TravelStream™ news feed for member york_tyke on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/york_tyke en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:48:46 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/2/1212260400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/2/1212260400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/2/1212260400/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:48:46 -0400 Indonesia Dive Holiday

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Manado, Indonesia

I made the trip from Lembeh Island to Bunaken Island on the Saturday. A short boat ride to the main land, a hour long journey to Manado and then a 3 hour wait for the boat to go to Bunaken. It was a long 3 hours. The resort at Bunaken was a bit bigger than Lembeh and felt slightly more luxurious, but in a budget way. The diving at Bunaken is totally different from Lembeh, were as Lembeh is black sand bottom, with Bunaken you have the island then a shallow coral area and then a several hundred meter drop offs. The dives consisted of diving down to 20+ meters, moving a long the wall, either under your own steam or drifting with the current and gradually working your way up to the shallow reef.

I got in a days dive before having to take two days off due to my hands swelling up and me been unable to close them. I don't know whether it was a knock on effect of the coral burns or some allergic reaction to something else. I'd had something similar happen before. Luckily Tina, who ran the place had some steroid based cream and that cleared it up pretty quick.

The coral around the island is pristine and was home to a wide variety of marine life, I saw white tip reef sharks, in caves, a huge turtle, bigger than me, octopus, frog fish, scorpion leaf fish and many many more. Did a couple of night dives, on the first one a group of us floated around a section of coral and watched Mandarin fish having sex. Which they do every night and don't seem concerned about the audience. On the second night dive I saw more variety of crabs and shrimps than I've ever seen in the rest of my life. The crabs varied in size from the size of my little finger nail, to one that was about the size of a jack russell and had a grotesque human like face (see photo). The diving overall was fantastic and complemented the muck diving I done the week before.

Sadly the holiday was to come to an end, I managed to get 30 dives in over the two weeks and a lot of marine life that I'd never seen before. The accommodation and diving was great value for money and I would definitely consider going back.

Returning home was quite eventful too, the flight from Manado to Singapore was canceled due to a volcano erupting on the flight path. This meant I had to stay overnight in Manado, got a flight to Singapore the next day, but the night flight to London was full, so had to spend a night in Singapore and fly back the next day. Finally arriving home Monday evening, rather than the expected Sunday morning.

All in all a fantastic holiday.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/2/1211648400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/2/1211648400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/2/1211648400/tpod.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:25:07 -0400 Indonesia Dive Holiday

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Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia

So I booked myself a two week diving holiday to North Sulawesi in Indonesia. I stayed one week on Lembeh Island (east side of Sulawesi) and one week on Bunaken Island (west side of Sulawesi). I stayed with Two Fish Divers for both weeks.

The trip nearly started in disaster when the taxi I called decided to pick up another fare rather than me, and so they had to send another taxi. I got to the train station with a minute to spare. I flew to Singapore with Singapore Airlines on one of the new A380 Airbus planes. It was pretty cushy, lots of leg room for a change, and made the 13 hour flight pleasant. After that it was a 3 hour flight to Manado, where I was picked up at the airport and driven to the port, for a short boat ride to the Two Fish Diver resort on Lembeh Island.

The resort itself was basic, but had everything you'd need for this kind of holiday, I stayed in a wooden cottage
which was spacious and clean.

Lembeh Straits is considered one of the best macro dive sites in the world, there is little coral in it, the bottom been mainly black volcanic sand. And lots of rubbish. But the critters seem to like it.

I'd decided to move on from using a point and shoot camera for my underwater photography and splashed out on a underwater housing for my Canon 40D SLR, along with a strobe and various other bits required for this kind of photography. With it been a new housing I didn't put the camera in for the first dive, just to make sure it was OK and wasn't likely to flood. And what do you know on our first dive we saw a mimic octopus, which is one the main things I wanted to see. This is a octopus that can mimic other sea creatures to scare off predators. And of course because I didn't have my camera in the housing this would be the only time I got to see it, so no photos.

On the first and second days diving I was getting about 45 minutes air time out of my tank, whilst everybody else was getting 70 minutes plus. Which was a bit demoralising. Anyway on the third day I did my Padi Peak Performance Buoyancy course, which I hoped would improve my buoyancy and air time. The course involved watching a video about buoyancy/weight/trim stuff, and then doing 2 dives to practice various buoyancy techniques. The first thing to do was to sort out how much weight I should be carrying and were it is placed on my person to get the best balance. For the first 2 days diving I had 8kg and then 9kg. Tina my instructor quickly got that down to 6kg. No wonder I was using air up so quick, dragging all that excess weight around. We then played around with positioning the weights and I ended up with 2x2kg around the front at waist level and then 2x 1kg on the back of my BCD Jacket. The dives consisted of passing weights around and handling the weight gain or loss through breathing so that you didn't sink or float up. I also had to move in close to items, within inches, without touching them, and do forward/backward rolls and some other stuff. As I put these skills into practice over the remainder of my holiday there was a definite improvement in my buoyancy and I felt much more comfortable and confident in the water. My air time also increased and I was doing 60min plus by the end. A course well worth doing.

Did some fantastic dives over the week and saw plenty of marine life that I hadn't seen before. Had one near miss though, it was on the 3rd dive of the day and me and my guide hit some pretty strong current, instead of letting us go with the current he kept taking us into it, which meant I used up my air pretty quickly. I was down to 50 bar and signaled that we need to start our ascent, so we moved up to 5m, which meant going up an incline and also into the current. When we got there I had 40 bar left, wasn't worried as we only had to do the 3 min stop. But I had to fin to stop been swept away, once the 3 min was up I let go and started to drift to the surface, at which point I looked at my air gauge, 0 bar, I got to the surface ok on whatever was left in the tank, but another minute or even less and I'd have been in a bit of trouble. When we surface we saw the other groups, all of whom were a 100m down stream of us, having gone with the current rather than swimming into. I lost trust in my guide after that dive.

We also did a wreck dive, which was OK, not too sure about wreck dives. To get to the wreck we had to move up and down a mooring line, which happened to have coral on it and of course we had to grab hold of the line/coral to stop been taken by the current. This meant coral burns for myself and a few others. Mainly on my finger tips. They were a bit sore, for the rest of the week, but things were to get worse when I got to Bunagken Island.

It was a great week and I would definitely consider going back there, pretty cheap as well.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1149766980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1149766980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1149766980/tpod.html Mon, 19 Jun 2006 07:45:05 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Batley, United Kingdom

Well my travels have come to a end now and I've returned to my home town. It's been
just short of a year and overall it's been fantastic. Managed to avoid any trouble
and have done OK with the been ill, just a chest infection and the occasional bout
of the runs.

Highlights, there have been so many, Tibet, Diving Burma, Australian Outback, India,
even though it did my head in a bit the first time, it is a pretty amazing place
and very different from most of the rest of the places I visited. Downlights, moto#
drivers in Hanoi, getting ripped of for £7.50 in Thailand, food in Phillipines.

What next?, a month watching the world cup and bushing up on my programming, just
in case I decide to go back to work. Other option is to go travelling again, maybe
South America. Kind of think it will be the work option as I feel a need some
stability in my life and a bit of a social life wouldn't go a miss.

Thanks to all those who checked out my logs, it was a real moral booster having
so many people showing interest in my travels. With a bit of luck I may have
inspired a few people to visit the places I visited and they'll enjoy them as much
as I did.

See ya (for now anyway).

John
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1149074100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1149074100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1149074100/tpod.html Mon, 05 Jun 2006 07:29:37 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Sharm El Sheik, Egypt

The Thistlegorm is a British cargo ship that was sunk in 1942. Built in 1940 it was on
it's forth voyage when it was hit by a bomb from a Luftwaffe Heinkel. One of two that
were out looking for the Queen Mary. Unable to find it they were on there way back to
base when they spotted an Armarda of ships and decided to attack the biggest one. This been the Thistlegorm, it's not known whether it was hit once or twice, but either way a bomb hit the cargo bay that was filled with ammunition and the caused a massive explosion, sending the ship down very quickly. It now sits at a depth of between 17 and 35m.

The ship was carrying ammo, trucks, motorbikes and wellies amongst other things. One explanation for the wellies is that if any German spies saw the manifest they would think it would be going somewhere other than the desert, due to the wellies.

It was an early start to get there, 4am, as it's a 3 and half hour boat trip to the site. It was quite rough at the dive site surface, but not too bad once we got down there. For the first dive we swam around the outside of the boat, checking out the explosion site, the various decks and the train carriages that are still present on deck. Visibility was about 10m. For the second dive we went inside the ship via corridors into the cargo holds which still hold such things as Bedford trucks, Bsa motorbikes, Lee Enfield rifles and wellies. The metal parts are very corroded now and coral grows all around too. But you can still make them out and the rubber parts, tyres for instance are still intact.

This was the highlight to visiting this area, the first proper wreck dive I've done and the Thistlegorm is an impressive ship to dive. Kind of made up for the disappointment of the regular dives up in Sharm.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1148577240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1148577240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1148577240/tpod.html Sun, 04 Jun 2006 07:13:29 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Sharm El Shiek, Egypt

Sharm El Shiek is on the southern coast of the Sinai region. Originally just a diving
destination, it's now growing into a big time holiday resort and is very touristy. Not
really my cup of tea, but I came anyway as I'd heard the diving is supposed to be really good.

Russan apparently get really good deals for coming here so there are lots of them about. Although it's the end of the high season now and things are a bit quite. It's starting to get really hot. I was staying in the cheapest place in town, the Pigeon House. 12 quid a night which is the most I've paid in Eygpt, it's never been more than 5 quid before. And everything in general is a lot more expensive here. Damn tourists, spoil everything.

Nice Thai restaurant here, did a great shrimp and pineapple red curry.

To be honest it wasn't as good as I was expecting and wasn't as good as most of the diving I'd done in Asia. There simply wasn't the varity, exoticness or quantity that I'd seen at previous divesites. It was OK, and is probably really good if you've not done better dive sites. I wouldn't come back again though, to Sharm that is, I do fancy doing a liveaboard dive trip in the far south though, but that's for another time.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1148056380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1148056380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1148056380/tpod.html Fri, 02 Jun 2006 01:26:39 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Siwa, Egypt

I arrived in Siwa after a 10 hour bus journey from Alexandria. Siwa is an oasis town in the Western Desert, near the border with Libya. It's still in the early stages of becoming touristy, so still has a authentic feel to it, with it's mud houses and crumbling Shali fortress.

I had a walk around the fortress as soon as I got there as it was nearly sunset and the light was good. I came across some kids who immediatley called a couple of older girls to come and try and sell me some locally made items. After I'd bought something I asked the kids if I could take their picture, they wanted some money at first, but I said no as I bought something from them. So they agreed I could take some pictures. But a 10 year old boy pointed at the older girl and waved his finger from side to side to say no photo. Then he ran his finger across his throat to say what would happen if I did. This left me in know doubt that I was in a very strict Islamic area. I wasn't put out though as the older girl wasn't very photogenic, unlike the younger girl who was a deadringer for Drew Barrymore in ET (PIC 14).

I spent a couple of days looking around the town with it's old sites, most of which there wasn't much left of as they had erroded. And visited a couple of natural springs for a much needed cooling off.

I then went on an overnight trip which took us to the edge of the Great Sand Sea, a huge area of desert. We visited a couple of springs first, one cold, which was suprising given we were in the desert and the other bordering on been hot. Then we had a drive around the dunes in our 4 wheel drive truck, which had a habit of taking 10 minutes to get restarted, with a lot of help from our driver. The bit of the Great Sand Sea we saw was very immpressive, with huge swirling dunes. It must be amazing further inside.

This area used to be underwater millions of years ago and there is an area now that is littered with fossilized shells to prove this.

We slept under the stars that night at our campsite. It never felt like we were out in the wilderness as we were really just outside the edge of town, but it was a nice
experience all the same.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147797060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147797060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147797060/tpod.html Tue, 23 May 2006 04:24:05 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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El Alamein, Egypt

El Alamein was were Montgomery's 8th Army took on Rommels 5th Army and won during June 1942. Over 80,000 soldiers died fighting at El Alamein and subsequent battles afterwards. The Battle for El Alamein is considered to be the last battle fought by the British Empire. There are over 7000 graves at the War Cemetary from many nationalities including British, South Africans, Indians, Australians and New Zealanders to name a few. And of course also Egyptians.

Visiting the cemetery was humbling. It's very well kept and is very tranquil. There are some nice shaded areas where you can sit down and relax and think about things. I took some cake along and had a spot of lunch there.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147448940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147448940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147448940/tpod.html Tue, 16 May 2006 13:57:45 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria is a lovely town come city on the coast. It's a lot cooler here that what
I've been used to for the last 4 months. The sea breeze is very refreshing.

It's one of those places where you can just wander around and see the sights as well
as Egyptian every day life.

Lost for words, sorry, will try again later.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147198740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147198740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147198740/tpod.html Fri, 12 May 2006 11:49:00 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Cairo, Egypt

Tuesday was pyramid day. They were probably good in there day, but are crumbling now and it looks like there putting new block in place of the old ones. It's also a massive tourist centre, too many tourists for my liking, much preferred the camel market. But managed to get in to some positions to take photos with few people in. Afterwards I splashed out and had a lamb tangine at a nearby posh hotel and it was very nice indeed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147112280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147112280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/york_tyke/rtw_adventure/1147112280/tpod.html Fri, 12 May 2006 11:32:14 -0400 Venturing out at last.

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Cairo, Egypt

On Monday I visited the camel market in Birqash about 35km north west of Cairo. Camel
men come from as far away as Somalia to sell there camels here. They don't exactly treat them with kid gloves. Just continually beat them with sticks to get them to move. They also tie one of there legs up so they can only really hop around on 3 legs. Saying that I did see one guy sat down with a camel hand feeding it, there looked to be some kind of bond between the two of them.

Just missed out on see a goat get it's throat slit, instead had to make do with seeing it skinned and gutted. The other goats were giving each other weary looks knowing there turn would be in the next day or two.

On the way out the market, opposite the entrance I spotted where they must put the dead camels, there were a few corpses knocking around.
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