Diving the Georgia Aquarium (August 2009)

There are few things in life that I enjoy more than a good dive trip to some south pacific location like Phuket Thailand or Hawaii. In the last half year or so, I've only had a chance to visit Hawaii once and I was itching for some good diving. To my surprise, I received a birthday gift to visit the Georgia Aquarium and dive with the whale sharks and all the aquatic animals we are lucky enough to have at the Georgia Aquarium.

Although in theory you can't classify a trip of 25 miles as a world excursion, in this particular case - I have to count it as such. Diving the Georgia Aquarium is truly a fantastic experience. Take a look at the picture to the right (yes that's an actual picture of me sitting at the bottom with a whale shark, rays, and various other fish swimming around). There are few places on earth that allow you experience such biological abundance and variety as at the Georgia Aquarium.

In addition to being a wonderful experience, all the proceeds go to towards the great cause of helping to better manage our oceans -- even better.

Istanbul and the Magnificent Hagia Sofia at Night (June 2008)

The last time I visited Istanbul, I knocked myself for not taking a tripod for my camera. Both the Hagia and the Blue Mosque are absolutely stunning at night but unfortunately, the only way to get a great exposure is to use a tripod. Having to go speak at the 31st Annual IAEE conference, presented me a great opportunity to correct the deficiency of not having picture of the Hagia at night. So, this time around - I packed my manfrotto mini tripod into my backpack and away I went. The photo to the right is one of the fruits of my labor. I took it at night with a Canon 20D, my 16-35 f/2.8 Canon L (a fantastic lens), a tripod, and a remote release (to keep the camera from shaking). I think it turned out pretty well along with my other pictures.

It was an absolutely stunning experience visiting Istanbul. Its such a cosmopolitan city. If I had only visited the old city, it would've been enough. Fortunately though, I had a great friend (Val) come visit with me and we explored the livelier parts of the city as well as the business districts and the Bosphorus.

All in all a wonderful experience. Add to that a short stopover in Paris on the way back to round out the trip and I have to say that was one of the best outtings of the year.

Until Australia in late fall that is :-)