Some dear friends of ours took us sailing on their Catalina 22. Their boat is very well equipped, including a sail called a “spinnaker” which is a very large sail generally used for going down wind very fast. It was a perfect day for flying this sail and we did just that.
I made my way up on the bow of the boat with my camera which was equipped with a wide angle lens. I laid on the deck so I could get a good shot at the sail with the nice blue summer sky in the background.
The last time we were in Portland, Oregon, we went on a dinner cruise on the river. After dinner we toured the ship and ended up at the pilot house where the captain gave us a quick tour. Here is a shot using my iPhone camera showing the captain as he navigates the river.
What is CdA as shown in the title? Well, that is the abbreviation for Coeur d’Alene which is the name of a town and lake in northern Idaho.
While at the wooden boat show we got to see this magnificent sailboat owned by a very rich individual who lives in the area. It is 60 feet in length and the hull is all wood.
I like this shot because it is framed between the two pilings and the rope railing. The sun reflection off of the sails gives a nice contrast between the sail and the mountain behind.
Remember the time-lapse video I posted back in October? Well, I decided to try an experiment that centered around our experience we had cruising the the Caribbean. The cruise lines has a web cam on all of their cruise ships that update to the web every 2 minutes. I set up my computer to watch the web cam web page and capture the image of that page every 2 minutes. After 2 weeks of capturing nearly 10,000 jpg images, I put them together using Apple’s Quicktime Pro software and uploaded the attached movie to YouTube.
I left the nighttime footage in so you could get a feel for what the cruise was really like. Occasionally you can see the lights of other ships moving back and forth across the screen. Also, I lost connection to the web page a few times so there are some gaps in the video where it goes from the black of night to the mid day sun.
Can you spot the rainbow? You’ll have to look quick.
The photo to the right was captured at a wooden boat show in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The photo has some great contrasts in both color and texture. Another contrast is the difference between old (boat) and new (line). It is hard to tell that in this photo because the old boat is very well kept.
Also, notice the angles created by the dock line and the edge of the boat’s deck. Everything brings your eyes back to the center of the photo. Even when your eyes wander to the edge they follow one of the lines back in again.
On day 4 of our Caribbean cruse we were able to put our feet on dry land. It was a very pleasant morning as we approached the anchorage on Grand Cayman. The ship was firmly anchored to the harbor bottom and the tenders were unloaded from the ship in order to take several thousand people to the shore. We were amazed at how efficient this process really is. So efficient in fact that after our first snorkeling excursion we went back to the ship to get cleaned up, then went back to the island to see some on-land sites.
As we got a few hundred yards from the ship (on our second trip), I took the first photo as seen at the right I added a circular polarizing filter to the front of the lens. This really helps bring out the deep blue color of the sky and contrasts it with the clouds.
Once on land we visited many shops, one of which sold these charming bamboo wind chimes as shown in the second photo. It’s fun to get in close to the subject so that there is no question as to what the subject is.
The last photo is a close-up of a pirate statue which is the sign for a (you guessed it), a pirate shop. They sold all kinds of pirate costumes and other booty.
The subject tomorrow will be from Cozumel, an island about 10 miles off of the main Mexican coast.
Well, so much for “jamm’n in the streets” of Jamaica. The weather was still not being very cooperative this morning. About 20 minutes prior to our arrival in Jamaica, the captain came on the intercom and said that due to the high winds (sustained 35 knots with gusts of over 50 knots) we were not going to be able to dock in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We were looking forward to spending some time there, but appreciated the captain’s experience and his duty for the safety of his cargo (us). He said we approached close enough that he could see that even in the harbor things were still rock’n and roll’n. We later found out that another ship yesterday and one after ours today also aborted the approach due to safety reasons.
The first photo today shows Jamaica in the distance with the left (port) end of the ship’s bridge in the upper corner.
With the change in plans, the people in charge of entertainment were scrambling to give everyone other opportunities for things to do. We had plenty to do and were never bored.
The second photo shows an empty theater that is in the bow of the ship which takes up 2 decks. We watched an incredible Broadway production in a now packed theater and the performance was awesome.
Tomorrow the plan is to anchor in a harbor in the Grand Caymans where we will put on our snorkels, masks and fins and look at things in a world all of their own.
Day 2 of our cruise was used as a travel day. It is a long way from Fort Lauderdale to Ocho Rios in Jamaica, roughly a little more than 700 miles. Since we would not be seeing land for a while, there were many ship activities that occupied our time. One that was very interesting was a demonstration of fruit carving. It was amazing to see how quickly the artists were able to complete their creation. Some of their results are shown in the first photo.
When there were no activities in the piazza, music was performed by some very talented musicians. One such musician was the lady pianist shown in the second photograph. The piazza area of the ship is very elegant with great acoustics for music.
The third photograph showed that it was not a very pleasant day as far as the weather was concerned. The day was pretty much overcast, but the unpleasantness was due to the very strong wind coming from about a 45 degree angle off the bow. How strong is strong? Well, how about gale force winds? Yes, the wind topped 50 knots many times throughout the day and was above 45 knots for the majority of the day. Wind that is 50 knots or above is considered gale force.
Winds this strong given a chance to blow across thousands of miles of the Atlantic ocean create some pretty impressive waves. My guess is that they were in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 feet in height. Kelli thought that they were more like 25 feet, but that may have been her stomach talking. With the ship traveling at 19 knots, every time it would hit one of these waves it would create some tremendous spray off the bow as it cut through the ocean. There were several times that the spray from the waves would be over our heads when we were standing on deck 6 of the ship.
The last photo is one that proves that I was on the vacation. I normally do not make it to that end of the camera very often, but my wife was kind enough to take this one. She even kept the horizon level which is very important when you are shooting the ocean.
See you all tomorrow as I share some photos from Ocho Rios as we go “jamm’n in the streets mon.”
Welcome aboard the Ruby Princess. Those were the words we heard as we started our Caribbean cruise vacation. Over the next week I plan on showing you some images as we journey through a part of the world much warmer than home this time of year.
We started our journey in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where we boarded the new cruise ship, the Ruby Princess. This is only her 3rd voyage and everything is still looking very nice. The Ruby Princess is 951 feet long and 118 feet wide. Our stateroom is on deck 15 which is way above the waterline.
The first shot today is looking back from the top deck, toward the very large movie screen. They present feature length movies and informational videos at various times throughout the day. We were still at the dock waiting for our 5PM departure.
The second shot is looking up the Florida coast, just as we left the harbor at Fort Lauderdale.
Sometimes when we wake up after sleeping on our boat we are treated to a very still morning. This was the case earlier this summer. There were very few people around and the only traffic on this part of the lake was this kayaker.
I like this particular image as this woman cuts through the still water of the morning, leaving a v of ripples in her wake. Her bright colors contrast nicely against the reflection of the dark cliffs.
What is CdA as shown in the title? Well, that is the abbreviation for Coeur d’Alene which is the name of a town and lake in northern Idaho.
The photo to the right was captured at a wooden boat show in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The photo has some great contrasts in both color and texture. Another contrast is the difference between old (boat) and new (line). It is hard to tell that in this photo because the old boat is very well kept.
On day 4 of our Caribbean cruse we were able to put our feet on dry land. It was a very pleasant morning as we approached the anchorage on Grand Cayman. The ship was firmly anchored to the harbor bottom and the tenders were unloaded from the ship in order to take several thousand people to the shore. We were amazed at how efficient this process really is. So efficient in fact that after our first snorkeling excursion we went back to the ship to get cleaned up, then went back to the island to see some on-land sites.
Sometimes when we wake up after sleeping on our boat we are treated to a very still morning. This was the case earlier this summer. There were very few people around and the only traffic on this part of the lake was this kayaker.
