In-Cabarete, Dominican Republic

Heading to the airport to return to Toronto. Finally captured a "locals on motorcycles" photo I'm happy with.

I've decided to take a trip over the winter of 2019/20.

I'll leave Cabarete and spend a couple of weeks in Toronto getting everything in order. Then, it's 28 hours of flights to the South Pacific archipelago nation of Vanuatu, where I'll stay until March. It'll be my longest journey yet – Melbourne was 22 and a half hours, if I remember correctly.

Technically, the Vanuatu visa limit for Canadians is three months, but a friend, Sallie, who's offered me lodging, says she can pull some strings with her contacts in Immigration. Neat trick if she can manage it. Otherwise I'l be back sometime in February.

Thankfully, temps will be a little cooler than the Dominican has been, but I shouldn't need to pack anything unusual. It'll be cyclone season there but I always pack Good Nature in my carry-on. I'll just have to bring enough to share with the locals.

The view from the penthouse veranda.

Morning game of chase with Lucky.

Not every day that you come across a scene like this walking down the beach to get breakfast. I'm guessing this'll be my favorite shot of the trip.

The motorcycle culture here is fascinating. The casualness; the lack of helmets; riding sidesaddle; transporting oversized items; multi-passenger (3 times I counted 5 on a bike!); infants...

When I was living in Oliva, Spain, I was told that the world champion kitesurfer was from my beach. Now I’m told that here, on the appropriately named Kite Beach, is where the North American champion calls home.

I count ten in the photo below:

There are small lizards and crabs everywhere.

While Gillian and Rodney are back in the UK, I'll be looking after Lucky, the indoor cat, and Outside and Oh No!, the two outdoor cats.