Sailing on Orient Lines' Marco Polo, we spent part of December, 2003 exploring these colorful ports in the Netherland's Antilles and Central America. Just before Christmas, we would pass through the great canal, make a sharp left turn into the Pacific, and steam down the Western coast of South America to cross the Equator and visit tropical ports in Ecuador and Peru, and then move on to Chile as 2004 dawned. On the final, and certainly the most unique portions of this cruise, we would leave civilization behind us and sail to the magical white continent of Antarctica, and finish the trip with a visit to Argentina.

You may view my images of the other four segments of this cruise at the following sites:

Ecuador and Peru: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30206/index.html

Chile: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30205/index.html

Antarctica: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30203/text.html

Argentina:http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30202/index.html

As usual, my primary travel goal is to turn what I see and discover into photographs. If you've viewed the previous articles I've posted on this site, you'll note that that my photographic intentions are usually focused on interpretation, rather than description. I want my pictures to express how I feel about what I see, rather than just recording what I've seen or where I've been. Aside from sharing my pictures with you on this website, I also use some of them to teach the principles of expressive travel photography through my galleries on pbase (www.pbase.com/pnd1) as well as in my Sedona workshops for corporate photojournalists, and in my tutorial workshops in Phoenix for newcomers to digital photography.

These impressions of the Caribbean were gleaned from the more than 3,000 digital images I shot during our entire trip. I made most of them with a compact Canon G5 five-megapixel digital camera. Most of these photographs were taken with a Canon .7x wideangle converter placed over my zoom lens, which provided me with the equivalent of a 24mm wideangle lens, a focal length that I feel is essential for effective travel photography. Others were made with a Canon 1.75x telephoto converter, which is the equivalent of a 245mm telephoto lens. (Only a few of these photographs were made with just the G5's 35mm-140mm zoom lens.) I've edited these images with Photoshop to correct and refine the hue, color, contrast and sharpness levels, making my pictures more vibrant and meaningful. Although all of these photographs were digitally enhanced to some degree, none of the content has been digitally manipulated. The facts are all here, exactly as I captured them.

I hope you will enjoy my photographic impressions. Please post any comments at the end of the articles, or ask me any questions you might have via email.

Phil Douglis Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops, Phoenix, Arizona, pnd1@cox.net