Boats at Castaway Cay on a Disney Cruise

Boats of All Sizes

Boats of all sizes, small and large, rest in the harbor at Castaway Cay, the Bahamas island of the Disney Cruise Line, as seen during our 2018 Christmas Disney Cruise.

I can just hear it now. One of those boats is saying, “Hey, I’m not a boat. I am a SHIP!” That would of course be the Disney Dream, which as you can see is in a class all by itself compared to the smaller boats. I wonder if the smaller boats ever get jealous of the bigger boat.

If you are wondering some of those smaller boats are used to bring some of the workers to the island from nearby islands. They have names like “Crewboat I” and “Crewboat II.” I would guess “John Boy I” is a similar boat, too. And based on the name, it would make sense that there is a “John Boy II” somewhere around there, too. Which makes you want to say, “Goodnight, John Boy!”

We saw this view as we were making our way from the ship to the island for our day there. We were actually on our way to the start of the Castaway Cay 5K, so we did not have that much time to linger, but I did manage to find time to turn around and get a photo. 

And just as a reminder that this was a Christmas cruise, you can see the Castaway Cay Christmas tree to the left of the Disney Dream. It was a tall tree, but nowhere as tall as the ship is. 

Size Doesn’t Matter

Size doesn’t matter, or so they say. But is that really true? So often we hear that bigger is better. Which way is right?

In the photo above, the bigger boat (i.e. the ship) can carry many more people than the small boat, so that makes it better. Or does it?

The smaller boats may not hold as many people, but they are much easier to manage as far as steering goes. And they are much cheaper to operate as far as fuel goes. As you can see, bigger is not always better.

And remember, it only took a microscopic virus to keep us all at home for an as-yet-to-be-determined time. That was something so small that you could not see it. But it has been very effective in doing its job, even though that job had negative consequences for so many of us.

So your size is nowhere near as important as your purpose and effectiveness.

Let’s say that your target audience for what you are trying to do is just one person. You do your thing, and you reach that person. Great! Compare that to someone else whose target audience is one million people, but they only reach 50,000. Which one is more effective? That depends on what the real goal is, of course. But if you start off by just wanting to reach one person and you do it, then size does not matter, and bigger is not better.

Don’t let anyone discourage any good work you are trying to do because you can’t do it on a large scale. Do what you can do, help those you can help, and be satisfied that you have done your best.

If you do that, you will have been effective, no matter your size.

Bible Verse

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

About the Photo

As I mentioned above, this was just a quick photo as we were walking to the start of the 5K. But I really enjoyed the comparison in size of the Disney Dream and the smaller boats.

Processing was done in Aurora HDR as usual. However, the area under the dock at the bottom left was a little darker than I wanted, so I used a little bit of dodge and burn effect to “dodge” or lighten up that area.

Also, this is a minor thing, but I like how the processing brings out the smoke coming from the Disney Dream’s funnel. The Disney Cruise Line ships do vent exhaust all day while in port, because it is necessary to keep things running to power the lights and everything else on the ship. There is not one great big receptacle in each port that they can plug into for power, although speaking as an electrical engineer, that would be pretty cool to see if they did. Can you imagine the size of that power cord? Wireless is definitely the way to go here.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens and Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 Lens
Date: December 18, 2018
Location: Castaway Cay, Bahamas