Travel Tips

Doesn't it always? :)

She fed me a diet of adventure classics by authors like Rudyard Kipling & Herman Melville, and she'd been raised overseas as a Marine brat. So I grew up hearing stories about Haiti, Shanghai, Hawaii, the Philippines - you get the continental drift, right?

Not sure why it took me so long to actually get to the tropics, but that's where my heart now lies. And when dark winter looms in Alaska, that's where I head for sunshine therapy and as much salt water swimming as I can do.

The diving thing didn't start till about 2002, when I finally got over being technically intimidated and got my PADI Open Water Diver certification. That opened up a whole new & magical world for me, giving me the ability to fly over coral reefs and look the most amazing creatures face to face. Then in 2007 on my second dive trip to Roatan in Honduras, I got my Advanced Open Water cert, improving both my dive skills and confidence greatly - now there's no stopping me!

For any of you who've been afraid to try diving, but have secretly longed to do it, I want to share something a friend told me that tipped me over the edge & into the dive gear:
"Snorkeling is like looking at a beautiful garden through a huge window; but when you dive, you get to go out into that garden!"

He was right.

These are islands I've visited or even lived on:

* Lummi Island, WA (see Travelogue)
* More Washington Islands: Portage, Orcas, San Juan, Guemes, Whidbey, Shaw, Lopez, Blakely, Cypress, Strawberry, Sucia, Matia, Whidbey, Fidalgo, Vashon, Bainbridge, Camano
* British Columbia: Vancouver Island, North & South Pender, Saltspring, Saturna, Galiano
* Hawaii: Maui
* The Chesapeake Bay: Kent Island & various small islands on the Eastern Shore
* MD & VA: Chincoteague & Assateague
* Georgia: Skidaway
* N. Carolina: Nag's Head
* S. Carolina: Pawley's Island, Hilton Head, Daufuskie
* Florida Keys: Isla Morada, Marathon, Bahia Honda, Boca Chica, Key West
* Florida's Gulf Coast: Sanibel, Captiva, Honeymoon Key, Lover's Key

* France: Belle Isle
* Italy: Venice
* Cook Islands: Rarotonga
* Honduras: Roatan, Utila
* Mexico/Yucatan: Cozumel (& next door, Playa Del Carmen)
* The Caribbean:
* US Virgin Islands: St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix & Water Island
* British Virgin Islands: Virgin Gorda, Beef Island, & Tortola
* Netherlands Antilles: St. Maarten
* Guadaloupe District: St. Martin
* UK: Anguilla, Grand Cayman

And May 2006 saw me back at the Turtle Nest Inn on Grand Cayman, page updated 5/23/06!

Still want to visit:

Micronesia (espeically Truuk Lagoon)
Bali
The Seychelles
The Maldives
All of the Windward Islands of the Caribbean (I'm gradually working my way down there)
The ABC's, Dutch Antilles
The 1053 islands of the Croatian coast
Greece
Italy's Capri, Sicily & Sardegna, and MORE of Venice!
Denmark
Both Samoas
Tonga & Vanuatu
Aitutaki
New Zealand & Australia (Yeah I know, they are CONTINENTS)
New Caledonia
And I've still never seen good old Santa Catalina, California