View of Grand Anse beach from the EcoDive shop. Here's the shop:



Wow, 65th day of the year already and tomorrow is the 13th of March. Settling in just a bit. Long days at the dive shop the past seven days. Helping out with classes, dives, and setting up the boat. Other than coping with too much sun and blisters on two toes, it's been great getting my body back in shape. I spend most days with my friends and instructors Marlon and Laura:



Denny drives the boat:



and Norlan who covers the desk and scheduling:



A couple of news stories and a book review:

Cyclone Pam is threatening Vanuatu. It's forecasted to blow up to a category 5 storm. According to Dr Jeff Masters: "Pam is likely to be one of the most destructive natural disasters in Vanuatu's history. The storm will likely pass over or very close to the three small, southernmost islands of Vanuatu on Friday, and these islands will suffer extreme devastation if a direct hit occurs. These islands are Erromango (population 2,000), Tanna (pop 29,000) and Aneiytum (pop 900). The 12Z Thursday run of the usually-reliable European model shows a direct hit occurring on the more northerly island of Efate, the most populated island in Vanuatu (66,000), where the capital city of Port Vila is located. Even if the islands miss a direct hit by Category 4 - 5 eyewall winds, hurricane-force winds will extend out 40 miles from the center, and will likely cause heavy damage to all of these islands. Regardless of Pam's track, its waves will cause major coastal damage; the significant wave height of the storm was 44 feet at 2pm EDT Thursday. Storm surge is also a concern, as well as extreme flash flooding from Pam's torrential rains." We spent time in Tanna last September and one can only imagine what it would be like to ride out a storm in the villages we visited.

In 2013 I got to know Ross Applebey and watched as his Scarlet Oyster ran us down at the end of the Dark and Stormy pursuit race in the BVI. This story is incredible.

A review of The Last Beach. And a fascinating episode of the HBO series Vice dealing with the melting of Greenland and Antartica.

And finally, here's an interesting winter weather summary that describes the variations in this past winter over the continental US.