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Leaping into Havana Harbor
I was wandering along Havana’s famous seaside boulevard, the Malecón, when I spotted a group of young men enjoying themselves jumping from the seawall into Havana Harbor. They would start on the opposite side of the street, wait for a moment without traffic, and then run across the road, leap onto the wall, and launch Read More …
Moon over Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia
Lake Hovsgol (also spelled Khuvsgul, Hövsgöl, Khövsgol, and a variety of other ways) is the largest freshwater lake in Mongolia by volume and second largest by area. Located in northern Mongolia near the Russian border, it is very deep and very cold. I took the plunge and can say without question that Lake Hovsgol is Read More …
Gannets Galore in the Gaspésie
Last summer, I had the opportunity to visit Quebec’s beautiful Gaspé Peninsula, a lobster-claw-shaped piece of land that juts into the Gulf of St. Lawrence north of New Brunswick. The Gaspésie, as it is known in French, had long been on my travel wish list, although I didn’t really know a whole lot about it Read More …
Tranquility on the Sognefjord, Norway
When I was growing up, my family spent much of every summer visiting my grandfather in Sweden, and every other year, we would take a two-week trip to Norway, where he was born and raised. Although he had grown up in Drammen, a port city near Oslo, it was the nature of his homeland that Read More …
Sheep in New Zealand’s Southern Alps
New Zealand is well known for having more sheep than people; the ratio currently stands at a little over seven sheep for every one of the country’s 4.42 million people. Although the sheep-to-humans ratio has declined dramatically in recent decades, the animals are still a common part of New Zealand’s pastoral landscapes. I took this Read More …
Domino Players in Trinidad, Cuba
Remember dominoes? The game with the little white tiles with the black dots may not get a whole lot of play these days in the U.S., but in Cuba it’s still hugely popular. At tables on sidewalks and in plazas, players plot their next moves, while spectators gather round to watch the action or just Read More …
Egyptian Whirling Dervish Dancers
Whenever I hear the words “whirling dervish” my mind automatically calls forth the nuns in The Sound of Music singing that Maria “could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl.” But the experience of seeing a dervish dance performed is about as far removed from Rodgers and Hammerstein as you could possibly get. Dervishes are members Read More …
Encounter with a Mongolian Hunting Eagle
In the far west of Mongolia, ethnic Kazakh nomads still follow a tradition of hunting with trained golden eagles. Although I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit that part of the country, one of my two trips to Mongolia as expedition manager for National Geographic Expeditions did give me the chance to see one Read More …
Sailing the Coast of Spain on the Sea Cloud II
Last June I had the opportunity to co-manage a tour program for three US universities aboard the beautiful Sea Cloud II, sailing the shores of Spain and Portugal from Málaga to Bilbao. The various places we visited along the way were memorable, but the ship itself was an unforgettable experience. I’ve been on many cruises Read More …
Winter Woods in Washington
As I write this post, winter has much of North America in a firm grip. Here in Seattle, the season has been a mild one, and friends who have been up in the mountains have reported having to abandon snowshoeing and cross-country skiing plans for hiking due to the lack of snow. Since I’ve been Read More …