I stepped from my casita and looked up into a night sky exploding with stars. They swirled and throbbed, so bright that I needed no flashlight to find my way. On the western horizon, Orion’s bow pointed me toward the open-air restaurant at Rancho Pescadero, while the Big Dipper hung low in the eastern sky. Even shy little Pleiades came out to gaze upon this amazing new resort near Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico.

As a hosted guest of Rancho Pescadero Resort during a press trip, I expected the resort management to make every effort to welcome and impress me, but I did not expect to become a part of their family. From the moment I arrived everyone – from resort managers, Josh and Christine; to Danny the bartender; to Carla in the front office; to the night watchman, Angel; right down to the owner, Lisa Harper and her partner, George Lilinoe – adopted me. While I’d like to think that had something to do with my charming personality and wit, I must confess that during my stay, every guest received the same care and attention and this may be why, with only four months under their belt, the resort is already receiving repeat guests.

Pool with floating beds

Miles and miles of wide, pristine beach, backed with beach beds, lounge chairs and fire pits

If a caring staff is not enough to entice you to visit Rancho Pescadero, the facilities will win you over. From the central reception and open-air restaurant, guests descend to suites, which arc toward a pommeling ocean in a sweeping semi-circle that enfolds a poolside bar, whirlpool spa, and gorgeous pool with floating beds. By day, sand paths lead over a low dune past tall cactus to miles of pristine, windswept beach, where long walks, fishing, or surfing are the order of the day. Not into physical activity? Luxuriate in one of the resort’s dunetop beach beds, roofed wood frames with a mattress and curtains that can be drawn if the sun gets too intense, or make an appointment for a treatment at the oceanfront spa cottage. After dark, barrel chairs surrounding a firepit encourage flame gazing or more star gazing. Read the rest of this entry »

Moon Fiji by David Stanley

Most people who travel a lot – especially budget travelers – have at one time or another invested in a guide book. Lonely Planet and Rough Guides are well known names in the genre; less well known are the Moon guide books. In fact, I had never before read a Moon guide until a copy of Moon Fiji came my way, courtesy of author David Stanley.

I have never actually read a travel guide. It usually gets stuck it in my backpack and pulled out for reference when I’m looking for an affordable place to stay, a decent meal, or to figure out which sights are must sees. Moon Fiji, however, is a different kind of guide book. That may be partly due to its author, who has crossed six continents overland and visited 193 of the planet’s 245 countries. For his first trip across the Pacific in 1978, Stanley bought the longest ticket ever issued in Canada by Pan American Airways. Though Stanley has traveled widely and become a specialist on many parts of the world, he keeps returning to his favorite area, the South Pacific.

I read this guide book from cover to cover and I highly recommend purchasing Moon Fiji if you are South Pacific bound. This compact guidebook does everything right. Take, for example, the following examples of what I found within: Read the rest of this entry »

Because there is SO much in Sydney that I haven’t had time to see, deciding what to do on my last day in this beautiful city was tough. Ultimately, the decision was made for me when my friend, Jane, with whom I’ve been staying, said that coming to Sydney and not seeing Bondi Beach was like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Bondi Beach is famous with surfers the world over for its waves and famous with tourists and residents for its cliff walk that leads from the wide crescent that is Bondi Beach, up and over the rocky headland to Tamarama and Bronte Beaches. We had not done the cliff walk before this because the weather in Sydney has been unusually rainy, but today the weather cooperated, providing us with a crisp, sunny day with not a cloud in sight. Afterward, since it was such a nice day we had lunch on the outdoor terrace of a North Bondi restaurant, enjoying a spectacular view of the bay (I can’t believe I dined outdoors in 55 degree weather) and then toured some of Jane’s favorite beaches that are tucked into hidden corners all over Sydney. So, here are a few photos of the things I saw today – if only I had another three weeks here!

Bondi Bay, with double overhead surf and an offshore wind:

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Byron Bay, located about 800 kilometers (480 miles) north of Sydney, is the easternmost point in Australia. During its formative years the town was discovered by hippies, who inevitably came for a week and stayed for years, leaving their indelible stamp on Byron Bay’s culture. The laid back, alternative lifestyle that persists to this day has made this small town of 30,000 residents the third most popular holiday spot in the country. Although the hippies have either grown up or moved away, today Byron Bay hosts events such as yoga retreats, pagan gatherings and music festivals that attract an eclectic mix of backpackers, surfers and musicians, as well as the affluent baby-boomer contingent.

Byron Bay Beach

I have come here for a number of reasons. First, it has beautiful beaches and anyone who knows me at all knows I am a beach bum at heart. Second, it is warmer because it is about eight hours north of Sydney – and I am definitely over being cold. Third, for the Yoga. Fourth, it is a surfer’s paradise. I chose to fly because it would be quicker (and cheaper) than renting a car, but the weather did not cooperate – rain poured down all morning and the Sydney Airport was closed three times (each time the control tower was hit by lightning), so I did not even arrive in town until after 4 PM. I checked into my hotel, dumped my luggage in my room, and hurried across the street to see the beach before the light failed.

The view from the top of the dune took my breath away. Directly in front of me a deep turquoise ocean lapped gently upon a wide golden-pink expanse of sand. The sun’s descent behind distant mountains diffracted the fading sunlight, throwing rays up into the evening sky like an array of searchlights in a perfect arc. As the sky turned from pink to gold to orange to purple, I walked up and down the beach Read the rest of this entry »

Usually, I’m pretty savvy about geography, but for some reason I thought that Sydney was on the ocean. Whenever I looked at a map of Australia, Sydney appeared to be on the coast – this is such a large country that small maps of it don’t show much detail. Then there are the more than 70 beaches and the famous surfing spots like Bondi Beach that I have always read about. To my surprise I discovered that the city center is located about a third of the way down a long inlet that forms the famous Sydney Harbour – it’s the suburbs that are actually on the Pacific Ocean. I couldn’t come to Sydney and not visit its famous beaches so today I climbed aboard a ferry for the 15-minute ride to the town of Manly.

Pulling into the ferry dock at Manly

"The Corso" - the main street in Manly

The boat docked on the inlet side of the narrow strip of land that forms the northern entry to the inlet. A five-minute walk down “The Corso” (the main drag) took me from the inlet side to the ocean side of town, where a promenade ran the entire length of the long crescent of golden-pink sand that is Manly Beach. It was immediately apparent that surfing is taken seriously here – in fact, surfing is considered a national sport in Australia.

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My niece's bedroom wall - what little of it can be seen

All this time I thought I was the only “Kook” in my family. Then my niece, Kelly, sent me this photo of her bedroom wall (probably a bad description, since you can’t see the wall for the photos). In case you can’t make it out, her bedroom wall, which is located in north central Illinois, is plastered with SURFING photos. Seems I created a monster… let me explain.

About a year and a half ago my sister and her fiance visited me on the Outer Banks, where I lived at the time. My niece, Kelly, came along. Naturally, we spent a lot of time at the beach, so I threw my 8′ mini-longboard into the car, figuring Kelly might want to take a crack at surfing. I haven’t used the thing for years – not since my knee got so bad that I had to have surgery on it. It’s been sitting around the garage gathering dust and taking up space and I was just glad that someone would be getting some use out of it. Read the rest of this entry »