I had found the Africa I was searching for, but, until I had crossed the imaginary line in the sand, I had not found. On the South African side of the line there were towns and cities filled with a fear-based misery that seemed to affect both the obscenely rich and the hopelessly poor alike. All of the fear and all of the racial segregation instantly disappeared as we drove through the border post, received our passport stamps and emerged into the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. It was an amazing contrast! There were no signs of the fortified homes, the electrified razor-wire fences, or the killer attack dogs that were so common in nearly every city I had been in in South Africa. Instead, everywhere we looked we saw smiling, happy faces and laughing children excitedly ... read more

An important change happened as we started the next leg of our voyage. We had all been nothing more than adventurous tourists who had chosen an interesting and somewhat unique way to see the sights of Antarctica and South Georgia. It is true that we had learned a lot about sailing a tall ship and we had definitely had some amazing adventures that fall well outside of the realm of a cruise ship, but it wasn’t until we had left South Georgia in our wake that we stopped being tourists and became sailors. We were no longer on a sightseeing trip, we were on a sailing voyage and we had nearly three thousand nautical miles of some of the stormiest oceans in the world ahead of us. More than fourteen hundred nautical miles separated us ... read more

My time in South America had come to an end. All that remained was to gather my things and walk down to the dock. I flashed my passport to the guard in the passenger terminal and he checked my name off of a passenger list, scanned my bags and said have a nice day as he directed me through the glass doors that led to the dock. It was easy to find my way from there, because the ship that would be my home for the next seven weeks stood out like a brilliant beacon, a living monument to the past, amid a sea of modern vessels. I walked past a large icebreaker and came to a stop at the quay site were my ship was moored. I was greeted by a few of the crew ... read more

Southward to Patagonia, that was where I was headed. To Patagonia, the desolate, wind-swept, wide open expanses, the dusty, isolated towns, the endless sky stretching to the horizon in every direction and some of the worlds most dramatic mountain scenery - It is a place I have wanted to explore since I was very young. My exploration of Patagonia started when I arrived in the lovely town of Bariloche. Bariloche is located on the scenic southern shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi in the heart of Argentina's famous and much visited Lake District. There is a 'ski-town' like feel to the place and a well developed tourist infrastructure, which made the place a pleasant place to relax for a few days. I was one of the foolish people who ignored everyone's warnings regarding showing up without a ... read more

When I think of a perfect paradise, the image that forms in my head is one of endless cascades of light blue water interspersed with verdant, mist shrouded jungle foliage and colorful flowers of all sizes. The scene is completed with the soothing roar of the crashing water accompanied by the symphonic melodies of the forest and a pleasantly cool climate. The image I see always comes to me in the form of a cartoon, mainly because the images that helped me build my ideal place, the Saturday morning cartoons of my childhood, the crocodile and monkey filled waterfall levels on the Pitfall video game that I love so much, or, more recently, the waterfall filled image of Rivendale from the Lord of the Rings movies, only exist in cartoon form, or so I thought! After ... read more