Niantic Bay Light Parade

My dad and Gianni spent a couple of weeks decorating the tandem bike that they ride to school with lights. They powered the lights with a battery charged by solar panels. They called their creation a Solar Human Hybrid Car. They had fun riding it in the Niantic Bay Light Parade last week. Their creation was one of the more popular with spectators. See more pictures...

Thanksgiving in Key West

Gianni and I went to Key West over Thanksgiving with my mom and brother's family. The weather was great and we ate well. We were able to get in one full day of snorkeling, before the wind picked up. We saw dozens of barracuda, four sharks, many sea turtles, big eels, etc. I hadn't swam with sharks since I was a kid, so it brought back many fond memories of growing up snorkeling off of Miami with my family.

AMC Mount Firescrew Hike

Gianni and I spent the weekend hiking in New Hampshire with the AMC Family Group. The weather was so so. We summitted Mt. Firescrew in the rain, but the weather kept us from our second peak, Mt. Cardigan. In the picture to the left, Gianni is running down the summit ledges with friends. The second day we did a shorter hike to a waterfall. The kids had fun playing Frisbee, soccer and running the commercial dishwasher, too.

Seacoast Century

We set out with a goal of 50 miles...three generations, dad at 67, me at 40, and Gianni at 9. The Seacoast Century proved to be a perfect ride, with sun, cool weather and a scenic coast. After camping Friday night, we woke to a cool morning in the low 30's. We hustled out to meet the rest of the bike club, the Pequot Cyclists, at the event starting area. Most of the group rode 75 or 100 miles. Gianni's goal was 50, so he set the pace. The ride was spectacular along the coast. Gianni led our team of three to the finish as strong as he started. It was pretty obvious that he'll be faster than my dad and I soon. We spent another night at the campground eating and socializing with the rest of the club. Of course, Gianni was in charge of the marshmallows. Needless to say Gianni was tired after his soccer game the next day. To youth!

Final Sail of the Year

I suppose the pictures say it all. Gianni and I finished our last sail of the year this morning, a 75 mile trek from Falmouth, MA to Noank, CT. We sailed through the night again, this time on the new moon, shooting stars, etc. We had a smoking north breeze and were doing 7-9 knots over the bottom. As my friend Tony would say, we were living. After arriving at our mooring, we took a nap, and woke up at dawn. I had to jump in and swim to shore to fetch the dingy - that woke me up in a hurry. Today we spent the day with my bother and his family and took a trip to Martha's Vineyard for some bridge jumping. I think I got enough sun for one summer. Tomorrow we are back to school, without question rejuvenated.

Tuna Fishing

My brother and dad took me tuna fishing for my 40th birthday. I caught a 5 foot bluefin tuna (that's just the football/body and not counting the tail). It turned out that it was the biggest fish caught by the boat in its three years of fishing. The fish was so big that it couldn't fit in the large fish box in the aft of the boat (a good problem). It was a beautiful, sunny, mild day at sea. We saw so many whales that I stopped counting at 30. I suspect that we saw over 50 humpback and right whales. We saw them launch fully out of the water, celebrate feeding frenzies, and swim within feet of our boat. Words just can't describe the grander of it all. See the slideshow for more pictures.

Another Night Sail

After a couple of days of fun in Provincetown, Gianni and I set sail for my bother's house in East Falmouth. We left knowing that we were headed into a cold front, but knew that it would pass later in the day, leaving us with great conditions. We sailed across Cape Cod bay trying to make the outgoing tide at the Cape Cod Canal. The winds were up and down and in the end we did not make great time. We pulled up to the beach off of the canal at 6:oo pm in a 15 knot breeze and again dogging thunderstorms. We set anchor and started dinner and then the big storms hit. Luckily we were dry and cozy in the cabin enjoying dinner. As the sun set, the last few storms moved by and we went to sleep. I woke up at 1:00 am to a full moon, beautiful skies and a stiff breeze. The current was perfect in the canal, so I set sail with Gianni still sleeping and screamed through the canal at 8 knots. I had another perfect sail through Buzzards Bay and a magical passage through Woods Hole at sunrise. I never saw another boat all night long! We sailed through Vineyard Sound and into Waquoit Bay by early morning, ending the 55 mile voyage. After a challenging, muddy anchoring we waited pickup from my brother, Paul. After two moonlit night trips through Buzzards Bay in one week, I'd have to say that these were some of the most special moments of my life.

Sailing to Provincetown

Last week Gianni and I sailed to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. It was a most incredible voyage. We did the 110 mile trip in just over 24 hours. This was our first long voyage together on our boat Spiff (a 26 foot J/80). We started with a 7 knot sail through Fishers and Block Island Sounds. We stopped to see a giant sunfish floating on the surface, something more common in the tropics. Toward dusk the wind died and we hit adverse currents off of Point Judith. We dogged thunderstorms for a couple of hours. I was ready to head into port when Gianni encouraged me to sail on through the night, since the front had passed and the night promised clear skies. The decision proved to be a wise one. We had a 12 knot breeze that pushed us through Buzzards Bay as Gianni slept on deck and I watched shooting stars. We made it to Cape Cod Canal at 4 am with a perfect tide for a crossing. We emerged into Cape Cod Bay as the sun rose. Exhausted, I stopped for breakfast and tea. Gianni awoke and we started the final leg to P-Town. After anchoring off the cottage of our friends, the Wasser's, Gianni spent the afternoon tubing with the kids as I slept. We spent the next two days enjoying time with our friends, fishing, wakeboarding, eating and relaxing before heading out on our next voyage. You can see Gianni asleep on the deck in these photos.

Fluke Fishing in Montauk

Gianni and I sailed over to Montauk, New York a couple of days ago on our annual trip with the Costa's. So far the weather has been fabulous and we have done quite a bit of fishing, sailing and tubing. Yesterday Anthony, Gianni and I went out on a head boat for some fluke fishing. We caught more fish than we could count, but they were too small. Gianni did catch one keeper and then some other folks gave us their catch, so we had quite the feast last night, with plenty more for tonight. Check out our slideshow for more pictures.

Visit to Rivas Project

Today was my last day visiting projects. I went to a small fishing village on Lake Nicaragua. The three AMIGOS volunteers were working with their community to build two wells. Since the community is right on the lake and the nearest mountains are far enough away, it is difficult for them to find clean water. Without wells, they just use the water from the lake, which is contaminated. Community members and volunteers have been working really hard. The well in the picture was dug with shovels to 14 meters! The brick lining was built in just 8 days. This project will be filmed next week to be included in the next AMIGOS promotional film coming out later this year. Tomorrow I am off to Managua and the long trip home.

Visiting AMIGOS Projects

I spent yesterday visiting four AMIGOS projects with the Granada/Rivas staff. This picture is of two volunteers in Los Angeles (Emma, one of my students, is second from the left), their supervisor, the Granada/Rivas project director and the daughter of the house that the volunteers live in. In the background is the school where the volunteers teach, along with the playground/soccer field/cow pasture.

In total I toured four towns and met ten volunteers. I was able to see the results of their ongoing projects and even see some of them in action teaching classes. The Granada/Rivas staff and volunteers are amazing. They are so professional and enthusiastic about their work. Just in the four towns that I visited the volunteers are painting schools, installing locks, teaching classes, building a latrine, painting a ball court, and working almost daily in health centers. This is just what I could see in a day, as I know they are doing more formal and informal projects as well. Tomorrow I am going to tour Rivas projects with a supervisor and the assistant project director, so more to come.

Back in Nicaragua

I made it to Granada, Nicaragua after a day and a half of traveling. What a beautiful town - it is one of the oldest Spanish colonial cities in the Americas. After getting settled Friday, I had a wonderful weekend getting to know the town and people. I was here 12 years ago, and it has really changed! It is a much more popular tourist destination than it used to be (both good and bad). After meeting another aid worker over breakfast on Saturday, I went for a long walk along Lake Nicaragua, one of the biggest in our hemisphere. I spent the afternoon talking to the founder and directors of an interesting non-profit I discovered over breakfast, Casa Xaltera. The program is a combination of Spanish language classes, touristy excursions, volunteer commuity service, and assisstance program for local street kids. After spending the better part to the day getting to know the program and staff, I plan to promote this opportunity to kids in southeastern Connecticut. Today I went to watch a doubleheader baseball game at the main stadium. Nicaraguans are crazy about baseball! Tomorrow is the big day of my visit, as I will spend the day with the AMIGOS de las Americas staff touring project sites. I am really looking forward to seeing how they run their assistance projects at the ground level. I will post pictures of my adventure and another update after I finish my investigations with AMIGOS.

Surf Camp

Gianni spent the week in surf camp offered by the Cocoa Beach Surf Company. He had a blast. I rented a board and joined him for a few rides. On the last day they had a competition, and it just so happened that the swell from hurricane Bertha was upon them. The kids went way out during warm-ups and the swell got the best of them (it was head high for an adult). Then, they had the competition on the inner breaks. Gianni's team won and they all had a blast!
Slideshow

Small Surf, Great Skiing

Today the surf was small, so we went water skiing in the morning. In the afternoon, Gianni went tubing, which ended with a splash!

Pool Party for Etienne and Ahanu

Gianni and I just arrived in Florida last night. We'll be here for two weeks. Over the weekend we built a 14 foot rowboat with my dad, pictures to come... On Monday we had a going away party for Gianni's friends, Etienne and Ahanu - 12 boys swam for almost 4 hours on a perfectly sunny and hot day.

Back in Barcelona

Things have slowed down now that we are back in Barcelona. We still do a lot of walking and exploring of the city and beaches. Other than exploring, shopping and relaxing, the main thing that we have been doing is eating! I think I gained 10 pounds. We went to incredible Italian and Indian restaurants yesterday and had a typical local lunch of bocadillas today. We saved the best for last, as we are going to "the best" Catalan restaurant tonight for dinner (dinner starts around 9 or 10pm). Hopefully, we'll cheer Spain on into the finals of the European Cup tonight as they face Russia. Tomorrow will be spent on trains and plains as I make my way back to CT.

San Sebastian and El Camino de Santiago

Just back from San Sebastian, or Donostia. We flew to Donostia on Monday, checked into our hotel and began exploring. We stopped in the main plaza for pintxos, infamous bite-sized versions of tapas, but of a style and artistic flare unique to the Basque region (a semi-autonomous region called Pais Vasco in Spanish or Euskadi in Euskara). Before we new it the locals were setting up for a celebration of San Juan (see San Sebastian slide show). After the dance, music and more food, we explored the town and turned in early. Tuesday, we hiked part of the Camino de Santiago, a famous pilgrimage route. The 16 km trek took us through a spectacular mountainous range with incredible views of the ocean and small farms. After our train ride back to Donostia we shopped, walked the town and ATE!
Slideshow of San Sebastian

Hiking the Serra de Collserola

Today was quite a different day, not much of a city day. We woke up early and took a train up to the base of the local mountain range and park. We had hoped to hop on a cog railway train to the summit then hike over the range and into the next town on the other side. When we arrived at the cog railway it was closed, so we just hiked up to the summit of the Serra de Collserola, avoiding the heat by bushwaking in the woods. After a brief stop to enjoy the summit views of Barcelona and its surroundings, we began the long decent on the other side of the mountain range. We made it to Sant Cugat by lunch time (2:00 pm), rested in a shady park and then ate at a street cafe. After the train ride back to Barcelona we watched Spain play Italy in the European Cup cheering on Spain with the locals. Tomorrow we are off to San Sebastian on the Atlantic coast so I may not be able to post for a day or two.
Slideshow of Barcelona

A Gaudi Morning

Fred and I woke up early to beat the crowds at la Sagrada Familia, a most incredible temple predominately designed by Gaudi. Construction began in 1882 and is still under way. No one knows when it will be finished. I have to say it is one of the most impressive sights built by humans that I have ever seen. We shopped for dinner at the local market, then napped in preparation for an evening cooking with one of Fred's friends, Mirea. We cooked an Italian style dinner with fresh clams, giant local shrimp (langostino), tomatos, chard, pasta, etc., then talked the night away.

First Day in Barcelona

After a long flight, I arrived at Fred's apartment mid-morning on Friday. I went straight to sleep. After a short nap, Fred and I walked the beach for several hours and had a fantastic paella lunch on the boardwalk. We explored several neighborhoods by foot and stopped for tea. I had yerba mate, a tea drank with a straw that I haven't had since my days in Argentina 12 years ago. It was fabulous. At night we did some more exploring and ate tapas before retiring to bed early. We slept to the sound of a street concert just below our windows. I slept really well!