On the way back, we dropped into West Marine to get a couple of little things for Boogaboo, including a new compass that I will mount in such a way that I'll actually be able to see it when I have my charts out. As it is now, the only spot I have to lay out the charts is right over the factory mounted compass. That one will come out to make a flatter surface for the charts. Anchor Girl thought the new compass might come in handy the next time we are shrouded by thick fog and can't even see the front of the boat. Or the boats behind (?) us . . .
Despite the cold, -14 degree day, it wasn't too bad with the sun shining brightly. Made for a nice day close to the water. And yes, there was open water at Lock 45;
The water was really flowing from the dam next to the lock, so there was lots of open water;
Here's a super zoomed in shot of the water churning at the bottom of the spillway. See how the spray has caused the icicles to form like stalactites;
As was the case when we dropped down through here on our holidays, the force of the rushing water was so great that it was pushing the port hand buoy over like one of those dummies that you punch and it bobs back up. Not sure what those things are called, but the result is the ice forming a heavy coating where it was continuously in and out of the water;
The top side of the lock. Looks pretty in the sun, even though it's winter;
To get a feel for the incredible zoom on our new camera, I took this shot of the Picnic Island store while standing next to the Delwana Inn. For those of you who know how far away they are from each other, you will have a greater appreciation for this shot and the clarity the camera was able to capture from such a distance. According to the distance measuring tool on Google Maps, it is 2244 feet between these two points! This zoom feature is gonna be great for lots and lots of picture taking this summer;
Next, I have three video clips I took yesterday up in these parts, but wanted to give you all a heads up on the newest technology we will be enjoying henceforth. Not only does our new toy - I mean camera - have a 20 times optical zoom, it also records video in HD (High Definition). So, that means we can all enjoy moving pictures that are way clearer than before!
The one hitch is that your computer has to be powerful enough to display the HD clips. Don't worry, if your machine is any newer than four years, should be no problem. I can even play the vids on my laptop, which was the cheapest one I could find four years ago. It has a relatively (by today's standards) slow processor and a low end video hardware accelerator. I did have to download and install the latest video driver to make it happy, and it now works good enough that I can stream the clips from the laptop onto the big screen TV for some impressive video - the way it should be :-)
The way YouTube handles these things is that when you click to play the videos (any and all videos they host), the default presentation is in very low end 320p resolution. To see them in a higher, HD resolution, one must click down at the bottom of the video where it shows '320p' and a pop up will give you the choice of playing the clip up to 720p (HD) quality (of course, this only applies to the videos that people filmed in high def and uploaded to YouTube in that format). Try it.
320p? 720p? What does it all mean?? Well, I will 'splain, Lucy. The figures represent the number of horizontal lines of resolution on your screen. The more lines, the clearer the video. Currently, the maximum resolution available to the consumer market is 1080p - that is, 1,080 lines of pretty pixels flying across your screen to make a pretty darn sharp and clear presentation. The maximum that YouTube will present is 720p (for most people, the difference between 1080 & 720 is imperceptible).
Think of it this way - if your TV or computer monitor had the ability to display 720 lines of resolution and the video was only playing at 320 lines, the 'gaps' (for lack a better term) will present themselves as fuzzy, smudgy looking blah :-(
Capich?
The only other thing that might hold back your viewing pleasure is if you are looking at this through a crappy monitor - especially if it's an old, tube type one. In that case, don't sweat it - it simply ain't gonna happen for you. Future shop sells good flat screen monitors for about a hundred bucks ;-)
Hopefully you and your machine comply with all these complex prerequisites. The only way to tell is by trying it out. Here's a screen shot I took of the first video I'm sharing with you. Note that you have to wait for the video to initially start playing to change the settings. The RED ARROW highlights where to click for the higher resolution and the GREEN ARROW shows where to click to watch the clip full screen;
Isn't his all so exciting?!?! Ya, me too :-) Ok, so on with the videos. Good luck and PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKS FOR YOU . . .
First one is from the bottom side of Lock 45. If you are having trouble reading this, just listen to my insightful commentary;
Next one I took at the top of the lock. You will notice the tiny snow flakes flying around from the mist of the water pouring over the darn dam;
Last one for today was taken at the Delewana Inn, looking around the frozen winter wonderland of Honey Harbour;