Tagged With "Sea Stars"
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Re: St. Martins Sea Caves, New Brunswick
Fascinating place. I love the outside shot of people about to enter the cave. My first impression was that the rock was a large tree and dwarves were about to enter a hole right above its roots.
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Re: Sea World gives up its killer whale shows
I grow weary of political correctness. Orcas are highly intelligent animals, no doubt -- and have the "cruelty" we expect of intelligent animals (anyone who's seen them hunt a baby gray whale for hours, only to kill it, eat its tongue and let the rest go to waste knows what I mean). I never saw Blackfish, but I do recall at the old Marineland park in Southern California. The park was closed for a number of months, and the orcas got depressed. Listless, didn't eat, didn't look good. Someone...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Nov 17, 2015: Mdina Gates, Malta
Mdina is one of the few places I've been that's, in my experience, unlike any other. I thought it so beautiful on my first visit that I booked a room in the closest hotel just outside this gate and spent several days exploring it and the adjacent town of Rabat. Lunch at the restaurant of, I believe, the only hotel in Mdina, the Xara Palace , was memorable, wonderful service and food and a small compensation for not staying in the 5 star hotel. Thanks for the memory, IslandMan.
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Re: Swimming with Galápagos Sea Lions (S. America, pt 2)
What a fun adventure! I had no idea sea lions had such a sexist culture. Thanks, Kirsten.
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Re: Swimming with Galápagos Sea Lions (S. America, pt 2)
Thank you Kirsten! Another great blog in your series!
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Re: South America, part 3 - Nesting Leatherback Sea Turtles
Bravo! Another excellent post...I learn so much from your pieces and photos!!
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Re: South America, part 3 - Nesting Leatherback Sea Turtles
Fascinating! I was just visiting Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia today and discovered that leatherbacks like to spend their summers off the coast feasting on jellyfish. Amazing what long journeys they make to lay their eggs.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day: Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, England
As you may know, DrF, a number of houses in the UK are known as much or more for their gardens as for the houses. Not so in this case, although what they have sets the house off perfectly. The rest is more natural landscape as you can see in the bottom picture. I love the fact that the house is the star, as it should be in this case, and the gardens are a compliment.
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Re: Trainer for Day: Dolphinarium, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
That sure looks like a lot of fun! What was the temperature of the water?
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Re: Trainer for Day: Dolphinarium, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Great question -- and I should have put that in. The water was warm -- in the low to mid 80's ( Fahrenheit ). My wife is a woos, so she wore a skin (actually to prevent sun burn). You are not allowed to wear sun-screen as it contaminates the water for the dolphins!
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Re: Trainer for Day: Dolphinarium, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Great info! I feel like I've been through orientation and am ready to go! I hope Dolphinarium sees this great piece.
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Re: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
Some beautiful photos, Ottoman! I'm fond of black sand beaches because you only find them in places with active volcanoes, and I love volcanoes. White sand beaches are generally formed from the breakdown of coral (often by parrotfish, who eat it and clear the fine particles out the other end). This beach isn't that large, but the black sand is striking. And the turtles -- how lovely they are. They look soooo relaxed. Makes me want to take a nap in that warm sand, too!
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Re: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
You'd love the Canary Isles. Volcanic islands off the north west cost of Africa. Its a winter hotspot where the islands belong to Spain. Its party time all year and a favourite with the younger set. Its famous on Tenerife for young men to drive up Mount Teide in winter and collect snow from the peak in Cooler Boxes. Drive back down to the 77'f / 25'c beaches and throw snowballs at the topless sunbathers. Might be a bit too much for non-Europeans !!
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Re: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
GarryRF -- I think non-Europeans can also enjoy the sight of sunbathers being pegged by snowballs! The first hit, especially, must be quite enjoyable as the injured party wonders "where did that cold hard thing come from"?
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Re: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
Hi DrFumblefinger and Garry RF Thanks for the feedback. DrFumblefinger, you are so right about the relaxed turtles. If time would have permitted, I would've joined them for a nice nap. GarryRF, I have copied and pasted your comment into my "things to do" folder. I think I'll fit in quite nicely at Tenerife, for living in the Great White North (aka Canada) has given me a lot of practice at becoming a snowball sharpshooter.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#105)
Hmmm. It almost looks like the formations that they have around castles and manors in Netherlands but most pictures I've seen have star shaped formations rather than circular. I'm at a loss!
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Re: How a super-ship manages 12-hour turnaround
Sometimes when I'm in Vancouver I head to Canada Place to watch the cruise ships coming and going. You actually get to see the belly of the ship being loaded. The dozens of palates of food that go on is amazing. Would you have thought a cruise ship would consume 3 massive containers of potatoes in a week? 2 of onions? Might even have been more, that's all I saw. It is truly a model of efficiency.
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Re: Why You should visit Nevada's Valley of Fire
You are correct, GarryRF. There have been a number of movies filmed in the park. Lifted straight from Wikipedia , here is a listing of these: Film History : Valley of Fire is a popular location for shooting automobile commercials and other commercial photography. It has provided a setting for the following films and television shows: The Professionals with Burt Lancaster , Lee Marvin , and Claudia Cardinale was filmed in 1966. As of November 2012 a piece of the movie set is still up for...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct. 19, 2015: Giant ship, little town
It looks like the giant ship is there to feed on the small town, although I suppose in reality it's the other way around.
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Re: The Lucky Chair in Victoria by the Sea, P.E.I.
Interesting! Did the chair bring you luck yet? ;-)
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Re: Exploring the Baltic Coast. 1) Poland
Wonderful narrative and photos!. You make me want to go to Poland even more now.
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Re: Exploring the Baltic Coast. 1) Poland
Thank you for this. Poland really is wonderful and the people are some of the most generous in the world. I spent some time there in the 1980's, and at that time a tourist, could live on a dollar a day, although the government forced tourists to exchange more. Even though it was so cheap for me, my Polish friends insisted on paying and life there for them was expensive.
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Re: Exploring the Baltic Coast. 1) Poland
Great post and photos and a nice introduction to the Baltic region. I look forward to your second post next week on Latvia! I'm coincidentally in Krakow today, and there is a familiarity to the architecture here in this city with what's in your images. Having a nice time. They Polish people are very kind and the country certainly is a travel bargain.
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Re: Exploring the Baltic Coast. 1) Poland
I really love Krakow. Those colourful streets, little squares, amazing castle... Once while backpacking (it was supposed to be walking holidays in Lithuania ) I crossed Krakow and decided to stay there for all that time (10 days), I just went for hiking around, went to Warsaw and understood that Poland is the most amazing place in Europe! Everyone should visit it at least once!
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Re: Touch a Shark at Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach
I love visiting this aquarium, too, Samantha! The shark tank is extremely cool and there are lots of interesting exhibits to explore -- especially fun with kids. Still, my personal favorite is the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
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Re: A Visit to the “Spine Garden:”Cactus in Arizona’s Sonora Desert
I love to travel in the winter to hot countries - who doesn't ? But apart from the obvious reasons you get access to rare and strange fruit that just doesn't travel well. Star fruit, Custard apples, Salak and Prickly pears ! PRICKLY PEARS Delicious !!
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Re: Baja California: La Paz — John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
Thanks for the note, TravelandNature! AeroMexico has pretty regularly scheduled flights into La Paz, though through Mexico City, so you'll have to connect. Worth checking major search engines like Expedia or Kayak, though, because it is a rather long drive, though I enjoy the desert scenery of Baja California.
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Re: Experience with hotel bidding sites?
Hotwire.com has a generic "star rating" hotel, unknown to you as to which brand and exact location, at discounted prices. I've use them a few times and been satisfied with the results. For example, I got 4 star rooms in downtown Montreal for less than eighty dollars a night, probably a quarter or less of their rack rate. Generally I do like to know where I'm staying, but good luck. Let us know how this works out for you.
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo? (#74)
The spelling of "Harbor" indicates the US, and the angle of the sun suggests the southern half. I suspect if it were California, there are Travel Gumbo bloggers who would have recognised it by now. There is a flag with a single star - could this be an old version of the flag of Texas? So what about the Texas coast somewhere?
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Re: Philly's "Rocky Steps" Endangered?
What's amazing to me, more than Rocky, was how it came about. Sylvester Stallone turned down big money for his script because Hollywood wanted it without him being Rocky. And he was broke at the time. He stuck to his guns and eventually got to star in Rocky, becoming a huge movie star. Incredible that he had that much confidence in himself. http://www.philly.com/philly/b...-could-be-Rocky.html
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Re: Gallery: Les Halles, Dijon, France
If you can stay for two lunches, make the next one Restaurant Stephane Derbord on Avenue President Wilson. Take the "surprise" lunch deal; it's 28€ for a 3-course lunch with a Michelin star and the friendliest husband/wife team you could imagine. The menu changes, based on the day's special (tied to the market!) and was heavenly.
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New gonzo cruise ship even has sky-diving!
In the race to think up more features to add to cruise ships, Royal Caribbean is looking up...with a top-deck skydiving simulator on its newest ship, Quantum of the Seas, which has just started operating out of the New York area. Would you believe...
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Travel Deals for Black Friday & Cyber Monday
In recent years, the travel industry has picked up on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and started expanding their offering of sales on those days. Conde Nast published a list of some of the top deals. For Hotels- One of the most...
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Memphis, Tennessee 2) The King's chariots
Elvis loved cars and mechanical toys of all types, including motorcycles and airplanes. He had the money to indulge his passions, and you can see many of his favorites right across the street from Graceland . The Elvis...
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Charleston's Grand Mansions: Middleton Place
On a recent visit to Charleston, South Carolina, I bought a 2-day pass, called the Charleston Heritage Passport , at the North Charleston Visitor Center near the airport, and planned to include as many of the sites it offered of...
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San Marino
This past May I was able to satisfy a childhood dream of visiting San Marino. After completing a fourth grade report on this place we finally spent a night there. This also comes after traveling in Italy since 1980. The republic is a beautiful place...
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Steamboat Rock, Washington — Wildflowers and Vistas galore!
The large basalt mass of Steamboat Rock is a distinct landmark in Central Washington state. Steamboat Rock State Park is a dozen miles southwest of the massive Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. The Park is on a peninsula...
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United's Award Chart: Premium Award Cost Goes UP
United Airlines has released a new award chart that bumps up the miles required for nearly all business and first-class awards, and (for the first time) makes flights on its Star Alliance partner airlines cost more miles than on United. Details HERE
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ET, Call Home: A visit to the Arecibo Observatory
On our recent visit to Puerto Rico, we took an unplanned side trip to what might be called ET’s phone booth—a vast radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory that “listens” to space both for astronomical information and any...
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Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park, Hawaii Island, Hawaii
I love visiting the state of Hawaii. Although I have enjoyed all the Hawaiian islands I have visited (Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii Island), my favorite island would be Hawaii Island (aka the Big Island). The diversity of the Hawaii...
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Bosphorus Cruises in February (Turkey)
I'm preparing for a mid-February week in Istanbul, and would like to include a Bosphorus cruise, specifically one of the more-or-less all-day ones that goes up to the Black Sea, has a lunch break at a small port on the Black Sea, and then returns....
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Controversy for New Concert Hall in Paris
Photo from Philharmonie of Paris / W. Beaucardet The €390 million Philharmonie of Paris opened in January of 2015, after delays and cost overruns with controversy. Its star...
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How a super-ship manages 12-hour turnaround
Today's (Mar 22) NY Times has a fascinating article on the "backstage" operation involved in getting 6000 passengers off a ship, washing 93,000 pounds of linens, loading up all the food and water, and getting the next 6000 passengers out to...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, April 4, 2015: Sea Gull Inn, Mendocino, California
March 10, 2015 On my road trip to the Northern California coast in March, I stayed with a friend 17 miles down the road from Mendocino. But on 2 previous visits I’d stayed at the Sea Gull Inn . The first time was in...
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Are airline alliances costing you $$$ on flights to Europe?
According to consumer advocate Chris Elliott, writing in Fortune, the answer is a big yes. He pinpoints the growth of the big three alliances (SkyTeam, OneWorld and Star), and the agreements among alliance members to coordinate services between the...