February 2026.
Tampa Bay, Florida.

Earlier this year, Lynn and I departed from the Tampa Cruise Terminal on the Norwegian Star. It was a chance conversation with another cruiser that clued me in to the opportunity to photograph another iconic bridge. About 90 minutes after sail‑away, the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge appeared on the horizon—just a faint silhouette at first, but the cables and towers quickly sharpened as we drew closer. Before long, I joined a small crowd high on deck 14 at the forward rail, everyone with a cellphone or camera ready as the ship lined up for its approach under the span.

Regular readers know that I feature iconic bridges whenever we encounter them in our travels. I’m always drawn to the engineering behind these structures, and the Sunshine Skyway is no exception. Its cable‑stayed design, twin 430 ft (131 m) towers, and 181 ft (55 m) of clearance make it both visually striking and functionally impressive—especially when you’re sailing directly beneath it.

The bridge we see today is actually the second to span this part of Tampa Bay. The original cantilever structure, opened in 1954, was partially destroyed in 1980 when the bulk carrier Summit Venture struck a support pier during a sudden squall, causing a section of the roadway to collapse and claiming 35 lives. The replacement bridge opened in 1987 with a safer, more modern cable‑stayed design and massive concrete bumpers protecting its piers to make sure a ship strike could never happen again.

Leaving Tampa Bay is a slow, steady process, more like easing out of a driveway than charging into open water. Once the ship backs away from the terminal, it settles into the marked channel and follows the long curve past the port facilities and industrial shoreline. The first time I spotted the bridge, it was off to our left. The next time I looked, it had drifted over to our right. It didn’t take long to notice the channel markers and realize we were almost zigzagging our way toward the span. The route winds south toward the bay’s mouth, eventually carrying us under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge before the Gulf finally opens ahead. It’s not fast, but it’s a surprisingly interesting ride if you’re watching the details.

About the photo: I captured this view of the bridge from just below the ship’s bridge, where the captain and harbor pilot were navigating the channel. I used the Expert RAW camera app, choosing the Samsung S25 Ultra’s Super Telephoto lens to capture the scene. It was nearing dusk as we approached, and the scene was already picking up the first hints of golden hour. In Adobe Lightroom Classic, after selecting the Adaptive Profile and cropping the image to a 16×9 frame to emphasize the towers’ height, I lowered the exposure slightly to bring out more of that warm, late‑day color. I sent the file to Luminar Neo for a final touch with the Enhance AI tool, which helped pull detail from the lightly overcast sky. Click the image to view the metadata and the photograph in 2K HD.

About the map: The Sunshine Skyway Bridge connects the southern end of St. Petersburg with Manatee County, carrying traffic across the mouth of Tampa Bay, where the bay meets the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted to show why it took almost two hours to navigate the bay, so I pulled up Google Maps and marked the cruise terminal. Then I asked Copilot AI to turn the map into something a little more “touristy,” which it did—sort of. It drew roadways straight across the bay for both bridges and placed a very handsome illustration of the Sunshine Skyway neatly on land beside the highway. After two rounds of trying to convince Copilot’s graphic tool to put the bridge over the water, I handed the job to Gemini AI to see what Nano Banana could do. Both AI tools politely declined to understand the assignment, and that’s when I realized I’d fallen into a full‑blown Photoshop rabbit hole. I spent far too much time manually “moving” the bridge into place and fixing the roadway, with Copilot talking me through layers and masks while I muttered at my screen. And because no rabbit hole is complete without an unexpected detour, I even popped into Microsoft Paint at the end to add an arrow pointing to the stretch of roadway that crosses the bay from St. Petersburg to Tampa.

I invite fellow bloggers to join in by creating their own Cellpic Sunday posts. There’s no set theme. The first rule is that your photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or other mobile device. The second rule is simple: link your challenge response to this post or drop a comment here with your link so others can find it. And remember, despite the name, there’s no penalty for sharing on a day other than Sunday.

John Steiner.