R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 64

Fun Photo Friday — Off-Season Juneau Favorites

Tacos? In Alaska? Well, at least they’re fish

Time for this week’s Fun Photo Friday of Juneau favorites:

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Juneau; Out and About

Ovation of the Seas

We’re still in Juneau for today’s article. And, once again, photos for this week’s Juneau experience were taken either during Voyage 1 (26 September 2021) or Voyage 2 (4 October 2021). The easy way to tell which day is which is to look at the sky. Voyage 1 we encountered clouds and intermittent drizzle, while Voyage 2 gave us bright, sunny skies. The image above was taken shortly after 2:00 p.m. on the 26th, shortly after our late arrival into Juneau. Here’s Ovation later ...

Cruising Alaska Off-Season — Entering Juneau

Last week I ran a three-part series on Cruising in the Age of Covid-19. That review detailed onboard experiences on recent back-to-back voyages aboard Royal Caribbean‘s huge ship Ovation of the Seas. Beginning today I will present to you the sights we encountered on these voyages beginning with Juneau, the capital of Alaska.

Ovation of the Seas in Juneau — 26 September 2021

On Voyage 1 we arrived in port on 26 September in the afternoon. It was our first port of call on this voyage. As...

Cruising in the Age of Covid-19 — Part 3

Ready for the Robots — Booze at the Bionic Bar

On Wednesday we looked at the various Covid-19 health protocol contradictions on the dining venues (and the elevators) aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. Today we’ll take a look at how those protocols affected the overall cruise experience in other venues, and I’ll start today with the Royal Theater, in which the nightly entertainment performed. Now, one might think with a ship running below 50% capacity (in the case of Voyage 1, well ...

Cruising in the Age of Covid-19 — Part 2

So, now, following Monday’s setup article you have the lay of the land, so to speak, on this week’s topic. But to quickly recap, this week’s series is on the impact on Covid-19 health protocols upon the cruise ship experience. And as previous noted, this is based upon two recent back-to-back Alaska cruises aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. For Voyage 1 Ovation contained approximately 1,600 passengers out of 4,180 at double occupancy capacity (total maximum capacity is listed as 4...

Cruising in the Age of Covid-19 — Part 1

Alaska. Off season. Way off season. Yes, Ursula and I just returned from just such a voyage — our first since returning in mid March 2020, shortly after the beginning of the pandemic and the shutting down of travel and closing of borders. This week I will be presenting to you my perspectives on life aboard a cruise ship in the midst of health protocols necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fifth floor common area on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas

The cruise line is Royal Caribb...

Fun Photo Friday — El Paso Sunsets Week Favorites

Moon, just past 1st quarter phase

Today I wind up the week’s series of El Paso sky photos, with an emphasis on sunsets. The exception above is a photograph taken of the Moon just past 1st quarter phase.

El Paso Sunsets Week — Part 2

With the exception of the shot above, all other photographs taken today were done in RAW format and post-processed with SILKYPIX Developer 8 SE before conversion to JPEG. The above shot was taken in JPEG using the Handheld Night Shot mode because I had to up the ISO so high.

Shot Data:

ISO: 3200F-stop (native): f3.7F-stop (35 mm equivalent): f9.99Exposure: 1/25Exposure bias: 0Focal length (native): 30 mmFocal length (35 mm equivalent): 81 mm)Notes: shot in JPEG format using Handheld Ni...

El Paso Sunsets Week — Part 1

Because of the wildfires out here in the west and other conditions, it’s been a great summer for sunsets. So, this week I’ll be sharing some recent sunset and sky photos, including on this week’s Fun Photo Friday a rather impressive shot of the Moon just past 1st quarter phase. The picture above was taken on 15 August. With the exception of the last photo below, all photos were taken with a Panasonic DMC-FZ1000, in RAW, handheld, and post processed in SILKYPIX Developer 8 SE before being con...

Chichen Itza — El Castillo (Temple of Kukulcán)

The predominate structure at Chichen Itza, the one that really grabs your attention, is the massive El Castillo pyramid, also known as the Temple of Kukulcán. The sloped sides of the pyramid rise 79 feet/24 meters above the surrounding ground:

El Castillo (Temple of Kukulcán)

Sitting atop the pyramid sits a temple that adds another 20 feet/6 meters of height to the structure. This temple is to the feathered serpentine deity Kukulcán (alternatively spelled Kulkulkan), which according to...