The Four Seasons Sydney! I could do the usual hotel review and tell you all about this luxurious 5 Star hotel in Sydney, but instead, I will tell you what I loved about it! (Check out the hotel facts at the Four Seasons, Hotel Facts). [Read more…] about What I Love about The Four Seasons Sydney
My First Look at Sydney, Australia was Sensational! Whenever I go to a new city, I take a bus tour in order to become familiar with the layout of the city. In Sydney, this included a wonderful harbor boat tour, which was awesome. Here is my first glimpse of Sydney Australia…inphotos! [Read more…] about My First Look at Sydney, Australia was Sensational!
Check out my Tour of The Rocks in Sydney!
Australia has a fascinating history. Many of those who settled Australia were convicts, sentenced to be “transported” by England, did you know that? I wanted to learn more about this history so I took a tour with The Rocks Walking Tours, located on Harrington Street, in The Rocks. They were recommended to me by the concierge at the Four Seasons Sydney, and I was very happy with the tour! It was so fascinating! [Read more…] about Taking a Tour of The Rocks in Sydney
On my way to Sydney! I have been so proud of myself! My packing actually went okay….it took 2 or 3 days, but I was very careful, followed my list, and checked everything off. Preparing for my epic month long journey has been arduous. I’m packing for two seasons, and have electronics, a cpap, camera gear, scuba gear, clothes, etc. A lot of packing. I made it though…in 3 bags. One to check, one to carry on, and a backpack.
So, granted they are very heavy, but really, I am about as good as it is going to get. So, off to the airport, a connection through LAX, then Sydney.
First, my flight to LAX was delayed. I called AA immediately and after a protracted conversation, was booked on Qantas, direct to Sydney. My first flight on Qantas, and my first flight on a double decker airplane. I’m on the top floor…the plane seems so big! That’s the good news. Typical Tam events soon followed.
I arrived at the Qantas Business Lounge, and settled in happily to charge up and work on my computer. I brought the wrong cord for my iphone. Then I spilled a drink. Then I went to put on my glasses (I cannot see without them, they aren’t for looks) and … no glasses. Shit! I went through my bags, compartment by compartment. No glasses. I left them somewhere, so I left in search of them. They were at TSA. Relief! On my way back to the Club, I stopped and bought a bag of chips at the Travel Mart. I paid my money and left without my chips. I went back to get them. I think this is the definition of a “hot mess”, is it not? I mean, I haven’t even boarded yet!
At this point, I am going to sit here quietly and hope I get to the gate without incident. I’m taking my roaming gnome as a good luck charm, so I can wander wisely! I will check in from Sydney!
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I left my heart in San Francisco long ago….it is one of my favorite cities on the planet. Nothing says San Francisco like the Golden Gate Bridge! So here are 14 Facts, Six Things to Do and 24 Ways to See It From Every Angle!
Fourteen Little-Known Facts:
A bridge across the Golden Gate Strait was first proposed in 1872 and championed by railroad mogul Charles Crocker but the idea didn’t catch on.
Chief engineer Joseph Strauss’ first design, in 1921, was rejected as too ugly.
The great California nature photographer Ansel Adams worried that building a bridge across the Golden Gate would ruin the beauty of the place. When Adams saw the finished Golden Gate Bridge, he changed his mind.
Eleven men died in accidents during construction, 10 of them on the same day. Another 19 workers caught by a safety net below the bridge were dubbed members of the “Halfway to Hell Club.”
The Navy suggested that the bridge be painted in black and yellow stripes. The Army Air Corps wanted candy cane red and white stripes. The signature International Orange hue was actually the color of the primer. Consulting architect Irving Morrow successfully lobbied for the bridge to be permanently painted International Orange.
According to urban legend, the Golden Gate Bridge is painted continuously, end-to-end. Not so. The bridge is painted and touched up according to need.
Fifty thousand people walked across the new bridge on May 26, 1937. It was opened to motor vehicles the next day. On May 24, 1987, some 300,000 people squeezed onto the bridge for a 50th birthday party called Bridgewalk 87. The weight of bridge walkers that day caused the roadway to sag in the middle by 7 feet, but bridge engineers said the structure always remained safe.
The six-lane bridge is 1.7 miles long, linking San Francisco on the south with Marin County on the north.
Total cost of construction was $35 million.
The bridge weighs 887,700 tons, after shedding 12,300 tons when the roadway was replaced in the 1980s.
The two main suspension cables use a combined 80,000 miles of wire. Looped around the Earth’s equator in a single strand, it would circle the planet three times.
The Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1964. It is now the ninth-longest.
By 2015, more than 2 billion motor vehicles had passed over the Golden Gate Bridge
Six Ways to Visit:
Visiting the Golden Gate Bridge is a great experience but needn’t end with the bridge itself. There’s a wide range of things to do within walking distance of the bridge.
Marvel at the Golden Gate Bridge Strauss Plaza
Approaching from San Francisco heading north, visitors come to the Golden Gate Bridge Strauss Plaza, a handsome gateway named for the bridge’s dynamic first chief engineer, Joseph Strauss. The plaza, opened in 2012 just southeast of the bridge toll stations, includes the Bridge Pavilion, the Round House Café and a small parking lot. Approaching from Marin County heading south, the parking lot is accessed from the bridge’s far-right lane via the Merchant Road exit.
Buy Gifts at The Bridge Pavilion
The Bridge Pavilion, a glassy modern building in signature International Orange, is the place to go for branded Golden Gate Bridge merchandise. This attractive visitors’ center highlights orientation and interpretive information about the bridge and its construction from 1933 to 1937 and offers views of the bridge and the Pacific Ocean.
Eat at the Round House Café
The neighboring Round House Café, a circular 1938 Art Deco building, was reopened in 2015 as a contemporary eatery. The café offers barista service behind large, view-friendly windows and a classic roadside menu of clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls, apple pie, hot dogs and the motorist’s friend, hot coffee. All are sourced from Bay Area companies.
Visit the Walt Disney Family Museum
The Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, located inland and south of the bridge in a repurposed heritage building on the expansive, eye-pleasing former Army base offers an engaging variety of changing, interactive exhibits about the famed movie studio and its entrepreneurial founder, appealing to children and adults.
Wander Down to Crissy Field
Another lure is waterside Crissy Field, the Presidio’s transformed former airfield, located downhill and to the east of the bridge. It includes a popular and helpfully flat pathway. It winds past beaches and restored sand dunes studded with native plants all the way to Fort Point, which affords commanding views of the world-famous bridge from the water’s edge.
Look out at the Bridge from Battery Spencer and Vista Point
On the Marin side, aptly named Vista Point overlooks the bay, the bridge and the city skyline from just off the bridge’s east sidewalk. From the west, head up Cozelman Road to Battery Spencer, a reinforced concrete battery that was a part of the Harbor Defense of San Francisco.
Run along Baker Beach
Stretching a mile below the rugged cliffs on the Presidio’s western shoreline, Baker Beach’s spectacular outside-the-Gate views of the Bridge and the Marin Headlands are unsurpassed. The beach lies on the shore of the Pacific Ocean to the northwest of the city. It is roughly a half mile long, beginning just south of Golden Gate Point (where the Golden Gate Bridge connects with the peninsula), extending southward toward the Seacliff peninsula.
See It From Every Angle:
Go Over the Bridge
The famed bridge gets 10 million visitors a year. Most drive across on U.S. Highway 101. A $7.25 toll for 2-axle vehicles is paid electronically at the San Francisco end. Limited paid parking is available in the compact lot southeast of the San Francisco toll plaza. In the northeast lot at Vista Point on the Marin County side, parking is free for up to four hours. (Both lots may be closed at major holidays.)
Bridge crossings can be made by tour bus, taxi, ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft and public transit. The hop-on/hop-off, open-top Big Bus includes a Sausalito and bridge tour with a Dynamite ticket. City Sightseeing San Francisco’s Sausalito Loop crosses the bridge in both directions. Gray Line’s Sausalito Loop includes a bridge crossing. Golden Gate Transit buses and San Francisco Muni buses stop at the San Francisco toll plaza, where visitors can get off to walk or cycle the bridge, toll-free.
Walkers and bicyclists share the east sidewalk overlooking San Francisco Bay and bicyclists also use the west sidewalk on the ocean side. San Francisco City Guides lead richly informative and free bridge walks. DYI walking and cycling give easy access to nearby scenic attractions like the California Coastal Trail in San Francisco and the Marin Headlands and Fort Baker in Marin County.
Leading bike rental companies, some of which organize bridge rides include: Blazing Saddles, Bay City Bikes, Bike and Roll San Francisco, Bike and View, Golden Gate Park – Bike & Skate , Park Wide Bike Rentals & Tours, Spinlister and Sports Basement – Gear, Apparel and Bike Rental. Some bicycle tours end in Sausalito and offer the option of returning to San Francisco by ferry.
Go Above the Bridge
Want to see the sights from on high? San Francisco Helicopters offers view-friendly flights above the bridge on their Vista Grande option.
Go Under the Bridge
Going under the bridge allows visitors to appreciate its immensity and brilliant architecture. Walkers can pause under the span at Fort Point. Blue & Gold Fleet’s San Francisco Cruise Adventure sails under the bridge from Fisherman’s Wharf, as does Red and White Fleet’s Bridge2Bridge Cruise. City Kayak has a Golden Gate Bridge Trip from Crissy Field for advanced sea kayakers. Hornblower Cruises & Events showcases stupendous views of the bridge. Adventure Cat takes swift sailing catamarans under the bridge and around the bay. Also check out the Events calendar on Tideline Water Taxi’s website for their Golden Gate Bridge Float Cruise which departs from Sam’s Anchor Cafe in Tiburon.
Over, under or across — no matter what the approach, the Golden Gate Bridge always enthralls.
The San Francisco Travel Association is the official destination marketing organization for the City and County of San Francisco. For information on reservations, activities and more, visit www.sanfrancisco.travel, read the Visitors Planning Guide or call 415-391-2000. San Francisco Travel also operates Visitor Information Centers at Hallidie Plaza, 900 Market Street at the corner of Powell and Market streets and on the lower level of Macy’s Union Square. For more information, visit www.sanfrancisco.travel.
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers non-stop flights to more than 40 international cities on 34 international carriers. The Bay Area’s largest airport connects non-stop with 77 cities in the U.S. on 13 domestic airlines. SFO offers free upgraded Wi-Fi with no advertising.
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Finnerty Lambermon, or “Fin”, is a Citizen Scientist I met in the Yucatan, July 2015. We were both on a Ray of Hope Expedition with Dr Andrea Marshall, co-founder and the head scientist for Manta Rays at Marine Megafauna Foundation. Fin is from New Zealand, and adds a Kiwi’s touch to discussing the Dive Sites! She also has started a blog, Fin Out of Water. Be sure to visit her blog! I will say that Fin fits my criteria as an Amazing Woman!
Destination: Similan Islands National Park, Thailand
Itinerary: 4 days 4 nights with 14 dives. Cruising around the Similan islands, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock dive sites.
At a relatively cheap price, and with Thailand’s reputation for pumping out Scuba divers en masse, I am not shy to say I wasn’t expecting much in the way of professionalism or safety when it came to diving the Similans. I am happy to report however, this trip was a pleasant surprise. The renowned Islands did not disappoint, and MV Pawara has been one of my favourite liveaboard trips to date. I arrived in Phuket a day before the boat was scheduled to depart, giving me some time to adjust to my surroundings and get over the dreaded air-conditioning cold/sniffle I had developed after being on planes and in Singapore airport transiting.
Somehow I had managed to book my trip smack bang in the middle of Chinese New year, and Phuket was absolutely full of Chinese families celebrating the holiday. Until the trip departure, I stayed at “Secret Cliff Resort” in Karon (officially in Karon, but on a hill in between Patong and Karon beaches) and found it was quite accessible by Tuktuk (a small vehicle that serves as a cab) to the markets and restaurants. It was obvious the local businesses and hotels in Phuket were struggling to absorb the load from the holiday and so, I was happy to be able to look forward to getting on the liveaboard and heading out to Sea away from the congestion.
The day the Liveaboard was due to begin, I was to be picked up from my hotel at 4pm for a 5.30pm boat departure. The van showed up 10 minutes late, but Phuket traffic can be as fun as Auckland’s (New Zealand), so it wasn’t really too terrible. I jumped in, dive gear and backpack in tow, and off we went to collect more divers booked on the trip. After 2 hours of driving Phuket’s highways, our driver pulled up to Tablamu Pier, a jetty full of boats lit up and bustling with excited divers. I was apprehensive at first, noticing all the dive boats looked pretty much the same, old but tidy, colourful but paint chipped, tired but working. All the boats looked similar, aside from one that was lit up, bright and proud with fairy lights down the centre. It looked like it must’ve been one of the top of the line boats, with an immaculate paint job, no rust stains and a warmness to it, and immediately I dreaded having booked the cheapest trip I could find. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the fairy light boat was in fact the MV Pawara, and my spirits immediately lifted.
We were greeted by “Fernando”, one of the dive guides along with some of the boat boys who lowered our gear over the side of the jetty and down into a dinghy. We followed our luggage and headed out amongst the dive boats. It was a fun way to begin the adventure, calmly “putting” around the other dive boats in the dinghy until we arrived at the stern of our boat, our home for the next 4 days.
As I was helped onboard by Brian, another of the dive guides, I was shown a spot at the rear of the boat which would be my set up area for all of our dives. Unlike a lot of liveaboards where there is a ‘mothership’ and a dinghy or RIB to take you to the dive sites, boats in Thailand are designed to take you directly to the site, drop you off and wait at a safe distance until the divers surface. All divers onboard the Pawara had their own specific gear up spot, where you could sit down, slip on your BCD, take a few steps and then be in the water.
After setting up my gear, it was down into the hull to check out my cabin. Having booked a budget room, I was stoked to find I had been upgraded to a standard room due to the uneven ratio of male to female divers onboard. My Japanese roommate and I shared our own little bathroom, and were greeted with a sweet arrangement of flowers on our beds. The rooms are designed with maximum efficiency, so I was glad I had left my suitcase back at the hotel and only brought the essentials – there wasn’t much room for clutter!
After traditional Thai prayers for a safe voyage at the bow of the ship, complete with fire crackers and incense burning, the Pawara was off heading north to take us up to the Similan Islands where our dive adventure was to begin. There was a great international mix of cultures onboard from fellow Anzacs, Frenchies, Brazilians, Americans, Chinese and British. We all seemed to come together nicely despite the huge age ranges from the youngest at 12 up to the mid sixties. I suppose it was our shared love of diving that made us all get along.
Day one and dive one at “Anitas Reef” was a chance for everyone to ease in to diving, and I was impressed at the patience Fernando had for one diver in our group who was trying out new gear, whilst another one was overcoming the dustiness of not having dived for a while. With the focus of this first dive being based around getting comfortable, I was happy to still be able to see some great critters like Stonefish and Morays whilst checking my buoyancy and weighting was on point.
The following dives proved even more interesting, with one site having this crazy current that would randomly come up from the depths. Suddenly the balmy 29C degree water would instantly drop to 24C degrees ( I watched it on my dive computer astounded ) and you would be kicking against a mild current. It wasn’t unpleasant, just something different, and the site was great for diving as we got to see a myriad of species of frogfish – a fish that up until then I had only seen at depths more than 30meters, here we saw our first one at 12meters!
I was so impressed by the diving in the Similans, from that first day with shallow sandy bottoms, through to pinnacles with wisp like cold currents, to sites where it seemed like Stonehenge had been flooded and covered in tiny beautiful nudibranchs. Having dived Palau, the Maldives, Vanuatu and the Great barrier reef I thought it’d be hard to further impress me but here I was, totally delighted by the fact that I was privy to seeing such beauty in yet another part of the world. It was here in the Similans that I realised I need to, I must, take everyone I know diving, whether they are interested in the ocean or not – the beauty of the underwater world needs to be shared, and the Similan islands are proof of this! How can people deny themselves visiting this beauty?
You’d expect the crew to have the best dives saved for last, but it was on day two that I had my most memorable dive of the trip – my first encounter with an Oceanic Manta ray.
‘Koh Tachai’ pinnacle rises up from the bottom of the ocean and attracts schools of Barracuda and Giant trevally who (when we dived in the late afternoon) were preparing for their dinner. Amazed by the huge school of Barracuda silently swimming in formation, it struck me suddenly that someone was banging their tank excitedly. Hurriedly looking around, I saw my buddy, Charlie wide eyed and looking right behind me (never a great feeling) and I whipped around to see what he saw. Immediately I was breathless as I looked into the beautiful black eye of a huge female Manta ray, effortlessly gliding past me as Cobia and Remora followed her. The elegance she had, the graceful way she swam around the divers, eyeing us up individually as if to say “Hey, haven’t seen you around here before” was a something I’ll never forget.
The great dives kept on coming, and I came to realise I never wanted to get off the Pawara. Richelieu Rock was next on the list, and although no Manta appeared here to check us out, the sheer richness of lush colours and mass of marine life was phenomenal. Another first for me, was seeing an Ornate ghost pipefish disguising itself amongst some soft coral. Had it not been for Fernando pointing it out as he took a photo, I never would’ve seen it being so well camouflaged in its environment. Along with Frogfish, Turtles, and female Cuttlefish laying their eggs – Richelieu rock had it all! Even in my dive log that evening I wrote “could dive it a gazillion times”.
Winding off the trip on the last day we were taken to the ‘Boonsong’ wreck, a shallow yet incredibly diverse site where the animals have taken a once floating vessel as their own, and created an artificial reef. Pufferfish and Honeycomb morays litter the wreck and its crannies while Cuttlefish blend into the rust coloured sand as they find crevices to deposit their eggs in. A couple of easy dives here to finish off what had been a fabulous trip.
If you’ve always put off the idea of diving in Thailand like I had, I urge you to think again! Being relatively cheap to get to and having such great access to the Similan Islands, getting on a Liveaboard gives you a chance to see Thailands amazing coastline and experience small dive groups with attentive dive guides.
Good to know: Max dive times were 60 minutes, or when the first diver hit 50bar (700psi). Great if you can buddy with a diver and guide who have a similar air consumption rate to you.
Nitrox is free and after doing 4 dives in a day, you will notice the difference to diving air. Make sure to bring your Enriched air diver certification as proof, or better yet – book to do your course during the trip with the onboard Instructors.
As there can be many dive boats at a site at any one time, it is great to carry your own SMB, or Surface Marker Buoy (all guides do). The boats will lend you one for a fee, or make sure to bring your own.
Let them know any dietary requirements during the booking process – they will bend over backwards to feed you well. Being vegetarian I am used to going without any decent form of protein and carb loading on trips like this, but I was treated to amazing tofu and mushroom dishes, and traditional thai dishes made especially for me without meat. The cooks went above and beyond any expectations I had.
Aside from the ex-pat crew onboard, most of the Thai locals surprisingly don’t speak much English. Learn your basics to show your appreciation – the crew work hard and always smile, there isn’t anything they won’t do to make your trip more enjoyable.
Price range: Budget cabins 25,700 THB (728.00USD) twin share up to 35,700 THB (1010.00USD) master cabin twin share + Park fees 1800 THB, free nitrox, free wifi in certain areas, all meals included (you will not go hungry on this trip!) THB is the Thai Baht.
