Tall Ships in Gig Harbor

The Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain sailed into the Puget Sound last month, so Bilbo and I caught them while they were in Gig Harbor. Many of you have seen the Lady in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean as the HMS Interceptor. I was delighted to have the opportunity to finally get up close to her.  I didn't take a sail on either one of these majestic beauties, but for a nominal fee you can either take a scenic trip or be a part of a battle sail wherein the two ships reenact actual battles at sea whilst you are aboard. Very fun...maybe next time I can do that. But for now, I was thrilled with shooting at them with my camera (a Nikon rather than a Canon--pun intended). Here are both coming back into the harbor post-battle: 

The Hawaiian Chieftain is in the foreground and the Lady Washington in the back. During the "battle sail" they had their sails down in full regalia, but during the trip back in to port, they had them all rolled up and lashed down.. Here's the Chieftain again sailing into Gig Harbor:

I don't know if the captain of Lady saw me snapping pictures or not, but he steered way around and came in at an angle where I was able to catch her with Mt. Rainier just behind her. I couldn't have set up the shot better!

 

  

This particular night was quite overcast, though if you look closely you can see the last vestiges of sunset to the left of the mountain. By the time these last shots were taken it was around 9pm and I was using my new lens, a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. This lens does beautifully in low light conditions as you can see here.

A couple of days later, Bilbo and I went back after the clouds cleared and I was able to get a couple shots to show the harbor and the mountain in sunshine. Rainier is truly majestic...and I love that, on this day, she had a thin band of cloud at her midpoint:

There is something fantastic to me in the smell of the salt air. It transports me to some of my earliest childhood memories with my brothers paddling me around in a small boat on Hood Canal. We would slowly glide through the water staring down at all the amazing creatures and underwater landscape just below us...the wonderment of childhood. I still get excited butterflies in my stomach and joy in my heart each time I smell that  remarkable smell!