Feb/March 2010

January Page in Tidelines Calendar

Anemonefish on Sea Anemone, May Tidelines Calendar

Kids at Milky Way, theurapuetic mud area, Palau, Micronesia

Photos from 2010  Tidelines Calendar

FAIRBANKS ALASKA AREA TRIP FEB 27TH- MARCH 3RD

After being home a record 2 months in a row it was time to hit the road again.  This time with a London Bank Analyst I met on a trip with Tom Haseltine in Buenos Aires a year ago.   Victoria Liu takes her travel seriously and  has covered a good part of Europe, South America, and the Indo Pacific.  She had tried to see Northern Lights on 3 previous trips so we planned a Fairbanks Trip together to coincide with the “World Ice Art Championships”.  I did not find out until after our plans were finalized that 2009 & 2010 were the lowest predicted solar flare activity (what causes Aurora displays) years in the past two decades!!!!  I also did not check the moon phase calendar to see that our visit was during a full moon which really hurts the viewing and often affects the strength of Aurora borealis displays.

Ice Carving prep for the Fairbank 2010 World Ice Championship

Amazing Ice Carvings really take on new form as it gets Dark!

Blue Ring Octopus Ice Carving, this was one of my favorites.

Great White Shark Ice Carving

Amazing Ice Art at Fairbank Alaska Ice Art Championship, Winter Festival

We traveled by van 60 miles to Chena Hot Springs Resort considered one of the best places in the world to view Northern Light displays.  It also has a pretty awesome Geothermal Hot Springs, and all kinds of fun activities that you will see in the photos below.

Geothermal Hot Springs at Chena Hot Springs Resort

Dog Sledding near Chena Hot Springs

Ice Hotel/Museum at Chena Hot Springs Resort

Northern Lights at Chena Hot Springs

The first night at Chena Hot Springs Resort we stayed up looking at a remote hilltop view until 3AM and after just getting to sleep received a phone call that the display was happening (4AM). Raced outside and missed it and waited 2 hours in vain.  The next night we took a snow cat tour to a nearby peak with nothing but a full moon but continued the vigil in the viewing room at the resort and was rewarded at 3:30am with a 10 minute display (above).   However, our last night we were treated to several 10-15 minute diplays right at the outskirts of Fairbanks on a tour at Aurora Borealis Lodge.  The displays below were a real sight to behold as they pulsated and moved all over the night sky in spite of a near full moon and very windy conditions that were moving the trees around the viewing lodge.

Northern Lights at Aurora Borealis Lodge, Fairbanks, Alaska

Amazing Aurora Borealis display

For a short and action-packed trip it was a real treat to see the Winter wonders around Fairbanks, Alaska.  Be well rested going into a trip like this as I was lucky to average about 2-3 hours of sleep on the 4 nights of this trip.