Photograph of the Week

Just a few lonely bluebonnets in Texas. I took this seven years ago near Llano, Texas during a Jeep Jamboree.

Photograph of the Week

I took this photograph on a trip to Moab, UT in 2011. I think I took it because I just liked the look of the clouds.

Photograph of the Week

This is a female cardinal. In the wild, it is the males who are the more brilliantly colored. I took this picture at my parent’s house yesterday while we were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

Photograph of the Week

During a trip to Palau in 2010, we had the opportunity to dive the famous “Chandelier Cave”. The cave is actually three separate chambers before it dead ends. There are air pockets in the ceiling of each chamber. Once we reached the final chamber, our dive guide (the one in the red shorts) had us turn all our lights off. Without lights, it was quite easy to see the glow of the entrance and know which way was out. This picture is the entrance to the cave in 15 feet of water.

Photograph of the Week

The M/V Odyssey moored in Truk Lagoon waiting for its next group of divers to explore the wrecks of Operation Hailstorm.

Photograph of the Week

During a SCUBA trip to North Sulawesi, Indonesia a few years ago, we took a side trip to visit the Tangkoko Rainforest. Besides the crested black macaque, the other endemic species we came to see was the spectral tarsier. With their oversized eyes and ears, you can see why they are rumored to be the inspiration for Yoda.

Photograph of the Week

I caught this Painted Bunting a few years ago at my parents’ house.

Travel Log - Fiji - FINAL

Today we travel back to the U.S. We spent most of the day relaxing at a local hotel waiting for our flight later in the evening. The flight left Fiji at 9:30pm, then arrived back in Los Angeles at 3:30pm on the same day! You lose a day going, but get it back coming home. After another relatively short flight from Los Angeles back to DFW, we are now home.

As promised, I have now posted all my remaining photographs from this trip. Enjoy!

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Travel Log - Fiji - Day 9

For our last day of diving, we headed back up to the northern part of the Bligh Water. There was plenty of strong currents today, but the reefs and pinnacles were still beautiful. The highlight of the day was two Pygmy Seahorses. Credit goes to our dive guides for finding and pointing them out to us. I would probably never have seen them on my own. These animals are tiny: about the size of your pinky fingernail. While trying to photograph this one, I looked away briefly to check my camera settings, and when I looked up I lost it. It took me several minutes of searching to find it again.

After our last dive, we cleaned up our gear and hung it out to dry. We then chilled for the rest of the evening and enjoyed a sunset cruise as the Nai’a sailed back west towards home port.

Tomorrow we head for home. Stay tuned for my final travel log which will include almost 100 more pictures of this trip…

Travel Log - Fiji - Day 8

We arrived early this morning at Wakaya Island and spent the day diving its beautiful reefs. Some of the group were fortunate to spend time with a Manta Ray as it was feeding.

After our third dive, the Nai’a moved further north to Makogai Island where we went ashore to visit a local village. We were given a tour by one of the elders as well as a brief history of the island (it used to be a leper colony.) We then participated in the kava ceremony with the entire village present which officially welcomed us into their home.

Back in 2016, Makogai Island had the misfortune to take an almost direct hit from Cyclone Winston. The nearby Koro Island took the brunt of it. Most of the buildings I remember on the island from my visit in 2015 are gone. They are still in the process of rebuilding. However, you would never know this just by looking at these amazing people. The entire time we were there, young children were running around playing. None were afraid of us and would come right up to you to say “hi”.

Afterwards, we were presented with and participated in songs and dancing by the village’s young men and women. Fijian dancing is meant to tell stories. We were told that they had even made up a dance about the cyclone they endured and overcome. But, I couldn’t tell which one it was. The dance by the young women was of course very beautiful. The dance by the young men was more of a “war dance”. They would inch closer to you as they danced, then at the last second attempt to scare you. They did this several times. I captured this photograph during the last dance with the camera in my lap.

Tomorrow is our last day of diving…