Most of my photo sessions in Barcelona follow the same pattern: Reunion with friends and brunch at the café Cava Universal. Then a 150 meters stroll down to the quay for the obligate harbour cruise, or should I say port cruise, Barcelona is a huge (cruise) port.
Then a busy half hour photographing cruise ships, ferries and other commercial vessels before the tour boat reach the yacht harbour, where I normally get myself another espresso, while we pass the usually line-up of boring multi-millionaire yachts.
Back on land again – then a leisurely 2 km walk with our trolley backs via the Pont de la Porta d’Europa, from where another photo session is performed, using my long lens. Then the last hundred or so meters to the enormous complex of cruise terminals, where our ship is waiting for us. In most cases we are booked on the smallest, oldest and most pretty of the three or four vessels departing that day.
We endure the check-in and boarding procedure. Actually quite often very effective, so it might not be hundred percent fair to use the word endure, but after all it’s just a process you want to get through as quick as possible.
Now time for a lido-buffet lunch and a cold (plastic) glass of the ships house-white wine. Then the tense first exploration tour of the ship, before heading to the cabin and lay down an hour or so, before the next obligate activity; the SOLAS muster drill, where I always wonder how different they are carried out each time.
Back to the cabin to change the life west for my photo bag before the third and concluding photo session of the day; the 18:00-departure. In Barcelona, where most of the ferries and cruise ships move more that less within the same hour, this can be a pretty busy final job. But luckily often with a whole very relaxing sea day on the Med waiting in the horizon!
paxpix - maritime photography 