We took Highway 128 back from Mendocino today — a wonderful, curvy, mountain drive through a redwood forest in perfect weather, with almost no other cars on the road. It is rare that I get to really drive the car with a passenger who doesn’t get carsick nor scared!

Highway 128 from Mendocino

Greenwood and Mountain View Roads (intersect with Highway 128, but run east/west parallel to it) also look like fun roads to drive. Maybe next time. :)

Now, it’s time to catch up with everything…

Sea Shepherd crew in a Zodiac inflatable boat pursue Japanese factory whaling ship, the Nisshin Maru, through New Zealand territorial waters north of the Ross Sea off Antarctica on Monday, Feb. 2. 2009. The Nisshin used water cannons to keep Sea Shepherd boats at bay. Sea Shepherd engaged the ship, along with two harpoon vessels from the Japanese whaling fleet – the Yushin Maru No. 1 and Yushin Maru No. 3, as part of Operation Musashi, its 2008-2009 campaign to end what it deems to be illegal whaling operations in Antarctic waters. (Photo by Stephen Roest/Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

Go, Steve! You nailed this shot (and I’m totally missing the action). Look at that glassy water. We never had conditions like that on the 1st leg! Full article here, with more pictures.

There’s also a video of the confrontation, which has been posted on Sea Shepherd’s website.

20:08 GMT +11, December 26, 2008. The M/V Steve Irwin has a close encounter with the Kaiko Maru, a spotter ship in the Japanese whaling fleet. Sea Shepherd crew members throw butyric acid (an organic, non-toxic “stink bomb”) and slippery methyl cellulose onto the deck of the Kaiko Maru. (Photo: Eric Cheng / Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

I figured I could post this despite the Animal Planet confidentially agreement, since it’s already been used in media all around the world.

Sunset in Mendocino

Sunset in Mendocino on February 1, 2009, slightly HDR’ed.

The first mock-mirage green flash I ever photographed was in 2003 from a boat in the Galapagos, and ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by them.

Green flash in Galapagos in 2003

On December 12, 2008, I photographed a green flash in Antarctica. Wikipedia says that it was a “mock-mirage” flash, where “indentations seem to ‘pinch off’ a thin, pointy strip from the upper limb of the Sun.”

Mock-mirage green flash in Antarctica. 12 Dec, 2008

About half an hour ago, I saw the brightest mock-mirage green flash I’ve ever seen (off the coast of Mendocino in beautiful, clear weather). I’ve met people who say that green flashes are bullshit, but this one was so bright and obvious that it would have convinced pretty much anyone that they are real.