Tropical Storm Fay

Well, I was all set to leave the island.  Had a lovely final supper with Sharon (big tenderloins), a bottle of wine and was mostly ready to leave.   The forecast was calling for some storm force winds during the night but nothing to get too concerned about.   The plan was I'd get up in the morning head over to another friends to watch the F1 race, take the rental bike back and head to the airport.

This was what I woke to;

Needless to say I didn't make the F1 race, in fact it took the entire neighbourhood 4 hours just to make a path on the estate road to the main road.  After several delayed attempts my flight was eventually cancelled until Tuesday, 2 days later.

Gave me the opportunity to help my friends with the cleanup and help prep for the next hurricane (Gonzalo) scheduled to hit the island on Friday as a Cat 3.  Fingers crossed that it swerves away from my island but not looking likely.   All my wishes and thoughts are with my island friends and hope they all are safe throughout the storm.

Bermuda Maritime Museum

A few more shots from my day up at Dockyard,

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St David's

Some pictures from a run down to St David's the other day, in particular Great Head Park which holds a memorial to all those lost at sea.

From the park you get an excellent view of the St David's lighthouse.   As you can see the clouds were very interesting during this visit.

Before arriving at the park I "had to" stop at the Black Horse Tavern for the best Bermuda Fish Chowder on the island followed by a Wahoo sandwich.   What can be better?  A book, a beer and a chowder - mmmmm

Flight coming in over St David's

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Hanging at the Beach

Went down today for a swim at a tiny "secret" place I know about on the south shore.   My time-lapse failed as the sun created condensation inside the camera holder so will try and get back tomorrow for another attempt.  But a couple of photos and a video.   My days on the island are starting to wind down :-(

Bermuda Maritime Museum (Commissioner's House)

**Warning, a ton of photo's**  :-)

Commissioner's House in Bermuda (officially the Bermuda Maritime Museum - http://www.bmm.bm/ ) is a very scenic spot.  Unfortunately you need to pay to get inside BUT in my opinion it is well worth the 12 bucks.   The views are amazing, great history and a very relaxing area to check out.

Enjoy;

High above the walls is the Commissioner's House  (a shame the flags were not flying)

Below King Neptune watches over the courtyard.

The courtyard

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Dolphin Quest

One place I love to visit on nice days is Commissioner's House at the Royal Naval Dockyard.   It is an amazing building with unparalleled views,  Yesterday the weather was amazing with deep blue skies so lots of pictures were taken but before I post those I thought I would put these ones first.

Within the walls of the dockyard is a business called Dolphin Quest.   I am not a fan of animals in captivity but they do treat these dolphins very well and they have good facilities for them.   They also seem very happy and the staff spend all their time with the dolphins.   While I was there they had their "swim with dolphins" program on the go.   I typically don't post pictures of other people or of animals in captivity but I couldn't resist the beauty of these animals and the cuteness of them with the kids.

The shot of the day.  Too cute.

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Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity

Also known as the Bermuda Cathedral, this church is the largest in the city of Hamilton (and probably on the entire island).  You can read all about it history on wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_the_Most_Holy_Trinity,_Bermuda

Photography wise it's a challenge and lots of fun.  Symmetry everywhere if you can get the angles and playing with natural light is fun.  We probably missed the best light by about an hour but catching beams coming through the stain glass as it shines onto items in the church can make each visit an entire new experience.  The goal was to go up to the roof but the door going up the spiral staircase was closed so will try that again next time.

I was tempted to go black and white on more images then I did but did a few to show both colour and monochome.

The cathedral is very impressive on the outside as well as the inside.

An impressive organ.

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A Day on the Water

Still haven't looked at many of the images I took on Saturday as I immediately jumped to the Sunday pictures.   A group of us rented a salt water pontoon boat for the day.   What a great day, weather was perfect, great friends and great sights.   I only took the X100s as I was worried about salt spray, not an issue in the end, so was a bit limited in focal length but the quality of the images allowed me much latitude in lightroom :-)

A beautiful morning as we started from the Waterlot in Riddell's Bay.

The ladies relaxing.   Sharon, Donna and Roz.

Captain Bruce with the morning shift and sub-Captain Tom ready to spring into action if required :-)

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Dog Fun

Went out shooting with Marshall again today, had a great time.   Decided to break it into 2 parts.   The first part was the morning up at Hog Bay Park in the west end.   Not tons of things to photograph but along came this dog and owner.  First time I have tried the auto focus tracking on the X-T1.  Wasn't overly successful on the first 2 goes but the 3rd time nailed it.  Need more practice.

Was a ways down the beach so should have been closer.  Was using the 55-200mm but still needed to heavy crop.

A passing boat.

I was taking a picture of the sign when Marshall walked around the corner....lol....not the most flattering.  Very serious looking man!

The afternoon was spent at the National Cathedral.  Will be a few days before I can sort out those images.  To late tonight and off boating all day tomorrow.

A Bermuda Sunset

In the fall Bermuda has amazing sunsets and if you get any clouds to go with it you will find yourself with an amazing site.   A great spot to shoot from is the top of Fort Scaur which I posted day times pics from a few days ago.   This was last nights sunset followed by a few night shots of Gibbs Hill lighthouse and a sunset time-lapse video.  Enjoy.

When I arrived it was obvious it was going to be a good one.

Couldn't resist catching the glow of sunset off some foliage.

Behind me the moon was looking pretty good as well.

And the time-lapse of what I was shooting for 20 minutes;

Once the sun had set I figured I'd head up to Gibbs Hill lighthouse.   I had never shot the X-T1 at night before and I was doing everything handheld.  I learned a few lessons.  Not very happy with the pictures below, they have noise in them and need some exposure work but now I know what to do and will head back up early next week for another attempt.