Trans-Siberia Journey – 2004.

Posted by Billy E. Grubbs on April 12th, 2012

Having traveled from Bejing, through Mongolia to Moscow in 1997 I have always had my mind on wanting to travel the full Trans-Siberian route from Moscow to Vladivostock. In 1997 I spent a few days in Moscow and then spent 6 days on the train. This time I chose to have less time in Moscow, and enjoy stopping off during the route. Breaking the journey is possible, but it adds to the cost as multiple train tickets are required plus finding hotel or home-stays to stay at.

I used Adventure Bound a local travel agent in the UK who booked it through Sundowners, a very good tour company with a lost of experience organizing Russian tours. If I more time I would have chosen to travel onwards to Japan or China from Vladavostock but instead I chose to fly back to London via Moscow.
Moscow – the start of my journey.

I had been to Moscow before so I chose only to stay a few nights. This gave me enough time to see my favorite sites and collect my tickets for the first part of my journey. I stayed in the Rossiya Hotel which was built in 1967 and has over 3000 rooms. Facilities were good and it overlooks the Kremlin and the Red Square. I have heard that it will be demolished soon to make way for a more modern hotel. The Intourist Hotel had already been demolished and they were clearing the ground for a new hotel. Moscow has an interesting history and many lovely buildings to see. A city tour allowed me a good way to see Moscow and a chance to talk to other tourists.

There are several main stations in Moscow. The Siberian trains normally arrive/depart from Yaroslavsky Station. As my train was to depart in the night, I ensured that I visited the station during the daylight. When it was time to leave the hotel I took the metro to the station and arrived a couple of hours early to watch the other travelers come and go. When my train pulled in I found my carriage and showed my ticket to the attendant. I shared a 4-berth cabin with Gerald and Jasmin from Austria traveling to Beijing and Maria, a Russian lady traveling back to her home outside Irkutsk. I paid my 50 roubles for the bedding and unpacked a few things for the night. The train departed on schedule at 2330. After a long day it was not long before I fell asleep.

Read More »

Maintenance of Ships

Posted by Billy E. Grubbs on April 9th, 2012
J/40 cruising and racing sailboat interior for...

J/40 cruising and racing sailboat interior for sailing on any vacation with family and friends. This was the teak interior version of the J/40 sailboat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reaches the last months of winter or early spring and all sailors are interested in maintaining our boats for the next summer season.

I have a rule I always start by making a thorough cleaning of the boat that I used to go see the flaws and faults that are in the boat, and as I find them making a list to address them.

Done I start cleaning the inside without leaving a closet without emptying and cleaning a bilge without drying and ventilating and upholstery wash, finish the deck doing a thorough cleaning without misusing the Karcher to prevent damage to the boat and very ecological detergent finish this task.

Completed this task with list in hand I start shopping for items to replace, then the task of its parts, interior and exterior lights, bilge pumps and toilet, a hinge, latch or some minor damage. Control cells lanterns. Control of the security features and expiry date thereof.

Term maintenance and ground by painting the annual fund and the oil change, filter and revised engine seals and pumps.

Finally a gel coat polish and general good treatment of teak to always ask me how I do and that I describe in the next section.

Read More »

Blue Marlin Fishing Oahu, Hawaii

Posted by Billy E. Grubbs on April 5th, 2012
Atlantic blue marlin being weighed
Atlantic blue marlin being weighed (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was recently headed to Oahu with my wife for a long overdue vacation. As many of you know with kids at home, it’s not always easy to sneak away with just the wife for a vacation. Because she is such a good sport about my occasional fishing get-away (and is not a big fan of fishing herself), I didn’t want to push working in a fishing trip while in Hawaii (but was hoping for the opportunity). A couple of days before we left I threw the idea out there, “honey are you up to doing some fishing while we’re in Hawaii?” Her, ”I guess” reply, played back to me as, “sure honey I would love to”, so I got busy searching the web for a last second charter to book.

After finding about 5 charters in Oahu I sent out an email to them all hoping someone could get me in last minute. The following day I received an email from the Maggie Joe, I called to talk with them and got a very pleasant young lady who had a ton of information about “what they had been catching”, and when they might be able to squeeze me in. I felt good about putting the trip together so quickly.

Read More »

Madagascar Travel

Posted by Billy E. Grubbs on April 2nd, 2012

Holiday on the species-rich island in the Indian Ocean

Orthographic map of Madagascar centered on Ant...

Orthographic map of Madagascar centered on Antananarivo Official territory. Claimed territories. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To travel to Madagascar for many people is certainly a dream full of white South Sea flair and sandy beaches. Those who realize this dream and makes Madagascar holidays,will not be disappointed!

But in reality joins the images of Madagascar, which one has in mind, also, another idea: Madagascar is not only a beautiful island, but also a developing country that is struggling with typical problems. The unique nature of the island is threatened by overexploitation and the greed of large raw material and timber companies.

Rice cultivation near Antananarivo, Madagascar

Rice cultivation near Antananarivo, Madagascar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here, wildlife and plant diversity of Madagascar is unique and worth protecting. The reason is that Madagascar was separated 150 million years ago from the African continent (90 million years ago from the Indian subcontinent), and since then has formed on the island a unique flora and fauna that find it during a holiday in Madagascar for the can.

Read More »

Riwaka Resurgence

Posted by Billy E. Grubbs on March 29th, 2012

This is a dive I’ve looked at for years and it wasn’t until we had Eric Simmons up from Nelson for a talk at our club, that I had looked at doing it again. The hard part was convincing Nikki that it was a good idea, especially driving all the way down from Tauranga. However after promises of stalactites, clear water and wineries – she agreed!

Parking up early morning, I assembled all the gear that we had brought, not having dived it before I erred on the side of caution bringing sling tanks, guide reels, strobes, spare lights, tripods, which when I found out the hike up to the entrance I had second thoughts about taking. However from the very beginning I made one fatal error! Eric’s words will always stay with me, ‘Do it in a wetsuit, you’ll get too hot in the cave…!’ Dipping a toe into the entrance pool revealed that my drysuit sitting at home would have been a far better idea than any of the other gear and how he convinced me to do it in a wetsuit is anyone’s guess. As you can imagine it was bloody freezing… I put a brave face on it for Nikki and even carried a sidemount flask of tea to persuade her that it wouldn’t be that bad!

Read More »
« Older Entries