December 31, 2019.

In the late 1990’s, my wife Lynn, daughter Carrie, and I departed Miami for an Eastern Caribbean cruise. It was our first. We enjoyed it, but times being what they were, it would be 2007 before we would make our second cruise. Since then, it’s become our favorite way of vacationing. In the next 16 years, we’ve visited the Caribbean islands twice, Hawaii, Fanning Island (Tabuaeran), went through the Panama Canal twice, and as the photo above implies, we departed Seattle for Alaska (you can tell by the tiny Space Needle in the far right background of this image captured on the Norwegian Pearl.)

As we begin 2020, we have scheduled two cruises to be completed during the first six months of the year. We are even thinking we might schedule another one for later in the year. Over the years, we’ve captured lots of photographs on our cruises, and I thought that at the beginning of a new decade, it would be fun to share some of my favorite photos captured on cruise excursions and shared here. I start with this image of a building on the shore of the island of Tabuaeran. It is part of the Easter Island chain just north of the equator and about 1100 miles (1770 km) south of the Hawaiian Islands.

Tabuaeran, also known as Fanning Island, was once a part of Norwegian Cruise Line’s itinerary of their Hawaiian island cruises. The image above is a black-and-white conversion of an image featuring the Honolulu skyline captured from one of the upper decks of the Norwegian Wind cruise ship on our departure day.

Our cruise in 2018 included a stop at Grand Turk where our Carnival Magic shared dock space with P&O’s Azure. This view from the dock emphasizes the size of these large cruise ships. The Carnival Magic provides cabin space for about 6000 passengers and crew. It is the largest cruise ship we’ve ever sailed on.

On our most recent trip through the Panama Canal, one of our excursions visited the Masaya Volcano. The excursion dropped us off at the caldera and we looked into the smoky interior of that country’s most active volcanoes. After hearing about the recent eruption of a volcano in New Zealand, I’m not so sure that it was such a good idea.

For nearly a half-hour, our bus was stuck in traffic. It was nearing Easter week and a century’s old oxcart pilgrimage was given the right-of-way to proceed. Captive in our coach, at least I was on the side of the bus that allowed me to capture a few shots of the caravan of ox and pony carts as they traveled on their week-long journey.

On our stop at St. Thomas, US Virgin Island, we saw much of the damage created by the hurricanes that ravaged the Caribbean in 2018. On this excursion, we traveled to the highest point on the island and from that viewpoint, I was able to capture an image of the Carnival Magic in the harbor below.

In Costa Rica, we visited a wildlife refuge called Natuwa. During our visit, we saw several wild macaws including this scarlet macaw. The refuge also provides a home for many birds and animals who were injured and would not survive in the wild. Some will never heal well enough to leave the protected areas. Others are given their freedom when they have healed well enough to return to the wild.

I’m an early riser and on sea days I enjoy heading down to the breakfast cafe to grab a window table and start the day with a morning coffee. I usually read or review photos from the previous day’s activities while I await Lynn who eventually joins me for breakfast. This still life was created while I awaited her arrival.

I conclude this post with my favorite ocean sunset captured at the stern of the Carnival Magic as we traveled eastward toward St. Thomas. If your browser supports it, you may click on any of the images to get an enlarged version to view.

In February, we plan to visit the southern Caribbean with all stops being brand new to us. In May, we plan to make our first trip to Europe to travel the Mediterranean along the western coasts of Italy, France, Spain, Gibraltar, an disembark at South Hampton, England. I hope you will join us here as we share photos of those journeys.

John Steiner