Jun

28

2017

Charming Puglia

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Charming Puglia

That’s what it said in the advertisement….and it is true ! This is a region in the southern part of Italy which isn’t very well known to mainstream tourism. One of the reasons which makes it so special! This is where Italians spend their holidays.

Monopoli, the beach

There are beaches for the beachbums, «spiaggas» where they have beachchairs, showers, umbrellas and restaurants, or discover deserted coves with crystal clear blue water. On the highway south you drive past olive trees for miles and miles, past olive groves with olive trees that are more than a thousand years old, with stems so thick you need three people to embrace them. There are tiny white walled towns on hilltops, looking out over the landscape and down to the sea, with narrow alleys going up and down, left and right, till you don’t know which way you are heading or if you prefer… there are flashy cities with incredibly beautiful buildings and churches ( to be honest they have tons of those) and modern shops. Or would you prefer small ports with cute little harbours filled with fishing boats in different shades of blue. It’s your choice, the options are endless.

Monopoli, the harbour

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Apr

11

2017

SAIL THAILAND – continued

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Week 2 of our Thailand “would-rather-be-sailing” trip.

We prayed for wind and got more than our share on one day, a very cold fridge on all others. Honest guys, this is a mass tourism region and will never ever be a sailing region, the most important thing is missing: WIND !

Sat 18.3.17 – 13,2 NM

KO KRADAN-SE Bay 7°18,6 N-99°15,6E to

KO ROK-between Rok and Nai 7°12,9N-99°04,2E

We decide to go back to Ko Rok, my favourite island so far. It is 2 hours of motoring but there is some wind, maybe we can sail. No way ! As soon as we round the southern tip of Ko Kradan the winds dies down once again. Here we go again.

Oops, where’s the ocean, can’t see it because of all the boats and people

Round lunchtime we reach Ko Rok and are in shock. The pretty beach is filled with about 25 speed boats and dozens of longtails. Tons of people are on the beach and in the water. This is “Maya Bay, Phi Phi style”, overly crowded, overflowing with tourists. One of the speed boat drivers tells me they are here every day, and most will be gone by 14:00, which is true. We have the beach to ourselves again.

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Apr

06

2017

SAIL THAILAND – the beginning

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They told us it was a low wind region. That was the understatement of the year, there was so little wind you could almost keep up swimming! Me, I’d say that is a no wind region. We sailed 7 hours in 2 weeks, which adds up to a mere 10% sailing. Not quite what we are used to… such a pity, because the yacht was the best we ever had! The good thing was we had lots of time for other things…

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Jan

08

2017

OUR FAVOURITE 5 – HIS

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We didn’t want to start a family fight over who had gotten the Nr. 1 picture for this year, so we decided to split the story, favourite 5-his & hers ! Decide for yourself !

Here are my favourite photos for 2016. It was hard to choose since I had quite a few very nice pictures from our trips to Iceland, Zimbabwe and the Farn Islands (GB). Each of these trips was special in its own way. Have a look at the pictures yourself and enjoy.

5. WILD DOGS!

On the first morning on our Zim-Safari we experienced an extraordinary encounter with a pack of wild dogs, which I will never forget for my entire life .

We couldn’t believe when Humphrey our guide said: “quick get out of the jeep and position yourself on the road!”  This is exactly what we did and the wild dogs came very close, passed us with the “catch of the day” and I could take this picture of how nature works. “Eat and get eaten”

Give me a hand!

Give me a hand!

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Jan

07

2017

OUR FAVOURITE 5 – HERS

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The other half of avoiding a family fight over who had gotten the Nr. 1 picture for this year, our favourite 5-his & hers ! Decide for yourself which is your favourite photo !

Here’s my favourite photos for 2016. It wasn’t too hard to choose since I didn’t get to travel much after quitting my job and opening the new practise. But there were a couple of  highlights, sensational highlights I must say. We both turned 50 and each picked a very special trip. So it wasn’t the quantity this year, but there was definitely quality !

5. PUFFINS

They are the cutest birds ever, and after seeing a few in Svalbard we took a trip to a famous bird island in Norway to see more of thenm close up. We didn’t see any ! So I was seriously afraid to do another puffin trip and be disappointed again. Not this time ! There were hundreds, no thousands of them on the Farne Islands (GB). It is quite a challenge to capture them in flight, they are so fast, but we got better and better. This was one of the first pictures I took, starting with the “sitting ducks”. It really looks as if they are having a chat or maybe even a family fight…

20160628-asi-c7d21162

Do you want to talk about it ?

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