What a beach bummer: Hundreds of baby penguins have washed up on the famous sands of Rio de Janeiro, sparking a debate about how we might be affecting the livelihood of adorable fuzzy animals.
Typically some penguins every year get caught in currents off Patagonia and Antarctica and wind up dead hundreds of miles away, but this has been a particularly bad year for the Cute Overload crowd. Suspects include overfishing, which forces penguins to swim farther for their food, and immunity-damaging pollution, but it could also be the result of changing weather patterns at the Strait of Magellan.
Luckily, the Brazilian Coast Guard has been keeping a special watch on the coast, rescuing penguins and bringing them to Rio's Niteroi Zoo to recuperate.
Even if you're not a die-hard ABBA fan, you'll still appreciate this week's pick, musical-turned-film "Mamma Mia!" How you could've possibly missed the endless posters, trailers and interviews is beyond us, but after seeing Amanda Seyfried gazing skyward in front of glistening blue ocean over and over (and over) on the side of city buses, we were strong-armed into the theater.
Sophie (Amanda) is marrying her dream man at her mother Donna's (Meryl Streep) hotel in Greece when she realizes she wants to invite her father to walk her down the aisle--and it turns out he could be one of three men. Snafu's and various synchronized dance sequences ensue, of course. It's cute, lively and something that's definitely for the upbeat Broadway lover.
To celebrate that stunning blue ocean--and because it really was shot there--this week we offer you some cool things to check out in some of our favorite cities in Greece:
That didn't take long. Just a couple weeks ago, Olympics officials and sailing enthusiasts were panicking about an algal attack off the coast of Qingdao.
But thanks to 20,000 "volunteers," the Yellow Sea is all cleaned up--at least so says the country's state-run media outlet. Officials also say that three sea barriers designed to hold back any further algal outbreaks have been set up around the waters designated for competition.
It may have neat architecture and man-made islands, but playboy paradise Dubai comes coupled with a legal code not built for vacationers: A British woman is facing six years in prison after being caught in flagrante on Jumeirah Beach--twice!
The first time, publishing manager 30-year-old Michelle Palmer was caught in a compromising position after a business brunch (!) at Le Meridien Hotel. The policeman on duty let her and her paramour, known to the press as "Vince," off with a warning. When he caught Palmer and "Vince" again, she allegedly got a little rough with the cop.
Now the pair are facing charges not only of indecent exposure, public drunkenness and assault of a police officer, but also of having sex outside of marriage--an act prohibited under Dubai law. (Also a crime in Dubai: Being gay or cohabitating.) Though they're exempt from the sharia court system, Palmer and "Vince" aren't in great shape.
British paper the Daily Mail was particularly unsympathetic to the lovers' plight, writing that the first Brits in Dubai behaved "badly, lewdly, crudely, as British expats do everywhere" but were decent enough to do it behind closed doors. Once again, we implore you: Be suspicious when you strip!
Beaches throughout Italy are under growing strain from erosion, and the situation is at its worst in Puglia, where 65 percent of the coast is at risk. That has the beaches near the town of Lecce worried so much that officials there are bringing in new sand--from nearby Brindisi.
While we think there's nothing more Italian than "borrowing" something from your neighborhood rival, Brindisi residents didn't appreciate the sand stealing. Once the courts got involved, Lecce was ordered to stop dredging. That means the problems persist, says a local lifeguard:
Customers are ringing to ask: "Do you have any sand this year?"
They will soon enough: The new plan is to haul in more from Albania!
The nation of Georgia was an unseen casualty of the break-up of the USSR: The once glamorous vacation destination was crippled by civil wars, and no province was hit worst than the Black Sea coastal state of Abkhazia. But tourists are trickling back to its beachside resorts, according to an article in the Christian Science Monitor which revisits the country that's as well known in eastern Europe as it is unknown in the US.
Russian tourists go to the Black Sea for the same reasons Americans go to Florida: It's warm, there's a lot of water and you don't need a passport. Abkhazia is technically still divided between local separatists and Russian troops--in fact, officials blamed two recent bombings on Georgian police who they say wanted to discourage tourism--but hotel owners hope to eventually draw back the estimated 6 million tourists who used to vacation here.
There's only been one fatal shark attack since May's spate of incidents in Mexico. While that fact may give beachgoers a surge of confidence, the country's tourism industry is still reeling, and sightings of sharks from Brazil to South Carolina make it clear the toothy beasts haven't really gone anywhere.
But just because you're not hearing the "Jaws" theme doesn't mean you're any more safe on these patches of sand. Here then, is our second installment of Killer Beaches--just in time for the weekend!
Sound the alarms! The Chinese city of Qingdao has come under algal attack--and the Olympics could be at risk! More than 30 percent of the waters designated for sailing contests off the coast of the city are inundated with thick enteromorpha prolifera. But the Chinese authorities have a way with getting people to "volunteer," and a reported 20,000 citizens have pitched in to clean up the Yellow Sea.
Agricultural run off is often the culprit when it comes to algal blooms, but Chinese officials told the state news agency that isn't the case this time. And they may not be lying! Blooms fueled by nitrates from fertilizers are usually red, and the stuff on the shores of Qingdao is bright green.
As the clean-up continues, the local Olympics Sailing Committee is planning a 30-mile-long fence to help keep the bloom at bay. The group says everything should be sorted by July 15; the games start on August 8.
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by egw
