The travel writer Paul Theraux wrote in his book “Dark Star Safari: “You go away for a long time and return a different person–you never come all the way back.” I find this short sentence to embody much truth. And one of the great benefits of traveling is getting out of your circle which allows…
While in the Galapagos with my 5DII in a housing, I played around a bit with the video capture, and the emphasis is definitely on play. If things got good I focused on still images, but this is a little video I captured of sea turtle swimming gracefully. They are such amazing creatures. It’s not…
Now that I’ve processed all the images from my April 2010 trip to the Galapagos, I’ve gathered a few favorites to share in a gallery. It was black-lava-hot down there, especially for an Alaskan, but in spite of that overhead sun, some color leaked out of the landscape. You can see all of the photos…
The Waved Albatross, sometimes called the Galapagos Albatross, breeds primarily on Espanola Island. Like other albatrosses, it comes to shore only to breed and rear young. In the Archipelago, this happens in response to food availability, which is generally in early April, and we were fortunate enough to see the very beginning of their arrival…
South Plaza Island was our first shoreside visit, and it was perfectly timed with sunset, which happens quickly along the equator. The gentle afternoon light was warm and luminous accent to a landscape rich in green and yellow, due to recent abundant rains and the short-lived blossoming period of the portulaca plant. Plants in general,…
There was a news headline back in 2009 that excitedly reported a female tortoise, paired with the famous Lonesome George, laid a clutch of eggs. Unfortunately, the eggs were infertile, and it appears that the possibility of offspring is grim for this last remaining of the Pinta Island subspecies of Tortoise. George continues to play…
The Galapagos Islands are the only place in the world you will find a marine iguana. The color variation differs from island to island among the archipelago, and on Espanola Island, the iguanas have a red and green hue. They are as bizarre to watch as they look, and like most reptiles, don’t move unless…
The enchanted islands of the Galapagos are appropriately named. Located about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, they are uniquely situated at the convergence of warm and cool water currents, a contributing factor to the amazing diversity of life found among the archipelago. After a week exploring the region both above and below the…
It’s going on six weeks since I had shoulder surgery, and I have not taken one photo in Alaska in 2010. That is the longest photo-free period for me ever. However, that is happily ending as I’m pushing equatorial boundaries again for the second time in three months, with travels to Peru (Machu Picchu-if the…