See that boat through the rock arch in today’s picture? That’s bobbing about in the Pacific Ocean. Whereas the boat in the foreground is in the Gulf of California – and the arch marks the end of the Baja Peninsula – or Lands End. The point where a sea, or gulf, meets an ocean…
The old saying goes “Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight, Red Sky at Morning, Sailor’s Warning” .. Apparently, it’s all to do with moisture (or dust) concentration in the lower atmosphere which blocks the shorter blue light-waves, but allows the longer red light-waves through. At sunset, red rays mean that there’s probably a high…
We recently went on a Mexican Riviera cruise (now, I know that sounds like I am showing off, but there is a point to my story, honestly!) Anyway, while chatting with other cruisers (almost all of whom were North Americans), I said that we had cruised to the South Pacific 4 times. One of them said how…
Our final image in this series is of the Norwegian Jewel, the cruise ship we sailed on in October 2016. This particular shot was taken from on board a ‘tender boat’ as we disembarked for the day in Cabo San Lucas, our final port-of-call on our Mexican Riviera cruise. I’d like to say that we…
Martinique is a lovely French island in the Caribbean – with stunning black beaches, and quaint little fishing villages, and a tragic past. Twice, in the past 250 years, nature has tried to wipe out Martinique (or at least the human habitats on it). The Great Hurricane of 1780 produced a storm surge which killed…
Odysseus (he of the Odyssey) was a complex character – but it was fair to say that he was a man of his time, when women were expected to stay faithful but men were granted a more … flexible morality. But his relationship with Nausicaa was even more complex than most. The story goes that Odysseus…
There’s a reason that the South Pacific has been a magnet for holiday-makers forever, it seems – and that’s because it can be so gob-smackingly beautiful. Take the Isle of Pines (or Iles Des Pins in French – it is, after all, a part of New Caledonia. The island (called Kwenyii in the local Kanak dialect)…
This photo stinks! Well, at least its subject does. Hong Kong literally means “Fragrant Harbour”. Yes, well. I could think of lots of words to describe Hong Kong, but I’m not entirely sure “Fragrant” would come to mind. Oh, it’s not as pungent as (say) Bangkok with its smelly khlongs – or Beijing with its…
Today’s view is one of the most recognisable in the world – San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, crossing from the city of San Francisco to the Marin headland. In the foreground, a kite-surfer rides the choppy swell as waters from the San Francisco Bay meet the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate is the actual channel connecting…
Sound shells at seaside resorts aren’t new – they are as old as the holiday trade – but Napier’s sound shell looks more California than Clacton-on-sea. That’s because this, like much of the New Zealand town, was built in the Art Deco style after the 1931 Hawkes Bay earthquake. It was built by the Thirty Thousand…
Cairns Communications 