Tag: diving

Whale Sharks @ The Georgia Aquarium

The Amazing Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA

A city that I visit frequently is Atlanta, GA, and one of the places that I have never been in Atlanta is their world-famous Georgia Aquarium. So one winter afternoon I walked over from my Airbnb condo in mid-town Atlanta to this amazing complex and was absolutely enthralled with how it is set up, the size of their main aquarium and the five giant whale sharks that they have swimming around.

Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium and is home to hundreds of species and thousands of animals across its seven major galleries which contain over 10,000,000 US gallons of water both fresh and saltwater.

The Whale Sharks are a major attraction since they are so rare in captivity. They are members of the shark family, so they’re not mammals like whales. They are a slow-moving filter feeding carpet shark and they do not hunt or eat other fish. They will not attack you. They do eat plankton like whales, so they have that in common along with their size.

They’re not whales but they are the world’s largest fish. These huge creatures can grow up to 40 feet long but despite their size, whale sharks are often referred to as gentle Giants. The largest known whale shark ever recorded came in at around 62 feet long.

And for those of you who are offended by aquariums, these sharks do not do tricks. No creatures in the entire facility do any kind of tricks for humans or human audiences. The aquarium is an observation and study space for all creatures both freshwater and saltwater. Whale sharks are not well known as they keep to themselves and are usually solitary. These five make up the most whale sharks in one place anywhere in the world that are in an aquarium setting.

The aquarium is not inexpensive to get into. My ticket ran me $39.00 with online service charges because during Covid this is a non cash facility only accepting debit and credit cards. You must buy your tickets in advance and only online.  Tickets may be purchased at this address. https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/tickets/

Parking is another $18.00 per car. However inside they have a full restaurant and bar offering cocktails, wine and many local craft beers from the Atlanta area. They have a petting area where children and adults can touch and feel the texture of starfish and various other sea creatures. They have albino alligators; they have flesh eating piranha from the Amazon River, they have fish and sea snakes and sea eels from all around the world plus they also have a freshwater section for fish that you would find in streams in North America. Of all the aquariums that I have visited including Long Beach, CA’s Aquarium of the Sea this is by far the most extensive and largest aquarium facility I have ever seen.

They also have an extensive collection of Penguins from various parts of the world and they are considered one of the best facilities for rescue and treating injured and orphaned fish and sea mammals in the world. Oddly enough, they are considered the top rehabilitation facility for rescued orphan and injured California sea otters.

An as an added bonus for $350.00 you can go scuba diving in the main aquarium area with an experienced diver as your guide. There are no sharks in this particular tank although they do have a very extensive Shark Tank filled with nurse sharks, hammerhead sharks, and tiger sharks. All of these are deadly predators.

This is one fun day to spend with the fishes! This is something that the whole family can enjoy or a couple looking for something different to do on a romantic outing or just a solo trip by yourself to enjoy the amazing Georgia Aquarium.

The aquarium is located at 225 Baker St NW Atlanta GA 30313. Phone number is 404-581-4000. Website is www.georgiaaquarium.org.

Christmas Day on Isla Mujeres – Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Staying in Cancun over the Christmas holidays, I decided to leave my all-inclusive escape bubble and journey out to see some of the amazing Yucatan beauty. I have been to Cancun before and seen the Mayan ruins, visited Tulum and Playa del Carmen, but had never ventured to Isla Mujeres, a beautiful little island about 30 minutes ferry ride from Cancun.

While there are several ferry companies to choose from, the easiest by far is Ultramar Passenger Ferry which has 4 different launch sites just in the Cancun area. One of them was literally next door to my hotel. The cost was $19 US round trip and they took US dollars, Pesos, and credit cards. From my location trips left almost every hour and half with the last trip going to the island at 8:45 PM. Final return trip from the island was at 9:15 PM.

 

You land at the Passenger terminal docks right in the middle of downtown Isla Mujeres. A magical little town full of tourist shops, all types of hotels and hostels, bars and restaurants, transportation businesses that rent bikes, mopeds, and golf carts. The downtown is also right next to Playa Norte, considered one to the best beaches in the Caribbean (locals say the world). It is a 5 mile stretch of beautiful white sand located on the northern part of the island. It is full year-round with tourists from all over the world mixing with the locals making for a very bohemian feel. It is also an amazing place to watch a Caribbean sunset while drinking a cool brew!

Preferred transportation is by moped or golf cart that are very easy to find all over the downtown area of Isla Mujeres. Golf carts rent for 200 pesos for an hour to 700 pesos for all day. Current exchange rate is about 17 pesos to 1 US dollar. I rented a golf cart for three hours and it was a perfect way to travel around the island even if it was not very fast. As you travel south out of downtown you pass through the residential areas of Isla Mujeres. Like all parts of Mexico you will find nice and poor areas, but overall the standard of living on the island is rather high. The Cancun area has an unemployment rate of under 2 percent.

After about 20 minutes you will come to a fork in the road. To the left will lead you to Punta Sur with the old lighthouse, an Mayan fort with a sculpture garden on the cliffs above the end of island, and to the east coast road back to downtown. To the right will take you up a thin peninsula that leads back toward the north. Here you will find several private luxury hotels and the famous Tortugranja (Turtle Farm) and the Dolphin Discovery park. Breathtaking views are in all directions as you travel around the island. To completely cover the island without many stops would take about an hour but each few feet there is another view, another place to relax with a cold beer or another taqueria serving delicious fresh seafood.

As you drive up the eastern coast road you continue to pass amazing views of the Atlantic although the coast here is much rockier. Also, this part of the island has some amazing private homes that reflect the great wealth that this part of Mexico has, and the very interesting mix of architecture brought by the different cultures that have passed through this area in the last 500 years.

Returned to the town of Isla Mujeres around sunset, turned in the golf cart, and had a very lovely dinner on the beach watching a sunset while eating fresh fish tacos. Caught the 6:45 ferry back to Cancun and was in my hotel room by 7:30 PM. A perfect Christmas day!

Other things to do on Isla Mujeres are to take advantage of the world-class snorkeling and scuba diving. Dive shops exist all over the island. Another huge attraction for diving and snorkeling fans is the famous MUSA Underwater Museum of Art which is an underwater museum located in the National Marine Park surrounding the Cancun, Isla Mujeres, and Punta Nizuc area. MUSA contains over 500 sculptures of more than six different artists. The sculptures provide areas for coral growth and contribute to give shelter for fish. The Museum highlights the relationship between art and environmental science, and all of the sculptures are made from materials that promote coral life. The museum can be enjoyed by both divers and snorkelers.

Last Day in Iceland

On my last full day in Reykjavik, I rented a car with my new Canadian friend, Andrew. He had not been to Thingvillier National Park yet, and I felt like I had not had enough time when I went there on the first bus tour that I took so that is where we headed first.

Photo Credit Andrew Guerra

Located about forty kilometers from Reykjavik, Thingvillier holds a very special place in Icelandic history. It is where they established the parliament or the Althing when the Vikings first arrived in the mid-900’s. They came to Iceland to escape a Norwegian chieftain who was uniting all the different factions in a bid to be the first king of Norway. It would work, he became Harald Fairhair. Plus they wanted more farmland they felt that Norway was overcrowded in 940 AD.

Interesting fact is that while Iceland (known as Islandia) had been known for hundreds of years. A Greek scholar referred to it in 4 BC, it was totally uninhabited when the Vikings arrived. They brought cows, sheep, horses, seeds, wives and slaves. The slaves were mostly from Ireland which the Vikings had been raiding for some time by the mid-900’s. As a matter of fact, the city of Dublin was first a Viking outpost. Rumors about that time has that the original city wall around Dublin built by the Vikings (called the Pale) was built not to keep Irish hordes out, but to keep Viking men inside because they desired Irish women so much. This is also rumored to be where the term “beyond the Pale” comes from. When the men left and did not come back, they had gone “beyond the Pale”. I do no have factual back up for this theory as it is just an age old rumor in Dublin, but current DNA studies done by the Icelandic government have proved while 80% of the original men that came to the island were Viking and 20% were Irish (most likely slaves), the original women who came were 60% Irish and 40% Viking. Most of those women were wives and not slaves. Thus the island while claiming to be Viking the actual original population was 60% Viking and 40% Irish.

Iceland was the only part of Europe that was not directly ruled by a King so a ruling council was set up that met once a year at Thingvillier for two weeks or more that made laws and rulings on how the land would be ruled. The council was only run by the ruling chieftains, but in it way it was the first democracy in Europe since Athens in Greece in 500 BC.

Chieftains decided on a “law giver” or a judge whose word was final. The Law Giver had to learn by heart all the rules and laws of the new land in order to offer fair judgement. So for the first three days of each Althing every year, the Law Giver would recite in public all the laws. It could take him up to three days to do this, and after this the trials and meetings of the council would begin.

Thingvillier was where this took place, but it was also a social and economic gathering as well. Merchants, traders, and slavers would all bring their offerings to buy and trade. In some cases, people would travel for up to two weeks in order to attend this gathering.

Executions and judgements were also handed down and performed at this annual meeting of the island’s people. The executions could be anything from hanging from the rocks, or drowning in one of the ice-cold lakes, or beheading. All in public view, so people saw the laws and punishment carried out.  And the gathering or Althing would go meeting for several hundred years in one form or another.

The current Thingvillier is a park where people come from all over the world to see another very important gathering that takes place every day. This is the only place above ground where the North American and European tectonic plates can be seen. The plates are currently moving away from each other at a rate of 4 meters a year making Thingvillier an ever-changing place of incredible rock formations and water falls and lakes and streams. The water is crystal clear here as it runs off the nearby glacier Langjokull and you can go diving (only in a wet suit because the water is so cold) and actually go inside the rift between the plates.

Andrew Guerra leaving 1st Icelandic Church

Thingvillier is also where it was decided by the Law Giver to move from Paganism to Christianity. This was done in 1000 AD at the Althing. Both sides presented their cases to why one religion should lead to the Law Giver, and he decided which one would be the official choice of the people. Christianity won, but the decision was very wise. You would be Christian in public and by law, but if you wished to continue to be Pagan and worship the Norse Gods of Odin and Thor and Loki in private that was totally accepted. This way Iceland avoided the bloodshed that most of Europe was swept up in during this long epic transition.

Prime Minister Summer Residence

For that reason, the first church built in Iceland was constructed here in 1000 AD, and the church is still standing. It has been rebuilt and moved around the park because of the tectonic plate shifts, but the symbol is very strong. And the history and place of Thingvillier in the minds of Icelanders is so strong that the ceremonial summer home of the Prime Minister is also located here. IT is only used for official occasions and ceremonies, but this place seems to be the symbolic center of the country.

Kerio Volcanic Crater

After an hour, we went to see a nearby volcanic crater, Kerio which was created about 6500 years ago, but now looks like a giant swimming pool (but really, really deep one).

James Carey at Kerio

Then we had a very expensive lunch (no surprise) of lamb soup and pizza (surprisingly excellent) at a small hotel restaurant outside of Silfoss . Then we drove along the southern coast back toward Reykjavik through an ancient lava debris field that looked like you on some other world. Movies like Ridley Scott’s movie, Prometheus, and Thor, Dark World and Game of Thrones have used the strange magical environment of Iceland to create their other worlds. It was a very pleasant last day in Iceland and we had beautiful sunshine until the drive back when rain and dark clouds made the lava field even more ghostly.

Note is you are renting a car here in Iceland like everything else here it is expensive, but there are plenty of firms to choose from. Gas or petrol at the moment costs almost 7 dollars US a gallon. However, here they use liters and not gallons.

Enjoy Iceland if you get a chance.