AUS Day 9: Fitzroy Island

Straight to the pictures

This turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me, even though it could have been so much more!  Fitzroy island is one of the best snorkeling places I've ever experienced; however, we happened to catch it on the coldest day of the year, literally, and it rained/drizzled on and off most of the day.  Still, it was a highlight.

As you can see, we were all a little tired by this time in the trip and Nathan spent the ride over catching up on some Z's.

The day started with about a 1 hour boat ride out to the island.  Part way out, our boat slowed down and were informed that one of the engines was over-heating and as a result, we'd be going out there under about 75% power which simply meant a slightly longer boat ride.  Not much to tell about the trip over.

The island was something I'd never experienced before.  The entire beach is made of coral and everytime a wave receded it made a sound like wind-chimes.  Literally, if you look at the pictures carefully, the whole beach is coral.  This picture of Kyle shows the coral really well.

Once we got over the cold, we all got in the water.  Due to the rain and clouds the water was not clear or calm; still, the snorkeling was amazing.  I could only imagine what it would be like on a clear, warm, sunny day.  If I ever make it back to the Cairns area, I definitely will be getting back to Fitzroy.


Another memory was this huge school of bait-fish that was next to the boat dock.  We were told that the school was actually much smaller than what it was earlier in the year.  We were also told that we could snorkel right into the middle of this school and possibly see some "predator" fish; so we followed that advice and went snorkeling.  I managed to spot a lion-fish; very beautiful (and poisonous) which turned out to be a highlight for me.

Other highlights were watching the nephews learn how to snorkel for the very first time...even Andrew figured it out.  Speaking of which, those boys, especially Nathan and Andrew managed to stay in the water for hours!  The rest of us could only handle the cold for so long; and since we were on an island there really wasn't a good way to warm up.

Finally the weather really caught up with us and about 45 minutes before our departure it started raining for real.  This forced us all under the cover of the local "restaraunt" which, by this time, wasn't really serving anything.  Still, a highlight for me for sure.

Straight to all the pictures

Up to Artist Ridge

Click here to go straight to the pictures (weenie)

First, a couple of pictures showing Whatcom Falls, which is still running very high (the flood gates are still open I believe).

Now, on to today - which was a perfect day for snow-shoeing...the only complaints being 1) I over-dressed (it was HOT - like 60+ in the sun) and 2) since there was no new snow, it was very icy.

We started off thinking we'd just bum around for an hour or two but once we fought through the crowds and got our gear on, it was just to darn nice to stop...so we made it all the way up to Artist Ridge.  The weather was amazing - we saw many skiers and snow-boarders in t-shirts and a few even in shorts.  It took us both about 100' to shed some layers of our own; no gloves, hat or jacket needed.  (For you weather geeks, it's called an inversion layer which simply means it's colder at low elevations and hotter at high elevations; which is why it was still icy at our house when we got back, and much colder).The views were as amazing as ever.  Literally, there was not a single cloud anywhere to be seen.  The highlight for Julie was feeding the birds up at the top; the camp-robbers always seem like they haven't eaten in a long time.

The drive up was interesting too as we saw first-hand some of the destruction the recent floods have caused.  It was very frightening in a way to see how much damage was done just off of the Mt. Baker Highway; as the mud line came way up in a few spots.  The crew was repairing the damage; all of it caused by what, at the moment, is an ankle deep creek about 5' wide.  I could jump across it at its current level.

All in all, a great day spent.  Don't forget to check out the rest of the photos.

January Flooding - Pictures and Video

All I can say is, wow.  The latest from Bellingham?  Lake Whatcom is getting too high so they opened the flood gates at 2:00 PM today; that means that Whatcom Creek and Whatcom Falls are running extremely high.  I managed a few pictures.

First: Look carefully at the two pictures of Whatcom Falls.  One was taken 3 weeks ago, the other today.  Click on the pictures to see them full frame.  Notice on the snow picture, the rocks to the left of the Falls - in the 2nd photo, completely gone.  Also quite a bit more spray!

Second, after you do that, visit my website (click here) and see the video I took for the full effect of Whatcom Falls.  Turn the volume up.  It's a LOT of water.

December Snow: Night Shots

Click here to go straight to the night photos

Click here for another batch of snow pictures from earlier

Hey all: here are some night shots from the snow up here!  Sure is pretty; and getting colder again.  Here's three to whet your appetite!  Click on the link above to see the rest of 'em!

 

  

Big set of snow pictures

Click here to go straight to the pictures; (what, you don't like my writing?)

Not lot to say; highlights of our weather?  Low temperature was this morning at my house of 8 degrees (of course, that was at about 8:15 AM, so it might have been colder before that).  We topped out at 9+ inches of snow.  It is beautiful, but cold.  Enjoy!


(The Holly is out in Full Force right now)


(Our cul-de-sac)

And Whatcom Falls Park;









Click here to go straight to see all the pictures!

Strange Mix of Pics...

I know, this is a strange mix of pictures...3 shots of downtown Fairhaven, and 3 of my nephews (at least two of them).  Ok, well there you have it anyways...

Snow part II

The big "dump" - I woke up very disappointed, thinking our weather-men had blown it (again) but Oh me of little faith: it started snowing in earnest about 10:00 and didn't really stop until about 4:00.  Here's just a few pic's from the day;

Weather

I love the snow...actually, I love any type of unusual weather; storms, wind, hard rain, sleet, hail, but my favorite, is severe cold and snow.  Don't know why; as long as I can remember I've always loved the snow.  My mom always said it was because it snowed on the day I was born.  I'm not sure about that, but it's as good a reason as any.  At any rate, I've had a blast watching all this Bellingham snow and have even developed a reputation as an amateur weather hound; (not sure if it's a good rep or a bad one).  At any rate, I thought I'd share my favorite weather websites.

1) komonews.com/weather - I love this website because they do a lengthy write-up about the weather and usually include all the details I love to read about.

2) national weather service, Bellingham - I love this site because you get accurate forecasts, especially short term.  You also get in bright bold red letters, any warnings or special weather statements (like, right now, as I write, there is a Winter Storm Warning for Bellingham).

3) intellicast radar - When weather is happening, I go to this radar loop - my brother-in-law who is a pilot put me onto this site as a good one for seeing what's actually happening; (blue for snow, red for mix, green for rain).

4) accuweather, Bellingham - I just found this site and love it for long range forecasting, as in 15 days or so.  Accuweather actually had this arctic blast predicted about 10-11 days before it actually happened.  Keep in mind though, long range forecasting is very iffy, especially in the NW.

5) weatherbug.com is fun too, but I'm not sure it's very accurate.  Stay with the local guys for the most accuracy - a couple more are kirotv.com/weather and king5tv.com/weather, both Seattle based but still have good reports on Bellingham.

So there you go!  Those are my favorite 4 weather websites.  Got any suggestions?

If you missed my most recent post, click here!

Snow Pictures 2008...

Straight to the pictures (lame)

Ok, nothing big to write home about here, but have gotten the camera out a few times the past couple of days.  Here's 3 of them...(click here to see the rest)

A Brilliant Bellingham Sky

Straight to the pictures here;

So, it's been awhile since I've blogged.  To be honest, I haven't felt like it and haven't had anything to write about.  That changed today.  I brought my camera to work on the off chance of seeing something.  As I pulled into the parking lot for work this morning, I found some brilliant red "berry looking" type things (sorry, I don't know plants).  They were glistening in the morning sun.  The best was yet to come...

Thursday is my "late night" day of the week where we have our music rehearsal.  I usually leave around 4:30 to get dinner and am back to the church by 5:30.  As I left for dinner today, I saw the most brilliant sunset of the year by far - I was both running back for my camera, kicking myself for not leaving 10 minutes earlier, and praising God that I actually caught the part of the sunset that I did catch.  I pulled of the side of the road and snapped a bunch of pictures.  Truth be told, the pictures are all totally straight off the camer, not "touched up" in any way.  Notice how the colors change as the sunset went on.  Enjoy (and check out the rest of the pictures here).