What Moon Phase is it here?

Took this Saturday. Do you know what the moon phase is?

Tough Life

Some creatures here really have a bad life.

Slideshow of Sunday's Dive.

This is just about everything I saw yesterday of note. We were all adjusting to our snorkel gear, and that took a little while. First place we went to was Pillar Coral, then we went to Tres Cocos. My gear worked great, and my dive buddy snapped a handful of the underwater photos. He's cool because he has an underwater digital camera. Mine is old style film.

First time Snorkeling

This is my response after I snorkeled in Pillar Coral. It was very cool. I'll have some pictures to show you soon. I do have some video that is more than just me talking, but I'm at an Internet cafe right now, and I'm working as fast as I can.

Landing in Belize.

We took a little twin engine prop plane (a cessna?) to the island. It was very dark and loud and strange going over water at night in a little plane. Here's how it looked.

Waiting at Airport

Here's a couple of videos of my adventure of waiting at Belize City's Airport. What fun it was! Just watch.

Very Little Internet Access

I'm here and taking much picture and video, but my Internet access has been limited. Belize is not very reliable when it comes to Internet, power, electricity. It's a different world right now. But I'm at an Internet cafe, and will get to write more later. also add some pics. I saw some awesome fish today, plants, animals- wow. Can't wait to update you on those. Talk to you all later tonight- hopefully.

Daniel

The Belize Barrier Reef

On December 28th, I will be headed to the Belize Barrier Reef to get an up-close look at its wildlife, and also to see how the ecosystem is being affected by global warming. I will be snorkeling with a group of like-minded folk, and we'll also be checking out some Mayan ruins. I hope that you'll check back here as often as you can, and leave me many comments to reply to. It'll be a fun trip! Hope you'll join me.

Here's where I'll be. If you zoom in on the image, you can see that Ambergris Cay is an small island off of Belize, and that's where I'll be most of the time. We'll snorkel about twice a day to check out the wildlife and the reef. The Belize Reef is actually the top of a 25,000 ft drop-off. And I'll be standing right on top of it! Cool!



View Larger Map

The Ride is Over

Well, I was to take the train home, but thanks to the friendly Metra, they decided to outlaw bicycles this weekend. Figures. So I bucked up and began the trip home. My totally aching butt and chafed hands (so wearing gloves is a good idea!) were ready to do it all again. This time I knew a short cut, I could take the Grand Illinois Trial westward and avoid a lot of roads. The ride to Kenosha I spent way too much time trying to find the trail, and on roads. The Des Plaines River trail was flooded every quarter mile. I rode through it a bunch of times, but there were times when the water level was just too high for my bike. My feet were wet for the entire trip up because of that.

I made a google map of the trip. Unfortunately, bike trails are not on Google maps, so I made assumptions based on the nearest roads. The mileage is pretty accurate.
Here's the map of my trip. Thanks for following!


View Larger Map

Train won't take bikes. Guess i'm riding home!

Made it to kenosha at 7pm. thank god for best western! I just rode my bike for 7 hours.

Kenosha!

Lambs farm!

Making progress...

Des plaines river trail. finally!

Had to stop @ wal-mart. My cotton underwear was chafing!

Bike Trip Starts Friday Morning!

Friday I will be riding my bike to Wisconsin. I'll be starting at the Des Plaines River trail, eventually going all the way up to Kenosha. It will be a good trip. I'll post lots of photos for all to see. Have fun!