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Category Archives: Islands

Shuttered Refinery Sale Bolsters Rally in Virgin Islands Bonds

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Yields on some Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority bonds fell to the lowest in almost three weeks as the sale of a shuttered refinery is set to create jobs in the U.S. territory.

Public Finance Authority debt maturing in October 2029 traded at yields 0.16 percentage point less than when they last changed hands Nov. 7, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The 3.46 percent yield is the lowest since Oct. 22.

Atlantic Basin Refining Inc. said today that it will buy the Hovensa refinery on the island of St. Croix from Hess Corp. (HES) and Petroleos de Venezuela SA for an undisclosed price. The refinerys closing in January 2012 increased unemployment on the island 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) from Miami. The facility will employ at least 500 full-time workers, the St. Croix-based company said.

They want the best economic value for the refinery, I want jobs, Governor John de Jongh said in a statement.

Unemployment in St. Croix was 14.8 percent in August, up from an average of 9.8 percent in the year before the refinery shut. The jobless rate in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which includes St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John, was 13.4 percent in August, according to data from the territorys department of labor.

The company said it wants to add hundreds of jobs in subcontracted work at the refinery in addition to the full-time staff. The facility should be operational by the end of 2016.

The refinery will be able to process 300,000 barrels a day and the sale includes 30 million barrels of storage.

The buyer needs an operating agreement with the government of the Virgin Islands. Atlantic Basin said the legislature will meet Nov. 12 to vote on ratification of the accord.

Securities from the territory, which are tax-exempt nationwide, have earned about 11 percent this year, compared with 8 percent for the entire municipal market, data from Barclays Plc show.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael McDonald in Guatemala City at mmcdonald87@bloomberg.net; Brian Chappatta in New York at bchappatta1@bloomberg.net

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Shuttered Refinery Sale Bolsters Rally in Virgin Islands Bonds

Now You See Them: 'Magic Islands' Appear on Saturn's Moon Titan

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TUCSON, ArizonaTwo new "magic islands" have joined one reported last year on Saturn's giant moon Titan, Cassini spacecraft observations showed on Monday. The features add to a puzzling vanishing act playing out on the frozen world's seas.

Since Cassini first arrived at Saturn in 2004, its photos of Titan have revealed numerous seas, lakes, and rivers on the giant moon's frozen surface. This summer, images showed a mysterious feature in one seathe first "magic island"that appeared glinting on a lake's surface and then quickly vanished. (Related: "Waves Discovered on Saturn's Moon, Titan?")

The find raised speculation that scientists had captured views of waves splashing within the otherwise mirror-smooth liquid methane seas on the moon. Or else it was a fluke.

Now, an August 21 flyby has turned up two more strange reflecting features, magic islands that weren't there in earlier flybys. "They just popped up," says Cornell's Alexander Hayes, who presented the latest survey of Titan's seas at a briefing at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences meeting.

"They could be waves, or they could be something more solid," says MIT's Jason Soderblom, a member of the Cassini team reporting the observations. "We definitely know now they are something reflecting from the surface."

Since Titan is the only body besides Earth that has rain-carved geography to study, the possibility of a lake with waves intrigued scientists enough to keep them looking.

"After ten years there, Titan still can surprise us," Hayes says. "Titan has dunes, lakes, seas, even rivers. All this makes Titan an explorer's utopia."

An August 21 flyby passing some 599 miles (964 kilometers) above Titan allowed Cassini to investigate the depth of Kraken Mare, the largest sea on the frozen moon. Radar observations from the spacecraft covered a 120-mile (200-kilometer) shore-to-shore strip of the methane sea.

That flyby revealed that Kraken Mare reaches more than 656 feet (200 meters) deep. That's a lot of methane; the next largest sea on Titan, Ligeia Mare, holds three times the volume of Lake Superior.

A Cassini flyby of Titan viewed a narrow stretch of the moon's Kraken Mare sea.

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Now You See Them: 'Magic Islands' Appear on Saturn's Moon Titan

Discover gold with the Solomon Islands treasure chest

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EVERY few decades a new destination opens up for travellers. The Solomon Islands' treasure chest has been preserved pretty much intact since Alvaro de Mendana sailed into the heart of the country in 1568. He was so enchanted at finding gold that he named the islands after the legendary King Solomon.

It's Friday morning at the Yacht Club in Honiara and I am sitting with two fellow travellers planning our journey into the Western Provence.

Just down there beneath the wings of this airborne Dash-8 is a patchwork of densely forested coral cays with white sand and crystal-clear water. It looks like paradise.

As we set foot on New Georgia Island I am embraced by thick and warm tropical air and the beaming smile of our local boat driver, Mano. There are no roads here.

The wind lashes our hair as the 45hp motor cuts through a kaleidoscope of turquoise hues on the Roviana Lagoon.

It's like vandalising a Rembrandt, but this masterpiece is nature. Within thirty minutes we will be mooring at our hideaway resort,

Fatboys, and checking into traditional palm leaf thatched bungalows. The accommodation is modern and airy with comfortable queen-size beds, private verandas, ensuites and lagoon views.

The restaurant is built over the water and beneath it lives a bountiful natural aquarium. A feast of fresh seafood and local dancers eventually blend into dreams.

The sun wakes. A new adventure beckons as we cruise by dozens of forested havens and slow down to approach Skull Island. It has a timber gate and is the location of a sacred head-hunting shrine. We abandon the boat in the shallows and wade ashore with our Melanesian guide, restrained by an eerie feeling yet propelled by obstinate curiosity.

Five meters beyond the gate I realise it's too late to turn back - they have seen me. Frozen in a moment of time I am face to face with dozens of white human skulls staring out from nooks in a mound of coral.

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Discover gold with the Solomon Islands treasure chest

Cassini reveals incredible vanishing 'Magic Islands' on Saturn's largest moon (+video)

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Recent images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, currently touring Saturn and its moons, have revealed Brigadoon-likeislands on one of Titan's largest seas, features that appear, disappear, then re-appear.

Scientists have whimsically named these Magic Islands. Their vanishing act is one of several recent discoveries planetary scientists have made regarding the northern hemisphere's liquid-hydrocarbon seas and lakes at a time when the hemisphere heads toward its summer solstice.

These vast reservoirs of liquid hydrocarbons are centered around the moon's north pole region, where they are thought to play a key role in the moon's equivalent to Earth's water cycle. In Titan's case, it's the methane cycle, where the liquid methane at the surface of the lakes and seas evaporates, rises to condense as clouds, then returns to the surface as methane rain. Liquid methane flows in to streams and rivers, sculpting the moon's surface on their return to lakes and seas.

These features are strikingly similar to processes on Earth, making Titan Saturn's largest moon an explorer's Utopia, said Alexander Hayes, a planetary scientist at Cornell University during a briefing at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences in Tucson, Ariz. Dr. Hayes is a member of the science team reporting the results at the meeting.

Researchers first discovered a magic island just off of a peninsula jutting into Ligeia Mare, Titan's second largest sea a body of mainly liquid methane that covers slightly more than 48,600 square miles of the moon's surface.

The team detected it in July 2013 using Cassini's radar. When the team looked again about 16 days later, the feature was gone. On another Cassini pass over Titan in August, the feature reappeared. It was unclear if the feature the radar detected was a surface feature, such as the action of tiny waves, or perhaps represented a geological structure that only revealed itself when the viewing angle was just right.

Cassini's August pass provided the answer when it discovered a similar feature in Kraken Mare, the largest of the moon's northern-hemisphere seas. In addition to radar, Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer also spotted a magic-island feature in Kraken Mare. The spectrometer's data suggested that either small waves or wet ground was responsible for the signature the instrument picked up.

The team is leaning to the wave interpretation because given the size of Kraken Mare it covers some 154,000 square miles, roughly the size of the Caspian or Black Seas the sea would have had to have lost a fair bit of methane to expose even a shallow bottom at that location and over such a wide area.

Such wave action would be expected as the northern hemisphere warms and kicks up winds.

Cassini also has proven unexpectedly adept at determining the depths of the seas as well as their composition, Dr. Hayes explained.

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Cassini reveals incredible vanishing 'Magic Islands' on Saturn's largest moon (+video)

Cassini reveals incredible vanishing 'Magic Islands' on Saturn's largest moon

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Recent images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, currently touring Saturn and its moons, have revealed Brigadoon-likeislands on one of Titan's largest seas, features that appear, disappear, then re-appear.

Scientists have whimsically named these Magic Islands. Their vanishing act is one of several recent discoveries planetary scientists have made regarding the northern hemisphere's liquid-hydrocarbon seas and lakes at a time when the hemisphere heads toward its summer solstice.

These vast reservoirs of liquid hydrocarbons are centered around the moon's north pole region, where they are thought to play a key role in the moon's equivalent to Earth's water cycle. In Titan's case, it's the methane cycle, where the liquid methane at the surface of the lakes and seas evaporates, rises to condense as clouds, then returns to the surface as methane rain. Liquid methane flows in to streams and rivers, sculpting the moon's surface on their return to lakes and seas.

These features are strikingly similar to processes on Earth, making Titan Saturn's largest moon an explorer's Utopia, said Alexander Hayes, a planetary scientist at Cornell University during a briefing at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division of Planetary Sciences in Tucson, Ariz. Dr. Hayes is a member of the science team reporting the results at the meeting.

Researchers first discovered a magic island just off of a peninsula jutting into Ligeia Mare, Titan's second largest sea a body of mainly liquid methane that covers slightly more than 48,600 square miles of the moon's surface.

The team detected it in July 2013 using Cassini's radar. When the team looked again about 16 days later, the feature was gone. On another Cassini pass over Titan in August, the feature reappeared. It was unclear if the feature the radar detected was a surface feature, such as the action of tiny waves, or perhaps represented a geological structure that only revealed itself when the viewing angle was just right.

Cassini's August pass provided the answer when it discovered a similar feature in Kraken Mare, the largest of the moon's northern-hemisphere seas. In addition to radar, Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer also spotted a magic-island feature in Kraken Mare. The spectrometer's data suggested that either small waves or wet ground was responsible for the signature the instrument picked up.

The team is leaning to the wave interpretation because given the size of Kraken Mare it covers some 154,000 square miles, roughly the size of the Caspian or Black Seas the sea would have had to have lost a fair bit of methane to expose even a shallow bottom at that location and over such a wide area.

Such wave action would be expected as the northern hemisphere warms and kicks up winds.

Cassini also has proven unexpectedly adept at determining the depths of the seas as well as their composition, Dr. Hayes explained.

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Cassini reveals incredible vanishing 'Magic Islands' on Saturn's largest moon

Miss Cayman Islands 2012 : Lindsay Katarina Japal – Miss World Bikini – Video

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Miss Cayman Islands 2012 : Lindsay Katarina Japal - Miss World Bikini
Bikini beauty - Lindsay Japal was born and raised in George Town. An avid diver, Lindsay is always trying to find ways to connect with her environment and spend time outdoors. In her free time,...

By: OceanTalent Otht

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Miss Cayman Islands 2012 : Lindsay Katarina Japal - Miss World Bikini - Video

California: Oxnard maritime museum awash in art

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Tucked away in a harbor better known for fishing and paddleboarding is the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard, a treasure chest of maritime art that rivals some of the finest European and U.S. collections.

Among the 72 original paintings on display are seascape paintings by masters of the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, works from the 18th and 19th century by English Romantic painters, and French Impressionist works by Eugene-Louis Boudin, a mentor of Monet.

People often assume that maritime museums are all about rusty anchors and crusty ships, says Executive Director Julia Chambers. We have five centuries of exquisite art that sails -- truly marvelous, gorgeous art and artifacts that open up a whole world of adventurous ocean exploration for visitors who can drive an hour north from L.A., slow down, and take the time to absorb the beauty here.

Also included are works by American painters Thomas Hoyne (his famous The Widow Maker among others) and John Stobart, and the largest collection of historic ship models on the West Coast.

The 81 museum quality models include American Edward Marples work, and an amazing group of bone models carved from soup bones by French soldiers held captive during the early 19th century Napoleonic Wars. The U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Md., has the largest U.S. bone model collection, but the Channel Islands Maritime Museum has more on display. The museums own Model Guild has built a replica of a Ming Dynasty treasure ship for display.

Many of the master works of art and ship models are part of the Nelson Foundations collection, and are exhibited in the remodeled two-story space once occupied by the Port Royal restaurant near the entrance to the harbor. Large floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the harbor and its busy traffic -- large sailing sloops, small electric party boats, kayaks, paddleboarders, fishing and whale watching boats, heading in or out of the nearby harbor entrance. Sea lions on the dock out front also add to the view.

The museum opened in 1991 at the north end of the harbor, but moved south in 2012, and is staffed by a large roster of docents and volunteers. Many of them have been with the museum since its inception.

Upstairs from the main exhibit areas and gift shop is a large space for featured exhibits, movie nights and maritime-themed parties. A monthly speaker series covers a wide range of maritime topics -- local Chumash history, Peruvians early wave-riding reed craft and the annual presence of migrating whales in the Santa Barbara Channel.

The Channel Islands sit just offshore and the harbors Island Packers Cruises has daily visits to five of the islands that offer magnificent hiking and camping. Anacapa and Santa Cruz, the closest islands in the chain, are an hour away.

Harbor neighbors include restaurants and watering holes. Sea Fresh and the Whales Tale offer good fish entrees and a casual atmosphere. The Italian Job Cafe and Moqueca Brazilian Cuizine are a tad more formal, but not overly so. The Lookout Bar and Grill and Toppers Pizza at the north end of the harbor offer good grub and grog. A block off the harbor is Mrs. Olsons Coffee Hut. Its breakfast is worth getting up a little early for.

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California: Oxnard maritime museum awash in art


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