Blogs from Pacific, Oceans and Seas - page 24

We booked the Behind the Fun Tour when we embarked the ship on Monday. It’s a ‘first-come, first serve’ type situation so we made sure to sign-up at the Shore Excursion desk right when we got onto the ship. It was here we were told that we weren’t allowed to bring any cameras, cell phones or other recording devices and that we needed to wear closed-toed shoes. It pays to be a member of a cruise forum (Cruise Critic) to get the heads up on this! We met in the Blue Riband Library at 9 a.m. where we were offered coffee, juices and pastries. Once everyone arrived we were asked to give up any cell phones we may have on us, we were wanded by Security and then the tour began. We were led through the ... read more

Tonight was the Deck Party and late-night Mexican Buffet ... woo hoo! We decided to grab our cameras and photograph some of the festivities. Shooting at night allows for some slower shutter speeds ... which really helped bring out the impression of movement from the dancing, don’t you think? INSIGHT: When shooting with slower shutters there is a high chance for blur (obviously). While we do want some motion blur to happen ... movement of dancing, etc ... there should also be something stationary in the frame (such as the Carnival Paradise name) to give the viewer a reference. Stabilizing the camera and using a remote or the timer for the shutter is a must. We wanted to make good use of the lighting available. The Lido Deck on the Carnival Paradise was especially pretty with ... read more

Volpaia Time: 19:00 Zulu Time: 01:00 05 33.02 S 137 48.45 W Speed: 9.7 knots Wind: 16 knots 112 T Course: 215 T Seas: 5-7 ft Crew: Liz helming, Colby writing, Shay,Brett & Alix on deck, Cyrus getting wet on bow. Comments: Greetings, outside world! Thousands of miles from North America, ripping along a rolly and glimmering deep blue sea, the desire to be viewing a television has never existed...Until the Boston Bruins faced off against the Vancouver Canucks for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Last night during game 7 of the series, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas shutout all of Vancouver's sharpshooters, and I imagine the dull tone of the Canuck's fans filling the air at the rink. The Bruins scored four times before celebration erupted, hoisting the cup high and mighty, as revered Stanley ... read more

Volpaia Time: 19:10 Zulu Time: 13:10 02 43.33 N 132 10.68 W Speed: 9.5 knots Wind: 15.5 knots 142 T Course: 230 T Seas: 3-5 ft Crew: Shay helming, Colby, Brett & Alix sleeping, Liz writing log, Cyrus writing Comments: Colby made fresh orange juice today with his Toronjero Jr Juicer that he bought in Mexico. When he brought that home to the boat in La Paz, Brooke took one look at it and banned it from the boat. "That thing is too big!" she exclaimed, "Where are you going to store that? What were you thinking when you bought it?" Colby told us what he was thinking in great detail. You see he had worked in a cafe where one of his daily tasks was to make gallons of fresh squeezed OJ with an inferior ... read more

Volpaia Time: 22:00 Zulu Time: 04:00 7 00. 67 N 128 42.51 W Speed: 7.7 knots Wind: 19 knots 005 T Course: 225 T Seas: 3-4 ft Crew: Shay helming, Cyrus getting off watch, Brett writing log, Alix sleeping, Colby reading. Comments: First off, if any of the recipients of this log have received doubles, or more, we had a glitch with our satellite email server yesterday and have hopefully gotten it sorted. Sorry about that. Our recources are a little limited out here but I think we have it sorted. Thanks for your patience. I will now pass the mic to our next guest log writer, Brett. Just now on Volpaia we have crossed over the seventh latitude. The convergent zone of strange weather that has been a regularity over the past few days has ... read more