The Greatest Adventure of Your Life – in the Sea of Cortez

February 3, 2012

This is a guest post written by Stasia Ferbey of Sidney, BC.

I don’t mean to brag but I think I might have one of the coolest jobs in the world.  I work for a little non-profit Society called Panterra Educational and Cultural Training Society (Panterra for short) and have the pleasure of teaching science to youth and adults on a 110-foot, live-aboard motor yacht on the Sea of Cortez in Baja, Mexico.  If someone had told me this would be my career 7 years ago, I would have laughed in his or her face. Now, I am excited to say that I have been a part of Panterra for almost seven years.

Mobula rays jumping into the sunset The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

Mobula rays (a type of manta ray) jumping into the sunset

Breaching Humpback The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

Breaching humpback whale

Panterra offers two main adventures through which our clients can explore two different areas of Baja Mexico.  Our Journey to the Sea of Cortez program has been running for over 25 years now.  It is a 6 to 8 day live aboard adventure on the Sea of Cortez, Baja Mexico.  We motor out of the hustle-bustle of the city of La Paz, Baja California, Sur, to the peace and tranquility of the gulf islands where we get to experience the “wild frontier” of the Sea of Cortez.

crystal clear waters for snorkling The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

Crystal clear waters for snorkeling

Imagine waking up in a quiet sheltered bay, with no other living souls around, waiting for the sea breeze to blow the next adventure toward you. Beautiful thought, right?  What if I told you that a common day occurrence on a Panterra trip is watching humpback whales breaching and dolphins playing only metres from the bow of our ship?  What if I said that you could watch a school of tens of thousands of manta rays swim by, jumping out of the water like popcorn, while the sun’s last light turns the sky purple and pink?  Can you picture nights so clear and dark that billions of twinkling stars reflect their light off the surface of the glassy ocean?  Have I piqued your interest yet? These are just a few of the magical moments that can be experienced while we snorkel, hike, whale watch and visit isolated fishing and goat-herding communities, exploring all the natural wonders of the area.  The trip is full of exciting adventures and plenty of rest and relaxation.  It is a unique expedition where one can experience (taste, touch, smell and see) almost everything that Mother Nature has to offer.

A pod of common dolphins The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

A pod of common dolphins

Island Hiking The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

Island hiking

Our newest expedition, in its second consecutive year, is our Journey to the Whale Lagoon program.  This 6 day expedition takes our groups to the gray whale breeding and birthing lagoon in San Ignacio, Baja California, Sur.  Every February/March, at the peak of their migration, gray whales come into the lagoons to breed and birth their young.  While on this expedition, we will take you by small boat into the shallow waters of the lagoon to see the whales up close.  On the water, it is not uncommon to see a whale breaching in one direction, spyhopping or mating in another direction and a mother and her calf directly under your boat.  If you are really blessed you may even be given an opportunity to touch or kiss the nose of a newborn baby gray whale.

The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

A close encounter with a gray whale

A visit to the California Sealion colony The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

A visit to the California sea lion colony

Manuel the Fisherman The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

Manuel the fisherman

It is not a stretch to say that our trips are absolutely life changing. My very first experience with Panterra was without a doubt the greatest adventure of my life.  Whether it is the smell and feel of the salt air, the up close experiences with marine animals, the kindness of the local people, the companionship of new friends or the combination of it all, discovering what Panterra has to offer is unbelievable, unimaginable and absolutely unforgettable!

Stasia left Lela right The Greatest Adventure of Your Life in the Sea of Cortez

Stasia the author on the left, Lela, my friend on the right

Photo credit: All photos are those of either Lela Sankerelli or Stasia Ferbey.

Posted by Hike Bike Travel | Filed Under Adventure Travel, Canoeing/kayaking/rafting | Leave a Comment 

Travel Photo Thursday: Climbing to the Roof of Africa

February 2, 2012

For our 25th wedding anniversary, my husband (John) and I flew to Tanzania. Our aim was to climb to the Roof of Africa and summit Mount Kilimanjaro.  Just before we left, John cracked a rib, but neither of us wanted to cancel the trip. So climb we did – and summit, with few problems but part two of our trip which involved driving the rutted roads of the Serengeti was a different issue altogether and best saved for another blog.

Here are a collection of photos from our climb up Kilimanjaro.

We climbed the Shira Plateau – Western Breach Route – one that not many people do. It allows you to camp just 800 feet shy of the summit on the final night by the Furtwangler Glacier. It’s incredibly beautiful – though most of us also felt incredibly sick –  nothing drugs couldn’t cure fortunately.

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Driving to the trailhead to begin our trek

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Warnings before you start the climb

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Controlled bedlam and getting organized before setting out

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Our porters on Kilimanjaro

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The second night's camp - the first was too disgusting for words

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Fantastic textured plants

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Dramatic skies

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Dining tent for cool nights well above treeline

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This is what you'll look like, 30 minutes after running the trail - when you're supposed to be taking it slowly

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An overnight snowfall, two nights from the summit

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On the push to the Crater camp

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Looking down to the Crater Camp

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An atypical summit shot

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Just hours below the summit - back in the land of more oxygen

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The Money Dance - at the last camp - after the tips are handed out

The highs of climbing Kilimanjaro

  • Our wonderful, kind thoughtful porters
  • Traveling through so many ecological zones
  • The feeling of elation upon reaching the summit and of course the view from the top
  • Unusual plant life along the way
  • Excellent food
  • Interesting bird life at lower elevations
The lows of climbing Kilimanjaro
  • Lots of tent time
  • Cold nights – and having to get out of a warm sleeping bag to pee
  • Headaches
  • The first night’s camp was dirty and crowded
  • No showers for 9 days

It’s still an experience I’d recommend to anyone who can get into shape and doesn’t mind camping.

Have you climbed Kilimanjaro? and what kind of experience did you have?

Here is this week’s submission to Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox - a website where Nanci offers a chance every Thursday for fellow travelers to post their favourite photos.

Leigh McAdam
HikeBikeTravel
Bellagio 0141 Travel Photo Thursday: Climbing to the Roof of Africa

Posted by Hike Bike Travel | Filed Under Adventure Travel, Africa, Hiking, backpacking, walking, Photography | 22 Comments 

How Do You Define Adventure?

January 30, 2012

I’ve been thinking about what adventure means to me - particularly since I’ll be sharing adventure travel tips in a presentation in Edmonton in late March.

Broughtons kayaking August 2008 016 How Do You Define Adventure?

Sea kayaking in the Broughton Archipelago - the day after the scariest kayaking day of my life

But first I’ll tell you how the Merriam Webster dictionary defines adventure.

  1. an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks
  2. the encountering of risks
  3. an exciting or remarkable experience
  4. an enterprise involving financial risk.

Mostly I interpret adventure as an exciting or remarkable experience – with occasional danger and risks thrown in.

I’ve had my share of stupid adventures where I’m lucky nothing untoward happened.

Once while hiking up one of Colorados’ fourteeners, my husband and I came close to being struck by lightning. We could see the dark clouds and hear the thunder, but we were only about five minutes from the summit. Instead of turning back, we continued. It wasn’t until we heard our ice axes buzzing (a sign of an imminent lightning strike), that we knew it was time to bolt. I don’t think either of us has raced off a mountain as quickly as we did that day. We were damn lucky and in hindsight we shouldn’t have gone for the summit – and in fact should have retreated much sooner.

Old pictures Gustave scanned 033 How Do You Define Adventure?

On the summit of 14,005 foot Mount of the Holy Cross

I’ve had several unexpected adventures involving wild animals. 

Three incidents come to mind – none of which caused any injury, though my husband sees the events a tad differently.

  • Years ago we rafted the Tatshenshini River through the Yukon, BC and Alaska. Over the eight or nine days we never saw a bear except on a distant peak – plenty of grizzly tracks – but that was it. On our way home we stopped to camp in northern BC. We were doing a small hike in what looked like moose country. John told me to keep quiet – so we wouldn’t surprise one. At the top of a small knoll, no more than 20 feet away, there was a wild animal but it wasn’t a moose. It was a grizzly – and it was heading our way. I was speechless. So was the dog. You’re supposed to back away slowly, and let them know you’re there. I ran and left my husband to make the noise. Cowardly – yes. Stupid – yes. Lucky again - yes. With a loud shout from John, it turned and ran the other way. I am much wiser about bears now and in fact wrote a blog after much research about how to survive a bear attack.
old photos 106 How Do You Define Adventure?

Grizzly bear track

  • Then there was the time in Colorado when we were out for an easy hike somewhere to the south of Denver – in dry, rocky country. We had been admiring the very interesting Baltimore oriole’s nests and were busy looking for birds when I spied a snake. I am deathly afraid of any type of snake! With no time to react, I jumped over the snake – and then screamed and swore a blue streak. It was a rattlesnake. My husband followed and it’s usually the second person who gets bitten. Fortunately nothing happened, though my husband did suggest to me that it would be nice if I warned him in the future. For an account of what happens to your body when you get bitten by a rattlesnake, you can read my interview with my friend Ken who wasn’t so lucky.
old photos 182 How Do You Define Adventure?

Swimming with black tipped sharks

  • The only other close call with an animal was in the waters of Rangiroa in the south Pacific. A group of us were kayaking the lagoon over the course of a week. To make life more interesting our boat captain thought it would be fun to watch black tipped sharks go after freshly caught fish. We all jumped into the water with snorkels and masks and hung onto a rope waiting for the show to begin. Fish was thrown in and in seconds, not minutes, sharks started appearing. They were everywhere – coming up from below and from all sides. Once again my survival gene kicked in, and I pushed my husband out in front of me, lest the sharks – which aren’t supposed to be of the biting variety, actually bite. Not one of my prouder moments, though I’m happy to report it’s been a decade since I’ve put my husband in any danger.

Getting lost or separated has happened a few times too and that’s not the kind of adventure I like.

Chances are if you’re a serious outdoorsy person, there have been times you’ve been lost – maybe not for long, and perhaps not seriously lost – but enough to make you wonder how the situation is going to turn out.

One incident stands out in my mind.

Years ago a group of us took off back country skiing to the Polar Star Inn in Colorado. We’d had a particularly late start (mistake #1) and spent far too much time stopping to fix equipment, put on skins,take off skins, put on clothing, take off clothing… that by the time dusk … and a blizzard arrived we were unsure of exactly where we were. We knew we were close but the area near the hut was a confusing maze of tracks and the snow obliterated most of the view. We were down to the wire and with cold setting in we were going to have to make the decision to either ski back down to the cars in the dark or build a snow cave. At the last minute, someone spied a distant glow and with great relief we got to the hut. From that experience I now like to carry a snow shovel and leave early in the day.

Going Alone – A Gutsy Adventure

I admire people who can go solo on an adventure. I don’t have the guts to do long, wild, lonely adventures on my own – like the young female solo sailor who just finished circumnavigating the world at the age of 16 or my daughter who solo hiked the Camino de la Plata in Spain last year over five weeks. You have to have a great deal of confidence in your abilities – which I do – but I still have fears – some of which I guess I haven’t faced yet.

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Near the start of the Kerry Way, Ireland

A few years ago I hiked the Kerry Way in Ireland by myself over about eight days. I’d see people in the evening but rarely ran into fellow hikers during the day. There were plenty of stretches through lonely, wild country that by the time I’d finished, I felt very pleased with myself. But that’s probably going to be my limit for solo type trips.

I hope my sense of adventure never leaves me. I want to be one of those old women you read about who is still out there hiking, backpacking, kayaking and exploring at 85.

But I don’t want any more adventures where I get a dry mouth and have a stomach that feels like lead – the physical symptoms of fear my body expresses when I’m in a dangerous situation. I want adventure – but nothing so hard core – that I feel my life is on the line. I do want to come back and write about it.

What about you? What kind of adventure do you like? 

Leigh McAdam
HikeBikeTravel

Bellagio 01412 How Do You Define Adventure?

Posted by Hike Bike Travel | Filed Under Adventure Travel | 6 Comments 

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