Portland at Night (3)

"Black Lives Matter" Mural

Several days ago, protestors in Portland, Oregon broke the windows of the downtown Apple Store and ransacked the interior. Apple put up plywood sheets to guard against further damage and - with typical Apple stylishness - had the sheets painted black. Portland painters quickly recognized the potential for vivid murals. I went downtown yesterday afternoon (June 4) to capture the artists at work. Pretty dramatic stuff!

Portland at Night (2)

I've spent several evenings recently walking the streets of the Pearl District in Portland, photographing scenes in which bright red-orange-yellow scenes (mainly storefronts) stand out against dark blue-gray backgrounds. I'll be posting such photos for the next several days.

Going Home

On March 22 we finally received our arrangements for leaving Cape Town and flying home: Cape Town -> Johannesburg -> Dubai -> Chicago -> Portland: 36 hours of tedium and anxiety. Fortunately, Brian, the Silver Cloud's Director of Activities, was there to give us a cheery send-off.

 In the Johannesburg airport, waiting for our Emirates flight to Dubai. Note the social distancing.

After the Emirates flight from Dubai to Chicago's O'Hare Airport - which was virtually deserted and at which we did not have to go through any health screening - we cleared customs and transferred to the domestic terminal for our final flight to Portland. It was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by this beautiful walkway.

Looking From the Ship While in Quarantine

The South African authorities decreed that cruise ship passengers could not come ashore except to be driven directly to the airport. This was going to take a while for the Silversea company to arrange, so we spent much of our time looking out from the upper deck of the Silver Cloud. On one side was the dock, from which the ship was being refueled, reprovisioned, and relieved of its accumulated garbage.

On the other side was another dock, at which the large German ship Aida, with several passengers who had tested positive for the coronavirus, was moored.

And into the harbor steamed another, even larger, cruise ship, the Norwegian Spirit. The various aspects of the shutdown of the travel industry were playing out in front of us.

I was struck by the similarity between the passengers lined up on the rail of the Aida, and the king penguins lined up on South Georgia, mountains in the background in both scenes.

Docking in Cape Town

Waiting for a couple of larger ships to dock, I was attracted by the ships in the harbor and the geometry and colors of the nearby cranes and containers.

Finally, we were given permission to dock.

The harbor pilot's boat alongside.

Workers pulling on the hawsers to fix the ship to the dock.

Harbor pilot inspecting the separation while the first officer looks on.

The captain carefully steering the ship up to the dock.

Atmospherics

Waiting outside of Cape Town harbor to dock, we observed some strange atmospheric phenomena in the late morning with a low layer of fog.

A low, dense layer of clouds over the bay.

Seemingly near the ship, a clipped rainbow.

In the bottom middle of the rainbow, nearer the ship, a smaller, rounder, double rainbow embracing the shadow of my head and shoulders. This can be seen faintly at the bottom of the preceding photo.

Within half an hour or so, the fog layer had become less dense and moved away toward the mountains.

Meanwhile, on deck, a nice geometric construction.