We're not done yet......

There is a bit more coming soon to our blog. We are getting settled in and want to finish up in the next couple of weeks. So please check back by June 16th. If you would like a reminder, please write me at Tundraa72@aol.com, and I'll put you on the list. We have more from Costa Rica, Panama, and the east coast of the USA....stay tune!

Dave and Michelle

Doing Costa Rica ...right....

(..OK Lucky...here is the rest of the story....)

Let’s pick up from where I left off … Michelle returned back to the spot where I was waiting at the beach. She cries out to me, “I found it!” What do you mean I ask? She told me about the pictures she had seen, with a small peninsula jutting out of the ocean causing the natural phenomenon that looked like a whales tale. She coerced me back to the spot, about a mile down the beach to the point of Uvita, and I got to see it too. It was truly amazing; the sand is the perfect outline of a humpback’s whale tail breaching. Pretty cool stuff.

We were able to walk all the way out to where the tail would seemingly meet the whales body as the two parts of the ocean tides converged onto the land forming the whales tale.
We enjoyed Dominical but wanted to be closer to the beach at Manuel Ballena so we left Dominical to stay in Uvita.

While there, we decided to spend a day exploring what it would be like to live here, and what it would cost to uproot our lives. We took a day to look at property that was for sale. We found that most of the West coast of Costa Rica was for sale. With the promise that the road connecting Dominical to Quepos would be paved soon, Real Estate seemed like a good idea. After spending the day with a realtor, we decided a move like that is wrong for us at this time, even if property values did sky rocket. We were back to the beach and ready to travel down the road again… next stop Drakes Bay.

We loved the ride. We were almost the only people on the road and the views were incredible. Finding the turn off for this desolate bay was a challenge. Just by chance we found a couple of farmers looking for a ride towards Drakes, so we offered them a ride. Neither spoke English, but with Michelle’s improving Spanish, we found our way with in a couple of hours.

Michelle had checked the Internet for places to stay (we used it at all times, it helps so much and also trip advisor) and we ended up staying at a bungalow/hotel owned by a retired American and his Costa Rican family. They set us up in the honeymoon suite way above the town. We had to climb a good many stairs. We had a huge front porch that had us looking out over the bay below, so pretty.

Each morning we’d have breakfast with the pet friends of the wild. A scarlet macaw by the name of Judy, and two green parrots that would hang on the branches as we ate. After breakfast it was time to explore and look into the dive shops. What we found out… we had been spoiled with our previous dive places. The water on the Pacific side has a very strong current and really mixes up the surf so visibility was a mere 20 feet. So diving at this time and place was not at it’s best. We did run across several big underwater creatures, but at times it was difficult to tell where you were. But… We did have a great experience boating next to a school of dolphins. We stayed with them for a while watching the young ones play around with each other jumping, twirling, and doing mid air somersaults.

Later on we met up with a group of girls who were from Great Britain. We ended up having drinks that night with them and planned on doing a canopy tour the following day with them as well. Things didn’t work out the next day. We woke up late, and figured they too over slept. We decided to take in a late hike. Later on we saw them. They went ahead and did the canopy tour which they said is a must do! We apologized for not making it and said our good byes. The following day we took off to do some zip line canopy fun. What a rush. We felt like birds in the jungle. One zip line was over 300 feet and on the guides own property. Safety was their main concern, as we hoped, but for me, just flying thru the jungle at such heights made me understand why we came here. WOW….what a wonderful world we live in. The next day we continued our travels down the coast to Port Jimenez to catch up with a friend of Michelle’s.

We found our way further south on the dirt/paved road that just goes on for ever. We tried to locate Michelle’s friend Lynn by email/ phone calls but we were unable to get in touch. We spent the night at Puerto Jimenez, a quite town with many beaches, and again many developments.

It would have been nice to spend more time there, but we were looking for Caribbean waters… and so the question was …should we go to Panama, which was right below us …. Or ……

Part 2 - Costa Rica 2009

April 11, 2009-
After the show we went back to our bungalow to pack up and get on the road again... We traveled by private bus to Jaco, a town that we had lunch at 4 years prior. This time, I wanted to check it out and see what was really going on here. Well, the town had really changed and had lost its local town innocence. Big hotels are there, and bigger ones are being built. Loud music was playing in several bars to the point where we were unable to distinguish what was what.

We arrived right after the holy days, so things were rocking. The beach is what made this town desirable and most activities take place in the water. It has Great surfing, boogie boarding, body surfing, etc. During our time there we signed up for a horse backing riding adventure through the mountains. We rode with 2 guides; one was a good old Costa Rican cowboy that knew only a couple of words in English. “Costa Rica Yee Haw” and the other was a young adult that has been educated in the local high school and able to speak some English, so he helped out with the interpreting.

The ride took us up above the town and beach, to where we were able to view the whole coast line. When we were in Costa Rica 4 years ago, we rode horses and were not in shape for it. We hurt the entire week. Well, I was a bit smarter on this ride (make sure your stirrups are adjusted properly!, so you can walk during the days following your ride). They took us up this mountain trail that is owned (the whole mountain) by a fellow from Spain. We got to the top of the mountain, and the owner was there with 3 other people sitting around a chatting. We were introduced to this 83 year old man and a little pow wow began with all of us.

The gentleman told us the story of him coming to this area 21 years ago and purchasing the mountain for 3cents per sq meter. He is now in the process of sub dividing the mountain into parcels for development and selling it for $5.50 per square meter. Do the math…the guy was loaded!!!!. We told him about my Mom and Aunt Pat, who he invited to come visit any time as his guests in his large home with a separate bedroom and bathroom wing for the aunts to enjoy and be comfortable in. After our little break we headed down the other side of the mountain to see monkeys and tropical birds. At the end of our ride, the “Good Old Cow Boy” has to give Michelle a big bear hug…why of course?!!!???

April 13, 2009-
From there we decided to rent our 2nd car of our journey. Things are better this time for me, the driver. Costa Rica has rules while driving, not like some of the other places we’ve been. We took off the following day for a hike through the Carrara National Park. We went looking for the infamous scarlet macaw. This park is one of the few places in the world the Scarlet Macaw still survives.

Now normally you need to rent a guide to take you through the park, but we didn’t. There were none available. Plus there are many different types of plants and vegetation that can harm you if you are not careful…humm??? Then you can get just plain lost too! So as we are walking, we stopped at this viewing spot for crocodiles, yes crocks, in the river next to our trail. They are a ways away, but you have to remember where we are at…in the frick’in jungle! At the crock viewing spot, we met up with a group of people from the east coast, pretty close to where Michelle grew up in New York. We asked if we could tag a long with them because they were the smart ones…THEY HAD A GUIDE!!!

We hung with them while trekking back down the trail, listening to the guide explain about the flora and fauna of the jungle. The plants, birds, insects, etc., are very interesting since there are so many species that are threatened of extinction. During the short time we trekked with this group, Hurwitz’s and Milner’s, we were able to share our recent travel stories as they did with us. They were 2 families, with their kids, and we all just yakked it up for the rest of the hike. Even though we did have a guide, he still got a bit confused with his directions and we were lost in the jungle for a few moments. (please send me an email at Tundraa72@aol.com)

Just a tad scary, but we made it out OK with some fond memories and new traveling friends. We even might have inspired them to venture out and check this world out while they can…who knows. We were touched with their friendliness and kindness and their willingness to share their lives, their guide and their stories of what is happening back at home.

April 14, 2009 – Leaving Jaco was very easy. Being tired of the noise and growing city life, we wanted back out into the wilderness. We drove south towards the town of Quepos, but with the goal of going south. The city had finally graded the connecting road between Quepos, a major Pacific coast city in Costa Rica, and Dominical. In the past, this would normally have been a 3 hour drive due to deep pot holes. Now with the road paved, I was able to cruz it in an hour. Nice! We got into Dominical and it felt like a step back in time.

Way back … to maybe the early 70’s of Mexico! The main street is off of the beaten track, and houses … Hostels, bungalows, bars, trinket stores, and many outdoor restaurants and cafes all line the main street. At the end of the road, there is a beach with a wicked surf that many surfers, local and from a far, come to. It’s not a nice place to swim because of a serious rip tide, but surfers congregate in droves. We met a couple who travelled down from the states in their motor home and were living down in Dominical right on the beach. We wouldn’t mind doing it for a trip, but to actually live that way…..it just doesn’t feel right for us.

We stayed in a hotel called the Rio Lio which happens to be for sale if anyone is interested. That evening was locals night at the Rio’s bar. We met some really cool people drinking and partying, playing great tunes from the Grateful Dead , the Allman’s etc. Our favorite character was “good time Charlie” He brought out a Jerry Garcia doll and put a present in his pants for Michelle and I. His wife is a fiddler for some of our favorite musicians, and we hope some day through our travels to meet Nancy and see Good Time Charlie again.

Everyone was very friendly and loved sharing their stories of glory with us. After a major party night, we decided to check out the local area. We went to Manuel Ballena reserve, a sanctuary with good snorkeling and a site known for whale and dolphin spotting. It also has beaches with fantastic body surfing waves and I was in my glory, bouncing around like a 5 year old boy. The beach was empty and we felt as if we had found our own stretch of paradise.

Michelle took a stroll northward on the beach to explore the boats that were beached at low tide. She was enjoying her stroll and suddenly realized that she had found the natural phenomenon “The Whale’s Tail” … it finally clicked….........................?

Costa Rica Ye Haw .....

Back on the Road Again...this is where Central America begins………Heading to Costa Rica was to be a family and friend adventure, but things changed and because of our airline ticket type, we had to continue on. So, since we were on our own and we had been to Costa Rica 4 years prior, we changed our plans some. We traveled north from San Jose to Fortuna, home of the most active volcano in Costa Rica, named Arenal.

There are 122 volcanic mountains in the country of Costa Rica which have been labeled , “The Pacific Rim of Fire”. and this is where we will call home for a couple of days. We found lodging in a bungalow with a front porch view of the entire volcanic mountain. It was a pretty majestic view!

To our surprise, we came at the time of the holy holiday, which is the 3 days prior to our observation of Easter . No one in the entire country is to sell or serve alcoholic beverages other than wine. and if you are found out to have broken this law, you are served a stiff fine and possible jail time. What we did find was places that took the chance or had connections, to where they were able to sell drinks….only at a 800% mark up.

So our first day was to take in the near by hot springs called “Baldi Hot Springs”.
This place was the size of a large amusement center. Baldi has several pools with different temperatures to play and soak in. Where the springs begin, the pool is a scorching 152 degrees (67 C) and runs down pool after pool to the coolest one at 89 degrees (32 C). The pools were as large as a regular swimming pool with swim up bars and water slides.

The place was packed due to the holiday. After enjoying the springs, it was time for some eats. After checking out their menu, we decide that this was the place mainly because they had an amazing salad bar, and we were really craving raw veggies something fierce.

Our next day started by hiring a driver to take us up to Arenal Lake to do some kayaking. The lake is at the base of the volcano, and was a majestic scene. It had been a while since we were in fresh water so we took advantage of the entire outing. Pretty much, all of Costa Rica, except San Jose, is a rain forest/ jungle, so we were checking out the wildlife on top of the water, rather than under this time. The one thing that kept popping up during our time on the lake, is this huge smoking, yes smoking volcano right in front of us. WOW is all I can say!

So later that night, we hired a taxi to take us up close to the volcano. We joined a small group of tourists that had also signed up for the motorized trek.
At one point, we started seeing the molten lava streams, and thought, OK this is good… but, as we started passing the many sight see’rs we found that we were heading up even further. Our driver passed every one and took us up even further. He told us to wait and watch, because he knew of the best viewing area. OK, let’s see what he has … He finally pulled over and we all get out of the van. It was pitch black with clouds and steam covering the volcano.

The light breeze pushed the steam and smoke away from the top, so we were able to catch some cool scenes of red lava running down the mountainside. We were too far away to take pictures, so we said, "Hey we'll just get postcards for the pictures".We were giving our ohhh’s and ah’s with each little blast, but then a change happened.

The mountain decided to give us a real treat. A pretty good size explosion took place and lit up the entire mountain top, like strawberry syrup being poured over a chocolate sundae, burning everything in its path. It was really something incredible to see. You had to think….what are we crazy?…standing next to an active volcano and the truth is, we probably were!!! After the show, we went back to our bungalow ,to pack up and to get back On the Road Again...

Our next blog will be coming up pretty quick....so please stay tuned....

Saying Goodnight to Asia.....and hello to America.....

Although we had hoped to head down to Kyoto as well, our trip was cut short to get us home ASAP. So we stayed in Tokyo and took advantage of our time while waiting for an earlier flight. The city is run by subways, buses, and taxis. The least expensive is the subway, so that was our way around town, about 160 Yen ($1.60 US) and it worked fantastic.

We were staying an Akasaka, the business district with high rise hotels. Ours had a fabulous view of the city.
We found sushi everywhere, but no English to understand what was what. So we used pictures most of the time, and the pictures worked well, most of the time. We ate sashimi for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yup. You heard me right. Three meals a day of raw fish. The fatty tuna had Michelle doing a Harry met Sally restaurant scene at our own restaurant. You remember the scene…where Sally tells Harry that men really can’t tell if a woman is “faking it”. Michelle enjoyed the sushi sooooo much, she wasn’t faking it.

Since we didn’t know when we’d be taking off, we wanted to see the tourist spots we’d heard so much about. We took in the Sony building, home to brand new electronic gadgets. This place was floor after floor of TV, IPods, Cameras, etc. all on sale and no tax. Then over to a near by area called Asaska, where all the old temples reside in Tokyo. It is quite a famous area because one of the temples holds Buddha’s bone in one of its shrines. This is also a famous shopping area with some really great goods to be had. We were shopped out…or should I say Michelle was, so back on the subway.

What we noticed most about Japan is how everyone looked alike, dressed alike, and walked through their daily routine without smiles or laughter. After coming from Thailand and other parts of the south east known as the land of smiles, this proved to be such a stark society. We came to understand that this is just the way their culture is and has been. Emotion is held within in Japan. We had hoped to take in some Sumo wrestling, and visit the lands of the Geisha, but this too was cut out of the itinerary.

What did happen was we took a lovely trip through the countryside to the world famous Mt. Fuji on a tour bus. It was stupendous…reaching thousands of feet into the sky. What a vision. We were so excited to see snow. We played making snowmen and snowballs with the perfect crystalline dry flakes. Being skiers, we know our flakes, and Mt. Fuji had some of the best. After Mt. Fuji, the bus took us to the famous hot springs of Hakone, where we got a chance to see the hot springs and sulfur exude from the mountainside.

The people there were selling black eggs that were cooked in the sulfur, to which I said ,”No Thanks!”, but of course Michelle had to try one. This is supposed to increase your life 7 years, but I just think it will only increase her already over the top cholesterol. We’ll see when we get back home. All in all it was a very nice day. We were missing nature in Tokyo so the drive outside into the country was well appreciated.

On the way home we had a chance to experience the famous “Bullet Train”. WOW…..you talk about going fast, I’m not sure how fast we were going, but if you have ever fanned through a picture book, and watched the images, that exactly how we saw things pass by. No sooner were we back at the subway, and on to our hotel.

Our final day….at 4:00 A.M. …yes it was that early, Michelle wanted to check out the famous Tokyo fish market. My thoughts were, hey…we need our sleep. When we got there, we were amazed at how huge it was. Many tourists, like us were there with their cameras flashing. There were trucks and forklifts running everywhere, and you can’t get in the way. It’s their life and livelihood, so with a major language barrier, “HEY BUD WATCH OUT!!!”, you have to duck and maneuver and make sure you don’t end up as sushi. But the most important part of this experience was waiting for us behind closed doors. The fish auction.

There are rules of NO CAMERA FLASHING, etc. because there is a lot of action going on with a lot of money involved. So the tourists are let in through a single door, and we’re packed in like a can of sardines (no pun intended). At 5:00 Am, there is a Japanese prayer (I think), and there goes the auctioneer. He’s yelling this and that, and pointing to buyers in the audience. He’s jumping and yelling and singing and turning red in the face. It’s something to remember. To find out later, each piece of fish was being sold for somewhere around $20,000 US dollars. It was Blue Fin tuna for restaurants around the world. We left and ventured through the entire fish warehouse thinking, hey Sushi for breakfast….!

We left Japan for the west coast of the USA, and to say our good byes to a wonderful person in my life and to so many others as well. My Aunt Mary, the infamous Minnie the Mermaid. She told me to love life, experience the things you want to, and always love your family. This trip we’ve been on has been a dream of Michelle’s and mine for sometime, but with my Aunt’s inspiration and Michelle's determination, the both of them finally pulled me out of my box to enjoy the outside world. Many loving “Thanks” go to the both of them.

Getting caught up.............

So here we are on our 2nd “Live Aboard” dive boat. The first one that we experienced was in Thailand, back in Jan. Here we go ….

On a dive boat, one doesn’t know what to expect. How will we get along with the other divers, the crew etc? What will the dive area have in store? We were heading out to the Tubbataha reef in the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. It’s a circular reef system 25 miles out at sea, untouched since the 1990’s and the cessation of dynamiting. This area is also a world heritage site, meaning it is protected from here on out.

The boat itself had our basic needs in mind, a comfy bed and warm shower. The food was excellent, and the dive masters did their best to guide us on our adventure. The other passengers were mostly Americans from Michigan. We enjoyed our time getting to know each and every one of them. 6 days diving and living with people helps you get to know them real fast.

There was also a couple from France and believe it or not, a deaf man from Germany. Michelle had the opportunity to interpret for Oliver throughout the trip. Even though American Sign Language and German Sign Language are not the same, Oliver was able to understand ASL pretty well and so, he got the benefits of an interpreter on board and Michelle got to brush up on her engrained sign language skills. It was something they both got to enjoy.

On our first night there, we gathered at about 7:00, and enjoyed meeting each other, unpacking and having our first dinner on the boat. The cooks were fabulous. We then set out for our journey riding over 25 miles out to the reef. We headed for bed. The ride was supposed to be smooth sailing, but that couldn’t have been less than the truth. The ride out was horrendous.

The boat swayed and bucked as it hit massive waves getting us out to the desired site. I don’t think we slept for more than two hours that evening as thoughts of the the movie “The Perfect Storm” went though my head. At one point, I think it was around 2 AM, I got up and wanted to go up on to the day area. One glance out of the side port hole, seeing just huge white caps and massive waves, I decided to curl up with Michelle, and ride it out.

When we arrived at Tubbataha at 7AM it was all worth it! There we were, out in the middle of the Sulu Sea. Crystal clear turquoise waters surrounded us as did the reef. We would plunge into 84 degree waters with marine laden walls falling thousands of feet into the ocean, and nothing else in site. Each day allowed us up to 5 dives, at 45 – 50 minutes for each dive. So it was briefing, dive, eat, dive, rest-eat, dive, etc. Never a dull moment, and for 5 days straight.
While diving Tubbataha, we encountered a countless number of sharks, white tip, black tip, nurse sharks, reef sharks, some up to 20 feet long! We enjoyed the sighting of one small manta ray, a devil ray, large tunas, Napoleon Wrasses, and countless other fish species.

The people from Michigan were being led by Heather, a former dive store owner and current travel organizer. During dive master briefings, Heather would educate us with a “fish of the dive” We learned the names of a few of the fish we had been spotting, the Emperor, the pyramid Butterfly, and a few others but unfortunately, I don’t remember them. She also would have a coral of the dive…these too I don’t remember. I guess all those brain cells really have been affected.

During the course of the trip, several of the American passengers were sick with sinus problems, jet leg and stomach flu. At one time, it seemed like the boat was an infirmary. The dive masters were from Australia and England, and they did a great job. The Stellar Explorer runs for just 3 months a year and this was the 2nd trip of the year. I hope we didn’t leave any sick bugs behind for the rest of their trips. They got off pretty easy though since they had fewer people to line up for each dive. Michelle and I made it through unscathed.

While on the boat, we would dive a different section of the reef each day and explore what it had to offer. The walls were endless, we’d only go to 30 meters (90ft.) and work ourselves up. The one thing that you notice a lot on a wall dive, is the large cubby holes where thing like SHARKS would be sleeping, lobsters hiding out, rays taking a break and so on.

On one dive we were descending and on a shelve of one of the walls I saw 4 black tip sharks all taking a snooze, with another laying right across them. I’ve never seen anything like this before. And if you disturb them (which we did), they take off all different directions, and hopefully not towards you! On our final day, we got to boat out to the ranger station. Here 7 men live and guard the marine sanctuary. As I mentioned, Tubbataha is only reachable 3 months of the year. The remaining 9 months make reaching Tubbataha almost impossible due to Monsoon winds and gusty waves. Most of the men live here only 3 months, but some remain year long. Talk about isolation!!!

Before we knew it, the 6 days, and 21 dives were up and it was time to continue our journey. We loved our time on the dive boat and look forward to the next opportunity to live out on the sea.

Leaving the boat back in Puerto Pricnessa was sad, but life moves on. We disembarked with the French couple, Virginia and Eric, and the four of us travelled to the subterranean river, 4 hours from Puerto Princessa. This is where salt water and fresh water meet with a large and beautiful cave system. We enjoyed the site, but the 4 hour drive was exhausting. We did get to see more of the countryside on the island of Palawan and do look forward to coming back to this very special undeveloped and beautiful area of the Philippines.

Back at Puerto Princessa we were a bit home sick. We chowed down at Shakey’s Pizza. We laughed at ourselves for using our last night in the Philippines to eat American food. You just can’t account for tastes some time. The next morning we were up incredibly early to fly from Puerto Princessa to Manila with a 4 hour lay over before our plane was scheduled to take off to Tokyo Japan.

Well, we got to Manila but from here, boy did things take a different path than expected. While getting ready to board our flight, we had learned that a Federal Express plane had crash landed in Tokyo due to high winds. Come to find out, the whole airport in Tokyo was closed. Japan Airlines didn’t communicate this to us until it was time to board. Meanwhile, the delay caused us to have to re-enter the security check several times, to where Michelle managed to lose her purse with her IPod, sunglasses and digital camera card.

Thank goodness all but the sunglasses are backed up on the computer. In any event, Japan Airlines then ushered all 400 passengers to the 5 star Manila Hotel. This place was so beautiful. It housed former Hollywood glams as well as former national diplomats and US Presidents along with us. How amazing could this be!!!!! We sucked up to the front desk host and got an amazing suite with a city and ocean view. Dinner was also on Japan Airlines with sushi, fresh fish, you name it. We were quite happy about how things were turning out until 3AM when we got our wake up call. Wake up call we asked in disbelief?

Yes said the front desk. Your departure is scheduled in three hours. Hurry on down. There went our luxurious experience at the Manila Hotel. Onwards and upwards….to Tokyo Japan. “I’m turning Japanese you know I’m turning Japanese I really think so” … Do you remember that song? This was our song for the next few days as we travelled around Tokyo and learned a bit about this city.

Once in a lifetime.........

I would like to do a dedication in memory of our favorite Minnie the Mermaid….You were loved and will always be loved. Your ever lasting smile is seen and felt each day and night. Even though you are gone, your wonderful spirit is felt each morning the sun rises. We miss you and may the four winds blow you gently home.

It's still March.......

So Jeff, Michelle and I take off on a commuter boat, to a commuter bus to a commuter ferry searching for our next dive. As I mentioned, The Philippines consist of over 7,000 islands, so we have our pick. We originally were planning on going to the dive area of Moa bal, but Jeff had mentioned the town of Dauin which was one of Michelle’s original picks for the spectacular macro diving. We quickly changed course and off we went to the island of Negros. The first night there we stayed in the main town, but quickly left the next morning to peaceful Dauin.

When we arrived, we had trouble finding an open room, but the manager of the lovely El Dorado resort mixed things up a bit and we stayed in a spectacular bungalow. The island of Apo was where our diving was done. Dives to this site were only done on Tuesdays. It was a Monday. Jeff was only there for a day and it was imperative that we went to APO Island. With a lot of luck and persistence, we were able to make that happen. The way out to APO Island is on a long boat, local dive site where many divers come to adventure. During our first 2 tank dive, we saw a beautiful array of fish and turtles.

The perfect aquarium scene in crystal blue waters. That evening we shared spectacular dinners and wonderful Philippine rum at the El Dorado resort. The pool and pool bar was open 24 hours so we enjoyed a midnight dip under the stars. The next day, Jeff took off for Manila to join up with his cousin. We had an enjoyable week with him and were happy to spend many entertaining hours together. Unfortunately, all things end and we had to say our farewells.


The following day, Michelle and I dove Apo again. It is amazing how spoiled one can get, when all around is spectacular. It becomes the norm. On our final day in Dauin, we rode a jeepney (a jeep which acts like a local bus and fills people to the top….literally, with people lined up inside, outside and ON TOP of the vehicle) to the local farmers market. I know we have all seen farmers markets at one time or another, but here in Dauin, the farmers market is known throughout the islands as the biggest market of its kind. Pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, fish, sheep, etc. all congregate in the square for auction.

We were enlightened with new products, some interesting, some disgusting, some pretty and some just plain old weird. We were supposed to eat breakfast there, but the pig looked too piggish, the chickens too cute, and there was absolutely no refrigeration anywhere. It is one thing to KNOW there is no refrigeration, but it is another to SEE there is no refrigeration. We left the market, went back to our hotel for breakfast, and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon snorkeling a fantastic reef walking distance from our hotel.


The next morning we took off for the Dauin Airport and headed back to Manila for a flight to Legaspi where we would then drive 2 hours over to Donsol, for another one of Michelle’s “Once in a Lifetime” experiences. Yeah right, I thought. This time we were off to an area known as the feeding station for whale sharks. As we drove through the country side, we enjoyed the rice fields and rich greenery of the islands. Throughout our ride, we saw bamboo mats lying out in the road. As I looked more carefully, I saw that the mats were covered with rice. I learned by asking our driver that this is standard rice drying procedure. So, if by chance a car is coming in the opposite direction at the same time you are, you have to drive over the rice. I wonder if this is the reason for a “hard kernel” of rice every once in a while????

Donsol is an undeveloped area which attracts people solely for the whale shark experience. Room shopping was difficult. Without reservations, there was nothing open. We finally got lucky and found a simple vacant cottage. As we were looking at it, about 4 other cars drove up requesting lodging. We grabbed cottage fast and were grateful to not be camping since we didn’t have any gear. Looking over our travels, this by far was the most unspectacular in accommodations, but at least we had a bed and shower and AC.

Donsol is in a peaceful inlet on the Pacific Ocean. It is noted for a high concentration of plankton which is what the whale sharks feed on. I was feeling a bit under the weather with a cold, but Michelle was ready and able to begin the exploration. We had to register at the park ranger station in order to get on a boat for the next day’s feeding. After watching a short video on the do’s and don’ts, we were ready for our adventure. Michelle was so excited that night she could barely sleep. She saw a whale shark 10 years ago while diving in Honduras and didn’t know what it was. Spotting a whale shark is a pretty special experience and due to her fear, she didn’t enjoy it at the time. She vowed to see another whale shark in her life time. Well…Donsol made wishes come true.

We learned in Donsol at the Whale Shark Marine center, that only 267 whale sharks are known to be surviving in the world and 68 of them have been to Donsol this year. They are identified by their spot pattern, which is unique to each creature, sort of like our fingerprints.

That evening we hung at our hotel and hooked up with a guy we had met in Malapascua (home of the thresher shark). He was one of the few “lucky” ones to have been on the amazing thresher shark dive with us and he had video footage of this adventure which he downloaded to our computer. While he did this, we met several other guests and the next morning we all went to the ranger station to begin our hopeful swim with whale sharks.

The long boat holds 7 swimmers, plus a crew of spotters, along with a guide and a ranger who ensures all rules are followed (i.e. no touching the fish, coral, etc.) We took off into the calm waters and in less than 5 minutes, we spotted the “Butading” (Philippine for Whale Shark).
The whale shark is the largest fish known to man. Although it is called a whale shark, it has gills and therefore is a fish, not a whale which is a mammal. Because it is a fish, it can stay under water at all times. It does not need to surface for air as whales do.

As our spotter called out Butading…Butading….the 7 swimmers, guide and ranger, were lined up on the side of the boat with snorkel mask and fins on. We all jumped out of the boat to begin swimming with our fish. Because I was not feeling well, I stopped swimming fairly soon, but the rest of the swimmers stayed with the fish as he glided through the water. We saw a total of 7 fish that day and although sizes of these fish vary, those we saw were all over 25 feet long. Michelle was able to stay underwater with them and really take in the beauty of these majestic creatures of the sea.

Meanwhile, about 15 other boats were out in this area doing the same thing as we were. Each boat is allowed to follow one fish which means each fish can have 7 people at a time swimming with it. When the group tires or if the whale shark is moving too fast, the fish is traded off to another boat so all the boats and spotters work together for the spectators. This process continues for 3 hours. The spotters were as excited as we were every time we came close enough to hop out of the boat and follow a fish.

Later that day, I took a nap with the hopes of getting better while Michelle walked the beach, read, and met up with a whole new group of visitors. Most visitors stay in Donsol just a day or so but we were there for two days and got a whole new experience. When I awoke, it was time to observe the evening fire flies. Our new group of friends joined us as we boarded a taxi and travelled to the near by river. We jumped onto a long boat and travelled up stream of a nearby river, where the fire flies dance around the acacia tree.

This is the first time I have seen fireflies, but Michelle, being from the east coast, has spent many a summer night enjoying the blinking lights of these little insects. We spent a few hours on the river and then went to the best fish restaurant in town where we shared fresh shrimps, fish, potatoes, salad and locally made rum, We all got soused and ended up singing Eagles tunes with the guitar player. I even borrowed the guitar and strummed a few tunes for the crowd. Sin Palace revisited!

On day 2, it was a different day all together. We had a new group with us, and we knew the trick of the swim. We were the 2nd boat out, and in real calm waters, so our first whale shark was easy to find. We all dove in, and this time I had Michelle’s camera taking pictures of the shark while we swam with it. Day 1 was too quick for me, where day 2, I really understood what we were doing.

We were idiots trying to keep up with this huge monster of a fish while it was eating. I first started in the front of the fish, and when I saw its mouth, I screamed as load as I could. I really felt oh, oh…. Then as I caught a breath I was next to it looking into his big black eyes wondering what it was thinking. By then I was out of breath, and swam over the dorsal fin thinking that if thing ever went up, I’d be a galloping fish boy, so I slowed down even more to catch his tail fin and was again thinking, does he know I’m back here? Does he care? With a little wag of the fin, I could be in another island….hospital! So this went on for another 3 hours, incredible, with one swim lasting over 25 mins. Michelle tired, but gained up enough energy to go in for another look. Only 2 (under 20 years of age now!!!!) people stayed out there during the entire swim, and they were ready to go again…oh to be young….

The next day our whole group had to go to Legaspi at relatively the same time so we all boarded a van to begin the two hour drive back. Michelle and I spent the night in Legaspi, because the next morning we had a 7 AM flight back to Manila and we were required to be at the airport two hours before take off. Once in Manila, we had a 7 hour layover. We spent it in Mall Asia. I have never seen a shopping venue this large.

It is about 6 West Field's Valley Fairs. We hung at the Starbucks with online connectivity and caught up on internet duties. OK…Michelle did do a bit of shopping, but being out of the US has taken its toll and the consuming gene was in remission. When we finally arrived back at the Manila airport, we were off to Puerto Princessa, a main town on the island of Palawan. It is in this town where we would catch our 2nd live aboard dive boat, the Stella Explorer.

Dive...Dive...Dive....

March 3, 2009 – We can’t believe we are nearing the end of our eastern hemisphere travels, but here we are, the second to last stop….The Philippines!, in which we have three weeks to explore a land with over 7000 islands!!!!
Our first night is spent at the only hotel in the Manila airport, the famous 1 star Manila Airport Hotel. We arrived at 6PM and are done and gone at 6 AM the next morning heading out to the Island of Cebu. Once we landed in Cebu (a one hour plane ride) we hired a driver to take us three hours to the most northern Part of Cebu Island, the town of Maya. In Maya, we hired a small pump boat to take us out to the remote island of Malapsacua.

While bargaining for our boat, we were fortunate to hook up with a fellow from San Diego, Jeff AKA "Lucky" (more on that later). Jeff ended up being a fabulous travelling companion and stayed with us for a few days of adventure. We all had the same itinerary. Dive and Enjoy and not waste too much time on the road (or in this instance in the water) We all wanted to go to Malapascua which is known as the only feeding station in the world for the famous Thresher Shark and we were all intent on this miraculous creature of the deep.

We arrived in Malpascua in time for happy hour, in which we all began drinking and getting happy. It was interesting watching the Philippine’s come on to Jeff. Since he was travelling solo, he was fair bait for the come on’s and it seems that culturally, getting a western guy is a good catch for the Philippine’s. In any event, we had an entertaining evening and went diving the next day. The reef was nice enough…we saw some specialties, but it was the next day that we were excited for.

We woke up at 5:00 AM so that we could be out on the boat at 5:15 and at the dive site in time to see the sharks feeding frenzy. On day number 1 we got to see one thresher about 50 feet away. We were very pleased with this and felt very fortunate for the experience. The rest of the day was one of sheer relaxation. Malapascua as I mentioned is a very small island. Electricity for the island comes from a generator and if you are lucky you can get a wireless Internet connection or even air con.


The reef was non-existent because of all of the damage brought on by past fishing with dynamite, so we took advantage of the most lazy day of our vacation, by reading, relaxing and just hanging out. That evening we went on a specialty dive that was so interesting. It was Jeff and us, and our dive master who were going to explore the Mandarin fish. The Mandarin has an interesting mating pattern which we were allowed to watch. The male, a 3 inch black fish with electric red, purple and yellow, would hook up side by side with a 1 inch female. The two would flitter up, the male would ejaculate (and this we would see) the two would separate, and the male would go back down for another female. I bet he kept busy all night long. There were a lot of females waiting in line.

The next day we repeated the ritual of going out to see the threshers. Michelle insisted we were here to see threshers and we were going to see threshers. She coined the phrase “this is a once in a life time opportunity” (but more about that phrase later too!)

Jeff did not join us on this dive, hence the beginning of his nickname “Lucky”. Ok, waking up at 5:00 AM and diving into the Sulu Sea is not our idea, maybe my idea, of having a nice fun vacation…. So there we go. We motor out about a couple of miles (1 hour by long boat), and do our 2nd dive to see the threshers. As we start our descend to our sea floor at 20 meters (60 ft.) we glance up and see a large manta ray gliding across above us eating today's breakfast. It was a 3 meters (9ft.) wide and maybe twice as long. It was a graceful moment, and at that point we could of called it a day. But oh no….. we are the 2nd group of divers setting up to see the shark, and as we get to the staging area, a 10ft. long 3 ft wide thresher appears. It starts swimming right around all of us ( total of 10 divers) at one point it swims away, only to be coming up behind us, where I am. I glance around and see it, my heart jumps, in my head I’m thinking “Why am I here?, What do I think I’m doing? Help!!!!!”.

As he heads for me, he makes a sharp left turn and swims away. The other divers are all looking at each other not believing what just happen. I’m ready to bail, I give the heart pound signal to Michelle, she’s all excited floating 2 feet off of the sea floor. I’m looking all over for our next visit. Everyone is still looking forward, but me, I’m doing a 360 degree look, and son of a gun, now there are 2 sharks and they start coming up behind us, and I’m still in the back of the group first to see them. I want to lie down and not breath, I want to become coral, and then the fish wouldn’t see me, but no, they come up on both sides, I’m in the middle, then they take another turn away. What’s going on, why they are doing this.

The dive master is in shock, everyone is looking at each other with amazement, and there’s Michelle, floating up acting like the sharks next meal. At this point the dive group says OK, enough, time to surface. Everyone is smiling, giving high 5’s, and I’m thinking if I’ll ever do something like this again. I reviewed my life, I remembered things like family, when I was young, on the beach where I should be, it’s incredible what goes through your mind when a significant emotional event like that happens.

We get top side and the dive master says, It’s his best dive ever…”. Since this happened, I have had thoughts, daydreams re-living the experience. I have a feeling, I’ll never forget it. We get back to shore and meet up with “Lucky” (Jeff) and we tell him what he missed. Not the best thing to do when you travel all this way, and miss a dive like that.

He was very disappointed, and I guess, I was not thinking, when I told him it was the dive master's best dive ever, he almost started to cry. He vowed never to skip another dive if he has the choice. After breakfast we pack up and take off for our next destination, we’re not sure where that will be, but I know it’ll have to top this.

The Outback leaves a nice impression.....

(OK, OK, it is time to wave the white flag to all those that have commented on our blog) There are 2 people doing the writing, not just one. I document the facts and Michelle adds the descriptive commentary. When that is complete, she hands it back to me for the final edit. Thank you all for such nice comments. Feel free to comment at anytime. There is a section just for that on the site.

Also, we forgot to mention that during our visit to Tasmania, we learned all about Tasmanian Devils and Kangaroos. Upon leaving Port Arthur, we encountered a wilderness reserve that caters to the preservation of the Devils and the Kangaroos as well as other assorted birds. The Devils are rodents that are currently being extinguished by mouth cancer. The medical community is unable to find a cure at this time, which means the Tasmanian Devils are becoming extinct. These animals are responsible for eating up Australian road kill so their survival is important to maintaining the beauty of Australia. At the reserve, we walked through a huge petting park filled with kangaroos and wallabies’. This visit was a highlight to our trip. (Thanks Clint for reminding me of that experience!) Now back to the story of Sydney….

Feb. 26, 2009 - We sailed off across the harbor to city of Manly. Our friends Glenn, Donna and Noah said it was a must see. They were right! Manly sits at the mouth of Sydney Harbor. We bussed our way to the starting point of a 10 kilometer ( 6 miles)seaside walk that starts at the Spit Bridge (a really cool draw bridge) and ends up at Manly Beach. The path took us through beautiful beaches, local neighborhoods, Aboriginal burying grounds, and the bush coastline with calm surf and amazing harbor views. During the walk I saw a huge spider web and decided to get an up close picture. Michelle says, “Watch it!!!”, and then I see the largest spider ever right next to the web. I am not sure what kind of spider it was, but we captured it on film.

We saw tons of wildlife on this hike and 4 hours later successfully reached Manly Beach. We chowed down at a lovely fish restaurant and hung with the locals at a nearby pub till the ferry arrived to bring us back to Sydney. We told ourselves that if we would consider living in Sydney. Manly would be an ideal location for us to set up home base. It is kick back and beautiful, a tad busy, but not overwhelming. That night back, in Sydney, we went to a local pub with good live music inclusive of American Favorites such as Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, and the Eagles. We hung there with 2 young Australians and a fellow just back from Iraq that spoke negatively about Americans, but enjoyed dancing with Michelle.

While in Sydney we explored their China Town, Fisherman’s wharf (The Fish Market with some of the freshest sushi ever!), we strolled around Darling Harbor, a romantic night spot and home of Real World Sydney (one of Raya and Michelle’s favorite shows) we swam the world renown surfer beach, Bondi (that’s pronounced Bond Dye), and snorkeled our way at Shelley Beach (there really is a beach with the same name as my wife!).

Michelle took on an inside tour of the beautiful opera house, an architectural delight. We tried to attend a show there but it was sold out. Better planning next time. As always…..it was sad to leave but adventure called and off we flew to the Philippines……

From Tazzie to Sydney mainland.......

Feb. 20, 2009 - We had our picnic lunch and took off for the town of Strahan (pronounced Strawn). This is a quaint harbor village on the most western shore of the Tasmanian Island. It is here that one can explore most of the World Heritage areas which comprise the Western part of Tasmania.

To become a world heritage site, an area must have only one of 10 listed requirements. Western Tasmania has 8 of the 10 requirements, and is the only place in the world that possesses so many. It is here we can explore the Huon Forest with trees over 4000 years old!!!! We also rode a train line which was developed in the 1800’s for transferring copper from the Queensland mines to the Strahan harbor for deliverance throughout the world. It was truly beautiful to go through the rain forest on the train and learn about the history of building the train line with convict labor.

The following day we did the Gordon River cruise up the river. This proved a bit slow for the two of us and we became antsy during this tour. When it was complete, we celebrated at the town pub and chatted with the locals to get the true Strahan character. Let me tell you, there are lots of ‘em here. This town does not have enough women and plenty of wealthy men so take note…….if you are looking for a wealthy date, Strahan might be worth considering. We drove back to Hobart to catch a morning plane to Sidney. That evening in Hobart, nature gave us a storm to remember with all of the special effects (lightening/ thunder/ rain), it was spectacular!!!.

Feb. 24, 2009 – Back to Sidney, Australia. We checked into our hotel and realized several things about it. It did not have the pool it promised, the neighborhood was the center of the gay/lesbian community It just happened to be the week of Gay/Lesbian mardi gras. Lots of x rated porno stores and book shops lined the neighborhood. We were NOT happy.

We got out of dodge real quick and checked into the Holiday Inn at the rocks. The hotel room overlooked Sydney Harbor, the largest harbor in the world. From our window, we were also able to gaze at the famous Sydney Bridge along with the opera house. We were centered in the oldest neighborhood of Sydney, The Rocks. It was here that prisoners were originally brought to Port Jackson (Sydney’s first name).

Several of the buildings remained from that period and the history was a visual delight. As we walked around the neighborhood, we decided to climb the pile-on to the top of a span on the Sydney Bridge. It was a breathtaking 360 degree view of the harbor. It is also possible to view the city from an even higher vantage point by doing the “Bridge Climb”. People can walk the entire span of the bridge utilizing the steel support beams for a mere $200.00. We felt we got a great bargain for our $4.50 investment.

The US dollar can buy more than the Australian dollar. ($1 USA = $00.66 AU), so we were very lucky to be in Australia at a time when the US dollar value was high. This is not always the case. We found some things very reasonable, but food and drinks were quite expensive. A diet coke was $3.50 Australian but more like $2.30US. We are happy to pay just $1 at home.

Circular Quay is the hub of the transportation options. It is here that you can catch ferries, buses and trains all over the sprawling city. On day two, we walked past the quay into the world renowned botanical gardens and on to the viewing of the Queen Mary, the world’s largest luxury liner, stationed in Sydney just for the day. We went to ooh and ahh at the sheer size of this luxurious cruise vessel. Now let's check out the surrounding areas of Sydney......

Travels thru Tasmania........

(To begin this new post, we are currently in the Philippine Islands where the Internet and telephone service can be non-existent. So we'll keep up the posts as much as we can and I'll continue to send out notices about new posts as they happen. There will be 2 new posts as of today. I've that doesn't work, please let me know.....Dave and Michelle)

Day 5 – We arrived in the city of Launceston. This is the 2nd largest city in Tasmania. Our hotel was right next to the end of the fresh water Esk River that meets up with the salty Tamar River. The place where we stayed is designed with pirates, castles, and moats in mind. Our balcony over saw all of this and gave us the feeling we were a part of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We trekked up the Cataract Gorge which is where the Esk River flows.

There are walkways on both sides of the gorge. We decided to do the harder one on the way up and the “no so hard” coming down. The river reminds me of our own Stanislaus River above the central valley in California. It was picturesque with large granite cliffs making a huge river gorge. While exploring the gorge, we found a piece of paradise.

Prior to our expedition, Michelle reminded me to bring a bathing suit. I think I read that there is swimming somewhere up the river she says. After about ½ a mile of walking, there it was…..a huge fresh water swimming area, made up by damming the river, and next to it was one of the largest swimming pools I’ve ever seen. All of this was absolutely FREE!!!! Let me tell you, when traveling to tourist locations, nothing is free. So Michelle dove into the river and I swam in the pool. It was a glorious day. That evening we found the beer, that I would say, is the best in Tasmania, Boughs Draught. It’s brewed right here in Launceston, and we love it! We met some locals, shared thoughts, stories, etc. and once again, got ready to hit the road, heading up to Cradle Mountain, which is a state park that lies west.

On our way we needed to stopped to check out King Solomon’s Cave. We got there at the last tour, around 3:30 pm and joined up with a couple of students from the UK. It was an amazing tour, with mineral crystals building themselves into large beautiful cones hanging from the top of the cave. It looked as if Hollywood had come in and designed it. The cave is located in a rain forest. The moisture seeps into the limestone through the sand stone tunnel walls and becomes crystallized after centuries of drip after drip. The colors and patterns were so intricate and impressive. We were in shock by the fossilized beauty surrounding us. From here we continued through the mountains.

We experienced our first Tasmanian rain fall and it hit hard at a bad time. We were driving in the mountains trying to find our hotel. Luckily we met a couple on the road who were also lost, but going to the same place as us. We ran decided to caravan up to our hotel, the Lemontyme Lodge.


Well...we found it. Here we were in the raw exotic west of Tasmania, anticipating a rustic place to sleep in the bush. We were blessed with the largest log cabin in the Southern Hemisphere built with the protected Huon Pine of Tasmania’s rain forest. Lemonthyme Lodge turned out to be a 5 star cabin retreat, complete with en suite Jacuzzi tubs, wet bars, a secluded back porch overlooking the rain forest and our very own fireplace to relax with. Dinner was prepared in 5 star glamour. Luckily we brought our own wine and beer and had a ball at this romantic setting.

It is here that one is allowed to feed the animals. We came face to face with hundreds of platypus’s (wallabee family) and fed them melons from the Lemontyme kitchen. This is a nightly educational festivity for the guests. Unfortunately we got to Lemontyme late and had to leave early to continue our Tasmanian loop so off we went the next morning to Cradle Mountain National Park.

The rock formations here reminded us of the towering Yosemite. We did our hike around Dove Lake which was a 7 Kilometer trek that took more than 2 hours. The lake was crystal clear and warm enough to swim in, though we didn’t. It was so nice to be in the wilderness to enjoy the untouched terrain all around us.

Hey Mate....down under where????????????

Feb. 14, 2009 …..Our schedule called for Sydney Australia as the next stop but the weeklong forecast predicted rain and lots of it! Michelle made some phone calls and “wala”, schedule change was complete. Our next stop had now changed to Tasmania, home of the Tasmanian Devil.

I’m sure all of you are aware, but just to fill you in….Australia has been hit with one of the worst tragedies in its history. A major fire is wreaking havoc in the south, while the north is being flooded with monsoon type rains. It has been an inspiration to watch the people, businesses, and government agencies pull together to support the fire victims of Victoria and offer assistance to the flood victims up north. Last night a local newscast broadcasted firemen from the USA coming over to lend a hand to the Aussie’s. We felt very proud to be American and watch as our people came to help.

Tasmania! I only know it from watching the Bugs Bunny cartoon, but I have come to know it in a much different light during the 10 days of exploring its land and people. Hobart is the largest city in Tasmania. It’s nestled up to the Pacific Ocean with all kinds of fresh sea food eateries and beautiful old world architecture. We were here only for one night, but got to enjoy the Hobart Triathlon, a fantastic night of sleeping on the most comfortable bed ever (and on this trip, we’ve slept on many…!) and a very nice conversation with a local human rights attorney. We bought some warm weather clothes so that we could “rug up” and began our journey.

We got our first car rental and I was forced to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road. Everything is reversed on the car except for the pedals….thank GOD! Let me tell you, this is something that you have to get used to.
From Hobart, we traveled south and learned about the history of the island. We went to the town of Port Arthur. This was a prison built by the prisoner for repeat convicts from the kingdom of Great Britain. In the early 1800’s, England would
ship off their “bad folk” to Australia. In fact, if you are a native Australian today, you are probably either an aboriginal (similar to an American Indian) or the off spring of convicts. If you ended up in Port Arthur, it was because you did not repent and continued breaking the laws.

People who spoke up against the British as political advocates, children who stole bread from a market, thieves etc, were sent here to Australia to serve time and rehabilitate. If you didn’t do it right, off you went to a place like Port Arthur.

We took in a Night time Ghost Tour of the Prison Grounds. Lots of strange stories and unsettled spirits in the ruins of an old prison. Our hotel was on the prison grounds as well and after the tour we were a little creeped out while we heard the Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, and wallabies moving around outside our hotel door. The next day we went back for more viewing. We saw the penitentiary and viewed the living quarters, commandants quarters and just read up about the history of the island of Tasmania and the penal system of the British. We left the ruins at noon and pushed up the eastern coast from south to north, checking out the little towns along the way.

The country here is stunning, raw and untamed with red rocks and granite cliffs merging into the ocean.
Most of the roads around the island are two lanes, and easy to handle, even while driving on the other side.
Our next stop was Freycinet, A national park with gorgeous sea views, white sandy beaches, and tall green cascading mountains for mountains. We took 3 hikes with amazing coastal views. Afterwards, we explored the beaches of the town of Bicheno. We found a motor coach park with free year long camping facilities. We started thinking about retirement and the crash of the stock market. If all else fails, Tazzie here we come!

That evening we went to a rockery. This is an area where penguins live, mate, and mulch. Did you know penguins walk the way they do because they don’t have knees? Go tell that one to Batman! After two days in this area we needed to move on and head northwest to the city of Launceston. We didn’t want to leave because there was so much more to explore, but we had to stay true to the circuit that we had established if we didn’t want to abort the rest of our travels.

A bit Down Under - Byron Bay, Australia

Feb. 7, 2009 –

It was here that we hooked up with 10 other friends boy did we have a fun time! We stayed in apartment like facilities a block from the beach. Byron Bay is sort of like Santa Monica, but 50 years ago. The scene was surfer young with long sandy beaches, warm waters, scrumptious food, shopping and fabulous waves.

Debbie Hart, Michelle’s dear friend, set up a fun filled itinerary for all. We started with a bus tour to Nimbin, Steve’s favorite place on earth. It was an hour ride from Byron, through luscious green hills and towns with beautiful Victorian homes. The bus was an alternative tour in which the ride was synchronized to music. It was fabulous!!! Nimbin itself is an alternative town, feeling like a place right out of the 60’s during the Berkeley era. It was filled with tie dye and all the other accoutrement's from that era.

Day number 2, had us kayaking out into the ocean. We went through the waves to get outside the surf and there they were, a school of about 25 dolphins, coming so close that we could almost touch them. We watched for about 30 minutes and rode back in to land on one great wave. I was so excited. As we were riding in and paddling with the surf, I yelled out, “We’re doing it!!!” Then we tipped at the shoreline and came up laughing like two year olds.

Day number 3 was a real treat. A group of us took surfing lessons with the 1965 World Champion surfer, Rusty Miller. His daughter helped with the lessons, but not until Rusty himself, worked with Michelle was she able to ride the wave. Boy was she happy.
We celebrated Stevo’s birthday with a delicious gourmet dinner and yummy birthday cake. It was a fabulous day of relaxing and enjoying. We made up fun loving chats to honor Stevo AKA Stoney.

On day number 4 we were able to slip in a walk to the lighthouse, a 5 mile loop to the most eastern point in Australia. Some of us stayed and played on the beach. We didn’t realize it at the time, but this would be our last opportunity to truly enjoy the beach scene the way we liked. A Northern Monsoon was on it’s and the rains came and came and came. After three days of rain, we were sad to say goodbye to our friends but the time had come. We had so much fun celebrating Steve’s special day (or week) but our journey was calling.

Plans were to head off to Sydney but rain was predicted for the full week (due to the monsoon). Michelle went into work mode and made some last minute arrangements taking us to the land of the Tasmanian Devil, Tasmania Australia. It was here that the weather forecast was much more pleasing. Let’s see what this next adventure brings.

Bali - Another New Frontier

Feb. 1, 2009 - We left lovely Thailand for Bali, Indonesia. Bali is one of the many islands of the Indonesian chain, a chain with more land mass than anywhere in the world. It is certainly a beautiful island, filled with lush vegetation and lots of beaches.
We arrived late in the evening. We had pre -arranged transportation to our hotel in the beach town of Sunur (friends we met later on said they call this town Snore, which was to be proven….).

The taxi driver/tour guide seemed to take us under his wing and told us the do’s and don’ts of Bali. Right off the bat he told us not to let anyone know we were American since the Bali people don’t like Americans. We thought if they don’t want us here, we don’t want to be here, but it turned out that there is nothing further from the truth.

This particular guide had a horrible demeanor and actually argued with us about taking us to the places we wanted to tour. He had made so many references to natives disliking Americans, we finally got rid him and found that the Balinese were incredibly grateful for American support and tourists. We even had one native tell us how much he appreciated America and its generosity. It was so nice to hear.
One night we went up to the Hindu temple overlooking the sea and got to enjoy a traditional fire dance with exotic costumes and fun loving theatrics. It was a real introduction to Balinese Culture. Classic, traditional, beautiful and FUN!

It was tough to find our zone here in Bali. It was rainy season and the rain kept coming. After three days of it, we decided to take in some diving. It doesn’t matter when you get wet if you are under water. We went to a village on the East side of the island called Tulemben. We had a dive wreck about 100 ft. off shore, right in front of our hotel, but under the water.
Back in 1945 the American supply ship named “USA Liberty” was anchored off the coast of Lombok. The ship was hit by a Japanese torpedo. No one was hurt but the ship went down. Since then, fish converge on the boat/ reef, which is about 60 feet under water.
We spent three days diving and enjoying the small town, relaxed atmosphere and non tourist vibe. Finally, we took off to the mountain city of Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. We stopped at the King’s swimming pool. It is said that holy water comes from a natural spring which feeds the pool. It’s a beautiful water garden filled with plants and trees. We hired a guide, a deaf man who met us at the gate. Michelle’s background came in super handy while she communicated with our guide. He had everything written down, but he and Michelle were signing up a storm, so much so that we didn’t need to read his standard tour book and we got an extra special version.

We finally arrived in Ubud and once again, it was raining. We checked into the Honeymoon Guesthouse. The room seemed dark and Gothic and the windows which were carved in Balinese fashion had no screens. This made me very uncomfortable about mosquitoes. We decided to move to a lovely hotel which was bright and airy that overlooked the famous rice fields of Ubud.

Super Bowl was played during our time in Ubud. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to watch it live with the rest of you at 7:30 AM on Monday morning!!!!. While there, we were fortunate to meet other Americans and party the game away, drinking morning tea and coffee. One of the people we met was a So Cal boy. We really enjoyed his company and ended up hanging with him and his wife (Ron and Lena) the rest of our time in Bali. They are regular travelers and LOVE the Bali scene. They also seemed tired of the rain. Michelle shopped lots, I was sick with a cold, so we were happy to leave when the time came to do so although sad to leave the fun loving couple we met.

Bali was our last stop in developing countries for a while. On we went to Byron Bay, Australia for the infamous Festevo and the celebration of our traveling partner, Steve Hart’s 50th birthday.

One if by Land, and Two if by Sea … In the Andaman Sea

1/30/2009 –
We arrived at the Black Manta on 1/18 not knowing what to expect from a live aboard dive experience. For non divers out there, a live aboard is a large ship with 5 levels. The First two levels are for cabins, one level is the galley with entertainment center and dining room, the top level is the sundeck and the mid level is the dive area.

On a live aboard, the sole purpose is to dive. All of your needs are taken care of so you can just dive. There are as many crew people as there are divers. Our dive boat included our very own masseuse to be shared among 15 of us.

Our day looked like this: The bell would ring at 7AM. It was Time to wake up and meet at the galley. Here, our dive master Chris, would explain the course of the first dive of the day. We would have a light snack, and off we would tumble, into the ocean by 7:45. We would come up an hour later to a magnificent breakfast spread which changed daily, starting out very Thai and becoming more westernized as the week continued as did all the meals. We would have our breakfast and get ready for dive number two which would occur at 10:30. When we came up from dive number two, we would relax with a scrumptious lunch and a little nap. Dive number three would occur at 3:00. Once again, we would do our dive, come up for a light snack and prepare for our twilight/night dive. After this, dinner would be served. We would share stories and head on to bed as early as 9:30. Diving can be exhausting but so exhilarating!

We dove as far down as 90 feet at certain places. We were in the Similan Islands, a very special island chain in the Andaman Sea of Thailand. We saw countless fish species, some of which are only found in this particular area. We were also brought to amazing white sand beaches that seemed untouched by human hands.

The experience was incredibly relaxing until the final day, when Michelle’s stomach started acting up. We think she might have gotten a bit sloppy with her shower and sipped on some unpottable water by mistake. It was a miserable 24 hours for her….being on a boat and being sick to her stomach but she is a trooper and watched with envy as the others came up from their dives with fantastic stories of Manta Ray spottings, watching a Leopard Shark sleep, being in the center of a school of thousands of barracudas, and frolicking with an octopus who didn’t want to be frolicked with.

The people we dove with were fabulous. We enjoyed spending time with Hector from Singapore, Malcolm from England, On, our other dive master and fantastic photographer, Sariff , a resident from Seattle, and Belinda, an Aussie living in Singapore. They made our trip so interesting and fun. There was another group of people diving with us as well. We called them the coral crushers. They were certainly nice enough people, but it seemed like they never learned dive etiquette. There were 6 of them from Hong Kong. They were experienced divers but if there was anything special to see, they would run over what ever they could to be first to see it and be sure to get a good photo of it. They didn’t seem to care if they smashed into other divers or coral. Things really got out of hand when one of the other divers got one of the coral crushers banging the back of a turtle with a metal rod. We were appalled. So was our dive master, Chris.

The Similan Islands are a marine sanctuary and touching fish or coral is NOT allowed. Chris called the park staff on board to our ship to make sure this behavior did not continue.
All in all, the entire trip was amazing, and we ended it with mixed emotions when it was over, sad to be done but happy to be on land. This time, we end up in the fabulous town of Khaolak.
We spent five days in Khaolak. We revisited nightly sunsets, explored secret beaches and just relaxed by the pool and ocean.

We did spend one day diving a wreck that Michelle missed due to her bug on the dive boat. What we are learning on this trip is that we enjoy just hanging and maybe not doing so much. Khaolak allowed that. Everything was in walking distance.

We were fortunate in finding some fabulous restaurants and I mean FABULOUS! 5 star dinners in a down home atmosphere. YUM! The food in Thailand has been getting a bit limiting for us so finding great restaurants made us very happy.

Khaolak our last stop in Thailand. To think, 3 months ago we knew nothing about this part of the world. Now we are in love with it and wondering when we can come back. We hope our stories have given you a peak into this beautiful culture of people, land and sea.

With fondness, we bid farewell to the land of smiles and head off to Bali Indonesia.

Beaches and Beaches........

Jan. 23, 2009 – Doing a little looking back since our last posting …. We left the wonderful island of Koh Lanta, one of our favorite islands in Thailand, for the mainland of Krabi. Our next destination is the area of Ao Nang which sits on the lower southwest coast of Thailand. Railay Bay is where we set up home for a couple of days. This is a place that has 2 bays, both as beautiful as the other. Tall steep sandstone rocks create the surrounding for each bay. If you have ever have seen a photo of the orient with a long boat heading out to sea and a beautiful sunset in the background, this is it.

We figured that we would search for a room when we got there. We do this about 50% of the time. We find that we can get lucky and negotiate a better price than when planning on line. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. What we do is get dropped off with all of our bags. Given our diving equipment which is a bag in itself for each of us, we have a lot of bags. Michelle shops for living quarters while I hang back with the luggage. Railay Bay is kinda funky on the east side, with hole in the wall bars like Mothers Kitchen and Skunk Bar, fabulous rock climbing, restaurants, and live music nightly. The hotel workers exit out this side of the bay heading back to the mainland. This inlet is surrounded by sandstone rocks and the only way on and off this piece of land is by water.

As we head towards Railay’s Bay West, we have the setting I described earlier, with hotels catering to the more elite. This is where the sun bathing, sunsets, kayak rides and longboats for tours can be found. There are no motorized vehicles here because there are no roads, just walkways and beaches.

We spent one day snorkeling but nothing much was seen. Then we spent another day kayaking around the inlet. In the afternoon we decided to check out the main town of Ao Nang . We were hit head on with the realities of life. Ao Nang, although still a beach town, felt like quite the mainstream. It was filled with cars, tuk- tuks, stores, and people hawking wares on the beach.
As we walked the town in amazement, we saw the familiar site of the golden arches, Mc Donald’s!!!!! We were both so excited for a real taste of America ….Micky D felt like an oasis!!!. As we walked…no wait…. RAN up to order our double cheese burgers and fries our anticipation was overwhelming. We don’t normally eat at McDonald's but when that is all the Americana offered and one has been gone for more than 6 weeks, the need to indulge was overpowering. We both laughed at each other and our reactions to this American standby. I’m sure the other people in the restaurant were wondering….what’s with them? (in Thai). Needless to say, it went down sooooo good but felt like lead later.

Our final day in Railay was a relaxing day on the beach of Railay West where we found some new friends from Canada (Hey now Lori and Lawrence!!!). We hung with them that day and into the evening. It was a pleasure to meet some folks and share some stories. We all had dinner and set off to bed early (11:00) to begin our journey to Pukhet. It is here that we picked up our boat for our 4 day and 4 night live aboard experience. We set sail for the Similan and Surin Islands on the dive boat the Black Manta.

Back to the beaches of Southern Thailand

Jan. 14, 2009 - Another week has passed and after 6 weeks of traveling the miracle occurred...we lost track of time! Each day rolls into the next with worries consisting of where we should go and what shall we eat. We are currently on a ferry heading out of Koh Lanta. a larger island in the Andaman Sea in So. Thailand.

We have been here for 7 days, where we stayed in a small bungalow resort on the ocean called Lanta Villa. Lanta Villa is on the a horseshoe beach , about 2 miles long right in the middle of the horseshoe. We would sit on our beach chairs at about 5:30 pm and watch the sun drop into the ocean right in front of each night with an hour long show going on. While nature entertained us, we would watch the locals set up their nightly dinner platforms. BBQ was the main way of cooking and usually with the fresh catch of the day. Delicious fish dinners would sell for $6 US...it was heaven.

We went diving 2 times and also went on a snorkeling trip to different nearby islands. One of the dives we went to is listed on the top 100 dives spots in the world, Min Huang. Visibility here was spectacular at 120 ft. +. With more clear blue waters and tons of cool looking fish. Another site afforded us some rare viewings of octopus, lion fish, scorpion fish and even a sea snake.

We spent another day exploring the islands of koh Phi Phi. Phi Phi is surrounded by gorgeous turquoise waters with pristine cliffs jetting out to the sea in brilliant formations, some of which reminded us of the 1000 year old temples viewed in Cambodia. the vibe here was hippie chic , with lots of young people milling around the packed streets. Several movies were filmed here ..."The Beach" and a James Bond movie. It was truly a beautiful setting and a perfect day trip for us.

Michelle and I took another motorcycle ride to the southern tip of the island ... it's kinda giving me the bug for a scooter when we get home. The only tough part is driving on the opposite side of the road that I'm accustom to in the states. The best memories of this part of our trip were the 2 days we stayed by the hotel, frolicking in the ocean and pool, sipping beers, eating Thai food and gobbling up fresh fish at the nightly BBQ...while we just enjoyed each others company, we wanted for nothing!

We are off again to Railey Bay. Our friends Stevo and Deb, the ones who helps us out on this trip, feel Railay Bay is a piece of paradise...we'll let you know.

Maldives....2008-2009

January 5th 2009 – Happy New year to all! Oh my god! What a week we just had in the Maldives bringing in the New Year with our friends Stevo and Debbie. This is as close to paradise as we have ever dreamed. All other trips, all other places, will be compared to this incredibly special spot.

The Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean are at sea level. There are over 1,000 islands in the chain, 80 of which are inhabited. The island we stayed on was about 1/4 mile in diameter, easy to walk and snorkel around.

Picture this: Waking up in a nice size bungalow to the sounds of nature, open the door and walk out onto the deck. The skies are a perfect blue. Walk 20 feet to the pristine white sandy beach. Look out onto the turquoise waters. As the sun glistens, put on your snorkel mask, and fins and dip yourself into the 84 degree water. Begin swimming the 25 feet out to the house reef which surrounds the ½ mile island. Watch as the ocean life thrives. Hundreds, no thousands of different marine species can be seen as one swims around the island. We saw trumpet fish, grouper, tuna, moray eels, sting rays, manta rays, octopus, shrimps, lobster, star fish, squid, black tip, silver tip, and white tip sharps, porpoises, angel fish, clown fish, on and on and on.
Our days were spent like this: Wake up, go for breakfast buffet, get on the dive boat by 8:15 and head out to sea. Waters were treacherous at times but the dives were fantastic. Come back to the resort by 12:30. Have a bite to eat at the Sundowner Pub. Soak up the rays and head back into the ocean for an afternoon snorkel.

Once that has been completed, head out to the pool for happy hour and a quick swim in non salt water. Then, head to the bungalow for a quick shower and happy hour at the Sundowner where we would gaze upon the end of the day as the sun fell into the ocean turning the sky a magnificent pink. One day we woke up early enough to watch the sun rise from the ocean as well. All we had to do was walk to the other side of the island. Spectacular orange skies lit up the day as the sun made its debut. Nights had a sliver of a crescent moon and stars galore. We made out the constellations and hoped we were right.

We had a gas with our friends Steve and Debbie and feel fortunate to have shared this special time with them. What a way to bring in the new year!!!!. This place has touched our hearts in a way we will never forget. Like I said earlier, the beauty is astounding and all other trips shall be compared with this spectacular week. We hope to be lucky enough to come back here some day. Michelle is talking about our 10th anniversary. Who knows………..going back to So. Thailand ............(trying to get pix uploaded, having a hard time.....)