Galapagos 2016, Day 2

Overnight we relocated to Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island, crossing the Equator twice enroute, northbound and southbound.

In the morning, we took a guided Zodiak tour of the shoreline.  Plenty of wildlife on the rocks.  The bird that everyone's heard of when if comes to the Galapagos is the Boobie.  The Boobies put on quite a show when they're feeding.  With eyes in front of their heads, they size up the location of a fish underwater, dive straight in after it, eat it underwater, and take off to find another one.  How they miss each other and the Zodiaks is a wonder.  Here's one breed, the Nazca Boobie:

 
And the one everyone wants to see, the infamous Blue Footed Boobie:

We also saw Sea Lions, Pacific Green Sea Turtles, Galapagos Fur Seals, and Sally Lightfoot Crabs, but none of these are easy to photograph in the water, so we'll see them later.  Marine Iguanas, however, do not move quickly.  So here they are, sunning on the rocks:

A short trip brought us to Punta Espinoza, on Isla Fernandina.  We disembarked for a walk on the lava flows.

Here's some of the interesting volcanic geography:

The lava flows:

There were animals everywhere!!  You had to be careful not to step on the Marine Iguanas:

As you can see, they weren't very concerned about the humans as we navigated through the herd.  They like to pose for pictures.

A rare sighting, up close, of a Galapagos Hawk.

Our guide explained the local nomenclature for the flora and fauna.  Everything is named either Galapagos, Darwin, or Lava.  Hence, Galapagos Penguin, Darwin Finch, or Lava Lizard.  Whatever it is, it has one of those names attached to it.  Except, of course, the Pacific Green Sea Turtle.  These guys are almost impossible to photograph...they never come out of the water and only stick their head up quickly to breathe:

Two baby Galapagos Flightless Cormorants (mom is nearby, off to the left).  We really were this close.  The critters could care less about humans.

Sally Lightfoot, really colorful but very fast-moving, finally held still for a moment.

And, the Galapagos Mockingbird.  There are four species of endemic mockingbirds in the Galapagos, all related but each is slightly different.  Many historians believe that the mockingbird, more than any other organism (even the finches), had the greatest influence on Darwin's initial development of the concept of natural selection.

We left at 5 p.m. but didn't go far...just back across the way to Isla Isabela.

Galapagos 2016, Day 1

Overnight, we cruised to Bartolome Island.  In the morning, we boarded our trusty Zodiak and headed ashore for an exhausting climb up to the lighthouse, led by one of the naturalists.  The views were spectacular.  An interesting point:  Everyone (and we do mean everyone) who works in the Galapagos is required by law to be Ecuadorian.  That means the entire ship's crew and the guides. The guides and naturalists on our trip were all from the Galapagos and really knew their stuff.

Pinnacle Rock:

As for wildlife, there were more tired humans than anything else.  We did see plenty of Lava Lizards, which are found all around the islands.  As happens with several species, some of these lizards are endemic to a single island in particular.

Everybody back on the ship, we headed for Caleta Bucanero (Buccaneer's Cove) on Isla Santiago, about 1 1/2 hour boat ride away.

After arriving at Buccaneer's Cove, we had some time off to wander the decks.  We spotted porpoises and a number of sea birds playing near the ship.

While taking pictures, the wind popped Pati's hat right off and into the drink.  Seeing us waving goodbye to the hat, Zodiak driver and local hero Jorge performed an at-sea hat rescue and saved the planet from environmental contamination.  And Pati got her wet hat back.

An afternoon Zodiak tour of the cove challenged us to our first attempts at photographing wildlife other than Lava Lizards.  We did get some shots, but the critters were moving and so was the Zodiak.  Here, anyway, is the lovely rock they call "The Monk".

More wine, and dinner.  We were treated to local specialties every morning at breakfast, even at the hotel in Quito.  Tamales (called humitas) for breakfast!  Dinners aboard ship also had an Ecuadorian flair.

Galapagos 2016, Arrival

We've been wanting to go to the Galapagos Islands for years but just seemed to never get around to it. We finally made up our minds to go this year and spent a great deal of time and effort researching the best way to get there and see stuff.  We finally settled on Silversea Expeditions, an all-inclusive cruise that filled the bill.  We'd do it again!  And we'd recommend Silversea to anybody considering making the trip.  The boat was nice, the crew was friendly, the food was excellent, and the guides and naturalists were outstanding.

So, here we go.

First, a late arrival in Quito, made later by the aircraft being rerouted around the storm in the gulf. We finally arrived at the airport at about midnight, and were greeted by the Silversea greeters, who whisked us off to the hotel poste haste (probably because they wanted to go home).  At the hotel, at almost 1:00 a.m., we were presented with roses and water.  The hotel was making pretty certain that its guests did not drink the local water.  We spent the next day in Quito, taking a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city.  And drinking local beer.  Not local water.  Not much to see in Quito, but here's a couple of shots:

There were more roses in the hotel room.  About the roses: do you know where most of the roses at the florists here come from?  Ecuador!  The hotel had roses everywhere, and when flying over the city, one can see lots and lots of greenhouses.

The following day, we were off to the Islands via LATAM airlines.  It's a real airline.   First stop, Isla Baltra, which is your basic desert island.  Flat, with a runway.  And it's a blast into the past as you land, turn around on the runway (we don't need no stinking taxiways), and taxi back to the terminal which has no air conditioning.  That's the only terminal we've ever been in where the wind inside is stronger than the wind outside.  Here's the location:

Next we boarded a bus for a short trip to the pier, where we were issued life preservers, boarded a Zodiak, and headed off to the Silver Galapagos.  There are a few municipal piers in the Galapagos, but none will accomodate a ship of any size.  Therefore, everything that goes onto a larger boat arrives via smaller boat.  Everything that goes onto the Silver Galapagos (people, food, luggage, booze, etc.) arrives by Zodiak.

We settled in, drank some wine, and got ready for the adventure.

Motorsport in America 2016

So far, we'd spent a quiet summer, if one can call the political wranglings of 2016 "quiet".  We did take the usual road trip to beautiful downtown Manitowoc and Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin twice this year:  once for IndyCar racing and once for IMSA Series racing.

First, maritime history in Manitowoc.  We saw the SS Badger from our hotel, docking late at night. Photos were impossible since we were in our scivvies, so check out http://www.ssbadger.com/about/history.html

Yes, this is a submarine.  It's the USS Cobia, one of 28 subs built in Manitowoc for World War II duty.  A very interesting story:  http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/the-submarine-experience/28-freshwater-submarines/

IndyCar in June began with a support race, here heading for the iconic cheese bridge:

Two crowd favorites, Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves (of Dancing With the Stars fame):

Everyone laughs at us because we continue to think that poor old Takuma Sato still has moments of brilliance.  Here he's running 7th, which IS brilliant because he usually seems to think his car number is his proper place in the world.

Will Power (yes, that's his real name) won the race.

So, then, August rolled around the off we went again, this time to the IMSA Race (formerly known as American LeMans Series).  We brought along our new camera lenses and looked hard for something other than cars passing by.  So here we go:

In the Corvette garage:

GT Daytona Drivers for the Scuderia Corse Ferrari, Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan at the autograph session:

By the way, we have some really excellent portrait photos of many other drivers.  If you know us and would like to see them, e-mail one of us and we'll share.  Moving on...a little fun with the Action Express Racing cars:

Photo credit for the above IMSA shots goes to Gordon.  Following, some of Pati's pix from around the garages:

And finally, Mark Kvamme (Prototype Challenge Class) presented  himself for his close-up, on the hook after gracefully sliding off the track and onto the grass.

The race was won by Dane Cameron in the Action Express Corvette DP.  As always pre-race festivities began at the local fish fry and post-race included a stop at the outlet mall.

Finishing Up in Nice

To some of our favorite people in Nice:  Pascal at the Spar store (kept us stocked with Armagnac), the lady at Carrefour who barked out the lane assignments for the checkouts (listen up!), the seamstress at the shop downstairs (and her many cats), the lovely gal at Nver (who greeted us every time we walked by), the dude at the Socca stand (more pepper!), all the friendly people at our local Casino Supermarket, Frederic the Optician (Optique Deppon, 21 Rue de France), the folks at the local bakery and our landlords, Declan and Helen, even though they're technically in Dublin.  Salute to you all!

Along the hiking path:

Nice's Coulee Vert with its fabulous fountains:

A geezer watching the girls go by in the Square Messena (wait!  We know that geezer!):

And farewell to Nice for 2016:

Our summer promises to be a quiet one, if anything can be quiet during this rather interesting Presidential primary season.  We'll be at a couple of auto races and that's about it until September when we visit the Galapagos Islands.  No Nice next year, by the way.  Stay tuned, because January 2017 will mark the beginning of quite an adventure!

Of course, no trip is complete without the Wiener Dog contest results:

Gordon kicks butt once again:  Gordon 39, Pati 31.  He spotted his last one at the airport on the way out of town...right after we ran into David Coulthard at the check-in counter.

Wanderings in March 2016

We returned to Monaco for a day of shopping and walking around.  We set out on our "usual" route:  past Port Hercule and the Avant Port, up to the Casino, out Boulevard Moulin, down to the beach, pit stop at the Grimaldi Forum, through the Japanese Garden, then the famous tunnel, and back to the shopping areas in Fontvielle.

The Japanese Garden:

Monaco's Opera House amid the "rooftop gardens" above the Fairmont Hotel:

So, did the Principality think that if they built this ugly thing out of glass, no one would notice it?  Honestly, look at the various architecture.  It's what makes Monaco...Monaco.

Time out in Mid-March for a quick trip up to Vienna to visit the family.  Jeff, Sherry and the SWW's ditched the munchkins for the day and went hiking in the hills:

Along the Danube, gratefully without busses or river boats:

But back in town, the Easter Markets are unbelievable.  Food, fun, and Easter eggs:

Looks like the family will return to the States this year, and frankly, we'll miss visiting Vienna.  It's a great city with lots to see, do and eat.  Especially eat.

Formula 1 Testing, Barcelona, 2016

Circuit de Catalunya, March 2016.  The weekend began with a quick flight from Nice to Barcelona, and upon landing, we discovered that we were in the company of Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat.  He, of course, was in business class.

Overall, good weather, although there was a pretty cool wind up in the hills behind Barcelona.  This year, since rain never threatened, we spent four full days at the track and skipped the usual Barcelona sightseeing.  All except for seeing the sights inside our favorite restaurant, El Mussol!

The great thing about testing is that there are very few people at the track compared to the actual race weekend.  Almost everything is easily accessible (if you're willing to walk), it's an opportunity to watch from practically everywhere and there's plenty of action on-track.

Morning at the circuit:

Check out Red Bull's newest paint scheme on "smiley" Daniel Ricciardo's car:

Final turn and onto the main straight:

Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari:

But Kimi's Ferrari broke down.  Oh, the secrecy!

Red Bull pit stop:

View from the circuit's clubhouse...this is a treat.  Only members are allowed during the race: