The Tall Ship

The Peacemaker was built on a riverbank in southern Brazil by an Italian family of boat builders, using traditional methods and the finest tropical hardwoods. The ship was first launched in 1989 as the Avany, a name chosen by her designer and original owner, Frank Walker, a Brazilian industrialist.

We were fortunate enough to be graced with a visit from the Peacemaker to our port in Pensacola. And I was fortunate enough to be able to tour the boat at my leisure, taking photos.

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Abraham Lincoln

I first walked near the ship just admiring it from the pier.

Then, just before walking up the plank to tour the boat, I looked to the right and saw this pelican sitting on the rail. I decided to walk closer to get a better photo, as I didn't have my telescope lens on my camera...only my 35mm lens. So I started walking slowly towards him, taking pictures all along the way. At the end, I could of reached out and touched him, I was so close. He watched me the whole way. I took one last image, this one, and then slowly retreated.

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Carl Sagan

Then I made my way aboard...

"The same way old painters would sit in a tiny dark room and trace the image of what stood outside a tiny window, in the bright sunlight."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Chuck Palahniuk

"You’ll join me sooner than you know in a place with . . . no illusions, where the truth is the only architecture..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Mark Helprin (A Soldier of the Great War)

"Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Laurie Colwin

The Captain's quarters

"...the click of the lock is not forgotten..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Sherman Alexie (The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems)

In the bathroom

"I am the master of my fate:  I am the captain of my soul."
¸.•*´¨`♥ William Ernest Henley

"You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights!"
¸.•*´¨`♥ Dr. Seuss

Aboard the tall ship...the Peacemaker...I met David. He is one of the Captains of that magnificent ship. He told me that after they leave Pensacola Port, they will be off to Panama City. I believe they are making their way south. I asked if he would be one of my 100 Strangers, and he agreed!

David Burleigh  "100 Strangers" #23

I loved all the ropes...

"And here, over the portals of my fort, I shall cut in the stone the word which is to be my beacon and my banner."
¸.•*´¨`♥Ayn Rand (Anthem)

"The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

The textures...the warm rich woods...the nobby ropes...the lights and shadows. It was a photographer's dream...

"The port is near, the bells I hear..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Walt Whitman

"With plume on high and flag unfurled,  I rode away to right the world."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Dorothy Parker

"...he stood on the deck of a ship heading into the wind, slicing through the waves of an ocean he’d not yet seen."
¸.•*´¨`♥ John Irving (The Cider House Rules)

And that was my parting shot. What a feast for the eyes!