Where do I start with this one?

Monkeys steal cocktails of passed out beach-goers in the West Indies. Monkeys go back for more. Get inebriated but, unlike humans, “monkeys become better leaders when they’re intoxicated” according to this BBC video. I’ll let you be the judge of that, but I gotta tell ya, you’re gonna bust a gut laughing as you watch this video. The best part though has to be the narrator, who sounds so serious as these monkeys steal drinks from hapless tourists and get completely wasted.

And if you’re ever in the general vicinity of a beach in the West Indies, you might wanna, like, not take your pina colada to the beach unless you wanna share it with a buncha drunken monkeys…

Where to travel to meet the friendliest people? I’d say Turkey or Thailand. But if you’re a dolphin you might head to Maui, as this video, shot in 2009, captures just how friendly the locals in Hawaii can be…the whales I mean. Watch as our hero, one bottle nosed dolphin, hitches a ride on the back of a friendly and decidedly co-operative humpback whale. This does beg the question, however, do dolphins, like, have thumbs, to indicate they’re in the mood for some marine highway companionship or is there some other form of etiquette to hitch a ride off the waters of Maui? I have no clue, but the video’s awesome.

Politeness counts, even among bears. And with over four million hits, this video, of a polite Kodiak bear at Olympic Game Park in Washington state is all the rage online. I have nothing to add, other than, wow, this bear is really polite.

Wait for the collective “awwwww”. This is one of most heartwarming travel tales you’ve heard for a while. Simply put, a man and his girlfriend, Guillaume and Laetita, decided to walk from North America to Argentina. Along the way they encountered Kitty, a friendly cat in the streets of Louisiana. Kitty took a shying to the couple and joined them on their epic, 9,000 mile, three year walk from North to South America. Now they’re inseparable – though I think Kitty’s more of a hitcher than a walker. Too cute. The website is www.turnoftheworld.com. Watch the video!

Kitty takes a snooze. Photo is copyrighted by turnoftheworld.com. I'm just usin' it cause it's too cool to pass up.

Dog Power!!! Base Jumping is an art form and, done correctly, is one of the greatest thrills of life…so why should humans get all the fun? A couple of Norwegian girls and their pooch Aro a spunky terrier, had nothing better to do one day, and Aro seems to show an affinity for parachutes and video. That’s a recipe for an awesome Base jump if there ever was one.

Something tells me this wouldn’t have worked if Aro was a basset hound. Watch his tail wagging before he jumps, and those crazy Norwegian girls cheering when he lands, also with a tail wag. Too cool.

Now this is just plain cool.  Meet Ricochet.  She looks like a dog.  She eats like a dog.  She surfs like…Kelly Slater.  Well that might be a stretch, but Ricochet the Golden Retriever has become something of a YouTube sensation, surfing to raise funds for various charities, including orphaned animals and a quadriplegic surfer.  As her owner puts it, she went from being a service dog to a SURFice dog.  So far she’s raised just over $30,000 to help humans and animals in need  Just awesome.  If you’re an animal lover, you’ll need a kleenex to watch this video.

This one’s just too good to pass up.  A wakeboarding dog.  He looks right at home on that board!

With camping season just around the corner, let’s take this opportunity to go over some of the basics of the wild.  First rule, if you encounter a bear, don’t play dead, don’t reach for the bear repellant.  Just sick Garfield on him!  Listen to the women cackle as the poor bear gets the worst of this encounter.

If you see this octopus, do not approach it. Do not try to touch it. Go straight to the police. This octopus approached a diver off New Zealand and took a liking to his fancy underwater camera. The diver thought the octopus was attacking him. Turns out, he just REALLY liked the camera. So much so that he grabbed it and swam away while the camera was filming. After a five minute getaway the diver caught up with the octopus and got his camera back. Then the octopus tried to take his spear gun! Seriously, this octopus has some serious boundary issues! Admittedly, he’s a pretty good thief, but his camera technique could use some attention…

Sharks smile too. The Telegraph posted this picture in November, taken at Guadalupe, which is where I did my great white shark diving in 2007. What a happy guy!