The moon, the bridge, and the sun.

We left Greece early yesterday morning.  Everyone worked really long hours since it was such a quick turn around.  Because I got the most sleep I stood the Chief Mate's morning watch.  I came on watch at Midnight just as the ship was preparing to get underway - by the time the pilot was aboard and all our lines were cast off it was about 0200 - which meant that I had an 8 hour bridge watch ahead of me!  It was a long 'un! We sailed past Athens then south via the Piraeus traffic separation scheme.  Open waters called our name as we made our way through the Greek Isles.  Traffic was pretty dense which kept me on my toes but also made the watch tick past a little quicker.

When the sun rose I was definitely ready for a little diversion - and was happy to get Big Bertha out!  As you know, I love taking pictures at night and so it was fun to have a full moon on the stbd bridge wing and a rising sun on the port bridge wing!  It was just too bad that I couldn't get them in a shot together!

I messed around for quite some time in manual settings trying to get a photo to look what I was actually looking at.  With the sun below the horizon it literally looked like a rainbow.  You could distinctly see red on the horizon merging into orange, yellow, a slight tinge of green, blue twilight sky that almost looked violet as the sky above was darker.

The Azimuth ring (this is what we take celestial observations with to double check the accuracy of our compass) was backlit by the twilight sky and I thought it made it look extra nautie.

As I was on the stbd bridge wing snapping away at the moon I looked through the house and orange was reflected on all the bridge windows as the sun got a little higher.

The sun finally joined us - back lighting some islands - it seemed as if the sun was setting the island on fire!

All in all Big Bertha got a pretty nice workout!

Azores :: Blue and White

I've always had a 'thing' for blue and white.  I think it's because so many of my childhood memories include blue and white.  I grew up with a blue and white kitchen - specifically blue willow dishes and cobalt blue glasses (that my Mom and I purchased in Mexico and packed home...stuffed in baskets...and then into our luggage).  When my Grandma passed away we got some of her things - specifically we got a blue willow plate that had dark brown cracks all through the glaze.  My Great-Grandma's house had burned down when she was a young girl.  When they were kicking through the rubble that blue willow plate was the only thing they found.  I had a total fascination with that plate.  My Grandma kept it under her bed all wrapped up.  When I would visit her in the summer I would beg her to get the plate out.  I would just look at it....I think it brought Little House on the Prairie alive for me. That was a pretty major tangent....anyways, I love blue and white!  This church in the Azores really struck my fancy...and I'm guessing it's because of its colors.  I walked around the church taking photo after photo.  I must have 50 photos of this church alone.  I saved this series for last because they were my favorites (minus the one I labeled my favorite of course).  A last goodbye to the Azores...until we meet again!

Azores :: Churches

The title really says it all.....there were some gorgeous historic churches - one of the Azores largest tourist attractions.  There are some very brightly painted churches scattered around the island.  I didn't see some of the very colorful ones.  However, the ones I did see were grand.

Azores :: Houses

My Mom and I love to drive around and 'cruise' neighborhoods.  Whenever we're somewhere new we'll drive through neighborhoods - we especially love checking out older homes.  We even do this in our own town - we'll cruise neighborhoods that we've cruised ten million times just to check and see if there is anything new going on...or just to dream away. When we road tripped through New England (right before I went to college) we were in house cruising heaven!  When my Mom was dropping me off at school we went to the bookstore to buy uniforms...we were chatting away with the ladies there going on and on and on about how cool we thought the houses were.  One of my ultimate Besties was there - Baisey.  We didn't really say hi to eachother but later she told me, 'My Mom and I were in the bookstore and heard you guys say you liked to look at houses...I thought you were sooo weird.'  Ha!  Look at us now!  (Baisey....Arms Up!)

So of course, walking through the streets in Praia da Vitoria all I wanted to take pictures of were the houses!  Some were ramshackle - for some reason the ramshackle ones are my favorites.  Maybe because I grew up in a ramshackle plantation house in Honomu and that house holds my fondest memories!

Azores :: The Randoms

Our time in the Azores was far too short and alas, our time there has come and gone.  Sad face. I was docked in a town called Praia da Vitoria on the island of Terceira.  The beauty of going to smaller less industrial locations is that you're literally in town.  Most people don't want tankers marring their view so they establish tanker terminals and tank farms 'away from the action'.  A five minute walk took us straight into the heart of town after leaving the gate.  Lovely!

The best way I can describe the overall feel is:  Hawaii + The Atlantic = Azores.  It had a distinctly European feel but was definitely tropical.  There was a lot of land dedicated to agriculture as well as a definite 'beach culture'.

I was very impressed by the Azores - I had envisioned a struggling economy, a rustic main drag and townspeople ambivalent to tourists - it was none of these things.

The town was immaculate and obvious care had gone into keeping things looking good.  There were flower beds everywhere.  A lot of work had gone into creating intricate designs in the cobbled roads and sidewalks.

Almost all the islanders spoke perfect English.  I mean perfect.  Given that their native tongue is Portuguese this is quite impressive.  They were happy to help and were clearly proud of their home town.  Seeing how much they loved the place made me love it all the more.

The town was bustling - which means that people are supporting their local economy.  It was heartening.  I always try to get a good meal when I hit a new town.  I was very lucky and found a restaurant that featured all locally grown produce, locally raised beef, and locally caught seafood.  It was sooo tasty!  I had fresh swordfish which was grilled  and served with mashed sweet potatoes that were gingery the fish drizzled with a passion fruit sauce.  Being from Hawaii, the meal wasn't exactly an experiment with new foods but it was oh so ono (delicious)!  My dining partner had squid and shrimp in a tomato-y stew...also totally tasty.  The restaurant was packed with locals!  This sweet little town supported their own!  Sustainability in action - it was great!

On top of all those other great things...there were Hydrangeas everywhere.  I love Hydrangeas so it was like a little bonus everywhere I looked!

I'm going to post photo's in a similar fashion to the way I did in Athens.  I'm going to organize them into groups and post a few at a time.  Today's are going to be the ones that didn't quite fit into other groups.  In other words....the randoms.