Here are a few photo's from when we crossed the Atlantic a few weeks ago. Actually it's just photo's from the Azores, which is a stopover that ever boat going eastbound across the Atlantic has done since the days of Columbus.
Before I got here, I thought it would be similar to the desert stricken Canary Islands (which is a similar stop for westbound boats). However it is more confused than that. Being a few hundred miles north means it still does have some influence from the Gulf Stream and as a result has a landscape that wouldn't look out of place in Ireland. Except for the massive volcanoes and Portuguese looking people.
Ears: Bastille
Every dock in Horta is covered with each boats own sign. This is a tradition going back 100 years or so.
Surf Check
Horta
Our map of the island.
The old man did the trip across with us, cam in handy when looking for big foot.
The crater of the volcano on the island (well what it is meant to look like).
Our view of the crater, thank you weather.
Caught in peak hour traffic
Pico
Another view of Horta
Us with the usual suspects (actually made for a good night out!), Lady B, Zaca a Te Moana, Visione, Hanuman, Varsovie, P2 and many other familiar boats all made it there within a day of each other.
The second part of the San Francisco trip was spent in Yosemite National Park. The home of Yogi Bear and Bubu, as well as where the Father of Photography, Ansel Adams did his thing. The best way to describe this place is that it isn't real, or it looks like the type of landscape you would see in Avatar or ice Age or something along those lines.
There were more waterfalls, cliffs and Giant Sequoia's than I cared to count. Definitely a spectacular place and somewhere that I would love to visit again some day.
Ears: Matt Mays
This guy and his band supported Gaslight Anthem, I was quite impressed with them, and ended up having a good chat with him after the gig. We talked about how I was on holidays from working on the boat in the Caribbean, it turns out he grew up sailing in Nova Scotia and still follows it. He was super interested in the fact that I do what I do, definitely a down to earth guy and if you have a chance to see him then do so.
Generic road photo on the way to Yosemite
This little bird was enjoying a front row view
El Capitan
Three Brothers
The bottom of the Upper Yosemite Falls
Tourist in front of Yosemite Falls
Both halves of the Yosemite Falls
This lake is called Mirror Lake.......
Yosemite Valley
Tourist again
In the Giant Sequoia Forest
This isn't the tallest or widest tree in the world, but for shear mass and size it is the biggest.
On the Monterrey Peninsula, just down the road from Pebble Beach Golf Club
There are a few reasons why this blog hasn't been too frequently updated the past 5 months or so.
The first has been because we have been really busy doing boat stuff.
The second was because we were in the Caribbean, which kind of like home does get small and "boring" sometimes; I mean there are only so many photos of beaches, Bob Marley's and boats I can post on here!
The third reason, is the reason I am now posting; in the past month I haven't really had too much time just to sit down (with the internet), I have been everywhere from Antigua, New York, San Francisco, the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (for about 3 weeks), which included a stop in the Azores. And now i find myself back in Palma de Mallorca - a place where billionaire fugitives like Christopher Skase call home and get sick.
Here are some photo's of San Francisco, a place we went for a quick little holiday before the trip to Europe began. There's no real point in explaining what the place is like, it's not like you haven't heard about it or seen a photo..... just think Full House and Bob Saget, Milk (the movie about Harvey Milk, not the pasteurised type!), Flower Power, Clint Eastwood in a prison uniform, very old cable cars and rainbow flags.
The biggest surprise for me was the fact that I got to see The Gaslight Anthem playing just 100m down the road from where we were staying. Having been one of my favourite and most repeated artists my ears have enjoyed I was thoroughly stoked when a quick google search pulled there name out of the hat.
Enjoy.
Ears: The Gaslight Anthem
Pier 39
Bush Man; rumour has it he earnt $72,000 last year from scaring people by doing this. Not bad for a homeless guy!
Alcatraz
Alcatraz - flags at half mast due to the Boston Bombings that happened two days earlier.
Old mate's cell from the Escape
Painted Ladies, Bob Saget's house was the one with the red trim.
Apparently the biggest Chinatown outside of Beijing.
Pier 12 1/2
Oracle - their tenders doing full noise just to keep up.
Chinatown
Artemis; during happier times just before tragedy struck them.
