1. Islands

Category Archives: Islands

SOCHI SCENE: From the islands

Posted on by

The Associated Press Adam Crook of the British Virgin Islands gets air during men's ski half pipe qualifying at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

AP/February 18, 2014

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) Adam Crooks first hints at becoming a Winter Olympian for the British Virgin Islands took the top brass there by surprise.

They thought I was talking about water skiing, he said.

Nope. Freestyle skiing.

The 21-year-old became the first winter athlete to compete for his island country in 30 years (the late Errol Spence was a speedskater for the country at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics) when he took to the halfpipe Tuesday.

He finished 27th, though the result wasnt as important as the mission.

Crooks parents, Lin and Barney, met while working in Tortola, later moved back to Lins hometown in Wisconsin and are now back in the islands.

To realize his dream of skiing in the Olympics, Adam had to move to Colorado for ski school. To fund his career, he cobbled together money from Olympic scholarship funds, sponsors and, of course, his parents.

He and his folks essentially are the British Virgin Islands Ski Association, a federation they had to start so he could enter World Cup events Crook needed to make the Olympics.

Read more from the original source:

SOCHI SCENE: From the islands

Atoll grows by 23% in 65 years

Posted on by

A Marshall Islands atoll that grew 23 per cent in 65 years shows islands can form and grow much more rapidly than previously thought.

And scientists say the research may be significant as sea levels continue to rise thanks to climate change, threatening low-lying atolls.

In 1905, Nadikdik Atoll in the Marshall Islands was hit by a devastating typhoon which destroyed large sections of the reef island, and killed the entire population except two survivors.

Scientists from the University of Auckland compared aerial photographs from 1945 with pictures from 2010, and found the vegetated area of the islands grew by 23 per cent.

The research puts this down to sediments generated from the atoll's surrounding reef system, which was likely in a healthy condition as the atoll had been uninhabited since 1905.

The scientists also noticed a new island grow from a sediment deposit to a fully vegetated and stable island in 61 years, and a number of separate islands form a single larger island.

"These changes were rapid and indicate that reef island formation can occur quickly," the report said.

Sea levels are expected to continue rising thanks to climate change, with the levels around Marshall Islands rising at about 2.2 millimetres a year since 1946.

The report said there was considerable global interest about the future stability of the landforms given the projected sea level increases.

Past studies have focused on the immediate impacts of extreme weather events on islands, but comparatively few studies have documented how islands have changed after the impact.

Go here to see the original:

Atoll grows by 23% in 65 years

Boys Soccer Playoffs: Channel Islands pulls off wild comeback in Div. 3 opener

Posted on by

Channel Islands High really knows how to put the wild in wild card.

The host Raiders spotted Santa Fe two goals in the first half of Tuesdays CIF-Southern Section Division 3 wild-card game before coming back with three goals in a 14-minute span to win 3-2.

Senior forward Luis Mottu put in the tying goal at the 35th minute of the second half, then added the game-winner four minutes later. Armando Mojica scored the Raiders first goal, at the 25-minute mark of the second half.

Channel Islands (13-5-6) goes on the road for a first-round game at Palmdale-Knight at 3 p.m. Thursday. Santa Fe of Santa Fe Springs ends its season at 12-8-1.

Santa Fes Chiefs got on the scoreboard early as Luis Calderon scored off an assist from Jonathan Quinones at the 10-minute spot of the first half. Sixteen minutes later, Oscar Caballero scored a goal off a corner kick and suddenly Channel Islands found itself down by two goals.

As the third-place team from the tough Pacific View League, the Raiders may have already been a little put off by having to play a wild-card game against an at-large team from the Del Rio League. In any case, they were unprepared at the start and had trouble connecting on passes.

Its been like this most of the season, interim co-coach Francisco Salazar admitted. We start flat and then, all of a sudden, when they score a goal, it wakes us up. We really live very dangerously that way.

Realizing at halftime they were 40 minutes away from having their postseason end before it had hardly even begun, the Raiders started playing with more ferocity.

Youve got to give them credit, Salazar said. They came out, they were very aggressive, they had a lot of heart.

Mottu told his team after the game it had to play that way from the start of the game. In fact, he told the team to start the game thinking theyre down 1-0.

See the original post:

Boys Soccer Playoffs: Channel Islands pulls off wild comeback in Div. 3 opener

Bay of Islands school wins TV Takeback competition

Posted on by

A Bay of Islands school has won a competition encouraging students to collect unwanted televisions as part of the Governments TV TakeBack programme.

Russell School has been named the winner of the upper North Island Enviroschools Challenge, organised by the Ministry for the Environment and The Enviroschools Foundation.

The school had the best participation rate of the 450 Enviroschools in the upper North Island, and has won a 46-inch LED Smart Television and a Home Theatre System from Samsung.

Environment Minister Amy Adams, who launched the Enviroschools Challenge last year, says: "I congratulate Russell School and all those who took part in the Enviroschools challenge to recycle televisions".

"I have been impressed by the enthusiasm of Enviroschools students and their communities in recycling unwanted televisions. Its great to see students taking the lead and thinking about the environment."

Chief Executive of the Enviroschools Foundation, Heidi Mardon, says: "The challenge has been a great opportunity to remind the 190,000 North Island students in our network of schools and kura to reduce their need for a new TV and reuse existing sets where possible before recycling."

"Empowering Enviroschools students to be environmentally responsible means they're able help their friends and family play a positive role in the long-term sustainability of their community. Weve certainly contributed to this vision with the Enviroschools Challenge."

The Enviroschools Challenge encouraged students across the North Island to take unwanted televisions to a participating TV TakeBack drop-off site and nominate an Enviroschool of their choice.

The winner of the lower North Island Challenge was Orautoha School in the Ruapehu District. All nominated Enviroschools were included in a spot prize draw for two Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablets, which went to Arataki Free Kindergarten in Mount Maunganui.

Enviroschools is an education programme that gives schools and children a hands-on approach to looking after the environment. The programme encourages children, their schools, families and communities to think and act sustainably - at school, at home and in everyday life.

Read more:

Bay of Islands school wins TV Takeback competition

Dive, Doze, Drink, Dive.. Life on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras 2014 [GoPro Hero 3] HD – Video

Posted on by


Dive, Doze, Drink, Dive.. Life on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras 2014 [GoPro Hero 3] HD
There #39;s No Other Place Like This Place Anywhere Near This Place, So This Must Be The Place -Thomas Giddings The last couple of months of my life on Utila. Fr...

By: Darren Elsden

See more here:

Dive, Doze, Drink, Dive.. Life on Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras 2014 [GoPro Hero 3] HD - Video


  1. Islands