High Arctic, Greenland and Canada – August/September 2024: Part VI

Monday 9 September: West Greenland – Sylvia We woke this morning as we entered the Inukassaat fjord system north of Disko Island. The fjord is flanked on both sides by tall snow-capped mountains and dotted about with some rather large icebergs. there are a couple of tide-water glaciers deep into the fjord that obviously calve […]

High Arctic, Greenland and Canada – August/September 2024: Part V

Thursday 5 September: Pim Island, Buchanan Bay, Ellesmere Island – Sylvia We cruised south overnight, occasionally crashing and shuddering as we broke through the ice. We arrived this morning at Pim Island. This is the site where the remaining members of  ill-fated Greeley expedition team were rescued after wintering over with limited supplies in the […]

High Arctic, Greenland and Canada – August/September 2024: Part IV

Sunday 1 September: Ellesmere Island at Sea – Sylvia Today has truly been an incredible and memorable day. We woke in the igloo this morning with the ship crunching and shuddering as it made its way through the sea ice. This makes for some impressive scenery, especially in the early morning light. Just after breakfast […]

High Arctic, Greenland and Canada – August/September 2024: Part III

Wednesday 28 August: Devon Island – Sylvia As we were eating dinner yesterday I was looking out the window and spotted a few killer whales towards the stern of the boat. Unfortunately there weren’t any naturalists around so we didn’t stop for a closer look, which was a shame as the sun was glinting off […]

High Arctic, Greenland and Canada – August/September 2024: Part II

Saturday 24 August: Disko Bay – Sylvia Overnight we continued heading north along the west coast of Greenland. Unfortunately I didn’t sleep that well, despite calm seas. At about 4am I peaked out the window just as we were sailing past some quite large icebergs so I pulled back the curtains to enjoy the view […]

High Arctic, Greenland and Canada – August/September 2024: Part I

Monday 19 August – Roger Arriving at Auckland International Airport, we picked up our boarding passes. Yes – no bags to check as we are travelling again with just carry on. We stopped at the Duty Free pick up to collect a new Nikon 28 to 400 lens. With our new Nikon Z7ii being a […]

Mediterranean Cruise Oceania Marina – Part III: Santa Cruz de la Palma to Lisbon and Home

Monday 10 June: Santa Cruz de la Palma: Roger After another night of smooth sailing we arrived at Santa Cruz de la Palma. La Palma is another volcanic island; with its base 4000m under the sea and rising to over 2400m and with sea clouds giving it plenty of rain, it has a good supply […]

Mediterranean Cruise Oceania Marina: Part II – Casablanca to Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Thursday 6 June – Casablanca: Roger At 0800 we disembarked the ship on the port side. On arrival at  Casablanca the ship  turned around just outside the port and backed in. We strolled through the customs area unchallenged as the ship takes care of all the immigration side of things. We just had to show […]

Mediterranean Cruise – Oceania Marina: Part I Rome to Gibraltar (Cadiz)

Saturday 1 June – Embarkation: Roger We had a late relaxing start to the day. After sitting around chatting for a while, we took a stroll around the Fortezza Michelangelo and along the sea wall to Pier 12, where the Oceania cruise liner, Marina, was docked, having arrived early this morning and disembarked the passengers […]

Mediterranean Jaunt – Part III: Cinque Terre and Tuscany

Tuesday 28 May 2024: Roger Last night Barbara, at the La Toretta Hotel in Manarola, explained that the walk to Corniglia should take two-and-a-half hours, starting with 1200 steps taking us up to the first village of Volastra. After breakfast we set off, following the path, or should I say rough steps, up the hill. […]