Photospheres Across the Pacific

Photosphere showing Statendam in Hilo, Hawaii - view in
Google Maps at https://goo.gl/maps/VHbZGSRETNA2

Photospheres are a new and exciting way of capturing some of your most scenic locations on a voyage.  I've posted a few of my latest photospheres from the final voyage of the Statendam on Google Maps.  The photo above looks strange until you go to the google maps version and open it as a photosphere.  It feels like you're standing inside a bubble.  This one shows the Statendam docked in Hilo on its final voyage across the Pacific.  We joined the ship in Hilo and I presented a series of lectures across to Singapore.

The easiest way to create a photosphere is with an Android cell phone after downloading the Google camera app.  You can also use a regular camera but it takes more work stitching all the photos together into a panorama and processing the results through another app.  There's an excellent tutorial online at geojournalism.org

Taken at the entrance to Lihue harbour in Kaui, Hawaii -
see https://goo.gl/maps/LbGzYr5a28R2

This was taken at Managaha beach, Islet Managaha, Saipan... it may
not be accepted to Google Maps because of the missing piece of sky

Once you've taken a photosphere, you can upload it to Google Maps and it will be available for everyone to see.  One of the neatest things is that you can see how many views your photosphere receives - or any photo uploaded to G Maps for that matter.  One of my photospheres has had over 6,000 views in a matter of three months.

Directions for uploading photospheres are available on the Street view site.  One thing I've noticed with Google -- often unfortunately! -- is that they change things frequently... by the time you read this they may have a whole new approach to all of this... at which point you might have to search for the most recent information.

You can see fantastic photospheres that people have taken all across the planet by visiting the Street view site.

Statendam Farewell Voyage

Dear friends from the Statendam -- thank you so much for your kind support and amazing attendance during my lecture series, as we crossed the Pacific from Hawaii to Singapore.  We had a lot of fun, didn't we! 

Here are a couple of the quotes that I used during my presentations... please feel free to download copies.

I managed to capture photos of an Oriental Pied Hornbill and Java Sparrow while we were in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Java Sparrow

 Can you believe we were wandering the wilds of Borneo just a few days ago!  (Ok -- perhaps we weren't exactly in the wilds, but we did manage to hang onto our heads, so that makes for a good story!)

Happy travels wherever you may be in the world.  Please sign up for email updates over on the right.

Thanks again!
George

PS: my next post will be on some of the Photospheres that I captured on our voyage.

Oz - Singapore onboard ms Amsterdam

Just returned from another fantastic voyage lecturing onboard the Amsterdam for the Holland America World Cruise - Sydney to Singapore segment.

Fascinating opportunity to lecture about the amazing creatures of Australia -- platypus, devils, saltwater crocs, cassowaries, and koalas.

Check out those daggers!!  These are very effective for keeping pesky humans in line.

A bit of excitement as the Komodo Dragons got a bit too close to the crowd.  "Do not Run!! DO NOT RUN!" said the Ranger, "...but move quickly!"  Yes - that is the ranger holding a Dragon by the Tail!! (Photo with thanks to Barbara Heywood-Chasey)

Hong Kong was brilliant at night!

Snake & Scorpion Wine! A sip per day might help if you have aspirations to become a snake-oil salesman!  Many shelves were filled with these and similar offerings in Nha Trang, Vietnam.  Pity to see thousands of creatures end up this way.

Singapore: Learning about Bananas from Tony at the fascinating Bollywood educational garden - perhaps the only organic veggie garden in Singapore www.bollywoodveggies.com.  Handy Trivia:  If the Banana is edible the flowers point downwards... if the flowers point upwards it is ornamental.