October 2009: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

This year we decided to take a cruise to celebrate our 50th Anniversary, with our friends in San Diego, CA., They would celebrate their 40th. We decided on a 14 day cruise from San Diego to the Hawiian Islands and back. I had made the exact trip on a number of occasions during my time in the US Navy but this was a chance to make it with Helen and a couple of long time friends.

Helen and I started the trip almost a week earlier by boarding the Holland American ship MS. ZaanDam, in Vancouver, B.C. We had a very relaxing journey from Bellingham Airport to the Cruise Line Terminal in downtown Vancouver. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the sights on the way to British Columbia on an $8.00, air conditioned, touring bus. It’s a great way to start a cruise; no fighting with baggage and long lines at SeaTac Airport, as is usually the case.

We just sat back and left to driving to Jack, the bus driver. Jack was quite adapt at threading the giant motor coach through the narrow streets of Vancouver. We saw quite a bit of the town before arriving at the terminal, two hours before sailing time. We boarded the ship in record time. The dockside hassles were virtually non-existent. We spent next two hours stowing our gear and prowling the decks of the ship before getting underway.

At 5:00 PM we were in the main dining room having a nice meal when the ships horn announced that we were getting underway. After dinner, we made our way to the Prominade deck and watched the lights of Vancouver, slowly slip into the evening mist… we were underway at last. Although not for long, in a matter of a few hours we were scheduled to stop in Victoria, B.C. from 8 PM till midnight. It has something to do with customs regulations and duty free goods bought before arriving in San Diego. We didn’t plan on going ashore at any rate. We watched the show at the bow of the ship and after that we took a leisurely stroll through the stores and done a little shopping. We went back to our cabin rather early and watched a little TV and enjoyed a quiet evening in our cabin.

The next 4 days flew by; you’d think that with little to do but ride the boat to San Diego, that time would drag by. Not true, I’m still wondering where the time went.
We pulled into San Diego after 3 full days at sea and started to offload the Canadians, who just rode the ship down the coast. A few stayed aboard to for the Hawaiian Island Cruise. I figured it was a real easy vacation, riding the ship for such a short time. I’ll have to look into it in the future. It was a wonderful trip and it ended up in San Diego; what could be better than that. In a matter of a few hours we once again departed for the much warmer waters of the Hawaii Islands.

We were scheduled to hit five ports in Hawaii starting with Hilo, on the big island. Then on to Honolulu, Nawiliwili, Lahaina and finally Kona. We would leave Kona in the evening and round the island of Hawaii, heading east and view the Kilauea Volcano lava flows, before leaving the Hawiian Islands, and heading back home to San Diego. It was the first time Helen and I would cross the open ocean and I was looking forward to the trip…both ways. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

As soon as the ship docked in San Diego, we went ashore to tour the USS Midway CVA 41 at the marine museum. I had never been aboard the Midway and was looking forward the taking the tour. It turned out to be a disappointment. There were three Midway Class carriers built; 41, The Midway, 42, the Franklin D. Roosevelt and 43 The Coral Sea. I made three cruises on the Coral Sea; it was the last of the Midway Class and the one they chose to experiment with in testing out new features for future designs. The Midway class carrier was originally built with a straight deck, typical of the WWII Essex class carriers.

The USS Coral Sea had the first Angled Deck, to facilitate landing and launching aircraft at the same time, The Hurricane Bow, Mirror Landing Platforms, Steam Catapult, and extensive gun tubs on the port side as well as an a new fresh water evaporation plant, to support the three new steam cats. There were also an extensive nuclear weapon assembly and bomb elevator delivery system. More than 75% of the ships compliment of aircraft were now jet propelled so a Jet Fuel system had to be added. And the list goes on; no telling what alterations went on below decks to support Jet aircraft.

They had done a wonderful job with the Coral Sea. I was on a totally different ship when I went aboard the Midway. It seemed more like an Essex Class Carrier than a Midway Class Carrier. The passage-ways were definitely smaller the much more cut up. The ready rooms were very tiny, compared the Coral Sea. I certainly liked the layout of the Coral Sea much better.

As a maritime museum they had a nice quantity of the type of aircraft that operated off the decks of this class of ship. It was all done rather well, thanks to the volunteers in the area. The San Diego is chock full of military retirees of all description. I’m still convinced the Navy should have selected the USS Coral Sea as the ship to convert to a museum. It would have made a better choice in demonstrating the Midway Class of carrier that ushered in the Cold War Experience. It was a very interesting tour and gave me a better appreciation of the Coral Sea.

It was time to meet Jeanette and Mike McDuffy. We ate at Anthony’s Sea Grotto, an old favorite on the San Diego waterfront, right by the Star Of India. We spent almost two hours with them before going back aboard to find the cabin number of Gay & Terry.

We got a call from the Tambers and met them for coffee on the Lido Deck. We spent the next two hours, or so, looking over the ship and finally went back to our respective cabins, to get ready for the evening meal. We had an open seating plan on this trip, it took a getting used to but eventually it worked out just fine.

After dinner we went forward to the Theatre, where we found four seats and settled in for some good entertainment. The after dinner shows were not as good as other cruises we had taken but they were not bad. I think it’s asking too much, for a violin player to hold the interest of several hundred people for an hour or more; there is only so much a performer and a violin can do. There were more than one solo performer shows on this trip and I’m afraid it showed.

The weather was magnificent; I’ve spent a lot of time in deep water and never seen it so placid. The Pacific was like a huge pond, with little or no sea running, and no swells at all. It was truly a great trip as far as weather was concerned.

We done some shore excursions and had a wonderful time at the University of Hawaii, Planetarium. It is a must see if you are ever in the area. We done our thing along the entire Hawiiain Chain, from Hilo in the south to Kauai in the north and departed with an unbelievable night transit around the southern coast of the big island of Hawaii and watched the red hot lava, from four thousand feet Mt. Kilauea, flow down into the Pacific where it was quenched in a violent mix of steam and boiling sea. It was truly a sight to behold, and one that I will long remember.

As the Hawiaan Islands disappeared into the night, we set our coarse for Ensenada, Mexico. Once again, hitting a foreign port before returning to the USA. This makes no sense to me since we visited only US ports on this cruise. But, I won’t complain too much, After all it added a third country to our travel plans; Canada, the US, and Mexico. That may be partially responsible for the high cost of the trip. Expensive! Yes. But, it was worth every penny.

Eastern Caribbean Cruise: February, 2008. Ports were Grand Cayman, Aruba, Colon, Cartagena & Cozumel.
An ultimate 11 day Caribbean trip out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was indeed all that it was cracked up to be. It promised every other day at sea, which attracted us right away. It gave us enough time between ports to rest up and feel ready for the next port-of-call. With only 5 ports in all, it was truly a relaxing time and a fun trip. We even extended it by four days to take advantage of our close proximity to Orlando, Florida and the Kennedy Space Center. Grand Cayman and Aruba were the only new ports that we had not been to before. The other ports of Cartagena, Columbia and Cozumel, Mexico were like visiting old friends. After all we were there last year. Colon, Panama was the exception. Although we passed thru Colon on our Panama Canal trip, in 2006, we were not allowed to go ashore. This time we took advantage of seeing the locks of the canal up close and personal. We watched ships transit the canal with only inches to share. It looks much different when you are onboard…much different.

Christmas Time In Coronado, Ca.
We had been planning a trip back to California for some time now; you know how these things go, family obligations get in way all the time. When our friends found themselves free over the Christmas Holidays we jumped at the chance to make the trip then. Plane tickets were arranged, and we were on our way before we knew it. We arrived in San Diego shortly before dinner and took the scenic route to thier home. It was a nostalgic drive across the Coronado Bridge. I use to drive in daily when I was stationed at NAS North Island…all of a sudden that seemed a long time ago. The lights on the superstructures of the two carriers on port sparkled in the moonlight and the latest addition to the waterfront, the USS Midway CVA 41, was all decked out with lights and flags. The Hotel Del Coronado was outlined in its Christmas lights and other finery. I soon realized how much I had missed the waterfront. I had been away from San Diego Bay for almost 20 years and it was good to be back.
We spent the next few days just lounging around. We took advantage of some of the cultural exhibits the big city has to offer. The Dead Sea Scrolls were very interesting, and I spent the afternoon with Terry, in the Aero Space Museum. We closed out the vacation with a trip to see the play ‘A Christmas Story.’ It was a very good updated version of a classic tale. We had a wonderful dinner at the home of LCDR & Mrs Micheal Metzgar of the Clairmont area of San Diego, Gay & Terry's daughter who recently married. This was her first family dinner, and very succesful it was. With two young children at home Tara has her hands full. She is Mrs. Cool, and can handle most situations in stride. Navy wives are typically the non-flappable type. They have to be; its part of the job description.

The ten days we allowed for the trip was all too short, and we had to leave. It was a wonderful trip. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have such good friends as Gay & Terry.

A Practical Application For Photoshop:
I guess after all is said and done, Photoshop can have many practical uses after all. It is evident from this photograph. The pastor had never seen his church without the many power lines that obscured the view of the church. Almost half of the photograph was taken up by power lines, telephone lines, cable distribution lines and a few more lines that I was not familiar with. Oh! Yeah, I took the liberty of removing the telephone pole on the left side of the photograph, it was nothing but an eyesore. Now, the picture looks like we moved the church around the corner…No more power lines.

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It's Not Your Daddy's Camera Anymore; Now it's Digital.

The wonderful thing about Digital Photography is that it has added excitement to a field that was longing for some interest. It has sparked an intense effort in the new and rapidly growing field of development in photo electronics. Camera companies are kicking out the latest and greatest innovations faster than the consumer market can evaluate them. The prices of digital cameras is tumbling at a drastic rate, and today nearly everyone can be a so called ‘Photographer’ with the advent of a camera being built into the latest cell phone. I really shouldn’t say ‘latest’; they have been widely available for close the three years now.

The mainstay of serious photographers, in the past, has been the SLR, or single lens reflex. That is about to change. The life of a DSLR, or digital SRL is going to be short lived, or at least appears that way. There will always be a few who will stick with to the DSLR, more for the status it will bring or it will make them look more of ‘Professional.’ Today we have unlimited resolution in pixel development, Image Stabilization, Noise abatement, and Digital as well as Optical Zoom. The resolution and clarity in the every day photograph is truly phenomenal.

I remember back in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s we would shoot full-length pictures with the sun over our shoulder, and still you would have barely recognizably features. Portraits were made by professionals in a studio setting. You just didn’t try that with a hand held camera outside. Today, however, all of that has changed. The pictures at the right are quite typical of the digital age. Color, contrast, lighting, detail, clarity, and every other aspect of a color picture can be made to look any way you want it to look. The look of a photograph you take today is not determined when you snap the photo. Now, you take it into the Digital Darkroom; usually consisting of a desk or table, and a computer where your pictures go through a transformation known as Photo Editing. When you enter this area your creativity, and imagination are the only limiting factors.

Digital Photography:

The wonderful thing about today's modern digital photography, is the ease in which you can accomplish truly magical things, with little or no training. The scene at the right, the apartment complex, was taken when I first got reintroduced to this wonderful thing they call Digital Photography. There were not one, but two 10 ton dump trucks parked in the driveway [the first one is hidden by the tree]. So, I gave myself the challenge or removing them.

I started by removing the road sign; you can just see it on the right edge of the image. Then the street sign on the left. I thought I'd leave only the street sign and remove the pole so we now have a street name floating in the air. That was followed by the utility box at the base of the telephone pole, again on the left of the photo. The telephone junction box, right below the trucks gas tank was the next to go. Hey! I was getting pretty good at this, I thought. Time for something bigger. The telephone pole just behind the truck; ZAP, just like that it was gone. Now for the trucks; The first one you could see only the front and rear of the vehicle, most of it was behind the tree, but the second one posed many problems most of which was the two rock pillars at the entrance. It was not the easiest thing and it was quite intricate, but I felt pretty good at my progress as the trucks slowly disappeared.

As I look at the picture, I can see many areas of 'less than quality retouching.' But, in my defense it was one of my first jobs after learning how Adobe Elements 2 worked; and I learned everything I know from of a library book. There are a few other things in the image; The condos behind the apartments were hidden by trees and several homes were eliminated, the photo was made lighter so more detail could be seen and in general the photograph looks better. Take my advice the only way to learn photo manipulation is get a photograph and jump right in.