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BIOLOGY The Hawaiian Islands have a wide variety of plant, marine and animal life. Vegetation zones include: coastal, dryland forest, mixed open forest, rain forest, subalpine and alpine. More than 90 percent of the native plants and animals living in Hawaii are found nowhere else in the world, and a greater variety of fish exist in Hawaiian waters than elsewhere. The humuhumunukunukuapuaa is the official state fish. Hawaii is sometimes called the Endangered Species Capital of the World. At least one third of all the endangered species in the United States are found in Hawaii including the..

An unspoiled corner of Fiji, Kadavu is a beautiful mountainous island with waterfalls, rounded hilltops, outstanding beaches and high rocky cliffs. It offers interesting bush walks, charming rockpools, luxuriant native trees and fascinating birdlife, particularly the famous red and green Kadavu parrots. Kadavu (pronounced Kahn-da-voo), has a population of approximately 8700 and lies only 88 kilometers south of Suva. Kadavu is approximately 48 kilometers in length and varies in width from 365 meters to 13 kilometers. Its area is 411 square kilometers, just a bit less than Taveuni. Kadavu has..

Manuel Antonio National Park The three sweeping strands of pristine white beach that flow into the Pacific Ocean are only part of what makes this place paradise. Manuel Antonio National Park is where the jungle meets the sea. The beaches are long, wide and covered with beautiful soft sand, bordered by tall evergreen jungle on one side, and blue Pacific Ocean on the other. Cliffs overgrown by dense jungle vegetation surround the beaches and in spots the forest sweeps down to the edge of the water sheltering swimmers from the sun. In order to protect the parks eco-system, entrance to the park..

At the very center of Polynesia, Upolu and Savaii are the twin islands that truly fulfill the South Seas vision of palm-lined, white-sand beaches and blue ocean beyond the reef. And in the capital of Apia, which has at least some of the trappings of a modern city, you’ll also find a slightly timeworn, sultry townscape out of the old South Pacific. Until 1997, the country was known as Western Samoa – long famous throughout the South Pacific for Fa’a Samoa, a way of life in which traditional customs (dance, a love of kava, and the art of tattooing among them) and strong community ties shape..

Off the coast of Costa Rica, some 300 miles out into the Pacific, Cocos Island is one of the last, best places in the diving world. Schools of hammerhead sharks beyond count (especially during the rainy season, June through October), manta rays, and even the occasional whale shark are prime attractions, but probably in the back of every diver's mind is that a gold doubloon might just be waiting around the next coral head. For Cocos Island National Park, rich in natural history, is also steeped in legends of buried treasures. The names of ships carved into rocks at Chatham Bay date to the..