Capturing the Moment

  Blue-footed booby takes flight in the Galapagos. The sites, adventures, and wildlife have been stunning here during this six day cruise of the Galapagos Islands. I can't believe it is coming to our final day already. We are going out with a bang though, with a visit to the famous Post Office Bay, zodiac tours, kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking to accomplish. If you are looking for adventure, the Galapagos can be your cup of tea. The famous barrel post office box in the Galapagos. We all left post cards in the barrel, and we took a look at ones in the barrel to see if any were located back by our homes. Quite a few people took post cards to hand deliver to their recipients back in the states. Post Office Bay, nestled within the pristine archipelago of the Galapagos Islands, is a site teeming with historical significance and natural beauty. Located on Floreana Island, this bay holds a unique tradition that dates back to the 18th century when whalers and sailors established a makeshi...

Snorkeling in the Galapagos!   Everyone knows about the giant tortoises, iguanas, and blue footed boobies in the Galapagos. You literally have to step around them as you walk around the different islands. However, the real wildlife bonanza here is revealed only when you put on a mask and snorkel and look underwater. Giant schools of fish fill the water column. Sea turtles and sharks swim by. And curious sea lions come so close that they might even chew on your camera playfully. I could have stayed underwater here for a long long time. I was very eager to see some of the rarer endemic wildlife underwater, like the Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, and marine iguanas. I had my old GoPro camera mounted on a pole ready to go. Well, it turned out that the ocean conditions didn't cooperate entirely with us for our underwater time. The waves were quite big, which stirred up a lot of sediment, decreasing the clarity of the water. We had to cancel one beach snorkel because of huge ...

  A quick minute and a half movie of my experience snorkeling with southern sea lions off the Patagonian coast. The ride was super rough out of Puerto Madryn, Argentina. The boat was small and didn't seem to handle the choppy waves well as you can see. Even after we got in the water the waves crashed over us and the wind whistled past our snorkels. But it was all worth it to jump in and swim with a new species of sea lion. It felt like a true adventure...and I brought a few guests along for the wild ride. If you ask them, just getting into the dry suits was an adventure in itself!

   Scuba Diving in Cape Town, South Africa: Wide Angle Photography   The cold water off Africa's southwestern tip near Cape Town is teeming with life. It is also teeming with wrecks of ships that didn't find the 'good hope' while navigating around the infamous Cape of Good Hope. There are dozens of colorful nudibranch species for the biological treasure hunter, and quite a few opportunities for some fabulous wide angle underwater photography.    Diving in the southern hemisphere winter will grant you a bit better visibility, but during the summer months a god day will run you 10-15ft at most spots. Now, (October) is the shoulder season so we lucked out with a good 20ft of vis on the reefs, 15 on the wreck, and about 40ft at the Cape Fur Seal rookery.    You can dive both the east and west sides of the peninsula and there are several dive operators that work mainly out of Hout Bay on the west, or Simon's Town on the east side, depending on w...