12 January 2017 It rained in the night. This morning we see a new side of La Gomera’s weather – it’s overcast, with plenty of mist and the occasional drizzle of rain. It’s even cloudy over the south western Valle Gran Rey, which is where we had settled on for today’s hike. We started up » » »
Posts Tagged ‘island’
20 January 2017
The owl of Chipude
11 January 2017 Yesterday I really buggered up my knee on the downhill slog, so the plan today was to explore by car and maybe find a short and easy walk along the way to keep us exercised. Hmm… four hours is I suppose not very short, but since it only climbed 450m it certainly » » »
20 January 2017
Downhill all the way
10 January 2017 I enjoy trying to fathom out the history of an area from clues around me. The recent history of La Gomera seems to be depopulation and changing agriculture, from subsistence to cash crops. We’ve passed loads of high mountainous terraces on our walks, tiny slivers of ground, some about the size of » » »
20 January 2017
Gorge and the dragon
9 January 2017 Our room at Casa los Herrera is pretty good. The hotel is an old restored building opposite the little church in what perhaps passes as the centre of Hermigua, which is more like a set of contiguous hamlets winding down the valley bottom than a proper town. The room is handsome with » » »
19 January 2017
Rocks and prickly pear
8 January 2017 Our first hike on La Gomera. We picked one that started nearby (a mere 20 minutes twisty turning drive up mountain roads) and concentrated around an area called Los Roques. It was a stunning walk, taking in ancient laurisilva forests with lichen and moss trailing from the branches, huge vistas from the » » »
19 January 2017
La Gomera via Tenerife
7 January 2017 Wow. I have never seen such a GREEN hire car! We had four hours to kill between the airport and the ferry, so there was time to drive to the top of Tenerife and back again. The top of the island is the volcano El Teide (which I have really struggled all » » »
6 June 2016
Island fox in socks
7 May 2016 The last excursion of our California trip! A day out on Santa Cruz, one of the Channel Islands that lies off the coast near Los Angeles. What’s special about it is a species of fox that is only found on the Channel Islands, a very small fox called (originally) the Island Grey » » »
16 March 2015
Madeira Madeira
14th February 2015 So I just realised that I haven’t said anything about Madeira! The wine, not the island. And probably the original inspiration for coming here. For those who don’t know, Madeira is a style of fortified wine (so: related to sherry and port) only produced on the island of Madeira. It became very » » »
16 March 2015
Hotel breakfast, why?
11th February 2015 Bored with breakfast now. Why, when the guidebook says “Madeirans like to start the day with a short cup of coffee and a pastry,” does our hotel insist on bread, ham, cheese, eggs, fruit, carton juice and a big jug of insipid filter coffee? It’s not them, really. There’s an international standard » » »
16 March 2015
Madeira and the weather is freezing
7th February 2015 We seem to be developing a habit of holidays starting on a bum note. Our flight on Norwegian Air (flying from the UK to Madeira… odd) arrived bang on time, but then the process of picking up a rental car was glacially slow. So it was past 7pm and dark when we » » »
3 August 2014
Stockholm in summer
26th July 2014 Stockholm in summer is hot. It’s easy to forget about Britain’s unique maritime climate and, associating Sweden with snow and ice, think that visiting in July will “at least be bearably warm” (which is what we said to ourselves when planning the trip). Well, in spite of being at the same latitude » » »
28 December 2013
Maureen and wildlife
26th December 2013 Well, I can totally recommend Bocas del Toro as a get-away-from-it-all low key destination. It has oodles of sun, sea and sand but hardly any people. The pace of life is slooow but there are still enough things to do to keep you diverted for a week or more between bouts of » » »
25 December 2013
No corkscrew!
24th December 2013 We’ve found an idyll, and a well-equipped one at that. With the notable exception of a corkscrew. Only a problem because I purchased the one bottle of wine in Bocas del Toro that hasn’t got a screw cap. And of course my Leatherman is much more manly than a Swiss Army knife, » » »
20 July 2011
Subaquatic Galapagos
A visit to the islands of the Galapagos would be memorable enough, but some of the snorkelling we did off their shores was just wonderful. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Islander portraits
Close-ups of some of the wildlife from the Galapagos Islands, captioned fancifully by facial expression. My apologies to the Marine Iguana. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Galapagos cruise
We visited five islands in four days and saw an absolute wealth of wildlife, many of the species endemic and found nowhere else in the world. These photos cover each day of the cruise in turn. Related Images:
20 July 2011
Wonderful ridiculous II
16th July 2011 I’m talking about boobies. Boobies are birds, of course. Related to gannets if I’m any judge, but larger and – as with everything else here – quite happy for you to sit and watch them from just a couple of feet away. Indeed, some of the daft boobies make their nests right » » »
20 July 2011
Sealions and turtles
15th July 2011 Wow. I’m completely pooped, but very happy. Just been snorkelling with sealions and turtles. Earlier we went ashore to post our postcards in a barrel. The barrel has been there for over a hundred years and by tradition any passing ship would check the letters in the barrel and take any that » » »
20 July 2011
Wonderful ridiculous
14th July 2011 These wonderful, ridiculous islands are absolutely alive with creatures whose one shared characteristic is a complete lack of any fear of man. We went for a walk this morning and found dozens of big prehistoric land iguanas just basking to either side of the path and oblivious to us getting close enough » » »
18 July 2011
Mutiny in the Galapagos
13th July 2011 There was a mutiny almost as soon as we boarded the ship. Our guide, Wilo, explained that those who were on a seven day tour (us and most others) would visit the Darwin Centre to see the giant tortoise breeding program, while those on a ten day tour would visit the highlands » » »
9 June 2011
Chiloe moods
Chiloe was a beautiful place, notable for its churches, its sea views, and its wildlife. But above all notable for its weather. Look at how it adds mood to some of the pictures in this gallery. Related Images:
5 June 2011
Chiloe, farewell
4th June 2011 Apparently it rains all the time on Chiloe, but until today we would never have guessed. Even then, the rain held off until after lunch. We took a roundabout route back to the ferry at Cachao so we could visit the church at Tenaun and stop at a recommended place for lunch » » »
5 June 2011
Islands in the fog
3rd June 2011 Yesterday we drove down to Quellon to meet up with a wildlife guide called Jorge Oyarce who might be able to help us find some of the local dolphins and other animals we haven’t seen. Quellon isn’t a very stunning town. Jorge was really helpful, although it turned out that any boat » » »
3 June 2011
Chepu on Chiloe
29th May 2011 Chiloe is a singularly beautiful place. Or at least it is when the sun is shining, which we have been blessed with today. Perhaps that’s why it reminds me a little of Scotland. The first town on the island you find after the ferry crossing is Ancud, and here we stopped for » » »
26 May 2011
Conservation paradox, Rangitoto
24th May 2011 Today we took a boat out to Rangitoto Island, an extremely young volcanic island in Auckland harbour. Less than 300 years ago local Maoris were able to watch Rangitoto erupt steaming from the waters of the bay, but now it is covered with trees and bushes that grow thick among the black » » »
15 May 2011
Kangaroo islanders
We had a bit of a whistle-stop two day trip to Kangaroo Island, where lots of people take a week to explore. We’re very satisfied though, having seen a bunch of great wildlife including three new mammal species. I guess our echidna “completes the set” of iconic Australian mammals: kangaroo, koala, wombat, platypus, devil, echidna. » » »
9 April 2011
Wild New Zealand
Here are our best shots of the wildlife in New Zealand. They were often very accommodating in letting us get quite close. Equally, they were quite hard to find – New Zealand has its own conservation problems and they’re desperately trying to reverse all the damage done in under 200 years of European habitation. Related » » »
26 February 2011
Rottnest sizzles in the sun
25th February 2011 Today we visited Rottnest Island. It is described as “Perth’s Island Playground” and if you’ve been following our blog that might leave you wondering why we’d go there. One word: quokka. In fact the island doesn’t really match the image. There’s only one settlement with a couple of small hotels and a » » »
26 February 2011
Dragon islands
Flores was a strong contrast to Bali. It is still a very backwater island, the few hotels are unusual oddities in a local landscape whereas on Bali tourism is the currency. We came to see Komodo dragons and we weren’t disappointed. Related Images:
22 February 2011
A lot more fish in the sea
16th February 2011 Today we went to Pulau Menjangan, an island just off this north-west coast of Bali renowned for its diving and snorkelling. Because it’s part of the Bali Barat National Park we needed to take a guide on our boat and he came snorkelling too. Mainly he swam with Tim and Vanessa, who » » »
16 February 2011
Hunting dragons
12th February 2011 We set out on our dragon hunt at 7am, after fortifying ourselves with a breakfast of fried noodles and egg. The first task was a two-and-a-half hour boat trip to Rinca island, on a wooden fishing boat whose engine chugged deeply, rather like a techno rave, and shook the whole vessel. On » » »
16 February 2011
Moving onto Flores
10th February 2011 We started horribly early at 6am with a sad breakfast of hard-boiled egg, feeble jam sandwich and water which had been left for us by the kind staff of Okawati because they don’t start breakfast until 7:30. I wouldn’t have bothered if I’d known that 1.5 hours later we’d be ensconced in » » »
16 February 2011
Bali beauties
9th February 2011 I think there are three beauties in Bali. The first is the sea and the shore, at least in places like Amed where the rampant spread of resorts hasn’t made the scene fit only for sun-worship. Our last stop with Tim and Vanessa will be Permuteran, and I have all fingers and » » »
17 January 2011
I like Langkawi
16th January 2011 We read about Langkawi online, and in the Lonely Planet for Malaysia. Sun, sea, sand, resorts, and a handful of desultory attractions to milk some money from those who tire of the beach; “come for the beaches, there’s nothing else here” was the verdict from pretty much everyone. That’s why our initial » » »
10 January 2011
Postcards from Ko Yao Noi
8th January 2011 I never really set the scene for our island retreat. Ko Yao Noi is a 12km long island in Phang Nga bay, a huge sheltered bay full of tiny limestone islands. Think ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’ and you’re right there. Ko Yao Noi is very laid back and nowhere near » » »
10 January 2011
The secret lagoon
7th January 2011 It’s the kind of place a film-maker or a fantasy novelist would invent. A tiny island in the Andaman Sea, less than half a kilometer across with sheer cliffs on all sides. But on one side there is a hole in the foot of the cliff, visible only at low tide, through » » »
5 January 2011
Ko Surin
Underwater photography proved wretchedly tricky – our compact camera is on the blink, and often the lens simply won’t extend properly. The LCD is also scratched, and through the underwater camera case it is now completely impossible to see; rather a problem when the LCD is the only viewfinder. I saw so many lovely fish, » » »
3 January 2011
Ko Surin
2nd January 2010 Ko Surin lies a 60km jolting speedboat ride out in the Andaman Sea. It’s one of the most renowned places to go snorkelling and diving in Thailand, although it turns out that “coral bleaching” is a dire problem here and even the exhibition at the island HQ rates all but two of » » »