In July of 2003 during an exciting 2 1/2 week tour of Italy, I went on a half day tour of Pompeii. This ancient city was destroyed in 79 AD when the mighty Mt Vesuvius erupted. At the time, Pompeii was a thriving Roman city with 11,000 inhabitants but once the volcano erupted all life stopped abruptly as it was buried under 13 to 20 feet of ash. It was a haunting yet fascinating walk back in time to see the city today just as it was almost 2000 years ago.
The city gate to Pompeii
The city of Pompeii lay hidden from the world buried under tons of ash for over 1500 years before it was discovered in 1599. The buildings that lay beneath the ash have been well-preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture, providing tourists today a remarkable live history book.
A street in Pompeii shows how remarkably intact everything is.
An oven in a bakery gives a glimpse into 1st century life
Among the ruins that we saw on our guided tour were a basilica, the forum, a bakery, a shop and a rich man's house. The most impressive and complete building we saw was a spa with hot and cold tubs for the inhabitants of the day to relax in. There were beautiful and colorful murals on the ceiling and ornate statues on the walls. It was one of the only structures that still had a roof so there were many stray dogs inside trying to stay out of the extreme summer Italian heat.
Beautiful artwork on the spa ceiling
Beautiful artwork in a house in Pompeii
The most eerie sights of Pompeii were the cast molds of actual people who died as a result of the eruption. Because they were covered in ash, once their bodies decayed there was an exact replica within the ash. When archaeologists discovered this, they poked a hole and filled the space in the ash with a substance that created a perfect mold of the deceased just as they were when they perished. There was a pregnant lady trying to protect her baby, a little boy covering his mouth trying to breath and a poor dog who was probably stray.
Cast of a deceased boy
Cast of a deceased pig
Touring Pompeii was an amazing walk back in time and our tour guide Aldo, who was very knowledgeable on the subject, did a great job of taking us back to the way life was in the 1st century. Although we saw a lot in our half day at Pompeii, Aldo explained that the ruins of Pompeii are so huge that if we compare it to the size of an envelope, we only saw the size of a postage stamp.
Pompeii from outside the city wall
Visiting Pompeii was an enriching experience for me and one I will never forget. It was a vivid reminder of how quickly things can change and at the same time a glimpse into a time vastly different than our lives today. If anyone has a chance to go, I highly recommend it!
Me at the huge Mt Vesuvius crater
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my entry from this Traveling Travel Agent's travels. I am a travel agent because I love to travel and I love helping other people discover our big beautiful world! If you want to learn more about my travel agency and the services we provide, visit us at www.PurplePalmVacations.com. Happy Travels!
I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Galapagos in the summer of 2007 while my sister, Adair, was living in the Galapagos for a year doing research at the Darwin Research Center. My brother, Alex, accompanied me on this once in a lifetime journey. A journey that I will never forget. A journey that has made me far richer than money ever could.
The following in an excerpt from a journal entry I wrote while on a 5 day boat tour of the Galapagos:
3 July 2007
Today was another fabulous and luxurious day with the animals, birds and sea life of the Galapagos. We started the day with a hike on Española Island, a hot bed of wildlife activity despite the fact that the 4 million year old island is dying. The island itself has huge rocky cliffs with giant waves crashing against them and is covered with black lava rocks.
The coastline of Espanola Island of the Galapagos
We saw a plethora of big beautiful red and gray Marine Iguanas, found only in the Galapagos, sunning themselves on the rocks. These reptiles have the unique ability to forage in the sea and can dive over 30 feet in the water. As usual, the Galapagos inhabitant was not shy and I was able to get some close photos.
The beautiful Marine Iguana's sunning themselves.
After hiking for a short while and carefully navigating the slippery lava rocks, we came upon the majestic Waved Albatross. There was a male and female near the walking path in the middle of their interesting mating ritual. It was a spectacular sight to see as they tapped beaks back and forth, as if in a sword fight, and then raised their heads up and down. You can watch a snippet of the elusive courtship dance that I had the pleasure of witnessing in the 34 second video below, taken by Adair.
Incredibly, the entire world's population of adult Waved Albatrosses return to Española every year during the nesting season, from April to December.
A mama albatross with her baby
We also got to see the albatross land clumsily upon the lava rocks (and I saw Disney's inspiration for Orville, the albatross in The Rescuers). We then saw another one of these great birds of the sea, they are the largest birds in the Galapagos, jump right off the cliff in order to take flight more easily with his massive wings. What wonderful displays of nature these islands hold!
We also saw more Blue-Footed Boobies.
Once back on the dingy on the way to our Eden yacht, we saw the marine iguanas in action as they swam out to the rocks where they feed on algae. Back aboard the boat I took a short nap and then it was time to go snorkeling in the glorious Galapagos waters teeming with life. The water was cold but it was well worth it to see the hundreds of beautiful tropical fish along with a graceful sea turtle.
The snorkeling in the Galapagos was great!
After lunch I took another nap which confirmed that life aboard the Eden is good (as if there was ever any doubt). We then had the opportunity to spend two hours on a gorgeous white sand beach on Española where the sea lions were numerous as usual.
Sea lions on the beach.
Adair and I took a walk up the beach and found a spot among the rocks where we could watch the sea turtles from a bluff on the beach. It was so peaceful to sit there on the warm sand looking out at the aqua blue water and seeing the turtle's head pop out of the water to get air.
We also saw lots of the lovely Red Rock Crabs.
Watching the wildlife this way, I felt like I had gone back in time to witness how the earth was before mankind took over. I am so thankful there is still a place in this world where the animals can thrive and so blessed to have experienced it. Once back aboard the Eden, we were greeted with a wonderful snack and witnessed a lovely sunset over the Pacific. Life does not get any better than this!
Sunset in the Galapagos
For more pictures of the wildlife on Española, Click Here.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my entry from this Traveling Travel Agent's travels. I am a travel agent because I love to travel and I love helping other people discover our big beautiful world! Through strategic partnerships, I offer my clients preferred rates, complimentary upgrades and extra amenities. If you would like to receive weekly travel specials from my agency, Purple Palm Vacations, please sign up for ourExclusive Travel Specials.
I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Galapagos in the summer of 2007 while my sister, Adair, was living in the Galapagos for a year doing research at the Darwin Research Center. My brother, Alex, accompanied me on this once in a lifetime journey. A journey that I will never forget. A journey that has made me richer than money ever could.
My brother, Alex, and sister, Adair in the Galapagos
On our first full day, we went to the Darwin Research Center and I was extremely fortunate to meet Lonesome George. This giant tortoise was the last remaining Pinta Island tortoise, and sadly passed away in 2012 along with any remaining hope that his subspecies would live on after him.
Lonesome George
The following in an excerpt from a journal entry I wrote while visiting the Galapagos: 2 July 2007 Today I am on the 2nd day of a 5 day boat tour of the Galapagos Islands.This morning our boat took us to the North Seymour island where the majestic Blue-Footed Booby are mating and nesting.
The Blue-Footed Booby
This was an incredible display of nature only steps off the path we walked. You couldn't walk more than 5 paces before seeing another Blue-Footed Booby nest.
Blue-Footed Booby Nest
We saw several babies from every age from as young as a couple days old to a young adult.
A mama Blue-Footed Booby with babies only days old
A mama is still feeding her young adult
We also got to see the beautiful mating dance where the male Booby lifts his magnificent blue feet, spreads his wings, and whistles, all trying to impress his impressive mate.
The Blue-Footed Booby mating dance
We then saw male Frigatebirds, who were also trying to attract a prospective mate. They have a red pouch under their beak that they inflate so it looks like a big red balloon attached to their neck. It was absolutely awesome.
The male Frigatebird
The male Frigatebird's impressive wings
Along the path we also saw evidence that life and death go hand in hand. There were a couple dead baby Boobies who where kicked out of the nest by their stronger sibling. We also saw a dead baby sea lion whose mother could not feed it, so she saved herself. Isn't life a wonderful yet sad and vast mystery?
There were a LOT of sea lions on North Seymour
I found it so interesting to walk among animals and birds that had no fear of us and no natural predators. I imagined that walking that trail would have been almost identical 100 years ago. It was such a treat for me to spend a half a day feeling as if I was at one with God's natural environment.
We also saw the beautiful Galapagos land iguana.
Once back on our boat, a tasty lunch was followed a Bridas Whale sighting. It was a pair of whales who would swim a few minutes under water where we couldn't see them. As soon as we heard them blowing through their blow hole, we could follow the sound and spot their massive backs again in the water. I also saw the mighty whale tail as a whale went back under the water. This was my first ever whale sighting only one day after I had my first dolphin sighting of over a hundred dolphins frolicking near our boat. As I stood there staring at the Pacific Ocean I marveled at this beautifully diverse world and realized how very lucky and blessed I am to see these wonders of nature.
Our boat, the Eden
After a glorious 2 hour nap, I woke up to the bell on the boat signaling it was time to snorkel. I threw on my swimsuit & wetsuit, gulped down some instant coffee to wake up and was ready to go. Once in the chilly water, I was ready to see some marine life. It wasn't long before I was swimming with the baby sea lions. They were incredible! They love to play so I would dive down to the bottom and flip around and they would follow me down and do flips of their own. It was amazing, tons of fun and a travel moment I will never forget! Other than sea lions, we saw some tropical fish and a couple of majestic spotted eagle rays.
The friendly and playful sea lions
My sea lion impression
After snorkeling, we went in the dingy to see more rays, white tipped sharks and sea turtles. The sea life show concluded with a spectacular show of Golden Rays that Adair and I saw form aboard our boat, the Eden. What a wonderful place this is and how incredibly lucky I am to experience it!
For more pictures of the Galapagos wildlife on North Seymour, click here.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my entry from this Traveling Travel Agent's travels. I am a travel agent because I love to travel and I love helping other people discover our big beautiful world! Through strategic partnerships, I offer my clients preferred rates, complimentary upgrades and extra amenities. If you would like to receive weekly travel specials from my agency, Purple Palm Vacations, please sign up for ourExclusive Travel Specials.
Once again I started out the day with high hopes that the weather would finally turn for the better. I mean this is the Bahamas where it's around 80 degrees almost every day. We can't have 4 days in a row of chilly 60's, can we? It turns out we can and this day turned out to be colder than the last. Little did I know as I frolicked in the water at Castaway Cay, it would be the last time I or Braden donned a swimsuit. During our first Disney Cruise, my son lived in the pool. What were we going to do during a day at sea with no pool time?
Luckily, we had waited until our day at sea to see Frozen, which was playing daily in 3D in the Buena Vista theater. After a lazy morning of TV in our room, we headed down to deck 4, made a quick stop at Whitecaps (a gift shop) to get my Castaway Cay print signed by the captain and anxiously awaited our movie. This was our 3rd time seeing Frozen (my new all time favorite Disney movie, replacing The Little Mermaid) and I was just as excited to see it on the ship in 3D as I was the first time seeing it.
The beautiful Buena Vista Theater
I was expecting to see a great movie in a beautiful theater on a cruise ship (which I happen to think is really cool) but what I wasn't expcecting was to hear people laugh harder and longer at Olaf's jokes than they did in Denver. It wasn't the stifled chuckle of busy people who barely have time to have fun, it was the long, let-it-all-loose laugh of the carefree and happy. When the child behind me accidentally pushed his Buzz Lightyear toy to make it talk, there was more laughter. I have to admit the sound of the toy annoyed me, but hearing the audience's approval quickly turned my sour thoughts. What a world we would live in if everyone lived life as though they were on a cruise!
We also enjoyed family fun in the D Lounge
After the movie, I naively thought we could try to swim. One step out onto the windy pool deck and I knew we would not be swimming that day. We retreated to the warmth of our room for more TV then ventured out again to meet our friends at the indoor arcade.
Characters coming down for the Farewell Party in the Atrium.
Next it was time for our pre-dinner show, Dreams, in the Walt Disney Theater. We had enjoyed Villians the night before, narrated by Hades from the movie Hercules with guest appearances by popular Disney villians such as Maleficent, Captain Hook and my favorite, Ursula. I was delighted to watch the actress who played her nail, "Poor Unfortunate Souls."
I was even more excited to see the award winning best show at sea, Dreams. With a name like that, it was sure to be full of the Disney inspiration that I know and love. It did not disappoint. All of the actors were top notch and the scenes from favorite movies, like The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin came to life right there on the stage. The highlight for me was watching Ariel sing "Part of Your World" but the highlight for my son and friend, Kylee, was when it snowed during the performance right on us! It was actually tiny bubbles but it was pure magic to watch all of those kids in the theater look up with their hands reaching up and wonder in their eyes. It's magic moments like these that will keep me cruising with Disney long after my boy is grown.
No matter what the weather, I had quality fun time with my son, Braden.
When I look back on this cruise, it was not the fun in the sun that I imagined spending with my son in the Bahamas. I pictured our days filled with swimming in the Goofy pool with classic Disney movies playing on the Funnel Vision (the outdoor big screen), taking thrilling plunges down waterslides at Atlantis and the AquaDunk, and soaking up the warm rays of the sun. I never did try the AquaDunk and Braden only went the one time. But there were still so many great memories created on this cruise, from new friends to shared laughter with my son, that I will treasure forever and I found out that if the weather is not going to cooperate, then a Disney Cruise has plenty of fun to be had inside the ship.
Goofy shows off his dance moves in the Promenade Lounge.
I think the one striking memory that I will take to my grave was walking out of dinner one night, through a family lounge and seeing Goofy out on the dance floor showing off his best moves. It was like spotting an unexpected rock star. To me, that scene epitomizes what a Disney Cruise is all about.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my entry from this Traveling Travel Agent's travels. I am a travel agent because I love to travel and I love helping other people discover our big beautiful world! Through strategic partnerships, I offer my clients preferred rates, complimentary upgrades and extra amenities. If you would like to receive weekly travel specials from my agency, Purple Palm Vacations, please sign up for ourExclusive Travel Specials.
Earlier this year I took my 9 year old son, Braden, on a 4 Night Bahamian cruise on the newly re-imagined Disney Magic. The Disney Magic is Disney Cruise Line's first cruise ship, having first set sail in 1998. Our cruise departed from sunny Port Canaveral, FL and had stops in Nassau, and Castaway Cay plus one day at sea. Our first 2 days were full of Disney magic as one would expect but the weather didn't get the memo and insisted on giving us clouds, wind and rain. Would Disney's private island paradise, Castaway Cay, show us some much desired sunshine? Read on to find out!
You can probably see by the picture above that despite our best efforts in hoping, wishing and praying, we did not see typical sunny Bahamian weather at Castaway Cay either. Braden and I had been to Castaway Cay once before on our first Disney Cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy and we were very excited to return to this island paradise. We both love the beach and Castaway Cay has two perfect white sand beaches for kids and families to play in the sand, swim, snorkel, and relax.
Braden and his step-sister, Courtney, on our 1st visit to Castaway Cay.
Braden in the water on our 2nd visit to Castaway Cay
This day on Castaway Cay was in stark contrast to our first visit, when the skies were blue and went on forever in a perfect blend with the clear blue-green water. This time we saw clouds, clouds and more clouds, but once in a while the sun would taunt us by pretending it was about to make a guest appearance. It didn't, but we didn't let this stop us from having fun. I let the weather spoil my fun in Nassau, and I wasn't going to let that happen on my favorite, and still beautiful even when chilly, Bahamian island. Plus, there were positives for the tough minded such as ourselves.
After a wonderful BBQ lunch, at no extra charge, most people headed back to the ship. Not I, not Braden, and not our new friends, Bethany and Kylee. Braden and Kylee, being only 9 years old, were practically impervious to the cold. They jumped right into the water and swam until their hearts were content. I hate being cold with a passion but some magical force took over me that day and I took off my sweatshirt (which I had to buy on the island because I had not come prepared for cold weather) and bravely stepped into the water. I'm not going to lie, it was cold, but I didn't turn back. I kept on walking and I took the plunge and jumped right into that chilly water! I knew I needed to keep moving to stay warm so I did and we ended up having a blast while almost having the entire island to ourselves.
Castaway Cay is beautiful no matter what the weather is like.
And so a day that could have been a disappointment, had I let the weather win, turned out to be one of the best days of my life. It was a day I snorkeled with my only son without worrying about kicking anyone. It was a day I forgot my cares and instead enjoyed exhilarating waterslide races with Braden, while Kylee raced her mom. It was a day that I got to enjoy one of my favorite activities in water all to ourselves. I swam, swam and swam some more and I have never felt so alive.
Pelican Plunge was the site of our waterslide races
We were the only four crazies in the water and it was wonderful. I'm sure the lifeguards wondered what planet we were from but this will always be one of the most special memories that I will share with my son and it will always be the day we had our own private island paradise in the Bahamas:).
Nobody else was crazy enough to swim!
The conclusion to a fun day on the island was Pirate Night on the ship, always a Disney Cruise fan favorite. For the dinner attire, you have your choice of either Pirate or Cruise Casual. At least half the guests, including adults, do indeed dress up as pirates. I love how effortlessly Disney can pull out the inner child, which gets stifled in everyday life, out of adults. It's fun for me to see the costumes, as the grown-ups enjoy turning into big kids for one evening.
Mickey in his pirate costume.
After the nightly dinner and show on Pirate Night, there is a Pirate show out on the pool deck stage with Disney characters and crew members. In our show, the characters were having a pirate dance party when Captain Hook tries to steal the show. There was no need to fear, however, as Mickey zip lines across the ship and saves the day. Then right on queue, fireworks explode over the Caribbean Sea in a grand finale. It was a fun and fitting ending to a great day!
Stay tuned for Day 4 next week!
Despite the cold, we had a great day on Castaway Cay!
I hope that you have enjoyed reading my entry from this Traveling Travel Agent's travels. I am a travel agent because I love to travel and I love helping other people discover our big beautiful world! Through strategic partnerships, I offer my clients preferred rates, complimentary upgrades and extra amenities. If you would like to receive weekly travel specials from my agency, Purple Palm Vacations, please sign up for ourExclusive Travel Specials.
