27 December 2015 We took one more shot at finding an otter across the river, but another two hours in the mangroves didn’t show up anything more interesting than whistling ducks and sacred ibis. No otters in The Gambia for us. On the way back to shore we had another fun example of Gambian witlessness. » » »
Posts Tagged ‘boat’
1 January 2016
Jinack Island
24 December 2015 The two main export crops of Jinack island are marijuana and oysters. That’s pretty whacky. We learned this while walking with Amadou to the village across the island (his village, as it turned out) for a boat trip into the mangroves. We also discovered that 15 minutes is always an hour, as » » »
3 August 2014
Swedish countryside
28th July 2014 This is starting to become a standard weekend break practice – hiring a car for a day and going off to explore some of the country outside the capital city. The idea comes from my own disappointment at meeting people who say they’ve visited the UK a couple of times, and when » » »
28 December 2013
The fine line
27th December 2013 There’s a fine line between a good time and a bad one, just oddities of circumstance and preparation. Today was an example. A day out sailing on a catamaran around the Bocas Islands in search of dolphins sounds fun, yes? Perhaps a couple of days previously, when there was some clouds with » » »
7 April 2012
Copenhagen night 1
So we’re off for a short break to Copenhagen, Denmark. Various bits of today touched off recollections of our year of travelling. Hoisting a backpack onto the shoulders. Disgorging metal objects into a jacket pocket for the airport metal detectors. And yes, sitting down in front of this glowing screen in a little hotel room » » »
3 June 2011
Otter or not?
30th May 2011 Wow I’m tired. We were ready for breakfast at 7:30, just before dawn. The whole world was sparkling with frost and despite wearing almost every item of clothing we had, it was freezing. Breakfast at least was in the warm, porridge and hot rolls to store up some energy. At 8am down » » »
16 April 2011
Kiwi adventures
Written by Maureen People come to New Zealand to experience the great outdoors and we were no different. Thanks to Matt’s parents, we were able sample some of the best experiences the country has to offer. We cruised, walked, messed about on kayaks, tottered on a glacier and saw enough cetaceans, pinipeds and avians to » » »
1 April 2011
Seasick but cheerful
31st March 2011 Who knew you could get seasick in a kayak? Today had an unpromising start. We had to get to the kayaking office for 8:30am… only to be told that we wouldn’t actually start our day of kayaking until lunchtime. There would be a briefing first, and some instruction, and then some hanging » » »
27 March 2011
Not swimming with dolphins
25th March 2011 Thousands of people have been swimming with dolphins, but very few people have not been swimming with dolphins. This was the first sunny day in New Zealand since the Routeburn Trek, it was almost warm enough for T-shirts (if you were in the sun and out of the wind). And we had » » »
24 March 2011
Where to watch whales
24th March 2011 The thing with whale-watching is that your enjoyment entirely depends on what whales you see and what they are doing that day. We’ve been on five different whale-watching trips all over the world and results have varied. Off the Californian coast at Monterey we went out in a typical converted trawler and » » »
11 March 2011
Choose your fjord
11th March 2011 No doubt anticipating my critical review, it seems that Toni’s Restorante included some bad mussels in Maureen’s dinner yesterday as an act of vengeance. Both she and my dad, who tried one, got sick in the night. Do not give bad reviews to precognitive fake Italians! Anyway, they were both feeling better » » »
10 March 2011
Typical Fiordland weather
10th March 2011 The guide on our boat tour of Doubtful Sound said that so many times it began to sound like an apology despite his enthusiasm. “You’re seeing the Sound in absolutely typical Fiordland* weather, sunshine is really very unusual here.” He was certainly right, it was thick cloud all day and often raining, » » »
23 December 2010
Boat trip
22nd December 2010 We left Battambang today after a very relaxing stay at the Sanctuary Villa, and travelled to Siem Reap where we are staying at Dan’s other hotel. Dan (pronounced “dane”) is a seriously nice guy and a real entrepreneur; he’s a computer programmer who seems to have fallen into the hotel business, and » » »