It’s no question: biking is booming. From the increase of bike sharing programs in urban areas to the rising popularity of biking during the pandemic, people are two-wheeling more than…
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Welcome to the Guiding Light cruising & travel blog
I love travel!!! Regardless if it is sailing the Guiding Light to new islands or grabbing a backpack and flying somewhere. The thing I like almost as much is sharing travel experiences. With that said, welcome to my cruising & travel blog where you will find information and entertainment in blogs, podcasts, photos of the day, travel videos, and fun videos. I would love if you make comments and join the discussion. 🙂
You can read about a specific location in the travel guide section, check out one of the following catagories (cruising, food & drink, guest’s post, life ashore, misc, offshore, published works, sailing school, working on the boat), or check out all the blogs below.
Last month Lily and I left the Virgin Islands to start our westward bound adventure. Our first stop was in Puerto Rico to pick up her daughters who flew in…
The Oaxaca Valley was settled by the Zapotec around 900-1000 BC and over the centuries developed a hierarchical society governed by elites. While the valley was relatively isolated, the Zapotec…
Yugal is an pre-Columbian town near the current city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Yagul began as a settlement around 500 BC, but the city really began to prosper after the decline…
Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian near Oaxaca, Mexico. Monte Albán is situated atop an artificially leveled ridge and has an elevation of about 6,400 ft above sea level and…
The Zapotec and Mixtec peoples settled in the Oaxaca valley thousands of years before the Spanish arrived. I will talk more about them in the next blog and video when…
Tlacotalpan is a town in the Mexican state of Veracruz that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998 due to its architecture and colonial-era layout. The town…
Sumidero Canyon is a deep natural canyon located in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas. The canyon’s creation began around the same time as the Grand Canyon, by a crack…
San Cristóbal de las Casas (meaning The Houses of Saint Christopher) was established in 1528 as a Spanish Military fort and is located in the Central Highlands region of the…
The Cascades de Agua Azul (Blue Waterfalls) are considered waterfalls and declared a Biosphere Natural Reserve in 1980, they are formed from the tributaries of the Otulún, Shumuljá and Tulijá…
Campeche was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores atop the existing Maya city of Can Pech on the Gulf of Mexico. Originally, the Spaniards lived inside the walled city, while…
Mérida is the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán as well as the largest city of the Yucatán Peninsula. It was founded in 1542 by Montejo y León and…
Sian Kaʼan Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo that became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The name “Sian Ka’an” means “gate of heaven”. The reserve…
The Chicxulub crater is an impact crater that hit just north of, and encompasses part of, the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The center is located just barely offshore near Chicxulub,…
Palenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that perished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date from ca. 226 BC to ca. 799 AD. Palenque was a…
As Lily and I were leaving Calakmul, which is deep in the Yucatan jungle (45 km from the Guatemala border), we had a turkey that would not get out of…
Check out the video below where I share some of the driving lessons I learned from driving all over Mexico. There is a lot of truth in it as well…
All over Mexico you can find Agua de Frutus which is basically fruit water. It is absolutely delicious and I find mostly in ice cream stores and restaurants. Check out…
Calakmul is a Maya archaeological site in Mexico 22 miles from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya…
Lily said she knew of a really cool cenote in Merida and wanted to take me to it. Check out the short video below to see how she used the…
Uxmal is an ancient Maya city in present-day Mexico, 62 km south of Mérida. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Maya culture. It is located…
Chichen Itza is a large Mayan city ruins found in Yucatán State, Mexico. Chichen Itza rose to regional prominence around 600 AD, however, it wasn’t until around 900AD that the…
The Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played since at least 1650 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places…
A cenote is a natural sinkhole formed by the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes an underground river. While the best-known cenotes are large open-water pools measuring 30-150 feet in…
Archaeological evidence indicates that Cobá was first settled between 50 BC and 100 AD. At that time, there was a town with buildings of wood and palm fronds and flat…
Tulum is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba (which I will take you to next), in the Mexican state of…
About three hours south of Playa del Carmen is the small beach town of Bacalar. The funny thing is this beach town is on a lagoon and not the Caribbean…
The travel video below is of our first week of traveling through Mexico for 30+ days. We explored the beaches and islands of the Yucatan Caribbean coast and began in…
The next stop on our 30+ days traveling through Mexico was a day trip over to Cozumel where we rented scooters again. We drove the entire island and saw Mayan…
When Lily and I were in Playa del Carmen we stumbled upon the 3D Wonders Museum and had an absolute blast. What it is, is a gallery of painting that…