The Wandering Disciple

Just on the edge of Paradise Island is a little bit of paradise on the bright blue waters of the Bahamas.  The coastline of the Bahamas are filled with tropical getaways and luxurious mansions along the shores of this Caribbean hot spot.  (Photo: October 27, 2006)

The busy cruise port of Phillipsburg, Saint Maarten is protected by a naval vessel from the Royal Netherlands Navy.  This tiny island in the British Virgin Islands is the smallest island to be split between two sovereign nations with the Dutch occupying the southern half of the island and the French occupying the north half.  (Photo: October 25, 2005)

The colorful waters of the West Indies greet passengers aboard cruise ships as they enter Charlotte-Amalie harbor.  This busy port on the US Virgin Islands island of St Thomas is one of the busiest cruise ports in the Caribbean.  (Photo:  October 24, 2006)

For the 2018, an legend was reborn as the Tampa Yankees were re-branded as the Tampa Tarpons. The New York Yankees decided to resurrect the nostalgic name for their Advanced-A Florida State League affiliate in honor of the professional baseball team that played in Tampa from 1957-1988. The original Tarpons played for three organizations during their existence the Chicago White Sox (1988), the Cincinnati Reds (1961-1987) and Philadelphia Phillies (1957-1960). The team was sold in 1988 and relocated to Sarasota leaving Tampa without a team until 1994 when the Yankees started a franchise. (Photo: April 22, 2018)

Baby fever continues to be in the air at Zoo Tampa as a baby Colobus monkey was born earlier this month.  The zoo is filled with baby animals and you can see them all with the Baby Stroll Passport available at the zoo. (Photo: April 22, 2018)

For early attackers an attempt to conquer the fortified city of San Juan was a difficult task due to the forts strategically located in this colonial island city.  The first line of defense was El Morro, a fort built at the tip of the harbor to help protect the port city from attacks from the sea. Although San Juan had fallen into enemy hands twice in three attacks, the only attack by seas was successfully fought off in 1595, the remaining two attacks were overland attacks.  But with fort successfully withstood all of the skirmishes. Today El Morro and nearby San Cristobal can be toured as part of the San Juan National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.  (Photo: October 23, 2006)

Well cruise ships today are much like floating cities.  Well what city would be complete without a golf course.  Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas features a miniature golf course on the top deck fr those that want to work on their short game or just have some fun while floating in the middle of the ocean.  (Photo: October 21, 2006)

The lights of the big city shine bright along the bay in downtown Miami.  Miami and nearby South Beach are a popular nighttime destination.  In Miami, its not just the heat that's hot, its the clubs and night life that really heat up this city.  (Photo: October 28, 2006)

In the infancy of the fire service, horse drawn carriages were the primary tool for fire brigades.  As technology advanced, the fire service quickly upgraded to horseless carriages or antique fire trucks like the one here from the Sarasota Fire Department Open House.  Today's fire engines are multi-million dollar engineering marvels.  (Photo: October 7, 2006)

I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over sideways and under on a magic carpet ride. Just like the famous scenes from Aladdin, the magic of flying on a magic carpet comes to life at Magic Carpets of Aladdin at Disney's Magic Kingdom. The magical lamp makes the carpets come to life while riders control just how high their carpets will go in this family ride located in the Adventureland portion of the park. (Photo: August 19, 2006)

Once a futuristic form of travel, the Walt Disney World monorail system connects over 150,000 daily riders to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  Opened in 1971, the monorail system was designed to help transport park guests from the parking lot to the theme park.  The system has since grown to the third busiest monorail system in the world.  There are three routes; the Magic Kingdom Express, the resort route and the Epcot route.  In all, the system has almost 15 miles worth of track.  (Photo: August 18, 20016)

Flower, pretty flower. That's not a flower, that's a skunk.  Well actually it is a flower and Epcot is blooming with beautiful flower displays throughout the park for the 2018 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.  Scenes of popular Disney movies come to live in topiary displays while the gardens pop with bright colorful flowers.  There is still time left to see this year's displays as the festival runs until May 28th.  (Photo: April 7, 2018)

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: With spring break and Easter in the rearview mirror, our Disney annual passes came out of blackout so we decided to make a trip to the parks for an impromptu weekend adventure. We had some baseball commitments that allowed us to get away to Central Florida so what better way to make the best of the trip than by a visit to Disney. When we got to Disney, we headed straight to Epcot for a day of exploration to kick off our Saturday. Once the rope drop we hit Spaceship Earth with no-line. While I typically skip this one for later in the day, we had FastPass+ for Test Track that wasn’t until 9:20 so we had a little bit of time. Spaceship Earth is always a great way to get a reprieve from the Florida heat as the slow moving dark ride will easily put you in the a/c for at least twenty minutes, but this early in the day that wasn’t a factor. After we concluded with Spaceship Earth, we headed towards Test Track. On the way there, we noticed that Mission S...

Ahoy Matey! Its Captain Goofy at the helm of a Disney friends cruise at Animal Kingdom.  Goofy is joined by Mickey, Minney and Pluto on a fun filled voyage down the river.  (Photo: August 18, 2006)

A dolphin swims through the water in the Dolphin Cove at Sea World Orlando.  The Bottlenose Dolphins found here are the most common dolphins found worldwide.  In the wild, they live in pods of 10 to 30 dolphins.  The pod at Sea World are Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins.  (Photo: May 21, 2006)

A gorilla looks up and give a little smile while eating his lettuce lunch at Busch Gardens Tampa.  The park is home to a family of gorillas located along the Myombe Reserve trail in the Tampa theme park.  (Photo: March 19, 2006)

When aliens attack who do you call, well the Men in Black of course.  Here at Universal Studios you can join Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in a quest to rid the globe of alien invaders.  But remember, what you think you just saw you did not see.  (Photo: January 28, 2006)

The colorful and picturesque waterfront of Italy is perfectly recreated at the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando. From the details of the buildings, the sounds of Italian musicians in the marketplace and the taste of Italy in the restaurants, no details are spared in providing an authentic Italian experience in the heart of Central Florida.  (Photo: January 27, 2006)