When I started blogging, I began with my favorite place in the world, the Caribbean. And from that, My Irie Time was born. A few years later, I created a site devoted to my interest in film photography, Film Road Trip. Over the years, our travels have reached a bit farther, and I longed to create another site for traveling our country and beyond. When the domain name, Departure Signs, became available, I snapped it up. It allowed me to reach beyond my current websites and blog about our travels around the world, with a nod to where it all began. It was Jimmy Buffet who wrote in “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes:” “Reading…
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I am thrilled to announce that I was awarded a Bronze in the Architecture category in the annual Bill Muster Photography Awards, just announced by the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). The awards are named for Bill Muster, a celebrated photographer who generously established a foundation to support this annual competition. The awards were announced at the organization’s convention this week in Haywood County, North Carolina. The image was taken in May of this year at Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. I knew I wanted an image with the enormous clock faces on the museum, but capturing it wasn’t easy. We were there immediately after the museum opened, but apparently…
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It’s no surprise that on a Sunday afternoon on Anguilla, you’ll find us at Garvey’s Sunshine Shack, located on Rendezvous Bay, Anguilla. Just a short walk down the beach from Aurora Anguilla, you’ll find a “toes in the sand” beach bar with great live music. On Sunday afternoons, it’s Omari Banks, who we make a point of seeing every visit. Order some ribs or some chicken, and settle back with a beer and enjoy the music. The crowd was totally into the music and it was one of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon!
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We are thrilled that Picante is building a new restaurant on the island, but that left us craving Mexican food during our recent trip, and we had already hit up Blanchard’s Beach Shack for tacos several times. Picante was always good for one, sometimes two, visits each trip, so we headed down to Shoal Bay East to try out Olas Tacos. To get to Olas, just park at the parking lot just up the hill from Shoal Bay East. From there, a sign will lead you down the path to Olas. My husband started out with a margarita, but I went for my regular, a rum punch. At Olas, the…
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I am pleased to report that I have been recognized with an Honorable Mention Award in the category of Cultural Photography in the North American Travel Journalism Association’s 34th Annual Awards Competition. The image recognized was “Market Craftsman,” an image taken in St. George’s Market on Grenada. This was the first competition I have entered since being sidelined with breast cancer, and it means so much to me to be recognized. Many thanks to the NATJA Awards Committee. The image was captured in June 2025 with a Fujifilm GFX 50R and the Fujifilm GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR lens. For medium format, the setup is extremely portable and perfect…
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Blanchard’s Beach Shack is a regular stop on our visits to Anguilla, but this trip, we had a new menu item we had to try, fried chicken. We have always loved the burgers, street tacos, and jerk chicken bowls, not to mention the rum punch, but the thought of fried chicken pulled us in. The chicken is offered cilantro-lime, blue cheese, spicy sriracha, sweet chili, BBQ, honey BBQ and vegan chipotle-lime sauces. We made three visits this trip to try all the sauces. It’s definitely worth at least one visit! By the way, they have a happy hour weekdays from 4 to 6 pm, with drink specials, including $1 off…
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We are not usually ones to visit resort restaurants, generally preferring to dine at local establishments on our trips to the Caribbean. But there are some places that prove us wrong, and prove that we could really be missing out. This trip to Cap Juluca, we had lunch and dinner at Uchu, known for bringing the cuisine of Peru to the shores of Anguilla. We were first tempted when we heard raves about the ceviche, so one afternoon after a long morning at the beach, we stopped in for a bite. Uchu is set just outside the bar just across from the concierge, overlooking beautiful Maunday’s Bay. The ceviche features…
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While enjoying the Caribbean Rum Tasting with Walter, we learned he would be teaching the Cocktail Master Class from the Cap Juluca Activities Guide, so sign us up! The class was conducted at the main bar at Cip’s and was so popular, that the bar was full by the time class started. So let’s break out the cocktail shaker and get started! We started out with a mojito, and by the end of class, there were five or six cocktails. At this point, it’s tough to recall, actually, but the end of the class it was tough to remember, but I had a few favorites. There was a delicious cucumber…
