Took several hours each night, but I’ve got my photos selected and post processed. I’m tired now. I will finish up the journal entries as well.

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Enjoy

There was no drama, I just calmly up-righted the kayak, threw my camera aboard, and climbed back in. I’m really glad my life vest was on tight, I think I would have drowned without it. My cameras survived too, safe in a drybag.

That was enough excitement for a week, I’m getting tired of falling off things.

Today on Isabela island, we rode horses to the top of Sierra Negra Volcano, the caldera is 6 mi across, really too big to capture in a photo but amazing to see. We hiked along the volcanic landscape, very much like Big Island Hawaii. Rain clouds started rolling in after lunch and soon it was a torrential downpour as we made the 5 mi ride back to the trailhead. At one point I turned to take a photo and before I knew was was happening, I hit the ground. My saddle had loosened and slid off the horse. My camera bag took most of the impact followed by my shoulder. The horse took off running, shaken as much as I was. The horse wrangler gave chase and I was back on the horse, slightly muddy and ego slightly bruised.

One of the problems with shore based trips, TOO MUCH WASTED TIME. We spend 2-3 hours in the morning to get to our destination, then photograph during mid-day when the lighting is harshest. Another 2-3 hours back to our hotel and then it’s dinner time. I’ve made the most of the situation and was still able to enjoy the close encounters with all the wildlife and take good photos, but it’s not ideal. When I do go back to the Galapagos, I’ll choose a live aboard ship with 16-20 passengers max. Minor rant over.

So on a slightly larger ship, maybe 20 passengers, we sail 3 hours northwest to the small island of Bartolome. We walked up to the top of the extinct volcanic cone where we had a 360 degree view of the island, it was beautiful. Stark brown volcanic landscape surrounded by the brilliant blue sea. After some photos, we head back down and take the panga (zodiac raft) around for some shooting. We came across a very uncooperative Galapagos penguin on the rocks, anytime we would get close, he would turn his back to us. We went around him a few times but no luck.

We had some time to swim in the bay before heading back to base camp, Puerto Ayora.. 3 hours away.

We took a chiva, their idea of a bus, wooden bench seats and a roof bolted to the back of a flat bed truck to the top of the of the island. As we got higher, the temperature dropped and the vegetation changed from desert scrub to cotton trees and lush grass. We hiked around and saw our first Galapagos tortoises. Some were napping, others were munching away on leaves.

At lunch, I was feeling like crap and thought I would need an IV drip, zero energy and just plain dehydrated. We went to the beach where Kerry, Vicki, and Omar did some snorkeling. I laid down in the shade of a palm tree for nap, but it was just too hot. Mustering all my strength, I put on my wetsuit, fins, snorkel, made my way to the water. It was a cool 80ish degrees.

Having never snorkeled before and not knowing how to swim, Omar gave me a hand and I put my head underwater. Instant panic attack. I couldn’t breath. Gulping a mouthful of water, I clumsily stood up. Omar told me to relax but it wasn’t working. I went back ashore, sitting on a rock, feeling defeated.

I watched Omar help Vicki, she was a bit apprehensive about snorkeling too. After some deep slow breathing, I was ready to give it another go. I know I can do it.

Entering the water again, I go under, my chest tightened, but I concentrated on breathing. I’m floating! I practiced paddling and figured out how to propel myself, probably not very efficiently though. I gave Omar the thumbs up and we made our way to a rock outcropping. We passed by 2 giant sea turtles, an octopus crawling along the sea floor, and schools of colorful fish.

Snorkeling is hard work, I was dripping with sweat, er, my arms were starting to tire. I motioned to Omar and we head back. Not even a minute after getting out of the water, I spontaneously vomit. There goes breakfast and lunch, but I was feeling so much better. There is a saying, take photos and leave only footprints, but today, I leave a little bit more.

I’m floating!

The altitude was starting to get to me, I think it’s acute sleep apnea. I slept for a couple hours and woke up gasping for air. Just before falling asleep again, I stop breathing, start gasping and continued the cycle for an hour. I gave up trying to sleep and went to the hotel’s library to sort through photos until 5, had breakfast then headed to the airport, Galapagos bound.

Just before landing in Santa Cruz Island, the flight attendants opened all the overhead compartments to spray insecticide on all our luggage, to prevent any bugs from making it to the islands.

Settled in at Hotel Mainao, we met our guide Omar and walked along Tortuga Bay where we saw lava lizards, marine iguanas and various birds. It really is true that the animals don’t have any fear of people. Iguanas were sleeping right on the trail and didn’t blink an eye as I stepped over them.

I’ve been reading a lot of horror stories of stabbings and thefts in Quito, don’t walk the streets at night, take a taxi everywhere, don’t bring your nice camera etc.
All that made me paranoid so I only carried my S95 with me and kept the big guns in the hotel. It worked out, I got some good photos and didn’t lose anything.

We stopped at Papallacta hot springs earlier in the day for a nice relaxing soak high up in the Andes. Following that, we drove a short distance to the top of the pass, donned our helmets and biked down some twisty, pot hole filled, wet dirt road for 10 miles. It was windy, rainy, and cold, but that didn’t matter. Mud in my face, so bumpy I thought I’d lose my fillings, I was riding down the Andes and that was awesome.

In retrospect, I can’t really blame her. What sane person carries 45 lbs of camera gear on vacation?

I leave for the airport in the morning and will arrive in Quito around 11p est. On Tuesday, sick or not, I’m going to mountain bike down the spine of the Andes, stopping in Papallacta, a town famous for its hot springs. Maybe a long hot soak will help cure my ails.

Bill Gozansky, a professional photog, will be leading the trip along with 3 other shooters. We meet up in Quito on 2/2 and tour the city the following day. On the 4th, we fly to the Galapagos and visit the numerous islands for the next 8 days. Returning to Quito on 2/13 and head to La Selva Jungle Lodge in the Amazon for a week.

I’ve switched up my gear a bit, 7D replaces the 40D, S95 and Ikelite underwater housing replaces the LX3 and added a 180mm macro.

More updates later

Best memory of this trip? Driving down a country road in my crappy Hyundai Getz, windows down and blasting reggae music.

I spent the day in Acadia National Park, about a 3 hour drive from Portland. I drove around the park loop a couple times scouting for a sunset location to shoot.

For lunch I went to the Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor for a couple pints and a fish sandwich. After a nap at the hostel, I drove out to Otter Cove and scrambled down a steep ravine to photograph the sunset. The rocks along the beach were amazingly round, weathered by rain and the constant pounding of the ocean surf.

5am local time, I arrive at JFK with a 4 hour layover to Portland. Jetblue’s T5 terminal is pretty cool, plenty of spots to sit down and plug in your laptop. I had breakfast at the Whole Foods style food bar, somewhere around $7/lb for the meal – I wish more airports had this.

I got into Portland at 11a, picked up my rental car, a Subaru Impreza hatchback (awesome) and headed to downtown. Lunch at Duckfat was amazing, the best fries I’ve ever had. I ordered the duckfat poutine, potatoes fried in duckfat, covered with fresh cheese curds and duck gravy. The fries were super crisp and had a subtle duck flavor. Washed down with a Allagash White ale, a nice wheat beer brewed with a fruity belgian yeast.

Not long after, I stopped by J’s Oyster to try out the infamous Maine Lobster roll, 1 lb of freshly picked lobster meat sandwiched in a lightly toasted and buttered hotdog bun. Served with a side of chips and mayo. The lobster was delicious, perfectly cooked and so sweet.

Jetlagged, I took an hour nap at the hotel then made a 20 minute drive to South Freeport for lobster dinner at Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster Company. It’s situated on the town wharf, lobster boats docked around the pier, can’t get fresher than that.

a day in svalbard from alvinc on Vimeo.

Starting off at Phippsøya, we head to the northernmost point of our voyage. Along the way, we encounter the swimming polar bear.

After reaching 80.5N, we turn south to visit the Krassin marker at Beverlysundet.

We end with the sighting of fin whales at 11:30pm, basked in the golden light of the midnight sun.

Click here for the full size version

First impressions of the ship, it’s quite nice. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s basically a 3 star hotel on the sea. My cabin has 3 beds, 1 of them a bunk. Three 1 ft wide closets, a desk, couple chairs and table between the beds. The bathroom was tiny, but functional.

The ship’s engines are much quieter than the MV Orlova, which I took to Antarctica, but every once in awhile the entire ship would vibrate like the engine was misfiring or out of balance – never did figure out what caused it.

I was the first one in the cabin, so I picked one of the bottom beds. Looks like Ross and Nicolas would be my cabin mates.

After wandering around the ship for a bit, an announcement was made over the PA system looking for the luggage belonging to Nicolas Chan. It turns out he wasn’t in my cabin after all. The crew saw the last name on the tag and grouped it with mine. So I essentially got a free upgrade, sweet.

During the evening briefing, Laurie Dexter, our expedition leader outlined our itinerary. We would be sailing south to Hornsund, then cutting between the islands of Edgeøya and Barentsøya, passing Nordaustlandet to the northernmost island in the Svalbard archipelago, Sjuøyene. Then visit Ny Alsund, a research station, before arriving back in Longyearbyen.

In the past 2 sailings, the ship went clockwise around Svalbard, but now mid-season, enough sea ice has melted to allow the ship to sail counter-clockwise along a slightly different route.