Treat every experience like a gallery of precious moments. We went to Ponce, PR only for one day. Twenty four hours of concentrated fun for me and my husband. We sat by the pool and relax, walk at the beach, enjoyed the company of few birds and iguanas and the best part we ate like royalty.
The alarm clock yelled at us at five in the morning to wake up. Diligently we got ready and like soldiers on duty, at 6 am we were walking through the dark and silent 4th Ave. We thought we will find something open to have breakfast, but the small town was asleep. Finally around 6:30 we saw the Breeze Inn open and for our surprise Arthur was our server again, but now in a different restaurant. It was funny to see him again.
Once we finish with breakfast we were doing our registration with Kenai Fjord Tours at seven like was instructed to us. I looked around and saw people so bundle up for the tour that I question if I came prepare enough for the cold winds of Resurrection Bay. Before starting our tour I got two souvenir, a hoody and a coffee mug. I advise my hubby to buy some kind of hat or hoody to cover his ears because it was going to get cold with the combination of the wind and ocean. He didn’t want to, he thought I was exaggerating same as the rest of the people.
Well, it was time to move, the catamaran started slowly to navigate through Resurrection Bay. The wind started caressing Jorge’s ear with cold hands and he looked at me like he was in trouble. The famous “I told you so” came out of my soul, still I gave him my hat that barely fit him and I wrap my head with my scarf and a not so warm hoody that one of my jackets had. Let me show you.
Despite the cold wind, my level of excitement were higher enough to kept myself focus on the outdoor experience. I had my camera in hand at all time. I was the first one in the bow. I had a great position to take pictures, I did not want to leave my spot. In other hand Jorge tried to keep up with me but he couldn’t, every so often we went inside to hide from the chilly wind.
Our first encounter was with a sea otter right after we left, them we our our first eagle. He was blending with the rest of nature. Moving his head side to side wondering where to fly next. We stop to see it and then we kept going. Everything was so beautiful that I wanted to capture all.
We moved along through perfect scenery. Big rocks formation merging out from blue-green waters. The morning light trying to get through the maze of rocks and mountains, green pine trees on top of the rocky mountains moving slightly with the soft wind. Then, cute sausages were looking at us. Harbor seals!
On our way to see glaciers, I diligently looked for my whale encounter. Until that wonderful moment that I saw a humpback whale breaching! Everything happened so fast and so slow at the same time. The boat captain didn’t notice, she only saw the splash. I saw the massive body lift through the waters but nobody noticed it. I pointed out to the direction where the whale was, people turned to see what was going on and the captain slowed down the boat. We waited to see if the whale was going to continue with the show. But it didn’t happened. That memory will stayed always within me, because I wasn’t able to capture it on camera.
As we approached the glaciers, the air was colder and the water light green. We passed floating pieces of ice, we were getting closer and closer.
We spent quite some time at the glaciers. We witness the glacier transform. Huge pieces of ice broke, falling to the water making an aftermath of small waves and sounds. The time passes and nobody cared. It was nice to see nature working.
We left the glaciers and I was getting worried that the tour was going to end without any whale encounter. I was still in position, in front, on the bow. I was looking everywhere, like the captain was needing me to give her signal at the first whale sight. And then, it happened.
Everyone was so excited, this time was for real to all those waiting for this moment. Cameras were going frantically. Every time the two whales dived we all investigated all sides of the boat so see where they were coming up again. One of the whales waved at us happy to see us.
My adventure was complete! I was so happy. The only lament that I have was that one of the whales breached so close to us and I missed it. I missed the jump, the whale… everything. The only thing I saw was the splash. Still this tour was amazing experience. Six hours of enjoyment, also they fed us. That was the only moment went I got inside and sat for few minutes.
Here is a video with a glimpse of our tour. I hope you like our adventure and come with us every time through TravelmyStories.
Well, during our vacation in Alaska my major quest was looking for wildlife, specially whales. Check out my Alaska posts to find out what I found on my quest. I already have 2 post out, it will take me few more post to describe all the experience.
One of the thing that I love the most beside traveling is going to the beach. I have the privilege to live in Central Florida, where I have beach to the east and west of me. Normally we go to the beach on the east coast because is a little bit closer from us, than the west. But to be honest I like the beaches from the Gulf of Mexico better. This weekend we decided to have a beach weekend. Today (Sunday) is our third day in a row coming to St. Petersburg beach. We absolutely loved it. The water is clear and warm but still refreshing. Not that many waves like in the east coast.
If you know me at least a little bit, you will know that I love to take pictures, and lately I enjoy taking pictures of birds. What a great combination of a relaxing day at the beach and take pictures of sea birds!
All the pictures above were from Friday afternoon. That afternoon I noticed a bird that I haven’t seen before. It flew close to shore and to the water. I notice that it was flying so close to the water that the lower part of its beak was touching the water. I got curious and wanted to take a picture but it was impossible, it flew so fast.
Well, we decided to go back to the beach The next day and guessed what?
You see that bird ⬆️ flying there? It became my obsession for the afternoon on Saturday. You don’t have any idea how many photos I took or better said how many attempted pics I did trying to capture these birds. The flew in pairs. Two of them pass by us many times during the afternoon.
After so many tries, I got this two pictures ⬆️⬆️ that I absolutely loved. I love the pictures now, but at the beach with the sun glare it was difficult for me to see how good the pictures were on my camera. So I wanted more, I wanted to have a close up of the birds, I was certain that I have never seen these birds before.
After many attempts I start making a little prayer on my head “Please God order one of these beautiful creatures to stop by for a few minutes for me to be able to take a pic…” “Pretty please my dear Father” “Creator and owner of everything that breath.” And mentally I was doing a pretty please face to God. But nothing happened.
I was sitting on my beach chair on my own business when my husband said to me: “Hurry come here now!” And I looked at him with a puzzle face like what? He said: hurry, hurry, look! So I stand quickly, left everything on the chair, took my camera and there it was…
Just standing there, taking a break of the so many loops that it have been doing during the whole afternoon. I couldn’t believe my eyes.THE CHERRY ON TOP of my day! Thank you Father God! 😉
This cutie is a Black Skimmer, these birds have a unique way of feeding and are the only birds in America that feeds the way they do. They “skim” the water with their lower bill while flying closely to the water until they catch small fishes and/or crustaceans, when they feel something they snaps their bill to keep their prey. The Black Skimmers are the largest of the three skimmers families. There are also African Skimmers and Indian Skimmer.
It was the fist time in my life that I traveled, I was 18 years old and it wouldn’t be the last. Twenty five years later I can testify that, that trip to Disney World wasn’t my last.
Back then, I lived in Puerto Rico and I had never traveled before. I used to dream about Disney World, it was like a fantasy to me. The whole concept of traveling to the US it was like a dream. I never imagine back then that eight years later I was going to be living permanently in Orlando Florida. If I never imagine that, less I imagine that I was going to be working everyday on Disney property. Back then was a dream, this day is my every day life thing.
It was my first time traveling and it was my first time at Disney World, and definitely hasn’t been the last. That was just the beginning of Travelmystories I just didn’t know it back then.
In some of the pictures we were at Universal Studios. Actually on that vacation we stayed at Central Florida for 3 weeks and we visited all the parks including Bush Garden in Tampa. My family always took us on vacation, but in Puerto Rico. We visited many places and stayed in different towns during our vacation. But this special one, was our first family vacation in the US. Thank God for cameras, and albums we have now great memories to re-live.