Warenge: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Restricted visibility

This is the view from the upper slopes of Flaine down towards the resort.

It is there, honest, somewhere under the clouds which caused a bit of a navigational hazard in the afternoon:

The solution that worked for most of the time was to stick to the higher ground but of course at some point its necessary to head down through this right pea-souper.

I was thinking about the sound's that ships must make when sailing in fog and for a brief moment wondered what the skiing equivalent was, until it became clear - and I'm sure skiers out there can guess what it was!

The Iberostar Cancun to open after a $100 million renovation!

The Iberostar Resort company bought the former Hilton Cancun and has rebranded it as the Iberostar Cancun. After spending over $100 million on renovations, the new hotel will open on February 3rd.

Iberostar closed the now-all-inclusive beachfront property last August in order to renovate public spaces as well as to build a new theater and add new restaurants, including a new buffet and four specialty dining venues -- a gourmet restaurant, a steakhouse, a Japanese restaurant and a Mexican restaurant. Children’s and teens’ clubs were also constructed, as was a new kids’ splash park in the pool area. Outdoor space at the resort’s 12-treatment room spa was also enhanced as was the lobby and lobby bar. Also new palapa-style, or thatched, umbrellas now provide shaded areas for guests on the beach. The resort’s 50,000 square feet of convention space as well as 90,000 square feet of event space remain untouched, making the Iberostar Cancun the only resort in the destination with oceanfront meeting facilities as well as an on-site 18-hole golf course.

Other features of the property include seven swimming pools, a professional football field, and two tennis courts.

Cancun is a the perfect destination for your meetings & incentive group travel. The airport is one of the busiest in the region and welcomes nonstop international flights from most gateways in the US & Europe. Airline tickets are often lowest than any other beach destination in the region.

Skiing in Flaine

The weekend's ski trip was to the resort of Flaine, about an hour and a half's bus journey from Geneva.

It is not an attractive resort, a relic from the 1970's school of concrete brutalism. But the setting is great - a "natural amphitheatre" like bowl surrounded by ice capped mountains, and spectacular views from the top.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Skiing is a water sport - right?

So yesterday I went skiing and today I'm pondering what to post. But surely skiing counts as a suitable topic for a boating blog as technically there is a fine layer of water under the skies on which the skier moves.

Hence skiing is a water sport too.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

No frost-biting on Lake Geneva

This was Lake Geneva yesterday and there was not a sail to be seen.

Though of course this being Geneva there are other things that can be done in winter, sports that also relate to H2O, sports that really need the cold.