2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Water Reflection on Shoreside Building

The restaurant prices were usually so exorbitant on shore that we planned our excursions around mealtimes to avoid dropping $50 or more on mediocre fare.  During lunch on the ship in Sydney I was looking out the window and saw this water reflection on one of the buildings in town.  Had to catch it, so right after eating we skedaddled up to our balcony, where I captured this shot.

2025 NE Cruise - Sydney, Largest Violin in the World

By the time we sailed into Sydney it became apparent to us that most of the stops in small New England towns would be basically the same...places in which to just walk around and see what's there.  And, like the boardwalk in Halifax, there usually is one thing that makes it stand out; here it had to be the largest violin the the world.

Silhouette shot below:

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, 2-shot Cityscape Panorama

I love cityscapes, and Halifax makes for a pretty handsome cityscape.  Taken at dock level, the beginning of the boardwalk is in the left foreground.

It's interesting - even odd - that I didn't take any pictures at all in the Titanic museum, as this was a first priority for the stop.  Featured there were papers and other odds & ends found floating after the ship went down.  What was more interesting to us, however, were the artifacts left after a 1917 ship explosion where the death toll was even greater than that of the Titanic.  We'd never heard the story before.

This will conclude our port call in Halifax.  Believe the next stop is Sydney, Nova Scotia.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Dining Seagull

If this is a seagull it's the biggest one I've ever seen.  Knows how to make itself right at home...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Brightly Colored House

 

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Gift Shop in Public Gardens

Yes, a quaint little gift shop and café there on the premises...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Bee on Red and White Flower

Another bee picture.  Since the focus fell on the white petals, the bee needed heavy sharpening to give the appearance that it was in focus as well...

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Yellow Flower Against Black Background

Amazingly, this picture - with the exception of some sharpening - is completely untouched.  Normally I'd desaturate the color for effect, but the leaves in the background here are naturally black.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Bee on Flower in Profile

This and the pic that will be posted tomorrow are probably my two favorites of the Halifax shoot.  Bees are a little bit challenging to capture; once they land it's necessary to work fast, snapping as many shots as possible before they take off again.  This was the best of about seven taken from a profile perspective of the flower.  Some distracting elements were removed from the background, and voilà - we have a keeper.

2025 NE Cruise - Halifax, Red Squirrel

Not sure how much time we spent in the Dahlia tent, but I went crazy in there and snapped at least 30 unique photos, each with three loud mirror clacks due to bracketing for exposure compensation.  Must've seemed obnoxious, as I was the only one not taking pictures with a phone camera.

Next we ventured to other parts of the park, which featured equally interesting subjects, such as this red squirrel.  Zooming way in, what interested the critter wasn't obvious, but something must have been moving in the root ball that attracted its attention.