The Hawaiian Islands (Hawaiian: Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the island of Hawaiʻi in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly the group was known to Europeans and Americans as the Sandwich Islands, a name that James Cook chose in honor of the then First Lord of the Admiralty John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. Cook came across the islands by chance when crossing the Pacific Ocean on his Third Voyage, on board HMS Resolution; he was later killed on the islands on a return visit. The contemporary name of the islands, dating from the 1840s, is derived from the name of the largest island, Hawaiʻi Island.
All posts by She Seeks Serene
Alpine Drives: Gotthard Pass, Switzerland (4K)
The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass at 2,106 m is a mountain pass in the Alps traversing the Saint-Gotthard Massif and connecting northern and southern Switzerland.
The pass lies between Airolo in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, and Andermatt in the German-speaking canton of Uri, and connects further Bellinzona to Lucerne, Basel, and Zurich. The Gotthard Pass lies at the hearth of the Gotthard, an important north-south axis in Europe, and it is crossed by three major traffic tunnels, each being the world’s longest at the time of their construction: the Gotthard Rail Tunnel (1882), the Gotthard Road Tunnel (1980) and the Gotthard Base Tunnel (2016). With the Lötschberg to the west, the Gotthard is one of the two main north-south routes through the Swiss Alps. Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Gotthard played an important role in Swiss history, the region north of Gotthard becoming the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century.
Cover Preview: Newsweek Magazine – September 24
Ocean Views: Lucipara Islands – Indonesia (4K)
Lucipara Islands are about 50 km west of Penyu Islands, both of which belong to Molucca Islands. They are directly south of Manipa Strait near Ceram. Edmund Roberts visited the islands briefly in the 19th century. He called them Lucepara in his 1832 journal.
On April 2021 I was called to film another expedition in Indonesia.
Even though the COVID-19 travel restrictions were still strong in Indonesia, we sailed off to Lucipara with high hopes.
After creating a new MPA in Serua, our Marine Conservation experts wanted to create a new one as well in Lucipara.
We traveled more than 1,300 nautical miles aboard The Seven Seas for a whole month, diving in one of the most remote area in Indonesia.
This short film testifies of the marine life that we encountered there and which we must protect at all costs, creating a new MPA.
Literary Preview: London Review Of Books – Sep 9
Views: Island Of Santorini – Aegean Sea, Greece (4K)
Santorini is one of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea. It was devastated by a volcanic eruption in the 16th century BC, forever shaping its rugged landscape. The whitewashed, cubiform houses of its 2 principal towns, Fira and Oia, cling to cliffs above an underwater caldera (crater). They overlook the sea, small islands to the west and beaches made up of black, red and white lava pebbles.
Front Page Views: Wall Street Journal – Sep 2
Morning News: Engaging The Taliban, China’s Pig Farm Virus, Judy Chicago
In some ways America has more leverage now that its forces have left; we ask how diplomatic and aid efforts should proceed in order to protect ordinary Afghans.
A global pandemic has distracted from a troubling panzootic: a virus is still ravaging China’s pig farms, and officials’ fixes are not sustainable. And the first retrospective for activist artist Judy Chicago.
Aerial Views: Cozumel – Southeastern Mexico (4K)
San Miguel de Cozumel is the largest city in Cozumel Municipality in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. With a 2010 census population of 77,236 persons, it is also Quintana Roo’s fourth-largest community, after Cancún, Chetumal, and Playa del Carmen.
RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS: ‘Tiny Bird, Epic Journey’
In the spring, Rufous Hummingbirds journey from Mexico to the northwest U.S., some as far north as Alaska! That’s almost 1000 miles one way for a bird measuring just under four inches beak to tail, making this the longest migration of any bird relative to body length. Not long after arriving, they bulk up on nectar and bugs for the scenic return trip over the Rocky Mountains.
Boomers Daily 