We don’t always do tours on the islands we visit, but there were several where we found something interesting to do. On St. Kitts, we took a ship tour to the Fairview Great House and Botanical Gardens for a guided visit to the estate and rum tasting. Yum!
The rum was pretty good, but it was all flavored rum, which is not my thing. We didn’t mind the tastes, though! 🙂
Just being lazy. I’m most of the way through the photos from our last trip, but trying to get them all done before I start posting. In case anyone wondered about me, here is a quick post to confirm I’m still around! 🙂
We made it home from sunny Florida to gray and cloudy Charlotte yesterday (Saturday) afternoon. I’ve got my photos downloaded and should be able to start on some editing and processing over the next few days. We were gone a while, so there are a few more important things to do as well.
The first stop on our third cruise, aboard Celebrity Apex, was in Key West, FL. We pretty much wandered around looking for photos, and I kind of liked the repetition of all the tables along this pier. I’m certain the scene would be a lot different at sunset, but early in the morning I was able to get the tables and umbrellas all in a line, mostly uninterrupted by tourists!
We don’t usually get too excited about Cozumel, because we have been there a number of times and have done most of the touristy things. We don’t go to the beach, so that leaves out a lot of activities.
On this recent cruise, Cozumel ended up being our only stop, so we decided to at least get off the ship and have a drink or two. Thanks to The Google, I located a bar and restaurant called The Thirsty Cougar which was a short walk from the cruise dock.
My usual Mexican libation is a Paloma instead of the traditional Margarita. A Paloma is made with tequila and grapefruit soda, and I like the combination. The Thirsty Cougar also does an awesome Margarita, as I was assured by our friends who sampled some. They also do a mean Nacho platter!
When visiting Cozumel on a Norwegian ship, it docks in the downtown area where a lot of the restaurants are. Many of the other lines dock at a different terminal about 3 miles away. There are restaurants there, too. But in my mind The Thirsty Cougar might just be worth the taxi fare! 🙂
Photos from this most recent trip are here.
On the island of St. Martin, it had been a few years since we took the time to visit the capital of Philipsburg, so we took the water taxi from the cruise port and spent a few hours there. While the buildings show a hint of old Dutch architecture. we find that most of the businesses are bars, jewelry stores run by non-St. Martians, and hotels. Go to the beach or shop is about it. Or take pictures. 🙂
St. Martin is best experienced on an island tour with an experienced guide, a trip to a nice beach or a lunch at a restaurant on the French side. We have done this many times in the past and it is a much better time! We just didn’t want to do it this time.
St. Kitts is another of those islands we’ve been to numerous times, and more often than not choose to stay on or close to the ship instead of trudging around the island with the rest of the tourists. This is another place where we got off the ship long enough to stretch our legs, visit a store we wanted to go to, and take a few photos. It’s easy to spend an hour or so then get back to the ship before all the pool chairs are claimed! 😉
San Juan, Puerto Rico is our favorite cruise ship destination, and for many reasons. We love walking around Old San Juan and have discovered a number of interesting nooks and crannies, some fun shops with local wares, as well as a few restaurants to get some local cuisine.
But the highlight of any visit to San Juan is sailing past Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Also referred to simply as El Morro (The Promontory), it is a citadel (or fortress) built between 16th and 18th centuries at the entrance of San Juan harbor.
Most sailings from Florida arrive in San Juan in the late morning or early afternoon, as it is often the first port and it takes a couple of days to sail there. As it happened on this most recent visit, our 7am arrival coincided with sunrise, and I just happened to be up early enough to hit the outside decks in time. I was rewarded with a fabulous sunrise and wonderful early light on the buildings of the city.
We spent some time off the ship and walking around, and I’ll highlight those photos in another post or two.
We were sitting at breakfast one morning, waiting for our food. I was looking up at the dining room ceiling and decided to take a few pictures. A really nice man at the table next to me turned and asked, “could I see what you were taking pictures of?” I showed him the screen on my camera, and I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was something like “fascinating” or “interesting” or “excuse me I need to go now.” Just kidding about the last one. 😉
Like most of us, I’m always on the lookout for interesting shadows. Here are a few from our recent visit to Biltmore.
One of the things that fascinates me about photography is that often the best photographs are the ones that require the least “work.” In terms of both effort and of processing.
Monte enjoyed my motion blur photo from a couple of days ago so I thought I would serve up a few more. Sometimes the camera moves, sometimes the subject moves.
Lots of motion blur here today as we await Ian’s arrival. It’s been rainy, breezy and chilly – a good day to work on photos and watch Formula 1 practice! Ian keeps angling further east of us, which is good for us but unfortunately not so good for someone else. Should be by us by morning, hopefully!
