2024: Year in Review

 At the end of the year, I always like to look back at all my post of all the adventures, and do a recap to see what all happened. 2024 was a year full of family time in Vermont and Maui, taking full advantage of all the incredible adventures that the different seasons bring to our home in Stowe, Vermont. I watched my oldest daughter head into first grade, my youngest get on skis for the first time, and my son become quite proficient at biking, skiing, and swimming. Work took me to the Hawaiian Islands, Kenya, Tanzania, Galapagos, and Alaska.  I was also able to take Dela and Fisher down to Savannah for a week of great hang out time with their grandparents, not to mention Dela's first nighttime alligator catching adventure.

Successful gator night with Babu in Savannah.

    The beginning of 2024 started out with some UnCruise Hawaii adventures. I had one rotation with pretty wild weather, and the other rotation was super smooth. We had plenty of whales, although it wasn't a stand out year for humpback encounters. This was the first season that we had permits for snorkeling on our own in Kealakekua Bay on the big island, and we continued to have a great time taking guests inside lava tubes on Hualalai Volcano and off-roading on ebikes to the Garden of the Gods on Lana'i.

One of my favorite pictures from the wild weather we dealt with in Hawaii at the beginning of the year. I was leading a small boat zodiac tour along the coast of the Big Island, and these huge waves were crashing into the lava rock cliffs. Our mothership, the Safari Explorer, can be seen in the background, heading out to deeper, calmer water.

Humpback whale tale in Maui.

    Back in Vermont we were getting the kids on the slopes, while I took advantage of being off in February for some good snowboarding on my new board set-up, compliments of Susie and Donnie. A sprained ankle on Nosedive did take me out of snowboarding, but I was back and ready when it was time to head out to Hawaii again. I did get 1 more day of boarding during my 48hr turnaround when I flew home on March 31st, then took off with the whole family to Maui on April 2nd.

    Our month in Maui was filled with beach trips, with many visits to our nearby sugar beach, and a new favorite turtle beach on the North shore. My dad came for a visit so we took advantage of his awesome beach resort, with plenty of pool and hot tub time. Dad and I also took Catalina out for her first big snorkel trip to Molokini Crater. It was the first time she could really snorkel around and see stuff underwater. I'm pretty sure she saw a turtle, although she was getting pretty cold right then. She just missed seeing the baby frogfish. We had also scored some bracelets that got us into the waterfall, slides, and pools at a fancy Wailea resort. We actually snuck into the wrong one at first before getting kicked out and finding the real resort. We took Mags and her family snorkeling and nighttime tide pooling, and had some nice visits upcountry to Maria and Rosie's place, which is where we eventually left our chameleon, 'Lavender.' I took Fisher SUP'ing a few times in some small nearby waves, and Catalina and I caught a pretty big waves at Grandma's, while hanging with Brian and Marcos Makani. That was right before another big wave almost wiped out the entire family in the shallows. Luckily we all punched through it safe and sound. It was another whirlwind ride back to Vermont and then a quick turn around back to Hawaii for me to finish off the Hawaiian UnCruise season. But first, we had to move the entire family out of the Stowe tree house for a big kitchen and bathroom remodel. Luckily, the McGills let us stay in their amazing Red Barn all summer. Bonus it was just up the road here in Stowe!

Another great crew for the 23/24 Hawaii season on the Safari Explorer. So fun to finally get some real quality time with Rob Mizer!

    I was only home for a couple of weeks before heading off to Anchorage, Alaska to get the inaugural Prince William Sound UnCruise season started. It was pretty wild going into the season with very little recon done on the ground. We got our land permits right before the season started so the first time we saw the places was the first time I was there with guests. There was a lot of early morning recons to see where we could land and what we could offer. But thanks to a lot of hard work, flexibility, and adventurous spirit we ended up having a fantastic start to the season. By the time my relief got to the boat we had scoped out almost every spot. The bears were a little scarce, and the humpbacks were scarce as well, but the orca sightings were great. And the hiking was fabulous. My last week was extra special because Lea and David came out. It was pretty great weather, and all the glaciers gave us different opportunities. One of my favorite memories from the season was from the first activity on the first week. We offered skiff tours at Tiger glacier, but found out that the entire fjord was frozen solid about a mile out from the glacier. Seals lay out on the sea ice, and I thought about getting out and walking across it. It was wild to see, and that was our only time, the next week the sea ice was completely gone.

Me and Lea at Meares Glacier in Prince William Sound.

This was a kayak in Granite Cove, Prince William Sound, that Lea and David got to do with me. It was a magical place to spend some time silently taking in our surroundings from a kayak. It really felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

All the kids heading down to Lady Bug Cove to look for cool rocks.

    

   After returning to Vermont it was summertime in Stowe at the Red Barn, and visits to Stave Island out in the middle of Lake Champlain. We had tons of fun visitors to the island. We had a wonderful "Friends Week" with Ben, Kim, and baby Wren, Brian, Raquel, Marcos and Amaia, Nate, Kelly, and Finn, Mary, Jackson, Woody and Juniper. The kids found some pirate treasure after finding an article on Blackbeard's lost treasure on Stave Island. The guys had a wonderful Man's Night, there was even a nude, SUP, circumnavigation of the island.

Friend's Week out on Stave Island! What an amazing time with amazing people.

   The whole Rye crowd showed up in force for the fabled Stave Island Party, with the big hit being baseball. It is pretty fun watching all of the kids getting older every year, and how they interact with each other. There were some amazing sunsets, and Stave Island turned out to be the best place to test out my new drone. The story of Blackbeard got deeper with his mutinous first mate, HHH, also hiding treasure on the island. Other than school days, we spent the maximum time we could out at Stave, especially since my big summer Africa safari got postponed until next year.

Early morning trips across the island to have breakfast with DD and Papa.

   The Fall brought some amazing colors to the Vermont mountains. I headed to the hills with my drone for some amazing mountain-top views. The drone was really able to capture the blazing colors of the fall foliage. Fall also meant that work was kicking back in with an African safari and a guests Ambassador gig in the Galapagos Islands. But first we had to move back into our Stowe treehouse, after an absolutely amazing summer in the Red Barn.

   Before work trips kicked in, three big events occurred; First, we got a family puppy, a little Australian labradoodle named Fenna, and also, I took Dela and Fisher on a weeklong trip down to Savannah to have some quality time with the grandparents. We stayed at the blue house with Grandma Nancy, and visited Babu and Nana out at the Ford Plantation. It was Dela's first chance to stay up late and come out gator catching. Fisher was already an old hand at it, and spent most of his energy trying to catch frogs by pouncing on them. It was pretty memorable, and a big success, although I think they will both remember my dad catching the cottonmouth snake. Fisher also caught a ton of fish with Babu as well. The third big event was a last minute, quick solo trip to Maui. Our tenant moved out suddenly, so I blasted out there to figure things out, find new tenants, and make sure the place was in tip top shape. Five days later we had new tenants in, the place was looking great, and I scored a few surf sessions with Brian at Honolua Bay, off-the-wall at Maalaea, and Hookipa.

Fisher with a huge striped bass he caught with Babu in Savannah.

   Next up was the Africa Safari. This was an East Africa special with a twist. We started with a private driver (James) and vehicle, visiting Nairobi National Park, West Tsavo, and Amboseli. Then we switched to small bush planes that took us to the Masai Mara and finally, into Tanzania for some mobile tent camping at andBeyond Under Canvas. We lucked out with rhinos and a serval in Nairobi National Park, had a wonderful leopard encounter in Tsavo, enjoyed a great Masai village visit in Amboseli, and got tons of lions in the Mara. The migration had moved so far south by mid October that we didn't even see them at our Serengeti tent camp. We did get more great leopards, cheetah, and very close lion encounters. The baby lions in the Serengeti were some of the smallest I had ever seen. Our group was dynamite and as always, it felt like the trip could have gone much longer when it came time to leave.

More lion cub action. This time from the Mara, with our trusty guide Jackson behind the wheel.

   Next up was my second trip to Galapagos, this time over Thanksgiving. I was eager to see how a trip in the dry season compared to my previous trip which was at the end of the rainy season. At the last minute, my brother-in-law, David, decided to come along as well, making the trip even better! We had incredible snorkeling, with close underwater encounters with flightless cormorants, marine iguanas, manta rays, and even Galapagos penguins! It was an amazing time, even better than my first trip. I feel so lucky to be able to experience this amazing place twice. I owe a big thanks to UnCruise for making that happen!

I had to take a pause from photographing these giant tortoises to just soak up this moment. Luckily, David was able to snap this picture and immortalize it for me!

   December has been a winter wonderland back here in Stowe. I snowboarded almost everyday at our local mountain. All three kids took advantage of having ski passes and seasonal rental gear, and were at the mountain every weekend. And it has been a very snowy winter, with only a couple of days above freezing, so the snow has stuck around. It has been a glorious start to the winter, and a wonderful ending to 2024. It was one of the most beautiful white Christmases that I can remember, filled with family, friends, presents, cookie making, Nobby the elf, gingerbread houses, and sledding in the front yard. Catalina just reminded me that they tried Snurfing this winter as well. It is like surfing in the snow!

Family ski adventure. All five of us on the slope after heading up the lift. Ages; Dela 2, Fisher 5, Catalina 6.

I've got some big trips lined up in 2025, so we will see what the new year brings. Hopefully a lot more fun stuff to add to the blog of adventures!

Sea ice for the next mile to Tiger Glacier. We aren't in the Inside Passage anymore!

Riding mountain e-bikes in Lana'i, looking out across the channel to Molokai.

Snorkeling at night with manta rays with UnCruise in Hawaii. The lights attract the plankton which attracts the mantas.

Heidi tasting the finer life of infinite pools in Wailea, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The kids were old enough to really enjoy some small waves this year. This was a beautiful day on our new North Shore hotspot.

Dolphins bowriding the Safari Explorer in Hawaii. Never gets old.

Some of our adventurous guests that I took down into an underground lava tube on the Big Island.

Family hot tub time in Maui.

Tasting some of the finer maple candy treats from Mansfield Maple. Thanks Lindsey and Chris!

Babu's visit to Maui. The three of us went for a 6 hour snorkel adventure to Molokini and Turtle Town with Pacific Whale Foundation. Josh was even our lead naturalist for the day!

I had forgotten about this gem of an adventure. Heidi heard that the lake was frozen, so we went for a visit. This is Lake Champlain. There are people playing ice hockey behind me, and people racing ice boats behind them!

Enjoying Babu's visit with some pool time at the Sugar Beach Resort.

Family visit to Iao Valley in Maui.

Our little one is getting bigger. Starting to play on early wheeled toys.

Fancy pool in Wailea. There is also a very big waterslide right around the corner.

They submarined shortly after and both fell off. Catalina quickly swam over to Fisher to make sure he felt ok. They did not want to continue. Try again next year!

Making friends with Sergios kids at the Red House!

On top of Vermont. The highest peak, Mt. Mansfield. Below is where I ski during the winter!

Fun trip with Lea and David on the inaugural Prince William Sound, Alaska itinerary.

I don't know what they are planning, but I'm sure its something good. Maybe they are planning when the next Friends week will happen.

While kayaking in Alaska, it is always worth it to explore the cliff-sides. Sometimes you find small cracks or caves that open up inside.

Daddy daughter adventure time with Dela. Exploring the trail out to Bingham Falls.

Tiny lion cub in the Serengeti. These were just two month old, tiny, cute cubs, hanging out with their sleepy mom.

We had some amazing leopard encounters this trip. We got them in Tsavo, Masai Mara, and Serengeti.

This was one of two cheetahs that we spotted from over a mile away. They just kept walking in our direction. Finally they passed pretty close by. All the other animals on the plains kept a keen eye on the two predators as they casually stalked by.

Very cool cheetah encounter in Amboseli National Park, Kenya. This cheetah mom climbed high up this fallen tree to get a better look at possible prey.

Catalina in the top row singing during her 1st grade concert.

Me and David on our last outing in the Galapagos.

Christmas time in Vermont. Matching PJ's and hopes that Santa comes in the night!

Tough luck for one boat owner, but it sure makes for a beautiful photo. This shipwreck was on the beach just down from our Kihei condo.

Fisher getting his first taste of horseback riding on our visit to Savannah.

Nothing quite like storytime with your grandma.

Am I getting replaced by a puppy?

Fisher was on his frog catching game on our nighttime safari in Savannah with Babu.

Dogsitting in Vermont while Heidi and her parents spent time down at Hatteras.

Fisher riding high on Doubles, the horse.

Brian and I after a wonderful surf session on my quick solo trip to Maui!

This was the first time in a long time that I've been home and able to go with the kids to the Essex County Fair!

Heading off to 1st grade for C. Full-time preschool for the other two.

Shenanigans ontop of the tower at Stave.

Beautiful Fall colors in Burlington.

Heidi and Fenna.

High above the colorful canopy and an overnight shelter on the Long Trail of Vermont. This is up the Nebraska Notch.

Portrait of a blue-footed booby in the Galapagos.

The stern grimace of a Galapagos giant tortoise.

Summertime bike rides through the corn along Stowe's bike path.