I think Otis Redding has been my muse for this trip. Warning: potential ear worm alert…
Sittin’ in the morning sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again, yeah
Okay, it hasn’t exactly been sunny, but I have seen cruise ships roll in and then head back out, and a few cargo ships, too. The highlight is watching the cruise ships do a 180: either on the way into their mooring spot at Prince George Wharf or after they back away from the wharf and need to be bow first heading out to sea. A close second as they’re approaching the port inlet and it looks like they’re going to run aground on the tip of Paradise Island!
My first night here, then sun went down before I’d even checked in and dropped my suitcase in my room, and being unfamiliar with the town I didn’t want to go far from the hotel. Exploring the hotel and grounds, I was happy to discover a dock extending from the small beach and even better – it had a good line of sight on Prince George Wharf.
It’s a good thing I took a few photographs that first night, because I’ve since learned that very few of the cruise stay overnight here. Most of them arrive just before sunrise and depart right around sunset. There were two cruise ships tied up that first night.
The next morning there was a little bit of colour at sunrise – just enough to make the Royal Caribbean cruise glow.
All day yesterday, there were four cruise ships moored at the wharf.
This morning I watched one cruise ship and two cargo ships arrive. The cargo ships were guided by tug boats to their slots at the Nassau Container Port.
This afternoon I walked across the Sidney Poitier Bridge to take a short walk around Atlantis Paradise Island Resort. It was helpful to get an unobstructed and elevated perspective of the harbour.
Early this evening, the power was out at my hotel because they were testing a new generator. So I headed back down to the beach with about 10 minutes to spare before the two cruise ships left, one right after the other. The Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas had to do the 180 maneuver before heading out to sea. The Carnival Fantasy backed in this morning, so had a straight shot before turning to starboard at the harbour mouth.
According to the Cruise TT website, I may be able to watch two more cruise ships arrive before it’s time to head to the airport to start for home.
Anyone else out there spend time watching ships when they’re on vacation?
And on a completely unrelated note, does anyone know what happened to WordPress today? The add new post function brought up a completely new way of doing things, with some good features and some really inconvenient changes. Which is why this post probably looks a lot different from the last 500 or so…
Well, I must add, you did get some stunning photos, especially the first one!
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Great Post.
Glad you think so. I hadn’t really planned on watching the cruise ships, but it’s worked out to be a pretty good way to start the day and take a photo break just before supper hour.
i like ships, but on a vacation?
Watching cruise ships…. NO….. sounds about as exciting as watching grass grow?
You’d be surprised! I used it as an exercise to practice timing shots. The big ships move pretty slow, so it turned out be a be a lower pressure situation in which to try to anticipate, think ahead to how elements might come together and wait for just the right split-second. And there were a few surprise pilot boats and tugboats in there, too. Add in the rapidly changing light conditions at the start and end of day at this latitude and it was a pretty good exercise overall. Besides, it always makes me smile when I see all the people on board photographing Nassau and their flashes are going off all over the place!