Sunset/Lighthouse Cruise Part 1

This should be a 3 part series. I took so many photos that there's no way I can condense them all into one post.


Last night my husband and I had the opportunity to go out on a Sunset/Lighthouse cruise. Weather wise it was a perfect with temps in the upper 80's and virtually no breeze. Just the way you would hope it would be for an evening cruise.

The cruise was through Granite State Whale Watch out of Rye Harbor, NH. If you look on their website under Our Trips - Special Events you will find a couple other special cruises coming later on this year. Maybe one day I'll get the nerve to actually go out on a Whale Watch! The thought of going out so far, 12-15 miles, makes me a little uncomfortable.

And right next to us .... out with the dog, in with the bumper.

I'll tell you, there are a lot of dogs at the marina that live a much better life then I do!










Looking back: In the center of the photo, on the horizon, is the small inlet of Rye Harbor.



Did I mention it was a perfect evening? The water was like glass, something you don't get that often on the ocean.

Okay, so my husband didn't want me to take this photo (even though he's the one who pointed it out) but I did anyway. Hee, hee. This lady was sitting just below us on the lower deck. Seriously ladies, if you're going to wear nylons with sandals and capris, do yourself a favor and cut them off just below the knees. Or wear Spanx.

I'd have to say, this is a 'Glamour Fashion Don't' moment. LOL! She still looked lovely anyway.
Betcha didn't think you would get a fashion tip on this trip did ya?

My husband trying to relax amongst the frenzy of photographers on board, including the one right behind him. He said it got a little crazy at one point. Must have been when the sun was setting ; )

Finally:

Where we're headed next: Isles of Shoals White Island Lighthouse

*Before I go, I wanted to tell you how I found out about the cruise. It was through this blog: New England Lighthouses. Jeremy also has a website called Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse where you can sign up for his newsletters. The next event is tomorrow with an open house at the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Castle from 1:00-5:00.

What remains of a wild nor'easter

As many of you know we had a major Nor'easter rain storm this past weekend. In our town alone we had over 7" of rain! Yuk!

However, once the clouds cleared Monday night it's been nothing but beautiful outside! Come Tuesday morning I was out and about try to capture some of the mayhem. Not so easy since roads were closed everywhere due to flooding, but at least I was able to get to the beach. Seems I'm always going to the waters edge lately.

This is a view from Rye harbor jetty looking across the way towards Rye Harbor State Park (aka: Ragged Neck). See that big clump of green bushes in front of the boat? That's where I was standing to take the following pictures. I just want you to know I stayed a safe distance away from the waves.

This website gives a beautiful overview of the whole harbor area. You'll find extra pictures of Rye harbor from different angles on the right side of the page.

Alright, so let's head over to the park on the opposite side of the harbor.

As I was leaving I looked back and grabbed a few more shots. I have to say, I do love the ocean, and water in general, but it scares me. Even standing a safe distance away, the power of the waves makes me nervous. I told one guy he should back up because you never know how big the next wave will be. The tide was coming in making the waves more ferocious all the time.

I'm just so thankful that all the rain that fell wasn't snow!

Eastern Point Lighthouse: Part 2

So here we are, back at the lighthouse one more time.

Looking out into the Atlantic and directly towards the sun, bringing into focus the silhouette of a lobster boat. A favorite view of mine.

Elise was a little freaked out by the sound of the waves lashing against the rocks under the breaker. She was looking down to see if she could see the water, but couldn't.

Bean town

~Photo by Elise~

There I am, freezing. At least the Jackie O sunglasses helped to keep the wind out of my eyes!

I do believe they are being stalked, which can only mean one thing ... bait on board.

The following photos were taken by Elise. Remember she had a fingerprint on her lens, but with a little texture added, overall they came out pretty good. Kind of like a postcard.

Facebook photo: The girl with the longest eyelashes I've ever seen!

This is as far as we went on Dogbar breakwater, just far enough for Elise to find a rock to put her camera on. The wind was whipping and it was cold. I photoshopped out my hair that was standing up straight. Who really needs to see that anyway?

Looking back towards the city of Gloucester. Thanks for coming along! We'll be headed up to Rockport soon for a little lunch.

Eastern Point Lighthouse: Part 1

And so we go back to Gloucester. I have so many photos from the afternoon my daughter and I spent there, I hope you won't mind me showing you a whole lot more!

Some of the photos in this post are mine and some are from my daughters camera, like the one below.

Elise thought it would be funny to take a photo of the map. I'm glad she did! Eastern Point is at the very bottom of the photo by Niles Pond and Brace Rock.

Off to the side of the parking lot the Crows were looking for food amongst the rocks. Seemed a bit unusual to me but food is food, and it was cold!

Looking back towards the parking lot from the base of the lighthouse: I was amazed and saddened by how much trash was on the beach. It was everywhere. What are people thinking? Jay, from Cape Ann Images, tells me there is a big clean up in the Spring. Thank goodness!

Elise kept turning around and photographing me the whole way up the path. LOL! Unfortunately she had somehow put a big fingerprint smudge on her lens causing all her photos from Eastern Point to be blurry. To compensate I added a texture to kind of make it look like it's supposed to be blurry ; )

And yeah, my hair was sticking straight up most of the time from the wind!

Gotcha Elise!

So nice to be able to get up close to this beautiful lighthouse.

1905

And then some kid obviously carved his initials and the year above.

Turn around and this is the view . . .

1/2 mile long Dogbar Breakwater

Do you feel like you were there right along with us? Was your hair blowing in the wind too?

More to come!

Sanders Poynt

Remember when I said in my last post I was trying to get to New Castle/Great Island commons to take some sunrise photos? Well I was almost there when I just had to stop Sanders Poynt next the Wentworth By The Sea golf course. The clouds were absolutely amazing Saturday morning.

Way off in the distance are two breakwaters. One juts in from Fort Stark on the left while the other one comes in from Odiorne State Park on the right. Though they look like they are almost touching, they are actually quite a distance apart from one another.

I stood there and took picture after picture until finally I decided I better get to the park before the sunrise left me in the dust!

Motif #1, Rockport MA

It's not to often my husband and I get a weekday off together without prior commitments but this past Tuesday we finally succeeded. Rockport, MA was our destination.

Being that I had never been to Rockport I knew there was one thing I had to see first, the 'old' fishing shack: Motif #1. Once you arrive it doesn't take long to find it either. Standing on the main street in town, Mt. Pleasant Street, this is the view looking down T Wharf:

The town has done all it can to keep the view unobstructed from overhead wires. They know Motif #1 is their goldmine to help keep tourists coming back again and again.


And there it is, photographed, painted, and sketched a million times over. My images aren't great ... the sky was mildly overcast, reflections are poor, and as usual I didn't have a lot of time to work with, but I did what I could with what I had.


This gull was honking up a storm with some other gull in the harbor. I don't know what he's complaining about, after all he lives in Rockport!


After 80+ years the original Motif #1 was destroyed during the Blizzard of '78 (photo) and rebuilt in '79. I'm not fond of the newness but whatcha gonna do. It's still very attractive.

Those of you who are native New Englander's will surely remember the blizzard. I was 14 at the time and still remember driving along the coast of NH and seeing terrible devastation to ocean front homes.


Another artist doing his thing. This photo also looks back towards the main part of town where I took the first photo.


Looking over the inner harbor with the Motif just to the left.

I'll have a little more Rockport in my next post.

A perfect Saturday morning in New England

A perfect weekend morning is dropping my daughter off at work early and heading for the coast in hopes of capturing something beautiful. They don't get much better than this morning ... slightly cool but getting warmer by the minute, low humidity, clear blue skies ....

I knew right where I was headed, Rye Harbor. There's always plenty of activity going on since several cruise boats head out along with a few fishing boats and pleasure boats.

(don't mind the blur) Guess I had already missed the AM low and high tides. And just in case you were wondering as you were headed out on a whale watch or sight seeing tour ... there's only 111 days left until Christmas. LOL!


See the man with the hat? He's the Dockmaster. The one with all the info. I'll bet he enjoys his job talking to all the people from near and far on a daily basis. Is he giving me the eye?

I spoke with the guy in the dingy when he came back in. Turns out this isn't the first time he's been photographed. Once he and his little boat (and one oar since he lost the other one!) ended up on the front page of a local paper!


I love shooting into the sun. It gives photos a black/white/grey/blue look that is really cool. See the 2 islands way off in the distance? Those are the Isles of Shoals located 6 miles off the coast of New Hampshire. When you can see them this well you know it's a clear day!


Bumble enjoying the final wild beach roses of the season. They smell so damn good I don't blame him. I'd roll in them too if I could.

Just over the rise on the left is the ocean

Plenty of Herons and other birds enjoying the glorious morning

I told you it was a perfect morning. If only I could show you ALL the photo's I took! Well, I suppose I could, but that would take a while ; )

*As you may or may not have noticed I've been on a blogging hiatis lately. Life just gets busy and it wears me down. Whether or not I'm back on a regular basis only time will tell.