Aaaand we're back!  

Many thanks to our participants on our inaugural dive trip to Alaska!  

Over the course of six sea days with Captain Josh, of the M/V Longhorn, we managed to pry open the bryozoa-encrusted shell that is the Alaskan fjords and peer deep into the gooey depths of their manifold splendor!  Okay, so it's a messy metaphor, but there was all manner of critterwise coolness, including humpback whales, harbor seals, an octopus (it glowed, FFS!), massive feather pens, scallops, more rockfish than you could shake a stick (or throw a stone?) at, salmon (naturally), and all the invertebrate intricacies you'd expect in the north, to name but a few.  The weather even mostly held out, though the seas kicked up when we intended to cross to Prince of Wales Island and we had to make a detour to the Misty Fjords National Monument, where humpbacks cruised by in the distance while we snuck in a few more wall dives.  

Back on land we explored the trails of Ketchikan and its environs, which cover salmon-filled streams and gorgeous mountaintop overlook, before everyone had to go home.

After the success that was this year's trip we're looking forward to applying all of our lessons learned (no more nighttime check dives, no matter how inviting the water looks!) to subsequent trips.  'Til the next one!

Okay, full disclosure:  I do not know how to write a blog post.  I'm guessing it's sort of a rambling account of things, so I'll try to do that.  It might even be a trip report.  Who knows?  Read on to see what happens next!

Back from a scouting trip to the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, or the Maluti Mountains if you're on the Lesotho side of the border.  After a two week foray into this area, it's been determined that Basotho ponies are mean but hardy, the people of Lesotho, the Basotho, are as friendly and welcoming as could be hoped, and the roads of South Africa are made for goats.  Or maybe they were made for cars but the goats took over.  It's hard to say.

In South Africa we met with Tsebo, of Drakensberg Adventures, to travel into Lesotho.  What followed was three days of unmitigated horsiness, leaving the roads entirely to cross the mountains and visit remote Basotho villages, with breathtaking views of the world's highest country from every mountaintop.  It was nice to get back to the showers that mark a return to civilization at the end of the Lesotho bit of the trip, but I can't help but feel there's much, much more to be explored there.  

After Lesotho the decision was made to stick to the Drakensberg Mountains on the South African Side of the border, hiking the Amphitheatre rock wall, an impressive, 5 km (3.1 mi) wall that reaches to a height of about 1,220 m (4,000 ft) over the entirety of its length, and which features the world's second-tallest waterfall - when there's enough water to fill it.  Beneath the Amphitheatre (or all around its area, actually) there can be found rock art left by the indigenous San people who used to inhabit this area.  Some of the extant rock art sites open to the public are fantastically well preserved, despite the years of abuse and graffiti they've been subjected to.  

Next up, of course, was a few days at Nambiti Game Park, the game drive being something that all South Africans I've met have assured me is part of the experience of being them.  Nambiti's a small but cozy game preserve outside the malaria zone, and with a full complement of wildlife to watch.  Four of the big five isn't bad for a short trip, I'd say, even if the photos aren't perfect!  There's always time to go back for a leopard, too....

After a few days of game drives it was a goat-filled adventure driving back to the airport to head back to the northern hemisphere.  This is definitely a region worth visiting more!