The Wayfinder

Plantation Mountain Trek

2012-01-27T10:16:00.010-05:00

Recently we had the Victoria International School stay at the Absolute Adventure date plantation camp. We took them rock climbing, abseiling (rappelling), trekking and taught survival skills. I taught orienteering and trekking during their stay. We have a trek we usually take the kids on- the path takes you up a small mountain next to the beach and then down the backside to come down on the beach in the middle of an old fishing village. That trek is pretty interesting and scenic- but this week it was problematic due to some Irani refugees. The Omani army and the local police turned out to scour the mountains for them. Not wanting to get in their way, we had to alter our route. Ram decided to take the kids up a much taller mountain that sits adjacent to our camp. It's a much tougher climb with much more dramatic views at the top. The pinnacle features a knife-edge like rocky ridge which feels really exposed and has panoramic views.

The kids on the way up

Looking out over Dibba Oman and Dibba Fujeirah

Taking a break near the pinnacle

Walking along an edge

Heading down

The kids and me, hanging out under an overhang on a ledge at the end of our trek

Climbing in Wadi Khab Al Shamsi- It's COLD here!

2012-01-26T13:39:00.009-05:00

The past few days have been chilly with high winds that make it downright cold - especially in the shade. We decided to make the most of our day off before the Victoria International School arrived by going climbing in the wadi by our house- Wadi Khab al Shamsi.

We headed to the second narrow section where there is some really great sport climbing- it was bolted a little over a year ago. There is good diversity of routes in the second narrows- routes in the 5.7 to 5.8 range going up to around 5.11 or so.

The wind whipped through the canyon which was shaded by the high wadi walls- so we were really cold while we climbed.

Jessa and I snuggled on the crash pad while she belayed.

Tony and Ram took shelter from the wind in the Tahoe.

Stephen hanging out on a boulder watching the others climb

I'm sorry to say I don't have any good shots of us actually climbing. The shaded walls don't make for good photos without remote flashes and fancy camera equipment. The good news is that we've got some project climbs in that wadi and will be headed there lots more over the next few months to get our routes up. I'm hoping to get some good video with my HD video camera as well.

Back "home" in Dibba

2012-01-21T12:30:00.006-05:00

I'm currently back in Dibba, Oman to work for Absolute Adventure. I got to celebrate by 26th birthday en-route to Dubai, this time joined by my boyfriend Tony. We celebrated by having a nice glass of wine in the NYC airport before boarding our flight to Paris and then on to Dubai.

I'm excited to be living in the "yellow house" again, a bright house nestled between the mountains and the ocean. We have a really great view of the mountains from our front porch. Its gerat living here- we can go sea kayaking and rock climbing in the same day!

Our work started with a school group from Dubai. Tony and I taught sea kayaking together and had tons of fun with the kids. We were lucky to have good weather while they were here. After the kids left we spend our afternoon climbing in the wadi with our housemates Jessa and Stephen. Yesterday Tony and I took a group of college students from the Petroleum Institute on a dhow cruise up the coast.

Last night there was some rain and lots of wind. Here, any rain at all is dangerous, especially in the Wadi- small amounts of rain causes rocks to fall from the mountain. Rocks of all shapes and sizes are held against the mountainside by compacted dirt. When that dirt gets wet, it relaxes its grip on those rocks- which go tumbling down the mountainside and into the wadi. Heavy rain causes flash flooding that's powerful enough to move boulders the size of houses. We had a Jebel Kiwi trek planned which requires driving way up into the wadi and then trekking high up in the mountains. We changed our plans and took the clients to Smuggler's Bay instead- a hike through the mountains along the coast to a beautiful secluded beach.

Surf Camp: Hot Wax Surf Shop

2011-08-16T22:14:00.004-04:00

     This summer at Pamlico Sea Base we had a group that wanted to learn to surf. We took our group to Hot Wax Surf Camp in Emerald Isle. Even though the surf was "mushy" we had a great time. The camp had an assortment of boards to fit all the sizes and abilities of our group. They spent a good amount of time preparing us on land for what we would encounter in the water. We talked about managing the board in the water, the physics of water ad surfing, and did some stretches and practicing "popping up."
     I was really impressed with how the organized getting the group into the water. As a sea kayaking guide, I know how chaotic things can get when inexperienced kayakers set off into the water- a place where current, wind and waves can intimidate new paddlers and spread them out all over the place. Hot Wax surf camp got us into the water in a super controlled, safe way that made everyone feel really comfortable.
     We lined up in two lines on the beach. There were two instructors in the surf zone (where the waves are crashing) and two instructors floating on their boards out in the lineup. We already knew how to manage our big boards in the waves from our session on land, but it was great to have someone right next to us encouraging us and giving tips when we struggled. Once we made it through the breaking waves, we were sent paddling to the instructors floating in the lineup.

     Once we were all safely in the lineup, we practicing turing around, paddling, loosing our boards, retrieving our boards and the "nose grab." When it was time to start catching waves, the instructors were really encouraging and took the time to make sure everyone caught a wave. The camp is designed to give participants the basic skills they need to start surfing. You won't be a world class surfer by the end of your session, but you will have the skills you need to go out with a rental board on a nice day.
     In addition to taking posed photos on the beach, one of the instructors (and the owner of the shop) brought a waterproof camera out surfing to take candid photos of us while we surfed.

Hot Wax surf shop is a great place for families, scout troops, and groups of friends to have a great, safe first surfing experience.

First Trip of the Season

2011-07-23T17:56:00.017-04:00

    June 19th, George and I set off on the first sea kayaking trip of the 2011 summer season at Pamlico Sea base. This trip was particularly special because it was George's first sea kayaking trip! We had a small tight knit group of 6 which made it really easy for George to learn the ropes.

On the way to Cape Lookout, we stopped at Bird Island. Dustin found this really awesome knife there. If Davy Jones had a pocket knife, this is what it would look like.

Landing at Cape Lookout

George makes an awesome pirate doesn't he?

The aftermath of shoving a square box into a round hole.

On the way to Great Island Camp (AKA Fish Camp 1) Dustin caught a crab, with his bare hands, as he was paddling. Yeah, he's B.A.!

And then at Fish Camp 1, the guys caught even more!

Blue crab for dinner!

    After we reached Long Point Camp, or what we lovingly call Fish Camp 2 on Wednesday, we looked across the sound toward our Thursday destination, only to see a wall of smoke. There were several peat moss and forest fires burning in the area that had completely blocked our view of the land mass we would be heading to in the morning. All we could see was the marsh grass surrounding the ferry landing. Five miles across the sound, through the haze, was our first waypoint for Thursday morning; Cedar Island Point. Four miles beyond it, in Cedar Island Bay, was our final destination; the Cedar Island Ferry landing.

The view looking out onto the sound, only about a mile of visibility.
Typically you can see a land mass across the water.

Time to get out the map and compasses! We took a bearing from our location to our landing point using the map. It was due North. Even if we had no visibility in the morning, we wouldn't get lost.

  Every night the guys built a fire on the beach, which is trickier than building your typical campfire in the woods. It was really cool watching their fire building technique evolve over the course of the week. By Thursday night, they had it down.

   We got up at 4am Thursday morning to cross the sound. We get up this early because the wind isn't as strong this early in the morning, which makes our crossing easier. We put glowsticks on our kayaks so that any shrimping boats in the area can see us. The view of sunrise from the middle of the sound is always different and always magnificent.

The deck of my kayak ready for a pre-dawn paddle. Compass readied in case the smoke moved in as we paddled.

Sunrise that morning was pretty ominous and apocalyptic-looking. I blame the smokey conditions.

One of the scouts in his boat on our sunrise paddle.

Gimme that horizon...

Tim enjoying a well deserved ice cream at the ferry landing, waiting for the boat.

The gang on Ocracoke

Texas Iron Woman Crew 7701

2011-07-02T10:23:00.018-04:00

I spent this week with a rockin' all girl Venture Crew from Texas; crew 7701. They did the Iron Woman, which is half a week of cycling and half a week of paddling. Thursday, we paddled to Shackleford Banks for a night on the beach.

Crew 7701 on Ocracoke

Just a mile out of Cedar Island, Pat's tire literally popped.

So I got on Wal-Mart in Morehead city on the phone(thank you Iphone and 3G!!) trying to find a new tire. He had a rental bike with odd sized tires, so he ended up riding with me some of the way back before switching out with another rider.

After a long hard day of cycling 30 miles against a 23knot headwind!

Storms on Wednesday kept us from cycling and kayaking, so we headed to the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. The jellyfish were mesmerizing.

The pre-kayaking pep talk. Move your body like a belly dancer!

Rebecca and Ivy at our lunch stop on Bird Island

On Brown Island,Chrissy managed to use a scallop shell to catch this tiny fiddler crab, who posed for photos.

Nicole gettin' her protein for the day.

Our kayaks lined up on the sound side of Shackleford for the night

What to do when you forget your bowl? Eat your dinner from a giant shell.

The girls took advantage of the beautiful sunset for some sweet paddling shots.
Can we say Facebook photo!

Banker Ponies! They say that long ago a Spanish galleon wrecked on the shores of Shackleford Banks, and the ponies that live there are the descendants of those marooned horses.

The girls found a sea turtle skull on the beach.

Playing in the waves

Beach art at sunrise

Suck it up and eat a steak!

Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!

Rules of the Truck Road

2011-06-08T17:07:00.005-04:00

The "truck road" as we, and I think just about everyone else in the UAE, calls it, is a road that goes through the Emirates, connecting the Emirates Road to the road that goes through the north eastern section of the Hajar Mountains. Whenever we drive from Dibba, Oman to Dubai, we take the mountain road to the truck road and then get on the Emirates Road to go into Dubai. We are all accustomed to the road, familiar with its customs and unspoken rules. Once on a particularly busy day, it occurred to me how terrifying the road would be to say, and American riding down it in a taxi. Without any understanding of the rules, the road seems reckless and lawless.

There are no posted, enforced rules, but there is definitely a culture to the truck road. Here is what I've learned from driving on it so far-

-The speed limit is however fast you want to drive
-The road is two lanes with giant shoulders on each side
-Flash your brights if you're going to overtake
-If you're being overtaken, move onto the shoulder to make room
-If an oncoming car is overtaking, move onto the shoulder to give them more room
-Keep your hazards on if you're going over 140kph or under 100kph

Notes on Dubai

2011-06-07T23:00:00.005-04:00

Only in Dubai will you hear your American friend yell to his German buddy "Yella Habibi!" Arabic for "Let's go, my love"

Nearly half of the buildings here are in various stages of construction, with cranes and scaffolding everywhere. The skyline is littered with cranes. We play the crane game as we walk through the city- who can spot the most. Do the cranes on super yachts in the marina count? Just construction cranes? I can easily count twenty in view as I walk two blocks.

Dubai lacks a grounded sense of culture. Its like a giant international airport in an Arab country. There are clues to tell you where you are, but everyone and everything is from all over the place. Your taxi driver speaks four, maybe five languages. You can buy groceries with three different currencies.

There is this one section of the main drag, along Sheikh Zayed Road, where the skyline is really weird and ominous. In Manhattan, the skyscrapers form this mass of skyline, surrounding each other to form a dense downtown. Dubai doesn't have that density. So many of the skyscrapers are pretty solitary. It looks really bizarre, a skyscraper surrounded by three and four story buildings. This one section of Sheikh Zayed Road is lined on each side by skyscrapers. But behind them are tiny single and two story buildings. When you drive down the road, its like driving through a gauntlet. I found a photo on the internet that shows how dramatic it is.

You find yourself using words and phrases in daily interaction that come from places you have never been, in addition to the place you currently are. I adopted the following words:
'posh' from the United Kingdom
'braai' from South Africa
'post' from Germany
and my most beloved phrase;
'yella habibi' Arabic.

Exploring the Wadi in the Pick-up

2011-02-28T03:01:00.006-05:00

Yesterday Eddie, Ania and I decided to paddle to Smuggler's Bay, a rather large secluded beach about 3 miles up the coast from our house. It typically only takes a little over an hour to get there even in the short sit on top kayaks we have. Unfortunately the sea had other plans for us. It took forever just to paddle to the point (a rocky bit of land we use as a reference point) because the sea was pretty big and the swell unorganized. Before the point, the swell was maybe 2 to 3 feet, but grew to 3 to 4 feet once we reached the point. We would have had an easier time had we had rolling swell, but each wave was covered in its own chop and the kayaks couldn't smoothly float over the swell but were banged around in different directions each time.
Typically, the winds and wave heights grow higher here in the afternoon. Ania fell off a boulder problem a month or two ago in India and injured one of her ribs, which started to ache as we paddled. We decided it would take another 30 to 45 minutes to reach Smuggler's Bay, and then we would have to immediately return knowing that we had rougher seas and a longer paddle to get back. Eddie would probably have to tow Ania back because of her rib. We decided the trip wasn't worth the risk or misery and turned around at the point. Swimming and body surfing on the beach in front of Paul's was much more fun than struggling back from Smuggler's bay.

Then we swapped the van out for the pick-up and headed into the wadi to check out one of the newer climbing spots we take clients and try to get all the way up the wadi before dark. The new climbing spot is pretty cool, a smooth vertical climb up a dry waterfall (it isn't dry when it rains!) and a complete arch to the left. I'll post photos of it next time I go there. We drove most of the way up the wadi, through this really narrow solid rock section that was just amazing. At one point, the rock is just barely wide enough for a truck to get through. It's just solid rock that you can feel and see how the water has sculpted the rock in that tiny passage. The rock is smooth and round. I'm sure it pounds and crashes through there. It's hard to imagine what it looks like full of water, how the rocks and boulders and crevasses shape the rapids.

All of us want to find a safe, dry ledge up high in the wadi to sit out a proper rain storm and watch the chaos unfold below us. We got to a split in the road, by a fenced in mosque and realized we would have to turn around soon to make it out by dark. We decided to drive another three minutes on one of the roads, and had to choose which one. Ania said the one to the left looked new, curvy, steep and more interesting so we took that one. I was glad to have the pick-up with off road tires and 4 wheel drive because I needed it to get up that hill. At one point the road took a hard left and looked pretty washed out and loose on the left hand side, not wanting to dig the left side into a little ravine, we got out and walked to the top of the hill. We were greatly rewarded when we got up there. Almost magically, there were large villages on the tops of the hills, which had surprisingly large flat areas. You would never guess that the tops of the mountains in the wadi were so flat and that so many people lived up there. There are little clues as you drive through the wadi, even in the narrowest, steepest sections there are big white water tanks that maybe hold two hundred gallons or so. The Omani army drops them off with helicopters and trucks so that the villages have clean drinking water. As you drive through the wadi, you wonder where the village is and how on earth they get to the water. I drove up out of the rocky narrow wadi, up this crazy steep, hairpin washed out dirt road, to find a large village atop a flat mountain.
We needed to head back as the sun was starting to go down, and Eddie wanted to drive, so Ania and I jumped into the truck bed to get a better view of the wadi. Going down that crazy steep hill we sat with our feet against the front of the bed to keep ourselves from sliding downward.

At one point Eddie sped up to get up a hill, Ania and I were deep in conversation and not paying attention, rolled backwards and watched out feet go skyward simultaneously. We were sure Eddie did this on purpose and thought he must be having a good laugh. Turns out it was purely accidental and he missed the whole ordeal much to his regret.

Traditinal Rowing in Kalba

2011-02-19T10:44:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Kalba, UAE to do some traditional rowing in the mangroves. The whole gang showed up, pretty much the entire company except a couple of people. I chose a seat behind Mike, next to Ania around the middle of the boat.

Our Emirati rowing instructor was a national champion. At first he counted, setting a pace for us and then once we settled in started singing traditional songs in Arabic. He even taught us a short chorus to chime in with when he could hear it coming around again in the song. I mentioned to Mike and Ania that I felt a lot like Sparticus, which started a round of "I am Sparticus" "No! I am Sparticus!" much to my amusement.

We rowed in relative unison into the mangroves and then back. The pace was pretty blistering and we took no breaks but we had a great time and it was a great workout. I had pretty massive blisters on my hands from it. The pattern of the friction in my palm is different from kayaking, so my calluses from paddling did me no good in rowing.

New places to explore

2011-02-11T05:00:00.023-05:00

A few days ago, Eddie and Ania arrived. They flew in from India, where they had gone exploring. Before their India trip they worked in China for China Climb, an outdoor education program there. They are great additions to the house and program and I know we’ll have lots of fun together. Today, we took them into the wadi we frequent to show them our established climbing routes and the boulder field named Damian's Boulders. We parked the truck at the base of Damian’s boulders and hopped from boulder to boulder. It was really fun seeing Eddie and Ania’s faces as they saw all the boulders for the first time. Weeks could be spent climbing in that boulder field. They are exited about being here and all the fun things we’ll be doing. Then Micah took us to a different wadi on the other side of the dam, which has a really huge solid wall with lots of climbing potential. Micah, Mike and Jesi found it a month or two ago. It has the potential for multi-pitch routes and a boulder field at its base. It hasn't been developed yet so we hope to begin the process. We parked at the base of a smaller mountain and hiked to the top of it, where there is an abandoned village at the top and a great view of the big multi-pitch wall. Eddie has a really nice digital SLR camera and took loads of great photos. We climbed into the little houses and admired the construction of them. There are loads of pottery shards everywhere all over the ground by the village. Once you get a hang of spotting them, you can hardly take a step without spotting a piece. We found a pile of large shards with patterns painted and carved into them and managed to find matching pieces. There are hundreds of little stone buildings in the mountains and dozens of caves we are eager to explore.

Ania and I in the boulder field.

Showing them one of our climbing spots in Wadi Hilti.

The big wall we hope to develop

A stone hut and the big wall

Checking out the abandoned huts

A grave, with the head and foot marked

Inside another hut with Ania

Ania found a person sized dip in a boulder and we proceeded to fit ourselves into it.

Eddie doesn't fit!

Eddie and Ania, peering out from a hut

Three of us in a hut

What's so interesting down there in the dirt?

We're piecing together pottery shards!

And last but not least, a tree goat!

One exciting morning, sea kayaking and a water spout

2011-02-05T14:19:00.006-05:00

On my second day here, Micah and I took the older kids from Uptown School sea kayaking. The forecast called for light wind in the morning, getting stronger in the afternoon, with possible storms. The sky was a pretty gray and we could see bands of dark clouds.
The wind was constant but not hard, maybe around 10-13 knots, and the sea was rolling swell around 2-3 feet. The wind was headed toward the shore, made it safe enough to take the kids out. We did decide it wasn’t wise to paddle all the way to our normal destinations, so instead we picked two stopping points within sight of the Golden Tulip resort and our starting point. After a Kayaking 101 on dry land, we hit the water.
Micah and I teaching on the beach.

The kids did well launching into crashing surf and paddling over the swell. The sea grew higher the further we paddled. Eventually we were among rolling swells between 3 and 4 feet. The kids were having fun and didn’t seem scared at all. When we reached the second stopping point, the swell became more vertical and choppy; making staying upright more challenging so we decided to turn around and head back. After turning around, a couple of boats flipped. The swimmers stayed calm and listened well to directions during the rescue, making it back into their boats in a minute or two. Everyone surfed the waves back onto the beach where we decided to go for a swim.

A narrow band of dark clouds was about to pass over us when we noticed a small tendril of cloud reaching downward about a mile off shore. We watched it grow longer and saw swirling spray of salt water it was pulling upward.

First, it moved parallel to shore but then turned, looking like it might head toward us.

If the spout came ashore, there was a nearby cement building we could seek shelter in. It turned again and headed to the far end of the beach. It transformed from waterspout to tornado as it came ashore. There was a family on that part of the beach, and they stood right there and watched it came ashore, no further from it than a few dozen feet. Did they not know what it was? Did they not think it was dangerous? I don’t know a way to tell how strong a tornado is from looking at it, and I’ve never been in one. I would have been scared being as close as they were. It squeezed between the bases of two mountains before retreating back into the band of clouds.

Help your luggage find you!

2011-01-27T16:13:00.004-05:00

The most worrisome thing about flying is loosing your luggage. Even if you pack ultra smart and don't check anything, sometimes your bag ends up in the belly of the plane anyway. I've heard stories of travelers having to check their larger carry-on because the plane was full. Talk about stressful travelling!
So far, I've been really lucky, never having had a bag get lost in transit, but that doesn't make me feel much better about the whole thing. What about luggage tags? They are definitely a good idea, but all the conveyor belts your bag travels down can easily rip off your tags. I've taken a few precautions to make it easy for the airline to figure out that it belongs to me and what they should do with it if the airline label or my luggage tag comes off.

1. Take a sharpie to your stuff. My big yellow North Face duffel bag has my name, cell phone number and email address written in large black letters on the top; a very visible location. There are a few bags that I wouldn't want my name plastered all over the outside of, so I've written the same information inside of the bag in a very visible place. If anyone opens the bag, they'll see my information.

2. Create a word document with your name, phone number, email address, and if you like, your mailing address. Beneath that, put contact information for use in the place you are going. I included my boss's name and email address in UAE in addition to my own. Then, lay out your itinerary. Make it very easy to read. Include the date, airline, the flight number, where the flight leaves and lands. I use a large font with plenty of room between lines of type. If the tags the airline prints and sticks to your stuff gets ripped off, the first thing the luggage handler will do is look inside your bag. Make it easy for them to find.

Tricks for Traveling- Don't forget anything!

2011-01-22T13:37:00.008-05:00

First and foremost, I'm a huge list maker. I make lists all the time to help me stay organized. This helps tremendously when I am packing for a trip. I start a list in a small notebook, and keep it with me for a few days. That way no matter where I am, if I think of something I need to add to it, I can. When I am satisfied my packing list is complete, I photocopy it. Don't forget to add obvious things like your passport and credit card. This should be a hard thing to forget, but with the stress of a big trip it can happen. Wondering why I need two lists? Keep reading to find out why.
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Awesome Women's Travel Clothes - Found on Etsy

2011-01-10T19:31:00.031-05:00

I love Etsy, the handmade online marketplace. Etsy is home to thousands of web shops owned by artists and crafters making all sorts of beautiful products. Buying products on Etsy is easy and connects buyers to high quality, customizable products. Just about anything that can be made by hand is available on Etsy. I've been selling on Etsy for a couple of years and have had positive experiences both selling and buying there. Over the years, I've added hundreds of items to my "want" list. Many of them have me dreaming of far off places, so I've decided to share them with you.
Most of them fit my travel clothing guidelines and are super cute. Sorry guys, this post is for the girls.
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Tricks for traveling Light - Bags for Adventure Travel

2011-01-10T13:04:00.008-05:00

Adventure travelers aren't your typical tourists, so of course their luggage needs are different. I've decided to break my posts on travel bags into two sections, the first for adventure travelers and the second for traditional tourists.

There is so much to consider when choosing your luggage and other bags for adventure travel. Adventure travel is so often filled with adversity, making packing a pretty nerve wracking venture in itself. I speak from experience. I've learned a few lessons the hard way. While I was in Costa Rica, 5 minutes of carelessness lost me my passport, debit card and cash. In this post, we'll work through things one should consider when choosing luggage to make your trip safe, secure and happy.
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Tricks for Traveling Light: Clothes

2010-12-27T18:02:00.014-05:00

When I travel, I try to go as light as possible. Last time I left to live overseas for two months, I didn't check anything, worried the airline would loose it and I would get there without things I really needed. I fit everything I needed into a multi-day hiking backpack and a large Timbuk2 messenger bag.

Everything in two bags by WayfinderAli on Polyvore.com

Anyone can pack this effectively and efficiently. I'll help you know what to look for in clothing to enable you to pack light and still be prepared for whatever you encounter on your adventure.
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Snow and Hot Chocolate :)

2010-12-04T22:59:00.010-05:00

It snowed today in Raleigh! Although it will probably negatively impact my drive back to Greenville tomorrow, it was nice to drive home from work through a winter wonderland. The trees and houses are pretty with a blanket of snow. Our neighbors have their Christmas lights up which looked really awesome in the snow. To celebrate my mom made hot chocolate while my dad and I worked on various projects for the leather shop.
Dad's hot cocoa:

Mom's hot cocoa:

My hot cocoa:

It was only after the fact that I noticed that Dad has just whipped cream, my Mom just has marshmallows, and fittingly, mine has both.
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Outdoor Gift Guide- Stocking Stuffers Part Two- Endurance Athletes

2010-12-04T18:06:00.005-05:00

Stocking Stuffers for Endurance Athletes by WayfinderAli

1. Keep their noggin and ears warm on a run, ride, or paddle with a windproof Gore Bike wear helmet cap $25.95
2. Chilly mornings often make for warmer afternoons. Help them transition without slowing down with Smartwool arm warmers $25
3. If they run in Vibram Five Fingers, their toes may be a little chilly in colder temps. Keep their toes and legs warm with Injinji's new outdoor calf length merino wool toe socks $16
4. Earbuds that fall out are annoying. Koss' Sport Clip Headphones won't fall out.
5. Keep them amped, even while on the couch with Christopher McDougall's Born to Run $15
6. Hard work on cold days often makes for sore muscles. Ease their pain with a Body Wrap from Carex.
7. Keep their hands warm during 3 seasons with these Manzella Silkweight Windstopper Glove When its just chilly, they block the wind without overheating. Add a liner glove for toasty hands on colder days.
8. Fuel them to the finish line with Cliff Energy Shots. Compact enough for a back pocket, fast and easy to down on the go.
9. L-Glutamine helps with protein synthesis, immune system support, cell hydration and has no known negative side effects. Get it from GNC for just $5.99
10. There's nothing less refreshing than warm water after a workout. Polar Insulated Bottles keep drinks colder longer. $11.99
11. Help them stay hydrated, without all the sugar. Elete electrolyte additive can be added to water to boost electrolyte levels without the performance zapping effects of sugar. $4.99
12. It's hard to find a good skin protection that stays on when you sweat profusely. Sol Sunguard's MultiSport formula keeps skin protected from sun and wind even while sweating. This formula "breates" to let sweat out while retaining its protecting qualities.
13. Bodyglide is a must-have for all types of endurance athletes from expedition kayakers to marathoners and cyclists. Sweat and friction combine to make for one uncomfortable experience in really awful places. Prevent it with Bodyglide.
14. Cliff Shot Bloks provide simple and complex carb fuel in a pre-portioned package. Just need a little boost? Eat one or two from the pack. Need a kick in the rear? Eat the whole pack.

Outdoor Gift Guide- Stocking Stuffers Part One

2010-11-30T14:56:00.009-05:00

Every year we struggle to buy presents for those outdoors-y people in our lives. You either have no idea what they actually do out in the wilderness, so what do you buy? How do you know what to give someone who seems to have everything? This series will give you some ideas for those weekend warriors, scouts and backcountry guides in your life.

This is the first part of a series that will continue through the next two weeks. We'll start easy, with stocking stuffers! Stocking stuffers should be unique, fun, small and less than $30. Today we'll cover stocking stuffers for anyone and everyone who loves playing outside and stocking stuffers for rock climbers. Check back on Thursday for stocking stuffers for Endurance Athletes and Paddlers.

For the boy scout, guide, gear head who has everything, or anyone in your life who loves outdoor adventure:

Outdoor Stocking Stuffers by ☆WayfinderAli☆

1. Keep their feet warm, dry and funk free with some Smartwool performance socks. $13-21
2. A soft Smartwool neck gaiter is a hat, headband or of course, neck gaiter. $25
3. If they like playing outside, chances are they eat Clif Bars. And one can never have too many in reserve.
4. Freeze dried meals from Backpacker's Pantry make trip planning easier, hunger pains shorter and clean-up a breeze. $2-9
5. Coghlan's Telescoping Fork The smartest, coolest marshmallow roaster ever. This fork extends to get to the sweet spot without burned fingers. Plus, it has a built in rotator knob for even roasting! $12.97
6. Protect their lips from sun, snow and wind with Burt’s Bees Outdoor SPF 15 lip balm $4
7. Setting up tarps, tents and even hammocks is fast and knot free with the Nite Ize Figure 9 carabiner. $6
8. For the DIY outdoorsman, or woman, a pro-membership to Instructables is perfection. Learn to do or make just about anything from user-uploaded DIY projects, show others what you made and how to make it, enter contests to win prizes. $23.40
9. Get them out of a sticky situation with the SOL Core Lite survival knife. This little knife boasts a built-in whistle and LED light. $25
10. Help them ease into Monday morning with some soothing hand and toe warmers from Grabber. $2

For the rock climber in your life:

Stocking Stuffers for Rock Climbers by ☆WayfinderAli☆

1. Arno Ilgner, author of the classic “The Rock Warriors Way,” brings us “Espresso Lessons;” practical lessons for on and off the rock. $19.95
2. Misty Mountain brings back the Bouldering Scratch Mat for the boulderer in your life. $9.95
3. Some climbers go through climbing tape like you wouldn’t believe. Plus it doubles as medical tape in a pinch. $3.95
4. Keep them pumped out even in the off season with a Dynaflex Pro Gyro Hand Exerciser
5. Make their favorite pair of shoes last longer with Five Ten’s Stealth Paint Repair Kit $16.99
6. If all else fails, at least buy them some Super Chalk. Chalk is like Clif Bars, it’s always good to have a reserve.
7. Does your climber play well with others? Chances are they climb well with them too. Black Diamond’s Gorilla Chalk Bag is big and flat bottomed, a communal chalk pot perfect for group bouldering sessions.

Carolina Currents Article

2010-11-28T08:54:00.008-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to publish an article about kayaking around coastal North Carolina for Carolina Currents magazine. I'm re-publishing it here because it may be helpful to you if you are planning a kayaking trip to the coast of North Carolina. If you want more details about places I'm familiar with, feel free to comment or contact.
Click the article below to read at full size.

My article appears in the Fall 2010 issue of Carolina Currents.

Check out the Carolina Currents website for free downloads of every issue.

Pimp your PFD

2010-11-24T18:53:00.012-05:00

Your PFD is your personal flotation device, so you should make it just that; personal!

A personal flotation device is an item all kayakers are required to have by law. There are a few other items the Coast Guard requires us to carry to be legal. These include:
-a sound producing device
-a signaling device
-a visual distress signal
-a navigational light

The law doesn't provide definitions for these items and doesn't direct the paddler on where they should be stored. There is definitely room for creativity.
Read more »

Comfortable Beach Camping; The Magic of Baby Powder

2010-11-05T13:35:00.011-04:00

Photo credit Johnson & Johnson

If you have never camped on a beach before, it seems like a novel idea. It sounds romantic, relaxing, peaceful, playful and fun. If you have ever camped on the beach, you may use less glamorous adjectives like gritty, dirty, sweaty, crunchy and others. Sand and salt are what make the beach beautiful and miserable, unless you come armed with baby powder.
Baby Powder?! What's so magical about baby powder? Read more »

This Gypsy Life- Working Seasonal Outdoor Rectreation Jobs Year-round

2010-08-04T16:21:00.011-04:00

As many of you know, for the past few months I've been bouncing between different jobs. I made a decision a few months ago to try do the seasonal thing full time. There are lots of outdoors-y people out there who do it and I had an opportunity to do the same. Basically the ultimate goal is to find the most awesome, well paying job in the coolest place while its the best time to be there and then when it becomes not nice to be there (like really hot summers or extreme winters) to be there, go some other awesome place. Sometimes this works out, sometimes it doesn't

This lifestyle has some pretty sweet benefits. Because I do different jobs during different parts of the year, I don't get bored. I live (for the most part) rent free, as most places provide seasonal housing. I get to be active and outdoors and get paid (relatively well considering) for it. Often jobs like this are in really cool places, and they pay for you to get there. It seems like the perfect life, but there are hardships and problems that come with it. Below I've listed and expanded on the benefits and troubles with this lifestyle.

On to the good stuff:

free or cheap housing
Many places I've worked provide room and board. This is a tremendous help when you need to start saving or need to pay off debt. When looking for new work, especially in a new place, this can make or break my decision to work there. I have lots of friends who bounce around places like this and hardly ever pay rent.

time outdoors
my job is outside, often in a beautiful place. There is something special about living in rhythm with the natural world. You feel this deeper connection to not only the world around you but to the past and future as well.

active bodies and minds
Generally, I feel better when my body and my mind get lots of exercise. I think most people feel the same way.

free travel
So far, the only places I've been to for free are the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Hopefully that list will grow in the not so distant future. I have friends who have been all over the United States and all over the world doing these types of jobs.

seeing and experiencing awesome places
When I go places, I get to experience them, meaning they become part of my identity, part of my experience. These places impact me and the other people I am there with. When I've traveled as a tourist, I've noticed that sometimes I leave without a real feel for the place. So often as a tourist, a place is a beautiful sunset, some souvenirs from a store, a few photos taken, smiling at some important location. But sometimes those places don't become part of an identity, part of who and what and why one is. This is why I use the word "experience" instead of "see."

meeting new and awesome people
People I've worked with and for have positively impacted my life in so many ways. In this field, I've met all kinds of people with extremely varied life experiences.

networking withing my field
Most of my jobs have come from previous jobs. I got my job at Sea Base through my job at Great Outdoor. I got my job at Absolute Adventure in the UAE from my job at Pamlico Sea Base. I tell people who want to get into the field that it only takes one good summer job at a well established company to kick start your career.

a deep and peaceful sense of self
There is something about the combination of communing with nature, leading others and pushing your own physical and mental limits that gives you this unwavering, peaceful and comfortable sense of self. When I'm out there, I know exactly who, how and why I am. I have yet to be able to convene with this self when I am in the front country. I'm working on that one.

I never have to wear heels or suits
The closest thing to a dress shirt I have to wear is a button up fishing style shirt to protect my skin from the sun. It's pretty nice to get to wear jeans and t-shirts to work. Sometimes I get to wear a bikini to work! And, I get to save the heels and mini-skirts for fun things like dates!

The Tribe Mentality
I often take for granted the level of trust I automatically get from my participants. They are forced to trust me because they are in unfamiliar territory. Usually by the third day, the trust spreads out. I've proven myself to them and they choose to give their trust. My relationship has grown with them to a point where I know that if I need help, I ask for it. As the only guide with 13 to 17 people, I am often completely overwhelmed in emergency situations. I am proud and thankful to lean on my participants (and vice versa) in times of need. There is such an awesome dynamic in a group that works together like a tribe. Everyone knows everyone else's strengths and the team functions as a cohesive unit when problem solving. You feel closer to people you spend a week with than you do to people you have known for years. Challenge, risk and cooperation form amazing bonds!

autonomy
When I am out in the back country, the varying factors are weather and the people I am leading. Because I am the guide, I make the final decisions- although my participants safety and mental well being are my top priorities. There is no one above me telling me what to do, or when and how to do it. This is critical in emergencies when autocratic leadership style is most effective.

I've had countless conversations with people who had no idea that this kind of life was possible, and were shocked that could be sustainable. Often, people are either envious or inspired. Some people just think I'm crazy. I've talked to adults, well established in their careers, who look back enviously and imagine what would be different if they had chosen differently. Other adults are thankful for their inside job, stability and house and wouldn't want what I do. Others are just excited for me. I was amazed to find how few people my own age and younger have no idea such a life exists. Its not even on their radar. It wasn't on mine until I worked at Camp High Rocks and saw another career path. I guess with all the focus on college and degrees and "real jobs" its hard imagine what else might be out there.

The tough stuff:
This life seems glamorous and captivating, which, I have to admit a large part of it is. The awesomeness of this lifestyle does come with its share of troubles. They are definitely something to consider before you decide to take the plunge. I discovered these pitfalls through experience and a few of them have definitely caused chaos and heartache.

its really hard to deal with health problems
I don't mean like dealing with a sprained ankle on a trip. I'm referring to needing to get prescriptions filled or having dental work done etc. I have to work really hard to schedule things to prevent unexpected problems during the times I won't be able to get away to handle them. Sometimes I need prescriptions filled before my insurance company will let me because I'll be gone when that day comes up. Our days off are typically weekends, days when doctor's offices are closed. And when we're working, we're committed to a full 5 days in the back-country with a group. If you need a day, it impacts the whole week. Also, if your jobs move you around quite a bit, it can be hard to see a new doctor all the time. You may grow tired of explaining things over and over again to different doctors or transferring paperwork all the time. If you have a weird health problem going on that you need lots of tests for it can be really frustrating and complicated to get treatment.

the "real world" for everyone else isn't yours
you'll often find the difference in experiences can push you apart from friends and family. Your experiences can be so radically different from theirs that sometimes it's hard for you to identify with each other or understand each other. I've found you need to work really hard to either really listen and empathize with each other -or- leave your back country experiences in the back-country (take the life lessons with you though!) and live 100% in the moment when you are with those people. It can also be hard to sustain long term romantic relationships if you're constantly moving around. If that person is moving with you, chances are he or she is working with you. This means you are working and living together. Working with the person you are dating or married to isn't always easy and doesn't work for everyone.

work can be physically, emotionally and mentally exhausting
Most jobs like this require a significant amount of physical exertion. If you work as a guide, you may be "at work" 24 hours a day for 5 or more days. Some guides spend weeks and months in the back country. Your work days may include early mornings and long physically tough working hours. If you have problems in the back country, you may have to function on very few hours of sleep. Because the season is often pretty short, you might only get one day off a week, or one day off every two weeks. Most guides I know can fall asleep just about anywhere they need to. Because you are "on" all the time out in the field, it can be hard to keep up the attitude you need to provide your participants with a positive experience. It can be draining to force yourself to keep worries and negativity silent, or to stifle parts of your personality that don't mesh well with your participants.

high risk and stress levels
Many outdoor sports are pretty dangerous. Risk is an inherent part of these sports, as well as an important part. (I'll go into why risk can be a good thing in a later post.) Outdoor activities include inherent risk (risk that is an integral part of the activity plus there is always the risk of dangerous weather) Dangerous situations cause stress. Being in charge of the health and well being of others while in those dangerous situations greatly increases this stress level.

not enough "me" time
If you are a guide, much of your time is spent out in the field. This has a massive impact on the amount of time you have to yourself to do things you want to. When I worked at High Rocks and was a counselor, I was in camp the vast majority of my time at work. This meant that at night, I slept in my home at camp where I had access to my personal belongings, a phone and sometimes internet. When I am out in the field at Sea Base, I usually have enough room in my kayak to bring a journal and a book to read. Things like checking email and doing my other hobbies are limited to my day off.

paying bills, receiving mail etc
When you move around a lot, you have to really stay on top of changing your address with every company you owe money to. I have set mine up so that my parents receive all of my important mail like my bank statement, college loan payments and others. They live over 2 hours from where I work. If I needed any of that paperwork I would have to drive there to deal with it or call them to have them help me. The other option is trusting my mail to the place I work. I also recently discovered that many banks won't approve you for a credit card if you hold seasonal work. Even if you work full time the whole year and that time is made of seasonal jobs, they may not approve you.

These are some of the problems I am willing to deal with and work around in order to benefit from the positives of this lifestyle. Maybe one day I'll get burned out and decide to get a "real" job. Lots of people get burned out. I have a friend who just got to a point at which she wanted a normal social life, a routine, a bigger paycheck and a boyfriend. She is starting school to become a nurse. I'm hoping I'll see more of the world before that day comes but we'll see how it goes.

Review: At home Chartmaker from NOAA online

2010-08-01T17:38:00.003-04:00

I recently picked up a copy of the August edition of Sea Kayaker magazine and was excited by one of the articles: "Do-It-Yourself Charts, NOAA Online Makes it Easy." The article explained that NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) had taken most available US Coastal waters charts, put them into digital format and made them available to download online for free. Being able to print charts at home is beneficial in a couple of ways. First, the charts for sale are pretty expensive, around $20 per chart. Second, the charts available for sale are much too large to use easily on the deck of a sea kayak. The article claims that now, you can make your own kayak friendly charts. National Geographic, as well as a few other companies, make waterproof paper you can use with an inkjet printer. If you want to print your own charts, head here:
NOAA Booklet Charts
Here is a link to waterproof copy paper:
National Geographic Adventure Paper
I was hoping to use this new resource to enable us to make our own awesome maps and save Sea Base some money. I downloaded two charts that cover the area we usually kayak over the course of five days. I was pretty disappointed. The article I read made it seem like these charts were pretty customizable. They aren't. NOAA has divided the large scale chart for you. Basically take the original chart and divide it up by letter size paper. You can't choose where the chart is divided which is extremely inconvenient for our situation. Here is the front page of the chart we use, showing how NOAA divided it:

In a day, we often paddle from Shackleford (section 12) South East toward Core Banks (crossing into section 13) and south through the boat channel to Cape Lookout. To go any further south than Cape Lookout moves us back to section 12. So within a 3 hour paddle, you may have to switch from one chart to the other twice. Not to mention that the when the boat channel enters Barden Inlet, it runs right on the seam of the two sections. Right out in the middle of the boat channel, in the middle of the inlet, is where I would have to switch maps. Not convenient. When we paddle North East up to New Drum Inlet, along South Core Banks, headed to North Core banks, we are forced to use section 10 to cover only about 4 miles of paddling, right at Drum Inlet. Here is the full map, in use. I am showing my group how far we paddled that day.

I would have to print 5 pages of this chart and switch constantly if I downloaded it instead of buying the one piece chart. Definitely not worth the trouble. What they should do is make the entire undivided chart available to download and let people use their own software to zoom in, rotate and/or crop to make their own charts. This would make it possible to print charts of the route that flow together conveniently and don't include areas they find unnecessary. If I could get the entire chart in a digital version, I could zoom into the area I wanted to print, rotate the map to make the best use of space on the paper, and then print the chart onto waterproof paper. The way the down-loadable charts are currently divided, I'll stick with my $20 super-sized, waterproof chart. Plus, my super sized chart has the entire area on one side, and then a zoomed in, detailed view of Shackleford Banks and Cape Lookout on the other side. The chart I currently use is available from MapTech. It is Ocracoke to Beaufort: WPC091-2.

Why you should always bring an umbrella sea kayaking...

2010-08-01T13:17:00.002-04:00

An umbrella? Why bring an umbrella sea kayaking? There are dozens of reasons!
1. Sailing. If you have a decent tail wind, hold your umbrella out in front of you and steer with your rudder or by putting your kayak on its edge.

If you're crafty, you can rig your umbrella up so you can sail and paddle at the same time.

2. Shade. You can rig up your umbrella behind your back for some shade while you paddle. I stuck mine down the back of my PFD.

Man Down!!

I store my umbrella on the deck of my kayak under the rigging for quick deployment.

If you decide to take an umbrella next time you go, make sure you get a nice golf style umbrella. If you don't get a sturdy one, and you try to sail with it, the wind will just flip it out and break it. A big nice golf umbrella works brilliantly as a sail. I also suggest buying a clear one so you can see where you're going. We had a few near collisions with duck blinds due to umbrella blockage.

More sea kayaking tips from Ali:
Clothes for warm weather sea kayaking

Review: Stohlquist Kitty PFD

2010-07-20T15:20:00.004-04:00

I got really lucky last week; I got a nearly brand new life jacket for free. Reggie (my boss) had a size small, women’s specific Stohlquist brand touring life jacket. I’m not sure if I would have chosen it for myself if I were ordering one, but I sure was glad to get it, and it fit! I’m used to wearing a Chica by Extrasport. So I tried them both on in my room to compare and decided to take a big risk: test the new jacket during a week in the field. Why was this risky? If I found out after an hour of paddling I hated the jacket, I had to paddle 20 or 30 more hours in it. This life jacket was superb throughout the trip and I continued to use it all summer. I never had any rubbing or chaffing problems. My perspective is from a guide, paddling 5+ hours a day in my life jacket. I am 5'2," 130lbs and wear a 34B. Here are some things I love about the jacket, and a few things I might change.

Great things:
*the foam in the chest of the vest is cut away to keep from squishing breasts
*the front pocket is nice. It’s easy to stick my hand into and dig around but wasn’t big and bulky. The pocket is completely flat, but ingeniously they put two pieces of neoprene at the edges to give the pocket enough stretch to dig around in.
*low profile and out of my way. My arms never rubbed against it when I paddled
*reflective piping for visibility in low light
*an accessible place to put my rescue knife
*mine is orange, which is very visible during the day from a long way away
*there are two buckle points that reinforce the zipper. You can buckle (quick release buckles) it closed before you zip it, which makes zipping it faster and easier.

Things I would change:
*It’s a pull-on style PFD which got pretty annoying because I wear a big hat when I paddle. When we stopped on an island I had to take my hat off to take my life jacket off. Of course, the Extrasport Chica I compared it to has a zip front. This makes for easy on/off except that as the Chica wears the zipper gets harder to zip up and there is only one buckle point at the bottom of the vest. So the pull on could be an advantage in some ways.
*this PFD would probably be problematic with a kayak that has a high seat back (instead of a back band) because the lower back of the PFD is rather thick
*the shoulder straps aren’t adjustable in length. If I had bigger breasts, the life jacket would probably ride up all the time or suffocate me.
*I would add another knife placement on the back of the jacket, up high, in case I wanted to carry two different knives or keep my knife on my back instead of in front of me
*the knife placement was sometimes annoying. I usually didn’t have problems, but a couple of times got things caught on my knife. I have a NRS Co-Pilot.

I really like this jacket and am really lucky to have gotten it for free. Many kayakers who spend long hours paddling may want more pockets or more adjustment. I really like this jacket, but if I were buying one, I might also consider the TowMotion or the Cruiser by Stohlquist.

Shopping for a kayak? Check out Ali's review of the Tsunami 160 by Wilderness Systems

Pamlico Sea Base 2010

2010-07-02T22:14:00.000-04:00

This summer I'm spending my time working at Pamlico Sea Base working as a sea kayaking guide. I fell in love with it last summer so I decided to spend another summer here. We live right on the Pamlico River in a little staff cabin. Our cabin looks out over the water and the views are always awesome. Every night I watch the sunset either over the Pamlico river, or over the Atlantic ocean while sitting on a beach. Its a pretty beautiful life.
Tony took this cool promo photo for me on our little waterfront:

My summer here started with work around camp, cleaning up and reorganizing our storage rooms and fixing boats. We had three kayaks with gaping holes in them from last summer. We have a trailer that doesn't have fenders over the tires and the kayaks sat on the tires during a 2 hour trip, resulting in massive holes in the sides. We needed those boats for this summer, so I fixed them with an old kayak, a blow torch and metal spoon. I figured since I was at it, I might as well make an instructable (a tutorial) on fixing one. In hindsight, I think a heat gun may have worked well, perhaps better than a blowtorch. Here's my instructable:

Fixing a plastic (polyethylene) kayak with a hole in it - More DIY How To Projects

Extra time in Dubai

2010-07-02T22:03:00.001-04:00

For reasons out of my control, I spent an extra 24 hours in Dubai, which I definitely didn't complain about! Mike was "stuck" in Dubai for an extra day too, so we decided to just walk around aimlessly and see what we found. We walked around Deira, the neighborhood our boss Paul lives in and eventually wound up at the souqs and Dubai creek. I bought awesome hand made leather genie shoes. They're bright pink with silver rinestones and mirrors and have curled up toes. I'll try to post an awesome picture at some point.
We wandered into the Hindi district right by Old Dubai. We decided to be tourist-y and go for the obligatory camel ride. The owner and handler actually took my camera and took lots of pictures without me even asking! We only paid 20dhs (about $5) for a 10 minute ride around old Dubai. It wasn't a whole lot different than riding around on a horse, save the getting on and off part. Oh, and camels make crazy noises. I thought it was dying or something. They were these crazy gutteral bubbling gurgling noises. Creepy!

Oh, and I'm headed back there for two months in 2011. I'm going during February and March. Can't wait!

Tree Goat!!

2010-06-23T14:52:00.000-04:00

One of the coolest things to see over there were goats in trees. The goats over there were so nimble. They could climb up cliffs and up boulders faster than monkeys. We would challenge the kids to spot "tree goats" and would give fun prizes to the kids that spotted them first.
Here's my favorite shot of a tree goat:

Oh the Tahoe

2010-06-23T14:46:00.000-04:00

On our last day of work, we decided to take photos of our crew with the Tahoe. Click the photos to see them larger.
First, the serious one-

and then the fun one-

Kasab, Oman

2010-03-28T13:13:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, we needed to renew our visit visas which involves driving to a different part of northern Oman. See, even though in Dibba we are in Oman, there is pretty much nothing here except a gas station, a grocery store, a restaurant and a hospital. It isn't an "official" border because everyone has to go into Fujeirah (in the UAE) for internet, banks and various other supplies. Our UAE visas are visit visas and only good for 30 days so we had to go renew it, which involves spending a day in a different country, Oman. So we drive into Ras Al Khaimah and to the western border of the northern part of Oman. We don't have international drivers licenses which keeps us from being able to drive across the border, so we needed a driver. Luckily our landlord Ali was perfectly content to drive us there. He's absolutely hilarious and speaks very good English so we have tons of fun with him. He's even more amusing drunk. Anyway. Heading through Ras Al Khamiah there was a CAMEL IN THE ROAD!! which was unbelievable exciting for us, and I think Ali just got a kick out of how stupidly amused we were by it.

I suppose its like seeing a deer in the road in the states. Still, it was awesome.
So, we drove through RAK and to the border, which costs a good penny to cross. While we're there we head to Kasab, the northern most town in the Musandam. The road to get there is absolutely epic. Its the kind of road you drive and daydream you're really driving a ridulously expensive sports car. Or if you've made it in the world, its the kind of road you take your ridiculously expensive sports car *cough*Craig*cough* to and haul ass. The road is sandwiched between cliffs and ocean. Not only is it an exhilarating drive but the views can't be beat. I'm going to call Top Gear and suggest it for the best road to drive in the Middle East. Oh, and they should totally take something fast there to test out. And show it on TV, so I can live vicariously. Ok enough of that rant...
Here are a couple photos of the road:

so yes, its epic. The original plan was to do some swimming in the ocean, but being a bunch of rock climbers, if there's something to climb around on we're gonna do it. The beach was large and very nice with white sand and cliffs running from the mountains to the sea made up the left side of the horseshoe. We found this awesome boulder to climb.

Micah on the face:

Me heel hooking on the nose-

Mike heel hooking in the same spot-

There were also some awesome boulders sitting just at the waters edge we took advantage of.
Micah-

Me-

There was also a perfect place to deep water solo (rock climb sans rope and harness, you fall into the water) where the cliff met the ocean. The rock wasn't very good quality and fell apart frequently while climbing. The sun was setting and there were jelly fish in the water, so most of us decided not to DWS. Levi stepped up to the plate and went all out. Micah followed but didn't risk falling in. Sharks and jellyfish aren't so nice.
Mike watching Levi climb-

Levi takes the plunge-

Micah takes a turn-

We didn't make it back to Dibba till after midnight, after stopping in RAK for milkshakes and fast food. The sleep deprivation was totally worth the awesome day.

The truth about snakes...

2010-03-26T14:15:00.000-04:00

-They say, "leave it alone it'll leave you alone" that is, of course, unless it crawls into your sleeping bag.-

Tuesday night, I found a snake at the date plantation where we have our camp. It was just snuggling up to the collection of large jugs of water by the gate, still warm from the daytime sun. It was quite short and small with a defined diamond shaped head. I snapped a photo so we could identify it later. All the campers were out for a night hike, so I told them the exciting news when they returned. I wasn't sleeping in a sleeping bag, just inside a thick blanket folded like a burrito. I shook it out good and violently before I went to sleep. Snakes around here sometimes slither into sleeping bags during the day to get away from the sun. You're supposed to roll your bag up during the day. Somehow the news of the snake made it to our other, smaller camp at the beach by the following day. Their story claimed the snake was over 5 feet long and was most definitely a viper. We still haven’t figured out how the other camp found out.

I showed Ahmed, the landlord of the camp, the photo the next morning and he told me it wasn’t a problematic snake. He said, “this snake, no problem.” So we forgot about it until the end of the week when the instructors from the beach camp asked to see my photo. They confirmed my suspicion. It was a carpet viper, and yes, it was venomous. I guess no matter where you go, if its got a diamond shaped head, its venomous.
Before freaking out, here’s something to know. With the exception of very few (the black mamba, the king cobra, and most baby snakes) most venomous snakes don’t want to waste their venom defending themselves. If you step on them, kick them, poke them with sticks and they bite you, generally its going to be a “dry” bite, or in other words, a bite with no venom. This is true for copperheads and rattlesnakes in the US. Its still a good idea to go to the hospital but you’ll probably only get some antibiotics to keep the infection down and some pain killers. Your day might not be so nice, but you won’t be dead. And here in Dibba, even if it decides you might be good to eat, the hospital is a 5 minute drive down the road and they have the anti-venom.
Speaking of black mambas, I talked to Devan, the instructor from South Africa about them. I was pretty curious after watching Kill Bill. I don’t think I’ll be taking any extended trips into African wilderness after learning more than I really wish I had about black mambas. You’ve got 45 minutes to get the anti-venom or you die. And the anti-venom has to be refrigerated. If they see you, they’ll chase you and bite you. Its not a dry bite. And they can slither up to 60km/hr. So if you see one you better run. Apparently the women in Africa carry things on their heads because those snakes like to attack downward from up in trees. Every hospital in Africa has the anti-venom, the problem is getting there.

We're so awesome, we match the Tahoe!

2010-03-26T13:55:00.001-04:00

I forgot to mention, we got new shirts! yeah... like a month ago, you probably already noticed. but this photo is awesome anyway.

and the infamous Tahoe, how we'll miss thee.

Cultural Immersion

2010-03-26T13:21:00.000-04:00

The second week of March was what we called “hell week.” We had four school in camp during that week, and most of them overlapped. Sunday, Fujeirah men’s college arrived. These were Emerati locals between 19 and 21. As they moved into their tents, I heard sporadic doumbek being played and hoped they would bring them out and play for us. If you’ve heard traditional belly-dance or Middle Eastern music, you’ve heard doumbek.
After the locals left for their first activity, a German international school of 14-year-old coeds arrived. It would have been very inappropriate for both schools to stay in camp together, so we sent the Germans to camp out on the beach, which they were thrilled to do.
Mike stayed with the German group and the rest of us had dinner with the Emeratis. After dinner, they brought out two doumbeks and formed a drum circle. Most of the guys knew every word to every song. Randomly, guys would jump up in the middle of the circle to dance. Sometimes they shimmied and writhed like belly-dancers and other times they would dance provocatively with they pelvises moving close to the ground, no need for interpretation. Everyone was enthusiastic and loud, clapping, singing, drumming and yelling. Their Egyptian teacher stopped them momentarily to explain to us what was going on. He said that often at weddings one of the families would hire a troop of dancers and drummers. Usually the dancers are men dressed as women. I think once in a while there may be a woman dancer, who would dress up to look androgynous so no one could tell. The troop was paid to come and the dancers were tipped with money as they danced. Apparently this line of work is pretty lucrative. This tradition is quite taboo but happens more frequently than is admitted to. After the explanation, the music continued. The guys were talented dancers, with phenomenal rhythm and body control. The largest, heaviest guy could shimmy like a professional belly dancer. There were five or six other guys who would randomly jump up to dance who were also quite talented.

I was very impressed. We (the westerners) sat in the circle smiling and clapping along. They kept pulling our arms upward saying “miss miss, you dance!” We just shook our heads, not sure whether we would be inappropriate or not. Finally Micah stood up and jumped into the circle to dance. He lightheartedly booty danced in the center which made everyone erupt into laughter. Jesi didn’t want to dance, so she picked up a tabla and participated in the drumming. As the night grew later, those of us who weren’t spending the night at the plantation needed to leave. I was so hesitant to leave the music and the singing. For one last hoorah, Micah and I jumped into the center, dancing with our backs to each other. Micah booty danced and I belly danced. You could tell the locals were thrilled with our willingness to participate as the excitement and volume heightened.

When we had danced our fill we jumped back out of the circle and soon the song ended. We were constantly thanked and congratulated as we gathered our things to leave. To Micah, they expressed gratitude for embracing their culture. I think he felt a sense of brotherhood. They all made me feel like a queen. The best moment was when the heavier Emerati guy who was the best dancer came over to me to tell me what he thought of my dancing. I wish they had stayed a second night.

Micah, Jesi and I drove into town to go to the internet café. We stopped to get gas and ran into Ahmed, the landlord of the plantation. He invited us to his home for Arabic coffee. He lives right next to the border in a fairly large traditional home with his wife and four children. We sat in a sitting room, complete with large plush couches and very elaborate curtains. Ahmed brought out first sweets, a tray of very nice creme caramel and bowls of jello. We ate all of it before the coffee. Arabic coffee is brought out in a traditional vessel that looks like a very tall and thin tea pot. The coffee is served much like tea is in Japan, in tiny little ceramic cups that you sip from. The coffee is much lighter and clearer than in the west, no where near as dark, and is made with lots of cardamom. When you are invited to someone's home for coffee, it is rude to only have one cup, and selfish or indulgent to have three. So we each had two cups. We chatted with Ahmed about everything from the politics of Oman and the UAE to the meaning of various Arabic words we had heard frequently. Jesi and I scrambled to write them down when we got to the car. We've got hello, thank you, left, right, you're welcome, my love/life, lets go, go, enough, no thank you, various articles of clothing and mountain climbing well enough to use frequently. We use as much as we can as often as we can, but so many people here speak such good English we haven't really been forced to learn much.

2010-03-18T08:44:00.001-04:00

Last week we headed to Dubai for more exploring. Dubai is huge and we haven't scratched the surface. We went back to Deira to see the souqs again. On our way to Deira, we spotted an awesome looking Chinese restaurant and decided to try it. The restaurant was very traditional and had giant lazy susans on each table. We ordered food we hadn't heard of before. Micah got jellyfish and Jesi tried lotus seed and white fungus soup. The jellyfish was cut into small pieces, fried and served over noodles. The flavor and texture was similar to calamari. The lotus seed and white fungus soup was interesting. It was a very light, sweet broth with these large pieces of what we assumed was white fungus. It was very ruffle-y and a slimier version of boiled cabbage. Very interesting. The steamed mutton dumplings were amazing.
lotus seed and white fungus:

mutton dumplings

We headed to the spice souq, which was closed, so we payed one dirham to ride in a little boat across Dubai "creek." Its an incredibly busy salt water "creek" filled with boats carrying tourists on day long tours, people going back and forth across for work or play as well as lots of really really large dhows that make trips back and forth from India and Pakistan carrying goods back and forth. I loved the way the dhows looked so I took tons of photos.

a view of the creek before our boat ride-

Mike took a photo of us on the little boat ride

We headed to a bunch of old traditional souqs that were unfortunately closed for the day. Friday is like Sunday in the UAE. Pretty much everything is closed, especially at midday. But the camel was there! They have an area set up like a traditional nomadic camp with a traditional tent and various items like coffee pots and incense burners.

Mike hoping the camel won't spit on him....The owner actually came over and let us feed the camel palm fronds.

We headed to the old Dubai souq which was insane. There were TONS of souqs selling everything from cheap t-shirts and shoes to pashmina shawls and traditional clothing. I bought the most amazing pair of pants for 20 dirhams (around $5) They are striped and poufy with ties at the calves. I'll post a photo soon. Everyone calls them my circus pants. We bought shoes and clothes and haggled our butts off. We drank from coconuts and wandered aimlessly. Our landlord Ali met up with us to take us out. As promised, he took us to the Irish village. As soon as we walked into the Irish village, I felt like I was in Savannah or maybe some part of Ireland that was warm. There was a large outdoor area filled with heavy wooden tables and chairs sitting on cobblestone. The fronts of the restaurants looked like any Irish pub should. We ordered Guinness and Irish coffee and ate the most amazing fish and chips in the world. Seriously. It was a relief to speak English freely when ordering and eating comfort food. Afterward we headed to this really nice resort on a beach. The beach turned into a nightclub at night, with bars, music and dancing. On the beach are giant bean bags people lounge in to smoke sheesha. Even awkwardly dressed we had a blast. We didn't get home till after midnight. We're all hoping to explore more before we leave.

Super busy!

2010-03-09T12:48:00.000-05:00

So the day after climbing, we were going to go climbing again to a different spot, but needed to meet with Paul instead, which worked out well because I had a short stomach bug that seems to be going around. The next day we decided to head to Dubai and had a great time. I have tons of photos but won't be posting them tonight because we're all exhausted.
We've had a group in camp since Sunday. A group of 6th graders arrived Sunday at noon, ate lunch and then had 2 activity rotations before dinner. they climbed on our climbing tower before bed. Monday we had 4 activity rotations, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, then campfire with marshmallows after dinner. Then I decided to take them on a spider hunt. We found tons of spiders and 2 scorpions! Saw my first scorpion.
Tuesday morning we took them to the beach for two hours to let them run around and have fun "kid" time. They spend lots of time at camp doing activities they don't have much control over that are pretty structured. We all think its important for kids to have fun, free time where they can play in a safe and engaging environment. They made this amazing palace out of sand that they filled with water and then hermit crabs. They named all 20 of them and even selected a king, the biggest crab with the most awesome shell.
They left at noon on the bus that brought the next group. Sunday and Monday, the activity I was in charge of was group development- which includes trust, teamwork and leadership. We had six rotations so each of us did our activity 6 times.
needless to say, most of us were pretty tired of our activity and decided to switch. I took trekking. For trekking, we walk 30 minutes to the beach, up the side of a mountain, over the saddle, down the back side, around the mountain on the ocean side, and then back to camp. I'll try to take some photos tomorrow. So I did that twice today and am exhausted. Tomorrow will be interesting. I think I'll have to snack between treks. Morning starts with breakfast at 7am. I'll probably stay at camp tomorrow night (we rotate nights) so I can roast marshmallows in the fire and spend some time with the kids. This group is grades 7-9.
We'll have Friday and Saturday off, which we hope to spend doing something super awesome, though we don't know what yet. Sadly, it's Will's last weekend with us. He'll be leaving March 18th to go back to Wyoming to finish his semester in school. He was taking only one class- Modern Middle East, so his professor let him stay in the class because of the circumstances. He's pretty sure he'll come back in the fall.
Hope to post some photos soon of our adventure in Dubai.

Rock Climbing in RAK

2010-03-07T12:27:00.001-05:00

The day after we went kayaking we still couldn't run any programs, so we decided to drive to Ras al Khaimah (a nearby Emirate and city, RAK for short) to go climbing. We have this great book called UAE Rock Climbing which is a guide to tons and tons of climbing areas in the UAE. Its pretty pricey (around $45 US) because it was produced locally but definitely worth the money. The rock was slab- very crimpy and sharp. (crimp = tiny hand hold) The rock was very brittle and we kept pulling off chunks as we climbed. Needless to say the belayers wore helmets. We were hesitant to lead climb due to all the loose rock so we scrambled to the top via a goat path and set up top ropes. The various routes ranged in difficulty from 5.7 to 5.9

Devan brought his fancy camera and took some fantastic photos. All of these were taken with his camera.
I had a cool cultural moment while I was climbing that really contrasted a specific climb I was on in the states. Several years ago, I headed to Richmond, Virginia with my friend Alex to learn to lead climb. Across the river from downtown there are the remnants of the old bridge, including the bridge supports, made from massive stone blocks. Someone figured out they were fun to climb and bolted them. While I was climbing on lead for the first time, a gospel convention across the water began. We spend several hours climbing to gospel blasted across the river.
While I was climbing in RAK, the call to prayer began and echoed through the valley. It lasted my entire climb up the wall and didn't stop until I was safely on the ground. Here, the call to prayer is quite beautiful as most of the men who do it are quite talented singers. We often stop to listen and comment on what we think of the singer. At the tiny mosque down the street we've become accustomed to the several different voices we hear and recognize our favorites.

Devan hanging out observing

Devan climbing

Jesi and her amazing fro

The rock is sharp! Jesi ripped her new pants. :(

Will is a badass and makes awesome faces when he climbs-

Micah-

Mike at the top of the arete-

*a note about updates- the internet cafe here is extremely slow, and has recently been really bogged down by people downloading various things. It has been nearly impossible for me to upload photos in a reasonable amount of time. Now, I spend the majority of an hour uploading 13 photos which leaves no time for posting them on blogspot. We have been a few fun places since this trip and I'll be updating with all that fun stuff as soon as I can. *

Flooded Wadis

2010-02-28T08:39:00.000-05:00

The ominous and gathering clouds erupted last night in violent storm. We stood on the roof before the rains watching the sky flash with purple lightning. Soon the storms were upon us with torrential rain and extremely strong winds. Rain blew through gaps in the seals of our windows and flooded the kitchen floor. Mike's bed was sopping wet from the badly covered hole in the wall which will eventually house an air conditioner. Our front yard flooded and we wondered what the wadis looked like.

This morning we were supposed to have a new school group arriving at 10:30 for their program. It was evident by 8am that the area around the plantation was too flooded to do anything but trekking and all the tents, cots and the majlis (covered seating area) were soaked. The school group postponed to the third week in March. Which left us with an unexpected day to enjoy.

Paul, Devan and Ram came by to share the news from Wadi Hilti, the wadi just behind our house. The dam was full and the area uphill from it was now a lake. It was possible for vehicles with 4WD and lift kits to drive around the dam and around the edge of the new lake to the old road, but the road was completely washed away just past the boulder field which makes access to our reliable climbing crag impossible.

There was no way we could do any of our programs. We decided to have fun with this new and rare opportunity- paddle the rare and transient Wadi Hilti lake!! They left and we had some breakfast.

Then Ram and Devan called to tell us we needed to come see what was happening at the dam. We got there just as they were pushing off in kayaks. Micah made a valiant effort at chasing them to hop aboard.
Micah's valiant effort-

We enviously watched them paddle around a bit and decided to go get more boats. Micah and Mike left with the truck to get more boats while Will and I stayed behind. I'm sure glad we did. Ram and Devan paddled back to us and invited us aboard their single sit on top kayaks. I sat behind Ram in the storage area at the stern and Will joined Devan. Both our kayaks sat ridiculously low in the water. Devan and Will's was so low that I couldn't help but laugh every time they paddled past. To make paddling easier, we split the paddles in two so each person in each boat could row. This made the whole endeavor even more ridiculous and amusing.
Will and Devan sharing a solo boat-

Ram and I sharing a solo boat-

We took turns taking photos of each other. Once when I counted down 3-2-1 to take a photo of Devan and Will, Devan flipped their boat over. They then attempted to paddle it back upside down, which of course, didn't work at all and they flipped again within seconds. We paddled around goofing off for a while until the others arrived with more boats.

We finally had enough boats and paddles for everyone and all were eager for more exploring. The wadi lake was very deep in most places, the length of a paddle plus the length of Devan's arm which I guess is maybe 10 feet or so. We found this awesome overhanging rock that a few of the boys decided to jump off.
the group paddling away to do more exploring-

checking the depth of the landing area-

to jump or not to jump?

jump.

The Tahoe was full of laughter all the way home. Tonight we plan to have a barbeque and plan for some rock climbing tomorrow.

sport climbing!

2010-02-27T08:43:00.000-05:00

Today we went sport climbing. We were supposed to go on this epic trek to this remote village way up in the Musandam but the sea was too rough. We would have taken a speed boat to a cove then hiked to the village.
The clouds have been building over several days. The skies get darker and denser each day. This morning, Mike remarked that it looked like Mordor over the mountain. Now, it is even darker and angrier looking. The forecast calls for thunderstorms and torrential rain on Tuesday. The wadis will probably flood.
Today, we headed to Wadi Hilti (15 min from our house) to go climbing. We parked the Tahoes on high ground in case it started raining. Flash floods here are epic. We might get stranded for a while but at least we wouldn't drown and the Tahoes would survive. It didn't rain, and hopefully won't until Tuesday.

Those of you who know a little about climbing will notice that most of the photos are of us are on top rope. Leading frequently on these couple of routes isn't a great idea. The bolts are really old and weird. Usually one person leads up the really easy side and then sets up the top rope at the anchors at the top and everyone top ropes. This is really necessary on these bolts. We hope that before too long we'll be able to re-bolt it in order for more people to lead. The problem with top roping allows the climber to rely some on the rope, the rope takes a little bit of his or her weight away as the slack is taken in and the rope becomes taught. It also allows the climber to take a full complete rest during the climb with the support of the rope, something you can't do on lead. When you lead climb, there is no aid at all from the rope, it only provides protection to keep you from dying if you fall.
Me sitting on a boulder watching-

Jesi climbing-

me climbing the hard stuff. didn't make it to the top, maybe next time...

Dubai

2010-02-26T05:40:00.001-05:00

Feeling pretty brave, we took the bright yellow Tahoe into Dubai on Monday. The traffic in Dubai is insane, and the drivers are even more nuts. We headed to the area of Dubai called Deira, which is the older part of town where all the souqs (stores) are. We spent tons of time in the spice souq buying frankincense, vanilla, saffron pistachios, saffron and cardamom. We had street food and found an awesome shop selling traditional clothes and shoes from India.
Mike and Micah tried on the traditional Arab men's dress and I put on an abaya and a sheila. Then Jesi and I had way too much fun trying on handmade leather shoes from India. I tried on a pretty crazy pair, and bought a different, equally interesting pair.
The boys in their regalia-

The three of us-

check these shoes out-

The shoes I actually bought are a little less ridiculous. The ones above have the pointy, upturned elf-like tip. The ones I have are pretty pointy, but they don't have the elf look going. They're handmade out of leather in India. The weird thing is that they make both shoes exactly the same, there isn't a left or right, so they're pretty odd feeling until they're really broken in. I plan to get them nice and damp the first time I wear them to speed up the process.

After spending way too much time trying on fun clothes, we headed to a sheesha shop. In the states, the pipe is called hookah and the tobacco itself is sheesha. Here, you just say sheesha pipe instead of hookah. Mike bought a small sheesha pipe and several flavors of sheesha. Micah and Jesi bought a really big cool hookah and a couple of flavors. There was a great view of the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world, from the sheesha shop.

When we got home, they were eager to try out their new toys. They got both sheesha pipes going as well as some Omani frankincense. Omani frankincense is the highest quality and also the most expensive. It typically costs around a dirham per gram.

Our "pool"

2010-02-26T05:32:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, we didn't have a car, and the weather was blazingly hot. Sitting around the house bored, we found a new way to cool of.
fire pit + orange tarp + hose = pool
well, sort of. a very small one. We had fun nonetheless.

Damian's Boulders

2010-02-26T05:18:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, the day after our Smuggler's Bay Trek, we headed to the boulder field up the wadi from us armed with our new shoes and crash pads. It was unbelievably hot and we had to have the car back in a couple hours so we only got on a few problems. I found a problem that suits my climbing style well and we snapped a few cool photos.

Smuggler's Bay

2010-02-26T04:17:00.001-05:00

On the 19th, we were invited to join the Smuggler's Bay trek. We start walking from the beachfront property toward the mountains. The trek is really challenging. To get to smuggler's bay, you hike up and then back down several mountains which are incredibly steep and covered in sharp scree (loose rock). One of the descents is so steep you feel like you're rock climbing. When you get to the top of the first mountain there is a beautiful view of the Daba port and the ocean.

Once you get to the top of that, you follow the back side of that mountain, which runs into another mountain, and then there is this really steep ascent. I was definitely the slowest hiker. Devan (our guide) does this trek several times a week and smoked all of us up the mountain. When you get to the top of that mountain, you can see smuggler's bay in the distance. There are clothes and empty bottles and all sorts of other things scattered around the entire way. When you round one corner, you can see across this very narrow and steep valley/crevasse to the actual trail the smuggler's use. We don't take this path because it isn't as direct and because we're more likely to see Iranians along the way.

Then there is a heinous descent- I got attacked by a couple of rocks. Eventually you end up in the bay. Its a huge relief to reach the sand.

The water here is slightly warmer than the other beaches, incredibly calm and clear. I brought my snorkel mask and did a little underwater investigating and saw a few fish and lots of coral and trash.

We had lunch at the beach before heading home. We returned on a different path. Imagine a stream filled with large boulders, running down the seam between two mountains, now take away the water. That was our path back. Lots of scrambling and big steps and balancing. We saw first hand the dangers of smuggling...

Then there was one last big mountain to summit before the descent back home. Will snapped a photo of me getting to the top.

We were all sore and tired by the time we got home, and went out for a well deserved plate of biriyani.

Our first school group and a trek through a wadi

2010-02-18T06:17:00.001-05:00

Over the past 5 days we had our first two school groups. The first group was 6th and 7th graders, the second 9th through 10th graders. They stayed at our new plantation site, which we are now calling the "adventure center" we've added a free standing, portable climbing tower, which we have also been enjoying. Over the 5 days, we all taught different classes; team building games, camping skills + leave no trace, mountain biking + climbing, and trekking. This week, I taught team-building games at the beach. We walk 30 minutes from the center to the beach where I lead the games and then let the kids go swimming. I've been putting sunscreen on religiously and haven't been burned, although I do have the "raccoon eyes" from my sunglasses. I had lots of fun with most of the groups doing the initiatives, took underwater photos of the kids, and collected lots of seashells. The weather this week has been really interesting. Its really hot during the day, I'm guessing around 95 degrees F, and very cold at night, probably in the low 50s. When I stay at the adventure center in a tent, I sleep under an open sleeping bag stacked on top of a very thick blanket. For hanging around at night, I had to borrow a knock off Mountain Hardwear fleece from the gear closet at Paul's house. When he goes to Nepal he can get lots of cheap knockoff gear that he uses as back ups for guides and customers. I know you're probably thinking its just me, but I'm not the only one! you should see the locals. They're wearing even more than me!

Next week we'll have another group and I'll be either mountain biking or trekking. W e have several days off before our next group arrives which we plan to fill with plenty of adventure. There is a great place to go deep water soloing up the coast which we plan to check out with kayaks this weekend. Our new coworker Mike will be here tomorrow. We're also contemplating a trip to Dubai to check out all the traditional souks.

The day before our first group arrived, I got to go on a wadi trek with the Absolute Adventure guys and a large group of customers. The wadi was really amazing and dramatic. Wadis are dried up river beds that sometimes experience flash floods during the "rainy season." The rainy season isn't really that rainy, as it only rains an average of 7 days a year! To get into the wadi, we had to scramble down an incredibly steep 40 foot slope. I was even a little nervous! I bet the customers were pretty scared. The area of the wadi where we began our trek was extremely wide and steep, and slowly as we progressed the wadi became narrower and narrower. Eventually we would have to walk along narrow ledges, climb up through water falls and scramble over boulders to get through. At one point, there is a decent amount of water in the bottom its so narrow the only way through is to swim. It's only about 40 meters and really chilly! There was also a small cave with bats in it. I had a great time and was pretty exhausted at the end of it. I befriended the family that rode in the Taho I drove to get there, and the mom offered to take a few photos of me :)
the beginning

swimming

the bat cave

The past few days

2010-02-12T04:31:00.001-05:00

We had a pretty late night Wednesday night. We spent all of Wednesday working on lesson plans until it was time to go to the “gear shop.” Ram drove us to Ras al-Khaimah (in the UAE on the Western coast) to the gear shop. The “gear shop” was really bunches of boxes stacked to the ceiling in a wealthy couple’s large house. We were there to pick up a large order of gear for our camp. Of course, this was a great excuse to have a look around ourselves. We just started exploring and digging through boxes. Paddling gear in one room, climbing in another, packs in another. It was like Christmas walking around opening boxes to find out what goodies were in them. Jesi bought an outfit and Micah and I bought climbing shoes. I was told I wouldn’t need them so I didn’t bring mine from home. As it turns out, there is TONS of climbing, and I desperately need shoes. I bought a pair of Red Chilis that are pretty sweet. They fit much better than my shoes at home. Hopefully there will be some action shots of them soon.

In Ras al-Khaimah we stopped at this pretty impressive mall for fast food. Pretty much everyone in the mall was a local. I had fun people watching. The lines were long and slow, so we all just stuck to something easy- McDonalds and Hardees. During the long drive back, we learned that the caterer’s were preparing food to be sampled at the camp. We were already late when they called, and still an hour away.

At camp, there was an impressive spread of food with dishes influenced by culinary traditions from around the world. The new traditional seating area was complete and welcoming. One of the other attendees took some awesome photos, which I hope to get my hands on soon. Unfortunately we couldn’t relax because we still needed to head to the internet café. I think the night ended somewhere around 1am last night.

Thursday morning we woke up without electricity and Ram had the car. We really needed to work on programming (with computers) and we needed to send emails, but could do neither of those things. So in an attempt to save the day, we walked to the plantation to do some risk assessment and planning. While we were there, we hiked up one of the small hills nearby. There are half-fallen stacked stone structures everywhere here. You can hardly walk anywhere without stumbling into one. There were at least six or seven on that single hill alone. The top of the hill provided views of the ocean, our plantation, and the resort to one direction, the mountains and our neighborhood to the other. In those little buildings, there are pottery shards everywhere. Someone spread a selection of them on a flat rock for others to see and admire.

Jesi and Micah at the top

The mountains to the West

Jesi and Micah looking out over the Gulf

Really awesome pottery shards

A partially standing stacked stone hut

Looking out over the Gulf. Our plantation is in the foreground and the Golden Tulip Resort is the other large object in the distance by the water.

Now, Friday, I am sitting in the local internet cafe in Dibba (the one in UAE) after stuffing my face with amazing Lebanese food. Saffron rice and lamb, with an optional tomato-y sauce and dhal. It was so good I wish I took a photo of it. The girl who works at the internet cafe is blasting Enrique Iglesia. We are listening to "Bailamos". Its a bit odd listening to Latino music in the Middle East.

Photo problem remedy

2010-02-10T15:27:00.001-05:00

a temporary remedy to my photo problem: changing layouts! This will be my new layout until I get back to the states (with better internet service) and can alter the photos to fit my old layout. Enjoy!

PHOTOS

2010-02-10T15:18:00.000-05:00

***Every single photo you see on this blog that were taken in Oman were wrongly cropped by blogspot. I can't figure out how to remedy this problem. Please check back in a few days and review the photos to see the actual picture. They look horrible the way they are right now. If you are friend with me on facebook, you can see the photos in their original condition.***

Work and Play

2010-02-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

We spent most of Monday the 8th writing lesson plans for the program. We finally understand how our employment works. David Jenns has lots of experience in the education sector and has worked with the Abu Dhabi government on developing education. He understands the value of experiential educational programs. Paul owns and runs Absolute Adventure, a small adventure tourism company based in Dibba, Oman. Their website is www.adventure.ae. They have pretty amazing experiences to offer, but they mainly work with small groups of adults and aren’t equipped to deal with large numbers of kids. David and Paul are working together to form Absolute Adventure Education, for which we now work. Paul and his Absolute Adventure guides have figured out what activities are available in the area, have developed established routes for trips, and have developed a healthy relationship with the locals. The bright yellow 4x4s and trucks we all drive are well recognized. Neither he nor his guides are trained outdoor educators. David’s job was to find and develop a location to host large school groups, as well as a staff trained to work with them. When we arrived, the site (which we call the plantation) was not finished. It should be finished in the next day or so. David had given the schools a rough outline of a schedule and activities but no actual program had been developed. For the past few days, Jesi, Will, Micah and I have been writing programs, lesson plans, and a risk management plan. On the 9th, David drove to Dibba from Dubai to talk to us about our work. We headed to the plantation to check out the progress. The site is actually a date plantation. The plantation is an experiential education center in the winter and a date plantation during the summer. The kids and adults will be staying in large traditional style tents surrounding a large common area and fire pit. In the shade of the date trees (which look a lot like palm trees) there is a covered area with traditional carpets and seating, an outdoor buffet for meals (it even has a sink, storage and cooking areas!) and lots of benches for participants. The bath-house is much nicer than the one we had at Sea Base.

The mountains around the corner

2010-02-10T14:34:00.001-05:00

My dad asked me via email if I knew, geopolitically speaking, where I was. We are in Dibba, Oman, on the eastern coast of the Musandam peninsula. We constantly cross the border between the UAE and Oman. When we go to “town” to use the internet café, we are in the UAE. Dibba is in Oman. We are a 10 minute bike ride from the ocean. To our north-ish (I don’t have a compass) there is a substantial mountain range. We live just at the base of it (literally) If you take the road past our house and then take a right you will start weaving through the mountains. There is a large wadi (dry river bed) that runs through our part of the mountains. Native people used to live in these mountains, and there are signs of their presence everywhere. Ali was actually born there in a little hut. In the 60’s the government offered free land and support in the flat lands so most of the mountain people moved. They didn’t want to part with their land so they left their goats here. Someone from each family comes in the evening to feed and water the goats. Often, families come on weekends to have a barbeque. The goats up here put our scrambling and climbing skills to shame. They are extremely agile and climb steep slopes and large boulders easily.
These mountains are completely rock and rubble. There is very little vegetation, mostly small acacia trees. There is climbing to be done literally everywhere. We frequent a substantial boulder field and several sport climbing routes nearby. After our swim in the Indian Ocean, we decided to go have a look at the boulder field. We also needed to see how long it would take the kids to bike there. Jesi, Micah and Will took the bikes and I drove the support vehicle. Devan joined me in my Tahoe and served as my tour guide. We beat the others to the boulder field and had a look around. The boulder field rivals everything I’ve seen in the states. There are literally hundreds of boulders in that field, and thousands in the immediate area. Devan walked me through the field and pointed out problems the kids could probably do as well as larger boulders they planned to bolt. After a thorough look through the field we headed to the nearby sport routes. Devan told me while we were walking that Iranians frequently take a speedboat across the water and get dropped off in the mountains to walk through Oman to the UAE. The mountains here are incredibly rugged with pretty much no water and very little vegetation. The deadly heat makes the trek deadly during the summer; so illegal immigrants take advantage of the mild temperatures and higher levels of rainfall during the winter. Devan told me that you’ll see these people once in a while, and they will often approach you for food and water. He recommended always bringing extra of both to give them because if you don’t give them what you have, or don’t have anything to give, they will attack. We see military helicopters flying low over the mountains frequently. We assume they are looking for illegal immigrants.

The Indian Ocean

2010-02-09T08:07:00.001-05:00

Two days ago, Will, Jesi, Micah and I decided to ride our bikes to the ocean to go for a swim. We had to sneak into a resort so that Jesi and I could wear normal swimsuits. Otherwise, we would have had to be covered from elbows to knees. We are swimming in the Indian Ocean, and more specifically, the Gulf of Oman. I have now been in 3 oceans! Atlantic, Pacific and Indian! Because the weekend here is Friday (or Saturday, I can’t remember) we had the beach to ourselves. Waterproof cameras always ensure silly photos are taken:

A small dinner party and a Muslim wedding

2010-02-07T13:21:00.000-05:00

Our new friend Ali (not me) was nice enough to take us to a local Muslim wedding. He was born in the mountains here in Oman and knows pretty much every local in Dibba. His family has been here forever and is a very integral part of the very tight knit community here. It is because of this we were allowed to go to the wedding. We missed most of the wedding, and got there in time to still see the men celebrating. Men of all ages (literally) were dancing in circles to the songs of singers and the beats of a drum circle. The weilded swords which they frequently threw into the air and caught, and AK47's which they liked to shoot into the sky. Non-dancers stood around the circle and observed. We were really appreciative to have such an intimate view of life around here. Will got some decent photos and took a video which I'll try to publish when I get back. YouTube is blocked here.
After our short time at the wedding, we went to Paul's house to have food and sheesha. In the photos you'll see Ali (in purple) Devan, Jesi, Micah and Will.

***NOTE: I had to manually input the photos because the blogspot photo loader is now not even showing up when I click the button, and for some reason they are cropped, at least on my computer. Hopefully next time I'm in the cafe blogspot will be running smoothly and I'll fix these photos***

Our first day of work...

2010-02-07T13:13:00.001-05:00

Several days ago we had our first day of work. We had a large group of 40 or so students from a local private school. Many of them were from the region with a few from other places like Australia and the United States. In the morning, they rock climbed indoors, took on the Jacob's ladder and did a low ropes course. After lunch, we lead them in a few initiatives. The kids are pretty much just like kids back home and did pretty well at all the challenges. Here's a few photos of our first group:

Our house in Oman

2010-02-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

My coworker, Will, took some awesome photos of our little house next to a mountain in Dibba, Oman. Most of our neighbors have goats and donkeys. We constantly mimic the goats, laugh at the donkeys and watch the goats climb trees! Down the street there is a very small mosque and several times a day a man sings prayers over the intercom. There are only 4 or 5 families on our street and we are surrounded by mountains. Life is very calm and serene in our area. There is a mountain behind our house and the beach is just a 15 minute bike ride away. There is an amazing climbing location with a big boulder field and lots of sport climbing a longer bike ride away. For now, here are some photos of our little house. Jesi and I share a room, and the boys (Micah and Will) share a seperate room. We have a big screen TV (like huge) in the living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. We have a pretty sweet outdoor porch/living room and a fire pit. Since we've been here, we've run a program for a local school, explored the local fishing village, gone to an Arab wedding, had dinner and sheesha at our friend's house and explored the town of Dibba nearby. Today we planned on going climbing but rain kept us insiside. By the way, these photos and more are on my facebook under the UAE and Oman album.
come on in!

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Dubai and Oman

2010-02-05T13:46:00.000-05:00

As most of you know, I left for the United Arab Emirates on February first. I flew from Raleigh to DC and then from DC to Dubai. North Carolina was cold, with a couple inches of snow and ice on the ground. I have lots of photos to upload, but I'm having problems with the internet here. Flikr, Google Chat and Skype are all banned. The blogspot up-loader won't load the photos. So far it looks like I can't upload any photos. This is extremely frustrating. I know there must be a way.
When I landed in Dubai, it was quite warm and humid. I flew United Airlines the whole way. I got really lucky and had a window seat on both flights. On the long flight, no one was seated next to me, so I could lay down and sleep. I was picked up at the airport by a hotel employee and taken to the Holiday Inn Express. Everyone thought I was a guy (the porter and the front desk) until I arrived because David had given them my nickname (Ali) instead of my full name. I stayed at the hotel for two nights. My second day they took me to a mall where I could people watch and get some food to eat and do some shopping. Wednesday morning I was picked up to go to the Dubai Women's College to meet up with Jesi, Mikah and Mike. We led local school kids through a full day program of indoor climbing, an indoor jacob's ladder, low ropes challenges and then initiatives. The program went over very well and the schools will be hiring David's company to do programs with even more kids in the future.
Then we drove 2 hours away from Dubai to our house. I thought we would be just outside of Dubai, but We drove through the dessert and I saw lots of camels! ( are actually in Oman. Dibba, Oman. We have a little house that's right next to a mountain and a short bike ride to a town with a nice beach and some shops. Our neighbors have donkeys and goats. This morning, we saw a goat high up in a tree eating leaves! The mountains are very strange looking and rocky. We took a long bike ride today to see the plantation where we'll be doing lots of programs, the beach and the small town. All the locals here are extremely polite and helpful. If I ever need help, I just ask. Men here treat us very well and with the exception of the airport, I don't get stayed at rudely. There is a large bouldering field, lots of sport routes, mountain biking and kayaking to do. The people I'm here with are ready to leave the internet cafe so I guess I'll sign off for now. Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days and able to update you guys with a bit more detail. I plan to write it in microsoft word first so I can just copy and paste it here.
Look for another post in a couple of days!
Ali

New and Exciting Adventures: Dubai!

2010-01-27T23:45:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while, because I wanted to post something new and interesting, but couldn't really come up with much. I've already done a gear list, a review, and a project so I was waiting until something interesting came up to write about. And now, something VERY interesting has.
In a week or so, I am leaving for Dubai. yes, that Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. I'll be working for two months as a sea kayaking, backpacking and ropes course instructor. I am extremely excited to have this opportunity to travel for free and experience a place that is so radically different from anything I've seen before. I'll be leading girls from local Dubai schools and working with my friend Jessi, who I met through a mutual friend, worked with at Great Outdoor Provision Company as well as Pamlico Sea Base. They needed another female guide so she called me. Without her, I wouldn't have this opportunity!
I'll be documenting my adventures here on my blog. I'm planning to take tons of photos and keep a journal. There is a small internet cafe down the road from where I'll be staying so I'll be able to keep in touch.
I have lots of ideas about what I would like to do while I'm there, most of which are very vague, but I do know that I want to ride a camel in the desert! Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to do that and much more.

Review: Wilderness Systems Tsunami 160 with rudder

2010-01-04T21:31:00.005-05:00

I paddled this boat on every trek I guided in 2009, 2010 ans 2011. I racked up somewhere around 800+ miles in it, in all kinds of conditions. Here's what I liked, and what I hated.
A few things to note before you read- I paddled in the sound, where waves are more like chop and less like rolling swell. My review is from the perspective of a guide. As a guide, I look for things in a boat that many paddlers typically don't care about and may even look for opposite characteristics. Also, I am 5'2" tall and weigh 130lbs.

The specs:
16 feet long
23.5" wide
58lbs
325lb carrying capacity
rudder, no skeg
3 hatches and 3 foam bulkheads

Likes:

*storage space-I packed all my gear, personal food and all the extra bits a guide has to have in this boat, and I had room for more. Unlike boats with skegs, you can put your stuff in larger dry bags instead of having to pack everything in tiny dry bags. I could pack and unpack my boat quickly and easily.

*comfort- The width of this boat was a little wide for me, but it is made for a medium size paddler, not a little person like me. It was slim enough that I usually didn't hit my hands on the sides and wide enough that I could sit Indian-syle in the cockpit when my legs started to cramp. I didn't have as much hip contact as I would have liked, but then I wouldn't have been able to sit Indian style. The height of the deck at the cockpit could have been lower but there it wasn't too high. Its height suited my low angle paddling style and was high enough out of the water even fully loaded. The seat is more of a recreational style seat. Using my traditional touring PFD was miserable. It caused a big gap between my lower back and the seat. I switched to a different PFD with an extremely thin lower back and was comfortable all day. At the end of the season, I discovered I could take my feet off the pegs, scoot down in my boat and lay completely flat inside the cockpit! Add two paddle floats and I can have a nap!

*durability- This boat may be heavy for some, but I can still pick it up by myself. Its worth the extra weight of a roto-molded boat. I loved not having to worry about bumping other boats, oyster shoals, or rocks. I really think a composite wouldn't have fared well being loaded onto a boat trailer, unloaded, packed, paddled 50 miles, unpacked, loaded and unloaded again every week. Unless you burn a hole in one, the boat itself will last a long time. The rudder kit that was included rarely gave me problems and when it did I could easily fix it with my repair kit. That being said, its important to store this boat out of sunlight and treat it with 303 before every trip. This boat is sensitive to UV and the plastic is weakened dramatically by heat and UV.

*stability- Very high initial stability. Feels good to beginner and intermediate paddlers.

*tracking- this boat tracks extremely well in calm water. Tracking is not very good in wind or chop. You need a rudder to go straight!

*hatch options- I loved having a day hatch. The larger opening in the rear hatch enabled me to cram in all my bulky stuff. The opening in the front hatch is much smaller but still large enough that I never had any issues getting anything to fit through it.

Dislikes:

*comfort- While this wasn't an issue for me, taller or larger men and women don't fit in this boat at all. If you are tall (over 5'9") or big boned this boat won't fit you.

*durability- Don't sit on the deck of this boat when it's on land and don't let anyone sit on the deck of your boat while you are sitting in it (in the water) unless absolutely necessary. Doing either of these things causes the bulkheads to leak. This is easily fixed with some marine sealant, but I've discovered wet things in my hatches that I would have rather stayed dry. I have gotten pretty annoyed having to reseal the bulkheads frequently, even when I take really good care of the boat. Other than this, my hatches stayed extremely dry. The plastic loses a TON of its rigidity when it sits in sunlight for prolonged periods of time.If you guy this boat, protect it with 303 and store it out of the sun. Also, the rudder has a tendency to work its bolts loose and spin, up and out of the water. This is easily fixed if you know how to do it and you have an allen wrench handy. This happened so frequently (to participant boats with these rudders) that I got the hang of fixing them on the water.

*stability- This boat has little secondary stability. It's doesn't edge very cleanly. Maybe because of my small size I had a hard time getting it up on its edge. Overall I didn't feel vulnerable unless I was in 1.5+ foot following seas or broadside seas above 2 feet.

*tracking- This boat doesn't track well in chaotic seas or wind. It weathercocks pretty severely because there is a little too much rocker in the stern. It is somewhat solved by deploying the rudder. It's even harder to turn (even on its edge) in chaotic seas. I struggled frequently to keep my bow pointed where I wanted it to in such situations, even with the rudder. Sitting next to a fellow guide in chop (she was paddling a Wilderness System Cape Horn 15, with no skeg or rudder!) and her boat slid through the chop as mine bounced around in it. Both our boats were fully loaded and we weigh about the same. This has everything to do with hull design.

Overall, I wouldn't buy this boat. I enjoyed paddling it and it generally has everything I need in a guiding boat but I think I could buy a boat that handles better for around the same price. This boat is great for those just entering the multi-day sea kayaking world who want a boat that's easy to paddle and pack and will survive collisions with rocks and oyster beds. Those who enjoy or plan to paddle during not so nice weather should stay away. Well seasoned guides may want a more athletic, performance oriented boat. If I had to buy a Wilderness Systems sea kayak, I would buy a Tempest. Its only a couple hundred dollars more and much better suited to expedition sea kayaking. That being said, there are several other plastic sea kayaks of the same length and similar storage capacity, and similar price point, that shine in all areas a wider range of conditions; like the Scorpio by P&H, for example.

Shopping for a PFD? Check out Ali's review of the Kitty PFD by Stohlquist

Instructable: Super light spice kit!

2009-12-23T16:23:00.000-05:00

Let me introduce you to one of my all time favorite websites:
Instructables
Instructables is a website where thousands of people create and post tutorials. You can find everything from jewelry making, art, design, camping, gear, bike repair, computer repair and all sorts of things! There is even an instructable teaching you how to convert a gas powered motorcycle to eletric. If you want to learn how to do something, or need some creative gift ideas, this is the website to go to.

I love this site because I've found so many great "outdoorsy" projects.
This super-light spice kit is one of my favorites. I plan to make one very soon to use during my treks next summer.

Ultra-Lightweight Backpacking Spice Kit (only 1oz.) - More DIY How To Projects

New Toys!

2009-12-22T22:41:00.000-05:00

I haven't been very adventurous so far this winter. I've been busy selling cool outdoor gear, gadgets and clothes at Great Outdoor Provision Company. During my downtime, I've been daydreaming about places I want to go, and gear I'll need for those adventures. I've already got a list going for next summer. Today my list just got shorter. My roommate gave me a deck compass for Christmas!

Now, I've got a new gadget to learn to use. I hope to teach myself to navigate in open water without reference points. Maybe I'll brave the cold and take it out for a test run after Christmas.

Paddling clothes for warm weather

2009-12-22T20:31:00.005-05:00

Going sea kayaking but not sure what to wear? I've spent three summers guiding expedition sea kayaking treks. During these trips, I learned what was essential, what was a luxury, and the things that just got in the way. I took just the basics, although I was completely willing to sacrifice changes of clothing for a few creature comforts. I literally wear the same outfit every single day. The only changes in clothing were due to changes in weather. If it got chilly, I put on pants and a very light jacket. If it rained, I put on a rain jacket. Otherwise, I wore my long sleeve shirt and quick dry shorts every single day. I would always tell my groups to get used to my outfit because it wouldn't change all week. They often reacted by telling me how gross it was that I wore the same thing for 5 days. Your clothes will get dirty and smelly no matter whether you wear them for a day or 5 days. If you're a bit muddy or your shirt starts to smell, you can always go for a dip in the ocean! Why bring extras when they're taking up valuable space for other things?

Here's my list:

Essential Clothing
-long sleeve, button up, quick dry shirt (no rash-guards!!)
-1 pair quick dry shorts + 1 pair quick dry long pants
OR
-1 pair of zip off convertible quick dry pants
-rain jacket
-wide brimmed hat, that floats, with a string
-water shoes or sandals (I reccommend : Keens, Vibram 5 Fingers, Chacos)
-bandana or buff

Optional Clothing
-swimsuit (note, your swimsuit will dry much more slowly than you quick dry clothes. I swim in my everyday clothes)
-rain pants (really only needed for when it rains while you aren't paddling, I never bring any- its usually so warm I dry pretty quickly anyway)
-paddling gloves (may be good if you don't paddle much, I haven't used them)
-underwear (I don't wear any during my treks. just another layer of clothing to get and stay wet) if you bring any, make sure it dries fast
- a very light jacket if you're cold-natured

want to know exactly what I wear? here is the same list, but with brands:

Ali's trek clothes:
-ExOfficio Dryflite Shirt (long sleeve, button up quick dry shirt with sleeves I can roll up)
-Moving Comfort Cameo Racerback sports bra
-Prana "Bliss Knickers" (quick dry shorts)
-Prana "Bliss Pant" (quick dry long pants)
-Marmot Crystalline Rain Jacket
-Patagonia Women's R1 pullover (light jacket)
-Vibram 5 Fingers- Women's KSO (paddling shoes)
-Chaco Hipthong sandals (for on land)
-Prana Sabin Racer top (tank top)
-Buff (multifunctional bandana)
-Columbia wide brimmed hat
-If I am with friends or headed to Ocracoke, sometimes I'll bring a bikini. It serves as an extra bra top for when I get sick of the sports bra.

My Paddling Clothes by WayfinderAli

The Beginning

2009-12-08T13:55:00.000-05:00

So here's to my first blog post! The Wayfinder blog will be dedicated to all of the adventures of me, Ali Williams. I've been to some pretty amazing places and have done some pretty cool things and I don't plan to stop adventuring any time soon. Through this blog I'll share my stories, photos, knowledge and the lessons I've learned on my various adventures.