Posts by regis

From San Francisco, Channel islands National Parks is relatively close and can be done in a 3-day weekend. Channel Islands is not very popular because it’s relatively hard to get to and most of the features require to dive to see them. There are about 30,000 visitors a year that actually go to the islands and another 60,000 that simply dive there. The reward is well worse the trouble, it’s not frequently that you can hike in a National Park in California and not being crowded. The park is composed of five islands (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, Anacapa and Santa Barbara), all are open to the public except the island of San Miguel which is currently closed. With a little bit of planning before your trip you can secure a camping spot and a place on...

One of our main reasons for going to the Ethiopia was to see the semi-permanent lava lake at night on the Erta Ale. Erta Ale is about 600 meters high and is located near the north east of Ethiopia. It’s actually very close to the law-less country Eritrea. It is notable for holding the longest-existing lava lake, present since the early years of the twentieth century (1906). Volcanoes with lava lakes are very rare: there are only six in the world (Erta Ale, Ethiopia – Ambrym, Vanuatu – Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica – Kīlauea, Big Island, Hawaii [there are actually two in Hawaii: Halemaʻumaʻu and Pu’u O’o craters] – Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo). The largest one is the Nyiragongo but is now...

Last night was the full moon for the month of June. I was uncertain about the weather, summer being here, our friend Karl the fog is often present. Exceptionally yesterday was a clear day and stayed clear in the evening. I went again at the same location as last month, looking for a better image. In photography, dedication and stubbornness are essential. The major difference between this month and last, is the lighting of the Coit Tower. The city is celebrating its basketball team, the Golden State Warriors, playing in the NBA Finals for the first time in over 40 years. I had everything lined up but the fog came in to play the trouble-maker. It was late enough so I could get a couple of nice images.

Like Burma, I’m going to split my trip to Ethiopia in several posts. If you are not familiar with the Danakil depression, I have included a Google map of the area below. It’s in the northeast region of Ethiopia, in the semi-autonomous zone called the Afar region. The Afar region is named after the Afar tribe that administers the region. However the Afar tribe is split between Eritrea and Ethiopia, causing people to cross between the two countries relatively easily, despite the border with Eritrea being technically closed (Ethiopia and Eritrea were at war in 2000). As you may know, Eritrea is not a safe place. This region is relatively high risk for foreign travelers, as stated by the UN, which recommend not to travel there. Traveling there is a long...

This is my 100th post and if you had told me 2 and half years ago that would have written 100 posts, I would not have believed you. It is fitting that my 100th post is about May’s Full Moon. On paper, this full moon had the potential to be great: it was going to line up perfectly over the Coit tower, the timing was perfect, exactly 32 minutes after sunset (so the sky would be a great blue) and it would really be a full moon (30 minutes later). I forgot one thing, it is summer here now in San Francisco, which means that Karl the fog is present. I was hoping all day that it would stay cool so the fog would stay away. When the moon showed up, it was looking good but in a couple minutes as the moon was rising, the fog was moving in. In a matter of minutes, I...