Adventures in travelling

2011-12-24T07:59:00.000-08:00

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From St Maarten to Palma de Mallorca on a 147 ft Sailing Yacht

2010-05-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

An other post for the least updated adventure blog of the net, may be I'm getting to old or lost in the vast array of web community and its media.
Lately I crossed the Atlantic on a beautiful vessel, Visione, a 147 ft sailing yacht with a crew of 9, including an english chef. And the conclusion of his trip is amazing: 'I love english-style cooking'.
Well now with my extra 2 kilos I started paddling again.
On this trip we've seen dolphins and wales, didn't catch a fish, jumped in the ocean, land being just 3000 meters below. We stopped in the Azores for a few hours, we've passed Gibraltar in the evening, went through the Ibiza Formentera channel and anchored in Palma around midnight 19 days later.

Species to save

2010-03-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

IUCN list of Threatened Species.

St Martin's day, Race relay around the island

2009-11-12T11:28:00.001-08:00

St Maarten Surf ski race

2009-10-14T19:20:00.003-07:00

Ecogwiyan

2009-06-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

2 articles written after I spent several days in the Amazon jungle with Eddy, 10 days on the jaguar SPECIES program sponsored by Kwata and the WWF. I got one botfly maggot in my arm from these adventures.
After a trip to the everglades where I encountered Alligators and Salt water crocodiles, I wrote an article over crocodilians and the main differences between Crocodiles, Caymans and Alligators.
These articles are in French you can download the file here
http://www.intensif.com/Ecogwiyan/crocodilian.pdf

Studying a Schneider's Caiman, Paleosuchus trigonatus in French Guiana.

Leatherback turtle

2009-05-06T12:09:00.001-07:00

Leatherback turtle

Sea Kayaking in French Guiana

2009-01-13T01:46:00.000-08:00

I went kayaking to a smal Island 4 NM from the coast off Cayenne. The sea was fairly calm and fairly green. The trip took 4 hours in total due to the strong currents. I stayed in the Kayak because I couldn't go ashore. I saw dolphins, a turtle and shark finns around the island.

View of the Cayenne Island, on the left is the mouth of the Mahury river, you can see the hill of Rorota and Mahury. On the far right the city of Cayenne is behind the hills.

The beach of Montjolly, 300 meters from the house.

Ecogwiyan

2008-12-17T12:17:00.001-08:00

Hi this is our magazine for nature in wich I contributed with this picture.
http://www.intensif.com/Ecogwiyan/n19.pdf

In the next edition out today I contributed with 2 articles (in French) over the Crocodilians and the Jaguar. Unfortunately our members and other actors of the environment get the magazine in advance, I can't put it online for the public to see now. I'll post it here as soon as I can.

Bowling in Montjoly

2008-12-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

Bowling

Diving pics in Key Largo

2008-12-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Diving in Key Largo

More diving pics of my trip in Key largo, I dived with Quiescence and Island Ventures, both where good diving operators and I recommand these operators.
We mainly dived on the reef around French reef, Molasses, the Winch, Benwood, The City of Washington, the Duane, the Spiegel grove...
The sea was agitated and visiblity wasn't always optimal but I really enjoyed this dives. The number of fish and their sizes is quite impressive thanks to the effort of preservation in the area. I wish we had more reservations like this. Most of the dives where shallow, around 10 m except on the wrecks. I dived off season, the week after after the Fantasy feest in Key West, it is very quiet and good if you want to avoid the crowds however the weather can be a problem sometimes, cold and strong winds. Prices are ok, not cheap but you can find good places at an affordable rate. I stayed at Ed and Helen's lodge and enjoyed my stay.
Unfortunately I don't have pics of the Duane and the Spiegel because it was too deep for my small camera, I can go down to 10 meters without an underwatercase and it is shockproof, I can't wait till they make one going down to 40 meters at least. These two wrecks are really good with plenty of life around, huge rays, big groupers, sharks and more...
If you're not american it is hard to figure out the tipping system, I still don't get it after all these trips to the States, I had a hard time figuring wether I should tip the captains or not and how much. Basically, I never knew whom to tip. During my journey I overtipped some people wich I learned later I didn't need to tip, and undertipped other persons at the end of my journey. For the boat captains I definitly undertipped but realized that later. However, it would be good for the diving operator to give an indication of the tip on the bill for the foreigners wich are not used to tip, like in some of the restaurant. I also don't know if the tip is shared among captains or personal.

Grouper in Key Largo

2008-11-26T04:42:00.001-08:00

Nice encounter at Elbow reef.

Nurse Shark

2008-11-26T04:37:00.001-08:00

Around the wreck City of Washington, built in 1877. A steamer-sailer, with 3 masts, she was right next to the US battleship Maine when the Maine exploded in Havana harbor in 1898, the beginning of the Spanish-American War. She sank in 1917 transporting coal and sunk on Elbow Reef.

Small imbricated turtle

2008-11-26T02:32:00.001-08:00

Imbricated turtle (Eretmochelus imbricata).

Psycho the Barracuda and friends

2008-11-25T22:56:00.000-08:00

The Everglades

2008-11-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

One week in the Everglades on the road to Flamingo we encountered our first Alligators.
Irene on the airboat, one of the attraction around the national park. The airboat is not really ecofriendly but part of the florida culture down south. This tour was on the land of the Miccosukee. Check the web site http://www.miccosukee.com/
On the 2 pictures below you can see a Saltwater crocodile, Not an alligators. I didn't know that there were Saltwater Crocs in North America, it was quite interesting, check the differences.

A baby gator on the head of it's mammy.

Florida Cottonmouth (water mocassin) can be aggressive and extremely lethal. Well known in the movies were prisoners try to escape through the swamps.

Miami Obama and Fantasy fest in Key West

2008-11-23T04:48:00.000-08:00

Miami Downtown, Obama had a meeting, I went couldn't get in so I waited for him outside with a fairly enthiousastic crowd. Big fun we ended up the night at Shooters with plenty of Obama's supporter, Change is on it's way.

Obama is in the bus, I couldn't take a better picture, Michele left earlier in a car, people were as excited as if it was a pop star.

Few days after visiting Miami we went to the Fantasy fest in Key West, just about a week before Halloween people are working half or fully naked with body paint down the streets of Key West, once home of Hemingway. I had my head painted as well to be in the party mood. Irene didn't.

Here is one of Hemingways protected cats with 6 toes (polydactyl). This is Pablo Picasso. Also to be seen on http://www.hemingwayhome.com/HTML/our_cats.htm

Auberge du Mahury

2008-10-12T11:57:00.001-07:00

One Week-end at l'Auberge du Mahury. We had a great time, quiet, good spirit and a very good host: Valentin.

Departure from La Levee.

All set for the night.

In the hammocks.

View of Stoupan.

Gros Yeux. Big Eyes fish.

Time to go back, Valentin our host is driving the Pirogue. We are leaving the Auberge.

Pripri de YiYi

2008-09-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Pripri de YiYi is a natural reserve 2 hours from Cayenne. Ideal for bird watching and caymans. We saw quite a few looking for the red eyes with our canoe. We could approach them at less than a meter, fortunately we haven't seen any big ones.

Swamps of Kaw

2008-09-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

We stayed 2 days on the Swamps of Kaw, a nature reserve South of Cayenne. The reserve is famous for it's birds and the black caiman. You can see a Cacique, an Urubu noir and Urubu a tete jaune.

Schneider's cayman

2008-09-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

While helping Eddy on the Jaguar program, checking for the photographic traps. I almost steppped on a Grey cayman, it's a smooth-fronted cayman wich can be quite aggressive if disturbed. It can be find in the forest and quite far from the water.
It's the second time that I work on the Jaguar conservation program, we have some photographic traps wich are essential to evaluate the number of Jaguars in the area. The traps are deep in the amazon forest, we stay 5 days and walk around 18 km per day to check the cameras and collect the films, we cover an area of 120 km2. So far the results are good, we are trying to evaluate the impact of human activities (pollution, hunting, gold digging, deforestation etc...) on some emblematic species in the amazon basin.

Eddy is also an entomologist, he just found a rare specy of longicorn, he's extremely excited, this specy only hatch in september and is mythic in French Guiana. I only had my phone camera with me unfortunately the longicorn doesn't show very well.

With Eddy I have learn quite a lot on beettles, we have put some insect traps on the forest and collected some longicorn larvaes for his researchs.

Olive ridley

2008-08-12T06:14:00.001-07:00

Olive Ridley going back to sea after the nesting. It is exhausted and carrying the sand it put on it while digging.

I work for four month on the turtle conservation program, now the nesting season is almost over. Two to three nights a week I patrol the nesting areas explaining to the public what they could do or couldn't do and trying to inform them as much as I could about the sea turtles that are nesting in French Guiana. We have three species, the Leatherback, the Green turtle and the Olive ridley wich are nesting on the Beaches of Cayenne. The main problem being the disturbance of the turtles with lights and the predation of the nests by dogs or human as well as pollution (plastic bags).
You can find more informations in French with the conservation association I work for http://www.kwata.net

A week-end on the Maroni river

2008-07-12T05:54:00.000-07:00

Red-handed Tamarin monkey

2008-06-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Saguinus Midas
I walked 2:30 in the jungle near Cayenne when I encountered around 8 monkeys. High up in the trees, jumping from tree to tree. They are quite small, around 25 cm for 500 grams.

Leatherback turtle

2008-05-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Laying about 100 eggs in a 60 cm hole. 8am on the Montjoly Beach, the sun was already high. Last night I saw my first Olive Ridley Turtle, much smaller than a Leather back and very interesting to observe, she digs holes differently and moves all her body energetically.

Jamaica - Kingstown - Port Antonio

2008-05-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

20 days in Jamaica. Kingstown and Port Antonio.

The statue of Bob Marley in the eponymic museum. It is a place were one can enjoy the cult around Bob. It reminded it me a good old fashion soviet museum.

Irene in the tilting house of Port Royal. Destroyed by an earthquake, Port Royal was once the richest city in the world. Some parts of the city are now under 10 meters of water.
Jack Rackam was gibeted at the entrance of the port. Anne Bonny and Mary Read are among the famous pirates of the area who escaped hanging because they were pregnant.
Later Admiral Nelson ('Britania's God of War') spent a few months in Port Royal at the beginning of his career, he was bored because of the lack of action.
More recently Jack Sparrow Captain of the Black Pearl was almost hanged there... sic

Diving in Port Antonio

2008-05-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

JP with a Remora attached to his tank.

Lee.

Lee and Marie.

Jane and a ray.

An other Scorpion fish, very well camoufled.

Tropical sole.

Remora attached to my fin.

French Guiana

2008-04-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

First pics of French Guiana. In a week we saw leatherback turtles (Guiana is one of the main nesting site in the World) laying eggs on the beach, the launch of 2 satelittes by Ariane 5 and a big hairy spider ! The Amazon Basin is simply amazing.

Still in Martinique

2008-04-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Having fun underwater and making a movie.
Remi you're the best !!! I deleted the bubble ring movie by mistake, we'll have to shoot again soon. Irene is going to Jamaica next week, I might come back.

Back in Martinique

2008-04-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Good to be back diving with Remi from Paradis Plongee, Martinique. 15 days of intense diving before heading to Guiana.

Hexabranchus Morsomus in Martinique

2008-04-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is a Sea Slug, probably an Hexabranchus Morsomus or Caribbean Dancer.

Ghost Pipefish

2008-04-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

This is my last picture of Mauritius underwater. Next pictures will be from Martinique then French Guyana where Irene will be working.
Solenostomus Paegnius ? Or Solenostomus Personnus !

I think that I just discovered a new specie. There is 2 Ghost Pipefish on this picture.

Sea horse

2008-04-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Stonefish

2008-02-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

An other Scorpion fish, I was diving with a client, she saw it before me, I almost passed it without noticing.

Taenianotus triacanthus

2008-02-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Common name : Leaf fish or Paper fish. Family: Scorpaenidae.
I was snorkeling when I saw it just before going back home with the kayak, I went back to the house paddling hard to get the camera, 10 minutes later the Taenianotus triacanthus was still there waiting for me three meters below.

Coin de Mire

2008-01-30T11:42:00.000-08:00

Last monday we dived on the wreck Jabeda in Coin de Mire, an island in the North of Mauritius.

Seychelles

2008-01-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year !
Where could we possibly go for the New Year ? The Seychelles sounded like the place. Indeed, awesome diving, awesome beaches and food.
We stayed on the island of Praslin from where we visited other islands, a nice start for the New Year.
For the record we left the 31th and because our flight was 5 hours delayed we landed exactly between 2007 and 2008 in the Seychelles.

La Reunion island

2007-12-20T04:48:00.000-08:00

Just a week-end away from the sea to see the still active volcano. I burned my hand on the lava (I thought that this part was cold). We stayed in the mountains at Salazie, a change from Mauritius, it was chilly in the evening.

South-Africa Kruger

2007-12-02T04:25:00.000-08:00

Trip from Jo'burg to Durban via Kruger Park and Swaziland. Enjoy the pics.

During this trip I practiced my Zulu step...

Mike came from the USA to Mauritius we dragged him to SA with us.

Madagascar

2007-09-17T04:27:00.001-07:00

We have been traveling through Madagascar for 9 days from Andasibe to Majunga. We stayed in three national parks and walked 6 hours a day to see these Lemurs. We have seen 9 different species. The trip was worth it. Madagascar is a very nice place. I have so many pictures but you'll have to come home to see these.

An other animal

2007-08-27T00:02:00.001-07:00

Well you might wonder why there is so many animals pictures on my blog ? Well mostly because I like to take pictures of wild animals. As simple as this...
This animal that the Mauritian call Tang or Tan is probably from the Erinaceidae specy it hibernate in winter and is eaten by some people. This one was photographed in Grand Basin.

Tea

2007-07-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Tea plantations under the rain, Bois Cheri.

Flying bats

2007-07-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening, three bats flying over us. We walked parts of the Parroquet trail and around 5pm hundreds of bats were flying in the sky 50 meters from us. Thought we were in a Batman movie...

Macaque

2007-07-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

A monkey was crossing the garden when I opened the curtains, I jumped on my camera and got a shot at the neighbor's house that he was visiting as well. I've seen him twice.
The Macaca fasciluralis was introduced by the Portugueses in the 16th century and like most non -indigenous species is a threat to local flora and fauna.
They are everywhere on the Island, mainly around touristic and religious sites were they can feed on junk food.

Rodrigues

2007-07-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

Few weeks ago we spent 4 days in Rodrigues. located at 800 km from Mauritius Rodrigues is quite preserved from mass tourism. The inhabitants are creoles and the culture is slightly different from Mauritius, the indian influence is not as strong.
Our stay was great, we enjoyed walking to the top of the hills watching the sunset, diving was great as well. We might go back next month.

Pterois Miles

2007-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Common name : Lion fish. Family: Scorpaenidae
I was free diving with my camera in Tamarin. It was waiting for me, almost static. Like most of the colored and beautiful fishes this one says: Don't touch. Pretty common specy around here.

Black River

2007-07-10T20:02:00.001-07:00

Click on the images for full size. Then you might see a Cateau vert (green parrot). A Paille-en-queue, a fruit Bat and a Frog. All pics were taken in Black River National Park.

Mauritius

2007-06-13T03:41:00.001-07:00

Here we are in Mauritius after so many countries we are back in Africa. This is the view from our new house, located in Tamarin in front of the sea. Snorkeling, kayaking and of course diving. Life is easy...