midlife Archives | TRAVELS WITH TAM

Throwback Thursday: Boulders Beach, South Africa!

April 3, 2014 By Tam Warner 15 Comments

Outside of Cape Town is Boulders Beach, a beautiful spot where a South African Penguin Colony lives. They are the cutest …birds you can imagine! They are birds, but of course, they don’t fly in the air, they fly underwater! The penguins are nesting at this time of year…I had no idea that penguins made little dens and sat on their eggs. These little babies are brown and furry! We always hear about the Emperor Penguins, but most penguins do not live in such arctic conditions. These penguins are known as Jackass Penguins. I’m not kidding. They are called Jackass because of the “heehaw” sound they make! They really do sound like donkeys! We walked among them, saw their nests and their young, then walked on the beach where a small group of them came out and swam. I sat near the water and enjoyed watching them in their little tuxedos! It was a cloudy day, and “winter” (to them) as well, so we pretty much had them to ourselves. The beach was pristine, with huge boulders (hence the name Boulder’s Beach), and tidal pools filled with sea stars and crabs and other little critters. Incredible experience!

Wes and Ally...bouldering — Wes and Ally…bouldering

We also met a new animal, the Rock Hyrax or “dassie”. Strangely enough, their closest relative is the elephant! They look like rodents….they are absolutely adorable. I’m sure you will agree that Ally took some wonderful photographs of them.

The Rock Hyrax, or “Dassie”!

We stopped for lunch in Simon’s Town where Ally took a bit of a tumble (fell on her ass, actually). It is usually me, but Ally took the fall on the continent of Africa! (Of course, I have fallen on Africa too….just not on that trip!) Afterward we went up Table Mountain to see the view….endless vistas…

Another beautiful day in South Africa!

Friday’s Fabulous Photos!

March 28, 2014 By Tam Warner 26 Comments

I absolutely LOVE photography, and if you do too, join me every Friday for a look at some photos! These are my favorites from my trip to Thailand! Please share if you enjoy them!

ff 14 feather star feelers — Gorgeous Feather Star group

bk 14 c ally and ladyboy — LOVE those Ladyboys!

Tam feeding elephant

With Lam Duan, a 57 year old blind elephant

Tam feeding elephant

With Lam Duan, a 57 year old blind elephant

Last 2 dives: Boonsung Wreck, Similan Islands!

March 16, 2014 By Tam Warner 5 Comments

The Similan Islands are in Thailand, in the Andaman Sea. Getting back into Thailand was not nearly as difficult as getting into Myanar was. I did get off the boat and wander around Kawthaung, Myanmar a bit, but they have NO emission standards, and it didn’t take long to get sick off of the fumes from the cars and motorbikes. Also, Myanmar is not filled with tourists, and the sight of my blonde hair (I think it was the hair) created a stir. Many stares, and a few people followed me around, which made me a little nervous. I was even asked for my passport! (I didn’t have it, it was still in the immigration office!) Not to mention that it was so hot and humid I couldn’t stand it. I was ready to get back on the boat in half an hour!

Our last two dives of the trip were on the Boonsung Wreck. What a beautiful site! The wreck is a mess…spread out all over the place, but the fish and creatures living there are amazing! I really enjoyed these dives. The “schools” or shoals of fish were so thick you had to wave them away to take photos! I confess that one of my very favorite things to do is to sneak into a shoal and become one of them. They quickly form themselves around you, and you instantly have new friends!

The wreck had so much life! Shrimps, fish, eels, nudibranches, crabs….the list goes on. It was truly beautiful. Enjoy these photos!

Diving Myanmar: Western Rocky!

March 14, 2014 By Tam Warner Leave a Comment

Western Rocky is a great dive site, 40 nautical miles from Kawthaung, Myanmar. It consists of 2 or 3 dives, the Eagles Nest and the Cave. We had 3 dives on the site, and they were all terrific. Except for my dive group (of course) everyone saw a juvenile Whale Shark! 14 feet or so! Tommi, one of the Finn twins, took a lovely photo of it. I wish I had seen it, of course, but it looks like I am still searching for a dive experience with whale sharks. Even without seeing the Whale Shark, Western Rocky is a great dive site! Here are some of my awesome finds:

Banded coral shrimp (these are very small…maybe an inch, two at the most.

Big Red Octopus! He was fantastic...not afraid of me at all. — Big Red Octopus! He was fantastic…not afraid of me at all.

Adorable baby boxfish, just taking shape! cute, cute, cute!

A decorator crab...see the face in upper right? — A decorator crab…see the face in upper right?

Fimbriated Eel! — Fimbriated Eel with Durban Dancing Shrimp friends!

Into Burma: You have to love immigration!

March 11, 2014 By Tam Warner 2 Comments

Continuation of my dive trip to Thailand and Myanmar (Burma!)

We woke to the sight of Burma/Myanmar outside our windows. We have been here for HOURS. Immigration took forever, and then we had to stop and pick up a Burmese crew member. As Mexico requires the hiring of Mexican Boat Captains, Burma requires that Burmese also work the boat.

While sitting in my cabin, nursing my sore throat and encroaching sinus, I am watching the scene from my cabin. (My cabin is quite nice, larger than most, with a separate sink, toilet and shower, which is an unexpected treat). A young Buddhist monk, ( a boy, either a monk in training or a little boy dressed as one collecting food from the passengers on our boat) has been outside of my cabin door speaking to me, and I would love to give him food, but I simply do not have any in my room. I did buy a coca cola for 20 baht (about 75 cents) but it’s warm so I’ll just give it to the boat. It is very difficult to say no, but I managed to do so this time. They were selling food, and since I am fearful of taking food from strangers, I passed. Oops, got to go, I’m being called to the upper deck!

I just came back down to my cabin: I was summoned to the food deck so the Myanmar officials could look at every one of us. The Head Dude looked at every woman on the boat as though they were not the same person…but wearing full makeup on a boat is not too standard. We all took down our hair to show them, yes, it is me! Four officials, drinking beer, eating, laughing…so reminiscent of Africa where they hold you just because they can. Steve, our boss man, is quite the handsome devil, and he looked like he was trying hard not to go up in smoke. The officials want a copy of this, a copy of that, blah blah blah let’s stay for hours and hours. Ah, off they go! Relief, now we can head to the Mergui Archipelago for some diving.

Part of "Team Spain" — Part of “Team Spain”

The passengers/divers are an amazingly diverse group, more so than I even expected. We have Mexico, Spain, England, Germany, Austria, Finland (yes, Finnish identical twins, Mikka and Tommy, two of the nicest, sweetest guys you could meet), and Italy. Oh, and one other from the USA, myself and Chris from San Francisco, who is married to a Thai and is here frequently. The dive masters are British, American via growing up in China, and German. The woman from Austria, Karin, looks so much like my cousin, Kathy, I cannot believe it. It is amazing. She is even built the same, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes. I will have to sneak some photos of her and show Kathy. Everyone seems very, very nice. Half of the boat is from Spain, I think. A large group together.

Chris, the other American passenger just gave me some Sudafed…bless him! I am almost out of Airbourne and Emer-gen-C. Nap time! I will be sure to be back in touch as we head north into Burmese waters.

Day 3: Still fighting a sore throat and congestion….I had to give in today and start antibiotics. I just hope they work. I did the first two dives, but skipped 3 and 4 today. Too tired, not feeling well. I have come to realize how exhausted I truly am…all of these months of worrying and taking care of Randy have taken a steeper toll than I knew. I am surprisingly emotional, and miss Randy more than I can say. He should be with me on this trip…we should be diving together. I still cannot believe what has happened to him. He is the most unlikely person ever to become ill. I am worried a bit since I cannot reach anyone…Myanmar (everyone calls it Burma) is so remote, and there is no signal of any kind to be found. I hope everything is good with Randy.

I am very much looking forward to vacationing with my daughter, Alexandra. She arrives on the 9^th of March. We are going to hang out in Phuket, go to Phang Nga (Pang Nah) to see the islands that look like the floating mountains of Pandora (from AVATAR), then off to Bangkok. We plan to visit shrines and temples, and an elephant sanctuary.

Oh, I saw my first sea snake today! Holy shit, it was long! Very pretty, and everyone crowded around to take photos (I admit I kept a distance). There is no anti-venom for these snakes, it is fortunate that they are shy and not aggressive.

I hate the BCD that I rented…it totally sucks. I’m trying a new one tomorrow, with a weight belt (L).

CHECK OUT SOME OF MY DIVE PHOTOS FROM BURMA!

Back in Thailand

March 9, 2014 By Tam Warner 4 Comments

Tachai Pinnacles, “Grandfather” Pinnacles.

I have returned from my 8 days on the MV Deep Andaman Queen, a dive boat live aboard in the Andaman Sea. We went from Khao Lak to the Mergui Archipelago for scuba diving, and now, back in Thailand. My daughter flew in yesterday, and we are enjoying a lazy day at the Amari Beach Resort in Patong Beach on the island of Phuket. I will publish the blogs of my trip daily!

To the Andaman Queen

I was picked up at my hotel right on time, 17:00 (5:00PM), always a plus! I was the last guest to be picked up, and Craig, one of the dive masters, was ecstatic that I had brought my 1” X 1” passport type photos. It was in the directions, so I just did it. Apparently the usual passport photo is 2” X 2”, so most everyone brought those instead. A piece of luck for me! We all know that Tam is apt to screw ups, but when it comes to travel documents, I am pretty organized (yes, I KNOW I lost my passport in Nairobi…but it was stolen, I’m almost sure.) We spent hours finding a photo shop (Kodak), getting photos taken and printed. That was just our minibus, no one on the other bus had the right photos either. Then one of the guys in our bus lost his new photos at a bathroom stop, so he had to go get new ones taken. At last, the MV Deep Andaman Queen.

She is large and roomy, very comfortable, though not luxurious. The staff and crew are exceptional, or as the Head Dive Master Steve would say, brilliant. They are very professional and friendly, especially the dive masters. After only 3 dives I can say that they are brilliant. My dive master is Jurgen, from Germany, an electrical engineer turned dive master in the Andaman Sea.

I have decided to suck it up and buy a BCD to travel with. Buoyancy Compensator Device. Once again I have rented one, and once again I have had problems with it. On the 3^rd dive yesterday, at a gorgeous dive site called Richelieu Rock, the jacket over inflated and I nearly ran out of air fighting to stay down. Jurgen was wonderful, and helped me get back on the boat. I skipped the 4^th dive, which was a night dive on the Rock, but I was completely exhausted. I haven’t gotten my own BCD to travel with because I have so much trouble with the weight of the bags…camera equipment and dive gear and computers, etc….every joint hurts from lugging it around. But, how much heavier is a BCD? I have to do it.

I have had 3 dives, and so far, Richelieu Rock has been the best, even though I had to come up early. It is absolutely magnificent with colorful tree and soft coral and anemones everywhere. Serpent Sea Stars dot the landscape, with the occasional cushion sea star and pin cushion sea star. I am charmed by the Skunk Anemone Fish, they are not as bright and colorful as “Nemo”, but I find them much prettier. I also love the feather stars which make their way around the Indian Ocean. They have numerous arms, and as the name states, look like groups of feathers. They are so intricate. The sea cucumbers here are enormous! The Knobby Banded Sea fans are spectacular. The BCD issue got away from me, I know, because of all of the new and interesting sea life I was looking at. Today, we will only do two dives, as we had to stop and do immigration through Burma/Myanmar, where we are right now. On these dives, I will not take a camera, but concentrate solely on the dive and my new equipment, especially the BCD! I am also fighting a cold, or sinus, condition…so I don’t feel 100%. More later!

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS HERE! I WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE.

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