We hit West End, Tortola, BVI
Like many islands, the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands rely on ferries and the locals seemed to be racing to get them before the last ferry left for its destination. The ferry schedule seemed a bit confusing to us at first, but once you know which terminal you are in, it makes sense. Pre-planning helps, I didn’t even know where our B&B was located; It’s not a big deal, but this might catch the casual tourist off guard. Our Native Sons ferry from Red Hook, Saint Thomas, was enjoyable, third world enough to make us realize we were in a different country. The ferries certainly seem safe enough, just a little dated, my kind of travel. While we were not joined by chickens or cows on our trip, there was a great selection of food and other items that were brought to the BVI. A refrigerator was on the dock awaiting a later trip.
A quick and very scenic thirty minute ride brought us to HM Custom Dock in West End, Tortola, BVI. The West End is a stunning harbor with beachfront villas that hang over the bay. The number of boats is amazing, most of them large catamarans and monosailers.
Going through customs is a very informal affair, although one must remember to bring their passport; this is another country. You are entering a small part of the UK, perhaps the only part of the UK that uses US currency.
Soper’s Hole, West End, Tortola
The West End is known locally as Soper’s Hole, a great hideout for pirates and buccaneers in the past. It is still a relaxing place to hang out and prepare for the next trip. We spent the afternoon on the boat being quite lazy, as well as heading to shore to see the marina and get a bite to eat at Pusser’s Landing Bar & Restaurant.
My first opportunity for serious photography came while we were walking along the docks. The timing certainly wasn’t perfect for the “mood” photos I like to take, but the dark blue skies and clean white boats certainly made for “calendar” type shots. Looking back through the photos, I realized that all my shots had been taken in about 40 minutes. This is without a doubt the most journalistic approach at work. If I had been using a tripod I probably would have only taken about 5 photos and freaked out Cherie and Terry!
We went back to the boat to enjoy what turned into a very beautiful sunset, not one of those outrageously impressive but very photogenic ones. This was my first time taking a sunset with the Nikon D800 and the amount of detail really blew my mind. Using matrix metering, I was able to use just -0.3 exposure compensation with pretty much the only burst right near the sun ball. Shadow details reached into the darkest areas of backlit scenes.
I think when I go home and look at the pictures on my big work computer, I will be amazed. By looking at the histogram, you could tell how much detail it contained, amazing. I can’t wait to open the images on my RAW converter, Nikon NX2 and play around with the levels a bit. (note: the image shown here has been worked on, more details to follow)
I also took some pictures at dusk with the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens. This is the VRII model that supposedly gives you up to 4 stops of image stabilization. I heard mixed reviews about using active stabilization instead of normal, but decided to give it a try. This active mode was useful to me last summer when I was shooting from our boat and from an airplane, but I had never tried to use it in low light situations before and our boat in this case was tied to a mooring ball, not a sail. .
The results were a bit unpredictable. Most of the images I took at around 1 / 100th of a second were sharp enough and I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to submit them for publication, but when I took them at 1 / 15th of a second my success rate dropped to around 10. %. Still, of the 10 photos I took at 1 / 15th of a second, one of them is sharp enough that I can use it if necessary, maybe not for a poster, but it would hold up to a double page in a magazine. I certainly have no complaints about it, especially with the “no cost” factor of taking a lot of digital images. Photographs like these would have been totally unknown even 10 years ago.