Day 127: Float Slowly, Relax, and Enjoy…Or Just Go Ahead and Rock the Boat
Day 127: May 7, 2014: Roatan
Whilst snorkeling amongst the cruise ship people today (who were, among other things, spilling their beers into the ocean while attempting to feed Corn Pops to the fish), I came across this sign.
It basically says to follow the signs and arrows, relax, float slowly, and enjoy as fish and other marine organisms appear around you. I saw lots of organisms, but no other signs…
Later in the day, we made a journey thorugh the clouds of stinging jellies in West End to get to a busted ass old sailboat anchored in the bay. Well beyond it’s sailing life, and with a slightly crooked mast, someone parked this vessel out in the bay to serve as a sort of crazy swingset. Basically, you need enough people shifting back and forth on deck to get the boat swaying. Once the boat is really rocking, someone holding onto the rope attached to the mast has to time their jump just right with the upswing to be flung out high above the water.
Most of us timed it wrong and ended up on our faces in the bay…
(Kodak Portra 400 in the waterproof Canon Sureshot A1)
Day 133: Lurkin’ Muni
Day 133: May 13, 2014: Carmel and Clayton
Don’t turn your back on that 37. It’ll sneak up on you.
(Arista Premium B&W (AKA Kodak Tri-X 400) in the Canon Sureshot A1 SLC P22)
Day 126: A Calm Day for Rum Tasting and Maracuyá Hunting
Day 126: May 6, 2014: West Bay, Roatan
And this is what a normal day looks like on the west end of Roatan. Glassy seas and visibility forever. Quite a differerent look than the day before.
Today involved, in no particular order: More snorkeling in the crystal clear waters, a stop at the local rum maker for some tastings (naturally), and a relatively unsuccessful maracuyá hunt in the main town of Coxen Hole, where we felt just a bit out of place after spending a significant amount of time wandering like lost tourists searching for the local’s market in parts of town that tourists clearly don’t spend much time in. We eventually found the market, but no luck on the maracuyás this day. We had to make do with rum and other tropical fruits on the deck this evening. Such a hard life.
(Expired Kodak Ektachrome E100SW in the Sureshot A1 SLC P19)
Giants Win! Part 3: Meanwhile, Elsewhere in San Francisco
As I walked roughly 9 miles around the streets of SF last night, I was struck by the contrasts. There were the centers of action: the Mission shitshow, the party in the Haight, presumably Civic Center and AT&T Park were active as well. In between these, however, were unexpectedly vast expanses of silence. It was business as usual through most of SF, as shops and restaurants wrapped up the day, dogs were walked, and laundry was washed.
A few blocks away from any one gathering point, the ruckus quickly faded until the only remaining signs of the celebrations consisted of lines at the local liquor stores, buses parked along the streets after being taken out of service, an occasional high five on an isolated street, and of course, the buzz of the choppers over the Mission.
The Castro, just like 2012, showed all of the signs of a crazy celebration, with TP strewn from the Muni cables drifting in the breeze, but was completely deserted by the time I made it over there around 9:30PM. I assume everyone moved on to the Mission or went home early from there.
I also ran through a couple rolls of film while I was out, but those will take a bit to get developed, so these are all of my digital shots for today.
Giants Win! Part 2: Trouble in the Mission
Hey San Francisco, remember that time we won a World Series and didn’t trash the streets? ..Yeah, me neither.
By the time my walk brought me to the Mission, shit was going down in full force, as a group of a couple dozen police in riot gear marched up Mission to surround any budding fires, followed by SFFD to put them out. The crowd was large enough and there were enough people intent on mayhem that some fires were inevitable, but from what I saw, the SFPD did a great job of responding to problems and keeping the damage as low as they could. In my wanders through, despite the large crowds and the presence of the usual subset of idiots out solely to provoke some sort of response from the police to record and post to social media, I personally saw nothing but the most organized and professional actions. So kudos to the SFPD on this one.
I wandered through twice but found the area so saturated with drunk fools and people trying to get that awesome profile pic, that, it felt like no one was even there for the moment. Maybe it’s just me, but the whole “look at how bad ass I am with my selfie in front of a riot cop” game feels a little played out these days in the Instagram generation. It all just felt more like a celebration of self absorption than a celebration of the Giants. Not the vibe I was looking for, so I walked on.
That said, the gathering a few blocks away at 16th and Valencia was a real party atmosphere, with a sound system blasting tunes while people danced in the street and generally shared in a good time. There were even a few Royals fans out there in the mix. Sure, there was the requisite broken glass and drunk fools that comes with a large crowd like this, but this crowd was out to celebrate rather than destroy, at least during the time when I was there. I also learned that one of those new Muni wave shelters can surprisingly support the weight of about 20 people, so there’s that.
Giants Win! Part 1: Celebration in the Haight
Pouring out of the bars onto Haight just after the game, the crowd was jovial, with hugs and high fives all around. At Haight and Ashbury, revelers frolicked (and took selfies) in a sea of bubbles.
By the time I reached the Lower Haight, a couple blocks were cordoned off and covered in TP, but still mostly trouble free, apart from a few kids trying and failing to light a fire. The mood as I passed through was still jovial, though people had TP’d a cop car and there were signs of coming trouble. I heard there were fireworks and such later, but don’t know what else, if anything, happened after I moved on.
I gave my last Pence face to a kid who was probably around 7 on this block, and he was so excited about it, I think that moment was honestly the highlight of my wanders.
Giant Skyline
I think this one really needs to be printed big. Some of the effect is lost in shrinking it down for the screen, but the original is big enough for a print about 6 feet wide. Giant metal print, anyone?
Let’s go Giants!
Let’s Go Giants!
With last night’s break from baseball, I took the bike for a quick cruise out to Treasure Island to check out orange-covered skyline, only to find that it was too windy for a good photo, and I was about 2 hours early to catch the moon low on the horizon. The peace and quiet was refreshing, though, so I took a chance and hung out at the Treasure Island Bar and Grill for a bit and waited for the moon to drop. Lucky me, by the time the moon had come down a bit, the wind had stopped and conditions were lovely for a few photos of the waterfront. Things have a way of working out if given a little patience. (Of course, I first tried to get this shot with my film SLR and the battery promptly died, so I suppose the second lesson is to always have a backup plan.)
Let’s go Giants! Finish this in 6 tonight.
Day 125: Rough Seas
Day 125: May 5, 2014: West Bay, Roatan
A somewhat unusual onshore wind left the normally glassy seas on the west end of the island pretty choppy today (and apparently blew in quite a few jellies, as well). We did a bit of snorkeling, but the rough seas and the aforementioned jellies sent us to shore earlier than planned. So, naturally, it was time for a West Bay resort pub-crawl adventure. While the resorts here are small and not quite what you’d probably picture from other tropical locales like Hawaii, most have beachfront bar/restaurants to relax and dry off after a dive/snorkel session.
For being the resort area of the island, West End was still surprisingly chill and quiet, with most visitors here for the diving rather than a high end resort experience. The only busy times come for a few hours a couple days a week when the cruise ships pull into the harbors near the main town of Coxen Hole and disgorge their passengers to flood the West Bay beaches. As quick as they come, they all disappear a couple hours later, on to the next port. It struck me as a shame that all of these tourists miss the relaxing calm, only seeing the island packed with people, and probably go home thinking that it is always this busy.
During our time on shore, we basically just took it easy, playing a game of giant Jenga and watching the beach bound water taxis and other small boats get battered by the waves, while a captain of a floating tiki bar tried to flee with his vessel around the point to calmer waters.
A guy could get used to this.
(Kodak Ektar 100 in the EOS 3)
Day 124: Another Day, Another Beach Sunset
Day 124: May 4, 2014: Roatan
Today was pretty light on photos, largely on account of being underwater for a good chunk of it. Roatan is a fantastic snorkeling and diving destination, and we meannt to make the most of it, starting our first full day with two dives. While the waterproof Sureshot has proven sturdy so far, I’m not so sure I trust its 20 year old seals to the pressure of 30+ feet deep (or if it was even able to handle that when it was brand new), so just memories of the fish and that awesome Sea Turtle that graced us wth it’s presence.
Having not gone out diving since getting certified in monterey about 5 years prior, I had a little difficulty, starting the first dive under-weighted and exerting way too much energy, cutting my hand up a bit on some coral, and developing some nagging sinus pain that kept me up at night. With all of that, these were my last dives of the trip, but they were still worth it. Also, the snorkeling was fantastic, so I was OK with missing some divey goodness. 🙂
(Kodak Ektar 100 in the EOS 3)
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