Capturing the Moment

   Taking full advantage of living on Maui in the winters we spent the morning at a new snorkel spot and beautiful beach with our good friend Moser. Heidi and I were quite excited to check out a new place, especially since Catalina seemed perfectly content playing with Moser on the beach. That girl loves her giant sand boxes.    As I waded out in the crystal clear water I saw our first turtle before I even started to swim. It was cruising over the sandy bottom. The mid day light was shining through the water lighting up the turtles shell, making for some great photographs.   That first turtle led me straight into the second, and that is how this entire snorkel felt. Once I had enough pictures of those turtles over the sand I swam to find Heidi snorkeling over the reef. I was pretty shocked at how beautiful the topography of the reef was. There were lots of nooks and crannies for animals to hide, and the coral looked very healthy and colorful. ...

I started this year off leading a few expeditions aboard the Safari Explorer, UnCruise's flagship 36 passenger vessel. We are currently sailing around the Hawaiian Islands. The cruises are 1 week long and 1 way trips, either Molokai to Big Island or reverse. We hit up Lana'i and Maui on our way. I'm in charge of all the excursions, adventures, and night programs. It is a good mix of kayaking, skiff tours, boating, cultural encounters, education, and a lot of snorkeling thrown in as well. We spend quality time whale watching in the waters of the Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. If we are lucky we have multiple dolphin encounters throughout the week as well. And I can almost guarantee that my guests will get to swim with a green sea turtle or two. All of this makes for some pretty spectacular trips and draws in a very fun crowd. However, some trips get luckier than others with rare sightings like beaked whales, false killer whales, spotted eagle rays, hammerhead sh...

2018 started off in a big way. I found myself back in Africa, this time in East Africa for an incredible family safari with the Dillon clan through Kenya and Tanzania. We took part in a Masaai new years celebration at the uber luxurious Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. Ringing in the new years surrounded by a hundred chanting Masaai warriors and dancers.    After that safari I rushed back to the east coast for the birth of our first child. Born in Burlington, Vermont on January 19th, we welcomed a baby girl into the world. We named her Catalina after the island that Heidi and I met sailing around nearly a decade ago.    After a month of changing diapers and getting used to fatherhood I headed back to finish the Hawaii UnCruise season aboard the Safari Explorer. This would be the start of my new father schedule of working for a month and then off for a month.    This summer was my second season as Expedition Leader aboard the Safari Quest i...