Wishing you and your family much happiness during the holidays, and all the best for the coming New Year!

Joe and Kirk (the humans), and Rolly (the Jack Russell Terrier)

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Travel & Astronomy

2024 Total Solar Eclipse 10-day cruise

An astronomy buddy and I cruised from Los Angeles to Manzanillo and back to LA in April 2024 aboard the Discovery Princess to observe the Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) from offshore at Mazatlan, Mexico. This is a mega-ship on a new cruise line for me, however it offered a great way to observe an eclipse in comfort. The eclipse was spectacular, and as an added bonus, I also observed the Green Flash the evening before!

I’ve observed two other TSEs from cruise ships: in 2012 aboard the Paul Gauguin in the Coral Sea south of New Caledonia, and in 2016 aboard the Volendam from the Makassar Strait in Indonesia. Quite a few cruise ships were under the Moon’s shadow at the appointed time on April 8, 2024 offshore from Mazatlan, including the Discovery Princess’s sister ship the Ruby Princess, the expedition ship Sh Diana, as well as Holland America’s Zaandam and Koningsdam.

The Discovery Princess is much bigger than ships I’ve sailed on before, so while the food and service were excellent, we both disliked the crowds and noise, which was impossible to get away from unless we were in our staterooms. Despite those negative impressions, the bridge officers did an excellent job of positioning the ship to allow everyone to observe the eclipse under clear skies and smooth seas at the appointed hour, so no complaints!

Since Manzanillo was the only new port-of-call for me on this cruise, I didn’t take any excursions or venture very far from the ship. I observed and photographed some wildlife from my balcony as we sailed down the coast, including Brown Pelicans, Sea Turtles, Laughing Gulls and Magnificent Frigatebirds. It had been over 50 years since I had been in Mazatlan, but as I walked through the old town, it appealed to me very much. I’ve put it on my list of places to return to…a much nicer visitor experience than the other tourist towns along Mexico’s Pacific coast.

For more details, please browse my JoeTourist travelogue and photo gallery.

More Astronomy

This year, the Island Star Party was held at a dark site on the Saanich Peninsula, so I was able to drive home each evening, instead of having to stay overnight in a guest house as with previous years when it was held in the Cowichan Valley. I am no longer observing the night sky, since I don’t have the stamina to stand around in the dark and cold. Although I still have my telescopes, they are gathering dust.

We were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime display of aurora on May 10th. I was ready to capture it with my fish eye lens, so I have a great series of photos to remember this fabulous sight with. I was visiting with friends who live in a dark location just outside the city, so we could watch the aurora play overhead, displaying intense colours I had never observed before.

More Travel

As I write this in December, a 29-day cruise I booked a year ago with Holland America is fast approaching: the Far East & Philippines Collector cruise on the Noordam leaves Singapore for Tokyo on February 1, 2025. Since I booked early, I qualified for some onboard credit, specialty dining, Internet, and a drinks package.

We have ports-of-call in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan, and also visit southern Japanese islands and Osaka before debarking in Tokyo. I have visited Thailand and Singapore, and flown through Hong Kong, but this cruise enables me to experience many new countries.

I fly into Singapore the day before the ship departs, staying in a classic colonial era hotel, the Duxton Reserve thanks to my Marriott Bonvoy points. Chinese New Year celebrations will be in full swing, so that should be exciting, despite only having a few hours of free time in Singapore. Of course, many other ports-of-call in Asia will no doubt also be celebrating the Lunar New Year.

Dogs & Cats

2024 has been a terrible year for our pets. First, we had to take our Jack Russell Terrier Rolly to the emergency in March. A node of his liver had folded over (torsion), requiring emergency abdominal surgery to save him. Thankfully, his liver histopathology results did not indicate any evidence of cancer, and he has since made a full recovery.

Next up was our Turkish Van cat Mello, who went blind from undiagnosed high blood pressure earlier this year, subsequently had to have an eye removed due to retinal damage, and died in September. Mello’s best buddy Coda died a couple of years ago, so he was the lone cat in the family.

Rolly’s little brother Tanner was diagnosed with carcinoma in his spleen, and died in November. After growing up with his little brother for his entire life, Rolly is missing his brother terribly. He enjoys going for walks, but when he’s in the house, he sleeps a lot and seems depressed.

So the pet cemetery in our front garden has two fresh graves, and only three stockings are hung over the fireplace this year. The whole family is still grieving…

Around Home

I’m continuing to take LEQVIO (inclisiran) twice a year (a subcutaneous injection). This PCSK9 Inhibitor is a very effective treatment for my (formerly) high cholesterol, caused by Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH). The drug company and I finally prevailed on my extended medical insurer to cover the considerable cost for this treatment. My test results continue to indicate that this treatment is working very well, which pleases both me and my lipid specialist. Kirk’s health is stable, so that’s a good thing…

We replaced our Frigidaire Stacked Washer/Dryer with a new one a couple of weeks ago. In fact, we ended up purchasing the exact same model again, since we were happy with the features. We weren’t happy with the old one failing after only five years, but after considering the expense of fixing versus replacing, we hit that “buy” button on BestBuy’s website, taking advantage of savings offers, and a week later we had a new laundry unit installed and working. We considered the new heat pump & condenser combination washer/dryers, however online tales of expensive repairs caused by pet hair clogging convinced us to stick with the tried-and-true older and less energy efficient option.

Technology

On the tech front, I upgraded to an Apple iPhone 16 Pro, which has a much-improved set of cameras and includes some other nice upgrades from my old iPhone 13 Pro. I use my iPhone to take perhaps 90% of my photos these days. Earlier in the year, I decided to try an Android smartphone (OnePlus 12) on a second mobile plan. I liked it a lot, and found the Hasselblad cameras to take excellent photos, but after three months sold it. I’m better off to stick with Apple, at least for the next few years.

My fancy Canon cameras and lenses seem to sit in the camera bag most of the time, however I did take my big camera and long telephoto zoom on the cruise. The big gear is the best way to capture details in a total solar eclipse, and photographing birds and turtles from a moving ship needs some capable image stabilization and a powerful zoom. My best photos of the aurora were taken with a fish eye lens on my big camera – features simply not available on smartphone cameras.

The big camera gear also came in handy to capture the Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team this summer, as they escorted the historic Martin Mars water bomber to it’s final resting place at the BC Aviation Museum at Victoria airport.