The Traveling Widower

Category: wildlife

Includes posts about whales, hummingbirds, or anything specific to viewing wildlife

  • This Trip Will Be A Little Different

    A blood pressure monitor, a bottle of Bayer low dose aspirin, a prescription medication bottle, and a small black and silver object arranged on a countertop.

    March 14, 2026

    I’m four days away from my next trip, and I’m just about packed and ready to go. I’ve been really good the past weeks since I returned from Baja – no wine or martini’s (#!@&*!!!), over-hydrating resulting in many late night trips (no details necessary…if you are over 65, you get it), and I’ve been mostly avoiding over exerting myself. I’ve even started meditation, and monitoring my EKG pulse and blood pressure every day. I’m really acting like an old man. I guess I’m acting my age. Bah. 

    Packing was really weird – the trip offers a lot of water activities: paddle boarding, kayaking and snorkeling. I’m not packing gear for any of those, so there’s a lot more room in my luggage. I am carrying a few new, small items. A blood pressure cuff, and my Kardia EKG device. There is a ship’s physician, but I’d like to do a daily check on my own, without letting the ship staff know about my condition. The last thing I need is to have the staff watching me all the time. I’m concerned a bit, but not really that worried (I’m not supposed to do that either). My BP and BMP have been kind of weird the past two weeks, but I’ve been relatively active without any issues. I’m willing to take the risk.

    So, in a few days I’ll be off to Panama City. I’ve seen a bunch of videos of the canal crossing, and that does look interesting, as does pretty much everything on the itinerary. It will be nice to photograph something other than ice and snow – a bit of color would be wonderful. 

    Speaking of which, with a little bit of luck, I might get to photograph the extremely rare Costa Rican River Penguins.

    AI generated picture of a group of colorful penguins standing by the riverbank in a lush rainforest, with palm trees and greenery in the background. Wishful thinking

    Peace

  • Back to Back (to Back) Trips

    Electrocardiogram (ECG) reading displaying six leads: I, II, III, aVR, aVL, and aVF with waveforms indicating heart activity.

    March 8th, 2026

    The good news is I have been able to fog a mirror every morning since my inglorious return from Baja. My new Spanish phrase of the week when asked how I’m doing is “Estoy muy preocupado por mi corazon”. I did meet with my cardiologist this week, and it went relatively well. Sort of. There are no indications of what is causing my high blood pressure, BPM (beats per minute) and heart palpitations. But something is obviously not working the way it should. So I’ll be getting some tests and have to wear a monitor for a bit. We discussed my upcoming trips – he did not really want me to go next week, but understood my need and desire – I got nothing else going on in my life but travel – I’ll go absolutely bonkers if I have to sit at home. So, I promised to do the following (really, I actually had to say ‘I promise’):

    1 – No alcohol (that’s a hard one…they have great bars on the ships). I’ve been cutting back on wine for a while, so I’ll survive.

    2 – Stay hydrated – that was likely one of the triggers, the other being alcohol. They have hydration stations all over the ship, and I’ll be getting yet another nice water bottle. I’ll use it. 

    3 – Take a second blood pressure pill only if I have another incident. I’ll be bringing extras on this trip just in case.

    4 – Take it easy, especially on the activities. I’ll stick to easy trail hikes and zodiac rides, and avoid kayaking and snorkeling. Bummer. But I can focus on photography…not so bad.

    I’ll also bring my little Kardia device along for EKG’s, and maybe a blood pressure cuff. There’s a doctor on board, but I’d rather not advertise my little problem. They might send me home – once was enough.

    So the good news is that I will be going on the Panama/Costa Rica trip in 10 days, and have already started accumulating my stuff for the inaugural packing test. This trip will be easy to pack for, since it’s a tropical climate – no snow, temperatures in the 90’s, no heavy clothes at all. Plus, they have laundry service on the ship – I’ve started relying on that to reduce the amount of stuff I have to bring along. 

    Photography on this trip should be interesting – a mix of city shots the first two days in Panama City, landscapes all along the way, and birds and mammals (monkeys..but sadly, no Penguins!) in the nature preserves. And I’ve heard that the trip through the canal has some unique photo-ops, especially at night. I’ll be packing my usual kit for this trip – two Sony bodies, the big lens for wildlife, and the new 25-200 for everything else. Plus the magic monopod. Can’t wait.

    Hopefully, I won’t be introducing myself to the ship’s physician on this trip. OK…positive thinking, positive thinking. I’ve only got 18 days when I return from this trip, before I leave for the astrophotography trip in Moab. So I hope this one goes well.

    Peace