GoPro on the train

DEBBY ON THE CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR, EASTERN COLORADO, JANUARY 24, 2019

GoPro 7 Black
3mm GoPro lens
1/900 sec. f2.8
ISO 419

Those little GoPro sport cameras, it seems, make excellent travel cameras as well—if you can get used to shooting only wide-angle photographs. The Model 7 does allow the photographer to shoot linear shots like this rather than distorted fisheye style. On this trip I carried mine in a form-fitting rubber case on a lanyard around my neck, and found myself using it more often than my Pentax K-3 or iPhone to shoot inside and outside the train.

Booby aloft

BROWN BOOBY,  NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN OFF PANAMA, MARCH 30, 2018

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 120mm
1/800 sec. f9
ISO 400

Boobies, especially the brown subspecies, like to soar near and over the bows of cruise ships, accompanying them for miles and miles along the Pacific coast of Central America. It's hard to understand why, because they never get any table scraps. Maybe they just want to be companionable.

Interdiction

MEXICAN PATROL BOAT AND FISHING BOAT, CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO, APRIL 6, 2018

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 150mm
1/1250 sec. f8
ISO 400

We had a front-row seat on our cruise ship when this Mexican coast guard vessel approached a fishing boat off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to check for drug running, common in that area. The fishermen pointed to their lines and floats in the water, and after a brief interrogation the coast guardsmen sped away.

Dawn in the Caribbean

DAWN IN THE CARIBBEAN, MAY 26, 2018

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 200

When I swept open the curtains of our verandah cabin on the Holland America Line's Westerdam, bound out of Fort Lauderdale for the Panama Canal, this sight greeted me, and I rushed back inside for the camera. The ship is the Norwegian Cruise Line's Epic, an aptly named 4,100-passenger behemoth with twice the capacity of our ship.

Dugout

DUGOUT CANOE, TARCOLES RIVER, PUNTARENAS, COSTA RICA

Pentax K-3
Pentax 18-135 at 135mm
1/2000 sec. f8
ISO 800

We had just returned from an hour's crocodile watching on the Tarcoles when our tourist boat chugged past a dugout canoe being paddled across the river. This canoe appears to be genuine and quite old and battered, unlike the ersatz "dugouts" constructed by modern boat builders to carry tourists in Costa Rica.

Shadows on deck

SHADOWS ON THE PROMENADE DECK, MS ZAANDAM, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-135 at 21mm
1/1600 f9
ISO 400

Another from last month's voyage to Hawaii: Deborah Abbott captured this study in shadows aboard our cruise ship while it was docked in San Diego Harbor.

Harbor pilot

PILOT BOAT NININI, NAWILIWILI, KAUAI, HAWAII, FEBRUARY 23, 2013

Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-135 at 53mm
1/1250 f9
ISO 800

Tiny but speedy watercraft bouncing over high swells after they pick up the harbor pilot always make a fine photo opportunity aboard cruise ships. I shot the pilot boat Ninini from the promenade deck of the Holland-America vessel Zaandam during a Hawaiian vacation last month. LATER: In 2009, a Ninini pilot transferring from the cruise ship Island Princess missed his footing, fell overboard and was killed by the pilot boat's propellers. Piloting can be a very hazardous undertaking, especially in the treacherous entry to Nawiliwili harbor.

Maui in the morning

LANDSCAPE FROM THE SEA, MAUI, HAWAII, FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-135 at 18mm
1/6400 sec. f8
ISO 800

This shot was taken from aboard the anchored cruise liner MS Zaandam about 300 yards off Lahaina on the island of Maui. The sun in the foreground tricked the camera into an absurdly high shutter speed, necessitating opening up of shadows with Lightroom. Best appreciated by clicking to large size.

La Sal Mountains No. 2

LA SAL MOUNTAINS FROM ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, UTAH, MARCH 4, 2010

Pentax K20D
Sigma 17-70 at 70mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 200

The La Sal Mountains rise above the town of Moab in southeastern Utah, and it's easy to get photos of them (as we did last March; see my first shot here) through crystal-clear air from the plateau of Arches National Park. The tallest peak in the range is Mount Peale (second from left) at 12,721 feet. Click on the photo for a large version.

College Fjord

WELLESLEY GLACIER, COLLEGE FJORD, ALASKA, JUNE 21, 2010

Pentax K20D
Sigma 17-70 at 34mm
1/750 sec. f11
ISO 400

Iceberg-bedecked College Fjord in the northwest corner of Prince William Sound contains five tidewater glaciers -- ice fields that flow into the sea -- named for Ivy League and women's colleges. It's a favorite destination for cruise liners plying Alaska's Inside Passage, and I took this photo from the lower promenade deck of the MS Statendam.

Bush plane

PIPER PA-18-150 SUPER CUB, FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, JUNE 16, 2010

Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/1500 sec. f9.5
ISO 400

As emblematic of Alaska as moose or grizzlies are bush planes, usually on floats. This one, the Piper Super Cub, has been a mainstay of the state's bush flying for 61 years. I captured it from the deck of a stern-wheeler on the Chena River outside Fairbanks as it demonstrated two landings and takeoffs for the cruise-line tourists aboard.