Travel Articles: Beach

After getting married in Montana in the summer, we treated ourselves to a honeymoon in January. We spent a week sailing on the Liberty Clipper around North Eleuthera and a few extra days relaxing on Governor's Harbour's pink sand beaches. It was the perfect getaway in the middle of Montana's winter.

Cataloging my second voyage to the Galapagos Islands, with art, photography, wildlife facts and travel tips!

The eco-lodge in Belize offers incredible dive and snorkel experiences, nature and cave hikes, and learning about the Mayan culture.

Galapagos: a playground for artists, photographers and people who just love wildlife! (Like me!) Explore with me...See the paintings I create inspired by this unique environment...Get good travel tips for the islands!

Floreanahad unique features. There was a giant, gnarly mangrove tree that dominated the crescent shaped shoreline. Erosion had made a secondary type of cliff, where a Blue footed booby and giant chick sat together and groomed. This beach had the green sand caused by the olivine crystals, while a beach on the other side of the island got different …

Our new guide was Julian, and he was knowledgeable and friendly. We were still in good hands! Our group disembarked by a small lighthouse. Walking the path was made even trickier because mother sea lions and their cubs saw no reason to give us passage. Not that we minded much. But our guide never wanted to put us or the animals in a situation …

Cerro Brujo. This is what is left of a tuff cone. (That is where the lava enters a very cold ocean, causing an explosion. It creates a different shape.) This is also one of the first sites visited by Charles Darwin. The sun came out for our visit here, which was welcome. We rode the dinghies along the cliff face, giving us only an indication to …

Next stop: Punta Pitt, San Cristobal!
We had a leisurely walkon a strangely colored, greenish beach, made so by olivine crystals in the sand. Lava lizards abound. We then turned inland and hiked up a dry river run that flows freely in El Niño rains—they have to take travelers elsewhere during those years. It must be gorgeous to see it …

Galapagos, October, 2015
I cannot describe to you how fortunate I feel, to be invited to explore more of these mysterious islands. And how strange and marvelous the circumstances! To be speaking to you again along these lines is truly a gift—a gift given all because I won a contest! Readers voted for me to win Adventure Life’s Blog …

We couldn’t come to the Bahamas without a few days of fishing! Our first afternoon on Harbour Island, we wandered out into the flats just north of town and saw a huge bonefish swimming right up to us! Of course, we didn’t have our fishing gear and when we returned later the tides had changed and the flat was dry. We would have to come …

We spent the last few days of our honeymoon relaxing on Harbour Island, the “Nantucket” of the Bahamas. It was quant, cute, and expensive, just like Nantucket. We arrived by a small flight from Nassau and then took a water taxi across the little straight between North Eleuthera and arrived at the Valentine’s dock, our home for …

We spent our last afternoon and evening on North Eleuthera, north of Governor’s Harbour on possibly the most beautiful, pristine beaches I’ve ever seen. The sand was white and perfect. The water was smooth and a vibrant Caribbean green. The crew took us to shore on the zodiac and set us free to wander for as long as we wanted. We were …

We docked at Governor’s Harbor where we would spend the afternoon and evening. Evan and I decided to go for a walk to the other side of Eleuthera and explore the white-sand beach on the rougher side. We walked through town, popping our heads in a few souvenir and coffee shops and then trekked up and over the hill to see the beautiful pink …

Life onboard the Liberty Clipper was very slow-paced. Jason, the cook from North Carolina was a pretty amazing cook, especially considering how small the galley was on the boat! (Jason even nailed my all my favorite meals, all in one day. We had biscuits and gravy for breakfast, Macaroni and cheese and pulled pork sandwiches for lunch and steak …

We arrived late in the evening into Nassau, quickly cleared customs and grabbed a cab to our hotel. We were staying in the old part of town, just a couple blocks from the main port where the large cruise ships were docked. Our cab driver doubled up and took another solo guy to his hotel first, and then gave us a fun local introduction to Nassau …

After taking an action packed trip to Costa Rica with Adventure Tours last year, we were ready to book another memorable trip with the tour company. On their site, Belize peaked our interest.

Off the coast is an incredible dive site called The Blue Hole. It became famous by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s. While on his ship, the Calypso, he charted …

On our final day of the cruise, we were up early for a visit to Mosquera Island. It is small, with a beautiful beach. The largest group of sea lions we encountered on the trip lazed on the sand or in the vegetation. The lighting was gorgeous--the benefit of the early embarkment. Sometimes photography was more difficult in the harsh, mid-day sun, …

Rabida is dominated by the color red. Red beach, red paths, red rocks everywhere.

We hiked up above the beach and had a nice view back down.

Along the way, we got to see the Galapagos dove. It's a pretty bird, with iridescent purple along the side of its neck.

More Darwin finch sightings, and it is today's artist inspiration.

I found …

Galapagos began to show off immediately. As we were coming in for a landing, we spotted two yellow-orange land iguanas off the runway.

Darwin finches and lava lizards dodged in and out between groups of travelers.

We could smell the warm, moist air of the ocean. We were greeted by our guide, waited for our group then transferred to a bus, then …

Less than 10 days until we begin our adventure and I couldn't be more excited by the prospect. A little background as to why we chose this small country in Central America: we both wanted to go somewhere we had never been before! A couple years ago I lived in Costa Rica for two months through a Study Abroad program and fell utterly in love …

Why Nicoya Peninsula?

Like I mentioned in another post, one of Jordan's dreams has been to SURF in COSTA RICA. So, when we were planning this trip, one goal was to make this dream come true. We were told that the Pacific side of the country is THE PLACE to surf. Nicoya Peninsula, here we come!

From our resort in La Fortuna, we bid farewell …

The sound of the ocean woke me at 6AM. The waves were pounding the beach so loudly that as I opened my eyes I would have thought the water was only a few feet away. In reality, I was cozy in our cabana at Pueblo Barrancas EcoLodge, tucked into the trees at least 100 meters from the beach. Ten stilted, quincha-roofed cabanas and 20 wall tents are …