Whales

Humpback Whale

One of the many things I enjoy experiencing here in San Diego is taking a whale watching trip or taking an island tour of the Los Coronados Island. It is fascinating to see whales up close, and observe them in their playful mood. I have not really been lucky enough to picture a whale jumping high and circling around in its most playful mood, it is hard, unless, maybe I have the patience of a seasoned photographer who can wait for that really precious moment. It is hard to tell when and where the whale would jump up, thus photographing whales can be a challenge. 

So far, I only have seen two types of whales here in San Diego coast, and these are the humpback whale and the gray whale.

Gray Whale

Both the gray whale and the humpback whale are baleen whales, and both belong to the largest group of mammals on earth. Their annual migration is one of nature's great treat, and we are lucky enough that the San Diego coast is one of their passing points for us to be able to observe them. Every winter, this giants make a trek from the frigid Alaskan waters to the warm water breeding lagoons of Baja California, Mexico. Here are some more of my whale pictures as these giants pass by San Diego coast to breed in the warmer waters of Baja California, Mexico. 

Humpback Whale

La Vista Highlands Mountain Resort, Negros Occidental, Philippines

View From our La Vista Highlands Resort Room

One year late it may be, but La Vista Highlands Mountain Resort was one of the places I visited when I was in Philippines last year. I was quick in writing about our Sagada via Banaue adventure ( part 1, part 2, part 3) and Mambukal Mountain Resort, but, sadly, I did not get a chance to write about other places that I visited. Unlike in Sagada, Banaue and Mambukal where I explored with family, La Vista Highlands was my "me" time with my Bacolod bff's. It has been a tradition that each time I go home, we always go somewhere to just reconnect, and celebrate friendship that lasted so many years of our lives. 

With My Friends at La Vista Highlands Mountain Resort

The one who arranged everything in this trip was my friend, Ems. She asked me which one I wanted, Punta Bulata White Beach Resort in Sipalay, or La Vista Highlands Mountain Resort in Don Salvador Benedicto. Because we've been to Punta Bulata already, it was easy enough for me to decide. I wanted to try a new resort that we have in Negros Occidental. So, I chose this mountain resort, which is a nice cool escape from the lowland heat in Bacolod City. 

What Happens When Friends get together? Endless Photo Opps :)

The highlight of our stay here is ziplining. :) The zip line is about 750 meters in length with a height of about 40-60 meters. 

Ziplining with My Friends

I actually almost chickened out in the zipline. Somehow, my fear of heights got into me, that when I was zipped, I told my friend, "I can't do it!" And my friend was like wide eyed in surprise, all the while thinking I was the bravest with all my pictures at "Potato Chip Rock", and many jumping pictures! :) However, when I saw the look of concern in her eyes, I did not want her to worry about me being left off, so I said, "Okay, let's make it quick!" Haha! I AM GLAD I DID IT, it was actually super fun to be high like a bird, and looking down below. 

Ziplining Towers

There are many other extreme outdoor adventures offered at La Vista, however, sadly, my time was so limited, haha! Also, they all have to go back to work too. We really just took a one night, 2 days retreat at the mountains, to celebrate our togetherness again. 

The view from our room was very beautiful. I wanted to hike!

View from our Room

Sadly, when we asked for trails, we were told that there are no formal hiking trails in the area, we could however, do guided horse back riding. I am not so excited with horse back riding, since I would be too focused on the horse and not the scenery. I frankly, always, prefer to explore the mountains hiking. There was a swimming pool also, but we did not get a chance to use it. We instead played pool (billiards) in their little sports bar area. 

Our stay comes with free hot breakfast. But frankly, their breakfast was too small for me! Haha! I am such a big eater, that I had to ask for more garlic rice and more "bangus" or milk fish. So I ended up having "no free breakfast" because the free one was not enough for me. :)

"Calamansi-nade" - so refreshing and yum !!

Their lunch and dinner foods however were great because they serve "Ilonggo" dishes, which I love. We actually ordered mostly vegetables, but I saw to it that I ordered vegetables that are not very common in US. We also tried their "camote leaves" salad, or "yam leaves" , and loved how they made it, no greasy and creamy dressing like in the West, I could taste the goodness of vinegar, with "bago-ong" on the side! 

Weekend Wanderings (1) : Hiking, Birding, Tidepooling and Surfing Photography

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Light Hiking on top of the Bluffs @ Torrey Pines Gliderport and Scripps Coastal Biodiversity Reserve ( The Knoll )

We started our day early by hiking on top of the bluffs at Gliderport and The Knoll. We had two purposes: 

1. Hoping to catch hawks and peregrine falcons in their early morning breakfast hunt. It was a success, :) , NO!

2. Checking if hundreds of leopard sharks are swimming close to the shore, if we spot them, our plan was to go snorkeling. We did not see leopard sharks, just some dolphins busy feeding far from the shore, so, we decided instead to enjoy low tide first by tidepooling below.

Tidepooling @ La Jolla Shores

After tidepooling, we went to Ocean Beach, hoping to photograph some surfers and big waves. On our way to Ocean Beach, I saw from the car two ospreys perched on top of the pole by San Diego River Bridge, so, we decided to stop over first at Robb's Field. Robb's Field is a park adjacent to San Diego River Estuary. There are ample free parking spaces in the park, and from there, we could take a walk towards the bridge. Thankfully, when we got to the bridge, the ospreys were still there. 

Birds @ San Diego River Estuary ( bottom two are the ospreys )

San Diego River Estuary is one of the popular places in San Diego for birding. You can find my previous posts of San Diego River birds here ( white pelicans ), here (other birds) and here (ospreys ). My favorite shot here of the day at Robb's Field was not mine, but hubby's, a flying osprey.

Osprey in Flight ( shot by hubby )

When the osprey finally left us, we walked back to our car, but of course, I can't help to take pictures of other birds, despite I have lots of pictures of them already from before. :)

From Robb's Field, we went to Ocean Beach, target: surfing photography. It was a little bit past lunch time when we got there, so we decided to have lunch first at The Shades Oceanfront Bistro. It is a family friendly restaurant facing Ocean Beach. Though it was already past 12 noon, but they still serve breakfast menu, so I had calamari benedict (breakfast menu), while hubby had grilled chicken sandwich with baked potatoes ( lunch menu). 

Calamari Benedict and Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Their food was good, and they are not that expensive for an oceanfront restaurant. After lunch, we walked along the beach, then, to the pier, to enjoy the big waves, and take some surfing photos. 

Surfing and Waves @ Ocean Beach ( from OB Pier )

My favorite shot here is that of the Wave Curl.

My Favorite Shot of the Day for Waves ( at Ocean Beach )

We got impatient at Ocean Beach Pier taking photos of surfers, who seemed to have the wrong timing to ride the waves, haha, so, we did not stay long. From Ocean Beach, we went to Windansea Beach in La Jolla, where we enjoyed photographing surfers more who seemed to be more comfortable riding big waves.

Surfing at Windansea Beach (photos by hubby )

Hubby focused more on catching wave curls and barrels, while I focused more on videos. :) Here is a sample of surfing videos I took. 

We stayed until sunset.

After sunset, maybe it was the long day of wandering that I craved for some pizza, so we stopped by for pizza to go. 

We ended our Saturdate with pizza, onion rings and "very berry" smoothie. The very berry smoothie is how I call my own version of a mix of all fresh fruits such as: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, pineapple, pear and lemon. 

It definitely was a long fun Satur-date for us. From early morning hiking, to tidepooling, to birding, to ocean surf photography, to sunset. Others ask if we don't get tired at all, somehow, I believe those who are familiar with outdoors and physical activities would know that they are our body's way actually of relieving ourselves from tiredness. Physical activities out of the doors is our most powerful way of de-stressing from a week's mostly mental work. Knowing that, we always put it in our priority on weekends to rest and relax with nature, where exercise, fun, and rejuvenation are all one so we could start Monday's work with renewed energy and so much passion.

'til the next weekend wanderings, here in San Diego. 

Reminiscing Joy(2): Music, The Stage and Me

As I was trying to organize some of my study cabinets, I saw a picture envelope from yesteryears. Not really very old pictures, because they were just pictures from my 2007 vacation in the Philippines. But somehow, they did bring back some childhood memories.

My niece, year 2007

In the picture above was my niece. She was about a year old that time. Now, she is 8 years old, turning 9.

My Niece, year 2013

My niece loves the stage. :) As you could tell in the very first picture above. She loves to join speech contest, dancing contest, singing contest, and whatever contest you could think of. :) She reminds me very well of myself when I was as young as she was. I loved all sorts of contest too. I loved all quiz bees for the prize money. I loved dancing contests for the cheering of crowd. I loved public speaking, debate, any contest that would bring me to the stage. The only contest I could not join before was singing contest, because I was always disqualified in the first elimination.

However, that did not stop me from wanting to be on stage during group singing. When I was in elementary, I applied for grade level group competition contest. Of course, I was not chosen. :) However, I was able to still join our grade level choir. How? I got a deal with our music teacher.

Me: " Teacher, I'll do anything so I could be part of our grade level choir. "

Teacher: " I am sorry, but you did not pass the audition. "

Me: " But I could learn! I want to improve myself in singing. "

Teacher: " I am not stopping you from improving your singing, I could help you with that. But right now, you could not join the grade level choir competition."

Me: "Teacher, please? I'll do whatever you ask me to do, just so I could be part of grade level choir. :

Teacher: "Okay, how about you pretending to sing, just open your mouth, but not sing? The moment someone tells me you confused them with your singing, YOU ARE OUT!"

Me: "That's easy, I can do that!"

Gee! Shameless me! Haha, that was during my elementary though, when being on stage was very important for me. I did not know why, but when I was much younger, I always wanted to be part of any activities, and I wanted to excel in almost all of them! But sadly, there are aspects, that however I tried harder, I just could not excel, such as in Music, and singing!

However, I owe it to my elementary music teacher for giving me the chance to be part of the choir despite of that "shameless" condition, haha! Somehow, despite I was just opening my mouth, but the daily training provided me a lot of music lessons I could have not gotten if I was not part of the group. Believe me, I listened to all coaching and practice hard at home, but I was so afraid to be kicked out from the group that during school practice, I would just really open my mouth. With my small group of friends however, who were all part of the choir ( for real ), I would sing with them, and they actually would tell me, "YOU ARE IMPROVING!" Haha! We would take turns in singing too with a microphone so we could record our singing rendition. I am not sure if we had shure pg42 usb at guitar center back then, but the accompaniment and sound in my mind was as good as a shure microphone. After taking turns in singing, we would replay our recording so we all could critique each other, and it was easier for us to listen to the critiques because we were also listening to our singing at the same time. I believe, despite I was told to just open my mouth, I still was able to learn enough because I would still practice on my own, and with my small group of friends.

The Joshua Tree

We are now on our 6th week of Trees for Fun Friday. We are featuring trees for 8 weeks, and in this last 3 weeks of Trees for Fun Friday, I am featuring 3 California Trees where a National Park has been named for them. The first of these 3 trees is the Joshua Tree.

Joshua Trees @ Sunset, Joshua Tree National Park, CA

The Joshua Tree, Yucca Brevifolia, grows wild primarily in the Mojave Desert. The Joshua Tree is the largest of the yucca family, and like all other members of the yucca family, is part of the lily family. Joshua Tree is native to Southwestern United States, in the States of California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. It is confined mostly to the Mojave Desert between 1300 ft and 5900 ft in elevation. The Joshua Tree National Park is named for the Joshua Tree forests native to the Park. The legend is that the Joshua Tree is named after the prophet Joshua by the mormon migrants because of how the limbs of this monocot tree is outstretched in supplication like in a prayer.

Can You Find Me Here? Hands Raised like the Joshua Trees

**I had to jump high to be seen :)  **

Years ago, when ranchers and miners arrived in the area with high hopes of raising cattle and digging gold,

Barker Dam @ Joshua Tree National Park

( built by ranchers in a natural rock catch basin to store water for cattle)

they used the Joshua tree limbs and trunks for fencing and corrals. Native Americans used the tough leaves for baskets and sandals. The raw or roasted flower buds and seeds of Joshua tree were part of a healthy diet.

Rock Climbing @ Joshua Tree National Park

Today, the Joshua Tree National Park not only protect these grotesque trees but also 501 archaeological sites, 88 historic structures, 19 cultural landscapes and houses 123, 253 items in its museum collection.

And, being a U2 fan, I also own a Joshua Tree album, which was named also after these trees. There is so much diversity at Joshua Tree National Park, I hope to be able to share some more other features that this National Park offers in my later posts.

Birds

Some recent pictures of birds from our recent weekend wanderings here in San Diego. We were not into birding before, but somehow, since we had experienced the joy of young peregrine falcons spring of last year, we were hooked. :)

Juvenile Peregrine Falcon

Before, whenever we see birds in San Diego, we would just dismiss them as "just birds"! Now, they are no longer "just birds", they are BIRDS! Special creatures with wings, serenading us with soothing songs and chants. 

Here are some shots of birds we captured lately here in San Diego.

TERN ( SORRY, FORGOT WHAT SPECIFIC TERN IS THIS )

PEREGRINE FALCON, LA JOLLA