Christian Radich

Take a ride on the Christian Radich...

I don't know how I found myself coming home to the ship one afternoon all alone, but there I was with my camera and into a restricted zone, looking for the right gangplank to use.

Ahead of me was a beautiful yacht, so I wandered down a little further to take a long look.

Someone else had jumped up on a small set of stairs and had walked onto her.

I looked at the sign which said something like, when you are tired of other ships, book a cruise on ours.

My appetite for other ships began to increase when Greg was with us and always going to his Book of Cruise ships, to learn about all of the ships we were passing.

On one occasion the ship was too far away for us to read her name, but I took a picture, and then got in close with the functions on my camera to see what the name of the ship was.

How cool was that!

I haven't seen any others decorated like this one with this beautiful head of a woman on the prow of the ship.

Whenever our liner was in dock, there were people out painting the side of the ship, others washing the balconies or shinning the bannisters.

But they were fully covered and had lots of safety equipment.

This woman seemed to be all alone with her bucket of paint, sometimes teetering on that board but doing the same kind of work.

I don't know how to get a shot that captures the beauty of this ship's masts.

Nor one that really illustrates how beautiful the ropes are as they swing in the wind.

I am getting a taste for being on the water -- but I like to have someone else be the captain of my ship.

And isn't she a beauty -- sitting here in the water, her frame creaking against the huge rubber tired that hold her away from the cement to which she is moored.