Whale bones

There were whale bones all over the beach at Mikkelson Harbor, along with the ruins of a wooden boat.

The umbrellas of Copacabana

Sunday bird blogging

A few penguins hanging out on the beach in Gold Harbour, in South Georgia.

Urban poetry

Packing up after a long day on the beach at Copacabana. I am so impressed by everything this man managed to pack onto that little cart. Most of the vendors I noticed around the beach used big trucks to haul all their stuff around.

Two more shorelines

The picture on the left was also taken with my phone, but did not come out quite so cartoony.

Why was I using a phone at all? Simple logistics. I brought it ashore to take videos, which was much easier than using the big Canon. But because of the restrictions in place now—no kneeling, crouching, or resting bags or any equipment on the ground—I would put my camera away in my backpack before heading back to the zodiacs. (There were big bins on a tarp where we could leave our life jackets when we came ashore, and grab another when leaving, and it was more convenient to wrestle with getting my camera into my backpack and closing it up again if I could rest it on the side of the bin.) So if I saw something I wanted to take a picture of while waiting for the next zodiac, I had to use my phone.

And we are now in Antarctica

Some of the many whale bones on the beach at Mikkelsen Harbor yesterday.

Seals on the beach

 One advantage of the phone camera is that it's much, much easier to take video. I think that mama seal is saying, Get back here right now!

Random things I saw on Copacabana Beach

I didn't really understand the art installation or why it features Elton John, but it made me smile. And I love the platinum hair on those boys—this is apparently a favela style inspired by footballers.

I wasn't kidding about the bikinis

Someone must be buying these or this woman would not be lugging this contraption up and down Copacabana Beach on Christmas Day.

My hero

Today was brilliantly sunny and I had breakfast outside overlooking the water. Unfortunately when I went to put on my sunglasses they were nowhere to be found—I'm guessing they fell out of my bag during the tour yesterday.

And of course everything was closed today, including the hotel gift shop, but it occurred to me that if they have vendors selling bikinis on Copacabana Beach (and they do, although I remain confused about why you would wait until you were already at the beach to buy one) I might be able to find someone selling sunglasses. And I did.

This kind gentleman wanted 200 reals for the glasses (about $31) but accepted 130 when that was all I had. Strolling along the beach immediately became more pleasant, and I was able to spend a few hours by the pool this afternoon as well.

Where I managed to get a sunburn on the tops of my feet because I forgot to apply sunscreen there. It's been a long time since I was outside in a bathing suit.

That's better

The view from the hotel this morning. It's already clouded over again, but at least I got to confirm that Sugar Loaf does actually exist!

A long sleep and a few cups of coffee (plus the improved weather) worked their usual magic and Rio looks much better to me today than it did yesterday.

The journey here was mostly smooth, with one unpleasant wrinkle—I'd used miles to upgrade to business class so I could sleep, but it turned out that my seat refused to recline. They've replaced the push-button controls with a touch screen and mine didn't work, despite several attempts to reboot. Finally an intrepid flight attendant got down on the floor with an iPhone flashlight and disconnected enough of the machinery to get the seat flat. Or mostly flat; there was a lump in the middle that wasn't very comfortable, and of course I couldn't raise the seat back in the morning, so had to eat breakfast sitting cross-legged on what was now basically a bench.

I didn't especially enjoy trudging around Copacabana in the rain yesterday afternoon, but I'm looking forward to the Botanical Gardens this afternoon. And there are flocks of frigate birds in the sky!

When my baby, when my baby smiles at me I go to Rio

This time it really is Rio.

De Janeiro.

My-oh-me-oh.

Though that might not be your first guess looking at this picture, taken on Copacabana Beach this afternoon—it looks a lot more like the chilly Northern California beaches of my childhood. I'm here until Friday and it's scheduled to rain every day, but at least, despite appearances, it's not cold.

The art of Drakes Beach

I thought this photo looked like a painting, so I helped it out with a little filter.

Sunday bird blogging

A pair of gulls hanging out on Drakes Beach.

Drakes Beach

I haven't taken many pictures in Berkeley, and haven't processed most of those I did take, but here are a few from our excursion to Point Reyes on Friday.

Drakes Beach is backed by steep sandstone cliffs, which the wind and water have sculpted into beautiful patterns. The winds were on display Friday, and I could only stand to walk on the beach for maybe twenty minutes, but it was worth being in the grindstone of the flung sand and water to be able to breathe in that fresh air.

Beach views

Old Woman Bay

This pretty bay has a long sandy beach, with lots of driftwood and interesting rocks (though not, alas, agates, at least not that we saw.)

It's named for a rock formation on the cliffs that allegedly looks like an old woman's face.

Urban poetry

Boats pulled up on the beach near the fish market in Chorrillos.