Matthew's web log

After all the advance planning and tricky logistics we arrived on time in Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key"), Belize.  The complicated airport transport to SFO (which will save us considerable time coming back by leaving a car near the airport) went without a hitch.  Although the new cabbie forgot to turn on the meter, we got to the airport with plenty of time for our flight a little after midnight.  Check in at the airport was a bit slow on TACA, but we had our seats in business class (more like a cross country biz. class than transcontinental, but nice in any case).  

The day was three flights that were successively shorter and on smaller planes.  I've now been to another country solely for its airport after connecting in El Salvador (which my friends assured me was long since past its Civil War).  After connecting to Belize City, we took the small prop (~20 seater) to the Caye.

The hotel is right next to the airport so we walked over to check in.  With only one room ready, we dropped off our bags and browsed the town.  A little while later we checked in to the hotel and had lunch there.  I looked forward to my Coca-Cola in a glass bottle only to find that it didn't taste like the coke I'm used to.  I'll have to try one more to be sure that this first one wasn't just a dud.

Finishing lunch, we browsed around the island trying to stay awake. By around 3pm, I returned to the room, showered to get the sand off and took a nap until about 5.  We then departed for dinner and were able to get good food and, more importantly, sample the local Belikin beer.  Belikin is mild with no after taste.  And I needed a couple to cool the mouth from the good, yet spicy, jerk chicken.

Doing a quick internet check to find out about snorkel options, we then just wandered a bit.  L' had her third good idea today- buying water at the local store (2 gallons for US$3 instead of US$1 for a 16oz bottle at the hotel).  This followed her other good ideas of walking out of the way of oncoming traffic and avoiding walking in the sand before returning to the room.  

Finally ready to crash for the night, I swatted a mosquito that just had dinner, leaving a nice bloody mark on the wall.  We later noticed other splattered bugs around the room.  Welcome to the tropics.  Tomorrow the real adventures begin.   

(Posted from Belize) 

Limited internet time, but a quick update.  We arrived safely and on time in Ambergris Caye, Belize.  Spent the day orienting around town and plotting out our upcoming adventures.  More info as the adventure continues.

I wanted to get one more photo shoot in of some animals in final preparations for my upcoming trip.  With only a little time to spare this weekend, I headed down to Happy Hollow Zoo.  It's just a short drive away and within an hour I covered the entire place. 

It's a challenge to get great animal photos even within the confines of a zoo.  The light changes as the animals move and the fast shutter speeds necessary to freeze motion are difficult with poor light.  Here are the highlights:

http://www.sanjoseabrams.com/photos/HappyHollow2007

 (Scroll down past the picture to leave a comment).

On a crisp but sunny late Fall day, I went over the hill to Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz.  This time of year the monarch butterflies are migrating and they congregate in the park.  I had heard about this a few years ago, but didn't make it during one of our rainier winters.  With a nice day and a good zoom lens, I was eager to try some wildlife photography.   Photographing moving animals requires a different skill from landscape photography and I want to practice a bit before my adventures later this month.

Photographically, I found that manual focus can be useful- provided you get the focus correct.  Depth of field is challenging at these focal lengths.  Digital is great since I don't care that most shots don't come out. 

Following the butterflies it was off to a more heart rate raising hike (at Forest of Nisene Marks State Park), but I didn't bring the camera for that part.  I did get to see the epicenter of the Loma Prieta earthquake which was a good follow on to last month's earthquake hike . 

Photos of the Monarchs.