Paradise Visited: The Outer Islands of French Polynesia.

This is a view one sees in variations through out the island of Tikehau

Tikehau aqua-cobalt-2

We sat every evening on the porch at dusk and watched this soul soothing view of Ta’aha

Ta'aha view copy

I can’t explain the light in this photograph. I took this image at 11:30 AM. It stands alon

%22Black%22 pond Tikehau copy

The density of the water looked and felt like gold jello. I have never experienced anything like it on my visits to over sixty islands world wide.I never looked away until we touched the shore of our remote resort

Fakarava gold sunset copy

Atacama Desert

Walking toward a lake that has no clarity in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world, in Northern Chile. The density of minerals in the lake makes it appear as though someone spilled a can of cobalt blue paint into the desert

IMG_0159 copy copy

 

Torres del Paine National Park

It’s no surprise that Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile was recently voted The Eighth Wonder Of The World. It’s the most unspoiled park I have ever enoucntered in the 108 countries I’ve visited. Yosemite National Park in the US has an average of four millions visitors a year. Torres has 150,000. You feel like you’re breathing for the first time.

IMG_0001 copy

IMG_0086 copy

IMG_0024 copy

IMG_0143 copy

IMG_0495 copy

IMG_0560 copy

Foot

This image was taken shortly after dawn in a hot air balloon-sailing silently over the magical and eerie formations in Cappadocia,Turkey. This chalk formation on top of a cliff looks like a giant’s foot. Nature is the most talented sculptor.

Foot copy copy

The Archer

Archery is the national sport of Bhutan, a small but very advanced country in the Himalayas, north of India. The target is sometimes over 300 feet from the archer. This man has won many competitions. His face tells us of a life well lived.

Archery is the national sport of Bhutan, a small but very advanced country in the Himalayas, north of India. The target is sometimes over 300 feet from the archer. This man has won many competitions. His face tells us of a life well lived.

Curacao Aerial

Flying between Bonaire and Curacao in the Caribbean revealed this aerial view that was like an abstract painting. The dark area on the right is the shoreline. The light wavy lines are sand formations close to the water’s surface. The white formations right and upper right were the clouds below us. Nature creates pure art.

Curacao Aerial

Curacao Aerial

My Journey To The Tiger’s Lair

In Bhutan, high in the Himalayan Mountains, the jaw-dropping Taktsang Palphug Buddhist Monastery, was built into the granite sheer rock face. It was built in 1692 and known as Tiger’s Lair after a sacred monk who meditated in thirteen tiger lair caves there in the 8th century.

In Bhutan, high in the Himalayan Mountains, the jaw-dropping Taktsang Palphug Buddhist Monastery, was built into the granite sheer rock face. It was built in 1692 and known as Tiger’s Lair after a sacred monk who meditated in thirteen tiger lair caves there in the 8th century.

The wooden buildings are painted with intricate and colorful patterns that have meaning to the faithful and are connected by stairways made in the rocks. Along the trek from the valley to the monastery are prayer flags, temple bells, a wishing tree and a waterfall.

The wooden buildings are painted with intricate and colorful patterns that have meaning to the faithful and are connected by stairways made in the rocks. Along the trek from the valley to the monastery are prayer flags, temple bells, a wishing tree and a waterfall.