Deep into the dark night on a violent and bouncing sea, I startled from my berth to the wild call of Topher shouting “All hands on Deck! All hands on Deck!” I scrambled to the deck as fast I could while throwing on my life vest wearing only my short white night shirt an a hair elastic to keep the wildly blowing wind from whipping my face. Our dinghy, our trusted...
Time to Cruise Crossing into the darkness, leaving the bright neon lights and glow of Miami behind, we motored into a clear calm sea and across the Gulf Stream for the first time. Tanner and I took the 1st watch, late into the night. The most exciting thing that happened was a call from the Norwegian Dawn on the VHF. We had been watching this behemoth glide across...
We use Facebook for quick updates, and make full blog entries as often as we can. Here are some updates we first posted on Facebook for Cambodia. We are still working on one for the photos from Angkor Wat temples and one for the Mondulkiri with elephants and zip-lining over waterfalls. We have a 48-hour trek the next two days to get from Koh Rong, Cambodia to the...
We use Facebook for quick updates, and make full blog entries as often as we can. Here are some updates we first posted on Facebook for Vietnam. Danang and Halong Bay, Vietnam A few interesting pictures. We saw the fire-breathing dragon bridge in Danang with 20,000 other tourists and locals. We watched someone carrying four foot tall ming vases on a moped. We...
The ghosts of the Chu Chi tunnels are thick here. They linger in the dank, humid air as spirits of soldiers – spirits of men who were brutal killers and those who were brutally killed here on this earth beneath our feet. The killing happened during both the war with France in 1945 and later during Vietnam Civil War, which the U.S. took part in on the side of...
Leaving Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island by the Tranz Alpine train is a thrill. The cold morning air wakes you like no coffee ever could. The train cars have a domed roof so passengers can peer out at the farms that eventually give way to the Alps without having the squish your face up to the glass. There are two children sitting across the...
A step into a simpler time, an easygoing local culture as welcoming as the lushness of this tropical rain forest and as welcoming as the captivating beauty of the liquid blue sea. This is Taveuni, Fiji. We take flight in a small deHavilland propeller plane from the town of Nadi. We fly across the craggy green and golden mountains, dark rivers and small villages of...