The Traveling Widower

Category: travel

Default category for all travel related posts.

  • Tariffs, Camera gear, and Hummingbirds

    Allens Hummingbird

    I mentioned in a previous post, that I had been planning to purchase a new long, telephoto lens sometime in the summer, before I went on the Alaska trip. Along came “Independence Day”, and excessive tariffs on just about everything that is not made in the USA. Almost all quality cameras and lenses are made in either Japan, Korea or Germany – we just do not make these things in the US. I currently have two Sony mirrorless cameras (A7II, A7RII), and a bunch of lenses for the two bodies – the equipment is pricey but you get what you pay for. The tariffs when announced, on Japan, were 39%…ouch. That made me think that buying now would be a good thing. So, I researched a few options, and wound up with a 100-500MM lens from Tamron. I was planning to buy a Sony G 150-600MM, but the beast just weighed too much to hand hold on a moving, small boat, so I opted for something a bit more compact. OK, enough technical photography stuff.

    Once I had the new equipment home, I decided to go somewhere to test the lens. and I really wanted to try it on wildlife, since that is what I bought it for. Since elk and moose are not an option nearby, I decided on a trip back to the coast, to the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. No, not to take pictures of trees. The arboretum is a nice place to wander through in general, but the sections dedicated to South African plants are a haven for hummingbirds. My wife and I used to go there every spring for a few years, to see the little buggers buzzing around on the flowering plants and trees. So, I packed up my gear, and headed off to the coast (Campbell actually, where I stayed.)

    The peak of “hummingbird season” at the abroretum is in March, when all of the trees and bushes are in bloom. I missed that by a month, but there were still a lot of Allens and Annas hummers buzzing around. The secret for photographing these hyperactive, blinding fast birds, is to find one (or two) that have a territory they are protecting, and setup shop (tripod) at one of the places they roost to rest. You can then position the tripod and focus the camera on that spot, and just hit the shutter whenever it stops for a while (usually a minute or two). I was lucky right off the bat to find a male Allens that rested in two, really great spots, where the background would be a dense tree. I then spent a pleasant few hours, photographing one or two of the birds, and then just wandeed around in the arboretum, which has some amazing flowering plants. It really is a beautiful place. 

    The combination of the new lens, and the Sony camera with a huge sensor (44MP), and a little bit of luck, resulted in some remarkable shots. 

    The level of detail and sharpness of the birds neck feathers was amazing, given how small the birds are.

    I went back the next day and spent more time in the same location (and probably the same birds). The lighting was better that day, so I was able to get a few more good shots. I then wandered about taking a few picture of some of the strange flowers.

    Later in the day, I spent some time visiting friends in Capitola, and wandered down to the beach with their mutant golden retriever (huge). I so miss being near the coast. My wife and I spent lots of time visiting our friends there when we lived in Campbell. Sigh. Better times for sure.

    Capitola Wharf from below
    Old railroad bridge across Soquel Creek

    I did manage to help the local economy while I was there. My favorite camera store is in Campbell, so I decided to stop by and see if there was any gear that I absolutely needed to buy. I was amazed to see the front of the store covered in plywood. Apparently, someone drove a car into the store, and cleared out a lot of gear. Smash and grab. How sad. But while I was there, I decided I needed a a new monopod and ball head, for my upcoming trip to Alaska. I knew I’d find something. And I beat the tariff’s again. 

  • Gray Whales in Baja Mexico

    Gray Whale Spy Hopping

    My wife and I have always been fascinated with whales, starting with our first trip to Hawaii, and then living close to Monterrey Bay once we moved to California. We spent many pleasant mornings or afternoons on whale watching tours from Moss Landing, Santa Cruz or Monterrey harbor, year round, since Humpbacks, Gray and even Blue whales pass thru or stay to feed in the bay.

    We had always been interested in visiting the breeding lagoons for the Gray Whales in Baja – the videos of the whales interacting with people (except for kissing the whales) were amazing. There are a number of touring companies which offer trips to Baja, which included National Geographic/Lindblad so the choice ws simple for me – stick with NG. 

    This trip started on the East side (Sea of Cortez) of Baja, in the city of Loreto. From there, we were bussed over to the Pacific side to San Carlos in Magdalene Bay where we boarded the ship. Once again, as a single, I was in steerage, at the waterline. Not so bad – great cabin, with easy access to the mud room at the stern, where you board the zodiacs. Nice view from my port holes too.

    The first two days were spent chasing whales, cruising around the bay in local fishing boats (pangas), and a visit to a local fishing village. The whale chasing was fun and interesting, but the whales were just not as friendly as I was hoping for. No photos of whales leaning into the boats, and I never got to use my new GoPro to capture underwater shots. Darn. But I did get some pop-up head shots, and it was fun riding along in the bay with the local fishermen. Unlike Humpback Whale breaches, Gray Whale head shots look a lot like a marine buoy. Oh well, maybe next time.

    Panga (small boat), filled with passengers from our trip

    For the remainder of the trip. we followed the coast line around back to the Sea of Cortez, stopping to chase Humpback whales or anything else of interest – that’s the cool thing with National Geographic. The schedule is always flexible depending on the weather and wildlife. 

    One big mistake I made prior to this trip, was my selection of camera gear. I was focused more on underwater photography for the Gray whales and snorkeling. I had been planning on purchasing a new, longer zoom lens later in the summer, but did not think I would need it on this trip. A big mistake. As we continued south along the Baja coast, we saw quite a few active Humpback whales, some with calves, breaching. There were quite a few passengers with 400, 500 and 600MM long lenses, who captured some excellent photos. All I had was a 300MM – not long enough. And as always with whale photography, you never know when something exciting will happen. I was on the wrong side of the ship when a really large whale breached right along side the ship. There were passengers on their balconies, that suddenly had a whale a few feet away..airborne. Amazing. At least I got to see it. 

    And at least I did not have whatever they had for lunch.

    Urp! (not really, they were just looking at fish passing by below)

    The background for the Humpback photo’s would have been great with a longer lens. Live and learn.

    If only I had that new long lens

    Our next stop once we turned the “corner”, and headed into the Sea of Cortez, was a small village which had switched from fishing to eco-tourism – this was a real success story for rebuilding the fish populations in the area. There is also a large sea lion colony there, which has become a major tourist attraction, where you can swim alongside the colony and interact with the sea lions. They are used to people, and seem to enjoy showing off. I was all set for capturing a close up, which I had missed in the Galápagos Islands. We loaded up the Zodiac boats and pulled up to the colony – amazing number of barking sea lions, many of them swimming around the boats. Sort of like pulling up to a colony of Golden Retrievers. I got myself organized, held onto my camera setup, and stepped off the boat..right on top of a sea lion. We were both surprised. We stared at each other for a minute, and before I could get the camera up, it swam away. Yet another lost opportunity. So once again, no close ups. Crap. 

    Passing by Cabo
    Just showing off

    The rest of the trip included some hiking – nothing spectacular – we spent some time with the National Geographic photographer finding things to shoot along a beach hike, and did a nice strenuous hike up a gully for a view across to the Pacific. Along the way, a group of locals were working their way down the trail, with big sacks of mollusks across their shoulders. We walked over to their village afterwards (a nice open air bar), and found out that they do this to get the bait for their lobster and crab traps. Unbelievable amount of work! The trail on the other side is extremely steep. 

    Me….top of the hike. Nice ocean view. Villagers came up that side
    La Paz Fiesta – great dance troup

    And there were some incredible view of the amazing Baja coast – imposing desert and mountain ranges.

    We eventually disembarked where we started out, in Loreto, and had to hang around for most of the day at a nice hotel on the waterfront, until we could go to the airport. This is a very small city, with an equally small airport – there are very few flights in and out. Once again, I made it home very late due to very long lags between flights – this time, I had to wander around LAX for about 5 hours. Overall, a fun trip, but disappointing in terms of photography. I did fall in love with Baja – the landscape, mountainous desert hitting the sea, the culture and people were incredible. I already have a return trip scheduled.