Woman Solos Prince Edward

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s one I missed this
summer. And too bad, cause it’s a cool story. A schoolteacher from London, Ontario, named Wendy Killoran completed the
first female solo circumnavigation of
Prince Edward Island, and did so in just 15 days. That’s fast. She says she was aided by good conditions and a near
constant tailwind.

The article here in one of my favorite paddling
magazines, Canoe and Kayak talks about the feat and how Kiloran is not at all new to impressive feats. She also
circumnavigated the world’s largest freshwater island, Manitoulin
Island in 2004. Paddling a Current Designs Solstice GTS, she pulled off both epic trips pretty much alone, which is
how she likes it. She also posted an article about the trip here.


Sex: Who Gets the Most/Best?

by Erik Olsen on

Should you trust a worldwide sex survey that was paid for by a
pharmaceutical giant? Or, worse yet, by a pharmaceutical giant that makes a sex enhancement pill? Sure, why not? I
mean, who cares, really, especially when one can glean such pleasure from the tawdry stereotypes about other nations
that the survey alleges to expose.

So here’s the news. An international survey on sex lives was conducted by
pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co., who, it happens, makes the anti-impotence drug Cialis. The survey, obviously a
marketing ploy timed to Valentine’s Day, and a rather clever one at that, asked some 1,200 married men and women
in South Korea, Japan, France and the United States about their sex lives. Who was happy with how much they were
getting? What is the quality of the getting, and so on. Why they chose these particular countries is a bit of a
mystery. Perhaps they chose them based on size of the market. But why leave out the Brits? Or the Germans? Anyway, it
is perhaps not surprising given the groups selected that the French say they had the best sex lives. Typical franco
boastfulness? Perhaps. But they do tend to have fewer hang-ups that we Americans, who, it should be added, came in
second in this respect. And then way down there at the bottom, and there is a modicum of tragedy here, are South Korean
women.

The Penn Center – St. Helena Island, SC

by Adrienne Wilson on

Not too long ago, USA Today ran a story on some disappearing sites worth
taking in sooner than later. One of which made the list was the culture of the Gullah people best observed and experienced at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. This site is home to the
country’s first schools for freed slaves and one of the most significant African American historical and cultural
institutions. The mission is to promote and preserve the history and culture of the Sea Islands. Visitors are welcomes
to tour the York W. Bailey Museum Monday-Saturday from 11AM – 4 PM. If I’m not mistaken the area also hosts a Community
Sing every third Sunday of the month from September to May to showcase African traditions through song. That would make
Sunday, February 19, 2006 the perfect chance to soak in some of the Gullah culture during Black History Month. Should a
trip to the Carolinas not be in your immediate travel forecast, plan for November when they have their annual Penn
Center Heritage Days Celebration.

Also, check out this site on the Gullah Celebration going on until the end of the month in South Carolina.

Africa Travel: Djibouti

by Adrienne Wilson on

Strangely enough Djibouti is probably one of the first African countries I ever learned about. My old sixth grade teacher had a quirky sense of humor and claimed the country as one of his favorites because of the name. While it made most of the other sixth graders giggle, I always wondered if there was something a bit off in his head. Anyhow, Djibouti is an east African country bordering the Red Sea as well as Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Once in, getting around the country seems fairly easy so long as you have patience for long bus waits. Sites of interest include Lac Abbé where Planet of the Apes was filmed years ago and Tadjoura which is the country’s oldest town and good dive spot.

Diving in the Red Sea off the shores of Djibouti is said to be spectacular. Head down below to discover schools of barracuda, batfish, giant reef rays and turtles. The waters are also home to resting migrating whale sharks between mid-September until the end of November. Several dive sites offer detailed information on their underwater tours. DivingTravel.com is only one of many out there, but has an awesome “Devil’s Caverns” excursion allowing avid divers to follow the tracks of two French adventurers and writers, Arthur Rimbaud and Henri de Monfreid. This world-class dive has some of the most interesting marine life and stunning colorful soft coral. Click here to find out more about their tours.

The photo above comes from Fred and Karen’s 2004 Djibouti dive adventure. Visit their site to get an idea of what dicing in DJ is like.

The Post on Travel Planning

by Erik Olsen on

The
Washington Post
provides a very useful piece here on the best places on the Web to do your travel planning. The article provides
the names of the sites, but for the life of me I can’t understand why they don’t link to them. Stupid. But among the
sites they do mention, there are a few I hadn’t heard of. For example, Hotelbook.com
is a site that has a database of some 5,000 independently owned hotels, and the site allows you to book and search
parameters like variety of location (city center, rural, mountain) as well as by ratings. Another site for
sports-minded, make that sports-obsessed people is Sportsgroupie.com, which lets
you plan your schedule around sports events. And finally, I like the fact that they give the nod to one of my favorite
New York sites: Newyorkology.com, which, if you haven’t been there, provides an
exhaustive amount of info about the city, including info on quirky places and things to do. I check in on them fairly
often.