New Zealand – Dunedin

Highlights include Royal Albatross, Little Blue Penguins, and fur seals.

We spent the better part of a day in Dunedin, on the southeastern coast of New Zealand. To reach Dunedin, which is at the head of a long, narrow harbor, we sailed along the Otago Peninsula, which turned out to be where we spent much of our time on-shore today. After a brief visit to the historic train station in downtown Dunedin, next to the harbor, we rode coaches all the way back to the seaward tip of the Otago Peninsula… where we had the opportunity to visit two wildlife sanctuaries.

Train station in Dunedin.
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Iceland – Nauthúsagil

A strange encounter with a seagull.

Part of a series of posts about my travel in Iceland, including visits to eleven waterfalls.

I was very nervous about visiting this waterfall.  From the guidebook description it sounds fascinating, with a challenging approach through a deep ravine. In one section, you can only progress further by holding a chain and doing a sort-of layback along the left edge of the ravine, bypassing a deep pool and a small cascade.   Despite passing all those tests, last year my son managed to dislocate both shoulders(!) merely by leaning down to drink from the stream here.  Today, as I drove alone up the rough gravel road to this remote location, and seeing only one other person on site, I was wary about a slip or mistake that might leave me injured.  Spoiler: I survived unscathed 🙂

Approaching Nauthúsagil waterfall, southeast Iceland.
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SC wildlife – December

I was back in South Carolina for the Christmas holiday and had a chance to explore some of the wildlife around Kiawah Island and Magnolia Plantation, both near Charleston. The gallery shows some of my favorite photos from that week… deer, ducks, alligators, herons, and seagulls. I especially enjoyed watching a pair of blue herons going about the construction of their nest. They seemed to be taking their time, slowly building it one tiny stick at a time.

Blue herons building a nest, Magnolia Gardens, South Carolina.

Katmai, days 4-5

A week off the grid on the coast of Alaska – photographing bears.

This post is part of a series about our photography trip to Alaska.

Tuesday (August 30) Kuliak Bay, Hidden Harbor, Geographic Harbor: An early breakfast allowed us to reach the beach by 8am, where an immature bald eagle was perched on driftwood as if waiting for a dozen photographers to capture its portrait. My favorite photo from the sequence came moments after it launched from its beachfront perch. What else did we see in the next two days? read on.

Bald eagle (immature) on shore at the head of Kuliak Bay.
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