Cartegena, Columbia March 2011

What a lovely city.  We spent the entire day in the old walled section looking at the old architecture.   

The streets are narrow, curved, and filled with vendors old and new.  Lots of tourists and a regular police presence in non-standard vehicals like dune buggies and in the open back of small pickups.

The walls of the city were so thick they actually had rooms within and we loved the bookstore.  Watch your head!  People back then were not very tall.

The churches were magnificent.  Although the this section of town was full of tourists, some of the businesses made it clear they didn't want anyone to loiter sitting in their windows or doorways.  Note the spikes!

Looking down from the wall, we could see the crowds and the carriages in the narrow streets.

The balconies were very reminiscent of The French Quarter in New Orleans, but somehow more sturdy or more established.  It was a lovely, sunny day and we enjoyed the views from the top of the wall.  You could just imagine seeing pirates on the horizon and having to load the cannons to defend your town.

Hautalco, Puerto Chiapas and Antigua

We waited in Puerto Vallarta for parts to fix our engines.  When they arrived on another ship, we fixed the problem and left, but we have lost our visit to Hautalco and will be late into Puerto Chiapas.  We spent a wonderful day at sea watching dolphin and turtles.  The wind and seas have picked up.   Since we are late arriving,  it is now low tide in Puerto Chiapas, and we are not able to dock.   Bummer since we were looking forward to visiting ruins.  But we had started to take 8 degree swells and we were still 2 miles out so better to be safe than sorry. 

We were up early the next day to drive from the port to Antigua, Guatemala.  This is a world heritage site and a wonderfully preserved colonial city with narrow cobble stone streets, and friendly colorful people. 

Lots of beautiful churches and architecture in the shadow of three active volcanoes.  The melding of old and new is beautiful.  The old buildings are still being used and there is honor shown to the old while the new lends practicality to structures.

The artifacts are lovely and displayed creatively.  

On the way to Panama

The adventure begins with sun, sun, sun.  We arrive in San Diego to wonderful warm weather and board the ship the next day sailing out past both the old and new Point Loma lighthouses.

 The next day is relaxing at sea, getting to know our ship, reading, eating and touring the decks to walk off the food.  I’m disappointed that not all dishes are up to expectations.  Lucky for us there is plenty and I’m trying not to clean my plate and eat it anyway. 

We have engine problems and can only go 16.5 knots making us late to Puerto Vallarta.  We had a lovely visit to the very busy and enjoyable old town.  Lots going on along the water front.   I was fascinated by a man balancing rocks into towers 5 ft high. 

Beautiful sand castles being built and great statues to pose with.

 Flocks of pelicans diving into the water to feed.   

Farewell Depoe Bay

Another wonderful week comes to a close.

We have enjoyed storms, waves, whales, seals, pelicans, good food and friends.  What more could you ask for?  Today we watched whales and pelicans and they dived for food.

To top off the week, we had a beautiful sunset.  I'm glad we are coming back in January.

More of natures wonders

After four days of gorgeous high surf and storms, the sea is calm.

We visited Yaquina Head lighthouse.  I love the curving staircase.  We were lucky to see a whale while we were there as it passed by.

We came back and saw two whales from the comfort of our front room.  They stayed for hours and we enjoyed them the whole time..

Surfs up in Depoe Bay

We arrived Friday to storm forecasts for the weekend.  That is OK since we are on the edge of a rocky cliff above ocean and have a 180 degree view.  Above is the view to the south.  We can watch the rocks and house above from our unit.  The spray from the waves was much higher than the house.  I love having a fire, reading a book, listening and watching the waves.  Good wine, friends and food are part of the package too.  Our unit is just off the picture to the right in the photo below.

The waves kept on building all weekend to a high of +35 feet on Monday.  Although there were storm cells passing through, we had numerous times each day where we could get out and walk.  And although it was mostly cloudy, there wasn't  a lot of rain, so we could enjoy watching the waves.

This is our good friend Terri with Don who joined us until Tuesday.

This wave got even bigger and came up to get me wet.  No, I wasn't in an "unsafe" position, I was behind the fence.  The waves were that big.

The downside of the spectacular waves  and storm is we haven't seen any whales. Normally we can see grey whales migrating south at this time of year.   But we did see numerous pairs of seals today.  Maybe toward the end of the week it will be calm enough to see whales until then we will enjoy the waves.

History being lost

We visited Barnegat Lightship today.  It is moored in a sad, run-down private marina with no public access.  It was sad to see such a proud ship being neglected.

 Almost as sad as seeing Sea Isle City Lighthouse being torn down last week.  Two pieces of history lost or rapidly deteriorating.

SeaIsle in its' heyday

Lighthouses of New Jersey

We are having a great time driving the coastline of New Jersey and seeing all variety of lighthouses.  Some restored, one replica, one being torn down, some in need of repair.  We also saw two of the prettiest lens I have ever seen.  One was a first order with 16 bullseye from Cape May and the other was a clamshell from Navesink.  Lots of history, good weather and fun.

Atlantic City

This week has been an adventure and an education.  South New Jersey is rural.  The coastline is obviously a seasonal tourist area.  The marsh areas and extensive and beautiful.   Lucky for us, this is off season so the crowds are manageable.

Atlantic City is full of high-rise casinos, hotels, limosines, helicopters and high rollers.  Then there is the sixty foot wide boardwalk full of tourists in bathing suits, shorts and t-shirts.  Lots of pizza, hot dogs, ice-cream stands and souvenier shops.  We are close to the Taj Mahal and not far from Absecon lighthouse.  We visited both.  Yesterday we walked down to Caesars Palace and saw the water fountain show.  Neat!  It has been unseasonably warm breaking records with 93 degrees yesterday.

Onward to Cape May

We started the day driving down the coast to Fenwick Island on the Delaware/Maryland border.  The lighthouse is lovely and both the assistant keeper and main keepers buildings are still standing. It still has a working second order lens.

The town of Lewes has a lovely historic district with charming shops and old homes.  

Before getting on the Lewes-Cape May Ferry, we saw four lighthouses and one light ship in the Lewes area.  We had a lovely lunch on the dock watching the replica sailing ship docked there. 

We visited Cape May then headed up to Atlantic City where we will be for the week.  

Life is an adventure

We flew into Philadelphia a few days ago.  The weather is warm and beautiful.  After having such a cloudy and cold summer at home, this is a real treat.  

We wandered down the coast of Delaware seeing lots of range lights.   The countryside is lovely and we don't have to drive far between the lighthouses.







Along the river were beautiful marshlands with lots of birds and wildlife.  Lighthouses make great perches for turkey vultures.

Here comes the sub - daily life at New Dungeness Light Station

We were lucky enough to see two subs this week as they passed us in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

The first was a sub going out to sea with two menacing looking armored escorts.  The escorts were so close, it was hard to see the sub in between.  They were accompanied by two more Coast Guard boats and a fast pursuit boat.  They made an impressive showing. 

The other was a sub coming in to the sub base at Bangor with just two Coast Guard boats as escorts.  We were able to see the whole sub as it went by. 

We had great weather all week.   A couple of HOT days when we enjoyed the sunshine.  A breeze came up almost every night.  Lovely sunrises and sunsets.  It was clear enough to see the Olympic Mountains and Mt Baker most of the week. 

As usual, we had swallow nests and baby birds.  This time there were three nests on the station and they all flew the coop during our week.  Have a good life babies!

Lighthouse Keepers for the week

This week we are staying at the New Dungeness Light Station in Sequim, Washington as volunteer light keepers. 

Jim Thomas from Idlewild, CA raises the flag in the 4th of July.

We are sharing the 3 bedroom keepers quarters with two other couples.  One from Brush Prairie and one from Oceanside/Idlewild, California.  We are lucky to have such nice folks sharing our space.  We are alternating fixing the evening meal and Jennifer set the bar very high with grilled salmon and a pasta salad the first night.  I fixed razor clams and shrimp last night.  We are eating very well.  Our duties include putting up the flag each day, mowing the grass, taking care of the house we are living in, keeping the public picnic and restroom facilities clean and giving tours. 

This is the view from our bedroom window. 

It was gorgeous weather on Saturday and we had 87 people.  Only 37 people yesterday since it was overcast in the morning and although it did start to clear off, the wind was fierce by evening.    We were able to see fireworks from Port Angeles to Sequim.