Evening Light

84 - Port Skerra Light, originally uploaded by North Light.

I left Thurso and it was overcast, after a very changeable day, heading west I was beginning to think I had gone the wrong way, but there was the odd bit of blue sky in the sky. Port Skerra had a big swell running into it from the north west, looked to be 2 to 3 metres, no surf as the rocks break the swell up, the largest looking waves had me backing up the beach looking for higher ground, the first 5 or 10 minutes the light was diffuse with no direct sunlight, but a day for luck, the sun broke through highlighting the white water in the bay. In all the shots I took the visibility is not that good, the air is full of spray making working with these images quite difficult.

Port Skerra or Portskerra? The OS map gives the name of the settlement as Portskerra, but the bay is shown as Port Skerra, l am guessing the origin is Gaelic and could well be as simple as Port Skerry.

Ordnance Survey - Guide to Gaelic origins of
place names in Britain

Hotels and Photography

71 - March Weather, originally uploaded by North Light.

With the hotel opening this week my photography time is much more restricted, doing the "Day Shift" means that I am in the hotel before breakfast and not escaping until after 4.00 pm, so daylight photography this week was restricted. The good news is with the days lengthening quickly this will not be a problem soon.
A week of mixed weather has brought a week of mixed photography, but this is one I I am very pleased with, rain rolling in from the west, with a touch of sun lighting the piers of Scrabster harbour.

Oh for a Longer Lens!

63 - End of the Run, originally uploaded by North Light.

We've had some excellent surf over the last few days, but yesterday was the first time I've been in the right place with the right lens, with the O'Neill Highland Open, a Men's World Qualifying Series event here Apr 29-May 6, and the Quicksilver Scottish Open Oct 27th - 28th, I need to get some practice in, my longest lens is a little short for this work, but fortunately you can get quite close at the two sites normally used for this event.
If we are lucky this year the majority of the competition will be held at Thurso East, which is very close to us.
This is what the UK Pro Surf Tour has to say about Thurso East, "Takes place at one of the best venues in the world. Thurso East is a world class reef break consistently producing good wave".