PINK DOLPHINS?

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.

Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.

He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.

"It was absolutely stunningly pink.

"I had never seen anything like it. It's the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.

"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.

"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating its albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

"I have personally spotted the pink dolphin 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu ship channel.

"As time has passed the young mammal has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod.

"Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod."

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career.

"It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it - observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it

"While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes.

"Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited."

A close relation of dolphins, the Amazon River Botos, called pink dolphins, live in South America in the Amazon.

HELP! Stop Shark Finning in Palau

Diving the famed Blue Corner won't be the same if Palau's politicians approve Senate Bill SB8-44 to permit commercial fishing for sharks and shark finning. A follow-up punch is SB8-50, which would encourage commercial fisheries in Palau's waters by granting them a five-year tax exemption. This would gut the 2004 legislation that banned shark fishing by foreign fisheries, one of the most ironclad laws in the Asia-Pacific area.
To stop this nonsense, sign the petition sponsored by SharkSavers.org to keep the bills from becoming law at http://www.sharksavers.org/get-involved/sign-these-petitions/542-petition-to-palau-stop-senate-bill-8-44-on-shark-fishing.html

CONFISCATED DRUG SHIP BECOMES NEW ARTIFICIAL REEF

NEAR DEERFIELD BEACH, FL-- A mission nine years in the making is reality tonight.

Federal, state and local law enforcement teamed-up with water-lovers to turn a negative into a big positive.

"The project we've been working on finally came to fruition," said Craig Ash of Cepemar Environmental Services.

The "Lady Go Diver" headed across a canal in Deerfield Beach.

On-board the scuba ship were divers with their gear, journalists armed with a pen and paper and videographers shooting the beautiful landscape.

"It's good to see all of your efforts turning-up for something that will be beneficial," said Ash.

As the ship left the Boca Inlet, you got a feel for the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean and the land we left behind.

The boat's captain steered her to a spot about a mile out, along the Broward-Palm Beach County line.

This is where dozens of boaters gathered to witness the spectacular event.

Meanwhile, US Customs & Border Protection boats joined vessels from the sheriff's office to maintain safety.

"You see the flare, the smoke has got to go off," said one of the event organizers.

"Customs & Border Protection has donated a freighter for the artificial reef program," said agent Robert Del Toro. "We'll be sinking the vessel today."

Last June, the feds confiscated 165 kilos of cocaine from the Miss Lourdies.

The 165-foot ship was in Miami, picking-up cars, bicycles and mattresses to sell in Haiti, when the discovery was made.

Authorities actually had to take some bunk beds and walls out of the ship's crew cabins. They found the drugs inside a metal compartment.

Cameras rolled to capture the freighter's journey more than 100 feet to the bottom of the ocean.

"There's a lot of boats here, a lot of people" said "Lady Go Diver" scuba boat owner Arilton Pavan. "Everybody's watching. I think the idea worked out very well."

Within minutes, the Miss Lourdies disappeared into the big blue sea, to eventually become a part of nature's underwater landscape.

Sinking of the Vandenberg in the Keys

BY SUSAN COCKING
scocking@MiamiHerald.com

Out of the dusty, blue gloom, about 45 feet below the ocean's surface emerges a pedestal that once held a large telescope. Now, a gigantic radar dish that resembles a giant spider web appears in view. And you still haven't descended to the actual deck of the USS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg.

The Keys' newest and largest artificial reef began welcoming fish and scuba divers last weekend following its May 27 sinking about 6 ½ miles south of Key West.

At 523 feet long and 10 stories high, the retired military ship is impossible to explore fully in one trip. But a group of scuba divers from several media outlets got a partial view of the bow and amidships during a one-tank dive last Friday with the crew of Dive Key West.

A day before the shipwreck was opened for public diving, media divers were sent down in teams of three, each escorted by a divemaster or instructor, with no one allowed to dive below 70 feet or to penetrate the interior. The ship rests perfectly upright in the sand, the bow at 140 feet deep and the stern at 150 feet.

With 60 feet of visibility, there was plenty to see on the outside of the ship -- especially the radar dishes, which dislodged from their pedestals during the sinking and had to be secured with cables.

''I think they look really cool the way they are,'' said dive boat operator Joe Weatherby, who launched the project 14 years ago.

The bow is decorated with plaques honoring various backers of the $8.6 million deployment, and a Conch Republic banner flaps in the current. There are barely hidden clues welded around the higher parts of the ship for divers to solve a puzzle revealing the ''mystery of the Vandenberg,'' according to Weatherby.

''We're trying to keep the whole community involved,'' he said.

Weatherby said his favorite part of the wreck is the engine room, with its giant turbines, reduction gear and six stories of catwalks. But exploring deep in the bowels of the ship is restricted to expert divers certified to enter overhead environments using guidelines and multiple lights.

Unlike older artificial reefs, the Vandenberg is not covered with sea life. But some highly desirable pelagics have paid a visit. Shortly after the ship went down, boaters observed a pod of sailfish leaping out of the water nearby.

And on the day of the media dive, a large dolphinfish appeared at the stern of the dive boat as it bobbed on one of seven mooring buoys secured to the wreck.

''It was a gaffer,'' publicist Andy Newman said, referring to the jumbo-sized mahi.

``I wish I had brought a fishing rod.''

The Vandenberg lived several lives before coming to its final resting place on the bottom of the ocean.

Commissioned in 1943 as the Gen. Harry Taylor, it carried troops during World War II and brought postwar refugees and Holocaust survivors to the United States. Renamed the Vandenberg during the Cold War, it served as an Air Force missile tracker -- hence the huge radar dishes. In 1999, it played a supporting role as a Russian scientific vessel in the movie Virus.

Now the Vandenberg is expected to serve a dual purpose: economic boon to the Keys' tourism-dependent economy and safety valve for the stressed natural reef nearby.

''Unbelievable,'' said Monroe County Commissioner Mario DiGennaro, who dived it last Friday. ``I've dived all over the world, and this is one of the most interesting dives I've been on. It'll take pressure off the natural reef. [It] will take 20-30 dives to see the whole ship. It's a win-win.''