elcome to Gary and Linda's photo and movie album of our cruise of the western Caribbean on the Carnival Miracle. There's a lot we can say about our trip to Tampa, Florida, the embarkation point for this particular cruise. We made extra time so we could tour famous Ybor City, the incredible Florida Aquarium, right next to our boarding point for the cruise by the way, and we rode the wonderful light rail trolley system that is one of the finest of its kind in the nation. For now we are posting the photos and the movies, and more files and copy are coming as soon as we have more time.

Meanwhile, if you want to see enlarged photos of those posted below, just click on the images and the printable enlargements will automatically download into your browser. Instructions for the movies are published with the buttons on the left.

First, it's important to explain that this was a special cruise. The host of our travel group was the famous Carol Duvall of the HGTV Carol Duvall Show. Carol has hosted this popular craft showcase for almost a decade, and she is now moving to the Shop at Home Network. She has served to showcase such talents as Donna Kato (polymer clay artist), Mary O'Neil (paper and stamp artist), Priscilla Hauser (painter), and Tim Holtz (assemblage artist). All four of these people and other experts were on this ship teaching classes. It was grand, and some samples of our work are featured in photos below.

Click on the photos on this page to reveal the enlarged versions suitable for printing.

Linda with stingrays at the Florida Aquarium

Aligators!

Aligators from below the surface. These were young gators.

Seahorses were many and varied.

One of the few lobsters I didn't eat on this trip.

A large sea bass. Like he weighs in at more than 100 pounds!

Sea Bass lurking in a cave.

This lobster looks like someone I know, but I can't quite put my antennae on it.

Believe it or not. a fish. Talk about camoflage.

Seahorse variety that looks like kelp, but that's a sea horse! Amazing! These were so cool to look at and to photograph.

I forgot what this was. Oh, it's a fish looking at you. The photo is just sideways is all.

This octapus thought he could hide.

Lion fish.

The fanstastic light rail trolley system connects the port area of Tampa with the tourist attractions, shopping and and night life of Ybor City.

Interior of the trolly's which are manufactured in Iowa!

The Trolley Map was exceedingly helpful.

Did we mention the trolley cars are manufactured in Iowa?

Lots of cigar manufacturers are found in Tampa.

As is customary, I photograph my food. These are cheesey fries. Yum!

Great restaurant. We ate here. That's where I photographed and ultimately ate a large portion of cheese fries.

Art show, Linda found this Yorkshire that was extremely well dressed.

Food on display at some sort of art festival competition that was held.

There were street musicians.

Trolley conductor. He was a wealth of information on the system.

The way to see and to get around the tourist areas of Tampa is the trolley. What an amazing undertaking this was for a municipality when they had a choice between steel wheels and rails and rubber tires. Light rail, though expensive, is certainly worth it.

They conductor told me they raised a lot of private money for the system, but some Fed bucks had to be in the mix.

One of the lovely residents of Tampa that helped us with advice and directions to places. She's a retiree who lives right down town. She takes the trolley frequently in her travels about town.

Cab driver I interviewed in Tampa. Tampa is not exactly a taxi town like Chicago or New York, but what cabs there are, the drivers are friendly and knowledgeable.

Margaritaville!

Onboard our ship, this was among our first meals. It was a floating feast the ship was.

View from the top deck restaurant of Tampa just before we left port.

Free stuff in the ample bathroom.

Surprisingly roomy staterooms. This is the bathroom again.

Different view.

This is just part of the luggage for 1,593 passengers.

Our bed.

The bar and dance floor midship.

The details of the decor were interesting and colorful. This is a stairwell between forward decks.

There was a small shopping mall on board.

Lifeboat drill. We take these seriously ever since we saw Titanic.

Long hallway.

Martini... shaken not stirred.

This trio entertained guests on several occasions.

The main dining room had peculiar lighting, but it was festive.

I had the bisque.

One of our wait staff. She was from Indonesia.

Photo of video guy at the Carol Duvall opening ceremonies. I must be laying down or I had the camer turned wrong.

Linda

Meeting the officers of the ship.

The wacky cruise director. He's English.

Service was courteous and excellent in every respect.

The crew on stage at the captain's reception. But who is on the bridge? It turns out the ship steers by geopositioning satellites.

Santa Clause was cruising on this trip. I always wondered where he vacationed. Now we know. The elves are on spring break in various parts of Florida I was told. I'll have to watch VH-1.

One of our art projects with Tim Holtz. This was the makings of a pendant. I love the colors.

Linda

One of our table mates.

A mixture of alcohol based inks and permanent stamping ink create interesting effects on small pieces of acrylic.

Tim Holtz

Edging my project in copper.

Linda with the famous Carol Duvall. The next shot I managed to turn on the flash.

Linda's project is wonderful. Such an eye for color she has.

Another project we did using canvas panels, bee's wax and found objects.

Linda dn Tim

Dinner that night at Nick and Nora's. These were Versacci place settings! God they were beautiful!

Incredible service and excellent food throughout the facility.

No, the shutter is that button on top to the left... I mean your right. Click it down all the way....dough! Thanks. I'll cherish this photo.

Lovely presentation. Escargot! That's snails to you landlubbers.

The waiter should have been a photographer. Anyhow, this is dinner at Nick and Nora's. Awesome service and food quality.

Know Your Cuts of Meat!... If you watch David Letterman you would know this is a veal shank.

This was so good I had to take several photos of it.

This was dessert, and it was incredible. Don't ask me what it all was, but it involved chocolate.

She liked it.

Album cover project with Precilla Hauser.

We were painting, appropriately enough, palm trees.

Apparently Carol Duvall doesn't like to paint, but she surprised Precilla by showing up for the class and sitting in to paint something.

Precilla Hauser painted a rose for us in a demonstration. She is wonderful.

She is a master at painting flowers. Her approach is a little different from other instructors we have known, but that's okay. There is a variety of approaches one can take to paint a rose, apparently.

I love how she puts remedial strokes around the edge so you can tell how the stroke is supposed to look when applied in the strategic place.

Linda and Precilla.

This class involved layered stamping. We sort of made a gift wrap, here, using different colored inks.

This is a stamp positioner tool that we learned how to use effectively.

This is a stamp on velvet that is heated which alters the samped portion of the cloth to create an embossing effect.

This is my (Gary's) pattern. I went a little nuts.

Mary O'Neil who is master stamper poses with Linda.

Mammoth ships at port dwarfed this excursion boat. Some of these ships have as manyas 3,000 passengers. Ours had 1,593.

Linda in the corridor of tall ships at one of our ports of call. The mooring ropes were as big around as small trees.

Two ships (ours in the foreground) behind Linda on the beach at another port of call.

This is Donna Kato. She taught us how to work with polymer clay. She's a master.

Canes of clay are on the table here. This was one of the best classes from our point of view. We love this applied art, and we had never seen it performed close up. This was extremely valuable. We want to do some jewelry and some decorative drawer and cabinet pulls using this material.

A single flower petal made from two colors of clay blended, folded, modled and sliced in thin, thin, thin, layers from the cane using a thin metal blade.

Petals of a flower sliced from the cane.

Gary made these tiny flowers on a nugget of clay using a caning and slicing method to make petals and leaves.

Linda chose to work with a black background. The effect is stunning. This is worth blowing up in your browser. Click on it to see a closeup.

Linda and Donna.