Thursday 26 April 2007

Gone fishing


I already mentioned in one of the previous posts that I am going fishing. The departure time is approaching fast.


I still have things to pack and hit the road in the early morning. The plan is to get up before 5AM and head for Croatia.


I'll be gone for five days. After I come back I hope there will be many beautiful photos and interesting stories to share with you.


Enjoy! I know I will. ;)

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A fishing story


Once upon a time on a sailing boat not so far away, seven eager Sunday sailors were getting bored due to a lack of wind. They have dropped anchor in a lonely bay on island of Vis, Croatia and were relaxing in the sun.


One of them finally decided to put an end to that and grabbed his fishing stick. He dipped various bates into the water, but with no success whatsoever. One of his mates decided to go take a look if there are any fish swimming around. He put on his diving gear and jumped in. It was not long before he came to the surface and announced that there are fish below, but aren't even remotely interested in his hook.
After that he slowly swam to the other side of the bay.


After a while loud cursing interrupted the peaceful atmosphere. It was our fisherman ranting about his hook, which apparently got stuck on the bottom. Luckily for him there had to be a diver somewhere nearby. We signaled him to swim over and soon he went bellow to save the hook. In a couple of seconds he was back on the surface again, shouting "Quick! Fetch a strainer or a pot of some kind!"


For a couple of moments we just stood still and looked at him. Then I ran inside to get a strainer and passed it to him. He dove back into the water and soon came back up again – holding a strainer with an octopus inside, attached to the fishing line. The poor thing accidentally got caught on the hook and couldn't get away.


This catch was clearly more a product of luck then fishing skills and sadly the only one on that trip. Nevertheless it made a great octopus salad. Yummy!


Oh yeah, I almost forgot...
And they sailed happily ever after.

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Wednesday 25 April 2007

Going fishing

I finally made plans for a short vacation starting at the end of this week. I have decided to go on a five day fishing trip together with my girlfriend. We will be joining a friend of mine on an island of Pašman (Croatia). Probably there will be nine of us. I don't know most of other guys, but I am pretty sure it is going to be a blast.

I have never been on a fishing trip before, so I don't know what exactly to expect. If nothing else, I am counting on at least one seafood meal a day. Regarding that I love fish and other seafood dishes this surely is something to look forward to.

Some of my other friends are going sailing at the same time and there is a strong possibility that they will be sailing just by our rented house on Pašman island.

Last time I went with them we also tried to catch some fish from the sailing boat. We tried various kinds of bait but nothing worked. Then one of my mates thought of a new approach – he kneaded some dough and put it on his fishing hook. I don't know what it was, but the fish went wild. This was followed by a delicious dinner.

Next day we tried the same thing in another bay. Strangely none of the fish seemed interested in our dinner plans.

Both of the photos were taken on that sailing trip.

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Monday 23 April 2007

Blossoming pears


One of the reasons why I like spring is blossoming flowers and trees. When I go visit my parents I can really relax in a green atmosphere.


Last weekend I took a moment for a photo of this nice pear flower on the lawn behind my parents' house.


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Friday 20 April 2007

Hellebore carpet


When hiking to Porezen, a nicer part of our trip included walking on a hellebore carpet.


There were really lots of these flowers peeking out of the ground between patches of unmelted snow. Here is a closeup on one of them.


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Wednesday 18 April 2007

Hiking trip to Porezen, Slovenia


Last weekend I have decided to go for a hike. Once again it was a hiking trip together with my girlfriend. We went to Porezen (1632m), situated in the northern part of Primorska region, Slovenia.


It was our first serious hike this year and for her also the first serious outdoor workout since our skiing adventure in the Dolomites in February. Knowing that, I warned her in advance about a 1000 meters of height difference in a 2,5 hour climb. I knew that it could turn out to be a bit harder then it looks on the map. She insisted on going anyway.


You can see our destination on the first photo. There was still some snow on the top.


Do I need to explain what happened during the trip? Of course I was the one to blame for not pointing out what a 1000 meters of altitude actually means when you have to climb it. Is it just me or stuff like that happens also to someone else?


It was a steep climb all the way up, but in the end we did it - with lots of huffing, puffing and some cursing on the way of course. It took us a bit more then three hours to get to the top.


It was worth it in the end. Here are some photos to prove it.


On the way up we stumbled upon a piece of an old grenade (probably from WWI).


Like on top of most of Slovenian mountains there is a stamp on Porezen as well. Some hikers and climbers make sort of a quest from collecting as many of these as possible. I'm not quite there yet. ;)


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Tuesday 17 April 2007

A new look for Travel Photo Blogging


Today I made a few changes to the template. I like the layout of the template just the way it is, so I didn't go changing it.


This is the first visual makeover of this blog since its birth. I would dare to say it is not the last.


So how do you like it? Do you have a suggestion for an even better blog?

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Thursday 5 April 2007

An example of the worst possible timing


In my previous post I tried to promote BE (BlogExplosion) - it's a great way to boost your blog traffic and have fun in the process.


However - I chose to do that in a worst moment possible. As my blog post was published, at BE they have decided to move to new servers (the very same day!). Of course this meant their homepage was inaccessible for the day and nobody interested could check the BE page.


I am trying to console myself that the reason I haven't given away any credits yet was unavailability of BE webpage.


However, the be webpage is up again and my offer still stands - 50 credits for the first three of you signing up.
You can read more on the subject in this post or go to BE homepage by clicking on the banner below.



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Monday 2 April 2007

Explode your blog traffic - join BlogExplosion


Have you heard of BlogExplosion yet?



I believe most of you have. It is one of those blog traffic generating tools.
But it's more than just that. Even if you are using it I am pretty sure, you haven't tried all of what it has to offer (I am also not exploiting all of the traffic generating tools yet). Keep reading this post and you might even get a new idea or two!


Its primary idea is surfing other blogs to earn credits. You can spend those credits for bringing traffic to your blog (1 credit = 1 visit to your blog).


The fact is that BE (BlogExplosion) has much more to offer besides just that:


  • You can battle other member's blogs. And by doing that you can see how good your blog really is (and generate traffic in the process). Do you dare?

  • You can play various games (Sudoku, Scratch Cards, Arcade games etc). Most of them give you a chance to earn credits.

  • There is a vast community of active bloggers. They can help you solve your problems (blog related and others), review your blog and advise you on possible improvements. You can earn credits for helping others in the same way.

  • Another way of drawing traffic to your blog is through banner advertising. Once they are at your blog, you just have to persuade them that it's worth coming back. How hard can that be?

  • You can also listen to a really good BE Radio and earn credits just by doing that. If you use your computer most of the day like I am, you can earn a hundred credits as a daily average.


These are just some of the things BE has to offer. There is much more to explore.


Some sources say that the quality of traffic generated by sources similar to BlogExplosion is really low, but that is not entirely true.
From my own experience I can tell you that unfortunately most of the traffic generated this way doesn't come from future regular readers.
But after a couple of days of not using BlogExplosion, I have noticed, that quite a few BE members are still visiting my blog. Of course a lot depends on the quality of the blog itself. You have a blog worth visiting, right?


Why would you believe me? You shouldn't. You should try it out yourself!
You have nothing to loose. But you can win a lot (of traffic) and have loads of fun in the process. :)


To help you make the right decision, I will transfer 50 credits to the BlogExplosion accounts of the first three of you who decide to join by clicking on the add below.
You have to send me an email so that I can make the transfer. Please include the part of confirmation mail from BE where your username and the date of joining can be seen. Send the email to msinkovec*hotmail.com (replace * with @).



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