The old fisherman and the sea

The old fisherman and the sea

Old fishing boat named the Virgo

The old fisherman never tires of his expeditions on the sea .

I have some very old photos of my husband, my father and some deckhands in the early days fishing the seas. I figured I would love to write a blog of the memories I have of these happy times. 

Drawn by an unending urge, the ocean call is too strong for the fisherman to deny.

It never leaves him or forsakes him.

He arises a great while before even the hint of a dawn sky. Alone and cold he heads for the cool dampness of the fishing boat. A smell of salty air greets him and his ear hears a familiar sound, waves jostling too and fro competitors in a never ending race for the shore.

Finally a cold sun hits the eastern skies. Distant floating buoys of pink and yellow are spotted near the horizon with the naked eye. We drift awhile closer and closer with the silent tide.
The seabirds follow from a distance, waiting for their breakfast to be brought to the oceans surface.

Nets are hoisted and lines and hooks are pulled by swarthy hands.

Fish, from deep in the ocean, 200 to 400 metres straight down, as the crow flies, whoops…as an octopus swims.
Fish are sorted, cut and boxed, the mornings work begins in earnest. The day is long and hard, no lunch break, no morning or afternoon tea, the tides, the winds and the fish cannot enjoy any idle time.

As the sun begins to turn towards the west a deep exhilaration touches the cool fisherman’s heart, money made to keep the kids at school and a few bob for the wife to spend at the local drapers store.
(No apology here for the choice of older style language!)

No one who has fished the great oceans of the world will ever find a reason to not return
Happy days to say the least,

As he ages, the salty sea dog must now only visit the waves in a recreational way. But it’s still a repeat of the long ago, a reminder, an echo, a yearning to touch the waters, and catch the blessings the great ocean offers.

 

Setting off fishing in the morning old photo

Setting off in the early morning

Setting off fishing in the early morning Kaikoura mountains

A pink float and a pink sky.

fisherman out at sea

Out at sea on winters day setting the nets. As you can see many of these old photos are quite blurry, but stiil able to be enjoyed

Making nets for fishing

Making nets for the fishing days ahead

Old engine and fish
Untangling knots a fisherman out at sea

A winters day and the long line floats to the surface

Bronzed fisherman in the summer

A summers day and the long line floats to the surface. 

Killer whale swims by

A killer whale swims by. 

Out at sea a fishing day

Seagulls trying to eat the catch of the day!!

Fishing boat and Kaikoura mountains

The old fishing boat with the Kaikoura mountain range in the background.

Looking back…

Even these old photos mean something.  Nothing or no one can stop the relentless, fleeting moments of time. Maybe a camera can? A photograph can hold on to a cherished memory and a bygone era, stopping time in its tracks for a second or two. Fisherman have a strong connection to the seas as I have witnessed from my family members. These old photographs certainly do it justice, and make history a blessed thing..

 

 

Looking back….Photographing a huge winters storm

Looking back….Photographing a huge winters storm

Approaching storm Ethels beach

Winter is here in South Australia and I am waiting once again for the stormy conditions that reguarly hit our coastline in and around Yorke Peninsula.

Whilst I wait, I look back at some of the times that proved worthwhile as a photographer and spectator of lifes grand occasions!!

The 29th day of September 2016, proved to be quite the day to remember. Not before and not to this day have I witnessed winds and sea spray so violent.
The bottom end of Yorke Peninsula has two beaches which are exposed to the open ocean and regularly get huge waves washing in. Ethel’s Beach and West Cape beach. On this particular day the skies darkened and the winds roared into these two beaches making the waves quite exceptional.

At that time we lived in Adelaide and I decided to rent a cottage and drive 4 hours to these beaches.
I was determined to get some shots, however in such weather conditions this proved extremely difficult. The rain just smashed against myself and my camera and I got soaked, and I mean SOAKED, drenched, saturated, in one second. So I devised a few methods to try and get some photos. I would cover my camera in plastic bags and myself in a rain proof coat. Whenever the rain seemed to have a slower spasm I would dash out grab about three photos and dash back into my car. Walking to any of my favourite locations proved impossible.
Beautiful, violent, magnificent and so brutal and powerful. Sea spray and mist towering up into the sky, winds stronger than black holes in the sky, and clouds dropping buckets of water on silly human photographers who thought they could outrun the earthly elements.
Due to these haphazard conditions all the photos look a bit hazy as focusing on an object certainly was not a priority.
What an experience, all the power and phones went down, the roads were closed, so I had to stay in my accommodation a couple of extra nights until things were restored.

Storm rolls in Ethels Beach

The two images above are of the storm rolling in, no rain as yet just a strong, howling wind.

Rainbow and windy conditions
Very stormy weather

Above…I travelled around the hill to Pondalowie Bay. If you look closely there is a tern flying above the waves. It seemed that some birds enjoyed the weather and flew against the winds.

Cliffs South Australian coastline

Above…looking out from Pondalowie.

South Australian coastline

Above…In the bottom right hand corner the normally sandy path is flooded with a torrent of rushing water.

Coastline
Green sea water
Mist and seaspray being windswept into the air
Mist and seaspray in the air huge storm

The two images above…looking towards the ocean, at Pondalowie cliffs, the misty seaspray would have been, I reckon, twenty times higher than myself. You can see vegetation in the foreground. This shot is taken from the car.

Wild waves
Wild weather
Wild weather

The weather over winter can be quite amazing. The waves that roll in are wild and the wind seems to add to the tumultuous conditions. I have read on google that the Southern ocean has some of the biggest waves globally.

When things go wrong on the journey..an adventure down to Echoes

When things go wrong on the journey..an adventure down to Echoes

Beautiful beach

Revisiting beautiful Echoes beach with cliffs so high,  but sometimes things can go wrong.

 

 

The image above was taken many years ago with my old Pentax camera. One of my children lies under the umbrella, surfboards and clothes lying on the ground. Days we shall never forget.

In our early years when camping, surfing and holidaying at Marion Bay, we frequented a beautiful isolated beach. The beach was called Echoes, because of the sound the waves made as they whispered and echoed up against the gigantic cliffs this beach is surrounded by. It fast became one of our favorite spots due to its isolation and the good surf.

Recently the governing bodies, whoever they maybe, decided the descent to this beach was too dangerous and so the 3km road to the beach and the beach itself are closed  and consequently completely overgrown now.

One bright and sunny day we decided we would walk the distance and visit this most spectacular and beautiful beach for old time sake. 

Armed with packs, cameras and food etc, we set off. All good the first hour, but on arrival at the cliffs edge we noted how the old track we had used, was definitely in a much worse condition than before. 

Then as fate would turn on us, my vision went fuzzy and blurry, I was getting a migraine. Usually these gave me a headache, followed by vomiting and feeling very ill. Well we sat on the top of the cliff and waited till I could see again. I took some pain relievers. 

I was not giving up, no sickness would stop me from visiting my old beloved beach. 

So down we scrambled, fell, jumped, hopped, toppled, until we finally made the beach. My legs were like jelly, so I lay down on the golden sand and slept for about 30 mins.

When I awoke my husband had been swimming and so we both idled away the afternoon swimming, listening to the echoes and chatting and resting. 

I would need all my energy to climb back up that cliff.

I did consider how silly we had been and this was probably quite a dangerous undertaking.

As we lay there looking out to sea a small boating vessel passed by, they stopped and peered in at us and we distinctly heard them say. “How on earth did those people get to that beach?”

If I could have yelled back, I may have said, “Sometimes people are silly and insist on taking the track less travelled!”

Most of the afternoon I did keep pondering how on earth we were going to get back up the cliff, especially in my weakened state.

Three o’clock and departure time finally arrived.

We stood back and planned out our route, I gritted my teeth and I used all of my strength to slowly crawl my way back up the cliff. We helped each other over difficult spots and clung to branches or anything secure as we ascended. Exhausted we reached the top and took a drink and rest, however we still had a long walk back. 

As we walked along and time went by I seemed to gather new strength and felt amused at our exploratory activities, maybe as we are getting older we should not take such risks….oh what the heck…”Man who sit and do nothing, experience no excitement in life!”

Cliffs Echoes beach

The image above is of the cliffs that we climbed down and then up again!!

Photography can take you on many unexpected and exciting adventures. Planning is a key, but sometimes situations can develop that throw you off guard. I had to rest to get my strength back to climb that hill.

I actually did take photographs even though my vision was blurry for an hour. We survived and want to go back to this spot again. Maybe we need to rething all our stratagies!