It’s time to break out your underwater cameras: the Roatan Marine Park is holding its Third Annual Marine Photography Contest!

Winning images will be printed in the 2011 Roatan Marine Park Calendar in order to showcase the natural beauty of Roatan’s coral reefs and highlight threats to their future survival.

Entries accepted for six categories:

• macro
• reef inhabitants
• black and white
• divers
• reefs at risk
• invertebrates

Deadline for submission:
31 July 2010

Details:

• All images must be from Roatan
• Images should be in .jpg format. Please include your full name, entry category, where image was taken, and a title
• Photos may be under or above water, but must maintain a marine context
• 1st and 2nd place in each category will be featured in the calendar with small images for runners-up
• Submission of images constitutes your permission for the Roatan Marine Park (RMP) to use these images free of charge for the 2011 RMP Calendar and other RMP publications. All images will be credited to their owners when used.

For more details of the competition, visit www.roatanmarinepark.com.

Email images to: info@roatanmarinepark.net

Warning: this may be you.

For example, this is the size of the spill compared to my current residence on the island of Oahu in Hawaii:

Try to imagine that entire area covered in an oily sludge….

...like this poor guy here.

I’ve included more screenshots comparing the oil spill to other places around the world.

Be sure to visit http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com to track the spread of the spill.

Mooresville, my old home in North Carolina

My home in the Caribbean: Roatan, Honduras

New York's never been slimier. The same can't be said for New Jersey.

The slipperiest thing to hit the Windy City since Ron Blagovich

That's 13 million people covered in oil.

The fish and chips are extra oily today.

Problems with oil in the Middle East? No way...

And you thought the last World Cup had a slimey ending...

Surf's up

Lia and I go back a few years when I was a scuba diving instructor at Coconut Tree Divers on the island of Roatan, Honduras. When I first met her, she was helping film the hilariously disastrous Roatan Movie— the making which was infinitely funnier than the final result. We later collaborated on photo shoots for a few web projects around the island.

Lia probably holds the world record for most time spent inside a homemade submarine (not including Karl Stanley and Barry, of course). For theses images, she was crouched for hours in a tiny spherical dome. She had to keep her lens close to the mere five inches of convex glass separating her thousands of pounds of crushing pressure— but not too close or the cold condensation dripping from the ceiling would fry her camera. She had to wait— and wait— and wait until the right deep sea creature swam by, then try to snap off quality shots with both the submarine and the creature in motion. The results are nothing short of incredible.

Lia has since explored the seas and land of Asia and the South Pacific. She is currently in Australia.

Luca Pagliaro, an Italian native, has disappeared in Roatan, Honduras last week, probably on 16th March 2010, with Mauriliuo Mirabella, owner of a diveshop who has also disappeared. Everybody who has useful news about him please contact me and my mother without hesitation.

Please let me know also when is the last time you have seen him. Thanks.

Licia and Francesca

liciapagliaro@hotmail.com
francesca.vcr@libero.it

The goal of TiR is to promote tourism and support local businesses on the Caribbean island of Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras through online marketing. TiR aims to be Roatan’s premier information service for travel, living, and island news. The site combines a clean modern design, advanced web technologies, and the power of Google Maps to present the beauty of Roatan to the outside world as never before seen.

The Story of TiR

Steve was sick of computer programming.

After wrapping up his Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Steve sold most of his belongings, packed his bags, and moved to the small Caribbean island of Roatan to teach scuba diving, drink rum, and live the beach bum lifestyle. He fell in love with the island’s jaw-dropping coral reef, friendly locals, sweeping white sand beaches, and laid-back attitude. His original plan to stay for three months was postponed… and postponed again… and again… until a year and a half of living the good life had passed by.

Steve returned to the so-called ‘real world’ to program professionally for a video game company in North Carolina. The job was good, the pay was fine, but something was missing. Staring at the photo of scuba divers on Roatan’s reef adorning the background of his computer, he knew he had to go back.

Meanwhile, a few websites Steve had made for Roatan businesses were starting to generate real results. A crazy little idea crept into his head: he could make a genuine impact on local businesses by driving tourism to the island through online marketing. Once again, he sold his stuff, packed his bags, and returned to the island he loved.

Real Time Development On Island Time

Upon returning, Steve began researching how he could make the biggest impact on the local market. Being relatively undeveloped, the island presented some unique challenges. As roads did not have names, local businesses did not have mailing addresses. There was hardly any news media on the island. Internet access was limited and quite slow by first-world standards.

Steve wanted a website that would do more than just act as a business directory. He saw a website that would show visitors exactly where everything was located on Roatan. He believed that media transparency was essential to promoting good business practices in the developing world. He envisioned a site architecture that would offset the slow internet speeds by incrementally streaming data in such a way that the website would never have to be reloaded. He dreamed of a website that would be sleek, modern, and beautiful—a place where local businesses would be proud to appear.

Steve was as naïve as he was ambitious. He thought the website would take six months to build. Unreliable electricity, crashed computers, political turmoil and personal hardships perpetually delayed the project. Progress was steady but aggravatingly slow. He poured his heart, soul, and personal finances into the project, bankrupting himself in the process.

The Dream Becomes Reality

Two years later, Steve finally published the first live version of TiR.

TiR remains the project of which Steve is the most proud. The website is proof that hard work, determination, and a fair bit of insanity can unite to create something incredible. Steve continues to refine TiR to fit the ever-changing needs of local businesses with emerging web technologies, allowing business owners to reach their online customers.

Steve hopes you enjoy the unique experience of TiR almost as much as you enjoy your stay on Roatan. If you find this website useful, please consider making a donation through PayPal; every buck goes a long way towards keeping the dream alive.

Changes are coming. I’m currently working on an updated layout and structure for the site along with a bevy of new content. The updates will be slowly rolled out over the next two months, but for now here’s a sneak peak at what is under development:

• More Scuba. Dive site reviews, professional tips to improve your diving, fish facts, industry news, and more.
• More Geek. Web design advice, code samples, Photoshop tricks, and general geek talk.
• More Interaction. Improved blog discussion, more pictures and videos, and better maps.
• More Rum. Rum reviews, drink mixing guides, and rum-based recipes.
• More Roatan. How to get there, where to stay, what to do, and how to make the most of your trip.
• More Tales. True stories past and present of my life as a scuba diving instructor.

As 2010 approaches, keep your eyes on TheScubaGeek.com to catch these new updates as they are unveiled!

I’ve been away from Roatan for just over three weeks and my head is still spinning! I’ve taken very little time to write about my ridiculous misadventures in the meantime… I’ll do my best to hammer out some of the more amusing episodes from my trip in the next days, but for now I think my tired eyes are about squirt blood all over my Mac.

Why? Because I’ve also been busy cranking out three new websites for Roatan:

Roatan Marine Park

URL: http://www.roatanmarinepark.com
Version: 2.0
Created: August 2009
Last Version: October 2009
Engine: WordPress 2.8 and TIREngine 0.80
Features: graphic design, layout design, PHP/mySQL backend, content management system, Google Maps, photo galleries, RSS news feed, online reporting system, PayPal donations

The new Roatan Marine Park website is be the premier showcase for my web design. My first full site other than TheScubaGeek.com to run on the merged WordPress-TIREngine code base, Roatan Marine Park set the new standard for my web development. Featuring an interactive Google Map of every dive site on Roatan, real-time reporting for lionfish sightings and damanged moorings, PDF newsletters, multiple news feeds, and fantastic underwater photography, this collaborative project aims to promote awareness and raise donations for this worthy non-profit organization.

Bite on the Beach

URL: http://www.biteonthebeach.com
Version: 2.0
Created: October 2009
Last Version: October 2009
Engine: WordPress 2.8 and TIREngine 0.80
Features: graphic design, layout design, PHP/mySQL backend, content management system, photo galleries

Bite on the Beach is a cool bar and restaurant located on the northernmost tip of Roatan’s beautiful West Bay beach. Unfortunately, their old website didn’t capture their fun and funky atmosphere, so I worked with them to create a new graphic layout and port their content into a content management system. The moray eel in the logo isn’t there just by chance; several massive green morays live around the restaurant’s rocky shore where they feast on leftover fish scraps.

Roatan Meridian at Lighthouse Point

URL: http://www.roatanmeridian.com
Version: 2.0
Created: September 2009
Last Version: October 2009
Engine: WordPress 2.8 and TIREngine 0.80
Features: graphic design, layout design, PHP/mySQL backend, content management system, photo galleries, custom Flash design

Roatan Meridian at Lighthouse Point features some of the most beautiful villas and condos on Roatan and the only place where you can watch both the sunrise and sunset from your property. Their website was in need some some graphical upgrades and a content management system. I worked with Treasure Island Reality to update their look and migrate their site content over to the CMS system.

On June 28, the Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya and sent him out of the country. Though Zelaya’s removal was authorized by the Honduran Supreme Court, approved by the Honduran Congress, and explicitly mandated in the Honduran Constitution, the Department of State staunchly refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the interim government. The Obama Administration urges Americans to show their solidarity with Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, and our other socialist comrades by deferring all travel plans to Honduras.

There have reportedly been frequent peace marches at various locations around Honduras, including Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, and Coxen Hole. However, since none of these peace marches have been shown on CNN, the Department of State advises Americans that these purported marches are most likely propaganda fabricated by Roberto Michelleti’s coup government. Americans are reminded that all peaceful demonstrations will turn violent with little or no warning. The Department of State recommends that Americans continue to watch our sponsor network CNN for unbiased and accurate reports about the Honduran crisis.

The Obama Administration has also expressed concern about an alarming number of Americans vanishing in the Bay Islands of Honduras, particularly Roatan. Over the last decade numerous American citizens have traveled to Roatan and never returned home to the USSA. Since the coup, the Department of State has received reports from Roatan of tanks rolling down the street, locals getting loaded, and a submarine patrolling the bay. Americans are strongly urged to avoid all travel to Roatan.

The Department of State reminds all citizens that their patriotic duty to Buy American extends beyond America’s borders. Spending American dollars in a rogue state such as Honduras undermines the American Collective, impedes our economic recovery, and constitutes an act of treason punishable by gulag. The Department of State also advises citizen to remain within America’s border in order to ensure compliance with President Obama’s tax code.

The Department of State especially urges the following citizens to avoid all travel to Roatan, the Bay Islands, and Honduras:

• Citizens who hate beautiful beaches and Caribbean seas
• Citizens without a sense of humor
• Citizens afraid of water or fish
• Citizens who worship Our Messiah Barack Obama
• Citizens who prefer rush hour traffic to boat rides
• Citizens incapable of rest and/or relaxation
• Citizens who trust everything on CNN
• Citizens frightened by Hispanics, the Spanish language, and/or baleadas
• Citizens who believe that all of life is misery and suffering
• Citizens who don’t get satire
• Canadians

In these difficult times, the Department of State urges all Americans to remain patriotic: stay in your cubicle, max out your credit card, and chase the American Dream. Why would you want to go to Roatan anyway? They don’t even have a McDonalds.

Lionfish, the beautiful and venomous fish from the South Pacific, have appeared on Roatan. This invasive species has spread at unprecedented rates across the Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic over the last few years.

The Roatan Marine Park is asking for everyone’s help in reporting, capturing, and killing lionfish around Roatan. If you have seen a lionfish on one of Roatan’s dive sites, please submit a lionfish report directly to the Roatan Marine Park.

Below is a letter sent by PADI Master Instructor and marine biologist Marc Cruciani regarding the grave threat posed by invading lionfish:

Hello Everyone,

I heard that the first lionfish was sighted on the north side of the island. They are beautiful fish, and make stunning photographic models, and of course everyone wants to see one. As an invasive species and voracious predator, they also represent the one of the biggest environmental threats to the reef system. I have extensive experience with these fish, both as an aquarist and a diver, and would like to share some of this with you, and impress upon you the importance of dealing with this threat immediately.

I was an instructor in North Carolina for two years. Lionfish were known to be around, and had been for a couple of years. At the beginning of my first year, they were rarely seen, and only on the further offshore wrecks. I was as eager as anyone to see my first lionfish. By the end of the second year, I was seeing them on every dive, at every site, usually in multilple numbers. Some wrecks had populations of 30 or more, and aquarists were flocking to the coast to aquire specimens. By the time NOAA finally got into the act, it was obvious that they presented a major problem.

NOAA brought a large research vessel and a team of scientists to determine the scale of the problem. Their stated goal was to dive twice a day for a week, in the hopes of collecting about 30 fish for DNA analysis. Local divers laughed at this, we already knew how widespread the problem was. In the first two days of diving, over 80 were caught.

They are now found as far north as Rhode Island in the summer months, and have spread as far south as Nicaragua from their original starting point in Florida, wreaking havoc on local fish populations. In parts of the Bahamas, they are the predominant predator on many reefs.

Lionfish are related to scorpion fish, and eat just about anything, from juvenile groupers to cardinal fish to crustaceans. According to the lates issue of Alert Diver, they eat on average .3 ounces a day. Larger fish, up to 18 inches, can eat much more. They tend to eat smaller fish, but will eat anything they can swallow. They hunt like frog fish, and like frog fish, the mouth is the largest part, and can eat prey larger than themselves.

They have no natural predators in the Caribbean. The only fish that do eat them are some sharks and possibly the largest of groupers, both of which are in short supply on Roatan. In any case, natural predation has failed to contain them anywhere in this hemisphere.

When spawning, lionfish can produce up to 30,000 eggs, and can grow 7 inches a year, reaching sexual maturity in just a year or two. In their home environments, they spawn twice a year. For reasons yet unknown, in the caribbean they seem to spawn continuously year round. DNA analysis by NOAA indicate that Atlantic and Caribbean populations are all very closely related, coming from the same source. Considering that they were first documented in Florida in in the mid 1990′s, their range is astonishing both in scope and the short time required.

They are very hardy fish, tolerant of a wide range of water conditions, and notoriously hard to kill. They can go for months
without eating, and even the foulest of fishtanks dont seem to concern them, and are adept at hiding in small crevices. I learned this while trying to dispose of an aquarium specimen without getting stung. Lionfish stings are similar to those of scorpionfish, but much worse. Larger specimens of some species can kill a human being.

Efforts at controlling them have had mixed results at best. Once established, they are impossible to get rid of. The best bet is to keep the populations in check after the first sighting. All lionfish must be removed as soon as sighted. The prevailing strategy is to have a team of trained divers who can respond to sighting.

Under no circumstances should untrained divers be allowed to try, due to the dangers involved in handling these fish, and the skill needed to find and hunt them. The best way to hunt them is to use hand nets for smaller individuals, and pole spears or hawaiian slings for larger ones. Extreme caution must be used, as even a dead fish will still have poisonous dorsal spines.

Lionfish tend to be very territorial, once they find a good hunting ground, they are likely to stay. They also move quite slowly (except for the actually swallowing of prey, which is faster than the eye can see). They prefer to hunt at dusk and dawn, and are easiest to find at these times. The rest of the time they sit on the bottom or hide in crevices, and despite their
very colorful markings, are suprisingly difficult to spot. On the plus side, they do make good eating, similar to grouper.

All dive shops should encourage customers to report sightings so that the fish can be culled, the faster the better. This will require coordination and efforts from all the dive operations and the marine park to have any kind of impact. REEF can help with training and workshops. The man to talk to is Lad Atkins. Paula Whitfield was the original NOAA project head in North Carolina.

Some contacts for more information and resources are listed below. If there is anything else I can do to help in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact me. This is a serious problem and must be dealt with. Please distribute this letter to any interested parties and dive shops who have not received it.

Marc Cruciani
MI 183782
scubadiver101@hotmail.com

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