Chivalry is Dead in Cuba

I love water...always have, always will...since I've been a young kid, my life revolved around H2O. From competitive sports like swimming, to the beach, fishing, snorkeling, to dreaming of surfing and to cliff jumping off rock cliffs in northern Ontario, So, it would make sense, that if you visit a place like Cuba, you bring your gear and try to get some snorkeling in the clear turquoise waters.

So back in June 2006, we were staying at a resort in Varadero, Cuba and we decided to snorkel. So that's exactly what we did...we walked on the beach looking for a some peace and quiet away from the crowd, and being a fisherman, looking for some type of structure or point where we could potentially see some fish. We found one about 1-2 km from our hotel, and started putting our gear on.

We got in the warm waters, and started exploring the shoreline, and gradually making our way to deeper water, where the reefs started. Aneta was behind me, about 15 metres or so, closer to shore. As I swam effortlessly through the clear waters, I started seeing more and more fish, small, medium colourful fish. The water was so clear that you could see so far away. While looking around further out into deeper water, I spotted 2 larger shapes in the water. They were about 20 metres away from me, just swimming slowly

I stared at them for about 30 seconds before realizing that the shapes was very familiar to me....too familiar if you know what I mean. It took a while, but once I knew I was looking at a couple of sharks, I literally froze. Didn't know whether to turn my back on them and swim back to shore, or keep looking, and hope they would just turn and slowly go away. Well, they didn't, they started slowly coming towards my general area!!!

Also, remembering that Aneta had no idea of what was happening or what I saw... I did what any grown man would do......I turned around and swam at Olympic speed, using my fins to my advantage. I kept swimming hard, and every 5 metres, lifted my head out of the water yelling at Aneta, "swim to shore...get out!!!"...I guess she really didn't hear me because she kept snorkeling. But once I got close enough she realized I was coming at her at full speed. Still trying to swim hard and raising my head out of the water every few strokes to yell at her to get out and swim to shore, she still didn't really get what I was doing. In awe she watched as I swam right by her and turned to her and yelled "get outttttt, sssharrrrkks!!!"...

Too bad I already passed her and was already making my way to shore...lol...so much for chivalry!!!
She quickly followed, and we both made it to shore about 2 minutes later as she was yelling at me saying "what the hell??? what are you talking about??". That's when I told her the full story about seeing those 2 sharks. I was kind of laughing at the whole situation, and a couple of locals just stood there and stared at us confused and intrigued.

Later, I spoke to several locals, who all said, "no no señor , no sharks here!!".

I would eventually google shark photos from the Cuba area and realize they were harmless Nurse Sharks...which made it even more funny...but still made for a good story.

Photostream of our trip to the wild west coast of BC

Aneta & Mark's' photostream on Flickr.

Our BC Adventure!!!

Mountain biking in Whistler where left is right and right is right!?!

Mountain biking in Whistler on the Valley Trail is a must when you visit. It has gorgeous mountain views with a huge network of trails. Too bad when you tell your wife to turn left at the fork in the trail, she goes right, and when you tell her to turn the other "left", she almost bikes into a rock and falls off the bike. I guess the scenery confused her!! lol

We are currently staying at Nita Lake Lodge which is located in Whistler Creekside, which is one of the ares just south of Whistler Village. Our balcony is overlooking Nita Lake and the surrounding mountains, where you can step outside and start mountain biking on the Valley Trail, or fish for rainbow trout in the surrounding glacier fed lakes. Truly paradise!

Relaxing in Whistler at Nita Lake Lodge

Had a one week business trip to Vancouver, and now extended it 5 days in Whistler. This lodge is really wicked!! Our balcony is overlooking the shores of Nita Lake and surrounding by snow capped mountains!! Walked right outside the lodge today to catch a nice rainbow trout. Hiked some really nice trails to some stunning waterfalls. Also, the Kokanee Crankworx festival is going on in the main village, and will check that out tomorrow...it's the worlds biggest mountain bike festival..

Photo: Brandywine Falls, near Whistler

Paddo, Paddo, Paddo...tan ya ghe up!!!

In January, 2008, we ended up taking a trip to the north coast of the Dominican Republic. It was awesome, since we got it free with AirMiles, so no complaints there.

We stayed in Playa Dorada area, and rented a car, to take various day trips from that area. One of the places we went to was Playa Encuentro which is near the town of Cabarete. It is really famous for surfing. I decided to finally take a short course on surfing instead of just going into the water, and trying it out. So, we get this guy from Buena Onda Surf School, who are located right on the beach. Well the guy who taught me some basics was awesome, and I learned a lot of stuff that I thought I was doing right before, but never had anyone in the water telling me my mistakes as I surf. The problem was the language barrier, as he had a very heavy Spanish accent. My wife was taking pics and filming, and it was classic, since he kept telling me this one thing, which became the "quote" of our trip to the DR...it was "paddo, paddo, paddo, tan ya ghe up!!" Of coarse what he was saying was "paddle, paddle, paddle, then you get up!!"

Well, I did just that in the water, I paddo, paddo, paddo....

This place was awesome, and the people of the DR were really cool. Driving in this country was really fun, as it wasn't boring like back home in Toronto...you needed to pass, skid, avoid potholes (more like giant caves), avoid old motor bikes and brake all the time.

This is the type of place, on the north coast of the DR that I would love to live....

Catch you on the water, and remember....Paddo, Paddo, Paddo...tan ya ghe up!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9432939@N03/sets/72157603746575419/

Horseback riding in the Pyrenees Mountains in France

Once upon a time in Sept. 2005...
So, there we were, in Paris, and we had planned on taking the train, 5 hours or so southwest of Paris, and head to Lourdes, famous as the place where Bernadette Soubirous saw apparitions of Mother Mary. But before we actually get there by train, we have to do one of our stupid adventure screw ups.... We get off at Pau, a town about 2 stops before Lourdes itself. The funny thing is, we actually asked a French girl on the train, if this stop at Pau, is the stop that we get off, if we want to go to Lourdes. Don't ask why we even thought, Pau would be the right stop, instead of a stop called Lourdes. Anyway, she said "oui, ahhh, yes, for sure it is", so we got off, and within minutes realized how stupid we are!!!

Luckily, there was one more train 20 minutes behind us, so we bought 2 new tickets, and got on the next train. Crazy lying French bitch!!!! lol

Once we got to the town of Lourdes which sits on the Pyrenean foothills, in southwestern France we were quit happy after a long train ride.

The place is kind of freaky...there are Mother Mary water bottles where you actually drink from her head. Weird stuff. Then there are Mother Mary cups, pictures, playing cards, statues, books, dolls, neon signs, it just goes on. One kid walking with his friends, on a school or church trip, said it best...."this place is kind of creepy and weird"

Although, saying that, the actual religious part of the town is beautiful, and does have a special vibe to it. Just stay away from the Vegas part of town, where all the souvenier shops and hotels are.

Anyway, we decided to head further into the mountains and go to the town of Gavarnie, about a 40 minute drive from Lourdes. Here we would get a couple of horses and go horseback riding into the mountains, towards the Cirque de Gavarnie, a breathtaking rock amphitheatre, 1500m high, dominated by ice-capped peaks.

We get to the town, and go to the stable, and negotiate the price for the horses. After we did that, the French guy, gives us the two ropes for the horses, and just hands them to us, and goes, you have to go that way, and it will take you around 1 hour to reach the waterfall. My wife and I both look at each other, and have this look of surprise and laughter. We tell him, "are you not coming with us?" He says in his heavy French accent...."no!!"

Considering I'm a well distinguished equestrian rider, I was OK with this.....pause.....NOT!!!

We only have been on horses a couple other times in our life, what makes this guy think we could not only go ourselves, but come back alive with his horses???

After a few minutes, he decided to come with us, not because he cared about our safety, but more like he cared about the safety of his horses!!!

The ride did end up being incredible, and the views breathtaking. This part of France is awesome, and if you ever get a chance to go, make sure you visit the Pyrenees in southwestern France.

Wild West Coast Adventure on Vancouver Island