Tag Archives: horses

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St. Lucia

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Dec 13, 2018 – Marigot Bay & Soufrière, St. Lucia

2018 Caribbean Sail Cruise

This morning, our first port-of-call is Marigot Bay, which is basically a yacht harbour. I don’t find this port too interesting, so I take the next tender back to the ship. After a couple of hours, we raise anchor and proceed to Soufrière, our second port for today on St. Lucia, arriving after lunch.

Map of St. Lucia
Our two ports-of-call in St. Lucia
Joe on his horse Natcho on St. Lucia

I’m on the Soufriere Morne Choval Horse Ride excursion this afternoon, which is a lovely way to spend an afternoon on St. Lucia. There are only four of us on the excursion, and it’s only a five minute drive up the hill out of town to the Morne Coubaril Estate Reserve. We spend a little over an hour riding around the estate, and then we have some snacks and drinks after the ride. They have some nice things for sale in their shop, and they also offer zip-lining, estate tours, and horseback riding to the volcano and beach.

We have an opportunity to photograph the Royal Clipper from the tenders while she is under full sail departing Soufrière at sunset (see banner image above). Now I know how passengers take those terrific photos of the ship! I also observe the Green Flash from the launch, and for the first time manage to take some photos of it, although they aren’t great.

After we are underway, the Captain’s Dinner is served in the dining room this evening: Chateaubriand, baked Alaska (just Neapolitan ice cream with cherry sauce), and bubbly to toast with. The Captain comes around to each table to toast and chat with us in person – a very nice touch!

Marigot Bay & Soufriere
Marigot Bay & Soufriere
13 photos
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Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

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2011 Incan Empires Cruise

Sunday, December 18, 2011 – Day 28 – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I go on the horse riding excursion today – a nice way to get away from the commercialization of Puerto Vallarta. A bus takes us inland to an arid area behind Puerto Vallarta, where the real Mexicans live. There are no Walmarts, Home Depots or upscale shopping centres here…just little cafes beside the road with a few tables and dirt floors, and vendors barbecuing chicken beside the road, selling to the local families for their Sunday dinners.

We arrive at the hacienda and are assigned our horses based on our weight and skill level. I get a horse called “Grandpa” (“Abuelito” in Spanish). There are about thirty riders from the ship, so it is a good-sized group as we leave the corral single file and try to get used to our steeds (and them to us, no doubt). Grandpa seems to be very good at following the horse in front of him, and that suits me fine. We travel slowly across country similar to the dry and scrubby landscape I remember from La Enscenada Lodge ranch on the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica. We cross the river twice, once where it is less than half a metre deep, and another point where it is probably about a metre deep. “Grandpa” is one of the bigger horses, so I don’t get my feet wet, while other riders do.

We have a rest stop after an hour, where there is a little cantina setup under a shade tree, with beer, pop and water for sale, and of course there are also bathrooms available. Some people have a dip in the nearby hot springs, while others ride one of the horses which likes to swim in the deeper part of the river. I just take it easy, take some photos, and then climb back on “Grandpa” for the return trip back to the hacienda.

The cruise ship harbour is located in a very central spot with spectacular towers on both sides of the harbour entrance, stretched along the sandy beachfront. A huge marina adjoins the harbour, which is chock full of speedboats and other pleasure craft no doubt owned by the gringos in the waterfront towers.

Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta
16 photos
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La Ensenada Lodge – day 2

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Feb 24, 2009 – Tuesday – La Ensenada “Star” Lodge, Manzanillo, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

2009 Southern Skies Fiesta & Tamarindo Coast

I join the early morning wildlife walk at 6AM since I’m still up from the previous night’s observing. The horses are in the field as the sun rises, and we see a big iguana along with some birds as the Howler monkeys look down on us from the trees. Time for breakfast and a nap.

Roseated Spoonbill in flight

I go on the boat trip to the mangrove swamp, showing up at 2PM down at the dock with my Canon 50D and the 17-85 zoom lens. However after we spot our first birds (Pelicans), I wish I had brought the 70-200 zoom instead. The birds we see are pretty close, but the extra reach of the longer zoom lens would have given me better image scale. We follow a similar route as last year, seeing lots of birds busy catching fish, spoonbills in the trees, and a Pelican colony at close range. It is cooler than I remember the boat trip from last year, and the water isn’t as rough on the return trip. After we return, I have a swim in the pool before going for dinner – very refreshing!

This evening I look at M42 Orion Nebula through a 15” Obsession Dobsonian telescope one of our group has brought with them on the trip. Our astronomy leader Gary thinks this telescope holds the record as the largest aperture telescope brought on the tour so far. All I can say is the views through it are superb. The breathtaking view of M42 reveals the beautiful blue colour of the reflection nebula – a first time for me with any scope I’ve used on this showpiece object. We also have a look at the Sombrero Galaxy, where the dust lane is evident, and Comet Lulin’s spectacular dust tail.

M42 Orion Nebula and belt stars

Later in the evening, I do some astrophotography using my dSLR mounted on an Astrotrac tracking mount on a tripod. It works very well, but my choice of targets: the emission nebulae in Vela turns out to be underwhelming. Later I change targets to a widefield of M42 Orion Nebula, including the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula, and am rewarded with a breathtaking resultant image.

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin

After midnight, I turn my camera to Comet Lulin and have yet more success. I take relatively few frames to capture the comet’s tail, but stacking 62 light frames referenced to the comet head shows just how fast this comet is moving through the cosmos indicated by the star trails. I go to bed tired but happy after a busy night of observing and photographing the night sky.