Nelson Island, BC, Canada / July 2014

I was with Louise and her friends, Nancy and Joanne, and we were having a bite to eat at the Garden Bay Pub, in Pender Harbor. It’s a beautiful outdoor setting that many boaters pull into for dinner, refreshments and sometimes ‘live’ entertainment. Problem was, we had to leave the mainland to get back to Quarry Bay, on Nelson Island, before dark. It was after 8:30 pm, which meant the sun was sinking fast and we had to get a move on.

Luckily it was calm out when we left the sheltered safety of Pender Harbour. I was captaining my new 17 ½ foot Bayliner named the “Lady Rose”. It was second hand but in extremely great shape for a fourteen year old boat.

Anyway, when we left the mouth of the harbor, we were headed due west as the sun was setting directly in front of us. As we got closer to Quarry Bay, the sky started to go from yellow to orange to crimson, to red,  to purple with shades of pink and all sorts of other hues. It was truly spectacular and as always, I had my camera handy. I stopped in front of the small beacon at Nelson Rock and took numerous photos. Nelson Rock is about a mile off shore and at low tide, the rock is revealed, along with some surrounding shoals. They built the navigational beacon to warn mariners.

Taking photos from a boat is extremely difficult. Even though it was relatively calm, there was still a slight swell and the boat was rocking. I also had to time my shots in anticipation of the tiny white light at the top of the ladder and lookout, as it only flashes momentarily, every five seconds. There was just enough light to capture the outline of the island, get a blue water foreground and the unusual juxtaposed silhouette of this beacon. It seems as if it’s hovering on the surface like a lone chess piece, encapsulated by a surreal and mesmerizing sunset background.

While the sun was setting to the west, something just as amazing was happening to the east, where we’d just come from. Stay tuned for Photo of the Week # 33 for a continuation of this story and a cool surprise!