2006 Sea Ray 240 Sundancer Express Cruiser in our new DestinSharks.com Online gallery. The 240 Sundancer offers one of the most novel cockpit designs on the market for 24′ cruisers. Topside storage is great and there are many nice features inside and out for such a small boat. We especially liked the standard shore power including covered cockpit outlets and clean,simple helm. Be aware, headroom in the “head” is a bit short and the standard boat lacks a waste tank and stove (although I expect most dealer boats will be better optioned). (more…)

CNN posted a 45 second video of a 819 lb Mako caught in California on its website this morning. The video shows the shark upon arrival at Marina Del Rey (just north of the LAX airport in Los Angeles).

You can see the video HERE. It appears to play best in Internet Explorer.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the friends and family of Chester “Chet” Robinson who suffered cardiac arrest shortly after reboarding his boat following a dive on the USS Oriskany last Saturday. The general consensus is that his passing was not directly related to the dive itself, but stemmed from pre-existing heart conditions. I happened to be monitoring channel 16 on our Regal during a break from photographing the Emerald Coast Poker Run and heard the land side of the Coast Guard response. Hearing the exchange made me think about handling on-water medical emergencies - especially one that might incapacitate the primary “captain”.
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Whether alone or in a crowd, boating can be one of the most memorable outdoor activities. Mix in great scenery and you have a wonderful recipe for beatiful photography. Unfortunately, carrying a camera on a boat (even a larger one) is always fraught with danger. Besides the ever present opportunity to loose a camera overboard, the marine environment is filled with spray, sand, and wet surfaces. All of these can drastically reduce the service life of film and digital cameras. (more…)

We are pleased to offer our 3rd original map set for Google Earth. The Emerald Coast Dive Sites file contains locations and basic information for 103 reefs and wrecks listed in the Emerald Coast Reef Association’s Public Database.

Click to Download the Emerald Coast Dive Sites KMZ

We welcome reports and/or photos for any of these locations at divesites@destinsharks.com which we will link to the map in future file updates. We also welcome new submissions of waypoints or news articles.

Be sure to also check out our other DestinSharks.com Google Earth maps and our recommended maps from other websites.

Don’t have Google Earth? You can download it free using the button below:

CNN.com offered more details and more questions about the story we reported last week about 3 Mexican fishermen found over 5000 miles from Mexicon in the Western Pacific. Quoting from the article:
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Whether you’re in the market or not, it’s always fun to see the latest boat models on display. Dealers will be displaying both inside and outside the Santa Rosa Mall starting Thursday the 24th through Sunday the 27th. Sales incentives and “boat show” specials will be in full gear as dealers look to unload the 2006 models prior to 2007 boats arriving later this fall. (more…)

Weather turned out wonderful for this year’s Emerald Coast Poker Run. We captured the action from the East end of Spectre Island along with a small crowd of other boaters. All told, we took about 1800 pictures between 3 photographers, put down around 18 cans of soda between us and the kids, and had a great time. Sorting this many photos was no easy task, but you can see the results at our 2006 Emerald Coast Poker Run Spectre Island Photo Gallery hosted by SLRsite.com. Photos are organized by boat type. Reprints are available - e-mail reprints@destinsharks.com for ordering information.

I would imagine they were given up for dead quite a while ago. But as the this article suggests:

Early reports suggested the fishermen had been lost at sea for about three months and drifted more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles) before they were found by a Taiwanese tuna fishing trawler in waters between the Marshall Islands and Kiribati on August 9.

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As reported in the South African press, a lifeguard participating in a near-shore training exercise was attacked within 200 meters of the beach. The attack occured in calm seas, clear water, and at 11:00 local time. Fortunately, he was pulled into the boat quickly and the other lifeguards administered timely 1st aid as they got him to shore and the hospital. From the article:

Once Taariq had been hauled into the boat it headed for Achmat, but he disappeared beneath the water. Seeing a dark patch, Taariq reached in to grab his brother, not knowing if the shark would bite him.

Achmat was pulled into the boat, his leg “dripping with blood” but instead of swimming away, “the shark actually turned around and came for us again,” said Taariq.

“It actually knocked the boat quite hard, but there were five of us in the boat so it couldn’t knock it over.”