I've been fortunate to have traveled to some terrific remote places to
pursue my passion for finding shells.  The Galapagos as a second skipper and
engineer on a private yacht before strict restrictions were in place,
Solomon Islands at Marau sound,  The Marquesas, Rangiroa and Tikihau in
French Polynesia,
Sailing out to Tubataha Reef in the Philippines on a 40 foot ketch,to name a
few.  But a very recent trip (Dec., 2005) to Easter Island ranks near the
top. One and a half days to get there from my home in Los Angeles. The
shells,  for the most part, are not plentiful and there is not a lot of
species diversity.  But we had some terrific diving searching for the
endemic cowries: Cypraea englerti, C.caputdraconis, C. leforti, and the very
rare and recently named C. garciai.  Most exciting was having one of our
small group actually find a live C. garcia on one of our night dives. The
lucky diver was Val Darkin from Vladivostock. We were able to get some
excellent pictures of this elusive little critter crawling around with its
mantle fully extended.  We also collected DNA samples to send to Chris
Meyers for his research on Cypraea species. We were able to collect the
other endemic cowries. My most exciting find was a live Bursa asperrima
which, to knowledge, had not been reported from Easter Island before.

The weather was great, the diving excellent in crystal clear water with
fantastic under water terrain, and the people were very friendly.

Wishing all on The List a Happy New year and all the best,

Paul Kanner

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