Tuesday 27 October 2009

Cruise Vacations For Seniors

In many areas of the world, including the United States, we often view senior citizens as having limits. While health issues may plague some senior citizens, most individuals are healthy and happy. In fact, many consider their senior years to be the prime of their live. If you are one of those individuals, you could experience fun and excitement aboard a cruise ship.

One of the most common concerns aboard a cruise is safety. Many senior citizens and their family members are concerned with the health risks of taking a cruise. If you or your family has fears associated with extended cruises, you may want to seek guidance from your family physician. With a simple visit, your physician may easily be able to determine whether or not you are up for the voyage.

If and when you receive the okay from your doctor, you can begin to further examine vacationing aboard a cruise ship. When examining cruise ships, you are encouraged to examine a number of cruise lines and each of the ships that they have available. To get started on your search, it is advised that you examine Royal Caribbean Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines, and Princess Cruises. The foresaid cruise lines are just a few of the many that service travelers; however, they are often considered the most popular.

When examining a particular cruise ship, you are encouraged to search for activities and services that you are attracted to. These services are important because they are often the only way for seniors to find the perfect cruise ship. At the current time, there is not a large, well-known cruise ship company that offers cruises specifically for senior citizens. That does not mean that you shouldn’t take a cruise. It does; however, mean that you may need to spend more time researching your available options.

You can and should search for cruise ship activities based on your own preferences. Many seniors prefer cruise ships that offer elegant dinning facilities and activities geared towards mature crowds. If safety is a concern, you may wish to vacation aboard a family fun cruise. These cruises are geared towards individuals and families of all ages. Many times, a family fun cruise has a more appropriate environment. Seniors, including yourself, may find this environment warm and welcoming.

Once you have made the decision to take a cruise ship vacation, you may be excited to book your reservations. Senior citizens are urged to refrain from purchasing tickets and making travel accommodations on a whim. This is because many seniors qualify for cruise ship and other travel discounts. Many of these discounts are offered by AARP, Triple A, and other membership clubs. Even if you may not qualify for travel deals and discounts, you should still see if they exist. Until you look, you never know if you can book a cruise at a discounted price.

Cruise ship travel is a fun, exciting, and rewarding experience, no matter what your age. All most all cruise ships are safe enough that you can even vacation alone. If you are concerned with your safety while traveling alone, you may want to invite along family or your senior friends. With a large number of discounts, it is quite possible that you can all enjoy a vacation aboard a cruise ship, without having to go broke.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
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Taking The Perfect Bermuda Cruise

Whether honeymoon or a get-together of families or friends, a Bermuda cruise is the perfect way to enjoy. No matter what your likes or dislikes are; from pink sand beaches and shopping alleys to colorful nightclubs, Bermuda will have something to offer for the traveler looking for something extraordinary.

A Bermuda cruise is the best way to unearth the jewels of Bermuda, the total land area of which is about 22 square miles only. A variety of cruise options are offered – family, business, honeymoon or even for singles. There are two options for choosing a Bermuda cruise – you either board your cruise from the US itself or take a flight to Bermuda and then embark on your journey.

It is important to know the ports of call in order to plan your tour. Normally cruises will stop at all the three ports of Bermuda. Hamilton, the capital, is the busiest amongst all the small towns of Bermuda and is a great place for shopping and is also known for its exciting nightlife. The almost four centuries old settlements in the port town of St. George’s, on Bermuda’s east coast, has been designated as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. The Royal Naval Dockyard, which has an extensive history of British naval exploits, also has forts and museums. The three ports will serve as your base for exploring the center, eastern coast and the western coast. Horseshoe Bay, South Shore Park and the Cristobal Colon ship wreckage are not to be missed. You can also choose from eco-tourism, golf and watersports or simply lay back and watch the waves break.

Bermuda receives moderate rainfall throughout the year. Tourist influx in the islands is at its highest during the months of April to September and cruise services during the winter months are almost negligible. Many cruises offer huge discounts during the low season. Departures for Bermuda cruises are available throughout the year; so choose a schedule that suits you.

Before embarking on your cruise it is imperative to know what activities or charges are included in your cruise package. At all the ports passengers are charged an entry tax. Cruise packages often advertise reduced rates; but find out whether it includes port taxes, the expenses of land stay, city excursions or spa and gambling charges on board. Different price options are available – you can either book for a cruise that will also include your city expenses or you can book for the cruise only while do your own thing once you are on land.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
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Sunday 18 October 2009

bermuda honeymoon

Looking for a perfect honeymoon getaway is at the top of every couple about to get married soon. Suites are usually the grandest rooms a hotel has to offer. Suites are the best rooms perfect for special occasions like honeymoon. It usually is the most expensive out of all the room categories of a hotel.

Suites make up only about 10% of the total rooms of a hotel. This makes it extra special. This is also one reason that most suites easily run out in hotels, especially if a couple will just walk in. making reservations in advance are important to secure a suite on the most important day of your life. Honeymooners can look into a few of these hotels that have some of the most romantic suites.

Hotel Santa Caterina
Hotel Santa Caterina in Italy is one of the best romantic getaways that couples would surely enjoy and appreciate. It is located in a cliff of Amalfi Drive and is surrounded by a sprawling garden. It overlooks the Amalfi coast with a very fantastic view.

Hotel Santa Caterina has a total of 62 rooms in the central building, 40 are standard and 12 are suites. There is another 18 rooms in Villa Santa Caterina annex plus spacious wedding suites in Villa Follia Amalfitana. The bathrooms are large and come with Jacuzzi tubs. Outside is another sunken Jacuzzi pool that overlooks the coastal view of Amalfi coast.

Hotel Santa Caterina offers lots of visiting attractions, destinations, sightseeing and pampering comfort for the honeymooners and the whole family. They can access the hotels sea water swimming pool and enjoy sunbathing decks, easy access in their in-house gym, restaurants that overlooking the beautiful scenic of open air sea.

Hotel amenities is superb with its fine and well decorating suites, their rooms are big and cozy with individual sliding window verandas for more romantic moments. Downstairs awaits the in-house restaurants that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner menus daily, special Italian delicacies, best tasting wine and variety of a' la carte dishes.

Hotel Santorini Greece
One of the finest and best honeymoon suite is Hotel Santorini Greece, home of fantastic landscape in Greece and all around the world. It represents the stunning Greek cliché, breathtaking view with spectacular sunsets. It is surrounded by lots of best known tourist spots, beaches, and historical places.

Located in the cliff, Santorini became the famous and most admired hotel in the island, overseeing the submerged caldera the volcano's crater and the villages of Cyclades. Honeymooners can also take a romantic trip by cruising the Caldera crater or sail beyond Aegean Sea, the volcanic isles of Thirassia, Nea Kammeni and Palea Kammeni.

Hotel Santorini is one of the best honeymoon destinations all over the world, treated you like a royalty and gives comforting and soothing ambience with their stylish and elegant honeymoon suites created with a lavish amenities including Jacuzzi and hot tubs, fashionable bathrobes, king size bed with post and veils on top, fruit baskets and champagne to sip for their special romantic moments.

In Hotel Santorini your honeymoon trip will be a trip of your lifetime, for they know how to give the best and customized plans for every honeymooner's desired and budget. They also offer wide array of packages from their Santorini Honeymoon program headed by their wedding and honeymoon team experts.

Fairmont Hotel & Resorts
Fairmont Hotel & Resort is luxurious and distinct hotel providing great honeymoon trip and experience. It is located in the elegant and modern city of North America adjacent to the beaches of Hawaii and Bermuda to main city of New York.

Its structural design added extraordinary occurrence and ambiance suited for newlywed couple looking for perfect honeymoon get a ways. Fairmont Hotel & Resort have a private sanctuary for honeymooners in where they can soak-in in a relaxing marbled line bathtub with aromatherapy crops with champagne.

Embark with their luxurious suites and guest rooms with 24 hours concierge staffs and in-room services.

For more information on Honeymoon Suites and Honeymoon Suites Hotels please visit our website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Urmann

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Discount Bermuda Cruises

There are two ways of getting discounts on Bermuda cruises. One is to travel on a Bermuda cruise liner during the off-season (when demand is low and supply or occupancy is high), and the other is to travel in a group (by which you can take advantage of what amounts to wholesale discounts). The Bermuda cruise season generally runs from April to October. So cruise liners on this route during the off-season generally offer heavy discounts. However, it is advisable to book these cruises early before the best options are taken.

The group discounts can be had in two ways: either through an organization that provides discounted cruises, or by joining a group of travelers under package tour schemes offered by tour operators. Certain cruise liners offer discounts directly to the travelers. Sometimes your credit card could help you in taking advantage of such discounts, as certain cruise lines offer discounts if you use a specific brand of credit card to pay for the ticket.

A number of luxury cruise liners offer discounted berths during the end of the season. In the beginning of the season you would often find cruise liners to Bermuda fully packed; the possibility of a discount comes more at the end of the season. One also has to be careful about the quality of services and level of comfort offered by cruise liners offering discounts. A number of online resources are available to help you get a reservation for a Bermuda cruise at a greatly discounted price.

Bermuda Cruises provides detailed information on Bermuda Cruises, Discount Bermuda Cruises, Spring Break Bermuda Cruises, Bermuda Cruise Ships and more. Bermuda Cruises is affiliated with Bermuda Triangle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristy_Annely

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Bermuda Cruise Ships

Most of the lines that provide cruise ships for Bermuda have their own independent schedules. But the combined information about all of them is provided by Marine and Ports division of Bermuda’s government, which publishes the schedules of all cruise ship calls for a particular year at the beginning of each year. This schedule is also available online.

Though the government has been trying to encourage more air travel to the island, most visitors prefer to reach the island on a cruise ship. The local government has put a cap on the maximum number of passengers per cruise ship and the total number of passengers that can visit each year. These limits are revised at regular intervals. These limits are to prevent the small island from being overrun at any given time, and also to prevent strain on the island’s resources.

The local shopkeepers, storeowners and other businessmen eagerly await the arrival of Bermuda cruise ships, whose passengers provide most of their income. While traveling on a Bermuda cruise ship, one must not forget that Bermuda has very strict drug laws. Any passenger caught with even the smallest amount of a narcotic substance could face serious consequences.

To abide by law, cruise ships sailing from US to Bermuda have to have certain fixed number of cabins and staterooms available for the disabled/physically handicapped. Some cruise ships may try to ignore the law by not checking or verifying the disability of the disabled passengers. A disabled person can use certain legal remedies in case he or she is denied a cabin, meant specifically for disabled, in one of these cruise ships

Bermuda Cruises provides detailed information on Bermuda Cruises, Discount Bermuda Cruises, Spring Break Bermuda Cruises, Bermuda Cruise Ships and more. Bermuda Cruises is affiliated with Bermuda Triangle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristy_Annely

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Thursday 15 October 2009

Bermuda, "Isle of Devils"

Bermuda, known officially as the Bermuda Islands or Sommers Islands is a British Territory located approximately 65miles off the coast of the United States.


Being settled in 1612 , it's capital , Hamilton, is most populous and oldest continuously inhabited English town in the Americas Although usually referred to in the singular, the territory consists of approximately 138 islands, with a total area of 20.6 sq mi. The largest island, Main Island, is sometimes itself called Bermuda. Compiling a list of the islands is often complicated, as many have more than one name.



With finance being it's largest sector, Bermuda has a very affluent economy, tourism is the second largest industry on the islands..

Discovered in 1503 by Juan de Bermudez, it became a stopping off place to replenish ships with water and meat. Because of legends concerning spirits and demons, it soon gained the name "Isle of Devils" The many stories of ships and airplanes disappearing in confines of the Bermuda Triangle soon fed more fuel to the fire. To this day a certain mystic surrounds the whole area of Bermuda as well as many miles to the south.

Judging from first hand exerience, the seas can be treacherous. While on a 7 day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Bermuda and Nassau, we experienced 20 foot seas for 30 hours,all while the weather was perfectly sunny and beautiful. I can appreciate how ships from an earlier era would not survive.

Surviving the high seas, landfall was made at the Royal Navy Pier around 4 pm on Sunday. Upon walking ashore, it was soon discovered that despite that fact a large cruise ship had just docked, all the stores were closed and wouldn't open until the following morning. It was nice to see there is still somewhere on this planet where the observance of Sunday and traditional values out weight the power of the almighty dollar.

Spending an enjoyable evening rambling around the Royal Navy Pier and discovering the many unique features thereof, it was time to retire and await the next day's adventures.

One of the nice things about Bermuda is the inexpensive transportation, a full day's fare on all the available forms of transportation, everything from water taxis to buses can be had for a paltry $6.

Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda is a modern, clean upbeat city, with all the amenities and shopping found in any American city, combine this with the British formality and one has a recipe for an enjoyable experience.

Our excursion to St. George's was delightful with the driver filling us in on all the history and unique features of the island.

Following a sea side lunch and a walking tour of the town of St. Georges, it was back on the bus for the returning ride to our floating hotel.

Gary has traveled to many parts of the world, see more articles and photos at: http://www.travelnsnap.com

Gary has developed a line of novelty gifts featuring some of his photos taken around the world. http://www.tshirtsbumperstickers.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Wonning


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The Lost Squadron - Flight 19

On December 5, 1945, five Navy TBM Avenger torpedo bombers left Ft Lauderdale Florida on a training mission. They were to fly to several points in the Atlantic and return to the base in Florida, covering a distance of 320 miles. Radio conversations between the pilots were detectable by base and other aircraft in the area. It was known that the practice bombing operation was completed successfully.


The first sign of trouble came with the transmission, "I don't know where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn." The transmission was heard by another flight instructor, Lieutenant Robert F. Fox in FT-74, who tried to help the lost flight regain their bearings. Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, the flight leader of the lost squadron, transmitted, "Both of my compasses are out and I am trying to find Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am over land but it's broken. I am sure I'm in the Keys but I don't know how far down and I don't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale." Lt. Fox then advised them to put the sun on his port wing and fly north up the coast to Fort Lauderdale.

Several transmissions were passed back and forth between the flight leader and the other four bombers. They headed one way, and then the next, trying to find anything familiar, any place to land. The last transmission heard from Lt. Taylor was "All planes close up tight . . .we'll have to ditch unless landfall . . .when the first plane drops below 10 gallons, we all go down together." It soon became apparent that Lt. Taylor, for some unknown reason, turned his command over to another pilot who anxiously transmits: "We can't tell where we are . . .everything is . . .can't make out anything. We think we may be about 225 miles northeast of base . . ." For a few moments the pilot rambles incoherently before saying the last words ever heard from Flight 19: "It looks like we are entering white water . . .We're completely lost." The 5 Naval bombers were never seen again.

Minutes after the last transmission, a Mariner flying boat with rescue equipment is sent towards the area of Flight 19's transmission. Ten minutes after take-off, the pilot of the Mariner checks in with the tower and is never heard from again. The Coast Guard, Navy ships and aircraft search 250,000 square miles for the next 5 days, hoping to find some sign of the 5 Avengers or the Mariner, but saw neither oil slick nor wreckage.

In 1990, wreckage of an Avenger was raised from the ocean floor, but could not be positively identified as one of the missing planes.

A curious footnote to this story is that one of the planes of Flight 19 was missing a crew member. Marine Corporal Allan Kosner was given special permission to stay on land that day because he had an unshakeable preminition of danger.

Looking for more amazing history? Check out my squidoo! http://www.squidoo.com/weirdhistory/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debra_Cruz


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Sunday 11 October 2009

Difficult rescue missions in the Bermuda Triangle - BBC

Difficult rescue missions in the Bermuda Triangle - BBC


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Friday 9 October 2009

Skepticism & the Triangle

Science is merely the refinement of everyday thinking.” Albert Einstein

“Academic and Intelligent are very far from matching compliments.” Frank McLynn

To reason, one must wonder.

Skepticism is perhaps one of the best and most rudimentary spirits in mankind. Without it we cannot search; without it we cannot reason; without it we cannot wonder; we cannot inquire; we cannot contemplate. Without it we are not intelligent. We are a stray and hungry dog, and we will eat anything fed us.

Skepticism is a two edged sword, both sides sharp, as pure as blue steel and just as clean. One side does not allow us to believe everything off hand; the other does not let us necessarily dismiss anything off hand.

Skepticism is, in a way, the mediating influence upon curiosity which guides it toward wisdom.

Curiosity has made us to inquire; and inquiring we have amassed an enormous catalogue of causes and effects; of species of plants and life. This is knowledge.

This is the bedrock of scientific reference. In Latin Scientia merely means To Know. Ideally, before a scientist can contribute to the world of knowledge, he must first learn all that has been compiled before him; what others have observed and cross referenced, many times back thousands of years. “I stand on the shoulder of giants,” said Newton.

This is the world of a priori, which means the system of cross-referencing by accumulated knowledge. When you approach a zoologist with a report of a creature that has feathers, a bill, waddles on webbed feet and goes “quack, quack” there is an a priori reason for that zoologist to say “It’s a duck.” He doesn’t have to go and observe it himself and waste time because there is an appropriate cross reference for such a phenomenon. It’s a duck!

When you approach a zoologist and say “I saw something with scales, that was pink, has 5 legs and a bill like a bird but a tail like a fish.” You are not going to get a good reply because there is an a priori reason for him to say there is not such creature. There is no catalogue for such an animal as you described. “Now, go see your doctor or get off the gin.”

When a zoologist gets more reports of this type of creature from several people a world away, he begins to ponder if something new is not being discovered. Though he is skeptical, he begins to probe into it.

Skepticism, you see, is involved in everything that has to do with discovery, with inquiry and with intelligence.

Now, I doubt there will ever be any such creature as used in the above analogy. But there are still many things happening in this world for which we do not have as yet any appropriate cross reference. The complete disappearance of ships and planes in the so called Bermuda Triangle may be one, as well as stories about strange atmospheric phenomena and electromagnetic anomalies as reported by some pilots and ship captains that survived.

There is no a priori reason to dismiss the latter, since they are not speaking of things so completely unknown. The shape, mass, rotation, inclination and revolution of the earth play vital roles in some places of the globe as opposed to others. Because of this we know why hurricanes and typhoons strike along the same latitudes, why great winds frequent certain areas as opposed to others, and geology has taught us why earthquakes appear in some areas and do not in others.

The invisible forces of our earth may be subject and influenced in the same ways. The magnetic field is known to be effected by any number of events. It seems equally possible there are regions of the earth, again for a variety of reasons, which are more prone to these, as some regions are prone to visible catastrophes like typhoons and tornadoes.

One must approach the Bermuda Triangle and these possibilities with the curiosity of skepticism. This is not an oxymoron. Skepticism set in motion is an integral part of curiosity!

But I’m afraid the world and the world wide web are not always like this. There are those whose minds are so open their brains have fallen out; then there are those whose minds are so closed, their brains have suffocated. They are no better than a bowling ball in mud.

As a true skeptic, I have taken criticism from both sides: those who want me to believe and endorse the most fantastic claims at face value and those gentlemen of the-bowling-ball-in-mud-club who go no where and think all has been discovered.

There are groups who have gone to Bimini Island in a chartered boat and held rituals over the Bimini stones believing there is some stronger cosmic force here. They roll out stone and quartz phalli like dice and read the results. . . .Hmmm. I wont go on.

Possibly, the debunker is just as bad. What is truly sad is that they promote themselves to be the “skeptic” and promote themselves as the voices of science. They don’t even know what the word means. I consider most of them little better than hucksters who saw a good way to get attention and make money by being “devil’s advocate” to a popular subject. They stifle inquiry and make fun of those who inquire.

What is amazing is that debunkers are the primary source for most of the sensational claims made on behalf of the Triangle. They do this by taking out of context what other authors wrote, by making it look like there was a dogmatic assertion that some supernatural event occurred, and then they solve it by picking apart what they essentially created. An example comes from one noted debunker: “I had originally gotten hold of accounts by previous writers, threw them all together, and put a few transition sentences between them . . .” The quilt that emerged was truly not reflective of any one particular author’s thesis on the subject. Their books had mediating influences that debunkers distill from their accounts.

There were many mistakes made by the “sensationalists;” that’s true. I have not, however, found a higher degree of accuracy amongst the debunkers in their neat solutions to everything. But they always say their mistakes are never “intentional.” This may be true. What is indigestible is that they often claim the “sensationalists” made intentional mistakes for commercialism to subvert the truth.

There are no more mistakes in Charles Berlitz’s book, The Bermuda Triangle than there are in Larry Kusche’s book The Bermuda Triangle Mystery— Solved. Berlitz had inaccurate information upon which he based aspects of the theories. So did Larry Kusche for his solution.

I condemn neither. Berlitz dealt very little with the incidents. His was more of a theories book. Kusche dealt little with theory. His was more devoted to incidents. I believe, however, that Berlitz’s mistakes were far more innocent that Kusche’s.

When Larry Kusche thought it time to publish his book, he deferred to a large number of old newspaper accounts which he took uncritically as accurate information. “I found I couldn’t trust anything anybody else had written on the topic, because it was very flimsy.”

This is hypocritical, to say the least. Larry Kusche, in his position as a librarian, was actually the source for some of the greatest sensationalism. His Bermuda Triangle Bibliography, which he uncritically compiled at Arizona State University as source work for any inquirer, was the springboard for a number of writers. Charles Berlitz praised him in the introduction to his own bibliography. “Before mention of some of the books referred to in this present work, the author would like to recommend to the reader’s attention the Bermuda Triangle Bibliography compiled by Larry Kusche and Deborah Blouin, Arizona State University Library, April 1973, which contains numerous references, including books and newspaper and magazine articles, pertaining to the Bermuda Triangle.”

Kusche later admitted how he pitched his own book “ . . .we were swamped with requests, including orders from John Wallace Spencer, Richard Winer and Charles Berlitz. Harper and Row also ordered one, and I sent a note along, telling them I was writing a book. They offered me a contract based on two sample chapters.”

Kusche, however, did not use his own Bermuda Triangle Bibliography as the source for his own book, the source which had so impressed the other authors who tracked down its references and used them as sources for their books and lectures. Kusche instead used different newspaper accounts which he accepted uncritically as unchallenged fact. His “solution” was the result of these. Instead of updating his Bibliography, he seems to have pitched a book deal.

After Kusche’s book came out, with starkly different source material cited, and even condemning others for inaccuracy, Berlitz had his above praise omitted from later editions of his book, and made no reference to Kusche’s uncritical Bibliography.

Kusche received the praise as the “number one expert on the Bermuda Triangle” while Berlitz, Spencer and Winer were taking hits for sensationalism and inaccuracy thanks in part to Kusche’s Bermuda Triangle Bibliography. (These “sensationalists” had inquired at University level for information. I think that says something on their behalf.)

In an interview after his own publication, Kusche said “There’s a whole subculture of pseudo-scientific mystery writers who have been pumping out this kind of material on ancient astronauts, UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, and other topics for many years, without opposition of any kind. I plan to bring my bulldozer in and show that their buildings aren’t concrete, but just bubbles and baubles piled high and deep.”

Kusche’s bulldozer, like all bulldozers, moved dirt around easy enough but stymied and choked at concrete, leaving many to feel that his book was better entitled “Bermuda Triangle Mystery Examined” rather than “Solved.” (Which would have been an excellent title because Kusche’s book has some worthwhile material in it as well.)

But Kusche’s bulldozer never moved a wealth of official documentation into public view. In fact, his purpose seemed to document and question public discourse on the Bermuda Triangle, not to document the Bermuda Triangle itself. This seems probable considering the amount of information available at his time that he overlooked. Searches of Civil Aeronautic Board records would have cued him into about 30 aircraft disappearances that had never been reported between 1964 and 1974. But because this would not be solving the Triangle but documenting it (indeed above and beyond the litany any other contemporary writer provided), we don’t see his “meticulous research” extending toward this aspect.

Kusche’s book turned out to be a paltry collection of only 57 incidents based on old newspaper accounts. Some were well known, others mediocre, some completely obscure that he could not find any newspaper accounts for. His “meticulous research” managed to obtain only about 6 accident reports. None solved the incident in question. Although he claimed he did not start out to solve the Triangle, some of the ludicrous statements he unashamedly resorted to belie this.

In regards the disappearance of the U.S.S. Cyclops he even went so far as to write. “I confidently decided that the newspapers, the Navy, and all the ships at sea had been wrong, and that there had been a storm near Norfolk that day strong enough to sink the ship.” On top of this, he writes: “Contrary to popular opinion, there never was an official inquiry into the disappearance . . .Had there been any investigation, the weather information would surely have been discovered.”

Three boxes (1068-1070) at the National Archives are composed of 1,500 papers on the official investigation into the disappearance of the Cyclops. There was no storm. Weather charts are in the information, testimonials, research, FBI investigations (when still called Bureau of Investigation). All the ships at sea, the Navy, and the newspapers had not been wrong. (Kusche even produced shadowy information from the Weather Bureau that proved “storm.”)

Kusche completely avoided, in his long recount and solution, that the vessel was due at Baltimore on March 13. Instead, he builds his case of storm for March 10, and places the vessel at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. This position would be a day or less from Baltimore. Thus, though he insists the engines were compounded and the vessel was making slower speeds, he places the Cyclops ahead of its ETA by 2 full days! But this position fits the rumors that a diver found a strange looking ship on the bottom here in 1968.

This diver’s fanciful description fits the Cyclops. “Hawes was stunned by the strange design of the ship,” reports Kusche, “Its bridge was high above the ship, supported by steel stilts. Upright beams like the skeleton of a skyscraper ran almost its entire length.”

Well, this fanciful description was not made up by Kusche, but I have found that he did have a hard time challenging patently impossible remembrances, especially if they contradict a simple solution, as his later work of misinformation The Disappearance of Flight 19 proved.

At 180 feet below the surface a diver is not going to be able to get such a good view of a ship as to describe it as such. If he spends enough time to do so he would easily have found its name. Also, I think most people are familiar now with the work of Dr. Bob Ballard. His research into such vessels as Titanic, Bismark, and the fleet of vessels of Savo Island, have consistently shown that the more superficial parts of the superstructures are swept away by the vessel’s roll under water when plunging to the bottom. This would include a bridge on stilts and the tall but thin derricks for loading coal on the Cyclops, which the diver Hawes claims to have seen picturesquely intact.

Kusche’s selectivity was remarkable in other cases. He accepted storms or bad weather unconditionally where a newspaper account has them listed. Where a vessel disappeared in good weather, he sought to quibble and find bad weather.

I don’t consider this skeptical inquiry.

The surfer of this web site will hopefully get a better feel for what skepticism is. I try to list as much factual information as possible regardless of how unpopular it might be to some. Hopefully, the surfer will at least learn the difference between a skeptic, an eager believer, and a debunker.

I hope all become skeptics, skeptics of many things. Without it, your curiosity becomes self-deception. Probe and study with skepticism but also with intelligence.

“Scientific Method” is often painted as some dull routine that haunts a laboratory. In fact, 9 of the skills of the Method are used by all people everyday. These, the 10 Process Skills of Scientific Inquiry which comprise Scientific Method, are:

Observe; Classify; Infer; Interpret; Measure; Predict; Questions; Hypotheses, Experiment; Model Building.

Today, the academic and scientific world is made up of true skeptics, befitting their scientific training and discipline. They discuss such things as inter dimensional physics, supersting, wormhole, hyperspace, light and heat’s travel on magnetism and any number of other theories in physics. As John Napier of the Smithsonian once observed: “Scientists are naturally gossipy people. They will tell all they know and allot they don’t know at the drop of a chairman’s gavel.”

The opposite end of such an attitude might be found in debunkers who ridicule such curiosity and optimism, public inquiry and debate. “Most people I’ve talked to thought they were doing creative thinking (“stretching their minds” is the current cliché), but all I ever heard was a regurgitation of one liners from Berlitz, von Daniken, and the rest of the gang,” said Kusche.

Nevertheless, science has had far more esoteric debates and discussions that have yielded more than mind stretching, as can be seen in the work of John Hutchison and his Hutchison Effect, the search for new forms of energy; and Dr. Hans Grabber in his pioneering work in deciphering anomalies of the sea and rogue waves; and several astrophysicists regarding the relationship of Time to Gravity, the Event Horizon and black holes. Such things would no doubt have been condemned 25 years ago as paranormal pursuits or as heresy, as Relative Physics was by Classic Physics.

The sea is a vast world outside our daily endeavour. Many cannot imagine it is a different world. It continues to hold its mysteries into the 21st century, and will no doubt hold many into the 22nd. Though the greatest part of this planet, it is but a small token of its elements and of the potential interplay of power beyond our ability to consider. Those who have traveled it more than the rest of us have come out with strange tales of unexplained “forces,” if you will. They have never attributed them to any supernatural phenomena.

Despite this, the “Bermuda Triangle” is reputed to be some metaphysical place, and anything odd and unusual reported in it to be supernatural by debunkers. They are, basically, the only ones who have promoted this.

I am going to be updating my “Those who lived to Tell” section in the near future. The surfer will be able to decide for themselves on the stories. Doubtless, I will have to take criticism for merely placing them on the web. But the two first process skills are Observe and Classify. The rest can’t even be done without this.


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Monday 5 October 2009

Bermuda Triangle Myths & Facts part 2

Myth 3

In short, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery by a kind of communal reinforcement among uncritical authors and a willing mass media to uncritically pass on the speculation that something mysterious is going on in the Atlantic.

Fact 3

Wrong. And the acrimony is hypocritical since that is how the first 2 myths above became established, usually by debunkers spreading “communal reinforcement” that they have evidence by having no evidence or that they reflect the status quo as experienced by suburban America.

Myth 4

In 1492, shortly before making land in the West Indies, Christopher Columbus recorded in his ship's log that he and his crew had observed a large ball of fire fall into the sea and that the ship's compass was behaving erratically.

Fact 4

False. That happened shortly after leaving the Canary Islands. The erratic compasses readings were recorded thrice while in the Sargasso Sea and Triangle.

Myth 5

The Bermuda Triangle mystery is answered with latest science - static electricity is the culprit, not 4th dimensional hogwash— that a severe electrostatic charge on the human body and in turn in the central nervous system and the brain is the cause for the human pilot to lose consciousness. This unconscious state happens both in astronautics and aeronautics and has also been observed and recorded in the Bermuda Triangle aviation disasters. The Bermuda Triangle is a static electricity exchange place. The Bermuda Triangle is on [sic] of Earth's places where natural electricity is neutralized.

Fact 5

False. The effects of the Earth as a weak driver is interesting and the subject of some studies, as well as overwater locations where it might affect electromagnetism. But there is absolutely no evidence for static electricity in the Triangle cases, as claimed above. The claim that there was is utterly untrue. No pilots have been reported to pass out. How could you tell in a disappearance anyway? This originates with a man named Peter Staheli. He accepts the old and defunct lines attributed to Charles Taylor “everything is strange, wrong” etc., and so forth. This gives you an idea of his research methods. Electromagnetic and electrical effects in the area are being studied by others right now, with far better research methods than those that sponsored Staheli’s strange dogma.

Due to the strange outburst demonstrated by Staheli in response to this brief statement, it was necessary to place a page up clarifying the ruckus. See Comments

Myth 6

Lt. Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19, was actually a lazy slob, a drunk, and a careless navigator.

Fact 6

This rubbish stems from Larry Kusche who was all over the place in his 1980 book The Disappearance of Flight 19 which he wrote between two of his other stellars on how to scientifically pop popcorn. I cannot answer for what was in Kusche’s mind, but I would consider the result akin to clear victimization, as well as misrepresentation. I suggest the reader browse two articles on this site for more. Creating Confusion & Flight DUI. As far as I am concerned there is nothing worthwhile in the book. I have criticized his methods in The Bermuda Triangle Mystery— Solved, but still recommend it. However, with Disappearance I see no reason. There is no mystery why in the last 22 years it was never republished.



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Saturday 3 October 2009

Bermuda Triangle Myths & Facts part 1

Myth 1.

“A check of Lloyd’s of London’s accident records by the editor of Fate in 1975 showed that the triangle was a no more dangerous part of the ocean than any other. U.S. Coast Guard records confirmed this and since that time no good arguments have ever been made to refute those statistics. So the Bermuda Triangle mystery disappeared, in the same way many of its supposed victims had vanished.”

Fact 1




This is completely false. Lloyd’s does not insure the smaller stuff, so all yachts go unreported and uncataloged in statistics. Lloyd’s seldom insures the smaller charter and private aircraft, so likewise for them. Lloyd’s is not the ultimate source. It is not a marine investigation bureau. It reports on sailing news relevant to insurance.

US Coast Guard SAR (Search and Rescue) statistics for all districts are published yearly in a thick voluminous report. This details the statistics for calls of assistance, causes of accidents, weather, deaths, conditions, whatever. However, missing vessels are not readily included. In reality, the designation Overdue Vessels are more important. But because it is hard to determine the number of people on board and exactly where the vessel last was, “missing” or “overdue” cannot be easily calculated. They may be catagorized under “caused by other factor” if at all. I have just received a list of vessels from the 7th district after 12 years of asking for and being denied missing vessel statistics, always receiving the reply “nobody tracks such statistics.” For the last 2 fiscal years this includes about 300 vessel names or types. And now I must start my search, to see which reported back to port (if any), what the weather conditions were like, etc.
The Coast Guard is not even capable of accurately determining the numbers, and therefore could never have conducted a study. What they probably did was comment on the popular notion that 20 aircraft and 50 ships are missing. That number was bandied about incessantly in the 1970s and is still in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This number is not extraordinary for 100 years, though it is more aircraft than elsewhere over seas.
NTSB database searches reveal that in the last decade only a handful of aircraft disappearances have occurred off New England while over 30 have happened in the Triangle. These are American statistics only, and do not reflect other nationalities.
Then there are those who claim the disparity is due to the Triangle’s greater amount of traffic. In reality, the 1st Coast Guard district answers about just as many calls for assistance as the 7th, but the number of disappearances is still remarkably different.

Myth 2

“Investigations to date have not produced scientific evidence of any unusual phenomena involved in the disappearances. Thus, any explanation, including so-called scientific ones in terms of methane gas being released from the ocean floor, magnetic disturbances, etc., are not needed. The real mystery is how the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery at all.”

Fact 2

Not only utterly false, but actually stupid. One would have to witness a disappearance in order to determine what was directly involved. This has obviously not be done, and such a comment, as a result, is a lame one. There have been NO scientific expeditions to investigate the overall Triangle. Independent people, often possessing degrees in one of the sciences, have made their own, sometimes truncated study. Most have produced some very interesting discoveries. Dr. A.J. Yelkin’s study revealed unexplained magnetic deviations during phases of the Moon. Dr. Zink’s observations at Bimini revealed unexplained magnetic variations in the compass at the precise time each year in early August (consistent in some ways with Yelkin’s theories). Wilbert Smith’s studies revealed areas of “reduced bindings” in the magnetic field that came and went. But as for any scientific expeditions into the Triangle to take readings or tests or to see if something would happen, none has ever been done

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Tuesday 29 September 2009

Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle(video)

Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle(video)



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Thursday 24 September 2009

Bermuda Triangle Mystery (video)

The Bermuda Triangle



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Tuesday 22 September 2009

The Sea of Lost Ships(1)

The Sea of Lost Ships

The icons below represent just a sampling of the many vessels that have utterly vasnished in the Bermuda Triangle. This list is only partial, and has been compiled from Coast Guard reports, US Navy reports, National Archives and Records Administration, and Merchant Vessels of the United States Registry. These are not compiled from “popular accounts” or old books. These vessels were sailing in fair weather. For an example of Gian’s method of research, see this link. For a more detailed account of these vessels, please consult his new book on The Bermuda Triangle, published by McGraw-Hill. While this web site can give some indication of the incredible amount of missing vessels and aircraft, it is not possible to detail the entire phenomena of the Bermuda Triangle except in print.

Many US warships are listed missing by the US Navy between 1780 and 1824, including the General Gates, Hornet, Insurgent, Pickering, Wasp, Wildcat and Expervier. Her disappearance in 1815 delayed the closing of the War of 1812. She carried the peace proposal on board.
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Many US warships are listed missing by the US Navy between 1780 and 1824, including the General Gates, Hornet, Insurgent, Pickering, Wasp, Wildcat and Expervier. Her disappearance in 1815 delayed the closing of the War of 1812. She carried the peace proposal on board.

The Rosalie was indeed a real ship. She was built in 1838 of 222 tons of wood. In 1840 she was found deserted but in ship shape near the Bahamas. She was not the Rossini.

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Dozens vanished in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Only now are some details beginning to emerge. Santa Rita is just one example.


Timandra is another example. 1917

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The Cyclops is perhaps the most famous of the early 20th century disappearances. She vanished in March 1918 with 309 men aboard. She is the Navy’s “greatest mystery of the sea.”

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Only now are hints of the large number of boats missing in the 1950s emerging. Americans took advantage of a bustling economy and took to sea . . .many of them to vanish without any reason in some of the finest Chris Craft of the day. About a dozen were missing each year.

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Snoboy’s 2 life boats were found intact, one right side up . . .but empty. None of her 25 + passengers were found. 1963.







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Saturday 19 September 2009

Bermuda Triangle: what happened to Flight 19? - BBC

Bermuda Triangle: what happened to Flight 19? - BBC




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Friday 18 September 2009

Aircraft missing over the years(part 20

Aircraft missing over the years(part 2

51. 1973, August 10: Beechcraft Bonanza between Fort
Lauderdale & Marsh Harbour, Bahamas. 4 persons.
N7956K


52. 1973, August 26: after departing Viaquez, PR; Cessna
150. 3 persons.
N50143


53. 1973, December 20: a Lake Amphibian between
Nassau and Bimini. (near Bimini). 3 persons.
N39385


54. 1974, February 10: pilot and his Cessna 414 vanish
after leaving treasure Cay, Bahamas.
N8103Q


55. 1974, February 10: that night a Pilattus -Brittan-
Norman Islander with pilot and co-pilot disappear at
7:31 P.M. on approach St. Thomas.
N864JA


56. 1974, July 13: Piper PA-32 between West Palm Beach &
Walker Cay, Bahamas.
N83CA


57. 1974, August 11: Beech K35 Bonanza after departing
Pompano Beach, FL. for Philadelphia. 2 persons.
N632Q


58. 1975, February 25: Piper PA-30; Greensboro, NC. to
Freeport, GBI; pilot only.
N414DG


59. 1975, May 2: Cessna “Skymaster”; Fort Lauderdale
area.
N86011


60. 1975, July 28: Cessna 172; vicinity Fort Lauderdale. 1
N8936V


61. 1975, December 9: Cessna 172; St. Croix to St. Kitts. 1;
N5182R


62. 1976, June 4: Beech D50; Pahokee, FL., to Dominican
Republic; 2.
N1157


63. 1976, August 8: Piper PA-28; Vera Cruz, Mexico to
Brownsville, TX; 1. (See Q&A Arguments on shape)
N6377J


64. 1976, October 24: Beech E-50; Opa Locka, FL. to Grand
Turk Island.
N5665D


65. 1976, December 28: Piper PA-23; Anguilla to Beef
Island; 6.
N4573P


66. 1978, February 22: a KA-6 Navy attack bomber
vanished from radar 100 miles off Norfolk en route
U.S.S. John F. Kennedy; 2.


67. 1978, March 25: Aero Commander 680; Opa Locka-
Imokalee, FL. to Freeport, Grand Bahama; 2.
N128C


68. 1978, April 27: Ted Smith 601; Pompano Beach to
Panama City, FL.; 1.
N555BU


69. 1978, April 30: Cessna 172; Dillon, SC., to unknown; 1.
N1GH


70. 1978, May 19: Piper PA-28 Fort Pierce to Nassau; 4.
N47910


71. 1978, May 26: Beech 65; Port-au-Prince to Bahamas; 2.
N809Q


72. 1978, July 18: Piper PA-31; Santa Marta, Col. to
Port-au- Prince; 2.
N689WW


73. 1978, September 21: Douglas DC-3; Fort Lauderdale to
Havana; 4.
N407D


74. 1978, November 3: Piper PA-31; St. Croix to St.
Thomas; 1.
N59912 (right off St. Thomas)


75. 1978, November 20: Piper PA-23; De Funiak Springs to
Gainsville, FL.; 4.
N54615


76. 1979, January 11: Beech A23A; Opa Locka to St.
Thomas; 2.
N925RZ


77. 1979, April 2: Beech E18s; Fort Lauderdale to Cat
Island, Bahamas; 1.
N4442


78. 1979, April 24: Piper PA-28R; Fort Lauderdale to
Nassau; 4.
N7480J


79. 1979, June 30: Cessna 150J; St. Croix to St. Thomas; 2.
N60936


80. 1979, September 9: Cessna 182; New Orleans to
Pensacola, Florida. 3 persons.
N2183R


81. 1979, October 4: Aero Commander 500; Andros Island
to West Palm Beach, FL.; pilot;
N3815C


82. 1979, October 27: Piper PA-23; Montego Bay, Jamaico
to Nassau; pilot.
N13986


83. 1979, November 19: Beech D50b; Delray Beach, FL to
to Key West; 1.
N1706


84. 1979, December 21: Piper PA-23; Aguadilla to South
Caicos Island; 4 persons.
N1435P


85. 1980, February 11: Beech 58; St. Thomas to unknown;
only pilot aboard; reported stolen.
N9027Q


86. 1980, May 19: Lear Jet; West Palm Beach to New
Orleans; 2.
N25NE


87. 1980, June 28; Erco 415-D; Santo Domingo, DR., to San
Juan, PR; 2 persons. Pilot reported UFO before
disappearing.
N3808H


88. 1981, January 6: Beech c35; Bimini to Nassau; 4
persons
N5805C


89. 1982, July 5: Piper PA-28R-201T; Nashville to Venice,
FL.; 4.
N505HP


90. 1982, September 28: Beech H35; Marsh Harbour to
Fort Pierce, FL.; 2.
N5999


91. 1982, October 20: Piper PA-31; Anguilla to ST.
Thomas, VI. 8 persons. Charter Service.
N777AA


92. 1982, November 5: Beech 65-B80; Fort Lauderdale to
Eleuthera Island, Bahamas; 3 persons.
N1HQ


93. 1983, October 4: a Cessna T-210-J; Andros Town,
Bahamas to Fort Pierce, FL.; 3 persons.
N2284R


94. 1983, November 20: Cessna 340A disappeared near
Orangeville, Fl.; pilot.
N85JK


95. 1984, March 12: a Piper between Key West and
Clearwater, Florida; 4 persons.
N39677


96. 1984, March 31: Cessna 402b between Fort
Lauderdale and Bimini; 6 persons.
N44NC


97. 1984, December 23: Aeronca 7AC between Cross City,
Florida and Alabama; pilot.
N81947


98. 1985, January 14: a Cessna 337 in Atlantic northeast
of Jacksonville; 4 persons.
N505CX


99. 1985, May 8: Cessna 210k; Miami to Port-au-Prince,
Haiti; pilot.
N9465M


100. 1985, July 12: Piper between Nassau and Opa Locka;
4 persons.
N8341L


101. 1985, August 3: a Cessna 172; somewhere near Fort
Meyers, FL.; pilot. ??


102. 1985, September 8: a Piper northeast of Key West at
10:08 P.M. en route from Fort Lauderdale; 2 persons.
N5488W


103. 1985, October 31: Piper at 8:29 A.M. ; between
Sarasota, FL. and Columbus, Georgia; pilot.
N24MS


104. 1986, March 26: a Piper en route from Miami to West
End or Freeport, GBI.; 6 persons.
N3527E


105. 1986, August 3: A Twin Otter charter, around St.
Vincent; 13 persons.


106. 1987, May 27: a Cessna 402c; between Palm Beach,
FL. and Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco,Bahamas; 1.
N2652B


107. 1987, June 3: a Cessna 401; Freeport to Crooked
Island; 4 persons.
N7896F


108. 1987, December 2: Cessna 152; La Romana to nearby
San Juan; pilot.
N757EQ


109. 1988, February 7: a Beechcraft over the Caribbean
Sea; 4 persons.
N844G


110. 1989, February 6: a Piper; after departing
Jacksonville, Florida; pilot despondent. 1.
N6834J


111. 1990, January 24: Cessna 152 on instructional flight;
near West Palm Beach, FL. 2 persons.
N4802B


112. 1990, June 5: Piper; St. Maarten to St. Croix; pilot.
N7202F


113. 1990, August 10: Piper; between Sebastian, FL. and
Freeport, GBI.; 4 persons.
N6946D. Body found off
Virginia.


114. 1991, April 24: Piper Comanche; off Florida; pilot.
N8938P


115. 1991, May 30: near Long Boat Key; Piper signalled
directional gyro not working; spun into ocean; 2.
N6376P


116. 1991, October 31: Grumman Cougar jet; over Gulf of
Mexico; vanished on ascent while on radar; 2.
N24WJ


117. 1993, September 30: Within Miami sector; Cessna
152, with only pilot on board.
N93261


118. 1994, August 28: Piper PA-32; Treasure Cay,
Bahamas to Fort Pierce; 2 persons.
N69118


119. 1994, September 19: Piper PA-23; over Caribbean; 5.
N6844Y


120. 1994, December 25: Piper PA-28; unknown; over
Florida; pilot.
N5916V


121. 1996, May 2: Aero Commander; Atlantic/Caribbean;
vanished with 3 in charter service.
N50GV


122. 1998, August 19: Piper PA-28; Atlantic\Caribbean; 4.
N25626


123. 1999. May 12, Aero Commander N6138X; near Nassau
only pilot aboard.


124. 2001, October 27, Cessna 172, after leaving
Winterhaven, Florida; only pilot aboard.


125. 2002, September 6, Piper Pawnee, southeast of
Nassua, Bahamas; only pilot on board.
N59684


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