What have you seen from your balcony?

My husband and I will be sailing on FOS in September. We just purchased a pretty nice pair of binoculars for our upcoming cruises. One of those things we've always talked about getting, but never have.

Wish we'd had them when we spotted whales on our Mexican Riviera cruise back in 2009. There's usually something out there to view. Another ship, or a land mass in the distance.

Have you ever seen anything interesting?

Passengers running to the ship as we were getting underway and panicking because they missed the ship even after leaving late because of a medical emergency in Aruba

In Alaska, we saw a lot of wildlife, scenery, glacier calving, and ice bergs.

I find it fascinating to see Cuba on the Western Itineraries. The ship has to stay waaaay off shore, so you'll need those binoculars, but I always find it interesting to see how huge it is and the beautiful beaches. We've seen whales on some cruises, but not much in the Caribbean. We saw a submarine rise up in FLL, that was cool ;-)

You won't need your binocs, but if you can get near the bow, we've seen flying fish leaping into the air from the water. Also, lots of birds like to follow along the ship and "fish" the waters that get churned up by the ships engines. The pelagics (sea birds) are most interesting, and sometimes you'll see them very far out at sea.

It's amazing how much is "out there" if you look, instead of focusing "inward"...it's one of the reasons we seek out the aft or larger sized balconies, we often prefer to sit on our balcony rather than at the pool side. But even folks with interior cabins can turn the chairs on the upper pool decks to face "out" and watch the sea;)

Cuba, from early morning until the sun went down. I never realized how long it was.

Also "runners," those late arrivals mentioned above. They're lots of fun to watch.

And personally, I'd much rather watch sailaways from my own balcony with a camera and a nice cool drink than be up in a crowded bar where you're so busy talking you miss the departure,

Kathy

Have Seen dolphins...a small thunderstorm...an a lot of other Ships around...

We saw some men being rescued from a small boat that had capsized not far from San Juan.

A great light show from a thunderstorm, lightning was intense, then there was a loud crack and bang and the ship got struck by lightning:eek:

Captain made an announcement that all was good and they were checking the ship for damage.

Ship stood up well and no damage reported

Happy Days.

Lots of dolphins and flying fish:)

Flying fish, dolphins (off the coast of Aruba and Curacao), storms in the distance, other cruise ships, coast of Cuba.

As we approach/depart an island, it is interesting to look at the small villages that are away from the port area (especially Labadee - look high up into the mountains).

I spend a lot of time on my balcony, reading with a glass of wine. On almost all of my cruises I see dolphins. I had seen a whale once and that was really special. Last year on our Mediterranean cruise, I saw so many wonderful things. My favorite was a little sea turtle that happened to get caught up in the ships wake and was kind of bumped along the side of the ship. I also saw three swordfish type fish swim just under the waters edge. Also sadly in the Mediterranean, I also saw a lot of trash. It was shocking.

When you are looking a out, a key to finding dolphins or some other wildlife,is to look for a swarm of birds. Usually, if there are a bunch of birds swarming above for fish, there are dolphins as well. When I saw the swordfish type fish, I heard a splash and jumped up quickly and saw them, and the turtle was just plain luck that I happened to be looking down out of my balcony.

Oh, I've never brought binoculars.

Whales, flying fish, goats, seals, migrants, other ships, sunrises, sunsets, a bale of weed, mountains, a police chase, pier runners, glaciers, bears, pilot boats, thunder/lightning storms, stars....the list goes on and on. I've seen a lot of interesting things while sitting on my balconies.

Oh yes, the lightning storms! We are in San Diego and we don't get storms here. I love when I get to travel and see some amazing lightning! (Kids haven't enjoyed it yet.)

Lots of flying fish.

Whales- Orca , Hump Back ...once in Alaska I saw Orcas Chasing a Humpback baby(sad)

Dolphins- so many and just about every cruise

seals

Pieces of Ice near glaciers

Volcano erupting ( lava flow) in but Italy and Hawaii

Bald egales

Cuba refugees being rescued

ships

sunrises/sunsets

mountains

glaciers

Turtles

thunder/lightning storms ( one hurricane formed around us)

stars...shooting stars

Fregret Birds

people waiving on shore as we pull away

Ports of call

Water....and lots of it.:p Seriously, I just love to sit on the balcony and watch the ocean. Better on an aft balcony too. Also love the sunrises, sunsets and distant storms. Nothing can match being on a ship. IMHO. ;)

Gwen :)

I've seen some of the most beautiful Rainbows.

Binoculars are great to have especially up on the higher decks.

One night I watched some birds just flying along the side of the ship at night. Harder to spot but beautiful to just watch them glide along and dive for fish.

Runners are always entertaining, especially when the balconies are pretty full and they cheer on the runners.

Since we only book balcony cabins...the list is simply to large to list here.

But other posters have already included many great ones.

Since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words...here's just a small sampling of things you might see (depending on your ship, cabin location, and destinations):

All of the above...but personally I like identifying Navy ships. With a good pair of binocs (I use a nice pair of Nikon 10x50's) you can spot the type and number from the ship to identify them. Certainly the wildlife as described and any other such stuff that "a closer look" will satisfy your curiosity.

Enjoy!!

And just a few more samples of balcony views:

Cuba, from early morning until the sun went down. I never realized how long it was.

 

Kathy

It's the biggest island in the Caribbean, and a great place to visit.

Whales, turtles, dolphins and flying fish....and sadly lots of garbage.

We even saw a floating buoy that was reported as a man overboard, that caused the ship to completely turn around and search. The captain announced the passing buoy as we returned to our normal course.

Perseid Meteor shower - spectacular!

Dh's first cruise. We were on the Splendour of the Seas returning to Galveston, having a drink on balcony when we saw the first "shooting star".

Four hours later, we decided we really needed to get some sleep!

All of the above except for the lava flow. That's on our bucket list. :D

Balconies . . . we never cruise without one!

More than I wanted to see of the couple on the next balcony................and I did not need binoculars for that :D

( also not that interesting )

.

In addition to most of the things listed in previous posts we say a naked man on the balcony on a ship docked next to us. Not a pretty sight. Sorry no pictures.

Sunrise over Haiti while approaching Labadee in the morning! Beautiful!

Mardi Gras Parade in Martinique