Capturing the Moment

  Columbia Glacier, as Good as it Gets. 3 MIN READ 421 WORDS Reflection in the Water. View of the Columbia Glacier. After several days of rain and cold, we scored the perfect weather for our trip up the Columbia fjord to the famous Columbia Glacier. We had blue sky and sunshine, plus mirror-like conditions on the water. The jagged mountains, the glacier itself, and the thousands of icebergs all casts reflections in the water. It was a photographers delight. After breakfast we loaded up our skiffs and worked our way to the face of the glacier, often just taking in the scenery in silence, soaking it all up. Since we had the entire fjord to ourselves, the only noise we would hear was the glacier talking to us in creaks and groans, and thunderous roars. We saw several calvings, creating loud booms when the ice chunks hit the water. Guests heading out in the skiffs from the mother ship. The Columbia Glacier, located in Prince William Sound, Alaska, is one of the most significant and rap...

  A bonus of flying with Emirates Airline from Seattle to Dubai on a 14 hour leg to our final destination of South Africa is a rare chance to look out of the window down upon the frozen landscape surrounding the North Pole. On such a long flight the shortest distance is to fly up and over the globe instead of around. I was lucky enough to think about this just in time to check out of one of the windows to see the frozen coastline rapidly approaching. Snow capped mountains provided relief with massive glaciers in between. I could even spot giant ice bergs drifting through the water around the land. It was an otherworldly landscape that few will ever see. Even with all the people on our flight I don't think anyone saw except the pilots. Its a shame that there is no announcement for a sight so rare.   I tried to take a picture of the map on the seatback screen although the glare from outside made it quite difficult. If you look closely you can see our path leaving Seattle and...

Bus Safari through Denali  After taking the scenic train up to Denali from Anchorage, Heidi and I were ready to get deeper into the wilds of the park and check out some of the animals and hiking opportunities. It is an unusual set-up in Denali. There is just one road that winds through the park and you are not allowed to drive yourself. You have to get on either a tan tour bus, or a green jump-on jump-off safari bus. If you get a green bus you can have it drop you off wherever you want and set off on a hike. The freedom to go anywhere definitely embodies the Alaskan spirit, but makes you think twice when you are hiking through bear country.  On day 1 we took the green bus as far as we could. Wendy, our driver, was great about giving narration along the way as well as stopping and pointing out wildlife. We were looking for the Big 5; Moose, Caribou, Bear, Wolf, and Dall Sheep. We got pretty lucky and saw four out of the five. The wolf was the elusive one but we knew th...

2nd Mate Ross doing a headstand on a SUP   I have been to Glacier Bay National Park several times this summer aboard the Wilderness Explorer with Un-Cruise . But not until this past week did I arrive in the park to find it sunny and clear enough to see the tops of the snow covered mountains. When I did finally get a view of this I was blown away. The views went on forever. Massive ice fields feeding flowing glaciers, dipping all the way down into the calm waters make this like no other place I've seen. Add to the fact that we are on a very small cruise ship, only 74 passengers max, and we carry around a bunch of toys like kayaks, stand up paddle boards, and small skiffs to really explore the waterways in an intimate way. Lamplugh Glacier Sunny Glacier Bay National Park These pictures are just a few of the views that I could capture in between a busy day of getting the guests on all kinds of adventures off the boat. There are some pretty amazing national parks out th...

Queenstown, New Zealand   Queenstown, New Zealand   Queenstown is the epicenter for backpacker adventure thrills in New Zealand. Stories of bungee jumps, sky diving, canyoning, jet boating, luging, all in one day and bar hopping at night are things of legend out of this city. We had two days planned just for this one town so we got right to work when we showed up.   First thing on the list, buy advanced tickets for the world premier midnight showing of the Hobbit II. We waited in line for over an hour, behind a few people dressed as hobbits. Since New Zealand is in the first time zone we were the first ones to see the movie anywhere, and I couldn't imagine a more fitting place to see it, surrounded by the scenery of Middle Earth. Many of the scenes from the movies were filmed in and around Queenstown. View from the Gondola    We also packed in a Gondola trip up the mountain overlooking the town and a couple of luge passes, which is pretty much like g...