Caribbean Cruise

Tags

ATV, Bahamas, Caribbean, Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, lighthouse, Nassau, shipwreck, snorkel

Shipwreck at Grand Turk

This was a trip for pleasure, but I was able to get a few photographs while there. Regretfully, it stayed pretty much cloudy and windy all the time. Our first stop was at Nassau, The Bahamas where I went on my very first ever SNUBA adventure. I used my GoPros and was able to get a little video. Just not enough time in the water to really get all I wanted to. More about that later.

I saw the new Chinese Baha Mar Resort that they are building in Nassau. I was able to see it from the mini-bus that was transporting us to the SNUBA site. No chance to get any photos. It is enormous and is suppose be even larger than Atlantis when it opens later this year (if on schedule).

The lighthouse as the entrance to the bay at Nassau with Atlantis in the background

Here is a short video of what I saw during my SNUBA adventure.

I wish that I could recommend the excursion to everyone, but I can’t. It was listed as Snuba Underwater Adventure on the web site. Don’t get me wrong, the guides, especially Charles, were absolutely great. My beef is with the time. The excursion is listed as 5 hours, but an hour and a half of that is travel to and from the dock where the boat that you will take is at. Once you get through all the safety briefings and getting your gear and you get out on the water, you have less than 2½ hours on/in the water. Then add to that the fact they carry you to three different locations AND that there isn’t enough SNUBA gear for everyone on the excursion you only get to use if on ONE of TWO out of the THREE stops (the last stop is for shark viewing so no SNUBA). You then realize that you are going to get less than 20-30 minutes actually underwater using the SNUBA gear. On my trip, I actually had the best place for SNUBA. The first location already had people in the water when our boat got us there. I have no idea how long they had been out there, but know they got much more time in the SNUBA gear than my group did because we snorkeled while they were in the gear for as long as our whole SNUBA stop. Depending upon how much longer they were there than we were they must have had somewhat more time in the SNUBA gear than we did. I don’t consider it worth the cost for 20-30 minutes in the SNUBA gear. It also did not give me time to get use to and use the GoPro cameras underwater to their best advantage in the short period of time I had.

Since we weren’t able to put ashore at Half Moon Cay, we went on to Grand Turk. The Captain made arrangements for us to land four hours early in Grand Turk which gave us the entire day there instead of the originally scheduled half day. While there I was able to get the shot of the Shipwreck which is located at Governor’s Beach (shown in the lead photo) next to where the old US Air Force facility was located.

Burro – and don’t forget to check out the wild horses as well

Grand Turk Lighthouse on the north end of the island where Columbus made landfall

All-in-all, we still had a great trip, but next time I will find a better way to get out to do the SNUBA even if I have to do a private charter.

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Fall Colors in the Great Smoky Mountains

Tags

atkinson, cades cove, dixie, fall colors, photography, smoky mountains, tennessee

I recently made another trip to the Great Smoky Mountains to try to capture the Fall Colors. Here are a few that I manage to take during the last week of October and the first week of November 2013. Additional images from this trip may be found on my web site at: Photographs by Dixie

Early morning mist in Cades Cove

Early morning mist along the ridges above Cades cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park looking towards Hyatt Lane from atop a knoll along Loop Road. Hyatt Lane is below mist in the foreground of this photograph for those who are familiar with Cades Cove.

Early morning mist in Cades Cove

Early morning mist in Cades cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park looking back towards Hyatt Lane from atop a knoll along Loop Road. Hyatt Lane is lost in mist to the right front in this photograph for those who are familiar with Cades Cove.

Fall Colors along Little River

Little River in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Little River Road between Townsend, Tennessee and the Sugarland Visitors Center.

 

Early morning mist in Cades Cove

Early morning mist in Cades cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park looking back towards Hyatt Lane from atop a knoll along Loop Road.

 

Bass Harbor Light, Acadia National Park, Maine – Framed Canvas

Bass Harbor Light, Acadia National Park, Maine
10″ x 15″ rolled canvas framed (GV003-BH1015-132-9483-FS04-Marble2)

This is a unique framing package selected to show off the Bass Harbor Light to its fullest. The framing package includes double matting with a wooden fillet separating the two mats. These are placed inside both a frame and a stacker frame. The outside frame dimensions are approximately 27″ x 22″ (outside dimensions may vary slightly).

Gallery Link: Acadia National Park