Blog

I was rooting for the Artemis team today! Not that I don’t like the Luna Rossa team, it was just that I really wanted the swedish team to win. I didn’t want the italian team to win with a clean sweep. I didn’t get my wish, Luna Rossa sailed a perfect race and they deserved to win, but Team Artemis made several mistakes including two unecessary out-of-bound penalties. It’s also sad for the Artemis team. A win today would have been so right. Congratulation to Luna Rossa for winning the semi-final. They will race against...

Bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) are remarkable for their great age and their ability to survive adverse growing conditions. In fact, it seems that one secret to their longevity is the harsh environment in which most bristlecone pines grow. We met our friend Daniel and Paule at the Grandview campground in the Inyo National Forest for the 4th of July weekend. This is a very rudimentary campground but it’s really cheap ($5/day) and really close the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Bristlecone pines in the White Mountains grow between...

Antelope Canyon was on my bucket list for a long time. I first found out about Antelope Canyon when I saw Tuan’s images of it. After some research, I found out that the sunbeams can reach the bottom of the canyon about 3 weeks before the summer solstice and 3 weeks after. We decided that this year was the year we would go. From the Bay Area, there are multiple options to go to Page,AZ but the cheapest we found was to fly to Las Vegas and rent a car and drive to Page. Day 1: Las Vegas to Page, AZ We took a very early flight to Vegas,...

The first race with two boats of the Louis Vuitton Cup happened Saturday in San Francisco. It was Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Luna Rossa. Team New Zealand was the favorite, but the question was how good are those kiwis? The answer is those kiwis are fast, really fast. In a 20 knots breeze (close to the race limit), they beat Luna Rossa by more than 5 minutes. Here is the difference right after the start, Team New Zealand is foiling at full speed, while Luna Rossa is barely foiling. Team New Zealand was looking really strong on each leg of...

A quick postcard from San Francisco on this 4th of July. The America’s cup opening day was today. While the races only begin on sunday (with no real elimination until August 6th). It’s was really fun to see all the sailors and the Louis Vuitton’s cup (brand new cup) and the America’s cup up close. Let’s the race begin.

The Big Island is larger than all the other Hawaiian Islands combined and the only one still volcanically active. It would be a pity to get to a hotel on Big Island and to not spend some time exploring the many wonders the island has to offer. The west side of the island, or the Kona side, is the most touristic side, so this itinerary has been based on staying around Waikoloa Beach, about 1/2 hour drive North of Kona. Lodging options: Around Waikoloa Beach, you have different options to spend the night depending on your group size and budget....

In Summer 2011, I had the opportunity to go kayaking around the Svalbard archipelago. The archipelago is about 61,022 km2  or 23,561 sq mi and consists of many islands including the Spitsbergen, the largest and only populated island of the Svalbard. The trip was a full 10 days in complete autonomy with more than 3000 polar bears living in the area. Since I never went to the Arctic region before as the closest I got to the Arctic Circle was Iceland, I signed up for the Svalbard trip. Do you know where Svalbard is? Below is a map. The group of...

Aloha everyone, A postcard from Hawaii (Big Island) where I went for a long weekend. I was there for a wedding (congratulations to Nervin and Laura). I also managed to do a little scouting for a longer trip there. While I have not yet looked at all my images, here is a preview. The picture above is from the peak of Mauna Kea’s observatory at sunset. This one is from our day in Volcanoes National Park where we hiked to the lava ocean entry. That’s it for now, I’m back home (at least in body, my mind is still in...

I had planned the rise of the full moon to be over the Coit tower. It was a promising evening with no fog and a clear sky. I knew it was going to be tight in term of location. The moon would rise over the tower but I would be at the end of the pier to correctly line up the moon with the top of the tower. I had not planned to have a ship anchored on the other side of the pier. As the moon rose, the ship was blocking the shot. I did stay a little bit later and got new images of San Francisco at night to add to my collection of images. All the...

We had the opportunity to go to Havana, Cuba for a week. Being French-American, we are subject to the embargo imposed by the US on Cuba. Which means that we cannot engage in any commercial relationships with Cuban nationals. However some companies have been licensed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to provide people-to-people Cuba travel for U.S. citizens. People-to-People travel is an initiative allowing U.S. citizens and permanent residents to travel to Cuba on a limited basis to participate in cultural experiences and have...