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 » » »
Posts Tagged ‘snorkelling’
10 August 2011
List mania
Who doesn’t like Top Ten lists? Or top five, or top three. We certainly whiled away many quiet moments in our year putting together idle lists of our favourite and least favourite things that we had encountered on the way. I’m putting them in the blog to help us remember all this stuff, and also » » »
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
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 » » »
26 February 2011
Images of Bali
We leave Bali exhausted from difficult driving, exhilarated by lovely countryside, full of good spicy food and delighted by the coral reefs. Within the four weeks we have actually explored pretty much every corner of the island, though of course not in great depth. So this is a round-up of stray images from all over. » » »
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
Will my arm drop off?
13th February 2011 When I went to bed last night I noticed that my left forearm was tingling and almost numb on the underside. Not painful, just very weird. I couldn’t work out what was wrong until recollecting the journey back from Rinca island. We were all very tired and Maureen slept with her head » » »
Tags: health, snorkelling
2 February 2011
Picture Amed
Our three day trip to the Amed coast was a great glimpse of the beauty on Bali. I honestly have no idea why any tourists would want to stay around the grubby bustle of Kuta, Sanur, Legian and the rest. But I’m very glad that most of them do! Related Images:
1 February 2011
Terrors of the deep
29th January 2011 The snorkelling along this coast is wonderful. Seriously, it knocks Ko Surin into a cocked hat, a veritable cocked hat. The coral is just a few yards from the shore everywhere and is a delight of different forms and colours and textures. The term ‘coral garden’ fits superbly. We snorkelled two coves » » »
1 February 2011
Meditasi
28th January 2011 This is a lovely place. It’s my favourite bit of Bali so far, both the area and the place we’ve stopped to stay. From Padangbai this morning we drove east as far as it’s possible to go without plopping into the deep indigo Indian Ocean. Padangbai is an amiable spot, with a » » »
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, » » »
5 January 2011
Back to shore
3rd January 2011 Some of the people to be seen loitering on the beach at Ko Surin while we wait for our transfer back to the mainland: an orange-robed monk over for the day to bestow New Year blessings on the park HQ; muslim tourists in their tropical island wear of full black headscarf, jeans » » »
Tags: people, snorkelling
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 » » »