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adventures / photo / weekend — Comments Off
16
Jun 13

Every day is a travel day

Our wonderful and restive cruise is over. We said goodbye to old friends and goodbye to new friends. We’d only just gotten to the point where you could relax and it was time to pack things up again. We zoned out on the beach, we ran, we swam, we ate and laughed. It was a great time.

So we woke up, had one last, hasty breakfast on board — this time overlooking exotic New Jersey — and then disembarked.

We hit the laundromat. All of those clothes had to be washed. And then repacked. We had lunch and then hustled out to the airport.

At JFK there is a sign just before the security checkpoint. It says something about how TSA does not endorse nor is sponsored by any product or organization you see in the security area. This makes no sense until you look into the tubs for your change and phones and (still!) your shoes:

The TSA remains the worst, in so many ways. My favorite example remains a story of someone I know who inadvertently took a bottle of water through security.

“Whose water is this? Whose water is this? WHOSE WATER IS THIS? Oh well … ”

At least they can unwind at Hampton.

We’re going to unwind on the plane. We’re flying all night. Tomorrow we’ll be in London.

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15
Jun 13

Our last sea day

We’re on our way back to the States. Here’s the view from our veranda, look at all that deep blue:

There was a giant brunch buffet this morning to mark the end of the cruise. It was an embarrassing amount of food:

They had two chocolate fountains.

And ice sculptures everywhere.

The entertainment tonight was comedian Buzz Sutherland. He’s just been enjoying the cruise with his family and does his standup tonight. Sweet gig. And a great show. Check him out on YouTube.

There is a martini bar on board, notable for being an ice-covered bar. And, apparently, the bartenders are trick drink makers. I walked by just as a guy poured these seven drinks simultaneously out of a clutch of shakers.

I don’t know what the ship record is for this, but that guy was pretty proud of himself:

Finally, here’s the promised video of pianist Jordan Peterson. He’s playing tunes covering about a 50 year range, and he’s worth hearing:

Tomorrow we have to get off the ship.

adventures / Friday / photo — Comments Off
14
Jun 13

The blues of Bermuda

Our three day visit to the island of Bermuda is over. We talked about how it is easy to stop seeing the fantastic things just in front of you, how it sometimes takes a stranger to remind you of the beauty of things with which you are most familiar.

There is a lot of blue in Bermuda. The ocean is incredibly salty there. Both of these things are blamed on the lack of fresh water sources on the island. Whatever the cause, it makes for a great setting.

This is the mooring point just below our cabin:

Since we’ve cast lines and pushed away, we’re thinking about the ocean again. Here is a series of 10 photos showing off the many shades of blue we’ve seen the last few days. Enjoy.

adventures / Friday / GoPro / photo / video — Comments Off
14
Jun 13

Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda – day three

Our last day in Bermuda for this trip. We returned to Horseshoe Bay, where the sands are beautiful, the winds are peaceful and the ocean is still stirring with powerful energy. We found a quiet place to snorkel. There is a video of that later in this post.

Thinking of passing this place off as one of my summer homes. What do you think?

Our cab driver today. Nice fellow. He explained how the Bermudians come to the U.S. to do all of their shopping.

Here’s the video of our snorkeling, on our new GoPro camera. The Yankee, as always, shot the best parts:

Empty chairs in one of the cruise ship’s lounges. You should be here!

The aerialists were back on stage tonight. I ran into her in the elevator somewhere. She is a bit taller than you’d think. They are impressive, if you’re into this sort of thing. I think her main job is to not eat food on a cruise ship.

As we left Bermuda for the U.S. today I’ll have a special post coming up dedicated to the ocean. It’ll be … blue.

adventures / photo / Thursday — Comments Off
13
Jun 13

Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda – day two

We spent the afternoon here, at beautiful Horseshoe Bay. This is the far side, the entrance would be in the background down the right margin. Famous beach, very pretty place:

There was a lot of energy in the water today. I snorkeled around the big rocks at the point one time and gave it up. It was manageable, but all the fish were elsewhere, so it wasn’t really worth it.

The best part of the day was on the beach. This guy had it figured out:

The next several photographs are just part of a series of the day’s snapshots.

The White-tailed tropic bird, Phaethon lepturus catesbyi, is the smallest of three closely related seabirds. Based on the colors and length of the tail this one is a male:

“Come on in, the water’s fine!”

(It was a bit cool, actually.)

This is apparently the thing to do now, enlist someone to take a photo just as you’re about to be doused. Do it for Facebook!

The most colorful, smelliest guy on the beach. He was the first one of the locals as the tourists started leaving and the locals moved back in, about 4:30.

I wonder how this happened, geologically speaking.

The trail behind the beach. Lone tree, trail and sand running out of the back of the shot. Fair composition.

Our cab driver had a global economic theory. If we all worked less, others could work more. Unemployment would go down, vacations would go up. Not sure about the first part,but I like the second-level effect.

Here is ~~magician~~ illusionist Jason Bishop. He’s highly regarded as one of the best guys working, despite some cheesy sweeper sound effects. Here he has placed his lovely assistant in a box, folded it up and then stuffed it full of blades.

Here’s Bishop and his lovely assistant, Kim, after she was found safe and sound in the recently perforated and then-rebuilt box. At one point he’d spun her head around and around in the original structure. It would be hard to explain. Just go with it, it was visually impressive:

Before the show he invited people to come up and sign his magic box. This bit has been in play for a while, as you can see, and so the magic box (which was empty, I tested it) has almost become a piece of folk art. For the show he invited about a dozen people from the audience onto the stage. He stuffed Kim in a canvas bag and had three people tie it up. He locked the box and stood on top. The dozen or so participants from the crowd threw up a big curtain, just long enough to get it over Bishop’s head. When it fell, Kim was standing on top of the box. She hopped down, unlocked the box and he was inside, in the bag, and the knot-tiers verified those were their knots. It was blink-of-an-eye fast. We talked with one of the knot-tiers later. She said all you could hear was a quick bang, like the lid of the box shutting. She was two feet away and mystified. Neat trick:

We met one of the chefs tonight. He was from Jamaica. He said his job was to count things. So I guess he handled the logistics of how many lobster tails the ship needed. In a sense, he is every bit as important as the guy driving the thing.

Because you don’t want to anger a bunch of old people from New Jersey who’ve just learned they can’t get that second dessert:

More food art. Some watermelons from sushi hour: