Vessel Viewing from Under the Ravenel Bridge

 

My exploration of places to see the big ships of Charleston took me recently to Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park. 

I was hoping to see at least one huge container ship steam by on the Cooper River heading into port or going the other direction out to sea. 

It was a pretty day for photography, right? My plan was to first visit a store in Mount Pleasant and then go to the park. But as I drove on the bridge I could see a container ship heading my way. So I called an audible and hurried to park at the park. 

My hustle paid off as I arrived in time to see a Maersk shipping line vessel approaching the bridge. 

I’m interested in capturing images that show the massive scale of these ocean-faring ships that transport thousands of containers each voyage around the world. 

The Birds of Bermuda

 

I didn’t have to go far to score a lifer bird right away in Bermuda. The Airbnb where we stayed in July had gorgeous Atlantic Ocean views. 

Called Longtails by the locals is a seabird known for its elegant, predominantly white plumage and long white-tail streamers, according to one online description. 

(See my previous posts about our Bermuda trip: "Five Things to Love About Bermuda" and "Bermuda Snorkeling: Swimming with the Fishes.")

All day long these (formal name) White-tailed Tropicbirds flew back and forth near the shoreline. It was a challenge to get quality in-flight images with my Canon SX70 “superzoom” DSLR. 

Occasionally a Longtail would pivot from shore patrol to fly to the limestone cliffs to visit their nests in the many cracks and crevices. Or maybe they are scouting future nest sites. 

These birds rarely stop flying, except to nest and rest, something I never witnessed. For food they will plunge dive into the sea to catch small fish, squids (yuck!) and crustaceans.

Bermuda Snorkeling- Swimming with the Fishes

 

My previous post, “Five Things to Love about Bermuda,” gives a detailed account of our amazing 40th wedding anniversary trip to the island paradise. In this piece, I want to focus on our snorkeling activities. In preparation, we dug our masks and snorkels out of storage (tested them at our neighborhood pool), bought fins and a duffle bag to carry the gear and other things. We ended up only trying the fins once, finding them very awkward on the beach and not really beneficial since we didn't go out too far in the ocean. 

Tobacco Bay in St. George’s, shown in these two photos, was one of several beaches we visited during our July 12-19 vacation. 

Alesia points out fish she saw at Tobacco Bay. I followed her cue and shot the video shown next.

My GoPro Hero Black 8 took many high-quality video and still shots. The attachable yellow handle that floats works great while I swam and looked for fish. I kept the strap around my wrist to avoid the camera getting away from me. I’m not the strongest swimmer, so I felt safer wearing an inflatable vest, especially as we noticed how quickly the water could get very deep. 

Five Things to Love about Bermuda

 

On July 13 Alesia and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in style on the beautiful island of Bermuda. We were there for a week, Saturday to Saturday, July 12-19. I came away impressed with at least five things about Bermuda: its beaches, history, landscape and architecture, restaurants and its people.

Earlier this year Bermudair airline began a weekly direct flight from Charleston to Bermuda’s capital Hamilton. The flight takes only two hours covering the nearly 900 mile distance over the Atlantic Ocean east of the Carolinas. 

Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, is known for beautiful beaches, turquoise water, pink powdery sand and natural limestone cliffs. I took this photograph at Horseshoe Bay. Keep reading to see more pink sand we found at Warwick Long Bay. 

Snorkeling at the many beaches and bays is also popular. We were definitely down for snorkeling having done some during our several Caribbean Island vacations years ago. Our last Caribbean trip was the British Virgin Islands in 2015. See my photos from BVI! 

I had barely used my GoPro Black 8 underwater camera since then and needed to review how to use it. I did experience some malfunctions the first time or two in Bermuda but kept at it and have many nice captures, video and stills like the image above. 

Alesia is a great swimmer and was very comfortable out there. I felt better wearing an inflatable “floaty” for my safety. 

Happy Birthday Ravenel Bridge!

 

Our visit Sunday, June 22 to the Ravenel Bridge coincided (somewhat) with next month’s 20th anniversary of the 2.5 mile span’s opening. The $632 million structure, with its two distinctive Diamond-shaped towers, opened to car traffic on July 16, 2005. What an asset the bridge is in so many ways. It replaced two outdated spans and includes four lanes for cars plus lanes for walkers and bicyclists. 

Back in 2005 I covered a big event days before the new bridge opened to car traffic. For two days people could walk on the eight-lane span. I produced a multi- media report using still photographs, audio interviews, music and text. I was assisted with the project by my son Joseph and Kristen Van Dyke, who was a College of Charleston student of mine back then. Kristen went on to have a successful career as a meteorologist. She is currently a meteorologist in Salt Lake City with KSLTV. My son Joseph also has a successful career in software engineering and design. Click above to see the report we produced. 

The bridge is named for Arthur Ravenel, Jr. (1927-2023). He was an iconic, impactful and colorful Lowcountry political figure from a prominent French Huguenot family. He was instrumental in securing funding for the massive construction project.

This picture commemorating the Ravenel Bridge opening in 2005 has had a spot in one of our bathrooms for two decades. The Post and Courier newspaper gave it to subscribers. 

The expanded Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park, situated beneath the bridge, opened in recent weeks. I was curious to see it and on this warm early summer Sunday it was busy. 

Tragic 1913 Death of a Young Woman

 

This post shares research I conducted in 2024 on a young Jewish woman from Charleston who tragically died in a car accident in 1913 at the tender age of 19. 

I am using screenshots from presentations I have given recently to the South Carolina Genealogical Society in Charleston and on “The Ordinary Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast" when I was the guest last June. Check it out on YouTube! 

Gertrude Mordecai, known as Trude ("Our Trude" is inscribed on the base of the statue), is buried in Charleston at Magnolia Cemetery. I wrote about her tall mourning woman sculpture in my 2014 book, "In the Arms of Angels: Magnolia Cemetery- Charleston's Treasure of History, Mystery and Artistry."

Upon learning that is was a car accident that took Trude's young life in 1913 I was struck by the fact that as soon as automobiles became more numerous at that time, car fatalities soon followed. 

I was always curious to learn details about Trude's fatal accident so in spring 2024 while Alesia and I were at the cemetery I stopped at her grave and took new photographs and took notes such as the Lord Tennyson poetry on the bench. 

I decided to look into the circumstances of her death in more detail than I had done for my "In the Arms of Angels" Magnolia Cemetery book. You see the questions I sought to answer. 

Marking 15 Years of Blogging!

I have always remembered that I began this blog in 2010. It came up recently in a conversation and prompted me to later look up when I did do that first post. Well, coincidentally, when on May 26, 2025 I checked my first post I was stunned to see it was exactly 15 years ago: May 26, 2010. 

Here is that modest first post “Time to Blog!” You have to start somewhere! I’m not able for some reason to edit this today. If I could I would pull up the text so it aligns better with the Great Egret photo. 

At that time I was getting into birding and the next year in 2011 I published my first book, “The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston’s Secret Bird Sanctuary.” 
Summer 2024 I published a second edition of that first book. 

My new blog was a great place to aggregate and share bird types I was discovering at Magnolia cemetery (I helped the superintendent set up the cemetery's website- she bought the web address so the blogspot suffix could become net). 

Photographing and identifying birds became a hobby that would culminate in that book in 2011 and in 2016 another book featuring my bird photos and anecdotes from not only Charleston but around the U.S. and the Caribbean island we visited during summers back then. 

My “BirdsEyeViews” blog helped me organize all these birds and then easily find the images when needed for my books. 

Myrtle Beach a Sandy Respite

 

An oceanfront room at a first-class hotel in Myrtle Beach! In my book, there is no better way to celebrate the end of a busy and challenging school year. 

We made the reservations a while ago so when Friday, May 16 finally arrived I couldn’t wait to hit Highway 17 north to this popular coastal attraction.

We returned to the Residence Inn Myrtle Beach Oceanfront. We must be moving up in the world! In May of 2022 our room was on the 15th floor (1508). This visit we had room 1606. 

Sunday morning I woke up at 6 a.m. in time to see this glorious sunrise. 

After snapping several photographs from our hotel room balcony I hustled down to the beach. A handful of other early birds had the same idea. 

Soon enough the yellow orb that is the sun emerged over the Atlantic Ocean. 

Bidding Farewell to the School Year at Biddie Banquet

 

Maybe this is becoming a tradition! For the second year in a row after South Carolina State University's graduation ceremony I enjoyed a fine lunch at my favorite Orangeburg restaurant. 

Biddie Banquet, bastion of down home cooking, is conveniently located for me on the way to Interstate 26 at 220 John C. Calhoun Dr.  Yelp reviews here. 

Commencement began at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and ended a few hours later.

I usually get the fried chicken- always so good- but since I had KFC chicken a few days ago I wanted something else. I was hoping for the chuckwagon steak with gravy but it wasn’t on the menu this day. So I went for the fried pork chop. This was by far the biggest pork chop I’ve ever had. And it was excellent, very moist and tasty. 

For $13.25 I had all this. Along with the meat, the plate comes with three sides. I chose mashed potatoes, Cajun rice, and Cole slaw. 

I misunderstood the three sides part this visit. Dessert is included in the $13.25, as is that Southern favorite- sweet tea. But dessert counts as one of the three sides.

Halfway through the meal I asked the server about dessert, a chocolate chip cookie. My past visits here dessert has been different pies or cobblers. 

She explained the three sides deal and kindly gave me the cookie at no extra charge. I gave her an extra tip for her quality customer relations. 

Green Energy Ship Turns Heads Heading Out to Sea

Most of the large container ships and chemical tankers seen entering or leaving Charleston Harbor don’t wow you with their looks other than their sheer size. 

But on April 30 while at the beach on Sullivan’s Island I witnessed an exception: this stunning vessel steaming toward the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I love this photo for capturing the ship’s bold beauty and because we see St. Philip’s Church in the background, a Holy City landmark (one of 14 downtown churches in my book “Stories from the Underground: The Churchyards of Charleston").

See what I mean about turning heads? This gentleman stopped and stared, as did I. 

Stena Prosperous it says on the bow and on the port side in even larger print is Stena Proman. The former is the ship’s name and the latter the company that owns it.  

More lettering on the side spells IMOIIMeMAX. Let us try to determine what all this means! But first check out this photo of the tanker from Ships Monthly. 

Stena Prosperous is an oil and chemical products tanker built in 2022 at Guangzhou Shipyard in China.  It sails under the flag of Limassol, Cypress.

Stena Proman is a joint venture between Stena Bulk, a leading tanker operator, and Proman, a leader in natural gas-derived products and services. The two companies joined forces to build and operate a fleet of methanol-fueled tankers.