Cuba, The Forbidden Island
Not for the faint hearted, impatient, or pessimistic is the Forbidden Island. If you are any of the above then don’t do it. On the other hand if you are open minded to an adventure, have the patients of Job and are the cockeyed optimist then you can be in for the trip of a lifetime and some of the most spectacular diving in the world.
September 1, 2001 Richard and I set forth for our adventure. Some of our mishaps were; Confusion in Nassau as to where to meet, missing luggage in and out of Havana, both of us had broken zippers on our booties, both of us flooded our cameras, my primary dive computer crapped out on one dive, one of my flash lights flooded, one quit working, Richard's digital camera overheated and had a cooling down period before he could use it. The viz on one of our dives turned from beautiful to Gulf Green from one dive to the next. Then when we got back to the hotel, the batteries in Richard's toothbrush were dead. All very minor inconveniences that we managed to keep our good humor and cope with.
Good points were; excellent treatment by our Scubacan hosts, a warm welcome by the Cuban people, good and plentiful food (although simple and basic) was attractively and tastefully prepared. The accommodations were attractive and well kept. The dive masters were skilled, competent and knowledgeable. They were very helpful with our equipment and getting us on and off the boat. The diving was second to none and the wild life was abundant. Every dive we saw a plethora of critters which included Queen Trigger fish, Parrot fish, Black Durgeon, Grunts, Blue Cromis, Indigo Hamlets, Black, Nassau and Marble Grouper, Jacks, Snappers, Tarpons, Rock Hinds, Smooth Trunk fish, Ocellated Flounder, Blue Tangs, Squirrel Fish, Spiny and Spotted Lobsters, Green and Spotted Morays, Arrow Crabs, Banded Coral Shrimp, Blue Cleaner Shrimp, Jelly fish (beautiful but watch out!) Grey, French, and Queen Angels, BiColor Yellowtail and Threespot Damsel Fish, Four Eyed, Banded, and long Snout Butterfly Fish, Rock Beauties, Hogfish, Sand Divers, Blue Headed and Clown Wrasses, Spotted Goat Fish, Giant Crabs, several kinds of Anemones, several kinds of Sea Urchins, Donkey Dung and Tiger Tail Sea Cucumbers, Brittle Stars, Basket Stars and Cushion Sea Stars, Flamingo Tongues, Rough File Clams, many Conchs (several of them mating) Spotted Drum, Red eyed Triplefin, Barracudas, Tobacco Fish, and Yellow Headed Jawfish, Red Lipped Blenny and several types of Gobies. And many more that I probably left out.
Details of our trip:
In Nassau we were to "meet" in front of the Nassau Flight Services area which would lead one to believe that someone would be there waiting for us. Well there was quite a confusion as to where exactly we were suppose to meet but after running back and forth for a bit we finely found where we were suppose to be and picked up our ticket from the Agent at the Cuban ticket counter who had our information. We settled down for a Kalik beer and a meat pie and waited for our flight, which was pretty uneventful. Upon arrival in Havana, Cuba we were greeted by "Bernardo" our Havana host who (after determining we didn't have our Visas) assisted us in getting another one then whisked us right to the front of a very long line and through Immigration. Immigration was a bit intimidating, as we had to go into a cubicle one at the time with a very formidable military looking person. After crashing the line and getting right through we were to find our suitcases were among some of the missing. Several of us who had come in on the flight from Nassau had about a 2 to 2 1/2 hour wait for our luggage. We never did find out exactly what had happened to it. The communication at times was a bit lacking. But again Bernardo was there to rescue us and get us through Customs without incident and through a tremendous crowd of Cuban residents waiting for a first glimpse of their relatives who had come in on a flight from Miami. Also waiting for us was Cha Chi our Havana driver in his Russian made car. Cha Chi and Bernardo delivered us to the Copacabana where we spent the night, experienced our first Mojito (a delicious drink made of rum, lemon, sugar and mint) had a good dinner and enjoyed the first of several beautiful sunsets. We were picked up at 4:30 on Sunday morning, transported to the airport for our flight to the Isla de la Juventud. There we were met by Tania who took us to the Colony Resort for check in and to get ready for our first dive.
We joined a group of nine divers from Mexico City with whom we became good friends. Our dives included three deep dives around 130 to 165 feet, two spectacular night dives and 7 other dives. The deep dives were magnificent. We would descend into a very deep cave/tunnel, very dark at the first but then light would appear at the tunnel's end. The bottom of the tunnel opened out onto a wall at anywhere from 130 to 180 feet to an array of blue depth. The bottom of the wall seemed to be at infinity. The visibility at that depth was astounding. This was the first decompression diving that we had done but not the worse for the wear. After a very slow ascent we leveled out on the reef at about 45 feet and continued to off-gas back to the boat all the while continuing to see beauty every where we looked. We did a 10-minute (non-required by this time) safety stop. Back on the boat our computers were already in the green. Most of the reefs were quite similar as Belize or Roatan, with old riverbeds cutting through Coral heads and deep canyons full of marine life. The shallow dives 45 to 70 feet were along these types of topography and many sand flats where we would find small areas alive with marine life, such as the arrow crabs the morays and the small fish. On these flats we saw the majority of the hard to find small creatures such as the rough file clam the Blennies, Gobies and Sand Divers. On one such sand flat we came upon a "Conch Orgy" there were literally dozens of conchs making mad passionate love. Being a shell collector I managed to find some really beautiful little shells with no residents and smuggled them into my BC pocket. On the day of our first night dive we were treated to a magnificent sunset to the west and a rainbow in the eastern sky followed by a really great night dive as we would find to the norm, alive with critters. On one of the night dives we were watching a large horse conch that was out of his shell and attached to a Gorgonian when we were startled by a Moray out swimming around. On the same dive I spotted a long spine sea urchin out walking around on the wall. Our daily routine was to board the boat at between 9:00 to 10:00 dive two morning dives, lunch on the pier, a siesta or just hang out to rest then either an afternoon or night dive. The ride from the marina to the pier was approx. 45 restful minutes on a fast comfortable boat. As a special treat the crew provided fresh lobsters for us after our last night dive on the way back to the marina. What a great end of a glorious day of diving. A beautiful night on the water, a cold beer and a lobster. "It just don't get much better than this" On our last day on the island unable to dive, we joined our Mexican friends on the boat to snorkel while they dove. At lunch we were treated to entertainment by Mongo Rivas a well-known local musician.
Friday we were transported back to the local airport for our flight back to Havana where we were again met by our driver Cha Chi who took us back to the Copa to freshen up. Then we were off for a day tour of Havana. In the streets of Old Havana we stepped back into history. Most of the vehicles were of the late 40 and early 50 vintage. The Cuban people are a very ingenious people. Not having the tools or supplies to maintain things in a proper fashion, they make the best of what they have. It is very interesting to see their ingenuity at work. The architecture while in great need of paint and repair was pretty elaborate and old world. We visited the Capitol, the church where the Pope said mass while in Cuba, the old city, the waterfront and the Castillo del Morro that was completed in 1597 to protect the city from attackers. All in all it was a spectacular trip.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Shark - Dive Nassau - 2001
Shark Dive, Nassau, 2001
The above video is not my video. I do have one but it is in the VHS format. However this is just exactly what we did.
April 25, 2001, eleven courageous (or loco) Tackle Shack divers set out to play with the sharks in Nassau. We arrived at Tampa International Airport between 5:30 and 6:00 checked our baggage and our adventure had begun. After a small breakfast to tide us over, we moved over to air side to wait for our “ride” which was a small propeller plane to Miami. In Miami, we had another “small breakfast” of cinnamon buns, coffee, milk or whatever to wait for another small propeller plane on to Nassau. Upon arrival we broke up into two groups for the taxi ride to Orange Hill. The second group was treated to a ride in a stretch limo. Our driver obviously took the scenic route as the limo folks arrived at the hotel before us. We unloaded our gear, had burgers, hot dogs and fries then off for our first dive The Sea Viking, a combination wreck/wall dive around 80 feet more or less. Lots of critters, turtles, eels, and a plethora of fish. The second dive was a shallow reef dive at 36 feet. Again loaded with critters. Since we were all pretty tired out from the early start and plane ride we opted for dinner at the Orange Hill restaurant then to bed early.
Day two found us ready for the shark dive. I decided the only way to describe this was Way Too Cool! Our boat ride to the site, The Shark Pit, was a very small cramped boat with a very slippery deck due to some sort of oil or diesel spill. The choice was tanking up at the side and a roll off, or tank up at the back and giant stride off the platform. Most of us opted for the roll off. On the first dive we descended to approx. 43 feet to be greeted by several Caribbean Reef Sharks. I counted about 7 just circling around “chilling”. We swam down a wall to about 76 feet then up to the top where we investigated a wreck. I am sure there were many things to see on the wall, but speaking for myself I was too enthralled with looking for sharks to notice anything. Back to the boat and up the ladder all the while being treated to the sight of several sharks. After a surface interval, we were briefed for the shark feed dive. We were told to take off our snorkels, as the sharks would go after it sometimes pulling the mask right off our face. Don’t reach up and try to touch the sharks, we could loose an arm that way. (Like who the hell wants to) Don’t make any sudden movements, basically keep our hands folded in front of us and remain still. At the end of the dive remain on the site until the shark feeder swam off drawing the sharks away. After the briefing off the boat we all went. During the feed the sharks, probably between 15 and 20 all told were in constant motion all around, over, and between us, sometimes bumping us with their fins and tails. Many times I found myself staring directly into the eye of a shark who was close enough to reach out and touch (not that I had any inclination to do so). At the end of the feed Jay, Jay (who was wearing a steel mesh suit) swam away taking most of the sharks out of the immediate area. We then looked for shark teeth. They apparently loose them during the feed and grow them back within days. Some of us were fortunate enough to find some really nice teeth. I didn’t, but had fun looking. All the way back up to the boat and during our safety stop a few sharks were constantly in sight. What a thrill. I still haven’t figured out what it is that makes reasonable sane people (some who can’t get to work on time) get up at the crack of dawn, jump in to cold water and do something like this. Back at the hotel we discovered our shower was broken. Vanessa cam e out carrying the entire faucet from the bathtub. John and Richard were treated to 3 women in their shower. Some men have it lucky. Courtesy of the guys we cleaned up and took off for town to eat at the Conch Fritter. Very good food and good company, between Mixer and Greg (always the comics) we were entertained constantly. Back at the hotel to bed again fairly early.
Day three found us at the Sand Chute for the first dive, as the name implies there was indeed a sand chute, which we followed out the wall. Interesting things we saw were some sort of engine probably for a boat and various other parts, along with many, beautiful fish eel’s, etc. The last dive was interesting. The site was called Will Laurie. In approx. 57 feet of water were three wrecks, the first one was a boat used to transport goods and had been down for some 30 years. The deck had some sort of bars standing around. It looked almost like a jail. Directly beside it was a refugee boat, an old wooden relic that had been pretty battered by the last hurricane. In its vicinity we found such items as an old CB radio, an Adidas bag, a mans belt, (Vanessa was afraid when she pulled on it a man may have been attached. (Thank goodness that was not so) and some old iron kettles. The last of the three wrecks was another boat off from the first two at about 90 deg. On the way to this wreck among the other fish we had been seeing we spotted several ocean trigger fish. Back at the hotel some of us spent the afternoon lounging around the pool soaking up rays and sampling the local beer, Kalik. Our shower being fixed we cleaned up and after a summit meeting decided to hike the “mile or so” up the road to the Traveler’s Nest. The food was of a local flavor, good and plentiful. The Pina Coladas were great. In the dark down a narrow road with traffic narrowly missing us, we hiked the “mile or so” back to the hotel. But we weren’t frightened. After all, we were “Shark Divers”
The last day, after 3 perfect sunny days, (yes Michaela’s jinx has been broken) Visibility of 100 ft more or less and 79 deg water, the weather turned rainy. We rode the bus into town, took a water taxi to Paradise Island, Lost a little money in the casino, and while some took the “three hour tour” some of us just wandered around and enjoyed the day. We were transported to the airport courtesy of Orange hill hotel and sent off with a fresh baked hot loaf of “Johnny Cake”.
Another good trip, good friends, good food and good times!
The above video is not my video. I do have one but it is in the VHS format. However this is just exactly what we did.
April 25, 2001, eleven courageous (or loco) Tackle Shack divers set out to play with the sharks in Nassau. We arrived at Tampa International Airport between 5:30 and 6:00 checked our baggage and our adventure had begun. After a small breakfast to tide us over, we moved over to air side to wait for our “ride” which was a small propeller plane to Miami. In Miami, we had another “small breakfast” of cinnamon buns, coffee, milk or whatever to wait for another small propeller plane on to Nassau. Upon arrival we broke up into two groups for the taxi ride to Orange Hill. The second group was treated to a ride in a stretch limo. Our driver obviously took the scenic route as the limo folks arrived at the hotel before us. We unloaded our gear, had burgers, hot dogs and fries then off for our first dive The Sea Viking, a combination wreck/wall dive around 80 feet more or less. Lots of critters, turtles, eels, and a plethora of fish. The second dive was a shallow reef dive at 36 feet. Again loaded with critters. Since we were all pretty tired out from the early start and plane ride we opted for dinner at the Orange Hill restaurant then to bed early.
Day two found us ready for the shark dive. I decided the only way to describe this was Way Too Cool! Our boat ride to the site, The Shark Pit, was a very small cramped boat with a very slippery deck due to some sort of oil or diesel spill. The choice was tanking up at the side and a roll off, or tank up at the back and giant stride off the platform. Most of us opted for the roll off. On the first dive we descended to approx. 43 feet to be greeted by several Caribbean Reef Sharks. I counted about 7 just circling around “chilling”. We swam down a wall to about 76 feet then up to the top where we investigated a wreck. I am sure there were many things to see on the wall, but speaking for myself I was too enthralled with looking for sharks to notice anything. Back to the boat and up the ladder all the while being treated to the sight of several sharks. After a surface interval, we were briefed for the shark feed dive. We were told to take off our snorkels, as the sharks would go after it sometimes pulling the mask right off our face. Don’t reach up and try to touch the sharks, we could loose an arm that way. (Like who the hell wants to) Don’t make any sudden movements, basically keep our hands folded in front of us and remain still. At the end of the dive remain on the site until the shark feeder swam off drawing the sharks away. After the briefing off the boat we all went. During the feed the sharks, probably between 15 and 20 all told were in constant motion all around, over, and between us, sometimes bumping us with their fins and tails. Many times I found myself staring directly into the eye of a shark who was close enough to reach out and touch (not that I had any inclination to do so). At the end of the feed Jay, Jay (who was wearing a steel mesh suit) swam away taking most of the sharks out of the immediate area. We then looked for shark teeth. They apparently loose them during the feed and grow them back within days. Some of us were fortunate enough to find some really nice teeth. I didn’t, but had fun looking. All the way back up to the boat and during our safety stop a few sharks were constantly in sight. What a thrill. I still haven’t figured out what it is that makes reasonable sane people (some who can’t get to work on time) get up at the crack of dawn, jump in to cold water and do something like this. Back at the hotel we discovered our shower was broken. Vanessa cam e out carrying the entire faucet from the bathtub. John and Richard were treated to 3 women in their shower. Some men have it lucky. Courtesy of the guys we cleaned up and took off for town to eat at the Conch Fritter. Very good food and good company, between Mixer and Greg (always the comics) we were entertained constantly. Back at the hotel to bed again fairly early.
Day three found us at the Sand Chute for the first dive, as the name implies there was indeed a sand chute, which we followed out the wall. Interesting things we saw were some sort of engine probably for a boat and various other parts, along with many, beautiful fish eel’s, etc. The last dive was interesting. The site was called Will Laurie. In approx. 57 feet of water were three wrecks, the first one was a boat used to transport goods and had been down for some 30 years. The deck had some sort of bars standing around. It looked almost like a jail. Directly beside it was a refugee boat, an old wooden relic that had been pretty battered by the last hurricane. In its vicinity we found such items as an old CB radio, an Adidas bag, a mans belt, (Vanessa was afraid when she pulled on it a man may have been attached. (Thank goodness that was not so) and some old iron kettles. The last of the three wrecks was another boat off from the first two at about 90 deg. On the way to this wreck among the other fish we had been seeing we spotted several ocean trigger fish. Back at the hotel some of us spent the afternoon lounging around the pool soaking up rays and sampling the local beer, Kalik. Our shower being fixed we cleaned up and after a summit meeting decided to hike the “mile or so” up the road to the Traveler’s Nest. The food was of a local flavor, good and plentiful. The Pina Coladas were great. In the dark down a narrow road with traffic narrowly missing us, we hiked the “mile or so” back to the hotel. But we weren’t frightened. After all, we were “Shark Divers”
The last day, after 3 perfect sunny days, (yes Michaela’s jinx has been broken) Visibility of 100 ft more or less and 79 deg water, the weather turned rainy. We rode the bus into town, took a water taxi to Paradise Island, Lost a little money in the casino, and while some took the “three hour tour” some of us just wandered around and enjoyed the day. We were transported to the airport courtesy of Orange hill hotel and sent off with a fresh baked hot loaf of “Johnny Cake”.
Another good trip, good friends, good food and good times!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Footnote on the Aussie Post
After I posted the blog about our Australia & NZ trip I decided to add some of the hundreds of pictures I took on that trip. I just wanted to comment on a few of them. The Video is not of our group but I wanted to add it to show what we did. We rafted that same stretch of the Tully as shown in the video. And only one in our boat fell out and he was some guy we did not know. It was really funny. Casie who is a small (but very strong) young woman reached over the side of the raft grabbed the guy by his life preserver straps and pulled him right back into the boat. In the picture of us “last night on the boat” Cheryl on the left was a really neat young woman. She had taken 6 months off from her job and was dive/traveling around the world by herself. Not too many months after she got home and finished her traveling she went to Honduras on a live-aboard boat to dive. There was a tragic accident. A 140 mph hurricane hit them. They decided to ride it out. The Boat capsized at the dock and 35 of the 38 people aboard were drowned. Cheryl was one of them. But as her good friend from home told us in emails, Cheryl lived her dream and died doing what she was happiest doing. Being on a dive trip somewhere exotic. Christine second from the right is a German lady we became friendly with. She subsequently came to America and visited both Lynn and I. In the picture of me at the Tasman Sea I truly wish the little pebbles showed up better. They were of every color of the rainbow. Just beautiful. There is another less flattering picture of me that Lynn snapped bending over picking up those rocks. Shame on you Lynn. Oh well that’s my buddy. The Alps were beautiful and I was fortunate to visit them again recently with my wonderful husband. The last picture of The Arizona Memorial is one of the favorite pictures I have ever taken. I noticed if I was standing I could just get a wisp of the American Flag flying from the Navy Boat I was on. The officer kept yelling at me “Mam please sit down, please sit down.” Too Bad, I never heard him I just kept standing till I got the picture I wanted. Shame on Me!.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Exploring Australia and New Zealand
November of 2001
It has been too long since I have thought of my adventures in Australia and New Zealand but today I was browsing through some old travel stories and came across our trip to “Down Under”:
Five of us made the trip which was coordinated by my friend and dive buddy Lynn. There was Me, Lynn and Casie (the divers) then there was Lynn’s mother Ann and another lady named Erma. Now let me just say here Ann is the easiest going person to travel with. Nothing ever ruffled her feathers “Until Erma.” Erma was not an easy person to travel with and since she and Ann did not dive they had to be pushed together a bit and it was a very trying experience for Ann.
Lynn was traveling alone to take advantage of her frequent flyer miles and did a circuitous route. I will quote Lynn here describing her trip: “I left Tampa at 7am and flew to Houston, on to Honolulu, and on to my 1st stopover of 8 hours in Narita, Japan. Then I continued on to Guam where I over nighted and spent the day exploring the beautiful island. Late that evening I caught up with the rest of the group and on to Cairns, Australia and Bed.” The rest of us had a very uneventful trip through LA airport to Guam where we met Lynn.
Our adventures began in Cairns, Australia. We arrive about midnight; off to bed we go. In the early am we are headed to a rail station that would take us to Barron Waterfalls, and through the Kuranda Rainforest. What a beautiful ride, trees fauna and flowers that I have never seen before. This is a park with aboriginal people displaying skills, culture, dancing and boomerang throwing. I tried to throw one but it did not return. We got to pet and hold kangaroos and koalas bear. I thought the kangas were really neat. Koalas are too, but man do they smell horrible. They say it is the eucalyptus they eat and it is a sort of protection for them. The next morning we got up really early to go ballooning over the Tablelands. We arrived at the take off site to watch the huge balloons filling up with air, getting ready for our in air journey. What a thrill!! You cannot imagine how quiet it is, we watched the sun come up, the earth grow smaller, we could even see dozens of wild kangas hopping all over the place. Our flight ended in a cow pasture, the cows were quite curious about the balloons and us. One cow looked at us and ran off. Then as the balloon shifted she ran the other way, then the second balloon came down and poor cow she was now so frightened she just put her tail in the air and took off across the pasture. We helped get the air out and folded the balloon and loaded baskets on the trailers. We then headed off for a champagne breakfast. Later that evening we were in a state park seeking out opossums. There are several species in Aussie, and we got to see some rare ones called "relics". These opossums were once lived on part of a large land mass called Gondwanaland. check out links Gondwanaland Historical perspective [This Dynamic Earth, USGS]Several millions of years ago the continents split. The relic opossums went with the continent now known as Australia. This is the only place in the world these relics can be found. There are four species of these relics we were fortunate to see all four. We were also treated to seeing the rare platypus in the wild. We went when the sun was setting and had to sit very quietly to wait for them to come out. They were amazing to see.
The next morning after just 4 hours of sleep, found us headed for the Tully River where we were to white water rafting. My 1st experience, and what a thrill. I just thought she was going to die. Or at the least be thrown out of the raft and break a leg. Then I would not be able to dive. I had been diving like a maniac all year. My goal was to do my 100th dive on the Great Barrier Reef. A wild ride for 5 hours with lunch along the way. You have to learn to be part of the team to shoot the rapids safely. After we went over our first waterfall probably about 4 ft high I was having a ball. I kept screaming let’s do that again. HOW FUN! After we finished rafting we got back to our buses that were waiting for us at the end. The busses were brand new busses and the driver said WE COULD NOT GET ON HIS BUSSES WET. Ok fine with me. Where is the change house? I looked around and nothing but woods. I asked Lynn. Where do we change? Right here was the reply. I shrieked "I can’t change in front of all these people." She said look around. They are all doing the same thing. They are not interested in looking at us. So There I was faced with the plight of changing in front of 150 strangers or a very long walk home. I decided anybody who was desperate enough to look at a FAT OLD lady could just enjoy.
Now to the diving. We arrive at our live aboard boat the Spoilsport; she would take us out to the Great Barrier Reef and Lizard Island. We settled in, were briefed, and had lunch and now to our 1st dive site. Agincourt where we saw anemones, clown fish, lionfish, and fish I just can’t identify. Our next dive was called Flare Point (a bommie which is what we call a sea mount), we saw 2 lion fish, white tip sharks, turtles, a couple of huge napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrot fish, a frog fish, some true clown fish, a potato cod and some crabs. The water temp is about 76 deg. and our average depth is 40-70 feet. This was also my long awaited 100th Dive. Then a night dive on Flare Point.
The next day we dove on Steve’s Bommie and saw lionfish, crocodile fish, a flat head wombee shark, clowns and a stone fish. Then we dove Pixie Point, this dive is known for its macro stuff, I sighted more lion fish species, 5 different types of nudibraches, and mantis shrimp. Then we made 2 dives at Challenger Bay where we saw tons of giant clams, a chain eel, some other eels that I could not identify, some crabs, a small decorator crab and more nudibraches.
The other dives were Lighthouse Bommie where I took more pictures, saw the results and was instructed on how to improve. I saw 2 octopus, Casey and Cheryl got to see some cuddle fish. As always Lynn is in the wrong place at right time. I encountered some really neat pipefish, they are in the sea horse family, and they just dart in and out of the rocks, and have seen at least 4 different species of clown fish at this site. We dove Lighthouse Bommie the second time because of all the cool stuff to see. This was my 700th dive. I think that is too many to count. Our last dives were at a famed site called Cod Hole. Here they had these huge fish called Potato Cods. They were enormous at about 4 or 5 feet long. The current was so bad we had to anchor ourselves on the reef to keep from just washing away.
Our live aboard was a great experience; meeting people from all over the world, diving the incredible Great Barrier Reef. Traveling so far away you meet an amazing assortment of people from all over the world. We met two couples from Hong Kong, some Japanese, Christine from Germany, Cheryl from Canada, lots of Aussie, a Samoan and various other people. People traveling sharing their life and travel experiences are fascinating. Our chef was 400 lbs. +, a real estate agent and a great cook. The crew was mostly from Australia and made us feel like part of their family. They were friendly and very service oriented. On the last night we anchored off Lizard Island, an idyllic, romantic place in the Coral Sea. We had champagne at sunset, shrimp, toasts and pictures, followed by a gourmet dinner.
The next morning we went ashore to explore around and meet our flight back to Cairns. When we arrived at the airport a limo was waiting to take us to our airside. It was my 1st ride in a real limo.
We meet the rest of the group and off the Christchurch, New Zealand. We arrived late in the evening and rose early in the morning and took a tour of Mt. Cook, hiked around the area, counted the sheep (kind of like counting freckles), saw exceptionally beautiful countryside. Our next adventure was to ride the Trans Alpine Express Train through the Southern Alps of New Zealand to the West Coast to the town of Greymouth. A very British community. That afternoon we drove along the coast to visit an area call the Pancake Rocks. The shore has thousands of small smooth rocks along it. We saw only a smattering of New Zealand but would like to return one day and the good news is that Lee and I did indeed travel to Australia and New Zealand. But that is another story upcoming in Jeannie and Lee on the Go.
Five of us made the trip which was coordinated by my friend and dive buddy Lynn. There was Me, Lynn and Casie (the divers) then there was Lynn’s mother Ann and another lady named Erma. Now let me just say here Ann is the easiest going person to travel with. Nothing ever ruffled her feathers “Until Erma.” Erma was not an easy person to travel with and since she and Ann did not dive they had to be pushed together a bit and it was a very trying experience for Ann.
Lynn was traveling alone to take advantage of her frequent flyer miles and did a circuitous route. I will quote Lynn here describing her trip: “I left Tampa at 7am and flew to Houston, on to Honolulu, and on to my 1st stopover of 8 hours in Narita, Japan. Then I continued on to Guam where I over nighted and spent the day exploring the beautiful island. Late that evening I caught up with the rest of the group and on to Cairns, Australia and Bed.” The rest of us had a very uneventful trip through LA airport to Guam where we met Lynn.
Our adventures began in Cairns, Australia. We arrive about midnight; off to bed we go. In the early am we are headed to a rail station that would take us to Barron Waterfalls, and through the Kuranda Rainforest. What a beautiful ride, trees fauna and flowers that I have never seen before. This is a park with aboriginal people displaying skills, culture, dancing and boomerang throwing. I tried to throw one but it did not return. We got to pet and hold kangaroos and koalas bear. I thought the kangas were really neat. Koalas are too, but man do they smell horrible. They say it is the eucalyptus they eat and it is a sort of protection for them. The next morning we got up really early to go ballooning over the Tablelands. We arrived at the take off site to watch the huge balloons filling up with air, getting ready for our in air journey. What a thrill!! You cannot imagine how quiet it is, we watched the sun come up, the earth grow smaller, we could even see dozens of wild kangas hopping all over the place. Our flight ended in a cow pasture, the cows were quite curious about the balloons and us. One cow looked at us and ran off. Then as the balloon shifted she ran the other way, then the second balloon came down and poor cow she was now so frightened she just put her tail in the air and took off across the pasture. We helped get the air out and folded the balloon and loaded baskets on the trailers. We then headed off for a champagne breakfast. Later that evening we were in a state park seeking out opossums. There are several species in Aussie, and we got to see some rare ones called "relics". These opossums were once lived on part of a large land mass called Gondwanaland. check out links Gondwanaland Historical perspective [This Dynamic Earth, USGS]Several millions of years ago the continents split. The relic opossums went with the continent now known as Australia. This is the only place in the world these relics can be found. There are four species of these relics we were fortunate to see all four. We were also treated to seeing the rare platypus in the wild. We went when the sun was setting and had to sit very quietly to wait for them to come out. They were amazing to see.
The next morning after just 4 hours of sleep, found us headed for the Tully River where we were to white water rafting. My 1st experience, and what a thrill. I just thought she was going to die. Or at the least be thrown out of the raft and break a leg. Then I would not be able to dive. I had been diving like a maniac all year. My goal was to do my 100th dive on the Great Barrier Reef. A wild ride for 5 hours with lunch along the way. You have to learn to be part of the team to shoot the rapids safely. After we went over our first waterfall probably about 4 ft high I was having a ball. I kept screaming let’s do that again. HOW FUN! After we finished rafting we got back to our buses that were waiting for us at the end. The busses were brand new busses and the driver said WE COULD NOT GET ON HIS BUSSES WET. Ok fine with me. Where is the change house? I looked around and nothing but woods. I asked Lynn. Where do we change? Right here was the reply. I shrieked "I can’t change in front of all these people." She said look around. They are all doing the same thing. They are not interested in looking at us. So There I was faced with the plight of changing in front of 150 strangers or a very long walk home. I decided anybody who was desperate enough to look at a FAT OLD lady could just enjoy.
Now to the diving. We arrive at our live aboard boat the Spoilsport; she would take us out to the Great Barrier Reef and Lizard Island. We settled in, were briefed, and had lunch and now to our 1st dive site. Agincourt where we saw anemones, clown fish, lionfish, and fish I just can’t identify. Our next dive was called Flare Point (a bommie which is what we call a sea mount), we saw 2 lion fish, white tip sharks, turtles, a couple of huge napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrot fish, a frog fish, some true clown fish, a potato cod and some crabs. The water temp is about 76 deg. and our average depth is 40-70 feet. This was also my long awaited 100th Dive. Then a night dive on Flare Point.
The next day we dove on Steve’s Bommie and saw lionfish, crocodile fish, a flat head wombee shark, clowns and a stone fish. Then we dove Pixie Point, this dive is known for its macro stuff, I sighted more lion fish species, 5 different types of nudibraches, and mantis shrimp. Then we made 2 dives at Challenger Bay where we saw tons of giant clams, a chain eel, some other eels that I could not identify, some crabs, a small decorator crab and more nudibraches.
The other dives were Lighthouse Bommie where I took more pictures, saw the results and was instructed on how to improve. I saw 2 octopus, Casey and Cheryl got to see some cuddle fish. As always Lynn is in the wrong place at right time. I encountered some really neat pipefish, they are in the sea horse family, and they just dart in and out of the rocks, and have seen at least 4 different species of clown fish at this site. We dove Lighthouse Bommie the second time because of all the cool stuff to see. This was my 700th dive. I think that is too many to count. Our last dives were at a famed site called Cod Hole. Here they had these huge fish called Potato Cods. They were enormous at about 4 or 5 feet long. The current was so bad we had to anchor ourselves on the reef to keep from just washing away.
Our live aboard was a great experience; meeting people from all over the world, diving the incredible Great Barrier Reef. Traveling so far away you meet an amazing assortment of people from all over the world. We met two couples from Hong Kong, some Japanese, Christine from Germany, Cheryl from Canada, lots of Aussie, a Samoan and various other people. People traveling sharing their life and travel experiences are fascinating. Our chef was 400 lbs. +, a real estate agent and a great cook. The crew was mostly from Australia and made us feel like part of their family. They were friendly and very service oriented. On the last night we anchored off Lizard Island, an idyllic, romantic place in the Coral Sea. We had champagne at sunset, shrimp, toasts and pictures, followed by a gourmet dinner.
The next morning we went ashore to explore around and meet our flight back to Cairns. When we arrived at the airport a limo was waiting to take us to our airside. It was my 1st ride in a real limo.
We meet the rest of the group and off the Christchurch, New Zealand. We arrived late in the evening and rose early in the morning and took a tour of Mt. Cook, hiked around the area, counted the sheep (kind of like counting freckles), saw exceptionally beautiful countryside. Our next adventure was to ride the Trans Alpine Express Train through the Southern Alps of New Zealand to the West Coast to the town of Greymouth. A very British community. That afternoon we drove along the coast to visit an area call the Pancake Rocks. The shore has thousands of small smooth rocks along it. We saw only a smattering of New Zealand but would like to return one day and the good news is that Lee and I did indeed travel to Australia and New Zealand. But that is another story upcoming in Jeannie and Lee on the Go.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Great Wetsuit Adventure
By Jeannie (Horney) Lewis
April 2001
I had been getting ready for a trip to Australia; and heard that the waters are pretty cold. I decided to purchase a new 2-mil wetsuit. Not getting as cold as some divers do in the water, my plan was to wear the 2 mil with my 3-mil shortie over it.
One very late evening at home alone, I decided to try the 2 mil with the shortie to see if it would be comfortable. The 2 mil zipped up the back & the shortie zipped up the front. Are you getting the picture just about now?
Well all went well, the fit with the two of them together was ok, but rather warm in my apartment even with the AC turned down to 73. I decided to take them off and this is where the fun began!
The shortie came off easily, since it zips down the front. NO PROBLEM! Then it occurred to me, even when I wear my polartec (which like the 3-mil shorty, zips down the front) I always have to have help taking it off my shoulders. Being an innovative sort of person, I figured I could handle that minor little detail. HA! I started pulling from the top, and tugging from the back, as best I could reach. NOTHING MOVED! I was stuck in the damned wetsuit! It was getting warmer & warmer and I realized I had a serious problem. I don't know any of my neighbors & from what I have observed they seem to turn off their lights and go to bed before the proverbial chickens. Knocking on someone's door was not an option. I thought that if the situation didn’t start to improve shortly, I would have to go out, get in my car and go over and wake up one of my children, each of which lives approximately 7-15 miles away. If someone happened to be out walking their dog at that hour (and some do) they would think I was some sort of loony and call the police! Finely, after tugging on the bottom of the sleeve & squiggling (do you like that word?) my fingers felt like they were crawling up the sleeve. After 20 minutes of squiggling, tugging, & sweating I finely got free of the wet suit.
And that my, friends, is why you should never try on a wet suit alone! Besides, there is no one around to see just how cute you are.
April 2001
I had been getting ready for a trip to Australia; and heard that the waters are pretty cold. I decided to purchase a new 2-mil wetsuit. Not getting as cold as some divers do in the water, my plan was to wear the 2 mil with my 3-mil shortie over it.
One very late evening at home alone, I decided to try the 2 mil with the shortie to see if it would be comfortable. The 2 mil zipped up the back & the shortie zipped up the front. Are you getting the picture just about now?
Well all went well, the fit with the two of them together was ok, but rather warm in my apartment even with the AC turned down to 73. I decided to take them off and this is where the fun began!
The shortie came off easily, since it zips down the front. NO PROBLEM! Then it occurred to me, even when I wear my polartec (which like the 3-mil shorty, zips down the front) I always have to have help taking it off my shoulders. Being an innovative sort of person, I figured I could handle that minor little detail. HA! I started pulling from the top, and tugging from the back, as best I could reach. NOTHING MOVED! I was stuck in the damned wetsuit! It was getting warmer & warmer and I realized I had a serious problem. I don't know any of my neighbors & from what I have observed they seem to turn off their lights and go to bed before the proverbial chickens. Knocking on someone's door was not an option. I thought that if the situation didn’t start to improve shortly, I would have to go out, get in my car and go over and wake up one of my children, each of which lives approximately 7-15 miles away. If someone happened to be out walking their dog at that hour (and some do) they would think I was some sort of loony and call the police! Finely, after tugging on the bottom of the sleeve & squiggling (do you like that word?) my fingers felt like they were crawling up the sleeve. After 20 minutes of squiggling, tugging, & sweating I finely got free of the wet suit.
And that my, friends, is why you should never try on a wet suit alone! Besides, there is no one around to see just how cute you are.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Griswolds European Vacation or Four Rednecks Turned Loose in Europe
The Griswold’s European Vacation
In March of 1999, My Granddaughter Niki was stationed in Spangdahlem Air force Base in Germany. I was scheduled to go for my very first European trip in May of this year but somehow Niki’s Mother, my oldest Daughter, Ann my youngest Daughter and I decided to fly to Germany and visit Niki. We were to fly into Frankfurt Airport and Niki was to pick us up in a rental car, a Ford Explorer in which we traveled Germany, France, Austria and the Bavarian Alps. Niki had a small car she called her “Whoopte Car.” Which means (I think) piece of junk. It was a little green VW sedan and not for us to travel about in.
To digress a bit here, I will say we must have looked like either a) a bunch of Rednecks just out of the local prison in Georgia or b) Terrorists in disguise because every airport we went through they would inspect our baggage minutely. They zoned in especially on Mary. She must have really looked the terrorist part. She even got patted down in Gatwick (London) Airport. And that was before the days of the tightened security.
So back to the story Niki picks us up in Frankfurt and keep in mind at this time I/we were not at all worldly. On the way to Niki’s apartment on the base I kept seeing this sign telling me if I get off at this exit it will lead me to the town of “Ausgang.” Gee Whiz I am up on my geography pretty good but I never heard of this city called Ausgang. After passing a blue million of these signs I finely said to Niki “Wow this must be the biggest city in Germany because every exit we pass goes to Ausgang and I never heard of it. She laughed uproariously and told me “MEMA” Ausgang is German for Exit. Oh well how the heck was I to know that? The only foreign languages I knew at that time were how to swear in four different languages. So I still laugh about that till this day and delight in relaying this story to any German friends I have and any I meet in my travels. I am really worldly now I can exit in four languages. So we arrive at Niki’s apartment which is on the fourth (correct me if I am wrong on this Mary. It may have been the fifth) floor. Anyway it was a long way up lugging suitcases. Thank you Girls for the help. Niki had a cute little apartment that she shared with her friend (I think her name was Tammy.) The sweetheart gave me her bed cause (I was old.) Good girl Niki! Take care of your Mema. It will come back to you one day huh?
We started our adventures traveling around Germany. We made no reservations the entire trip. We just winged it. All we had was a map, and Fodor’s German guidebook. Who noticed the book was a 1989 copy. We did pretty well with it until we got to Munich and the hotel we were looking for was no longer there. Ah Munich. A few fond memories. One in particular while we were circling around and around and around we kept passing this one particular intersection. We must have been doing something wrong because people kept yelling at us in German (and at this point all I knew was Ausgang) and making a funny and sigh to us. We can only assume it was the German version of the “birdie” but we never found out what they were saying, what they meant with the sign or what in heaven’s name we were doing wrong. After going through this exercise for a few times Niki finely pulled the car up on the sidewalk in front of a man, hurled herself out of the car and said “Help me, I am an American tourist and I am lost.” The man looked at her book, chuckled and said he had been there before himself. The kind man pointed out that the book was 10 years old and the hotel was no longer there but he did recommend a good hotel nearby. The hotel was really nice with only one negative incident. Mary, Ann, and I enjoyed their wonderful complimentary breakfast of German coffee, hard rolls and assorted jams and jellies. Niki on the other hand didn’t drink coffee at that time. She asked the lady for a coke. The lady almost had the “big one.” She started carrying on “No, No, No. No coffee for breakfast" Niki yelled “I’ll pay, I’ll pay.” Well after a bit of huffing and puffing the good lady brought her a coke and Niki was happy. A not so fond memory: The purpose of our visit to Munich was that Mary wanted to visit a concentration camp. We chose Dachau. All I can say about that experience is. NEVER AGAIN.Dachau concentration camp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It was really horrible to see. Once several years later in Thailand on a tour we went into a museum. After I got in I discovered it was a concentration camp. I got out of there faster than I went in. Once in a lifetime is enough for me to see. I can only imagine how it may have been to be incarcerated there.
Before Munich we visited the Hansel and Gretel town of Trier which dated back to 16 BC. Trier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We visited the Roman baths, the Porta Nigra (Black Wall) the Cathedral where the Holy Shroud is kept. The holy shroud is said to be the garment Jesus wore the day he was crucified. Seamless robe of Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia we enjoyed Street Entertainment, had coffee at a delightful sidewalk café.
After the local sights and Munich we followed the Romantic Road which I though sounded pretty cool but found out in the tour book that the Romantic Road was so named because it was supposedly built by the Romans. I can’t really find anything to back this up But….. The Romantic Road We traveled to Bavaria and Austria visiting two Mad Ludwig’s castles. Along the way (keep in mind we are dealing with one of these “flatland touristers”) we had to go over some mountains. I had not much experience with mountains and these mountains had snow on them. I was convinced we were going to get stranded on “Goatherd Pass” (a mythical place I made up in my mind) and have to resort to eating each other. All I talked about for two days was the perils of “Goatherd Pass.” When we finely got to the mountain passes, guess what? They were very well plowed and we didn’t get stranded. But OMG did we ever see snow. At the Austrian border Mary wanted to get out and get a picture of her by the sign. We found out I was a better Mother than photographer cause when we got the pictures developed I had quit filming when she dropped straight through the snow up to her boobs and floundered around screaming she was being swallowed up by the snow she flailed about a bit and landed on her nose in the middle of the road and also sprained her thumb. Niki and Ann were laughing so hard they almost peed their pants. Me on the other hand, I tended to my kid. What a great mother I am. While Mary was sitting with her swollen thumb in a snow bank she said “Did you get pictures of it?” Sadly I didn’t. We stopped along the way at a city called Ulm where there was a beautiful church which had a steeple with 720 steps. We made it up 450 of them. We traveled through Bavaria visiting two of Mad Ludwig’s Castles. We visited Neuschwanstein & Linderhof and viewed Ludwig’s boyhood home of Hohenschwangau. King Ludwig's Castles Trier was just a short distance from Niki’s apartment so we went over there a couple of times. If my memory serves me correctly Bitzburg was also in the general direction and we went there. Here are a couple of funnies associated with those trips. In Bitzburg Ann was on a mad Beanie Bear hunt. She collected Beanie bears and wanted one from Germany. I was waiting outside for them while they went out of one store and into the next. All of a sudden I get this plop on my head. A Bitzburg bird had pooped on my head. When the kids came out I was pouring a bottle of water over my head. The other funny was along the road there was a sign that said “Frog Crossing.” Well this struck me so funny and I just had to have a picture of said sign. The kids stopped the car for me and I wandered back down the road not really paying attention to my surroundings when I happened to notice an awful lot of barking going on. I looked to my right and about 50 ft from me is a fence probably 6feet high with about 2000 German Sheppard’s jumping straight up in the air. Well maybe it was only about five of them but they were big and they were almost coming out of the fence. I figured I best hightail it back to the car before they made it over the top. As I am running back to the car I noticed all the girls including Niki’s friend hanging out the back window of the SUV laughing their butts off. But no one was coming to my rescue.
Paris the Griswold’s have arrived: After puttering around Germany for almost two weeks we decided to go to Paris. What a culture shock. Germany is the cleanest country I have ever been in then across the border to France. France has got to be one of the dirtiest, but Paris is delightful. Especially at night when you can’t really see all the grime and trash. We came up out of the subway to a band parading around the Arch de Triomphe playing the French National Anthem. Well here is my heritage. I am singing along with them at the top of my lungs. Of course I don’t know the words but I am da de dahing with the best of them. My kids wanted to shove me in a garbage can. We walked around Paris found a hotel room then walked some more well into the night then the next day. Our feet were so sore and we were so tired! We had planned to go to Amsterdam (don’t know what those kids were so set to go to Amsterdam for) but we were just too tired. We went back to Niki’s apartment and crashed for a day lying around watching movies. Then the last thing we did was to go to Hamm, Luxembourg to visit George S. Patton’s grave. George Smith Patton (1885 - 1945) - Find A Grave Memorial Find A Grave: Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memoria... This was the first trip I had with any of my adult children and we had a ball.
In March of 1999, My Granddaughter Niki was stationed in Spangdahlem Air force Base in Germany. I was scheduled to go for my very first European trip in May of this year but somehow Niki’s Mother, my oldest Daughter, Ann my youngest Daughter and I decided to fly to Germany and visit Niki. We were to fly into Frankfurt Airport and Niki was to pick us up in a rental car, a Ford Explorer in which we traveled Germany, France, Austria and the Bavarian Alps. Niki had a small car she called her “Whoopte Car.” Which means (I think) piece of junk. It was a little green VW sedan and not for us to travel about in.
To digress a bit here, I will say we must have looked like either a) a bunch of Rednecks just out of the local prison in Georgia or b) Terrorists in disguise because every airport we went through they would inspect our baggage minutely. They zoned in especially on Mary. She must have really looked the terrorist part. She even got patted down in Gatwick (London) Airport. And that was before the days of the tightened security.
So back to the story Niki picks us up in Frankfurt and keep in mind at this time I/we were not at all worldly. On the way to Niki’s apartment on the base I kept seeing this sign telling me if I get off at this exit it will lead me to the town of “Ausgang.” Gee Whiz I am up on my geography pretty good but I never heard of this city called Ausgang. After passing a blue million of these signs I finely said to Niki “Wow this must be the biggest city in Germany because every exit we pass goes to Ausgang and I never heard of it. She laughed uproariously and told me “MEMA” Ausgang is German for Exit. Oh well how the heck was I to know that? The only foreign languages I knew at that time were how to swear in four different languages. So I still laugh about that till this day and delight in relaying this story to any German friends I have and any I meet in my travels. I am really worldly now I can exit in four languages. So we arrive at Niki’s apartment which is on the fourth (correct me if I am wrong on this Mary. It may have been the fifth) floor. Anyway it was a long way up lugging suitcases. Thank you Girls for the help. Niki had a cute little apartment that she shared with her friend (I think her name was Tammy.) The sweetheart gave me her bed cause (I was old.) Good girl Niki! Take care of your Mema. It will come back to you one day huh?
We started our adventures traveling around Germany. We made no reservations the entire trip. We just winged it. All we had was a map, and Fodor’s German guidebook. Who noticed the book was a 1989 copy. We did pretty well with it until we got to Munich and the hotel we were looking for was no longer there. Ah Munich. A few fond memories. One in particular while we were circling around and around and around we kept passing this one particular intersection. We must have been doing something wrong because people kept yelling at us in German (and at this point all I knew was Ausgang) and making a funny and sigh to us. We can only assume it was the German version of the “birdie” but we never found out what they were saying, what they meant with the sign or what in heaven’s name we were doing wrong. After going through this exercise for a few times Niki finely pulled the car up on the sidewalk in front of a man, hurled herself out of the car and said “Help me, I am an American tourist and I am lost.” The man looked at her book, chuckled and said he had been there before himself. The kind man pointed out that the book was 10 years old and the hotel was no longer there but he did recommend a good hotel nearby. The hotel was really nice with only one negative incident. Mary, Ann, and I enjoyed their wonderful complimentary breakfast of German coffee, hard rolls and assorted jams and jellies. Niki on the other hand didn’t drink coffee at that time. She asked the lady for a coke. The lady almost had the “big one.” She started carrying on “No, No, No. No coffee for breakfast" Niki yelled “I’ll pay, I’ll pay.” Well after a bit of huffing and puffing the good lady brought her a coke and Niki was happy. A not so fond memory: The purpose of our visit to Munich was that Mary wanted to visit a concentration camp. We chose Dachau. All I can say about that experience is. NEVER AGAIN.Dachau concentration camp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It was really horrible to see. Once several years later in Thailand on a tour we went into a museum. After I got in I discovered it was a concentration camp. I got out of there faster than I went in. Once in a lifetime is enough for me to see. I can only imagine how it may have been to be incarcerated there.
Before Munich we visited the Hansel and Gretel town of Trier which dated back to 16 BC. Trier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia We visited the Roman baths, the Porta Nigra (Black Wall) the Cathedral where the Holy Shroud is kept. The holy shroud is said to be the garment Jesus wore the day he was crucified. Seamless robe of Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia we enjoyed Street Entertainment, had coffee at a delightful sidewalk café.
After the local sights and Munich we followed the Romantic Road which I though sounded pretty cool but found out in the tour book that the Romantic Road was so named because it was supposedly built by the Romans. I can’t really find anything to back this up But….. The Romantic Road We traveled to Bavaria and Austria visiting two Mad Ludwig’s castles. Along the way (keep in mind we are dealing with one of these “flatland touristers”) we had to go over some mountains. I had not much experience with mountains and these mountains had snow on them. I was convinced we were going to get stranded on “Goatherd Pass” (a mythical place I made up in my mind) and have to resort to eating each other. All I talked about for two days was the perils of “Goatherd Pass.” When we finely got to the mountain passes, guess what? They were very well plowed and we didn’t get stranded. But OMG did we ever see snow. At the Austrian border Mary wanted to get out and get a picture of her by the sign. We found out I was a better Mother than photographer cause when we got the pictures developed I had quit filming when she dropped straight through the snow up to her boobs and floundered around screaming she was being swallowed up by the snow she flailed about a bit and landed on her nose in the middle of the road and also sprained her thumb. Niki and Ann were laughing so hard they almost peed their pants. Me on the other hand, I tended to my kid. What a great mother I am. While Mary was sitting with her swollen thumb in a snow bank she said “Did you get pictures of it?” Sadly I didn’t. We stopped along the way at a city called Ulm where there was a beautiful church which had a steeple with 720 steps. We made it up 450 of them. We traveled through Bavaria visiting two of Mad Ludwig’s Castles. We visited Neuschwanstein & Linderhof and viewed Ludwig’s boyhood home of Hohenschwangau. King Ludwig's Castles Trier was just a short distance from Niki’s apartment so we went over there a couple of times. If my memory serves me correctly Bitzburg was also in the general direction and we went there. Here are a couple of funnies associated with those trips. In Bitzburg Ann was on a mad Beanie Bear hunt. She collected Beanie bears and wanted one from Germany. I was waiting outside for them while they went out of one store and into the next. All of a sudden I get this plop on my head. A Bitzburg bird had pooped on my head. When the kids came out I was pouring a bottle of water over my head. The other funny was along the road there was a sign that said “Frog Crossing.” Well this struck me so funny and I just had to have a picture of said sign. The kids stopped the car for me and I wandered back down the road not really paying attention to my surroundings when I happened to notice an awful lot of barking going on. I looked to my right and about 50 ft from me is a fence probably 6feet high with about 2000 German Sheppard’s jumping straight up in the air. Well maybe it was only about five of them but they were big and they were almost coming out of the fence. I figured I best hightail it back to the car before they made it over the top. As I am running back to the car I noticed all the girls including Niki’s friend hanging out the back window of the SUV laughing their butts off. But no one was coming to my rescue.
Paris the Griswold’s have arrived: After puttering around Germany for almost two weeks we decided to go to Paris. What a culture shock. Germany is the cleanest country I have ever been in then across the border to France. France has got to be one of the dirtiest, but Paris is delightful. Especially at night when you can’t really see all the grime and trash. We came up out of the subway to a band parading around the Arch de Triomphe playing the French National Anthem. Well here is my heritage. I am singing along with them at the top of my lungs. Of course I don’t know the words but I am da de dahing with the best of them. My kids wanted to shove me in a garbage can. We walked around Paris found a hotel room then walked some more well into the night then the next day. Our feet were so sore and we were so tired! We had planned to go to Amsterdam (don’t know what those kids were so set to go to Amsterdam for) but we were just too tired. We went back to Niki’s apartment and crashed for a day lying around watching movies. Then the last thing we did was to go to Hamm, Luxembourg to visit George S. Patton’s grave. George Smith Patton (1885 - 1945) - Find A Grave Memorial Find A Grave: Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memoria... This was the first trip I had with any of my adult children and we had a ball.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Jeannie Before Lee
So before Lee there was just me. Paul, my first husband had died of a massive heart attack in November of 1994 leaving me for the first time in my whole life on my own. Thank God for my four daughters to help keep me straight. All my life I had the yen to travel. Paul did not like to travel at all and as my daughters will attest he was not a real great traveler. “Daddy I have to pee.” “Well, wait till we find a place!” “Daddy there goes a filling station right there.” “Too bad we missed it. There will be another one in 20 miles” Then there was the old “You kids get back here. You’re going to fall off the mountain” And then there was the great race across the country barely stopping at all the wonderful sights to see along the way just to get to Yellowstone Park to see Smokey Bear. Well he wasn’t home when we got there. NO BEARS at all. By then all we wanted to do was just go home so we skipped Mount Rushmore and took the quickest road back to Florida.
Just before Paul died he had taken a job in Grand Cayman. I was still working at the time so couldn’t move down there with him but I would go every month and spend a four day weekend with him. Wow I am finely out of the country in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Being an avid swimmer I bought a pair of fins, mask and snorkel so would spend the days while Paul was at work snorkeling the beaches of Grand Cayman. We were snorkeling on a Sunday the day Paul died. We were diving for conchs to make chowder. If it had not been for the family he worked for I don’t know how I would have managed in a foreign country getting him home and all the details to be worked out. The Boddens took charge of everything and got me through this ordeal. I also had the support of my wonderful sister-in-law Lucy who dropped everything to fly down and help me out. Thanks to all for getting me through the most difficult time of my life.
When left to my own devices I got into this travel thing pretty good. Sadly to say, my first few trips I didn’t journal at all so I will just have to pull a few good things from memory. Some of my first few trips were to go back to Grand Cayman and stay in the Boddens little beach cottage. On one of these trips my friend Lynn and her friend Carol came with me to scuba dive. On one of their dives I hopped on the dive boat to follow them snorkeling on the surface. Well from there I was hooked. All I could think about was how beautiful they looked several feet below me cruising in and out of cracks and crevasses, poking around and exploring up close the magnificent reefs that I could only see from 50 or 60 feet above. At work I would wail to Lynn, “If I was not so overweight and not so old I would love to SCUBA.” Lynn kept telling me I could do it if I really wanted to. All I had to do was to take lessons and get certified.
Last part of May 1999, it was on a Greek Isle cruise with Lynn’s mother that I made the decision. We had traveled to Athens by way of a four day stopover in New York City a place that I had always wanted to go. We did all the touristy things in New York we wanted to do. We did the hop on hop off bus, learned how to get a taxi by just holding up your hand, I couldn’t believe how easy this was. This Florida girl had never ridden in a taxi at that point in her life. We saw three plays, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park, and picnicked in Bryant Park which was close to our hotel. For breakfast I would go across the street and get wonderful muffins and coffee for us to eat in our little hotel room and plan our day. After our little pre-vacation vacation we boarded the plane to Athens to meet up with our group for a two day stay then boarded a ship to cruise the Greek Isles and Turkey. We toured Athens, Delphi, saw the crossroads where Oedipus killed his father, we toured Lindos, Rhodes, Ephesus, Kusadasi, and the house of the Virgin Mary where it is said Mary spent the last of her life after Jesus was crucified. The foundation of the house was discovered by a French Priest through a vision that came to a German Nun while in a trance. (see link) House of the Virgin - Ephesus, Turkey It has been restored to what it would have looked like when Mary lived there. My traveling companion Ann was a delightful travel partner. Ann was a bit older than I and as one of my best friend’s Mother I felt responsible for her when we traveled. She would get lost and I was forever looking after her. If I had lost Ann I couldn’t have gone back to work to face Lynn. So I digress a bit here. Anyway on the way home from our cruise at 33,000 feet in the air and on my 60th birthday Ann made the comment “well I guess Lindy Lou is in Palau diving right now.” That set the wheels in motion. I made up my mind that when I got home I was going to take lessons and get certified. And that I did and it opened a whole new world of travel for me.
Just before Paul died he had taken a job in Grand Cayman. I was still working at the time so couldn’t move down there with him but I would go every month and spend a four day weekend with him. Wow I am finely out of the country in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Being an avid swimmer I bought a pair of fins, mask and snorkel so would spend the days while Paul was at work snorkeling the beaches of Grand Cayman. We were snorkeling on a Sunday the day Paul died. We were diving for conchs to make chowder. If it had not been for the family he worked for I don’t know how I would have managed in a foreign country getting him home and all the details to be worked out. The Boddens took charge of everything and got me through this ordeal. I also had the support of my wonderful sister-in-law Lucy who dropped everything to fly down and help me out. Thanks to all for getting me through the most difficult time of my life.
When left to my own devices I got into this travel thing pretty good. Sadly to say, my first few trips I didn’t journal at all so I will just have to pull a few good things from memory. Some of my first few trips were to go back to Grand Cayman and stay in the Boddens little beach cottage. On one of these trips my friend Lynn and her friend Carol came with me to scuba dive. On one of their dives I hopped on the dive boat to follow them snorkeling on the surface. Well from there I was hooked. All I could think about was how beautiful they looked several feet below me cruising in and out of cracks and crevasses, poking around and exploring up close the magnificent reefs that I could only see from 50 or 60 feet above. At work I would wail to Lynn, “If I was not so overweight and not so old I would love to SCUBA.” Lynn kept telling me I could do it if I really wanted to. All I had to do was to take lessons and get certified.
Last part of May 1999, it was on a Greek Isle cruise with Lynn’s mother that I made the decision. We had traveled to Athens by way of a four day stopover in New York City a place that I had always wanted to go. We did all the touristy things in New York we wanted to do. We did the hop on hop off bus, learned how to get a taxi by just holding up your hand, I couldn’t believe how easy this was. This Florida girl had never ridden in a taxi at that point in her life. We saw three plays, the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Central Park, and picnicked in Bryant Park which was close to our hotel. For breakfast I would go across the street and get wonderful muffins and coffee for us to eat in our little hotel room and plan our day. After our little pre-vacation vacation we boarded the plane to Athens to meet up with our group for a two day stay then boarded a ship to cruise the Greek Isles and Turkey. We toured Athens, Delphi, saw the crossroads where Oedipus killed his father, we toured Lindos, Rhodes, Ephesus, Kusadasi, and the house of the Virgin Mary where it is said Mary spent the last of her life after Jesus was crucified. The foundation of the house was discovered by a French Priest through a vision that came to a German Nun while in a trance. (see link) House of the Virgin - Ephesus, Turkey It has been restored to what it would have looked like when Mary lived there. My traveling companion Ann was a delightful travel partner. Ann was a bit older than I and as one of my best friend’s Mother I felt responsible for her when we traveled. She would get lost and I was forever looking after her. If I had lost Ann I couldn’t have gone back to work to face Lynn. So I digress a bit here. Anyway on the way home from our cruise at 33,000 feet in the air and on my 60th birthday Ann made the comment “well I guess Lindy Lou is in Palau diving right now.” That set the wheels in motion. I made up my mind that when I got home I was going to take lessons and get certified. And that I did and it opened a whole new world of travel for me.
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