travel spain – natjtan

Animal Kingdom, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography

Under The Mediterranean Sea. June 2022 Part 2. JellyFish ID and Sightings App

27/06/202227/06/2022by natjtanLeave a Comment

If there’s one thing I’m learning this year is that the sea changes more than nature on land.

I mentioned in my last Under The Mediterranean Sea winter storms had changed the sea floor where I snorkel. The previous 2 years the floor didn’t change much. There hasn’t been any bad storms in the past 2 weeks however already the sea floor has changed. The sand in parts is being replaced by pebbles where it was once sandy. Those pebbles have increased a little. A few more old industrial bricks have been uncovered or maybe pushed around albeit smaller. Usually around Easter the sea retreats exposing more beach while about 50 meters up the beach, it eats the beach only to settle back a few weeks later. Some years the council dregs sand to widen the beaches but I haven’t see that this year and I haven’t cycled along the other beaches to know if they have this year (little research later, they did to widen boat access to Port Olympic) The retreat and eat of the beach is happening now the end of June so I’m curious for the next few weeks. Barcelona Council along with Port Olympic, Zoo Barcelona and the Barcelona Aquarium are involved in an artificial reef project to support the boost the existing dykes at Port Olympic from storms, however I don’t go to the those beaches as they’re too crowded.

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Animal Kingdom, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Thought, Travel

Under The Mediterranean Sea June 2022. Changes

13/06/202214/06/2022by natjtan2 Comments

I’m back in my summer world saying hi to the fish! All winter long I’ve been waiting for when the water was warm enough to go in. The way the water wraps around you as soon as you get in makes you forget about everything. Salt water on a hot humid day is sometimes the only thing that cools you down. Maybe that’s because Earth is 70% water and humans are too. We’re just drawn to water and if you can peek into life in the water a completely different world opens up.

The wrong setting can be good sometimes. Day white balance instead of underwater white balance

A world where that has no idea about cryptocurrency, she said, he said this, shopping, roads, cars, tv shows. A world that just is, unchanged for millions of years taking away evolution. But it is changing.

I couldn’t find the rocks on the sea bed. I thought maybe that’s because the beach is wider than it used to be. Maybe I have to go further out. But I was looking in the right place. Looking above from the walk way I couldn’t see the darker shadows in the water where the rocks were. Looking back I hadn’t seen them for a few months but didn’t think anything about it. Every thing was covered in sand. So much sand the depth is shallower. I think the storms in January and March wiped everything out. When I cycled past I often wondered how the fish were doing in the storm waves. That world gone, the landscaped changed. When I realised I got upset. All winter long I’d been looking forward to snorkelling again. I don’t care it’s city beach. I just wanted to be in the water pooping my pants if a fish bigger than a mullet swam below. I felt like the one thing that had been keeping me going all winter gone in an instant.

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Animal Kingdom, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Travel

Weekend Friday Favourites 29.05.2022

29/05/202229/05/2022by natjtan1 Comment

How’s your weekend going?!

I can’t believe in a few days it’s June. Half way through the year. Time goes so slowly and so fast at the same time, yet recently it’s been flying by. Even my birthday 2 weeks ago feels like a lifetime away. Anyway. Weekend Friday Favourites, things that have made me smile or caught my eye.

Flamingos

This week I got to see wild flamingos with a trip the UNESCO Deltebre in Tarragona. Rice fields line the roads right up to the nature reserves where you can see flamingos, glossy ibis, cranes, different types of ducks to name a few. It was amazing seeing them wild just being flamingos. Peacocks have competition for being like magic carpets in flight.

DeltEbre

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Animal Kingdom, Nature, Photography, Travel

Under The Mediterranean Sea: August 2022 Alboran Sea

02/05/202202/05/2022by natjtanLeave a Comment

There were 3 things I learnt about the Mediterranean Sea last year;

Firstly its name. If I had thought about it and used my Spanish, it would be obvious that it’s derived from Latin for sea between land. The 2nd is that not all of Southern Spain runs along the Mediterranean Sea. The 3rd last year in Andalusia on holiday, the water is f’ing freezing despite being perhaps the hottest part of Spain.

That’s because, from the Straits of Gibraltar, the Alboran Sea runs along the coast of Andalusia and it’s freezing as the water is coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not the warmer water Mediterranean Sea I’m used to in North Eastern Spain.

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Animal Kingdom, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Nature, Photography, Travel

February 2022. The Long Short Month. The Second Half

25/04/202227/04/2022by natjtanLeave a Comment

The second half of February I used my mobile camera more than my camera. I’m not sure why. Maybe my camera was buried in my bag, maybe I didn’t want to seem like tourist.

Maybe I didn’t think the shot was worth my camera. I do that a lot only to later regret why I didn’t take it with my camera. My phone is just easier. Sometimes I can’t be bothered to get out my camera. Behind every photo however is a story. Be it basic as a reminder to go somewhere, a reference for later out shopping, evidence, the light, the scenery you wanted to capture forever. Even though most of the second half of February’s photos are from my mobile which in my eyes I can tell straight away they’re not as good, they have tales to tell.

I have a thing for birds as they make me laugh and are free to do, come and go as they please

Sunbathing in the winter sun. Western Lowland Gorilla Barcelona Zoo

There are parts of Barcelona even now and then I re explore only to be reminded why I don’t go there very often. Maremàgnum Centro Comercial is one of them. A mall in Port Vell, that’s always had a weird vibe to it. Sadly this time when I went about 1/3 of the shops had closed down. I have always though liked walking around wharf side. One of my favourite views of Barcelona is the row of buildings along Passeig de Colom looking from the port.

Some of the buildings along Passeig de Colom. The one with the 2 towers is the most fanciest post office in all the lands! Correos Via Laietana. The inside has frescos and a huge glass dome roof!

Every year the boating lake in Parc de la Ciutadella gets drained for maintenance. Last year someone released goldfish in the lake. You could see them flashing orange feeding the ducks. The seagulls as the boating lake drained, were going crazy fighting mid air for fish. I think more goldfish died out of shock being dropped multiple times than being eaten. Some the gulls, black headed gulls I think were amazing divers. They jumped a little in the air to dive head first into the water only for the larger gulls to steal the fish.

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