Category Archives: Activities

Once upon a time

An old photo of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau Mountains in Switzerland

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Favorite Vacation Spots.’ See more responses here.

I thought I’d go with a couple of old photos from a vacation I took many, many years ago to Switzerland. I really enjoyed Switzerland because the scenery was wonderful, the trails were well marked and maintained, and good chocolate was plentiful.

The top photo shows the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau Mountains in the Alps. The bottom one shows some hairy yob atop the Mettelhorn, near Zermatt, with the Matterhorn in the background.

An old photo of me on the Mettelhorn in Switzerland

This second photo amuses me because I rarely take selfies, and back then a selfie involved finding a stable spot to place the camera, activating the timer, and scurrying back to, hopefully, get in the shot. Then, as now, it was a struggle because I’ve never remembered how to find the timer and set it, on any camera I’ve ever had!

Green turtle in the shallows

A Green Turtle swimming in shallow waters off Hawaii
A Green Turtle swimming in shallow waters off Hawaii

Near the end of a recent swim, I saw this smallish Green Turtle. It was cruising along in shallow water near the ladder I was aiming for. It disappeared into the rocks, but I hung around hoping for another sight of it, and was rewarded when it came back out and swan past me before returning to the shelter of the rocks. I didn’t follow since I don’t have a shell to protect me from the bumps the turtle was undoubtedly encountering.

I wet myself

A Whitetip Reef Shark zips close by.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Scary Animal of the Month.’ See more responses here. I’ve dipped into the archives for this one, which is mostly water shots. What else did you think I meant by the headline? Captions on the photos as usual.

And finally, for all you arachnophobes, a lovely Cane Spider.

A cane spider on the Big Island of Hawaii

Blue Hawaii (lava)

Blue Lava at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Colors of Lava and Black.’ See more responses here. I thought a collection of colorful lava fit the bill. These were taken on two of the trails in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Kau Desert Trail and the Puna Coast Trail.

Finally, some red lava erupting from Kilauea volcano. I posted a few days ago (here) about the pressurized situation at the volcano when I visited last week. This is a screen shot from one of the live webcams at Kilauea (here). This most recent eruption began a little after three yesterday morning and ended around 6 hours later. I missed it by a week!

Screenshot of an eruption at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Where are you going?

Hula dancers perform in front of steps leading to the statue of King Kamehameha in Kapaau, Hawaii
Hula dancers perform in front of steps leading up to the statue of King Kamehameha in Kapaau, Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Stairs/Steps.’ See more responses here. Captions on the photos as usual.