My old stomping grounds - The West End

Anyone who reads my adventures knows that when I'm in Bermuda the one thing I dislike is the cruise ship people.  Against my own best judgement I made a run to Dockyard.   To my horror on arrival, not one, but two cruise ships in port - shoot me now.

The Norwegian Breakaway

But the reason I come up here is to go to commissioner's house and to the surrounding ramparts and sheds.  Something the cruise people typically don't do because it would cost them 15 bucks.   So I bee-lined straight to the gates to get inside.   My first surprise was the cost was only 10 bucks, the second came when I asked why.  The commissioner's house is closed due to damage from Hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo.  Apparently 7 sections of the roof were damaged but the exhibits inside were left untouched.

Scaffolding on blue tarps on the commissioners house. 

 So I decided to chill on the walls instead.

Oh to have a few cannon balls at my disposal to thin out the cruise ship hoards.

 Wait for it. Line the shot up carefully.

Anyone who does a lot of photography usually runs into the problem of having that one lens that you love and hate all at the same time. Mine is the Fuji XF-35mm F1.4 This lens takes amazing pictures of the exact subject matter that I struggle with: people and objects. Last year I got one of my favourite shots in Bermuda with this lens (a blue compass on an old boat). Today I returned to that old boat shed again as I knew there was some good content. Again, some are good and some I'm not so sure. The hardware on these boats are from the turn of the 1900's are are racing sailboats of the era.

The boat shed is very dark and dingy, but the lenses low light capability really works well.

Chasing Longtails - Coopers Island Nature Reserve

Last week I was out by Clearwater beach, an area that I normally avoid as I find it kinda boring and tourist orientated, but I noticed that Coopers Island is now open as a nature reserve.  This spot, until a few years ago, was not open to public access. During WWII the Americans had gun batteries in place and the spot later became a NASA tracking site. Once the US military and government left the island the land was returned to Bermuda but as I understand it, a rather extensive environmental cleanup had to take place before it was reopened to the public. Many of the old buildings have been torn down and extensive work has gone into returning the land to Bermuda nature.  

Today I decided to go back and explore this new reserve.  Very pleased with the place and I didn't tour the entire thing, that will be another day. I could see the turtles and parrot fish in the bay, the Longtails were playing overhead and I couldn't even begin to identify all the Bermuda fauna that is in the area. Worth a visit if your visiting the island.

Looking across at St David's Lighthouse from Coopers Island.

Despite the overgrowth of vegetation and cob webs infesting the area, I decided to climb this staircase, I'm glad I did as I soon found a Bermuda Longtail haven.  I later discovered that there was a road just to the side that I could have walked up. lol

Looking down on one of the beaches.  You could see the ocean turtles moving around in the bay, pretty cool.

Looking out over Castle Harbour, from an angle I have rarely experienced.

Meet the majestic Bermuda Longtail

This is where I got concerned.   Since switching to mirrorless (Fuji) I have not had to worry about the slower autofocus as I primarily shoot landscapes.   Longtails are very darty and cagey birds and don't come very close.   I put my 55-200mm lens on, opened my focal area as wide as I could, turned off raw and put the camera on continuous low shooting.   Ran around an F9 and hoped for the best.

I did delete a lot of images, and I definitely had to get aggressive cropping in Lightroom but the Fuji X-T1 and the XF 55-200mm preformed.   I can't complain.  Was it as zippy as an SLR, nope, but I still got the shots.   Be nice to have a longer lens, but I know Fuji has something in the works for next year.   I do find it ironic that there is a major Fuji firmware upgrade coming to speed up the AF just a few days after I leave the island.  lol.  Next time.

One of my favourite shots on the day.

This is "the one I missed".  This would have been the shot of the day if only it were in focus.  argh.

Where no boats go.  If their skipper has a brain.

A pano looking at Coopers Island from an observation post. Be sure to click for a larger version.

A picture of the plaque that shows the history of the island.  There is also some good information over here - http://www.conservation.bm/coopers-island/

Heaven is located at 32.3000° N, 64.7833° W

Yesterday I was busy all day helping out friends with various projects (felt good) so the camera never left the bag but today was another fabulous day so decided to head down to the beach.   Have been here for a week and figured I'd better put my feet in the salt water and sand at some point.  Besides I had been waiting for the sea temps to go up a bit.   They say it's currently 77F but I think it was a bit warmer.   I have a sweet little spot that I like to hit.

As you can see the crowds were crazy, I had to elbow my way through to find a spot.

I gave up and went the other way.  Not much better.

Some hurricane erosion.

Even on a calm day with the tide going out it can still get some wave action going.

Avoid at all costs or you will get a painful lesson to remember it by. Portuguese man o' war. 

A great way to spend the afternoon.  Reading and playing in the surf :-)