As always, we were in Galveston for Mardi Gras. The parades out on Seawall do not have the character the ones on the Strand had. But, they were still fun.
Can’t get more decked out than that.
Always pirates, even with beads.
The bead truck.
After Cozumel, we spent a day at sea before getting back to Galveston. Over the course of the cruise, I was able to get some sunrise/sunset pictures. So, I am going to put them all in this post.
This was from Falmouth Jamaica.
This was at sunrise in George Town Grand Cayman Islands.
as was this
And, as we were preparing to leave George Town, I got this shot.
Our third port of call was Cozumel. I am not sure how many times we have been to Cozumel, but it has been enough that we no longer consider doing any organized excursions. We took a cab into town, walked around, and had lunch at Las Palmeres. I have taken so many pictures in Cozumel over the years, that it is hard to take anything new. But, I tried. As we were about to leave port, I got a couple of shots of Cozumel at night.
and
Our second port of call was George Town Cayman Islands. We did a scenic trolley tour, and it was really not worth what we paid. When we went to catch it, we noticed there was a “hop on – hop off” bus tour that would probably have been far better. Even at that, I got a couple good images. The trolley we took went out the main street for a couple miles, and at the end, we stopped at a beach called “Smith’s Barricade.”
When we got back, we walked around George Town for a while, and got this shot.
We could not dock in George Town. So, we had to use tenders. Returning to the ship, I took this picture of our cruise ship.
Our first port was Falmouth Jamaica. From the ship, it looked fantastic, but what we saw was all built specifically for the cruise ships.
We took an excursion to “Good Hope Estate.” This was a 18th century sugar cane plantation. Seldom are cruise excursions worth their cost, but this was one that really was. This plantation was built up on the top of a mountain, and the views were stunning.
and
There was a small pond on the plantation, and when we walked around it, I saw this water lily.
We took a cruise on The Navigator of the Seas the week after New Years. The first two days were at sea, and these are a couple of the images of the ship that I captured.
This first one is The Elissa in Galveston Harbor from the deck of the cruise ship.
The next one is a huge sculpture in the center of the hip that is several stories tall.
This is the 11the deck of the ship facing forward.
We went on a cruise after New Years. Before the cruise, I took a day to go out in Galveston. My original intent was to visit some places looking for birds, but that didn’t work well, as there were few birds around. I drove down to the harbor knowing there were always pelicans at the marina. When I got there, I saw The Elissa had her sails up. It appeared that there was some function on board. The Carnival Triumph was also there, and the two of them juxtaposed made for an interesting study.
and
Afterwards, I went back to looking for birds. but that didn’t last too long. As I was driving down Harborside, I noticed a marina I had never seen before by UTMB. It is apparently a place where the commercial fishing boats dock, and normally, they are out fishing, but on this day they were all docked.
I said one of my goals was to get a good picture of a New Orleans Trolley Car. Here it is.
I am really happy with the way it came out. While on the train coming home, I was watching a video and there was a small commercial for Topaz Impressions software plugin. It transforms images to make them look like impressionist paintings. It turns out there are two similar packages, and I downloaded both and played with them. Here is what I got.
It creates an interesting image, but it is almost insulting to real impressionist artists. To actually create impressionist art takes a great deal of skill and work. So, I am somewhat torn about this/
I had to attend the LMCA meeting in New Orleans. This time Debbie came with me and we took the train. That was a great experience. It is so much better than flying or driving, although it does take a little longer. Because the train only runs each way three times a week, we had to go a day early, but that was great because it gave me a whole day to take pictures. I had two goals – a good trolley picture, and a picture of Preservation Hall. I got those an a couple more.
I am going to discuss the Trolley pic in another post.
As always, we went to Dickens on The Strand. It has been interesting watching things change. Although there were no major changes this year, there were a few things that have changed some. There has been an increase in Steampunk related costumes (although how they relate to Victorian England I am not quite sure) and a decrease in Pirate related costumes. Here are a couple pics of the two
We joined the Galveston Historic Foundation. That allowed us access to view the parades from a balcony on The Strand. So, the pics of the parade were a little different this year.
