magic at anchor

[gary]

ok i know it's not that sharp, but this is handheld from the tender on our way back to the ship anchored in the bay at villefranche-sur-mer, a french riviera seaside town every bit as beautiful as the magazine photos make it out to be
all i could think of was michael caine's house in dirty rotten scoundrels
my tripod assistant rebelled that morning and would not carry it around monaco for me, something in her eyes made me decide not to press the issue.

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[Dan]

Ya'know.. for situations like this I'm convinced that there's an algorithm that could help out. It's known as "deconvolution".. I know it from astronomy processing (not that I do much, but I've read up on it at least). Basically, what you do is take a scene that has, say, a star (point light source) that's blurred, and use the blur of the star to figure out how to sharpen up the entire scene. The problem is it takes a clean point source, if you have, say, a star near the moon you can use the star to sharpen the moon. But for a scene like this it probably wouldn't be that easy.
But I'm convinced it COULD be made to work. I'm also not certain if it can handle motion blur or if it's really designed for focus issues or atmospheric turbulence.

Anyway, slight blurring aside (I didn't see it at first, I had to look at the lighting to find it), nice picture. I'll be on.. I think it's the Wonder, for Mousefest. So this helps build the anticipation.

 

[gary]

dan, is this going to be your first cruise??
i thought for years cruising was for old geezers, you know shuffleboard and library and naps in the deck chair
I WAS WRONG
we've developed a real taste for cruising, we are booked on the magic, next may, florida to la, via panama canal, many of the gang are already booked on panama repo cruise
and the whole table 47 gang was actively discussing where we should go in 09, while on our 07 med cruise

 

[Dan]

Yeah, first one. I'm still not convinced it's for me.. but I decided I wanted to find out what the hubbub was all about.

It's just that all the propaganda for the cruises that's out there.. be it Travel Channel specials (which all look like hour long Disney commercials) or the DVD Disney puts out for.. they all stress the quiet, sophisticated adult activities.. I'm not sophisticated (not in the way they mean, anyway), and while I do tend towards quiet situations, that's not exactly my first vacation priority.
The boats have a jazz bar.. I don't do jazz.. by far the coolest thing I've found on the boats has been the bridge simulator, but that's in the kids area, and I've heard they only have one special event where adults can check it out.
Basically, my dilemma is that Disney World, to me, has been about giving everyone an excuse to let out their inner child. I ride the Speedway alongside the kids who are young enough that they have to have a parent riding with them. Then I find that their boats are practically age segregated, and it's just a bit of a shock. I understand the concept that parents might enjoy the ability the get away from the kids, in that way I can only be impressed at how they've divided up the ship into various age appropriate areas, practically turning the kids areas into a camp like setting, complete with counselors.. but at the same time many of the adult only areas ended up being themed against my preferences. Like I said, a jazz bar.. the spa (which I'm sure every cruise ship has, no vacation destination can resist putting one of those money vacuums into a resort complex)..
On top of that it sounds like Nassau is far from the best of their destinations, I found a trip report from someone who, having been to Nassau before, elected to just stay aboard ship on a follow up cruise.

I'm not really approaching it as skeptically as I may sound, though.. I'm looking forward to being able to watch a movie while floating in a pool, and the Pirates in the Caribbean party thing is supposed to be a good show. I've never been that far South, or that far out of the country anywhere, and basically it'll be a new experience. Along the way I'll find out if there really is some special thing about their cruises that can't (at least to me) be expressed in words, or if I'm just really not that sort of vacationer.

 

[gary]

if dave marx of passorter does his walking tour of nassau again, do that, it's free, easy, doesn't take a long time and he hits the best of nassau, i too would stay on the boat in future nassau stops, only becasue once you've seen it, the only other appealing option is atlantis, which does not appeal to me, i'm not a beach person, i live 4-5 minutes away from peconic bay, or long island sound, 30 minutes to the atlantic hamptons beaches and i haven't been in 10 years, no dirt, litter or jellyfish in my backyard pol, and the cold drinks are cheaper
there are a lot of interesting things offered on the ship, and you can spend the sea day doing nothing if you choose, do try to get a palo dinner and a palo brunch on the sea day
castaway cay is it's own paradise, and you might not be a spa person, but us old worn out geezers need the occasional massage, and nothing is finer than a castaway cabana massage, the sea breezes, sound of the ocean waves gently lapping at the shore, closes thing to heaven on earth