The Bodhi Tree

Yet another reason why you should always have a rope with you. I love this guy’s innovation. Awesome spot for cliff jumping but no rope? No problem! Just throw that bad boy over a branch, tie a few knots and jump away. This is a ridiculous jump. You won’t catch me doing this anytime soon…but it makes for some killer video! The guy’s name is Mike Wilson.

Share on Facebook

I’m starting this posting with a confession and an apology.  The following content is not related to adventure travel, and is so cringe-worthy that I need to say I’m sorry to you in advance, because you’re about to laugh and cry at the same time.  Now the good stuff.  What do football and “The Squirrel” have in common?  You’re about to find out!  Click here for the funniest touchdown dances in history.  The Chad Johnson one is my favourite.

Share on Facebook

Ah, the joys of summer.  Beers, barbecues, maybe some fishing, and/or a wee bit’ o diving off the cliff at your local swimming hole.  Every year countless individuals (including yours truly) somehow find themselves standing at a rather uncomfortable altitude over a local body of water, which of course opens us to chiding, ribbing and cajoling until the said individual takes the plunge.  Of course, buddy’s often partaken in some liquid courage before making the jump (thank you Lucky Lager), and each year many “buddies” end up tombstoning, aka finding an early demise if done improperly.  You mean to say there’s a right way and a wrong way to jump off a cliff?  Yup.  Read on, this is Environmental Graffiti’s segment on how to jump off a cliff and live to reminisce about it years later, and a nice compilation of pretty pictures compiled at the top ten tombstoning destinations worldwide.  PS, thanks Evan.

Share on Facebook

Want proof that surfers aren’t on your typical great white’s diet? California paddler Chuck Patterson was paddle surfing recently off San Onofre State Park in California when he happened upon two great white sharks circling his board. He went out the next day, same time, same place, with an underwater camera, hoping his fishy friends would show. Sure enough, within five minutes, two juvenile great whites returned, and put on a little show for 15 minutes. The best action starts a minute into the video.  Very cool!

Share on Facebook

Wanna take a dip in the pool?  Make sure you  take your altitude sickness pills first.  Some of these pools look downright creepy.  Check out the pool at Marina Bay Sands…yikes.  Then again, the pool at the Golden Nugget holds a certain appeal.  These would be the top ten most extreme rooftoop hotels around the world, and they probably won’t be appearing at a Best Western near you.

Share on Facebook

Awesome aerial video here of some surfers soaking up  the best of Byron Bay, Australia.  I’m diggin’ the cinematography and the  jive/ambient surfer to-cool-for-school tunes.  Shot by quadrocopter by RC Video.  James Cameron would be proud.  Speaking of quadrocopters, I want one!

Share on Facebook

Leave it to them crazy cats at Red Bull to come up with the sickest, most hardcore stunts ever conceived by someone on, well, Red Bull.  This one’s beyond hardcore.  In this video, Ueli Gegenschatz jumps from a moving truck on the Ataturk aqueduct and dives straight into oblivion.  While there’s obviously a corporate plug going on here, you gotta admit that the cojones are thicker than soup in the production of this video.  This guy is bad, bad, bad!

Share on Facebook

Now there’s something you don’t see every day.  What you’re looking at is a southern right whale breaching.  Unfortunately for the couple in this sailboat, it’s breaching into their boat!  The couple survived, but no word on the whale.  One of the hazards of sailing around Cape Town I guess.  The full story is at Grindtv.com.

Share on Facebook

This guy has some ridiculous free-climbing skills.  No boots, no hooks, no ropes, nuthin.  I bet he’s a devil with the ladies.

Share on Facebook

Shark Diver CEO Patric Douglas is rarely without words when it comes to anything shark-related, particularly shark porn, or the demonization of sharks, to get viewers.  Last year was a low point for us shark lovers, commercial divers and eco-related documentary film-makers, as Discovery Channel’s annual summer ritual, Shark Week, pretty much went back to JAWS, circa 1975, with shark porn a-plenty in an effort to score with audiences.  The good news?  No shark porn this year.  Audiences and critics lambasted Discovery Channel’s Shark Week programming in 2009, straight out of the arena, to the point that a mass exodus of media execs took place at the network after the programming aired.  This year, it’s back to the basics – sharks 101, sharks and conservation, neato facts, you know, Discovery Channel stuff.  That’s the word anyway.  As Patric says, the real start to Shark Week 2010 begins here:

Share on Facebook