HrvatskA AvanturA

**NOTE** - I changed the name because it wasn't proper.  You will also have to resubmit your email address for the feedburner...

This is the beginning...click on the title to find the new blog.

You will be able to sign up to have an email of the blog sent to you so that you can live vicariously through us.  You won't be immersed in a foreign language like Jenn but you should get to see some awesome pictures.

Day 6: Kayak Tour & La Perouse Bay

I am going to update this post later with some commentary when I have time, but for now I'll let you look at some pictures:

Day 3: Molokini & Big Beach

We decided to sign up for a snorkeling tour to a small, crescent-shaped island off the coast of Maui called Molokini.  The snorkeling part of the tour was uninspiring - we a saw a couple of different types of fish than we had seen the day before off of the beach but there were so many people around that it lost most of its appeal.  We did see a box jellyfish, which everyone became aware of after a couple of people from our boat swam through its path and the jellyfish's tentacles became wrapped around one person's wrist and another's upper arm.  I tried to take a picture of it but the throw away underwater camera was not such a good performer...  Apparently the reef has taken quite a toll with all of the tourists traffic and in retrospect, we probably shouldn't have gone.  The tour did incorporate a few other stops that made it worth while.


We figured that we couldn't top our whale watching exploits from the day before, but we ended up pretty close to another humpback while on the way to Molokini.  Inadvertently, a whale watching portion was included in our tour as the skipper had to come to an abrupt stop as a humpback and its baby surfaced within 100 yards of our boat.  We were told that if you end up within 100 yards that you must stop and let the whales pass by.  This put us quite a bit closer to the humpback than the day before and this time I was able to have my camera to take pictures:


The above was a time-lapse of a humpback starting its dive.

On the return from Molokini, we stopped at a spot where there is a sunken ship and did a quick dip to take a look at it.  It was quite far down so most people saw it from afar - I dove a little of the ways down, but not quite that far.  So, I did see a little more of the boat and the fish that were hovering around above it, but I discovered something unexpected - the sounds of the humpbacks.  By equalizing the pressure in my ears, it allowed me to hear under water a lot better and thereby the humpbacks.

Our last stop was at "Turtle Town".  As soon as we approached this area there were many sightings of turtles surfacing for breath and looking for food on the ocean floor below.  Once we dove in it seemed that this "town" of turtles was some sort of imaginary myth designed to bring tourists in and their money but after a while I saw one swimming around, and then another, and then another.  Then, I looked at the ocean floor and among the different coral in the reef I saw a turtle hanging out, just lying there.  We also saw a turtle with some white, fluffy tumours all over it, fish hovering around it, picking at it.  Jenn said that she could see through the shell...

In the evening we went exploring a little further south to watch the sunset from Makena Bay.  We found Big Beach and as its name says, it was a very big beach.  A lot of sand, large crashing waves right at the beach with people boogie boarding those waves, humpbacks swimming out in the distance with Molokini and the sinking sun as a back drop.  The breaking waves were very large - I took a series of pictures with some kids in front of the waves to demonstrate how large the waves were:



Afterwards we went to Maui Taco again for some really good Mexican fast food.  Jenn had more of the mango chicken taco salad (this was all that she would have at maui Taco..).

Slideshow of the pictures of this days action is below!

Maui: Days 1 & 2 (this is LONG!)

Jenn and I are now in Maui, enjoying some sunshine and warm Pacific waters.  It is quite blustery here though in the latter portions of the day, something that I have become unaccustomed to since moving away from Lethbridge.  I’m not quite used to the island life where it is windy (like Victoria).  Apparently it is the windy time of year here.  We are staying on the lee side of the island where the snorkelling is good (surfing is good on the other side) so I can’t imagine if it is windy here, on the wind-shadow side, what it would be like on the other side of the island...

Day 1:

Our first day we slept in and went out to get the lay of the land, buy supplies and book a tour to Molokini , a crescent shaped island (?) where there is apparently some really good snorkelling.  We also rented some snorkelling gear (and have gone a couple of times to some pretty good reefs just off of the shore).  We rented a little cottage just across the road from a beach (and thereby the Pacific) and went for a quick little walk.  Spotted some neat vines and its flowers growing out of the sand.

 

The day was still quite young so we decided to go do some snorkelling a little ways up the road.  Didn’t want to bring my camera and leave it on the beach, so I had to leave it at base camp and therefore have no pictures of that part of the trip.  It basically seems that wherever there is a rock outcropping from the shore then you are guaranteed to find a reef.  There are a lot of interesting fish, very colourful – unexpected for a newbie like myself because you look into the water from the top and don’t see very much, and don’t expect very much.  Then, once you dip your head and mask into the water you see the rock outcropping go out for a very long way.  Then, as you swim closer, you start to see all of the fish; almost all at once they materialize from thin air (or water I suppose...).

We returned to our cottage and rested a bit and ate.  Took some pictures of the sunset.

Day 2:

Our paid for and planned trips didn’t begin until the next day, so we decided to be full out touristy and rented some open ocean kayaks.  I felt like a bit of a flake, not really going anywhere exciting except for off shore for the hour that we rented the kayaks.  The rental guy told us various things they are required to say including “Stay 100 yards away from the whales”. 

Now, we did scan the oceans for whales before going to the kayak area and in the far distance would see some blowhole spray, but nothing that seemed achievable to us in our dinky kayaks.  Despite the far distance though, we did see a humpback breaching the surface at least five times...it was still VERY impressive from the shore despite being probably 1 km away (I imagine probably even further than that even).  I was thoroughly impressed that something of that size could get ¾ of its body out of the water.  When I was doing my lifeguard training it was hard enough to just get half of my body out of the water when treading water...

Being the friend of a whale-guy (Dug), you get to know a few things.  The proximity that human beings and their vehicular contraptions should be to the oceanic animals is well known – you get given stickers and such showing you the “No-Zone”.  When the rental guy told us to “Stay 100 yards...”, well, I took it as something that he had to say as part of his duties, especially since he said it so nonchalantly.   There was no way that we would be able to get close enough to any whales to have be aware of this rule.  We were also told to head to the right of the beach so that when the winds came (apparently a certainty), it would push us back instead of us paddling against a headwind.  All the whales that I saw were splashing around to the left of the beach.  All this added up to lame tourist kayaking...

At least, I thought to myself, we aren’t doing the stand-up surf paddling like that one group ahead of us was doing.  My respect for people doing this increased markedly though seeing them do it here in Hawaii.  Someone stand-up paddling on Okanagan Lake, when the water is still – seems kind of wussy, but on the ocean, with large swells frequenting the waters, it must be a lot tougher.  On top of that, guys, all of the dudes that I saw trying it could not stand on the boards.  Well, they lasted for about a second, I have to give them that much credit.  On the other hand, the ladies pretty much got the hang of it after a couple of tries, swells and all.  So, I’m sure it has quite a degree of difficulty to it.  I still won’t pay money to do it though...

We debated which way to head out, whether we would go to the right or just head pretty much straight out, making a bee-line towards all the other tourist kayakers.  The prospect of becoming part of a tourist flotilla, again, warning bells ringing: lame tourist kayaking.  Taking up the role of a lame tourist kayaker, my zeal to get anywhere (there really wasn’t anywhere to get to in a half hour anyway) diminished and we floated or I watched Jenn paddle in the seat of the double kayak in front of me most of the time.

After we were a good distance from shore, we both stopped paddling and just hung out, with the occasional “doo-doo” Jaws theme coming from my mouth to bug Jenn (who get’s affected by those two infamous notes despite not even seeing Jaws and therefore not having a reasonable basis for her discomfort!!).  Jenn kept asking where we should go and I, disconsolately like a child, would say “There’s nowhere to go...”

Jennifer, putting up with me (and probably the reason any man marries a woman – finding someone who’ll withstand all our shenanigans!) just floated, probably happy that I actually made some sort of decision.  The kayak end up spinning towards the shore and therefore the sun beat into our faces.  Jenn requested a “righting of the ship” so our faces would not get baked.  As I started to paddle to turn the kayak we heard a very loud sound, almost like a wave breaking on shore – an exhale.  As the kayak spun around we saw two humpback whales swimming by, rolling in and out of the water.  We were amazed (Jenn much more vocally than I).  We were also a little jealous of the two kayakers between us and the whales who were close enough to smell their “whale breath” (don’t worry dug, they were still quite far away). 

The four of us were the closest, the rest of the flotilla a bit of a ways away and starting to frantically paddle toward the whales.  There were a couple of guys who were dead set on getting close including who we dubbed the “Whale Chaser”, a guy and his kid in a double kayak.  I’m sure that we heard his breathing as well as the whale’s with how hard he was working.  The beautiful thing about it was that the whale’s did a few undulations and then one big inhalation, a breath that we could clearly hear, the whale was on its way down, tail flipping in the air.  Whale Chaser – 0, humpback – 1.

We were satisfied enough with being that close.  I felt less like a tourist kayakers then, and Jennifer vindicated I’m sure.  (The women always right in the long run...)  We floated around some more.  More spray popped up all around us with the whales surfacing.  All the kayakers would start to chase the whales despite being so far away from them.  It looked a little like a soccer game between 6 year olds – every player chasing after the ball in a fluid, cohesive mass.  We floated, maybe turning the kayak around to get a good look, but did not chase.  We cursed the avid chasers but that is about it.  No whales breaching the surface either, but that might be scary up close.

We paddled a bit further out and then floated again, separated from the flotilla (we weren’t really THAT close together, but it still had a flotilla feel).  We floated again, truly in vacation mode, enjoying the blue waters and the sun, almost ready to head back.  I dangled my feet in the water, splashing them around trying to attract sharks – at least that’s what I told Jenn.  They wouldn’t want those measly, stinky feet...

About the time we were ready to make a decision to head back, we heard a tremendously loud exhalation behind us.  We spun around and there, very close to us, were the two humpbacks from before (I think).  We were awed before, but their proximity now made it even more awesome.  I pretty sure they were still 100 yards away but I’m sure that I smelled whale breath...  Of course, the two chasers resumed their frenzied paddling, the one with the son most of all, but by the time they reached where we already were we heard the big breath – just as if a human were getting ready to go underwater but 100 times the volume of air moving through the orifice.  Down went the whales.  I’m sure the whale chasers got a good close up view of the tails; we had a fantastic view.

Tourist kayakers yes, but, we got to see a very magnificent creature.  Those people who spend a lot of time on their sail boats must feel privileged.  I can’t imagine what it was like when Mike & Hyo (http://aboardio.blogspot.com) were anchored and whales were all around them - so much so that they feared collisions!!  Or when they were 0 m from the whale shark...

We came in after that and returned the boat.  We may have the rental guy takes us out on a 2-hour tour (I’d be a bit wary if it was a 3-hour one...) to go snorkelling and see some dolphin.  Dug, he promised us that we would be able to grab their dorsal fins and go for a ride!!  OK, maybe not... I’d be willing to pull them along if they wanted to go for a 1 km/h ride!

We went snorkelling from that beach right after.  It was more of the same from before, but a little bit different structures, stronger currents and we did see a “honu”, a sea turtle.  That was exciting too.

Now, we are sitting at the cottage having done all of our exciting things in the morning, apparently like typical Hawaiians.  Go to sleep at 8pm, wake up at 5am.  That’s alright with us, it keeps our internal clocks the same as Vancouver time.

My goodness this is going to be a long blog.  We don’t have free internet access here so I’m typing this up in Word so that I can cut & paste while I am sitting outside, at the edge of the cottage grounds, borrowing someone’s wireless internet... I don’t have many pictures.  I now wish that I had bought Jenn a waterproof camera that could take HD video.  I think that is what Mike & Hyo have and it seems to work really good.  Oh well, the low def pictures are in my brain (sight-to-memory compression doesn’t seem as good as even .jpg...)

Future Exploits:

Molokini snorkelling, backpacking and camping at Haleakala in a volcano crater (we had to bring cold weather camping gear for this...), a luau (Jenn wants to see some hula dancing), and more!

The Dead of Afternoon

Not being able to handle the stress of the impending overtime of the Canada vs. U.S.A hockey game (and thinking that it was over for Canada) Jenn and I decided to leave our house and go to an open house.  As expected, the streets were eerily silent as we walked.  After hearing a brief squeal I began to wonder that if Canada scored, would we would be able to hear it?  After a second or two Jenn mentioned that she thought she heard a cheer and expressed the same sentiments.  It wasn't but a few steps later that we heard a muted eruption and our musings were verified.  We heard cheering and car horns honking during the whole half block that we walked to the open house.  It was quite something - I'm not sure whether anyone in Canada would NOT know that we had won the gold medal hockey game.

Walking home from the open house, Jenn and I both, at first, wondered who scored the overtime goal.  We both picked Sydney Crosby but then dismissed it because it would have been too corny, too poetic.  Then we started picking other players (Jenn: Eric Staal, but only because he is from Thunder Bay) because the initial option would have been just too appropriate...

I have to say that I've been impressed with Vancouver - it wasn't looking like there was going to be a lot enthusiasm for the games with all of the negative press and a muted mood that suffused through the lower mainland.  Once things started though, things were quite euphoric.

It's hard not to be a naysayer though.  Millions, if not billions of dollars were spent on an event that did not improve the overall well-being of all the people in our society.  Albeit, the Olympics were remarkably galvanizing - it was near impossible to not get swept up in the euphoria.  But, there is always the homelessness issue, not to mention that Jenn and I's jobs will be in great jeopardy because of funding shortfalls.  So, hard to approve of something that does not affect truly important and essential things in our lives, you know?  The depression that would have fell over the country if the men's hockey team had lost would seem so absurd - why waste all that energy over something that will not really affect our well-beings?  We should be more depressed over a lot of the things that Harper and our government are doing to our country...

Aside from that, it is a great day out here.  The magnolias are flowering alongside the cherry trees and pockets of rhododendrons.  The air was on the warm side of 12 degrees and you could tell that it has turned to an official beginning of spring (at least here on the west coast and the Okanagan valley).

Now if Jenn and I just shed our colds...

Online Opening Ceremonies Footage

Jenn's mom sniffed out some online footage on CTV's website of the opening ceremonies.  It is quite a bit different than what was shown on TV.

You can see Jenn for longer, but I'm not sure if it is as close up maybe??  Check out these times: 1:46:26 - 1:46:34 (beginning the dance) & 1:52:10 (for her bow).

Website is: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/collections/collectionid=40427/index.html

Jenn in the Opening Ceremonies

For those of you who recorded the Opening Ceremonies or have Shaw Video on Demand (Olympics stuff is free) you can look for Jenn in the Rhythms of the Fall segment.  She is wearing a red dress with no other paraphernalia and can be seen up close a minute or two after the beginning and at the very end of the segment.  There are a couple of other times that you can see her but it is not as obvious.

Flowers comin'...

I've noticed two different plants blooming in the last few days - it doesn't seem right though, this early...

The first flower is one that I forget the name of but saw when Jenn and I were walking with the Might 'fra in Vancouver to have some lunch by her new place.

 

buds...

If any of you know what this is, leave a comment (on my blog).

On our commute home today I also saw some cherry blossoms in South Surrey (I think) coming out.  It has been quite warm here lately so I wonder if the flowers are getting fooled?  I don't think that there are any insects or bees flying around right now, so it can't be very advantageous to be flowering.

New Year's

This is the first New Year's eve that I remember from most recent times that I haven't skiied out to a hut/cabin to celebrate the new year (aside from when I was in Thunder Bay last year).  Seems like the usual suspects were spread out.

Not that we didn't have fun though!  Jenn and I went to see D.S. & N.K. and stayed with them for a few days at their new home in Whistler (D.S. = yuppie).  We dropped some coin and went skiing a couple of days, had fun - Whistler/Blackcomb are huge together and quite big on their own rights.  Jenn and I took the Peak-to-Peak at the end of the day with DS to experience the gondola and to ski down.  It was Jenn's first time and we were enshrouded in clouds, so she couldn't really see how high up we were.  Good stuff - hard to imagine that it is really only has two supports throughout the entire thing, not counting the ends.

We were later met up with El Matador Gigante & Zhan-ay as well as BG and the 'fra who made it for New Year's Eve.  Good times.  Had some sparkling wine, saw a pathetic firework display, a lot of walking in the snow, drank crazy BG drinks, a little Wii, lots of snowballs (mostly by BG, but us other boys kept up), DS pizza and breakfast, BG flambe (almost burnt down the new townhouse) & oysters...

Thanks to DS and especially NK who had to put up with us all the while still having to get up early to go to work on the hill.  And they gave up their bed!  Much appreciated!!

Oi - first day of work was rough...

Tauntaun, Part II

I wrote an email to a few extra geeky friends after finding the web site thinkgeek.com.  There, I found a sleeping bag, which was designed to look like a Tauntaun and thereby make it seem like you had slit one open yourself to enable you to survive the frigid weather of the planet Hoth.  Allow me to demonstrate with some visuals:

 

What the planet Hoth is supposed to look like.

Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and...a tauntaun.  Shortly after this picture was taken, Han Solo ripped open the belly of the tauntaun and threw Luke Skywalker inside...

At thinkgeek.com , one can find a simulation for the real experience with the tauntaun sleeping bag...

Which leads to my previous post where I had first mentioned the tauntaun.  This time it had to do with the giant pumpkins we saw.

Aren't allusions wonderful?  If you had watched, and remembered, what happened in the Empire Strikes Back, I wouldn't have to explain any of this!

That is all.  Look at that pumpkin though...

Sittin' on a Patio

It didn't occur to me that we were sitting on a patio tonight at a restaurant while people in Calgary were told to stay at home unless they had to leave.  Then Marco Polo posted some documentation of the current blizzard events in Lethbridge...

Not only were we sitting on a patio, but we further deluded ourselves by going to a Jamaican restaurant:

Of course, Lethbridge will soon see balmy temperatures if history has anything to say about it - and everyone will be wandering about in their shorts and T-shirts...

No more Sugar Momma...

After a little more than 2 months of having a Sugar Momma to support my sewing habits, I have secured some employment.  It is only the privilege of substituting, but after wandering the desert that was education employment, a particularly arid time these days, I am elated and it should lead to easier opportunities within the school division.

I am going to miss my days of watching the Cosby Show and Magnum P.I. (throw in a dash of Matlock every now and then).  True, I did do most of the grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning but no babies as I am unable to produce them, what with the lack of a womb!

Twigg & Hottie

Well, I was walking down Main Street the other day after buying some stuff for my jacket when I came across this sign on the sidewalk:

**link to person's page who took this photo**

I never took this picture (I had trouble taking the picture files off of my phone, with which I took a couple of pictures with, for various reasons).

I figure though that it perfectly describes my union with Jenn...well, maybe not as true as with Maureen and Kristin!

Here is an image-altered picture (I chose not to use "photoshopped" - should have used "GIMPed" actually):

If Maureen and Kristin would like me to create their own, just let me know!!

Apple Picking

We went to Abbotsford Sunday to go pick some apples.  Unlike the Okanagan Valley though, we did not find "U-pick kittens"...

It was a beautiful day at the Willow View Farm, it made for a lovely afternoon.

There were many varieties of apples, many I had not heard of before.  They were $0.60/pound, which apparently is a good price (shows how much I buy apples/pay attention to prices...).  All of the askew posts marked the name of the apples that were in that row.  If you click on the pictures above for a larger view you should be able to see the names and the apples on the trees.  It is clearer in the picture below:

Apparently you are allowed to graze, "to test out how the apples taste" apparently (so says SDT).  I never did see that written anywhere, mind you, there are only so many apples you can eat in the small amount of time that you are there.  We were sharing apples to taste them and we were all promptly full and had the "apple-sweats" as we lumbered along to gather our final pickings. Jenn beautifully demonstrates the eating of the apples below:

Our final haul.

There were also a few, very large, pumpkin patches with many different varieties of pumpkins:

 

The patch with the "Do Not Disturb" sign were very large, I think that Jenn or I could've sliced it open and snuggled up inside enabling them to survive a blizzard on Hoth...no need for Tauntauns! (I had to look that up)

We also figured out that Jenn was worth about $2 as a pumpkin (only for her head though).

Combining the information from the above picture and the one below is proof that Jenn is not a Knuckle-Head though...

Not only fun, but now we have yummy apples to eat!

Over and out.

Jenn's in the Olympics!!

Jenn got an email today saying that she would be part of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Olympics! Odds are pretty good that she'll get some sort of close up on TV I would imagine. She will be tap dancing - I guess that is all we are allowed to know though...

An addendum: Jenn auditioned for the part. At first she did a general audition and then they did a call-back for a "special role". So she was chosen for that special role.

Sewing Project

I bought some Schoeller water-resistant, 4-way stretch soft shell material from a now defunct sewing shop in Calgary (the best one in Canada, used to be) that was on sale and planned on making a soft shell jacket.

That was a few years ago. Problem is not finding material (though I did have to order water resistant zippers from Finland) but in finding patterns that are technical enough. After much searching on the inter-tubes (as ST would say) I did find someone who sold good, outdoor equipment patterns, some for free, check it out: www.shelby.fi . Jenn bought me a sewing machine for Xmas so now I had no excuse to procrastinate, especially since I have some time on my hands right now...

I got the pattern traced out after piecing together the photocopies sent to me (that took a while), pinned them to my (expensive) fabric and then let it sit for a while. I was little hesitant to cut the fabric - you can't go back once the fabric is cut!!

I said what the hell, cut the fabric and I'm off to the races - except that I have to wait for zippers to come from Finland (I guess they fit in envelopes so they should be here fast, but probably too late, I should be working by the time they come).

Alas, I needed the zippers for the very first step, true, later on in the step, but I pretty much need it right away. But, I could assemble my hood and that is what I just finished doing! Here are pictures of my handiwork:

Now I wait. I can a little bit more with step 1 but it won't be much...

Night Market

We went to the Summer Night Market in Richmond Saturday night with El Matador Gigante (a web site generated this for his first and last name. Let's go with Huracan Picante which was achieved using "Doctor LastName") and Zhan-ay. There were many stalls with cheap knick knacks and some interesting items...

A lot of Korean socks, a vendor with LED shirts that light up and respond to sound, Taiwanese DVDs, and many other "Canadian" type items. We went primarily for the food. I had some skewered meat and twisty potatoes with Huracan Picante...

You can see a few of the interesting stalls, one with Jenn in front of the "Waffle Ball" stall...

...or where we got the twisty potatoes...

Here's Jenn and I...

By the way, my generated name was "La Fenix Mejor", Jenn's was "El Griego Mas Macho". My teacher name (Mister Winkler) would be "El Kulo Famoso".

Sunshine Coast

Jennifer and I had a birthday bash this weekend for the both of us.  It was more her idea and work, but a double birthday celebration nonetheless...

We stayed at a B&B that was right on the Pacific.  It was nice little suite.  The weather was good despite the forecast.

 

I went down to the shore in front of the B&B the evening we came as it was a low tide and looked around.  There were many sea stars and sea cucumber.  There were little crabs too, but they would skitter away too fast for me to actually see them.

 

We went for a short hike to look at the Skookumchuk Narrows - a place where the water channel narrows and creates rapids.  The hike took us through a small rain forest area where most of the trees and rocks were covered in thick moss.  

We got to the rapids which were impressive.  I didn't take any pictures of the rapids though, there are many good ones on the net if you look.

 

We went further on the trail from the first viewpoint to the second one.  There were a lot of star fish to be seen there, large clusters of them.  Orange and purple mostly, though there was one type that had a burnt sienna colour (I can’t think of a better word for it!).

  

Gone Hikin'...

It was a beautiful weekend this past one.  El Matador Gigante suggested we go for a hike.

It may have been a bit early to go without snowshoes but it was packed enough that using snowshoes was just silly.  The pay off at the top was pretty good though...