Swimming Hole

Another of my other photographs at the Cultural Center in Ponte Vedra is a photo I took last July when I was in France.  I was spending some time in the south of France, and one of my favorite places to visit is the small town of Cassis, which is on the Mediterranean Sea.  There are limestone cliffs, called Calanques, that go straight into the Mediterranean Sea there.  It is always fun to take a boat ride around to see these Calanques from the sea.  So, I had a great boat ride around three Calanques - a ride that lasted about an hour and a half!  Many visitors to the Calanques take small boat rides, or hike the trails, to be able to go swimming in the water of these Calanques.

More Boats!

Here are a few more boat photos from my time in France this past summer.  I am always fascinated by the boats which are tied up along the Seine.  I'm thinking about the ones that seem to be like house boats with the most interesting items on them.  Of course, I love to see the beautiful flowers and bushes in pots, but this is the first time I remember seeing a car on one of the boats!

In Cassis, I saw these unusual boats, that I had seen only one other time in the south of France.  These are used in water jousting tournaments held throughout the summer in many cities along the coast.  The jousters are dressed in white and take turns being the one at the top of the board that hangs over the water.  With a shield in one hand and a wooden lance in the other, the jouster on one boat tries to send the jouster on the other boat into the water - all this with loud music and lots of cheering going on!

Here are a few shots of more typical looking boats in Cassis.  The photo with the vignetting was taken with my Kenko 180° fish eye auxiliary lens, which is a lot of fun to use!

Swimming and sailing

How inspiring the Olympics have been!

I keep thinking of all the hard work and practice involved in learning a sport and then being able to continue on and excel in it!  It reminds me of a day in Cassis, in the south of France, this summer.  I wandered around enjoying the sun and the breeze and of course the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

As I was taking photos of the crowded beach and also the way the water was splashing against the rocks, I noticed a group of young sailors out in the water...learning how to maneuver their little boats.

It was a joy to see how they kept practicing and working at their sailing lesson for the morning -- and how happy they were when they felt they had done well and came ashore.

Boats in Cassis, France