That is me right after I jumped off the boat. That’s right: I took a noodle.

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I did something amazing this weekend: I went snorkeling off Pompano Beach in South Florida. It was my first time and, if I had to think of one word to describe my experience, it was awesome. It was extremely great. I saw the remains of a shipwreck. I saw a shark (and followed it for a bit and tried not be scared). I saw gorgeous fish. I saw different colors and textures of coral. The water temperature was perfect. I got to work on my tan. I exercised in clear blue waters. And I even got a discount because I used a Travelzoo voucher.

Let me tell you more about it.

The company my friend Jen and I used is called Dixie Divers. Their store where you get the necessary equipment for snorkeling (or scuba diving!) and the vessel are in Deerfield Beach, FL, about an hour north of Miami. Here’s a video they made of what’s it’s like to go snorkeling with them (ignore the cheesy music):

Your morning would begin like this: arrive at the store by 8am (they will tell you to get there at 7:30am, but I’m a rebel) to obtain your gear and then drive 5 min. to the water, park, and get on the boat. Once it departs at 8:30am, you’ll get to relax and gaze at this:

About 30 min. later (I’m not sure how long it took because I was enthralled by the view and the breeze), you will find yourself ¼ of a mile off Pompano Beach, where you’ll get to check out the SS Copenhagen shipwreck. I’ll admit that I was not impressed. What I did enjoy was swimming amid a school of silver fish and detecting some kind of a stingray crawling at the bottom along remnants of the ship. You can swim, explore, float lazily, and tan on the boat for 45 min. to an hour.

After that, you will be summoned back on board and taken for a ride to the Nursery reef, which got its name because its residents include nurse sharks (they are used to divers and, according to one of the Dixie Diver tour guides, do not have teeth. I’m not sure I believe him.). This was my favorite snorkeling site! Plenty of fish! A couple of sharks! Underwater caves! Colors galore! A lovely coral reef! See for yourself:

Anisotremus virginicus, a.k.a. porkfish.

Amblyglyphidodon indicus, a.k.a. pale damselfish

All this while basking in the rays of South Florida’s glistening sun, your hair gently caressed by the wind, and listening to Sublime, Bob Marley (of course!), and other bands known for their laid-back and uplifting tunes (all this appears to be the delightful trend when boarding a catamaran and sailing off for a sunset cruise or snorkeling trip here).

This trip comes with sodas, water, animal crackers, and pretzels for you to snack on. I brought my own water and asked to have one of the oranges in the cooler because a) my body does not respond well to gluten and b) if I’m going to gorge myself on sugar, it will come in the form of cake or a frozen dessert, not a toxic soda that will, to boot, make me gassy (TMI? Nobody asked you to read this!). So I abstained. You can bring your own snacks and drinks, including beer and wine, and I encourage you to do both if you’re into that.

[Unfortunately,] I am not getting paid to write this review.

You’re welcome.

Want to go snorkeling?

Other South Florida companies that can take you out on diving, scuba or snorkeling trips or for a sunset cruise include:

• Miami Aqua Tours (leaves from downtown Miami)
• Play Time Water Sports (leaves from Brickell/downtown Miami) – this company is very disorganized and their website sucks. However, I went on their sunset cruise and it was gorgeous. Plus, the tour guides were charming and the trip included unlimited wine, beer, and snacks. Make your reservation a few weeks in advance and you’ll be golden. I might write a review of my trip.
• Miami Water Life Sports (leaves from Key Biscayne in Miami)

Check Travelzoo, Groupon, Living Social, Dealfind, Amazon deals, and others to find discounts for these and other excursions. There are some pretty excellent deals going on. Sign up for Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and other cities if you’re planning to visit!

Do your part to protect coral reefs

There are a few ways you can help protect coral reefs:

• Do not rip off pieces of coral to take home. That is selfish and harmful. Even worse, it can upset ecosystem balance. (Obviously.) Don’t do it.
• Do not litter. Don’t be that jerk. Turtles and other marine animals already eat plastic bags because they confuse them for food, such as jellyfish, and birds and fish everywhere are found dead with pieces of plastic in their digestive systems. Throw your junk in the trash or keep it on you until you return to land and recycle or toss it in a trash can there.
• Wear reef-safe sunscreen. What is reef-safe sunscreen? Sunscreen that doesn’t bleach coral reefs and contribute to their destruction. If you forget yours, Dixie Divers sells some at its store. To be sure you can wear it, however, especially if you choose another company, buy it yourself. It’s available at stores like Whole Foods and of course online via Amazon, Vitacost (my favorite), and other websites. I recently bought Kiss My Face SPF 30 sunblock spray through Vitacost and used it on my snorkeling trip. Highly recommended! Just remember to reapply after each dive.
• Do not feed wildlife.

That said, enjoy the adventure!

A view of Jordan Pond in the Acadia National Park of Maine, USA

By Maria Rainier

In the spirit of giving this holiday season, don’t just consider minimizing your carbon footprint during an eco-tour.  Consider what more you can do to give back.  Many tours and travel experiences that encourage you to volunteer—voluntourism, as it were—are much more affordable than their lounging-on-the-beach varieties.  With a carefully planned eco-tour of your own or hopping on the bandwagon with like-minded do-gooders, you can face the new year with your wallet intact, a cleaner conscience, and a cleaner planet.

Cactus at Big Bend National Park in Texas

Stay Local to Mind Your Carbon Footprint

Not only do air fares skyrocket during the holiday season, we leave a hefty carbon footprint every time we step on a plane.  Instead, consider riding a train or even cycling to your eco-destination, depending on your location.  If you call North America home, consider the Big Bend National Park in Texas.  It’s got 800 acres of America’s biggest national park and it’s open year-round, although it may close on Christmas Day.  Rather than driving around and pitter-pattering carbon footprints across the park, get out and enjoy the outdoors and camp in one of the three campgrounds, $14.00 a night after a $10 seven-day pass per individual.

If you’re on the east coast, consider the Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, North Carolina, where you can bring the whole family (even the dog) and go hiking and fishing, and relax after a day spent outdoors at its gourmet restaurant with its own two acre organic garden.  During the summer and fall, guests can learn how to grow, harvest, and cook assorted veggies, herbs, and flowers you might find in such a garden.  A room costs $89.00 a night.  If you’re planning a holiday vacation here, consider the Christmas Day Buffet Celebration Weekend Package or the Christmas Eve 4-Course Dinner Weekend Package.

Meanwhile, up north awaits the Acadia National Park, from where you can see the Atlantic coastline and the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse.  You can camp for between $14 and $20 a night depending on the site.

Raspberry bushes at a small WWOOF participant farm in Wattamolla Valley, near Berry, NSW, Australia

Give Back to Save Greens

If you’re feeling more industrious and a little bit like pinching pennies this holiday season or in the coming year, consider bartering your way through an eco-tour.  Sierra Club’s Outings program has countless trips ranging from $400 in the U.S. to over $5,000 trips to safaris in Botswana and boat tours in Antarctica.  Be prepared to volunteer your time and your muscle, however, as is the nature of true voluntourism.  Similar programs include Ecovolunteer, which allows you to participate in efforts to protect nature and its inhabitants through local conservation organizations.  Coral Cay Conservation is in the same vein and is also worth a look.

Perhaps the most rewarding and budget-friendly experience is World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), which welcomes travelers across America to participate in their daily goings-on.  The cost ranges between a $20 and $50 registration fee and transportation fees to the farm—that’s it.

WWOOF has counterparts in other countries; you can go to Tuscan wine country and pick grapes for weeks and not only enjoy some of the most beautiful countryside you’ll ever see in your life, but make good friends, eat good foods, and even pick up a little Italian, too.  In this way, you can make this season and 2012 a year of win-wins—for the planet and your wallet.

Bio: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education performing research surrounding online universities and their various program offerings. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Robin at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter. Whether you consider yourself an eco expert or a newbie, skim this list in case there’s something new in there for you! And please feel free to add to it in the comments section.

This planet is yours, mine, and everyone else’s – this includes non-human animals. It is not anyone’s to trash. It is our home. Let’s humbly bow and thank our Mother Earth for sustaining us, and offer our efforts to be sustainable in return. Join in the cycle of life, not of destruction.

Costa Maya - photo by lecates

The Mexican Government said last month that discussions on an ecotourism project on Costa Maya are back on. No further news has been reported since then.

The 47,938 acre- (19,400 ha) area would span 28 miles (45 km) of beach in the Municipality of Othón P. Blanco south of Tulum, near Mahahual, Noticaribe reports.

The project would create 30,000 jobs, said Delegate for the Environmental and Natural Resources Secretary (SEMARNAT) Gabriela Lima Laurents. This is extremely beneficial and significant, especially considering the devastating effects the H1N1 outbreak has had on the tourism industry in Mexico for the past few months.

“There are various spheres [of influence] involved and so the process is long – everyone must meet an agreement and respect the environment,” she said.

Sixty percent of the land will be reserved for ecological preservation.

Environmentalists, three levels of government, and – of course – private investors have been attending the meetings. This is precisely why the project was delayed. They were also awaiting a second meeting with representatives from the Urban Development and Environmental Secretariat (SEDUMA).

“It is a complex project because it has many subprojects, it is not SEMARNAT that has halted it … but the red tape,” she explained.

The beach in this area resembles that of Cancun, Lima Laurents noted, with white sands and waters in different shades of blue – which *cough* business(wo)men and tourists from all over the world would love *cough*.

Ecotourism + nature conservation = Fantastic

The Philippines, where almost 26 million people (30%) currently live in poverty, has been brewing up big, green plans to help boost its economy. Its goals are to instill socially and environmentally responsible, ecologically sustainable, and community-friendly methods and projects to create more jobs and draw in tourism.

As Ecotourism Philippines tells us, the following statement by the National Ecotourism Congress in Bohol got the ball rolling: “The State shall develop and promote ecotourism as a tool for sustainable development to support the development, management, protection and conservation of the country’s environment, natural resources and cultural heritage. The state shall establish an integrating system to focus greater efforts to sustain the viability of ecotourism development in the country.”

The Philippines provides many options for eco activities: trekking/hiking/mountaineering, bird and other wildlife watching, diving and snorkeling, caving, kayaking/canoeing/rafting, and surfing.

By exploring the jungles you will find the kinds of tribesmen you see on National Geographic documentaries, waterfalls, cliffs, pure forests-a lot of unharmed nature lays in the Philippines. For example, Lake Danao in Leyte has been “the cleanest body of water” in the area for three years now.

Another example is Olango Island (located 5 km. east of Mactan Island) becomes the home of thousands of migratory birds from February to April each year. The Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary is a 920-hectare area composed of “extensive coralline sandflats, mangroves, seagrass beds, and offshore coral reefs.” It’s a universally recognized wetland known for its unique faunal and floral biodiversity.

And as far as eco hotels in the Philippines, I found a few. Many participate in green activities, but not many are green themselves, offering constant AC and other traditional amenities.

One that I found is located in Manila, Edsa Shangri-la Manila, but only got 2 out of 5 eco-friendly branches ($169+). It is the only eco hotel listed in Green Travel Hub. A high-end, eco-hotel is Cacao Pearl Island in Palawan.

Another place to search for travel ideas, packages, and hotels is Responsible Travel.