Calm Before the Storm

Calm Before the Storm

22nd October 2012

After a long, teeth chattering winter in Uruguay, summer was finally on its way, bypassing spring. The sun was shining and thermometer’s mercury started to head north. Holiday makers and locals flocked to the beach to soak up every single ray of sunshine. Reports and warnings of bad weather were coming in, but after the weather we’ve been experiencing, there had to be some kind of mistake, surely?

Looking out the window in the morning, the sky was grey, sea mist and dark clouds were rolling in, turning the usually picturesque town of Punta del Este into scene fit for a horror film. It drizzled and the wind picked up a little. It wasn’t enough to deter me from going for a jog along the beach.

I love jogging along the beach, especially on cold, drizzly days. After jogging approximately 2.5km, a little further than the Dedos de Punta del Este (Punta del Este Hand/Fingers), I decided to turn back and head home.

Out of nowhere the rain began lashing down, each drop hitting my face felt like a needle pricking into my skin. For a second I honestly thought it was hail stones. The winds which were relatively strong before we becoming menacingly fierce and the tides were rapidly invading the beach. Trying to run, a gust of strong wind nearly knocked me off my feet. It really was taking “sweeping a girl off her feet” to a whole new level! The slow journey back home, soon became one long struggle; trudging through the wet, water logged sand, flooding streets and walking against a barricade gale force winds.

Walking through the door, at a snap of your fingers, the rain stopped. Grey clouds parted, winds dropped and the sun smiled its way through the dark, lighting up the land and sky.

The calm before the storm…

Airport Beach

Airport Beach

16^th April 2012

We’d been planning this day for a very long time. In true tradition, we finally managed to getting around to it on our last trip to St. Maarten. We were heading to Airport Beach to jet blast.

Meeting up on the gangway, Steph, Mike, Ani, Kate, Inna and myself headed out into the St. Maarten sun. Within minutes you could feel the sun roasting your skin. No wonder people come back to the ship with third degree burns!

The journey to Airport Beach or as the locals know it, Maho Beach, was a bit expensive. The more people, the cheaper the taxi fare. As there were six of us, the twenty minute drive would cost us $18 return. If it’s just you on your own, you can expect to pay around $12-15 - each way.

Maho Beach is situated on the Dutch side of the island. Most cruise ships will dock on the French side. The thing that makes Airport Beach special is that it’s supposedly, the only place in the world where you can jet blast. The landing strip at Princess Juliana Airport and the beach is separated by two very narrow lanes for road traffic to pass through.

At first, when we arrived at Airport Beach we thought we’d missed the big commercial plane. Luckily enough, it was delayed and we’d be there for its arrival. In the meantime, smaller air craft were flying in every ten to fifteen minutes. Sunbathers had worried expressions of their faces on a couple of occasions at the sight of an aircraft coming in incredibly low. There were a couple of times when I was dubious as to whether the plane would make it over the barbed wire fences, barricading the landing strip off to us adrenaline junkie tourists.

Every time a plane came into view, the beach goers would grab their cameras and sprint along the beach, situating themselves adjacent to the landing strip. There were cheers, people jumping around and others simply staring in amazement at the scenes unfolding before us.

Watching a roaring plane, no matter how small or large, fly only metres above your head, witnessing the wheels eject from the belly was an unbelievable rush! Words failed me at the time and thinking back, they still do!

Returning to the bar, while waiting for another plane to arrive, Ani came over, just before I arrived at our table. “Look at the guy sitting at the table in front of us. It’s Richard Hammond!” Glancing over, it didn’t look like it was Richard Hammond, until I got a little closer. She was right! Top Gear’s Richard “Hamster” Hammond was sitting at the table in front of us, almost huddled into a corner trying to keep out of the public view. With him were two men, the three of them seemed engrossed in discussion about shooting angles and how long the planes get when landing. By the looks of it, they were researching for a future episode of Top Gear.

Finding Kate, I told her that Ani had spotted Richard Hammond. She came over to make sure we hadn’t made a mistake. Obviously, he looked very different from TV. His hair wasn’t styled, in fact it was smoothed down as if to cover his face, large, dark sunglasses on and wearing scruffy clothes. Although we wanted to get our photo taken with him, we resisted, simply because, you only had to take one look at him, to see he was doing is best to stay out of everyone’s eyesight and remain unnoticed. It wasn’t long until the three of them left.

Airport Beach Bar

Mike was like a kid at Christmas, wishing for one of the few 474s to land. Kate being the dount that she is, forgot her swimming gear so was walking the beach taking photos with her Canon 500D. Ani, who isn’t the strongest swimmer, decided to chill out on the beach and recharge her batteries. Steph and Inna were stuffing themselves with non-Mess food.

Looking at the colour of the sea, I had to get in. The waves were high and sent you bobbing up into the air. It felt great to be in the sea, soaking up the sun and generally enjoying life. Trying to get out of the sea was a real challenge. I hadn’t noticed just how strong the currant was. As soon as a wave took you to the shore and you tried to walk out, the currant was sucking you back in again. Sometimes it felt like you were frozen to a stop while the sand and pebbles raced past your feet and ankles, back into the sea.

Looking back, there were a couple of massive waves coming and I was right in the breaking point. There was only one thing to do, dive into the wave and wait until the sea calmed down again, before attempting to get out. Just as I dived into the wave, it broke, sending me circling in the swirl and crashing against the sand below me. The others on the beach were rolling up laughing as I staggered out from the sea, after being hit by two breaking waves (I couldn’t get in deep enough out of the breaking point or out of the sea all together). My hair was all over the place and I was sporting a striking resemblance to Cousin IT from the Addams Family. No wonder the others didn’t want to get in the sea, especially after seeing me get chucked around. Still, after a while, I wadded back in for around round. Sometimes the waves were so high, I lost sight of the shore whilst bobbing up and down.

Run for your Life!

In the distance, a plane was heading our way. It was a 747, one of the commercial planes Mike had been waiting for. Ani and I were there, cheering and throwing our hands up in the air as the deafening roar of the engines grew louder and louder. Steph and Inna were running along the beach to get to us but the plane was too fast for them. Looking up the massive plane was directly over our heads.

The whole thing lasted less than a minute but the whole experience of having such a huge aeroplane fly over your head and so low was unbelievably mind blowing!! The roar from the engines became deafening as the plane flew overhead and only highlighted the rush.  The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up on end with anticipation as the plane lowered more and more towards the landing strip. No matter how I describe the thirty odd second ordeal, it’ll never be enough. Words cannot describe just how amazing, yet strange it felt to witness a plane so low, so unbelievably close and just above your head.

Jumping around, we were all over the moon and couldn’t believe what we’d just experienced. The others arrived just as the plane landed. The good news was, another commercial flight would be arriving soon. We weren’t disappointed either. We were ready this time… and so was everyone else by the looks of it. We all dived in for a group picture and the plane flew just behind us.

Unfortunately for us, it was nearly 13.00 and we still had some things we needed to do. We climbed into a taxi and just as we were leaving, a plane was just about the take-off. I couldn’t believe my luck!! Everyone was being forced to run towards the sea as the jets started up sending out a hurricane-like stream of wind.

I’d missed jet blasting by a couple of minutes. As much as I was disappointed, I couldn’t help but smile at what we had experienced. You win some, lose some. I’d missed the chance to do one thing but, instead managed to experience something else which was just as mind blowing. I couldn’t complain!

Back on the French side of St. Maarten Mike, Kate, Ani and myself headed towards the shops. Our mission, to find a Canon 5D Mark II. Due to my last batch of problems with my credit card, I was sure I was to encounter the same. Instead of buying the Canon 5D Mark II kit (camera body and 24-105mm lens) I’d just purchase the body and a lens at another date. It’s a pathetic way to go about things when you have the funds to do it in one go. Unfortunately, banks are banks and beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.

Mike is by far the best person to take with you when you are buying cameras and/or equipment. Not only does he know his stuff, but how much things are worth and he’s a bloody good haggler! Kate did her fair share as well and managed to get a Canon camera back pack thrown in with a $40 discount.

Of course, there were problems with the bank. Using their phone, I rang through the England and after about 20 minutes the problem was resolved. Their excuse: we saw someone was purchasing something worth a large sum of money in an unknown country and as you have next to no credit card activity history, we blocked it for security reasons. This, ladies and gentlemen is why I love banks! Don’t get me wrong, there’s an overdose of sarcasm in that comment!!

Finally, after nearly an hour, I giddily walked out of the store with my new camera. I am now the overly proud owner of a Canon 5D Mark II. I felt like one of those parents who drive you insane, talking about how wonderful and proud they are of their children while showing you endless amounts of photos. I’d become exactly like them… but over a camera. Feel free to judge!

Although I didn’t have a lens, I wasn’t too worried. I don’t think my Ocean Pay, wallet and credit card could have taken any more of a beating. Plus, I had two lenses for my Canon 400D which would fit the camera. Yes, I know the lenses are pants compared to what is on the market, but they’ll tie me over in the meantime, while I can save up and research some more into which lens would be best for the type of photography I want to do etc.

Anyway, we are going to New York soon and Mike says there’s a street full of camera stores, one in particular, where the prices are reasonable and there’s an abundance of stock and choice. Luckily enough for me, Mike will still be on the ship when we get to New York City . He’ll gladly come lens shopping with me while spending his saved fortune on more camera and electrical goods, before going home to the Philippines.

Kate waltzed out the store over the moon with her new Macro lens. Ani looked as if she was going to burst into tears after being told she’d paid $250 too much for a lens she’d purchased the previous week. Who can blame her? I, however, have my suspicions about what she was told. In many ways, I think it was a sales pitch, telling a friend of mine she’d been ripped off, as a way of convincing me to buy a camera through them. It made perfect sense to everyone but it wasn’t enough to up Ani’s spirits.

Soon enough, it was time to jump in another taxi and hurry back to the ship. It was going to be a long Pirate Night, but throughout the night was a large Cheshire cat smile on my face. It’d been a fantastic day, one of the best so far during this contract. The cherry on the cake was, of course, my brand, spanking new camera. My new baby… my Canon 5D Mark II.

Airport Beach - Kate, Ani and Lou

We didn't see that one coming...

Unbelievable!!

All Together: Steph, Kate, Inna, Ani, Me & Mike Behind the Camera :-p

Smaller Jet Coming In (Mike's Photo)

Right Overhead (Mike's Photo)

Distance Between Beach and Landing Strip

Chilling in the Sun

Landing Times

The Girls: Steph, Inna, Kate, Me and Ani

 

"Free Drinks For Topless Ladies"

All Fun & Games

Kate

 

Airport/ Maho Beach, St. Maarten

Man Down! Man Down!

Man Down! Man Down!

5^th April 2012

It’s the last day of the cruise and things aren’t really starting to look up. Thankfully, it is the last day and maybe things will be different during the next cruise.

Arriving at Castaway Cay, the sky was grey and the clouds threatened to rain. This is always a bad sign for all the photographers, especially the beach shooters, and I was one of them. If the weather is bad at the end of the cruise, the guests tend to be moody. Believe it or not, and they don’t spend as much as they would have if it'd been a sunny day.

When it comes down to the photo department, I can understand that. Getting a photo taken on the beach with blazing sun makes for a nice photo. Same goes with the family standing in front of the ship, surrounded by brilliant blue skies. Dull skies and grey clouds don’t have the same effect.

While walking on the beach, it was deserted compared to normal. My image target was a little lower than usual, too. Instead of 350, I only had to get 300. That target can still be a struggle sometimes, as I don’t like to overshoot, whereas others get three photos of the same person. None of the managers have said anything about over shooting, but a few of the more experienced photographers have.

I won’t lie, I kind of gave up towards the end of my beach session. Usually the beach is split into sections with a photographer in each. They keep going over the area and snapping photos of the new arrivals, etc. By the looks of things, as there the beach was quiet, the other photographers had been wandering into other people’s sections.

Walking up to one lady, I smiled and cheerfully called out “Ma’am, let’s have a smile” and received a sharp reply “No! You’re the fourth photographer to come get my picture. Three is enough.” Of course, if you’re trying to relax on the beach, you don’t want to be constantly bothered by photographers, asking you for photos, so I completely understood why she was annoyed. I would be.

I only had 200 images which was incredibly poor. Speaking to Inna, she had 100 images more than me at the time, but said “I double shoot” before shrugging and walking off. We always look bad when we come back with (like today) 200 images when the newer photographers have 350 and it’s all because they shoot multiples of the same people. It doesn’t sell. Usually the doubles would be removed by the lab manager and only singles counted, but not on beach.

Giving up, I met Ani to go into the shops and get Diva a leaving present. We decided to buy her a Castaway Cay t-shirt and have everyone sign the back of it for her.

Back on board, we walked into the lab to see Cinta with a bandage around her arm. Asking what happened, she told us that she fell off the tram which transports crew and guests around the island.

Later on, we found out the truth. Cintia had got on one of the trams, wanting to go back to the ship to drop off her memory card. Instead, she’d got on the tram to Serenity Bay and crew beach. Realizing she was on the wrong tram, she jumped off, just as the tram started moving. Jumping off the tram, with $2,000 worth of equipment, she went crashing to the ground, slicing her arm open.

Csaba wasn’t in the greatest of moods and making a series on phone calls from the lab. Slamming down the phone on a few occasions, making some of us jump out of our skin, he was trying to find someone to stitch up Cintia’s arm.

The first aid centre on the island just wrapped Cintia’s arm up in a bandage and said she’d need stitches. As she wasn’t an island crew member (or more to the point, a guest) he wouldn’t stitch her up and instead sent her back to the ship.

The medical centre on board Disney Magic was closed for another three hours. The doctor on the island told Cintia that she couldn’t call the emergency number as needing stitches “wasn’t an emergency”. Csaba was furious at this and finally, taking Cintia with him, managed to find someone to open the medical facility to sort her arm out. Fancy having a gash in your arm and the doctor saying “you’ll have to wait until 15.00 to get stitches as it’s not classified as an emergency.” If Cintia was a guest however, you can guarantee things would be the complete opposite.

Bumping into Cintia later on, she’d been signed off from work for at least 48 hours. She wouldn’t be able to lift a camera for a very long time though. In the end, it’d taken ten stitches to close the slice, so it must have been a big/deep cut.

Speaking to the others in Shutters, a few people were saying the girl should be sent home. No doubt she’ll be out of action for a week or more while waiting for the stitches to heal. In ship terms, a week or a cruise is an incredibly long time. Also, we were questioning Cintia’s common sense. Who the hell would jump off a moving tram, especially with so much equipment on her. The equipment wasn’t damaged, which was lucky but, we don’t have spare parts, so if something had happened, we’d be up Shit Creek without a paddle!

Now it’s just a case of waiting to see what will happen to Cintia. Will she be sent home? Or as Image like to put it: Chicken or Beef?

Photographs from previous sessions shooting beach.

Ani - Wading Out to the Climbing Frame

What we do to get a high image count!

Castaway Cay Climbing Frame

We Made It!

 
Setting Exposures


Test Shots with Mark

Boobs In or Out?

Boobs in or out?

3^rd April 2012

For the last two weeks, we’ve been planning a team activity in Cozumel. At first we were talking about renting cars, doing something fun, something different. Carolee spoke to the crewmembers working at Port Adventures, who arrange tours for the guests. At Port Adventures, they had a few options for us. The first was renting dune buggies and second was renting quads and riding through the “jungle”. Lastly, we had paintballing. Most of the team hadn’t been paintballing before but we needed Csaba, the Business Manager, to make the booking. We couldn’t do it ourselves.

The night before, Csaba said he couldn’t book any of the three events because there weren’t any spaces left. Basically, he’d left it to the last minute and all the spaces were taken. This was later confirmed by a member of Port Adventures. Already disheartened by the pay slip we’d all received, this was just another blow to our moods. We wanted a team activity to give us an energy boost, a sense of life rather than feeling like we’re flogging a dead horse!

Unfortunately, the only option left was to get a taxi to the beach, we chose Alberto’s where we went last time, as the food was good and there were water sports available. Speaking to some of the team after the meeting, hardly anyone wanted to go. Great.

Arriving in Cozumel, Mexico, the team, excluding Maryna who hadn’t turned up, met up and headed to the taxi rank. The weather wasn’t great. It was a muggy, cloudy day with the odd spots of rain. It matched our moods perfectly!

At Alberto’s we all had something to eat and got onto the subject of swimming trunks. You see, Kate and I were laughing at Mark’s overly tight and very short swimming trunks. Csaba said that it’s normal for Romanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians etc. to wear dinky swimming trunks or nut-hugging speedos. No one else around the table agreed!

I'm apparently abnormal by their standards for wearing board shorts and not bikini bottoms. What the men in Europe wear, in their terms are shorts, not swimming trunks or board shorts, are just out of the question and weird in their eyes. The discussion went on and on and in the end, neither of the sides could agree. So, we’re just going to carry on pointing and laughing at each other’s swimwear. Especially in my case, as I’m female and wearing men’s board shorts!

Chilling on the sunbeds for a bit, Kate and I were struggling to stay awake. The sea was freezing cold and no one, except for Mark was crazy enough to dip their feet in, let along wade in any further. Speaking to Kate and Ani, we all wanted to go to the supermarket and use the internet. I wanted to upload some photos and speak to my Mom. Mark had to get some things as well. Not much was happening on the beach and we’d separated into two groups as per usual. It can be quite frustrating doing a team activity when half the team doesn’t particular get along. The two halves kind of put up with each other for the sake of work. During free time, certain people will avoid others like the black plague.

Gathering our stuff, Kate, Ani, Mark and I left in a cab and back into Cozumel. We got what we needed from the supermarket. Kate went off to No Name Crew Bar, Mark stayed using the internet with Maryna in the supermarket’s café.

Ani and I went off in search of a leaving present for Diva. We couldn’t find anything she’d like though. It had to be something small, small enough for her to get inside her jam packed suitcase and relevant to the cruise or its itinerary.

Looking at a little stall, Ani had an idea. After the vacation, Diva will be going to Wonder and won’t be visiting Disney’s private island of Castaway Cay. So, why not get her something from Castaway Cay, something like a t-shirt, signed by the entire team and maybe some of the characters?

Rushing back on board, we didn’t have long to get ready for set up. As it was Pirate Night, I was shooting LSP which doesn’t tend to be too busy. Boy, was I wrong! I don’t think LSP has ever been so busy for me on a Pirate Night. It was good fun though. To be fair, it was mainly all the Spanish speaking families coming to the studio.

During the last session of LSP, I had a lady come in with her daughter. The lady had whopping, blown up lips and a face as stretched as Bridget Jones’ spandex pants! Laying on the floor, one side of her top fell off her shoulder, exposing the entire left hand side of her bra (and therefore 75% of her gravity defying breasts!).
For someone who looked like she was in her 60’s it seemed unnatural to be wearing skimpy clothes with your bra and boobs falling out. Politely and as secretively as possible, I pointed over to the lady’s top “Ma’am, your shirts slipped. Do you want to pull it back up onto your shoulder?” Shock horror! She was not impressed by what I’d said. Looking down, she did this strange patting across her chest, as if to make sure it was all in place “No! This is part of my look”. Wow… certainly not the reply I’d expected and even less when you’re having your photo taken with a child of maybe 10 years old. I’d be telling my mother to cover up!

In the dining room, I got pulled over by a female guest, who had her photo taken with her two daughters on LSP a couple of nights ago. “I have a bone to pick with you.” OK, so what have I done now? “You didn’t tell me that my cleavage was visible”. The lady was wearing a low cut corset top… of course her cleavage was visible, when she lied on the floor. I thought that was her intension.

Not saying a word, the woman, who must have been in her late 40’s to early 50s said “Every man on that deck must have been walking past, staring, looking at my boobs.” Trying to avoid the shock look across my face, the words “wow, you think highly of yourself” floated through my head. Apologising, I hypocritically said, I cannot tell people when to cover up or not as it’s down to people’s opinions.

To give her an example, I used the lady I'd just photographed on LSP. I’d asked a lady to cover up in my studio when her shirt slipped, exposing her bra and she got offended. As soon as I said it, the woman knew exactly what I meant. It’s down to personal opinion, not mine. Before I left, she called again “next time, tell me. I don’t want men gawking at my boobs”. Saying nothing, I smiled and shuffled off to the next table.

In another dining room, I met the plastic lady and her husband, who resembled a plastic surgeon. Getting a photo of the table, I noticed a gold and glass jug on the table. It looked like something you’d find in Ancient Rome. Sometimes, guests buy things in port and request to use it at dinner, so I thought this was one of the cases. Asking if the jug was theirs and commenting on how lovely it looked, the guy shook his head and said it belonged to the dining room. “Oh really? I’ve never seen it before.” Smugly, he replied “That’s because not everyone can buy a $300 bottle of wine”. Disgusted at his arrogance and flippant manner, I abruptly thanked the family for letting me take their photo and walked out the dining room, unable to conceal my feelings which were plastered across my face. The buggers had spent more money on a bottle of wine than we’d earned in one week!!