HOTPPG Image Competition

We had our last regular meeting of the HOTPPG two weeks ago.  As always we had our image competitions.  The challenge for this month was Low Light images. It was a black and white print competition.  While we were on our cruise in August, I took photographs during the entertainment in the evening.  In looking at them, there was one that struck me as a good candidate for conversion to black and white.  So, I used Nik Silver Effects Pro and converted it to black and white, and then cropped it square. It ended up coming in second, but that was enough to guaranty that I would win the Black and White Artist competition for the year.

Spotlight

Five-Day Mexico Cruise

We decided before Fall classes began we would go on a short cruise.  We hadn’t been to Progresso Mexico in many years, and we found a cheap price on a five day cruise to Cozumel and Progresso.

In Cozumel we did basically the same old thing.  We took a cab into San Miguel and started at Los Cinco Soles.  This time we tried to find a different place to eat.  There was a restaurant I read about called “Los Oatates.” We looked it up on the map and walked there.  When we got there, it was not open for lunch, and, I kind of think, if it had been open we probably would not have eaten there.  So, we went back to Palmeras and had lunch there.  These are a couple of boats pulled upon the beach in San Miguel.

La Nina

The second stop was Progresso. We stopped there about ten years ago on a similar short cruise but neither of us remembered much of it.  We took an excursion called “The White City and The Golden City of the Yucatan.” We drove through Merida on the bus and saw several attractions, but were not allowed out of the bus.  Then we drove to Ixamal which was the Golden City.  It is a small village deep in the jungle.  We went to an old convent and toured it and then, after a carriage ride, had lunch a local restaurant. 

Ixamal

Hot Springs Visitor Center

The whole city of Hot Springs is actually a National Park. The park Visitor Center is one of the old bath houses.

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Inside, all of the old bath works are preserved as a museum.

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In the lobby, this old fountain was preserved.

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And in the window was a row of whicker rocking chairs.  It didn’t take much to imagine people sitting in them waiting to go into the baths.

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Hot Springs, AR

I was asked to go to Little Rock for a day, and I took the opportunity to visit Hot Springs.  We had been here many years ago, and I had only vague recollections of the area, but I remembered that it was really photogenic.  These are some scenes from the main street in Hot Springs

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Fourth Port – Grand Turk

Our last stop was Grand Turk.  We visited there a year ago and took a tour of the island.  We really could not find anything different listed this time. So, we got off the boat and spent the day in the port area.

Welcome to Grand Turk

Grand Turk Island

This is our ship from the shore.

Carnival Conquest

Third Port – San Juan

Our third port was San Juan.  We had been there several years ago, but have little memory of the visit.  Here is the city from our ship.

San Juan Harbor Looking NE

San Juan Harbor Looking NW

Our excursion took us around town, but most of the time was spent at an Cristobal, another UNESCO World Heritage site.

San Cristobal Fortress 7

Second Port – St. Kitts

Our second Port was St. Kitts.  The capital of the Island is Basseterre. This is the city from the ship.

Basseterre St. Kitts

We took a tour that took us first to Romney Plantation. This is a Pendulous Crab Claw plant growing there.

Pendulous Crab Claw

This is a small ruins on the plantation.

Romney Plantation

From there we went to Brimstone Hill Fortress.  This is a UNESCO World Heritage site that was a fortress not he top of the highest hill on the island.

Brimstone Hill Overlook 1

Brimstone Hill Fortress 8