Tag Archives: cruising

November 7, 2012 · 5:45 am

Cruising the West Coast — Santa Catalina Island Part 3


With the sun breaking out in the later afternoon, photographic opportunities returned to Avalon.  The bright colors opened up, and examples of Avalon tile adorning various buildings truly came into their own.

Pictured below you will see lines of golf cart “autoettes” awaiting their owners.  Boldly painted buildings made the landscape pop in color.

And all this occurred just before it was time to tender back onto the Sapphire Princess.

Timing is everything.

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November 5, 2012 · 5:45 am

Cruising the West Coast — Santa Catalina Island Part 2


Today we present more photographs of that picturesque gem off the California Coast known as Catalina Island.

In the early morning we were greeted by almost perfect photographic conditions.  Bright sunlight fell upon the buildings, but dark and ominous clouds filled the background beautifully.  It was a blast taking pictures under these conditions.  Alas, that didn’t hold, and for most of the day the city of Avalon sit beneath a cloud that blocked the sun — a cloud that remained stationary for many, many hours.  Things only improved later in the afternoon, when the sun dipped below the offending solitary cloud and once again lighted the landscape.

The camera used on this excursion was a Canon G1 X.  Post processing was minimal and done in Google’s Picasa from copies of the original JPEGs.

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October 29, 2012 · 12:00 am

Cruising the West Coast — Santa Barbara by the Sea


Well, we’ve looked at Mission Santa Barbara.  We’ve seen Santa Barbara from atop the exquisite Santa Barbara Courthouse.  But, how does Santa Barbara look along the shore?

There are some fun things to see along this stretch of beach: piers loaded with restaurants, yachts plying the waters, volleyball players enjoying the sun, and many more examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.

But one of the neatest sights (if you’re old enough to remember them) is both the first and the last remaining Sambo’s family restuarant in the nation — still at its original location at 216 W. Cabrillo Blvd. right across from the beach.  At their peak, Sambo’s had restaurants in 47 states across the U.S.  Today, they’re down to the original one from 1957.  We were going to drop in after our tour of Santa Barbara and before reboarding the Sapphire Princess but, alas, they had closed for the day at a ridiculously early 2:00 P.M.  So, unfortunately, there will be no pictures of the kitschy interior, the bejeweled and turban-clad Indian boy Sambo, and that cutesy tiger.

On Wednesday we’re going to postpone the remainder of our West Coast cruise for something special — a Halloween Tale of Terror from yours truly.  We’ll pick up again on the West Coast with Catalina Island on Friday.

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