Florida

Going down to Florida from the Midwest in December is always a nice break. We went to the Chihuly museum in St. Petersburg. The exhibition features so many colorful displays.

Our primary focus though was kayaking with the manatees at Crystal River and diving in the Devil's Den, which is an underground spring with crystal clear water. Luckily, we were the only visitors and the entire site was all ours to explore. The water temperature is 72 degrees all year round. 

Kayaking is such a relaxing activity, that allows people move almost silent through the water and observe wild life, such as eagles and other birds. The trees are hung with moss and would provide perfect material for their nests.

Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau

One of the last frontiers in the Alps was the Eiger Nordwand (Eiger North Face) which was first ascended in 1938. We didn't want to climb it, but just see and experience the sheer size of it and take a train through the Eiger up to the Jungfraujoch. Sounds crazy, doesn't it and yes it is, but about that later.

But first, we hopped in a rental and drove to the medieval town of Gruyère at the language border of  German and French in Switzerland. 

The castle's chapel is home to a Tibetan museum, which is very impressive.

Assuming that the movie Alien is well known, it is somewhat of a surprise that the creator of the alien itself has a museum in old village as well as a bar. It is like the movie, somewhat disturbing.

Our next stop was Lake Geneva, where we stayed the Hotel Rivage in Lutry, very quaint and right at the harbor. The entire region is called Lavaux and besides being a World Heritage site it's also known for its wonderful white wine.

The slope on the Swiss side faces South and that is ideal for growing grapes. The villages are embedded in the vineyards and each village is very proud of their wine, e.g. Saint-Saphorin, Epesses etc.

We were at this magical location at the right time and those grapes look so delicious, but they are destined to become wine.

We bought a bottle of white wine and enjoyed it on the pier, as it is legal to open alcohol in public. It did feel a little strange to not having to hide the bottle.

Over the Col Du Pillion, we drove to Wengen, which can only be reached by train. The car is safely parked in Lauterbrunnen. From our room we could watch the Jungfrau changing colors while the sun was setting. It was a magical moment.

Next morning we took a train from Wengen up to the Kleine Scheidegg and then further up through the Eiger Nordwand to the Jungfraujoch, the top of Europe (3454m or 11332 feet). The tunnel is 9km long and on the way there, the train stopped in the middle of the Nordwand where passengers had a short time to look out the windows in a very protected environment. However, since late 2016, trains no longer stop here, which is a real shame. On the South side, there is another 5 minute stop at the Eismeer (Ice Sea).

From here it goes to the Jungfraujoch, from where you can hike on the glacier to the Mönchsjochhütte. In an emergency, it serves mountaineers as a shelter.

The view down the glacier to the Konkordia place, where other glaciers meet, is just breathtaking and it seems to never end.

From the Kleine Scheidegg, we decided to walk down to Wengen, along the world famous downhill race track (Lauberhorn). It is very steep and longest world cup race in the world. The track even features a tunnel underneath the railway that racers have to navigate at high speed.

I'm so glad we made it on foot.

Wakatobi

We did a lot of research to find the perfect place for muck diving. Well, first, what is muck diving: It's diving and exploring sediments like sand and other natural debris and searching for weird and wonderful marine creatures. It's unlike reef diving where the environment itself is pretty.

The Palagian, a liveaboard located in Indonesia, offered exactly what we were looking for. The dive yacht is 115 feet long and offers room for 10 guests. The yacht is a part of the Wakatobi Dive Resort in South East Sulawesi.

Each dive is different and we were lucky to have captured some incredible pictures, such as below anemone fish, trying to hide.

Anemone Fish

Flatheaded Crocodile Fish

Nudibranch

Sea Urchin

Pygmy Sea Horse

Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Lion Fish

Decorator Crab

Napoleon Snake Eel

One night we stayed in a bay where we could hear the muezzin call to the daily prayer. In the morning kids were having fun watching our bubbles when we surfaced from our early morning dive.

Before and after our stay on the Palagian, we spend some time on Bali, which is a very charming island with many temples and other ancient structures. We stayed at the Beach Hotel in Nusa Dua, built in a traditional style.

The fountain had beautiful stone carvings demonstrating what local artist are capable of producing. It was very peaceful.

Our private driver Katut took us around the island and this gave us a unique perspective of many local customs he explained in details. He showed us rice patties on the way to Kintamani, which is a village at the edge of a large caldera.

Kintamani

On the way to the rice patties we stopped and tried Luwak coffee beans, and I still prefer a nice espresso.

Rice Patties

Ubud has lots to offer, a dense forest, temples and macaques. I was more interested in the local architecture, whereas the monkeys were more into how can we annoy those visitors.

When exploring Bali, it is highly recommended to see a traditional Bali dance performance, where like in a western theater, an entire story was told. In this case it was a mythical tale with demons etc.