Log / Pic 109 Whale Sharks

My next stop this summer was to tackle something that has been on my "Rocking Chair  List" for several years-
snorkeling with Whale Sharks. i flew to Cancun, drove almost three hours north to Chiquila, then took the 9 Hermanos ferry to the island of Holbox (hol-bosh).

Below is the boat I took on my first whale shark excursion. 

On the way out we saw two huge schools of baby manta rays.

On several days we saw dolphins-one day we captured this. 

Below is a huge manta ray. On our last trip out we saw many of them and they stuck around and fed.

So we jumped in the water and were able to snorkel with them.

But this is why we really came-to see the largest shark in the world-coming right towards us!

Below is a manta jumping out of the water-it looked closer than my camera tells.

Here is me in my glory. We saw about 100 whale sharks this first day. They were everywhere! Too excited to be scared. 

In this one me and Lisa had sharks in all four directions. 

They came right up to the boat while feeding.

These open gills were an impressive sight.

Finally I get to swim alongside them.

It takes two pics to see how large

Below is what I saw every time i turned around. 

Good thing no teeth

Beautiful patterns

We saw flamingos at the end of each day on the boat trip home.  I took a golf cart to the end of the island on day and photographed them up close. 

Log / Pic 108 Spanish Wells, Bahamas

I started my summer with 3 weeks in Spanish Wells, Bahamas-my 3rd visit.

This is our cottage and transport.

Allen, Meagan, Jake, Lisa, Roy, Me and Cindy ready to tackle the reefs.

And do some pleasure diving as well.

Pleasant Kathy and family has the same idea.

A nice trip to harbor island to get tanks from Valentine's Dive Center

Great trip out there

Chilling in some of the best beaches I have ever been to. And as usual, we were the only ones on the beach.

One of our exit points for snorkeling 

Killing lionfish was one of our goals

My first spear gun

Results of the latest hurricane

Starfish dressed in camouflage

Another snorkel spot. Georgians do it in style!

A kayak trip to Pear (Pierre) Island

A visit to Russell Island to see their new church

An early morning bike ride wins me these foggy views.

Log/Pic 107 Antigua / Barbuda

So this blog is exactly six years old. I started it when I began my second around-the-world trip in 2006. Just before I went on this year-long trip, I decided to take a vacation!

I went to Antigua-with my Georgian friend,  Cindy.

 

Great beaches

great kayaking

great sailing.

We traveled around the island and visited the old section

forts

and markets.

Then we hopped on the ferry to take us to Barbuda, Antigua's sister island.

This fight with the locals was for fun, the one on the way back would not be.

Cindy and I took a little boat to go visit the friggit birds-

-you know the ones with the big red pouches on their throats.

Oh, they must have forgot to mention that they only look like that during mating season.

So we just saw some regular looking birds.

We visited some cool caves and then headed back to Antigua to finish my pre-vacation vacation.