Vacation Humpday.

Midway through vacation. That’s what today was. We aren’t thinking of heading home but we start to think of what else we’d like to do while we’re here.  More hiking and snorkeling make the short list.

Yesterday and today we hiked. About 6 miles yesterday, down a goat path on a ridge that very few people hike, Giles Track. It was completely exposed, hot and dry. Very hot. Very sunny. It went all the way down to the coast, under cliffs with precariously perched boulders everywhere above us. But it was gorgeous, and we saw no one.

Panorama of the view where we hiked down. 

Tom at the bottom. You can see the ridge we followed on the left. 

Today we walked about 8 miles total, starting off on the Crispeen Track to The Bottom from our town Windwardside. We took off before breakfast in search of Island Flavors breakfast/lunch place. It did not disappoint!  But walking an hour through steep rainforest will definitely give you an appetite. 

After breakfast we headed over to The Ladder hike. It is a steep staircase on the side of a cliff that was used to transfer ALL goods coming into the island from the water. After hiking it I cannot imagine moving things like grand pianos up. But they did. 

This is Ladder Cove. Beautiful. 

This is the top of the staircase looking down. 

After also visiting the harbor and deciding it was too rough to snorkel, we headed back up through the rainforest toward our town. 

This is the cutest newborn goat we saw at a house on a footpath in the middle of the rainforest. We met the original owner and builder, now in his 70s that shared great stories of the island back in the day while we sat on decrepit plastic furniture in his side yard. Thank you Mr Barnes, for the hospitality.  

We arrived back at our cottage completely sweaty and disgusting. Finished up with the pool, dinner and then chasing an escaped dog down on the museum grounds while trying to protect these pet rabbits of the museum. No lie. We saved them all and captured the dog. 

Saba

We decided to get away (really away) to a tiny island in the Caribbean. These days it is hard to escape crowds in the Caribbean, but you can here. It is a small speck of an island, the top of an inactive volcano, actually. It measures about 1.5 miles across in both directions. Why is it unspoiled?  Probably from the lack of any real beaches, there are a couple on the island but they are either transitory or small/manmade. However, it makes up for the lack of beaches with great hiking, scuba/snorkeling (mostly from boat) and an utter lack of crowds.

First of all, to get here you fly from St Maarten on a small plane for a short trip. Then you fly straight at the island for far too long before they turn 90 degrees at the last possible minute to land on the shortest commercial runway in the world. To say it is sketchy is an understatement. This picture is the plane heading toward the cliffs at pretty close range, just before the turn. Was a smooth ride and landing though. Very good pilots.

We’ve done two solid hikes (Mt Scenery pictures below) since we’ve arrived and have a few more on our list.  I’m not sure Tom is excited about the longest of them but he will go anyway. :)  Being the top of a volcano, it is very very steep, challenging terrain. And even though we live at a high altitude, I think our advantage is taken away by the heat and humidity here. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and well worth the effort to climb up!

Now, some pictures.

Breakfast our first day below. All the houses are white with green shutters and red roofs. 

When I say all, I mean all. It’s actually very charming.

Chickens on the Mt Scenery trail. This path was straight up, it was actually pretty difficult. Took about 50 minutes but the summit is a cloud forest and true to its name, was socked in.  We only got peeks of sun.  Tons of wild goats and chickens on this island!

One of the few times the clouds (sort of) parted while we were we up there!

Tom heading up the trail in a spot that had steps. They did not make it any easier!

View of Windwardside below. This was about halfway up the hike. 

All in all it was a beautiful hike. Well worth the effort. Take plenty of water and the path gets missy and slick up near the top. So good footwear and poles if you are more comfortable with them!  Enjoy!

I'm baaaaack...

Hello everyone!  I know I don't have many readers that stop by here and that is A-OK.  I've realized that in the 2 years I've not been blogging, I've missed out on recording and reliving our memories of travels and everyday life.  So, I'm going to endeavor to start this bad boy up again.  Wish me luck.  Here are some highlights from our last 2 years:

Down Under - Australia - Tasmania and the Sydney area.  OK, so Tasmania has THE cutest wildlife.  We loved this island state and I definitely want to make it back someday (soon).  The first highlight for me was our night feeding tour at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary (https://www.bonorong.com.au/), not to be missed if you are in the Hobart area.  Also, Cradle Mountain - where we got to come very very close to my favorite Tasmanian creature - wombats!

Tom and his wallaby:

Melissa and her kangaroos:

Next destination - Antarctica!  Yes, we made it to the 7th continent and it was amazing.  We spent about 2 weeks on a boat exploring the Antarctic coast - I successfully crossed the Drake Passage twice without tossing my cookies (thanks to modern pharmacology).  We also spent some time hiking in Patagonia:

Mountaineering in Antarctica.  Spigot Peak, complete with penguins!

Unfortunately in much sadder news, we lost our Ellie Mae to cancer later in 2018.  She was such a sweet girl, we'll never find another one like you, Ellie. We miss you...

Ellie Mae did get a kitten while she was still with us, and he, after a nasty fall (and skewer onto a grounding rod) from our high roof, is still with us and loving life, meet Jethro - who is much larger than this now:

We also moved to the mountains!  We now live at about 7300ft and are absolutely loving it.  We aren't sure why we took so long to get out of the 'burbs!  Now, our backyard looks like this:

A new pup joined our family - meet Daisy, 2/3 pit bull, 1/3 bull dog - aka a "Bully Pit".  She is a sweet girl and so so so adorable.  Welcome, Daisy Maisy, or better known as "Piglet":

We also snuck away for a couple of weeks exploring Japan and the Philippines (Bohol Island to be exact).  We saw snow monkeys in Nagano and tarsiers in Bohol.  We had a little scooter accident but had a great time anyway!

We've also done TONS of hiking and skiing, I've hit all the trails around our new home quite hard with my running shoes, we've fostered multiple dogs through Circle 2 Rescue (https://www.circle2rescue.com/ - currently fostering "Malone") and we've added 4 more chickens to our flock, bringing our hen count up to 8!  More to come...

Tchau Madeira!

The last few days of vacation is always bittersweet. Even though we have two days in Madrid before we leap back across the pond, it feels like it's winding down.

Unfortunately, very rainy, blustery weather rolled in a few days ago and has waylaid a few of the higher up hiking trails we wanted to do. We've had to move lower in elevation, which means no more peak bagging and overall, not quite as exciting of adventures.  So we've hit a few more levadas than we thought, which are very cool, however very flat. But they have their own beauty. I've included some pictures below from these hikes.

Overall, we have absolutely loved Madeira. Never have we traveled to a friendlier place for walking and hiking. The food is cheaper than in the US and there are wonderful hotels and guest houses for well under $100. The wine is fantastic, views are amazing and it's relatively easy to get around. Car rental prices are reasonable and driving isn't too bad if you're good with hill starts on a manual, but they also have a great public bus infrastructure and taxis. The food is fresh, basic and not overdone. The people are welcoming and helpful and speak pretty good English. Come visit!!  It's a gem only an hour and a half from Lisbon.

We are looking forward to Madrid, even if it's a quick stopover. The weather that moved in here ended up grounding flights for a day or two, so of course we hope it's all clear tomorrow!  Now, to fit everything back in my suitcase. Ugh.

Along Levada Nova, you can see the clouds blanketing the mountains. 

A waterfall we walked behind. 

This was the scene on top of the island, around 5-6000ft. Total whiteout. Hiking?  No thank you. 

We tried to go up high again today to see this Levada fall. Unfortunately it was still in the clouds but we braved the wind and rain long enough to reach our goal!

Hiking. Every. Day.

Madeira is a paradise if you like to walk or hike. Wow, there are so many trails here. We've hiked every day but one!  On our last day on the north coast, we picked a coastal trail with wonderful sweeping views and big cliffs. It was beautiful. The weather held, amazingly, and we had a great afternoon. I've picked up a bit of a cold so we took it easy that day. Even though it was around 8 miles round trip, there were more manageable inclines than our previous treks.  Some pictures are below!

On the way up. 

Along the coastal trail. If you look closely you may be able to see the path carved into the rock. Just a few feet wide and perched very precariously. 

It's hard to get the scale of the cliffs but they were over 1200ft. They've put railing in some spots. But not all. 

The next day, we had to do a bit of driving to move to our last location in Madeira, Calheta. Unlike the cloudy and cool north coast, this side is sunnier and warmer. In fact, Tom is at the pool right now!

Anyway, we attempted Pico Grande today but we met with blustery cloudy conditions and had to turn back, just short of the summit. There is another, longer approach to this peak that we may tackle tomorrow if the weather looks good when we wake up!  The views were beautiful and we enjoyed the hike, right up until clouds surrounded us, the wind picked up and we realized we shouldn't be on top of a slippery rock right then. Beautiful scenery though, pictures below.  This was our lightest hiking day at around 6 miles. We will surpass that tomorrow for sure (weather permitting).

Beautiful views on the way up but clouds gathering. 

The acacia trees are blooming now. It's beautiful!

Our far away peak in the distance. We made it up to just below the peak on the right side of this picture. So close!!

What it looked like when we got closer to the top. 

And finally an almost total whiteout in the clouds. 

Sadly, we only have two more days on Madeira and then we head to Madrid for two nights before heading back to the US. It's always sad to be winding down vacation, we will just have to make the most of our last few days here. Speaking of which, it's time for dinner!!

All about clouds.

We went to bed socked in by clouds and woke up the same way. The locals told us on cloudy days, if you drive up in elevation, you can be above the clouds. So we enjoyed a lazy breakfast and then headed up, back to where we hiked yesterday to try to catch this!

Luckily, we did. We were in between two cloud layers...it was beautiful. The deep valleys and ocean views of yesterday were gone. Replaced by thick white puffy clouds settled along the coast and in the valleys.

I also woke up feeling like a have a cold coming on, so we decided to take it easy today. So, we hiked a levada, one of those ancient drainage ditches that Madeira is known for...we picked a somewhat flat hike, as our legs were still recovering from yesterday's big hike. Choosing Levada do Caldeirao Verde was perfect for us. It was probably around an 8 mile hike, but mostly flat and on a good trail. I believe there would've been killer views, but we were completely in the clouds, so it made everything look like an eerie scene in a movie. Huge drop offs accompanied us most of the way. They've put cable railing up on most of the super sketchy areas, but in some spots, it makes you really appreciate not having vertigo!

There is an insanely large drop off of Toms left. The trees are growing straight out of a sheer cliff. Impressive. 

Waterfalls along the trail. 

The hike was beautiful. Way different than the dry and sunny weather we've been having. The moisture felt good and we rarely have the opportunity to hike in the clouds back home. 

But I think tomorrow, if I'm feeling up to it, we will tackle something a bit more challenging!

Pico Ruivo

Pico Ruivo is the highest peak on Madeira at around 6100ft, ironically about the same altitude as our house back in Colorado. There is a good trail that links Pico Arieiro (3rd highest) with Ruivo. The trail is maintained and ridiculously well constructed, even with metal staircases in some areas and plenty of paving stones laid. That being said, it is not an easy trail. These two peaks may be of similar height, but in between lies a solid 3300ft  of ascent and 3300ft of descent. My knees are a bit angry with me tonight.

You can drive all the way to Pico Arieiro (think Mt Evans for you Colorado folk). We arrived around 9am and got started under a partly cloudy sky.  The weather held all day for us, it was beautiful and in the 60s. Absolutely perfect hiking weather!

There are sweeping views of jagged mountains and plunging valleys everywhere you look. It is truly one of the most beautiful hikes I've done. It's massive in every way. The alternate route that I wanted to take one way is closed due to a rockslide last year. That would've been a more challenging, longer and more exposed route, but it wasn't in the cards today. So we settled for an out and back of around 8-9 miles with killer climbs.  And for every quad burning  step up, there was a knee crunching one down.  Ouch. 

Morning vistas. 

Tom looking like an ant on top of that far away staircase.  

The terrain was ruthless. So many ups to be followed by downs. Usually when you climb a peak it's all ascent then all descent, it's humbling to constantly be giving up the elevation you just gained. And the alternating up up up then down down down really takes its toll on your legs, but it does break it up quite nicely.  We were plenty ready to summit. It was windy but not too chilly up there and we sat down and had lunch while enjoying the view. 

View from the top. Really awesome. 

From the summit, we spotted this tiny peak below and decided we should try to get it too. 

So we headed back down the trail until we found a good spot to leave it and scrambled up to the tip top. You can actually see Ruivo in the background, where we just came from!

A big thumbs down for the "fun" route being closed. 

We saw a pair of these cool birds on the way back down. 

With all this hiking, I think tom and I are running on a calorie deficit. A wonderful problem to have on vacation!!