Better known as Billiton, Belitung Island, may be a hidden gem right now, but it will not be a secret for long. It is the perfect paradise for your next island getaway with its impeccable pristine beaches, blue waters, and natural granite rock structures. It is hard not to linger on its beauty as the …
read more...
Megalodon, a compound of Greek root words, means “giant tooth,” is the common name for either Carcharocles megalodon or Otodus megalodon, truly gigantic predatory shark that went extinct long ago. For twenty million years, the world’s oceans were home to them until suddenly, they…
read more...
For decades, people thought that the most impressive natural sight you could see near the Japanese island of Yonaguni was the frenzy hammerhead sharks that circled the shores during the chilly winter months. That all changed in 1987 when local scuba diving instructor and …
read more...
Easter Island or Rapa Nui in Polynesian, or Isla de Pascua in Spanish, is one of the most isolated places in the world, with its closest landmass about 4000 kilometers away. The island’s topography is characterized by windswept rolling hills, punctured by the occasional volcanic…
read more...
The Arctic is an otherworldly land of boundless landscapes, eternal daylight in summer, sparkling ice floes and abundant wildlife. No wonder that taking a North Pole cruise is getting to be a development industry in once rarely visited realms. For centuries, adventurers and …
read more...
The first USS Jeannette, a bark-rigged wooden steamship, was originally HMS Pandora, a Philomel-class gun-vessel of the Royal Naval force. The ship was built in 1861 at Pembroke Dockyard and was acquired in 1875 by Sir Allen Young for his arctic voyages in 1875-1876. The vessel was…
read more...
The predicate of the world’s largest fish falls on the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) with an average length of 5.5 to 10 meters yet still can grow more in length. The largest accurately measured whale shark was 18.8 meters. Its weight can also reach …
read more...
The blue and yellow Ukrainian flag was hoisted over the flagship of the Ukrainian research fleet – the former British icebreaker RRS James Clark Ross (JCR). This noteworthy event took place on August 30, 2021 −eleven days after its official…
read more...
What comes to mind when you hear Colombia? Most people must have imagined the legendary drug dealer, Pablo Escobar. It turns out that if you look for the background of this man, there is one very interesting thing. Namely, Malpelo Island…
read more...
Despite its name, Greenland in fact is almost 80 square meters covered with snow. It was Erik Thorvaldsson or better known as Erik the Red – a Viking leader – who coined the name Greenland, according to The Saga of Erik the Red, because he thought that “people would be attracted to go…
read more...
The term “defector” appeared in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and came into use as a sarcastic stigma for people who have left the country of the socialism for the sake of life in capitalism. In those days, this word was akin to anathema, and the relatives of the “defectors” who…
read more...