still blushing after seeing these rather evocative coconuts. The Seychelles visitors bureau knows a good thing when it sees one and the coco de mer not only appears on posters and brochures everywhere but the Seychelles official passport stamp is in the shape of this naughty coconut.

Because it is close to Europe the Red Sea attracts more dive boats than any other region of the world. The Red Sea's frequent encounters with thresher and hammerhead sharks and the beauty of its hard and soft corals help account for its popularity. However, if not managed well, too many divers and dive boats could ironically help destroy this beautiful dive destination. Every time a boat drops an anchor on a coral reef a large section of the reef is damaged. Multiply this by the large number of boats in the Red Sea every day and the potential for significant damage is great. However, by tying up to mooring buoys, boats no longer have to drop anchor.

To help preserve this beautiful marine environment a local ngo called HEPCA has installed the world's largest mooring buoy system. Nonetheless more mooring buoys were needed around five islands in the 494,100 acre marine reserve adjacent to Wadi El Gemal (Land of the Camel) National Park off the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea. Seacology, an international ngo with the sole purpose of preserving the environments of islands throughout the globe, provided the funding needed to help HEPCA install 25 mooring buoys in the Wadi El Gemal area.

In August 2008 a Seacology group traveled to Fiji to open two new projects. In Ketei Village, located on the Fijian island of Vanua Levu Seacology funded the construction of a community center in exchange for the creation of a 900-acre forest reserve. Our visit to Ketei began with a traditional kava ceremony. Kava is the ground up root of a pepper plant which acts as a calming agent. It has been the center of Fijian traditional life for hundreds of years. (Right, water is being poured into a kava bowl to begin the kava ceremony.)

What does Madagascar have to do with Mantas, one might ask after reading the title of this blog. Generally speaking not much. You are not likely to see a lemur or chameleon frolicking with a manta ray after all. But on this island travel blog anything is possible. Loyal readers of this column know that I have been writing about a recent Seacology trip to Indonesia. While diving there we had several close encounters with manta rays. Seacology board member Jim Sandler took some terrific videos of these magnificent creatures.