R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 180

Viti Levu, Fiji — Suva and Navua River Cruise

The village

Our next stop on the island of Viti Levu was the Fiji capital city of Suva. But we didn’t spend long here, as Ursula had us booked for a little adventure. After a short bus ride we boarded boats for a ride up the Navua River.

Navua River boat ride

Our first stop was to a charming traditional communal Fiji village where we were greeted by friendlies. That’s good, because only a few hundred years ago the Fijis were known by another name — The Cannibal Isles. Fortunately everyone we met...

Holiday Repeat — If Edgar Allan Poe Had Written A Christmas Carol (Humor)

Be sure to catch the Mickey Spillane-inspired sequel to this tale on Christmas Day:

A Poe Christmas

Once upon a snowstorm dreary, through which I trudged all weak and weary,

Past many a quaint and curious number of advertisement lore

I saw the ad, above some wrapping; on the door I started tapping

At first it was a gentle tapping, tapping at the storefront door

I must gain entry to this store, as there was nothing then I wanted more

Searching for this and nothing more

The toy was here for which I sea...

Viti Levu, Fiji — First Stop Lautoku

Today I’m back to my normal Monday-Wednesday-Friday blog schedule, and I’ve returned to the topic of our Sydney-to-Seattle cruise earlier this year. But in keeping with this week’s holiday spirit I’m also running repeats on Tuesday and Thursday of my ever-popular holiday humor tales. Tuesday I’ll bring to you If Edgar Allan Poe had ‘Written A Christmas Carol.’ Thursday you’ll find here a repeat of the sequel to that tale with my follow-up A Spillane Christmas Carol.

Lautoka Sugar Mill

Our ship...

Fun Photo Friday — Christmas Lights 2013

We’ll finish this week’s Christmas lighting celebration with a Fun Photo Friday that originally ran back in 2013:

Well, it’s time for the annual Christmas Lights blog. This year El Paso’s San Jacinto Plaza is undergoing renovation, so the annual downtown light display was moved to the park just outside the main city library, and is comparatively subdued over years past.

Nevertheless, the display is still impressive.

Visitors came to gawk. If they took chill there was hot chocolate nearby.

And if...

The Christmas Lights of Eastridge — Part 3

Once again, this Eastridge series originally ran back in 2012:

Today we shall conclude our photographic tour of El Paso’s Eastridge neighborhood and its fantastical Christmas lighting displays.

As you can see in the picture above, sometimes, even the automobiles get into the act.

This photo is my favorite from today’s offerings:

The rest of today’s gallery is shown below. Click on any image to enlarge it:

Filed under: Photography, R. Doug Wicker Tagged: Christmas lights, Eastridge Christmas displa...

The Christmas Lights of Eastridge — Part 2

Continuing with a series originally posted back in 2012:

Today we continue our photographic tour of El Paso’s premier neighborhood for Christmas lighting displays, — Eastridge. My favorite for today is this photograph:

Below is today’s gallery. Click on any image you would like to see enlarged:

Filed under: Photography, R. Doug Wicker Tagged: Christmas lights, Eastridge Christmas displays, photography, R. Doug Wicker

The Christmas Lights of Eastridge — Part 1

Today I present a reblog of a post I made back in 2012 of El Paso’s premier neighborhood for Christmas lighting:

There is a neighborhood in El Paso that is locally famousfor going all-out each year in decorating for the Christmas Season. It’s called the Eastridgearea, and the residents there have been performing this mystical lighting feast from well before I moved to El Paso over thirty years ago. Over the course of this week’s three regularly scheduled blogs, we will be highlighting the phot...

Christmas Lights Week — How to Photograph Them

It’s the Christmas season. All this week, Monday through Friday, I’ll be reblogging previous Christmas lights posts beginning today with how to photograph Christmas light decorations and the importance of white balance. Next week we’ll return to the Sydney-to-Seattle cruise tour.

Taking pictures of Christmas lights requires special care and preparation. Regular readers of my blog know that I don’t usually advocate taking the camera out of JPEG and shooting in your camera’s Raw format (especial...

Fun Photo Friday — Vanuatu

Sunset Leaving Port Vila

Next week we’ll be taking a brief break from this voyage to present a series on Christmas lights, including how to photograph them. But for now here is today’s Fun Photo Friday of various Vanuatu sights:

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Efate, Espiritu Santo, Fun Photo Friday, Luganville, MS Oosterdam, photography, Port Vila, R. Doug Wicker, transpacific cruise, travel, travel photography, Vanuatu

Touring Espiritu Santos

Mavutor River

You can find beaches everywhere in the South Pacific. But you can’t find scenes such as this on every island:

Matevulu Blue Hole

Espiritu Santo is a huge island with many rivers. It also has many areas known as “blue holes.” And blue they most assuredly are.

Matevulu Blue Hole

Our road trip through the Espiritu Santo countryside also took us to coconut orchards,

Coconut orchard

Through grassy ranches,

Ranch land

Over crystalline rivers,

Mavutor River

And even by picturesque cemeteries,

Ceme...