At sea, Anywhere in the Americas.

Oh, man! Amy gave me a real challenge this week. Being an avid cruiser, I’ve got seascapes up the wazoo… not to mention shots of all the lakes I’ve been known to visit around the country. It’s like showing off photos of your children. Which one(s) do you love the most? The photos I share here are not necessarily the best in technical quality or even “absolute favorites”. Each one has something about it that I like and that I’ll share for this challenge. The French would call it, “Je ne sais quoi.” Translated, a quality that cannot be named easily. You can read Amy’s entire challenge post here.

The photo above features a view of the Celebrity Equinox at the port of Miami returning from a cruise to drop off passengers and pick up a fresh set of cruisers anxious to get started on their week long journey. It was very early on a Saturday morning. We were already in our dock having arrived a short while earlier from Cartagena, Colombia and points west via the Panama Canal.

A small village in Mexico, Yelapa, has no roads into the region. The only access is by sea. Over the years, it’s been the stuff of romance novels with visitors who come and stay to avoid the throngs of tourists. Then the cruise ships found it. Regular excursions of tourists arriving by boat have added to the city’s congestion. On the bright economic side, they bring lots of money to inject into the local economy. Those requiring seclusion are probably already looking elsewhere.

On the island of Tabuaeran (also known as Fanning Island), the atoll has the characteristic shallow basin in the center of a circular island. In that basin lies the wreck of a rusting boat. From the photo, it’s easy to see that the water here is quite shallow. I never did learn the story of how that wreck came to be and how long it has been rusting there in the harbor.

In last week’s photo challenge, I included shots of a “dreamy” Na Pali Coast. Here’s another view of the coast in the distance, it is probably just as dreamy for the couple walking the beach on the island of Kauai.

Early risers on the Outer Bank Islands of North Carolina can see the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. In late October, it’s a great time to visit the island. The crowds are gone from the summer vacationers and the beaches are not quite empty, but for early risers, it’s easy to get the feeling of solitude in the photographs.

What better way to conclude this post than to feature a sunset on the Caribbean Sea. Sailing on the Carnival Magic toward the eastern Caribbean gave me the opportunity to capture this view with my cell phone camera. Thanks again, Amy, for providing me the opportunity to share some of the photos captured of the seascapes I’ve been lucky enough to witness.

John Steiner