Seven Caves at La Jolla, California

Postcard US-3934052 to France shows the Seven Caves of La Jolla, near San Diego, California. Nestled between La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores, only one of caves is accessible by land while the other six can only be accessed by guided kayaking. Housed in a seventy-five million year old sea cliff, each of them has a unique name: White Lady, Little Sister, Shopping Cart, Sea Surprize, Arch Cave, Sunny Jim’s Cave, and Clam’s Cave.

Sunny Jim’s Cave, named after a cartoon character from a brand of cereal that was common at the turn of the century because of the similarity of the shape of their mouths, is the only known land accessed cave along the California coastline. In history, the cave's tunnel, leading to Coast Boulevard in La Jolla, was carved out by Chinese immigrant laborers for smuggling Chinese and other immigrants into the United States. Those intriguing caves were also once used to smuggle illegal whisky during the prohibition from 1920 to 1933.

SeaWorld to End Orca Breeding Program

SeaWorld announced on March 17, 2016 that the company will end all orca (killer whale) breeding now. It will also introduce new, inspiring, natural orca encounters, rather than theatrical shows, with focus on orca enrichment, exercise, and overall health. Those change will start in its San Diego park in 2017, followed by San Antonio and then Orlando locations in 2019.

The postcard, purchased at a local stamp show, shows Orky and Corky, the only pair of mature breeding Orcas at Hanna-Barbera's Marineland in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. They were receiving a fraction of the some 450 pounds of fish as their daily consumption. Marineland, first opened in 1954, was purchased by the owners of SeaWorld San Diego in 1987. The new owners moved these popular killer whales and other animals to their San Diego facility and abruptly closed Marineland.

The current changes come as a result of the pressure from animal rights groups in protesting SeaWorld for its treatment of the killer whales and other sea mammals in captive. Now, Seaworld will have to ponder its own fate: how to survive without orca shows?

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Postcard IE-78738 from Ireland shows a sunset view from the Cliffs of Moher or Aillte an Mhothair in Irish, located at the southwestern edge of the Burren region in County Clare, Ireland. According to Wikepedia, those cliffs rise 120 meters or 390 feet above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head, and reach their maximum height of 214 meters or 702 feet just north of O'Brien's Tower, eight kilometers to the north. There is a round stone tower near the midpoint of the cliffs, built in 1835 by Sir Cornelius O'Brien, where visitors can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, the Maumturks and Twelve Pins mountain ranges to the north in County Galway, and Loop Head to the south. With almost one million visitors a year, it was one of the most popular tourist sites in Ireland.

A rainbow formed over Dublin in the evening yesterday as people in Ireland voted on a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage. Final results indicated that 62% of voters and all but one district approved the amendment in a referendum Friday. It shows that support for marriage equality extended well beyond Ireland’s liberal urban centers and deep into its rural heartlands; and that a vote for same-sex marriage in Ireland is not a ‘No’ vote to Catholicism. Just as Prime Minister Enda Kenny proclaimed: “with today’s vote, we have disclosed who we are: a generous, compassionate, bold and joyful people.” Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote in the world, joining 18 other countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, France, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand, Britain, Luxembourg, and Finland) where same-sex couples can marry nationwide.

Rainbow at the end of the canvass,last night North Dublin Suburbs #IrelandSaysYes #IrelandVoteYes #irelandreferendum pic.twitter.com/gzk9UFZVDv

— Simy Frant (@SimyFrant) May 23, 2015

Final Battle Scene Returns to "KA"

Cirque du Soleil removed a final battle scene from “KA” after a performer fell to her death when her safety wire snapped during a rapid ascent in June, 2013.

Eighteen months later, the scene is returning to “KA” theater at MGM Grand on December 3, 2014 after changes have been made to the choreography and equipment used in the scene.

Outgoing postcard US-3106782 to Finland shows a scene from "KA" where the Twin Sister encounters giant sea creatures, including a silly turtle, a mischievous starfish, and playful crabs, after surviving the shipwreck.

Bears Star

Postcard RU-3035257 from Russia shows a fantasy illustration "Bears Star" by Russian artist Galla Yegorenkova, where Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, along with a full moon, were guiding ships through a cold, rough sea. 

Antalya, Turkey

Postcard TR-195334 from Turkey shows multiple views of Antalya, a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey on the Asia side with a population of 964,886 in 2011. As Turkey's largest sea resort town, Antalya was the third most visited city, behind Paris and London, in the world in 2013 in terms of the number of international arrivals. Major attractions include Düden Waterfalls and Yivliminare Mosque, as shown on the card.

ARCHELON

Postcard NL-2619878 from the Netherlands was a produced by ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, showing a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), an endangered species protected by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Founded in 1983, ARCHELON aims to protect sea turtles and their habitats in Greece through research, public awareness campaigns, and restoring habitats. It operates a rescue center built in 1994.

In my previous blog the World Turtle Day, Sea Turtle Oversight Protection (STOP) in Florida was featured for their work in rescuing those new sea turtle hatchlings disoriented by the street lights. You can still help by becoming a supporting member or joining a rescue walk in the 2014 season that lasts from May to October.

House of the Rising Sun

Postcard BY-1046781 from Belarus shows a photo titled the House of the Rising Sun by Vlad Sokolovsky, featuring a beautiful morning scene at the Minsk Sea in Fall 2011.  You can visit the photographer's other works at Foto.BY. He also has a blog on landscape photography at LiveJournal.

World Turtle Day

May 23rd has been the World Turtle Day since 2000. It was initiated by American Tortoise Rescue to celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their ever shrinking habitats around the world.

The postcard US-1532121 was issued by SFWMD, featuring a Florida box turtle living in moist woodlands and floodplains in the greater Everglades. Turtles are the only toothless reptiles, but have beaks with biting edges.

Before I moved to Las Vegas, NV from Florida in 2006, I was aware of the problem caused by street lights to the baby sea turtles during the hatchling season. Those baby sea turtles mistook street lights as the rising sun, so they moved towards city streets and were often crashed by cars, rather than headed to the ocean. I knew there were efforts to install turtle-friendly lights along A1A, a Florida State Road running mostly along the Atlantic Ocean. However, to my surprise, I found out the problem is still serious today. A Youtube video documented disoriented sea turtle hatchlings in Broward County Florida caused by illegal lighting in the summer of 2011. It was estimated that one in every three hatchlings had gone to the street lights instead of the ocean.

In Florida, sea turtles come ashore to nest from May to late October. You can learn how to help this season in 2013 by visiting their web site SeaTurtleOP.org.

What is the difference between a tortoise and a turtle since they are both reptiles from the family of Testudines? Tortoises dwell only on land while turtles can dwell well in the water. Therefore, in the Mojave Desert around Las Vegas, we only have tortoises.