Monday, February 28, 2011

Island post office for boaters

You leave your letter or postcard there, another boater checks to see if there is any mail bound for their homeplace, or some place they will sail by, pick it up and deliver...it is not a fast delivery. However, the card I did leave there, for France, made it there, 1 year later.

More Galapagos Photos

Circa 2003 I cah haz a margarita? Have you ever marveled at the colors of the sea? The power of waves, our little surfing partners Befriending a birdie. The boat (ketch) - you have to use the boats that are around the islands to visit them. Boats that sail to the Galapagos must leave their boats at the main harbor and board another one. Traffic is heavily regulated and visits to each island is carefully timed. The weather doesn't change much so travel times are very very predictable The photographer The boat

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Water in a different state...

Climbing glaciers in Ecuador...I am not really made for altitude...Went through a few episodes of puking...Oh wait...I guess that happens too when I am seasick!

Galapagos 2003

Blue footed booby mom...with babies... Sunset on the Galapagos Our boat They have plenty of sea lions there too...

Kayaking in Point Reyes - 2001

Wouter's friend, Nat and Wouter Oysters... Paddling among oyster pods.. Picnic The boss Wouter's friend. I love the little rudder at the back :) Wouter The view from Nat's kayak Wouter Wouter is in the blue kayak behind the red one... Nat and Wouter Nat Wouter's friend, Nat and Wouter

Training...

America's Cup boat spotted circa 2004 on the Bay

We were sailing on Red Sky

The Crew back in Honolulu (in Whale Sinks Boat story)

and back in 2006

James, Nat, David and Donna (David's wife) Nick, Nat and James Nat, Donna and David Nick

Photos from inside the Coast Guard Plane (in Whale Sinks Boat story)

Still from 2006 :)

Lifeboat picking up the liferaft (in Whale Sinks Boat story) - at night

Lifeboat approaches the right Makes contact - They will throw us a painter...which Nat tried to catch...took three attempts... Nat is the one sticking out of the raft Finally caught the painter We're hooked and we will transfer over to the lifeboat.

Not sure who took the photos...coast guard or ship...

Our liferaft X-ray Lima (from XL adventure)

Photo taken by the Coast Guard - you can see the lines from the cannister they had dropped and that contained a hand-held VHF

Some yet unpublished Whale Recovery photos (taken from news)

Kris was the captain of KAMI M, the fishing boat that took Nick, David, James and me back to Hawaii Our liferaft! (photo taken by the Coast Guard I think)

Canoeing on American River circa 2001

Canoeing on American River circa 2001

More Seychelles photos

This beach was apparently voted by the Times 'the most beautiful beach in the world' so we decided to check it out. We were towing a dinghy and we could use an outboard to move us around. Unfortunately, what we could not foresee from the boat was that the waves were pretty big and it was rather difficult to get back to the boat. You can see our faithful vessel in the background. not a great photo as I used the waterproof one-time use only camera for this picture. Nat and Wouter having breakfast under sail on a beautiful and dry morning. We had picked the 'rainy' season to go, everything was cheaper. However, the 'rainy' season really means that it rains for two hours in the afternoon....usually at the exact same time every day. The rest of the time was paradise. And since we didn't want to use up a lot of the water that we had since there was only one port we could get more water, we welcome that warm rain as we could desalt and take a shower in the natural environment. As soon as it rained, there was all of us on deck with shampoo and soap... Nat digesting George, a dear (Greek) friend, on the helm. In the background, you can see the outboard that we used on the dinghy. Furling up the genoa as we were getting ready to anchor for the evening Mark (British) driving and Wouter's back. I was already taking the Frog around on sailing trips!!!! Hope you can see it dangling in the companionway...