NOW is the Time to be in the Wine Country

The wildfires were national news, and deserved to be. Fire devastation leaves its own peculiar mark on the landscape, hopping over a house or vineyard here and there, but scorching everything in its path a few feet away. There's plenty of it to see in Northern California's wine country. But that's not the reason to go. All of northern California pitched in to provide emergency services and shelter - America is right to be proud of the continued generosity of the people and organizations there.

Though visitors can see the devastation from Highway 101, Rte.12 around Sonoma, and many major roads through the area, what can also be seen are dozens of "We're Open" signs at almost all wineries, shops and restaurants, interspersed with "Thank you, First Responders" hand-made signs everywhere.

The locals there are making a point to patronize their own, but let's face it: Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake Counties - those hardest hit - rely on visitors from out of town to survive.  And now they REALLY need to see your smiling faces.

This is also the time to buy wine, since what's available are last year's whites and reds from excellent years preceding the big burn. Many vineyards have been saved post-harvest (that is, they were harvested and processed before the fire), so the wine industry in this beautiful area will go on.

If your heart was touched by the enormous losses suffered by so many in this area, the thing to do is GO. Taste wine. Stay in a gorgeous spa/hotel. Know that your contribution is a blessing for the thousands of residents and businesses that make the wine country home.  Be part of Sonoma Strong.

Shipwreck!..Well, almost.

A bit of excitement this morning as we brought the panga to the shore of the lava fields at Bahia Urbina on Is. Isabela: the boat was nearly swamped by a big sneaker wave. We were upended from the rear of the boat, and I wasn't sure we could turn the boat in time to face the rest of the incoming swells. If we didn't, all eight of us would have been dumped into the bay to face heavy breakers and shallow rocks. We just made it, and flew, face up over four more incoming giant swells. When we we're able to turn the boat and head for shore, we scrambled up a wet lava face, then took a precarious mile-long walk over an extensive lava field. 

The field, covered with pa hoe'hoe (ropy) lava mixed with the broken, treacherous a'a lava was the product of three huge surrounding volcanoes. I had to pay a lot of attention to where I was walking. We passed a couple of brackish ponds with turtles and rays, and ended up at a pond to visit three feeding flamingos. I passed on the morning snorkel--another rough and murky sea. The sundeck, with its cool breezes and beautiful views is the place for me. The group that went out came back in about 30 minutes--conditions were as bad as predicted.

palos santos trees over Darwin Lake

 After lunch, we motored to another spot on Isabela--Punta Tagus. After viewing graffiti from the 1800s and a scramble up a rock face that smelled of eons of bird poop, we climbed 100 steps and hiked up the hill to an overlook of Darwin Lake--as salty and lifeless as the Dead Sea. There's a lot more vegetation here, though, because this part of the island was covered in ash rather than lava after the most recent eruption. The palos santos trees, dormant until the rains, bloom in tiny yellowish flowers, and bleed a red sap that smells like a sweet incense, hence the name "holy tree". Normally in bloom this time of year, the trees remain dormant due to lack of rain--global warming is having a major effect here. 

The calm before the storm

On the way back down, as we descended the stairs, a large bull seal blocked the path to the panga; he was defending his female and pup that were lounging about on the shore. Fabrizio clapped his hands, and the bull charged. Our guide wisely backed up. By the third try, the bull must have felt he got his point across, and the little family took to the water.

Fabrizio told us that of the 32,000 inhabitants on the Galapagos islands, 10,000 are illegal, that is, people who are not born on the islands, part-time residents who make money from tourism and spend it on the mainland. Tourism has been a mixed blessing, bringing jobs, higher prices, too many people, too many cars. Water is a perennial problem, as there are no water sources other than rain, and almost everything is brought in from the Ecuadorian coast. Big foreign corporations control a lot of what goes down here politically, and they're also responsible for the big cruise ships that frequent the islands, but take the money to Ecuador or beyond instead of enriching the local economy.

Several of us recorded the ship's instruments as they went to zero tonight, indicating our arrival at the equator (again--we passed it in the middle of the night on the way in).  See the video at vimeo.com/joanneorionmiller