I have been lucky enough to have gone on quite a few amazing trips. Below is a summary and links to photographs of some of these trips.
In late December 2001 to January 2002, I went on a cruise around the Antarctic peninsula. The cruise left from Ushuaia, Argentina then crossed the Drake Passage to the Antarctic peninsula. I survived the Drake Passage, and that is a badge of honor. Antarctica is beautiful. Lots and lots of penguins and seals. Words can’t describe being surrounded by thousands of penguins. Words also can’t describe the smell of being surrounded by thousands of penguins. If you keep a respectful distance, which you are required to do, the wildlife is not afraid of humans. One evening, I was sitting on the beach, and a penguin walked right past me within a foot of my outstretched legs. There is a photos of this in the collection. The scenery is just breath taking, and the glaciers are amazing. Our cruise also stopped at Port Lockroy, which is a British research station. The small building is painted to match the colors of the gentoo penguins that on the island.
I have been fortunate to visit Honduras three times. I first visited Honduras on vacation in 2003. This trip started with a visit to Copan, then a short visit to San Pedro Sula, and then a cruise along the coast of Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. In Honduras, we visited Cuero and Salado National Park, Punta Sul National Park, and Utila. I then visited Honduras again in 2007 on a mission trip with my church. We visited a fellow Episcopalian church in El Progreso to help them build their church. At the end of the trip, we visited Tela and Punta Sul National Park. I returned again with the same mission group in 2008 to the same church in El Progreso. At the end of that trip, we visited Copan. I have assembled my best photos from these three different trips to Honduras on this page.
In January 2005, I took an absolutely wonderful trip to the Galapagos. I love wildlife, so being able to observe such a wide variety of wildlife up close was just amazing. We sailed to numerous islands with different ecosystems and animals. We also visited the Charles Darwin Research Station on Isabela Island, which is helping to increase the population of giant Galapagos tortoises. We went snorkeling several times. When we snorkeled off of Isabela Island, a couple of juvenile Galapagos sea lions came to play chicken with us. We had already been warned that the juveniles like to swim straight towards humans then dart away at the last second. It evidently is a game to them. A sea lion did this to me several times, and I had to surface because I was laughing so hard. Another time we were snorkeling, a sea turtle went swimming by. It was breathtaking. The wildlife in general was very cooperative to photographers, so I got some wonderful photographs.
In December 2007 through January 2008, I traveled to Lima, Peru then on to Cusco, then a bus trip through the Sacred Valley to finally Maccu Picchu. First the geography of the area is absolutely breathtaking, especially at Maccu Picchu. Also, I just couldn’t get over the building abilities of the Incas and the civilizations prior to them. At the different sites, there are walls that still stand as steady as they did when they were built 600 or so years ago. As an engineer, I am thoroughly impressed with the ancient engineers.
In January 2009, I took a cruise that started on the Pacific side of Costa Rica in Herradura. Among other places, the cruise visited Manuel Antonio National Park, Playa Caletas, Corcovado National Park, and a private garden in the Gulf of Dolce in Costa Rica. The cruise then continued along to Panama where we stopped at Coiba National Park and Otoque Oriente Island among other places. We then cruised into the Panama Canal. We stopped at Barro Colorado Island inside Lake Gatun before finishing our cruise through to the Atlantic side of the canal. I saw some truly beautiful wildlife and scenery. I also got to completely geek out as an engineer while cruising through the entire Panama Canal.
In October 2010, I went to Australia for a fabulous three week trip. I flew to Melbourne to visit friends from college. From their home in Melbourne, we made two weekend trips: one to Wilson’s Promontory National Park and another traveling along the Great Ocean Road. From Melbourne, I flew to Adelaide in South Australia, then traveled by bus and boat to Kangaroo Island for an amazing two full days of touring. After returning to Melbourne, I later flew to Sydney then traveled by train to Katoomba to visit Blue Mountain National Park. Finally I came back to Sydney to explore the city for several days before flying home. It was an absolutely wonderful trip. I never got tired of seeing koalas, kangaroos, and all the other animals including the beautiful birds. I love Australia and hope to return someday.
In May 2014, I went to Iceland with my sister and a friend where we rented a car and drove around the island on the Ring Road. We started in the southwest area and visited the Golden Triangle area including Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park, where I dove Silfra, Gullfoss, Bruarfoss, and Geysir. We also took the ferry to Heimaey and went west to the Blue Lagoon and Garður. Then we started to head east visiting Skogafoss, Vik, Reynisfjall, and Reynisdrangur. We visited Skaftafell National Park where we saw Svartifoss and hiked up Falljökull, a glacier. We continued heading east stopping at Jökulsárlón and Höfn then following the Ring Road as it took us along the coast, up and down fjords, before it took us over the mountains. On the east side, we went through Fljótsdalshérað, diverted to Seydisfjordur, and visited Gufufoss, Jökulsá á fjöllum, and Dettifoss. We stayed in Akureyri where we also visited the Myvatn area including Hverir, Dimmuborgir, and Grjotagja, and we went on whale watching cruise from Husevik. We continued on the Ring Road in the north where we then diverted off to drive up to the Westfjords to visit Isafjordur and Dynjandi. We then headed south where we ended the trip in Reykjavik. Iceland was an absolutely amazing place, especially if you love geology. You can barely drive an hour without seeing a waterfall, and despite there being very few trees on the island, the landscape is incredibly lush in appearance from all the moss covering the lava fields.