Yacht belonging to Microsoft's Paul Allen destroys 14,000 sq ft of protected coral reef in Caymans

[Divernan]

15. LOVE Tortola - made 3 dive trips on the Cuan Law based there.

I'm a long time Pittsburgher, and we had booked our trip 6 months in advance, without a thought as to the Super Bowl. So the Steelers played in (and won) the Superbowl, and we took the Zodiac in from our liveaboard trimaran to a joint called Fat Hog Bob's on Tortola to watch the game. I had my terrible towel and Troy Polamalu jersey. Lots more fun than watching the game in my living room. Check out the Cuan Law, based in Road Town. Most of their trips are around the BVI, but sometimes they'll schedule a 10 day trip from St. Martin's down through the Leeward Islands - Saba, Montserrat, Statia, St. Kitt's, St. Barth's & Nevis. The ship would sail from one island to the next overnight, and you could stretch out on the teak deck under the stars and listen to the wind in the canvas. Absolute heaven.

http://www.cuanlaw.com/

What a terrific experience to dive with the Explorers Club president. About a decade ago, I went to a lecture at the Philadelphia chapter of the Explorers Club - it was by a man from the Shark Research Institute on a study of great white sharks off the coast of South Africa. Wonderful videos and photos. An audience question was whether the great white was the most dangerous to divers. He ranked them as Bull Shark, most dangerous because of its really high testosterone level - always ready to attack; then the Tiger Shark - which he described as the garbage disposal of the seas - it would attack anything (remember the scene in Jaws where they cut open a tiger shark and a license plate spills out?) and then third was the Great White (although he noted the Great White is really an incorrect name, since there are no Lesser White sharks). Good times!