Tag Archives: Sapphire Princess

October 19, 2012 · 12:00 am

Cruising the West Coast — Alcatraz Island at Night

As you know from Wednesday’s blog article, some mental midget at Homeland Security decided the passengers aboard the Sapphire Princess were either too dangerous or were seriously endangered if we docked at our scheduled 1:00 P.M. time, but all those dangers would all miraculously disappear if we were allowed to dock some five hours later. And so it was that we nestled alongside Pier 35 with the clock ticking. Ursula had made prepaid reservations for a very special nighttime tour of Alcatraz Island, which was scheduled to depart from Pier 33 at precisely 6:45. We would have no time to spare, and there were no refunds for missing the boat, as it were.

We got in line for disembarkation and then proceeded to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait some more. Hundreds of anxious, time-pressed passengers stood before us, the long line snaking around the central portions of the ship and winding around the pieces for sale in the art gallery. Hundreds more lined up behind us as we waited for the gangway to be secured. It was nearly 6:30 by the time our feet hit the pier. We took off at a near run, dodging left and right around passengers who were in no rush having already missed their scheduled activities.

With just minutes to spare Ursula pulled up to the booth to claim our tickets, only to find her progress impeded by a couple before her, a couple with a never-ending list of questions and who obliviously continued to eat up valuable time even as the passengers started boarding the ferry. When Ursula finally reached the teller, the last of the passengers were already approaching the ferry and less than two minutes remained before the scheduled departure time.

With tickets in hand, we and another couple behind us became the last passengers to board.

We had made this journey once before, but during the day. And if you must choose between the two times, I would definitely suggest the nighttime tour of Alcatraz Island. The ferry arrives at twilight with just enough time to capture images of the exterior:

A Guard Tower

Alcatraz in Twilight

It leaves well after dark has descended upon the bay, providing you with a stunning view of the lights defining the San Francisco skyline:

San Francisco’s Night Skyline

The images below were captured without the use of a tripod or monopod. Most shots were made using the “Handheld NightScene” mode on the new Canon G1 X. “Handheld NighScene” is a rather impressive piece of engineering, allowing the camera to shoot at lower ISO settings for less noise even in low-light situations. The trick is to hold the camera very steady as it takes three photos in rapid succession, and then internally combines those images to increase the amount of light information for the final photograph. The downside is that if anything in the scene is moving, it will take on a ghostly blurred look. You can see this effect in some of the following pictures — cell doors nice and sharp, tourists blurred in movement. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially when you’re trying to capture such a haunting environment:

Ghosts on the Block

Ghosts in the Prison Library

What else awaits you on Alcatraz Island at night:

Preparing for Escape

The Control Room

A Typical Cell

The Alcatraz Lighthouse

An Ominous Line of Cells

A Bleak Exterior as Well

Alcatraz Prison at Night

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Tagged as Alcatraz, Canon G1 X, cruises, Handheld NightScene, photography, San Francisco, Sapphire Princess, travel

October 17, 2012 · 12:00 am

Cruising the West Coast — San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate

The Sapphire Princess passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge around noon on Sunday, October 7 — some twenty or so hours after departing the trip’s embarkation port of Los Angeles. We were scheduled to dock in San Francisco at around 1:00 P.M. for a 24-hour stay. Alas, this was Fleet Week in San Francisco, and Homeland Security had other ideas. Despite the plans of 2,600 passengers, Homeland Security decided that allowing the Sapphire Princess to dock at the scheduled time was too much of a security risk. There will be a mini-rant on this subject below, following the photo show, but for now we’ll concentrate of the beauty of San Francisco from the water:

Golden Gate Beneath the Clouds

Towering into the Clouds

The Marin County/Sausalito Side of the Bay

Our “Protectors” (or was it Warders?)

Our Tug Approaches

Getting Closer

Nestling Along Side

A Familiar Skyline

Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid Dominate

Coit Tower

Setting Sun

Now, time for that promised mini-rant:

Risk to whom, Homeland Security? Per U.S. regulations, passengers and their luggage are screened before boarding a cruise ship. And if it’s the cruise ship and her passengers who are at risk, what was the danger? If there were security concerns for the passengers, why wasn’t Fleet Week cancelled for the safety of the hundreds of thousands “at risk” ashore? The obvious answer here, as has so often been the case since the 9/11 attacks, is that some overzealous bureaucrat out to make a name for him or herself arbitrarily decided to inconvenience 2,600 people who had dinner reservations, were meeting with loved ones who had driven in some cases hours, had prepaid tours scheduled, etc. I’m sorry for the rant, but this kind of silliness has gotten so out of hand that it really needs to be addressed, and the person responsible for making 3,700 passengers and crew bob around the bay for five hours needs to be reassigned to a position in which they cannot continue to inconvenience people on a personal whim

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Filed under Photography, travel

Tagged as Fleet Week, Golden Gate, photography, San Francisco, Sapphire Princess, travel

October 15, 2012 · 5:45 am

Cruising the West Coast Aboard the Sapphire Princess

If it appeared that last week’s blogs were a bit canned, there’s a good reason. They were. I wrote them a week in advance and scheduled them for automatic posting because I was headed out of town.

Friday after work we loaded onto a flight to Los Angeles. Saturday found us aboard Princess Cruises’ recently refurbished Sapphire Princess. This was our second voyage aboard this particular ship, with the previous cruise taking place in May of 2009 for a Costco Wine Cruise. Alas, this cruise had little to do with wine and a lot to do with nonstop sightseeing — San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Catalina Island, San Diego, and a trip to Mexico’s Northern Baja Peninsula and the quaint little town of Ensenada.

I must say that she’s a handsome ship.

Sapphire Princess

One of the first things I sensed upon boarding was the unnerving realization that either the crew lists to port or the ship lists to starboard:

The Crew Lists to Port

And if that realization weren’t startling enough, we then stumbled upon the Black Box (which are never black, by the way).

The Orange “Black Box”

At any rate, the retrofit that the Sapphire Princess underwent earlier this year really shows in the ship’s interior, most notable in the massive three-story Piazza.