South West Sea Kayaking

Some months ago I bought a ‘decent’ camera. Too late for the book, though! To my shame, so far I haven’t so much as glanced at the manual and have no idea what all the (dauntingly numerous) buttons do. This weekend was a chance to try and figure out how the darned thing works. We headed head out and around my local haunt, the Isle of Purbeck.

Basically, I failed. Among other stupidities, I have discovered since coming home that I’ve been taking every single photo at ISO 1600 (the sensitivity setting you select for pitch darkness) and that the Very Big Switch on the back of the camera does something completely different to what I thought it was doing. Oh well … better read that bloody manual, I guess.

Among other things, Heather and I sought out Purbeck’s auk population in an attempt to;
A] Get sunburned.
B] See if I could manage to take non-fuzzy photos with a 450mm zoom whilst rolling on a swell in a dark cave (the answer was “No”).

Although guillemots were there in abundance crowding the cliffs, we found just a solitary young puffin occupying their usual ledge; the remainder of this small colony were spotted out at sea fishing, one of them with a mouth full of fish.

Postscript: This evening I did a short MTB ride up the hill behind my house, Swyre Head. This hill overlooks the coast from the Isle of Wight to Portland Bill and tonight the air was exceptionally clear, with barely a ruffle to be seen out on the sea. I pedalled past deer, fox cubs, pheasant, partridge, hares, horses and a couple of donkeys. During the week I had a job interview in Penrith (up north where the Eskimos live) but for various reasons, decided not to attend it. I have worried all week over whether this was the right decision. I’m not worrying now.

All good.