From our condo on the 41st floor of a building on Brickell Key, a
small island in the financial district. We are about 1/2 mile from
the ships.

My 19 year old daughter is asleep and my really good digital and lens
are in there where Dad's dare not go until noon. smile

The cruise shiop to the left is Freedom of the Seas (RCCL) the largest
cruise ship in service right now.

HF

On Sun, 18 May 2008 09:33:37 -0500, "HEMI - Powered"
wrote:

HiFlyer added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

The Spanish tall ship, Juan Sebastiain Elcano, a four-masted, topsail
schooner is in Miami for an R&R (liberty) and ceremonial visit.

Note the provisions for square sails on the forward mast and
fore-n-aft sails on the other three.

They have rigged a canvas cover for the main and quarterdecks and
have
had receptions on board each night. It is rumored that the King of
Spain (or maybe his son) was here one night.

Miami has a huge Spanish presence. Even the Cuban population has
ties
to Spain. Many of the families in the 1960-62 flight from Castro's
rise to power had only been in Cuba since they left Spain to escape
the Civil War of the late 1930. They consider themselves more
Spanish
than Cuban.

The pics are not as sharp as I'd like due to fires in the Everglades
which are sending smoke over the city. And, my daughter has
"borrowed" my best camera. I'll try again this afternoon with it.

HiFlyer, where were you taking these pics? By the angle and distance
and smoggy and greenish tint look, I'd guess inside a skyscraper or
maybe some tower. Also, I'd guess it annoyed you not to have a long
enough lens to nail those two great ships from whatever distance you
were. I'd guesstimate maybe a mile or more.

I imagine you've been to the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.
I've never been a lover of Miami, but I sure do love the Castillo! Now,
if I ever get off my dead ass and buy a dedicated slide scanner, maybe
I can recover some of my thousands of 35mm slides into digital!