Twenty-Three Years in New York

My friend Andres in New York is celebrating his 23rd year

of rowing the gondola in Central Park.

He posted this on Facebook and I just had to snag it.

 

Congrats Andres.
You're one of the only gondoliers out there who I am truly jealous of.

Gondola...Post Kids

photo by Mark Schooling

 

Mark at Gondola Paradiso in Oxnard, California sent me this
amusing photo of his batela "post kids".
It cracked me up, and made me hope that it was a paying cruise.

I'll be he's thankful it wasn't a food cruise.

Three from the Water

Just three perfect moments captured from the water tonight.

 

 

Early Evening Departures

 

Sitting in the dock, enjoying the sunset,

I pulled out my phone and caught fragments of perfection

as our early evening cruises departed.

Ferro, fireball, and a perfect sky.

 

Jakob rows Stella, with four happy passengers.

 

Parker departs...

 

...and pushes on.

Evan rows The Phoenix out of the lagoon.

 

The sky was breathtaking.

 Kyle departs, as his passengers enjoy the evening air.

Kyle in action.

Michael Angelo Ruffino just returned from some amazing travel to the other side of the world.  Here are some snaps of his first departures since returning.

 

 

Tandem at Twilight

photo by Steve Norwood

Eddie Rivera and I spent some time rowing tandem this evening,
and someone managed to snap this nice silhouette shot.

Big thanks to the photographer for capturing this image.

Fistbump

photo by Ruben J

 

 

Newport Beach is the only waterway I know of outside Venice, Italy where gondoliers from different servizios actually pass each other on the water.

Believe it or not, at one point we had as many as seven different gondola companies here.

 

You might think this would create a rivalry,

but the truth is that we are all friends.

As I've said for years:

"Nobody understands you, and that weird thing you do,

like someone who does that weird thing too."

 

Gondoliers in Newport encourage their passengers to toast folks in other gondolas with raised glasses, hearty "buon giorno" and "buona sera" greetings are exchanged, and then there are the fistbumps and such.

 

Here you see Parker and me carrying on the fistbump tradition:

 

Of course there are the high-fives, hat tips,

and the occasional "high-sticking"

(where both gondoliers reach out with the ends of their oars

and whack them together).

 

Big thanks to Ruben J for catching this moment on camera.
We have such a great job, rowing these beautiful boats in this great place.

Four Shots at Sunset

 

Here are a four snaps taken from the

back of my boat this evening in Newport.

 

Just the Photo - Chasing the Sun