Whale Sharks

Well here is another Djibouti post. This was probably one of my best days here. On Veterans day Bryan and I went on a whale shark excursion. Whale sharks are the largest living fish that can be up to 12 meters or about 40 feet. Great white sharks get up to about 6 meters. The whale sharks are filter feeders and some migrate into the gulf of tadjura here in Djibouti during the winter months.

We took this schooner pictured above on a 3 hour tour west further into the gulf from the port de Djibouti. It was quite relaxing. A gorgeous day to begin with let to plenty of lounging, napping and reading. After arriving at our destination, we got into a smaller skiff that went even further in the gulf and we were on the look out for the semi-lunar tail of the shark. when one is spotted then the boat positions itself and we all jump in the water with snorkel and fins. As a disclaimer ALL of these pictures are pulled off of the web. we took our photos on disposable underwater camera and have no way to develop them until we get home. there are close enough.

The sharks are slow swimmers to be able to filter feed but they still swim faster than i do with fins on my feet. When i first heard about this excursion i thought it would be a nice leisurely activity where you would just get in the water and there would be 100's of these sharks around. Not true. you have to search for them and then you have to swim after them to be able to get more than a quick look. man it was exhausting. awesome but exhausting. when you get tired you just swim back the boat and he will move you closer again and you can jump back in.

We saw at least 4 different sharks and jumped in the water about 8 separate times. One the ones we saw was ginormous. it was swimming right at me. i didn't really know what to do. so i slowly started backing up and he swam on by. another one swam right under me. he was just past my arms length away. It was quite a memorable experience.


We also were able to snorkel around an amazing reef. i have never been snorkeling before so i had nothing to compare it to but apparently this was a great reef. saw tons of colorful fish, sea slugs, giant clams, sponges (no square pants though), and a bunch of other stuff i don't know what it was. then we had another 3 hour journey back to djibouti with more lounging, reading and napping. on the way back we saw tons of dolphins swimming along with us as well. It was a kick ass day and a needed break from the day to day.

T - 8 milk shakes

Cheetah Refuge

I guess it is about time a blogged about something from djibouti. Djibouti is where i deployed to after all. i try so hard not to think about this lovely place though. Well one afternoon we went to a cheetah refuge. It is only a few miles from our camp on the way towards the somali border. we also got to pass the city dump and the burning trash piles on the way.

The refuge is a nice little place. It was more of a zoo than with a wide offering of animals rather than just cheetahs. It is run by a French vet. (veterinarian not veteran) and i think they take in orphaned or stray animals. prior to coming to Djibouti i was discussing with someone what kind of animals would we find in an African zoo. Do they have cats, squirrels, chickens, pigeons and cows. well i finally found out.

So there you have it. they do in fact have chickens in African zoos.


There are some other more exotic animals as well. they have a small section with a few in cages.



I love the Dora ball.




I am not sure this guy knows quite what he is doing. maybe he does and i just don't know turtle anatomy that well.

Hyena chillin. i think we woke him from his nap.

The Cheetahs have a nice spacious fenced in area to play around in. unfortunately you couldn't get very close to it so you depended on them walking up to the fence to get any photos of them. this one is from about 30 yards away with a zoom lens.

there is also a section where you(people, not cheetahs or hyenas) can walk around amongst some of the animals.

I know what the ostrich and the zebra and the oryx are. i am not sure what the tiny deer thing is called. i just called him tiny deer.

the ostriches were ornery creatures. nipping at shirts and fingers. the other animals just kind ignored everyone.

This was a nice ending to a nice day. i love that they have chickens!

T -11 days

The stunning conclusion to my european vaccation

Well, after Carmen went home, i spent my time mostly wandering the city and playing with my camera. Getting instant results with digital is nice and then add in post exposure manipulation on a computer and you can turn almost any nincompoop into a photographer.

I took roughly another 1000 pictures and most will end up deleted. there are a few nice ones though.
this is going to be my photo exhibition post.














i also took a day trip down to Pompeii. that was amazing. to think that this settlement has been preserved over the last 2000 years.

that is Mt Vesuvius in the background. i guess the divot is what blew off.


This counter, they believe, is like a fast food counter; walk up cafeteria style. there were a few of them scattered through the city.




these are not casts made of remains. these are actual people and a dog that were encased in lava. you can see the skull bone on the one image at the top.

This street marker points the direction to the nearest house of ill repute.

This illustration is part of the preserved menu at the house of ill repute.

they are doing some renovation in areas to show what it may have looked like back then.

one last photo of Pompeii.

And this is my last picture of Rome. sunset over St Peters.

Rome

I am having less and less to blog about. i know no one feels sorry for me because of all of my travels to europe. i do want to remind everyone,though, that you are only seeing highlights. the spaces in between the highlights are filled with lowlights and boredom. i will, one of these days blog about my daily routine and then repeat it 100 times. you dont really want to see blogs of the daily routine here.
anyway, i still have some pictures of rome to post. after our marvolous time in tuscany we made our way to rome. immediately stepping out of the train station we were conned into taking an expensive ride to our hotel. i am not sure how we ended up saying ok as we both knew better, but life goes on. the hotel was nice in quiet more residentional area. this means it is more out of the way of the big tourist attractions. so we spent a lot of time walking, which is fine starting off the day but by the end of the day walking back it gets quited tiresome.

We were able to see the major sites and gave ourselves a few nice walking tours of the city. i took several hundred pictures and i will now post them ALL for your viewing pleasure. the first afternoon we visited the plaza del popolo, the spanish steps, the fountain of trevi, the pantheon and the piazza navona. While we were out, we indulged in beer, wine, pizza, and of course gelato.

The second day we spent at the Vatican, wandering through the Vatican museum which leads to the Sistine Chapel then we made our way to St. Peters. It is still, in my opinion, the most magificent building on the planet. It was still as impressive as the first time i visited it 16 years ago. it is literally the only place i have ever walked into and had my jaw drop open. It is also the home of my favorite sculpture, Michaelangelo's Peita.

these pictures could never do St Peters justice or bring to life the sheer grandness and glory of the building. I highly recommend seeing it yourselves in person. one thing the photos can represent is the Swiss Guard, the Pope's loyal protectors. Yes they realy wear clown suits.

Our third day, we took it easy. haning at the pool, and relaxing was on the menu that day. of course though we had our fill of pizza, pasta, and wine though. the fourth day in Rome was the day we journied out to the coloseum, the forum and the Victor Emmanuel II monument.

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Carmen left me the following day, for she had to go attend to our children and return to work after a nice summer off. i stayed a few days more as i was attending a conference there in Rome. I did manage to take a day tour down to naples and pompeii. i will post pictures of that trip with my next entry.

Tuscany

Every one deployed for more than 6 months is afforded the opportunity to have a 96 hour liberty period. I was able to coordinate my liberty along side 2 conferences i was to attend in europe; the first was in Rome and the second was in Germany. Prior to the start of the suicide confernce in Rome i met my gorgeous wife, carmen, and we caught the train up to Florence. Our hotel was a few miles outside of town and had amazing sweeping views of the cityscape.

We took a day trip out into the heart of tuscany on a bicycle wine tasting tour. It was a nice day full of sun, wine, an italian lunch, more wine, and bike riding. needless to say riding the bikes after getting stuffed on pasta and drinking was not the best part, but still fun. The winery we went to was in a medieval castle that we toured that also produced olive oil.

out on the bike ride we came accross numerous vineyards and plenty of sunflower patches. the scenery was perfect, just like out of a movie. the day was warm and sunny but not dreadfully hot like djibouti. It was a perfect day, but mainly because of my company, carmen.

after the tour we headed back to Florence and we walked around for a while. we did not get to spend much time in Florence but we did manage to see its largest attraction. i did get yelled at for taking this picture and it was worth it. Not to many other pictures of Florence itself and certainly none worth sharing. The following day we boarded the train again and headed back to Rome. I will post more on Rome and the rest of my journey in days to come. I do have more djibouti pictures to post as well, i just need to get around to it one of these days.