Freeport Bahamas May 2017

30 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Photography, Travel, vacation

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Bahamas, cruise, light house, nature, photography, vacation

From our trip in May. Forgot to post!

This side of the island was pretty beat up. They had a hurricane I believe back in October.

Not to be ones to follow the beaten path, we headed east to the end of the road. Hoping to get to climb this lighthouse.

The guard told us ‘no’ but said she would take our photograph. Damn Tourist!

We headed back to the tourist area. Nice shops.

Headed back west on Sea Horse Rd. and onto the beach. Place was deserted. A lot of people still hadn’t rebuilt from the hurricane. The main attraction, the casino, was still closed.

More closed buildings. And an empty beach.

Hope this didn’t come off of our ship!

A glimmer of life after the storm.

Back on board, Kathy’s island souvenirs attacked the towel elephant.

Repair work to the Disney Cruise ship.

The Carnival Elation pulled into port.

Kind of reminds me of Baltimore.

Busy unloading containers.

I think this is where tankers load/unload? From above, there are a bunch of fuel storage tanks on shore near here.

Whatever this is, it was moving at a fast clip.

Grand Turk Island

26 Friday May 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in nature, Photography, Travel

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boats, Hiking, nature, photography, Travel, vacation

After two and a half days at sea we finally made port. This was a six and a half hour stop. Because I had gotten some sunburn, which is unusual for me, even though I had a ton of SPF50 on, we decided we would not spend all our shore time laying on the beach. I signed us up for a history tour of the island. Woo Hoo!!

Getting ready to dock about 8am. Look at that water.

The dock and visitor center. Be sure to take your Boarding Pass and ID. And don’t cross the yellow lines on the pier!

Kathy waiting for the tour bus…or me to to stop taking photos of everything!

The tour was only supposed to be 1-1/2 hours in an air conditioned bus. it was more like 2 hours. First stop, an area outside of Cockburn Town (our tour guide got a kick out of saying “Cockburn” multiple times??) Above are some local shops.

The first stop was 15 minutes long so we left the main strip and headed towards the salt ponds. Grand Turk was a salt producer.

Quite a few of these around. Raise and lower water in the salt ponds but more importantly, they divert flood waters off the island back into the sea.

Horses and donkeys roam freely on the island. There is our tour bus.

Kathy looking for our winter home. Tour guide said the wooden homes were built from shipwreck wood.

Some of the colorful buildings.

Boat on the beach.

Heading to our next stop we see a replica of John Glenn’s space capsule – don’t blink or you will miss it!

Our second stop was at the far end of the island. The light house. Because of the people who lag behind, that have to use the bathroom after 20 cups of coffee…we didn’t have enough time to go inside.

Kathy making some new friends.

Tour is over and we head back to the ship to change our clothes for the beach. Here comes the Carnival Splendor.

Local took our pic for us. May have been one of the crew members?

Kathy looking for sea glass. Found some nice pieces. This side of the pier had more rock/coral under the water. Had to go out a ways to avoid it. Water was great!

Watching the people on the Splendor disembark. Big ass ship!

Time to set sail and one last memory of our stop on the island…On to Half Moon Cay

Getting There – Days 1, 2 and 3

17 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by Ronald Parks in Photography, Travel, vacation

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Bahamas, Baltimore, cruise, kayaking, photography, ship, vacation

For Christmas I gave Kathy and myself a cruise to the Bahamas. Since Kathy is the one who showed me how to kayak and we have been going whenever we can, I thought how cool would it be to go kayaking in the Bahamas. So on Sunday we headed to the cruise ship Carnival Pride and set sail.

I think the worst part of any cruise is the waiting. It seemed like forever to get to the gang plank to get on board. It was fairly cool out so standing in line wasn’t too bad. Our boarding time was about 1pm and the boat set sail just after 5pm. Above we see them loading supplies and fueling up.

One mistake I made booking this cruise was to get an obstructed balcony (cheap bastard!) Next time will be a full balcony. The sign on the window said not to open door, but we did. Nothing like sleeping with the sound of waves breaking.

The suitcases were delivered really fast, so we unpacked and headed to one of my favorite sights – to see if the ship will pass under the Key Bridge without hitting it!

Yes it did!

Roamed around some – Kathy with a ‘K’ behind her.

One of these days I’m going to get out to that fort.

From the Key Bridge to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge – moving right along.

Raining off in the distance.

Chilling in a hammock.

Heading out into the open sea.

The water was unbelievably blue! Two and a half days at sea. Lots to do, plenty of food. Lots of sun and sunburn! (for me, not Kathy)

Vac Pics #5

27 Tuesday Sep 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in Photography, Travel, vacation

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boats, Museum, photography, vacation, water

Alright, alright! I know! Way too many vacation photographs! This is the last of them (We already had another adventure since these were taken!) These photos are from our trip to Smith Island, via Crisfield.

We did a short tour of Crisfield before getting on the tour boat.

Watched the watermen unload their boats.

These are the prices the watermen are paid for their hard work. We paid $170 not too long ago for steamed crabs. Watermen aren’t making much money are they?

All we are saying…

Messy little fellow.

Got on the boat and started to head out to sea. Well, towards the bay at least.

Little pink houses.

Now we are moving. It takes an hour to get to Smith Island.

Kathy and her parents. Great people.

This is a rebuilt smoke stack, all that was left of the processing plant here. Rebuilt by park services in dedication to the person who left the land to them.

I love you a bushel and a peck!

Passing a nature reserve island before Smith Island, the birds were all lined up, ready to dance.

One of many waterman’s shacks.

Kathy jumped off the boat to grab us a table at a restaurant that I believe is owned by the boat captain – “Make sure you stop at the Bayside Inn!”

After some good food, we headed to the museum. Pretty nice.

Then took a walk around a partially submerged island! High tide.

I don’t think so.

Church with a halo

It has always amazed me that people abandon their boats wherever they want.

Crabby.

I thought this was another abandoned shack, but a few minutes after we sat down, the door closed.

Nice little pier.

Kathy told me to lay down in the wet grass and get this photo. Oh, ok!

And here is one of two water works photos. Building is called Hill Water Works.

And here is the second – showing an old water tower.

Watermen’s stuff.

Pelicans…

…who do not land gracefully in the water!

Returning to crisfield.

Vac Pics #3

23 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in kayaking, Photography, water

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Hiking, kayaking, photography, vacation

The next day we were off to Assateague Island for more kayaking

We entered the water at the beach, end of Ferry Landing Rd. Got there before the crowds did.

We headed north and hit a dead end, turned around and went south – lots of little islands and coves.

Lots of these guys around.

Tree as we headed back north on the other side of the first section.

Old duck blind

Heading towards the beach.

The beach is at the end of the “Life of the Marsh Boardwalk”.

Not sure what that guy was. Hard to get good photographs on a kayak. I also don’t care for this new camera of mine. Fuji underwater camera.

Make sure you wear your shoes when getting out of the kayak.

Kathy and I are the Great Adventurers!

Island life.

Foamy beach on the other side of the beach we landed on.

Fluffy and soft

Horses down where the first egret was. Like I said – hard to get a good shot on a kayak with a camera I don’t like.

Leaving the park. Another nice adventure!

Vac Pics #2

22 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by Ronald Parks in kayaking, Photography, vacation

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goat, islands, kayaking, photography, sewage, vacation

After returning from Ocean City, we loaded up the kayaks and headed to Goat Island on the Pocomoke River, Snow Hill Md. Byrd Park was nicely deserted and the water was calm.

It was high tide. The water was up the ramp into the parking lot.

And there she be – Goat Island.

What have we here? Goat’s name and address?

It was about a 1/2 mile paddle to circumnavigate the island – I felt like Magellan!

Goat house – but no goat. Didn’t see a single goat. Well, to be fair, I think there is only one living there.

After the island we headed to the Rte. 12 drawbridge. No going under that. You need to give them a five hour notice to have it raised.

On the other side there is a kayak rental place. There were quite a few people on that side (we saw them as we were crossing back over the bridge leaving)

Heading down or was it up? the river.

Buoy markers, open water and lilly-pads is what we pretty much saw for the near three hours we were out there. And that was fine by me. Peaceful.

Although a smell did lead us here – the waste water treatment plant.

Vacation Pics #1

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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kayaking, ocean, ocean city, photography, vacation, water

After some catching up with work and life stuff, finally got around to doing my photos…

The kayaks are patiently waiting our return from Ocean City…

The one legged Blue Heron doesn’t look as patient.

Our hotel. Next to the top floor. I enjoy being at the beach, in a room with a view.

What our hotel use to look like in the 60s. (Postcard found on line)

Biker/First Responder bike run for 9/11. This is at 22nd street and went all the way back to 28th and then down, I’m guessing to 9th street. They rode the boardwalk to the Fireman’s Memorial, down just past Division Street where there was a memorial service.