April 9, 2018

Fifty Shades of Blue.

If ever there would be a movie called Fifty Shades of Blue – it would be set in Bora Bora. It’s one of the small islands of French Polynesia in the middle of the Pacific. If you like the color blue – Bora Bora is for you.

Unlike in Moscow – where there’s snow still on the ground in places – spring is in full swing here (not that winter here will be a frosty white-out, I’m sure… but still). Possibly the world’s most perfect climate, and possibly more shades of natural blue on the planet too: the ideal location for a quiet, meditative vacation.

Indeed, this is the perfect antidote to weather-induced blues back home. It’s basically the exact opposite. Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this, since I’m sure many of you are still suffering the bizarrely unusual winter hangover up there in the northern hemisphere. Oops. Ok; will stop. But I just have to show you the pics!…

Just a few more pics and that’s it for today folks; I’ve a Blue-Bols-containing cocktail waiting for me down on the beach. Eek! There I go again!… :)

Au revoir folks; till tomorrow…

November 15, 2024

Space museum extraordinaire – with an 18+ twist at the end.

It’s been ages since the last time I wrote about outer space – too long; for space is cool far out!… Exploration of extraterrestrial space in any form, manned or not – plus cosmonautics, astrophysics and telescopes at the top of volcanoes, it’s all extremely important for the whole of mankind – and fantastically interesting for the […]

November 12, 2024

Kamchatka’s old Route 264: the views therefrom – top-drawer.

Forty kilometers to the south of Kronotsky there are two “cult” Kamchatkan volcanisms: (i) the Uzon volcanic caldera… -> …and the famous Valley of Geysers -> This year, instead of choppering in, looking about for a bit, then choppering off again, we decided to do a multi-day trek along the old Soviet Route No. 264… […]

November 11, 2024

The most graceful volcano of Kamchatka.

Next up, one of the most beautiful volcanoes in the world, and probably the most refined of the peninsula – Kronotsky ->

November 7, 2024

Winter’s coming; best get the beers in then.

Hi folks! I’m back home in Moscow – where it seems the fall has been cancelled! I flew out in summer – and flew back in winter! -> The contrast was remarkable – from the tropics to this. And winter’s still a month away! All this talk of global warming? It doesn’t seem to apply […]

November 6, 2024

Kamchatka-2024 – pt. 5: Kizimen… now and then.

It was farewell to what is possibly the world’s remotest hotel complex, and off we choppered south to our next Kamchatkan volcanic wonder – Kizimen (pronounced KizEEmen). And here she is – the view from the south: And from the north -> What differentiates this particular volcano of Kamchatka from others are the two lakes […]

November 2, 2024

Another country (Indonesia) – another volcano (Ijen).

Just like in Kamchatka, in Indonesia (where last week we had our super-successful Security Analyst Summit), there are a great many really cool hot volcanoes! I should know, since I’ve checked some of them out a few times – in 2018 around New Year, and last year after a press event (when we scaled Mount […]