Tag: #travelmystories

Abracadabra your wish is going to come true!

I saw at the distance the a mist erupting the water, my heart was pounding as fast as the boat raft  we were on, that was speeding at full gear. I looked at my husband wondering if the captain was going to slow down. I kept looking at my surroundings and more mist in different locations blew out of the water. I counted like eight of them, and we were getting closer. Finally the captain slowed down and said while I was pointing out “humpback whales!” I took my face gear out, pull my camera, and start shooting pics. I stopped shooting for a minute and just looked. I was so happy, I wanted to do everything at the same time, take pictures, videos, and observe. I was looking for that perfect moment to shoot the fluke while the giant dive in. I tried before and I wasn’t successful, actually I was kind of frustrated to be honest. I had one more chance.

They were so close, I heard them breathing, I saw the mist of their breath going up to the sky.

Then, magic happened…

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When it rains

 

It was a rainy day on Sept. 5. When we got to the port in Juneau, the skies were dark gray and it was cold. Later on the day the rain was on and off. The rain or cold weather was not an excuse to stop our tour. First we went hiking to see the Mendenhall Glacier at Tongans National Forest.

We continue our day with the second part of the trip, to explore Juneau’s water for marine wildlife. The day didn’t got any clearer or brighter. Within the grayish hazy day the enthusiasm for a wildlife encounter was enough to brighten my day.

We got close to an island full of sea lions, at the moment we got there it wasn’t raining. There were all on their business, growling, moving around, scratching, fighting, sleeping and some swimming. We stood there and watch them.

 

 

Then, drops of water started to make marks on the ocean. More and more droplets fell from the sky, returning to where they came from.

Then, chaos began…

 

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The way the seals reacted it to the rain was funny. They all wanted to be all together at the same time, one on top of the other. Some of them wanted to go for a swim. It was like the rain drops activated them with a  warning message “GROUP HUG! or ” GO CRAZY  AND THEN SWIM!”  I don’t know, but I can tell you that something happens to them when started to rain, some kind of chaos…

Until then,

xamlinnette

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The Best Part Of My Beach Day

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.
Well that’s all my story!
Until then,
xamlinnette 🙂
Weekly Photo Challenge: Cherry on Top
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Been A Tourist Is Not A Bad Thing

 I don’t know why travelers see the word tourist with a bad connotation. Tourist means someone who travel for pleasure. Travelers and tourist both travel for pleasure. Now, the motive behind that pleasure might be different. I looked up the difference between a traveler and a tourist, and my conclusion base on what I read is that a tourist is on a fast pace schedule with a camara trying to cover as much as they can in a short period  of time. A traveler don’t have a schedule, they submerged themselves on the culture, they try to blend in with the locals, they are not in a hurry. I get it and I understand it too. I have a heart of a traveler but giving the circumstances, I am a tourist everywhere I go. I work full-time, my vacation time is limited. I get excited with every new place I visit, which I wish I can stay for ever but I can’t. Because I can’t, I carry my camara to glimpse as much as I can of everything I see in the limited time I have. For now until I quit my job, I can only have a heart of a traveler and just be a tourist. I know there are people that they are only tourist and for ever they will be tourist, no heart of a traveler. But you know what? That’s ok too. 

 
Until then,
xamlinnette
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It was the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.

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.
Where did you go on your first travel?
Until then,
xamlinnette:)
 
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