Sam's Tours, Palau, Micronesia: Every Week is SHARK WEEK in Palau!

For Immediate Release:
Dusseldorf, Germany: January, 17, 2009

Announcement!
S.AV.E. Our Sharks – Shark Awareness Visitor Education Program

Sam’s Tours Palau is pleased to announce the official launch of SHARK WEEKS (http://www.sharkweeks.com/) marking a year long commitment to shark awareness and education in support of the International Year of The Shark 2009, to help bring an end to the unprecedented slaughter and destruction of sharks worldwide.

Palau is renowned among divers for exciting encounters with sharks in their natural environment. There is no need to bait sharks, stage orchestrated shark feeds or place divers in shark cages. As a veteran Palauan dive guide says “every week is shark week in Palau!” and it’s true. Divers and snorkelers can encounter sharks on almost every outing all year round. While different times of the year bring different behaviors among sharks, diving and snorkeling with sharks is an experience to be enjoyed year round in Palau.

And “shark diving” is not just limited to dive trips or snorkel trips. Kayakers participating in tours with Planet Blue Sea Kayak Tours may enjoy unique opportunities to visit shark nurseries in the inner lagoon areas where baby black tip sharks hide out until mature enough to take their place on the outer reef.

Even those enjoying helicopter rides with “Matt the Pilot” over at Palau Helicopters are often treated to shark sightings. In fact, Matt most recently reported sightings of baby hammerhead sharks within the lagoon which were heretofore almost unknown. Bottom line, there are few better places than Palau for exciting up close shark encounters whether you’re a diver, a snorkeler or simply enjoying a birds eye view of Palau from the air.

What better place then than Palau to get up close and personal with sharks and learn about their critical role in the marine environment, understand their life cycle, witness their importance to Palau’s fledgling tourism industry, and learn about the unprecedented destruction in a matter of a few short years of a creature that has otherwise survived unchanged for millions of years? Why limit shark awareness to a once a year Shark Week when in fact every week is Shark Week in Palau?

As a member of the International Year of The Shark and a long standing supporter of shark conservation in Palau, Sam’s Tours is therefore proud to launch SHARK WEEKS with a year long S.A.V.E. our SHARKS (Shark Awareness Visitor Education) program.

Throughout Shark Weeks 2009 guests will enjoy shark awareness and shark education interpretive briefings that will enhance their shark encounters in Palau and hopefully encourage them to join the fight to protect sharks worldwide. SAVE our SHARKS certificates will be presented to those who complete the program and they will be listed in the Palau Shark Sanctuary, Shark Savers Registry.

Throughout 2009, Sam’s Tours will also conduct Shark Byte, a year long free competition for Sam’s Tours guests in search of the best digital image of a shark taken in Palau. Starting February 1, 2009, and every week until the end of the International Year of the Shark 2009, we will select a winning image for Shark Byte of the Week from entries received that week. Winners of Shark Byte of the Week will receive a Palau Shark Sanctuary T-shirt and have their image posted on-line. Weekly winners will automatically be entered in Shark Byte of the Year, with the results of the competition to be announced at the close of the International Year of the Shark.

For more information on Shark Weeks please visit:

http://www.sharkweeks.com/

or contact: RESERVATIONS@SAMSTOURS.COM