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We are not climbers but thoroughly enjoyed your account. I was on pins and needles as I read this blog. A fantastic adventure....and I'm sure your siblings will be laughing and have a few comments. Thanks for sharing!
Not only am I massively jealous of the fact you have dived Palau but I'm even more jealous of your AMAZING pictures.
What camera do you use and what work do you do in photoshop?
For the underwater shots I use a Canon G11 in and Ikelite housing with an Ikelite DS51 strobe with synchord. The above water shots in my blogs are split roughly 50/50 between the Canon G11 and a Canon 50D SLR. Photoshopping is limited to cropping the G11 shots so they're 6x4 rather than 4x3, and then adjusting contrast & hue to give a bit more 'punch', as frankly I can't be bothered too spend any longer in front of the computer than absolutely necessary!. Some of the underwater shots also needed to be despeckled with the clone tool to take out the worst of the backscatter... now that's a pain! Other than that it's just standard underwater practice of getting as close as you can to the subject while positioning the strobe as far away from the angle of the camera as possible (I'll occasionally detach it and hold it by hand). And don't worry... not all the shots turn out so well... these are the best of around 1500!
Other than that just get over to Palau and let the sealife and scenery speak for itself... just awesome.
Great underwater shots! No diver here, but I can tell good underwater photos from the bad ones. Well, sort of. That aside, these are really stunning pictures. Palau rocks! Great adventure you had. Thanks for sharing!
Apologies for this travelblog's unusual contents, but it's the closest I've been to a real journey in a while!
Fear not...normal service will be resumed shortly...
Peak Food, Peak Water and indeed Peak People I agree with your concern about population control - sadly however I don't think we are the majority. Many of my friends are planning 2-3 kids.
Brilliant ! Thank you for posting so many enjoyable blogs during your travel's. They have been a real pleasure to read.
This post was very well timed for me, I'm off to Singapore for the umteenth time this week, so I might look at the place through fresh eyes, think of you and have a laugh.
Cheers !!
When is the book published ? Andy, I hope this is not going to be your last post on TB. It really has been a pleasure reading all your posts, all so brilliantly written, and best of all, the humour than you add to what must have been on some days, a bloody grueling time. Ah ! Such is travel !
Fair play to you, you've kept me reading like no other blogger on the site. Fantastic read, let us all know the title of the book and I will be straight on to Amazon.
Thanks for the perfect internet travelogue.
William
Funnily enough several people seem to have laid claim to being the inspiration for the first paragraph already! To put your minds at rest it was actually a reference to God, who plainly reads the blog as les than 48hrs after posting it he gave the snails a hurry-up and our parcel arrived, taking away my only complaint about the whole place. I'm hoping he also arranged for a few burglars to pay a visit to the Crime Free Village!
Were you referring to us in your first paragraph?!! I actually wanted to know where your least favourite place was too but didn't get round to asking!!
Laos sounds fab and I now hope to go one day. Great photos as usual. Lovely catching up with you guys and hope to see you back in Cairns soon. Em x.
you are sooo right 4 month ago we returned back home from a 1 year trip around the southern hemisphere (see "holamundo" on travelblog). We were asked exactly the same questions. But in Switzerland the second most important question (this one is more important than the "where was the best place") was "Do you have a new job?" - well, that was kind of difficult after being at home for 3 days and not even having a room to stay ;-).
Enjoy the rest of you trip!!!!!!
Cheers, Nina
They say your whole life flashes before your eyes just before you die.
But the big question is, will it be worth watching?
Andy & Debbie have been traversing the globe for twenty-odd years in search of the answers to Life, the Universe and Everything.
From all the signs so far it's unlikely to be 42, though in fairness, we've yet to come up with a better figure...
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are not endorsed by the publisher, it's affiliates, or even the author himself. Should you find any of the material offensive, you probably need to get out more.
... full info
Jo Trouble
Jo McCarthy
Great story!
Your story made me laugh, your photos made me want to go to Nepal even more than I already did. Great work!