Lead up to Louis Vuitton

ETNZ: First Day in San Francisco

Oracle and ETNZ

America’s Cup ‘Summer of Racing’

Louis Vuitton Cup starts soon (July 7)for those interested. Will be very close exciting racing this time around with the main events being held close to the shore line in San Francisco allowing better viewing for the public.

Download the full schedule in PDF format. HERE !!

The America’s Cup Finals are scheduled Sept. 7-21, with racing set for Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The match is a best-of-17 series. Two races are planned each day, lasting approximately 30 minutes, and beginning at 1:10 pm PT and 2:10 pm PT. A break of approximately 32 minutes between races is mandated by the Protocol.

Official Youtube Channel here

NEW CALEDONIA WITH CARNIVAL SPIRIT

The start of our 9 day cruise to New Caledonia, the size of this ship is just "MASSIVE" It has water slides and pools, a Casino, restaurants even duty free shops .. overall a great experience. The usual on board fun and activities including shows, movies and fine dining. The green thunder well that was a one only. Imagine standing in that clear tube next minute the floor gives way and you go flying down the tube in super quick time.

First stop was Isle of Pines, sensational place, crystal clear water, friendly locals with small markets and local  food. One thing to consider if you want to save a few dollars on the Island excursions is to arrange an Island trip or tour when you get on the Island. Arranging Shore excursions on the Carnival can get expensive for a family. These places as you might imagine are set-up for visiting tourists, believe me they have it worked out. Spent a bit of time at the local beach side markets on then went on a tour on the other side of the Island at a place called the Natural Aquarium ... awesome little cove and great for snorkelling. As the picture indicates the Ship parks up in the deep water off the coast and then they run tender boats back and forth all day with "THE TOURISTS" The local currency is the French Franc but they will take the Aussie dollar as well.

Lifou .. great little Island, Like all other ports setup for the tourist dollar with local markets etc. Get a local massage or a hair braid. We discovered the Secret Grotto as its known with Eddy in the red outfit. A get back to nature adventure where we discovered  the Islands fauna. including a limestone cave. Have a search around on the Island if you venture to Lifou for other tours as well. The day we visited was a bit overcast and windy and not an ideal snorkelling day. Got to see a live coconut crab which I believe are good eating depending on their diet, might just stick to the ocean variety thanks. The Lifou Island tours were day trips mostly so you had plenty of time normally to look around. On arrival into the Port there was a few small markets setup ready to take your tourist dollar but quite reasonably priced.

Noumea Arrived into port in the early hours of the morning, Decided on a partial  tour around the Island on a Bus to see the sights. It was a Sunday so not much open which was unfortunate but local markets were open . The Jetski was great fun, Rachel rode it most of the way around the harbour tour (Flipped me off once into harbour) Lucky for me I had the cut out switch attached to my vest. There are some really nice houses on the Island but also a lot of state housing which the local government heavily subsidise apparently to try and tidy things up a bit. Went past the old Club Med which is currently being refurbished. The Island has rich deposits of Nickel and mining is evident as you tour the Island. From here it was on to the last Port called Mare'.

Mare' A pleasant little Island with an awesome snorkelling beach shown in the photos. Its quite cheap to arrange a shore excursion for this one. As per usual the locals are ready to transport you to where ever you wish to go. There is a small market and eatery not far from the wharf  where the Tenders arrive. You can hire Snorkelling equipment and even buy it on the Ship but would be cheaper to bring your own if you plan on a bit of swimming.

Carnival Spirit departs Sydney on numerous Island cruises. 

Youtube tips

Ok thought I would do a quick post for those unsure about the different view options with Youtube. Obviously these days HD is becoming more the norm but you will find by default Youtube will depending on your connection type load up a lower video resolution option for you.

So how do you change it ? Easy really if you haven't worked it out already. From the Pic below I'll highlight the options to look for. Look for the Gear wheel to show you HD options and also the smaller and larger rectangle which will give you different viewing options.

The other option to send HD video's to friends is to copy the link to the Video with a bit of added code on the end of the link. For example below I'll insert two video links one in HD the other standard Youtube configuration, I know which one I prefer.

If you wish to send a link so the reciever views the HD version add &hd=1 to the end of the video link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQuxgA1uhzM&hd=1

Non HD - Standard Youtube Config  - HD Version 720P (Select the bigger Rectangle)

If your real adventurous have a look at a script addon to Chrome which will enable you to customize your online experience, also can give you the ability to download the videos in MP4 format.

Tampermonkey  for Chrome 

European Vacation - August 2013

Janine and I embark on a vacation to Europe, including Ireland the UK, Paris and if time permits slip down into Italy for a few days. From there back to Abu Dhabi then back home toward the end of August.

View  European Adventure  in a larger map